THE LIBRARY OF IBERIAN RESOURCES ONLINE

The Mendoza Family in the Spanish Renaissance 1350-1550 Helen Nader 6 The Letrados: Counterpoise to the Ca allero Renaissan!e
"#$%& When the nobles abandoned their earlier roles as national political leaders, their places were quickly filled by equally ambitious and newly prestigious professionals -- the letrados. As the letrados increasingly gained control over the Castilian monarchy's political policies, they also assumed the intellectual leadership of Castilian society, substituting their own theories and values for those of the caballeros. he change in political leadership became apparent at the Cortes of oledo in !"#$ when %ernando and &sabel made one of their most famous reforms of Castilian political institutions' they changed the si(e and composition of the conse)o real, which previously had a ma)ority of caballeros, so that henceforth seven of its twelve members were to be letrados. he conse)o real, which had traditionally been dominated by the military aristocracy, would now be dominated by the legal profession. %urthermore, the Catholic *onarchs e+panded the duties and prerogatives of the conse)o real so that many important matters previously handled personally by the monarchs now came under the )urisdiction of the conse)o. ,istorians have long believed that this change from government by the aristocracy to government by a meritocracy is a watershed in the political and intellectual history of Castile.-!. /olitically, the new conse)o's centrali(ation of the administration is supposed to mark the end of the corrupt caballero society of the *iddle Ages and the beginning of the modern state. his new monarchy, in turn, is supposed to have created the social world necessary for introducing the 0enaissance into 1pain. he traditional assessment of &sabelline 1pain as a period of political "#$'& revival and vigorous pursuit of 0enaissance ideals depends largely on our assessment of the changes brought about by the reforms of !"#$. %or historians of early modern 1pain, the question of the reforms of !"#$ is part of one of the most compelling problems in 1panish history, both in its own right and as an e+ample of the increasing dissonance between our traditional views and the conclusions arising out of modern research in archival materials. 1uch research shows that the greatest increase in the number of letrados in royal service occurred during the reigns of 2uan && and 3nrique &4, and that %ernando and &sabel simply formali(ed this new composition of the royal administration.-5. his research also shows that the fiscal reforms of !"#$ regulari(ed and confirmed the nobility's right to portions of the royal income, rather than depriving them of it as had previously been believed.-6. %urthermore, the documentary evidence does not corroborate the tradition that the caballero administration before !"#$ was corrupt7 and there is an outright contradiction between the stereotype of the reformed conse)o real and the well-known evidence of corruption in the conse)o during the si+teenth century. /reliminary conclusions drawn from this research rather than from tradition indicate that the reforms of !"#$ confirmed the patterns of pre&sabelline Castile' a political life remarkably free of civil war and bloodshed7 e+pansion of the ruling dynasty into Aragon and 8aples7 the shifting of appellate legal )urisdiction from the personal )ustice of the king in council to the professional Audiencia and other royal )udges7 and, most important, the institutionali(ation of the bonds of loyalty and cooperation between the monarch and the aristocracy.

As a result of studies based upon archival evidence, the Castile formed by the caballero administration before !"#$ appears more and more as a vigorous and stable society. Whatever the moral character of the caballeros may have been -- and this is still a matter of pre)udice and speculation -- the evidence does not support the belief that the caballero administration before !"#$ was degenerate, corrupt, or chaotic. his new evidence about pre-&sabelline Castile in itself casts doubt upon the traditional assessment of the letrado administration. ,istorians have believed that the significance of the reforms of !"#$ lies in the shift in personnel -- that by transferring power from the aristocracy to a meritocracy the Catholic *onarchs ended corruption in government. he assumption behind this tradition -- that the legal profession is less susceptible to the temptations of corruption and avarice than the military profession -was one that even letrados themselves could not accept. 9r. :oren(o ;al<nde( de Carva)al -!"=5!>65., the most eminent )urist on the new conse)o real, warned Charles 4 against trusting certain members "#()& of the conse)o who were both letrados and corrupt.-". he warning appears to have been in vain. Although we do not yet know the details of the operation of the conse)o during most of the fifteenth century, we do know that during the reign of the Catholic *onarchs and throughout the si+teenth century, bribery, e+tortion, and nepotism were typical of the conse)o's operations.->. &n ?reforming? the conse)o real, the Catholic *onarchs had created a ma)ority of letrados -- not of incorruptibles. Although the reform of !"#$ did not achieve a change in practices, it did achieve a significant change in ideals. his revolution in e+pectations, more than any other single factor, shaped si+teenth-century attitudes toward the Castilian past. &t still shapes popular ideas about the 0enaissance in 1pain. he letrados in the royal council of %ernando and &sabel brought to their positions a coherent and rational concept of the goals of the government and of their role in it, the concept developed by don Alfonso de Cartagena and his students long before the reign of the Catholic *onarchs. his letrado concept of the history and nature of the 1panish monarchy, based on medieval scholastic political theory and 0oman law, formed a sharp contrast to the assumptions of previous royal councils. he consequences of this change in the conse)o's ideals were all-encompassing for, as we have seen, the letrados started from the assumption of a rational universal order. heir ideas about history and politics were part of a total system whose values e+tended into every aspect of daily living. heir sense of right and wrong would be applied to every field of endeavor. 3ven those who, like the *endo(a, were not engaged politically would feel the pressure of their growing influence. he letrados took their assumptions about the nature of historical change from the medieval chronicles of 1pain.-@. &n the medieval chronicles, history is regarded as the working-out of ;od's will -- the verification in the affairs of man of ;od's revelation. %or the letrados, military and political disasters must have been the products of man's sins and ;od's )udgment. &n order to make the numerous disasters of 1pain's history fit in with this point of view, the letrados became preoccupied with fi+ing blame. 1ince the same sins are repeated century after century in the medieval chronicles -- kings fail to fight the *uslims, nobles rebel, clerics become la+ -- the letrados presented a view of 1panish history as a steady decline or, at best, stasis. 3ven when these historians get caught up in their millenarian fantasies about the Catholic *onarchs, the personalities and individual actions of the monarchs are subordinated to this pattern, and the letrados' history of this reign becomes an undifferentiated series of royal good works rewarded by divinely mobili(ed good "#(#& fortune. Whereas the caballeros regarded historical change as the result of adaptations to changing conditions, the letrados regarded change as providential punishment or reward. An the sub)ect of religion, don Alfonso de Cartagena and his father, don /ablo de 1anta *aria, were e+ceptionally rigid. 1cholars have recently become interested in the substance of the arguments these

