(1808-1842) José Ignacio Javier Oriol Encarnación de Espronceda y Delgado along with José Zorilla, is considered Spain's most important Romantic poet. When he was 15 years old, he formed a secret society named "Los Numantinos" alongside his friends Ventura de la Vega and Patricio de la Escosura, conspiring against Ferdinand VII and intending to revenge the death of Rafael del Riego. Espronceda was imprisoned in a monastery and exiled. On his return to Spain in 1833, he became active in the extreme left-wing of Spanish political culture. He later went to the Malay Peninsula and helped build the Dutch colonies there. Espronceda died of diphtheria in 1842.