II EDITION
Mr. Miguel Ángel Ladero
Don Miguel Ángel Ladero Quesada, one of the most brilliant European medievalists and professor for more than 40 years, was the winner of the II Edition of the Spanish Orders History Award. His candidacy was presented by the University of Cadiz. He holds a PhD from the University of Valladolid and has held the chairs of Medieval History at the Universities of La Laguna, Seville and Madrid. His work consists of dozens of books and hundreds of works on various aspects of the European and Spanish Middle Ages.
His Majesty King Juan Carlos presided over the presentation of the Prize in a ceremony held on May 17, 2019 in the Chapter Rooms of the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, and was attended by the President of the Royal Council of Orders, H.R.H. Don Pedro de Borbón Dos Sicilias y de Orleans, Duke of Calabria, and the then Minister of Justice, Ms. Dolores Delgado. Don Juan Carlos congratulated Ladero Quesada for being “a prestigious reference for all scholars of the history of Spain and an expert in medieval times and the early Renaissance”.
In his speech, Ladero warned against those who pretend to write History “at the dictation of political or ideological interests”. “It is one thing for history to be a source of political experience and social morality, and quite another for experiments to be made at the cost of consciously distorting it,” said the academician of the Royal Academy of History and doctor “honoris causa” of the Universities of La Laguna (Tenerife), Cádiz and Huelva.
The winner of the National History Prize in 1994 and author of works such as La guerra de Granada or La España de los Reyes Católicos warned that “it is not possible to have a coherent and global historical knowledge if History, with a capital letter, is replaced by the crumbled and fragmented histories, with a lower case, that now seem to predominate in many cultural programs”.
As President of the Jury and of the Royal Council of Orders, Don Pedro de Borbón emphasized that Ladero’s work is a reminder that “the EU is not only a market, nor even a specific political order”, but also “a historical and cultural conscience”.
Among those attending the ceremony were the sister of King Juan Carlos, the Infanta Margarita, and her husband, Don Carlos Zurita, Duke of Soria; the then President of Patrimonio Nacional, Don Alfredo Pérez de Armiñán; the Dean of the Diputación de la Grandeza, Don Enrique Fernández-Miranda, and Don Miguel Herrero y Rodríguez de Miñón.
The jury was chaired by the President of the Royal Council of Orders, H.R.H. Don Pedro de Borbón Dos Sicilias y de Orleans, duque de Calabria.
Members:
- Don Alfredo Pérez de Armiñán de la Serna, then President of Patrimonio Nacional, and academician of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.
- Doña Carmen Iglesias Cano, Countess of Gisbert and Director of the Royal Academy of History.
- Don Hugo O’Donnell Duque de Estrada, Duke of Tetuán and censor of the Royal Academy of History.
- Don Feliciano Barrios Pintado, Secretary of the Royal Academy of History.
- Mr. Luis Antonio Ribot García, member of the Royal Academy of History.
- Mr. Juan Manuel González Serna.
- Mr. Carlos de Palacio y Oriol, President of the Talgo Foundation and collaborator.
- Mr. Juan-Miguel Villar Mir, Marquis of Villar Mir, member of the Royal Academy of Engineering and of the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences.
- Sir John H. Elliott, as a prize-winner in the previous edition.
- Don Marcelino Oreja Aguirre, Marquis of Oreja, Academician and Honorary President of the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences.
- Don Manuel Gullón de Oñate, Count of Tepa and Gentleman of His Holiness.
- Don Íñigo Moreno de Arteaga, Marquis of Laserna and Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy of History.
Secretary:
- Don Álvaro Mariátegui Valdés.
Treasurer:
- Don Íñigo Churruca de Bonilla.
