Alonso Tostado was a Spanish theologian, councillor of John II of Castile and briefly bishop of Ávila. A leading scholar of his generation, he is particularly known as an early theorist on witchcraft; in his De maleficis mulieribus, quae vulgariter dicuntur bruxas he defended the possibility of flying witches based on biblical exegesis.
Life
Alonso's father, also called Alonso Tostado, was a ploughman. The nickname :wikt:tostado#Spanish|Tostado refers to a ploughman's tanned or sunburnt complexion. After a course of grammar under the Franciscans he entered the University of Salamanca, where, besides philosophy and theology, he studied civil and canon law, Greek, Hebrew, and the other branches then comprised in the curriculum of a university. By great application joined to an unusually brilliant mind and an extraordinarily retentive memory, he accumulated such a vast store of knowledge that his contemporaries styled him a wonder of the world. At 22 he began to lecture on a wide variety of subjects to large audiences attracted by his learning. Later he assisted with distinction at the Council of Basle. During a visit to the papal court at Siena in 1443, he was denounced to Pope Eugene IV as having publicly defended a heretic and some rash propositions, but in an explanatory letter he assured the pontiff of his orthodoxy. On his return to Spain, in 1444, he was appointedGrand Chancellor and councillor of John II of Castile. In 1454, shortly before his premature death, he was named Bishop of Ávila. His sepulcher in Avila was carved by Vasco de la Zarza in 1518.
Works
In his Defensorium, written against Juan de Torquemada and other critics, he gave utterance to views derogatory to the authority of the pope. Besides a Spanish commentary on the chronicles of Eusebius and other minor works, he wrote commentaries on the historical books of the Old Testament as far as Second Chronicles, and on the Gospel according to St. Matthew. These are diffuse, containing many digressions on dogmatic and other subjects. Tostado's works exercised a significant influence on the Jewish Bible commentator and statesman Isaac Abravanel. An edition of his works in 13 folio volumes was published at Venice in 1507 and 1547; a more complete edition in 24 folio volumes appeared at the same place in 1615, and another in 27 folio volumes in 1728.