two conversos turned against their former coreligionists, but the tracts they wrote against the 2ews are as significant for their method of argument as they are for their content. Both don /ablo's ?1crutinium 1cripturarum? -!"65. and don Alfonso's Defensorium Unitatis Christianae -!""C. are among the first attacks on the 2ews, they are the only ones written in :atin, and don Alfonso's work is perhaps the first thorough theological treatment of the sub)ect in Castile.-=. his concern for theology, far from being typical, is one of the most significant innovations in Castilian intellectual life in the fifteenth century. &t appears in Castile for the first time in don /ablo's work7 and until !>$$, it was peculiar to the Cartagena household and a handful of Castilians who had studied theology at /aris. 9on Alfonso's work was not adequate to provide the foundation for Castile's theological needs in the reign of the Catholic *onarchs, but it does indicate the degree to which don Alfonso and his students were inclined to break with the Castilian tradition of a pietist, eclectic, and nonintellectual approach to religion. 9on Alfonso and his students, in sharp contrast to the caballeros, became preoccupied in their written works with the problems of right-thinking and sought to answer these problems through theology. 9on Alfonso's approach to the problem of the 2ews is similar to his approach to the question of proper religious practices, laid out in a response to ;u(mDn's inquiry on the sub)ect.-#. ;u(mDn had )udged the piety of religious practices by the purity of the Christian's motives7 don Alfonso )udged them by their Biblical authenticity or their theological correctness. hese ideas were not )ust speculation on don Alfonso's part' he tried to put them into practice both in his private life -- which, in contrast to the private lives of the *endo(a prelates, was irreproachable -- and by sponsoring reforms in the religious houses of his diocese. he reforms to which he lent his authority were of such an e+treme, eremitical nature that they aroused the antagonism of the people of Burgos, who resorted to violence to break up the reformed cells.-C. But by the end of the fifteenth century, concern for correct religious practices had become one of the most popular aspects of the monarchy, with tragic consequences for the conversos. he same concern for universal standards of correctness which had "#($& infused the letrados' attitudes toward history and religion also shaped their esthetic standards. Almost all of their prose works were written in :atin7 and their style, whether in :atin or 1panish, was modeled on the elegant periods of Cicero. 9on Alfonso made the first 1panish translations of the ?0hetorica ad ,erennium? and of Cicero's ?9e &nventione,? ?9e Afficiis,? and ?9e 1enectute.? Because of their enthusiasm for Cicero and because the letrados broke with the historiographical traditions of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries by writing their histories in :atin, )ust when the &talian humanists were also writing histories in :atin, don Alfonso and his students are often hailed as humanists or precursors of the 0enaissance.-!$. &t should be noted, however, that the letrados' esthetic standards were imitative of those of the &talian humanists. hey developed neither an esthetic standard of their own nor one that could be considered peculiarly 1panish. 2ust as they minimi(ed the 0oman period of 1panish history, they re)ected the style of the ?1panish? 0omans and tried to meet the &talians on their own terms. Because the letrados were addressing an international audience, rather than the Castilian audience of the caballeros, they adopted the language and the style most widely appreciated outside of Castile. Although they adopted the decorative elements of &talian humanism, the letrados re)ected the substance of the &talian humanists' rhetorical approach toward the classics. 9on Alfonso, for e+ample, attacked Bruni's translation of Aristotle on the grounds that by aiming for elegance Bruni had violated the rational character of Aristotle's thought. 1pecifically, don Alfonso ob)ected to Bruni's substitution of a Ciceronian vocabulary for the vocabulary of the medieval translation. 9on Alfonso's attack was based not on a superior knowledge of ;reek, which he did not know at all, but on his assumptions that the medieval and ancient worlds were so closely linked that tampering with one would violate the other

and that a theology based on the rationalism of Aristotle was central to the Christian faith.-!!. his was the only issue on which don Alfonso openly attacked the humanists7 but in all their written works, the letrados re)ected the most basic religious and historiographical assumptions of the humanists. 9on Alfonso and his school were clerics deeply involved in the problems of the fifteenth-century papacy, and it was to the papal court that they directed their works. &n order to impress that audience, they wrote not only in :atin but in the Ciceronian style that became popular among &talian humanists after the discovery of Cicero's rhetorical works. 9on Alfonso and his students were probably the most adept Ciceronians of "#((& fifteenth-century 1pain, and scholars have been misled by this fact into believing that their ideas were also humanist. %or this reason, and because the caballero writers have never received their due as 0enaissance humanists, don Alfonso and his students have been regarded as the focus of 0enaissance humanism in fifteenth-century Castile. &n a sense, however, don Alfonso was the head of an anti-0enaissance movement. ,e and his disciples were introducing into Castilian intellectual life a sophisticated theory of divine-right monarchy that had never been either practice or theory, not even in theoretical works as imperialistic as those of Alfonso el 1abio. Although 1pain was the scene of much of the translation that provided the basis for the great scholastic works and the )uristic treatises of both the Christian and *uslim worlds, the Castilians never incorporated the scholastic discipline into their intellectual life. When they borrowed from the Arabs, they chose to imitate or translate encyclopedic works of practical knowledge or collections of fabulae that provided moral precepts. &t was these that interested them rather than the logical or )uridical proofs that are the great accomplishments of *uslim scholasticism. he scholastic works of thirteenth-century Castile, the Chronicon Mundi -c. !56@. by el udense -:ucas, bishop of uy.7 the De Rebus Hispaniae -!5"6. of 3l oledano -0odrigo, archbishop of oledo.7 and the Planeta by el oledano's disciple, 9iego de Campos, canciller mayor of Castile, are notable works that draw heavily upon scholastic methods -- but all three authors were educated outside 1pain. As far as we know now, none of the scholastics writing in Castile from the twelfth through the fourteenth centuries was educated in Castile. he scholasticism and theology that aroused /etrarch's ire in %rance and &taly were almost none+istent in Castile. Ayala's famous outburst of scorn for scholastics was not directed against 1panish theology, but against the scholastics at Avignon whose casuistry and petty wrangles e+acerbated rather than solved the pressing ecclesiological problems of the century. When don Alfonso and his disciples returned from the Council of Basle and began to write :atin works in defense of the Castilian monarchy based on scholastic argument and bolstered with theology, they were introducing a new type of argument and a new political theory. he fact that don Alfonso and his students were both letrados and converso clerics suggests that their educational and religious background made them more receptive to the method and substance of scholastic argument than to the 0enaissance humanism they encountered at Basle. he early education of these letrados followed the same pattern as "#(*& that of the caballeros' young boys were taught reading, writing, and grammar while living at home7 they were then sent to live in the household of a prelate, where they mastered :atin7 read the classics, theology, and law7 and served in the prelate's household and chapel. At about the age of eighteen -- long after the age when a caballero ended his formal academic training -- a young cleric, supported by a benefice acquired through the efforts of his patron, went to a university where he followed the course of study for the licenciate in civil or canon law.-!5. Ance the student matured and an appropriate post became vacant, the patron secured an appointment for his student, and that ended the student's university career. hose students who had powerful patrons did not take the degrees for which they had supposedly been studying' many of them did not even

matriculate in the university7 and a few of them pursued their studies in &taly or %rance while they were waiting for their patrons to find posts for them. echnically, they were not letrados because they did not take higher degrees in law, but they regarded themselves as letrados. 9on Alfonso and his students were an ecclesiastical elite -- fluent in :atin, trained to argue in the categories and logic of the scholastics, filled with admiration for 0oman law. :ittle of this higher education was relevant to secular life in Castile, but it did give don Alfonso and his students a facility with the language and methods of the theology developed in %rance and with the few :atin works that had been produced in medieval Castile. 9on Alfonso, his family, and his students -- as clerics and converts -- may also have felt a special affinity with the religious attitudes of medieval works. he medieval :atin chronicles -- from &sidore to el oledano -- were written by clergy combatting the heresies of their own days and determined to enlist the monarchy as an ally in their crusade. Whether the religious enemy was Arian, Adoptionist, *uslim, or 2ewish, the medieval clerical historians and the letrados assumed that correct religious beliefs were efficacious in reforming society. he *endo(a's failure to produce histories that would counterbalance the letrados' tendency to mi+ history and religion opened the way for the letrados to become the uncontested formulators of Castilian religious policy. he *endo(a had been eclectic, pietistic, and tolerant in their religious beliefs in the early fifteenth century7 and as we shall see, they continued to hold these attitudes throughout the rastDmara period. But while the *endo(a held to this moderate position, both popular sentiment and official government policy shifted to a more intolerant attitude. he pace of popular uprisings against 2ews and conversos quickened in the politically turbulent years after mid-century7 and in the riots of "#(+& !""C, !"@=, and !"=" the crown had to use all its military and persuasive powers to defend 2ews and conversos from popular persecution. As the riots became more violent, however, the government's actions became less successful7 and in !"=#, the crown instituted a new policy designed both to protect the innocent and to allay the suspicions of the (ealous. &n its efforts to protect conversos from popular race pre)udice, the government established the &nquisition -- a )udicial institution that would assess a converso's Christianity on the basis of his beliefs and practices rather than his race. &t is no coincidence that this )udicial solution to a religious problem occurred )ust when the letrados, with their views of an allpowerful state, their legal training, and their concern for correct religious beliefs and practices replaced the aristocracy as the principal advisers of the crown. he first efforts at establishing an &nquisition were made by 3nrique &4, without success. But the Catholic *onarchs, with the cooperation of the pope, placed the &nquisition in the hands of the 9ominicans and %ranciscans, directly responsible to the monarchs and claiming )urisdiction in all parts of the kingdom, whether on royal, episcopal, or seigneurial lands. he establishment of the &nquisition is the first issue on which letrados and caballeros displayed overt opposition. Clearly there was a conflict of interest, since seigneurial lands would now be sub)ect to a )udiciary responsible to the crown instead of the seEor and to a written law instead of the customary )ustice typical of the seigneurial )urisdictions. &t was not the nobles but the letrados -- especially the graduates of the Colegio de 1an BartolomF at the Gniversity of 1alamanca -- who would profit from the &nquisition.-!6. An a more subtle level, the establishment of the &nquisition posed a serious challenge to the *endo(a's 0enaissance religious attitudes7 for the &nquisition was operating in response to and in accordance with a growing emphasis on works in 1panish religious life. his enthusiasm for works, typical of the rest of 3urope in the same period, has been imperfectly studied in 1pain7 but it seems to have had its earliest e+pression in attempts at monastic reform, e+panded in episcopal efforts to reform the secular clergy, and reached its most popular e+pression in the &nquisition, which e+tended the new standards of correct works to the laity.

