Manual Work and Mental Work: Humanist Knowledge for Professions in the Siglo de Oro 3662663651, 9783662663653

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Manual Work and Mental Work Humanist Knowledge for Professions in the Siglo de Oro Christoph Strosetzki

Manual Work and Mental Work

Christoph Strosetzki

Manual Work and Mental Work Humanist Knowledge for Professions in the Siglo de Oro

Christoph Strosetzki Romanisches Seminar Universität Münster Münster, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany Editorial Contact Oliver Schuetze

ISBN 978-3-662-66365-3    ISBN 978-3-662-66366-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-66366-0 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE, part of Springer Nature 2023 This book is a translation of the original German edition „Handarbeit und Kopfarbeit“ by Strosetzki, Christoph, published by Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE in 2022. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation. Springer Nature works continuously to further the development of tools for the production of books and on the related technologies to support the authors. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE, part of Springer Nature. The registered company address is: Heidelberger Platz 3, 14197 Berlin, Germany

This book is a translation of an original German edition. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). The author (with the friendly support of Miriam Cantwell) has subsequently revised the text further in an endeavor to refine the work stylistically.

Preface

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, numerous texts dealt with professions by presenting necessary skills, the required knowledge, individual fields of activity, purpose and origin, as well as prestige and dignity of the individual fields of activity. Since they generally refer back to ancient texts, the explanations are humanistic in character. Furthermore, the line of argumentation is humanistic, insofar as it mostly starts from the human being and first evaluates his profession morally and socially. The ancient idea of the priority of mental work over manual work, which is derived from the priority of the spiritual over the material, has a formative function here, but is also undermined by counter designs. Numerous ancient models are brought into line with Christianity in the Middle Ages, so that they also become significant in medieval form in the Spanish Siglo de Oro. While in the Middle Ages it was only the prince’s mirrors that dealt with the virtues, tasks, and activities of the ruler, in the early modern period, as a result of both an increasingly functionally differentiated modern society and as a result of the possibilities of printing, new tracts and dialogues appear that present further diverse professions. Along with the invention of printing, the early modern period also brought new interpretations of the Bible. Protestantism and Calvinism changed religious ideas in northern Europe. Spain, on the other hand, had remained Catholic and, after the Reconquista had won back the territories occupied by the Moors with the help of the Inquisition, had turned against Islam and Judaism as well as against heterodox dogmas, that is, those spread by Luther or Calvin. Catholic Spain of the Siglo de Oro appears therefore as a special case in Europe. However, non-­ traditionally orthodox elements can also be found here in the course of the Counter-­ Reformation. In addition, it should not be overlooked that the Spanish king was at the same time Charles V (1520–1556) Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and ruler of the colonies in America; so by the standards of the time, he ruled a global empire. Charles Taylor, on the other hand, notes a paradigm shift caused by the Protestant Reformation that permeated the entire realm of earthly life and was also felt outside the borders of Protestant Europe, that is, in Catholic countries as well (Taylor 2018, 391). Since monasticism and the cult of the saints were rejected as mediating vii

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instances by the Protestant side, and thus activities that had previously been considered “higher” were subjected to a disapproving critique; the fulfillment of human life was now seen in work and family, that is, in ordinary life. It is the latter and the common good that science was supposed to benefit, not theoretical speculation (377, 378, 384, 398).1 Inventions deserve more praise than Aristotelian speculation, and trade became preferable to aristocratic quests for military glory and was viewed positively (424, 505). This is quite understandable, once we disregard the fact that the art of war, while belonging to the aristocratic sphere, was assigned to the artes mechanicae. The lowly craftsman and the skillful practitioner have, as it turns out, contributed more to the progress of science than the philosopher with all his leisure (378). It is necessary to pursue the affairs of the profession in a heavenly frame of mind, that is, participating in the world with detached affects (395). For Taylor, the paradigmatic representative of this direction is Francis Bacon as a Puritan, according to whom science should refrain from speculation and serve the benefit of mankind (407). Taylor’s thesis of a paradigm shift in the evaluation of manual professions caused by Protestantism cannot be confirmed with the explanations of the present book, just as Foucault’s theory of discursive ruptures cannot. It is not true that manual occupations have enjoyed positive evaluation only since Puritanism, Calvinism, and Protestantism, whereas before they were little appreciated. For in antiquity, as in the Middle Ages and modern times, there have been positive as well as negative assessments of manual trades. Not uncommon are voices that highly value simple trades and “ordinary life” in antiquity and the Middle Ages. The change noted by Taylor outside the borders of Protestant Europe, that is, also in Catholic countries, cannot be detected, at least in Spain, where often the intellectual part was still the criterion for the evaluation of a profession. The following text will therefore examine the extent to which Taylor’s model for the Siglo de Oro can be contrasted with the following categories: intellectual life, moral perfection, and social advancement through knowledge. The significance of these categories will be exemplified in the course of the following chapters, in order to be addressed once again in retrospect in the outlook at the end. In Plato’s state, the peasants and workers constituted the lowest class, since they did not speculate about the true nature of a thing or the causes of a problem. According to Aristotle, politics requires virtue, which cannot be trained in craftsmanship. In ancient Greece, mechanike techne, as a kind of applied mathematics, was the discipline of using mechanical devices such as levers and screws to make machines that could accomplish what man could not with his own powers. At least, this is how Aristotle describes it in his work Problemata mechanika, which was available to the occidental Middle Ages only in fragments (Boehm 1993, 428). Even in Scholasticism, Thomas Aquinas’ concept of science, which is oriented towards reason, still sees the mechanical arts as artes factivae, operativae, manuales,

 In the case of repeated successive references to the same source, we limit ourselves to stating the page number. 1

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serviles, inferiores, since they are bound to matter and utility and are not oriented towards knowledge. The hierarchy in theory does not necessarily correspond to the social situation; considering that the mechanical art of hunting belonged to the nobility, the architect was quite respected, and the manual physician could become rich (432). Agricultural activity was positively valued in antiquity. Socrates considers agriculture as an activity worthy of a citizen (Xen. oik. 4–6). He is opposed to the idea that the superior man need not work (Xen. Mem. 2,7). Virgil praises agricultural activity in his Georgica. In Cicero, agriculture seems worthy of a free man (Cic. off. I, 42). However, the latifundia economy of slaves soon took the place of the free farmer of the plot economy. In the Bible, work is directed towards the mastery of the forces of nature and the distribution of goods. Work is necessary to bring creation to its completion, when man is to subdue the Earth and rule over the animals (Gen 1:26–28), and at the same time atonement and purification, when he will eat his bread by the sweat of his brow (Gen 3:19). Thus work is seen once positively and once negatively: God requires the first man to work and tend his dwelling place in the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:15). It goes on to say, “Despise not the tillage which God hath appointed” (Coh 7:16). In contrast, if one looks at the attitude of German classicism, one is reminded of Aristotle. Goethe’s and Schiller’s ideal of a harmonious human being seems incompatible with a realistic portrayal of the world of work. While bourgeois businessmen pursue only their selfish interests in pedantic parochialism, for Schiller it is important to find a harmonious totality of the individual in purposeless play, in the absence of work. Only those who are active without working preserve the beautiful whole that is destroyed by work, by which he means select circles of the nobility and bourgeoisie. In Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, the question of a bourgeois is not what he is, but only what insight, knowledge, ability, or fortune he has. “The nobleman is what he represents, the citizen what he produces” (Habermas 1968, 26–27). Wilhelm is fascinated by the unproductive aristocratic way of life, although he is later taught by Montan that it is not a matter of general education but rather of one being particularly good at something and achieving something that others cannot easily imitate (Berghahn 1979, 58, 71). In the late Middle Ages, the artes mechanicae passed from a tradition of the oral transmission of a secret knowledge from generation to generation to writing, which then also had consequences for the tension between theory and practice or science and technology. However, this process was so slow that d’Alembert, in his Discours préliminaire to the eighteenth-century French encyclopedia, complains that there are hardly any written literary sources of support for the description of the mechanical arts, and that his authors therefore had to seek out workshops to interview the craftsmen (Boehm 1993, 421). The Abbé Pluche also presents the specifics of artisanal work in various industries in eight volumes of his Spectacle de la nature (Paris 1732). Diderot’s Encyclopédie negatively judges day laborers and handymen who carry heavy loads or perform other laborious tasks. And craftsmen, artisans, also practice mechanical arts that require little intelligence, according to Diderot, who wrote the article himself. In contrast, the outstanding works of the artists appear to

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be characterized by intelligence. It was Karl Marx who later dreamed of a higher phase of society where the opposition between mental and physical labor had diminished (Marx 1973, 21). According to Marx, work is, after all, life generating action and free production, by which the worker creates objectivity for himself in his works. This is precisely the reason why alienation is so destructive for him. When Bacon, for Taylor the paradigmatic representative of Puritanism, sees as his goal the expansion of man’s power and praises inventions such as the book, gunpowder, and the compass, he is following in the tradition of the praise of inventions that began in antiquity. However, Bacon’s goal of expanding power as well as Locke’s purpose of self-preservation and improvement are elements of teleological thinking, which the physicist according to Bacon should actually be aware of. As both positive and negative assessments of craft and ordinary life have occurred simultaneously since antiquity, the question arises as to how such a contradiction can be explained. Our hypothesis is that what the author chooses depends on his social position. Craftsmen will see crafts in a more favorable light than nobles or theologians. Heuristically, the thought model of ideology as defined by Karl Marx is helpful here: “The thoughts of the ruling class are the ruling thoughts in every epoch, i.e., the class which is the ruling material power of society is at the same time its ruling intellectual power” (Marx 1969, 46). This explains that the upper class emphasizes the priority of intellectual activity in order to legitimize its social supremacy. For the jurists who put themselves at the head of the state by ousting the nobles from their ancestral offices, the following Marx quote applies: “Every new class, namely, which puts itself in the place of one that ruled before it, is compelled, if only to carry out its purpose, to present its interest as the common interest of all the members of society” (Marx 1969, 47). Since Marx is referring to the nineteenth century, his theses have limited applicability to the early modern period. This is evident when he writes that it is unimportant whether this or that theorem is true, but important whether it is useful or harmful to capital, convenient or inconvenient, thus replacing unbiased scientific inquiry with mere apologetics. When we ask in the following to what extent socially conditioned partisanships are responsible for the respective evaluation of manual and intellectual activity, the model of class struggle is subtracted from its historical context of the nineteenth century and generalized in the sense of the sociology of knowledge. In this way, class prejudices arising from the economic structure appear surmountable. Karl Mannheim’s “total ideology” derives from the being-connectedness of knowledge, so that the “location-bound aspect structure of a thought” serves to conceal and stabilize social contexts (Mannheim 1929, 52). Stammer puts it even more generally, and in a way that serves our context, with the phrase “the ideological represents sociality in the spiritual” (Stammer 1950/1951, 282). It will thus depend on the social location from which the intellectual is praised and the manual rejected, or the manual is praised and the intellectual rejected. This brings us close to Foucault, who also sees objective truth as relativized, but in doing so leaves out social subjects and classes. If what matters to him is that something is “in the true” rather than that it is true, then he assumes a priori epistemic discourses that guide cognition in certain epochs. “Mendel told the truth, but

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he was not ‘in the true’ of the biological discourse of his epoch: biological objects and concepts were formed according to quite different rules” (Foucault 1991, 25). The rules that determine whether a result is valid or not establish power structures. Thus, he argues, the sixteenth century was characterized by resemblance, the period from the mid-seventeenth by représentation with taxonomic definitional tableaux, and the nineteenth century by historicity. According to Foucault, the shift from one paradigm designated as episteme to another takes place in ruptures. We will prove that the notion of rupture-like paradigm shifts is inadequate, since historical thinking, the constant search for inventors, and the historical course of a science are also pronounced in the sixteenth century. Tableaux of représentation are also found in the hierarchies of the sciences and their representatives from antiquity through the Middle Ages to the early modern period, and similarities have dominated the applications of mathematics and geometry in subjects such as music and astronomy since antiquity. Last but not least, both historicity and représentation are taught through the Aristotelian doctrine of four causes and the Aristotelian-Scholastic doctrine of definition with genus proximum and differentia specifica in the late sixteenth-­ century scholastic school of Salamanca. Représentation is evidenced by the doctrine of arbor porphyriana, introduced by the scholastic Petrus Hispanus in 1240 and popular in the sixteenth century, where not only are basic terms classified in tableau fashion but also a subordination of species and generic terms is practiced. If, for example, after the invention of gunpowder, the tracts on the craft of warfare are devoted less to the use of the sword and the care of horses and instead focus on artillery, the professional image of the soldier shifts. Or if, after the discovery of the New World, herbal remedies from America are also taken into account, the source situation of pharmacy also changes. The professions of the lawyer are examples of how representatives of the bourgeoisie displace the nobles from key positions in the state. The progressive legitimization of the activity of the merchant is an example of the establishment of a professional group that had previously only been tolerated. Professionalization can be described as the process in which an activity or a profession is transformed and justifications are formulated that ideologically justify courses of action and serve to achieve goals. In the process, ideologically occupied and normative terms always emerge (Siegrist 1988, 14–15). Following Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory (Luhmann 1992, 194, 199), we start from the notion of “guiding differences” to characterize the basic semantic structure of individual mental domains and spheres of action. As an illustrative example of leading difference, Luhmann cites the theory of Darwinism, which is organized by the opposition of variation and selection (Luhmann 1984, 19). Such binary structuring characterizes the early modern system of social intercourse, in which the distinctive features of aristocratic forms of life are defined by their opposition to the bourgeois or peasant. In modern functionally differentiated societies, too, points of social affiliation and demarcation are continuously communicated (Luhmann 1997, 606). It is characteristic of early modern society that it is in a transitional stage between stratificationally structured class society and functional differentiation.

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We thank Isabel Hernando Morata for her support in procuring the materials and Maike Dietz for her assistance in standardizing the manuscript. We would also like to thank the publisher for their interest in publishing the English version of the book. Thanks to DeepL.com for the machine translation. Special thanks to Miriam Cantwell for her careful review of the English text and its stylistic refinement. The cover image shows a detail from Botticelli’s allegorical painting “Athena and the Centaur.” Athena, as goddess of wisdom, is patroness of the sciences. The centaurs, on the other hand, who have the abdomen of a horse, are characterized by tremendous strength, with which they noisily and impetuously snorting like horses break off large rocks, break through walls without restraint, and hurl uprooted trees (Roscher 1894, 1063–1069). Thus, intellectual and physical strength are opposed to each other, in which one could see the contrast of head- and handwork depicted. That this is not so simple, however, becomes clear when one considers that Athena is also patron of craftsmen and goddess of war strategy. Thus, she has a protective and moderating effect on physical nature, which gives her a superiority in the Neoplatonic context of Medicean Florence and places her in a controlling role. As a tamer of centaurs, she takes the centaur by the scruff of the neck, because underneath, with reason, is the ruling part of the soul. With her gentleness and beauty as the personified virtue of prudentia, she is focused on the future and aims to “preserve acquired political power by correcting at an early stage developments that endanger it” (Leuker 2007, 258). The allegorical image thus does not only show intellect and physics as mere opposites but also points to the complex interferences of this relationship in different areas, which is also the task of this book. Münster, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Christoph Strosetzki

Contents

Part I Introduction    1 1

Conceptions of Work�������������������������������������������������������������������������������    3

2

Alternatives to Work��������������������������������������������������������������������������������    9

Part II Siglo de Oro   17 3

Collections������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   19 3.1 Encyclopaedia ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������   19 3.2 Tomaso Garzoni and Suárez de Figueroa ����������������������������������������   24 3.3 Inventions������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   26 3.4 Personalities and Hierarchies������������������������������������������������������������   32 3.5 Satires������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   41

4

Mechanical Arts ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   45 4.1 Farmer ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   45 4.1.1 Antiquity and the Middle Ages ��������������������������������������������   46 4.1.2 Early Modern Period������������������������������������������������������������   48 4.1.3 Spanish Domestic Literature������������������������������������������������   50 4.1.4 Country Life as a Golden Age����������������������������������������������   51 4.1.5 Rural Life and Primitive State����������������������������������������������   53 4.1.6 Country Life and Greed��������������������������������������������������������   55 4.1.7 The Idyll of the Garden��������������������������������������������������������   57 4.2 Soldier ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   58 4.2.1 Rejection and Legitimization of the War������������������������������   59 4.2.2 Military Ranks����������������������������������������������������������������������   62 4.2.3 Recruitment��������������������������������������������������������������������������   66 4.2.4 Responsibility, Motivation and Refusal to Obey Orders������   68 4.2.5 Cunning and Treachery ��������������������������������������������������������   70 4.2.6 Rebellion ������������������������������������������������������������������������������   72 4.2.7 Sword and Horse������������������������������������������������������������������   73 4.2.8 Cannon and Rifles ����������������������������������������������������������������   75 xiii

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4.3 Merchant ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   77 4.3.1 Negative Evaluation��������������������������������������������������������������   78 4.3.2 Positive Evaluation���������������������������������������������������������������   81 4.3.3 Virtues ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������   83 4.3.4 Common Good and Self-Interest������������������������������������������   84 4.3.5 Money Lending��������������������������������������������������������������������   86 4.3.6 Contracts ������������������������������������������������������������������������������   88 4.3.7 Respectability and Illegality ������������������������������������������������   90 4.4 Between Mechanical Arts and Artes Liberales ��������������������������������   93 4.4.1 Bricklayer and Tailor������������������������������������������������������������   93 4.4.2 Visual Arts and the Church ��������������������������������������������������   95 4.4.3 Experience and Artes������������������������������������������������������������   98 4.4.4 Fine Arts and Mathematics ��������������������������������������������������   99 4.4.5 Dignity of the Visual Arts ����������������������������������������������������  101 4.4.6 Fine Arts and Artes Liberales ����������������������������������������������  102 4.4.7 Résumé����������������������������������������������������������������������������������  107 5

Artes Liberales ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  111 5.1 Trivium����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  111 5.1.1 Grammarian��������������������������������������������������������������������������  111 5.1.2 Rhetorician and Humanist����������������������������������������������������  116 5.2 Quadrivium ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  131 5.2.1 Musician��������������������������������������������������������������������������������  132 5.2.2 Mathematician����������������������������������������������������������������������  136 5.2.3 Astronomer and Astrologer��������������������������������������������������  141 5.2.4 Cosmographer and Navigator ����������������������������������������������  150

6

Higher Faculties ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  155 6.1 Doctor ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  155 6.1.1 Body and Soul����������������������������������������������������������������������  157 6.1.2 Microcosm and Macrocosm��������������������������������������������������  159 6.1.3 Teleology������������������������������������������������������������������������������  160 6.1.4 Between Speculation and Empiricism����������������������������������  162 6.1.5 Mental Health�����������������������������������������������������������������������  163 6.1.6 Dietetics��������������������������������������������������������������������������������  164 6.1.7 Remedies������������������������������������������������������������������������������  167 6.1.8 Between University Teaching and Practice��������������������������  170 6.1.9 Surgeon and Wound Healer��������������������������������������������������  172 6.1.10 The Plague����������������������������������������������������������������������������  177 6.1.11 Satire ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  180 6.1.12 Résumé����������������������������������������������������������������������������������  182 6.2 Theologian����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  183 6.2.1 Chaplain��������������������������������������������������������������������������������  184 6.2.2 Practical Helper��������������������������������������������������������������������  186 6.2.3 Missionary����������������������������������������������������������������������������  187 6.2.4 Confessor������������������������������������������������������������������������������  191

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6.2.5 Asset Manager����������������������������������������������������������������������  195 6.2.6 Retreat and Monasticism������������������������������������������������������  196 6.2.7 Jesuit ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  197 6.2.8 memoria and Don Quixote����������������������������������������������������  201 6.2.9 Imitation in Don Quixote������������������������������������������������������  204 6.2.10 sola scriptura and Don Quixote as Reader ��������������������������  206 6.2.11 Résumé����������������������������������������������������������������������������������  208 6.3 Lawyer����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  209 6.3.1 Training��������������������������������������������������������������������������������  211 6.3.2 School of Salamanca������������������������������������������������������������  213 6.3.3 Chief Magistrate�������������������������������������������������������������������  214 6.3.4 Jurisprudence: A Science?����������������������������������������������������  216 6.3.5 Dignity of the Lawyer����������������������������������������������������������  219 6.3.6 Alderman������������������������������������������������������������������������������  220 6.3.7 Lawyers in Fictional Literature��������������������������������������������  222 6.3.8 Lawyers as Advisers to Rulers����������������������������������������������  225 6.3.9 Advocate ������������������������������������������������������������������������������  229 6.3.10 Satire ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  231 6.3.11 Satire in Don Quixote�����������������������������������������������������������  232 6.3.12 Résumé����������������������������������������������������������������������������������  238 Part III Outlook  241 7

Craft and Hierarchy��������������������������������������������������������������������������������  243

References����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  251

Part I

Introduction

Chapter 1

Conceptions of Work

Professions require skills and knowledge to practice them. Authors of the early modern period endeavored to compile the knowledge necessary for individual professions, repeatedly drawing on ancient texts in the humanist manner. A distinction must be made between professions in which practice predominates, such as that of the merchant, and those that are more theoretical, such as that of the astronomer. But even within individual professions, theoretical variants can be distinguished from practical ones, for example in a case of the physician, who speculates on ancient theories as a university doctor, and a wound healer, who treats injuries. While the former reflects on and discusses contradictions and explanations of traditional book knowledge, the latter draws on experience. Again and again the contrasting pair of manual work and mental work is discussed, whereby mental work is generally valued higher in the hierarchy of professions, which is why the professions of manual work strive to rise. They point out that mental work also has a high proportion among them, in that they also demonstrate elements of the higher-ranking disciplines among themselves. The literature of antiquity, which provides sources for the knowledge of the present, is either unquestioningly taken over as valid as a matter of course or, as in the case of Galen’s theory of the humours, relativised and overtaken by more recent approaches. In the presentation of the individual disciplines of knowledge, according to the Aristotelian doctrine of the four causes, invention is readily given as the causal cause and purpose as the final cause. It is to be asked to what extent, on the one hand, this increases their prestige through an early invention and the resulting long tradition, and to what extent, on the other hand, a normative component is introduced if the purposes and goals are oriented towards norms of the ethics of antiquity or Christianity. The structure of the following remarks begins with a discussion of some central categories. Presented then are attempts in the early modern period of overall representations of knowledge, professions and outstanding professional representatives. Here, as in the following chapters, the hierarchization and its relativization through satire is of importance. The mechanical arts and the artes liberales are then © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE, part of Springer Nature 2023 C. Strosetzki, Manual Work and Mental Work, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-66366-0_1

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presented on the basis of individual professions selected as characteristic examples, each with its own specific knowledge. The higher faculties of medicine, theology and jurisprudence with their representatives form the conclusion. The counterparts to professional activity and the knowledge to be acquired for it are leisure and idleness. While leisure has been praised since antiquity in the topoi of the locus amoenus and the beatus ille as a rural idyll free of professional activity, idleness, otiositas, is in Christian tradition the enemy of the soul, especially since it is close to acedia, the mortal sin of laziness. Therefore, when the beggar refuses to work, it is necessary to examine whether he is incapable or unwilling. The question also arises whether games are to be regarded as leisure or idleness. Are they recreation or a waste of time? Can greed make the game of chance a job-like activity? Do question games and chess games train intellectual and strategic skills, making them appear as propaedeutics of professional activity? Since games and leisure have a special relationship to professions, they are dealt with in the second part of this introduction, which deals with the evaluation of mental and manual labour, first in antiquity and the Middle Ages, then in the early modern period. The fact that ancient mythology does not particularly value manual labor is evident from the fact that Hephaestus, the god of the blacksmith’s art, forms a contrast to the beauty of the other gods. He is depicted as a cripple with a large neck and weakening legs (Hom. Il. 18). Ancient philosophy is no less hostile. In Plato’s state, workers and peasants form the lowest class. Aristotle also held crafts in low esteem (Hist. 2, 167, Oik. 4, 203). In politics, for example, virtue is needed. But this, according to Aristotle, cannot be learned from craftsmanship (Pol. 4, 9). Political activity must remain closed to the craftsman, since he works unfree like a slave for others. Also, his work makes him narrow-minded and insensitive to great interests (Pol. 8, 2). In the case of indispensable activities, he who does them for a master is called a slave, and he who does them for the general public is called a workman (Pol. III). It is to be asked to what extent the turning away from the sensual and turning to the spiritual affects the valuation of physical labor. In the early modern period, did Luther’s valorization of peasants and artisans in Protestantism have an impact on Catholic Spain? Did the teleological view or the empirical emergence of individual activities and fields of knowledge have an impact on their hierarchical position? If needs such as food, housing, or clothing lead to technical inventions, are these to be valued highly because they compensate for the deficiencies of the human being through rational thought, or lowly because they require little intellectual effort? In the early modern treatises on dignitas hominis, it is thought that distinguishes man from the animal and thus constitutes his dignity. If he devotes himself to practical tasks, then he does nothing different from an animal. This hierarchization has a long history. Demeter is the corn mother and goddess of fertility. Her son is Plutos, the personification of wealth. The Eleusinian mysteries were held annually in her honor. According to Xenophon, the best crafts are those of agriculture and warcraft (Xen. oik. IV, 4, 15, 17, 24). The god of travelers and merchants, in Greek Hermes, in Latin Mercury, was also the god of thieves, and thus had something disreputable about him. There are examples of manual labor in Greek literature. Thus Homer’s Odysseus made his own bed before the Trojan War (Hom. Od. 23, 181–201). In

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Hesiod, work is the gods’ punishment for Prometheus deceiving Zeus when he brought fire to man. Thus Zeus, in his anger, hid from men the means of subsistence (Hes. erg. 42–44). Hesiod, the author of Works and Days and the Theogony, made his living by an inherited farm, and writes to his brother, “Zeal promotes labor. One who is always pushing ahead is always struggling with harm.” (Dummer 2001, 70). Nevertheless, he finds work tiring and sees himself in a brazen age preceded by better times. A distinction must be made, however, between the one who masters and exercises a technique and the one who merely labors, the banausos (the philistine) (Plat., polit. 495e). Work is contrasted with schole, leisure, having time, which Aristotle values more highly, since happiness presupposes leisure and work is done in order to then have leisure. Similarly, war is waged in order to then have peace (Aristot. NE 1177b 4–6). He distinguishes the necessary and useful actions from the beautiful, whereby work happens for the sake of leisure and the necessary and useful for the sake of beauty (Aristot. pol., 1333a). In this sense Horace praises the “beatus ille qui procul negotiis” (Hor. Epod. 2.1) is, though his otium may be filled with intensive agricultural labor. Since land ownership was the most important and stable form of property in antiquity, since peasant labor was considered non-­ specialized but diverse, and since peasants did not work for others but self-­ sufficiently for themselves, their activity corresponded to a Greek ideal (Meier 2003, 43). According to Plutarch, Lykurg forbade the Spartans the practice of craftsmanship (Plut. Lyk. 24). Archimedes wished not to apply his intellectual reasoning to bodily things, considering mechanical works and everything that serves the necessary satisfaction of needs as ignoble and low (Plut. Marc. 14, 17). Even the beauty of the works of Phidias lend no esteem to the artist (Plut. Per. 2). Lucian of Samosata describes in a dream how two women court favour, the one as a science, the other as a sculpture (Lucian, Somnium 6–13). In Plato’s state, it seemed more attractive to speculate about the true nature of a thing or the reasons for a problem than to seek practical and technical applications. And in Xenophon’s Oikonomikos it is said that practical work performed in a sitting position and in the house weakens the body and thus also slackens the mind (Engels 2006, 62). More generously perceived was the rural work of the shepherd or the peasant, for example in the Cynic Diogenes, who valorized simple work in the interest of self-sufficiency, or in the Stoic Zeno, who extolled the ideal of simple living according to nature. Among the Greeks, the aristocracy was concerned with politics and warfare or the theoretical activity of a philosopher. Slaves were available for manual labor (Rivero 2020, 20–25, 74–77). Thus, in antiquity, the artes liberales appropriate to a free man are contrasted with the artes illiberales or sordidae not appropriate to a free man. In Cicero, the activities that are meant only to satisfy pleasure, such as those of the fishmonger, butcher, or cook, are the least prestigious. While the Greco-Roman elite despised physical exertion and toil, the people developed a kind of skill-consciousness that ennobled work in the educational sense as virtus. In reality, the successful activity of even simple occupations, such as that of the woodcutter, the shoemaker, or the porter, led to modest prosperity and social advancement. This is confirmed by Democritus in the fifth century B.C. and the

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sophist Protagoras, when they considered strenuous effort as conducive to the emergence of the technai, which advanced civilization. The Roman Cicero, too, excluded from participation in politics all who practiced a paid profession, except farmers and wholesalers (Cicero, de off. I, 151). However, the Sophists, who charged money for their teaching, had already made intellectual work into gainful employment. Cicero, in his writing addressed to his son Marcus, makes a gradual assessment of crafts and types of gainful employment. He considers the collection of customs duties, the charging of interest, and the keeping of gambling houses to be particularly dirty, as well as mechanical and physical handicrafts, the luxury industry, and petty trade. Only agriculture is worthy of a free man (De officiis, I, 42). Already the Bible had in the book of Jesus Sirach an ambivalent appreciation of the handicraft. He who holds the plow, who drives the cattle, directs himself completely to his activity. Likewise, he who works as a craftsman and builder, blacksmith and potter. “All these have trusted in their hands, and each proves wise in his doings. Without them no city is founded, they are not migrants and do not wander.” (Sir 38:25–31). This is the positive part, which, however, has the consequence that in doing crafts there is no time for further gaining knowledge, which is then to the disadvantage of the craftsmen: “But for the counsel of the people they are not sought, and in the assembly they do not stand out; on a judge’s seat they do not sit down, and about the decision of a judgment they do not think.” (Sir 38:32–33). Patristics adopts this ambivalent assessment. Augustine evaluates handicraft positively when he emphasizes that Jesus had a craftsman as foster-father, that Paul was a cell-cloth weaver who earned his living by working with his hands (Aug. c. acad. 18, 3; 20, 34; 1 Cor. 6, 12; 1 Tess. 2, 9; 2 Thess. 3, 8), and, moreover, the working man stands as a model for imitation (2 Thess. 3, 9, 10). When an attitude of rejection of manual labor took hold in the monasteries, he wrote his book “On the Manual Labor of the Monks”, in which he presents the duty to feed oneself with manual labor as an apostolic commandment. For manual labor would find a great spiritual reward. Just as rowers motivate one another through song, this work also promotes prayer (Weinand 1911, 34–35). In agriculture Augustine sees an optimal union of physical and spiritual work, when the spirit of man speaks with nature (Weinand 1911, 55). Influenced by Neoplatonism, which demands the renunciation of the sensual, of the outer worldly appearances, Augustine, on the other hand, strives for the concentration on the spiritual and the inner life. Since evil necessarily reigns in this world, but the soul wants to escape from evil, it must flee from this world. Therefore, the Neoplatonist wants to withdraw from worldly business, overcome his own body through asceticism, and devote himself to contemplation. In view of the approaching end of the world, the world and its creatures are only a ladder to God. Against this background, the task of the Church is not to make them free, but to make them good. Thus earthly things become steps on which one ascends to heavenly righteousness (Weinand 1911, 19). In this perspective, work and mechanical arts are also tools for reaching God. If worldly men work for earthly motives, one should not work for earthly love, but for the sake of the eternal rest that God promises.

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Finally, according to Augustine, when man works, he imitates God, who in turn directs and sustains the universe (Aug. Conf. 1, 4; 13, 37). Here Plato’s ideas of parousia and metexis take hold, reversing Plotinus’ ancient emphasis on the idea or the divine and emphasizing the shining through of the idea in objects. According to Augustine, man possesses securely only what he has gained after laborious work. In his commentary on Genesis he lets the work begin right in Paradise. God had given Paradise to man to guard and cultivate it, so that what God had created would come to fruition through human activity. This work, however, was perceived as pleasure; it only became a burden through the Fall after the expulsion from Paradise. But even then physical work is to be spiritualized, in that through it the soul is directed toward God. The Jews misunderstood the Sabbath commandment when they abstained from physical labor. The commandment is to be understood allegorically, since it involves direction of the spirit to God rather than a commitment to physical idleness. (Weinand 1911, 22–25). Such Augustinian approaches were taken up by Protestantism. Through Martin Luther, the everyday manual labor of peasants and craftsmen was valorized through the criticism of the clerical class and the abolition of monasticism. While the latter were accused of laziness, the peasant’s manual labor appeared as the ideal way of life. The Peasants’ War of 1525 was directed equally against the laziness of the clergy and the nobility (Wiedemann 1979, 83–87, 99, 307). A Catholic revaluation of practical work can be found in François de Sales 1609 in his Guide to the Pious Life. In Italian humanism, Pico della Mirandola had already declared man to be the designer of the world as the image of the Creator God in his treatise On the Dignity of Man in 1487 (Reinhard 2007, 21–22). Even medieval monasticism held on to work, which was not its raison d’être but used as an ascetic exercise. Bernard of Clairvaux, who spread the Cistercian order in Europe, rebuked his nephew for defecting to the Clunyazens and betraying the Cistercian ideal, which consisted of fasting, vigilance, silence and the work of the hands. Of the hermit and monk-father Anthony the following anecdote was handed down in the eleventh century: When he was endeavoring to follow Christ ascetically in the Egyptian desert, he had a vision of a simple tanner in Alexandria who was even more devout than he was in his hermitage. When he went to see him, he found that the latter, with his humble devotion to work as a simple craftsman, was quietly attaining the kingdom of God (Seibt 1981, 166–167). Scotus Eriugena, around 859, in a commentary on Martianus Capella’s De nuptiis philologiae et Mercurii (c. 400), had attested that the artes liberales were pursued for their own sake, while the artes mechanicae were based only on imitation and invention (Boehm 1993, 427–430). Hugh of St. Victor (1097–1141) had distinguished among the mechanical arts lanificum, armatura, navigatio, agricultura, venatio, medicina et theatrica, i.e. woolwork with clothing manufacture, military art, navigation, agriculture, hunting, medicine, and theater. Vincent of Beauvais sees that medicine has not only a manual but also a theoretical part and therefore replaces it with alchemy in his thirteenth century Speculum doctrinale when enumerating the mechanical arts (Lusignan 1982, 36). For Thomas Aquinas, the biblical parable of the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, for which the Lord provides, does not speak against the general

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provision for existence, but only against an excessive, immoderate striving for gain. Moderate work, on the other hand, protected against the dangers of an aimless life, demanded self-conquest, guaranteed subsistence, and made alms possible. And where Thomas in his Summa contra gentiles (1259–1267), especially in Ch. 77, ascribes to man a secondary creative efficacy, in that he himself, like the Creator, becomes the effective cause for other creatures, whereby God indirectly participates in every act of creation through secondary causes, the results of the mechanical arts are also meant. However, the universe and not the world of work is the focus of the argument (Seibt 1981, 170–171). Nevertheless, it can be stated that in antiquity and in the Middle Ages there were voices that positively appreciated manual labor.

Chapter 2

Alternatives to Work

Head work, like hand work, stands in contrast to the absence of work in leisure, idleness or play. Since these form a counterpart to the theme of work and its disciplines of knowledge, let us briefly introduce them with their implications and evaluations. In Luque Faxardo’s Fiel desengaño contra la ociosidad y los juegos (1603), the world of the player is confronted with that of the sage in dialogue form. In the case of games, the commercial ones, in which skill is important, are to be distinguished from those in which the outcome depends on chance. Since the former, motivated by greed and the desire for gain, pursue the purpose of monetary gain at the expense of others, they are not only an expression of idleness, but are to be regarded as a disease and a sin. The loss of money is joined by that of friendship and respect. The author wants to allow the Olympic Games, in which young people can strengthen their forces, and the chess game, in which war tactics are practiced (Luque Faxardo 1955, 746). On the other hand, he finds it particularly inappropriate for women to play cards (Albert 2009, 142). In his Tratado contra los juegos públicos (1609), Juan de Mariana puts the different kinds of entertainment and pastimes on the same level, so that bullfighting, theatrical games and prostitution are seen as damage to the country and religion, as “oficina de deshonestidad” (Mariana 1950, 413), and counterpart to praiseworthy work. It is also work that is seen as part of human dignity in Francisco Cervantes de Salazar. He had edited Pérez de Oliva’s Diálogo de la dignidad del hombre (1546) and supplemented it with a text of his own. Here the figure of Labricio, whose ancestor was Hercules, represents work and Ocía with her retinue Fraude and Hipocresía idleness. The plot ends with a banquet at which Mercury urges all the guests to work honorably and advises against idleness and its harmful concomitants (Cervantes de Salazar 1772; Briesemeister 2009, 254–257). Juan de Pineda, in his Diálogos familiares de la agricultura cristiana (1589), tightens the argument by considering idleness not as something neutral, but as something bad (Juan de Pineda 1963, 239–241). Thus, he argues, it is wrong to think that the idler who does nothing does neither good nor bad. He does bad and © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE, part of Springer Nature 2023 C. Strosetzki, Manual Work and Mental Work, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-66366-0_2

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can expect no reward. Gutierrez de los Ríos, in the last chapter of his Noticia general para la estimación de las artes y la manera en que se conocen los liberales de las que son mecánicas y serviles (1600), also praises work, attributing on the one hand the deplorable situation of the Spain of his time to widespread idleness, and on the other hand calling for the overcoming of this state by a return to the values of work. This present state of affairs was caused by the glamour and fame of the idlers and the poverty and misery of the honest workers, which made the life of idleness worthy of imitation. Nobles, foreigners and other idlers were “ladrones legítimos y legales” (Gutierrez de los Ríos 1600, 227) and seized the ecclesiastical and state pension income and thus the labor earnings of each individual in the state. The idleness of the nobility was opposed by Hernando de Talavera in his De cómo se ha de ordenar el tiempo para que sea bien expendido (c. 1500), in which he stressed the importance of time. Whoever used it properly could achieve prosperity and property. Citing Seneca, he states that there is no greater and worse loss than that of time (Hernando de Talavera 1911, 95). After all, he argues, the stars were arranged by the Creator in such a way that we can read from them the passage of time. Such benefits of the stars, however, are held in low esteem by those nobles who turn day into night and night into day, partying at night, getting on their nerves, and sleeping late during the day. Wealthy nobles will not immediately become poor because of their disorderly lifestyle. But those who are already poor will have to put up with the reproach of having become poor through idleness. Already in the Bible we find the following parable: “Go to the ant, you lazy one, consider her behavior, and become wise! It has no leader, no overseer, no ruler, and yet it provides food in the summer, gathers provisions at harvest time. How long, thou lazy one, wilt thou lie there, when wilt thou rise from thy sleep? Still a little sleep, still a little slumber, still a little fold your arms to rest. Then poverty comes upon thee quickly like a rascal, trouble like an armed man.” (Prov 6:6-11; Bibel 2017:723). In the preface to his Discursos del amparo de los legitimos pobres y reduccion de los fingidos: y de la fundacion y principio de los albergues destos Reynos y amparo de la milicia dellos (1598), Perez de Herrera emphasizes that the support of the truly poor should be accompanied by a reduction in the number of malingerers. Under the latter category fall, “los fingidos, falsos, engañosos, y vagabundos” (Perez de Herrera 1598, al lector), who seize the alms of others and violate all the good customs and laws of the state. The poor spread contagious diseases and behave as thieves of charity. Vagabonds, pretending to be poor, enter houses to ask for alms, spying where it is worth while to break in at night. Thus they are very inventive in settling down to their poor life of idleness and gluttony (5r), and living without religious support. Poor as they pretend to be, they are avaricious. Spending nothing, they accumulate money. Although they could work, they inflict wounds on themselves or eat harmful things in order to look as pale as possible and arouse pity. They pretend to be dumb and blind without being so. They twist the feet and hands of their children who have just been born, or they forcibly cause them to lose their sight, only that they may help them to accumulate money. As they always wear the same filthy clothes in cold and heat, eat rotten meat or other things that have been thrown away, drink undrinkable water and bad wine in great quantity, especially in

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summer, when it is hot and humid, as in Seville, they emit a mouldy smell, spoil the air, and bring typhus and plague. Addiction to gambling can be a cause of poverty. According to Adrian de Castro, it is closer to idleness than to leisure. As usual in other fields, his Libro de los daños que resultan del juego first gives its origin and inventor. They are greed, idolatry, and the god of merchants and thieves: “La madre deste vicio es la Avaricia, su ama de leche la Idolatria, su ayo y maestro el Dios Mercurio, qual la madre tal el hijo.” (de Castro 1599, 6v). With Aristotle, greed is explained as an infinite and boundless desire to have, making it the root of all evils, of treachery, perjury, and violence. The fact that Anselm of Canterbury is also cited, according to whom money and riches are the god of the covetous, suggests that it is primarily a matter of gambling for money. The gambler is compared to Tantalus, who stood atoning for his misdeeds in the underworld up to his chin in water, but could not drink from it as it kept receding, nor could he grasp the fruit above him as the wind blew it away at every attempt. Tantalus torments also the gamblers have when they thirst for money. That Mercury is named as the educator is not surprising. He is, after all, the greatest cheat and most treacherous gypsy among the gods. Ancient references often dominate, although the end and climax of the argument against gambling is the raffle of the clothes of the crucified Jesus. While doctors cure minor illnesses with mild medicines, according to de Castro, greed is a difficult disease to cure, which idolizes money and gold. Examples include Caesar, who wanted to immortalize himself by having his image engraved on coins, and the Golden Calf, which the Israelites created and worshipped as a new god when they grew tired of waiting for Moses. If one compares possessions with freedom, peace of mind, or good reputation, they seem of lesser value anyway. But possessions also have something of a chameleon quality that adapts to its surroundings. If they are with a good person, they appear good and can lead to charity, while with a bad one this leads to lechery and gluttony. An example of this is the gambler, for whom it is sacrilege to withdraw his money from the game in order to give it to the poor. If you look at the player at play, you notice his oaths, his blasphemies, his hatred, his envy, his defiance, his lies and false flattery. In any case, he says, it is better to possess little securely than to leave much to a doubtful fate. Of course, according to de Castro, it is appealing to make great gains with small stakes. But one should avoid the behavior of the dog in Aesop’s fable, who, with a piece of meat between his teeth, stoops over a river in whose waters he sees the meat magnified. Hence he snaps at the reflection in the water and loses the meat from his muzzle. Here the proverb fits, “Mas vale pajaro en mano, que buitre volando.” (34r) (Better a sparrow in the hand than a dove on the roof.). And in Seneca it is stated that an adverse fate is more likely than a favorable one. Through gambling, more rich have become poor than poor have become rich. Those who have lost their own possessions also lose their dignity when they have to ask others for money and credit. Such distresses are then responsible for usurious interest and for flattery. Since flattery, cunning, and deception rule the world of gamblers, Aesop’s fable in which a hungry vixen saw a jackdaw with a piece of bread in its beak illustrates the point. The vixen praises the

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jackdaw’s beauty, speed, and lightness and asks her if she can sing as beautifully. The jackdaw is flattered and when she begins to sing, the bread falls out of her beak, which the vixen immediately steals from her. According to de Castro, emergencies are often exploited for usury. If the merchant knows that the borrower is in distress, he allows the price to rise to unimagined heights. “No pide lo que ella vale, sino lo que el quiere.” (60v). Thus, there are people just waiting to lend to hard-pressed players. Thus, the game creates disorder and lost is the great good of peace, which is the condition for prosperity, tranquility and permanence. Without peace, cities are unprotected and revenues are uncertain. It is like the strings of a musical instrument. If one is out of tune, the proper tuning of the others is useless (64v). The author contrasts covetousness, which is responsible for trying to gain possessions and win lands through wars, with meekness, whose kinship with peace is emphasized in the Psalms of the Bible. Indeed, he argues, play is nothing other than a living image of war and discord (82v). Seneca is credited with the assertion that the root of wars is that some claim for themselves what belongs to all or to another. And the game is nothing but a war in which one wins and the other loses, and whoever wins today will be defeated tomorrow. Another great good is lost through the game: time. Here de Castro quotes Aristotle, who characterizes it as the beginning of the future and the end of the past. According to Augustine, time is something intangible, since the past is no more, the future not yet happened, and the present an indivisible and unknowable moment. For Thales, time is the wisest of all things, since it finds, confesses and discovers everything. And according to Seneca, all things are foreign to man, only time is proper to him. Therefore Theophilus advises us to use this good wisely. Since man, unlike animals, has a mind, let him devote his time to contemplation and the sciences (123v−124v) or to the salvation of his soul. But he who plays has time for nothing else. Thus the merchant, when he plays, lacks time for his shop, the scribe for his office, the scholar for study, the physician for visiting the sick, and the cleric for prayer. Those who do not play, on the other hand, have time in abundance to think, to do good deeds, or to meet with friends. Maintaining friendships stabilizes society and supports the individual. There is also time for the practice of music, which Aristotle said transforms negative feelings into positive ones. Can you also learn through play? Does a quiz only require presence of mind or is it also suitable for imparting knowledge? It is not possible to reconstruct exactly how question and answer games were designed in detail in the Siglo de Oro. In any case, instructions for questions and answers are available in book form. In the dedicatory letter of his Sylva de varias questiones naturales y morales con sus respuestas y solutiones, facadas de muchos autores griegos y latinos (1575), Hieronymo Campos begins by blaming idleness for numerous evils and misdeeds, which is why it is important to fill one’s time with sensible activities. The Roman state, which had long flourished and dominated the world, is cited as an example of this, until sweet idleness spread there and it finally succumbed to the attacks of the barbarians. The author Campos himself intends to use his time, freed after participation in warlike enterprises, to gather his materials, collected from ancient Greek and Roman authors, in the form of questions and answers in a “silva,” so that those unpracticed

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in the sciences may find answers and remove doubts, “con que pueda Vuestra Excelencia algunos ratos (desocupado de los negocios publicos) recrear el alma.” (Campos 1575, dedication). The questions and answers are arranged in groups of 100 and concern first physical objects and then human concerns. The fourth question, “what is the human body made of?” is answered by referring to the four elements: “El cuerpo del hombre, de que esta hecho y compuesto? Solucion. De quatro elementos: Tierra, Agua, Aire, y Fuego.”(1v). Why the blood is red is answered by referring to its place of origin, the liver. An opaque object and light are given as the cause of the shadow. Why is the wind from the Mediterranean countries to the east so pleasant? – Because it is temperate and neither hot nor cold. Why are some right-handed and others left-­ handed? – The reason is the heat emanating from the heart, which radiates more strongly to the right or left and thus makes one or the other hand more active, which can also be a hereditary predisposition. How is it that after a clear and cheerful day it soon becomes cloudy with the onset of night? – This is due to the inconstancy of the moon, which commands the night. A few more examples from the realm of human morality follow: Why is the loss of one’s property preferable to unjust gain? – Because this loss depresses only for a short time, and not for so many years as the remorse of wrong done. By what MEANS does a king perpetuate himself throughout his life and after his death? – By liking his subjects and committing no injustice. When do cities and states perish? – When the rulers no longer know how to distinguish between good and bad. The question of what benefit music brings to those who actively pursue it is answered with reference to its positive psychological and physical effects:  – “Levanta el entendimiento y el alma, a contemplar cosas grandes, y despierta el cuerpo, para que pueda dezir lo que quiere, con mucha gravedad y eloquentia, assi en verso como en prosa.” (132v). Why does Homer call salt a divine thing? – Because it gives flavour to all food and has a preservative effect. The approach of Alonso López de Corela in his Trezientas preguntas de cosas naturales (1546) appears more academic. The author, who calls himself a physician in the title page, sends his 300 questions ahead, then lets a preface follow, and in the main part repeats the questions with solutions in the right column of each page, while in the left column he gives and discusses the respective sources. In the preface he addresses all those who know nothing of philosophy and other sciences. He wants to give them the opportunity to keep difficult and important things in mind, since it is as difficult to ask questions as it is to give answers. In doing so, he uses a simple and low style, because “el bien tanto es mayor quanto a mas se comunica” (Al prudente lector), making it possible to benefit a large number of readers. In answer to the first question, why man is of great and upright stature, the purpose given is that it enables him to see the sky better. The reason further given is that he has more heat than other living creatures. The answers are discussed in the left column, citing passages in Aristotle, Galen and Boethius. Thus, as a counter-argument, it is stated that there are animals that do not walk straight but can still see the sky, such as the cock. Why is it praiseworthy to kindle great fires in times of pestilence?  – Fire carries away the poisonous

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pestilential air, as evidenced by Pliny in the left column. Why is man stricken with sadness when he is alone at home? – Because he becomes pensive and melancholy, sadness assails him, as is confirmed ex contrario with Avicenna, who points out that it is a pleasure to have social interaction with others. Why is man born without teeth? – Because, unlike some animals, he does not need them at first, bones can form beforehand. Why does reading in the evening keep some awake while others fall asleep while doing it? – It is because the moist cold juice of the body immobilizes the phlegmatic and warms the brain in the choleric, Aristotle being quoted here in the left column. These examples from the questions in the book without page references may give an impression. Despite the seemingly greater scientificity, originality also seems to be more important here than scientifically validated knowledge, which raises the question of whether knowledge ought really to be conveyed primarily in an entertaining way, or whether the entertaining aspect should not dominate over the instructive one. Perhaps the texts were taken to help in games in society, in which the aim was to shine through brilliant answers, as is assumed in seventeenth century France with La Rochefoucauld (Sorel 1977; Strosetzki 1990). If the game of questions can instruct entertainingly, then this applies even more to the game of chess. For Ruylopez de Sigura it is in any case not a game but a science. In his Libro de la invencion liberal y arte de juego del Axedrez (1561), he explains why it requires mastery of the liberal arts of geometry and arithmetic. It is, in fact, square and has eight boxes on each side, which in total stand side by side like 64 houses. It is a mathematical science because it does not deal with chance but with proofs. Moreover, as in other sciences, one needs here “ingenio, memoria, fuerca de imaginacion, exercicio, y afficion.” (Ruylopez de Sigura 1561, 1v). What the imagination conceives is to be preserved by the memory and brought to mind by the spirit of invention on occasion. Practice is as important in the art of chess as the mastery of knowledge. Not to be underestimated is the importance of inclination and enthusiasm, which increase diligence and ease difficulties. Since all this is also true of other sciences, it is proved that chess is a science. It is not merely a laudable pastime, but something necessary for the maintenance of man, who, like all beings who have a body, cannot work uninterruptedly, but needs rests. The mind, too, needs breaks in order not to become ill and dull. Recovered, it is better, stronger and more perceptive. Chess is especially appropriate in this context, “por ser juego de sciencia, y parecer que con el se huye el ocio inhonesto.” (4v). Finally, scholars and great philosophers, such as Seneca, are attested to have played chess. Also, one should not be confused by the term “game,” since other arts of the artes liberales were also so called, such as ludus litterarum the study of literature or ludus grammaticus the study of grammar. When asked who invented chess, Ruylopez de Sigura gives different answers. For some it is the Moors, for others the Greeks. On the one hand, Xerxes from Babylon comes into question. Then the game is a reflection of the city with the king, his nobles and the edges as city walls. On the other, the prudent army commander Palamedes is said to have invented, among many other things in the Trojan War, the board game as a useful occupation between warlike actions for his soldiers, on which chess could be played, because it involved them “en las cosas de la milicia: y traxessen los ingenios vivos, y exercitados en las subtilezas de poder vencer sus enemigos.”

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(7v). Chess, then, is a martial activity. One reason given for the invention of the game is that it teaches by example that a good king should not be cruel and unrestrained, but rather should spare his subjects “mas con amor y aequidad, que no con crueldad: para que los hallasse promptos, y obedientes al tiempo de menester: y no enemigos y rebeldes.” (3r). The art of war, he says, is the best of all, since it preserves liberty, strengthens the dignity of a country, and preserves dominion. Since it depends on the fate of the king whether the game is won, he deserves special attention. He stands in the middle with his subjects in order to administer justice, fairness and leniency from there. Depending on their proximity to the king, the pawns’ pieces are given more or less importance. After all, it is not so much a city as a battlefield with two kings and their soldiers ready to fight (37v). Vegetius emphasizes the importance of the infantry, since the arfiles are tribunos militum, i.e. capitanes de infanteria or alferez de infanteria. The figures of the knights stand for mounted warriors. This warrior force must be kept together. An army driven apart and disordered is at risk and “recibe grauissimo peligro y daño de los enemigos.” (48v). What matters less, he says, is the number of figures or soldiers. More important, he says, is the quality of the leaders. To win, one should confuse the enemy before the battle and, if possible, tire him out during the fight so that he makes mistakes. Advice goes back to Vegetius to use selected and well-armed peasants in the midfield to break the enemy’s ranks, and not to isolate the peasants but to have them act in groups. The leaders should always be ready to rush to the aid of all others. The advice goes back to Cassiodorus: “aprenda el soldado en tiempo que es de ocio, lo que pueda perfectamente hazer en la escaramuza, o pelea.” (68r). And from Vegetius it is deduced that no one is born a good player, but that it is perseverance, practice and experience that make one win in the long run. In summary, it can be emphasized that many of the aforementioned opinions and models of labor activity were widespread and thus influential in the Spanish Siglo de Oro. Even if in antiquity workers and peasants were the lowest class and philosophers such as Aristotle considered it impossible for virtue, a prerequisite for political activity, to be learned from handicrafts, there are countervailing tendencies in ancient mythology. Examples of this are Odysseus, who makes his own bed, or the corn-mother Demeter as the goddess of fertility. And if in the early Middle Ages earthly things are generally of little value compared to heavenly righteousness, Augustine emphasizes that Jesus had a craftsman as foster father and advises monks to do manual work. The counterpart to work is leisure. Breaks from work are considered necessary in order not to become dull. However, a distinction must be made here between leisure and idleness. Whereas leisure is for recreation, in order to be able to work better again afterwards, and is always connected with an activity, e. g. as otium cum litteris, idleness stands for doing nothing and is not morally neutral, but bad. It leads, in fact, to poverty, in which the really poor must be distinguished from the malingerers who beg, although they could work. If idleness is filled with gambling, care must be taken. For in gambling, avarice leads to addiction to gambling and to distress, which usurers are fond of exploiting. Of course, there are useful games in which one can learn something. These include question games, which provide knowledge in an entertaining way, or the game of chess, which can be seen as an intellectual preliminary exercise for war.

Part II

Siglo de Oro

Chapter 3

Collections

3.1 Encyclopaedia Even if only a few representative professions can be singled out in this book, some encyclopaedic representations of professions and early modern encyclopaedias should first be presented. There is, after all, a connection between the two insofar as the encyclopaedias of specialist knowledge also focus on the specialists who use this knowledge professionally, and the representations of professions usually also include the relevant necessary knowledge. Two other genres can have a comparably encyclopedic character. First, directories of inventors also bring detailed information about the invented subject or field, especially as it was customary to characterize and define the latter by indicating its origin. On the other hand, directories of the most important personalities of a country or city also list those who excelled in their field or science, which is supplemented with relevant information. In all directories, the hierarchy of the different disciplines of knowledge and with it that of their representatives is not missing. Even in antiquity, manual labor was usually not highly valued. In the Middle Ages, the appreciation of the fields of knowledge and their activities was linked to the hierarchy of being, and a servant function was attributed to the mechanical arts. In the compilations of knowledge by Martianus Capella, Isidore of Seville, and Vincent of Beauvais, arrangement and classification were more important than completeness. While the directories of Aristotle and Pliny are oriented towards the norm, the mirabilia literature, which presents the technical wonders of Rome, as in Pliny, or the whimsical things of newly discovered lands, as in Marco Polo, concentrates on the exceptional phenomena. Thus, the miraculous becomes a poetological postulate (Leinkauf 2015). Does Garzoni see only frauds in merchants, stonemasons and shoemakers, who, occupied all day with menial tasks, cannot develop virtues, because he writes as an Augustinian monk in his library? His overall view of different professions, arts and © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE, part of Springer Nature 2023 C. Strosetzki, Manual Work and Mental Work, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-66366-0_3

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occupations opens up insights into the world of the court, hunters and shepherds as well as that of rag merchants. The Spaniard Figueroa not only translates Garzoni’s original, but edits and adds to it to delight his readers with things of general interest. To what extent is he guided by the principle of composition of Pedro Mexía’s encyclopaedic Silva de varia lección and Antonio de Torquemada’s Jardin de flores curiosas? The books of the Italian humanist Polydor Vergil De inventoribus rerum, disseminated throughout Europe, present the fields of knowledge by tracing them to their origins and inventors. Polydor Vergil’s system begins with God and creation, and is also devoted to jurisprudence, agriculture, and seafaring. His approach is adopted in Spain by Juan de la Cueva with his directory Los inventores de las cosas, which focuses on the stories of inventors. Although the apprenticeship with a master in the mechanical arts usually lasted 4 years, its value is disputed. Miranda Villafant has the soul advise the body in an allegorical dialogue that, now that it has acquired what is necessary with the mechanical arts, it can devote itself to contemplation. In doing so, the ancient texts may be available in Spanish, so that the grammar of Latin is no longer an obstacle. Before the glory and honor of the persons listed in the viri illustres – tracts are presented, the ideas of prowess and honor that lead to excellence are discussed in more detail. Guardiola makes prowess and honor criteria for the varones claros y grandes de España. Is this prowess expressed in words and in heroic deeds? In the case of nobility, he distinguishes three types: the theological, which is linked to the grace of God; the natural, which is held by those who do not follow a trade; and the nobleza civil, which is conferred by the king with the title of nobility. Numerous examples can be cited from antiquity of a craftsman or peasant rising to the highest offices of state because of his own prowess. Does this explain why the privileged nobles were not necessarily to be preferred in the granting of higher offices? Should those who excel in study and knowledge be considered, even if they come from humble beginnings? Military exploits seem impossible without knowledge of the art of war. This is not changed by the many titles of nobility, which were initially rewards for martial deeds before being passed on to later generations. Guardiola obviously has no intention of upgrading the manual professions, since fame and glory only beckon when manual labor is replaced by intellectual activity. In ancient times, people liked to combine the narrative of the emergence of a field of culture and science with the praise of those responsible for it, be they humans or native gods. Thus Athens, which had a monopoly on state olive cultivation, credited the goddess Athena with having planted the first olive tree. In early modern Spain, inventors also serve to praise Spain when, for example, the biblical Tubal, as the country’s founder, also brought culture and science. What is the significance of works that, following Petrarch’s De viris illustribus, name Spain’s authoritative officeholders, such as king, bishops, dukes, and counts, and highlight the strengths of Spaniards in various fields? Are there other lists of greater consequence, giving the principal writers or personages by name, title, and occupational title, with an indication of special attainments in the intellectual field? Where inventions are cited as evidence of dignitas hominis, a debate arises between optimists

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and pessimists of progress, the latter, like the ancient cynics, seeing the ideal in the state of nature. Smaller cities and towns such as Calatayud also boast their most important representatives in history and the present, including the heroes of the expulsion of the Almogavars in 1383 as well as the Roman poet Martial. First, let us note some authorities and encyclopedias that present different kinds of knowledge and their representatives. Evidence that late antiquity held manual labor in low esteem is found in Martianus Capella’s De nuptiis philologiae et Mercurii and in Cassiodor’s De septem disciplinis. In Isidore de Seville’s Etymologiae, the artes liberales are placed above the manual arts. In encyclopedias of the early modern period, up to the eighteenth century, it is not so much the complete representation of the sciences that is important, but rather their connection and coordination, their outline and classification. For classification, antiquity provides three models: the system of artes liberales with trivium and quadrivium, the Aristotelian division into theoretical (physics, mathematics, and metaphysics), practical (ethics, politics, and economics), and poetic philosophy and, thirdly, the Stoic-Neoplatonic scheme of logic, ethics, and physics (Dierse 1971, 3, 10). In the Middle Ages, Hugh of St. Victor (1096–1141) refers to the manual arts as mechanical, citing as examples weaving, weaponry, seafaring, agriculture, hunting, healing, and acting (Villa Prieto 2015, 421). In Thomas Aquinas, the hierarchization of knowledge is oriented towards the order of being, which consists of the supernatural (God), the natural (creation), and the physical (the world). Knowledge thus has a theological level, a logical level, a moral level, and a level produced by free and mechanical arts. In this context, he also refers to the mechanical arts as serving, since they modify nature for better use by means of special techniques (423). It is the usefulness of the mechanical arts that Raimundus Lullus emphasizes in Libre de contemplació en Déu (1276) and Doctrina pueril (1275), since without them the world would be in disorder and citizens and princes alike would be deprived of their livelihood. Among the professions that produce and sell food, Lullus distinguishes agricultural workers, gardeners, hunters and shepherds. Food processing and distribution are served by the miller or businessmen such as butchers and innkeepers (427). Clothing and care of the body are provided by shoemakers, tailors, weavers, furriers, and barbers. Lullus also introduces the professions that serve to build houses, make weapons or tools, or those who buy and sell or transport goods, and the bankers who support commerce. As late as Juan Manuel’s Libro de los estados (1327–1332), the representatives of all these professions are contrasted as the class of laboratores with the classes of oratores and bellatores (434). The Speculum of Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo was printed in Latin in Rome in 1467, followed by a Spanish translation in 1491 by Pablo Hurus in Zaragoza. Sánchez de Arévalo had studied law and theology at Salamanca, held various bishoprics in Spain, and in 1464 was appointed castellan of Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome, where he resided when he wrote his Speculum. He begins in the first book with the secular estates, presenting them from the king down to the ox-driver, and in the second book presents the ecclesiastical estates in an equally hierarchical manner, distinguishing the clergy and the monastic as separate groups. The text is framed as an argument between the mother and relatives about the pros and cons of individual

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professions, intended to help a young man choose a career and decide between ecclesiastical and secular offices. In considering both sides of the coin, he has borrowed from Petrarch’s De remediis utriusque fortunae (Kurze 1999, 120). Specifically, the secular professions are presented in a largely hierarchical order with one article pro and one contra each: Kings and princes, courtiers, nobility, military, magistrates and judges, consuls and provincial leaders, advocates, notaries and scribes, as a separate group the peasantry, finally the artes liberales and the artes mechanicae. No hierarchy is made among the mechanical arts, but the usefulness and necessity of the mechanical arts is emphasized, since without agriculture and hunting there would be no food, without wool production no clothing, without blacksmiths and carpenters no houses for protection against cold and enemies. But important as craftsmen are, they are not suitable for public office. Here Sánchez de Arévalo draws on Aristotle and sees them at the bottom of the social hierarchy. A disparaging attitude towards the craftsmen is expressed when it is said that wool workers mix linen with wool, blacksmiths spend brass for gold and stretch silver with lead, and finally, merchants give false claims when purchasing and conceal damage when selling (Kurze 1999, 130). Thus, although Sánchez de Arévalo presents in detail the professional alternatives parallelled in reality, he is not impartialbecause of his noble origin, his spiritual status and his ancient sources. A division of the fields of knowledge can start from the respective fields or from the human abilities that are prerequisites for the activity in the respective field. Thus, Juan Huarte starts from the faculties of comprehension, imagination and memory. Temperaments are what determine human nature, when Juan Huarte, in his Examen de ingenios (1575), distinguishes in each individual different intellectual aptitudes, attitudes and deficiencies in relation to the exercise of professions (Martín Araguz 2004). The mechanical arts offer a wide range that includes artisans, stockbreeders, farmers, merchants, and bankers. These groups find support from economic reformers such as the official in the Málaga treasury, Luis Ortiz, who presented his Memorial to King Philip II in 1558, in which he advocated teaching every Spaniard a trade so that raw materials would become products. Alejo Venegas’s Agonía del tránsito de la muerte (1537), in which he complains that in Spain it is considered dishonorable to practice a craft, which is why there are so many idlers, shows that the actual situation is far from this (Herrero 2004, 296–297). A particular kind of encyclopedia emerges in early modern Spain and makes no claim to completeness or comprehensive systematics. When Pedro Mexía titles his encyclopedic presentation of phenomena Silva de varia lección, he programmatically uses the word “silva”, which means forest, thus referring to an area where the trees and plants stand without order. Offering knowledge that can be directly accessed, extracted from texts, and used piecemeal, so to speak, is the model Mexía follows (Schneiderl 2013, 23). What was known and how it was represented differed in the early modern period from the culture of knowledge today, as not only was ancient mythology and the Old Testament taken into account, but symbolic worlds and anomalies such as monsters were also included when considering stones, plants and animals. Thus, in the four-volume dictionary of the French Academy of 1685, the bee appears in two separate alphabets: one of literature and language as a

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symbol of diligence, and the other of arts and sciences as an insect (Schneider 2006, 10 f.). The alphabetical principle had not yet become established. New inventions are seen in eighteenth-century France by d’Alembert, e.g., in agriculture and medicine, by research undertaken out of pure curiosity, and by the application of geometry and mechanics to the properties of bodies, i.e., by combining observation and calculation, e.g., in astronomy (d’Alembert 1997, 16, 20). His and Diderot’s Encyclopedia aims to highlight causes of origin and uses in the comprehension of sciences and arts. It deals with their invention and the historical context of the inventions. Earlier works of an encyclopedic character, which we will not discuss further below, are: Agrippa von Nettesheim’s De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum declamatio invectiva (1568), Correas Gonzalo’s Vocabulario de refranes y frases proverbiales (1627), Gómez Pereira’s Antoniana Margarita (1554), Sebastián Izquierdo’s Pharus scientiarum (1659), Gregor Reisch’s Margarita philosophica (1503), and Paulus Scalichius’s Encyclopaedia, seu Orbis disciplinarum, tam sacrarum quam prophanarum, Epistemon (1559). Encyclopedias usually present the normal. But there are also compilations of the extraordinary, especially in travelogues. Marco Polo had travelled east from Venice along the Silk Road to China in 1271, where he had stayed for 17 years and had seen numerous wondrous things, such as paper money or long-burning coal extracted from the earth, of which he tells. The great age of discovery, however, began at the end of the fifteenth century with the circumnavigation of the southern tip of Africa in 1487/1488 by the Portuguese Bartolomeu Diaz, the discovery of America in 1492 by Columbus, the discovery of the sea route to India in 1498 by Vasco da Gama, and the circumnavigation of the world in 1519 and 1522 by Fernando Magellan. It was Marco Polo who, although he himself had lived in China, furnished his account with numerous stories of miracles and magicians. Another example of such compilations is Alvar Gutiérrez de Torres’ El sumario de las maravillosas y espantables cosas que en el mundo han acontescido (1524). Mirabilia are omnipresent in the aforementioned natural history of Pliny from 50 AD. They show up in natural phenomena as well as in human inventions, the latter appearing as heroic as they are miraculous (Céard 1996, 60). Here one has to distinguish between what the adjective thaumasios denotes in Greek and what paradoxos denotes. The former refers to that which arouses wonder or admiration, the latter to that which contradicts the common norm. The outline of the work moves from cosmology to geography to anthropology, and then to zoology, botany, medicine, and mineralogy. In doing so, Pliny takes his cue from Aristotle’s concern to encompass all knowledge, but unlike him, he devotes himself not only to the norm, but also to the exceptions, i.e. the mirabilia. Where Pliny depicts the technical and architectural wonders of Rome, he makes use of the topos of the praise of the city. Where he praises the technical achievements of Rome’s aqueducts and water tanks, the element of the miraculous is as important to him as that of general usefulness. That the miraculous should not be improbable either is obvious.

