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Ocampo, Florian D

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Occam (or Ockham), Nicholas of

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a Spanish ecclesiastic, noted as a chronicler, was born in Zamora in the beginning of the 16th century. After finishing his studies in the University of Alcala, where he had as his teacher Antonio de Lebrina, he became an ecclesiastic, was provided with a canonicate, and obtained the-title of historiographer of Charles V. In order to fulfill his duties he undertook the history of this prince, but he had the ambitious idea of going back to the deluge. "As one might foresee," says Ticknor, "he lived just long enough to finish a small fragment of so vast an enterprise scarcely one quarter of the first of his four grand divisions; :but he went far enough to show that the time for such writings was past. Not that credulity was wanting-he had too much of it; but it was not the poetical credulity of his predecessors trusting to the old national traditions; it was a too ready faith in the bald impostures which bear the names of Berosus and Manetho, works discredited for half a century already, and which he employed as authorities, if not sufficient, at least probable, for an uninterrupted succession of Spanish kings from Tubal, grandson of Noah. Such credulity has no sort of chance; and, besides, the work of Ocampo is in its form dry and tiresome, and, as it is written in a formal and heavy style, it is almost impossible to read it. It is little to be regretted that he has brought his aninuls, of Spain only to the period of the Scipios." He died in 1555. The Chronique of Ocampo (Cronica general de Espana) appeared for the first time in Zamora (1544, fol.); it was reprinted at Medina del Campo (1553, fol.); the best edition is that of Madrid (1791, 2 vols. 4to). See his Life in the introductory pages of his works (edition of 1791); Don Josef de Regabal y Ugarte, Biblioteca de los escritores qoue han sido individuos de los seis colegios mayores; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, 38:417; Ticknor, Hist. of Spanish Literature, 1:308.