here had been attempts to reform the monastic orders in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, which often went to e+tremes of austerity and devotionalism. /edro de 4illacreces -d. !"55., initiator of the Abservant reform among the %ranciscans around 4alladolid and Burgos, advocated an introspective and nonspeculative piety similar to the Imitatio Christi' "#(6& & received the master's degree at 1alamanca, which & didn't deserve, for & learned more weeping in the darkness in my cell than studying by candle in 1alamanca or in oulouse or in /aris.... ,ow foolish we are studying our sciences and being curious about the sins and defects of others and forgetting our own.... & would rather be a simple old man with the charity of the love of ;od and my neighbor than to know the theology of 1aint Augustine and of 1cotus the subtle doctor.-!". 1ome modern scholars of the movement have described this attitude as ?positive theology,? but it contained an element of anti-intellectualism that became popular among some %ranciscans in the late fifteenth century and profoundly affected the order's curriculum in the universities. 4illacreces urged his followers not to put study before humility, obedience, prayer, and devotion. he reading he prescribed for the reform avoided the liberal arts and civil and canon law and placed great emphasis on the Bible and its commentators, such as 8icholas of :ira7 but he advised against readings such as the Sumas de Casos or Bartolus. %urthermore, he cautioned the observants against a critical reading of the Bible itself' ?And let them read it with interest and not worry much about those passages where intricate questions occur, for you must know that all heresies arise from misunderstood and presumptuously interpreted ;ospels.?-!>. 4illacreces, like his contemporary, /edro :Hpe( de Ayala, re)ected theology as an approach to the religious life7 but in contrast to Ayala's humanist assumption that biblical passages ?where intricate questions occur? had been corrupted through centuries of miscopying and could be clarified by comparison of te+ts and the application of critical linguistic standards, it did not occur to 4illacreces that there might be error in the te+ts. ,e assumed that error arose from misinterpretation, and he regarded this with such horror that he en)oined his followers from engaging in any theological interpretation at all. his emphasis on austerity as a form of good works and the refusal to cultivate theology are typical of the reforms of the Augustinian and Benedictine orders at the same period and are closely related to the adoption of the 9evotio *oderna by the newly founded 2eronimites. Austerity combined with an aversion to theology seem also to have been important elements in the reform efforts of the fifteenthcentury 9ominicans around Burgos who had been supported by don Alfonso de Cartagena.-!@. All of the reform efforts in the orders in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are characteri(ed by their devotional spirit, their adoption of an "#(,& e+tremely austere life, often of an eremitical nature, their re)ection of theology, and their lack of coordination with one another, even within a single order. hey remained scattered both geographically and chronologically throughout the fifteenth century, despite the efforts of powerful and dedicated men like don Alfonso de Cartagena and cardinal 2uan de orquemada to unify and standardi(e them. 3ven cardinal Cisneros's famous reform of the %ranciscans did not long survive him.-!=. 9uring the reign of the Catholic *onarchs, many prelates, influenced by the reform movements in the orders, attempted to reform the regular clergy and settle the )urisdictional disputes that persisted between cathedral chapters and their bishops. he archbishops of oledo and 1eville repeatedly tried to reform the administration and )udiciary of their dioceses and to improve the education of their clergy by improving cathedral schools. he government also tried to reform the secular clergy. &n every succession crisis and every regential conflict after !6@=, the rastDmara kings naturally attempted to

mobili(e the church's resources in support of their dynastic interests. 3nrique &4 in !"=6, &sabel in !"#$, and %ernando in !>!5, all convened synods at a moment of crisis in an attempt to use the church's influence as political leverage. All of these synods were called under the prete+t of clerical reform, and all of them issued reform edicts, but none of these synods was successful either in reforming the clergy or in substantially aiding the monarchy.-!#. By the end of the reign of the Catholic *onarchs, neither the regular clergy nor the secular had been successfully reformed, but the reform of lay religious practices came to be regarded as a valid and desirable function of the letrados, operating through legal structures -- the government, the church hierarchy, and the &nquisition. hroughout western 3urope in the late fifteenth century, reformers were trying to meet the rising religious e+pectations of lay and clergy, while popular religious enthusiasms and an+iety encouraged the proliferation of good works -- pilgrimages, relics, cults, indulgences. &n 1pain, much of the leadership of both the reform effort and the emphasis on works was assumed by the letrados, who through the &nquisition focused the attention of their informants and their )udicial officials on e+amining the religious practices -- the works -- of the accused. he old attitude of the *endo(a -- that good works and correct religious practices were not efficacious if they were not prompted by sincere piety -- was now suspect. he *endo(a religious tradition and their position as the intellectual and cultural leaders of society were also weakened by new developments in education during the reign of the Catholic *onarchs. All through the rastDmara period, the universities fulfilled their function of training "#(%& lawyers for the royal courts and administration, while the royal and noble households were the intellectual centers of society. &n the reign of the Catholic *onarchs, the universities e+perienced a quantitative and qualitative e+pansion' the number of colleges and students multiplied, and the curriculum e+panded to include the humanist disciplines. hen, as the &nquisition moved from the earliest, most visible cases of suspected )udai(ing and began to take up the more comple+ problems of the Alumbrados and 3rasmians, the universities responded by adding theology to their curriculum. By the early si+teenth century, the universities had become the centers of both humanist and religious studies for the first time. o a great degree, the universities were filling a vacuum left by the decline of the noble and royal households as educational institutions. 3ducation in noble households had shaped two of the most significant humanist developments of the early fifteenth century -- the translation of the classics and the development of the vernacular as an effective rhetorical tool. &n their search for classical models of political thought and persuasion, the caballeros were active readers, collectors, and imitators of the classics. At this point, however, the defects in their education became a handicap and led to innovation. Without a good grasp of :atin, the caballeros found it difficult to understand the very works they were trying to imitate, much less to appreciate their synta+. o solve this problem, they commissioned translations they could use as supplements -- cribs -- in reading the :atin originals. he translator, in order best to assist the reader with the :atin original, made a literal translation without aiming for poetry or elegance. As a result of this practice, some of the earliest -- and worst -translations of the classics were made for fifteenth-century caballeros. o the caballeros, it did not matter that these translations were depressingly awful as vernacular literature. hey used them as aids to reading the :atin classics7 and although they were sensitive to the form and structure of the classics and imitated them with remarkable success, they were not linguistically equipped to appreciate the niceties of philology or linguistic criticism. he marquis of 1antillana did not feel confident in :atin7 so he maintained 9r. /edro 9<a( de oledo in his household as secretary and translator and commissioned translations of the Aeneid, Avid, and ,omer from both 3nrique de 4illena and his own son, the cardinal. Iet it was 1antillana, not the translators, who wrote e+cellent vernacular imitations of the Odes of ,orace.-!C.