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3.2 Tomaso Garzoni and Suárez de Figueroa Of interest in this context are encyclopedias in which professions and fields of activity are presented with the associated areas of knowledge. Garzoni became particularly famous with his La piazza universale di tutte le professioni del mondo (1587) and Fioravanti with Dello Specchio Di Scientia Universale (1564). Garzoni views the post-Tridentine world as an Augustinian monk from his monastic library, while Fioravanti, as a physician much traveled in the Mediterranean, prefers his own experiences to scholastic scholarship. Garzoni’s work had 15 editions in Italy between 1585 and 1665, was translated into German and Latin, and adapted in Spanish. Fioravanti’s book appeared in 1564, was reprinted for the tenth time in 1660, and had been translated into French, English, and German. Garzoni’s intention in listing no less than 540 trades and professions is not so much to valorize manual labor as to instruct the prince about social groups and their interconnections in the state (Mocarelli 2011, 92). When Garzoni places merchants near usurers and swindlers, he seems to be writing from the traditional perspective of the natal nobility, who claim honors and privileges for themselves precisely because it is what those who spend all day in menial tasks and mechanical arts cannot have. He also sees the stonemasons and the shoemakers as primarily flawed and fraudulent. In contrast, Fioravanti praises the art of the stonemason, since the art of building comes in rank and necessity right after food and clothing. As precursors, Barthélemy de Chasseneuz with Catalogus gloriae mundi (1529) and André Tiraqueau with De nobilitate (1549) could influence Garzoni, the former primarily concerned with the position of professions in the social hierarchy. In addition to these works, another possible source of inspiration for Garzoni is Leonardo Fioravanti’s Dello Specchio Di Scientia Universale (1564) (McClure 2004, 72). Fioravanti deals with practical arts such as agriculture and animal husbandry in the first book, theology and ethics in the second, and medicine in the third. When he introduces tailors, goldsmiths, printers, makers of Murano glass, or shopkeepers, an appreciation of active and useful manual labor can be discerned, though overcoming the challenges seems greater to him in the shopkeeper than in the jurist. This is explained as he distinguishes between good and bad fields of knowledge, counting magic and astrology among the latter, as well as jurisprudence (McClure 2004, 74). Agrippa von Nettesheim’s De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum (1526) and its translation by Ludovico Domenichi, published in Venice in 1547, present in polemical tradition the presumption and corruption of over a 100 disciplines of knowledge. In doing so, he rejects a divine origin of knowledge, condemns it as an evil consequence of original sin, and recommends God as a place of retreat. If Garzoni adopts Agrippa of Nettesheim’s polemic, he differs in his basic attitude. For him, knowledge contributes to the perfection of man and makes man more like his Creator, who stands for infinite wisdom and prudence. In Tomaso Garzoni’s German translation from 1619, the Italian word “professioni” is translated and paraphrased as “Professionen, Künsten, Geschafften, Händlen vnd Handiwercken”, while the Spanish adaptation by Christoval Suarez de

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Figueroa from 1615 speaks only of “plaza universal de todas ciencias y artes”. On more than 700 pages in 153 chapters, not only professions with their occupational knowledge disciplines are presented, but also the most diverse areas of everyday practice. For example, the courtly world with its forms of behavior in conversation, at meals and at play, courtly leisure and idleness are presented. In contrast, activities that are closer to nature than to the court are also depicted, such as those of the hunter, the shepherd or the gardener. For the astrologer, the alchemist, the dream-­ interpreter or the nigromancer, reading nature is a rule-governed art that makes it possible to find the propitious moments for a marriage, a medicine or a contract of sale. Another world is that of the great merchants who have risen to high honors in such cities as Venice, London, and Barcelona. They must not be confused with petty changers, salt merchants or rag merchants. Suárez de Figueroa’s adaptation of Garzoni’s model can be understood as a humanistic aemulatio, that is, as a competitive imitation and adaptation to circumstances that are different in Madrid than in Italy. While Garzoni aims to list all professions and forms of activity in an encyclopedic manner, Suárez de Figueroa describes his work as a “jardín deleitoso de admirables frutos y flores” (Bradbury 2011, 103), evoking titles such as Pedro Mexía’s Silva de varia lección (1540) or Antonio de Torquemada’s Jardín de flores curiosas, en que se tratan algunas materias de humanidad, philosophia, theologia y geographia, con otras curiosas y apacibles (1570), where encyclopedic completeness is less important than interest and attention. In keeping with this intention, Suárez de Figueroa deletes the negative aspects from Garzoni’s descriptions. Figueroa’s Plaza universal (1615) is more than a mere translation of Garzoni’s original, given numerous additions and cuts, especially the paratexts at the beginning. The fact that the latter’s Piazza universale had become a bestseller after its first edition in 1585 was experienced by Figueroa during his stay in northern Italy. Probably with censorship in mind, he later omitted the articles on the censor, the follower of the Kabbalah, the soothsayer, the chiromancer, the necromancer, the thief, the robber, and the court jester, and added a section on skill at arms (Arce Menéndez 2008). Suárez de Figueroa presents the profession of jurist as noble and respectable, especially since it is associated with notions of justice. However, the excellent lawyers are contrasted by a large number of incompetent and ignorant ones (Suárez de Figueroa 1629, 44). Lawyers are especially respected because they not infrequently represent the interests of rulers. Yet many of them, who appear polite and elegant, are insidious and mendacious. Caution should therefore be exercised. For if one wants to risk the loss of one’s body, one can entrust oneself to an incompetent physician. With a bad theologian one risks body and soul, but with a bad advocate one risks body, soul, and property (64). The profession of physician seems to have been created by God, since it is of the greatest usefulness for the preservation of health. It requires broad knowledge, not only in the artes liberales, but also in the numerous medical fields of work. It is all the more regrettable that there are numerous physicians who feign competence, but do not possess it. Nor do the representatives of the artes liberales find Suárez de Figueroa’s undivided approval. On the one hand, the grammarian of the Latin language opens the

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door to all the sciences that are available in this language, but he dwells too much on linguistic trifles, such as the question of whether “Ulysses” should be written with two “s”. The rhetorician deceives by using cunning to soften his opponent emotionally. The musician of the quadrivium on the other hand, is dedicated to harmony, which is everywhere observable in nature and which supports man in music, balances him emotionally, and frees him from disease (34–36, 134–135, 208). In the case of the mechanical arts, the activity of those working in a forge is described. It is so exhausting, he says, that it does not allow the workers to rest and recuperate, “sino que llegada la noche en que de la trabajosa y larga jornada quedan tan cansados, que sin acordarse de cenar se adormecen, dando algun breve descanso a su grave fatiga.” (218). Alongside these are knowledge of different materials and tools, which the locksmith needs just as much as the boilermaker, armourer or cutler. If one were to continue the hierarchy even lower, one would have to distinguish between the oficios manuales or mecánicos and the oficios viles, which would include those of the innkeeper, the miller, the fishmonger, or the butcher. There are also gradations upwards. Thus, the silversmith belongs to the oficios mecánicos, as does the simple blacksmith, but is distinguished by the geometric knowledge required for his field (Alvar Ezquerra and Ortiz 2005, 174–176). Moreover, the silversmith’s social rank is higher, since not only his material but also his clientele, the nobility, is nobler. Just in passing, Nicolás Monardes, in his Diálogo del hierro y de sus grandezas y excelencias (1536), deliberately inverts traditional hierarchies by proving the superiority of iron over gold. Iron is used to make weapons, tools for agriculture and house building. With iron and steel, kings defend their lands, guarantee justice, and punish wrongdoers (Ferreras 2003, 496). In his work El passagero, Suárez de Figueroa is able to illuminate individual professions from different perspectives in dialogue form. The four interlocutors are on the journey: The experienced Maestro en Artes a Professor de Teología has the role of the master who instructs his students, the young and curiously questioning soldier Don Luis, the goldsmith Isidro who speaks little and – although proud of his profession – is a craftsman at the bottom of the social hierarchy, and the knowledgeable Doctor of Law who dominates the conversation. Clearly, this dialogue also shows the intellectual superiority of the representatives of the higher faculties over the mechanical arts of the blacksmith and the soldier (Hakenes 2020, 57).

3.3 Inventions What is the relationship between disciplines of knowledge and their inventors? As late as the eighteenth century, d’Alembert, in his introduction to the French Encyclopaedia, stresses the importance of origins for the classification of a phenomenon: “Our first step in this inquiry, then, is to examine – allow us the expression – the pedigree and interrelation of our knowledge, the presumed causes of its emergence, and the characteristics of its distinction; in a word, we must go back to the origin and genesis of our ideas. Apart from the benefit we derive from this

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inquiry for the encyclopaedic survey of the sciences and arts, such an inquiry should probably not be out of place at the beginning of a methodical non-fiction dictionary.” (d’Alembert 1997, 8). Usefulness, satisfaction of needs and solution of problems are the repeatedly mentioned merits of inventions. They are also the arguments used to legitimize inventions. The question arises to what extent the legitimation of an invention is not at the same time paradigmatically intended to justify the entire field of knowledge or activity belonging to it. Here, too, a few examples may be cited to illustrate the problem. In antiquity, the postulate of utility assigned to invention was generalized into the notion of universal expediency. In the Memorabilia of Xenophon, the argumentation assumes that works that are useful are not the results of chance but of rational considerations. This, he argues, can be seen in the very physique of man, in which the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and hands have definite functions. With his hands and with his intellect man surpasses the animals. The world is arranged for him; for his sake everything has been ordered by the gods to the best. The design principle of all things is usefulness to man. Plato, who in the dialogue of the same name lets Protagoras tell of a time when men were formed by the gods from earth and clay, also assumes usefulness and satisfaction of needs. Epimetheus equipped them, and when he showed Prometheus his work, all other advantages and abilities had already been distributed to the animals, so that man was left destitute. Now Prometheus would not tolerate this and saved him when he stole the arts of Hephaestus and Athena and gave them to him. The three most important needs are food, shelter, and clothing. The satisfaction of these needs becomes the reason for the invention of fields of knowledge and culture. The increasing refinement of needs requires an increasing differentiation of areas of knowledge. A comparable orientation towards purpose is still evident in the early modern period in the presentation and explanation of technical inventions in Pedro Juan de Lastanosa’s Los veintiun libros de los ingenios y máquinas de Juanelo (1564?). For the author, who also presents his own inventions, technical inventions alleviate natural scarcity. “De modo que vemos que esto ha sido causa de ir inventanto varios modos de máquinas y nuevas invenciones de instrumentos para la sustentación de la vida.” (García Tapia 1997, 117; Strosetzki 2016a). The different types of mills, bridges, building materials, and water channels used to supply water as well as to irrigate gardens are demonstrated in detail. The weakness of human muscular strength makes necessary inventions for lifting heavy loads. When individual disciplines of knowledge are presented, it is always a question of their invention, their usefulness and their contextualisation. This is already shown by the full title of Bartolome Scarion de Pauia’s work: Doctrina militar, en la qual se trata de los principios y causas porque fue hallada en el mundo la Milicia, y como con razon y justa causa fue hallada de los hombres, y fue aprobada de Dios. Y despues se va de grado en grado descurriendo de las obligaciones y advertencias, que han de saber y tener todos los que siguen la soldadesca, començando del Capitan general hasta el menor soldado por muy visoño que sea (1598). Inventions, then, are mentioned above all where mechanical arts are concerned, which in turn are thus honored.

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Polydor Vergil’s work De inventoribus rerum was read throughout Europe in the sixteenth century. Its intention is to trace every discipline of knowledge to its inventors and origins. Three volumes were published in 1499, followed by five more in 1521. What the effect was in detail is difficult to ascertain in the case of an encyclopaedic work, since it is open to question when the work itself or its sources were used. In ancient literature the latter are authors such as Aristotle, Cicero, Hesiod, Macrobius, Pliny the Elder as well as the Younger, and Tacitus; in patristics Augustine and Isidore of Seville, and later Thomas Aquinas, as well as Reuchlin and Zabarella. If Polydor Vergil claims for himself to be the first to write about inventions, this is not quite true. A forerunner is the fourteenth-century Italian Guglielmo da Pastrengo of Verona, with a thin work that was entitled De viris illustribus in the 1547 edition, but De originibus rerum in the original version (Hay 1952, 53–54; Copenhaver 1978). Other precursors were the Cornucopiae (1489) by the humanist Niccolo Perotti and Giovanni Tortelli’s De orthographia dictionum e Graecis tractarum (1471), where explanations of the origin of objects are found alongside orthographic explanations. Polydor Vergil, however, was the most widely received. Polydor Vergil structures his work according to an idiosyncratic system and discusses, among other things, God, creation, language and the sciences in the first volume, jurisprudence, administration, precious metals, images and sculptures in the second, and agriculture, architecture and seafaring in the third. The other volumes contain reflections on the early church, the pope and the clergy, church holidays and rites, the monarchy, heresy and the martyrs (Catherine Atkinson 2007). Between 1498 and 1726, 59 editions appeared, including translations into German (1537), French (1521), and Spanish (1555). Because Polydor Vergil pursued not only the inventions of agriculture, navigation, and theater, but also those of ecclesiastical institutions, the veneration of saints, and religious orders, he came to the attention of the censorship authorities, who ordered versions shortened to remove objectionable passages to be published (Bernsmeier 1986, 26). He gives special praise to Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of printing, while criticizing the gunpowder-­powered cannon as a terrible invention, suitable for the destruction of mankind. Among the new inventions repeatedly mentioned by him, as by Bacon and Bodin, are the compass, printing, and gunpowder. The former, according to Polydor Virgil, enabled to discover new continents such as America. Printing provided a new medium for the dissemination of knowledge, while gunpowder gave rise to artillery and made knighthood disappear. Unlike Polydor Vergil, Juan de la Cueva (1550–1610), the author of the Spanish inventors’ directory Los inventores de las cosas, writes not as a historian and theologian but as a man of letters. While in Polydor the inventions structure the material, in Cueva it is the inventors with their personal experiences. Thus he tells stories as in “el Autor de la primer Estatua,” whose invention he attributes to the fact that a young woman, while her husband was away, persuaded her father to make a statue resembling her husband (Weiss and Pérez 1980, 21). The fame of Polydor Vergil’s De inventoribus rerum in Europe is shown by texts that make him the subject of satire. François Rabelais gives his 62nd chapter of the Quart Livre the title

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“Comment Gaster inventoit art et moyen de non estre blessé ne touché par coups de canon” (Rabelais 1994, 684). Finally, in Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote is satirically shown a supplementary volume to Polydor in Montesino’s Cave, which includes who was the first in the world to have the sniffles or anointings for syphilis: “Otro libro tengo, que le llamó Suplemento de Virgilio Polidoro, que trata de la invención de las cosas, que es de grande erudición y estudio, a causa que las cosas que se dejó de decir Polidoro de gran sustancia las averiguo yo y las declaro por gentil estilo. Olvidósele a Virgilio de declararnos quién fue el primero que tuvo catarro en el mundo, y el primero que tomó las unciones para curarse del morbo gálico.” (de Cervantes 2015, 887). We should also mention Maurice Scève, who in his poem Microcosme (1562) depicts the early history of humanity and its progress up to the birth of Christ. It is Adam here who praises human creativity in the face of technological progress and the invention of arts and sciences, starting from Polydor Vergil (Hay 1952, 75). In antiquity, too, inventors are celebrated as heroes of progress. Thus, in the playwright Aeschylus, the aforementioned Prometheus, in an interchange with the chorus, shows himself as the saviour of a humanity that had no golden age, but vegetated until fire and culture were brought to it. Prometheus shows the building of houses, the division of the year, astronomy, numbers and writing, explains navigation, medicine and mining and becomes the originator of an ascent of mankind by means of cultural goods. In this, time becomes the essential element of development as shown by a fragment of Xenophanes from the sixth century B.C.: “Not from the beginning did the gods show everything to mortals, but by living for a time they found what was better.” (Uxkull-Gyllenband 1924, 3, hereafter 16, 20, 42). Inventions become evidence of dignitas hominis. This progress-optimistic evaluation of inventions is contrasted with a culturally pessimistic discourse of progress. It has its ancient precursor in Cynicism, which sees its ideal in the state of nature, which is free of any cultural imprint. The animal in its natural habitat is its model. Animals get along without houses and are healthy and happy without doctors and medicines. The lack of fur is not a defect, for even frogs have no fur and can live in cold water. The praise of inventors is contrasted with the criticism of inventors, expressed, for example, in the rejection of navigation, which distanced man from natural life. The most important critics of inventions are Cynics such as Epicurus, who prefers Diogenes to Daedalus, since mankind only gained moral depravity through the invention of arts and techniques, i.e. took a step backwards (Thraede 1962a). A comparably pessimistic assessment is held by the Spaniard Juan Luis Vives in his consideration of contemporary sciences, although he does not reject their justification and emergence. Can inventions be hierarchized? Antonio Camos, in his work Microcosmia, y govierno universal del hombre christiano, para todos los estados, y qualquiera de ellos (1595), takes the tracts on dignitas hominis of Pico della Mirandola and Pérez de Oliva as a starting point when he sees the same hierarchical structure in the microcosm of man as in the macrocosm of the universe. He recognizes perfection wherever the spirit reigns. The least perfect are elements like water, earth or air. Higher already are plants and trees, which ripen, grow and pass away. Then come

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the animals, which also have sensations. Finally, man is not only characterized by life and sensation, but he also has a rational soul: “diole mas el uso de razón, y libertad del albedrío: por razón del cual entiende, discurre, quiere, o aborrece libremente, según que la voluntad en él ordena.” (Camos 1595, 13). Since the world is at his service, he can use his mind to have experiences, invent sciences, give himself laws, and order coexistence with justice. Iosepe Luquian formulates the priority of the mind over the body more pointedly in his Tratado del hombre en el qval se descvbren algunas cosas buenas del, a algunas imperficiones 1594. On the one hand, he says, man is an angel; on the other, he is an animal. “Parece el hombre de los pechos arriba, hombre, de ahí abajo caballo, la mitad, noble criatura racional, la otra mitad, vil y bestial.” (Luquian 1594, 7). Thus, those who do not use their reason, but allow their bodies to guide them in passions, fall back to the level of wild animals. Miguel Sánchez de Ortega, in his Libro llamado el hombre nuevo (1582), adds the theological aspect that the body is earthly and the soul divine and rational. When Juan Sánchez reviews the advances in human history in his Corónica y historia general del hombre (1598), he emphasizes above all the inventions of sciences and tools such as writing, medicine, rhetoric, or music that were due to human reason. But the useful inventions of reason also include quite material things such as the house for protection against cold, heat, and storms, the clock for the useful division of time, or the plow and seed, clothing, metals, money, bells, jewelry, and wine, all of which serve to compensate for deficiencies (Sánchez 1598, 217). Gaspar Gutiérrez de los Ríos makes a more precise distinction between the spiritual and the material when he opines in his Noticia general para la estimación de las artes (1600) that the mechanical arts owe their designation to the fact that they are practiced with the body (Gutierrez de los Ríos 1600, 45). And it was to satisfy bodily needs that they were first invented, since without them man would have to live like an animal. Again, perception and experience only provided the material with which reason made advances in shipbuilding or medicine: “que primero vio las cosas el sentido exterior: luego las probó la experiencia, y al cabo las compuso la razón.” (Gutierrez de los Ríos 1600, 4). The question now arises as to how the invention is described. When should one becontent with naming a mythical authority, and when should the context and a story presented? A mixture of resignation in the face of the impossibility of exploring first inventors, recourse to ancient mythology and awareness of the gradual perfection of an invention is evident in the sixteenth century in Antonio de Guevara. In his view, the art of seafaring was invented not by Greek philosophers but by the experiences of seafarers. Thus, in his Arte de marear (1539), he aims to present what the origins of the galley are, what language is spoken there, and what preparations must be made for a voyage (de Guevara 1984, 303–304). He situates the time of the invention of seafaring before the Flood and before the destruction of Troy. Since people could not yet read and write, the power of invention is not handed down, unlike later. “Después que la industria humana poco a poco comenzó a hallar las letras y a juntar las partes, y a ordenar escrituras, sabemos cada cosa notable adónde se inventó, cómo se inventó, quién la inventó y por qué se inventó.” (305). Antonio de Guevara can therefore report on the invention of later technical advances

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after all. Thus the way of rowing in pairs was an invention of Demosthenes. In his book he wants to let only the most credible sources speak about the inventions, “las cuales a nuestro parescer son más creíbles” (312). He attributes technical advancements of rowing and sailing to Alcibíades and Cimón, who were respectively the first to invent the innovation. On the other hand, the philosopher Juan Luis Vives takes a purely empirical view of the origins of the sciences and the arts: “At first, people noted such and such experiences as they had and which, because of their novelty, attracted their attention in order to make use of them for their lives. From a series of individual phenomena one separated out the general; if its general validity was further confirmed by a series of experiments, it was regarded as a certain and inviolable truth. It was then handed down as such to posterity. Others, in their turn, also contributed many things which served the same purpose. These observations, collected by eminent and distinguished minds, laid the first foundation of the sciences and arts.” (Vives 1912, 110–111). Sensory impressions must therefore first be examined and interpreted by the intellect in order to arrive at knowledge, the latter being based on probability. In the art of healing, the procedure for inventing a remedy was to ask former patients how they had been cured. The fiction of an inventor authority elevated to mythical status is thus contrasted with the fiction of an anonymous community of inventors who proceed from experience to experience. Are contemporary inventions seen differently from those of the past? Do they prove the superiority of the present over the past? Francis Bacon (1561–1626), as mentioned at the outset, singles out three inventions of modern times: the printing press, gunpowder, and the compass. These three had changed the shape of things and the human condition on earth; one in the sciences, the other in warfare, and the third in navigation. Innumerable changes, he says, have followed them, and no dominion, no sect, no heavenly body, seems ever to have exerted a greater influence on human conditions than these mechanical things. When it comes to experience, Bacon distinguishes the new empiricism from the old, which had been merely vague and oriented to whatever perception happens to encounter. “To this Bacon contrasts the experience controlled, directed, purposive by the intellect, precisely the experimental experience.” (Schmitt 2002, 17). Unlike him, Charles Perrault in his Parallèle des anciens et des modernes en ce qui regarde les arts et les sciences (1690) emphasizes the rank of the first inventors: “J’avoue que c’est une grande louange et un grand merite aux Anciens d’avoir esté les Inventeurs des Arts, et qu’en cette qualité ils ne peuvent estre regardez avec trop de respect.” (Perrault 1964, 119). However, when comparing the old inventions with the new ones, the latter seem more formidable to Perrault, as in the case of knitting, where the machine is superior to the most skilful hand, since it does in an instant what would take hands a quarter of an hour (120).

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3.4 Personalities and Hierarchies Inventors can bring glory to their cities and countries of origin. Then they are among the attributes to be mentioned in a eulogy. In antiquity, teachings on the origin of culture led to the laus maiorum, the praise of the ancestors. Since Athens had a monopoly of state olive cultivation, Athena was not only credited with planting the first olive tree, she became its inventor. In the interest of city praise, the Athenians simultaneously credited her with inventing the ship and agriculture (Thraede 1962a, 1195). A city thus becomes attractive when it is the site of many inventions though the attributions vary. While Pindar attributed the invention of the Dithyrambus to three different cities, Pheidon is the inventor of the coinage system in Herodotus and of all economic innovations in Ephorus. Gods, too, can become inventors. Dionysus was considered the god of wine, then becomes the inventor of viticulture and the vine. Osiris, as god of fertility, has become the inventor of the plough (Thraede 1962b, 176). If Hermes teaches the Egyptians legislation and writing or Asclepius healing and dentistry, then euhemeristically religion can be derived from gratitude towards inventions of the gods and heroes (Thraede 1962a, 1220). In the Spanish Siglo de Oro, inventors serve to praise Spain, as is evident in Pedro de Medina. In his 1548 Libro de grandezas y cosas memorables de España, the founding of Spain is attributed to Tubal, who was the fifth son of Japheth, who survived the Flood in the Ark with his father Noé. Tubal not only populated Spain with his retinue, but he also taught the Spaniards essentials, explaining to them the mysteries of nature, the movements in the heavens, the harmonies of music, the virtues of geometry, and much of moral philosophy (Pedro de Medina 1944, 10). This made the Spaniards “de los primeros hombres que supieron ciencia y de los primeros que tuvieron conocimientos de bien vivir.” (10). Thus, the founder of Spain not only discovered and populated the land, but he also brought culture and science. While here the beginnings are borrowed from the Old Testament, that is, the Judeo-Christian tradition, the founding of the cities of Seville and Salamanca is associated with Hercules, that is, with ancient Greece. Córdoba, on the other hand, was said to have been founded first by Roman patricians, and can thus boast of famous figures such as Seneca (76, 13, 84). In Pedro de Medina, the most important individuals after the king are 9 archbishops, 49 bishops, 22 dukes, 98 counts, and 41 marquises. Strengths of the Spaniards lie in their achievements as warriors, navigators, conquerors, and Christianizers of the New World. Here Pedro de Medinas moves within the framework of epideictic rhetoric, according to which a city is to be praised by emphasizing its noble origin, its venerable age, and its outstanding citizens (Lausberg 1993, 135). He goes beyond rhetoric where he deals with the reckoning of time. A new era began among the Romans initially whenever a new consul took over the government, whereby in the fourth century B.C. one also assumed the dedication of the temple of Jupiter in 507 B.C., only to reckon later with the founding of the city of Rome (“ab urbe condita”) in 753 B.C.. Pedro de Medina credits the Spanish king Don Juan I with replacing the Roman calendar with the Christian calendar in 1383: “mandó que en las escrituras

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se dejase la era de César y se pusiese el año del nacimiento de Jesu Cristo.” (Pedro de Medina 1944, 84). Only in retrospect, then, does Christ’s birth reveal itself as the new thing with which the Christian era began and that of the Roman emperors ended. Descriptions of countries and directories of persons like to emphasize the merits and make use of the rhetoric of praise. When the outstanding representatives of individual professions or classes are praised, the praise of the persons becomes the praise of the fields of knowledge they represent and of the cities and countries from which they come. It was Isidore of Seville who began his Chronicle with a praise of Spain. When Petrarch presents men who distinguished themselves in war and politics in his work De viris illustribus, he is in the tradition of the ancient biographical historiography of Plutarch, Nepos, Suetonius, or Tacitus. Medieval viri illustres catalogues, on the other hand, present the lives and works of saints, princes of the church, or ecclesiastical authors. Vincent von Beauvais pursues a moral philosophical intention with his Speculum historiale when he adds aphorisms to the lives and works of the personalities presented (Kessler 1978, 102–103, 106, 166–167, 176–178, 184–186). Alfonso García Matamoros, canon of Seville and rector of the University of Alcalá de Henares, complained that Spain was too much associated with military exploits and victories and was therefore considered barbaric. His work De adserenda Hispanorum eruditione, sive de viris Hispaniae doctis narratio apologetica (1553) aims to demonstrate the origin, growth, and present flourishing of culture and knowledge in Spain. An early biblical example is the aforementioned Tubal, the fifth grandson of Noah, who settled in Spain with his family after a long sea voyage and introduced the resident population to the arts and sciences, which is why Spain had great poets even before Homer (García Matamoros 1943, 174). And in Roman antiquity, it was Spaniards such as Seneca, Quintilian, Lucan, and Pomponius Mela who gave instructions to Roman rulers. For his time he mentions the philosopher Vives and the praeclarus orator Nebrija, but also from the University of Alcalá Juan Pérez, famous for his poetry, and Lope Herrera, famous for his speech “de studiis humanitatis”, and from the University of Salamanca Alonso López Pinciano, versed in ancient culture, and Francisco de Vitoria for his theological knowledge (210). It is to Spain’s credit that, in addition to Hippocrates and Galen, physicians have recently begun to draw on astrological knowledge for their work. By emphasizing numerous other Spaniards for their works and their knowledge, his praise of Spain ends up in a praise of the Spanish. Lists of famous and outstanding personalities can, as in the case of García Matamoros, stand in the context of a more extensive work or, as in the case of Hernando Pulgar’s Claros varones de Castilla (1486), form independent publications. With his brief biographies, he sees himself in the tradition established with Plutarch’s Heroic Lives of those who, out of love for their country and its people and to prove their rhetorical skills, “quisieron adornar sus hechos, exaltándolos con palabras.” (del Pulgar 1923, 5). However, if the catalogue is limited to naming and acknowledging the most important writers, then it is a literary canon of the kind that grammarians traditionally formed. The Catalogus clarorum hispaniae scriptorum (1607) by Valerius Andrea Taxandrus can be cited as an example of this.

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That literary education brings glory to all classes is evident from the alphabetical list of personalities of the city of Madrid published by Juan Pérez de Montalbán, who had studied philosophy and literature in Alcalá, as an appendix in his book Para todos. Exemplos morales, humanos y divinos, en que se tratan diversas ciencias, materias y facultades (1635). He himself refers to this appendix as a directory “de todos los pontífices, cardenales, arcobispos, obispos, escritores de libros, predicatores, poetas, y varones ilustres en todo genero de letras” (Pérez de Montalbán 1635, 274r), who lived and live in Madrid. The list contains 297 names, supplemented by academic or noble title and occupational title, and the reference to the field of each particular achievement. One intention was probably to familiarize the reader with the most important representatives of the intellectual and political upper class of his city. The naming in the list honors the city of Madrid and it honors the one who is included in it. It is noticeable that the preoccupation with the letras is not confined to specialists such as grammarians, but does honour to the representative of any profession. Thus a nobleman like Antonio de Aguar, “cauallero del Abito de Santiago,” distinguishes himself as well-read in the field of Latin authors and as a poet, or the Conde de Humanes, by education in all branches of the buenas letras. And the archdeacon and canon of Valencia, Francisco de Madrid, translated Petrarch’s De remediis utriusque fortunae from Latin. Representatives of the mechanical professions also increase their prestige by occupying themselves with spiritual matters. Thus Iuan Bautista de Toledo is not only architect of the Escorial, but also “famoso Escultor, Filosofo, Matematico, Latino y Griego” or Iuan de Vanderhamen y León is not only considered one of the most important painters of the century, but is also famous for his verses, with which he proves the kinship between painting and poetry (285v, 286v). How do fame and honor distribute themselves between headwork and handwork? The author of the Dialogos de la phantastica philosophia, de los tres en un Compuesto, y de la Letras, y Armas, y del Honor, donde se contienen varios y apazibles subjectos, Francisco Miranda Villafant, describes himself in the title page as “Chantre de la Cathedral de Plascencia” and probably emphasizes this to increase the credibility of his protagonist named Bernaldo, who is skilled in mechanical arts, but without education, but at least has good judgment due to his age and experience (Miranda Villafant 1582, 3). The latter assumes the role of the body, which engages in a dialogue with its soul. The reader is prepared to deal with a “hombre nascido humilmente, exercitado en officios viles” (3), who only had the opportunity to talk to his peers and drew his knowledge from books in the vernacular and from sermons in church. Soul expresses understanding to Bernaldo that when he was young, poor as he was, he first procured with his mechanical arts what was most necessary for the body. But now that he was old and had everything he needed, he could devote himself to contemplation. After all, as a noble creature, the soul had suffered greatly from the “cosas viles deste tu mecanico officio” (21r). Bernaldo replies that without the practice of his mechanical art he would have suffered hardship and thus harmed the soul, and asks why common people stay away from the artes liberales. This is not necessarily so, says the soul, since, as happens in Bologna, Naples, and Florence, one can devote one’s leisure to the sciences instead of gambling, chatting, or

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wandering the streets on holidays. This, after all, is what the ancient philosophers did, who were also craftsmen, like Hippias, who tailored his clothes and fitted out horses. For Aristotle says that the goal and perfection of man is knowledge and understanding (24v). When asked if he finds joy in his work, Bernaldo has to answer in the negative. He works only to provide his family and his house with the necessities. The soul gives him to understand that it is easier for him to understand a work of Aristotle than to pursue his work, even if he has been led to believe otherwise. The soul answers the question of why then the Letrados pretend that their work is more laborious than climbing Mount Etna by referring to the wickedness of men. Bernaldo asks if it is right for people to say that he can know nothing who has not studied grammar (29r). It is not the grammar or the Latin language that matters, but the meanings and the sciences, the soul replies. Let the ancient texts be translated into Spanish, since this language also has a venerable age and just as few Romans wrote in Greek as Spaniards now write in Latin. If all the sciences were also available in Spanish, then the study of Latin would be a waste of time. As Latin was an instrument of world domination for the Romans, so Spanish could be for the Spaniards and develop as a language. For Greek and Latin were not complete languages from the beginning either, they developed over time. An exception is the Bible, which was not to be translated, since to understand it, context, knowledge and the grasping of the different levels of meaning are necessary, if one does not want to come to a division of faith by literal understanding, as in Germany, Flanders and France. Soul reaffirms the primacy of intellectual activity over physical gainful labor: “Porque el estudiar es natural y proprio del hombre, que lo envia a su perfection, el trabajar es penitencia como has dicho.” (33r). Finally, the Bible’s Genesis states that hard physical labor was given as punishment and atonement for Adam and Eve’s disobedience. And to underscore the primacy of the spiritual over the material, Soul recalls the story of the rich Alexander the Great, who once asked poor Diogenes what he could do for him, to which Diogenes replied to get out of his sun. What are the chances of advancement for someone who comes from a lower class? Is his lowly origin ennobled or forgotten by his advancement? In the latter case, this woud confirm and solidify the hierarchical structure. What is the role of nobility in advancement? The author of the Tratado de nobleza, y de los titulos y ditados que oy dia tienen los varones claros y grandes de España, Juan Benito Guardiola, a monk of the royal Benedictine monastery in Sahagún from the province of León, dedicates his book to King Filipp II and presents numerous noble families and leading figures of the country, aiming to bring to light old and already forgotten stories (Guardiola 1591, Prologo). At the very beginning, Aristotle and Plato are cited, according to whom honor is an external good that belongs to the virtuous, so that “la virtud es de la essencia de la honra y entra en su definicion como cosa suya substancial.” (1r). This means, he argues, that without achievement there is no honor. Achievement was expressed in three ways: first, in words; second, in deeds; and, above all, third, in heroic deeds, for the commemoration of which insignia and coats of arms were awarded. By such honors the latter were ennobled. “De aqui es que estos tales y los demas semejantes alcancaron titulo y renombre de ser llamados

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nobles, por quanto este vocablo nobles, en nuestro vulgar español es lo mesmo que nobiles en Latin.” (2r). The Arcadians in ancient Greece are said to have used the moon as a sign to imply that nobility waxed and waned like the moon. Three kinds of nobility can be distinguished, first the nobility from the theological point of view, which one has with the grace of God. The natural nobility is possessed by one who does not pursue a trade, but is concerned with spiritual, that is, nobler things, and by one who is not a slave, but free. The nobleza civil thirdly may be understood by analogy with the theological. As God confers the latter, so the vicegerent of God on earth, the king or prince, can confer the title of nobility. If one wishes to understand what nobility is, one has to look to its origins, especially since, according to Isidore of Seville, in early times everything belonged to all in common and there were no distinctions as to possessions and interests. Then, as malice and avarice grew, and public spirit and friendship were lost, according to Guardiola, the greatest tyrants were thought to be especially noble. “La naturaleza libres nos crio, mas la fortuna siervos nos hizo, donde los menos fuertes quedaron en yugo de servidumbre, tenidos por rusticos, o villanos, y los otros como nobles y hidalgos.” (4r). The early example given is the Old Testament Nimrod, who in his hubris built the Tower of Babel. As a result of the Babylonian confusion of languages, people diverged and each linguistic group settled elsewhere, where they recognized the descendants of Babylonian rule as natural lords, thus creating a kind of nobility. But now it came to pass that among those in bondage some were so efficient that they rose to the highest offices. Thus in Rome Servius Tullius, the son of a slave, was for a long time excellent king with three important military victories. Son of a pot dealer was the Sicilian ruler Agatocles, the emperor Marcus Aurelius Probus had been son of a vegetable gardener. Gaius Marius, a homo novus as the son of a carpenter, held the consulship seven times. Guardiola refers to Pedro Mexía’s “Silva” where one can find numerous examples “de como hombres de baxos principios subieron a grandes estados y señorios” (5r,v). Nobility, then, is not derived by descent from noble parents, as the people mistakenly think, but from one’s own abilities. Nobility is conferred by the king, as is pointed out with reference to the sixth chapter of the Book of Esther in the Old Testament. But if a plebeian woman marries a noble man, she also becomes noble and shares in her husband’s prestige. If she marries again after his death, but this time to someone who is not noble, she loses the title of nobility. Even though the nobles may have privileges, they are not to be preferred to the plebeians in the granting of offices according to civil and canon law. Solon had already decreed the same for the Athenians. “Dicense plebeyos, honestos los que tratan artes honestas, como son los labradores, y siendo cosa tan necessaria para la sustentacion de la vida humana, como es la Agricultura, no es de razon, que sean abatidos y menospreciados los que exercitan semejante arte.” (8r). Aulus Atilius Caiatinus was sowing in his field when he was taken to Rome, where he reigned as consul. And the third king of Bohemia, who enacted many wise laws, and surrounded the capital at Prague with a wall, was the son of a country labourer. Merely to associate with the king seems to ennoble, since those who are near and serve kings are thereby ennobled, if they are not already noble through

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their ancestors (9v). Those of Jewish descent, however, would be barred from studying medicine, just as aspirants with Jewish, Moorish, or Turkish parents would not be allowed to enter monasteries. The situation is different, however, according to Guardiola, for Jews who have converted to Christianity. They are freed from their sins and from their past through baptism, he says, “para que no quede rastro del hombre viejo, y nos hagamos en Iesu Christo nueva criatura.” (11v). Incidentally, if one makes the theological view of nobility, the nobleza theologal, the criterion, then there had been very many nobles among the Jews: the prophets, the patriarchs, the apostles and not least Mary with her child. Even if one starts from the nobleza natural, the virtuous Jew Judas Maccabee can be cited. Among the dignitaries of the nobleza civil, King Solomon ranks first. As to the question whether Jews who came to Spain, or their descendants, may have titles of nobility, there are two opinions. Some accuse them of having crucified Christ, others concede that they saw in Christ a Messiah. However, the Jews, for example, who came to Toledo long ago, were not in Jerusalem during Christ’s lifetime. And if one assumes that the nobleza de sangre is inherited from the founding generation, then Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the founders of the house of Israel, were outstanding personalities. Thus, there had been in Castile some Jews converted to Christianity like Pablo, who became bishop of Cartagena. Not unmentioned is the expulsion from Spain in 1492 of the Jews who did not convert, who fled to Portugal, Africa, England, France and Germany, and the fact that Jews who remained in Spain often converted as a sham and without serious intentions, thereby outwitting the Christians and enabling their children to study law and medicine. A completely different question for Guardiola is whether the title of nobility of a mother who has a non-noble husband is inherited by the children. This is answered in the negative, even if they wish to bear their mother’s name instead of their father’s. Here Antonio de Guevara, the Bishop of Mondoñedo, is quoted as advising that persons of the same rank should marry so that they remain in their rank, that is, knight, merchant or peasant, otherwise discontent will set in. In summary, the advice is that everyone should marry their own kind. In the chapter “de como por las letras se alcanza titulo y prerrogativa de nobleza” (22v), the importance of the title of doctor is proven, citing numerous authorities of antiquity and the present. Science ennobles not only inwardly, but also outwardly, by enlightening the mind and thereby teaching physical control and good morals. Theophrast’s pupil, the philosopher Demetrios of Phaleron, for example, distinguished himself as governor of Athens so much by justice and prudence that numerous monuments were erected in his honour. No less, therefore, than the children of noble parents, are those to be held in honour who have attained to fame by study and knowledge (23v). This is true even if they come from humble beginnings. Virgil, the famous Latin poet, was the son of a pot merchant, and the great philosopher Theophrastus the son of a launderer or mender. So also the doctors to whom the universities of Salamanca, Valladolid, and Alcala de Henares present a golden ring and spur, “ser honrados y tenidos por nobles, viendo las mercedes, prerrogativas y privilegios que les son concedidos.” (24v). For such a ring was a sign of nobility and the same applied to the golden spur. Examples follow of how scholars

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were once courted by kings and emperors. Aristotle is quoted, for whom people are on the one hand children of their parents, on the other hand descendants of their teachers. And the Greek goddess of wisdom, Pallas Athena, is always depicted armed because science is required for the use of weapons. If you don’t have the knowledge of the art of war, you can’t win. Guardiola points out that in ancient times generals such as the Persian king Cyrus, King Ptolemy, Emperor Augustus, and Scipio Africanus sought advice from philosophers. Plato had even wished for kings who were philosophers. Counter-examples, he said, were Domitian, who banished philosophers from Rome, and Nero, who had Seneca murdered out of envy and greed. A positive Spanish example, on the other hand, is Alfonso IX de Léon, who founded a university in Palencia out of interest in science. After all, “hombres muy excellentes en las letras” (29v) were of great use to the state in times of peace as well as war. While riches do not outlast death, the glory of military deeds is preserved when passed down in literature. Julius Caesar is also said to have read and written prolifically during the wars he fought. While he held the lance in one hand, he had the pen to write with in the other. The appreciation of intellectual activity is followed by Guardiola’s further depiction of nobility. It was usually conferred by the presentation of weapons and insignia, from which the conclusion follows that nobility was who had weapons. Generally, however, it was heroic deeds and special achievements in battle that led to fame and nobility. Not without reason were devices and insignia stamped on the weapons of nobles. Thus it was always possible to tell who was friend and foe in the thick of battle. The Romans used the eagle as a sign, which later became the double-­ headed eagle. Other signs included animals, trees, flowers or swords. There are three things that, in concert or alone, hold a state together: Laws, religion and weapons. Moses used the latter when he freed the Israelites from Egyptian captivity. Noah had law and religion on his side after the Flood, when all listened to him. With the Athenians, who resisted the Spartans, it was law, religion, and arms. The general rule is that countries can be conquered, enlarged, and consolidated by war, but justly governed by laws (40v). To describe in detail the military exploits by which the Spaniards distinguished themselves would fill books more voluminous than those of the Roman Titus Livius, so Guardiola refers to them only briefly. There are also heroic deeds to be told of women, for example when they mutilated themselves in order to avoid falling into the hands of the enemy. Julius Caesar took to heart that it was important to reward toil and effort of soldiers for further encouragement, which is why they gladly gave him allegiance. This the Spanish kings imitated the Romans in rewarding great deeds of their warriors, whence arose the nobility, exempt from tribute and taxation. “despues estos quedaban con titulo de nobleza y no pagaban pechos ni otras gabelas y imposiciones que comunmente se echan al demas pueblo comun.” (59v). Because these titles and privileges were preserved by later kings, the nobility had persisted. Because nobility is inherited, care must be taken that it is not lost by marriage into non-noble circles. It is already said in the Bible by Matthew in the seventh chapter that a good tree bears good fruit, and by Paul in the 11th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans that if the root is healthy, the branches are also healthy. That someone is “hijodalgo” (65v) explains the

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hidalguía that comes to someone who descends from a father or grandfather “de limpia y noble sangre, y de buenos y ricos padres” (65v). Guardiola cites Aristotle, according to whom those were considered noble “cuyos antepasados fueron ricos y virtuosos.” (66v). To origin, then, is added wealth, and to it, prowess. Variants of the nobility are the gentileshombres, who send foreign rulers as ambassadors. They are called infançones in Castile and Aragon. A hijodalgo is also called an escudero in Asturias and Galicia. The caballeros, in contrast to the hijodalgos, are defined by the fact that they perform military functions, ride horses, and serve to defend the commonwealth, a task for which “la gente vulgar” (83v) is unsuited. The history of knights also includes that of orders of chivalry such as that of Calatrava, that of Alcantara, or that of the Knights Templar. The religious background of these orders required the novice to take an oath by which he became “sacro caballero” (96v). Through the Don, derived from the Latin “dominus,” and how it came from the Roman antecedent of the title conde to the three condados Castile, Portugal, and Aragon, until their numbers multiplied, to the “Barones y Castellanos, que por otro nombre son dichos Alcaydes de los Castillos” (117r) and to the Condestable, Mariscal, Capitan, and Duque and Marques, other subgroups are presented. These and other distinctions and repeated honorifics of the nobility inform the remainder of the discussions. The conclusion is the king and the evidence of the necessity of his existence. Finally, all of the aforementioned groups of nobility serve the crown and the Spanish kings (127r). It was, after all, the king who distributed all the aforementioned titles of nobility and privileges. Even a small town like Calatayud in northern Spain, with its municipality and archdeaconry, deserves to be highlighted by mentioning its most famous people. Martinez Delvillar, in his Tratado del patronado, antiguedades, gouierno, y varones illustres de la ciudad y comunidad de Calatayud y su Arcedianado, wants to record its heroic deeds and remarkable customs from its origins, taking his cue from Cardinal Bembo, who wrote the history of Venice, so that they are preserved in memory. The historical account begins with Roman times. The geographical location of the city is described (Martinez Delvillar 1598, 28). Names are mentioned in connection with important historical events. The successful expulsion of the Almogavars in 1383 becomes an occasion to mention the names of those to whom this feat was due: “Pedro Romero Mayor, Benedit San Daluon, Ximeno hijo de Pascual Remiro [etc.]” (38). Most of the work, then, is structured by narratives from history that frame the naming of outstanding individuals, with representatives of the clergy playing a particularly large role. Only at the end does a list “De los varones illustres, assi en letras y armas, como en los demas estados” (483) follow, headed by the pope and the king, but then followed by cardinals, archbishops, and bishops. The entries are more or less long. The bishop of Tarazona, Pedro Calbillo, for example, “fue de Calatayud, y hermano del Cardenal que dijimos arriba: Varon entero y de singular bondad, prudencia y gouierno. Compro el Alcazar de Hercules, que despues fue Palacio de los Reyes, para habitacion de los obispos en Tarazona.” (484). Other entries introduce Maestres de Roda and representatives of the Inquisition. Of Fray Martin de Santagel, it says that he was from Calatayud and was a Dominican: “Fue

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Inquisidor de Aragon, y de singular dotrina, y santidad. Florecio por los años de 1470.” (493). Mention is also made of servants and confidants of popes, confessors of kings, generals, governors of the kingdom of Aragon, representatives of the judiciary, a vice-admiral, a vice-chancellor of Aragon, gamekeepers, royal ambassadors, members of the consejo supremo, secretaries of the king, royal treasurers, tax collectors, captains of the army, although it is not always explicitly emphasized that they are from Calatayud. Among the representatives of the personas celebres en letras, the Roman poet Martial, who came from Bilbilis, a small town near Calatayud, is mentioned first. To conclude the chapter on famous people, let us ask what virtues distinguish them. When virtud is mentioned, does it refer to efficiency or to virtue in the moral sense? If one asks how the word virtud is to be understood, it can be stated that in the Tesoro de la lengua castellana (1611) of Sebastian de Covarrubias the meaning is first explained by the Latin word virtus, which rather means prowess in the sense of manliness, power, strength, courage, and only in the last place virtue in the moral sense (Stowasser 1994, 554). Karl Ernst Georges derives the word virtus from the word vir, the man, and understands it to mean “manliness, that is, everything that adorns and ennobles the man in physical and spiritual respects.” (Georges 1880, 3155). This includes fitness, excellence, capable qualities, advantages, talents, and merits. If the word is transferred to animals or things, then virtus refers to goodness, efficiency, worth, and power. Only in one of the four restricted meanings is virtus to be understood morally, as masculine perfection and virtue. The other restricted meanings are martial valor, courage in danger, and a superhuman strength. The examples Covarrubias gives in his Tesoro de la lengua castellana (1611) to explain this are also in this direction when he quotes Horace’s definition of the Latin virtus: “Virtus est, vitium fugere, & sapientia prima stultitia caruisse.” As another example, he cites, “Dezimos no tener el arbol virtus quando se va secando.” Or, “No tener un hombre virtud, a veces significa no tener vigor ni fuerza.” (Covarrubias Orozco 1995, “virtud”). Thus virtud is to be located less in the field of tension between good and bad than in that between successful and unsuccessful. In German, the word “Tugend” as “Tauglichkeit” is related to the word “taugen” and, like the Latin virtus, refers to the qualities by which a person or a thing is capable of something, which makes it excellent (Hoffmeister 1955, 621 f.). That success was viewed positively and that its attainment was part of the moral code is also shown by the fact that in the early modern period the cardinal virtue fortitudo was increasingly understood as a psychological phenomenon of courage and was referred to in French as courage, bravoure, vaillance or force d’âme (Blüher 1998, vol. 10, 896). Thus, if fame and achievement are emphasized by the word virtud, then a moral sense is not necessarily meant.

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3.5 Satires The praise of a country’s great inventors or distinguished personalities is contrasted with their relativization. Encyclopedias of satirical professional portrayals do not exist, but some relevant compilations do. The Greek text of The Dream or the Domestic Cock by Lucian of Samosata, a second-century satirist, was very influential in the early modern period. From Lucian, Erasmus of Rotterdam had edited a collection of individual works, the Luciani opuscula (1506), and had drawn inspiration from it in his own work, Praise of Folly (Encomium Moriae). In the seventeenth century there were Spanish rewritings of his texts (Luciano de Samosata 2006). In the anonymous Diálogo de las Transformaciones (c. 1530–1533), which follows Lucian’s dialogue The Dream or the Domestic Cock, there is an example of the apologia of the craft in the self-conscious cobbler Micilo. Here the wise rooster, who was once Pythagoras, makes the learned cobbler Micilo conclude, after bitter experiences, that it is better to be an independent and free cobbler than to expose himself to the envy and grief of the rich and wealthy (Herrero 2004, 321). The same scheme is followed by El Crotalón (1556), in which the presumed author Cristóbal de Villalón expands Lucian’s story of the cobbler with his rooster (Herrero 2004, 324–338). The Encomium moriae (1510), Erasmus of Rotterdam’s praise of folly, introduces a new variant of the already Platonic opposition between the wise and the ignorant. To the ignorant multitude the truly wise appears mad, just as to the truly wise the ignorant multitude appears mad with their goings-on. This model of thought is disseminated in Spain by Jerónimo de Mondragón’s Censura de la locura humana y escelencias della (1598) (Rolfes 2019, 19–21). In it, the story is told of the inhabitants of Abdera who asked Hippocrates to cure Democritus of his constant fits of laughter. Asked why he laughed incessantly, Democritus replied that he could not help laughing at the follies of his fellow men. With this information, Hippocrates returns to the inhabitants of Abdera to tell them that they themselves are the madmen and that they can make better use of the medicinal plants intended for Democritus. Thus it becomes clear that those whom the majority perceive as mad and stupid are in fact especially wise. Those in whom the crowd sees wise people are not, since they are only interested in fame and glory, food and clothing (de Mondragón 1953, 49–53). Mondragón understands his Censura de la locura humana as medicine for those who do not use reason, who are addicted to vices and pleasures, and as a means of self-knowledge, which is the first step towards improvement (Rolfes 2019, 227). This approach is adopted by Diego de Saavedra Fajardo in his República literaria (1655) when he presents the follies of the representatives of individual disciplines of knowledge. This time it is Democritus who, from his position, first looks at the artes liberales and smiles at the grammarians who just know something about genera of nouns or tenses of verbs and yet feel competent to criticize Plato and Aristotle. In the rhetoricians he states a mixture of tyranny and flattery. Their art, he says, is an “arte de cautivar los sentidos y de mentir alcanzando con una dulce violencia lo

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que no puede la verdad.” (Diego de Saavedra Fajardo 2006, 155). Rhetoric, he argues, was rightly banished from Plato’s state as well as from ancient Rome, just as poetry, in his opinion, should be banished because it feels superior to all other disciplines, yet it only lies, shuns the truth, and confines itself to entertainment, thus being useless. Since historical science and moral philosophy were added to the trivium in the early modern period, they too become Democritus’s target. When they report on the vices of kings, they cater to the crowd’s fondness for foreign faults. He has to laugh out loud when historians feel competent in political theory when all they know are a few years and details. Not being present at secret meetings of princes, they must invent their motivations. And if they were present, they would understand nothing, since as non-nobles their mentality is foreign to them. Even the attempts of moral philosophy to give prescriptions for happy living evoke nothing but laughter in Democritus. When Epicurus recommends pleasure, Aristotle virtue, Theophrastus strength, and Plato the summum bonum, this is as clumsy as it is ridiculous. In the quadrivium, arithmetic seems arrogant and unintentionally comical when it thinks that with its numbers it is competent for all other disciplines. The claim of astronomy, like astrology, is also laughable when it “se atreve a pronosticar al hombre por inevitable el discurso futuro de su vida, siendo imposible que el ingenio humano pueda conocer las virtudes de los Astros.” (Diego de Saavedra Fajardo 2006, 162). Looking at the higher faculties, the jurists make fools of themselves trying to compensate for their incompetence by invoking divine law or natural law, charging for everything they say or conceal. Medical doctors are by no means better off when they greedily seek the health of the powerful, since their science, being empirical and thus subject to the deceptions of the senses, always offers only provisional and incomplete knowledge. It is not the disciplines of knowledge that are intrinsically bad, but their arrogant and ignorant representative. For Democritus, he is “un animal, el más fiero que crían las selvas, porque en ferocidad, inhumanidad y selvatiquez de su ánimo intratable, en nada difiere de ellos.” (169). While Democritus can still laugh at this, it evokes only sadness and gloom in his listener Heraclitus. In summary, it can be seen that the numerous collections of knowledge, professional knowledge and inventions as the origins of fields of knowledge provide an insight into social values according to which hierarchies are formed and personalities of a city or country are praised or fall victim to satire. After the ancient natural history of Pliny, the series of encyclopaedias leads via Martianus Capella, Hugo of St. Victor, Raimundus Lullus and the various specula to the French encyclopaedia of the eighteenth century. While these present the normal, there are also collections of mirabilia that present the extraordinary and inexplicable. Besides these general anthologies, there are also more specific ones. The Italian Tomaso Garzoni had presented all the professions of the world, which he estimates and judges as a native nobleman. His Spanish counterpart Suárez de Figueroa is less interested in completeness than in attention. When he portrays a profession positively, it is usually those practicing it who are the target of criticism. According to the Aristotelian doctrine of four causes, part of the account of a subject area or a discipline of knowledge is the indication of the first cause, that is,

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the origin or inventor. Knowing who invented something and for what purpose serves teleological thinking, but it also serves to legitimize it. Polydor Vergil and Juan de la Cueva made inventories of mythical or empirical origins in prehistoric and contemporary times, in which hierarchizations of inventions are also made. Inventors serve their cities or countries of origin to fame. But other outstanding personalities are also listed in directories such as Pedro de Medina’s Libro de grandezas y cosas memorables de España. The epideictic rhetoric prevalent in this genre highlights not only the country or city, but also the particular field of activity or expertise in which the personality excelled. It is not the ordinary life, then, that seems worthy of mention, but the extraordinary. In this way, García Matamoros’ contribution aims to demonstrate the emergence, growth and current flowering of culture and knowledge in Spain. Where hierarchies appear, the representative of the mechanical arts is inferior to the contemplative activities, as in Miranda Villafant’s case: but it is also shown that social advancement is not reserved for the nobility; Guardiola brings numerous examples from antiquity in which a homo novus rose to the highest offices from the simplest of backgrounds. It is obvious that the contemplation of professions and their representatives, however outstanding they may be, cannot be based solely on ingenious inventions or epideictic praise. The satirical view of a wide variety of professions was led in antiquity by Lucian, in the Renaissance by Erasmus of Rotterdam and imitating him by Jerónimo de Mondragón, and in another form by Diego de Saavedra Fajardo. These satirical collections, as well as the encyclopedias of knowledge, professions, inventions, and epideictic directories of personalities for cities and countries, exerted an influence on the representation of the various professions in the tracts following presented.

Chapter 4

Mechanical Arts

4.1 Farmer Among the mechanical arts, that of the farmer is particularly venerable. On the one hand, this is due to his task of feeding people, and on the other hand, it is due to the fact that farmers already existed when there were no cities. Since peasants are often seen as representatives of early, still unspoiled ways of life, they are considered to be particularly capable. Let us first introduce some authors of antiquity, since the tracts of the Siglo de Oro like to refer to them. When Vergil and Xenophon give advice on agriculture, they start from the house of the great landowner and include all those living there in their considerations. Farming based on the house (Greek oikos) gave the name to early economics, whose approaches were later generalized and continued by business economics. In Cicero and Cato it becomes clear that the basis for housekeeping is the doctrine of the conduct of life, i.e. ethics. Moderation was already an important virtue in Aristotle. In the early Middle Ages, against the background of the idea that man has only a limited right to use the things of the world, it becomes a rejection of everything that goes beyond the necessary care for the body. The Italian Renaissance author Alberti continues this thought, seeing strength in work, thrift and self-restraint, whereby the mind should guide the body. The economics of the early modern period, regardless of whether in a Protestant or Catholic context, starts from the human being in no way different than the authors mentioned so far, and only comes to agricultural pursuits in a second step. For Spain, the question arises whether the idyll of the village community assumed for the origins has been preserved or whether rural life has also evolved from its origins and hierarchies and inequalities now dominate. This will be determined on the basis of individual Spanish tracts of the Siglo de Oro, some placing the householder at the centre and others giving broader space to agriculture. Questions such as the efficiency of agricultural workers and the idealization of agriculture in the present and in the past © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE, part of Springer Nature 2023 C. Strosetzki, Manual Work and Mental Work, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-66366-0_4

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of a Golden Age will arise. What are the reasons for the decline of agriculture in Spain noted by some tracts? Could it be, in addition to a lack of farm workers, increased rents, and a lack of animals for farming, changes in attitudes? A little more detail, therefore, will be given to the relationship between necessities and luxuries as it has evolved from a natural primitive state. Luxury is often associated with the city and progress, while the countryside stands for originality.

4.1.1 Antiquity and the Middle Ages A central work of ancient literature on agriculture is Virgil’s Georgica, which he wrote between 37 and 29 BC. The Roman author advises man to have an attitude of reverence when he cultivates nature with diligence. It is the will of Jupiter, he says, to see man work. Virgil considers agriculture, orcharding, viticulture, animal husbandry, and apiculture. That he sees these disciplines of knowledge in a social context is shown by his description of the bee-state, which he presents as a model for the Roman state. The bees, with their loyalty and industriousness, their sociability and division of labour, appear to him as heirs of the Golden Age. In Virgil, agriculture is thus related to efficiency, situated within the state as a whole, and idealized with the model of the bee-state. The Georgica become one of the sources of early modern instructions for the large landowner, who had to organize the work in his house and on his lands. Another source was the literature of economics. In ancient Greece, economics was part of practical philosophy and ethics. It dealt with what should be and established norms for the order of the home. In the face of widespread self-sufficiency, the market had only a supplementary function. Within the framework of the community, the good will of all ensured that, on the basis of reciprocity, one shared the burdens of the other and that, in a just exchange, whoever had too much of a thing gave it to whoever had too little. This can be seen as economic ethics or as an anthropological perspective in which man is the fulcrum of all things. Ancient economics starts from the householder and his relationship with his wife as his helper, then comes to the children, the household members, the servants, the slaves, the friends and neighbours, before looking at the wealth in movable and immovable goods, followed by the procurement of means for the household members through intrahousehold provision or through extrahousehold acquisition (Egner 1985, 25). Aristotle advises, “But that which is natural must be taken from those things which are in their natural state, not from those which are corrupt.” (Aristotle Pol. 1995c, 9). Xenophon’s Economics, a dialogue that Socrates conducts with others, also addresses the attainment of surpluses, which occur where the household is managed thoughtfully, purposefully, and with diligent work. The surpluses thereby enable not least the householder as a polis citizen to meet public and private obligations, the costs of which only a wealthy person can bear. Finally, the management of a house with agriculture is an appropriate occupation for polis citizens. After remarks on marriage and the tasks of husband and wife in the house, Xenophon emphasizes at the end as the highest quality of the householder the ability to

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motivate his subordinates like a commander or politician to top performance (Hoffmann 1959, 8–10). In Aristotle, man as zoon politikon, as a being designed for society, is the starting point of economics. Economic purposes are the preservation of the household community, procreation and child rearing. The house forms the basis for the larger and higher community of the polis, which is why Aristotle places his discussion of economics in the first book of Politics. While the house provides for daily life together, needs beyond that of the military, law, and religion are carried within the framework of the polis. The smallest social grouping is the house, which is conceived as a self-­ sustaining unit in which lacking goods are acquired by giving surplus products in exchange or by purchase. This supplementary satisfaction of needs distinguishes Aristotle from acquisitiveness, which aims at unlimited profit-making for its own sake. The latter, chrematistics, seems to him unnatural, since it does not serve to secure subsistence and stops at what is necessary for a perfect life. The good oikonomos has the virtues of prudence, diligence, and frugality, while the bad one is guided by sloth, carelessness, and unrestrained appetites. Aristotle therefore demands “that the care of the head of the household should be directed more to men than to dead property, and more to the excellence of the former than to the abundance of the latter, which we call wealth.” (Aristotle Pol. 1995c, 27). Among the Romans, it was first Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder (234–148), whose book De agricultura deals with the income to be obtained from an estate. In doing so, unlike Aristotle, he gives preference to those areas that yield the most profit. This attitude, however, is contradicted by the pedagogical principles he handed down on the conduct of life, in which he rejects luxury and urges a return to the mos maiorum: “You care a great deal about food and you care very little about a proper life.” Or, “I would rather vie with the bravest for valor than with the richest for riches or with the covetous for covetousness.” Or, “I am reproached for not possessing many things, but I reproach those for not being able to do without them.” (Egner 1985, 35). In 170 chapters Cato gives advice on the purchase of an estate, the construction of buildings, the relationship of the landlord to his subjects, the care of health and the sick, and religious worship (Hoffmann 1959, 18–19). In Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43), it is nature, or the reason that prevails in it, that guides one to act dutifully. Guiding concepts here are decorum, propriety, the control of the passions, right measure, honestas, honor, verecundia, sense of propriety, and ornatus vitae, a sense of beauty. Since, according to the Stoic view, what is produced on earth “is created for the benefit of men, but men are begotten for the sake of their fellow men, that they, one to another, may of themselves be mutually useful, we must in this follow nature as a guide, make common utility central by reciprocity of benefits.” (Cicero 1976, 23 (I,7)). The doctrine of the conduct of life, then, is the basis for stewardship. This makes it clear that dealings with fellow human beings and with the object world are borne by the subject. Thus, if one wants a certain way of dealing with the environment, then, according to the ancient conception, it is not the environment but the subject that must be taken as a starting point. In patristics, Christianity shifts interest to the afterlife and the inner life of the individual. The fact that man was granted only a limited right to use the goods of the

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world resulted in an ascetic attitude in housekeeping, the demand for moderation in the pursuit of profit and the rejection of unlimited profit. Expenditure in excess of need appears as abuse. Society appears as an organism characterized by solidarity, piety, and authority, so that modesty, moderation in material demands, and justice of exchange become basic principles (Egner 1985, 69–71). Labor was held in such high esteem that profit without labor was considered unjustified, as in the case of the taking of interest. For Augustine, food and drink serve health and not pleasure. That which is sufficient for health is too little for pleasure (Aug. Confess. 10, 31). Thomas Aquinas limits competition by the fact that each individual remains permanently bound to his profession in the organic system of the society of estates (Egner 1985, 72–73). In the Middle Ages, the space of the house is also demarcated from that of the state by distinguishing between private interest and taxes of public-law origin, although it was not until the absolutist theory of seventeenth-century France that a precise distinction was made between the king’s “seigneurie publique” and the landowner’s “seigneurie privée.” On the protection of the landlord rests the tranquility and security of peasant existence (Brunner 1959, 242–243, 265).

4.1.2 Early Modern Period Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472) is an example of early economics in the humanist spirit. His three-part work Della Famiglia, published in 1434 and 1441, poses the question of the rise and decline of a family in dialogue form (Egner 1985, 88–97). He defines “housekeeping” as the opposite of wastefulness and as care towards things. “Stewardship” for him also means, as per Aristotle, to use as much of what one has as is necessary, and to hold the middle ground between too little and too much (Alberti 1963, 211). To the individual he assigns the task of keeping his body healthy and strong, of bringing his soul into a cheerful mood through efficiency, and of spending his time sensibly, i.e. avoiding wasting time. Alberti holds up work as a value against idleness, his humanistic approach being characterized by secularization, the pursuit of happiness, and the pursuit of utility. In the foreground is the demand to teach virtue, to control oneself, and to reject one’s own appetites and desires. Frugality ensures there is money when, for example, it is important to help a sick person, who is more important than money. Frugality harms no one, rejects desires, and preserves the family, while wastefulness attracts mendacious flatterers who disappear like fish as soon as the bait is gone (Alberti 1963, 67, 154, 185, 209). On the relationship between body and mind, Alberti emphasizes that man is endowed with divine gifts of mind, memory, and reason to discern what to avoid and what to strive for. Self-control, he says, serves to restrain excessive desires through shame, moderation, and desire for praise. (Alberti 1963, 170). For Alberti, man is by nature fitted to use things and born to be happy. Happiness, some think, is having nothing to spare, and striving for wealth. Others see happiness in the state of feeling no displeasure, and ability to indulge in pleasures and delights. Others, less sensually oriented, see happiness in being honored and appreciated by others. Real

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happiness, however, can only be achieved for oneself and one’s own through good, righteous, and virtuous works. The latter are those in which there is no suspicion, no involvement of anything dishonorable (Alberti 1963, 171–172). Virtue, then, for Alberti, is the basis of happiness, with the dominion of the mind over the body providing for the avoidance of waste. The “house fathers’ literature”, as the economics of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries is also called, since it describes the cosmos of the early modern whole house, proceeds equally from humanistic approaches such as that of Alberti and Christian sermons. Here, in addition to religious and moral duties, advice is given on farming, viticulture and gardening as well as animal husbandry, along with weather rules, astrological explanations and epistolary formulations. In Germany, the priest Johannes Coler’s (1593–1603) work Oeconomica ruralis et domestica was popular, which rejects the widespread disdain for housekeeping and agriculture and describes the home as a monarchy in miniature, in which wife, servants and children should follow the landlord. The Georgica curiosa (1682) of the landed noble Wolf Helmhardt von Hohberg demands reason, justice and kindness from the landlord instead of excessive harshness. He discusses in detail how the householder should behave towards God, his own passions, his wife, his children and his servants. Only then does he deal with agriculture, animal husbandry, bees, forestry and hunting. A late work is Der Hausvater by O. von Münchhausen (1764–1773). It is characteristic of all these texts that they start from man and deal with the objects of nature only after they have presented his values and attitudes. Only in passing are the Protestant and Calvinist economists to be mentioned who, against the background of the doctrine of predestination, cultivated Puritanism, in which success in one’s profession justified the presumption of the divine redemption of the believer in the hereafter, whereby the Lutheran had to prove himself in the respective profession, and in Calvinism changes of profession were conceivable. In Puritanism, secular thought is imbued with religious considerations, as when, for example, John Milton makes the rise and fall of civil societies dependent on discipline, when he says that “discipline is not merely the removal of disorder, but, if divine things can somehow be given visible form, so as the visible embodiment of virtue.” (Egner 1985, 114). Discipline means the avoidance of wasting time. Inner-­ worldly asceticism is what Max Weber calls the Puritan and Calvinist intensity of work, modesty of demands, and frugality, combined with the rejection of pleasures such as going to the theater, dancing, and gambling. Diligence, moderation, and self-control appear here as virtues. This ascetic lifestyle, a rational shaping of the whole of existence oriented towards God’s will, attempts to transform everyday life into a rational life in the world and yet not of this world or for this world, whereby, however, chrematism, rejected since Aristotle, with its hunger for economic gain, then awakens to new flowering in the Puritan context as economic ability (Egner 1985, 115–118, 122–125). But here, too, the reason of the subject dominates when the object world is met with energy and discipline.

