Book: Fray Luis de Leon

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El dicho Senor licenciado D. Pedro de Castro dijo que dara su voto por
escripto.']

[Footnote 184: The peremptory letter of the Supreme Inquisition to the
Valladolid tribunal is printed in _Documentos ineditos_, vol. XI, p.
354: 'Aqui se ha visto el proceso contra fray Luis de Leon, de la
orden de Sant Agustin, preso en esas carceles, y va determinado como
vereis por lo que al fin del va asentado. Aquello se ejecutara. Y
advertireis a este reo que guarde mucho secreto de todo lo que con el
ha pasado y toca a su proceso; y que no tenga pasion ni disensiones
con persona alguna, sospechando que haya testificado contra el en esta
su causa; porque de todo lo que a esto tocare se tratara en el Sancto
Oficio, y no se podra dejar de proveer en ello justicia con rigor.
Hacerloeis, Senores, asi. Guarde nuestro Senor vuestras muy
Reverendas personas. En Madrid siete de diciembre 1576.'

The decision of the Supreme Inquisition is reproduced in _Documentos
ineditos_, vol. XI, p. 353:

'En la villa de Madrid a siete dias del mes de diciembre de mill y
quinientos y setenta y seis anos, habiendo visto los Senores del
Consejo de S.M. de la Sancta general Inquisicion, el proceso de pleito
criminal contra fray Luis de Leon, de la orden de Sant Agustin, preso
en las carceles secretas del Santo Oficio de la Inquisicion de
Valladolid; mandaron que el dicho fray Luis de Leon sea absuelto de la
instancia deste juicio, y en la sala de la audiencia sea reprendido y
advertido que de aqui adelante mire como y adonde trata cosas y
materias de la cualidad y peligro que las que deste proceso resultan,
y tenga en ellas mucha moderacion y prudencia como conviene para que
cese todo escandalo y ocasion de errores; y que se recoja el cuaderno
de los Cantares traducido en romance y ordenado por el dicho fray Luis
de Leon.']

[Footnote 185: It is unnecessary to reproduce the exact terms of the
judgement (_Documentos ineditos_, vol. XI, pp. 354-357), for this
closely follows the terms employed by the Supreme Inquisition.]

[Footnote 186: _Documentos ineditos_, vol. XI, p. 356.]

[Footnote 187: _Documentos ineditos_, vol. XI, pp. 357-358: 'El
maestro fray Luis de Leon suplico a vuestras mercedes sean servidos
mandar que me sea dado un testimonio en manera que haga fe, por donde
conste al claustro de la universidad de Salamanca que yo por vuestras
mercedes fui absuelto de la instancia[A] que contra mi hizo el fiscal
deste Santo Oficio delante de vuestras mercedes, y dado por libre, en
manera que pueda ejercer cualquiera de las cosas que tocan a mis
ordenes y oficio, y sin penitencia ni nota alguna.

Item suplico a vuestras mercedes manden se me de un mandamiento para
el pagador de las escuelas de Salamanca[B] para que pague lo corrido
de mi catreda desde el dia de mi prision hasta el dia que vaco por el
cuadrienio. Y en todo imploro el oficio etc.--]

[Footnote A: Al margen se lee: "Que se le de la fee".]

[Footnote B: Al margen: "Que se le de mandamiento. En 15 de diciembre
de 1576".']

[Footnote 188: _Documentos ineditos_, vol. XI, p. 358: 'En 13 de
agosto de 1577 anos, por mandado de los senores Inquisidores saque
esta sentencia de fray Luis, signada, e la entregue al Senor
Inquisidor doctor Guijano. Sacose para el maestrescuela de Salamanca.'
This sentence is probably written by the secretary, Celedon Gustin.]




