Gabriel Patricio Álvarez de Toledo y Pellicer de Tobar (1662–1714), a native of Seville, was a descendant of the House of Alba, one of the most illustrious families of the Spanish and Portuguese nobility. The Duke of Alba, FernandoÁlvarez de Toledo, had conquered Portugal for King Philip II of Spain in the closing decades of the sixteenth century. Gabriel's father, Francisco Álvarez de Toledo, was a native of Braganza, Portugal, who belonged to the Order of Calatrava (as Gabriel later would) and was a member of the King's Council of the Treasury. Gabriel's mother, a native of Madrid, was Luisa María Pellicer de Tobar. His maternal grandfather, a native of Zaragoza, was Joseph Pellicer de Tobar, who belonged to the Order of Santiago and the Council of Castile and was the royal historian of Aragon. Surrounded by privileges and high expectations, Álvarez lived a reckless youth, writing poetry to court the ladies and exhibiting his wit in social circles. A ‘well-complected young man’ with ‘many sulphurs in his blood’, he was nonetheless courteous, at ease, and charming. He remained so until his late twenties, when the exhortations of a devout missionary led him to adopt a regimen of piety and study. He mastered Latin, Hebrew, Caldean, Arabic, Greek, French, German and Italian. He served as secretary of the Council of Castile and later became secretary and librarian to the Bourbon Philip V of Spain.

Álvarez was a founding member of the Real Academia de la Lengua in 1714, which had its beginnings in an academic gathering (tertulia) held regularly at the residence of Joseph Solís y Gante, future Duke of Montellano, where Álvarez de Toledo lived. Many of the political issues of the day were voiced at the Montellano academy, but it was something other than a ‘literary salon turned political forum’. Literature was, indeed, read aloud and critiqued, and political topics were aired. But truly significant was the character of the literature, which incorporated the new philosophy, and the union of powerbrokers and literary types who met to read and discuss it. The men who surrounded Álvarez in the Montellano academy shared an enthusiasm for the new philosophy and they were encouraged by the Spanish monarchy.