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4.1.3 Spanish Domestic Literature What was the situation like in Siglo de Oro Spain? Was rural life idyllic or hierarchical? At the beginning of the seventeenth century, less than 5% of the European population lived in towns with more than 20,000 inhabitants, which proves the great importance attached to rural life, although the rural population went to the towns to sell their products and the day labourers from the towns left them during the day to work in the nearby fields. Otherwise, one has to think of the village community as a cohesive whole, where everyone worked together, celebrated weddings and other festivals, and observed religious holidays, the boundaries of the community also being those of the parish. The church bells called to the annual meetings of the neighbours, at which regulations, e.g. for the building of paths and wells, were decided upon and offices filled. Although equality prevailed in principle, the assemblies increasingly came under the influence of powerful local oligarchies. The stronger the village community was, the more neighbouring villages and strangers became opposing poles, and were met with a hostile attitude. The noble feudal lord also made himself unpopular when he wanted to intervene in village life with instructions and directives or even by raising taxes, and the state when it recruited personnel for the war (Vassberg 1992). However, the rural population is not completely homogeneous, but differentiated into the group of poor agricultural workers on the one hand and that of landowners and wealthy craftsmen on the other, the latter being close to the leading urban social classes (Fontana 1997, 4–5). In Spain, the genre of domestic fathers’ literature is divided into two parts: On the one hand, there are texts that model the figure of the householder on that of the prince in the Princely Mirrors; on the other hand, one finds morally and politically oriented texts on agriculture. To the former genre belongs El perfecto señor (1626, 1653) by Antonio López de Vega. Love of God and fear of God come first in his remarks on the spirit of the householder. This is followed by disciplines of knowledge such as rhetoric, history, and philosophy, with which he is supposed to concern himself without being conceited. Moral philosophy and practice, however, seem more important (Vaillo 2000, 76). When dealing with subordinates, he should take into account that the wealth of the vassals also makes the masters rich, and their bad treatment and poverty falls back on the masters (López de Vega 1653, 18). “En la Economica de su familia” (19) great care should be taken. The master of the house should be careful to keep order and know exactly the amount and nature of income and expenditure. He should see to it that the subordinates are satisfied and do their work properly (20). He should entrust less important tasks to the care of his superintendents. When he hires new personnel, he should first pay attention to virtues, since only tyrants prefer vicious persons. In the hiring of servants, greater importance is to be given to character and state of mind than to physical strength. After the order of the house, the realm outside comes into view. In the first place there is the prince, to whom loyalty and zeal for service are to be shown (Pérez and José 1997). Other persons are to be treated differently depending on their place in the social hierarchy. He is to avoid the bad habit widespread among the great and rulers of

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treating their subjects with contempt. In dealing with riches, reasonableness is central, and munificence is especially to be recommended (López de Vega 1653, 37, 39). It should be accompanied by modesty. On public occasions, the householder should be restrained and should not attempt to engage in oversized expenditures that others cannot imitate, since then the envy of others is certain. Here, then, López de Vega is entirely in the Aristotelian tradition of the literature of the house fathers, which calls for moderation and limitation. Pedro Henrique Pastor’s Nobleza virtuosa (1619) links nobility with virtue, since virtue is not ephemeral but imperishable (Pastor 1619, 5). In detail, the cardinal virtues, honoring the father, obedience to the king, and the relationship with the wife, children, and vassals are dealt with. Usually, the tracts link the areas of knowledge with the respective age, introduce contents such as grammar and artes liberales, and then turn to physical training (Laspéras 1995). The important thing is to be well advised and guided. If one knows the bad inclinations of the “vassallos particulares” (Pastor 1619, 117–118), one should slow them down and not give them opportunities. Let the lord of the house be generous in forgiving accidental and not malicious culpable conduct, or when dues are not paid on time. Privileges once granted to vassals are not to be withdrawn, nor special services demanded. In specific dealings with the poor and ignorant farm laborers, the landlord is to listen patiently to their concerns (Pastor 1619, 123, 130, 135–136). In Henrique Pastor, too, the starting point of advice is proficiency. What is the role of the lady of the house in addition to the master of the house? Díez Borque refers to Miguel Agustín’s Libro de los secretos de la agricultura, casa de campo y pastoril (1617), which has five books dealing with animals, trees and fruit, viticulture, domestic animals and bees. There is also a section on the practical duties of the lady of the house. She is supposed to take care of the cows and dairy products such as butter and cheese, wool for clothing and the home garden. In addition, she should have a basic knowledge of medicine and herbalism. She should take care of her clothes, speak little, but have her servants under control. In her free time she should read pious books and no entertaining literature. The ancestral place of the lady of the house on a great estate is the house, as Agustín points out, recalling Cato: “La casa no busca la tierra ni la tierra la casa, porque la casa grande cuesta mucho de hacer y mantenerla.” (Borque and María 1979, 435).

4.1.4 Country Life as a Golden Age In Gabriel Alonso de Herrera, on the other hand, unlike the Spanish authors presented so far, agriculture occupies a large space. In his Agricultura general (1513), he praises rural life as if it were the Golden Age: “Mas labrar el campo vida sancta, segura, llena de inocencia, agena de pecado. […] El campo quita la ociosidad dañosa, en el campo no hay rencores ni enemistades.” (de Herrera 1818, 4). When there were no cities, there had also been less disease and less need for medicine. Agriculture combined utility, pleasure, and honor. Cato is cited, for whom it was

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considered the highest praise if someone was called a good agricultural worker. Gladly did the Romans take from among the agricultural laborers their military captains, as they were uncorrupted and lived honorably. Herrera, like Virgil, first discusses soil conditions and fertilization, then devotes himself to cereals, viticulture, forestry, and animal husbandry. Agriculture is the oldest of the mechanical arts that exist, since it goes back to Adam. Later, the arts were developed and perfected, but Herrera emphasizes that the first inventors of an art, like the beginnings, are of particular importance, citing Aristotle. Herrera does not claim to be the inventor of agriculture, but at least he is the one who presented it in Spanish on the basis of Greek and Latin models. It is irrelevant that the ancient guidelines do not refer to Spanish climatic conditions or soils, but to Italian or Greek ones, they are just as valid as the ancient rules of medicine. And on the question of the primacy of antiquity or the present, Herrera gives preference to the former. After all, the Romans not only understood a great deal about agriculture, but they also held it in high esteem, which meant that they took more care of it than is customary in the present day (3). Lope de Deça, in his Govierno polytico de Agricultura (1618), highlights the dignity, utility, and necessity of agriculture, deeming it superior to all other arts and accomplishments, “pues ella sola es la natural, digna de nobles, de virtuosos, y de sabios.” (Lope de Deça 1618, 2). And he invokes Xenophon, for whom agriculture was an activity appropriate for kings. Drawing on Aristotle, he contrasts natural agriculture with the unnatural multiplication of money through the taking of interest. Lope de Deça therefore sees an important reason for the decline of agriculture in the sharp increase in rents, which ruin the tenant, especially in the event of crop failure or livestock failure. It benefited the “Arçobispados, Obispados, Dignidades, Canonigos, Curatos, Beneficios, Prestamos, Encomiendas de las Ordenes militares tercias Reales, y otras ansi.” (33). Let a nation be morally good through its agricultural workers and corrupt through those who engage in shameful occupations. Agricultural activity serves to invigorate and does not effeminate. Quoting Aristotle again, Lope de Deça praises agriculture. For the first founders of a state, city, or municipality first provided for the sustenance of men and animals above all else (7, 10). As to why agriculture in formerly fertile Spain is powerless in his time, Lope de Deça attributes this to several reasons. Because Spain had gained so many lands and colonies with Flanders, Italy, and America, many Spaniards had left to steer and manage these territories, which were now lacking in Spain. Moreover, from the newly acquired lands came guests who made no contribution to agriculture, but, attracted by gold and silver, wished to eat without caring for sowing or rearing. Foreign trade had led to a corruption of morals that perverted the simple and noble life of the Spaniards. In the past, it was requisite to work in order to eat. Now one wants to eat without working (23). The natural and necessary had given way to luxury: “Tantos hombres de todas edades como estan ocupados en servir superflumente en cosas mas superfluas, y no necessarias.” (Lope de Deça 1618, 24). Where once two tailors sufficed, 20 were now needed to satisfy the abundance and proliferation of garments caused by vanity. An innumerable multitude of “ministros de la gula” were devoted to “superfluas artes, en desprecio de las buenas costumbres antiguas españolas.” (24). If hunger

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was once satisfied, it is now kindled. Whereas formerly the body of the agricultural laborer was vigorous, healthy, and untainted by arts and pleasures, now numerous diseases appear as penalties of gluttony and lust. Parfumiers and musicians are also named, who practise useless arts that serve pleasure. And when so many are engaged in superfluous and injurious things, they are naturally wanting to agriculture, which is as salutary as it is useful. Quoting Seneca and anticipating Rousseau, he singles out especially the pernicious effect of theatrical attendance. When children of farm workers studied law at universities, he says, it had no effect other than to multiply lawsuits. What Lope de Deça then elaborates on the loss of the former peace is reminiscent of Hobbes’ “Homo homini lupus”: “Ninguno tiene alli ganancia sino con daño del otro. […] No es otra su vida que la de los Gladiatores vivir, y pelear. Es una junta de fieras.” (Lope de Deça 1618, 27). If the gain of one is now impossible without the harm of the other, then life is indeed like a battle of wild beasts. Miguel Casa de Leruela, in Restauración de la antigua abundancia de España (1631), also deals with the decline of Spanish agriculture and attributes it to the lack of livestock: “la Carestia intolerable de precios, la Necesidad comun de las cosas, y la Despoblacion general de España, son efectos de la ruina de los ganados.” (Casa de Leruela 1631, 3). Animals were necessary to support the production of the staple food of bread. Casa de Leruela evokes the eponymous Greek god Pan, whose name meant “all,” indicating his universal value. He considers the consequences of the lack of cattle more devastating than those of idleness. Like Lope de Deça, he sees the causes in excessive rents and levies, which cause peasants to lose interest in agriculture, while greed and luxury reign on the side of the recipients of the money. The situation was comparable to ancient Rome, where Cato had already attributed the downfall of great empires to greed and effeminacy. Greed is insatiable. Therefore, let luxury restrict itself, which unleashes greed and knows no laws. Otherwise, this is a situation “contra las leyes de naturaleza.” (72). Two aspects of the Spanish texts are to be subjected to special consideration in the following, firstly the positively evaluated early, agricultural primitive state evoked by Alonso de Herrera. Then, based on the critique of luxury in Casa de Leruela and Lope de Deça, precursors and further developments will also be discussed.

4.1.5 Rural Life and Primitive State The ideas of a primordial state can be positive or negative. In antiquity, Hesiod saw a Golden Age as the first age of the world, followed by a Silver Age, a Bronze Age, and an Iron Age. In the order of precedence, then, a descent is shown, as he saw the latter, his own, marked by brutalization of morals. Cervantes’ Don Quixote sees in the Golden Age an epoch of innocence in which the words “mine” and “thine” were still unknown, there was no deceit, but truth, simplicity and peace prevailed. He wants to restore this time through his chivalrous deeds.

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Juan Luis Vives, in De causis corruptarum artium (1531), emphasizes that man, though created for the community, is because of his self-love, “severe and harsh against others, which would be the cause of the greatest disturbances in life, since, indeed, everyone would gather together for himself and for his own advantage as much as he could do either by his ingenuity or his physical powers.” (Vives 1990, 553–555). For overcoming this situation, Vives blames the introduction of justice, which put a stop to greedy hands and kept injustice away from coexistence. This suggests a position that wishes to overcome a dangerous state of nature characterized by antagonistic interests by introducing socially guaranteed justice. The most prominent representative of this position in the seventeenth century was Hobbes, whose negative evaluation of the state of nature will therefore be briefly presented below. Hobbes criticizes the Aristotelian conception of man as zoon politikon (Wolfers 1991, 61). According to Aristotle, man’s goal is eudaimonia (bliss), which can only be achieved in the polis. Therefore, Aristotle concludes, man is by his aim, i.e. by his nature, a communal being (Aristotle pol. 1995c, 4). To this Hobbes counters: if men were by nature political beings, then by their nature, i.e. by birth, they ought to be able to form a society with suitable, contractually established rules for living together. According to Hobbes, this is not the case, since people are born as children who lack the rational insight into the meaning of such contracts. Because only education leads to this reasonable insight, man is not by nature a communal being (Hobbes 1966, 76). Hobbes also has a different conception of happiness than Aristotle. For him, it does not consist in the tranquility of a contented mind. “For there is no such finis ultimus (ultimate end) or summum bonum (highest good) as is mentioned in the books of the ancient moral philosophers [meaning Aristotle]. Happiness is a constant progress of desire from one object to another, the attainment of one being always only the way to the next.” (Hobbes 1996, 80; Fetscher 1960, 683). Hobbes thus does not start from the good life, but from bare survival. In this respect, his doctrine of the state of nature can be seen as the anthropological basis of his doctrine of the state. Humans, he argues, are comparable to mushrooms that have sprouted from the earth, with no obligation of one to another (Hobbes 1966, 82–83). But this is not to be imagined as a paradise or a golden age, but as a state of permanently threatening violent death, a state of war of each against each, in which life is lonely, miserable, unpleasant, animalistic and short. Gluttony, competition, and scarcity of goods ensure that everyone is a wolf to everyone else (Hobbes 1996, 104). In Hobbes, then, the state of nature is shown to be unnatural and something to be overcome. We therefore come to the second aspect that has emerged from the Spanish texts, luxury. Luxury is not something objective. A thing becomes a luxury because it is experienced by someone in a special way. Is luxury immoral? That luxury contradicts the virtues has already been proven by the Aristotelian doctrine of the mean measure. In the Christian context, luxury is repeatedly associated with luxuria and appears immoral. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul states that Christians are to be led by the spirit and not by the desires of the body. So let them be guided by peace,

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kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, and not driven by selfishness, envy, immorality, and debauchery (Gal 5:16–24). Luxuria is among the seven root sins that lead to debauchery, hedonism, covetousness, and sexual licentiousness. It is also popularly known as a mortal sin and stands alongside superbia, avaritia, ira, gula, invidia, and acedia. For the Christian author Prudentius (348–405), luxury through gluttony, wine consumption, and lust leads to the effeminacy of the senses and is at the origin of sin (Prudentius 1959, 52–53). Augustine also argues along these lines when he upholds the Stoic condemnation of luxury, claiming that wealth promotes the indulgence of sensuality and vanity, while poverty and suffering discipline the mind. The appearance of luxury, he argues, leads to the destruction of civilization and caused the fall of Rome (Grugel-Pannier 1996, 196). If, then, one takes vital or natural needs as the standard, deviation from them is contrary to nature, as Seneca points out: “Omnia vitia contra naturam pugnant, omnia debitum ordinem deserunt; hoc est luxuriae propositum.” (Sen. epist. 122, 5). Seneca thus distinguishes between natural desires, which have limits, and unnatural ones, which know no limits. In the second century A.D., the church father Clement of Alexandria also refers to nature, which provides guidance for the entire conduct of life, for clothing and nutrition (Grugel-Pannier 1996, 103). The right measure, the Aristotelian mesotes, is what luxury as excess of pleasure, money, or honor misses. The good life, according to Aristotle, is not achieved by luxury but by a moderate way of life, “for even by moderate means it is possible to act in accordance with virtue. This can be clearly seen from the fact that private individuals do not seem to be inferior to princes in right and virtuous action, but rather to be in advance of them. It is enough, therefore, if the means necessary for this purpose are available.” (Aristotle, NE 1995, 254 (1179 a)). The moderatio, according to Aristotle, counsels choosing the middle measure, “those middles, namely, which we are convinced, as corresponding to right reason, lie between excess and deficiency.” (Aristotle, NE 1995a, 130 (1138 b)).

4.1.6 Country Life and Greed Machiavelli did not reassess values, but rather separated morality from politics. Whereas the traditional Princely Mirrors focused on the cardinal virtues, Machiavelli, in his Anti-Princely Mirror, had advised the prince to act immorally in the interest of efficiency and the reason of state. Machiavelli’s separation of morality and politics for the state becomes, in Bernard Mandeville (1670–1733), who grew up in the Netherlands, the separation of morality and economics for the individual. His addressee is not the prince but the individual. He believes that what is morally questionable can be socially beneficial. He therefore rejects frugality as the principle of keeping away from everything superfluous, since it leads to primitiveness. The absence of luxury in Sparta was only the flip side of depressing military service. Spartans, he argues, are characterized only by a lack of need; amenities of civilized

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countries are unknown to them, as are arts. What happens to a prosperous country from which rapacity, avarice, and luxury are banished is illustrated by Mandeville in his Bee Fable, published in 1705 and variously expanded. While the state thrived on the vices of individuals, the situation changes after Jupiter makes pride, luxury, and crime disappear: Social productive power slackens, numerous professions become redundant, and unemployed bees leave the state (Grugel-Pannier 1996, 198–200, 214, 216, 242). It was the vices of the individual that maintained societal prosperity. Thus Mandeville inverts Virgil’s bee-state, mentioned at the beginning, which is sustained by virtues. While mercantilism and cameralism were still compatible with the literature of the domestic fathers when they saw a domestic father in the prince, at the end of the seventeenth century Thomas Hobbes and John Locke created a mechanistic world view based on the natural sciences. The natural sciences with their use of experience and experiment and with the mathematical representation of interrelationships brought about the end of the old economics. For Locke, the pursuit of gain leads to the acquisition of individual wealth, which in turn benefits the good of the whole. As monarchies receded, the pattern of patriarchal hierarchical domestic order also disappeared in favor of equality of people, especially the housewife, and with the rise of outside provision via the market, the paradigm of self-sufficiency was lost. Urbanization, industrialization, unemployment following overproduction and long working hours became widespread. Entrepreneurs became the upper middle class. Utilitarianism leads to value relativism when it defines use or gratification without considering whether the use is life-enhancing or life-destroying. Asceticism and moderation act as brakes on economic progress. Poverty appears surmountable through abundance in the market, so that abundance becomes an economic policy goal and the autonomous market is matched by an equally autonomous homo economicus (Rivero 2020, 123–125) with an unrestrained acquisitiveness and striving for wealth. It is apparent that the virtues handed down in economic literature are pushed into the background. The saying attributed by Xenophon to Socrates is forgotten: “You seem to me to believe that happiness consists in indulgence and living well, but I believe that it is divine to need nothing, but that one comes nearest to the divine when one needs as little as possible.” Forgotten also Seneca’s sentence, “If you wish to make someone rich, you must not increase his wealth, but diminish his desires.” Or, “One is rich not by what one possesses, but more by what one knows with dignity to do without.” (Egner 1985, 180). What would be necessary is a transition from a growth-oriented economy to one of economic equilibrium in order to limit the loss of humanity. Sombart therefore demands that economic science should be cultural, social and human science at the same time (Sombart 1930, 174–176). Household science, economics, and agronomy could once again, in the face of ecological degradation, be concerned with cultural norms and the teleological. For Henri Bergson (1859–1941), the pursuit of comfort and luxury in the twentieth century definitely replaced the demand for medieval asceticism (Bergson 1932, 316). He therefore calls for a return to simplicity.

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4.1.7 The Idyll of the Garden In Voltaire’s Candide, a return to the uncluttered housekeeping of the ancient economic books seems to be the demand that, in view of the manifold problems and vicissitudes, one should nevertheless confine oneself to what one can shape oneself, namely to cultivate one’s garden (“cultiver son jardin”). Gregorio de los Rios seems to have anticipated such a thought when he wrote his Agricultura de jardines, que trata de la manera que se han de criar, gobernar y conservar las plantas (1677). Since the cultivation of a garden does not actually constitute professional knowledge, he addresses himself equally to knights, princes, kings, emperors, and monks. Among the saints Jerome is mentioned. Models can be found in all estates. Among the emperors, Otto and Diocletian are cited, the latter giving up the empire to cultivate plants in his garden. This activity is comparable to a special kind of leisure, since it takes place after the work is done, and observation of the beauty of the flowers can lead the observer to the perfection of the creator. Gardening distracts from gossiping, gambling, and other harmful vices (Gutierrez de los Rios 1677, 448). It is perhaps an example of a contemplative attitude that can be considered “acción más noble que la operación práctica,” as Pérez de Mesa puts it in his Política (1623) (Rivero 2009, 278). Horticulture is a new field of knowledge, about which Gregorio de los Rios prides himself as the first to write. In doing so, he could not rely on authorities, but only on his own experience. Gardening is to be distinguished from medical herbalism, but also from agricultural science, which does not deal with gardens. For gardening it is not enough to be an enthusiast, one must also have the necessary knowledge. To acquire this, de los Rios wants to help with his book, which one may consult again and again. A garden needs constant care. Just as children get scabies if you don’t wash them every day, so gardens decay if weeds are not weeded daily. Before pruning or removing plants, however, one should consider whether they are not sprouts that will develop without being sown. In winter, one should make a tour of the garden in the morning and another in the afternoon. In summer the best time is in the morning between three and nine o’clock and in the afternoon from four o’clock. Let the gardener appreciate “su oficio” (450), learn from and try out the experience of others: “y hacer la prueba en dos, o tres plantas de quitarlles el agua, o darsela: y entonces verá lo que requiere la planta.” (450). He should not plant fruit trees, as they belong in a vegetable garden. In the beginning, he says, fertilizer is harmful, which should not be used until the garden is 6–8 years old. He should also secure the garden so that uninvited guests do not cut flowers, and put a sign on the garden gate: “Para ver, y no para cortar, se dá licencia.” (451). Detailed and alphabetical descriptions of each flower and plant are given, with advice on how to plant and care for them (452–464). It is explained how to plant orange trees, transplant them, water them, and protect them from the cold; how to care for vines; and how to raise and keep the nightingale. Whereas the first part dealt mainly with the ornamental garden, dominated by flowers, and largely ignored the trees, which take up space with their roots and sunlight with their shade, a second part is devoted to the “agricultura de

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árboles” (475), showing how they are planted, pruned, watered, and fertilized, before listing the various species of trees alphabetically with their characteristics. Having begun with flowers, he concludes with flowers, showing what to look for in bouquets. If for Xenophon and Lope de Deça agriculture was an activity appropriate for kings, for Gregorio de los Rios gardening is a kind of agriculture in miniature, a special kind of leisure for princes, knights and monks. Here, too, the diligence of the agricultural worker is found in connection with original and good ways of life.

4.2 Soldier That the activities of the peasant is useful to society is obvious. The meaning and usefulness of the craft of war, however, are controversial. Therefore, before presenting the warrior with his different activities, skills and fields of knowledge, let us present polemics in which war is rejected. What follows are the various arguments that legitimize war in the treatises on the art of war. They list victory, defense, and peace as goals, protection of people and laws as purposes, distinguish necessary preconditions such as state authority or fair intentions, fall back on the origin of the military, and justify themselves with biblical and ancient models and traditions. If the justification of the necessity of the craft of war proceeds from moral arguments, then it is also primarily moral qualities that are demanded of the soldier. The general is supposed to be distinguished by the cardinal virtues. If, in addition, he meets the demands of Seneca and Cicero for constancy and the religiousness expected by Livius, then he can hope for the fortune of war that Caesar considers indispensable. In addition, the general should have a broad knowledge in various fields of knowledge and rhetorical skills, which Cicero considers important. Also in times of peace he should not be idle, but improve his fighting ability. The question arises whether the lower ranks should also possess these qualities. How should future soldiers be selected? Is it primarily class or ability that is to be considered? Which age group and which professions of origin are particularly promising? Moral arguments are also made here, for example when the vice of greed is contrasted with the virtue of obedience. Combat constellations require clear rankings. In the strictly structured hierarchy of the military, how can the lower ranks be motivated and what about opportunities for promotion? Is the duel part of military honour? There are individual situations and devices that are considered in more detail in the tracts. These include conduct in battle and afterwards. In battle, deceptive maneuvers are advantageous. How is the commander to behave when the constellation is unfavorable to him? And how after a victory or defeat? Is he to meet a rebellion in his own camp with leniency or harshness? Finally, the equipment of the warriors should be mentioned. This includes the sword and the horse, which distinguished the knight, but also the firearms, which have been particularly important since the invention of gunpowder and require chemical knowledge for mixing the powder and geometric knowledge for calculating the angle of fire.

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In the Spanish Siglo de Oro there is a paradigm shift in the military field. The invention of gunpowder had displaced the knight who fought valiantly with sword and horse. The nobles who provided the military in the Middle Ages were drawn to the absolutist courts, where they became courtiers, while artillery increasingly required specialized skills. The question arises to what extent these social upheavals brought about by new techniques have any significance for the esteem in which the warrior was held? How did the prestige of the commander differ from that of the common soldier? It must also be asked whether the different opponents of war, be they Moors, Indians or Christians, are responsible for a different conception of the warrior in each case. Basically, there is a positive and a negative evaluation.

4.2.1 Rejection and Legitimization of the War For the rejection of war and the warrior, Erasmus of Rotterdam and Juan Luis Vives are cited. Erasmus, who was influential in Spain, saw an immoral attitude in soldiers, which he denounced again and again. While in peace the disregard of the laws is punished, under arms the laws are silent. War brings criminals to power who would be in prison in peacetime: “For who will lead the troops more surely by stealth than a trained robber? Who will more dashingly plunder houses or rob churches than a burglar or a church desecrator? Who will more valiantly slay the enemy and pierce his vital parts with the sword than a manslayer and murderer? Who is as apt to hurl fires against cities or siege towers as an arsonist?” (Erasmus 2001, 75). Erasmus doubts the value of expanding borders when mercenaries must be fed and lives sacrificed at the expense of one’s own population. The soldiers are rated no better by Vives than by Erasmus and appear to him “muy impulsivos, arrogantes y de costumbres muy desarregladas.” (Vives 1992, 63–64). When war appears to the young nobles as an interesting alternative to idleness, they seek glory “por el hecho de haber aniquilado una gran porción de mortales […] acompañados y ayudados por bandoleros y asesinos.” (Vives 1992, 16). In contrast, warriors are judged more positively in books on the craft of war. In the following, reference is made to the Doctrina militar (1598) by Bartolome Scarion de Pauia, the Milicia, discurso, y regla militar (de Egvilvz 1592) by Alferez Martin de Egvilvz, the Diálogos militares de la formación e información de personas, instrumentos, y cosas necessarias para el buen vso de la guerra (1583) by Diego Garcia de Palacio, the Tratado de re militari (1590) by Diego de Salazar, the Dialogos del Arte Militar (1583) by Bernardino de Escalante, the Breve tratado del arte de Artilleria (1595) by Lazaro de la Isal Genoues, and the Libro de las grandezas de la espada (1605) by Luis Pacheco. Autobiographical narratives of soldiers, such as the Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España by Bernal Díaz del Castillo, have a specific genre character between fiction, self-stylization and reality (Sáez 2018, 174–175), which is why they are not considered in our context. The authors draw on their own experience and on the writings of ancient writers such as Vegetius, Cicero and Livius or modern ones such as Machiavelli. Martin de

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Egvilvz presents the offices from the common soldier, through the cabo de esquadra, the sargento, the alferez de infanteria, the sargento mayor en presidio, the maestro de campo, the veedor general, the tesorero general, to the capitan general and the preveedor general, while Scarion de Pauia presents the reasons for the emergence of the military in the world and the different areas of knowledge that the soldier should possess. While errors in the lawyer or the poet remain largely inconsequential, according to Pacheco they can be fatal in fencing, which proves the importance of the science of fencing, which includes mathematics as well as natural philosophy. What legitimation strategies do the writings on the art of war make use of? From the fact that the Bible does not forbid war, but only certain behavior in war, the conclusion is drawn that war itself is permitted. After all, it could have been explicitly forbidden. Furthermore, Diego Garcia de Palacio cites the natural law that existed before Moses received his written laws and that permitted war, since Moses fought four kings. Scarion de Pauia also derives the necessity of the military from the Bible, referring to the warrior David, and recognizing in the phrase, let us give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s, the necessity of giving the ruler the taxes he needs to maintain peace in his country, which would be endangered without soldiers. If in the Bible John answers to the question, in which the fulfilment of duty of the soldiers consisted, they should not maltreat and slander anyone and be content with their pay, (Luke 3, 14) then according to Garcia de Palacio Augustine had concluded from this that the soldiery was legitimate, as long as it was not guilty of any misconduct, and thus war was justified in principle (Garcia de Palacio 1583, 10). Luis Pacheco quotes Aristotle, according to whom all things that exist want to exist and thus care for the preservation of their own existence. Therefore, people strive for a long life, from whose threats they protect by defense, “como dize el adagio: El hombre es lobo del hombre, fue le necessario un arte que le enseñasse como auia de hazer esta defensa, que le sirviesse de amparo, contra un enemigo tan poderoso, de tantas fuerzas, y de tanta malicia como el propio hombre.” (Pacheco 1605, Prólogo). The phrase “homo homini lupus,” which Hobbes makes the starting point in his Leviathan in 1651, is taken from the literature of the Adagia in Luis Pacheco 1605. Here, then, the military is understood as a force of order that puts an end to the primordial state of man’s war against man, caused by guile and envy. And now, paradoxically, in order to protect man from himself, one has had to create the art of war. For Diego de Salazar, the art of war is not primarily for the protection of man, but for the protection of the laws, which without military support would be like houses without roofs and doors. “Y ansi las buenas ordenancas sin la ayuda militar serian como bien labradas, y ricas casas sin tejados, y puertas que las defiendan del agua y viento, sol y ladrones.” (de Salazar 1590, prologo). In his chapter on the origins of the military, Scarion imagines that originally there had been disorder until good and foresighted persons had brought order. But now that there were persons, both in the countryside and in the cities, who did not wish to live in peace and disturbed concord, strong and brave men opposed them “los quales con las armas y con su fuerça tenian el cuidado de defender los aldeanos y villanos de los agrauios y injurias, que

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les hazian los malos y ruines hombres.” (Scarion de Pauia 1598, 2v). This state, highly esteemed in early times, has the important task of crushing human malice: “la milicia era necessaria para destruir la malicia humana, y alcancar el bien de la paz y la quietud del vivir humano.” (3v). In considering this story of the invention of the art of war, the question arises as to whether interest in the beginnings or the need for legitimacy in the present prevails. The fact that Abraham fought four kings in the Old Testament, even before Moses had received the Ten Commandments, made war appear as a “ley de naturaleza” (Diego Garcia de Palacio 1583, 11v). Also, the fact that biblical figures such as Moses, Joshua, Gedeon, and David waged war could be seen as justifying war in the present. “Si esto fue licito en tiempo de aquellas leyes, tambien lo es en la ley Evangelica.” (11v). If princes are allowed to take up arms against their own subjects when they incite to rebellion, they are also allowed to do so against strangers who take up arms against their own subjects. A defensive war is always justified because it is a natural right to defend oneself. But a war of aggression is also justified, when the object is to recover goods or lands stolen by the enemy, or to avenge wrongs suffered. Also for this Abraham is given as an example, who with allies defeated the kings of Sodon, Gomorrah, Adma, Zebojim and Bela (Gen 14). What circumstances are required for a war to be legitimate? First, there must be a state authority, for example, in the form of princes or kings. Since it is their job to maintain order and keep the peace, they can also start a war. Since they lead independent states with their own laws, they can wage war without seeking permission from the emperor. If danger is imminent, even the subjects can independently defend themselves against the enemy or against insurgents and stabilize the situation until the prince is informed and comes to the rescue with his army. Another important fact is that a war is only just if it is waged out of fair intentions and not out of greed or cruelty. This applies to the soldiers as well as to the prince, who must not start a war in the interest of gaining land or glory. If the prince starts an obviously unjust war, then the soldier, according to Garcia de Palacio, is released from his duty of obedience, since above the prince stands the higher authority of God, to whom obedience is first due and who does not want the death of innocent people (18r). Generally, victory is the goal of war. This goal includes the defense of one’s persons and goods, the recovery of what has been stolen, the avenging of insults, and finally the peace and security of the country. Therefore, it is necessary to educate the soldiers about the meaning and purpose of the particular war. The question arises as to how to justify the wars against the Moors, which after all were not preceded by any provocation. Here Garcia de Palacio argues that the latter had seized numerous territories of the Roman Empire and Constantinople belonging to Christianity, which allowed for a just war, “porque matan, y roban los Christianos donde quiera que se pueden aprovechar dellos; porque nos tienen injustamente (y con injuria) occupadas nuestras tierras, sin querer ni tratar de restituirnoslas.” (17r). Let the prince be permitted to have restituted to him all the goods which the enemy has robbed, and the damage which he has done, or the equivalent.

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4.2.2 Military Ranks The military is characterized by a strict hierarchy with different ranks. Looking at the abilities of the general, it is noticeable that they are conceived according to the model of the princely mirrors. According to Scarion de Pauia, he is supposed to be wise, just and temperate and to be able to deal well with his subordinates, who are auxilia of his fortitudo. Diego de Alaba y Viamont, too, in his El perfecto capitan, instruido en la disciplina militar y nueva ciencia de la artilleria (1590), presents qualities that a perfect commander should have. First, the Carthaginian Hannibal is cited as a shining example, distinguished not only by experience but also by education (de Alaba y Viamont 1590, 1r). The five main qualities that the general is said to have borrow from the cardinal virtues. “Fortaleza de animo, prudencia en los negocios, severidad para mandar, ventura en sus obras, y ciencia en la milicia.” (4r). Good luck, however, is not a personal quality, but a matter of making the right choices. The five qualities are explained in more detail. In the case of strength, the natural is distinguished from the moral, the natural referring on the one hand to purely physical strength, and on the other to a natural disposition to perform great and difficult deeds. If the latter, however, is not guided by moral strength, it may tend to excesses such as the Latin audacia. Moral strength can be defined by the Latin word virtus as straightness of character, avoidance of insignificant deeds, steadfastness in danger, and expeditious completion of all tasks with due regard for circumstances (5v). It should be connected with sociability, the ability to converse simply with the soldiers, so that they in turn follow orders willingly and not out of fear. Further, moral strength includes temperance and justice. The Macedonian king Argesilaos, when asked whether strength or justice was more important, had replied that justice without strength was virtue, but strength without justice was not (7v). Closely related to distributive justice is generosity, insofar as it consists in giving to each his due. Magnanimity gives the power of composure in the face of adverse and favorable circumstances, while honesty and fidelity ensure that promises are kept and redeemed on time. The commander should show mercy to his soldiers so as not to provoke uprisings and rebellions, since power and command are only lasting when they are combined with leniency. Power, on the other hand, proves short-lived when combined with harshness and violence. Another quality of strength is patience in enduring pain and evil. If Hercules had not been trained to endure hardships since childhood, he would hardly have preferred the difficult path to the easy one at the crossroads and would not have accomplished his heroic deeds. Another important quality, especially in war, is to keep secrets. Humility and modesty are what give true authority. Without them, honors and awards rest on shaky foundations. Nobility has the advantage of the brilliant deeds of ancestors to guide the way. To highlight the merits of constancy, Demosthenes is quoted as saying that speed in completing tasks is important, but even more important is “antiguedad y constancia en ellas” (16r). For Cicero, it was not enough to judge correctly, but important to stick to what was once considered good and proper. And for Seneca, according to Alaba y Viamont, it distinguishes the wise man to stick to one thing and

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not change his mind again and again. And religiosity also has a share in moral strength, since, as the Roman historian Livius already says, all plans succeed with those who honor God and fail with those who disdain him. Even Augustine attests to the Romans that they owed their successes to the fact that in all their undertakings they first consulted the oracles and priests of their gods. How are the workings and actions of moral strength to be conceived? They are initially inward, first when the intention of a deed arises, and secondly when the will to perform it is articulated. They become external only when one proceeds to action. The second quality required for the general, according to Alaba y Viamont, is the prudencia, reason, mentioned above. It limits passions and orders present tasks by relating them to past and future ones. For Cicero, prudencia has three merits: to subordinate passions to reason, to assess the value of each task in the interest of the adequacy of means, and to teach the proper approach. The fourth of the five principal qualities of the commander is rigour in commanding, which is not to be confused with harshness and cruelty. Rather, it resulted from the commander’s unimpeachable reputation and respect for him. In Sparta, the most important science was commanding and obeying, “pues el mandar a muchos, se compara al pelear y combatir con muchos.” (22r). The fourth attribute of the commander, fortune in war, is not actually an attribute. Neither science nor experience can teach it, since it is controlled by force majeure. The Roman general Caesar said that luck was necessary because no force, no matter how great, could be sure of its victory over its opponents. The fifth and last quality of the commander is the knowledge of the art of war, which refers to the situation before the battle, during the battle, and the one after it. Before the battle it is necessary to supply an army, and to do so at the most moderate cost. The Spartans appear as a model when they refused to build fortification walls and moats, claiming that the courage and strength of their soldiers were sufficient to withstand the enemy. The author Diego Garcia de Palacio belonged to the Royal Council and was Oidor de la Real Audiencia de Mexico. Of the four books of Dialogos militares, de la formacion e informacion de Personas, Instrumentos, y cosas necessarias para el buen uso de la Guerra (1583), the first deals with the qualities, requisites, and nature of the captain and the soldier. The second introduces the nature and composition of gunpowder, shows the proper use of small arms and artillery, for which the rules of perspective and other necessary instruments were also required. The third book deals with the good and skilful formation of a squadron, while in the fourth advice is given and rules indicated for various situations in war. The dialogue partners are a mountain dweller and a vizcayno, that is, a resident of the Atlantic coast of Spain. In order to judge the legitimacy of a war, the Christian soldier is supposed to have legal and theological knowledge. He is confronted with two questions, first, whether Christians are allowed to wage an offensive or defensive war at all, and if so, under what circumstances such a war is legitimate (Garcia de Palacio 1583, 10r). In the case of generals and captains, required traits are, on the one hand, abilities given by nature and on the other hand, those acquired through diligence and care. Of particular importance are prudence and strength. Prudence includes, as Garcia de Palacio states with reference to Aristotle, finding the appropriate means to achieve

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any goal, distinguishing the useful from the useless, and choosing the best and most appropriate action for the place and time. The “prudencia militar” to be used here is to be compared with the “prudencia economica” of a family father (25). In addition, the advice of experienced elders is always to be listened to. The virtue of strength lies in its direction towards the goal of victory and its avoidance of exaggerated fear as well as exaggerated daring. Last but not least, a prince or commander derives his strength from the fact that as soon as he takes office he ceases to live for himself and is there only for the king or his own country. There are other merits connected with strength. Nobility is shown in the spontaneous accomplishment of complicated things, self-confidence in the hope of bringing them to a good end, endurance in perseverance and patience in enduring obstacles (26r, v). To these should be added other intellectual skills, such as knowledge of mathematics, arithmetic, cosmography, astronomy, and astrology. He is also said to be well-read in the artes liberales and in religious and secular literature, such as Homer’s Iliad. He should be eloquent, perceptive, middle-aged, pleasant-looking, married with a family, modest, merciful, moderate in sleeping, eating and drinking. He should not be avaricious, as the slave of money can hardly be the master of others. Knowing the laws, he gives to each his own, and does not despise the poor any more than he should feel honored in the presence of the powerful. It is good, he says, when inherited nobility is supplemented by acquired prowess. Knowledge of the seas, of the celestial bodies and of mathematics is needed if one wishes to discover new seas or countries, such as America. Arithmetical knowledge was also necessary if one wanted to use the new inventions of gunpowder and compass correctly (39r). Since troop movements may pass through enemy territory, the commander should have geographical knowledge, as Diego de Alaba y Viamont demands in his El perfecto capitan, instruido en la disciplina militar y nueva ciencia de la artilleria (1590). He should know where mountains, mountain ranges, rocks, bogs, bottlenecks, forests, valleys, rivers, springs, towns, castles, and farms are in order to imagine where the enemy might be lurking in ambush (de Alaba y Viamont 1590, 41v). The marching formation was also important. In the case of the Romans, lightly armed auxiliaries preceded, followed by riflemen to counter enemy attacks, after them persons equipped with shovels and other tools to smooth the way and ease difficult passages, then the mounted troops and after them the generals of the cavalry and infantry, finally the flag with the eagle and other flags. Following them slaves ran along, who took care of the practical things, and at the very end there were more armed horsemen and foot soldiers. The power of rhetoric is an important tool for the general, which Cicero describes as “compania de la paz y sosiego, cuyo poder es tan grande, que con facilidad tuerce los animos, incitandolos a ira, o moviendolos a piedad, haziendo con lo uno y lo otro tantos efectos admirables.” (55r). As examples, Diego de Alaba y Viamont reproduces speeches from antiquity, first Scipio’s speech calling for a battle against Hannibal, then Marcellus’ speech calling for another battle against Hannibal after a defeat. In further sections it is explained how the commander is to deal with envoys from the enemy and how he is to use his own envoys, how he is to behave in the face of a superior number of enemies, how he is to summon help, and that the infantry

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are not more important than the cavalry, but that the two depend on each other. Disputes among soldiers are best avoided by substituting idleness for constant occupation, and thus avoiding all conversation from which anger and enmity may arise. Diego Garcia de Palacio gives further advice to the commander: In times of peace, he should improve his weapons and fortifications so that they are useful in war. In terms of local knowledge, he should always be superior to the enemy, in order to make the optimal troop deployment in each case. He should avoid having too many mercenaries from different countries in his army, since the difference in customs and languages not only impairs communication, but also leads to differences of opinion (Diego Garcia de Palacio 1583, 64r). It was better to wait for the enemy army to attack first, instead of attacking with all force right at the beginning. After the successful victory, the enemy should be given the opportunity and facilitated to flee, as according to Plutarch Scipio the Elder had advised his commanders. Lycurgus, on the other hand, had ordered the enemy to be pursued in order to be sure of victory, and then to be let go, since it was unworthy of the Greeks to kill those who had surrendered. But if the commander has lost the war, he should try to limit the losses among his men by withdrawing them skilfully and in good order to places of safety. Now, if an enemy soldier offers to surrender a besieged city by betrayal, Garcia de Palacio advises him to go along with it in good conscience: “Como hemos dicho, la cautela y engaño es licito con los enemigos.” (85v). The traitor, however, should be treated generously and preferentially, so as to provide an incentive for future traitors to imitate him. How should one reward the achievements and heroic deeds of soldiers and leaders? Here, a look at Greek and Roman historiography shows that it was not payment that was paramount, but honoring through trophies, victory celebrations, crowns, privileges, immunity, triumphal arches, and statues. These, after all, showed future contemporaries how immortal glory could be won through prowess in war. What is the place of morality in the treatises on the art of war? Morality is universally demanded. But where morality does not become the maxim of action, efficiency does. The use of force is recommended by Scarion de Pauia, without regard to the virtue of clemency, when the object is to capture a city that will not surrender. In this case, cunning and craftiness should be used to resort to assaults, underground passages, or caves (Scarion de Pauia 1598, 37v). Thus one should begin with virtue, but may then proceed to deceit. For Bernardino de Escalante, military service is comparable to religion, as he likewise calls for virtuous behavior, “que obliga al soldado a guardar justicia, Fee, Constancia, Paciencia, y silencio, y sobre todo Obediencia.” (de Escalante 1583, 49r). To the extent that obedience is given special importance, disobedience is branded as the worst evil. From the religiousness demanded also arises the necessity of sparing the enemy as much as possible. Leniency should be shown to cities that voluntarily surrender, which is certainly praiseworthy from a moral point of view, were it not for the ulterior motive of inviting other cities to surrender in turn in order to be treated in the same way.

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4.2.3 Recruitment Before the first acts of war, however, there are preparations such as the recruitment of soldiers and the formation of the army. Diego de Alaba y Viamont gives the well-­ meant advice that the commander should raise his army in such a way that the costs incurred are lower than the final yield (Diego de Alaba y Viamont 26v). The 40,000 soldiers are to be divided into legions or battalions of 8000, which in turn are to be divided into 32 groupings of 250 soldiers. And their respective leaders are also to be carefully selected. Here, as in the selection of soldiers, persons with a natural aptitude for warfare are to be preferred. In general, the rural population is to be preferred to the townsfolk, as they are not afraid of heat or cold, and are as little bothered by hardships of the way as by discomforts of lodging, as they are accustomed to such things. It is also advantageous to choose nobles, as they value honour more than life. Important in the selection was also the age, which had to be from 14 years upwards. The Roman king Servius Tullius had selected soldiers from 17 to 46 years. Whether the soldiers should be tall or short seems unimportant, since they have to be strong and determined in the first place. Those who were overweight, however, had to be excluded. If one has to choose between different professions, craftsmen such as carpenters, blacksmiths or stonemasons are preferred and those who follow professions such as linen weavers, confectioners and wax pullers, namely professions that do not require muscular strength, were better rejected. Another quality to be taken into account in the selection process is discretion, which is a sign of seriousness. Already Diogenes had stated that the ignorant cannot be silent (35r). Exaggerated daring weakens no less than exaggerated fear. Here, as in eating and drinking, moderation is essential. Likewise, excessive pomp in clothing is inappropriate. For the fact that sensuality is not good for soldiers, the example is given of the commander Semiramis, who chose her lovers among the soldiers and killed them when she got tired of them. Patience and endurance in arduous situations were important qualities, as was loyalty to the prince, while greed and gambling were to be rejected. In selecting candidates for middle leadership, Scarion de Pauia advises the commander to be cautious. He should look for his maestres de campo and capitanes de infanteria among the nobles, the rich and the respected, since the people, usually discontented because of their oppression, are unsuitable for these tasks. Since “el arte militar el mas digno de todas las demas artes del mundo” and is associated with honor and dignity, according to Scarion de Pauia neither “hombres infames, ni afrentados, negros, ni mulatos.” (Scarion de Pauia 1598, 84r) be admitted as soldiers, although he also admits that many persons become soldiers out of natural inclination or because of financial destitution. Diego de Salazar is even more critical as, according to him, the soldier is distinguished from the civilian population by savagery and arrogance. The normative ideal image presented at first is thus contrasted with a somewhat harsher reality. This explains why so much space is given to the possible offences of soldiers and their corresponding punishments. If, for

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example, a soldier violates his duty of loyalty to his superiors or harms them through defamation, the death penalty can be imposed on him. The sergeant-major, the sargento mayor, also belongs to the middle level of command. Juan de Funes deals with him in his Arte militar, en el qual se declara que sea el oficio de sargento mayor and presents as his task to ensure the correct formation and order of a squadron and to assign the artillery as well as the supplies the appropriate place (de Funes 1582, 1r, v). Although many possibilities of arranging the squadron, e.g. as a triangle, as a cross or as a scroll, have been described in numerous tracts, Juan de Funes prefers a square arrangement, since this is least likely to get confused when marching on foot or by the enemy. If one marches past a river, special attention is required lest the animals, thirsty, disrupt the ranks. A tercio of 3000 soldiers is said to have 13 ensigns, one of which is said to have 300 arquebusiers, foot soldiers armed with rifles, while the other 12 are said to have 225 each. All 13 units are commanded by a captain. The task of the sargento mayor is to pass on the orders of the general to the soldiers under his command and to ensure that they are carried out with precision. Therefore, he should be able to give his instructions the necessary weight. He should have a good memory and be careful, discreet and efficient. In order that his soldiers may be safe from the enemy, let him control the sentry posts and also see to it that sufficient ammunition, gunpowder and bullets are available. To his subordinates he is to be good-natured, but irregularities and smuggling he is to punish with severity. The largest part of the book is then taken up by the tables for the deployment of soldiers of different armament. As if it were a compulsory exercise, the characteristics of the sargento mayor are mentioned again at the end. He should be Christian and not greedy, in order to give the soldiers a good example (33r). What are the demands made on the common soldier? For him, virtues are necessary for very practical reasons, since vices weaken, reduce strength, and therefore impair the course of arms and make him incapable of enduring hunger, thirst, sun, cold, and dust. Especially the vice of covetousness was incompatible with the necessary obedience. As an example of this Diego Garcia de Palacio cites in his Diálogos militares (1583) Hernan Cortés, whose greedy soldiers, laden with gold and silver stolen from the treasures of Moncezuma, were killed in flight, although they had initially left the battlefield as victors. Caesar had already forbidden his soldiers to loot and rob cult objects as victors in a conquered city. Another soldierly skill is silence, which draws full attention to the action of the war and does not irritate with superfluous backtalk (Diego Garcia de Palacio 1583, 48r). More efficient than a large quantity of poorly chosen soldiers are a few well chosen ones. In the selection of future soldiers, therefore, care should be taken that they are about 20 years old and come from a higher class, i.e. that they are not peasants or members of mechanical professions, as is emphasized with reference to the First Book of Maccabees. On the other hand, however, Caesar is cited as evidence that his soldiers also engaged in blacksmithing, carpentry, stonemasonry, or mining when necessary. In considering weapons, those of the Greeks and Romans are presented first, before the contemporary Spanish weapons of sword, dagger, spear, and javelin and equipment such as balaclavas and horses are discussed.

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The military had changed in the sixteenth century. Whereas previously the nobility had been predestined by heredity to serve with weapons, now the soldier was required to be at least 14 to 20 years old and to serve an apprenticeship of 5 years in order to acquire relevant knowledge as well as respect and obedience to superiors. Only through discipline and diligence is advancement in the military hierarchy possible (Serés 2009, 295–296; Thompson 2013, 448). Three prerequisites are mentioned by contemporary Diego Garcia de Palacio for the soldier: first, a natural inclination; second, knowledge of the general rules of the art of war; and third, the ability to apply these rules in concrete situations (Diego Garcia de Palacio 1583, 23r). That it was indeed possible to rise to high military honors coming from a small Basque community is attested by Tomás de Larraspuru. He had crossed the Atlantic about 30 times, was a private from 1602 to 1604, ensign of a squadron in 1605, captain in 1607, admiral in 1612, and capitán general de la Armada de la Guarda in 1623–1631 (Hernández Rodríguez 2020, 368–369).

4.2.4 Responsibility, Motivation and Refusal to Obey Orders How can a superior in the military motivate his subordinates? The author Sancho Lodoño, himself a maestro de campo, dedicates his little book Discurso sobre la forma de reduzir la disciplina militar a mejor y antiguo estado (1593) to the highly placed commander Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, Duque de Alba, Lugarteniente, y Capitan General de su Magestad, y su gobernador en los Estados de Flandes, under whose command he had served for many years and whose leadership he had admired. If, in the meantime, the long period of peace had caused military talents to be forgotten, it was clear that the foundation of everything was obedience (Lodoño 1593, I). Part of good leadership, he said, was to hold out the prospect of honors or promotions for work well done, as well as punishments for poor performance. If it is possible to prevent disorder arising from greed, then the Spanish nation will be as successful as ancient Rome. This is especially true in the distribution of captured property, for which trustworthy persons are to be employed to put a stop to any fraud or robbery out of the property lawfully captured together in war, and to inflict appropriate punishments (4v). Enumerated are the duties and arms to be held by the representatives of each rank, and how each formation is to be numerically equipped. The hierarchies are to be clearly structured, as he knows from his own experience. The maestros de campo are supposed to have the authority that, among the Romans, the prefects of the legions had, and to give orders “a los Capitanes, oficiales, y soldados de sus tercios” (13r), with the doctors and surgeons of the squadrons also depending on their orders. Since soldiers are not only liable to be injured but also to lose their lives, it is all the more important to give them hope of honors, rewards, and privileges, since otherwise only the unqualified would come. The role model function of superiors is emphasized. If they do not play with dice and swear day and night, neither do their subordinates, which saves the troops trouble and physical confrontations. Toward the end of his aphoristic remarks, he attests that the Spaniards

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love honor more than life and fear death less than disgrace, “que en sabiendo obedecer, guardar orden y lugar, sabran quanto es necessario para ser invencibles en tierra y mar.” (42v). Looking at the different hierarchical levels, there are different responsibilities at each level. At the top is the capitan general, the supreme commander. He is followed by the commander of the cavalry, the general de la caualleria. The orders of the commander are transmitted by the lugar teniente de capitan general. The maestre de campo general or mariscal is in charge of equipment, medical care, and administration of justice. The sargento mayor has to see to the guards and to the formation of the squadron; the commisario general to provisions, arms, ammunition, payments, and accounts; the proveedor general especially to provisions; the alferez to lodgings; the corporal o cabo de esquadra to the ten soldiers under his command. While the general-inspector, the veedor general, traditionally has to watch over all internal operations, the general de la artilleria is new and unknown in antiquity (Diego de Alaba y Viamont 150r-151v). But in view of this strict hierarchy, is a soldier at the lower level of command merely an executive organ? According to Jerónimo Jiménez de Urrea’s Dialogo de la verdadera honra militar (1566), this depends not least on the behavior of the superior. A general is supposed to be a religious man, since the Bible provides numerous examples of pious leaders miraculously winning with outnumbered troops against much larger armies (Urrea, 95v). Nevertheless, the soldier should practice riding and using weapons in order to be prepared for the war. Battles to enforce justice are justified, as well as those begun to punish an evildoer, or to serve the church, the king, and the fatherland (55r). Legitimate is that which is ordered by higher authorities. For example, in a siege of a city, a soldier may not undertake any enterprise on his personal initiative, nor may he move from one company to another without the permission of his superior. Therefore, only those who had previously gained experience and learned the trade as a soldier should become captains. A general without war experience was unthinkable. Those soldiers should be rejected who, out of greed, do their service only for the sake of money and profit. The strong-­ willed soldiers, on the other hand, who are used to toil and danger and who are concerned with higher and heroic goals, may call themselves soldiers (86v). Let the soldiers, however, who serve for a foreign sovereign, be permitted, while preserving their honour, to change to another sovereign who will pay them higher pay. Should a soldier notice that his captain has allied himself with the enemy, that is, is committing treason, he need no longer obey his orders, but should rather regard him as an enemy, “por que ya aquel capitan en el punto que consintio la traycion se partio del servicio de su principe, y no es mas capitan del, ni superior del soldado, sino soldado del enemigo, y enemigo de su soldado.” (88v). In that case he may and should revolt against him and inform the prince or the general. Even if a cowardly captain, out of ignorance, gives the order for a disgraceful retreat without it being absolutely necessary, the soldiers may act against the order and take up arms again “contra el, como contra mal official, y deservidor de su Principe.” (89v). So it is not dishonorable to rebel against a traitorous captain. Honor is a core value in the world of the military. Against this background, the question arises as to

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the value of restoring injured honour through a duel. The duel is defined as a fight through which one seeks to prove to the other, in a single day’s passage of arms, that he is a true man of honor, “y no merecedor de ser menos preciado, injuriado, y el otro pretende probar lo contrario.” (Urrea, Jerónimo Jiménez de 3r). However, since the duel not infrequently kills the one who seeks justice, it can also be considered inhumane and unjust. In a duel, the outcome cannot reveal the truth or justify the victor (30r). One should think in the way of the Gothic king Theoderic, who advised to take up arms only against enemies and not as in a duel against persons from one’s own ranks. Eternal fame and respect by kings and princes is only earned by those who adhere to true Christian justice (35r). Plato is quoted as having said that it is better to suffer insults than to insult.

4.2.5 Cunning and Treachery The dialogue between the two soldiers Franco and Altamirano in Jerónimo Jiménez de Urrea’s Dialogo de la verdadera honra militar shows the imitation of role models as the ideal side of the art of war. The stoutness of the Burgundians, the drive of the Cimbrians, the strength of the Teutons, and the courage of the Goths are mentioned as models before warriors to be imitated such as Decius, Scaevola, Regulus, the Cid, the Marques de Pescara, or Hernando Cortes, who cared little for effort and toil, “por dejar gloriosa y eterna fama a su esclarecido nombre, a estos que quiero seguir, y sus heroycas obras imitar.” (de Urrea 1566, 11r). These, indeed, Franco thinks, are to be honored and imitated for their intellectual prowess rather than for the muscularity of their hands. Citing Vegetius’s work on the art of war, he adds, mental power and not physical strength, as in the “Toro, Bufalo, y Elefante, y otras torpes bestias” (22v, 23r), lead to victory. Odysseus, whose cunning blinded the Cyclops, and Hercules are also examples of the superiority of the mind over physical strength. Generals such as Alexander, Hannibal, Pompeus, and Scipio africanus owe their victories to the deception of the enemy rather than to bloody battles, as can be readily inferred from relevant books, “que solamente tratan de ardides, engaños, y estratagemas, para vencer sin daño del vencedor.” (24r). In this context, an important service is provided by the emblems, or mottoes that mark an objective of a campaign like the occasion of a feast. They are placed on the shield or on other arms with an accompanying image. Thus King Alonso had an open book included in his emblem when he took Naples; with the Emperor it was pillars; with the French King Henry it was the moon. Examples of aphorisms are “Eripe me domine de inimicis meis.” (Save me, Lord, from my enemies!) or “Quis fortis sicut Deus noster?” (Who is strong like our God?) or “Potentia in sapientia consistit” (Power consists in wisdom.) (66r-67v). Altamirano, on the other hand, argues that sometimes physical strength and numerical superiority can be decisive in determining the outcome of battle. He has always been more interested in the craft of war than in literature. He had read old romances, books of chivalry, the description of the wars of

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Granada and other works that encouraged his inclination. For Franco, too, it is the righteous campaigns that make names famous and not the duels to restore honor. If Urrea stresses the importance of the intellectual side of warfare over physical strength, Diego de Alaba y Viamont takes this further by pointing out the implications of deception and correct situational assessments. First of all, ancient sources advise avoiding open and announced battle with the enemy, since its outcome is uncertain and involves heavy losses. Better, he says, to surprise him in a weakened state, such as when his soldiers are fatigued after a long walk, or when they are about to cross a ford, that is, a shallow place in a river, when they are climbing a hill or mountain, or when they are sleeping (Diego de Alaba y Viamont 1590, 71r). They can be deceived, as Alcibiades did when he had sails set up behind rocks in the distance in a naval battle, so that the enemy thought a significant reinforcement was coming to meet them, causing them to take flight. The appropriate time for battle, he said, was readily left to superstition in the ancient world. It was better, he said, to ensure that the wind conditions were favourable and that one was not blinded by the sun. In one of the Mithridatic Wars (89–63 B.C.), Pompey had made sure that the moon shone from behind, so that the long shadows of his own troops, who seemed so superior, reached as far as the enemies, who were also blinded by the moon. When they had given up in confusion, they were found “desarmados, quedaron muertos muchos, y otros presos y rendidos.” (73v). If, however, before a battle the commander felt that the enemy had too many advantages on his side, he should retreat, but without revealing the real reason to his soldiers. He could simply pretend to wait for a more favorable opportunity. Again and again it is referred to how the commander, after a defeat, should encourage his soldiers by glossing over the defeat and calling for revenge. But when the enemy is defeated, the question arises whether to pursue and destroy his soldiers who are still fleeing, or to let them run and report to yours. How should the victorious commander conduct himself? In order not to become overconfident and arrogant, he should win a second victory, this time over himself. In ancient times, triumphal processions with numerous chariots were organized for the victorious generals, and crowns and trophies were also distributed. However, if the losses of the victorious Romans were too great, they were dispensed with. Pompeius was called the Great because of his many victories. He was murdered in Egypt by the followers of King Ptolomeus. And Caesar, too, after his many victories in the world of that time, had been insidiously murdered by Brutus. In war itself, however, traitors on the enemy’s side can be advantageous but also dangerous, especially in a siege, where it is useful to know the weakest point of the fortifications or whether there is unity or strife among the besieged. Let the artillery so position itself by deceptive manoeuvres at a higher place that the enemy will not know where it is (87r). In assaulting a besieged city, the Turks usually sent unpopular contemporaries, “un genero de gente de la que ellos tienen en menos estima” (89v), to the front rank. It is also advantageous, he says, to win over a fighter from the enemy camp through gifts, who then secretly burns grain and destroys ammunition in the city, damages the artillery, or poisons the water. However, if one is on the side of those under siege in the city, one should ensure that there are sufficient supplies, that the city gates are guarded and, above all, that bribery, treachery and

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disloyalty do not become a danger. In detail, Alaba y Viamont presents different mixtures of powder, which produce different effects when arrows, flares or spinning tops are thrown against the enemy by hand or with projectiles (98). Last but not least, their light beam allows them to see what the enemies are doing. Finally, an attempt can be made to deceive the enemy into believing that one’s own ammunition has been exhausted (101v). In selecting a camp site, the commander must ensure that it is naturally secured by a river, for example, or can be secured by fortification measures. Here, too, the Romans are cited as a model, where the camp site should be designed in a round, triangular, square or oblong shape, Vegetius preferring the latter (Diego de Alaba y Viamont 47r,v). Adequate food was also to be provided. The commander should obtain information about the enemy’s strength and fortification measures from spies on his own side and on the other, and also listen to the advice of others.

4.2.6 Rebellion In the case of the superior’s misconduct, Jiménez de Urrea had allowed the soldier to revolt and rebel. Can such a position be generalized to justify the legitimacy of rebellion? Luys Valle de la Cerdas Avisos en materia de estado y guerra, para oprimir rebeliones y hazer pazes con enemigos armados, o tratar con subditos rebeldes (1599) is less a content-rich treatise than a rhetorically elaborate address with numerous examples from antiquity and the Bible illustrating and varying the treatment of rebels. The dedication is addressed to Philip III, who is also addressed as his majesty (V.M.) in the rest of the text. The first part deals with the popular uprising, its origins and its excesses, and its rapid suppression in the interest of sparing his own forces. The second part then deals with what is to be observed when generals make peace with armed enemies and tolerate submissive rebels. Cicero is quoted, according to whom many more men have been killed by wars and insurrections than by pestilence, floods, and fire, the causes of which are ambition, disobedience, and usurpation. It then becomes clear that the occasion of the writing is the Dutch-­ Flemish revolts. Flanders, which was predominantly Catholic, had joined the Calvinist provinces of the Union of Utrecht in 1579. This was the situation Philip III faced in 1599, a year after he took office: “Sus esplendidos estados de Flandes […] Y ultimamente rebeladas sus prouincias, encendidas en vario genero de heregias.” (Valle de la Cerdas 1599, 7r,v). Since a rebellion is an expression of unbridled passion and disobedience to the ruler, harshness toward the rebel seems called for. If not suppressed at the outset, rebellion can create great disorder in a very short time. Therefore princes have always endeavored to nip a rebellion in the bud even before its flames have reduced lands and kingdoms to ashes. So let the king act quickly, lest the hydra soon outgrow more heads, do so “por su Dios, por la Iglesia Catolica Romana, cuya coluna y defensa es V. Magestad” (20v), thus imitating his predecessor King Charles V.

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If it is now a question of making peace, then care must be taken that mild treatment of the unrepentant rebel only makes him bolder. Rebels, it is said with reference to Cicero, are nothing other than attacking pirates or robbers. For them, unlike for enemies of war, the law of war does not apply. They are therefore to be punished with vengeance, as if they had committed sacrilege, especially since they are not protected by international law, “derecho de las gentes” (31v), and by their disobedience also violate divine law, “sagradas leyes” (32r). Again and again, admonitions are varied not to be lenient towards rebels. Thus a prince is obliged to exterminate rebels who not only lack the necessary obedience, but also confuse the divine and the secular and seek to extinguish Catholicism. Premature peace agreements should be warned against, since it could not be expected that he who was not afraid to transgress divine and secular laws would permanently adhere to the agreements made. When a prince offers peace for fear of war, he risks his dignity, takes away the fear of the rebels, and is despised by other princes who had previously admired him. As a negative example, he cites the fact that in Catalonia some regional lords had concluded peace pacts with the Moors, under which their Christian vassals paid substantial and less than honorable tributes to the Moors. Finally, referring once again to Flanders, which not only does not want a king, but also does not want a Catholic king, thus giving free rein to sins and sacrileges, several quotations are used to prove the necessity of a ruler for a state, “que donde no ay superior ni gobernador, se assolara el pueblo.” (106v).

