(? – 1491) A friar minor who settled in Salamanca. His main work, the Fortalitium fidei, is a summary of arguments attacking the Jews, Muslims and heretics, whose purpouse was to be a tool for preachers. The third book is devoted to the Jews, and the Fourth book to the Muslims.
Beyond the Fortalitium, he wrote some Sermones de Nomine Jesu Vigintiduos and Sermones plures de excellentia nostræ fidei, apparently not extant. In the manuscript at Burgo the Osma, there seems some sermons by Alfonso de Espina.
Manuscripts
- Burgo de Osma, Archivo de la catedral, ms. 26, contains some unpublished Sermones de penis inferni. Other sermons in the manuscript might be writen by Alonso.
Published works by Alonso de Espina:
- Fortalitium fidei. Lion, Gulielmus Balsarin, 1487.
- Fortalitium fidei. Nurenberg, Antonius Koberger, 1485.
- Fortalitium fidei. Nurenberg, Antonius Koberger, 1494.
Bibliography:
- MEYUHAS GINIO, Alisa, De Bello Iudaerum Fray Alonso De Espina Y Su Fortalitium Fidei. Salamanca, Universidad Pontificia, 2007.
- «The fortress of faith – At the End of the West: Alonso de Espina», in Limor, A., Stroumsa, G. (ed.), Contra iudaeos. Ancient and Medieval Polemics Between Christians and Jews. Tübingen: Mohr, 1996, p. 215-237.
- MONSALVO ANTON, José María, Ideología y anfibología antijudías en la obra Fortalitium Fidei , de Alonso de Espina. Un apunte metodológico», in Pablo de la Cruz Díaz, Fernando Luís corral, Iñaki Martin Viso (eds.), El historiador y la sociedad. Homenaje al profesor José María Mínguez . Salamanca, Ediciones de la Universidad de Salamanca, p. 2012, p. 159 – 183 (PDF)
- NETANYAHU, Benzion, «Alonso de Espina: was he a New Christian?», Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, XLIII, 1976, pp. 107-165.
- ROJO ALIQUE, Francisco Javier, «Fifteenth-century franciscans preachers in Castile: the Example of Valladolid», in Franciscans and Preaching. Every Miracle from the Beginning of the World Came about through Words. Brill, 2012, 353 – 379, here 356-358.
- VIDAL DOVAL, Rosa, Misera Hispania: Jews and Conversos in Alonso de Espina’s Fortalitium fidei. Oxford, The Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature, 2013.