IV


When did Luis de Leon return to Salamanca, and how was he received
there? According to an anonymous contemporary, whom Gallardo
conjectured to be a Jesuit, Luis de Leon made a sort of triumphal
entry into Salamanca, accompanied by a procession which marched along
to the sound of timbrels and trumpets.[189] This procession is alleged
to have taken place in the afternoon of December 30, 1576; but, as the
statement is made by one who has no divine idea of a date,[190] it
would be imprudent to rely on his unsupported authority in this
particular. The date of the procession may be doubtful. There is no
reason to doubt the general accuracy of the assertion that there was
some public manifestation of joy at Luis de Leon's release.[191]
Though he was not popular, his fellow-citizens were proud of him, and
there is a natural tendency to show sympathy with a man who has been
hardly used. But life is not made up of triumphal processions. On
December 31[192] Luis de Leon met the _Claustro_ of the University,
which had been duly informed of his acquittal. After congratulatory
phrases from the Rector, the released man was invited to speak.
According to the decree of the Inquisition, Luis de Leon was entitled
to claim restitution to his University chair. There were practical
difficulties in the way. Luis de Leon's tenure had lapsed while he was
in prison at Valladolid; his immediate successor had been Bartolome de
Medina, a dangerous enemy, and the chair was subsequently occupied by
the Benedictine Fray Garcia del Castillo, another declared opponent
who had intervened at an early stage of the case. Luis de Leon
renounced all claim, present or future, to his former chair--_que la
daba por bien empleada_--so long as it was held by Castillo. He
besought the _Claustro_ to bear in mind his past services, pointed
out that his acquittal implied a general approval of his teaching,
and then left the meeting.[193] Finally the _Claustro_ of Salamanca
agreed to create a new chair for Luis de Leon, with a salary of two
hundred ducats a year, his duty being to lecture on theology.[194]

We now come to the best-known trait in Luis de Leon's career. He would
seem to have begun lecturing in his new chair on January 29,
1577.[195] The gathering was large, and now and here--if at any time
and in any place--he must have begun his lecture with the famous
phrase: 'As we were saying yesterday' (_Dicebamus hesterna die_).
Almost everybody who hears the story for the first time takes it for
granted that the remark was made to what was left of Luis de Leon's
old class--the class which he had been instructing just previous to
his arrest: otherwise, the anecdote loses great part of its point. It
behoves us therefore to examine the circumstances in which the story
was first made public. The earliest mention of the incident occurs
apparently in the _Monasticon Augustinianum_ by the once well-known
Nicolaas Cruesen, whose work appeared at Munich in 1623.[196] The
picturesque narrative soon struck the popular imagination, and it has
been repeated times innumerable.[197] One is always reluctant to part
with a good tale, but there is no denying the fact that the evidence
in favour of the current version is slighter than one could wish it to
be. The silence of all contemporary Spaniards with respect to this
episode is not a little strange. It is singular that the anecdote
should reach Spain from abroad, and that it should not be printed till
forty-six years after it is supposed to have occurred; that is to say,
till Luis de Leon had been thirty-two years in his grave. It does not
necessarily follow that the story is untrue. Nobody imagines that
Cruesen deliberately invented it. So far as appears, Cruesen was an
absolutely upright man who recorded with fidelity such information as
he could obtain. He was not ill-placed for obtaining information.
Himself an Augustinian, he was something of a cosmopolitan. Though
Flemish by blood, Cruesen was technically a Spanish subject; he was in
full sympathy with the politico-religious aims of Spain in the Low
Countries, and during the Spanish occupation he must have had
opportunities of meeting and questioning men who were Spanish by race.
Moreover, it seems to be established that, though the story concerning
Luis de Leon's remark did not appear in print till 1623, the chapter
containing it was written previous to 1612.[198] If this be so, the
account given by Cruesen must be dated thirty-five years after the
alleged occurrence and twenty-one years after Luis de Leon's death.
Further, Cruesen, who knew Spanish, travelled in Spain. There he seems
to have made the acquaintance of Fray Basilio Ponce de Leon, Luis de
Leon's able and admiring nephew. It is by no means impossible that
Fray Basilio was Cruesen's informant,[199] and, if this were proved,
the case for the story would be greatly strengthened, since it is
inconceivable that the nephew should repeat the anecdote, for the
purposes of publication, unless he had had it direct from his famous
uncle. These, however, are conjectures, more or less probable. The
story may derive from Fray Basilio Ponce de Leon or it may not. It is
the kind of story that any unscrupulous person might easily invent and
repeat to a too credulous visitor. As it stands, the evidence in its
support is, on the face of it, unsatisfactory. The case for the story
is perhaps not quite so weak as has been supposed;[200] ingenuity has
shown that the case against it may, to some extent, be frittered
away.[201] Still, there is no getting over the fact that this charming
anecdote is first reported outside of Spain by a foreigner who related
it in print long after Luis de Leon's death. No first-hand testimony
in its favour has hitherto been produced. Those who choose to believe
in the authenticity of the current version may not unreasonably do so;
it is obvious, however, that, in the absence of direct evidence, they
will have great difficulty in persuading others to share their belief.

