page_title: Simón de Roxas Clemente y Rubio
section_title: Napoleonic War
hierarchical_section_title: Simón de Roxas Clemente y Rubio / Biography / Napoleonic War
caption_attribution_description: English: Statue of Simón de Rojas Clemente y Rubio (1777–1827) at the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid (Spain). Sculpted by José Gragera y Herboso (1818–1897) and inaugurated in 1865. Español: Estatua de Simón de Rojas Clemente y Rubio (1777–1827) en el Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid (España). Esculpida por José Gragera y Herboso (1818–1897) e inaugurada en 1865.
context_page_description: Simón de Roxas Cosme Damián Clemente y Rubio was a renowned Spanish botanist, considered to be the father of Spanish ampelography.
context_section_description: The downfall of the Godoy government and the Napoleonic Wars interfered with these plans, however. Rojas tried to play both sides of the fence (pro-French and patriotic), as his liberal leanings made him favour the puppet government, but at the same time did not want to be considered a collaborator. He was able to travel freely all over Andalusia and to Madrid, but in 1812 he settled down in Titaguas. According to his first biographer, Miguel Colmeiro, he undertook many scientific and humanitarian projects: he wrote the civil, natural and ecclesiastical history of Titaguas, made topographical drawings of the municipality, researched the genealogy of the local surnames, taught children and adults to classify the different species of birds and plants and created an amateur theatrical company where he himself played a part in Molière’s El Médico a Palos and Calderón’s El alcalde de Zalamea.
  After the war he was called on to work on the topographical drawings of the province of Cádiz but he preferred to take the post of Librarian at the Madrid Botanic Gardens, under his friend Mariano Lagasca. In 1817 they both catalogued the collections of South American plants shipped back to Madrid by José Celestino Mutis. He then edited Gabriel Alonso de Herrera’s Agricultura General in order to improve the original 1513 version with more rigorous scientific updates. He wrote a new prologue and added sections on species of wheat, cotton cultivation and most significantly on varieties and cultivation of grape vines and the main wines produced in Spain.
caption: Statue of Simón de Rojas Clemente y Rubio in the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid
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