he caballeros' defective education also had a profound -- but more positive -- effect on their own vernacular prose. &n contrast to the "#('& letrados, the caballeros wrote e+clusively in the vernacular7 and they modeled their prose on that of 1eneca, partly out of national pride because he was a 1paniard and partly in the belief that 1eneca's sentences were short and pithy. After the days of Alfonso J, el 1abio, brevity became the rhetorical ideal of the aristocracy7 and one of the highest praises a caballero could make of another was that he could e+press profound ideas in a few words. ;u(mDn, for e+ample, critici(ed 4ergil for covering a minimum of wisdom in a ma+imum of verbiage.-5$. ;u(mDn and his fellow caballero authors were not prepared to write in Ciceronian periods, even in the vernacular. 8evertheless, their mastery of imagery, pace, and structure in the writing of poetry enabled talented men such as Ayala or ;u(mDn to create masterpieces of rhetorical persuasion without a comple+ synta+ whenever the political situation demanded it. hrough their system of education, a family such as the *endo(a could hand down its family traditions -- the deeds of ancestors, rhetorical ideals, and aesthetic preferences. By the end of the century, this tradition had lost its innovative quality and no longer served to produce literary geniuses. he most famous educational institution of the fifteenth century was the ?poetic court? of 2uan && of Castile. &t is a tradition of 1panish intellectual history that the sons of the nobility were educated at the royal court and that the poetic court of 2uan && encouraged letters during the first half of the fifteenth century. When we e+amine the historical evidence for the royal court as a center of literary activity and as an educational center for the nobility, the theory turns out to have little substance. 2uan &&'s reputation as a patron of the arts rests upon the fact that ;u(mDn said he was fluent in :atin and the &talian humanist :eonardo Bruni wrote to him praising his love of study and the protection he gave to erudites. But 2uan && did not produce any work of literature, nor did he maintain any humanists at his court, nor did he commission the works dedicated to him by &talian humanists. hey seem to have been beguiled into dedicating works to him by 2uan's representatives at the Council of Basle, especially by don Alfonso de Cartagena, who has never received full credit for being one of the world's great public relations men.-5!. 1ince the received version of fifteenth-century 1panish history was developed by don Alfonso and his students, their view of 2uan && as a patron of letters became embedded in the traditional historiography of 1pain. &n the late nineteenth century, a %rench nobleman wrote a literary history concentrating on three poets of the reign of 2uan && -- 3nrique de 4illena, %ernDn /Fre( de ;u(mDn, and the marquis of 1antillana -- "#*)& and called his book La Cuor littraire de Don uan II.-55. his title seems to have influenced later scholarship on the period' it seems never to have occurred to later scholars to ask what connection these three poets had with the court of 2uan &&. &n point of fact, they had very little to do with it. 3nrique de 4illena, when he lived at court, lived in the royal court of Aragon. ;u(mDn produced his written works when he was living in his village of Batres, e+iled from the royal court by the disfavor of don Alvaro de :una. he marquis of 1antillana spent a total of three or four months at the court of 2uan && -- to make sure that the king kept his political promises. 9a((led by the supposed poetic court of the king, historians have simply assumed that the royal court was an important educational institution for the development of fifteenth-century humanism. But this too turns out to be without substance. 8o sons of the nobility that & have been able to trace were educated at the royal court. & have found only those who went as hostages for their families' good behavior in moments of political tension7 and this hardly seems like a favorable condition for humanist education at a court which did not have any humanists.-56. he only aristocrat educated at court that & have been able to find is don Alvaro de :una, 2uan &&'s favorite. As the son of an illegitimate branch of the Aragonese family of /edro de :una, the antipope Benedict J&&&, he was sent to the Castilian royal court at the age of eighteen to be a companion to the young 2uan &&.

9on Alvaro produced a respectable body of lyric poetry, received a torrent of favors from his king, became constable of Castile, and received a noble title. he traditional theory holds that the sons of the nobility were educated at the royal court to tie their families to the crown7 but the only case we have shows )ust the opposite' a child from the petty aristocracy -- and an illegitimate one at that -- became a nobleman because of the crown's ties to him.-5". &n some cases, orphans of aristocratic lineage went to the court for patronage' the future poet, ;arcilaso de la 4ega, and the future ;reat Captain, ;on(alo %ernDnde( de CHrdoba, for e+ample, went to the court of the Catholic *onarchs at about the age of eighteen to win military posts because they had no family connections to work through. wo humanists are traditionally considered to have been educated at the court of 2uan &&. he first was the chronicler, 9iego de 4alera, the son of a converso physician, who went to the court about the age of fifteen and served as a page for several years. As we have seen, however, 4alera moved from the royal court to the household and army of 1antillana before he was twenty-one. %or the ne+t forty years, he served "#*#& in private households and in foreign countries as representative of the king. ,is writing was done within the conte+t of these noble households rather than within the royal court. he second humanist was ,ernando del /ulgar, who was probably educated in the royal secretarial school in circumstances much less glamorous than those of a poetic court. he secretarial schools e+ercised a greater influence on fifteenth-century political theory and had a greater impact on modern Castilian historiography than anyone has suspected. By far the most important royal secretary of the fifteenth century was 9r. %ernDn 9<a( de oledo -d. !">=., a converso who took his degree in law. By the end of his life, he held the offices of royal refrendary, secretary, oidor, notario ma!or de los pri"ile#ios rodados, and relator. &n his own day, he was one of the most highly respected and active members of the royal household -- much favored by 2uan && and frequently mentioned in the chronicles as an administrator and member of the conse)o del rey. ,e has recently and )ustly become famous for his arguments against the 1tatutes of oledo, which e+cluded conversos from public office. &n his own household within 2uan &&'s ambulatory court, the relator maintained a school for training secretaries. his is probably where /ulgar received his training, for /ulgar tells us that he began serving in the king's court at an early age and that he remembers the way the boys were educated in the relator's household.-5>. ypically, the secretarial education consisted of learning to write legibly, spell correctly, and properly compose the royal documents. he training in the relator's household must have been e+ceptional in its :atin education, for the secretaries educated in his household included some of the :atin erudites of fifteenth-century Castile. hese included 9r. Alonso de *ontalvo7 the relator's sons, 9r. /edro 9<a( de oledo, :uis 9<a( de oledo, and %ernando 9ia( de oledo7 and ,ernando del /ulgar. /ulgar, in turn, claimed that he himself had educated more than forty boys in his own household. hese secretarial schools deserve a full-scale study, for %ernDn 9<a( and his successors formed one of the most influential intellectual schools of 1pain. he relator drew up or composed the royal documents. *ost of these, naturally, followed a set form, and any well-trained secretary could dictate them to a scrivener. But the reign of 2uan && was one of legal and political innovation, and the secretarial staff were called upon to draw up royal orders for which there were no formularies. &n this circumstance, it was the relator who provided arguments and rhetoric for unprecedented actions -which then became the formulae followed every time the crown resorted to this same action. he relator's formulation "#*$& of royal documents became the official line of argument. 1ince %ernDn 9<a( educated two of the most influential interpreters of royal policy during the reign of the Catholic *onarchs, it is not surprising that there is a consistency of political theory and rhetoric among the documents dictated by %ernDn 9<a(, the chronicles of /ulgar, and the legal redactions drawn up by *ontalvo. he high level of erudition and :atinity in the relator's household was e+ceptional, and the educational level of secretaries trained after his death seems to have been much inferior. %rancisco de