To return to prosaic details. The _Claustro_ had promptly created a
chair for Luis de Leon after his release from prison; there was more
ado about granting his request--made on the ground of health--that he
should be allowed to lecture from ten till eleven o'clock. Unluckily,
this time had been already allotted to the Dean of the Theological
Faculty, Diego Rodriguez, a Dominican, who objected to the proposal.
Bartolome de Medina not unnaturally stood by his brother-Dominican,
opposed the demand of the newly elected professor on the ground that
it could not be granted without showing disrespect to the Dean, and
suggested that Luis de Leon should be instructed to lecture from four
to five o'clock. On a vote being taken, the _Claustro_ gave Luis de
Leon a majority; but, as the Rector of the University claimed to be
the deciding authority on such questions, the matter was not finally
decided at this meeting.[202] It might seem that, in practice, Luis de
Leon carried his point for, as the clock struck ten on January 29,
1577, he began his first lecture in his new post; but this was mainly
a formal taking possession of the post, and the professor in his
fragmentary lecture took occasion to protest against not having a
lecture hour assigned to him.[203] Luis de Leon continued to occupy
the chair that had been created for him. The death of Francisco
Sancho, bishop of Segorbe, in June 1578 caused a vacancy in the
university chair of Moral Philosophy. Luis de Leon determined to
present himself as a candidate. A rival candidate came forward in the
person of Fray Francisco Zumel, Rector of the Mercenarian College. The
struggle was vehement. Zumel did not stick at trifles; he charged his
opponent with exercising undue pressure on the electors by means of
cajolery, threats, lavish hospitality (which was dispensed with the
aid of brother-Augustinians), bribery, and attempted personal
violence.[204] Luis de Leon was not behindhand: he sought to have
Zumel disqualified on technical grounds, and further accused his
opponent of breaking the law governing elections. In the heat of
conflict, the very best of men seem able to persuade themselves that
the most extravagant assertions are true. No one but the candidates
can have taken these amenities seriously. When the battle was ended on
August 14, 1578, Luis de Leon, who received 301 votes, was in a
majority of seventy-nine.[205] This check appears to have rankled in
Zumel's mind. Luis de Leon celebrated his success by taking the degree
of Master of Arts on October 11. Why? It is hard to say. He cannot
well have thought that the possession of a Master's degree would
strengthen his position as one of the members representing the
University of Salamanca on the Committee appointed to report on the
projected reform of the calendar.[206] Normally this Committee, of
which Medina and Domingo Banez were also members, would have absorbed
much of Luis de Leon's attention. His energies were to be otherwise
exercised in the immediate future. The death of Gregorio Gallo, Bishop
of Segovia, on September 25, 1579, caused a vacancy in the Biblical
chair at Salamanca. The late bishop had viewed with no very friendly
eyes some of Luis de Leon's proceedings before the Valladolid
trial,[207] and it might have troubled him to think that Luis de Leon
was destined to follow him at Salamanca. That, however, was what
happened. The position was not carried without a stiff fight. At
Valladolid, Salinas had said it was commonly thought by some of
Luis de Leon's admirers that he could carry any University
chair--especially a chair of Scripture--against all comers.[208] It
was now to be seen whether this opinion was, or was not, well founded.
A formidable competitor appeared in the person of Fray Domingo de
Guzman, the third son of Garcilasso de la Vega. Though Guzman had not
inherited his father's poetic gift, he had a turn for versifying, and
his burlesque _glosa_ of Luis de Leon's celebrated _quintillas_--

