Marquis de Villena – founder and first director of the Real Academia Española

Don Juan Manuel Fernández Pacheco, Marquis of Villena, came from one of the most distinguished families in Spain. His greatest life contribution, having a far-reaching impact on the consolidation of the cultural and social identity of Spain, was the initiative to establish the Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy). He was aware that the language used by scholars and writers living on the Iberian Peninsula was not uniform, and that the invasion of French expressions was progressing. In 1711, he created a group of people willing to cooperate in the cultivation and preservation of "the words and phrases of the Castilian language". Each of the eight participants of the meetings had experience in the field of humanities. It should be noted that this group was the founding core of the later Real Academia Española, officially approved on October 3, 1714. Marquis of Villena has led the Academy in his twelve years as director with meticulous attention to almost all of its meetings. The research goal set at the beginning, which was the development of the Dictionary of the Castilian language (Diccionario de la lengua castellana), was carried out in the years 1726–1739. Unfortunately, the Marquis died without the completion and publication of the first volume of the work, which was being prepared for printing at the time of his death. This memorable work is known today as the Dictionary of Authorities (Diccionario de autoridades).