los Cobos, who became not only secretary to Charles 4 but also one of his most powerful administrators, never learned :atin though he was educated in the court of the Catholic *onarchs in the household of an uncle who was a minor royal secretary.-5@. As the private households and royal court failed to take the lead in education in the last years of the century, the universities took on a new role.-5=. At no time during the early rastDmara period were the universities the centers or promoters of Castilian intellectual life. his was true partly because of the university's weakness as a financial and corporate entity and partly because of the limitations of its curriculum. %rom the time of their foundation in the thirteenth century until late in the fifteenth century, 1panish universities suffered financial, staffing, and enrollment difficulties almost continuously. Alfonso J el 1abio endowed the Gniversity of 1alamanca in !5>5, but his son, 1ancho &4 -!5#"-!5C>., discontinued the endowment7 and the faculty went on strike so the university hardly functioned during his reign. %ernando &4 -!5C>- !6!5., reendowed the university, persuading the papacy to allow tithes to be used for this endowment, but later the papacy retracted this permission, the endowment lapsed, and the faculty struck again. &n the mid-fourteenth century, the papacy itself endowed the university, established direct control over the curriculum, and licensed a new university in 4alladolid. he universities continued to falter, and the reform initiative passed to the episcopate. he one reform to have important impact on 1panish university life was the establishment of scholarship colleges within the university. he first of these was the Colegio de 1an Clemente, established in the Gniversity of Bologna by cardinal ;il Alvare( de Alborno(. Alborno( was (ealous in his efforts to promote the better education of the clergy. As archbishop of oledo, he had issued an order in !65C giving each church in the archdiocese si+ months to send one out of every ten of its clerics away for higher studies, to conform with the decree of the provincial council of 4alladolid in !655. &n his will, drawn up in !6@", he endowed the Colegio de 1an Clemente as a scholarship "#*(& college for thirty 1panish students to ?obviate, by the setting up of this house, the ignorance of the 1paniards among whom the knowledge of letters and the number of trained men have been much reduced because of the crises of wars and innumerable disasters which befell this province in his own time.?-5#. his scholarship college, the model for university innovations, was itself modeled on colleges in southern %rance, which in sheer numbers and in pro+imity to the patronage of the Avignonese popes had probably been the most important centers of education for 1paniards in the fourteenth century. Alborno( himself had done his law studies at the Gniversity of oulouse7 and in the last decade of the fourteenth century, there were about three hundred thirty 1paniards studying in Avignon, oulouse, and /erpignan.-5C. &nspired by the success of these scholarship colleges abroad, 9iego de Anaya, bishop of 1alamanca, established a similar scholarship college for fifteen students at 1alamanca in !"$!. his Colegio de 1an BartolomF became the most powerful and most prestigious educational institution in the peninsula7 and by the si+teenth century, membership there was the surest route to a position in certain key government posts. 9uring most of the fifteenth century, 1panish higher education remained as it had been at the time of Anaya's foundation -- two scholarship colleges of high prestige -one of them outside of 1pain., a limited faculty, and a small number of graduates taking higher degrees. A new phase of university reform came in the last quarter of the century. &n !"=C, cardinal *endo(a received papal license for the Colegio de 1anta Cru( in the Gniversity of 4alladolid. his college provided twenty-seven scholarships and began functioning definitively in !"C!. Cardinal *endo(a's college was the first of eight scholarship colleges founded in a burst of episcopal reforming (eal from !"=C to !>5>. Af all these, only the Colegio de Cuenca, established in 1alamanca in !>$$ by 9iego 0am<re( de 4illaescusa while he was bishop of Cuenca, came close to matching the Colegio de 1an BartolomF in prestige7 but the

greatly e+panded number of university graduates in Castile and their ability to gain access to the ma)or governmental posts of the ,apsburg government made the universities, for the first time, important centers of education for public administrators in Castile. While financial and organi(ational difficulties militated against the university's playing an important role in Castilian intellectual life during most of the fifteenth century, the university curriculum itself worked against the possibility of producing humanists. %rom the very beginning, the Castilian university was intended to promote the legal profession7 "#**& and through one reform after another, this is precisely what it did. 3ven though custom was the basis of most legal proceedings, the precepts of 0oman law were regarded as the model of legal argument. he reading of 0oman law, in its medieval redactions as canon and civil law, formed the core of the university curriculum. &n order to equip the student for this reading, undergraduates were given a thorough training in :atin, lectures were given in :atin, and students were forbidden to use the vernacular in the classroom or during school hours. his, at least, was the ideal. &n fact, papal and episcopal reformers repeatedly found that the students were using the vernacular, and sometimes even the lectures were being given in the vernacular. 1till, since the vernacular had officially been the language of government and )udiciary throughout the peninsula since the thirteenth century, the university was the only institution in Castile where :atin was spoken on a daily basis7 and a university degree was associated, in fact and in the popular mind, with fluency in :atin. 9espite this proficiency in :atin, the universities did not provide an opportunity to study the language as a humanistic discipline. 8or did the 1panish faculty follow the philological methods the Gniversity of Bologna was applying to the study of the law in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. here was a rilingual chair at the Gniversity of 1alamanca, but throughout the fifteenth century its lectures were given by faculty proficient only in ,ebrew. 3ven this instruction seems to have been of poor quality, since the lecturers were not able to make the appropriate analogies with :atin grammar and rhetoric. /erhaps because of its mediocrity, there were never more than seven or eight students enrolled in the course. &n !>!!, the rector tried to give the rilingual chair to ,ernDn 8KEe(, who was fluent in ;reek, ,ebrew, and :atin7 but the faculty refused to accept this appointment on the grounds that the converso Alonso de Lamora, who had been giving the ,ebrew lectures, would be thrown into unemployment after years of service. ;iven a choice between improving the quality of humanist education and protecting faculty tenure rights, the faculty chose to protect tenure.-6$. As a result of these deficiencies, the universities had not produced humanists. he letrados were rightly regarded as Castile's masters of :atinity, but Castile's humanists had been caballeros, not letrados. All of this changed during the reign of the Catholic *onarchs. he presence of a large number of students selected solely on the basis of scholarship, the prestige of the colleges' patrons, the universities' publishing facilities, and the very good salaries they offered, attracted 1pain's greatest humanists back from &taly to the 1panish universities as lecturers "#*+& in ;reek, grammar, and rhetoric. his shift of patronage to the universities and away from the households of the nobility and prelates had a striking effect on the type of scholarship published in Castle. he old pattern of scholars spending their lives in the households of noblemen or prelates, shaping their research and literary production to suit the taste of their patrons, and adding the luster of their erudition to an intellectual tradition peculiar to each household was now e+changed for a pattern centered upon the international tastes and standards of the universities. 9uring the reign of the Catholic *onarchs, the ?stars? of the new faculties were Antonio de 8ebri)a and ,ernDn 8KEe(, and their careers are indicative of the most important shifts in the intellectual focus of the period. 8ebri)a -!""!M-!>55. studied briefly at 1alamanca and then spent ten years as a student in the 1panish College at Bologna.-6!. ,e returned to 1pain about !"=$ and entered the household of his patron, Alonso de %onseca, archbishop of 1eville. After %onseca's death, 8ebri)a may have lectured

at 1alamanca for a few years. ,e then entered the household of don 2uan de LKEiga, where he remained until about !"C6. &n !>$5, cardinal Cisneros appointed him to the team revising the ;reek and :atin te+ts of the /olyglot Bible7 but 8ebri)a quickly antagoni(ed 9iego :Hpe( de LKEiga, the head of the team, and then 9iego de 9e(a, the inquisitor general. 9e(a sei(ed 8ebri)a's papers, 8ebri)a left the /olyglot pro)ect and AlcalD7 and in !>$", received the chair of grammar at 1alamanca. ,e returned to AlcalD as lecturer in rhetoric in !>!" and remained in that university until his death in !>55. 8ebri)a was a contentious character with many pet peeves, and he was involved in so many academic conflicts during his career that he is described as ?the Gnamuno of his day.?-65. ,ernDn 8KEe( -!"=$M-!>>6. studied at 4alladolid and then at Bologna.-66. ,e probably spent eight years at Bologna, returning to 1pain !!! !"C# to serve in a ducal household in 1eville. ,e later took his father's seat in the city council of ;ranada, where he en)oyed the hospitality and patronage of endilla. &n !>!5, he went to AlcalD as an assistant to a ;reek professor where he became a member of the ;reek and :atin team of the /olyglot Bible. he ne+t year, he received the rilingual chair at AlcalD7 but he fell into disfavor because of his participation in the Communero revolt in !>5$. &n !>56, he received the chair of ;reek at 1alamanca and in !>5= the chair of rhetoric, which he filled until his retirement. he move of 8ebri)a and 8KEe( from private patronage to the faculties of the universities was matched by a shift in their linguistic interests. "#*6& While in endilla's household, 8KEe( published a commentary on the Laberintho of 2uan de *ena -!"CC and !>$>. and a translation of Aeneas 1ylvius's Historia de $ohemia -!>$C.. Both of these are 1panish works, and their publication reflects the literary taste of endilla. After 8KEe( moved to the university faculties, he published critical :atin editions of 1eneca, /liny, and /omponius *ela. 8ebri)a made the same shift' while he was still in the household of don 2uan de LKEiga, he published his most famous work, the %ram&tica de la len#ua espa'ola -!"C5.7 after be moved to the universities, all of his publications were in :atin -- critical editions of the early Christian poets, /rudentius and 1edulius, a history of %ernando's conquest of 8avarre, and a translation of /ulgar's history of the early years of the reign of the Catholic *onarchs.-6". Both 8ebri)a and 8KEe( were influenced by their noble patrons' preference for the ?1panish? 0omans, but by making critical editions of the :atin, rather than translations into the vernacular, they addressed their works to an international community of scholars instead of a Castilian audience. he noble patrons, with their imperfect knowledge of :atin and their ignorance of the philological methods developed at Bologna, could not even appreciate the accomplishments of these humanists, much less participate in or give leadership to their efforts. /rivate patrons were also e+cluded from an active role in intellectual life by changes in the university curriculum. *ost of the colleges founded during the reign of the Catholic *onarchs simply e+panded programs that were already strongly established in Castilian universities. he one significant innovation was cardinal Cisneros's insistence that at AlcalD the emphasis would be upon religion rather than law. %rom the first university foundations in the thirteenth century until the first decade of the si+teenth century, theology had been neglected. &n his theoretical work, the Siete partidas, Alfonso J el 1abio defined the university as a corporation of masters and students established in a specific place with the intention of pursuing knowledge in the arts -- including grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, and astrology -- and the law. Alfonso believed that ?the science of law is the fount of )ustice and the world benefits more from it than from any other science.? his theoretical regard for the law above all other disciplines was reflected in hard cash. Alfonso's endowment of chairs in the Gniversity of 1alamanca gave the highest salaries by far to the law professors. And no chair was provided in theology.

