Calle de Ramírez de Prado

Lorenzo Ramírez de Prado was born in Zafra in 1583, studied law in Salamanca and served Philip III and Philip IV on the councils of the Indies, the Treasury, Italy and Castile. He wore the habit of Santiago and traveled to France as ambassador. In 1617 he published Consejo i consejero de príncipes, a handbook for rulers. His library outweighed his work. He gathered it in his house on the calle del Arenal and it grew to several thousand volumes, an enormous collection for the age. When he died in 1658, the Inquisition examined it and found so many banned books that the inventory ended up being printed, and the sale was not closed until 1662. He frequented the literary academies of Habsburg Madrid. Miguel de Cervantes praised him in verse in the Viaje del Parnaso. The Regional Library of Madrid stands today on the street that bears his name, in Delicias.