4.2.7 Sword and Horse An essential part of the military are weapons and equipment. Therefore, the attention in the tracts on the art of war is also given to these. While on the one hand the props of the knight, the sword and the horse, are still considered, on the other hand attention is already given to firearms. Luis Pacheco is an example for the first group, when he asks the question, which is to be valued higher, grammar or fencing. For him, there is no doubt about it at all, if someone chooses the wrong word or gets a verse wrong, they can come back to it or ask someone for advice, but in fencing, mistakes can be fatal: “errar en negocio tan importante, como es saber defenderse de las cautelas y engaños de su contrario, error es, que no tiene enmienda, ni cuesta menos que la vida, o peligro dello.” (Pacheco 1605, 1v). Sciences that provide certainty and truth, such as natural philosophy, mathematics, and arithmetic, support skill with the sword and make it possible to write an extensive book with numerous formulas, illustrations, constellations, and movements. For Pacheco, then, fencing is not a mechanical art, but a science. In his considerations, Pacheco assumes that the human arm, with which he wields the sword, can only perform three different circular movements. In the first and largest, he moves the whole arm as if he were throwing a stone or a slingshot. In the second type of movement, the shoulder remains motionless while only one half of the arm makes a circular movement with the elbow. This movement has only

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half the effect of the first, since it is performed with only half of the arm. A third, still smaller movement is that of the wrist when the rest of the arm is at rest. It is the muscles that make such circular movements possible with greater or lesser speed, as Pacheco states, citing physicians and representatives of the field of anatomy. The introductory chapter concludes with an invitation to memorize well these initial expositions, terminologies, applications, and cause-and-effect relationships “como fundamentos principales que son de vuestra defensa, y ofensa del contrario que ofender os quisiere.” (71r). From these three movements, Pacheco shows how to inflict what hurts on the opponent, adding images to illustrate and drawing on Aristotle and other philosophers for the circumference (159v). Pacheco goes into detail about deceptive maneuvers the fencer can use to surprise his defenseless opponent. He gives advice on how to avoid being out of breath, which would hinder victory and proper defense. Finally, one is to assess one’s opponent in order to decide what wounds to inflict on him according to his age, constitution, and appearance. According to Pacheco, arithmetic, geometry and natural philosophy are combined in the art of fencing (Schmelzer 2016, 343). Next to the sword, the horse is a distinctive sign for the medieval knight. The handling of the horse seems no less complicated than the use of the sword. The subtitle of Pedro de Aguilar’s Tratado de la cavalleria de la gineta (1600) already makes it clear that useful advice and hints for horsemen are to be expected in times of peace as well as in times of war. In a preface addressed to the king, however, he then refers to the handling of horses as a necessary skill in war and in the practice of the craft of war. All the more he wants to deal with it, as the cavalry, once so glorious in war, had fallen somewhat into oblivion (de Aguilar 1600, Prologue). After all, it was the essential means by which the Goths and the Spanish kings expanded their empires. As if it were a princely mirror, the first chapter begins with the qualities horses need to be perfect: “las propriedades y calidades que han de tener los cavallos, para ser perfectos. Y todo lo que se requiere hazer para perfectionarlos.” (1r). So the horse is also to be brought into a state of perfection. After all, let it be gleaned from books on natural philosophy that among irrational animals the horse is the most docile, the most amenable to discipline, and the most useful. Hence follow remarks on the shape and size of the horse and on its color, which in turn gives information about the four Galenic humors responsible for the horse’s health. The character of the horse also depends on the proportions of the bodily fluids and elements. If the element of earth dominates, then they are melancholic and sluggish. If the element of water dominates, then they are gentle and flegmatic. If the element of air dominates, they become sanguine and lively, and if fire, even choleric: “Y si toman mas del elemento del fugo, seran colericos, ardientes y veloces, somo suelen ser los alazanos.” (3r). In breeding, attention must be paid to the pedigree, since the horse in particular inherits the good or the bad dispositions of its ancestors. It is explained how foals are reared and tamed, how horses are bridled and deviations from normal behavior are corrected, how they learn to gallop when 5 years old, how they are accustomed to saddle and spur, how they are accustomed to weapons and meeting other horses, how the rider on the horse is to behave with his lance and helmet when galloping, how he is to fight on the horse with the sword, use his

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shield, and how and at what point wounds are to be inflicted on the opponent with the lance (44r). Here, however, the author refrains from further details, since these could not be conveyed in writing. The author also refers to the contests simulating warfare that took place in the Plazas Mayores, the juegos de cañas, in which rows of horsemen fought each other by throwing lances and intercepting them with shields. And in the bullfight on horseback with the lance, it is important to create a situation in which the bulls are “muy cara a cara y frente a frente” (54r). The title and designation caballero derive from cavallo, which proves that it was an honor to ride. But if some think that they are good horsemen by birth, it should be pointed out to them that for such a distinction “mucho uso y exercicio y doctina” (56v) is required, and that nobility can be inherited by birth, but not riding ability. If horses are overused by riders or mishandled by grooms, they may struggle by jumping and other pitfalls. The ultimate culprits are the inexperienced riders themselves, who do not pay sufficient attention to the matter (58v). Given the many ways in which horses can be affected, advice is given on causes and how to remedy them, e.g. what to do about skittish or restless horses, horses that drop or rear during a ride. Another section deals with the appropriate nutrition of horses, which should neither be too fat nor starved. Health-preserving measures, such as bloodletting or healing foot or knee injuries, are also presented. After explanations of how to determine the age of a horse and what rules to observe when buying a horse, numerous illustrations of various riding and bridling equipment follow.

4.2.8 Cannon and Rifles The invention of gunpowder and the introduction of cannons and rifles changed the nature of warfare. Man-to-man fighting with horse and sword was put into perspective by cannonballs that could be fired from a safe distance. The quantity and equipment of firearms became increasingly decisive in the war. If the use of the sword already required mathematical knowledge, then this was even more necessary for the calculation of the flight of a cannonball. On the invention of artillery Diego de Alaba y Viamont presents several opinions in his El perfecto capitan, instruido en la disciplina militar y nueva ciencia de la artilleria (1590). Some say that the inventor was a German, whose name no one knows. In ancient times, however, the Roman Vitruvius had told of one Archimedes of Syracuse, who, as a geometer in the wars of his time, had invented machines and devices of iron with which large stones could be hurled at the enemy, producing a blast comparable to that of cannon. Others think the Chinese invented artillery. In the hierarchy of soldiers, the artillero is a newcomer. According to Lazaro de la Isla Genoues, he is supposed to know geometrical rules, fix points, and make calculations to hit the intended target (Lazaro de la Isla Genoues 1595, 101r). In addition, he should know about the manufacture and material of bullets and gunpowder and master the carpenter’s craft, in case the chassis of the cannon needs to be repaired.

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With the use of gunpowder in warfare came not only cannon manufacture, but also the need for people who could handle the new techniques, mix the right proportions of powder and calculate the angle of fire. Therefore, in the sixteenth century, schools for the training of artillerymen were established in Barcelona, Majorca and in Burgos, where a cannon foundry was also set up (Vicente Maroto 2002/2003, 2). Among the aspirants for the schools, preference was given to those who already had affinity training, such as blacksmiths, locksmiths, carpenters, and stonemasons. The age ranged from 23 to 38 years. That the demand was initially great and the number of trained artillerymen too small is documented. Remedy was expected from manuals, which soon competed with each other. For example, Alonso de Salamanca, himself the author of a relevant work, criticized Diego de Álava y Viamont’s El perfecto capitán, instruido en la disciplina militar y nueva ciencia de Artillería (Madrid 1590) as an ignorant and misunderstood collection of copied materials. Notwithstanding this criticism, the book was a great success, probably not least because its author was the son of Francés de Álava, an artillery general who was influential at court. Other manuals included Julio César Firrufino’s Plática manual y breve compendio de artillería (1626), Lázaro de la Isla’s Breve tratado de Artillería, Geometría y artificios de fuego (1595), Fernández de Espinosa’s Manual de artillería (1559), Espinel de Alvarado’s Tratado de artillería (1580), and Diego de Prado’s Manual plático de la artillería (1580). Notwithstanding the criticism of Alonso de Salamanca, in the following the explanations of Diego de Alaba y Viamont on the “nueva ciencia de la artilleria” (Diego de Alaba y Viamont 1590, 152) from iron casting to types of ammunition to units of measurement and tables for their use will be presented with mathematical examples. He begins very theoretically and not at all practically with mathematical definitions explaining what a point, a line, a circle, a plane angle, an obtuse angle, a cube, a pyramid, a cylinder, and a sphere are. This is followed by definitions from the field of artillery, such as trunnion, firing, piston, or barrel, illustrated by illustrations of cannon, for example. Then details are presented of different plans of construction of cannon: the advantages of the length of a cannon, the quality of the foundry work, the proportion of metal required in the process, the proper proportions of weight and measure, the proper aiming, and finally, and in particular detail, the different compositions of gunpowder with their respective effects. How the quantity of powder to be used depends on the weight of the ball and how the cannons are to be loaded accordingly, in what way a medium distance is more favourable than a short one, under what circumstances and at what points cannons can burst, how to deal with the horses that transport the guns, how to hit ships at sea with the cannon and finally whether different shots can result with the same position of the cannon, the same powder and the same cannon ball, are discussed in individual chapters. The use of the earth map, the astrolabe, the quadrant and other mathematical instruments in artillery is preceded by an enumeration and definition of the geometric units of measurement. It explains how distances or heights of towers can be measured without any instrument, e.g. with four stones or how a map of the earth and corresponding tables help. Also, one could work it out with triangles and right

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angles  – a practice that had fallen into oblivion, “fuera del uso ordinario, que promete de dar el verdadero conocimiento de qualquiera distancia.” (193r). It shows how to measure both the height and the distance of a tower, what to consider when it stands on a mountain, how to measure the width of a tower, the depth of a well and the slope of a hill. This is followed by detailed discussions on the positioning of the cannon and the safe calculation of the target of the bullets, as proposed by Nicolo Tartalla with the help of tables, whose “nueva ciencia” (245r), however, does not start from secure basic assumptions. Admittedly, such arithmetical and geometrical calculations only serve the “perfecto artillero” (252v). But since many are unable to understand them, the “artillero mecanico” (252v) is given the rule of thumb, “que tira aquel de que hubiere de usar para la elevacion de 45 grados.” (252v). In the third book of his Dialogos militares, Diego Garcia de Palacio devotes himself in detail to the newly invented gunpowder, which is made from saltpetre, sulphur and coal. Although saltpetre had been known before, it only served as a medicine (Garcia de Palacio 1583, 94r). If one wants to load the hooked rifle, i.e. a gun, one takes seven parts of saltpetre, two parts of sulphur and one part of coal for the gunpowder, although other mixtures are also suggested. Different mixing ratios are also given for artillery. By means of a drawing it is explained how the rifle-ball, after passing along a straight line from a certain point, loses momentum and sinks to the ground. So, depending on the distance, it makes sense to shoot straight ahead or upward. Of course, also in the case of the cannon, the number and weight of the balls have to be in the right proportion to the amount of powder, for which ample examples are given (112v-114r). It is explained in detail, with examples, what help the geometrical instrument of the quadrant has for the calculation of the ball-barrel, especially of a cannon pointing upwards. The operation of the dioptra, an instrument for determining and measuring vertical and horizontal angles for the use of cannon, is explained. This instrument of geodesy, that is, the science of measuring and mapping the surface of the earth, has existed since ancient times. It led to the invention of the theodolite in the sixteenth century. While the remarks on artillery introduced something new, the subsequent very detailed presentations of the advantages and disadvantages of different deployments of troops and squadrons can be linked back to ancient texts. Thus, there were rectangular blocks, and after a few rows, blocks shifted to the left on repeat, now making the positioning of the soldiers equipped with firearms of particular importance (154v). Here we see again that scientific theory dominates over physical strength, just as with the commander and the common soldier the idealistic of norms and values dominates over the manual.

4.3 Merchant The field of activity of the merchant, like that of the soldier, is ambivalent. In the early modern period, arguments from the Bible and from antiquity are used to reject or advocate it on ethical grounds. In the Bible, greed is the incentive for striving for

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maximum profit and wealth, and thus the driving force for trade. And covetousness leads to delinquency. Plato’s rejection of the material world and his preference for a world of ideas could be transposed into the Christian context by patristic scholars such as Augustine, so that riches belonging to the transitory physical world, like the merchant’s trade goods, seem worthless compared to the priority of the soul and bliss in the afterlife. Aristotle, who had a more this-worldly view than Plato and who made ideas the causes of objects in the world, advocates mercantilism on the condition that limits are given to wealth and possessions, that is, that moderation and the middle measure are applied. Aristotle-oriented scholasticism and its authoritative representative, Thomas Aquinas, followed up on this, deriving the dignity of creation from the Creator and seeing private property as a natural right. Spanish Neo-­ Scholasticism and the School of Salamanca take their cue from Thomas Aquinas and deal extensively with mercantilism. Tomas de Mercado transfers the middle measure to the theory of price, which he links to justice and calls pretium iustum. He requires the merchant, like the good king, to distinguish himself from the tyrant by favoring the common good over self-interest. After all, he says, it has been necessary since the Flood to bring goods that are otherwise not on hand to where they are needed through merchant activity. Is usury as immoral as fraudulent price-fixing? Ludovicus de Alcala asks whether usury begins at ten or more percent interest. And what about morality when the moneylender’s main intention is charity and only a second, ancillary intention is oriented toward profit? Francisco García introduces the different contracts involved in gift, exchange, inheritance, lending, or sale. Are the gifts made by a man to a woman with a view to marriage to be returned if the marriage does not take place? García’s natural value corresponds to the present use value, which is derived from questions such as whether a horse is less useful to a cleric than to a knight. Should contracts provide for punishing wrongdoing such as failure to perform the contract or damage incurred to the objects of the contract? On the other hand, how morally reprehensible should we see the fraud of one who offers a defective article as faultless, or sells the unsalable? Here, as in the case of smuggling, the merchant again comes into the negative light that has accompanied him from the beginning.

4.3.1 Negative Evaluation Trade is the place where the pursuit of the greatest possible profit, that is, wealth, takes place. This striving is already described in the bible with the term cupiditas. Greed is the root of all evils for the apostle Paul: “For we brought nothing into the world, neither can we take anything out of it. If we have food and clothing, that should be enough for us. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and entanglement and into many senseless and harmful desires, which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the root of all evils is covetousness.” (1 Tim 6:7–8). What is the significance of the interpretation of the first commandment of the Decalogue not to worship foreign gods, which makes it impossible to serve two masters? (Matt

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6:24–34). Since one hates the one while serving the other, one cannot serve God and “mammon” at the same time. Therefore one should not burden oneself with the acquisition of material things and emulate the lilies of the field that simply grow. The warning against the dangers of wealth is found in numerous New Testament passages (Mt 6:19, 20, 24–34; Lk 12:33, 34, 22–30; Mk 4:19; Mt. 19; Lk 18:22; 6:20–25). Particularly well known is the story of the rich young man who asks what more good he should do to gain eternal life, since he already obeys the Ten Commandments. Jesus challenges him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor; and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Mt 19:21). This is followed by the punch line that it is more likely for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. From this it follows for patristics that property is not a natural right, but a necessary evil as a result of the Fall. The negative image of the merchant is also strengthened by a commentary on the biblical passage (Mt 21:12), wrongly attributed to John Chrysostom, where Jesus throws the merchants out of the temple. The passage proves that the activity of the merchant is to be rejected (Muñoz 2003, 362). Already in the fifth century Pope Leo I had seen two sides to the commercial pursuit of profit: an honourable and a less honourable one. In view of numerous correspondences between the Bible and Plato, the opinion arose that Plato had heard or read Jeremiah when he was in Egypt. Augustine was at first also of this opinion, (Augustinus 1925, 28) but then states that Plato lived later and became familiar with the contents of the Bible through translators (Geyer 1951, 103). The contempt for the sensory world and the physical, at any rate, and the priority of the soul, according to Augustine, unite Plato and Christ. In order that the soul may be healthy and the spiritual eye strengthened, material acquisition and greed should be despised. Augustine quotes the Bible: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust devour, and where thieves dig up and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Augustinus 1962, 374–375; Mt. 6:19–21). What is clear here, as in the following quotation, is the Platonic devaluation of material reality over spiritual reality. “Do not love the world and what is in the world. Whoever loves the world, in him is not the love of the Father.” (Augustinus 1962, 376–377; 1 John 2:15). If someone has more than he needs, he should give his abundance to the poor, Augustine says. He advises to be content with having food and clothing. What goes beyond that only brings temptations, harmful desires and greed, leads away from faith and causes much pain (Augustinus 1911–1916, 39–40). The church father Basil goes back to Isaiah and warns: “Woe to those who line house with house and join field to field […] But the covetous man spares no time, knows no bounds, does not swerve from the order of succession, but imitates the violence of fire; he seizes all, he consumes all.” (Brentano 1923, 84). So for him, too, covetousness leads to immorality. According to Ambrose, covetousness entails chasing after one’s own benefit instead of bringing about that which benefits others, and wishing for the lack of others in order to then be able to sell one’s own grain

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supplies at a high price, for example, in a famine (von Ambrosius 1917, 128). “For in the desire to increase fortune, to accumulate money, to get possession of lands, to shine by wealth, we strip away the norm of justice and lose the sense of charitable good.” (von Ambrosius 1917, 75–76). Elsewhere, Ambrose points out that Joshua may have been able to make the sun stand still, but not to eliminate the desire for gain (von Ambrosius 1917, 133). Basil compares the covetous person to the visitor to a playhouse who, having taken his seat, pushes away all those who come later in the opinion that what is open to all for common use belongs to him alone (Brentano 1923, 91). Cyprian proposes the opposite model when he praises the owner who, according to the pattern of equality, shares his income and fruits with the brotherhood. Those who give freely and do justice in this way “imitate God the Father.” (Brentano 1923, 91). Thus, in patristics, the renunciation of the material and the concentration on the hereafter lead to the rejection of wealth and make the activity of the merchant seem pointless, especially since it is generally associated with greed and self-interest and neglects the common good as much as generous giving. The corporeal is transitory and thus worth less than reason, which is the highest good and is corrupted by preoccupation with lower goods. Augustine recommends seeking stillness in order to conquer one’s attachment to the corporeal, to free oneself from love of changeable things, and to find the One and Simple, which is the highest idea with Plato and God with Augustine. The followers of Plato needed only to modify a few views to become Christians, Augustine thinks (Augustinus 1962, 370–543). The truths he read in the Platonists, Augustine thinks, are also found in Paul (Augustinus 1962, 357). The Platonist who influenced him most was Plotinus (Drecoll 2012, 192). And for Clement of Alexandria, the best wealth is poverty of desires, and true pride consists in despising wealth, for wisdom does not exist in the marketplace but is offered in heaven “in exchange for a righteous coin, the imperishable Logos, the royal gold.” (Clemens 1934, 50). It is not the appearance of the outward man but the soul that is to be adorned, and that with righteousness. The flesh is to be adorned with the virtue of abstemiousness. Clement of Alexandria explicitly refers to Plato when he advises against striving in excess for wealth in silver and gold (Clemens 1934, 46). For him, too, Plato’s image results from the work of interpreting Plato that has been done for generations (Wyrwa 1983, 317, 320). Particularly important in this context is the fusion of the Platonic idea of the good with the One as the comprehensive cause of everything, the Christian conception of God, that is (Beierwaltes 2014, 91). It was the Church Fathers, the Patristicians, who shaped the negative image of the merchant in the first centuries after Christ until the eighth century. In doing so, as theologically thinking moral philosophers, they had built up a consistent but unrealistic chain of argumentation. While the economic doctrine has as its objects the material things of the world, the study of their conditions, their distribution and increase, the Gospel, according to the Patristics, calls for an escape from the world, a renunciation of the material, a suppression of the sensual and a concentration of the spirit on its own self. Ambrose of Milan makes it clear that nothing is useful but that which serves the attainment of eternal life, not at all that which serves the enjoyment of the present life. He is also convinced that possessions are more of a

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burden than their loss is a harm (Brentano 1923, 81, 34–76, 77–143). Wealth, pleasure, and joy are, from this perspective, detrimental to blessedness (von Ambrosius 1917, 142). According to Ambrose, one should not fix one’s eye on transitory vanities. It is not external or bodily goods that procure eternal life, but only virtue (von Ambrosius 1917, 143). For him, the accumulation of riches is as fragile as a spider’s web. He exemplifies this in the case of the merchant and asks whether it is not pointless for the merchant to travel day and night, possibly to accumulate heaps of treasure, to accumulate goods whose price he racks his brains over, and, in order not to sell below the purchase price, to find out the local prices. After all, it could happen that all at once he incites a highwayman against himself, or that he suffers shipwreck in his pursuit of profit because, tired of waiting, he did not wait for more favorable winds (von Ambrosius 1917, 125–126).

4.3.2 Positive Evaluation How is the turn to Aristotelianism an important background for understanding the change in the merchant’s image? For Plato there were two worlds, that of ideas and that of reality, the former being more important because the latter depended on it. As has been shown, the Platonic conception of the two worlds could be applied to the Christian distinction of this world and the next, with the Platonic supreme idea, on which all other ideas depend, being claimed for the Christian conception of God, and the world of ideas having priority over material reality. Aristotle now takes issue with the Platonic doctrine of ideas and points out its contradictions. Thus there could be no ideas of works of art, of non-substantial things, or of attributive things. Nor could ideas be the causes of being or of becoming, of motion or of change (Aristotle metaph. 1995e, 277, 278). Now if Aristotle sees the general idea immanent in the individual objects (universalia in re), the world of ideas disappears. What remains is reality with its objects, which are characterized by the four causes, namely aim, causality, substance and form, as well as by changes and movements. This change in basic attitude also has consequences for the evaluation of the merchant and his activity, which appear in a more positive light against this background. The merchant’s activity becomes meaningful and, if properly exercised, virtuous. Aristotle distinguishes between the acquisition of possession and the administration of possession, that is, household management. The difference, he says, is comparable to that between the making of the weaver’s shuttle and the art of weaving. An abundant supply of goods is necessary for the state and domestic community, and the acquisitive activity associated with it is natural. What is not natural, however, is another kind of acquisitiveness which holds that there are no limits to wealth and possessions. If, for example, shoes are not used for wearing but for bartering, this is natural as long as useful things are exchanged for useful ones, e. g. for wine or grain. What is to be criticized, however, is the economization of medicine and the art of war, in which the actual tasks of winning victory or restoring health become means of making a profit. Indeed, in the acquisitive art of profit, aided by

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the use of coinage and by the expertise of where and how to make the greatest profit through the turnover of goods, the ability to increase wealth and money is paramount. Since there is no limit to this form of wealth, which is accumulated through profit-seeking, everyone tries to engage in profitable activity and to increase their money ad infinitum. Aristotle criticizes the lack of limits here, just as he does with the excess of dissolute pleasures. The art of gainful employment is therefore to be rejected only if it is aimed at unlimited profit. What are the virtues of the merchant? Aristotle defines virtue as habitus. As in the case of the artist, both excess and deficiency are to be avoided in well-executed works, and the middle is to be maintained, because the bad belongs to the unlimited and the good to the limited. This means: “In money matters, in giving as well as in taking, the middle is generosity, the excess and the deficiency wastefulness and miserliness, and in such a way that both faults exhibit both extremes, but inversely to each other. The prodigal gives too much and takes too little; the miser, on the other hand, takes too much and gives too little.” (Aristotle 1995a NE, 36). As the gratification of desires increases and the number of pleasures increases, reason is eliminated and temperate behavior becomes impossible. Therefore, the prodigal appears to be deficient in numerous ways due to his lack of abstinence. Generosity, on the other hand, is the proper attitude in dealing with wealth. Let thanks and higher praise be given to him who gives, not to him who takes. In the medieval Aristotelian Thomas Aquinas, private property is added to natural law because it serves the common good and individual interest (Thomas 2001, 44). In the case of just price, Thomas starts from the cost of procurement, but adds that it also depends on the cost of living in accordance with one’s status. Thus, it was clear for medieval estate society that a higher or lower cost of living was to be assumed depending on the estate and, as the upkeep of the house varied, so did the amount of profit allowed. The situation was difficult, however, when a travelling merchant, as a stranger, could not be classified in the domestic class hierarchy. Religious factors may also have played a role, such as the rise of Protestantism and Calvinism, whose great importance in this context has been famously highlighted by Max Weber and Charles Taylor (Taylor 2012; Weber 2010). Moreover, the separation of morality and efficiency, as Machiavelli had proposed for politics in the Italian Renaissance, may have contributed to the consideration of trade and ethics as two systems to be separated. Machiavellian in character are, for example, the Ricordi of Giovanni de Pagolo Morelli (1371–1444), who had worked his way up as a merchant of medium stature in Florence. His moral is efficiency. Good and utility are one, for him virtue is advantage and evil is loss (Gurjewitsch 2004, 297). Since Thomas Aquinas, and with him scholasticism and the late Spanish scholasticism of the Siglo de Oro, are also influenced by the Aristotelian understanding of reality, the emphasis on the hereafter weakens in favor of the things of this world. Thus Thomas refutes Plato’s notion that “man is not something composed of soul and body, but man is the soul using the body.” (Thomas 2001, 231). Following Aristotle, Thomas regards perceiving not only as the body being moved by the soul, but also as being moved by external sensible objects. According to Thomas,

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however, the soul is in the body: “It is therefore in the whole body and not only in a single part, and this according to its essence, according to which it is the form of the body.” (Thomas 2001, 303). Coupled with the move away from the dualistic model is the valorization of this world, which is evident in the use of biblical quotations. Unlike in patristics, the objects of this world are now emphasized. Creatures announce the Creator, and  – Thomas says  – “therefore Scripture threatens those who err concerning creatures with punishments like those of unbelievers [according to PS 28:5]: ‘Since they have not understood the works of the Lord and the works of his hands, you will destroy them and will not raise them up again.’” (Thomas 2001, 11). Elsewhere, the Creator is named as the supreme good and cause of being, evidenced by John 1:3: “All things came to be through him, and nothing came to be without him.” (Thomas 2001, 35, 147). The dignity of creation, then, can be derived from the Creator, as Thomas affirms with Gen 1:31: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” (Thomas 2001, 147). With regard to the first cause and the distinctness of things, Thomas argues, “But God is the most perfect agent. To impart his likeness to created things in the most perfect way, as far as it corresponds to the created nature, therefore came to God.” (Thomas 2001, 179). The Creator therefore intended to give the created things “the highest perfection” that they could have (Thomas 2001, 183).

4.3.3 Virtues From the late scholastic period, the Comentario resulutorio de cambios by Martín de Azpilcueta, published in Salamanca in 1556, and the Suma de tratos y contratos by Tomás de Mercado, also published in Salamanca in 1569, will be considered first. Azpilcueta, who in his work seeks to defend the honor and salvation of merchants, “de tal principal y honrada gente” (de Azpilcueta 1965, 105), was a moral theologian and canon lawyer. A disciple of Francisco de Vitoria, he belonged to the School of Salamanca, which produced fundamental insights on natural law, international law, and economics. Tomás de Mercado also belonged to this school. He was a Dominican, lived in Seville, Mexico, and Salamanca, and conceived his work for merchants, to whom he wanted to make clear that their activity need not be incompatible with virtue and the attainment of eternal salvation (de Mercado 1977, 50; Strosetzki 2016b). What virtues should the merchant have and how can he avoid vices? Mercado endows the merchant with the cardinal virtues that the princely mirrors also envisaged for the ruler. He is to be distinguished by prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice. According to Thomas Aquinas, if justice is violated, the merchant becomes a swindler and usurer, and the prince a tyrant (Goez 1982, 26). In Mercado, too, justice is central to the merchant. After all, it is supposed to ensure that everyone receives what is due to him (de Mercado 1977, 34). As justicia conmutativa, it affects all commercial contracts, ensures equalization, and prevents overreaching (de Mercado 1977, 38). That the merchant’s activity is primarily a worldly and

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practical one is to be balanced by the fact that merchants are just as insistent about their salvation through reading pious books, attending Mass, and having a good confessor (de Mercado 1977, 87). Avarice, then, can be balanced by munificence and an overly practical activity by spiritual pursuits, thus bringing the overall balance to a middle position. It is this middle position desired in ethics that the merchant must strive for by counteracting it. Thus Aristotle says: “The moderate man keeps the middle in these things. He does not delight in the excesses that delight the intemperate, rather they disgust him; then he does not delight in illicit things at all and in licit ones not excessively.” (Aristotle NE 1995a, 70). Now, in the case of the merchant, this middle measure is tied to the concept of justice. What is just in a trade appears to Mercado central knowledge for the merchant. In trade, not knowing “lo que es lo justo y que es su contrario, es no entender nada de él.” (de Mercado 1977, 18). And finally, the idea of justice is also transferred to the price that is to be set for a commodity. A pretium iustum appears to be desirable. The pretium iustum ranges between a minimum price and an upper price limit, the precio barato and the precio riguroso. The middle price in between is what Mercado calls precio moderado or mediano. Azpilcueta calls it precio justo and makes it dependent on the judgment of wise people, whose criteria, however, he does not specify. Mercado, on the other hand, makes the utility of a commodity, that is, its use-value, a criterion for fixing its price. In America, for example, gold and silver were comparatively cheap because they were less needed there than iron and linen.

4.3.4 Common Good and Self-Interest First, a parallel is drawn between the bad merchant and the tyrant with regard to the common good. Then, a distinction is made between the theoretical conception of the merchant and the reality in practice. Finally, with regard to the idea of the middle in the doctrine of virtue, the pretium iustum is presented as a corrective of possible vices. As is well known, the good ruler differs from the tyrant in that the former is oriented towards the common good and the latter towards self-interest. Mercado transfers the same to the merchant of his time, who is not concerned with the welfare of his country as he used to be, but proves to be “muy amante de su dinero y codicioso del ajeno.” (de Mercado 1977, 72). It was the pursuit of profit and greed that made the merchant forget moderation and made the common good give way to self-interest. In the theoretical analysis of the state, the merchant is attributed meaningful functions that make him appear as a necessary member of society. Negative attributions occur mainly when considering concrete cases in practice. This is already shown by the account of the beginnings, which is connected with the indication of meaning and purpose. Mercado situates the origin of merchant activity not in a hypothetical primordial state, as Aristotle does, but in the period after the biblical Flood, after which certain objects were lacking or scarce in entire regions. It was in

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this situation that barter arose, and with it money: “inventaron el mercar y vender por su precio, apreciando y avaluando cada cosa por sí, según que podía servir al hombre, e hicieron precio común y general de todas la plata y el oro.” (de Mercado 1977, 46). In this early period, then, trade is evidently still seen as free from later perversions in practice. Merchants, according to Mercado, were respected people in earlier times. Solon and Hippocrates are cited as examples of once famous merchants. Among the legitimate aims of merchantism, Mercado counts the supply of goods to the community that are not otherwise locally available. A moderate profit as remuneration seems quite legitimate in this regard. Two other subordinate goals concern profits, a portion of which is to be given generously to the poor and another portion of which may be used as wealth to provide for the household in accordance with its status (de Mercado 1977, 52–53). If the work of the merchant consists in supplying the community with goods that exist elsewhere, then it can be seen that the merchant neither produces nor processes objects. Here Mercado refers to the passage in Aristotle quoted at the beginning. The merchant sells unchanged the same goods that he has previously purchased in another place or time at a higher selling price (de Mercado 1977, 51–52). Azpilcueta provides a lump-sum justification for the merchant’s wages, which he earns not because of a specific barter transaction, but for all the work that goes into the background. Similarly, the judge is not paid for a judgment and the priest is not paid for a sermon, but for the entire activity (de Azpilcueta 1965, 30–31). It is not that the merchant’s activity as such seems reprehensible, but that according to Mercado in most cases in practice the merchant forgets God and the hereafter, which then leads to a licentious life (de Mercado 1977, 48). Elsewhere, Mercado argues for a state-imposed price fixing, especially for basic foodstuffs, clothing, and housing. Such fixing would paralyze commercial initiative, but on the other hand it would limit the arbitrariness and greed of merchants and thus serve morality. Mercado adds that state fixations of prices serve the common good and their absence the profit-seeking merchant (de Mercado 1977, 63–65). Azpilcueta also argues for state intervention in individual cases. He proposes moneylenders appointed by the state who must adhere to a predetermined interest rate. This would remove the stigma of unbridled usury from the profession of moneylender (de Azpilcueta 1965, 28–34). For Azpilcueta sees usury wherever the precio justo is not observed. There should be equality between the contracting parties, “igualdad entre lo que la una parte da o haze, y entre lo que la otra da o haze.” (de Azpilcueta 1965, 41). Azpilcueta distinguishes three functions in money: First, it serves as a unit of measure for goods that are bought or sold. Second, money can be exchanged for other money, such as large money for small change or foreign money for local money. Economically, money is of less interest when it is, for example, a pledge to creditors, a means of ostentation of wealth, when it is an ornament of clothing, or an aid in the preparation of medicinal tinctures. When there is scarcity, money is worth more (de Azpilcueta 1965, 22–23). Thus, money may go down in value at the beginning of a sales fair when many merchants want to give their money and few want to be paid it. Then, if at the end the value increases because everyone

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just wants their money and no one pays in, for Azpilcueta this settles what today would be called the free market. How then could one decide what was the fair standard of living and thus the fair profit and price? Whether the fair price was to be arrived at by government fixing or by free market forces was debated as far back as the Middle Ages. After all, the twelfth century already had a long-distance trade that, with respect to some products, stretched from Scotland to the rear of the Indies, from Portugal to central Russia, and from Scandinavia to black Africa (Goez 1982, 22). For Thomas Aquinas, the just price formed from the play of supply and demand without manipulation by government intervention and by monopolies. In this context, the just price was subject to fluctuations because prices also change according to place and time. The opposite position is taken by nominalists such as Johannes Gerson or Gabriel Biel, who argue for the price to be set by the authorities. Of course, the authorities had to take into account the general demand, the total quantity of goods and the shortage of goods (Goez 1982, 27). With Aristotle, then, the activity of the merchant became meaningful against the background of the revaluation of this world; the acquisition and administration of possessions are natural, provided they are moderate and limited. Then they follow the virtue of munificence characteristic of the merchant. Insofar as the just price of a commodity is not only determined by supply and demand, but also serves to finance the merchant’s cost of living according to his station, more or less wealth is justified depending on his station. This Aristotelian-­ influenced position is known to have been revisited and thus kept present not only in medieval scholasticism, but also in the late Spanish scholasticism of the Siglo de Oro through the School of Salamanca (Strosetzki 2015a, 2016a, b). On the just price, it can already be inferred from the Digests that the commodity bears the value of the price at which it can be sold: “Res tantum valet quantum vendi potest.” (Ynduráin 2002, 15). This is also the position Vitoria takes when he opposes Occam and Duns Scotus, according to whom price is determined primarily by the labor associated with the commodity. If supply and demand determine the price, then this is only possible in a free market that is not hindered by monopolies or price agreements.

4.3.5 Money Lending When does taking interest become usury? Ludovicus de Alcala, a Franciscan from Castile, in his Tractado de los prestamos que passan entre mercaderes y tractantes: y por consiguiente de los logros, cambios, compras adelantadas y ventas al fiado (1546), first presents the subject vividly. A merchant named Juan lends a sum of ducats to another merchant named Pedro for a certain period of time. The contract, made orally or in writing, provides that Pedro will return the sum at a greater or lesser premium. The question now arises, whether this is usury, or whether it can be done in good conscience. To answer it, we will first discuss usury and then interest. Usury is an excess of interest. As a general rule, according to Luke (6:35), it is

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recommended that one lend without asking anything in return. Thus, a consideration is usury, but this does not apply to adequate compensation for losses incurred: “Si lo lleva por causa de lo que pierde, ya no es por razon de lo que fia o presta y ansi no es usura.” (Ludovicus de Alcala 1546, IIr). In the following four cases, the first two are legitimate, the latter are not. The activity of money changers, who exchange one currency for another, is permitted. Permitted, secondly, are bills of exchange. If for one sum in Rome or Flanders a higher one is given in Toledo, this is compensation for the toils, expenses, and dangers of the long journey through different countries. Usury, on the other hand, is when money is lent on condition that five, ten, or more per cent. Premium will be repaid after a few months, or at the next sale fair. It is also usury if, in the case of a bill of exchange for a shorter distance, e.g. from Toledo to Medina or Villalon, the cost of compensation increases unreasonably, for instance, in the case of a delay in time. For it is generally held that the seller cannot sell the time, since it does not belong to him, “que el que vende o contrata no ha de vender el tiempo que no es suyo.” (Ludovicus de Alcala 1546, IIIIr). Usury in thought, that is, “usura mental” (XIr), is already present when there is an unspoken intention to charge too much interest without it being recorded in writing or orally. He who receives too much must repay it (XIIv). And even in the case of the sale price, neither the lowest, nor the highest, but the middle one is reasonable. In weighing morality and law, four different positions can be observed in the treatises on the exchange of money. Some allow only the law to apply, others such as Francisco de Vitoria, Domingo de Soto and Tomás de Mercado invoke morality exclusively. A third position, held by Luis Molina and Melchor Cano, attempts to combine morality and law, while Diego Laínez, eclectically tries to reconcile morality and law with business practice (Vigo Gutierrez 1997, 177). In addition, there is customary law, which can compete with positive law. Most often, tracts resort to “la costumbre iuxta legem y praeter legem, con menos frecuencia a la costumbre contra legem” (Vigo Gutierrez 1997, 177). According to Ludovicus de Alcala, fraudulent price-fixing occurs when those who have certain goods agree on a purchase price and only want to sell at that price. The same applies to those buyers who have agreed on a low price and do not want to buy the goods at a higher price. Finding the just price, the pretium iustum, is not easy. “Muchas son las leyes civiles que constantemente afirman que tanto vale la cosa, por quanto se puede vender.” (Ludovicus de Alcala 1546, VIIr). He thus refers to the sentence already quoted from the Digestes, according to which the commodity has the value at which it can be sold. The seller’s profit, however, may increase when the number of potential buyers and the demand are great, when the production is laborious and the supply small, as it may decrease in the opposite case when the production is easy, the times favorable, the goods numerous, and the buyers few. These rules are also to be applied to the lending of money, in which two intentions are to be distinguished. If the main intention of lending money is charity and only a second, a secondary intention has hopes of profit or recompense “sin pedirlo ni mostrar señal alguna que quiere o espera esto” (XIIIIr), there is no fault and there is no usury. Also, if a sum of money lent is not returned at the time agreed upon, but is returned later, then the sum that could have been earned with the sum of money

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beforehand may be demanded as compensation (XIXr). But if anyone lends money with the main intention of getting excessive interest, he is guilty of the mortal sin of usury, “peca mortalmente porque comete verdadera usura.” (XLIr).

4.3.6 Contracts What kind of contracts occur in commercial trade and in civil life? Francisco García, in his Primera parte del tratado utilísimo y muy general de todos los contractos, quantos en los negocios humanos se suelen offrecer (1583), describes himself as a doctor of theology and a member of the Order of Preachers. He sees the cause of contracts in the necessity of one to obtain from the other, by gift, exchange, loan, or sale, what he lacks. Since up to now only unsystematic writing has been done on contracts, García announces in his preface that he wants to make a “sciencia y arte con muy buen orden y methodo” (García 1583, Prologo) out of them. In doing so, he said, three things had to be taken into account in each contract: the nature of the matter, the obligations entered into, and the division of the contract into its constituent parts. He had decided to write in Spanish rather than Latin in order to reach a wider audience who did not know Latin. The contract is defined as a lawful agreement between several persons concerning a thing, from which obligations arise for one side or for both sides. Thus, in a purchase, one has to give the goods and the other the money. In the case of a gift or a promise, only one party is obligated. An agreement is not lawful if the persons acting as priests or religious, for example, are not allowed to enter into a marriage contract, if property belonging to another is being negotiated, or if the contract has come about through fear, force, or deception. A lawful contract also does not exist if one party agrees to it and the other does not. According to Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, the gift is a voluntary donation in which the giver does not demand repayment (62). Here García asks whether the giver has entered into an obligation if he has only made a gift in the thought or absence of the recipient and without his knowledge. It must be answered in the negative, since the recipient must give his consent. Even if the gift is solemnly given before witnesses, it is valid only after the consent of the recipient. In all, there are six conditions for the validity of a gift. The first three concern the giver, the next two the gift, and the last the recipient. Thus the giver should act voluntarily, as when he bequeaths his property to his descendants. He is not to be forced or deceived. Finally, he is to have the power of disposal over what is given and not be restricted mentally or by law. The gift should be the property of the giver. Therefore, for example, the gift of a man of a religious order without the consent of his superior is invalid because the objects belong to the monastic community. The same applies to wives, where husbands must consent to a gift. Nor may children or servants take gifts from the household property. Nor may what is given be bound by others, such as a pledge for debts. Finally, the donee must be allowed to accept gifts, which is not the case, for example, with a judge or a controller.

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Can gifts be revoked so that the donee must return the gifts? This is always the case when the cause for which the gift was the effect ceases to exist. For example, if someone gives numerous gifts to a woman with a view to marriage which he would not otherwise have given, then those gifts must be returned if the marriage does not take place. Or if someone gives gifts on his deathbed and unexpectedly gets well, then the cause has ceased and the gifts are void. Thus, with every gift there are implied conditions. If these are not fulfilled, the gift ceases to be valid (78). Another ground for the revocation of a gift may be the ingratitude of the donee, manifested in insults or grave offence against the giver. But if there is no ground for revoking a gift and yet it is not made, then it depends on the size of the gift whether it is a slight or a serious offence. Moreover, there are three aspects to every gift: the motive of the giver, which may be, for example, charity, generosity, or gratitude; the nature of the gift, which may be unconditional or conditional; and the gift itself, which may be given as a thing or as its use and enjoyment. The contractual modalities to be observed in the case of lending are presented in detail. Lending is defined as the transfer of the use of a thing while retaining ownership. It can be clothing, gold, weapons, books, animals or real estate such as a field or a house. If it is not accompanied by monetary claims, it is similar to a gift. The use can be left or the usufruct, e.g. the harvest of fruits with a property. Damage caused in the process must be compensated if it is due to negligence, misappropriation, or acceptance of damage while taking care of one’s own interests (140). If the contracts presented so far pertain to freely given gifts, those now follow in which one thing is given for another thing or action, or an action takes place for which another is undertaken or another thing is given (195). By a thing, money can also be meant. Here, according to García, three modalities are possible: buying and selling, lending and borrowing, and exchanging one thing for another. In turn, the question of what the just price, pretium iustum, of a thing is explored in detail. First of all, according to Thomas Aquinas, two main views are distinguished. One starts from the nature of the thing in general, the other from its usefulness and necessity for the individual. Thus a book in general has a natural value. But if it is a legal book, it has more value to the jurist than to the theologian. Or a horse is more useful to the knight than to the cleric. Grain is more useful in times of famine and medicine in times of plague. Greater usefulness allows a price to be paid in excess of natural value. This is even more the case if the buyer must first persuade an owner unwilling to sell. However, if the object has no particular utility, the buyer may pay a price lower than the natural value. Value and utility are different depending on one’s perspective. If you ask a philosopher whether a rat or the grain is of greater value, he will prefer the rat because, unlike the grain, it has a greater substance in that it lives. If you ask the same question to a politician, he will choose the grain because it is beneficial to man’s nourishment. Even Augustine had preferred a house full of grain to a house full of rats. Hierarchies can also be made in the case of utility. Of elementary use for the sustenance of life are food, drink, clothing, and remedies for pain and disease. Activities such as reading a book, contemplating nature, or a ride on horseback serve to pass the time and provide pleasure. Decoration is served by gold, silver, precious stones

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or silk. Another kind of hierarchization of value arises, according to García, when the nature of utility is made the criterion. Thus a servant with more skill is of greater use than one with less skill. Or the grain is of higher utility, as it serves to sustain life, than the stone, which serves only to build a house. The grain is considered to be of higher value as food than, say, fruit is. All of these types of utility play a role and can raise or lower the price (232). Other factors that come into play are the quantity or scarcity of the commodity in question, the number of merchants competing with each other, and the amount of money available in each place. The fact that contractual objects can lose value or incur damage becomes an occasion to define profit. While profit is connected with an active action and adds something that was not there before, loss can be understood as something passive or as damage incurred, as a diminution of existing property. A lost profit occurs when the profit expected to be realizable is diminished by an event: “Es lo mismo decir ganancia cessante, que cessacion o privacion de ganancia pretendida.” (261). An example of rare damage is the falling of a roof tile in a storm; of more likely damage, an attack by pirates at sea or by robbers on a dangerous road. García now asks in what cases the injured party is entitled to compensation. As conditions for this he states that the cause of the damage actually lies in the agreed act and that the contracting party was aware of the right to compensation from the outset. An example can be given of a fisherman who lost part of his catch because someone asked him to make his boat available for a time for a pleasure trip. Reimbursement of the loss to the fisherman is only required if it was contractually agreed from the outset. There are three possible penalties for non-performance of a contract: a legal one, determined by the respective laws of the country or city; one determined by a judge, or one agreed upon by the contracting parties. The latter is also known as a penalty and determines the amount of money or service to be rendered if the contract is not performed within the time limit or to the extent agreed upon (356). If so far we have been talking about intended and intentional contracts, García now raises the question of involuntary contracts. A sale may be involuntary if it is brought about by force, deception, or ignorance. Thus, he says, state force can compel a sale if it is in the interest of the common good. Houses can be expropriated if the land is needed for the defense of the city. Citizens can be forced to give up gold and silver to be minted into coins to buy grain to fight a famine. Also, if buyers or sellers have formed a monopoly, others can be forced to sell below the normal price or buy above the normal price.

4.3.7 Respectability and Illegality According to García, a kind of deception occurs when church representatives, just to do the silversmith a favor, commission a silver vase without it being necessary for church use. A typical example of fraud, however, is the sale of a defective object as if it were in good order. St. Thomas Aquinas is cited, according to whom defects may concern the substance of the thing, its quantity or quality (371, 380). Fraud in

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relation to substance is done, for example, when vinegar is sold instead of wine, or silver gilded instead of gold. With regard to quantity, deception is committed with false number, false weight, or false size. It is a qualitative defect to sell rotten wheat as undamaged, or to pass off a lean and weak horse as strong. If the seller knowingly deceives the buyer, fraud is active. If he himself did not know of the damage, it is a passive fraud, an “engaño passivo” (383). Three types of deception are common in selling: first, one praises the object for sale excessively with the aid of lies and oaths, then one minimises the defects, and finally one claims that the goods cost the seller much more than is actually the case. The buyer can also deceive, for example by concealing the fact that he knows the object of purchase to be more valuable in terms of substance, quality or quantity than the seller thinks. In principle, therefore, it seems to García that the seller is obliged to disclose the defects of his goods. He should always do this without being asked if the defects are dangerous to the buyer. If, however, they are not dangerous, then the seller is obliged to make an honest disclosure only if he is asked to do so. García’s theological and moral-philosophical background shows itself more clearly, where some types of purchases are particularly dealt with. After the slave trade of black Africans was held to be illicit, this was equally true for the Indians, according to the fourth of Francisco de Vitoria’s Relectiones (492). Whether the sale of public offices is lawful depends on whether they are secular offices, such as those of gobernador, corregidor, jurado, or escribano, or ecclesiastical offices, such as those of official, vicario general, visitador, or juez de causas pias. To some, such as the gobernador, the vicario general, or the corregidor, jurisdiction is vested; to others, such as the escribano, it is not. There are four reasons why the sale of an office may be unlawful: if the nature of the office is such that it cannot be bought, if the seller does not have the necessary authority, if the buyer lacks the necessary merit and ability, and if the sale is made at an exorbitant price. It is in the case of offices involving jurisdiction that care should be taken to ensure that the purchaser is competent, in the interests of averting public damage. Other chapters are devoted to pledges, auctions, cheap money and usury, buying on credit, and pre-sales. As detailed and differentiated as Francisco García presents the individual types of contracts and indicates when they are valid, the flip side is always present when he explains under which circumstances contracts are invalid or impermissible for moral or legal reasons. An example of how it is only a step from legality to illegality is given by Pedro González de Salcedo in his Tratado jurídico político del contrabando (1654). The smuggler has distanced himself from the honest merchant, whose activity is nothing other than to continue trading in the face of a royal prohibition of trade as before, when it was permitted, and to do so contra-bando, that is, against the decree. This means that what was not an offence before the decree is now an offence with the decree (Jiménez and Ángel 2020, 53). The image of the merchant was already permanently shaped by the commercial revolution of the thirteenth century, when Italian merchants no longer bought Flemish cloth at fairs in Champagne, but settled in the production areas in Flanders. The permanent presence of merchants in several places meant that they required

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more capital than the wandering fair merchant. This is why cashless payments were introduced by means of bills of exchange, i.e. a security with an unconditional payment order from the issuer to the beneficiary, with the interest now being calculated on the basis of the exchange rate. Moreover, double-entry bookkeeping, as taught by Luca Pacioli’s Summa de arithmetica (1494), made it possible to keep track of debits and credits and facilitated the granting of credit (North 2000, 234–237). Thus, Lujo Brentano explains the skepticism toward the merchant by arguing that trade stood in stark contrast to the natural economy that characterized peoples of low culture. The merchant arriving from abroad is always confronted as a stranger by an economic unit to which he does not belong. In order to keep him in check as a potential enemy, markets were protected in the interest of the peaceful exchange of goods. Use of cunning and deception towards him were not reprehensible. He, on the other hand, was allowed to charge interest, which tribesmen were not allowed to do among themselves (Brentano 1923, 214–217). When the Church forbade Christians to practice usury in 1179, it left the money economy to the Jews, who as strangers of other faiths were not affected by the prohibition (Gurjewitsch 2004, 274–275). For Cavillac, in sixteenth-century Spain, it is idleness that is particularly emphasized as a sin. For this very reason, the theologians condemn the merchant who, while making his money work by means of usury, enjoys idleness, which is why he appears as a thief (Cavillac 1994, 311). In the Spanish theatre of the Siglo de Oro, one of the defects with which the merchant is endowed is immoderateness. In Ruiz de Alarcón, he is accused of his credit being limitless, as is his ruin (Sâmbrian 2018, 297). On the one hand, as in Calderón, he appears as a liar and a cheat; on the other, as in Lope de Vega, he appears as a daring traveller who does not fear the perils of the sea. Calderón’s allegorical Corpus Christi play El gran mercado del mundo shows the world as a marketplace where everything is for sale. Two sons, each endowed with an inheritance from their father, set out on their journey. Both return before the father, who gives the inheritance and the allegorical figure of grace to the one who has remained humble, moderate and steadfast. If the market serves as an allegory here, it attests to the omnipresence of economic thought in a time of economic decline (Suárez Miramón 2018, 51, 57). In Calderón’s play La nave del mercader (1674), the merchant, who expects honor and wealth from trade with the New World, is countered with an aristocratic attitude that the delights of music and dance, of feasting and celebration are, after all, preferable to the adversities, dangers, and storms of merchant life. This attitude, alien to the entrepreneurial spirit of the merchant, was so widespread among seventeenth-century Spaniards that trade was increasingly conducted by foreigners (González Enciso 2001, 167).

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4.4 Between Mechanical Arts and Artes Liberales One would think that the construction site is a typical place for manual labor. Yet some people there have skills and knowledge that put them close to architects. In the tailor’s workshop, too, not only is cutting and sewing done, but geometric shapes are also measured and sizes arithmetically calculated, so that neither of these can by any means be assigned solely to the mechanical arts. This seems even less the case in the visual arts. If sculpture and painting produce religious images, they help to spread Christian thought even among the illiterate and support the veneration of the saints. Since painting is a creative act, it could even be seen in a topos related to the creation of the world. With this in mind, it stands to reason that the visual arts would early on claim a prestige beyond that of a mechanical art. According to the Italian Renaissance author Alberti, the visual artist must pay attention to dimensions and colors, should know human affects and bodily movements, and, like the ideal orator of rhetoric, must have a universal education. The Spaniard Gutierrez de los Rios adds to the idea by pointing out that the visual artist must also pay attention to the aptum and the three different heights of style. That the painter wields a brush is not sufficient to classify him with the artes mechanicae, since the geometer, who belongs to the artes liberales, also paints triangles and quadrilaterals with pens. Further proving the high rank, Roman emperors such as Marcus Aurelius practiced painting, and Ovid and Martial valued the fine arts. For the Spaniard Carducho, as docta pintura, it sought evidence and certainty like mathematics and philosophy. Thus, it is precisely the fine arts that show themselves to be a prime example of the emancipation aspirations of an activity that under no circumstances wants to be understood as manual labor. Moreover, such argumentations illustrate the great prestige of mental work and the low esteem in which manual work is held.

4.4.1 Bricklayer and Tailor What hierarchies exist on the building site? The master builder is distinguished from the mason by his closeness to the architect, whom the Roman author Vitruvius already characterized as the one whose work should satisfy the requirements of firmitas, firmness, utilitas, usefulness, and venustas, beauty. He is followed by Alberti, in whom the architect left the realm of craftsmanship and became a theoretical planner. Early descriptions of the building professions are found in the thirteenth or fourteenth century Libro del Peso de los alarifes y Balanza de Menestrales (Gómez López 1991, 40). In the case of buildings, the master builder had to assess and supervise the work on behalf of the public. He should be oriented towards the common good and free from greed. As maestro de obras he has to check the progress of the work. In this function he departs from the pure manual labor of masons and carpenters. As “sabio en las artes mecánicas,” as he is called in Covarrubias’s

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lexicon (Gómez López 1991, 43), his wealth of experience places him above the rest of the manual laborers on the building site. For Juan de Torija, in his 1661 Tratado breve sobre las Ordenanzas de la Villa de Madrid y policia de ella, the alarife, the master builder, is already an “arquitecto en posesión tanto de la ciencia como del ingenio, de la práctica y de la teoría” (44). Diego López de Arenas (*1579) was not only specialized in wooden roof constructions in the Mudéjar style, but was also a master builder and mayor when his treatise Breve compendio de la carpintería de lo blanco y tratado de alarifes was published in 1633. If building houses is one of the earliest manual activities in human history, then the same applies to the manufacture of clothing. Both serve to protect man from the threats of nature. The title page of Juan de Alcega’s book Libro de geometria, pratica, y traça, el qual trata de lo tocante al oficio de Sastre, para saber pedir el paño, seda, otra tela que sera menester para mucho genero de vestidos, assi de hombres, como de mugeres: y para saber como se han de cortar los tales vestidos: con otros muchos secretos y curiosidades, tocantes a este Arte (1589) bears the illustration of a person holding a compass in his left hand and a metre-measure in his right. The title itself announces geometry in the first place, thus assuring its affiliation to the artes liberales. However, it is stated in the preface that of geometry and other artes only the most necessary is listed. In the first part of the book it is shown how cloth and drapery can be cut, drawing on numerous rules of arithmetic. Then, in the second part, different kinds of garments for women and men will be demonstrated, taking geometry into account, and tables for the different sizes will follow in the third. To further confirm the mathematical character, the origin of the measuring rod, the Castilian bara de medir (s.p.), is discussed at the very beginning. It goes back to the measure of the dedo, the finger, to which four barley grains lying next to each other correspond. To the Roman measure of the foot corresponds one-third of the Castilian bara, which in turn may be divided by twelve, eight, four, and three. What then follows are equations by which, for cutting purposes, different measures are related to each other, as the following examples show: “Cinco baras de paño de dos baras de anchura, es tanto como cinco baras y tres quartas de otro paño de siete quartas de marca.” (de Alcega 1589, Ir). “Dos baras de una tela que tenga quatro quartas de anchura, es tanto como tres baras de otra tela de dos tercias de marca.” (IIv). Drawings follow, showing, variously according to occupational specification and sex, the pieces of cloth for doublets, dresses, cassocks, and for different kinds of cloaks and coats. Tailoring also had to be learned. An apprenticeship for an apprentice with a master craftsman was of varying length in the city of Zamora in the sixteenth century, depending on the craft. On average it lasted 4 years. In the case of the craft of weaving, which was also practiced by women, it was 1 year. Parents or guardians guaranteed that the apprentice paid his apprenticeship fee. Usually an apprenticeship began at the age of 13. The trades of tailor and shoemaker were particularly popular. In return for the apprenticeship money, the master provided his house and workshop, as well as food and a place to sleep. In return, the apprentice had to help in the house, collect firewood, fetch water from the river, dig in the vineyards or plow and mow. If the apprentice was not trained in the allotted time, the master had to pay for

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the costs of the extension. What was to be learned in what time? The stonemason had to acquire the working of stones, the making of cornices, of doors, windows and chapels in the time of 1 1/2 and 4 years. The carpenter had to be able to make panelling, wooden doors, roof trusses or furniture such as beds, tables and cupboards in up to 5 years. The tailor was taught all forms of sewing and cutting fabrics according to use, fashion, and social standing, and took from 1 to 4 years. A specific occupational orientation was that of the watermill maker, whose training took 4 years (Lorenzo Pinar 1988, 454–457).

4.4.2 Visual Arts and the Church Although clothing and house construction are also necessary in an ecclesiastical context, they mostly serve purely secular purposes. In the case of visual art, especially in the Siglo de Oro, this is different, since a large part of the art objects served ecclesiastical purposes. Thus, the authority of the church gave them a special dignity. As an important argument in favor of painting, Francisco de Holanda cites popes and councils that, since the Middle Ages, had advocated the pictorial representation of religious themes. The Church promotes and preserves sacred painting as an exquisite history book and “memoria muy presente de lo que está por venir, y, como muy necesaria contemplación de las operaciones divinas e humanas.” (de Holanda 2003, 31). In this context, not only religious but also profane material was permitted. As a source Francisco de Holanda cites Graciano de Chiusi, who in 1140 in Bolonia compiled the canon law and in De imaginibus sanctorum non violandis saw in the art of painting scripture and instruction for the uneducated and incentive for the educated. The Christian background of argumentation also becomes clear when, among the disciplines of knowledge necessary for the painter, knowledge of theology is demanded in the first place, so that nothing is painted that is against the Christian religion or causes uncertainty (de Holanda 2003, 41). Finally, recourse to the topos of the creator as painter makes it possible to turn the allegorical representation of the creation story as the creation of light and color into a rhetorical argument in favor of the visual arts. From the phrase “Let there be light.” in the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament, creation emerged for Francisco de Holanda as an act of painting. The Creator painted all the wonderful things we see, the gold of the sun, the silver of the moon, the peculiarities of animals, fish, and birds, “Y todo esto, a quien bien lo considera, son obras de Pintura de un tan perfecto pintor como es Dios.” (de Holanda 2003, 19–20). The only difference between the immortal Creator and a human painter is that the former is an animating painting, a “pintura animante,” and the latter is “pintura inanimante,” a non-animating painting. The same topos of the creator as painter is also used by Pacheco when he quotes from a poem by Pablo de Céspedes, where the pintor del mundo brings forth from the initial chaos, from the first to the last day of creation, the “asiento luminoso,/con tanto resplandor y hermosura,/de varia y perfectísima pintura” (Pacheco

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1990, 88). Thus, the rhetorical invocation of authority to elevate the visual arts culminates in the highest authority imaginable. In his Historia de la adoracion y uso de las santas imagenes, y de la imagen de la fuente de salud (1597) the author Iayme Prades, as doctor of theology and “rector perpetuo de la iglesia de la villa de Hares”, is directed against the heretics from France, Germany and England, when he claims in his prefixed summary of contents that painting and sculpture had already been given to Adam and would exist until the end of the world. However, those who worship images as idols are in error. Also, the veneration of the images of the saints is not only permitted and recommended by natural law, but also by the example of the apostles in the Bible, by Pope Silvester in 315, and by the Council of Constantinople in 680. The same applies to the cross, with which the death and suffering of Christ are represented. To defend the images, Prades proceeds in four steps. First, he wants to show their origins, then prove that pious images of Christ and the apostles were recommended, that the church adopted this tradition, and that their importance was furthermore strengthened by miracles (Prades 1597, 4). In the preface, Prades emphasizes the difficulties that the Bible, with its mysteries and obscure language, presents to even the most learned reader, which is why it was not wise to make it available in the vernacular to unprepared readers such as cobblers or carpenters. This error had led to popular revolt against the Catholic Church in England, Germany, and France, and to the rejection of pious illustrations. Therefore, it was the responsibility of the clergy to lift up and present the treasures of the Bible. The less learned faithful have at their disposal pictures which illustrate Christian doctrines in the churches. In this they are even more effective than books, “aun mas clartamente que nos lo representan los Evangelios y escrituras santas.” (Prades 1597, 6). Images are defined as imitations of natural things. As in man body and soul can be distinguished, so in images matter and form can be distinguished. Matter may be gold, silver, iron, wood, clay, or stone. According to Aristotle, Prades defines form as the artist’s idea, as “composicion y orden de partes que concibio en su entendimiento el artifice” (13). Therefore, the essence of the image is to represent that of which it is the imitation. Thus, the ancient Greeks and Romans visualized outstanding people and their benefactions to the state through images and statues in the squares. Pictorial representations, not unlike writing, keep alive the memory of great generals and important battles. Even the Indians in Mexico resorted to pictorial representations, since they were illiterate, to celebrate and perpetuate what they considered important. In antiquity, the visual arts had been called “zographia, que quiere decir viva escritura” (22), that is, a description of life, from which it follows that the written and the painted were equivalent, so that “estas dos artes del escribir y pintar tuvieron una misma dignidad y lugar.” (23). The question of when and where images and sculptures first appeared is disputed. According to Pliny, they were invented by the Greeks at the time of the first Olympiad, i.e. 680 years before Christ, in Sikyon, an ancient city-state in the northern Peloponnese. The Egyptians, on the other hand, claim to have had images and statues 6000  years earlier. Prades also answers the question of where abuse first arose in the handling of images and where they were worshipped because deities

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were seen in them. Under the Babylonian king Ninos, the founder of the city of Nineveh, figures were made in honor of the founder of Babylon, Belos or Ba’al, who was worshipped as a god. The cult of Baal also existed among the Moabites. Moreover, the biblical story of the Golden Calf is cited by Prades. When Moses, after the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai and did not return for a long time, Aaron collected the gold from the ornaments of his people and cast it into a golden calf, which was placed on an altar and worshipped as a deity. Moses smashed it after his return because it violated the first of the Ten Commandments. This commandment forbids having other gods and worshipping images of God besides Yahweh, who led the Israelites out of the slave house of Egypt. Christianity, on the other hand, teaches that images are not to be worshipped because of a deity in them, but, for example, to decorate houses with images of saints and to read their stories in them as in books, to venerate them, to visualize them, and to imitate them. One is to have them “para que levantando nuestros espiritus a contemplarlas, nos inciten a santidad y devocion; y adoremos a Dios, y a sus santos en ellas.” (48). According to Prades, since in Christianity from the beginning it is legitimate to venerate saints who are represented in images, it is also legitimate to venerate them by means of the images. The first evidence of this is the inhabitants of the Phoenician city of Cesarea, who had converted to Christianity and erected a statue in memory of the miracle performed by Jesus in healing a woman who had suffered from hemorrhage for 12 years. The statue depicted the woman asking for mercy and Jesus with his hand outstretched. Eusebius had commented on this story by saying that it was not surprising that the pagans who had converted to Christianity, made such a statue, imitating the Christians who “hazen dibujar en tablas las imagenes de S. Pedro y S. Pablo, y del mismo Jesu Christo.” (68). This story is also mentioned at the second Council of Nicaea, since it traces the origin of the Christian doctrine of images back to the time of the apostles themselves. Then Santiago in Spain and other apostles in other parts of the world ordered that the images of Jesus and his saints be placed inside churches for decoration. And when in one council, the Concilio Illiberino (103), it was decided to ban images from the church, it was only as a countermeasure to the pagans newly converted to Christianity, who were accustomed to worship the images themselves as gods. The significance of the symbol of the cross is traced back to St. Helena, who found the cross on which Jesus was crucified, left one part in Jerusalem, and sent another to Rome, where it was venerated as if it were a whole. The fact that there have been miracles in this connection confirms once again that it was permissible to make crosses. Crosses, in fact, stand as images for the crucified and dying Jesus, and as “figuras e imagenes de aquella, en quanto tuvo a Jesu Christo enclavado en si.” (170). Just as the cross stands for Jesus, the places of his ministry also stand for him and are worthy of being visited and venerated in pilgrimages (390–391). Furthermore, the opponents of image veneration and its proponents are presented in the historical course, as well as the fate of individual images and miracles, especially in connection with the veneration of Mary, in Spanish history. Thus, in works of visual art with religious content, so much importance is attached to the subject transcending

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the work of art that little attention is paid to the art. In semiotic terms, given the appreciation of the signifié, the signifiant is neglected. This is of course different outside the religious context.

4.4.3 Experience and Artes How does a craft become a science, how does a mechanical art become a liberal one? What arguments and what criteria can help in this process? These are the questions that will be asked in the following using the example of the visual arts, which in the favorable historical environment of the early modern period were elevated by their representatives from the position of the artes mecanicae to the artes liberales. Important arguments are provided by the Noticia general para la estimación de las artes (1600) by Gaspar Gutierrez de los Rios, who was not a representative of the fine arts, but “professor de ambos Derechos y Letras humanas, natural de la Ciudad de Salamanca” (Gutierrez de los Ríos 1600). In his opinion, according to Christian doctrine, man is so constituted that he must himself create all the means of his self-­ preservation by his lively powers of invention. Therefore he invented numerous sciences and arts: first the mechanical arts, which are to serve the body, nourish it, and protect it from heat and cold. After satisfying the physical needs, he turned to the soul and invented for its assistance the artes liberales, “que es el verdadero sustento del alma, y en quien ella mas se ocupa” (2). The origins of knowledge were small and started from the observation of nature. It is an empirical approach that Gutierrez de los Rios supposes for the beginnings. One had first made relevant experiences and experiments. If one saw that they were crowned with success and served the purpose that was to be achieved, one repeated the experiments and shared them with others in order to use the same procedure beneficially in the future. To the extent that an experience was validated and disseminated among many, it became a tenet and a rule. In concrete terms, one could imagine that, for example, someone first saw how tree trunks float on water, then several trunks tied together were used as a raft, which was given a concave shape in order to speed up its journey. Then one found mast, oars and further instruments and rules, until navigation existed as a field of knowledge. Following this pattern, namely, from perception to experience to reasoned consideration, the other realms of knowledge proceeded, “que primero vio las cosas el sentido exterior: luego las prouo la esperiencia, y al cabo las compuso la razon.” (4). In the early days of medicine, the sick person was taken to the street or to a square to ask people if they had experience with a similar case. As more and more experiences, rules and regularities were collected, the different fields of knowledge such as agriculture, architecture, moral philosophy and painting emerged and with them the corresponding professions and their teachers. Arte, for Gutierrez de los Rios, is a collection of rules drawn from experience and ordered by reason for a specific purpose, “una recopilación, y congregado de preceptos, y reglas, esperimentadas, que ordenadamente, y con cierta razon, y estudio

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nos encaminan à algun fin y uso bueno.” (16). Thus, rules and laws gained and proven by experience must be collected and not scattered. These should be able to be the object of study, since one can speak and sing spontaneously and at random, but only through an acquired set of rules does it become an arte, which, as with grammar, for example, makes necessity and flawlessness possible. One could strike at random with a sword, but the art of war presupposes a doctrine and its conscious application. On the other hand, the oficios, which one either masters naturally or can acquire in half an hour, do not require the learning of doctrines. As an example, Gutierez de los Rios mentions the sale of objects that others have produced, although the oficio can also become an arte, as evidenced, for example, by the development of cooking into the art of cooking. So this is how the hierarchy of knowledge is seen in 1600. What prehistory could Gutierez de los Rios look back on? The hierarchization of knowledge goes back to Plato’s second, third, and seventh books of the Politeia and Aristotle’s seventh and eighth books of the Politics, which distinguish elementary instruction in grammar, literature, music, and arithmetic from the higher studies of philosophy. Among the Romans, the artes liberales were considered preparation for legal studies and public office. The foundation for the medieval seven artes liberales was laid in the fifth century by Martianus Capella with his encyclopedic didactic poem Marriage of Mercury with Philology, whose conception was continued by Isidore of Seville († 636), Beda (673–735), and Hrabanus Maurus (780–856). The artes were divided into two groups, the trivium with the linguistic subjects of grammar, rhetoric, and logic, and the quadrivium with the four mathematical subjects of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. In Paris, one had to be at least 20  years old to earn a master’s degree, which, with 6 years of study in the artes faculty, meant that the starting age was 14 (Leff 1993, 294). Although the artes liberales were considered propaedeutic at the university, they had a higher prestige than the craft artes mechanicae. In medieval university teaching, the philosophical subjects of natural philosophy, ethics and metaphysics were added from the thirteenth century onwards.