When the papacy assumed control of the curriculum a century later, an effort was made to introduce theology7 and in !6>>, a doctor of theology is mentioned as a member of the faculty for the first time. As "#*,& little as this may seem, more attention was being paid to theology in 1alamanca than in the rest of the peninsula. heology was not studied in the /ortuguese university until the mid-fifteenth century.-6>. he Aragonese Gniversity of :Frida, founded in !6$$, had no faculty in theology or 1criptures until !"6$. And the papacy, in its license granted in !6"@, e+pressly forbade the teaching of theology at the Gniversity of 4alladolid. he first serious effort to establish theology as a regular discipline in the peninsula came in !6#! when the papal legate from Avignon, cardinal /edro de :una, instituted three chairs of theology in 1alamanca. 3ither competent personnel were lacking to fill these chairs or there was not enough interest to keep them going, for in !6#! only one chair in theology was filled, and by !6C6 they were all vacant. Cardinal :una's attempt to establish theology at 4alladolid at the same time seems to have produced no result at all. As antipope Benedict J&&&, :una made a more successful reform in !"!@, establishing two chairs of theology within the Gniversity of 1alamanca and one each in the %ranciscan and 9ominican monasteries attached to the university. 9espite these papal efforts, theology did not prosper in the 1panish universities. he great names among 1alamanca's alumni were graduates in law, such as Alonso de *adrigal, el ostado7 and the only 1panish theologians of note during the fifteenth century, don /ablo de 1anta *ar<a and cardinal 2uan de orquemada, received their theological education at /aris. he new scholarship colleges reinforced this emphasis on law. Cardinal Alborno('s Colegio de 1an Clemente at Bologna provided eight scholarships in theology and twenty-four in canon law. Cardinal *endo(a's Colegio de 1anta Cru( had scholarships for si+ students of theology, thirteen in canon law, three in civil law, two in medicine, and three chaplains. he first attempt to deviate from this traditional emphasis occurred in the reign of %ernando and &sabel when fray Alonso de Burgos, by the terms of his will, founded a college of theology -- 1an ;regorio -at the Gniversity of 4alladolid7 but work on the building does not seem to have begun until after !"##7 and the college suffered many difficulties before it finally began lectures some years later. he first successful shift from the law was made by cardinal Cisneros, who established the Colegio de 1an &ldefonso as the first of several colleges which opened between !>$# and !>5# and made up a new university, the Gniversity of AlcalD de ,enares. Cisneros specifically wanted to avoid the emphasis on law that seemed to overwhelm the curriculum of the established universities because he wanted to educate the 1panish clergy in their religious role as pastors and missionaries. ypically Castilian and Abservant, however, "#*%& Cisneros did not consider theology essential to religious education, and the theology college was one of the last to be added to the university. he curriculum at 1an &ldefonso was distinguished from that of other universities in 1pain principally by the absence of law courses and by an emphasis on biblical and patristic studies. 1ince these studies ideally required a knowledge of several ancient languages, ;reek and ,ebrew were emphasi(ed in the arts curriculum, and the Gniversity of AlcalD reached its full development along these lines in !>5# with the opening of the rilingual college. his college was dedicated to 1t. 2erome, the patron of biblical studies, and provided thirty scholarships' twelve in :atinity and rhetoric, twelve in ;reek, and si+ in ,ebrew. Cisneros's attempt to combine humanist philological methods with biblical studies, however, caused serious problems. hese began during Cisneros' lifetime in the work on the /olyglot Bible and continued to plague the university throughout the si+teenth century. 8ebri)a, as soon as he began work on the /olyglot, aroused the suspicions of the &nquisition by his strictly linguistic translation without regard to theology. 8ebri)a believed that his purpose on the /olyglot should be to find the true meaning

and intentions of the 1criptures -- an attitude he never abandoned. &n the dedication of his Prudentii Opera -!>!5., he defended this approach to the 1criptures, arguing that Christian doctrine should be made available in the most reliable editions and that all the Christian sources should be sub)ected to the same linguistic criticism applied to the pagan classics' their grammatical errors should be noted and their word usage should be analy(ed in terms of its own time and place. he inquisitor general, 9iego de 9e(a, saw this te+tual correction as an abuse that compromised the authority of the theologians and the tranquility of the church's theology. As we have seen, 8ebri)a was removed from the /olyglot pro)ect because of these attitudes, and the remaining team members complied with 9e(a's views.-6@. he resolution of this dispute significantly hindered the development of a new humanist curriculum at AlcalD, without freeing theological studies from philological criteria. his confusion, combined with the typical %ranciscan proclivity for re)ecting intellectual pursuits in favor of the Abservant life, produced alternating periods of caution and confidence in both humanist and theological studies at AlcalD throughout the si+teenth century.-6=. Cisneros's fears of the power of legal studies to overwhelm any effort to emphasi(e religion in the university curriculum was )ustified in retrospect by the fate of the most serious attempt to make theology an important part of 1panish university life. his attempt was made by the prior of the 9ominican house at the Gniversity of 1alamanca, 2uan ,urtado de "#*'& *endo(a -d. !>5>..-6#. Before he came to 1an 3steban, *endo(a had formed an Abservant circle in the 9ominican house in :a /iedrahita -1alamanca., where he was one of the most enthusiastic supporters of a local beata, sor *ar<a. But he became so e+treme in his austerity and spiritualism that the provincial, ;arc<a de :oaisa, dissolved the group and disciplined *endo(a. *endo(a himself turned against the beata7 and to combat the dangers of e+treme pietism, began to emphasi(e the ministerial functions of the order. As prior of 1an 3steban after !>!C, he made it into one of the most austere houses of the order, but he also actively sought out and brought into the order a growing number of bright young men whom he trained as scholars. 1ince the level of theological training in Castile was still elementary, he sent the most promising of his students to /aris for advanced theological degrees. he result was that the best of his students -- %rancisco de 4itoria, 9omingo de 1oto, and %rancisco 1uDre( - returned from /aris brilliantly equipped to teach theology. he tradition of legal studies was so strong in the 1panish universities, however, that theology became the servant of law, and the 9ominican theologians began to apply the assumptions and methods of theology to the pressing legal and moral problems of the new 1panish 3mpire. his new infusion of the theology of /aris into the traditional legal curriculum was the glory of the Gniversity of 1alamanca in the si+teenth century. By mid-century, the influence and skill of these /aris-educated 1paniards was so great that they were able to dominate the Council of rent's deliberations on the crucial issue of )ustification.-6C. hese developments in the universities in the reign of the Catholic *onarchs had the greatest impact on the intellectual and religious life of Castile. he noble houses could not compete with the universities in offering lucrative salaries to the &talian-trained humanists who had educated the children of the aristocracy and added luster to the literary reputations of their patrons during the previous century. When the humanists moved to the universities, they left behind the literary interests and language of the private patrons and took up those of the professional scholars. he noble households were losing intellectual prestige while the universities acquired new stature as the training ground of government administrators and the most active publishing centers of Castile. he letrado theories would be embodied in the decrees of the conse)o real, shaping the religious life of Castile through the &nquisition and becoming the most prestigious intellectual attitudes of the reign of the Catholic *onarchs.

