Alfredo Alvar is a research professor at the CSIC and is a corresponding member of the Real Academia de la Historia. He was awarded the “Ortega y Gasset de la Villa de Madrid” essay and humanities prize and was made a commander of the Royal Order of Isabel la Católica. His research focuses on the history of humanism, Spanish culture in the Early Modern Age and cultural exchanges under the Habsburgs, as well as on the history of Madrid. In addition to biographies of Isabella I, Elcano, Charles V, Empress Isabella, Lerma and Cervantes, among others, he has written studies on social history.