Diego López de Zúñiga

Who was Diego López de Zúñiga?

Diego López de Zúñiga, Latin: Jacobus Stunica was a Spanish humanist and biblical scholar noted for his controversies with Erasmus and Lefèvre d'Etaples and leadership of the team of editors for the Complutensian Polyglot Bible. He was born around 1470 in Extremadura, to an aristocratic family; his brother Juan de Zúñiga was a diplomat for Charles V of Spain.

He was a pupil of Arias Barbosa at the University of Salamanca. In 1502 Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros recruited him for the team that would produce the Complutensian Polyglot.

López de Zúñiga controverted Erasmus on a number of points of Biblical translation. A contemporary view is that, while at times he defended the Latin Vulgate excessively, he made valid points in some other cases and showed up deficiencies of Erasmus who lacked the same command of Hebrew and Aramaic.