4.4.4 Fine Arts and Mathematics The music of the quadrivium was important not only because of its significance in worship, but also because of the intervals developed mathematically by Pythagoras and Boetius, which made the harmony of soul and body correspond to the harmony of the stars. As its equally mathematical neighbour discipline in the quadrivium, geometry, determines surfaces and forms by numbers, it is particularly close to the fine arts. Since Euclid, geometry has been concerned with the measures and proportions of things. In the Middle Ages, Robert Grosseteste analysed the importance of light and colour for the perception of objects within the framework of geometry in his work De luce seu de inchoatione formarum. With him, Leonardo da Vinci, Johannes Kepler and René Descartes later developed optics into a science within geometry. In the fourteenth century Thomas Bradwardine at Oxford had written

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a treatise on proportion in which he mathematically grasped the velocity of objects, and in Paris it was Nicholas of Oresme who in the same century wanted to represent things graphically and quantitatively. Here, the scientific endeavour to describe the objects of nature mathematically, which found its particular expression in the Italian Renaissance with the polymath Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), becomes apparent. With him, the artist’s gaze turned away from authority and toward the book of nature. He left behind hundreds of anatomical drawings and demanded physiological and anatomical studies as a prerequisite for the artistic recording of human development. In the process, he dissected and also studied pathological changes in the organs. In order to be able to draw, he believed, one should know the development of man from birth through growth to old age, his feelings from cheerfulness to sadness, and his various movements. In his studies he combined experiment and mathematical approach as well as fine art and medicine. It was Leon Battista Alberti who concretized Leonardo’s broad approach to the visual arts. His small writings De statua, De pictura and Elementa picturae (1468) are groundbreaking for the understanding of visual art as a science based on certain foundations, planning and logical processes (Alberti 2000, 145). Thus, if one wants to produce a statue of Caesar or Cato in a certain posture before the tribunal or at a popular speech, one has to begin with measuring and limiting. The first step is the clear and reliable determination of proportions, whereby the individual parts, how they relate to each other and to the overall size of the body, are to be recorded with measuring instruments and expressed in figures. Bounding, on the other hand, is the process by which the measure and end points, position and arrangements of all angles, elevations and indentations are to be recorded by means of an instrument consisting of horizon, radius and plumb line. In painting, moreover, attention is to be paid to the relation of light and colours, which may be seen from the fact that when the light diminishes, the colours also diminish. While a colour becomes more luminous by the addition of white, it appears weaker by the addition of black. The incidence of light from the heavenly bodies also has a different effect from that of lamps and fire. Alberti also explains concepts such as proportions, composition, i.e. the assembly of parts into a work, movements of the human body in the broadest sense, from which affects such as joy and sorrow or fear and anger are to be made clear, movements of inanimate things such as hair, foliage and clothes. “In the end, nature must contain nothing – at least nothing visible to our eye – that one could not effortlessly execute and reproduce with lines on the basis of the present instruction.” (Alberti 2000, 343–344). Alberti’s remarks on proportion bring him in the direction of Einstein’s mathematical theory of relativity: “If – according to the will of the gods – the heavens, the stars, the seas, the mountains, the living beings themselves, and in the end all bodies in general were made smaller by half their present size, it would still be the case that everything we saw would not seem to us to have been reduced in size by a fraction compared to its present state.” (Alberti 2000, 223). The painter’s task, according to Alberti, is “to draw and paint any given object on a surface with lines and colors in such a way that – from a certain distance and with a certain position of the central ray assigned in advance – everything one sees painted appears

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plastic and perfectly similar to the given object.” (Alberti 2000, 293). Taken from the demands of rhetoric on the orator, Alberti’s demand for universal education, especially in the liberal arts and poetry, and for appropriate behavior on the part of the painter, for whom the ability of inventio in particular is also important, appears.

4.4.5 Dignity of the Visual Arts According to Alberti, one of the merits of the art of painting is to make the absent present and the deceased recognizable for centuries. Alberti asserts, “Whatever gives beauty to things is copied from the art of painting.” (Alberti 2000, 237). It was highly prized by kings and so ancient, it says, recalling Pliny, that the Egyptians had had it for 6000 years before it was brought to Greece. The Greeks, it is said, taught their younglings not only geometry but also the art of painting, an art forbidden to slaves. After all, the art of painting gave prestige, wealth and eternal fame. It will be seen that not a few of Alberti’s arguments were adopted by the Spanish theorists. Another Italian model for the Spanish discussion of the visual arts were Giorgio Vasari’s biographies, published in 1550, of the most outstanding Italian architects, painters, and sculptors since the Florentine painter and mosaic artist Cimabue (ca.1240-ca.1302) (Kliemann 1991). In Spain, the self-confidence of visual artists is no less. In the Siglo de Oro, the Greek and contemporary of Alexander the Great, Apelles, and the evangelist Luke, who is said to have painted an image of the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus, were revered as famous precursors of the art of painting. Apelles is often praised and Rubens or Velázquez were called “nuevo Apeles” (Civil 2020, 88). When Apelles painted Alexander the Great’s mistress and fell in love with her, the latter is said to have left her to him, which became a popular motif for painters of the Siglo de Oro. The fact that a signature increasingly appears on paintings of the Siglo de Oro suggests a growing sense of individuality, as do the numerous portraits of self and others. However, on the other side of the social hierarchy, the court painter is contrasted with the numerous artists living in modest circumstances, who produced pictures for widespread consumption, including in America, in an almost industrial form. On the other hand, the sculptors who worked for the court enjoyed a special reputation, whether they worked directly in the surroundings of the court or elsewhere, for example, making triumphal arches in honor of the crown (Estella Marcos 1999). Among the theoretical discussions of the visual arts in Spain (Melero and Enrique 2002; Calvo Serraller 1981), the Comentarios de la pintura by Felipe de Guevara, written in 1560 but not published until 1788, and the book De la pintura antigua (1548) by the Portuguese Juan de Holanda, which is worthy of mention in view of Portugal’s affiliation with Spain at the time and was translated into Spanish by Manuel Denis in 1563, deserve special mention. The Historia de la composición del cuerpo humano by Juan Valverde de Hamusco (1542–1588), who had moved to Italy from Palencia at an early age, appeared in Rome in 1556. The book featured illustrations based on autopsies and had as its model De humani corporis fabrica by

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the Paduan anatomy professor Andreas Vesalius, whose student Valverde was. The Florentine Vicente Carducho (1576–1638) went to Spain in 1585 to design the Escorial as painter to King Philip IV.  His Diálogos de la pintura (1633) give an account of the history of painting, its dignity and difficulty. In the fourth dialogue there is a division of painting into the practical and the visible, the intellectual and the speculative. Francisco Pacheco, who was Carducho’s friend and the father-in-­ law of the painter Velázquez, wrote the Arte de la Pintura, also combining theoretical and practical elements, published posthumously in 1649. The extent to which the visual arts were appreciated by writers is shown by Lope de Vega, who describes Rubens as a poet for the eyes, and Calderón, for whom painting is a high art that dominates and makes use of all others (Julián Gallego 1991, 154, 234). It follows that in sixteenth-century Spain the visual arts were more than mere crafts. For sculptors, extensive knowledge in different fields of expertise is required, and there are examples of how they were able to gain a certain wealth from their activity. When sculptors or painters dealt with religious figures, as shown above, they were considered mediators between man and God, with miracles also attributed to them in their creative process (González Román 2016, 22).

4.4.6 Fine Arts and Artes Liberales In the following, the various arguments from the Spanish treatises that elevate the art of painting to the circle of the artes liberales will be presented. A distinction is made between rhetorical and systematic argumentation. The first group, with which we shall begin, includes pleas for the affiliation of the visual arts to the trivium and the quadrivium, and appeals to authorities of various kinds. Gutierrez de los Rios is still cautious when, referring to Lorenzo Valla, he qualifies the fine arts as being close to the artes liberales (Gutierrez de los Ríos 1600, 114). He goes further when he compares painting with poetry and therefore ascribes to it the same rank that grammar has as the science of poetry. Painting and poetry imitate nature, the former with colors, the latter with words. Both produce proportions, the poet with the arithmetic of syllables, the painter with geometry. The art of painting has in common with rhetoric that it too must choose between three different stylistic heights and observe the aptum. Visual art is also related to historiography in books, which it even surpasses with its “figuras, estatuas, colossos, medallas, y monedas, que esta menos sujeto a las injurias del tiempo.” (166). Moreover, statues of the heroes of the past can spur those who are ignorant of reading. In an intensification of his plea, Gutierrez de los Rios claims that painting is even superior to grammar. This is already evident from the fact that letters are small drawings, as a glance at the Egyptian hieroglyphics makes clear, and the possible objects of the painter clearly exceed the number of the 24 letters of the abc. While the physician need only be familiar with the anatomy of the human body, the painter must also know the anatomy of all animals that dwell on earth, in water, or in the air.

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Painting is therefore superior to moral philosophy, since it is more able to inspire virtue, as a glance at representations of the cross or the sky proves. The geometry of the quadrivium lends itself to illustrating the proportions of mental and manual labor. According to Pacheco, if the art of painting is classified as mechanical simply because the hand wields a brush, which involves little physical labor, then geometry must also be a mechanical art, since the geometer also paints triangles, quadrilaterals, and other figures with a compass, as does music, in which the hands play instruments (Pacheco 1990, 78). Other authorities include Cicero, Galen, Socrates, and Pliny, all of whom emphasize the dominance of mental work over manual work, while still pointing to the size of the painter’s field of knowledge. This concerns geographical, astronomical and psychological elements as well as different postures, lighting conditions, perspectives, geometrical and arithmetical proportions, differences between wild and tamed animals, between virtuous and vicious people and the different ways of thinking of people (Gutierrez de los Ríos 1600, 117). Thus, painting is shown to be no different than the subjects of the artes liberales. There are also authorities who testify to the greatness of the art of painting. It is of a noble nature, since Roman emperors such as Nero, Claudius, and Marcus Aurelius practiced it, and painters have been given special honors in history and in the present (Gutierrez de los Ríos 1600, 218–226). Moreover, a look at the reputation and fame of visual artists in history, such as Phidias or Xeuxis, and their esteem by Martial, Ovid, and many others, shows that they were worthy representatives of the artes liberales. Finally, authorities of philosophy such as Plato and Aristotle are cited as proof. Pliny says of the painter Panfilo that he was the first to teach the noble children of the Greek city-state of Sicion, and then all of Greece, the art of simple drawing without colors. It was thanks to him that it was appreciated first by the nobility and then by “la gente honrada de mediania” (156). The slaves, however, were not allowed to be taught this art. Painting should therefore be considered a free art not least because it was permitted to the nobility and respectable, but denied to the slaves. The systematic arguments that now follow can also be divided into several groups, like the rhetorical ones already mentioned. They relate to the definition and categorization of the fine arts, their comparison with rhetoric, the criteria for evaluating the artes liberales, and finally their historicization. Definition and categorization are done with recourse to Aristotle. Velázquez Francisco Pacheco’s Arte de la Pintura (1649) defines the art of painting in Aristotelian terms, specifying genus proximum and diferentia specifica. The genus is art, the latter being characterized by the fact that it achieves its results not by chance but with rational deliberation, and the specific difference from other arts is that it imitates with lines and colors everything real and imaginable with the aid of the most diverse fields of knowledge, “valiéndose de la geometría, aritmética, perspectiva y filosofía natural, con infalible y cierta razón.” (Pacheco 1990, 76). Vicente Carducho, for his part, invokes Aristotle when it comes to relating form, color, and quantity, which determine the physicality of an object, to light and shadow for the visual arts. He draws on venerable categories such as quantity and quality or

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form and matter. This also helps him to explain the difference of human bodies, which lies not in the nature, that is, in the substance, of the bodies, but in the effect of the accidentals which have variously corrupted the originally perfect bodies. In this connection Carducho wishes to distinguish the merely casual practice of amateurish painting from the scientific art of painting, which he calls docta pintura. The latter is close to philosophy and mathematics and, like the latter, seeks evidence and certainty, taking into account the causes and effects of shadows and light, of distances, of the change of colors, forms and quantities, taking into account the mixture of affects and elements that make up everything visible. Those who proceed in this scientific manner arrive at almost mathematically certain results, “porque se obra de tal modo cientifico, que con demostracion matematica puede conocer con evidencia y certidumbre.” (Carducho 1979, 168). A problem, however, arises from the pursuit of unambiguous, certain, and evident results in painting: if there is a universal conception of beauty and universal laws according to which the imitation of nature by painting must take place, may there be different artistic styles and different ways of painting? How can the same object be represented differently by different painters? If one demands unambiguous, verifiable and clear results from science, then one ought to be able to expect the same from a docta pintura that prides itself on its close ties to the exact sciences. Carducho addresses the problem in his sixth dialogue, but leaves the answer open, unless one also considers his distinction between substance and accidence as a solution in this context. If, on the other hand, painting is compared with rhetoric, the dilemma of subjectivity and objectivity has disappeared, since different subjective views are possible in the completion of a speech, although rhetoric never intends an objective representation of things. This is another reason why rhetoric lends itself as an appropriate point of reference. The extent to which Francisco de Holanda models the art of painting on rhetoric is evident from the sequence of steps he suggests to the painter: At the beginning, he says, is the invention or idea, followed by proportion or geometry, and finally one must still observe the decorum, that is, the rhetorical rule of the aptum (de Holanda 2003, 22). For Pacheco, too, the rhetorical category of decorum is central to inventio in painting, which is why he quotes from Cicero’s De officiis over several pages (Pacheco 1990, 291). All figures depicted must be assigned appropriate clothing, whereabouts, words, and actions in the paintings, similar to the Aristotelian rule of probability. In this respect, then, the art of painting is in the same series as rhetoric and poetry. While in the liberal arts it is the mind that is active, in the mechanical arts it is traditionally the body. According to Gutierrez, however, it would be wrong to deduce from this that all arts that produce objects are mechanical. It would be equally wrong to call those arts mechanical in which the hands are used. For then medicine would also be a mechanical art, although its goal is the healthy human being, which is why the pulse is also measured. The same applies to rhetoric, which, with the doctrine of actio, determines the facial expressions and gestures of the speaker. Since mental activity undoubtedly dominates physical activity in these arts, one cannot deny them the status of free art any more than one can deny the status of fine art. This also applies to the case of the acceptance of money in exchange for

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performance. Even if, according to Xenophon, the Spartans considered all arts with which money could be acquired to be unfree, the argument is outdated, since representatives of medicine and jurisprudence accept money just as much as teachers of rhetoric (Gutierrez de los Ríos 1600, 52). What are the criteria that led to the establishment of the artes liberales? May there be only seven? As is well known, the trivium deals with words, the quadrivium with numbers. Thus music is concerned with numbers, which determine the harmony, rhythm, and metrics of notes, and astronomy with the size and quantity of celestial bodies (97–98). When Gutierrez notes that history, poetry, perspective, architecture, and philosophy are missing from the circle of the seven liberal arts, it is because they participate in different portions of the seven liberal arts. Thus, poetry and historiography are parts of grammar and have a close relationship to rhetoric, dialectic, and the other artes liberales, while painting, for its part, depends on geometry and arithmetic. However, he argues, the same reasoning should not be applied to merchants, who had only a few rules of arithmetic learned at school and therefore should not feel close to arithmetic. Following Aristotle, Gutierrez de los Rios proposes as a further distinction that between “architectural”, i.e. superordinate, arts and those dependent on the former. Thus, the superordinate “architectural” arts of war include horseback riding, fencing, weaponry, and geometry. “Principales y cabezas” he calls the arts that make others possible, as arithmetic makes music possible, or physics makes medicine possible. Dependent, that is, “subalternadas o dependientes” (Gutierrez de los Ríos 1600, 35) are the disciplines that take their principles from other subjects, such as jurisprudence from moral philosophy or painting from geometry and mathematics. Architecture, in turn, according to Vitruvius, requires the art of drawing for its designs. Architecture is both superior to and dependent on painting, since it draws on knowledge of geometry, arithmetic and perspective (213). How are the artes to be classified in general? Following Quintilian, Gutierrez de los Rios distinguishes contemplative, active and effective arts. While the former, such as astrology and natural philosophy, are only oriented towards the knowledge of truth, the active ones, such as rhetoric, dance or music, refer to their practice without being primarily oriented towards an external product. The arts, like medicine, painting or architecture, which aim to produce a goal to be attained, are primarily oriented towards attaining results. Gutierrez falls back on the Roman jurist Domitius Ulpianus to make a general attack on the traditional seven liberal arts. With him he calls them pueriles, childish, because they are practiced in youth (Gutierrez de los Ríos 1600, 103). Among the artes pueriles, in turn, he says, those that form the body, such as fencing, ball-­ playing, or dancing, are to be distinguished from those that form the minds of adolescents, such as music, grammar, and geometry. A second type of artes liberales he calls absolutas y supremas, which occupy a person throughout life (106). While the artes liberales pueriles are the foundation, the artes liberales absolutas are the building. Thus, while arithmetic and geometry are the foundation, the wonderful buildings are war craft, architecture, and painting. The latter are to be seen in a row with theology, jurisprudence, philosophy and medicine. While the artes pueriles

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were at most the subject of occupation up to the age of 30, one was concerned with the artes absolutas for one’s entire life. In the case of painting, one needs 10 years alone to know the rules of how bones and nerves, how surfaces and lines are to be formed, how the light is to look in the morning and at night. One should also be familiar with the different army formations, the squadrons on foot and on horseback, and the postures and movements when someone falls or stands up (149). Another classification presented by Gutierrez de los Rios is based on Seneca’s proposal that the arts be divided into vulgares, deleytosos, pueriles and liberales. The former are limited to the needs of the body, the latter seek to please the eye and ear through painting or music, the third, such as grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric, are to be learned in childhood, while the latter are “liberales” because they make us virtuous and thus truly free through moral philosophy. Finally, a further systematization is traced back to Galen, according to which the artes serviles are endowed with the power of the body and the artes liberales are worthy of every free man of honor, which is why the latter category includes not only medicine, rhetoric, music, geometry, arithmetic, dialectic, astrology, and grammar, but also architecture, painting, and sculpture. He adds that the latter are reserved for free men because in them the mind, that is, the free and superior part of man, is active, “se exercita el entendimiento, que es la parte libre y superior del hombre” (39). This is why slaves in the ancient world were forbidden to exercise it. Forbidden to slaves were medicine in Athens, jurisprudence among the Hebrews, and, according to Pliny’s account, painting in general among the Greeks. The diverse regroupings of the arts and sciences and the changing criteria Gutierrez de los Rios uses as a basis soften the existing order of the seven liberal arts, relativize their significance, and reveal alternatives as well as largely forgotten contexts. This is certainly necessary if one wants to bring a discipline like the visual arts into the traditionally established ranks of the liberal arts. But there is another possibility that Gutierrez de los Rios also thinks of. By showing that sciences depend on changing needs, it can also be made clear that the hierarchy of science is historically changeable. Gutierrez de los Rios starts from the beginning and states that individual sciences grew according to needs. Thus, in Egypt, as a result of the swelling water volume of the Nile, the geometers attained high honours through the ever-necessary redrawing of boundaries, while in Rome under Emperor Augustus it was the poets, or in the period between Trajan and Antonius the jurists. The rank of a field of knowledge is thus subject to historical change. Not only are new laws always being found, but also new techniques, such as printing and gunpowder, “nuevas artes, el Imprimir, el artificio de la Poluora, artilleria, y otras muchas.” (7). From the historicization of the hierarchy of science can be deduced the possibility of its change. A look at history, as handed down by ancient authors, shows Gutierrez how changeable the fate of the arts is. For example, music, generally recognized as a liberal art, had been rejected by Alcibiades and the Egyptians, so that even Suetonius banned it from the circle of liberal arts (80). Moreover, there were times in Rome when censors, in agreement with the Senate, considered rhetoric, which otherwise adorned the circle of the liberal arts, to be immoral. If, in the course of history, fields of knowledge are revalued and devalued according to need and the spirit of the

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times, then nothing stands in the way of the project to elevate the fine arts to the artes liberales.

4.4.7 Résumé In summary, the arts and sciences were transformed into sets of rules through the accumulation of experience, taking into account first the physical and then the mental needs. The fields of knowledge overcame the randomness common to the oficios and made necessary and safe action possible. More prestigious than the artes mecanicae, though propaedeutic, were the artes liberales, since in them mental activity predominated over physical. In the quadrivium, geometry had taken on the mathematical description of the objects of nature, and in the process was increasingly applied to the visual arts by humanists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Leon Battista Alberti during the Italian Renaissance. Since they were able to draw equally on empiricism and mathematics, their reputation rose. The rank of a free art was won for the visual arts in Spain by pointing out similarities between the visual arts and poetry and rhetoric, and by emphasizing their superiority in comparison with grammar and moral philosophy. If one wanted to accuse it of containing portions of manual labor, then one would have to accuse geometry of this as well. The high rank of the fine arts can be seen from the fact that they were practised by Roman emperors and that fine artists were decorated with the highest honours. It was a free art, as it was forbidden to slaves. The authority of the Church promotes painting as instruction for the uneducated and motivation for the educated. The topos of the creator as painter enables the invocation of the highest conceivable authority. Finally, the definition and categorization of the visual arts is carried out with the help of the Aristotelian distinctions of genus proximum and diferentia specifica and of substance and accidence, but the problem arose as to how a docta pintura, which scientifically leads to unambiguous results, can allow for several solutions, e.g. through different styles. A solution was offered by comparison with rhetoric, which, like the fine arts, takes inventio and decorum into account, and allows for different results. Poetry, historiography, architecture, and philosophy participate in different proportions in the seven liberal arts, so that the classification becomes more differentiated. It appears even more complicated if one distinguishes with Gutierrez de los Rios between contemplative, active, and effective artes, or if one divides the arts into vulgares, deleytosos, pueriles, and liberales. The traditional artes liberales are clearly devalued when they are contrasted as artes pueriles with the artes absolutas and supremas, which include the fine arts. Here, as there, where it is made clear that scientific hierarchies change in the course of history, it stands to reason that the fine arts should be valued anew and more highly. The spirit of the times, at any rate, was favourable to the mathematical geometric grasp of reality, as a glance at military art (Gutierrez de los Ríos 1600, 58–76) also shows. However, fencing was no longer at the center of this art, but the newly invented art of artillery, which in turn captured reality mathematically and geometrically.

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Looking back at the representatives of the mechanical professions, it can be summarized that they are primarily defined by the virtues of their representatives. Thus, they are first characterized by a spiritual rather than a material good. The contribution that is attributed to them for the community and the knowledge that is considered a prerequisite for their practice also contribute to the self-image of these professions. It is therefore spiritual life that dominates, when only in the last place the material and mechanical side of their activity is mentioned. Farmers were held in high esteem by the Romans. According to Xenophon and Lope de Deça, agriculture is an activity appropriate for kings, while gardening as agriculture on a small scale is, according to Gregorio de los Rios, a kind of leisure for princes, knights and monks. This high esteem is not least due to the originality of morals and the way of life in the countryside. Virgil had already emphasized the industriousness of the peasant and appreciated the loyalty and division of labour of the peasant existence, comparable to that of bees. Natural modesty, moderation and avoidance of superfluous things characterize the happiness of peasants, which they achieve through efficiency and good works. Thus the peasants are an example of moral perfection to be imitated. The great landowner is supposed to be more concerned about the people entrusted to his care than about wealth. Therefore, the literature of the house fathers has the whole house in view, which appears idyllic for all its hierarchical gradations. The peasant life is close to a golden age in which there were no cities and therefore no diseases. Yet the peasant is by no means portrayed as ignorant. In Pastor, he is said to be knowledgeable in the artes liberales. The peasant life stands for closeness to nature and naturalness. Food should serve health and not pleasure. Agricultural work is for invigoration, and therefore stands against corruption of morals by luxury goods imported by foreign commerce. If children of farmers think they have to become lawyers, then this only serves the multiplication of lawsuits in the city and not the country life presented as harmony, in which greed seems as foreign as Hobbes’ state of nature. Although in the military the different hierarchical levels are to be distinguished, here too the demands for virtues and mastery of different areas of knowledge are in the foreground. Thus, according to the model of the princely mirrors, the commander, for his part, should possess the cardinal virtues of prudence, fortitude, justice and moderation. In addition, humility and modesty should be present. Moral perfection is required of the commander to achieve these specifications. According to Scarion de Pauia, leniency is initially appropriate towards the enemy. However, if it is unsuccessful, then force and deception may be resorted to. Harshness should also be used to counter a popular uprising or a traitor from within one’s own ranks. Superiors are supposed to be moral role models and therefore should not waste their time with dice games. According to Garcia de Palacio, the commander should have knowledge in mathematics, arithmetic, cosmography, astronomy, astrology as well as in religious and secular literature. He needs rhetoric to persuade his subordinates to bravery. Geographical knowledge is required, according to Diego de Alaba, to determine the place for a camp site. Candidates for leadership, according to Scarion de Pauia, should be chosen from among wealthy nobles and the educated, since the oppressed discontented people are unfit for these tasks. Finally, according to Urrea,

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victory is not to be won by muscular strength but by intellect. What is required, therefore, is primarily mental activity. The superiority of the mind over physical strength had already been proven by Hannibal or Alexander. In the case of Alcibiades it was not brute force but a skilful deception of the enemy that led to the victory of a numerically inferior army. In the common soldier, too, the virtues, which strengthen the forces and should be rewarded, are paramount. Vices such as covetousness do harm. In the selection of soldiers, preference is to be given to the rural population, since they are accustomed to discomfort. It would also be good to recruit them from crafts such as the carpenter, the blacksmith or the stonemason. Linen weavers and confectioners are effeminate. Despite clear hierarchies, Urrea considers disobedience by the common soldier to a captain who commits treason to be reasonable. Even where war is rejected and soldiers are called murderers and burglars, moral arguments are resorted to. Likewise, values such as the maintenance of peace, defense from evildoers, and the protection of the laws are invoked in the argument to legitimize war, which spiritualizes its material side. Military weapons also seem unusable without spiritual preconception. Knowledge of natural philosophy, mathematics and arithmetic was already a prerequisite for the sword according to Pacheco, and Galen’s theories on bodily fluids and their effects for the horse. Similarly, the new weapons such as the cannon and rifle required geometric calculations from the artilleryman, if necessary with the astrolabe, and chemical knowledge for the appropriate powder mixtures. If one turns to the merchant, then one actually expects explanations of a homo oeconomicus, who is bent on maximizing profit while minimizing expense. But it is precisely this homo oeconomicus who is branded as greedy, who makes money the idol he serves, who is driven by boundless acquisition and thereby neglects moderation, which always seeks the middle. Where the activity of the merchant is praised, it serves the common good, for instance, when it brings objects from places where they are plentiful to places where they are scarce. Those who serve the common good are not primarily interested in the accumulation of their own wealth. Justice becomes the central virtue for the merchant, evident in pretium iustum, iustitia commutativa, and the avoidance of usury and fraud. In any case, money and goods are primarily material goods, and thus inferior to reason and the soul, as the patristics asserted. Thus, in the case of mercantile acts, it often seems more important whether they are a sin than whether they serve the successful increase of money. Thus usury is less serious if it comes with the main intention of beneficence and only with a second, lesser intention, the hope of gain. Moral perfection is thus called for, not commercial profit maximization. Moreover, there is not only a moral but also a legal network running through commercial activity, which is indicated where the handling of contracts is called a science. A wide variety of legal implications can be derived from the definition of a contract as an agreement between several persons about a thing, from which obligations arise for one side or for both sides, such as penalties for non-performance of a contract or invalidity of a sale of office if the office is not for sale or the seller is not entitled to sell. Even where mathematical knowledge is demanded of the merchant in bookkeeping, or where he has to distinguish between use value and exchange value in the case of bricks and grain, his

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activity proves to be not a mechanical art, but an art supported by numerous intellectual competences and moral postulates. Between mechanical arts and artes liberales on the building site stands the master builder, who as sabio en las artes mecanicas approaches the architect. Like the tailor with his geometric forms, he is closer to theoretical planning than to practical manual labor. In the fine arts the outstanding position of the painter is evident from the very fact that Roman emperors engaged in painting, and the painter with his pintura inanimante appears comparable to the creator as the painter of a pintura animante. Equally noble and intellectually elevated are the purposes which painting serves when, as docta pintura, it seeks evidence like mathematics and philosophy, or whose pictures in churches become books for the illiterate in which the Bible is proclaimed. If pictures or statues of heroic deeds of the Greeks and Romans incite to imitation, they are superior in their effect to moral philosophy and comparable to the persuasive power of rhetoric. The works of fine art, then, serve to perfect morality. In this they refer to the spiritual worlds of Christianity and antiquity. As a poet for the eyes, the painter has to have medical knowledge when he depicts the human body, and, like the poeta doctus, needs a universal education, thus rising far above the craftsmanship of the mechanical arts. Gutierrez de los Rios therefore introduces the concept of “architectural” arts and wants to distinguish between contemplative, active and effective arts as well as between artes pueriles and artes absolutas, especially since the purpose and rank of the individual disciplines is subject to historical change.

Chapter 5

Artes Liberales

5.1 Trivium 5.1.1 Grammarian In the early modern period, the artes liberales were hierarchically superior to the artes mechanicae. They consist of the trivium with grammar, rhetoric and dialectic and the quadrivium with arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. While the trivium is characterized by words, the quadrivium is by numbers. From the fact that in education the trivium had to be passed first before one could deal with the quadrivium, the word “trivial” is derived, the meaning of which is “mindless” or “banal”. This pejorative assessment has applied especially to the first of the three disciplines of the trivium, grammar. Since its teaching of language creates the entrance prerequisite for all other scientific activities, it stands on the lowest rung of the hierarchy of the artes liberales and has to contend with condescending and disdainful judgments. This is understandable in the face of instructions for calligraphy, for practicing the characters of writing, and for making ink. When Palmireno gives advice to a rural grammar student, it is not purely factual, but takes into account the whole world of life. What should be the relationship of the parents and the pupil towards the tutor? When should he leave the village and go to the city school? What goals should he aim at and what amount of work should he do? Does he need encyclopedic education? What is the role of education and control of affect? How does he learn good style and conversation in Latin? What is the point of collections of sentences and how can one learn from history? These are the questions Palmireno seeks to answer. Collecting aphorisms is also a concern in Guzman’s Rhetoric. The student is to collect quotations from pagan antiquity and those from Christianity. That rhetoric builds on grammar is shown by its definition by Cicero or Aristotle as the art of speaking well with the aim of persuading. The handling of the three genres of speech, the exercise of retelling, the structure of speech as well as © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE, part of Springer Nature 2023 C. Strosetzki, Manual Work and Mental Work, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-66366-0_5

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advice on the individual parts of speech, the figure of the orator and the importance of topics for argumentation are further subject areas of rhetoric. Finally, since Aranda is also devoted to the importance of aphorisms and commonplaces, which one should collect in order to have them at hand when needed, more detail is given to excerpting, which is understood as a tool rather than a science. By excerpting, one can turn a large library into a small reference library, especially if what is excerpted is systematically organized by subject. Since in creating new texts by recourse to excerpts, the original context of the quotation must also be included, understanding and hermeneutics as the doctrine of understanding are also involved. Pre-comprehension and circularity of understanding are to be considered in excerpting reading. When the question of the proximity and difference of excerpt and commentary is raised, a seamless transition from the grammarian to the representative of letras, the humanist concerned with books, is suggested. Grammarians, philologists and humanists become the paradigm of the book scholar who is not very suitable for everyday life, who is a pedant, half-educated but nevertheless arrogant and pompous. Morality is held up against scholarship as superior. Canonization and textual criticism become targets of criticism, as does the preoccupation with verses that make no sense. The question arises whether the contemplation of ancient objects and texts obscures the view of one’s own life practice, which begins with self-knowledge. Is commentary the right starting point for writing one’s own texts? And shouldn’t the grammarian better educate for socially decorous behavior in the present than for reading ancient texts of history? Beginning Lessons The models of short letters written in different calligraphies and differently stylized letters of the alphabet in cursive dominate the hundred-page Libro subtilissimo, por el qual se enseña a escrevir y contar perfectamente by Juan de Iciar. They are intended for copying and practicing the characters: “Y ansi el principiante va aprendiendo a ser liberal, y limpio en su escribir.” (de Iciar 1559, s.p.). The letras antiguas, he said, were the most beautiful. Therefore they were especially suitable for the beginner. Whoever wants to teach children to write should start with capital letters and let them practice for 3–4 months. The Greek alphabet in capital and small letters, the Hebrew alphabet as well as calligraphic variations of the Spanish alphabet are also listed, in which letters are combined with ornaments and figures. Finally, recipes are given for making ink suitable for paper and ink suitable for parchment. In the preface to his El estudioso de la aldea, Lorenzo Palmireno, who calls himself the Cathedratico de Rhetorica in the dedicatory letter, notes that books like his in Latin are many, but they come too late, when students are able to read them. To reach students in time, he writes in Spanish, so that they will have a foundation in the countryside before they go to school in the city at 16 or 18. But he also addresses the parents. To illustrate the importance of their behavior toward the private tutor, he cites the example of Hernán Cortés in Mexico, whom a Spanish monk honored with a genuflection and a kiss on the hand. Being pointed out that he did

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not have the Pope before him, he replied that he did so in order to make an example before the Indians. If, therefore, the head of the family behaves reverently towards the tutor, the pupil also respects him. But if he treats him as a servant, then the latter loses his authority over the pupil. In choosing a tutor, attention should be paid to his temperament. If the pupil is introverted, the teacher should be cheerful and open. If the pupil is hectic, then the teacher should be rather calm, and the teacher should not be changed frequently, for one teacher will invalidate what another teaches, and so the student will always remain a beginner. Parents should not believe the student when he complains about the teacher, as he usually does so out of revenge for the caning he has suffered. Then, in the first chapter, the student is made aware that he faces a great task. In the medium term, at any rate, the student is to avoid country life, which is restful for aged courtiers but harmful for young people, who would be better off leaving the country and going to university. City dwellers have it better. “Huygas de la Aldea, y te entres en Universidad, donde tratando con muchos doctos, seas uno dellos; pues dicen: Beati qui habitant urbes.” (Palmireno 1569, 20). Let the student’s motto be, “Summum cape, medium habebis.” (22). If, then, one strives for the highest, he will get at least the middle. If, on the other hand, one is content with little, he will go away empty-handed. So let one strive for encyclopedic knowledge: Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldean, history, poetry, rhetoric, dialectics, natural philosophy, moral philosophy, politics, economics, mathematics, music, geometry, cosmography, geography, astrology, astronomy, optics, theology, medicine, jurisprudence, mechanical arts, martial arts, architecture, fine arts, agriculture, hunting, fowling, fishing, chemistry, alchemy, statics and metrics, as well as weights, measures and navigation (22). If one wants to form children and bring them to good thoughts, Palmireno advises with Augustine to give them the works of Virgil. In any case, the pupil should always have a book in his hand, to which he should feel as drawn as the Greek general Epaminodas to his shield. The rule applies that a restful youth is followed by an industrious old age: “A juventud apazible, senectud trabajosa.” (23). When one hears a good sermon in the pulpit, consider how many years of sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, cold and heat it has cost the speaker. Those who live in the countryside and think that good pulpit orators do not stray there are countered by numerous examples of the great potential that the land has to offer. Saul drove donkeys to pasture, David sheep. Both became kings because of their virtue. Tullius Hostilius came from a poor hovel and became king of Rome. Publius Ventidius Bassus was a mule driver before he became consul. Valentinian was the son of a rope maker and became Roman Emperor. Pope Sixtus was the son of a shepherd, Pope Hadrian VI the son of a poor linen weaver. Now, however, comes a religious and moral digression, which is introduced with the sentence that only he knows who can advise on how to secure his salvation. Shock prayers in Latin are proposed to accompany the day. On Sundays, the student may set aside Cicero and read pious books, many of which are recommended in an extensive list. These include: Fray Luis de Granada, Memorial de la vida christiana, 1566; Fray Luis de Granada, Guia de peccadores, 1567; Fray Joan de Pedraza, Summa de casos de consciencia, 1568; Fray Pedro de Cobarrubias, Remedio de

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jugadores, 1544; Azpilcueta, Manual de confesores, 1553; Fray Diego de Estella, La vanidad del mundo, 1567; Garcia de Cisneros, Compendio breve de exercicios espirituales, 1564; Fray Pedro de Alcantara, Tratado de la oracion y meditacion, 1563; Fray Montañes, Espejo de bien vivir, 1567; Fray Domingo de Soto, Doctrina Christiana, 1554; also mentioned are works by Ambrose, Gerson, and Augustine. Of course, he is not advised to read all of these books, but if one tires, he can turn to the other. And when he is ready to read Terence in Latin, he should also read some Latin texts, whose titles and authors are given (33). Latin and Education There follows advice on how to avoid certain vices. Lustfulness should be countered by eating little, sleeping no more than 7 hours, and studying the lives of saints. Pride is to be combated by recognizing one’s own weakness, which could lead tomorrow to the vice that one criticizes in others today, and by recognizing the strengths of others that one does not have oneself. One should not deal with injustice with anger, revenge or forgetfulness, but punish it with contempt. As from a high tower, one should look down on those who throw stones below (62). That anger is not a good thing was already seen by Plutarch when he remarks that angry dogs do not track down game and hares. And the philosopher Athenodoros had advised his pupil Augustus Caesar that in case of a fit of anger he should first recite the whole alphabet, and then the anger would subside. Numerous pieces of advice counsel patience, strength, hope and trust in God when it comes to dealing with annoyances and inconveniences. As fire refines gold and burns wood, so let it shine on the sensible and turn the unruly to ashes (71). Hints on well-mannered behavior are extensive. Palmireno does not want to address himself to a courtier, as Baltasar Castiglione did, but to a clever young man who is neither clumsy nor dirty (86). For it is of no use, he says, to please with one’s knowledge but repel through lack of education. It begins with the eyes, which must not look simple-minded, wild, or brazen. He who opens them wide appears stupid. He who half closes them looks suspicious and may be mistaken for a traitor. A wrinkleless brow testifies to a joyful and noble disposition. Let him who sneezes turn round. A sweating forehead should not be wiped with the hand, but with a cloth. He who laughs on every occasion appears as simple-minded as he who never laughs. In walking, too, a moderate measure is appropriate, so that the steps are neither too small nor too large. If one is invited to dinner, cut one’s fingernails beforehand. The fact that a teacher of rhetoric gives his pupil such rules is due not only to the fact that he understands his task holistically, but also to the fact that in rhetoric, on the one hand, the figure of the speaker himself performs an important task in persuasion and, on the other hand, the principle of aptum prescribes rules of conduct. The next section deals with the student’s acquisition of knowledge, which should not be limited to Latin conjugations, but should aim at good style and conversation in Latin. Memory is particularly important. It makes it possible to remember

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Themistocles, Mithridates or Seneca as examples and models from the past. Even if the teacher in the village is often ignorant, he should still be honored. After the lesson, at any rate, the pupil should retire to his room and, with the aid of books, deepen what he has heard. Thus the grammar of Pedro de Guevara is to be recommended, which appeared 1565 in Alcalá. If one wants to deepen oneself in the Latin Supinum, then one may sing the Latin verses, which Diego de Plaça published 1567 in Alcala. The rules of syntax are better memorized through daily composition. It is also helpful to “construct” Latin sentences, which means to determine the clauses according to their syntactic function in the sentence. In Caesar’s sentence, “Operis munitione, & telis repulsi sunt.” a literal possibility is suggested. “Repulsi sunt, fueron echados, munitione, por la municion, operis, de la obra, & telis, y por las armas.” (130). Better appears, “Repulsi sunt, fueron rebatidos, munitione, por la fuerza, operis, del estacado, & telis, por las muchas flechas que les arrojaban.” (130). What the student thinks is particularly good or particularly important is to be written in a notebook. This is similar to the loci communes notebooks and is called “Codex exceptorius, Proverbiador o Cartapacio” (133). In dividing the materials into individual groups, the student should follow Luis Vives, whose breakdown in Latin is quoted at length. Vives distinguishes 1. things of daily use, pertaining to the soul and body, actions, games, clothing, housing, and food, 2. rare words, 3. idiomatic phrases, 4. aphorisms, 5. grave remarks or incidents, 6. witty expressions, 7. Proverbs, 8. explanations of texts difficult to understand, 9. events of history, 10. fictitious narratives, 11. famous and excellent men, 12. glorious cities, 13. strange creatures, dynasties, and families, finally 14. all riddles and doubts not yet solved (133–134). The importance of the correct classification into these groups, places, pigeonholes or nests is given in detail by Palmireno in the following examples, for example for the rare words of point 2: dulcitudo, repentino, consuasor. If one is looking for regalia for a text or wants to amplify it, then collections of synonyms are helpful, for which examples also follow (148). Phrases from Cicero for praise and for censure are suggested. The student should also collect good phrases from vernacular Spanish books and write them down to refine his expression. If he becomes accustomed to this from childhood, he will later speak well as a pulpit preacher or effectively encourage his patients as a physician (157). There follow longer alphabetical patterns of various expressions, first on seafaring, then on warfare. The latter collections still belong to the third item in Vives’s list. To the fourth point are recommended some collections of sayings, in which are collected sayings of Cicero, Demosthenes, Plato, and various other poets. The explanations of the fifth to the ninth points are not very detailed, and the others are entirely lacking. With the Greek language the student should not burden himself while he is in the village. With the Latin style he can take his cue from Cicero, but also from more recent writers such as Paulus Manuncius, Leonardus Malaspina, and Sebastian Corrado. In a long list, vocabulary and expressions are given as “barbara” that do not correspond to classical Latin, such as “doctrinatio” instead of “doctrina, discilina, eruditio” (214) or “Adhibere fidem, Barbarum est. Nos habere fidem dicimus: & sané habere fidem, frequens est

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apud optimos autores.” (211). In addition, vocabulary to be avoided is given in alphabetical order, since it is not found in Terence, Caesar, or Cicero. Since the Latin texts of antiquity, which are the focus of Palmireno’s explanations, belong to the past, it is not surprising that the book ends with a digression on the meaning of history. According to Cicero’s dictum that he who does not know what happened before his birth remains a child forever: “Nescire autem, quid antequam natus sis, acciderit, id est, semper esse puerum,” (242) even the student in the village can learn from history and jump over his shadow. Lucius Lucullus, as a general, had no idea of the art of war when he went to Asia. However, having read about many campaigns in history along the way, his opponent Mithridates had to admit to never having had a more outlandish enemy. After all, he said, even the arts and sciences are nothing but history. Medicine tells of how Galen or Hippocrates healed, and theology is based on stories from the Book of Genesis to the Gospels. The book therefore concludes with a long alphabetical catalogue of historians in all languages, followed by a recommendation of the order in which the most important ones should be read.

5.1.2 Rhetorician and Humanist Ioan de Guzman’s Primera parte de la Rhetorica is laid out similarly to Palmireno’s notes for the study of the student in the country. The book is written in dialogue form, with one interlocutor being the questioner and the licenciado the answerer. Rhetoric is defined with Aristotle, Cicero, and Isidore as the skill, art, or science of speaking well with the aim of persuading. The Spanish humanist Francisco Sánchez de las Brozas had called it “arte de Rhetorica, organo dialectico” (de Guzman 1589, 12v) because of its proximity to logic. Persuasion in the narrow sense occurs through the use of “razones, de contrarios de similes, de comparaciones, de testimonios y authoridades” (15r), and in the broader sense subliminally through the speaker’s figure and appearance. While the carpenter works with wood and the surgeon considers wounds his field of work, in rhetoric the rules are the object. Hesiod illustrates the three genres of rhetoric in his Theogony with animals: the judicial speech with the lion, because it is supposed to worry and silence all others; the panegyric with the goat, which commands recognition and admiration; and the deliberative speech, which weighs and considers, with the dragon because of its versatility and because this animal moves back and forth and has extremely keen eyesight. Besides the judicial speech, which has for its object the defence or accusation of the defendant, there is the eulogistic speech, which praises or reproves, and is, according to Lucian, the genre of historians, and the deliberative speech, which persuades, or, e.g., in the pulpit sermon, exhorts to a virtue. Other genres are also mentioned: el genero honesto, which presents what is known to be good, such as one’s own country, or rebukes what is known to be bad, such as avarice; el genero torpe, which praises something shameful, such as injustice or cruelty; el genero dudoso, which defends something in the knowledge that it is base and unattractive,

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as when Odysseus praised his grandfather Autolykos, who surpassed all men in skill as a thief. In addition, there is el genero bajo, which praises the lowly, as when Lucian praises the fly, Erasmus praises the beetle, or Pedro Mexía praises the donkey, and el genero obscuro, which praises that which is ransacked by doubt (19r-20r). All the latter species can be understood as subgenera of the first three. Speech Exercises In a digression, the question of whether there has been progress or regression from antiquity to the present is briefly discussed. When the Licenciado argues that signs of fatigue are visible everywhere, his interlocutor counters with reference to more recent inventions such as the printing press or the gunpowder used in artillery. The Licenciado does not accept this, since gunpowder was invented thousands of years ago in China and the inventions of antiquity are more important than those of the present. Thus Zeno and Plato invented logic, the ancient Chaldeans astrology, Archytas of Tarentum practical geometry, and Heron of Alexandria the use of weights and winds. Nor, he said, was the present artillery anything like the implements of war of Archimedes, with which Syracuse defended itself against the Romans. These were throwing machines, grappling arms which could seize enemy ships and tear them to pieces, and burning mirrors with which distant ships were set on fire. Now if one wanted to imagine a perfect orator, he would first have to have a good memory, but then be richer than Cicero, shorter than Sallust, more subtile than the Greek speechwriter Lysias, more flowery than Pliny, wittier than Martial, sharper than Quintilian, and more profound than Seneca (27v). How to deal with the postulates of clarity, brevity, probability and appropriateness of the choice of words and the three stylistic heights is made clear by means of examples (36v). Progymnasmata were preliminary exercises that were common in beginning rhetoric classes. The students had to write down retellings of fables and chria, i.e. discussions of a sentence or a saying, and then recite them orally. The fable of the ants and cicadas is given as an example. While the latter enjoy their song in the heat of summer, the former gather provisions. Therefore, they are well provided for in the winter, in which the cicadas go hungry. The moral of the story is that those who shun work in youth suffer poverty in old age. The exercise presented now consists of a retelling of the fable, in which the circumstances, i.e. place, time, persons, things, causes, and manner are worked out and emphasized. Likewise, as a further preliminary exercise, examples are used to demonstrate how a sentence is amplified, i.e. expanded, by means of periphrases, explanations, comparative cases and variations of thought. The general remarks on rhetoric begin with the juxtaposition of speeches on general and concrete questions, the latter being determined by time, place, persons, and manner. For example, a general question is whether it is better to marry or not, a concrete one whether it is better for the present king to marry. Speakers prefer general questions and like to bring concrete questions down to a general level in order to have more freedom in framing them. The exordium, the introduction of a

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speech, is followed by the narratio, the narrative, the argumentatio, the presentation of evidence, and the conclusio, the conclusion. Guzmán uses different terminology when describing the effects of each part of the speech, which is meant to amuse, instruct, and move: “El exordio, deleite a los oyentes. La proposicion, deleyte y enseñe. La confirmacion, deleyte, enseñe y mueva. El epilogo deleyte, enseñe, mueva, y procure de alcanzar.” (64r). Thus, in the introduction, one could win the goodwill of the audience by bringing forward strange and remote stories or aberrant scientific knowledge. In a sermon, the exordium can lead directly to the subject or lead to it from another subject. Cicero advises to write the exordium only when the rest of the speech is already finished. With regard to the second part of the speech, in which the facts of the case are described, a sermon is first cited in which the narratio consists of nothing other than the translation of the Latin Gospel and thus, according to the preacher, fulfils the four requirements of clarity, brevity, probability and appropriateness of the choice of words in the best possible way. To this the Licenciado counters that in this way the different levels of the fourfold sense of Scripture in the Bible, namely, the literal, the allegorical, the moral, and the anagogical interpretation, would be disregarded. A good narratio should not only take into account the four requirements mentioned above, but should also make clear six circumstances: the person acting, the course of events, the time, the place, the manner, and the reason or cause of the act (106v). How these rules are followed particularly well is illustrated by means of a speech by Cicero, rendered in Latin, with an excerpt from Virgil’s Aeneid, and with the description of a fountain. For the speech part of the argumentatio, in which the speaker argues for the credibility of his cause or refutes the opposing arguments, seven pieces of advice are given. First, one should begin with a brief praise of the issue or proposition under discussion. Secondly, the subject matter is to be presented in an exposition, confirmed by examples, arguments, refutation of counter-arguments, and deletion of secondary aspects. The third part of the argumentatio is to bring out, by appeal to good reasons and authorities, that the subject matter is legitimate, just, useful, possible, honorable, necessary, easy, and agreeable. The fourth part is to demonstrate, with many examples, the harms that occur when one does not embrace the object and argues the opposite. The fifth part of the argumentatio shall bring cases of comparison, and support them by citing authorities, reasons, and examples. In the sixth part the examples are chosen from the Hebrew, Greek, and Roman spheres, giving precedence to the historically older over the more recent. The last part of the seven parts of the argumentatio confirms what has gone before with sayings and aphorisms from ancient and Christian writings. It depends on the subject of the speech, the circumstances, and the thematic ramifications whether all seven parts are to be employed. If this is the case in persuading, then four parts will suffice in demanding. It is possible to resort to a syllogism in defending the thesis. It is imperative to pay attention to how each part of the speech evokes what response in the audience. The speech part of the argumentatio is followed by the conclusio, also called epilogo or peroracion (135r). According to Cicero, it consists of three parts: the concise recapitulation of the main points made, the affirmation for the purpose of agreement,

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and the appeal to the passions. Advice is also given on the speaker’s gestures and facial expressions, that is, on the actio: when, for example, he emphasizes the capacity of the eyes to express passions: “Los affectos consisten en los ojos, voz, y mano. Los ojos son ventanas del animo: y assi con ellas representamos tristeza, o alegria, o admiracion, finalmente con gran facilidad comunicamos qualquier affecto o passion.” (148r, v). Topik The assistance of the topos or commonplaces, as elaborated by Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian and modern authors, is dealt with in detail. One topos, for example, is that one should argue from the whole if a part is doubtful. If it is proven that the whole world lives in peace, then this also applies to Spain. The reverse is also possible, if one claims that Spain is at peace, from which it can be deduced that the whole world is not at war. Another topos concludes from the genus to the species: if every game is harmful, then so is the game of dice. Self-evident points are also given to the speaker. He should strive for clarity in his choice of words, not use foreign words without knowing their exact meaning, and not make do with periphrases or paraphrases if he cannot think of a word to describe something. He may repeat a word if he wishes to strengthen praise or blame. He may also resort to oaths, not to confirm the truth of what is said, but to move the audience emotionally. Of course, quotations from pagan antiquity can be placed in the speech alongside those from Christianity. The practical application of the rules is demonstrated by the example of sermons on the theme “Blessed are the poor in the sight of God, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 5:3), in which the individual parts of speech such as exordium, narratio and argumentatio are named (195–226). Thereby, with regard to poverty, one can begin as much with the causes as with the effects, e.g. greed, with the conclusion that only he may be called happy who attaches no importance to the things of this world and has only God in mind, from whom he expects eternal reward (230v). As a corroborating authority from antiquity, Juvenal can be cited, who in his tenth satire denounces misguided confused desires and covetousness, (232r) showing how this is to be amplified by means of the topoi. An exhortatio, encouragement, is intended to move the audience to right action. In doing so, it has the possibility of referring to a wide variety of characteristics of the audience such as “genero, nacion, patria, padres, antepassados, crianza, profession, arte, republica, accion, honra, o dignidad, muerte.” (234r). The concluding remarks on the importance of memory for the speaker are preceded by the claim that rhetoric is a kind of music. When singing is accompanied by an instrument, the voice appears as the soul and the instrument as the body. Thus, the speaker’s voice also has an instrument, namely, rhetoric. “Luego bien digo yo que la Rhetorica sera verdadera musica, si verdaderamente la quereis considerar: pues no solamente es tambien voz, sino voz ordenada y dispuesta con industria y artificio.” (243r). As singers vary a letter in different

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tonalities, so the speaker varies a term in its meanings and ramifications until he makes it a counterpoint. Of practical value is Joan de Aranda’s collection Lugares comunes de conceptos, dichos, y sentencias (1595), where he compiles appropriate quotations from a wide variety of fields for 167 keywords. For use, the preface advises the reader to consult the alphabetical index at the end to find materials on a topic. Also at the end is an index of the various authors, primarily ancient but also modern, from whose texts the quotations are taken. On the subject of experience, there are quotes such as the one attributed to Plato: “One thing is science, another is experience; from the one is derived the other, since science is possession and experience is application.” (de Aranda 1595, 69r) or the Aristotle quote, “We have knowledge when we know causes and effects from experience. At the beginning of science is experience; its end is truth.” (69r). On the subject of the world, Marcus Aurelius states, “To be truly victorious over the world is to overcome it without escaping it.” (36v), in Bernhard “The Christian has to use the world, not enjoy it.” (36v), in Diego de Estella “The world was given to man as a ladder rung to God.” (36r). On utility, we find Claudianus’ quotation, “Useful things are preferable to pleasant ones, unless you can have both.” (105r). On the definition of human life, it should be noted from Euripides, “Human life, though called life, is nothing but labor.” (87v) and from Seneca, “Life is nothing but waging war.” (88r). There are also several quotations about work. Aristotle writes, “It is in works and adversities that truth is known.” (145r). From Gregory is quoted, “Adversity and labor are touchstones of virtue.” (145r) and from Cicero, “That cannot be called labor and burden which is performed with joy and pleasure.” (146r). On the subject of idleness, we find in Seneca, “Idleness is to the living man grave and death.” (150r) and in Cicero: “Idleness is the mother and cloak of all vices. Therefore no Roman dared to walk the streets without a mark of his profession. The consuls carried a battle-axe, the priests a priest’s hat, the tribunes a mace, the tailors scissors, the blacksmiths a hammer, the orators a book.” (150r). Idleness, however, Cicero distinguishes from leisure, from otium cum litteris: “No hay cosa mas dulce ni suave, que el ejercicio de las letras, que es el ocio de sabios, y philosofos.” (151v). All these quotations have been excerpted from books of antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the early modern period. From Reading to Book That excerpting was already a successful practice in antiquity is attested to by Pliny the Elder, of whom his nephew, Pliny the Younger, reports that he read nothing without excerpting from it. He was of the opinion, he says, that no book was so bad as not to be of some use. Another ancient excerptor, Aulus Gellius, could not have written his 20 volumes of Noctes Atticae without the material he had collected and arranged through his notes as a tireless reader (cf. Neumann 2001, 53, 54). And Seneca says that reading is comparable to the activity of bees searching for suitable flowers for honey (Nakládalová 2013, 41). Since bees make honey from pollen, Seneca’s comparison is a plea for a creative imitatio that draws from numerous

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sources and reproduces them in a transformed way. Restriction to a single author would accordingly be just as counterproductive as an excess of source authors (von Stackelberg 1956, 271–293; Strosetzki 2015b). Even a first look at ancient authors thus raises questions. Should only good books be excerpted? Should as many books as possible be the subject of excerpting? And finally, a question that is asked again and again: Is excerpting a creative activity? The discussion continued in the eighteenth century, as will be shown with a brief look at German conditions. Regarding the tradition of excerpting, Johann Heinrich Zedler’s Universallexikon of 1734 states under the keyword “Excerpiren” that by excerpting, that which has been prepared by others is taken into account. For those “make their own way in learning difficult, who only want to become wise through their own meditations” (Zedler 1961, 2321). But the excerpting person should not stop there. He should excerpt for the purpose of using it in his own reflections. It is a beginner’s mistake to take excerpts for realia. Criticism, which rejects the excerpting as little independent achievement and according to which the mere copying of individual passages, without processing the thought of the author with itself and developing own ideas, is a waste of time, is expressed in the Polyhistor (1732) of Daniel Georg Morhof as in Zedler. The loci communes – collections appear to him as instruments of learned research, not themselves already as science. They were not a result, but had only an inventoric function (cf. Zedelmaier 2000, 76, 81). Johan Heinrich Alsted had already seen it in a similar way in the seventeenth century in his Encyclopaedia. One should select what is useful in the readings, excerpt and arrange the excerpt material. This is followed by the process of reflection, in which what the reading plucks is processed and imprinted in memory. In writing, in turn, the material gathered in the course of reading then serves as the foundation of the inventio (cf. Zedelmaier 2001, 20). Nakládalová correctly summarizes Alsted’s concern when she sees the purpose of loci communes – collections as having a large library in miniature (Nakládalová 2013, 158). When a big library becomes a small one, one remains with book knowledge removed from reality as well as from practice. Thus, excerpting has an archiving function and prepares materials, not however for direct adoption, but for further processing in the context of a new purpose, the new text to be written. For this purpose, then, excerpt collections support the inventio. Those who read a text primarily with a view to a few quotations to be excerpted do not normally have the entire work in mind. They are not interested in the function of a passage in the coherence of the whole, but see a garden in front of them from which they want to pick the most beautiful and best flowers (Minzetanu 2012, 32). If they are indeed not concerned with understanding the whole, then this method is not hermeneutic but anti-hermeneutic. If one uses excerpts, then reading is related to future writing. This transition from reading to writing has been seen by many, Nakládalová names Quintilian and Ramus. The former calls for the three-step of reading, writing and saying: ‘legere, escribere, dicere’; in the latter, understanding is followed by writing and saying: ‘interpretatio, scriptio, dictio’ (Nakládalová 2013, 127, 130, 132, 137, 142). However, since writing then proceeds in such a way from what is read, future writing is also related to what is read. Thus it is quite justified when Anthony Grafton sees writing as a kind of reading: “un homenaje letra

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por letra al poder del original” (Grafton 1998, 322). If reading does not stop at understanding the present text in its entirety, but is directed from the outset towards a future text, then the source texts can be recognized in it wherever it owes its emergence to the working through of the excerpts. The numerous attempts to systematically order the excerpts according to topics, as put forward especially by German-speaking authors, i.e. from Vincentius Placcius in the seventeenth century to Johann Jacob Moser and Johann Caspar Hagenbuch with his Bibliotheca Epigraphica (1738) in the eighteenth century, provoked an opposition that published materials without order under the title Adversaria and received special attention from 1650 onwards (cf. Décultot 2003, 16). Yet this opposition is nothing more than evidence of the widespread practice of collecting materials. Possible criteria for the arrangement of different excerpts may include: the subject area (economics, law, medicine), the source type (oral, written, personal experience), intended audience, and authorial intention (rhetorical, playful, or factual report) (Blair 2004, 90; Blair 1992, 541–551; Goyet 1991, 493–504). In managing knowledge, excerpt notes seem more convenient than excerpt books, since the latter make rearrangements more difficult, as the German Vincentius Placcius points out in De arte excerpendi. Vom gelehrten Buchhalten über singularis […] (1689) states (Zedelmaier 2002, 45). A system of order has the function of making it easier to find the passages that fit into the new text when needed. By the implementation of what has been learned, Rudolf Agricola already understands in the sixteenth century in his recommendations for school practice De formando studio (1532) to form and independently create something that is so new that it can be passed off as one’s own (Blusch 1994, 359). This raises the question of novelty and independence. Anthony Grafton exemplifies the fact that new ideas can indeed emerge from the evaluation of collected excerpts with Jean Bodin, who found a new theory of sovereignty when he searched for lessons of historians in his excerpts (cf. Grafton 2003, 41). The newness, however, was usually seen not in the content but in a new arrangement of the materials. The materials are known and given. They become literarily new only through their formal arrangement. There, then, the work of the commentator becomes independent, where he breaks away from the commented text and uses it as material to write his own book. How the commentator becomes a writer is exemplified by Pedro Mexía’s Silva de varia lección (1540) or Lorenzo Palmireno’s Stromata philologi (1569). The author explains the latter title by referring to the Greek word stromata, which denotes carpets of different colors and images, and to Clement of Alexandria, “porque el doctissimo Clemens Alexandrinus llamo a sus libros Miscellaneos Stromata, he querido poner este titulo a estas pocas hojas.” (Laurentius Palmirenus 1569, Preface). Céspedes cites as a particular model the Saturnalia by Justus Lipsius, in which the author understands how to assign different quotations to one keyword, “de juntar con agudeza y juicio los lugares diferentes de los Autores á un proposito.” (de Céspedes 1784, 62). Reading this work, one gets the impression that the ancient authors did not write their information for their own works, but for the context in which Lipsius places them. As the author of his own works, the humanist is immune to the charge that he is a passive reader oriented only to the past. Since

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as an author he himself needs a readership, he must orient his choice of subjects to the spirit of the times. In this way, Céspedes overcomes the sad erudition of those who revere Cicero so much that they hide behind the protection of his name and their works remain mere commentaries (de Herrera 1530, Epistola). The architect who takes over windows and doors for a new house from existing buildings is doing no more unauthorized than the person who uses excerpts for a new text. That excerpts are anything but an end product is shown by the recommendation that they be kept in loose-leaf notebooks. More important works would rather be kept in book form. The important thing is to find the appropriate passages for one’s own creative work as quickly and easily as possible. Even if the newness usually consists only in the fact that the materials are put together in a new way, new ideas can also arise on the basis of the excerpts, of which Jean Bodin’s theory of sovereignty is only one example. Above we have already pointed out the proximity of commentary and excerpt. Both are oriented towards a textual model from which they take something and quote it. Thus commentary and excerpt are in a certain sense imitations. In Baltasar de Céspedes, who describes the commentary under the keyword imitatio, the imitatio serves first of all as linguistic practice in the Latin language. As adición it adds something to the words of the present author, as detracción it takes something away from them, as inversión it rearranges the original word order, and as imitación in the narrower sense one word is replaced by another. This imitatio of the grammar teacher serves, for example, the better acquisition of the Latin language. But commentaries also belong to the tasks of the humanist, as Céspedes emphasizes in his Discurso de la letras humanas, llamado ‘El Humanista’ (1600). They should not, however, serve the display of the commentator’s encyclopaedic knowledge, but rather the understanding of the text (Strosetzki 1987, 290). Therefore, he also advises the humanist to make use of excerpts and collections of quotations. However, as useful as such a collection of one’s own is for private use, it can be harmful if it becomes accessible as a book to strangers because they have no idea of the context of the quotation. Thus it could happen that they attack Cicero because of a passage in which he does not represent himself, but has been put into the mouth of an opposing interlocutor. Reading Guides and Hermeneutics Excerpts serve the purpose of understanding. Hermeneutics is the study of understanding. So what is the relationship between hermeneutics and excerpt theory? Already at the beginning we had established that the excerpt belongs to the group of text types such as annotation, commentary and summary, whose task is to make a text understandable. The only difference between the excerpt and the commentary is that the former reformulates something already understood, while the latter aims to bring something not initially understood to understanding. However, there are also cases in which the author himself has insight into the incomprehensibility of his text and preempts the reader with his own explanations.