Aqui la envidia y mentira
me tuvieron encerrado--

is not wholly forgotten, since four lines of it find a resounding echo
in Cervantes' preliminary verses at the beginning of _Don Quixote_ to
Urganda la Desconocida.[209] But the relative merits of the two
candidates for the vacant chair were not the point at issue. More
relevant was the fact that Guzman was a Dominican with all the
strength of the massed Dominican vote at his back. Whatever may have
been the case at other times and places, at this period there was no
love lost between Dominicans and Augustinians in Salamanca. Medina
represented with distinction the more rigid teaching of the Dominican
school; with at least equal distinction Luis de Leon represented the
freer tendencies of the Augustinians. He was almost imprudently loyal
to his own order. He publicly championed Augustinian candidates
whenever a suitable chair became vacant at the University of
Salamanca, and, despite the secrecy enjoined by the Inquisition, it
had probably leaked out that, at his recent trial in Valladolid, he
had repeatedly objected to all Dominicans as being so many enemies. In
the nature of things he could not be popular with the Dominicans and
their sympathizers. In this particular contest, however, his great
personal qualities were somewhat overclouded. He and Domingo de Guzman
were but standard-bearers. The conflict in which they were engaged
resolved itself into a struggle for supremacy between two potent
religious orders. Apart from the personal merits of the respective
candidates, the forces marshalled on each side were about equal.
Passions ran high. Poetasters on both sides did their part.[210] It
speedily became evident that the margin of the successful candidate
would be narrow. This prevision proved to be correct. When the poll
was declared on December 6, 1579, Luis de Leon's total of votes
amounted to 285, giving him a majority of thirty-six over his
opponent.[211] Since he stood against Grajal, and was defeated, at the
very outset of his professorial career, he had hardly ever been so
pressed in any academic struggle. Unfortunately, in the contest
against Guzman there was some irregularity in the voting; each side
accused the other of malpractices; an appeal was lodged on behalf of
Domingo de Guzman; for some unknown reason the case was not decided
till over twenty-two months later. Finally, on October 13, 1581,
judgement was delivered in favour of Luis de Leon at Valladolid.[212]
The equity of this decision has been questioned;[213] but there is no
reason to doubt the substantial justice of the verdict given by a
court with all the facts before it, and with the opportunity of
cross-examining the witnesses who appeared to give evidence. It
should be said, however, that the Dominicans never accepted the
official decision, and put about a rumour that the irregularity had
been committed by a supporter of Luis de Leon's--a supporter who (so
it was alleged) some twenty years later avowed his transgression and
sought to make amends for it by paying a sum of 8,000 _reales_ into
the Dominican chest.[214] Meanwhile Luis de Leon (who, like Domingo de
Guzman, was perfectly innocent of any share in these clandestine
manoeuvres) had taken possession of the Biblical Chair at Salamanca by
reading himself in on December 7, 1579. Hitherto his reputation, great
as it was, had been more or less local: that is to say, it depended
mainly on his University lectures, which were exploited by certain
unscrupulous persons. It was not till 1580 that, at the express
command of his superior, Fray Pedro Suarez,[215] he issued his first
book: a Latin commentary on the _Song of Songs_. On the title-page
stood a characteristic motto from his favourite Horace: _ab ipso
ferro_. Possibly at this moment Luis de Leon looked forward to a
period of learned leisure:

O ya seguro puerto
de mi tan luengo error! o deseado
para reparo cierto
del grave mal pasado,
reposo dulce, alegre, reposado!