8otes for Chapter 1i+ !. 3lliott, Imperial Spain, p. C$. 5. hese are the conclusions drawn by William 9. /hillips, 2r., (nri)ue *+ and the Crisis of ,ifteenthCentur! Castile. */01-*/23, Cambridge, *ass., !C=#. 6. Antonio *atilla ascHn, ed., Declaratorias de los Re!es Cat4licos sobre reducci4n de 5uros ! otras mercedes. *adrid, !C>5, pp. !-@$. he same point is made by 1tephen ,alic(er, ? he Castilian Aristocracy and the *ercedes 0eform of !"=#-!"#5,? ,ispanic American ,istorical Re"ie6, >> -!C=>. ""C-"@=. ". :oren(o ;al<nde( de Carva)al, ?&nforme que diH al emperador Carlos 4 sobre los que compon<an el Conse)o 0eal de 1.*.,? Codoin, &, !55-!5=. >. ,ayward Neniston, ,rancisco de los Cobos. Secretar! of the (mperor Charles +, /ittsburgh, !C>#. @. he medieval chronicle that served as the principal model was 0odrigo 2imFne( de 0ada, De Rebus Hispaniae in Opera, ed. %rancisco :oren(ana, *adrid, !=C6, reprint, 4alencia, !C@#, especially :ib. &, Capit. 4&&, 4&&&. =. Albert A. 1icroff, Les Contro"erses des statuts de 7Puret de san#7 en (spa#ne du 8+e si9cle, /aris, !C@$, pp. 6!-@57 Alfonso de Cartagena, Defensorium unitatis christianae: ;ratados en fa"or de los 5ud<os con"ersos, ed. *anuel Alonso, *adrid, !C"6. #. &n addition to ate, see don Alfonso's covering letter to %ernDn /Fre( de ;u(mDn, %eneraciones, ed. 9om<ngue( Bordona, pp. 5!=-5!C. C. 4icente BeltrDn de ,eredia, ?:os comien(os de la reforma dominicana en Castilla particularmente en el convento de 1an 3steban de 1alamanca y su irradiaciHn a la provincia de /ortugal,? Archi"um ,ratrum Praedicatorum, 5# -!C>#., 55!-56=. !$. 1ee a summary and e+tension of this interpretation in Attavio di Camillo, ?1panish ,umanism in the %ifteenth Century,? /h.9. diss., Iale Gniversity, !C=5. !!. 1ee A. Birkenmaier, ?9er 1treit des Alonso von Cartagena mit :.B. Aretino,? $eitr=#e >ur %eschichte der Philosophie des Mittelalters 5$, ,eft > -!C55., !5C-56@7 2errold 3. 1eigel, Rhetoric and Philosoph! in Renaissance Humanism, /rinceton, !C@=, pp. !56-!667 ;eorge ,olmes, ;he ,lorentine (nli#htenment, !"$$-!">$, 8ew Iork, !C@C, p. !!", where don Alfonso's argument is described as ?the only serious attack on humanist philosophy from the scholastic camp which has come down to us.? !5. 0ichard Nagan, Students and Societ! in (arl! Modern Spain, Baltimore, !C=". !6. ,enry Namen, ;he Spanish In)uisition, 8ew Iork, !C@>7 proposes the thesis that it was the nobility who initiated the &nquisition and profited from it at the e+pense of the bourgeoisie. !". Cited by *elqu<ades AndrFs *art<n, Historia de la ;eolo#<a en (spa'a. */?3-*1?3, 0ome, !C@5, pp. !$5-!$6. An the %ranciscan reforms in general, see Archi"o Ibero-Americano: Las reformas en los si#los 8I+-8+. introducci4n a los or<#ines de la obser"ancia en (spa'a, *adrid, !C>#7 and %idel de :e)ar(a and Angel Gribe, ?OCuDndo y dHnde comen(H 4illacreces su 0eformaM? Archi"o IberoAmericano, ser. 5, 5$ -!C@$., =C-C". !>. AndrFs *art<n, ?3vangelismo,? p. =. !@. %or a summary of recent work on fifteenth-century reform in Castile, see :. 1ala Balust,

?3spiritualidad espaEola en la primera mitad del siglo J4&,? Cuadernos de Historia, ! -!C@=., !@C!#=. he 9ominican reform in the late fifteenth century has been e+tensively studied by 4icente BeltrDn de ,eredia, ?:os comien(os de la reforma dominicana en Castilla particularmente en el convento de 1an 3stFban de 1alamanca y su irradiaciHn a la provincia de /ortugal,? Archi"um ,ratrum Praedicatorum, 5# -!C>#., 55!-56=7 idem, Los corrientes de espiritualidad entre los Dominicos de Castilla durante la primera mitad del si#lo 8+I, 1alamanca, !C"!7 idem, Historia de la reforma de la Pro"incia de (spa'a. */13-*113, 0ome, !C6C. !=. 0ecent work on the reforms tends to reduce the significance of individual reformers, such as Cisneros, in contrast to earlier works which are summari(ed in 0. Aubenas and 0obert 0icard, L@(#lise et la Renaissance. *//A-*1*?, ,istoire de l'3glise, vol. J4, ed. Augustin %liche and 4ictor *artin, /aris, n. p., !C>!. !#. A(cona, La elecci4n7 ,ubert 2edin, Council of ;rent, &, !>"7 Cotarelo, ,ra! Die#o de De>a, p. !6!7 4aldFon, (nri)ue II, p. 6!>7 A(cona, ?3l tipo ideal,? pp. 5!-@". !C. An 1antillana's use of :atin models, see %ernando 0ubio, ?De Re#imine Principum de 3gidio 0omano en la literatura Castellana de la 3dad *edia, siglo J4,? Ciudad de Dios P0eal *onasterio de el 3scorialQ, !=" -!C@!., pp. @>#-@@57 :apesa, ?:a cultura literaria,? pp. !5!-!5". An translations commissioned by ;u(mDn, see 9om<ngue( Bordona, /rHlogo to %eneraciones by %ernDn /Fre( de ;u(mDn, pp. ++iii-++vi. An 9r. /edro 9<a( de oledo's translations, see Adolfo Bonilla y 1an *art<n, Ion. di&lo#o plat4nico. traducido del #rie#o por Afanto Ucale#o, *adrid, !C$!, pp. i+-++v7 *arcel Bataillon, (rasmo ! (spa'a, *e+ico, !C>$, &, >$->!. 5$. ?Con singular elegancia, la poca e pobre substancia con verbosidad ornando,? Loores, p. 5$C, cited by 0omero, Sobre la bio#rafia, p. !!6. Alfonso J el 1abio had said, ?8on convenie a rey de ser muy fablador... porque el uso de las muchas palabras envilece al que las dice,? and ?3l home debe fablar en pocas palabras,? Siete Partidas, &&, 5!-55. ,is nephew, don 2uan *anuel, advised, ?3t poniendo declaradamente cumplida la ra(on que quiere decir, ponelo con las menos palabras que pueden seer.? Libro de los estados, cited by %aulhaber, Latin Rhetorical ;heor!. p. =". %or 1panish use of 1eneca, see Narl Alfred BlRher, Seneca in SpanienB Untersuchun#en >ur %eschichte der Seneca-Re>eption in Spanien "om *C: bis *?: ahrhundert, *unich, !C@C. 5!. :etter of = 9ecember !"6>, in B8, *1 !$.5!", cited by Adolfo Bonilla y 1an *artin, ,ernando de C4rdoba DE*/01-*/2FGH or<#enes del Renacimiento filos4fico en (spa'aB (pisodio de la historia de la l4#ica, *adrid, !C!!, p. 5C. 9on Alfonso also took the opportunity. while he was in Basle, to have his father's work, 1crutinium Scripturarum, ?published.? he library of the Gniversity of Basle possesses a manuscript of this, copied by Albert :Sffler von 0heinfelden, 9ominican, who included the following note' ?Allata autem est materia huius libri per ,yspanos ad sacrum concilium Basiliense, quod viguit etiam tempere iam dicto.? Cited by 0omero de :ecea, (l + centenario, p. 65. 55. hFodore, le conte de /uymaigre, La Cour littraire de Don uan II. roi de Castille, 5 vols., /aris, !#=67 *arcelino *enFnde( y /elayo, Poetas de la corte de don uan II, *adrid, !C"6. 56. 1ee, for e+ample, 1uDre(, ?/roblemas,? p. 5!$. 5". Alvaro de :una, Libro de las "irtuosas e claras mu5eres, ed. *arcelino *enFnde( y /elayo, in ColecciHn de libros publicados por la 1ociedad de BibliHfilos 3spaEoles, *adrid, !#C5, vol. 5#7 ;reen, Spain, &, C$-C!. 5>. Gnless otherwise noted, the following section on secretarial education at the royal court is my own interpretation, based on the following' 8icholas ;. 0ound, ?/olitics, 1tyle and ;roup Attitudes in the Instrucci4n del Relator,? $ulletin of Hispanic Studies, "@ -!C@C., 5#C-6!C7 Cr4nica de uan II7 2uan Batista Avalle-Arce, ?:os here)es de 9urango,? Homena5e a Rodr<)ue>-Mo'ino, *adrid, !C@@, &, ""-

