Martyr’s own Latin style, as shown in his copious letters to illustrious contemporaries, and in his account of the New World, was for the most part crude; but what it lacked in elegance was counterbalanced by vigour and the accuracy and insight of his information. He is thus a valuable authority for Isabel’s reign, like his fellow-countryman the Sicilian Lucio Marineo, whose encyclopedic work De Memorabilibus Hispaniæ throws considerable light on the Spanish history of his day. Marineo was introduced to the Castilian Court in 1484 by the Admiral, Don Fadrique Enriquez, and from that date till 1496 held the post of Professor of Latin Poetry and Eloquence in the University of Salamanca. So great was the enthusiasm inspired by his lectures that they were attended not only by the ordinary student but by archbishops and bishops, and many of the leading nobles and ladies of the Court.
Less remembered now, but famous then, was the Portuguese, Arias Barbosa, who founded the study of Greek in Salamanca. He had been educated in Italy, the reputation of whose universities was still to lure young Spaniards from the rival institutions of their own land. It was indeed a happy influence, for numbers of the most promising students returned home to widen the outlook of Castilian scholarship by the light of foreign methods and research.
Of these the greatest was undoubtedly Antonio de Lebrija, who has been called the “most cultivated and original of all the Spanish humanists of his time.” An Andalusian by birth, he had been sent at nineteen to the University of Bologna, and, after ten years’ study in Italy, settled down first in Seville, and then at Salamanca and Alcalá to teach and publish what he had acquired. One of the editors of the Polyglot Bible, he left works not only on theology but on law, archæology, history, natural science, and geography. Perhaps those of most lasting value to his countrymen were his Latin dictionary published in 1492, and his Spanish and Latin grammars.
COINS, CATHOLIC KINGS
FROM LAFUENTE’S “HISTORIA GENERAL DE ESPAÑA,” VOL. VII.
COINS, CATHOLIC KINGS
FROM LAFUENTE’S “HISTORIA GENERAL DE ESPAÑA,” VOL. VII.
His daughter Francisca also maintained the literary reputation of the family as professor of rhetoric at Alcalá. In an age, when the love of letters had been inspired largely by a cultured Queen, it was natural that the sexes should share their enthusiasm; and Isabel’s tutor, Beatriz de Galindo “La Latina,” and other ladies famous for their classical knowledge, lectured publicly at Salamanca and elsewhere to large audiences.
“Learning” had become a fashion, as in the time of John II.; and the literature of the day bore the stamp of the courtly atmosphere in which it had been bred. The old rough-hewn ballads with their popular appeal had yielded to polished lyrics, often purposely obscure in meaning, and filled with classical allusions and conceits; the epics of national heroes, such as “King Rodrigo” and “the Cid,” to sober chronicles of contemporary events or to imaginative fiction, the more highly eulogized as it increased in extravagance.
In the pompous and long-winded speeches introduced into historical scenes after the manner of Livy, in the Dantesque allegory and amatory verses addressed by Spanish “Petrarchs” to their “Lauras,” may be seen the outcome of the literary demand for translations of Latin authors, and the masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance. At the same time the union of the two kingdoms under Ferdinand and Isabel secured for the Castilian tongue its final triumph over those of Catalonia and Valencia; though the stately and vigorous conqueror acquired in the struggle something of the romantic spirit and spontaneous gaiety, with which Provençal troubadours had endowed its rivals.