Luis de León (Laura Laudeman)
Luis de León was born in Aragon in 1528 to a wealthy, noble
family. He was ethnically Jewish, but his family had converted to Roman
Catholicism. When he was fourteen years old, he was sent to the University of
Salamanca to study law. There he was introduced to and embraced Humanist ideas.
Six months after beginning his studies at Salamanca, León entered an
Augustinian convent. Once he had obtained his degrees, he was appointed chair
of theology. He was also a respected authority on Hebrew.
Luis de León’s career at
the University of Salamanca coincided with the
Counter Reformation of the Catholic Church, and his Humanist philosophies
landed him in hot water with Inquisition authorities. After the Council of
Trent established the Latin Vulgate as the preferred translation of the Bible,
there was controversy among de León’s theologian colleagues at the university
about the decision. Several continued to reference Hebrew translations in their
courses and academic writing, including de León. He sometimes expressed
unorthodox opinions as a result of his knowledge of Hebrew and Greek, and also
attracted criticism for his critiques of his colleagues’ “imperfect
understanding” of texts, as well as for his numerous translations of sacred
Greek and Latin texts into Spanish, which was at the time illegal. He was
arrested and imprisoned by the Inquisition in 1592 not for the crime of heresy
itself, but for provoking and condoning it. He was treated brutally while in
prison, but it was there that he began writing some of his most well-known
works. His trial lasted nearly five years, and he was initially found guilty
and sentenced to the rack. But, nine days later the decision was reversed and
he was acquitted. His position at the university was restored and he was warned
to be more cautious in his teaching. De León resigned from his chair, however,
and satisfied himself with an adjunct-type teaching position instead.
Apart from
being a friar and an academic, Luis de León is also recognized as one of the great
lyric poets of the Spanish Golden Age. Much of his original poetry deals with
religious subjects and takes on a sincere, intimate tone, sometimes even
expressing feelings of self-doubt. Other poems of his are translations of the
work of such classical figures as Horace, Vergil, and Euripides. His original
poems and his classical translations are both praised for their melodious sound
quality and simple but elegant diction. He is also noted for his two major
works of prose, Los nombres de Cristo (in English, The Names of Christ)
and La perfecta casada (in English, The
Perfect Wife). Nombres interprets the various names for Christ that
are found in the Bible and is written in the dialogue format popularized by
another prominent Humanist, Erasmus. Casada is de León’s interpretation
of the Proverbs of Solomon and is a didactic moral guide intended for young
newlywed women. It paints a picture of the duties of a Christian wife.
Sources:
Dégert, Antoine. "Luis de León." The
Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton
Company, 1910. 23 Feb. 2018 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/ 09177b.htm>.
Ford, J. D. M. “Luis De León,
the Spanish Poet, Humanist, and Mystic.” PMLA, Vol. 14, No. 2, 1899, pp.
267–278. JSTOR, JSTOR, <www.jstor.org/stable/456575.>
"Luis de León - Other
Literary Forms" Literary Essentials: Great Poems of the World. Ed. Rosemary M. Canfield Reisman.
eNotes.com, Inc. 2003, eNotes.com. 23 Feb, 2018. <http:// www.enotes.com/topics/luis-de-leon/in-depth#in-depth-other-literary-forms>
Image: Engraving by
Pacheco del Rio
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