>>7 A;1, 0egistro ;eneral del 1ello, :eg. C=, 1egovia, 56 2anuary !"=>7 :eg. !!@, 1eville, 5$ 2anuary !"=#7 :eg. 6=C, 4alladolid, 5 April !"=>7 :eg. 666C, 1eville, 5# 9ecember !"==T!"=#T7 %erm<n Caballero, (lo#io del doctor Alonso de Montal"o, *adrid, !C>$7 ,ernando del /ulgar, Letras. %losa a las coplas de Min#o Re"ul#o, ed. 2. 9om<ngue( Bordona, *adrid, !C5C. 5@. Neniston, ,rancisco de los Cobos, p. =. 5=. An the history of 1panish universities and colleges, see Alfonso J, Siete Partidas, /artida &&7 ;eorge *. Addy, ;he (nli#htenment in the Uni"ersit! of Salamanca, 9urham, 8. C., !C@@7 C.*. A)o ;on(Dle( y 1Din( de LKEiga, Historia de las uni"ersidades hisp&nicasB or<#enes ! desarrollo desde su aparici4n hasta nuestros d<as. "ol: *. Medioe"o ! renacimiento uni"ersitario, *adrid, !C>=7 *ariano Alcocer y *art<ne(, Historia de la Uni"ersidad de +alladolid, 4alladolid, !C!#-!C557 ;on(alo de Arriaga, Historia del Cole#io de San %re#orio de +alladolid, 4alladolid, !C5@7 3. 3sperabF Arteaga, Historia de la Uni"ersidad de Salamanca, vol. &, 1alamanca, !C!"7 *ar<a %ebrero :oren(o, La peda#o#<a de los cole#ios ma!ores a tra"s de su le#islaci4n en el si#lo de oro, *adrid, !C@$7 4icente de la %uente, Historia de las uni"ersidades. cole#ios ! demas establecimientos de ense'an>a en (spa'a, vol. !, (dad Media, *adrid, i##>7 idem, La ense'an>a tom<stica en (spa'aI Joticia de las uni"ersidades. cole#ios ! academias tom<sticos con las fundaciones de ellas ! sus c&tedras principales. *adrid, !#="7 Albert 2imFne(, Historia de la uni"ersidad espa'ola, *adrid, !C=!7 Nagan, Students and Societ!7 2osef Nohler, ?9ie spanische 1chule von 1alamanca im 1iglo de Aro,? Archi" fKr Rechtsund Lirtschaftsphilosophie, !$ -!C!@., 56@ ff.7 C. :ascaris Comneno, Cole#ios ma!ores, *adrid, !C>57 9iego :Hpe( de Ayala, ?Constitutc<ones del Colegio de 1ta. Catalina de oledo,? B8, *1 C667 2osF :Hpe( 8avio, ?9on 2uan de %onseca, CanHnigo *aestrescuela de 1evilla,? Archi"o Hispalense, !5@!5= -!C@"., #6-!5#7 2osF :Hpe( 0ueda, Helenistas espa'oles del si#lo 8+I, *adrid, !C=67 %rancisco *art<n ,ernDnde(, La formaci4n clerical en los cole#ios uni"ersitarios espa'oles. *C?*-*1FC, 4itoria, !C@!7 idem, Los seminarios espa'olesB Historia ! peda#o#<a, vol. &, !>@6-!=$$, 1alamanca, !C@"7 2. /uyols, (l Cole#io Ma!or de Santa Cru> ! los Cole#ios Ma!ores, *adrid, !C5C7 ;ustave 0eynier, La +ie uni"ersitaire dans l@ancienne (spa#ne, /aris, !C$57 2osF de 0K)ula y de Achoterna, Indice de los cole#iales del ma!or de San Ildefonso ! menores de Alcal&, *adrid, !C"@7 Antonio de la orre y del Cerro, :a Uni"ersidad de Alcal&, *adrid. !C!$7 %Fli+ ;on(Dle( Almedo, Die#o Ram<re> +illaescusa. D*/1A-*1C?H. fundador del Cole#io de Cuenca ! autor de 7Los cuatro di&lo#os sobre la muerte del pr<nciple don uan.7 *adrid, !C"". 5#. Cited in *arti, ;he Spanish Colle#e, pp. 6!-65. 1ee also 4erdera, (l Cardenal Alborno> ! el Cole#io de (spa'a. 5C. 0ius 1erra, ?3studiants.? 6$. 4icente BeltrDn de ,eredia, ?8ebri)a y los teHlogos de 1an 3steban de principio del siglo J4&,? La Ciencia ;omista, @! -!C"!., 6=-@>. 6!. An 8ebri)a as a historian and professor, see B. 1Dnche( Alonso, ?8ebri)a historiador,? Re"ista de ,ilolo#<a (spa'ola, 5C -!C">., !5C-!>57 &.;. ;on(Dle( :lubera, Jebri5a. %ram&tica de la len#ua espa'ola, A+ford, !C5@7 %eli+ ;on(Dle( Almedo, Humanistas ! peda#o#os espa'olesB Jebri5a D*//**100H. debelador de la barbarie. comentador eclesi&stico. peda#o#o. poeta, *adrid, !C"57 idem, Jebri5a en Salamanca D*/?1-*1*CH, *adrid, !C""7 /. :emus y 0ubio, ?3l maestro 3lio Antonio de :ebri+a,? Re"ue Hispani)ue, 55 -!C!$., ">C->$#7 5C -!C!6., !6-!5$. 65. AndrFs *art<n, ?3vangelismo,? p. 5>. 66. %or the life of ,ernDn 8KEe( see ,elen 8ader, ? he ;reek Commander ,ernDn 8KEe( de oledo, 1panish ,umanist and Civic :eader,? Renaissance Muarterl!, winter !C=C7 for his works see *aria 9olores de As<s, ,ernDn JN'e> en la historia de los estudios cl&sicos, *adrid, !C==.

6". Bahner, La lin#u<stica espa'ola, pp. 6@-@6. 6>. A.,. de Aliveira *arques. Dail! Life in Portu#al in the Late Middle A#es, trans. 1.1. Wyatt, *adison, Wis., !C=!, p. 5667 %riedrich 1tegmRller, ,ilosofia e teolo#ia nas Uni"ersidades de Coimbra e ("ora no Scolo 8+I, Coimbra, !C>C. 6@. Bataillon, (rasmo ! (spa'a, pp. 5"-"=. 6=. 4icente BeltrDn de ,eredia, ?:a eolog<a en la Gniversidad de AlcalD,? Re"ista (spa'ola de ;eolo#<a, > -!C">., "$@-"!=7 AndrFs *art<n, Historia de la teolo#<a, pp. !$C-!5$. 6#. BeltrDn de ,eredia, Corrientes, pp. !=-5$7 Aubenas, L@(#lise et la Renaissance, pp. 6$C-6!$. 6C. 1ee Chapter 4&&&, note >@.