If the author of this opening stanza of _Al apartamiento_ were
optimistic enough to assume that these verses might be applied to his
own case, he was destined to be speedily disillusioned.

The Valladolid Inquisitors had not treated him in such fashion as to
make him desirous of meeting them again. This experience was, however,
awaiting him.[216] On January 20 or 21, 1582,[217] his former
opponent, the Mercenarian Fray Francisco Zumel, took the chair at a
theological meeting in Salamanca. At this meeting a Jesuit named
Prudencio de Montemayor put forward a thesis which opened up the
difficulties connected with the reconciliation of the theological
doctrines of predestination and free-will. Owing to some disturbance
in the assembly, Montemayor's voice did not reach all who were present
and, in the interest of the audience, Luis de Leon repeated
Montemayor's arguments without lending them any support; his action
was misunderstood, and many supposed that he was expressing his
personal opinions. In the ensuing discussion his vanquished opponent,
Domingo de Guzman, intervened, and with unnecessary acerbity declared
that Montemayor's views were heretical. Nothing would have been easier
than for Luis de Leon to keep out of the fray, especially as he
himself held, and had always taught, opinions opposed to those
advanced by Montemayor. If, as Pacheco reports, Luis de Leon was the
most taciturn of men, he was chivalrous to the point of quixotism. In
the circumstances silence was impossible for him. He was for as much
liberty of thought as was compatible with orthodoxy; he was persuaded
that much of the opposition of the Dominicans to Montemayor was due
to the fact that the latter was a Jesuit;[218] and no doubt he was
quite human enough to be annoyed at the intrusion of Domingo de Guzman
as the champion of doctrinal intolerance.... Be this as it may, Luis
de Leon took up the cudgels for Montemayor's views which, as he
maintained, were perfectly tenable. At a later meeting in Salamanca,
Fray Juan de Castaneda, a Benedictine,[219] advanced views very
similar to those of Montemayor; Domingo Banez, whose relations with
Luis de Leon were never cordial, was even more emphatic than his
brother-Dominican, Domingo de Guzman, and denounced Castaneda's views
as savouring of Pelagianism. A sharp passage of arms followed between
Banez and Luis de Leon,[220] and, after some exchange of argument,
Banez professed to be satisfied with Castaneda's thesis, and therefore
with Luis de Leon's explanations.[221] Others were less easily
contented; even some of the Augustinian professors at Salamanca were
uneasy;[222] and finally the case came before the Inquisition of
Valladolid, though the sittings of the court were held in Salamanca.
The delator would appear to have been a Jeromite, Fray Joan de Santa
Cruz, who took objection to some sixteen propositions which, as he
alleged, were put forward by Luis de Leon.[223] Some exaggeration on
the part of Santa Cruz is conceivable. As a Jeromite, he bore a grudge
against Luis de Leon for his overt opposition to the candidature of
Hector Pinto at Salamanca University and, as Francisco de Palacios
deposed at Valladolid on February 5, 1573, Santa Cruz had been
somewhat excited by the news of Grajal's arrest and was anxious to
know if Luis de Leon had been apprehended at the same time.[224] This
incident implies no great impartiality on the part of Santa Cruz.
Still, a report made officially has to be met. On March 8, 1582, Luis
de Leon, adopting the same procedure which he had followed at
Valladolid, voluntarily presented himself before the Inquisitionary
tribunal at Salamanca, and read his account of what had occurred.[225]
In several particulars he was enabled to correct the version of Santa
Cruz, which was admittedly second-hand in part.[226] He must have
thought of 'old, unhappy, far-off things' as he entered the Court and
recognized the Inquisitionary secretary with the singular name of
Celedon Gustin; these remembrances probably led him to take additional
precautions. On March 31 he appeared a second time before the
Inquisitionary Court at Salamanca, and volunteered the statement that,
though he still believed Montemayor's thesis to be free from heretical
taint, reflection caused him to think that it was temerarious
(inasmuch as it differed from the usual scholastic teaching on the