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An example of this is the Spanish mystic Alejo de Venegas, who appends to his own writing Libro del transito de la muerte (1537) a reading guide for the reader, a Breve declaración de las sentencias y vocablos obscuros que en el libro del tránsito de la muerte se hallan. Here, then, the author writes notes on his own book. In doing so, he begins with a typology of explanation, distinguishing between gloss, paraphrase, commentary, and translation (cf. de Venegas 1911, 259–261). According to Venegas, these types of explanation could also find application in the conceptualization of texts, for example, when an unclear sentence is clarified by a following explanation, an aphorism is illustrated by a fictional narrative, or a foreign-language quotation is made intelligible by its translation. The forerunner in the interpretation of religious scriptures is the aforementioned medieval tradition of the fourfold scriptural meaning of the Bible, to which sixteenth-century reading guides still refer. Their detailed rules can be found, for example, in the Regulae intelligendi scripturas sacras (1553) by Francisco Ruiz de Valladolid or the Regulae de sensibus scripturae (1587) by Sebastian Pérez, which will not be discussed in detail here. More interesting in our context are hermeneutics of the sixteenth century, which emerged in the Protestant circle, where, as is well known, a new relationship to the Bible was sought. One such hermeneutical writing comes from Matthias Flacius Illyricus (1520–1575), who was born in Istria, a Venetian colony, lived for a long time in Germany, where Melanchton arranged for him a professorship of Hebrew in Wittenberg and Luther was a guest at his wedding in 1545. Later he taught in Augsburg, Leipzig, Regensburg, and Strasbourg, among other places, but always had difficulties because of his heterodox views. His hermeneutical work De ratione cognoscendi sacras literas appeared in 1567 and had new editions in 1580–81, 1609, 1617, and 1629 (cf. Geldsetzer 1968, preface). It is not limited to the reading of the Bible, but gives general advice for the reading of any text. Thus the causes he gives of the difficulties of understanding the Bible apply generally. At the very outset he emphasizes the role of the reader: If he has good prerequisites, he will absorb the text more quickly than the sluggish one. One must be cautious about foreign interpretations, since they often obscure the text more than they interpret it, either out of ignorance or out of malice. Difficulties are caused, for example, by figurative language, metaphorical, abbreviatory, or doubling modes of speech, or by a leaping line of thought. They are countered by reading aids. They include a good knowledge of the things spoken of, sufficient knowledge of foreign languages or good translations, perseverance, and comparison of the different passages so that one illuminates the other. There follow 60 hermeneutical rules for understanding the Bible. Thus it is advised that the reader, at the very beginning, “be pre-instructed as to the intention and nature of the doctrine or matter treated therein, that he may, as it were, as if guided by a thread of Theseus, safely and profitably, as it were, enter into, advance in, and return from this labyrinth.” (Flacius Illyricus 1968, 41). An early form of the later hermeneutic theory of prior understanding is evident here. The reader is required to first find out the intention and the basic idea. The understanding of the respective individual passage depends on a prior information of the listener. In addition, the reader must have the right disposition. With recourse to the Nicomachean

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Ethics, in which Aristotle speaks of the student at the beginning, he emphasizes that philosophy, in contrast to theology, requires a capable and insightful listener right at the beginning (63). The doctrine of pre-comprehension transitions into that of the circularity of understanding, where the reader is advised to first grasp the generality of the text before dealing with the parts. “When you approach the reading of a book, set it up at the very beginning, as far as it can be done, that you first keep in mind the point of view, the purpose or intention of this whole writing, which is like the head or face of it.” (91). Secondly, “the whole argument, sum, extract, or brief of the same,” (91) is to be worked out, “that thou mayest the more easily mentally apprehend and understand that work, and impress it upon the memory, since thou will thus have brought all into one general view, or, as it were, under one aspect.” (93). Now, if the point of view, the argument, the outline, and the tabular summary are correct and neat, the advantages that would nowadays be ascribed to circularity of understanding will result. The “basic concept,” that is, general main idea, sum, and also outline and brief, should therefore be recorded in an excerpt. Thus no other task is ascribed to the excerpt than to record in writing the individual steps prescribed by hermeneutics. It can be seen, then, that Flacius Illyricus not only makes numerous hermeneutical considerations, but that the summary excerpt plays a central role in his hermeneutics. Starting from the individual steps of understanding in hermeneutics, Flacius Illyricus arrives at the theory of excerpting, to which he assigns its own important role as a technique preserving the individual steps of understanding in the context of hermeneutics. In addition, and this is particularly worth mentioning, central models of nineteenth-century hermeneutics can already be found in him, such as that of the circularity of understanding and that of prior understanding. Even if the person who writes excerpts while reading may proceed anti-­ hermeneutically in that he does not want to understand the primary text in its entirety, but only in its parts, he has to understand these parts. In this, at any rate, hermeneutics is very helpful to him. It has been shown that some questions have been raised again and again. Since they are still unresolved, let us recall them once more: What are the relations between the text-processing procedures of excerpt, commentary, and imitation? How should the set of excerpts be ordered thematically and practically? Is excerpting oriented toward the primary text or toward the future text to be written? And is excerpting a creative activity in which new things emerge? After all, how is one to choose from the crowd of new books? If a poeta eruditus corresponds to a lector eruditus, then reading is as difficult as writing. For so, too, has the reader to know all that the author knows, in order to understand books with a proper prior understanding and with due regard for circularity. Pedant With so much erudition, the question of suitability for everyday life arises. To be unfit for the everyday world was already said of Thales of Miletus, who fell into a well while contemplating the heavenly bodies. Socrates, too, is incompatible with society in Aristophanes’ comedy The Clouds (423 B.C.), when his pupil Pheidippides

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beats up his father after an exchange of words, pointing out that it is quite all right for sons to repay fathers for the beatings they formerly received, to which the father responds by tearing down Socrates’ house and setting it ablaze (Hoppe and Kroll 1927, 5). Suitability for everyday life, then, is not a strength of scholars in philosophy and science, certainly not of scholars of the book. Worldliness out of erudition is the characteristic of the pedant, who can be seen as a caricature of the humanist (Pabst 1953, 95). Through Italian texts such as Francesco Belo’s Il pedante (1529) and Giordano Bruno’s Il candelaio (1582), the pedant has become the figure of the dottore of the commedia dell’arte and, in France, the counterpart of the honnête homme (Strosetzki 1984, 94). As a caricature of the humanist, the pedant also does not have that universal knowledge that Pascal prefers. But since one cannot know everything, one is supposed to know something of everything, which is better than knowing everything of one thing. “Cette universalité est la plus belle. Si on pouvait avoir les deux, encore mieux, mais s’il faut choisir, il faut choisir celle-là.” (Pascal 1954, 1098–1099). Rather, the pedant appears as someone who, like the conceited grammarian, derives all his pride from mastery of a single subject. Is the grammarian really a representative of a specialized knowledge or rather of a universal knowledge? In the Spanish Siglo de Oro, further definitions of the scholar are made. In his Cartas filológicas from 1634, Francisco Cascales, drawing on Suetonius, traces the Spanish word “letrados” back to the Latin accusative “literatos”, whose equivalent in Greek is “gramaticos”. In doing so, he obviously starts from the concept of the letter, whose designation in Latin is “littera” and in Greek γράμμα. The fact that in the meantime lawyers have also adopted the designation “letrados,” which originally belonged to grammarians, only proves their great prestige, so that grammarians can boast “que nosotros somos la cabeza.” (Cascales 1941, 71). Citing the first book of Cicero’s De Oratore, Cascales attributes four tasks to the grammarian. They are to comment on poets, inform on history, interpret texts, and teach proper pronunciation, which, he summarizes, is reduced to two in Quintilian’s De institutione oratoria: “la ciencia de hablar y explicación de los auctores; la primera se llama metódica, la última histórica.” (45). The explanation of authors, however, is only possible if the explainer has a knowledge as encyclopedic as that of the poeta eruditus he is to explain, that is, if he has mastered, for example, astrology, medicine, jurisprudence, theology, as well as everything that concerns the king, the picaro, the earth, the sky, the fish, the birds, the pagans, and the Christians. “Qué cornucopia, qué cosecha de cosas habrá menester para complir con su oficio?” (47). What a cornucopia of knowledge is required for explanation after all, Cascales wonders in amazement. When he emphasizes the breadth of knowledge required when considering the bathing culture of the Romans, he refers to the philologist who must have touched all the sciences and arts, at least as the bee touches the flowers: “La filología tiene los brazos muy largos; pues se pasea por el campo de todas las ciencias y de todas las artes, no ya con aquella perfección que cada una pide, pero a lo menos chupando, como hacen las abejas, lo más dulce de las floridas plantas.” (72). According to Baltasar de Céspedes, such extensive knowledge is also required for the textual criticism of the grammarian. In his Discurso de las letras humanas,

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llamado “El Humanista” in 1600, Céspedes draws up his ideal conception of the humanist, based on widespread definitions of the grammarian. This person should be characterized, first, by “inteligencia del lenguage,” “razón del lenguaje,” and “uso del lenguage” (de Céspedes 1784, 5–6), and second, by knowledge of the real facts of history, the fictions and myths found in literature, and disciplines such as geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and jurisprudence. In the various task descriptions cited, the grammarian, philologist, and humanist appear quite comparable. Snobbery What are the main accusations made against this professional group? The following overview goes from the subjective sensitivities and attitudes about the different activities to the objects of their activities. In Saavedra Fajardo, half-educated humanist is accused of arrogance and pomposity. Even though he knows only four verses of Homer and six aphorisms of Demosthenes, he dares to discuss all sorts of subjects. Others are “desnudos de ciencias y virtudes” (Saavedra Fajardo 2006, 154) and only want to be thought because of their large libraries, because of their long beards or because of their careless clothes. But the vanity and conceit of the grammarians are particularly conspicuous, who, on the basis of their knowledge of the genera and the tempora, presume to intervene in discussions, to improve sciences, and to judge books and authors. They then call Plato obscure and Aristotle dark. An arrogant, easily flustered, and complacent letrado resembles in his ignorance an animal reared in the wilderness, unrestrained and unruly. Some grammarians also consider themselves competent to have a say in all sciences and professions, merely because they have mastered the Latin language. The Alexandrian grammarian Apión is cited as an example of those who dedicate their books with arrogant modesty to great princes, thereby gaining their intercession and protection, even though they could not even read. Saavedra Fajardo criticizes the vanity and fame-seeking of those scholars who flaunt their readings and flaunt their knowledge (126). On the occasion of the public appearance of the Italian humanist and prolific writer Gerolamo Ruscelli, the remark is made that in the República literaria the most learned are particularly modest and reserved, while the ignorant are swashbuckling, impertinent, and garrulous (146–147, 154155, 260). Among the most ignorant, and therefore the most conceited, Quevedo counts the grammarian, whose knowledge is limited to ancient languages and who knows only these and not his own language. He knows only the literal sense of vocabulary and not its meaning in context, but looks down with contempt on others who are ignorant of Hebrew and Greek “siendo verdad que la propia, que naturaleza le enseñó, no la sabe y que no puede hablar ni escribir en ella sin reprehensión.” (de Quevedo y Villegas 2008, 111–112). Arrogance appears as a class characteristic when Estella in his religious argumentation contrasts virtue and vice and the simple and good Christian appears to him more valuable than the arrogant letrado (Diego de Estella 1980, 78). Christian attitude, he argues, is lacking in the letrado: “Más vale ser pobre que rico, mejor es

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ser pequeño que grande, y mejor ser idiota y humilde que letrado vano y soberbio.” (78). In general, for Estella, intellectual theory is less important than reality or practice, since at the Last Judgment it is not words but deeds that are to be accounted for, “‘No nos será preguntado por lo que dijimos, sino por lo que hicimos.’” (78). Estella refers to those who gloss and interpret the texts of others as ociosos, to whom one should not pay attention. Estella values morality over scholarship, so one should not despise the one who has less literary knowledge than oneself, since he might be morally better and closer to heaven with his good deeds. Thus, if we look at attitudes, unwarranted arrogance and neglect of morality and practice are the central accusations. Satire How are the characteristic activities evaluated? Especially the two central tasks of canon formation and textual criticism give rise to harsh criticism. One of the tasks of the grammaticus was to distinguish the books worth reading from the worthless ones. Saavedra Fajardo entrusted this task to venerable priests, who allowed only those books to be valid that were perfected by the author’s own art and inventiveness “y a los demás arrojaban en unas simas profundas y obscuras.” (Saavedra Fajardo 2006, 125). The fact that only original editions are permitted in the formation of the canon, thus omitting those compilations and commentaries whose authors are grammarians and humanists, is a damning criticism of their preferred activity. It is therefore to be lamented that so many of them have worked so much and for nothing (127). Another central task of the humanist was the preparation of critical editions of texts. Their necessity was justified by the fact that in the period before the invention of the printing press, poor handwritten copies had allowed numerous errors to creep in. To illustrate textual criticism, Saavedra Fajardo uses an allegory: he compares those who improve and perfect authors to surgeons. They add noses to some, hair, teeth, eyes, arms, and artificial feet to others. To still others they cut off fingers or hands, arguing that they are not the right ones: “Y les ponen otras, con que todos salen desfigurados de las suyas.” (258). The philologists who engage in textual criticism appear as patchworkers, junk dealers, and cobblers who take old things and deface them: While Virgil and Terence get new shoes, Cicero’s toga is mended. In the intellectual activities of the philologist, Saavedra Fajardo sees only menial work anyway: Thus the grammarians in his República literaria seem to him like fruit and vegetable sellers who provoke each other from their stalls and offend each other’s honor. Theft is considered a virtue there. People enrich themselves by stealing from each other. Although imitations of the poets are particularly emphasized in this context, the commentaries and compilations of the humanists are also targeted (141–144). What are the objects with which the learned letrados concern themselves? In the worst case, they are verses that have no meaning, but to which they want to ascribe meaning by imitating them with their equally nonsensical commentaries. From the preoccupation with the senseless arises the senseless, as shown by Alonso de

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Castillo Solorçano in 1625 in his Tardes entretenidas sees a culto graduado, which he demonstrates by the example of a letrado who lost his mind in the search for the interpretation of each verse, citing innumerable inconsistencies and commenting on every difficulty in order to find a meaning where there was none, eventually losing the thread completely, “y así no escribía cosa que no fuese imitándola, sin saber él mismo lo que se quería decir.” (Castillo Solorçano 1908, 309–310). Saavedra Fajardo, in considering the kinds of texts produced by humanists, goes beyond commentary to equally criticize those who tirelessly consume their minds “en hacer enigmas, laberintos, anagramas, traducir y glosar versos y componerlos de centones.” (Saavedra Fajardo 2006, 152–153). They reap only weariness and no honor. Those who compile collections of aphorisms and quotations from works by different authors, as shown above, also appear ridiculous. They consider this a praiseworthy activity, but forget that in this way they present to the reader, who is too lazy to read the whole book, only fragments torn out of context, which, like stones removed from a building, have lost meaning and function. The humanist has to occupy himself not only with texts, but also with objects from far back in time. In doing so, it seems to Saavedra Fajardo a waste of time to spend his skills on useless things like deciphering medals and ancient stones, visiting ruins and building remains, or studying different manuscripts to find out what kind of shoes Cadmos, the king of Thebes, wore, or “si en los convites de Alejandro se sirvieron bisnagas, y quién fue el primero que las usó.” (Saavedra Fajardo 2006, 152). Thus, the critique goes in two directions: On the one hand, only historical interest without reference to the present seems pointless and superfluous, but on the other hand, the rehashing of ancient materials in florilegias is also evil, because it sacrifices the original contexts, although it suits the contemporary reader. Bartolomé Jiménez Patón accuses the “doctos de prólogos” (Madroñal 2009, 58) of lacking depth, who only read prefaces and tables of contents in books and think they already know what they are dealing with, which they then immediately write down in their notebooks. The universal knowledge demanded for the humanist and grammarian thus becomes, where it is made possible and aspired to, the target of criticism that accuses it of a lack of substance. Much more serious, however, is the criticism indicated by Estella of the lack of reference of the objects to one’s own life practice, which begins with self-­knowledge. He who knows the heights of the heavens and the depths of the seas, studies the sciences, but does not know himself, is like a building without a foundation. Imagination blocks the way to wisdom: “No podrá llegar a la verdadera sabiduría el que es engañado con la presunción de sus letras.” (Diego de Estella 1980, 78). The dominance in universities of objects over morals, of talking over doing, is also deplored by Quevedo, who asks what is the point of teaching rhetoric and logic as long as there are no ethics chairs, “cátedras de saber hacer bien, y donde se enseñe!” (de Quevedo y Villegas 2008, 117). It is not enough to defend what Aristotle or Plato said, especially since we do not know if it is actually so, but only that they wrote it and we read it. As has been shown, the faults found with the grammarian, philologist and humanist respectively can be divided into three groups. First, they are accused of

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misdirected activity. Their erudition renders them passive and incapable of taking an active part in the life of society. Being devoted to theory, they are said to be unfit in practice, their knowledge has no consequence for their actions, their erudition closes their view of nature. Instead of actively writing something of their own, they are largely content with the role of reader when they establish a canon, practice textual criticism, or write commentaries. Secondly, there is a lack of application and thus of proper appreciation of the activities of the grammarian. If he attaches importance exclusively to the ancient languages Latin and Greek, if he deals with medals of antiquity or other archaeological finds, he is living in the past and not in the present. The more useless his work seems, the more he imagines himself to be, and is vain, proud, and conceited. And although his activities could be compared to the lowest craftsmen’s work, he thinks he is superior to all, even if he only knows something of the language. Thus, thirdly, he is reproached for knowing something only of one thing. But since the grammarian and the humanist are at the same time supposed to have universal knowledge, it is reproached that he must be superficial, since universal knowledge is impossible. The question now arises whether the criticisms mentioned refute the humanist as an ideal figure or whether they only correct him, that is, whether they are destructive or constructive criticisms. Ideal Images In the following, therefore, two further models will be presented. Baltasar de Céspedes, who first taught rhetoric at the University of Salamanca before taking over the chair of Latin grammar, wants to correct a false understanding of what a humanist is and can be. In his Discurso de las letras humanas, llamado “El Humanista,” in 1600, he refuses to apply the designation humanist to those who have many verses of poets in their heads or who know Latin and Greek well, and asks what, in fact, the humanist is supposed to teach and what the scope of his subject is (de Céspedes 1784, 2–3). Following Quintilian, he distinguishes, as already mentioned, a language-related part from a reality-related part. While the former includes language comprehension, language description with orthography, prosody, etymology and syntax as well as language use, the latter consists of three parts: first, knowledge of the real facts of history, literature and disciplines such as theology, astronomy and jurisprudence, second, knowledge of the literary works that a humanist should be able to write, and third, knowledge of auxiliary disciplines such as logic. In his El estudioso Cortesano (1587), Lorencio Palmireno, who describes himself as a grammarian and characterizes his activity as a “profesion de enseñar letras humanas”, emphasizes the educational side of the grammarian’s task and the necessity of socially skillful and decorous behavior. By this is meant the skill of earning money, of dressing appropriately, or of not allowing oneself to be cheated when buying something, that is, of behaving altogether in such a way that no one can say one is a big ass without books. These skills he refers to by the term agibilia. They are lacking when one neglects conversation with others. The reading of the book

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should be followed by handling and talking with others (Palmireno 1587, B 2 v). Life experience, good manners, charity, and efficiency are more important to Palmireno than knowledge of Latin, which is also necessary, but should not be the primary concern. The practical lessons to be learned from the reading of the ancient authors seem to him more important than the commentary explanation of the poets. The application should be above the contemplation of the past. So it is only consistent that in his Latin vernacular dictionary entitled Vocabulario del Hvmanista (1575) he places greater emphasis on objects than on linguistic designations, when in his preface he limits the role of language to that of a mediator for the world of reality. In Palmireno, as in Céspedes, new ideal images of the grammarian or the humanist are thus shown, in which the previously mentioned faults and vices are overcome. Whereas the depiction of errors and vices was in the realm of satire, Palmireno and Céspedes belong to the literature of moral education. In the manner of the princely mirrors, they describe the “idea del perfecto humanista” (de Céspedes 1784, 91) as an ideal. Céspedes sees very clearly that he is moving in the realm of norms that are supposed to shape mentality and guide action when he wants to present in his book the perfect humanist who may never have existed: “Aquí no se hace descripción de los Humanistas que son, sino de como ha de ser perfecto, que quizás no le ha habido en el mundo, ni le habrá jamas.” (de Céspedes 1784, 90–91).

5.2 Quadrivium The quadrivium within the artes liberales includes the subjects of arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy. They were considered more reality-based than the trivium and were thus less important for the study of ecclesiastical texts. Whereas in the trivium it is the word that dominates, in the quadrivium it is the number. Hence arithmetic, the study of calculating with numbers, is the dominant discipline. According to Plato, those who cannot calculate appear incapable of grasping the world, since everything in the world can be traced back to numbers. The subjects of the quadrivium overlap in terms of their objects. Thus the harmony of music has its counterpart in the harmony of the music of the spheres from the field of astronomy. What is the interplay of mind and body in music? Is it more of an intellectual or physical activity? Can music be used medically and educationally? Why was the study of music considered a prerequisite for philosophy in the ancient world? As every thing is known by its opposite, for instance, in medicine health by disease, or in ethics the good by the bad, so in arithmetic subtraction may be regarded as the opposite of addition, and division as the opposite of multiplication. While theoretical arithmetic makes distinctions and definitions, for example, of the different kinds of numbers, practical arithmetic often deals with geometry, cosmography, astronomy, and mercantile applications in the same tracts. The geometrical sequence formed by numbers marking distances finds application in geometry or music. The rules of the rule of three can be used to calculate economic profits and profit shares

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among merchants. Since cosmography includes the world of the elements fire, air, water and earth, compositions of elements are also discussed. The latter become clear when they are disassembled. Thus, when wood is burned, moisture (water), smoke (fire) and steam (air) are produced. The question arises as to what is required for clouds, rain, snow, fog and ice to form from water. Time measurement is closely related to astronomy and arithmetic. Astronomy deals with the celestial movements of the stars and the influence they have on man (Ferreras 2003, 131–141). Zamorano’s chapter on the reckoning of time begins with eternity, which, unlike time, is motionless and incorporeal and has neither beginning, middle, nor end. Divisions of time such as those according to the Olympic Games in antiquity or the church year with its festivals or the seasons with their different weather patterns are presented, as are ways of predicting future events through omens. The latter can refer to the weather, but also to earthquakes or serious diseases such as the plague. Finally, the calculation of favourable times for medical applications or for sowing and planting in agriculture is explained, before Zamorano concludes with a look at world history from Adam to the current Pope. Among the difficulties of astronomy is gaining knowledge of the heavenly bodies, since they are inaccessible to the human senses because of their distance and colorlessness. Is not skepticism of the senses called for, since one cannot hear the music of the spheres and the sky is not blue? After all, the senses find support in computational instruments like that of the astrolabe. What is the purpose of the multitude of stars? It is suggested that they serve to illuminate at night, to adorn the sky, and to influence things on earth. It is asked which signs of the zodiac affect which parts of the human body. What can be predicted with the planets Saturn and Mars or with comets? What does a lunar eclipse augur? Cosmography also includes hydrography, which uses the celestial bodies and the astrolabe to measure the seas and make navigational calculations according to the position of the sun, poles, cardinal points, and latitude and longitude. It is closely related to the art of navigation, which deals in its theoretical part with the starry heavens and the elements, and in its practical part teaches the use of the astrolabe, compass, clock, and charts. It can be seen, therefore, that in the quadrivium theory is always transformed into practice and scientific knowledge is made technically useful.

5.2.1 Musician Music of the Spheres The word “music” was derived in Greek from “techne musike”, art of the muses. Plato contrasts music with gymnastics, whereby the latter exercises the body and the former serves to train the mind, which can also read and write. Music in antiquity meant on the one hand practical musical activity, and on the other the science of harmony. Pythagoras and his school had anchored it metaphysically, since from

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their point of view music confirmed the world as harmony and unity of the diverse. Thus music becomes the science of the rational order of being. Number and harmony, as principles of the cosmos, become at the same time objects of music, arithmetic, geometry and astronomy. Since for Plato every harmony corresponds to a spiritual attitude and mindset, he rejects corrupt instruments and musical genres on ethical grounds. In the Middle Ages it is Augustine for whom the eternal, purely spiritual number underlies the physical sounding number. Since musical sound stimulus is earthly enticement, it requires the religious word as a supplement. However, where this complement begins to dominate, music moves away from the quadrivium, the sciences of number, and towards the trivium, the sciences of the word. This is further facilitated by the fact that in the Baroque period music is associated with the affects as sound-speech. This places it close to rhetoric, which in turn addresses the affects (Scholtz 1984). For Augustine and Boetius, singing is an activity that has existed since the beginning of the world. Citing Macrobius, Tapia Numantino, in his Vergel de musica spiritual speculativa y activa, attributes more or less loud and harmonic sounds to the movements of the heavenly bodies, depending on their size and speed (Tapia Numantino 1570, Xr). In Boethius, who wrote a work entitled De institutione musica, he finds this idea generalized and transferred to music, which is possible only where there are sounds, and sounds exist only where there is motion (Xv). He also quotes opinions, such as those of Pythagoras, according to which music of the spheres is not audible to man, although the cosmos is so ordered by mathematical proportions that the same laws apply in astronomy as in music. It cannot be denied, however, that the proportions with which the world was created are governed by a celestial harmony which can help to recognize the Creator (XIr). Again citing Boethius, the close connection of mind and body in music is emphasized. “De forma que de dos cosas distintas como son el anima y el cuerpo, en el hombre nasce esta musica humana.” (XII). Thus man is by his nature predisposed to music. If he hears dissonances, he becomes sad, just as he feels joy when he hears harmonic tones. Among musical instruments, the harp and the vihuela, as artistic and rhythmic instruments, are contrasted with the flute, made to sound with air, as an organic instrument. More generally, speculative and theoretical music is to be distinguished from practical. While in the former harmonies are measured and weighted with reason, the latter belongs to the artes liberales, since it applies, for example, the principles of singing. In any case, music is intellectual rather than physical labor. A musician, therefore, may call himself only he who is versed in theory, and not he who has dexterity in the musical instrument or a good voice: “Assi que el musico speculativo, o theorico, es antepuesto al practico.” (XIIIv). He says that this can be compared to a victory in battle, which is not due to the soldiers, but to the captain who designs the strategy. One could also compare it to the Latin student who, if he only knows the ABC, does not yet know the language.

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Measure and Harmony The definitions are rather abstract, for example, when Isidore describes music as the science of measure and harmony, or when Augustine considers it is the science of good measure and good melody, whereby among other things it is the beat that is measured. Of course there is also singing, which, as in birds, is based on imitation, when, for instance, what has been heard by the parents is repeated. According to Tapia Numantino, however, this should not be called a science, since the “sciencia de bien medir” (XVIv) is missing here. Reason belongs to music as to art. In music it is like in rhetoric. One is an orator only when one has been a rhetorician, and a singer only when one has studied music: “Ninguno meresce ser dicho orador, si primero no es rhetorico, assi ninguno meresce el nombre de cantor, si primero no fuere musico.” (XVIIv). Now it might be countered that nature creates things with greater perfection than art. Thus, the rose in nature is more beautiful than the one painted by a painter. Tapia Numantino counters that it is different in music. It originated in nature, but was then perfected by many experiences and clever minds over 6000 years. In the search for the inventors of music, first the Muses are mentioned, then the temple of Apollo, before Augustine is quoted, according to whom music has its origin in grammar. Indeed, music and grammar both refer to sounds. “La rayz y simiente de la musica estaba sembrada en la gramatica, la qual pululando nasciendo, y cresciendo, vino a ser musica.” (XXXVIIr). In all the arts, things were at first scattered and not joined together. In music, the numbers, voices, and the keys were only brought together by reason into a discipline of knowledge. While the achievements of antiquity can be compared to the giant, contemporary music stands as a dwarf on its shoulders: “mas veria el enano que el gigante, los musicos deste tiempo enanos somos.” (XVIIIv). In antiquity, he says, one could not become a philosopher until one had first studied the science of music. When music was still honored, musicians were called “sabios, poetas, o musicos, porque todas tres palabras tenian una misma significacion.” (XXXIIr). Tapia Numantino cites the Old Testament, in which it is reported that King David went to great lengths to use singers and instrumental musicians for worship. In fact, the singers in the service gain joy, spiritual pleasure and inner upliftment. Especially here, again, the interplay of mind and body is shown (XXXIIr). After this first book begins the second, which deals in detail with music theory, notation, intervals, scales, keys, counterpoints, whole tone steps and half tone steps, as well as church singing and organ accompaniment. In 1584, Advertencias appeared, regulating exactly how and when vocal music should be used for the decoration of church services at the court of Philip II (Robledo 2004, 28). That musicians were firmly anchored in the urban culture of the Siglo de Oro is shown by the example of Seville, where they were active in various forms not only in individual churches and parishes, but also convents, professional societies, hospitals and the university (Bejarno Pellicer 2013). Like Tapia Numantino, Antonio Cabezon’s Obras de musica para tecla (1578), edited by his son Hernando, takes music of the spheres as its starting point. His preface to the reader is a praise of music that does not limit itself to the merits of a small keyboard instrument or a

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vihuela, but sees the spherical harmony of the heavenly bodies in the view of the Pythagoreans as the basis from which human instrumental music is a derivative, related to the former like man himself in the relationship of a microcosm to the macrocosm. As in the macrocosm, in the microcosm of man harmony and unison mean well-being, “pues los humores del cuerpo templados son salud y destemplados causan enfermedad y muerte.” (de Cabezon 1578, al lector). Thus, musicians are at the same time physicians who can moderate a pulse that is too fast by letting them press the keys of a vihuela. The Greek philosopher and music theorist Aristoxenos had already emphasized the connection between harmony and the human soul. Thus it depends on the interaction of the different forces, whereby the lower ones have to obey the higher ones, so that harmony prevails in a like state. This is the model that the inventor of music had in mind and that he wanted to imitate with his high and low, soft and loud tones. Although all the other artes liberales are intended to serve God, it is music which, in the Church, has a special closeness to the religious mysteries and prayers (al lector). The importance of music is corroborated by the fact that music is played in the church at mass and other services, that Paul asked the Colossians to set the psalms to music, and that Pope Gregory introduced church singing. If, as Plato maintains, virtue is the highest good, and virtue is nothing other than the interplay of the soul’s powers and passions, then early exposure to music teaches rational handling of the passions, so that capable children become capable adults. This positive effect, however, can only be achieved by verdadera y divina musica, not by musica vulgar, the latter arising not least when manipulations are made on traditional instruments. Another virtue of music is to take the mind away from worldly desires and put it into a kind of contemplative state. Homer meant something similar when he spoke of the mythical sirens, whose enchanting song so beguiled the listener that he forgot himself. The Spanish composer Antonio de Cabezón (1510–1566) is not one of those musicians whom Diogenes said knew how to tune the strings but not how to temper the passions of their soul. He was known not only in Spain, but also in Flanders and Italy, where he travelled in the entourage of King Philip. Antonio de Cabezón had opened a new view of music, “para alcanzar las subtilezas grandes desta arte y llegar en ella a donde hombre humano jamas llego.” (al lector). This, at any rate, is what the son Hernando writes as editor of Antonio’s works. The following explanations of the notation used in this work are followed by the notes of numerous pieces of music, generally those by Antonio de Cabezón. How closely music is connected with mathematics becomes clear in Perez de Moya. His detailed discussion of arithmetic and geometric proportionality is followed by remarks on music, in which music of the spheres is to be distinguished from human instrumental and vocal music. In theory, harmony, rhythm, and metre can be distinguished. While harmony measures the pitch and depth of the notes, rhythm is concerned with the rapidity or slowness of the notes, and metrics with the pattern of emphasis, i.e., the beat. Just as arithmetic proceeds from unity and geometry from line, the basis of music is the tonal number, “el numero sonoro” (Juan Perez de Moya 1575, 69), which is obtained by dividing a string of a musical

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instrument into different parts with different high or low notes. Intervals are defined that result from the ratio of high and low notes, such as octaves, diapents and ditonos. This is followed by the rules of the board game Rithmomachy, which is comparable to chess and arose in the Middle Ages. Rithmomachy is a number game based on the harmony teachings of Boethius and can be used to learn the theory of proportions and music theory in a playful way.

5.2.2 Mathematician Numbers and Arithmetic Operations An early mathematical insight, namely that all triangles circumscribed by a semicircle are right-angled, is attributed to Thales of Miletus (624?584?). Plato sees in the geometrical figures a proof of his doctrine of ideas, since these are not sensually perceptible, but must have an ideal existence. At the time of Plato, Euclid of Alexandria published his Elements in 13 books, in which he begins with definitions, deals with geometry and number theory, and ends with five regular solids, which, according to Plato, make up the universe. Greek mathematics, which had been handed down in fragments in the Middle Ages, was brought back up to its former level in the Renaissance through translations of Greek texts by Archimedes, Apollonios and Diophantos (Mainzer 1980). Arithmetic was not only a purely theoretical science in the Renaissance, but found its concrete application in the field of trade, astronomy and seafaring (Vera Botí 2021) Mathematicians were useful for seafaring as cartographers and cosmographers, as well as in shipbuilding itself (Esteban Piñero 2002). Juan Pérez de Moya studied in Salamanca and stayed for a long time in Alcalá, where, however, he did not teach at the university. His work Arithmetica practica y especulativa (1562) was considered a standard mathematical work, mainly because it clearly expressed and systematized different materials (López Piñero 1979, 177). In the preface to his Tratado de mathematicas en que se contienen cosas de arithmetica, Geometria, Cosmographia, y Philosophia natural (1575), Perez de Moya announces the three parts of his work. The first, Arithmetica, deals with numbers and their use in the artes liberales and the mechanical arts. In antiquity, and here he refers to Plato’s Timaeus, it was thought that everything in the world could be traced back to numbers. They were so independent that they did not need any other science, but other sciences needed them. The latter also applies to geometry, which is presented in the second part. Its congruence theorems for triangles or the doctrine of the incommensurability of side and diagonal occupy the logician, while the legislator deals with the division and measurement of fields and hereditary courts. The soldier, the architect, and the astrologer measure distances, depths, and heights. The third part of the book is then to deal with the representation of the world, that is, the stars with their courses and the earth with its elements, while cosmography, navigation, and the calculation of time according to the sun are also discussed. That his

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explanations refer to antique models, he justifies by stating how the greatest part of the sciences is taken over from antiquity: “La principal parte de toda arte consiste en virutosa imitacion.” (Perez de Moya 1575, Al lector). Speculative or theoretical arithmetic begins with distinctions and definitions. Its object, he says, is quantity, this being continuous in geometry as in astronomy, and discontinuous in numbers. Thus, in a piece of wood or other bodies, the parts are connected. Numbers like 2, 3, and 5, however, form independent units. Continuous quantity can only be enlarged to a limited extent, but can be reduced indefinitely, while the reduction of discontinuous whole units is limited, but their enlargement is unlimited. The word “arithmetic” is derived from the Greek verb “arithmeo”, which means “I count”. According to Perez de Moya, the invention of this discipline is attributed to the Phoenicians and the Egyptians. A first famous arithmetician was Pythagoras. In contrast to applied arithmetic, the aim and purpose of theoretical arithmetic is “una verdad buscada con el discurso del entendimiento, mediante el qual se buscan preceptos fundados en razon para algun effecto.” (2r). Early exponents were Euclid and Boethius, who found fundamental insights. A part can be defined as a smaller of a larger number, as two parts of the smaller 4 form the larger 8. A distinction is to be made between even and odd numbers, the former being divisible into two equal parts, as for example 10 = 5 × 2. Pariter pares are numbers in which the result of a first division into equal parts is divisible again into equal parts, as for example in the case of 16, first 8 and then 8. For example, in the case of 16, first 8 and 8, then 4, and finally 2. Pariter impar is a number that can be divided once into two equal parts, but not a second time, as in the case of 6, where a first division twice gives 3, which cannot be divided further into two equal integers. Other numbers are given, such as the prime numbers, which are divisible only by themselves and by 1. “Numeros compuestos” (7r) are made up of two parts, such as 9 made up of 3 × 3 or 25 made up of 5 × 5. As “numero superfluo, o superante, o abundante” (7) is given the number in which the sum of the parts is greater than itself, so in the case of 12 the parts are 1,2,3,4 and 6, giving the sum of 16, which is greater than 12. The “numero perfecto” (8) is that in which the sum of the parts is identical with itself, so 6 consists of 1, 2, 3, the sum of which is again 6. Geometry, on the other hand, makes other distinctions of numbers “diciendo ser unos lineales, o laterales, otros superficiales, otros quadrados, otros triangulares, otros pentagonales, otros solidos, otros cubos, otros circulares.” (12). If in geometry the point is followed by the line, then the numbers that determine the length of the lateral lines are “lineales, o laterales,” e.g., the 2 and the 3 for an area of 6, in which case the 6 belongs to the “superficiales.” The other kinds of numbers mentioned in geometry will not be discussed here, nor will the congruent numbers. What follows are considerations of the relation and relationship of numbers to each other. Thus there is a “proporcion multiplex” between 6 and 2. “Parte 6 por 2, y cabran a 3, por lo qual se dira tripla, que quiere dezir, que el 6 es tres veces tanto como el 2, o que el 6 contiene en si al 2 tres vezes.” (28). Antiquity is also the basis of Rocha’s work Arithmetica, compuesta y de varios auctores recopilada prouechosa para todos estados de gentes (1565). In the prologue he announces that first, starting from Plato’s dialogues Phaidros and

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Protagoras and from Cicero’s De officiis, the nature of arithmetic will be discussed. Then the types that exist in arithmetic are to be demonstrated before they are presented in detail one after the other. This is the procedure which Aristotle also recommends. Thus he wants to satisfactorily present the philosopher, the geometer, the musician, the architect, the merchant and the representatives of the mechanical arts (Rocha 1565, prologo). It is undisputed that arithmetic is a science that teaches counting. But one is not already an arithmetician if one can count to 100 and pay money for goods. Nor are numbers just a collection of many units, but a kind of raw material. Just as the cobbler makes shoes out of leather, numbers, when put together, become other numbers, e.g. two numbers make tens, three make hundreds. Aristotelian distinction is to be made between form and matter. The unit is not a number, but only its matter, just as wood is not a table or a bench, but can become one. Likewise, the mathematician can make different numbers out of the unit: “desta misma manera lo puedes dezir de la unidad, porque ella no es binario, pero ayuntada con otra unidad lo sera, y se haran della despues otras especies de numeros, con la diligencia del artifice Arithmetico.” (2r,v). According to Rocha, theoretical arithmetic must be distinguished from practical arithmetic. While the former teaches the laws and rules, the latter shows how to deal with them. Theoretical arithmetic, also called “Arithmetica Contemplativa” (3v), includes the differentiation of the individual types of numbers, their definitions, their arrangement and their properties. Rocha, however, wants to deal with practical arithmetic, which includes counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, root extraction as well as the rule of three. Rocha quite decisively demarcates arithmetic from the manual arts. While the mechanical arts each deal with a particular matter, e.g. agriculture with the earth, carpentry with wood, or blacksmithing with iron, arithmetic has a matter that cannot be grasped with hands, only with the mind: “no tratable con las manos, no visible, sino en el entendimiento puesta, y en el forjada y inventada.” (6r). It is considered probable that numbers were invented in the Orient, since calculation is from right to left, and the Hebrews, Chaldeans, Syrians, and Egyptians write from right to left. Very concrete advice is also given. When adding up different sums of money, for example, one should bear in mind that currencies such as ducats and Florentine florins have different values depending on the country and region. The types of calculation are also carried out differently depending on the country. Thus, when multiplying, Moors arrange the numbers differently from Egyptians or Christians (34r,v). Rocha goes a little further when he explains the verification of a calculation process. Thus, he says, philosophy agrees that every thing is known by its opposite. That is why medicine is equally concerned with health and disease, and moral philosophy with good and bad. In arithmetic, subtraction is the counterpart of addition, and division of multiplication. With the one, the cross-check is made on the other: “estas operaciones son contrarias, digo el Sumar al Restar y el Multiplicar al Partir: y por esso no se puede saber bien la una operacion que no se sepa la otra, y la una es prueba de la otra.” (47v). The arithmetical sequence is defined as “un orden continuado de numeros, que guardan una misma proporción.” (73r). It also plays a role in geometry and music. It is formed by numbers that mark distances

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such as the 2 in the series 1,3,5,7,9 or the 3 in the series 1,4,7,10,13. The doctrine of proportions had been considered necessary by the most important authors of antiquity “para todos aquellos que fueren versados en Plato, Aristotil, y otros semejantes auctores graues.” (97r). The architect needed them for his buildings, the painter for the lines and colouring, the carpenter to make chests and ships, the army commander to line up his soldiers, and the artilleryman to aim the cannonball. Rule of Three and Economy The rule of three, in which three numbers are given and a fourth is sought, is based on proportions. The examples given here mostly refer to the world of the merchant, e.g. if six pieces of cloth cost 16 ducats, what do 15 pieces cost? Or: If three people weave 10 cubits of cloth in 4 days, how much do five people weave in 6 days? Or, “Si 35 ducados en 7 meses ganaron 50 ducados, demandase 85 ducados en 13 meses quantos ganaran?” (116r). The importance of economics is also evident where the rule of three is applied to trading companies. This involves an “ayuntamiento de dinero que se haze entre muchas o pocas personas, para ganar mas dinero” (138r), where the point is to figure out how much is due to everyone, taking into account their stakes. In the case of trading companies, those who deal in only one commodity are to be distinguished from those who deal in different things. In some the time factor plays a part, in others it does not, as the first example shows. If three persons form a company, the first invests 56 ducats, the second 78 ducats, and the third 85 ducats, and together they make a profit of 100 libras, how much libras does each get, measured by his financial investment? Or: If two start a company and one invests 570 ducats, how much must the other invest to get 5/8 of the profit? The time factor plays a role in the following examples: If three persons found a company, the first one invests 20 libras and participates for 6 months, the second one invests 16 libras and participates for 8 months, the third one invests 30 libras and participates for 10 months, how much is each one entitled to from the profit of the 300 libras? Or: If, of two merchants in a company, the first invested 640 libras at the beginning of January, but the second could not invest until the beginning of April, how much must he invest to have half the profit? Of course, there are also examples that illustrate what it looks like when losses occur, such as when a ship is in distress and has to discard goods to save itself. Or investors contribute their own labor, which in turn is equivalent to a monetary value and must be offset. Not unlike trading companies, warring parties must also find investors to pay soldiers for a period of time. Cattlemen also receive contracts for several years and are allotted different amounts of cattle in different years, which must be taken into account when calculating their compensation. Among merchants it also happens that goods are exchanged, differences in value being compensated by monetary payments. Quite extensively presented in the work is the exchange ratio of various domestic and foreign currencies, and the conversion ratio of domestic and foreign measures of time, distance, and weight, going back to the Egyptians and Romans. Incorporated into the volume is another commercial application of

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arithmetic, namely a Compendio y breue instruction por tener Libros de Cuenta, Deudas, y de Mercaduria: muy prouechoso para Mercaderes, y toda gente de negocio, traduzido de Frances en Castellano (1565). Here it is first explained how to record everything that one has traded in a day: Goods, quantity, price, buyer, weight, color, for whom, by whom, at what time, in what currency, and in what number. Then, in the second book, the debts and the debtors, the amount of the debt and the date of the agreed repayment are to be noted down in diary form. The third book is to give an overview of the goods. How much of each kind is there, how much has been received, sold, and shipped? (Epistola). There follow many pages of detailed examples of this kind of bookkeeping. Perez de Moya’s second book of the Tratado de mathematicas en que se contienen cosas de arithmetica, Geometria, Cosmographia, y Philosophia natural. Con otras varias materias, necessarias a todas artes Liberales, y Mechanicas (1575) discusses practical arithmetic, which he says is less noble than theoretical arithmetic, but is helpful in various transactions and useful against fraud. The types of numbers and their Roman and Arabic representations are demonstrated with examples, as are the basic arithmetic operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Another application is calculating with money, weights and time periods as well as calculating progressions, i.e. arithmetic and geometric sequences. The third book is devoted to arithmetic with fractions, and the fourth to the rule of three and its applications in business, giving examples similar to those given by Rocha. In contrast to the simple rule of three, time is added to the mixed rule. For the former, the following example is given: If 100 ducats yield a profit of 90 reals, what can 160 ducats yield? The following example illustrates the rule of three with time factor: If I make a profit of 200 reals in 30 days, what is the profit in 50 days? (Juan Perez de Moya 1575, 242). It is shown how profit shares can be calculated if two people form a company, one has invested 6 ducats, the other 10 ducats, and the total profit is 64 reals. Again, the time factor can be included if, for example, one holds his investment for 8 months and the other for 12 months, if interest is calculated on a sum of money lent for, say, 3 years, or if one speculates on the rising or falling price of grain. Examples follow of currency conversions and prices of jewellery, gems and diamonds, of the percentage division of inheritances between different heirs, for example in wills, and of the division of ecclesiastical pensions and benefices between several people. Gutierrez de Gualda’s Arte breve y muy provechoso de cuenta castellana y arithmetica (1569) is a practical guide of just under 50 pages for practicing basic arithmetic, in which definitions are superfluous, as are commercial applications. Instead, the examples and tables are numerous (Gutierrez de Gualda 1569). The application of numbers to geometry leads on to astronomy and cosmography. According to Perez de Moya, geometry originated in the need to measure the ground, as he states in his Tratado de geometria practica y speculativa. According to Strabon, people in Egypt constantly remeasured the fields after the Nile flooded and destroyed the boundary stones every year, a fact also mentioned by Gutierrez de los Ríos. Like other sciences, geometry is divided into a theoretical and a practical part. The smallest unit is the point, followed by lines, surfaces and solids. The point

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is by definition indivisible and has no length, width or depth. It also has no quantity, since it is the beginning, middle or end of a line. The line, in turn, has a length but no width or depth. It is bounded by two points. Since it has no width, it would not be visible if it were not represented with some width. The straight line is the shortest connection of two points. In addition, there are curved, diagonal, diametrical, spiral, circular, and wavy lines (Juan Perez de Moya 1573b, 8). The surface has length and breadth, but no depth. It may be plane, concave like the sky facing us, or convex like the sky viewed from the highest empyrean. A body has length, breadth, and depth. Following from this, there are procedures regarding how to deal practically with single geometrical figures.

5.2.3 Astronomer and Astrologer Perez de Moya also shows how heaven and earth can be grasped through numbers. In the dedication letter of his Tratado de cosas de Astronomía, y Cosmographia, y Philosophia Natural (1573) to Luis de la Cueva y Benavides he refers to Anaxagoras, whose answer to the question of why he had come into the world was to see the sky, the sun and the moon. From this story alone, he says, one can see the importance of the science of astronomy, by which, moreover, as from effects to causes, one can infer the architect of this edifice from the beauty of the stars and their orderly orbits. Also, the heavens and planets order time by their motions. The work begins with definitions, that is, with theory. Astronomy is a science that deals with the movements of the heavens, the rising and setting of planets and stars. The subject of astrology, invented by the Assyrians, is also the effects which these celestial movements have on the bodies living on the earth. Definitions are offered of the globe, the celestial sphere, the poles of the earth, the celestial poles, the zenith as the upwardly extended perpendicular direction of a location, the foot point nadir opposite the zenith, longitudes and latitudes, and the equinoxes. The cardinal points are defined with the poles and the celestial equator: “Parte del Norte dizen a lo que hay desde la Equinoctial hasta el Polo Arctico, y parte del Sur, a lo que hay desde la Equinoctial hasta el Polo Antarctico.” (Perez de Moya 1573a, 20). Geography has to do with seas, with parts of the earth, with fields and rivers. Here follow definitions, for example, of the island as a piece of land surrounded on all sides by the sea, or of the continent, the meaning of which is as a mainland, stretched long from one end to the other, from which other countries can be reached only by ship. The world is defined as the whole of things contained in it. It corresponds to the Greek word kosmos and the Latin mundus – a word which, as an adjective, means “adorned” – “que quiere decir Ornamento, o Atavio, por la hermosura, y perfecion suya.” (Perez de Moya 1573a, 26). There is only one world, since there is nothing more powerful than unity. It consists of the realm with the four elements of earth, water, air, and fire, and the realm of the ether, that is, the upper heaven. The latter was said by Aristotle to be the quintessence, that is, the fifth element complementary to the four elements mentioned, and to be as uncreatable as it

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is incorruptible. Since it therefore has no beginning and no end, it is eternal, which is also confirmed by the circular movement, which in turn has neither beginning nor end. Perez de Moya counters this with the Book of Genesis of the Old Testament, according to which God created heaven and earth, which is why the world is not eternal, but the work of an eternal Creator. And since the world has a beginning, it will also have an end (27). Time Rodrigo Zamorano held a chair of cosmography for almost 40 years, namely from 1575 to 1613, was also the author of a Compendio del arte de navegar (1598), and produced the first translation of Euclid’s five books of geometry into Spanish in 1576 (Vicente Maroto 2002, 352). In view of numerous inventions and innovations, he undertakes in his Cronologia y reportorio de la razon de los tiempos (1594) to summarize various existing listings in his repertory, to present established facts and what had been lacking more precisely and clearly in five books. In the first book he wants to present the celestial bodies and how they are causes of time, in the second different time calculations, in the third the church calendar with rules for the calculation of feast days, in the fourth the signs of the earth and the planets, which indicate luxuriant or barren, healthy or disease-ridden years or favourable times for the use of medicine or for agriculture. In the fifth book follows the enumeration of the most important dates and events from the creation of the world to the year 1594 in three parts, first the development of the Church from Peter to the reigning Pope Clement VIII, then the history of the Roman rulers from Caesar to the reigning Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, and thirdly the Spanish history beginning with the Flood through the division into Castile, Aragon, Navarre and Portugal to the reigning Philip II. At the beginning of the first book Zamorano defines time with Plato as the duration of the motion of the world, with Aristotle as the measure of motion, with Pythagoras as the motion of the spheres or heavens, and with the Roman Marcus Varro as the motion of the sun and moon. Dividing time into past, present, and future, the present appears as a point on a line, implying that it is as good as nothing. In ancient poetry, time was depicted as an old man with wings and a sickle or scythe, the wings indicating the speed with which it passes. The old man signifies that it is of longer duration than all other things in the world, since it began with the world and ends with it. The crescent indicates that time consumes and ends all things in the world. They have their time by which they begin, last, and end (Zamorano 1594, 1v). The second chapter is about the world, which is the totality of all the heavens and the elements. It has the form of a sphere, since this is the most perfect form, in which there is no beginning and no end. It corresponds to the Greek word kosmos and the Latin mundus, the latter probably because of its connection with the Latin verb movere, to move, thus expressing the changeability of the world, which never stands still at any moment. The word “world” stands for four realms: the invisible, that of the heavenly bodies, that of the earth with the elements, and the microcosm

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of man. Not the invisible world, the beyond, where duration reigns and where God, the bodiless angels and saints are to be found, shall be the subject of the present book, but the three other perceptible realms. With Aristotle, one could interpret the relationship of the celestial bodies to the earth as that of an active to a passive element, and thus understand the influence of the stars on the events of the earth. And with Plato one might conceive of the original material as “hyle,” matter, which the Creator endowed with various forms and thus created the objects. Now if the world is wonderfully and perfectly created thanks to divine wisdom, the question arises as to where suffering and misery come from. It is answered by pointing out that the human body is a prison for the human spirit and therefore violence, pain, sorrow and transience will be suffered. This is followed by explanations of the signs of the zodiac, the planets, the elements, the winds and the continents. The chapter on the reckoning of time begins with eternity, which, unlike time, is motionless and incorporeal, having no extension, no cause, and neither beginning, middle, nor end, and, like God, can only be described by negation. It is also different from what the Greeks called the aeon or aion, by which is understood the period of time from the beginning to the end of the world, or else that which, like the stars, the four elements, the souls, and the angels, has a beginning and no end. Unlike eternity, the eon has temporal sequences. The division of time serves to indicate the duration of things that happen in the world. The sun rising in the east and setting in the west marks the day, its return to the same place in the starry sky marks the year, the moon marks the month. To these natural divisions of time Zamorano adds those invented by man, such as the minutes and the hours (85r,v). The Greeks invented the reckoning of time in the rhythm of 4 years, which was based on the Olympic Games. This is followed by explanations of the years, seasons and months, especially among the Romans and Greeks, but also among the Egyptians, Persians, Hebrews and Arabs. The third book presents the ecclesiastical year with its divisions and festivals, although here the solar eclipse is also presented with its astrological interpretations. According to Proclus, depending on its position in relation to the signs of the stars, it could mean drought, wars, fires, diseases, famines, crop failures and the death of a prince or king. Forecasts and Calculations The fourth book deals in the first part with the weather and the ways to forecast it. The different types of air are important not only for human health, but also for agriculture, seafaring and the military. To Hippocrates, air was something divine that not only exercised power over the weather, but also over human minds. Rain can be predicted by observing the sun and moon. Some of the numerous indicators may be cited: If the sun appears larger than usual when rising or setting, it means rain. The different appearance of the moon can also herald storms and rain: “Luna en su principio, si tuviere los cuernos mas negros y grueses, significa tempestad y lluvias en toda ella. Luna de pocos dias, si por dentro o fuera se mostrare amortiguada y triste,

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denota lluvias.” (240v–242r). Weather forecasts are also possible when observing what is in the air. Red, iron-colored clouds before sunrise mean rain. A large and white cloud in the west at sunset with a black cloud in the middle indicates rain with wind. Fair weather has its harbingers and causes in heavenly bodies that do not release vapor: “La causa de la serenidad en el aire es no estar los planetas en disposicion de levantar tanta copia de vapores y exalaciones ni la tierra tener tanta copia de ellas que basten en enturbiarle con vientos y nubes grandes.” (249r). But there are also omens for more violent occurrences. Earthquakes occur in the interior of the earth, where vapours seek their way upwards. If they don’t find it, the earth shakes. And this event is usually foreshadowed by loud noises in the midst of otherwise serene and calm weather several months beforehand. How the plague announces itself, however, seems less comprehensible to the modern reader. Indeed, if it rains much and incessantly during the summer, or if the summer is hot and without wind, or with wind at noon, and if after the rain the air is cloudy and damp, this indicates the plague or other serious diseases at the end of the summer. “Arboles quando parece que arden, es señal que la peste está ya en casa. – Aire polvoroso por algunos meses: o si hubiere muchas nieblas espessas y secas, significa peste.” (279r). Raging dogs, night birds flying confusedly by day, or ravenous wolves approaching villages with hunger also suggest plague. The second part of Zamorano’s fourth book looks at time from a medical perspective. It is about the selection of the right date for bloodletting or other medical application. The “tiempos y dias judicativos” (283v), which Galen also calls critical times, are those in which the disease makes a change, either towards health or towards death. Here the physician has to judge from symptoms whether a positive or negative course is in the offing. His decisions can be compared to the judgments of a judge in a court of law, where the disease is the plaintiff and the sick person the defendant. A consideration of the planets and their position in relation to the Moon seems helpful to Zamorano in deciding whether the crisis is developing in a good or bad direction. The critical days have their cause in the movements of the moon, as do the “dias indicativos” (286r). The latter are those that announce critical times. “Dias intercidentes, intercadentes, o interpolados” (286v) are those that fall between critical days and “dias indicativos.” Here astrology supports medicine by representing the moon’s movements in mathematical numerical sequences, which the physician can use. A model calculation is used to exemplify which critical “dias intercadentes” and “dias indicativos” follow when, until August 11, someone in Seville fell ill at eight o’clock in the morning on Sunday, July 15, 1584, when the moon was in the second degree of the zodiacal sign Scorpio (291v). The example of choosing the appropriate time to administer purgatives shows that superior causes support inferior ones: “las causas superiores ayuden, y no impidan a las inferiores, pues estas son por aquellas governadas y regidas.” (287v). If one wants to heal a certain part of the body, one should pay attention to how strong the zodiac sign corresponding to it shines in the sky and how the relation to Jupiter and Venus or Saturn and Mars is thereby. The head and face are assigned to Aries, the neck, throat and neck to Taurus, the shoulders, arms and hands to Gemini, the shoulders, heart, liver and sides to

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Leo. Each sign of the Zodiac, then, has its parts of the body which, taking into account the constellation of the stars, find healing, “las quales se deven curar, reinando tal constelacion, para que se libren de sus enfermedades.” (299r). In the third part of the fourth book, astrological calculation is related to agriculture, for which first the constellations of zodiac signs and planets favorable for sowing and planting are given. Then, from January to December, the agricultural tasks that are to be performed each month during the waxing moon and the waning moon are presented. The fifth book is a chronology of the most important events from the creation of the world to the present of the author. Following the Bible, Zamorano distinguishes six ages: the first from the beginning of the world to the Flood, the second from the Flood to the birth of Abraham, the third from the birth of Abraham to the reign of David or the building of Solomon’s Temple, the fourth to the destruction of the Temple or the Babylonian exile, the fifth from the exile to the birth of Jesus Christ, and the sixth to the end of the world. The individual ages are of varying duration: the first lasted 1656 years, the second 293, the third 505, the fourth 480, the fifth 428, and of the sixth, 1594 years had already passed at the time of the writing of the book (323v). In an overview, the most important dates of the first five ages are first compiled on the basis of the Bible, beginning with Adam, who lived to be 930 years old and had his son Cain at the age of 13, who introduced house building, agriculture, weapons, weights and measures, but also theft and murder. When the world was 130  years old, Set, the third son of Adam and Eve, was born, who invented Hebrew characters and is considered the inventor of astrology, as he gave names to the stars. Contrary to what was announced, he does not have the fifth age end with the birth of Jesus, but with his crucifixion. This is followed by the major figures of the Church from Peter to the reigning Pope Clement VIII, then the listing of Roman rulers up to the reigning Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, and finally Spanish history up to the 22nd King of Aragon Philip II, whose reign began in 1556 and continues in the year the book was written in 1594. The fact that astrology was held in high esteem in the early modern period is due to Aristotle, who was the authoritative philosopher in medieval scholasticism and in the neo-scholasticism of the Spanish Siglo de Oro. Indeed, in his Physics and Metaphysics, he saw the origin of motion outside the sublunary world in the celestial bodies, which for him were endowed with soul and intelligence. The ethical demand for the golden mean is not least a consequence of Aristotle’s general nesting of heaven and earth. In his metaphysics, Aristotle sees mathematics as being of higher rank, since it deals with ideal forms that belong to the spiritual realm, while physics deals with matter. Since, according to Aristotle, celestial substances have no matter, they are spiritual in nature and of supreme efficacy, even on sublunary matter. Given the central importance of the Aristotelian Thomas Aquinas, no one in the Middle Ages would have dared to doubt the Aristotelian foundations of astrology. If anything, they were only directed against false techniques of divination (Lemay 1971). Astronomy was subordinate to astrology in both Greek and Roman antiquity, a situation that only began to change with Copernicus’ work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543). The Copernican turn no longer sees the earth but the sun

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at the center of the world and the earth as a planet revolving around the sun like the others. According to Aristotle, the difficulty of learning about the heavens arises from the fact that knowledge is gained from sensory impressions, but celestial bodies are not accessible to the senses because of their distance and their colorlessness. Now, since it is not possible to decide with the eyes which celestial body is nearer or farther away, Perez de Moya advises paying attention to who is obscuring and eclipsing whom, “y porque la Luna eclipsa a todos los otros, y nos los encubre, y ella no es encubierta de ninguno, por tanto entendieron que estaba en el primero cielo, y mas cercano a nosotros.” (Juan Perez de Moya 1573a, 31). He is followed in distance by Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The celestial bodies are not moved by themselves, but, according to Aristotle, by intelligent beings. Perez de Moya calls them angels and adds that these could also cease their activity, since the cause and purpose of the movements is to serve man. Pythagoras was convinced that the movements of the heavenly bodies are not noiseless, but produce a harmonious music of the spheres. That this music cannot be heard by the human ear is due to the fact that it is accustomed to this music from birth and therefore overhears it. Since the movements of the heavenly bodies are so continuous and constant, this music must be harmonious and melodic. According to Perez de Moya, Pythagoras compares it to the hammers in a forge, which emit higher or lower tones depending on their size. Here, too, it is a matter of proportions, by which, as in the case of a stringed instrument, the respective length produces a different tone. Aristotle, on the other hand, can be quoted as saying that an object which moves along with a moving body without friction does not produce a sound. That the stars do not exercise any motion of their own, but are fixed in their galaxy, with which they move, is also seen by Perez de Moya. How the eye perceives the sky is also not without problems, since the blue color it sees is not a property of the sky, but nothing more than the effect of a reverberation “la juntura de la tiniebla de parte de arriba, que se haze con la reverberacion de los rayos del Sol.” (38). Therefore, the sky is not what we see and think it is. Aristotle is referred to in the remarks on the matter of the stars, which, he says, is especially dense to receive and retain the light of the sun’s rays. The explanation of their not being seen in the daytime is the much stronger sunlight, which makes them invisible, as the light of a candle disappears at the glow of the torch. For what purpose are there a multitude of stars? Perez de Moya cites three causes of purpose. First, they serve to illuminate at night. Especially if there is a lunar eclipse or only a small part of the moon shines, they reduce the darkness. Second, they serve to decorate the sky, which looks painted with them, pointing to the Creator, “porque por la hermosura corporal de la criatura, conociessemos la hermosura espiritual del criador.” (41). Third, they were created to influence things on earth. Although they belong to the one genus of stars, they are individually as diverse as human beings, who themselves belong to a single genus. Because of their multiplicity and their difference, they have the ability to exert a wide variety of influences. If there were fewer stars, some of their effects would be absent on Earth.

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The function of the astrolabe, a calculating instrument that reproduces the movements of the heavenly bodies on different discs, is explained. From the respective position of the stars and the sun, one can read the time. On the other hand, when the time and date are set, the constellation of the stars is indicated. In detail, Perez de Moya explains rules with which the astrolabe makes it possible to calculate the rising and setting of individual stars, planets and galaxies. This is interesting, for example, in the case of the constellation of the Great Dog, which is held responsible for the summer heat of the Dog Days, for determining the sign of the zodiac under which the sun is located on a given day, or for determining the altitude of the sun’s midday position, which is lower in winter and higher in summer. Since the moon is illuminated and visible by the sun’s rays, a total or partial lunar eclipse occurs when the supply of light is interrupted by the interposition of another celestial body. If a celestial body moves in front of the sun, there is a solar eclipse. Both can be determined by calculating the position values of the celestial bodies according to an ephemeris table. If one wants to determine the respective day, “notaras, que si fuere dia de conjuncion, el eclipse sera del Sol, y si fuere dia de opposicion, el eclipse sera de la Luna.” (78–79). The eclipse on the day of Jesus Christ’s death, however, was “contra la orden de la naturaleza” (79), since neither the moon, nor the stars, nor the sun shone and there was complete darkness. Which celestial bodies exert which effects on human beings? The cosmological and astronomical explanations utilise Valentin de la Hera y de la Varra’s Repertorio del mundo particular, de las Spheras del Cielo y Orbes elementales, y de las significaciones, y tiempos correspondientes a su luz, y movimiento: con los Eclipses, y Lunario, desde este año de mil y quinientos y ochenta y tres, hasta el de mil y seixcientos y quatro, añadido el Prognostico temporal, de las mudanzas y passiones del Aire (1584) from theological premises. The highest part of heaven above the earth, the Empyreum, is the place of spiritual substances, where the archangels Cherubin and Seraphim are hierarchically superior (Valentin de la Hera y de la Varra 1584, 3v). Below them are the material substances of the perceptible sun and earth. Finally, man consists of the material body and the spiritual soul. Time was created to support man at the same time as heaven. To the four elements de la Hera adds the ether, probably for the empyreum, as matter proximate to the spirit. “El Eter substancia superior a toda la del quaternario de los elementos, es el Agua ardente purificada con tres circulaciones, sin qualidad quasi sensible, por ser el spiritu de su ultima resolucion material.” (5v). The sun, “criado para distinguir y medir los dias y los años” (6r), has the purpose of dividing time into day and night, forenoon and afternoon, and illuminating the other stars. Also de la Hera assigns effects on other human body parts to different signs of the zodiac. Under “Dominio de los signos sobre las partes del cuerpo” some assignments are listed: Aries affects the head and face, Taurus the neck and throat, Gemini the shoulders, arms, and hands, the zodiac sign of Cancer affects the chest, shoulders, stomach, and lungs, Leo the heart and sides, and finally Virgo the abdomen, liver, and intestines (Valentin de la Hera 15r,v). In the chapter “Del poder y virtud de los Planetas,” which begins by discussing the effects of the stars on various ages of man, cancellations by the censor prevent the reading of further effects. Customs

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and habits one has by nature, by acceptance of instruction, or by habituation. Only the former are related to stars like Mercury and the moon, “porque las otras son tan libres que no tienen que ver con ellas.” (18r). Saturn is “patron del cielo, adonde el calor del dia excede a la frialdad.” (31v). He is held responsible for the disease of melancholy, but also for gout, scabies, leprosy, cancer, and dropsy. Finally, hardships, shipwrecks, storms, sorrow and death are also attributed to him. The hot, dry, nocturnal, and hot-headed planet Mars represents all things powerful and courageous. But it is also responsible for diseases such as plague, typhus, and Tertian fever. With these, as with the other planets, the rule is that the larger they appear in the sky, the greater their effects. The planet of Venus is moist and warm. It represents love, feasts, and entertainments, “significa a los regalados, enamorados, occupados en galas, fiestas, musicas, entretenimientos, casamientos, comidas, banquetes, danzas, saraos, y todo lo que es regalo, y entretenimento de plazer.” (33r). After a long excursus on the history of the earth, beginning with Noah’s Ark and the Flood, which took place about 2000 years after creation, and on the continents and individual countries, the effects of comets, which are described as the splitting off of stars, are discussed. In ancient times they were feared as harbingers of storms, wars, plague, deaths of princes and upheavals in countries. The place where they appear, in the morning, noon, or evening sky, their size and height, their duration, and the motion with which they cross a sign of the zodiac or join a planet, should be noted first. If its shape is in the form of a sword or lance, it means war. The larger the comet, the greater its effect. The comet sighted at noon in the zodiac sign Aquarius in early October 1580 was small and had only a short tail. Its effects followed in autumn and winter with heavy rains and houses destroyed as a result, the death of King Filipp II’s wife, Queen Anne, and the final defeat of Antonio de Portugal’s troops. In the case of a lunar eclipse, as in the case of comets, it depends on the characteristics of the zodiacal signs and the planets under which it occurs. In the chapter “Del poder que tiene el cielo, y de la verdad que tiene la Astrologia” (70r), the stars are seen as signs of natural changes in the air and in the things, temperaments, inclinations, and activities on which they act. As ciphers for the purpose of their interpretation and not as mere ornaments, they were created. As the stars act on the passions and inclinations, outwardly directed men are subject to them, but not those inwardly strengthened, who can resist these effects. The Church and philosophers such as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, while rejecting false astrology, which presumes to see the future as God does, have advocated true astrology. With reference to Plato, de la Hera affirms that the stars are the cause of abundance and scarcity, of war and peace, of health and infirmity “dando señales de todo lo que en esto se puede esperar y temer” (72v). Let us beware those who doubt this, as well as those who allow themselves to judge without the necessary expertise. Neither the councils nor the Inquisition forbade astrology, but gave the people instructions not to believe more than necessary, not to consider predictions as prophecies, but to take free will and chance into account: “que ni crea mas de lo que debe, ni tenga por profecias los juicios astronomicos, ni por sabidores de las obras libres del libre albedrio a los Astrologos, ni menos los casos fortuitos.” (74r). The limits of astrology, then, are where free will and hazard stand. Looking

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back some years preceding the publication of the book, the constellation of the stars is shown to vary according to place. Thus, the constellation in the zodiac sign of Pisces in 1464 had led to numerous civil wars and upheavals in Europe. In 1584, de la Hera predicts, there will be a lunar eclipse shortly after midnight on November 17 at a position of 27° of the zodiac sign Taurus. The consequences will be a mass death of cows and bulls, drought and an earthquake with the destruction of many buildings. Other predictions for other years follow. For example, from the lunar eclipse in August 1599, it is deduced that the autumn will be wet, after the summer was very dry in some areas. And the celestial constellations in 1591 suggest the following inference of drought with some downpours: “Sera grande la sequedad que se padecera este año, pero con tan grande inconstancia, que aura dias de grandes aguaceros, y turbiones.” (82 r,v). This and the preceding prediction, however, are so general and universal, it may be critically remarked, that no calculation of constellations would have been necessary. Nor does the lunar eclipse of 1594 augur well, but only destruction of buildings: “sucederan caidas, y ruinas de edificios, y los peligros que dello redundaran, con destruccion de algunas casas antiguas.” (83v). Finally, the author himself wonders why, with so many lunar eclipses, there is no positive forecast (84v). The subsequent third book deals with the determination of feast days such as Easter, which themselves depend on the movements of the moon and the sun. Alonso de Fuentes wanted to make the scientific, astronomical and astrological knowledge of his time, which was not always easy to comprehend, accessible to a wider audience. With his Summa de philosophia natural, en la qual assi mismo se tracta de Astrologia y Astronomia (1547), he made the bold decision to combine the most important mysteries of natural philosophy with astronomy and astrology in one small script, since they belong together, “por ser tan unidas con esta, que no se puede tocar a la una que no fuessen las otras.” (Alonso de Fuentes 1547, prologo). The knowledge is presented in dialogue form, with Ethrusco asking the questions and Vandalio providing the answers, some of which are detailed. Not infrequently, the resulting sequence is reminiscent of a quiz. When, in response to the first question about the meaning of the word “substance,” reference is made to the variety of meanings, Plato and Aristotle are first discussed. The origin of the four elements, like much else, is answered by reference to the Bible, where they have their origin in God’s Word in the book of Genesis. If, according to the Aristotelian doctrine of the four elements, the earth is said to have the properties of being cold and dry, Ethrusco asks how it is that some things are warm in it, since heat and cold are incompatible. Vandalio replies that while opposites cannot be in the same place at the same time, they can hold opposite properties in different places. Finally, the elements are given the properties they have most of the time and in general, which does not exclude that the earth can be warm in some place (36r,v). Another question is hypothetical. Since everything falls down, shouldn’t a stone that falls into a hole drilled in the earth come out on the other side of the earth? Vandalio answers that for round objects like the earth, the middle is the lowest part, so the stone would come to a stop there. When asked about the orbits of the planets, Saturn is first introduced, which takes 30 years to orbit the sun and, according to

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astrologers, brings bad luck. To the question whether parhelia, of which one reads, are mirages or reality, Vandalio replies that they are phenomena which the Greeks called parahelia, caused by the moisture in the clouds which produce mirror images. Why is it that when one shouts something in a silo or in a valley, the last syllables are thrown back? The reference to the myth of Echo and Narcissus does not satisfy Ethrusco, so Vandalio explains that only the end becomes an echo, as the beginning of what is called is lost. Why is it that there are animals that can see at night but not during the day? This is due to a bodily juice, clear as albumen, which dazzles the eyes in brightness and sunshine, but is beneficial in darkness.

