Baltasar Alamos de Barrientos

[1] Baltasar Alamos de Barrientos was born at Medina del Campo, in Old Castile, about the middle of the sixteenth century, and studied law at the University of Salamanca.

In 1598 Philip II died, leaving directions in his will that Alamos should be released; and in the succeeding reign, though not employed, he was looked on with favour by the ministers, especially the Duke of Lerma, who supplied him with the means of subsistence.

On the accession of Philip IV, through the influence of the Count-Duke Olivarez, who highly esteemed his talents, he obtained several valuable places about the court, and was ultimately made a member of the councils of the Indies and of the royal patrimony.

The principal portions were executed entirely in prison, as appears from Philip II having granted a license for their publication in 1594, four years before Alamos was released; but the translations of Tacitus's Germania and Agricola were the fruits of his labours when at large.

[2] John Nichols claimed that Thomas Gordon's commentaries on Tacitus were derivative from the work of Virgilio Malvezzi, Scipione Ammirato and Baltasar Alamos de Barrientos.