subject); that its promulgation in a public assembly was regrettable;
and that he was ready to make amends if he had in any way exceeded in
his defence of Montemayor.[227] A little later three Augustinians, one
of them a man of some prominence in the order, appeared with a view
to disassociate themselves from Luis de Leon's action;[228] and a
fourth witness came forward in the person of Fray Francisco Zumel, who
produced fragments of a lecture on predestination delivered by Luis de
Leon at Salamanca as far back as 1571.[229] One hardly knows whether
to say that Luis de Leon was fortunate or unfortunate in his
opponents. Zumel, as we have seen, was a defeated competitor for the
chair of Moral Philosophy at the University of Salamanca in 1578.
Similarly, Domingo de Guzman was a defeated competitor for the
Biblical Chair at the University of Salamanca in 1579. So, too, at the
dawn of his professorial career, Luis de Leon had easily carried a
_substitucion de visperas_ against Domingo Banez.[230] These men were
the soul of the opposition to Luis de Leon in his second encounter
with the Inquisitionary tribunal; inasmuch as they had all three been
beaten in open contest by Luis de Leon, their motives were not
altogether free from some suspicion of personal animus; but their
united hostility was undoubtedly formidable. Luis de Leon's foes were
not, however, limited to the Dominicans and the Jeromite whom he had
defeated for University Chairs. Some members of his own order had been
rendered unhappy by his latest outbreak. Fray Pedro de Aragon, Fray
Martin de Coscojales, and Fray Andres de Solana were not alone.[231]
This is obvious from a highly disagreeable letter written in Madrid on
February 15, 1582, by the well-known Augustinian Fray Lorenzo de
Villavicencio. In this letter, which was laid before the Inquisition
by Luis de Leon, Villavicencio thought it his duty to tell his
correspondent to mind his own business, to cease denouncing tyranny,
and to understand that his action, while it did good to nobody, was a
source of annoyance to many.[232] Manifestly Luis de Leon's passion
for fair play was altogether incomprehensible to his opponents, and it
may be that he made no great effort to win their support. If,
however, his experience of the Inquisition had made him more cautious
in his dealings with it, the Inquisition had learned a lesson from its
previous experience with Luis de Leon. He was not arrested, but was
allowed to go about his business as usual; no prosecuting counsel was
appointed, and when the Supreme Inquisition at Madrid called upon the
Valladolid judge to make a report,[233] Juan de Arresse confined
himself to suggesting that Luis de Leon should be severely
reprimanded, and should be called upon to express publicly from his
University chair his regret for having described as heretical opinions
which were not his.[234] This must have been signed shortly after
August 7, 1582, the date on which the request of the Supreme
Inquisition reached Valladolid. Mitigated as it was, the suggestion of
the Valladolid judge seemed too severe to the Supreme Inquisition. For
reasons which are unknown the case was not ended till February 3,
1584. On this date Luis de Leon was summoned to Toledo and was there
privately reprimanded by the Grand Inquisitor, Cardinal Gaspar de
Quiroga, to whom in 1580 he had dedicated his _In Psalmum vigesimum
sextum Explanatio_, a work written during the tenth month of his
imprisonment at Valladolid. Luis de Leon appears to have thought that
he had a friend in Quiroga, but for whose intervention his
imprisonment at Valladolid would have been still further prolonged. As
Quiroga became Grand Inquisitor on April 20, 1573, and as the prisoner
in the Valladolid cells was not released till the month of December
1576, Luis de Leon's gratitude has been thought excessive.[235]
However, he knew the facts better than anybody else, and Quiroga's
attitude at Toledo was benignant. Instead of giving the severe
reprimand which was suggested by the Valladolid Inquisitors, Quiroga
'charitably and kindly' rebuked the Augustinian in private and
dismissed him with a solemn warning not to uphold such views as he
was alleged to have defended.[236] It has been held that the
Inquisition proceeded against Luis de Leon a third time.[237] No
evidence to support this view has been hitherto produced.

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