5.2.4 Cosmographer and Navigator Elements There is a close connection between astronomy and cosmology. After all, the cosmos, the world, includes the heavens and the earth, whereby the latter can be regarded as a planet or as a habitat and place of the elements. Finally, seafaring can be seen as one of the possible applications of astronomy and cosmology. That the transitions between each of the aforementioned disciplines are fluid is evidenced by the titles of the works in which several of them are treated. In the second book of the Tratado de cosas de Astronomía, y Cosmographia, y Philosophia Natural, Perez de Moya is concerned with natural philosophy or cosmography, whose subject is the “region elementar” (Perez de Moya 1573a, 83). Its name derives from the fact that it contains the four elements of fire, air, water, and earth, with their four properties of heat, cold, dryness, and moisture, in constantly changing compositions and states of alteration. Since it is not possible to define the element by specifying the genus proximun and diferentia specifica, the characterization as a simple and indivisible body, “cuerpo simple, que no se puede dividir en partes de diversas formas” (84), must suffice. A stone, a tree, or a horse, on the other hand, are not themselves elements, but are composed of different elements, which becomes clear when they are taken apart. When wood is burned, it yields moisture, which is to be assigned to water, smoke as fire, steam as air, and ashes as scorched earth, which shows what the wood is composed of. In the many possible combinations that elements can make with their properties, heat is incompatible with cold and dryness with moisture, just as earth is incompatible with moisture and water with dryness. According to their weight, the elements have their natural place. The heaviest is earth, whose weight draws it downward; lighter than it is water; lighter still is air; and lightest is fire, which moves upward. The question why water does not cover the whole earth is explained, according to the Genesis of the Old Testament, by the divine order that water should give way where the earth was intended as a place for man. Between the elements, however, there is war as long as the universe exists, since each wants to secure its existence at the expense of others, “porque de su naturaleza la buscan por conservarse cada uno en su especie. […] cada uno procura de

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convertir a la parte que puede de los otros en su especie, lo qual no se puede bien hacer sin alguna corrupcion de la que primero tenia, porque la generacion de una cosa, es causa de corrupcion de otra.” (88). This enduring war, however, is not primarily for the purpose of destroying others, but for the purpose of expanding one’s own sphere, though one is impossible without the other. What seems to take place here on the level of the elements is what Hobbes asserts of the primordial state on the level of society. From Perez de Moya’s point of view, however, this competition, like the interplay of low and high, long and short notes in music, is a perfect order that keeps the world young. What is true of the elements is also true of things in which different elements are contained in mixed form, “como los mixtos que se engendran se hazen de otros mixtos que se corrompen en ellos.” (89). Thus, four species emerge: metals and stones that do not live and do not perceive; plants that live and do not perceive; animals that live and perceive; and humans that live, perceive, and think. The elements differ in terms of their natural properties. While water, which is cold in its natural state, remains water even when heated, fire cannot lose any of its natural properties of heat and dryness. A distinction must be made between fire as a pure element and the fire of a burnt object, where it is found in a mixed form. Although the element of air is not visible, since its parts are colourless, yet the region between earth and sky is not emptiness, but a body to be divided into three regions: the most distant, and because of its proximity to the sphere of fire, hot and dry; the middle, moist because of its proximity to water; and the lower, near the earth, warm because of the sun’s rays. It is explained by what interplay of the elements clouds, rain, snow, hail, fog, rainbow, morning dew and ice, lightning and thunder are produced, and why it is colder in the morning when the weather is fine than when it is rainy. Drawing on Aristotle, the wind is defined as an exhalation caused by the sun’s rays, “una exhalacion caliente, y seca, sacada por virtud de los rayos del sol, y movida lateralmente alrededor de la tierra.” (115). Since winds are, after all, named after their direction, and since the directions imagined on a disk can be divided into smaller and smaller pieces, the possible number of winds is unlimited. The element of water is necessary for agriculture and for everything on which man lives. For Pliny it is a powerful element, as it floods the earth, extinguishes fire, and rises into the air, where it covers the sky with the clouds. It is followed by the properties of springs, rivers, seas and lakes. The element of earth is below the other three elements. Because of its weight, unlike the movable celestial bodies, it is immobile “en el medio, o centro del mundo” (131). The totality of the earth and water forms a round body, which can be seen by the fact that a lunar eclipse is sighted earlier or later depending on whether one is on a westerly or easterly longitude. A three-layer model of the Earth follows calculations of the Earth’s diameter. On the upper layer are plants, trees and mountains as well as all living creatures except fish. Descending toward the center, one comes to the middle layer, from which emanate the earth’s vapors caused by the sun’s heat. Here is the place where metals and minerals are brought forth, and where earthquakes are produced by the influence of the stars and planets. The third and lowest layer cannot be reached by

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any influences of the sun or the stars, which is why the element of the earth is found here in its pure form. The calculations of the climatic zones, of the two equinoxes in the year, of the unequal rate at which the days grow longer or shorter, of the different early sunrises according to the region, are followed by considerations of the use of the astrolabe in indicating the position of the sun at different seasons, of the four continents after Columbus’ discovery of America, and of the importance of the poles. To find a people or the distance from one people to another or to draw up the map of a province, indications of longitude and latitude are the prerequisite. The third book concludes with precise instructions for the construction of vertical and horizontal sundials and their description (203–248). Navigation Andres de Poza refers to himself in the preface to his Hydrografia. La mas curiosa que hasta aqui ha salido a luz, en que de mas de un derrotero general, se enseña la navegacion por altura y derrota, y la del Este Oeste: con la graduación de los puertos as a lawyer, who studied 9  years at the University of Louvain, then further 10 years at the University of Salamanca, becoming Licenciado of Law in 1570. The book begins with cosmological definitions of the globe, the sphere, and the universe, which consists of the ether and the part with the elements of fire, water, earth, and air. Here the opinion attributed to Aristotle is refuted, according to which there should be ten times more water and ten times more fire than air (Andres de Poza 1585, 2r). The planet Earth is at the center of the universe. The horizon is defined as the line where the earth and sky meet when moving on the sea or on a plain. Defined are the colure as two large circles on the celestial sphere passing through the celestial poles at a constant distance from the earth, longitude and latitude, the zenith as a line running upward into the firmament starting from a certain location, degree measurement as the determination of the distance between latitudes, and the different winds. Compass, nautical charts, astrolabe, the disc-shaped astronomical calculating and measuring instrument, and the balancing rod, which measures the position of the sun and other planets above the horizon, are presented as essential aids to navigation (11r–14r). Navigational calculations according to the position of the sun, movements of the moon, poles, cardinal points, miles, latitude and longitude are demonstrated in detail. How to determine changed position by entering a point on the map is shown. The second part of the book deals with concrete geographical features such as ports, coasts, headlands, anchorages, crossings and tides. Right at the beginning, rare technical terms are explained, since, like all other professions, pilotage has “su particular termino, y modo de hablar, y entenderse” (Al lector aviso). In the case of anchoring, designations are to be distinguished according to safety and convenience: “Poso, y Surgidero casi es lo mismo sino que el poso significa menos seguridad y commodidad.” (Al lector aviso). Accurate and detailed distances between several places are given in miles, the best approaches to ports and landing places in Spain, and features for recognizing individual places, such as lighthouses: “Si

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quisieres conocer la Coruña, es buena conocencia la torre de Faro, y la alta de san Coral de ver el Oeste, y de san Corral hasta la torre de Faro es tierra baxa, en la mesma torre se te hara como isla.” (11r). There are indications of distances in miles and braças for the navigational area from Bayonne to Cadiz and from Cape Finisterre to the Gibraltar Peninsula, indications of tides in relation to the moon for the French Atlantic coast, and advice on landing in specific places: “Si quisieres posar en el cabo de Leomaria de Bela Isla posa en diez braças y hallaras abrigo del Suduest hasta el Norte, al traves de la Iglesia del sancta Maria, ay una piedra al traves de la punta un poco fuera.” (39v). Similar references are given for Flanders, for Scotland, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and for the English coast: “Iten si te conteciere entrar en Margata de la ribera de Londres no pudiendo mas toma buena marea y toma la sonda de la tierra y quando fueres al traves de los clocheles iras al Nordeste que assi es el carrero.” (65r). The book concludes with numerous indications of distances and places and a text translated from English on the four sea routes to India. Rodrigo Zamorano points out to the reader in his preface that he is willing to correct some errors of his predecessors. Zamorano, the author of the already mentioned Cronologia, writes his Compendio del arte de navegar (1588) as “catedratico de cosmografía en la casa de la contratacion de las Indias”. Since the position of the sun was continually changing, he said, a new table of sunset times should be made every 16 years, for example. In the art of navigation he distinguishes a theoretical and a practical part. The former deals with the starry sky and the elements, while the latter considers the manufacture, composition, and use of instruments such as the astrolabe, the ballestilla, the compass, the clock, the nautical chart, and the rules of the moon and the tides. The theoretical part begins with the definition of the globe, with the part of the elements and that of the sky. The revolutions of the individual celestial bodies are explained, such as the moon, which takes 27 gurneys and 8 h, Mercury, Venus and the sun, which take 1 year, and Mars with 2 years, Jupiter with 12 years and Saturn with 30 years (3r). The earth is a sphere, which is round, as is the sky, this being the most perfect form of all (3v). The earth, which is at the centre of the world, is described with the equator, the equinox, the poles, the meridian, the 32 winds, and the longitude and latitude. Then in the practical part follow explanations of the use of the astrolabe, the ballestilla, tables of the position of the sun according to the day and month, and the relation between the moon and the tides. The compass is said to have the advantage of showing the way by day and night, in good and bad weather. Sea charts have the advantage of showing the course of coasts, distances, including those from islands, winds, and latitude and longitude. It is also explained how to make a map of a newly discovered country (48v–49r). Looking back at the trivium and the quadrivium, the theoretical side is dominant in both. It becomes clear in the writings of the grammarians that it is a matter of a first initial instruction. Therefore, a private teacher in the country should set the necessary course for later school attendance in the city and raise the standards. After all, social advancement beckons through the expansion of knowledge. After all, Roman history offers examples of brilliant careers. History as a subject should be the pupil’s special focus, especially since the inventions of antiquity are in no way inferior to those of modernity. Ancient history in particular is an ideal world in

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which the student should feel at home. Philology, however, embraces all conceivable branches of knowledge which may occur in texts. Thus the grammarian, like the philologist and the humanist, has to possess an encyclopaedic universal education if he wishes to understand and explain his texts. If he fails to meet this expectation and philologically mutilates texts on the basis of half-knowledge, he makes himself look ridiculous. He appears equally ridiculous when he mistakes his grammatical knowledge for expertise and presumes to judge where he is incapable of doing so. When he excerpts and collects ideas and sayings, he creates a library in miniature, but remains within the intellectual framework of what he reads. Novelty and independence can only exist there in new assignments and compilations. Even where rhetoric provides aids to argumentation, these are to be taken from literature rather than from contemporary reality. If one therefore raises the suitability for everyday life to the standard, this professional group must appear ridiculous and become a suitable target for satire. They can only extricate themselves from this situation if they either concentrate on the educational mission. This is what the grammarian has in initial teaching, which intensifies the teaching of agibilia, i.e. everyday forms of manners and behavior, and above all emphasises the uniquely high idealistic value of the texts, especially the ancient texts, which legitimise the activity and its self-image. If the subjects of the trivium, with their reference to words, offer only indirect access to reality, then this is all the more the case with the subjects of the quadrivium, which are related to numbers. While mechanical arts have an object with which they deal, the carpenter with wood or the blacksmith with iron, arithmetic has no tangible object. It has its origin and seat in the mind. The forms of geometry have such an ideal character that Plato could see in them a proof of his doctrine of ideas. Theoretical arithmetic, which traces everything back to numbers, moves in the realm of definitions and distinguishes types and regularities. It finds practical application in commerce, astronomy, and navigation. Celestial bodies cannot be grasped by the senses any more than numbers can. When they are invoked as causes of time, and their purposes are considered to be illumination for the inhabitants of the earth, ornamentation of the heavens, and influencing the conditions of the earth, the use of them seems speculative, especially when the reckoning of time begins with eternity, and the first age embraces the span between creation and the Flood. No less theoretical and speculative appear the transitions from astronomy to astrology. When celestial bodies are used as omens for events on earth or for scheduling medical applications in humans, they overlap into the sublunar realm of the struggle of the elements among themselves. There is also overlap between astronomy and music, as the latter is modeled on the harmony of the spheres. Hence music is no more material than the other subjects of the quadrivium. After all, what matters is not the hand with which the musical instrument is operated, or the voice which produces the song, but the theoretical knowledge and the spirit which is metaphysically oriented to the harmony of the world. Body and soul are both involved in the bringing forth of music, but the soul is the active element which, from a state of contemplation, can tame passions and produce effects of medicinal healing. He who merely imitates music understands as little about it as an orator without knowledge of rhetoric understands about persuasion.

Chapter 6

Higher Faculties

6.1 Doctor In ancient Greece, medicine was called technes, meaning both craft and science. Medieval medicine was based on the Corpus Aristotelicum, compiled by the school of Toledo around 1200, and the Corpus Hippocraticum, compiled by Galen and completed by Avicenna. It was held that where the two agreed, the truth lay; where they did not, the truth was hard to find. Medieval sub-disciplines of medicine were pharmacy, surgery and diet. The practice of medicine had three phases: anamnesis, the gathering of information about the history of a disease, diagnosis, and prognosis. In classifying medicine in relation to the artes liberales, it was seen in the eighth and ninth centuries as the eighth of the seven liberal arts, or classified as a second philosophy, until it slipped temporarily into the mechanical arts in the twelfth century, only to be established immediately thereafter in university faculties in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (Schipperges 1980, 977–982). It was not until the early modern period that there were innovations, when A. Vesal (1514–1564) republished Galen. Indeed, in his own empirical investigations, he noticed his errors, corrected them, and founded modern anatomy and physiology with De humani corporis fabrica (1543). It was W. Harvey (1578–1657) who founded the doctrine of the circulation and contraction of the heart. For the classification of medicine in the Spanish Siglo de Oro, the relationship between body and soul plays a major role. In Spain, the strict separation of the body as res extensa from the soul as res cogitans, which Descartes had made in seventeenth-­century France, whereby he saw both as independent systems, was not yet considered valid. Rather, the Neoplatonic conception of nature as a product of the mind and of the correspondences between microcosm and macrocosm dominates, resulting in numerous interdependencies and harmonies between body and soul or body and mind. Virtue becomes the origin and goal in the microcosm and in the macrocosm. In addition, there are ideas that explain the meaning and purpose of © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE, part of Springer Nature 2023 C. Strosetzki, Manual Work and Mental Work, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-66366-0_6

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bodily organs. Thus it is teleologically explained that the eyes are round so that one can see in all directions. Already for Aristotle the soul was purpose, form and cause of motion for the body, a doctrine adopted by the Spanish late scholasticism of the school of Salamanca. With this close connection, physical illnesses must also have soul causes, so that medicine cannot limit itself to the purely physical. Thus, for Vives, the health of the soul is a prerequisite for the health of the body. For Sabuco, affects of the soul such as fear or anger are responsible for physical ailments. These and the society that causes them are to be avoided, so that the health of the individual can only be improved by taking his macrocosm into account. The close relationship between soul and body is also evident in the medical advice on diet and lifestyle. That different eating habits cause different folk characters is an insight attributed to Caesar, where causality is reversed and the physical becomes the cause. From healthy food to healing plants is a small step. Luis de Oviedo presents medicinal plants with their effects, showing how to make remedies from several plants or by grinding hard substances. Monardes presents the new medicines introduced from America, such as takamahak, a resin for headaches and colds, quinine for fevers, tobacco for asthma, or the stone bezaar as an antidote for poisoning. In the Spanish Siglo de Oro, the academically and university-trained physician was distinguished from the barbero, who was responsible for healing wounds, bloodletting and cutting hair. An intermediate position was occupied by the surgeon, who required anatomical knowledge when splinting a broken bone. There is a great discrepancy between the university physician, familiar with theories of ancient authors, and the practical wound surgeon. Therefore, there are some tracts in the vernacular to give basic knowledge to practitioners who are ignorant of Latin. After their studies, the university physicians still had to pass an approbation, a state license to practice their profession independently. Lobera de Avila mockingly supplements the theories of conventional medicine with speculations about how it is that the biblical figures Adam, Methuselah, and Cain lived to be over 900 years old. He contrasts them with practical experiences and recipes that promise more help in specific cases. Diaz also contrasts theoretical medicine with practical medicine, which heals through medication, diet and surgery. The prognosis for healing is also important to him. For him, surgery is the discipline that teaches how to cut, fuse and burn with the hands in order to heal. Thus, in the case of ulcers, the surgeon has to remove what is superfluous. In the case of abscesses, he says, a decision must be made before surgery as to whether it is in the initial or growth stage, whether it has reached its peak or is subsiding, if fatal consequences are to be avoided. Mercado complains that even shepherds and farm workers now feel competent to provide simple medical treatment, such as for broken bones and dislocations. A special case of a disease is the plague, the causes, symptoms and cures of which are the subject of several tracts. The plague is caused by bad air. Signs that it is approaching are dead bees, dead fish, and birds that take flight far above. Keeping healthy, according to Perez, is served by a soul free of sin and a body free of bad bodily fluids. In addition to definition, prevention, and cure, Martinez de Leyua

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addresses the psychological and social consequences of the plague. That, as with other professions, doctors are not lacking in satirical treatment of their activities, their methods and theories, and their greed is not surprising, nor is their satirical portrayal in the picaresque novel.

6.1.1 Body and Soul One of the most virulent attacks on the physician comes from the early humanist Francesco Petrarch, who in his Invectiva contra medicum of 1355 accuses physicians of pomposity, mocks medical astrology as well as the quarrels among physicians and their limited success. Since medicine serves only the body and is practiced for the sake of material gain, it is of no use to the soul or to moral education. For Petrarch, the physician is no more than a mechanicus, a representative of the mechanical arts; his knowledge is not a science and is on a par with weaving and navigation (Wigger 2001, 59–60). Pedro Mercado, in the fifth dialogue of his Diálogos de philosophia natural y moral (1558), contrasts the physician with the jurist, presenting a new version of the dispute of the faculties that has a precursor in De nobilitate legum et medicinae (1399) by the Italian Coluccio Salutati. By contrast, Salutati granted jurisprudence the higher value, since it dealt with the spiritual, while medicine only considered the material, namely the body, Mercado emphasizes the venerable age of medicine as a science and wants to distinguish between the mistakes of individual ignorant physicians and the subject of medicine itself (Wigger 2001, 140–144). Jerónimo Merola’s República original sacada del cuerpo humano (1587) draws a parallel between the human body and society when he considers the function of the physician to be comparable to that of the head of the family, since both watch over temperance, which is the basis for individual health and state welfare. With such a parallelism, it is only consistent to compare the physician with the jurist. Whereas the aforementioned humanist Coluccio Salutati associated politics with the soul and medicine with the body, which is why he considered human society to be a greater good than a person’s health, Merola corrects this by granting medicine the right to concern itself not only with the soul but also with its house, the body, and in doing so refers to Juvenal’s saying “Mens sana in corpore sano”. And from the point of view of the history of creation, the human body was created before the laws, which gives a special dignity to the science that deals with it (Wigger 2001, 350–359). In seventeenth century France, Descartes speaks of the “machine de nostre corps” (Descartes 1996, 10). From the latter, the soul with its passions, acts of will, and thoughts was to be strictly separated, for “elle est d’une nature qui n’a aucun raport à l’estendue, ny aux dimensions, ou autres proprietez de la matière dont le corps est composé” (Descartes 1996, 10). When Descartes distinguishes res extensa and res cogitans and sees in the soul a spiritual force created by God, he makes a strict separation of inside and outside. Body and soul appear as separate systems

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acting independently of each other. Now, however, Descartes faces the body-soul problem, the nature of the interaction of body and soul, which he solves in an occasionalist way, referring to a concursus Dei, while others prefer a psychophysical parallelism. Starting from English empiricism, a materialistic conception spreads in the eighteenth century, for example in Diderot and Lamettrie, which also understands psychic processes as bodily activities. But first the question of the contexts of soul and body will be raised, as it was before Descartes. While Plato had already spoken of the world-soul as the force that moves itself and everything else, and had contrasted it with the individual soul, for Aristotle the soul of plants is the capacity for nourishment, in the case of the souls of animals the sensations of pleasure and displeasure are added, while man, in addition to the capacities of plants and animals, possesses reason, which is of divine origin. Since the human soul thus unites in itself the powers of all other beings and of the divine, it can be seen, according to Aristotle, as a microcosm (Aristotle Phys. 1995b, 195). With humanism, the neoplatonic view spreads, according to which nature is a product of the spirit, thus, on the one hand, the divinity unfolds in nature and, on the other hand, the divinity is the highest point of unity of the different sciences. It is against this background that natural science becomes theosophical. When Plotinus speaks of the beauty of the macrocosm, in this beauty is also seen the appearance of the divine idea. If everything has a cause and the ultimate formal and operative cause of purpose is God, then the universe is the entity of God turned into a creature and is to be regarded pantheistically. God becomes the unity in which all opposites are suspended, the coincidentia oppositorum, and thereby acts as natura naturans, which shapes and unfolds natura naturata, the universe and all creatures. Paracelsus (1493–1541) can take this as his starting point when he understands man’s knowledge of the world as a revelation of his own inner self that develops on the outside. For Paracelsus, the analogy of microcosm and macrocosm is related to the fact that one can only recognize what one is oneself. As a body, man belongs to the material world. In so far as he unites in himself the essence of material things, he can, according to Paracelsus, comprehend the physical world. In so far as he is an intellectual being of sidereal origin, he is able to know the spiritual world. Finally, as a divine spark, as spiraculum vitae, he can also fathom the divine being of which he is the image. Since the divine essence is present and contained in every form of appearance, it must be regarded as the life principle of the universe as well as of the individual being. Paracelsus calls the special principle of life and action that belongs to each individual being Archeus. Thus he understands the activity of the physician as an intervention in the course of nature, which must proceed from the being in sympathy of all things and from the spiritual connection of the universe. Since he understands illness as an impairment of the individual principle of life, the Archeus, by foreign powers, he tries to strengthen the Archeus with the means of alchemy. In doing so, he seeks a remedy to strengthen the life forces against all diseases. The “philosopher’s stone” should not only cure diseases, but also transform base materials into gold. Paracelsus tries to find inorganic medicines, called arcana, which destroy all poisons that cause disease. The macrocosm, he said, is connected with the microcosm in such

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a way that visible and invisible stars descend upon the earth to fertilize it and give specific properties to each body. Like acts on like, he said, so that the chemist, with experiment and his knowledge of the correspondences of microcosm and macrocosm, should isolate active substances by separating the pure essence from the impure by fire and distillation. This theory of Paracelsus is as hypothetical as that of the tria prima, according to which all bodies consist of the three first substances, namely salt, sulphur and mercury (Schwedt 1991, 18; Brock 1997, 30–36). The consideration of the contexts of soul and body has thus shown that numerous correspondences, dependencies and harmonies exist between macrocosm and microcosm, which are also relevant for the healing of diseases, especially when, as in Neoplatonism and Paracelsus, the macrocosm is thought of as animate.

6.1.2 Microcosm and Macrocosm For Spanish literature of the Siglo de Oro, it is Francisco Rico who demonstrates in detail the presence of the idea of man as a microcosm. He goes from Vives’ Fabula de homine (Buck 1995) via Pérez de Oliva to Baltasar Gracián and Calderón de la Barca. As an example from Rico’s numerous references, Diego de Torres Villarroel still advises in 1727  in his writing Lo más precioso y preciso de las medicinas: Cartilla astrológica y médica to study the properties of the years, the seasons, the sun, the moon, the planets, the air, the earth and the doctrine of the humors. As already mentioned, the heavenly bodies exert influence, Saturn on the melancholic, Jupiter on the sanguine, Mars on the choleric, Venus on the phlegmatic, the sun in general on the vital force, and the moon on all the humors: “Saturno preside el bazo y la melancolía; Júpiter, el semen y la sangre; Marte, los testículos y la cólera; Venus, el hígado y la flema; el sol, el corazón, la virtud vital y -como la luna – todos los humores” (Rico 1970, 160). Here we can see how concrete the influence of the heavenly bodies is on the human microcosm. Looking at Oliva Sabuco’s Nueva filosofía de la naturaleza del hombre (1587), the question of the place of the soul in the universe arises again. Are correspondences between microcosm and macrocosm established here as well? Sabuco follows Aristotle and sees human beings as having a vegetative side like plants and a sensitive side like animals, so that although they surpass plants and animals in intellectual capacity, they can grow or decay like them. They are healthy when they pursue their activity, “que es tomar, y dar, con gusto, y gana de comer” (Sabuco de Nantes 1981, 211). Sabuco explains that one can contrast microcosm and macrocosm because both are analogous in structure. In both, there is a first cause from which all second causes proceed, “para hacer mover, y causar, y criar lo que les fue mandado” (209). In humans, she argues, it is the soul that rules over the body. Following her remarks on the microcosm of man, Sabuco deals with the macrocosm and, given the greatness of the earth and planetary systems, marvels at God as principle and first cause. Just as one can infer the artistry of the artist from a painting or

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sculpture, so one can see the wisdom of God in the work of the world. Regardless, knowledge of the causes and relationships in the macrocosm brings joy and is thus a necessary condition for happiness. And if the animals, from the dog to the lion to the eagle, love those who have done much good for them, let the same be true of man toward the Creator of the macrocosm.

6.1.3 Teleology The idea of creation leads to the ideas of intention and purpose. Where there is purpose, the next thought is teleology. Francisco Diaz, the physician and surgeon of King Philip II, therefore, in his Compendio de cirurgia y anatomia, en el qual se trata de todas las cosas tocantes a la theorica y pratica della, y de la anatomia del cuerpo humano, con otro breve tratado de las quatro enfermedades (1575), has an intern ask for what purpose the gall bladder, which lies next to the liver, was created. The answer is followed by explanations of the stomach and kidneys. It becomes clear that any malfunction of one organ affects the functioning of the others. The bones, as the skeleton, form the foundation which has the purpose of supporting the other parts of the body. They are said to be cold and dry like the element of earth. Excepting the teeth, they have no sensation (Diaz 1575, 58v). In the case of the eyes, the special task they have is emphasized, “la excelencia de su oficio para lo fueron constituydos.” (67r). Thus, he says, they are round for this reason, so that one can look anywhere, and the pupil reflects things, so that the eyes can see things as they are (67v). In addition to the other components, the seven muscles by means of which the eye can be moved in all directions are also described. The anatomical explanations end after the first third of the book. In antiquity, it is Thales who sees in the magnet, which has the power to move without being moved, a model for the soul. In Plato, the body becomes a site of distress, a dungeon for the immortal soul. For Aristotle, the soul is purpose, form, and cause of motion for the body, from which it cannot be separated. Aristotle defines the soul as follows: “The soul is the cause and principle of the living body. But this is understood in several senses. Corresponding to the three distinguished kinds of causes (principles), the soul is equally (threefold) cause: namely, it is both the origin of motion and the purpose, and also, as the essence of animate bodies, the soul is cause. […] For all natural bodies are organs of the soul, and as the (bodies) of living beings, so also are those of plants for the sake of the soul. Of twofold importance is the purpose, the one as the wherefore-will, the other as the what-for” (Aristotle de an. 1995d, 37). Thus, when the soul acts on the body as cause, purpose, and essence (form), this can lead to health or disease for the body. Body and soul form a system in which the soul acts as cause and the body as effect. Following Aristotle, the late scholastic and representative of the School of Salamanca Francisco Suárez (1548–1617) defines the soul firstly as rational, “una entidad espiritual independiente en su ser de la materia, inteligente y volente” and secondly as the form

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cause of the body, “forma del cuerpo, principio de las operaciones materiales, y que entiende con dependencia de los sentidos” (Suárez 1978, 19). It is form and not matter. For the body, it is the active element, “acto y perfección” (55). So, too, for Suárez, the rational soul becomes the cause of form for the body and its movements, with form being understood as nothing other than goal and purpose. In seventeenth-century Spain, then, the strict separation of outside and inside is not yet made, as is also shown by a look at Juan de Cabriada’s list of different medical approaches in his Carta filosófica, médico-chymica, en que se demuestra que de los tiempos, y experiencias se han aprendido los mejores remedios contra las enfermedades, published in 1687. Cabriada’s Carta sparked polemics between traditionalists and innovators. He himself belonged to the latter, with whom he then founded the Sociedad de medicina y otras ciencias de Sevilla in 1697, which was inclined towards modern tendencies (López Piñero 1979, 429). For Cabriada there is the “turgica”, which wants to effect healing through prayers, the mathematical school, which with Pythagoras sees everything determined by numbers, the “armonica”, which makes the stars the basic principle, the fantastic, the magical one of Agrippa, the one related to the passions, which Seneca represents, the “carneterica”, which, with Crolio and Conrado, starts from physionomy and the signatura de los mixtos, the empirical one, which has its own recipes ready, the “dietaria,” which considers moral virtue more important than medicines, the “syderica,” the “filtrica,” with which Rhabi Abenaden and Nostradamus seek to cure amorous diseases in five ways, the galenic, which appeals to the four humors, the physiological, which refers to the physical constitution of man, the pharmaceutical, which concentrates on the preparation of medicines, and finally the chemical, “que separa lo puro de lo impuro de los mixtos” (de Cabriada 1686, 33). What is remarkable about this list is the juxtaposition of empirical and speculative-­ esoteric approaches. This lack of clarity is reinforced when Cabriada revisits the different schools in classifying diseases by types and causes. For Paracelsus, he lectures, there are diseases that God assigns as punishment for sins, those that are caused by the course of the stars, others that have a flaw in nature as their causes, those that are caused by ideas and passions of the soul, and still others that result from ingesting a poison (de Cabriada 1686, 105–106). It should be noted that the soul and body are seen in connection when the effect of moral virtues or the passions is emphasized, illnesses are seen as punishments for sins, or prayers are said to bring about healing. On the other hand, the course of the stars is considered to cause illness. The overview of such explanations proves how often in seventeenth century Spain the body was thought to be dependent on the soul and the microcosm was thought to be analogous to the macrocosm. The holistic view with a dominance of the soul over the body is also shared by Juan Luis Vives (1492–1540). As a humanist, he polemicized against the Aristotelian scholastic system of science of his time, but joined him in his ideas about the soul. He too speaks of the soul as a form of the body (Vives 1945, 53) and sees it as an active principle, since when it undertakes something with the tools of the body, the activity emanates from it: “Así, en el pintor está la facultad de pintar, y en mí la de

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escribir” (49). Vives illustrates the image of tools elsewhere. While a craftsman who makes only one object can get by with one tool, the soul requires many, including limbs for external activities, fluids for internal ones, the black and yellow bile with their qualities of will and feeling. Since, therefore, the bodily organs act as instruments of the soul, the health of the soul seems to be a prerequisite for the health of the body.

6.1.4 Between Speculation and Empiricism Hieronymo Merola’s Republica original sacada del cuerpo humano, published in 1587, relates the structure of the state and human activities and sciences to the human being as a microcosm. The relationships Merola establishes as a doctor of philosophy and medicine are manifold. Thus, the stars correspond to the five senses and the four elements to the four temperaments (Merola 1587, 118a). Let there be the “sciencias contemplativas” for the soul and the “sciencias activas” for the body (6b). Those who confine themselves to contemplation are unfit for government. All should be guided by the common good, some as commanders, others as obeyers. Analogously, the microcosm of man is the purpose of the macrocosm, and the goal of the microcosm and macrocosm is God, who for man is both the cause of the effect and the goal: “Que el mundo pequeño que es el hombre, es final causa a la qual se refiere el grande: y Dios es fin del grande y del pequeño. Porque lo que pretende el hombre es hazer una circulación y volverse a Dios de quien tiene su origen, y esto mediante la virtud, con la qual viene a hazerse tan virtuoso, tan perfecto, y semejante a Dios, que por la similitud es atrahido por el summo bien” (20b, 21). Virtue is, for Merola, origin and goal in the microcosm as well as in the macrocosm. Here again a neoplatonic, pantheistic background is revealed. Since God is the ultimate purpose, for Merola there is also nothing left to chance. He created man and sustains him through the virtues of justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude. Failure to follow the virtues would defeat the purpose. Given the analogy of microcosm and macrocosm, three leading sciences emerge: theology, medicine, and jurisprudence. “Como tres Reyes son estos architectos y principales artifices, es a saber Theologo, Medico, y Letrado, que en su Reyno y familia gouiernan y mandan, hazen y deshazen” (47b). Well-disposed minds think that the theologian is the leader of the soul, the physician that of the body, and the jurist that of property, while ill-­ disposed minds see in the theologian a conscienceless man, in the physician an unrestrained murderer, and in the jurist a thief, saying, “que el Theologo es mal aconscienciado, el Medico un matador intemperante, y mal reglado, y el Jurista un ladron” (105a). Even though the sciences refer to different fields, Merola has shown how much they are related to each other, given the intertwining of the microcosm and the macrocosm.

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6.1.5 Mental Health In the same year 1587 in which Merola’s book appears, the Nueva filosofía de la naturaleza del hombre by Oliva Sabuco de Nantes is also published. Here, the physician stands exclusively in a positive light as the guardian of the mysteries of creation and physical health, as “ministro de las grandezas, y secretos de Dios, […] tratan de lo mejor que la vida humana tiene, que es la salud corporal” (Sabuco de Nantes 1981, 297). Sabuco emphasizes the novelty of his approach by pointing out that neither Hippocrates nor Galen knew that someone could die from anger (Wigger 2001, 233). Unlike Descartes, but instead entirely in line with the Aristotelian understanding of the soul as the cause of the body, for Sabuco physical health has its counterpart and its basis at the level of the soul in happiness, which consists in insight into things and the wise choice of the middle measure, “sabiendo tomar el medio en todas las cosas” (Sabuco de Nantes 1981, 199). Thus, a prerequisite for physical health is mental happiness, which is based on knowledge of the world and the choice of the right measure. To be wise requires little. For self-knowledge, Sabuco recommends her own book at hand, supplemented by “Fray Luis de Granada, y la Vanidad de Estela, y Contemptus Mundi” (200). Most of the advice Sabuco gives for the preservation of health concerns the soul, which should keep itself free from negative affects. Anger, for example, is compared to an evil and dangerous beast, which one is to oppose, in case one endangers their own health. Aegeus serves as an example, who had agreed with his son Theseus that if he returned victorious from Crete, he should set a white sail as a sign of his victory. However, he threw himself into the sea in anger and died when he saw his son’s ship coming without a white sail. He had not considered that Theseus might have forgotten the sign out of joy over his victory (Sabuco de Nantes 1981, 90, 88). The same applies to fear or worry about the future, which in turn can cause damage to health or be fatal. Fear is usually more dangerous than the thing one fears, since it produces the harmful melancholy with its false pretenses and suspicions. Hence sadness is also harmful and may lead to death. Sabuco advises as a countermeasure to meet the loss of hope with the search for a new goal that will make one forget the old one. The passion of love can also have undesirable consequences. Indeed, if one cannot attain what one loves, sorrow and trepidation arise, which can become fatal. Sabuco defines jealousy as the fear of loss that is harmful to the body, while the affects of hatred and enmity are equally harmful to health (118, 108). Just as negative affects of the soul damage the health of the body, positive affects promote it. As hopelessness has a negative effect, so hope has a positive one (129). Hope and joy enliven, concord and friendship make soul and body flourish. In a nutshell, Sabuco’s rule is that joy and contentment are main causes of health: “El placer, contento y alegría, son la principal causa porque vive el hombre, y tiene salud” (123). When it comes to the rules of conduct that promote health, Sabuco advises that the soul should observe moderation and thus the golden mean. Thus, laziness, too much leisure, and sleep are harmful to the body. Like excess in resting, excess in working

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can have deadly effects. In view of the seven deadly sins, which include pride, covetousness, as well as envy, anger, intemperance, sloth, or weariness, Sabuco again advises moderation, especially in food intake. From the ancient doctors, he says, the phrase has come down to us that more persons fall victim to gluttony than to the sword: “Más mata la gula, que la espada” (115). Soul and body thus form a system for Sabuco, in which the soul is causally responsible for the body’s well-being or illnesses. Such a holistic view derives not least from the Aristotelian conception of the soul as the cause of the body. But it is also social realities whose effect on health Sabuco discusses. The widespread and numerous legal disputes should be abolished, as they “traen grandes pesadumbres y desasosiegos, por lo que muchos mueren” (277). Numerous are the suggestions Sabuco makes in detail. If lying were forbidden in court, many lawsuits would be avoidable. If abundance were distributed, there would be no more poverty in the state. If aqueducts were built, there would be more fertile lands for animals and plants. Further, advice is given on marriages (283, 286, 289–293). That health is not a private matter is evidenced by the healthpromoting importance she ascribes to friendship and good relations with others. Thus, the health of the individual can only be improved by taking into account the macrocosm, more or less broadly defined, which is why Sabuco calls for the improvement of the world, since we do not live for ourselves alone: “Muchas veces os he rogado, que antes que nos muramos mejoremos este mundo, dejando en él escrita alguna filosofía, que aproveche a los mortales” (78). Sabuco does not stop at individual health in this outlook either, but wants society to be included in her quest to improve the world. Since, for her, mental happiness is a prerequisite for physical health, she indicates not only which affects bring unhappiness and illness, but also the importance for happiness, and thus ultimately for health, of the proper handling of knowledge of the universe, of social behavior, and of the organization of society. In Sabuco, then, the soul is a cause of physical health. Finally, as a microcosm, it faces not only a macrocosm but a complex social context. Like Merola, Sabuco follows the Aristotelian model of the soul as a multiple cause of the body, which was also advocated in the sixteenth century by the late scholastic Suárez and the humanist Vives. In shaping the relationship between microcosm and macrocosm the Neoplatonic view, according to which nature is a product of the spirit, becomes clearer in Merola.

6.1.6 Dietetics This emphasis on the mental side of health is contrasted with an interest in purely physical food intake. Proper nutrition is also known to contribute to health. If Hippocrates emphasized the self-healing power of nature, it was important not to hinder it by dietary errors. Ancient dietetics, as taught in the Corpus Hippocraticum, was more comprehensive than diet, however. It included all the elements acting on the body from without, such as light and air, food and drink, exercise and rest,

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sleeping and waking, secretion and elimination, and mental affects. In addition, the seasons, changing wind directions, sun exposure, local climate, and location were to be considered (Peset Reig 2018). In this comprehensive form, dietetics was present in Sabuco. In the narrower form of diet, that is, food intake, it is such a frequent subject in fictional literature that María de los Ángeles Pérez Samper sees in the story of diet a new project. Inspired by the interest of the École des Annales in great collective tasks, one could deal with the economic and social questions of food over a long period of time. Thus, the attitudes of Don Quixote and Sancho towards food and drink could not be more different, which Don Quixote sums up in the sentence, “Yo, Sancho, nací para vivir muriendo, y tú para morir comiendo” (de Cervantes 2015, 1209). And when Antonio de Guevara, in his Menosprecio de corte y alabanza de aldea (1539), praises rural life and advises against life at court, dietary habits form an important argument. Whereas in the country one can eat when one wants, in the court one is forced to eat cold and bland things late at night. In the country one sits around a warming fire in winter, at the spring at Easter and in the garden with friends. Part of a good meal is the freedom to choose the time, the food and the table company. The perspective is quite different in the picaresque novel, where Lazarillo ponders day and night about how to obtain something edible (de los Ángeles Pérez Samper 2020, 38). To dietetics in the broader sense are dedicated in a prophylactic perspective Miguel Martinez de Leyuas Remedios preservativos y curativos, para en tiempo de la peste, y otras curiosas experiencias (1597). The general corrective rule is to refresh the body by cooling drinks when it is unnaturally hot, and to warm it when it is unnaturally cold. Advice is also given against pestilence to light fires with smoke flavored by plants to mitigate the toxins in the air, “con esto se templara algun tanto la venenosidad del aire que esta corrupto” (Martinez de Leyua 1597, 83r). In the interior rooms, which are closed in winter, warm fragrances are to drive away the corrupt air. Moderation is to be observed in eating and drinking. Thus the stomach should not be burdened by anything raw as long as the previously eaten raw has not been digested, which is all the more true if the air is foul. Meat should not be fatty and from young animals. The consumption of aquatic animals living in moisture, such as ducks, should be avoided. Castrated mutton, on the other hand, is healthy. Too many fruits are unhealthy, but allowed in moderation against dry heat. Vegetables are bad unless enhanced by onion, garlic and oregano. Bread be of good grain without admixture of vegetables. Wine should smell good. Cheese, eggs, fish, cabbage, rice and lentils are also presented with their properties. Exercise is good, but only if it is done moderately, otherwise heat rises in the body and pores are opened through which diseases easily penetrate (101v). The most favorable time for exercise is before meals. Heat baths also open the pores and make them susceptible to infection. Sleep in moderation is good, e.g. half an hour after a meal with the belt loosened, shoes off, and in a darkened room. Nightly sleep should be limited to 6–8 h. If one lies on the right shoulder, this promotes gastric activity. Lying on the left side supports the liver (105r). Finally, the psychological conditions are discussed and sadness is held responsible for numerous evils. Fear of the plague makes one susceptible to it, while cheerfulness and joy in nature strengthen the immune

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system. According to Martinez de Leyua bloodletting and laxatives are advisable in any case to let bad bodily fluids flow out. While, according to Aristotle, the sun, the moon and the stars consist of unchangeable substances and therefore do not require nourishment, food is necessary for living beings. According to Francisco Nuñez de Oria’s Regimiento y aviso de sanidad, que trata de todos los generos de alimentos y del regimiento della (1586), good nutrition promotes a good constitution, which in turn is a prerequisite for the mind, which in turn requires good morals, as Galen repeatedly emphasized (Nuñez de Oria 1586, Prologo). Even he who is born with an inclination to evil can, by suitable nourishment, turn his inclinations to good. Food is also responsible if one becomes a melancholic or the other a choleric. What were the beginnings of human food intake? When men lived like wild animals in forests and cold caves, they ate the fruits and berries that the uncultivated soil gave them. Then they became shepherds and took some of the wild animals, tamed them and confined them. Sheep were particularly suitable, as they were docile, and served for the production of milk, cheese, and butter, as well as wool for clothing. In the next stage, agriculture produced cereals and vegetables. In this golden age kings and peasants had an equal amount and enough for their needs. Cicero is attributed with the idea that nature created the pig for the purpose of feeding man, “la naturaleza crio al puerco tan fecundo y prolifico, para que fuesse sustentamiento del hombre” (7r). So many instruments were found for agriculture that those who did not have them were called barbarians. Nuñez de Oria attributes to Caesar the proposition that there are as many different diets as there are different peoples and regions. Lithuania is given as an example to illustrate hierarchical differences. While the nobles eat white bread and drink wine imported from other countries, the people drink water (26v). The remainder of the first book discusses the eating habits of South America before presenting the diets of famous figures such as Pythagoras, Plato, Pyrrhon of Elis, Alexander the Great, Cato, and Lucullus. With the beginning of the second book, the individual foods are presented with their production, properties and benefits: Grains, flour, bread, meat with its different qualities according to the animal, muscle and part of the body, the breeding of chickens, the production of milk and cheese, fishing and fish farming. The third book demonstrates the cultivation and benefits of green vegetables, fruits, nuts and olives. The fourth book shows ways of preparing dishes and making salt, vinegar, sugar, honey and their uses, before the fifth book discusses the advantages and disadvantages of wine and other drinks. The nearly 20 double-page spreads at the end are entitled “Tractado del uso de las mugeres,” are devoted to the treatment of women, criticize debauchery (357r), and instruct “que tiempo del año sea dañoso para el coyto” (358r) or “en que tiempo del año y en que hora mas convenga el coyto” (361r). Finally, after reflections on the benefits and origins of dreams, there follows advice on what time to go to sleep and what position the body should take when doing so (374v). Here too, then, dietetics is understood in its original broad Hippocratic sense.

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6.1.7 Remedies If dietetics and diet serve mainly prophylactic purposes, the medicines are used for therapeutic purposes. Pharmacists were either self-employed or worked for monasteries, hospitals, towns or for noble families. In the social hierarchy they were less respected than the physicians, with whom, however, they collaborated. In addition to the precise preparation of the remedies, they also had to be able to ensure their preservation. In the quantity of ingredients, the physician differentiated his prescription according to the age and status of the sick person, which the apothecary took into account in the preparation (González de Fauve and de Forteza 1996a, 103–135). In 1555, Laguna’s Spanish translation of Dioscurides’ Materia medica, a botanical-­ pharmacological treatise of Roman antiquity describing the effects of plants when used medicinally, was published. In addition, it describes the production and application possibilities of remedies derived from animals or stones (Wigger 2001, 164–172). Luis de Oviedo, who describes himself as a boticario en Madrid, begins in his Methodo de la coleccion y reposicion de las medicinas simples, y de su correcion y preparacion (1595) with the definition of what is meant by a remedy in Galen’s sense, which acts differently from mere ingestion by warming, cooling, drying or moistening: “Medicamento se llama todo aquello que puede alterar nuestra naturaleza, à diferencia del mantenimiento, el qual puede aumentar nuestra sustancia” (Luis de Oviedo 1595, 1r). The theoretical definition is followed by the differentiation of the species. A distinction is to be made between simple medicines, which have their healing power naturally, and compound ones, in which human ingenuity puts together various substances. For the latter, theriac is given as an example, which is made into powder with, among other things, honey, Malaga wine, opium, angelica root, valerian, sea bulb, myrrh, and cloves, was used in antiquity against snake venom, and in early modern times, with up to 399 ingredients, as a universal medicine against numerous diseases. The explanations about medicinal plants, their harvest time and shelf life are based on Galen and Theophrastus. In the case of animals, grazing animals serve as food, while remedies can be made from the liver and intestines of the wolf, as from body parts of the vixen or viper (30). The production of remedies by boiling and by grinding hard substances is described in detail, before Luis de Oviedo describes individual medicines such as diamusco, which is effective against melancholy and apoplexy. He also describes syrup made from the jujube plant, which has a positive effect on the chest and lungs, and scorpion oil, made from scorpions heated in olive oil, which is used to treat wounds, colic and gout (358v). Prescriptions for medicines were not only representative of the antiquity and experience of the Old World, but also the newly discovered world of America. The publisher’s preface to the reader praises the presentation of numerous properties and powers of things brought by the Indias Occidentales that were unknown in previous centuries. Without the remarks of the author Monardes, who was a physician at Seville, in his Primera y segunda y tercera partes de la Historia Medicinal: de las cosas que se traen de nuestras Indias Occidentales, que sirven

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en Medicina (1580), the curative effects of the bezoar stone or snow would be unknown. Monardes actually wrote his Historia medicinal without leaving his location of Seville, and yet exerted a wide impact on later authors (López Piñero 2002, 554–558). Right at the beginning is his reference to the fact that the New World, but Peru in particular, was owed not only the importation of gold, silver and pearls, of parrots, of copper and sugar, but also that of plants, trees, fruits and roots in which medicinal healing properties were found. They cure diseases that would otherwise be incurable. Since the author has practiced medicine for 40 years and lives in Seville, the city where goods arrive from the New World, he has had the opportunity to gather pertinent information and is now able to present one remedy after another in his book. The white, transparent and faint-smelling tree resin copal is used by the priests of the Indians as fragrance for sacrifices in the temples. It helps, for example, with headaches and colds. Another type of resin is takamahak – a word that comes from Nahuatl. The Indians use it against swellings, which it makes disappear, no matter in which area of the body. Its superficial application also helps against rheumatism, toothache and “humores fríos”, which manifest themselves in fatigue, dejection and indifference. Mixed with amber, it strengthens the stomach (Monardes 1580, 4r). Another remedy, previously brought from China by the Portuguese, is now introduced from the New World: quinine, extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree. According to Monardes, the Indians use it to cure serious illnesses, especially fevers, which disappear when sweated out (13v). In the case of the pinchinchi tree, the Indios cut a twig to use three or four drops of the milk-colored liquid that comes out as a strong purgative. It aids the liver and stomach, and cleanses as much from flegmatic as from choleric humors. It may also be taken with wine, or in dried form as a powder. It was found after Hernando Cortes conquered Michoacán in 1524, a land of good and wholesome air and medicinal plants, so that in the time of the Indians many came there to cure their diseases. Meanwhile this remedy has become common not only in the New World, but also in Spain, Italy, Germany, and Flanders. Tobacco is a grass which has been applied to war wounds among the Indians from time immemorial, in order to cure them with it. The tobacco tree was brought to Spain, where it served as an ornament to gardens. If the smoke of the leaves is taken by the mouth, it clears the chest of asthmatics. Among the Indians it was the custom to consult the priests when making important decisions, ingesting the tobacco smoke until they saw spirits and pretenses in an altered state of consciousness, from which they interpreted answers for the questions at hand. Among many Indians it was a pastime to intoxicate themselves with tobacco. “Assi mismo los demas Indios, por su passatiempo, tomaban el humo del Tabaco para emborracharse con el, y para ver aquellas fantasmas y cosas que se les representaban: de lo qual recebian contento.” (37r). Tobacco was also used by them against fatigue “y quedan como muertos, y estando assi, descansan de tal manera, que quando recuerdan, quedan tan descansados que pueden tornar a trabajar otro tanto.” (37v). The leaves of the coca bush have been used by the Indians for centuries. When they travel long distances where there is no water or food, chewing coca leaves makes them feel neither hungry nor thirsty. They mix in tobacco leaves when they want to

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get high “para estar sin sentido y privados de juizio” (94r). How widespread medicinal plants from Latin America were is evidenced by the fact that plays by Lope de Vega or Tirso de Molina focus on medicinal plants introduced from Latin America (Slater 2007). Armadillos living in South America can also be used for medicinal purposes. The bone of the tail, ground to a powder, can be inserted into the ear, where it relieves pain. It also reliably eliminates ringing in the ears and noises in the ears, according to Monardes (66v). Pliny is quoted as having said that nature only gave animals the necessary instincts to avoid what is harmful and choose what is beneficial, but that humans are at the mercy of the dangers inherent in poisons found in grasses, minerals, and animals. The principal symptoms of poisoning are fainting, white eyes, an enlarged, black, and protruding tongue, a falling pulse, and a cold sweat. If one wishes to ascertain the nature of the poison, one may give some of the remains of what the person has eaten or drunk to a dog, a chicken or a cat. The best way to help the poisoned person is to make him vomit before the poison has penetrated the whole body. This process can be promoted by ingesting large quantities of cooking oil. But the “piedra bezaar,” which in Greek is called “alexipharmacum” (108v), has a particularly extensive effect. This stone, which originates in the mountain goat, is credited with expelling all poisons. That the stone also helps with other afflictions Monardes can confirm from his own experience. Thus, he says, he was once called to the house of a duchess whose son was suffering from fainting fits and whom no physician had yet been able to help. When the stone was procured and the son had another seizure, he was given powder grated from the stone with water, whereupon the seizure ended. Later on he took some of this powder every morning in order to render harmless in advance the poisons that could lead to fainting, which is why he never fainted again (116v). In a subsequent dialogue, the medicinal effects of powdered iron, steel and gold are presented, before ancient and medieval evidence of the healing power of snow mixed with cold water is collected. Galen already emphasized the warming effect of the actually cold snow, which one experiences when holding it in one’s hand or walking barefoot over it. The snow causes the hands or feet to become warm. Monardes refers to Avicenna, who advised soothing the pain of stomach and liver inflammations, “passiones calientes de higado” (156r), with snow water. Here it was of particular advantage that the mountains near Granada provided perpetual snow, which the rulers of Granada liked to use in summer. “Los Reyes de Granada por auctoridad Real usaban en los meses de gran calor y Estio, beber las aguas que bebian enfriadas con nieve, como refiere el historiador nuestro Alonso de Palencia, en lo que escribio de la guerra de Granada” (159v). The distance between the practical art of healing and university medical science was great, especially since the latter was based on ancient Latin texts. The foundations of university medical education in Salamanca or Alcalá were, in the first year, the reading of Hippocrates’ Natura Hominis, De temperamentis and Galen’s De naturalibus Facultatibus; in the second, Galen’s De morborum differentiis; in the third, Galen’s De pulsibus, De urinis and Febrium Diferentiis. In anatomy there were explanations at the dissecting table, and in botany there were demonstrations

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of medicinal plants. Dioscorides’ De materia medica with the explanation of about 1000 medicines of plant, animal and mineral origin was available from 1518 in the Latin translation of Juan de Nebrija.

6.1.8 Between University Teaching and Practice The Portuguese physician Enrique Jorge Enriquez, who worked in Spain, idealized the physician in his Retrato del perfecto médico (1595), based on the model of the princely mirrors and the figure of the orator. The physician should be of pleasant appearance, as he stood for health, be well but not ostentatiously dressed, avoid idleness, games and pleasures, be moderate in food and drink, have a certain general education, orientate himself on the cardinal virtues, apply book knowledge and experience, and deal prudently with the sick (Wigger 2001, 148–155). Such idealizations were contrasted with the reality of the Tribunales del Protomedicato, introduced in the fifteenth century, in which cirujanos, ensalmadores, and apothecaries were tested for their abilities by municipal authorities. The institution of the Protomedicato, formulated by the Catholic Monarchs in three decrees in 1477, 1491 and 1498, gave graduates state permission to practise the profession independently and on their own responsibility. In addition to practical experience, knowledge acquired in the three chairs on Hippocrates, Galen and Avicenna had to be proven. While some were issued examination certificates and licenses, others were banned from practicing, the violation of which could be punished with 3000 maravedis (Granjel 1971, 15). It was not uncommon for protomédicos to be accused of granting permission to practice medicine to the unqualified after taking bribes (Wigger 2001, 123). Little is known about the exact procedure and contents of the protomedicato examination. However, there is a document from 1579 according to which the surgeon Pedro de Camaño traveled from Galicia to Madrid, where he had to answer questions on the anatomy of the human body, wounds, ulcers, and abscesses in an exam and subsequently received permission to practice throughout the country (López Terrada 2002a, 115). If on one side were the representatives of orthodox medicine, on the other side were the faith healers, witches and sorcerers. Between the two stood the barberos and the sangradores, that is, the barbers who also healed wounds, and those responsible for bloodletting. Among the healers, some confined themselves to praying, while others supported this with remedies (López Terrada 2002b, 178, 180). And even less prestige was enjoyed by those who specialized in a particular field and took their knowledge only from experience, as evidenced by the derogatory terms they were called. “Ejerecieron una medicina empírica los algebristas, los hernistas y sacadores de la piedra, los batidores de la catarata u oculistas, los sacamuelas y las parteras” (Granjel 1971, 24). Regardless of their lesser prestige, they were able to achieve celebrity and high incomes. In this they differed from the miracle healers popular among the rural population, who resorted to black arts, astrology, and superstitious techniques of various provenance. They were opposed by the Inquisition tribunals as well as by critical works, such as the Tratado muy

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sutil y bien fundado de las supersticiones y hechizerías (1529) by Fray Martín de Castañega and the Reprobación de las supersticiones y hechizerías (1529) by Pedro Ciruelo. On the other hand, the exorcism of persons possessed by the devil was permitted by the church (32). In view of the remoteness from practice of university theory, which likes to see causes in origins, it is not surprising that Luis Lobera de Avila advocates medical practice and underlines this with a satirical account of speculative theorizing. In the title page of his Libro de las experiencias de medicina (1544), he refers to himself as physician to His Majesty the Emperor Charles V. In a preface, the author answers the question of why people lived much longer in earlier times than they do at present by referring to dietary habits. For example, he says, there is a region in Crete whose inhabitants eat soup enhanced with wine every morning, which provides the body with natural warmth and moisture. Another cause of long life, however, seems to be geographical location. It is heard from Portuguese and Spanish navigators that there is a city in India where a person lives to be 280 years old, who has a son who is more than a 100 years old. A role was played by the Flood, in consequence of which the soils lost their strength. In addition, before the Flood people ate neither bread nor meat, but acorns and chestnuts and fruits that strengthen the body. That people today eat many different things shortens life, corrupts the humors, and brings indigestion, “porque los humores se corrompen y se hacen desto indigestiones” (Lobera de Avila 1544, IIIr). Another reason why people used to live longer is that they were closer in time to the birth of Adam, who was 930 years old and created by God himself. Methuselah is said in the Bible to have lived to be 969 years old. Cain, after all, lived 910 years. The further the temporal distance from the first humans becomes, the weaker they become, which is why they live less long. There were attempts to attribute the longer life span to other time calculations. Some said that in former times a year lasted 29 days, others that what today is a year used to be 10, others again put the duration of a year at 3 months. According to Luis Lobera de Avila, all of these opinions are wrong and can be refuted if one contrasts other time references in the Bible that speak for our calculation of time. Two other introductory letters answer no less curious questions. The first deals with the reasons why some fall asleep while listening to a sermon or reading a book aloud and others are wide awake. While in the former the brain is damp and weighed down with the processing of superfluous things and fatigued, the latter are of a choleric nature and unfold two movements while listening, the logic of which is incomprehensible: “El uno es spiritual proprio al entendimiento conforme al qual compone divide y discurre. El otro es el movimiento de los mismos spiritus segun las diversas partes y segun la diversidad de las cosas que se causan leyendo o oyendo” (IIIIr). When it is said at the end that in short sermons, unlike in long ones, the body does not have time to initiate the process of falling asleep, and that the softer the voice that reads aloud, the sooner sleep occurs, it becomes increasingly clear that this is a satire on the theories of orthodox medicine and not serious medical exposition. This impression continues with the last introductory letter, in which the question of why a newborn child is more like its father or mother is answered by reference to the imagination of the beholder.

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Not theoretical speculation, but experience with remedies to help in specific cases is then suggested by Lobera de Avila. Thus, to induce perspiration, an ointment is recommended, mixed from one ounce of chamomile oil, four ounces of white wine and celery water, and rubbed on the chest and abdomen with warm water. Strengthening the heart is served by a mixture of rose water, liquid of orange blossom, ox tongue, white wine, and a piece of deer heart. For stomach pain, experience has shown that a piece of soft roast, mixed with ground aniseed, accompanied by a few sips of white wine, helps. Recipes are given for making the eyes beautiful, improving the sight, removing the redness from the face, curing syphilis, or dressing old wounds (XXIII r). Some recipes, however, seem unsuitable for the general public and are therefore given in Latin. These include remedies against worms and sleeping pills, the “sirupus ad vermes in pueris cum febre et sine ea” and the “ad durmiendum expertum secretum” (XXIII v–XIXr).

6.1.9 Surgeon and Wound Healer Between the healing practitioner and the doctor, who had received a full university education in medicine, stood the surgeon, whose healing was limited to the subfield of manual work. The establishment of a chair for cirugía in 1566 at the University of Salamanca was controversial, as the representatives of the discipline claimed that the relevant knowledge was already taught in anatomy and that the students wanted to become doctors and not cirujanos. While future cirujanos were initially required to have at least a bachelor’s degree, a 1593 decree stipulated the artes liberales as a prerequisite and three courses from the Faculty of Medicine (Salinas Araya 2016). Moreno-Egea shows that from the sixteenth century onwards, the first university chairs for the training of cirujanos were established in Spain, not only in Salamanca but also in Valencia, Valladolid and Alcalá. One could start from works such as Lanfranc’s Chirurgia magna, Johannes de Ketham’s Compendio de la salud humana (1494), Alonso Chirino’s Tratado llamado menor daño de medicina (1505) or Guido de Chauliac’s Inventario o collectorio en cirugía (1523). Franciscus Arcaeus’s Latin work De recta vulnerum curandorum ratione (1574), in which symptoms and cures are demonstrated from his own experience, has been translated into English, German, and French. Dionisio Daza Chacón served as cirujano in the army of Charles V and Philip II during various campaigns before being appointed royal family physician. His work Practica y Teórica de Cirugía (1582), reprinted nine times in the seventeenth century, is explicitly addressed to those who have no knowledge of Latin. He distances himself from the barberos who were only practically instructed, as well as from the university medical theorists who could only talk about natural philosophy but not heal (Moreno-Egea 2017, 168). Francisco Diaz was not only physician and surgeon to King Philip II, but had also earned a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Alcala. His work Compendio de cirurgia y anatomia, en el qual se trata de todas las cosas tocantes a la theorica y pratica della, y de la anatomia del cuerpo humano, con otro breve

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tratado de las quatro enfermedades (1575) is divided into four books. In the first he presents the anatomy of the human body; in the second, ulcers and tumors, with their possibilities of cure; in the third, fresh injuries; and in the fourth, ulcers. He meets with his book, as he writes in the prologue, a need to inform oneself in Spanish and not in Latin. In doing so, he draws on Greek as well as Arabic authorities and his own experience acquired in different regions, but especially in Burgos. The work itself consists of a dialogue between a doctor and his intern. The latter begins by saying that he has so far acquired his practical experience in hospitals, where, however, the patients are too numerous and the rounds too hurried to really learn anything. The doctor first defines medicine. According to Avicenna, it is the study of the diseases of the human body and he shows how to cure or protect against them. While for Galen it is the study of the sick and the healthy, for Hippocrates it consists in adding what is lacking or taking away what is too much (Diaz 1575, 2v). A distinction must be made between theoretical and practical medicine. While theoretical medicine is limited to the field of science, practical medicine dealt with healing, using the three instruments already mentioned: medicines, diet and surgery. Medicines are those that dissolve, those that decompose, those that cause scarring, those that fuse, those that reduce pain, those that serve as laxatives, and finally those that are used for external or internal treatment. Diet determines which foods of what quality and quantity are taken. The third instrument, surgery, is a manual operation. It is the subject of his book, says Diaz. Where shepherds or millers, without in-depth knowledge, were acting as algibristas, it was more appropriate to speak of “algibestias” (3r). Diaz defines surgery as a science that teaches how to heal people by cutting, gluing, burning, and other means (4v). The latter points to impossible cures, such as a hidden or fused cancer that cannot be removed, or pyogenic ducts whose removal would bring serious complications, or cases where there is intolerance and the sick person rejects the medicine. A fourth obstacle to a cure, not at all uncommon, but little known, is the ignorance of the surgeon, who misjudges the disease and orders the wrong medicines. If the patient dies, doctors immediately have ready as an explanation that he ate too much or drank too much. Once again, the surgeon is defined as one who must unite what is separated, separate what is united, and remove what is superfluous: “El officio del cirujano, es unir lo separado, separar lo unido, quitar lo superfluo, o estraño, y conservar la parte” (6v). Thus he has to sew together fresh wounds. That which has grown together he separates by opening ulcers. The superfluous he removes when he operates away adhesions in the flesh or clots of blood. He also has to remove foreign bodies such as stones or splinters. Where he has something to preserve, he takes a medicine similar to that which is to be preserved, as its counterpart would do it harm. The principle is that a wound can be healed with dry medicines. But since there are moist and dry parts of the body, “entended que para secar los secos, es menester mas secos, y menos para los humidos, y esto se llama conservacion” (Diaz 1575, 7r). A good surgeon should not only know the principles of philosophy and medicine, but also be educated and dexterous, skillful in working with his hands. He should also know anatomy and the structure of the human body as well as the joints,

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muscles, nerves, arteries and veins. He said that one should distinguish between simple and compound parts of the body. For example, when a bone breaks, all its parts are bone. It is different with the head, which is composed of veins, scalp, nerves, muscles and bones. For example, if one cuts off an ear from the composite head, then the ear is not the head. The bones of the human body are cold, dry, and, except in the case of the teeth, insentient, being the foundation and basis of the whole body. The muscles, on the other hand, being made of flesh, serve the purpose of voluntary motion. From the brain spring the nerves, from the heart come the arteries which bring vitality, from the liver come the veins. The entire human body is so wonderfully harmoniously equipped that one can see a microcosm in it. The brain, by virtue of its position in the head, appears as the watchtower and leader of a fortress. It is the origin of reason, imagination and memory, of all movements of the body and of the five senses. It is described precisely, without the aid of pictures, how two skins lie under the skull to ensure that the brain is not injured in its constant movements. And also otherwise individual parts of the brain are described and the place is emphasized from which the nerves proceed, which are the origin of the movements and the sensations of the whole body. A distinction is made between the fluid called the pia mater, which surrounds the brain, and the pia mater which surrounds the spinal cord. The heart is described by Diaz in terms of its position in the body, its nature, its connections with other organs, and in terms of its “officios” (18v). Accordingly, the liver is presented as transferring food into the blood, “delqual sale la obra del mantenimiento, y reparte su virtud por las venas. […] El officio deste miembro diximos que era convertir el mantenimiento en sangre” (23r,v; 24v). Now follow detailed explanations first about abscesses, then about wounds and injuries and finally about ulcers. Apostema is the Greek word for the Latin term abscess. If one now expects practical tips for actual practice, one will be disappointed. It becomes rather more theoretical when, for example, 32 diseases are distinguished in the sense of Galen according to heat and cold, dryness and dampness or according to their different combinations (73r). Systematic definitions dominate when abscesses are distinguished according to eight types. There are abscesses distinguished firstly by large and small, secondly by the juice of the body, thirdly by the causes, fourthly by their contents, fifthly by similarity, sixthly by their place, seventhly by the accidentals, and eighthly by their matter (76v). While in the second type recourse is had to the Galenic doctrine of the humors, the proper mixture of which is a prerequisite for health, the decisive factor for the third type is where the abscess is located, whether in the eye, in the lungs, or in the throat. In discussing the causes of abscess, Diaz first cites the Aristotelian doctrine of the four causes, the final, the formal, the material, and the effectual. Galen is cited, for whom congestion of the drain is the cause of abscesses. Diaz gives seven causes: first, the strength of the discharging element; second, the weakness of the receiving element; third, the quantity of the bodily juice; fourth, the obstruction of the ways; fifth, the place; sixth, pain; and seventh, heat (81r). More helpful to the practical work of the surgeon may be the distinction of the stages of an abscess: Beginning, Growth, Climax, and Decay, since different medications are required at each stage.

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If a drug is administered at the wrong stage, it may have fatal consequences. Prognoses about progression are unfavorable if an abscess moves to a vital location or if it decays. If it occurs in the brain, the sick die after 4 days. It is dangerous if it develops internally, for example in the intestine, in the throat, in the liver or in the kidneys. If abscesses are accompanied by more than 1 day of fever, danger is to be prognosticated. An important part of the surgeon’s activity in the early modern period is the treatment of fresh wounds. Again, a distinction is made between simple parts such as the bone, the nerve, the vein, the artery or the flesh and compound ones such as the head. While a simple injury does not attack the substance, the compound one does. The latter is accompanied by pain, indisposition, loss of blood, and convulsions. That the substance is injured in the case of the liver, for example, is recognized by the fact that “lo que sale por la herida es de color de higado molido, sobreviene calentura, pierde el herido la color” (197r). An injury causes greater difficulty when it is extensive, when it is in an important place, or when it is insidiously located on an injured nerve. Causes of such an injury may be a sword, a stick, a blow from a fist, a stone, or some other object thrust with force. But they may also be causes lying in the past “como los humores que se han vuelto acres y mordaces” (194r). Also addressed are the signs that allow you to predict the course of the disease. Thus, Diaz considers injuries to the heart necessarily fatal. The majority of injuries to the brain, liver, small intestine, stomach, lungs and kidneys are fatal. On the other hand, wounds of the veins or arteries are dangerous because of the great loss of blood involved. In more common wounds, the foreign body should be removed first, then the torn parts should be sutured together and fixed. Injury to a nerve by a knife or sting presents a special challenge, since here the wound is to be kept open and not closed, “porque se espurgue la materia, y no se detenga, no cause convulsion” (257r). The fresh wounds are contrasted with the older ones, which may also be called ulcers. While the fresh wound bleeds, the ulcer shows rotten and watery tissue. Types can be distinguished: by appearance, by the place of occurrence, by the accompanying symptoms, size and shape and, if necessary, a specific name. The causes are explained so that the appropriate cure can be applied with clear-sightedness. Here, too, Galen’s doctrine of the humors is invoked, when the malignant forms are explained by “la malicia del humor que a ellas corre” (308v). Even where a virus is given as the cause of the ulcer, Diaz falls back on Galen: “Lo que se llama virus o virulencia, se engendra de excrementos aquosos y biliosos, que son colericos, como nos lo enseña Galen” (309v). Signs of an ulcer come from the fluids and odors it releases. Predictions can be deduced from the color of the ulcer. If it is black, brown, or green, healing will prove very difficult. It is not uncommon for a canker sore to develop when inexperienced doctors treat it with drugs that are too strong. The normal treatment is to take the cancer out by the root, either by cutting it with a knife or removing it by cautery. Cancerous growths hidden inside are best left untouched and the patient treated palliatively. With the general advice to be careful of food and drink, sleeping and waking, and physical exercise, the chapter on cancer ends, “desta ulcera tan temida, difficultosa y horrenda” (333v).

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The question arises whether, in the face of so many tips for medical activity, the dissemination of medical knowledge should be judged positively or negatively. Luis Mercado had so far published numerous works in Latin, such as. De communi et peculiari praesidiorum artis medicae indicatione (1574), De essentia, causis, signis & curatione febris malignae (1574), De mulierum affectionibus (1579), De pulsis arte & harminia (1584), De morborum internorum curatione (1594), Institutiones cuirurgicae (1594) or De morbis hereditariis (1605) (Pérez and Ignacio 1999, 61–67). Therefore, he complains that medicine is in a bad state since it is no longer practiced by academically educated people, but by shepherds, simple farm workers or women who pretend to have appropriate exams. He is therefore writing a book himself in Spanish, aimed at the algebristas, those who heal broken bones. He intends to acquaint them with the most important fundamentals, as he points out in the preface to the reader of his Instituciones que su magestad mando hazer al doctor Mercado su medico de camara, y protomedico general, para el aprouechamiento y examen de los algebristas (1599). The first chapter begins with the general statement that in order to understand disease it is necessary to have an idea of health. Thus, if one wants to correctly assess a fracture, one should know what the healthy bones look like. Furthermore, one should bear in mind that bones are cold and dry, and therefore one should use similar, that is, cold and dry, remedies for a broken bone. However, one may also use sticky and liquid masses when joining them together. Note the different sizes of bones and marrow, the different cavities, the soft or hard, dense or spongy consistency, the composition of forms formed from smaller bones such as the hand, and the way they are held together in joints. Man needs the bones to give shape to the body. If there were only one bone, movement would be impossible: “y con ellos si fueran enteros no se podia mover ni doblar, ni ponerse en varias figuras” (Mercado 1599, 5v). Therefore, there are joints, with which stability and mobility are taken into account. How the interaction of the bones works in connective, cartilaginous or bony joints is explained in detail, as well as the appropriate healing methods in each case. Caution is advised in the case of dislocations in order to avoid greater damage. No medication should be administered until the bones have been returned to their original position, otherwise the damage would be incurable. Negative prognoses are to be feared when treating dislocations that are inflamed or associated with a wound, so it is best to leave the patient untreated: “por los dolores y fiebres que siguiendose, o matan, o secan el cuerpo: y assi menos mal es dejar manco el enfermo, que ponerle probablemente a peligro de la vida” (12r). Illustrations are used to show how to tie an arm or a leg to a pole or to other superstructures, and what movements to use to put them back in the right position (43r–53r). The various bone fractures are also presented. With an illustration it is demonstrated how to bring the broken parts apart by stretching and then bring them together again correctly (57r).

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6.1.10 The Plague In the Siglo de Oro, medicine had to deal not only with easily curable diseases such as broken bones, but also with serious epidemics, such as the plague, against which it was largely powerless. Antonio Perez writes his Breve tratado de peste, con sus causas, señales, y curacion: y de lo que al presente corre en esta villa de Madrid, y sus contornos (1598) as a royal physician commissioned by the king. Plague he defines as a malignant fever caused by putrefaction and decay of the air, which kills most of those it afflicts. The air thus inhaled poisons the humors of the body more in some, less in others. The putrefaction may be of natural origin, as when in stagnant waters the water smells bad. A supernatural cause is when God sends the disease out of anger at the sins of men, or astrologers attribute the pollution of the air to the stars as a sign from heaven (Perez 1598, 2v). Of course, the air varies according to the province, the city, the neighborhood, and the street, which can have consequences for health. Preconditions for the plague are bad air, in which dirty rats, toads, snakes, spiders and flies multiply, watered-down fruit and vegetables with an insipid taste, and finally a population in which slackness, languor, displeasure, affliction, smallpox, spotted fever, side stings, insanity and boils are common. Here, then, the plague may easily spread, but there are also signs that the air is deteriorating from hidden causes. This is the case when it becomes cold in the warm season, or warm in the cold, or when it becomes wet in a time of drought. Those who want to protect themselves should avoid bad air and the things from which it emanates. Thus closed dwellings, in which the air does not circulate, are evil. Physical stresses such as hunger, over-fatigue, or improper diet increase susceptibility. That a person has the plague may be recognized by the following symptoms: Fever, which may be more or less severe at first, the interior of the body burning and the exterior, especially the hands and feet, growing cold; a head that is felt to be heavy; dry mouth and great thirst; anxiety and restlessness; weak and rapid pulse; difficulty in breathing, disturbance of vision, and vomiting. According to Perez, when the vomit is green, there is no hope (7r). To keep healthy, it is recommended to keep the soul free from sins and the body free from bad humors. The latter is accomplished by eating well and not excessively, without fruits, vegetables, and milk, and by avoiding overexertion, bad air, and odors of decay. The use of vinegar makes odors disappear. Frequent changing of the shirt and wearing clean clothes is also beneficial. However, once the plague has broken out, avoid contact with the diseased. They should recover in makeshift dwellings outside the city. Those who have had contact with them, even if they are still healthy, should not be allowed to return to the city until they have been quarantined outside it. The clothes of the deceased are to be burned or buried with them as deep as possible outside the city. Pets are to be dealt with accordingly. When individual medicines are recommended, a weakening and mitigating effect is always intended. The goal is “templar, y confortar las partes internas, corregir los espiritus, y humores, con comidas, y bebidas […] y lo que ya estuviere malino y no se pudiere corregir salga a fuera” (22r). Special care must be taken in every application. Of the numerous remedies

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suggested in the literature, Antonio Perez presents only those with which he has had the best experience in Valencia, Italy, Flanders, and Lisbon. And yet, he says, it is sometimes even better to let nature prevail than to make a mistake. The implication of what the plague means for a city or a country is evoked by Miguel Martinez de Leyua at the beginning of the preface to his Remedios preservativos y curativos, para en tiempo de la peste, y otras curiosas experiencias (1597). He recalls the punishments in the Bible of God’s wrath for grave sins: Famine, animal plagues, war, and pestilence. The biblical David is invoked to atone for his own transgressions and those of his people. When given the choice between 3 days of plague, 7 years of famine, and 3 months of war, he chose the plague because it was the harshest and most thorough atonement and spared none, from which Martinez de Leyua concludes that it is the greatest plague of mankind. With his book, he aims to alleviate suffering by presenting causes of disease and medicines in the interest of the common good “por el bien comun y humana necessidad” (Martinez de Leyua 1597, 168v). States that are afflicted by the plague are at an advantage if they have governments that seek advice from experts. It is good to set up hospitals in times of plague. He himself draws his own experience not least from his work in a hospital in Seville. After all, he says, the purpose of medicine is to counteract all diseases. Hence the proverb recommends honouring the physician: “Honora medicum, propter necessitatem creavit eum altissimus.” (prologo). The work is divided into three parts: The first deals with the definition and characterization of the plague, also pointing out causes; the second with prevention; and the third with possible cures. Another short address to the reader repeats that the plague is the cruelest of all evils, that it separates woman from man, son from father, and friend from friend, ruining families, destroying cities and kingdoms. The plague was to be distinguished from glandular tumours, since according to Hippocrates and Galen it was a contagious epidemic which came from the air and affected whole peoples. Unlike an endemic, a disease that recurs only in certain regions or cities, it is not caused by geographical peculiarities, since it is due to foul air coming from above, “porque la epidemia viene de arriba de la parte superior del aire alterado, o corrompido del cielo, y a esta causa se comunica, o pudo comunicar a muchos, e diversos pueblos” (5r). If the epidemic universalizes, it becomes a pandemic. Martinez de Leyua quotes Marsilio Ficino, for whom the plague is a dragon with a body of air that spits poison from its mouth against the people. If one wanted to protect one’s region against the plague, one should light large fires with good firewood and add fragrant flowers and plants. This could protect the inhabitants from the plague when they breathe in the smoke. After all, plague is a mutation of the air. However, the question arises, as philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Hermes Trismegistos and Averroes have posed, how it is that the beautiful, noble and pure celestial bodies can cause such a cruel disease. Martinez de Leyua refers to the biblical David mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, to whom a divine intervention brought the plague. The late ancient Greek historian Prokop, he says, reported a violent plague in Constantinople, at the beginning of which only a few died, but then the numbers grew and 5–10,000 died daily in a period of 3 months in

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that city alone. Such diseases, Martinez de Leyua thinks, “vienen secretamente de Dios, sin medio del cielo ni de elementos, ni de otra criatura” (11v). If they are sent directly by God, it is superfluous to look for other causes. However, they are announced by special constellations, which Martinez de Leyua reports with reference to Ficino. They are promoted by extreme weather conditions, as evidenced by the cloudbursts and downpours in 1447, which were followed by an outbreak of plague the following year. However, neither dampness nor decay emerging from the earth alone lead to plague. Different factors must come together, otherwise it would be inexplicable why swine fever is not also transmitted to other animals under the same weather conditions or why there is a variant that only affects chickens. It is also puzzling that there was a plague in Constantinople that did not affect common women, but only noble women. In 1360, under Pope Innocent VI, it was chiefly the wealthy and noble who died, whereas, however, the plague of 1348 and that of Seville affected chiefly the poor. Only recently a case had been reported from Tripoli, where a drugstore had been closed for 3 years after the death of its owner. When it was then opened, the smell of rottenness penetrated to the outside, to which some persons immediately fell victims. But that a plague then followed was only possible “si alli concurrio qualquiera alteracion Celestial” (25r). The chapter dealing with the causes of the plague attributes to theology the knowledge of the essential causes, but admits to medicine, philosophy, and astrology the knowledge of natural causes, which, however, are secondary in view of the divine justice and punishment as the real cause, “que son menos principales y mediatas, como instrumentos que son de la justicia divina, quando quiere castigar algunos pecados en los hombres” (30r). No medicine, philosophy, or astrology could have foreseen the Flood or the destruction of Sodom as punishment for man’s misdeeds. Nevertheless, there are often harbingers such as scarcity, war, or discord as foreshadowing warnings that should induce repentance and correction, but are misjudged for lack of religious conviction. More naturalistic is the segue to the meaning of rotten elements corrupting the air and leading to plague: “La causa de la peste que viene por corrupcion de los elementos, los quales corrompen el aire, y este corrupto se corrompen nuestros cuerpos, y assi corruptos faltamos y morimos por este modo de peste” (66r,v). Unusual changes in the elements, in fact, provoke a wide variety of diseases. If, in summer, fire dominates as a very hot element and causes the air to become hot and dry, then violent fevers, erysipelas, headaches, and frenzy may result. If, however, water dominates, then the air is damp and cold, as in Seville in 1581, and colds are to be expected. Thus it is seen that excesses of the elements of water and fire have effects primarily on the air. Corresponding consequences also have rottenness in the earth or in the water. But the worst disease is the plague, first, because physicians do not endeavour to cure it for fear of catching it; secondly, because all avoid the plague sufferer, and he is thus without help and support; thirdly, because for fear parents avoid their children, children avoid their parents, and all their relatives; fourthly, because servants flee from their masters, friends do not visit each other, and so one or other die helplessly. Hence it is not surprising that so few physicians wrote about the plague. Martinez de Leyua claims to write from his own experience of treating plague

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sufferers. In order not to become infected, he says, he prophylactically followed a diet in the spirit of Hippocrates, which means a healthy diet, exercise, sleep, and a moderate approach to the passions, and, since the plague springs from divine will, confession and penance are also to be considered antidotes, “convendra usar de diferentes antidotos, que son confession, penitencia, ayunos, lagrimas y disciplinas” (81v). As another antidote against the plague, it is recommended not to leave the house in the morning without having eaten something. The powder of Behazar stone, emerald, the clay of terra sigillata, also called bolus armenicus, and perfumes, among others, are suggested as other effective medicines. Martinez de Leyua’s suggestion that the plague sufferer should bathe in the sea for a cure, for 3 or 4 h if possible, 10 or 12 h if necessary, seems rather curious, “hasta tanto que el enfermo se sienta descargado de la enfermedad: y este es remedio muy facil y de poca espensa y gasto” (162r). The remedies mentioned, it is added, are effective not only for plague, but also for other diseases.

6.1.11 Satire The question arises whether, in light of the numerous medical treatises of the Siglo de Oro, medicine and its physicians were judged positively or negatively. Fictional literature of the time provides a first insight into the mood. Pedro Mexía’s Coloquio de los médicos (1547) is a conversation on the occasion of a convalescent’s visit in which the pros and cons of medicine are discussed. While Gaspar rejects treatment with laxatives, as he does doctors in general, Bernardo argues that medicine was already recognized as a science in the Bible, invented by ancient gods such as Apollo, Asclepius, or Mercury, and esteemed by Homer. According to Pliny, ancient rulers thought highly of it. Gaspar counters that his criticism is not directed against ancient medicine, when healing was done out of mercy, but rather against the profiteering of physicians. Here his argumentation falls back on Pliny’s 29th book of Naturalis Historia. Where a balance of experience and abstract book knowledge is postulated, Mexía leans on Aulus Cornelius Celsus’ De medicina (Conde Parrado 1998). A holistic view is taken by Antonio de Guevara in his Menosprecio de corte y alabanza de aldea (1539), where staying in the countryside seems healthier than staying in the city because, far from courtly obligations, one enjoys good air and tranquility and eats healthier food, but above all because there are no doctors to endanger one’s health. Those who have studied medicine, however, prefer the city, which promises higher incomes. Guevara also deals with the medical profession in his Epístolas familiares (1539). In the 54th letter, he first reports on his personal negative experiences with physicians and then presents the history of medicine and his ideal conception of the physician’s profession in order to confront them with the widespread shortcomings in reality (Wigger 2001, 83–88). Insights into medical practices are also offered by the anonymous picaresque novel Vida y hechos de Estebanillo González (1646), as the protagonist variously

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acts as a barbero-ciruano. In Rome he could have learned the profession had he not been employed by his first master as a domestic servant, which led to his burning a customer’s face while shaving. His second master concludes a notarial contract with him, in which the rights and duties of the master and his apprentice are laid down. Here he learns how to properly heat iron tools with fire, shave, and cut hair. Since the poor cannot pay for the services of a barber, they must be available to apprentices for training purposes, which earns them not a few disfigurements. In his spare time, Estebanillo appropriates theory by reading books so that he can justify hair cut too short by resorting to Galen and astrology, arguing that bad bodily fluids can more easily escape from a bald head and that hair will grow faster if it has been cut when the moon is rising (Schmitz 2016, 148–150). When he presents himself at a hospital in Naples as a certified barbero-ciruano, he is asked to perform bloodletting to prove his practical skills. As a result of Estebanillo’s lack of experience, the patient loses the ability to move his right arm. Later, he acts as a fraudulent salesman of remedies. For example, he sells cold water from a nearby well as medicinal healing water from Alameda. Then he expands his product line to include hand soap from Bologna and Oriental powder for brushing teeth (155). The comic and satirical portrayal of doctors in the entremeses was particularly popular. They appear there as ignorant, greedy, cruel to patients when they use Latin gibberish and recommend laxatives and bloodletting as the only remedies. If several physicians are consulted, they readily withdraw for discussion. Instead of discussing the best medication, however, they talk about the condition of their mules or enter into a contest over the number of their patients. Additionally, physicians, ciruanos, and apothecaries were common targets for satire, as these professions were often practiced by Jews until 1492 (Bobes 2004, 1226). The opportunity to gain wealth quickly as a doctor and the pursuit of wealth is satirically criticized in Antonio de Torquemada, Juan Luis Vives, Salas Bobadillo, Tirso de Molina, and Mateo Alemán (González de Fauve and de Forteza 1996b, 78–79; Rivero 2019, 102, 103). An anecdote and an aphorism may round off the impression. The Renaissance Pope Alexander VI is reported to have raised the question of whether a state needed doctors at all. Most of those present denied this, pointing out that Rome had managed without them for 600 years. The pope, however, disagreed, citing as his argument that without the presence of physicians, the number of people would increase so much that they would have no place on earth (de Santa Cruz 1996, 121). A final aphoristic outlook interprets human life as continuous war and brief wanderings, accompanied by constant toil, sorrow, and fear. The child wants to be a youth, the youth wants to be a man, and the man seeks honors. Once he is old, he wants to be young again. If he is poor, he wants to be rich. If he is rich, he wants to be a prince. If he be a prince, he will be a monarch. If he is a monarch, he wants to be immortal. But sickness makes everyone poor, because it prevents him from enjoying what he has. The greatest enemies become the apothecaries and physicians, since they wish him to be ill as long as possible in order to make more money from him (Martinez de Leyua 1597, 167v).

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6.1.12 Résumé In summary, the following can be said about the profession of medicine. If the reproach is raised against medicine that it serves only the body and is of no use to the soul, then it follows that the soul has priority over the body. Not only in the Platonic doctrine of ideas, but also in the Aristotelian doctrine of the purpose-cause and the form-cause, it is the soul that shapes the body. If the cause of purpose in the macrocosm is God, then in the microcosm corresponding with Him it is the soul with its mind. It rules over the body and is the purpose of the organs, which are instruments of the soul. Diet is therefore integrated into dietetics, which encompasses the entire conduct of life, including exercise and sleep, which is important because the self-healing powers of nature must not be hindered by wrong nutrition. Spiritual life thus dominates the physical even in medicine. If physical diseases arise because God inflicts them as punishment, or because they are caused by celestial bodies, or because they are brought on by affects of the soul such as fear and love, or because social conditions which cause illness weigh upon the soul, then the physician cannot confine himself to the body in healing. Most of the texts we have presented take this fact into account. When medical students in the Siglo de Oro are taught the subject at universities through texts by Hippocrates, Galen, and Dioscorides, the anchoring of this discipline in antiquity is evident. When newer plants discovered in the Americas are presented, it is to supplement Dioscorides’ teaching of medicinal plants. While herbal remedies were introduced from America such as quinine or tobacco, others were created by grinding hard substances such as bezoar stone, which has been used as an antidote since antiquity. If one descends in the hierarchy of the healing professions to the level of the surgeon working by hand, he too has a university education, albeit a shorter one, and knows at least enough of the anatomy to know what the normal position of bones is when they are broken. To him, as to barbero, who is hierarchically below him, Diaz gives the Aristotelian doctrine of four causes and Galen’s seven explanations of causes as an aid when it comes to healing an abscess. Thus medicine endeavors to accommodate the demand that physical illnesses be considered in relation to the soul; on the other hand, it adopts ancient models of thought that reinforce this. However, an unbridgeable gulf opens up when the plague is regarded as God’s punishment and yet dietetics are recommended as a prophylactic and wood fire as an antidote. In general, then, not only is the theoretically trained university physician more respected than surgeon and barbero, but theory as such seems to rank higher than practice.

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6.2 Theologian Consideration of the activity of the theologian, in view of his wide range of tasks, turns out to be even more requiring of illumination than that of other professions. According to the medieval scholastic Thomas Aquinas, the theologian’s subject is everything, provided it is considered sub ratione Dei, whereby theology sees itself primarily as a theoretical and secondarily as a practical science. In early modern times, this is still true in principle, although much attention is indeed paid to the practical side. If the doctor is responsible for the health of the body, then the area of responsibility of the pastor, the cura, is the integrity of the soul. But Díaz de Luco sees in the cleric not only a doctor, but at the same time a military leader in the battle for the soul, whereby he ties in with the Psychomachy, the battle of the soul, of the Christian poet Prudentius (348–ca.405), in which personified virtues and vices compete against each other. How is the theologian to assist his faithful in moral perfection? The cleric is to seek closeness with them and, by his exemplary conduct, ensure that the authority of the Church is maintained. In addition, he is to watch over the church’s possessions so that nothing is lost and both income and expenditure are correct. The cleric is therefore no stranger to concrete and practical tasks. The arcipreste and secretary of the bishop of Toledo, Pablo de Mançanares, also testifies to this when he provides the reader with model letters to guide him in his own correspondence. He orientates himself on ancient authors such as Cicero, whose letters were models for a broad public. The addressees are higher personalities such as presidents, judges and cardinals, to whom letters of recommendation, thanks or congratulations are written. How did the university’s neo-Scholastic theology distinguish itself dogmatically from both Protestantism and individualistic currents within its own ranks, such as the devotio moderna? The latter were opposed by the School of Salamanca to the teachings of Thomas Aquinas. In his work De locis theologicis (1563) its representative Melchor Cano emphasized the importance of the church as a whole, of the councils, of the Roman church and of the church fathers. Moreover, his own doctrine was distinguished from other religions such as Islam. Pérez de Chinchón shows the advantages of Christianity over Islam with the intention to win back the Moriscos who had been driven out of Granada and to proselytize again. The basic tenor of his argumentation is that Christianity is more reason-oriented than the Koran, whose commandments are directed to externals, as five times daily prayer, vigils, fasting, a pilgrimage to Mecca, polygamy and prohibition of alcohol. The conversion of a Muslim was difficult, because his twelfth commandment forbade him to enter into an intellectual exchange about questions of faith. An important argument to stay with Christianity is the blossoming of culture and science, which is caused by the dominance of the spiritual. The spiritual life is therefore a characteristic of Christianity. How do the treatises deal with the concrete ways of life of the clergy? Prelates, as dignitaries with a leadership function, are to safeguard material possessions and

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ensure that no possessions come into foreign hands, that care is exercised in the purchase or sale of ecclesiastical offices, that pastors are adequately provided with funds and reside even in their diocese. How is the solitude of the monk or hermit to be evaluated? Acosta suggests that although man is a communal being according to Aristotle, if he is secluded, his body may be distant from others, but not his mind, if he reads good books by wise persons. Monastic life had been challenged by Protestantism, to which Rabelais responded with the Abbey of Thélème and Ignatius of Loyola with the Jesuit order, both of which represent counter-designs to traditional monasticism. Ignatius emphasizes the imitatio Christi, taking his cue from the book Life of Christ by Ludolf of Saxony and the Imitatio Christi by Thomas of Kempen. Finally, the question will be explored to what extent Cervantes’ Don Quixote contains components of a subtle engagement with the Christian-Jewish doctrines central to the early modern period. While Christianity commemorates the Incarnation, the Last Supper, Crucifixion, and Resurrection, Judaism must not forget the story of liberation and the Law of the Covenant. Are there parallels to the founding myths and historical traditions of the chivalric novels in Don Quixote, which the protagonist must always remember? Is there an implicit or perhaps even intentional comparability between the imitatio Christi, the devotio moderna, or the Jesuits and the absolutist imitationism of Don Quixote, who imitates knights in everything he does? And third, to ask whether the Protestant dogma of sola scriptura, i.e. of reading the Bible without regard to ecclesiastical traditions, which Melchor Cano considers indispensable, is mirrored in the way Don Quixote reads chivalric novels, specifically how he makes the text absolute and paying no attention to contexts or conventions and traditions. Of course, Don Quixote does not represent a satire of these three dogmas, but perhaps it does provide a stimulus for their critical reflection.

6.2.1 Chaplain It is not the healing of the body but the healing of the soul that Díaz de Luco is concerned with in his Aviso de curas, muy provechoso para todos los que exercitan el officio de curar almas (1544). His rhetoric of war gives his theses greater significance and drama. The cura, that is, the pastor, should act as a captain, since the life of men is war, as Job had already said, keep his people in readiness and consider the bishops as his generals, “tener la lista de su gente y hazer alarde cada año della: y reconoscer a los generales capitanes que son los obispos” (Díaz de Luco 1544, XIr,v). In this spiritual war, “espiritual guerra,” free will and virtues serve as a defense. At the same time, the pastor has to feel like a doctor and be there for his patients who, with their various illnesses, are constantly in danger of death. Those who take care of the purification of souls and the recovery from sins, “bien merecen ser llamados medicos spirituales” (XIIr). The allegory of the ship is also invoked, in which the cura appears as the captain who is to bring the passengers entrusted to

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him safely to port through the dangers and shoals of the sea. He is a shepherd who has to protect his lambs from the dangerous and ravenous wolves. Yet this spiritual battle, in which the cura is to be the leader, is to be waged with greater care and effort than any other fight. Where weapons are destroyed by the enemy, they must be repaired. Where the craftiness of the enemy triumphs, endurance is required. The cura, as confessor, is juez de animas, whereby in confession the accused, the guilty, and the witness are the same person, and the sentences admit of revision only in heaven, “donde se a de revocar o confirmar: con mayor suficiencia y cuydado debe ordenar bien el proceso” (XXVIIIIv). Which sciences and skills are needed by the pastor? If a workman makes a mistake through ignorance, he must pay for the damage. The more the pastor is called to account and condemned if he has done harm through ignorance. The cura is to live near his church and be available in case he is asked to administer sacraments. Nor shall he surround himself in his house with questionable women, so as not to set a bad example to anyone who observes him. He is to take care that nothing of the church’s possessions is lost or disposed of. He is also to see to it that the receipts and expenditures have their propriety. Thus church funds are not to be spent on superfluous things, but only on necessary ones; friends as sellers of overpriced and bad goods are not to be preferred. Besides the material damage he should also avert the ideal damage from the church. Through his honorable behavior he can ensure that the authority of the church is preserved. Thus, for example, he is to avoid pleasures such as games or dances. Although the cura is to see to it that the members of his parish are instructed in Christian doctrines, it is even more important that they live among themselves and towards strangers in an accommodating manner and without enmity. He should see to it that they go to confession and communion regularly. He is to help the seriously ill and dying to write their wills and to urge that something be given also to the poor of the community. Let the cura convince people that charitable works are more likely to lead to heaven than ordering numerous masses or a pompous funeral. (LXIXr–LXXr). Independently of this, of course, he is to see to it that his healthy parishioners attend Masses regularly. His attention should also be given to their material means. He can give them advice on how to live and work so as not to fall into poverty. Thus, he has to take care not only of souls, but also of their physical well-being. He has to help and relieve the distress into which someone has fallen. “A esta causa a de conoscer quien padesce necessidad, y conosciendola luego la charidad le obliga a pensar su remedio,” (LXX–VIII). In order that it may not come to this, let each one for his part pursue some work and avoid harmful idleness. The concern for the salvation of the soul is thus central to Díaz de Luco, but this does not prevent him from turning his attention to very concrete material concerns as well.

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6.2.2 Practical Helper That theologians did not hesitate to provide assistance even in everyday life is exemplified by Geronimo Pablo de Mançanares, an Arcipreste who himself served as secretary to the Archbishop of Toledo. With his Estilo y formulario de cartas familiares (1607) he wants to help those who have no practice in correspondence. His intention is not to offer ready-made letters, but rather to stimulate with his examples and enable the reader to judge which style is appropriate for which occasion, in which order to proceed, and how to present one’s request tactfully and prudently (Pablo de Mançanares 1607, prologo). He evokes the venerable tradition of published letters in antiquity, citing, along with Pliny and Seneca, Cicero, whose letters were rhetorical models for a wide audience. As is well known, letters and their models generally follow rhetorical rules (Cátedra 2021). In more recent times, mention should be made of Bembo and Sadolero, secretaries to Pope Leo X, who were elevated to the College of Cardinals after their correspondence was published. The addressees and occasions of each letter offer a glimpse into the areas of social life where proper tone and style seemed particularly important. The addressees are cardinals and higher-ranking personalities such as presidents, judges, and officials, when letters are used to obtain the certificate at an inauguration and to secure the necessary endowment, including financial, followed by the appropriate letters of thanks. But there are also letters of thanks to a person who has given a couple of trout or to a lady who has kindly had a madeira sent. The good will of the latter is reciprocated with especially kind and devoted words, “Tieneme V.m. tan obligado a servirla, y mostrar la mia, que en esta parte no se que decir, mas de lo que otras vezes, de que desseo infinito se ofrezca ocasion, en que se conozca el que tengo de emplearme en todo lo que fuere del servicio de V.M.” (Pablo de Mançanares 1607, 11). Letters follow from an ecclesiastical dignitary, a bishop or abbot, who is absent, to his deputies with appropriate instructions for action, as well as to other members of the diocese. Thus disbursements are to be checked arithmetically, donations and alms are to be distributed, some vassals are to conclude their legal disputes, the deputy is to conduct a secret investigation, the cathedral chapter is to go about its business even in the case of the bishop’s prolonged further absence. A parochial vicar is ordered to see that preaching is done in the parishes. Letters of recommendation follow, suggesting that the bishop entrust his own affairs to others, and letters asking for recommendations or making recommendations for candidates who have applied. A separate section presents examples of suggesting or advocating benefices and school scholarships for individual applicants. In another are letters of recommendation for offices in the judiciary and in the administration, e.g. to the president of the Consejo Real, asking him to favor a brother of the letter writer in filling a vacancy, “que favorezca un hermano del que le escrive en una plaza que esta consultado,” (64r) to a president in the New World, asking him to favor his own son, “de una señora, pidiendole para un hijo un oficio en Indias” (68r). Other letters show how one advises preferential treatment of certain transactions and matters. Others

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seek to exert influence over judicial disputes and courts; still others are intended to show how to see to it that an indictment is brought before the court. Or persons are simply recommended with a request for preferential treatment, “que les den favor en lo que se les ofreciere” (95r). There are letters asking for credit on someone’s behalf, inquiries regarding unanswered letters, letters of recommendation for servants, letters of support reaffirming a previous letter from another. This is followed by the corresponding possible positive or negative reply letters to all the categories listed and letters apologizing for late replies. Letters of thanks are proposed to authors such as university teachers, abbots, and translators who wrote dedications and sent their books, but also letters of thanks for various occasions, such as for assistance from a lawyer or for favoring a recommended candidate, for example “A un Rector de una Universidad, en agradecimiento de haber favorecido en una catedra a un sobrino del que escribe” (149v), letters of congratulations on weddings, on birthdays, on the occasion of the conferring of new ecclesiastical and secular dignities and high offices, and appropriate replies to them. Different Easter cards are suggested depending on whether the addressee is a distinguished personage, a friend, a jurist in government, a president of Castile, a provincial of orders, a councillor of state, a nobleman close to the king, a president, or a prelate (190–192). Other letters are given along with gifts that are sent, while still others are intended to express sympathy in the case of illness or condolences in the case of death. The final letters deal with individual cases with representatives of different estates. It is interesting to note in all categories of letters which estates it is that it seems necessary to pay particular attention to the correct style and thus to draw on the support of the present letter writer. The example of the Easter cards has shown that it is mainly representatives of upper and influential classes. Finally, this is confirmed by the example of the thank-you notes for various reasons. Here the addressees are as follows: a member of the cathedral chapter, a courtier from Rome, a jurist, a cardinal, a high judge, a favourite of the pope, a viceroy, a secretary of the king, an ambassador, a favourite of the king, a friend, a lady, a prelate, a rector of a university, a councillor of state, a cardinal and a public official living on sinecure. The high proportion of clerics is not least due to the fact that the author is himself a cleric. Apart from exceptions, however, the list shows who was influential and with whom particular care had to be taken in correspondence.

6.2.3 Missionary Another concern of the theologian was missionary work. This concerns the Indians of America and also the Moors in their own country. As Moriscos they had already converted to Christianity, but after uprisings were in danger of relapse. Pérez de Chinchón, a canonigo de la Iglesia de Gandia, therefore wrote his book to help those who cared for those who had converted from Islam (Pérez de Chinchón 1595, approbation). The Bishop of Jaen, Francisco Sarmiento, writes in his letter of

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recommendation that the concern is the Moriscos, expelled after the Morisco revolt of Granada, who now live in Jaen and need priestly assistance through devotion and preaching so that they obey “la ley de Dios” (Francisco de Sarmiento in Pérez de Chinchón 1595). Chinchón assumes that all men are creatures of one God and therefore peace and harmony, one law and one faith, “paz y concordia, y una ley, y una fe” (Pérez de Chinchón 1595, 34), should prevail among them. That wisdom is to be valued more highly than riches he illustrates with Solomon, who preferred wisdom to riches (36). So important does knowledge seem that he who thinks he knows everything and needs to know no more is wrong. With their reason alone, philosophers have found the following proofs of God. Starting from the fact that everything has an origin, that the grass grows out of the earth and the tree out of the root, God can be understood as the last uncaused cause. And in the order of the world the ordering hand can be recognized. This order, in turn, is to be understood by man as a law or rule. “Luego todo quanto en esta vida hazemos ha de estar ordenado por ley” (81). Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not curse, these are the rules to be followed. To these should be added the love of God, the love of neighbor, and the love of justice. The distinction between natural law and positive law follows, before the law of Mohamed is rejected as false: “la ley de Mahoma, que antes teniades, no es ley buena ni verdadera, ni dada por Dios” (98). Among the errors of the Qur’an, he argues, is believing that every non-Mohamedan is bad or an enemy to be killed, and that every Mohamedan can have as many wives as he can financially afford. Furthermore, the Quran rejects rational thought and favors force of arms: “Item la ley de Mahoma os manda, que no la pongays en razon, ni desputa, especialmente con el Christiano, sino que por armas la defendays, si menester fuere” (100). In addition, there is the prohibition of pork and wine. Further errors of the Koran are the opinion that all animals, i.e. horses, donkeys and cattle will be resurrected at the end of the world and go to paradise. The paradise of the Quran, he argues, is modeled after the life of Mohamed with his 11 wives (110) and promises “que comereys y bebereys, y que estareys con virgines muy hermosas, y que os vestireys muy ricas vestiduras de oro y perlas. Y que aura fuentes y jardines, y todos los deleytes del cuerpo” (105). He contrasts this with the Christian paradise, which, he argues, consists not of material goods and physical pleasures, but of spiritual ones for the soul. In contrast, a law of Islam that forbids intellectual engagement with the teachings of philosophers and other wise people seems like a fear-filled defense strategy (124–125). What commandments does Mohamed’s law consist of? And how are these commandments evaluated by Pérez de Chinchón? The first commandment is that the believer has to pray five times a day and no more, which does not seem to make sense when he could pray the whole day. The second commandment demands that he wash his whole body before prayer, as if the body defiles the soul. It would be better to cleanse the soul with tears of repentance. When the third commandment proclaims that there is only one God, whose great prophet is Mohamed, this is not wrong in principle, but denies the Christian Trinity. The fourth commandment demands fasting for Ramadan, which during the day, because of the weakened body,

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reduces the power of work and at night, because of the food, prevents the night’s rest. This seems to him “contra ley natural y divina” (310). Another commandment, he argues, demands the pilgrimage to Mecca, where only stones are worshipped. The seventh commandment permits robbing and killing those who do not obey Muslim laws. It is stated thus, “El septimo precepto es, que a todos los que no quisieren recebir su ley los roben y captiuen y maten. Mirad que mandamiento de propheta de Dios” (313). Robbery, captivity, and murder, on the other hand, are violations of Christian commandments. The eighth commandment forbids eating pork and animals that have not had their throats cut. The ninth commandment allows one to have four wives at the same time, provided one can pay for their living. To these legitimate wives are added “mancebas compradas y captivas quantas quisiere” (318). The tenth commandment requires that one rest on Friday, and the 11th forbids the consumption of wine. What seems less reasonable to Chinchón is the twelfth commandment, which forbids Muslims to enter into an exchange of ideas with Jews or Christians about their respective laws, and demands that they hold fast to what is their own. “Mas de ti que me dizes, que no quieres oyr razon ni consejo, ni disputa, ni examinacion de tu ley, quien te sacara de engaño?” (322). This is why, he argues, it is so difficult to persuade a Muslim to convert. One sign that Christianity, not Islam, is the true religion lies in the miracles reported in Christianity. “La ley de los Christianos es desta manera, que tiene grandes milagros y testigos que la aprueuan” (466). Islam, he argues, is characterized not by miracles but by violent expansion. “Toda la secta de Mahoma se ha estendido por armas y por fuerza, matando y tyranizando, como se lee en las historias” (472–473). Thus, they took not only Spain, but also Persia, Syria, Armenia, Arabia, Egypt, Africa, Phrygia, and Turkey. It is true that there were also wars among the Christians. But these were caused by the misconduct of princes and rulers, not by religion, which demands peace and harmony. When Christians defend themselves against attack, they are just wars, since they punish violations of natural law and divine law: “que para castigarlos como a malhechores y transgressores de la ley natural y diuina, los Reyes Christianos pueden yr justamente a hazerles guerra” (475). While war causes numerous evils, peace and harmony promote wisdom, arts, agriculture and cattle breeding. Christians have images for those who cannot read to convey the stories of the saints. These saints are not worshiped, but are venerated as models of virtue. The visual arts depict them in order to model themselves after them. “Y desta manera la pintura fue inventada para delectacion de la vista y prouecho del entendimiento, porque alli se pintan los buenos para los imitar, y los malos para los aborrecer” (531). The Moors, on the other hand, have neither saints nor images, whereas Christians have images and altarpieces because they know that everything is received through the five senses, especially sight. With the Christians it was usual to study “las artes y sciencias humanas y divinas” (534). There were also scholars paid by the kings and bishops to study the religious scriptures. Moors such as Avicenna and Averroes had also come to study science, and had subsequently turned away from the Islamic idea of paradise consisting of food, drink and women. All the disciplines of knowledge are enumerated whose study is common among Christians:

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“las siete artes liberales, que son Grammatica, Logica, Rhetorica, Arithmetica, Musica, Geometria, Perspectiva, y se lee Astrologia y Philosophia natural y moral, y se lee la Ethica y Politica y Economica, y se lee la Metaphysica y la sancta Theologia” (534–535). Here, and in the conception of Paradise, the sensuality of the Moors and the spirituality of the Christians can be seen. The latter are oriented to the spiritual as a foretaste of paradise, which is also imagined as spiritual, “porque en parayso toda la gloria de ser spiritual, y quieren ya desde aca empezar la a gustar” (536–537). In no small part, he says, it is related to this that the arts flourish among Christians. Not only the visual arts, but also music and poetry (544). In summary, Pérez de Chinchón must portray the Moors in a negative light as barbarians who could neither write nor read and who wandered lawless and aimless in order to convince the Moors that they were doing the right thing by choosing Christianity. In the Catechismo para instruccion de los nuevamente convertidos de moros (1599), the most important teachings of Islam and Christianity are presented by Iuan de Ribera in a dialogue between a Christian cleric referred to as the master and a Moorish Berber who appears as a student. The aim is to convert the pupil, who listens with interest and asks questions, to Christianity. First, the student is advised to entrust himself to God with all his heart, then he is to leave behind his sins and finally the teachings of Islam (de Ribera 1599, 8–9). In this way he can turn with his reason to the Christian teachings, which are themselves reasonable. When asked about man, the student learns that he consists of a mortal body and a God-like, immortal, and rational soul that has reason, will, memory, and free will (31–32). Since only one, the Christian religion, is the true one, the other religions, the Jewish, the Moorish, and the pagan, are inventions of the devil to stir up discord and war (58). If one wishes to judge the laws and rules of a religion, it is necessary to consider first who introduced them, then for what purpose they were enacted, what is commanded or forbidden, and finally how they are proved and propagated (83). In the case of Islam, the bad example of Mohamed is enough to discredit the doctrine. While Christians approach their God by spiritual means, Mohamed, in the spirit of the Epicurean philosophers, gives an orientation to the physical, a “ley licensiosa y carnal, y assi puso el fin della todo en deleite, y carne, y sangre” (95). When Islam states that God has a body and hands, this contradicts the infinity and perfection of his being, since he would then be divisible, limited, changeable, and endowed with accidentals. Furthermore, if God is said to be the author of sins, this contradicts his goodness and justice (109). If it is said that sins are forgiven only once, this contradicts divine mercy. And when they claim that the damned need only stay in hell for 1000 years, they overlook the fact that hellfire is eternal. Other Moorish dogmas contradict human free will, a woman’s right to self-determination, or the prohibition of adultery. While Ribera accuses the Moors of using physical force, the Christians’ weapons are spiritual, “como la guerra y milicia nuestra es espiritual: y estas son la sancta palabra y doctrina de Dios” (258). The rules of the Order of Calatrava, the first great Spanish knightly order, require celibacy, abstention from meat, a fasting requirement on Fridays, and silence and prayer at certain times. This order, defined in Francisco de Rades Catalogo de las obligaciones que los comendadores, cavalleros, priores, y otros religiosos de la

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orden y cavalleria de Calatrava tienen en razon de su avito, y profession (1571) as “Milicia instituida para pelear contra los Infieles” (de Rades 1571, prologo), was founded in 1158 after King Sancho donated the city and castle with the intention of defending them from the Moors. Hence, some members of the Order pursue the vita contemplativa at prayer, while others devote themselves to the vita activa of the Crusades “que es el exercicio de las armas contra los Moros y enemigos de nuestra sancta Fee Catholica” (11v). The revolt of the Maccabees in the Old Testament is invoked for legitimacy. These had taken up arms when Antiochus IV had demanded that the Jews demonstratively apostatize from the faith and offer sacrifices to pagan gods. The revolt ended in 165 BC with the conquest of Jerusalem. Fighting, therefore, belongs to the rules of the Order of Calatrava derived from higher law, “que es acto conforme á la ley natural, divina, y humana” (13v). And what once began with the defense of Calatrava was expanded to the “defensa del pueblo Christiano” (15v). Military obedience and strictness prevail when a member of the Order who has injured another or disobeyed a superior is forbidden to bear arms or ride a horse for 6 months. Those who wish to become members of the order must not be of Jewish or Moorish descent. Nobles are admitted preferentially (43r). Residence is compulsory for the superiors of the order for at least 2 months a year, unless foreign obligations prevent them from doing so (92v).

6.2.4 Confessor The Christianization outwardly perceived contrasts with inward Christianization. The latter was served by the popular genre of confessionals, books that were supposed to support the cleric who heard confessions. Juan de Pedraza distinguishes in his Suma de casos de consciencia (1568) as the three parts of the sacrament confession of guilt, repentance and penance. The prerequisite for confession, he says, is that it be made to a priest, since only he can grant absolution, “la qual no puede dar el secular Poder de jurisdicion” (de Pedraza 1568, 5). Furthermore, the confessor, in his capacity as judge, has to judge what is a light sin and what is a grave sin, and how the respective circumstances change the guilt, if he wants to pass a just sentence, grant absolution, and impose a just punishment as penance. He is to proceed in such a prudent manner, asking questions with as much prudence as delicacy, that the confessor may not conceal a guilt through fear or shame. He should forgive sins in a kind and detached manner and keep what has been confessed a secret. A violation of the confessional secret would be against all laws “contra ley natural, divina, y humana” (7) and is to be punished with the withdrawal of the priesthood and permanent imprisonment. There are also points to which the confessor himself must pay attention. With regard to the Ten Commandments and the seven deadly sins, let him search his conscience well and consider where he has been, with whom he has spoken, and what he has bought or sold. Let him ask himself how often a misstep was repeated or how long it lasted. Serious sins are to be confessed, venial ones only

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if it is not clear whether they are not among the serious ones. Finally, let him seriously repent of his guilt and make a firm resolution to change his life. Pedraza follows with questions to be asked about each commandment. So with the first commandment, not to have foreign gods, the spectrum of implications is quite wide. The questions to be asked are whether doubts arose in matters of faith, whether all articles of faith and commandments were known, whether beliefs were mocked or cursed, whether a vow was broken, whether priests or believers were made fun of, whether books with magical or heretical content were kept, whether people believed the words of witches, practiced magic arts themselves, used cards to predict the future, or practiced dream interpretation. In all these cases one may have sinned by words, intention, desire, inducement, or merely by holding them up as praiseworthy before others (14). The list of questions is especially long in the case of the seventh commandment, not to steal. Here one has to consider whether one has caused or tacitly accepted a theft, whether one has paid one’s taxes, whether one has prevented someone from obtaining something, whether one has kept what one has found, whether one has harmed someone in hunting or in the vine, whether one has found and killed someone else’s pet, whether something borrowed has not been returned or has been returned damaged, whether one has rented one’s house to persons using it for immoral purposes, whether one has bought something known to be stolen, whether one has bought or rented something from a person unable to sell or rent it, whether things have been bought or sold by fraudulent deception, whether one’s domestics or day-labourers have been adequately paid, whether one has helped someone to escape from prison or has escaped himself, whether a wife has disposed of something against her husband’s will, whether one has deliberately deceived in the valuation of a good, whether one has taken profits, whether one has started an unjust war as a prince, whether one has undertaken a lawsuit against a just cause, whether one has played forbidden games, whether one has cheated in gambling, whether one has made a bet in gambling, knowing full well that one would win, whether one has begged though he is not a pauper, and whether one has been avaricious. In all these cases, too, one may sin by words, intentions, desires, or inducements and instigations (109). Azpilcueta describes his 797-page Manual de confessores y penitentes as a handbook for everyone, for scholars, for confessors and for penitents, “doctrina Christiana de todos, Memorial y repertorio resolutivo de lo necessario a las consciencias para los doctos, Confessionario perfecto para confessores. Espejo de hazero grande y claro para penitentes” (de Azpilcueta 1556, Al lector). He too deals first with the priest who hears confession. If he wants to be perfect, he has to know theology as well as canonical and secular law. For the normal case, however, the knowledge of grave and light sins and the correct assessment of the circumstances are sufficient. In the first 1000 years of Christianity one had also not known more (26). On the other hand, it is important to ask the right questions so that nothing is forgotten through carelessness. Moreover, the confessor is not to ask all sorts of questions, but only those which are usually to be expected of the confessor. If he has a cleric before him, other questions will be necessary than in the case of a nobleman. Here, then, he must observe the rhetorical aptum. In the case of the sixth commandment, too

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much detail is to be avoided, as it may cause untoward amusement to the parties involved. In deciding whether the sin is grave or slight, the circumstances are of central importance. Azpilcueta summarizes them in the following formula of questions, attributed to Thomas Aquinas but derived from ancient rhetoric, “Who, what, where, with whom, why, how, and when.” together, “Quien, que, donde, con que, porque, como, y quando” (31). To this should be added only the question of number. Azpilcueta reserves a separate section for the questions to be asked of kings and those who have no one above them in the earthly hierarchy. For with them it is a grave sin if they seek to enlarge their states, if they govern badly or pursue bad and vain ends in governing, if they do not spend their revenues wisely, if they enact penal laws for their own benefit, if they take away goods from their subjects without just cause, if they start an unjust war or a just one with an unjust intention, if they sell offices, if they fill offices with incompetent persons, if they interfere in the marriages of their subjects, if they do nothing against the circulation of counterfeit money, if they condemn someone without first hearing him, or if they have no regard for evidence or law. But even lesser misconduct is already imputed as a sin to the ruler, if, for example, through carelessness or stinginess, he fails to see to it that the stock of grain, barley, wine, cows, and horses is sufficient in his country, or if he neglects to have gold, silver, and money in reserve in case it is needed in times of famine, war, or pestilence (de Azpilcueta 1556, 519). Following are possible lapses of judges, lawyers, prosecutors, defendants, witnesses, and clerks. Azpilcueta also recognizes specific sins among the holders of academic titles, e.g. if they want to obtain an academic degree in theology, canon law, jurisprudence, the artes liberales or medicine despite insufficient knowledge, or if they strive for this title with sufficient previous education, but only for the sake of benefit and fame. It is also sinful to hold public lectures in a state of notorious serious sin, a rule which Thomas Aquinas, however, wanted to be restricted to theological lectures. It is also sinful to allow a poor candidate to pass the examination and a good candidate to fail, or to teach false or unimportant things: “Si sabiendo, o debiendo de saber, enseño cosas falsas, de que podia venir al proximo notablemente daño de alma, cuerpo, honra, o hacienda: o por enseñar cosas mas sotiles, que provechosas, hizo notable daño a sus oyentes: o dexo de hazer el provecho, a que necessariamente era obligado: o constituyo su ultimo fin en enseñar ” (550). Other possible academic misconduct is when someone, for reasons of partiality or venality, has caused a chair or rectorate to be wrongly filled, or when someone has his lectures held on Sundays at the time of Mass. Students sin when they study forbidden sciences, when they are negligent in their studies, or when they waste the money entrusted to them. Negligence can also be a sin in doctors if they do not pay attention to side effects of remedies, if they perform bloodletting without being able to do it, if they charge too much fee or prescribe superfluous medicine. Finally, the sins of various other professions are discussed. Executors, guardians, and different types of clergy. Preachers sin when they invent false miracles or preach superfluous things. Finally, the confessor is presented with the range of different penances up to and including excommunication.

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Luis de Granada, as a Father of the Dominican Order, proceeds differently in his Guía de peccadores, en el qual se enseña todo lo que el Christiano debe hazer (1556). He is less concerned with a detailed listing of a typology of sins with their variants than with influencing the reader, whom he wants to purify with rhetorical effort. His work has four parts. In the first he seeks to induce the sinner to repent of a morally good life, the guidelines for which he gives in the second; in the third he presents prayer, confession, and communion as important aids; and finally, in the fourth, he deals with perfection, which is the goal of the good life. Therefore, the first purpose is to appeal to the will by drastically demonstrating the limitedness of earthly life, the Last Judgment, Paradise and Hell. The ten commandments shall then explain what to do and what not to do. The Last Judgment awaits all the deceased, who will then give an account of their good and bad deeds. “Todos conviene que seamos presentados ante el tribunal de Christo: para que de cada uno cuenta del bien o mal que hizo en este cuerpo. […] a un confessor en un fuero tan secreto como el de la confession” (Luis de Granada 1556, 9v). Thus, the Last Judgment is structurally comparable to confession, although here the judge does not need to ask, since before his eyes all the steps and moments are present. One is called to account even for a superfluous remark, “una palabra ociosa” (58r). The main obstacle to a moral life is too strong an attachment to the physical and a lack of experience of spiritual goods (49r). The cardinal virtues support a moral life. Thus prudence is to see to it that the intention, purpose, and goal of all activities is God, to bear the faults of one’s fellows, to know oneself with one’s good and bad points, to control oneself in speech, not to be gullible, to keep the body healthy, to see through the enemy, and to grasp the right moment for everything. In terms of commercial transactions, prudence means paying attention and acting only after careful consideration. It is also wise not to be dazzled by outward appearances, to seek advice from others, to avoid haste, passion, stubbornness and vanity, and to find the middle measure. Whether something is old or new is not a criterion. Let us beware of imprudence in cases of opinion, of conceding, of promising, of fixing, of conversing, and of anger: “1. en creer, 2. en conceder, 3. en prometer, 4. en determinar, 5. en conversar livianamente con los hombres, 6. y mucho menos en la ira” (104v). Here, against the background of the perfection to be striven for, we see a seamless transition from a discussion of the ten commandments to advice for the merchant on how to increase success. In terms of structure, then, Luis de Granada’s work has a more holistic character, insofar as it not only deals with the prohibitions of the Decalogue, but also devotes a large amount of space in the second book to the rules of proper behavior, the “reglas de bien vivir,” i.e., the “bienes que debenos hacer” (64r,v).

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6.2.5 Asset Manager Next to the strengthening of Christianity by finding new followers through missions or catechizing the existing followers, stands the administration of already existing orders. Especially on the leadership level care was needed here. Juan Bernal Diaz de Luco was himself provisor del obispado of Salamanca. Of the 37 chapters in his book Instruction de perlados: o memorial breue de algunas cosas que deuen hazer: para el descargo de sus conciencias y buena gouernacion de sus obispados y diocesis (1530), only one deals with doctrine and is concerned with teaching the ignorant and children (Diaz de Luco 1530, XVr). All the other chapters are practical instructions. First, he emphasizes the exemplary role of prelates, who should lead by example. But more importantly, he says, they should know what duties are connected with their office, which is why they should read books that enlighten them about their state and its obligations and dangers, since these are parts of themselves. One of the central duties seems to be the preservation of vested rights. Thus prelates are to see to it that things in the domain of their bishopric do not fall into foreign hands through carelessness. In order not to lose privileges or overlook legal disputes, old and new documents should be consulted, “y no se pierdan algunos preuillegios por no uso; […] deuen tambien saber si ay pleytos pendientes que toquen a su dignidad: o alguna cosa del obispado” (XIr). It is also emphasized that they themselves must reside in their bishopric. Otherwise it would be impossible for them to ensure peace and harmony in the diocese and to reprimand the parish priests who, in spite of their exemplary function, were guilty of improprieties. Simony, the buying or selling of an ecclesiastical office, should be treated with particular caution. It was not excusable to sell ecclesiastical magistracies, “de vender los officios de la jurisdiction temporal de sus iglesias” (XXr). If the prelate himself administers justice, he should refrain from fines and judge without any self-­ interest. Nor should offices in the diocese be given for money. For if this is already tolerated, criticism in other cases is made more difficult, from which great harm results. Moreover, the prelate is to see to it that his pastors receive sufficient financial allowances. Also those who carry out a substitution for persons who are absent for legitimate reasons are to be adequately provided financially with “competentes y honestos salarios” (XXIIII). Now it happens that parishes which were once small become larger and the number of parishioners has increased to such an extent that several pastors should be financed. In this case, let the prelate divide the parishes, which would benefit pastoral care and increase “el culto diuino” (XXIVv). The prelate should be careful with his income and not use it for vanity or illicit and excessive expenses. He must not give any of his income to his relatives. If he does, they are obliged to reimburse him.

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6.2.6 Retreat and Monasticism However, all the practical activities that the theologian has to master on a daily basis cannot hide the fact that his basic concern is a spiritual one. And in order to do justice to this, the withdrawal from the world to a place of solitude is a sensible alternative that monks, hermits and mystics have chosen. Against the life of solitude, however, Christobal Acosta, in his Tratado en contra y pro de la vida solitaria, cites Aristotle, for whom man is by nature a social being, and Cicero, who considers community so natural to man that he cannot do without it (Acosta 1592, 10v). Moreover, solitude, he argues, is a place of laziness, sadness, and carelessness. The arguments in favor of solitude, however, are more numerous according to Acosta. After all, in seclusion, only the bodies are far away from the others, while the spirit can be with them (16r). He who retires finds peace far from the tumult of public life with its vanities. According to Plato, when he reads good books, it is no different than when he hears the wise persons who wrote them. According to Plutarch, good books temper in fortune and comfort in misfortune. He who withdraws from the world can defeat his greatest enemies: his own passions and desires. Being alone lengthens the days, makes them clearer and more joyful. Time passes without worries with more benefit and pleasure. According to Seneca, having to conform to many is a restriction and loss of freedom (20r). One is also free, he says, from superfluous conversation. Plutarch is quoted, according to whom silence is a greater good than conversation, Ambrose, for whom he who can be silent is wise, and Solomon, according to whom the wise man carries his tongue in his heart and the fool his heart on his tongue. Conversation leads only to anger and greed, that is, to sacrilegious action. The proverb is to be agreed with, that he who speaks lightly and much, shows that he knows little. While Horace praises the happy one who, far from restlessness and unrest, can cultivate his inherited land, Petrarch calls the people untamed, wild, and senseless beasts. And St. Antiochus adds, as a religious aspect, that conversation with God is enough for the hermit, “que los amigos del silencio y quietud, debidamente son amados de Dios. Porque, el que arde en el Amor de Dios, solo dessea hablar con Dios” (23r). Peace and contemplation were also promised by medieval monasticism, one of whose goals was “to come into contact with the ground of being (God) while living alone” (Wehr 1995, 47). The uniform monastic life of poverty, celibacy, and obedience served this purpose and the establishment of the state of tranquility of mind, hesychia. According to Gregory, purification must precede before man can contemplate the true good (53). The Carthusian order, founded by Bruno of Cologne (d. 1101), emphasized inwardness according to the motto soli Deo and was mystically oriented. In the early modern period, however, the monastic way of life traditional in the Middle Ages became questionable. In 1535, François Rabelais’ novel Gargantua was published, in which, after 40 chapters of warlike action, the Abbey of Thélème is introduced as a place of peace and serenity. Gargantua founds it himself and prescribes as his only rule: “Fay ce que vouldras” (Rabelais 1994, 149). Thélème thus stands in contrast to the rules that

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Rabelais, who had been a Benedictine monk himself, had come to know. There is no separation between men and women, no hierarchy, no duty of obedience, no regulated daily routine, no fixed hours of prayer, no prescribed monastic dress. Friendships can become marriages after leaving the monastery. However, these are monastic residents who are highly educated in the humanist sense, who play musical instruments, know five to six languages, can read, write, and sing: “gens liberes, bien nés, bien instruitz, conversans en compaignies honnestes” (Rabelais 1994, 149). In Rabelais’s Abbey Thélème, then, the opposite of what was customary in a monastery is practiced. Rules and rites are replaced by liberties. Fixed common hours of prayer and monastic dress are dropped. In addition, there are intellectual demands that are supposed to distinguish the inhabitants of Thélème.

6.2.7 Jesuit Another counter-proposal against traditional monasticism was proposed by the Jesuits. In the draft that Ignatius had compiled with his companions for the Pope in 1539, it says that the order was founded “for the advancement of souls in a Christian life and in Christian doctrine, and for the propagation of the faith by the ministry of the word, by spiritual exercises and the works of charity, and especially by the instruction of children and the ignorant in Christianity” (Maron 2001, 43). The goal of the Jesuit order is thus twofold: “The purpose of this society is not only to be free with God’s grace for the salvation and perfection of one’s own souls, but to work with the same emphatically for the salvation and perfection of one’s neighbors” (Feld 2006, 153). While the medieval Benedictine retreated to his monastery to quietly promote the salvation of his own soul, the Jesuit is related to others. The fact that Jesus is at the center is underlined by the naming of the Jesuit order, which was confirmed by the Pope in 1540 with the bull Regimini militantis Ecclesiae (Maron 2001, 177). The three vows of the Jesuits, chastity, poverty and obedience, correspond to the image that was made of the first disciples following Jesus. Obedience, especially to the Pope, has the merit of freeing one from excessive concern for one’s own person. He is the link of the community otherwise scattered over the globe (Maron 2001, 182). The mobilitas as opposed to the stabilitas distinguishes the Jesuits from the previous orders. Thus, Nadal also emphasizes, “We are not monks. The world is our house” (186–187). Furthermore, the Jesuits differ from other orders in that they renounce morning prayer, solemn church music, habit, and prescriptive fasting, thus actually moving in the direction of the Thélème Abbey described by Rabelais (189). Hierarchy, however, Ignatius maintains. One can speak of an aristocratization of heaven with him when he addresses God the Father as majesty and imagines a heavenly court before which the sinner has to place himself. The prayer “Suscipe,” intended as a surrender to divine majesty and composed in the courtly “your form,” recalls the oath of fealty and vows of knighthood (72–73). Hierarchically, like the aristocratic society of his time, he also sees the church

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ordered with the pope at the top, in which he differs from Luther’s idea of the equality of all baptized Christians. There are not only different degrees and intensities of devotion and states of being gripped, but also different approaches. Common in mysticism is ecstasy as the stepping out of the ego into an outside-self, the mystical union with the Absolute, the Divine. But there are also other approaches. With regard to the historical Jesus, the range goes from the intensive contemplation of his life to the search for his presence in all things to the imitatio Christi. Already in pre-Christian ancient philosophy Plato had presented in the Phaedrus the ascent of the soul to the primordial beauty, the supreme idea. In the Allegory of the Cave, however, he obliges the philosopher who has left the cave and seen the supreme idea to return and instruct those who have remained in the cave. The Neoplatonist Plotinus (204–270) speaks of the One with whom the philosopher must unite by dissolving his entanglement with sensuality and temporality, which can be followed by enlightenment after a period of catharsis. Whereas in Plato and Plotinus in antiquity the object of mystical union was an abstract idea or conception, Christianity forms mystical elements by drawing on the concrete figure of Jesus Christ. In the Epistle to the Romans it says of baptism: “Do you not know that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? […] For if we have been joined to the likeness of his death, we shall also be joined to that of his resurrection” (Rom 6:3–5). Communion, finally, “the reception of bread and wine ‘in his name’ corresponds to mystical participation in his life, whose presence and future (parousia) Christianity celebrates sacramentally, that is, as mystery” (Wehr 1995, 28). And isn’t it also a mystical experience that the disciples had when they saw the risen Christ, as reported in the Second Letter of Peter (2 Peter 1:16–18)? A mystical image is evoked by John when he echoes Jesus’ injunction, “Abide in me and I in you” (Jn 15:4) and cites the branch that can only bear fruit on the vine. And Paul says, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). Elsewhere he urges that each one be minded “even as Jesus Christ was” (Phil 2:5). Thus the external life of Jesus acquires a mystical potential for anyone who engages with it. In the sense of this mysticism the church father Dionysius Areopagita from the early sixth century formulates: “If we look up to Jesus, the blessed primordial ray, and if we ascend to the highest possible level of holy vision, then we will be enlightened with knowledge, then the things we have seen will not only enable us to enter the sanctuary of this mystical science, but also to be a guide [mystagogue] to it for others” (Wehr 1995, 66). Following Christ, then, does not mean remaining in contemplation. Not Mary meditating, but Martha taking action (Jn 11; Luk 10) is the model of the active imitatio Christi. Ignatius of Loyola also makes Jesus the center of contemplation in his Spiritual Exercises. How did this come about? In the time of recovery after his severe wounding in Pamplona, the 30-year-old Ignatius wanted to read chivalric novels. But since these were not in the house, he got hold of the four-volume Castilian edition of “The Life of Jesus” by the German Carthusian Ludolf of Saxony (about 1300–1378). In it not only the life of Jesus is traced on the basis of the Gospels and the commentaries of the Church Fathers, but it is at the same time a book of meditation and prayer.

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Ignatius had excerpted from it a small book of 600 pages (Maron 2001, 19–23). It is thanks to Heinrich Boehmer that the importance of Ludolf for Ignatius was recognized (Boehmer 1921). Thus Ignatius as a reader of Ludolf became familiar with the New Testament even before he encountered the whole Bible after his Latin studies from 1524 in Barcelona and from 1528 in Paris. From his correspondence we can gather that he found the examples of Peter and Paul particularly formative, the former for the stability and direction of his later order, the latter for pastoral care (Maron 2001, 28–19). But above all Ignatius could take from the “Life of Jesus” of Ludolf of Saxony his Jesuocentrism, since characteristic for Ludolf is the contemplative way of looking at the incidents from the life of Jesus. In spiritual exercises we are to present the past events as present before our eyes, to hear with our ears and see with our eyes, to visualize the place, to look at the face of the Lord and contemplate his form, so that we are completely in the Lord and completely out of ourselves (Maron 2001, 24). If the word of Christ still played a certain role in Ludolf, Ignatius concentrates on the person and figure of Jesus Christ, on scenes that are to be concretely imagined (32). Of course, this is not a mystical union with God, as with Teresa of Ávila or John of the Cross, but his Spiritual Exercises, as well as his letters, clearly contain mystical elements when, for example, in 1551 he recommends practicing “to seek the presence of our Lord in all things, as in our dealings with someone, in walking, seeing, tasting, hearing, understanding, and in everything we do; for it is true that his divine majesty is in all things by presence, power, and being. And to meditate this way, by finding God our Lord in all things, is easier than if we rise to the more abstract things and make ourselves laboriously present to them” (49). This approach has also been called piety theology and contrasted with an intellectualization of theology (90). Nadal calls Ignatius contemplativus in actione, emphasizing that he did not want to found a purely mystical order like Teresa of Avila or Johanes of the Cross with the reformed Carmelite order (50). In his Spiritual Exercises Ignatius trains the creative imagination by inviting it to make a meditation on images the starting point of a religious contemplation. Through Ludolf of Saxony he had been convinced of the usefulness of imagination for meditating on the life of Jesus. While with Luther the hearing of the word is central, with Ignatius it is the seeing and imagining of the situation. The recommended contemplation involves first imagining and picturing the setting where an event takes place. Once the space is built up like a theatre stage, the scenic happening can begin, which now becomes present as event. In Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises, as with Ludolf of Saxony, the earthly life of Jesus serves as a guide. The point is to see the places where he lived and worked, tracing the subjective and psychological states of Christ (216–220). Clearly, this approach was not without impact on the artistic field. Contemplation is served when in paintings the places of Christ’s activity are visibly presented and when one is constantly reminded of them as one passes by. The constant sensing and tasting of the actions of Jesus in the paintings and in the imagination virtually replaces the empirically perceptible reality with the inner truth of the scenes of Jesus’ life. The outer reality is replaced by an inner reality, or rather it enters into a connection with it that has elements of mysticism.

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By means of a few quotations from the Proemium of the “Vita Jesu Christi” Ludolf’s method may be explained. He advises his reader: “He should often return to the outstanding, memorable events of the Incarnation, the Birth, the Appearance, the Circumcision, the Presentation in the Temple, the Passion, the Resurrection, the Ascension, the Outpouring of the Spirit, and the Coming to Judgment. In them lies a special ground of remembrance, exercise, spiritual elevation, and consolation. The life of Jesus Christ-whose attitudes are to be imitated as well as possible-is to be read by him in such a way as to increase his zeal for it. Little use would it be if he did not also want to imitate what he has read” (Falkner 1988, 266). Ludolf recommends imagining the situation when Jesus enters the estate of Gethsemane as follows: “Take up, then, these reflections from the beginning of the Passion, follow them in order until the end, directing your attention to every detail as if you were there. Attentively observe Jesus as he departed from the meal at the hour of Compline and went into the garden with his disciples – on his last walk he wanted them with him; as he spoke to them lovingly, like a friend and confidant” (Ludolf von Sachsen 1994, 141). Of St. Cecilia, Ludolf writes that she had chosen from the Gospel “some intimate parts for herself, in which she immersed herself day and night with undivided and pure heart in exquisite and ardent attention” (Falkner 1988, 272). Virtues of justice, moderation and prudence are best learned in the life of Jesus. For Ludolf, the prerequisite for this is meditative contemplation: “If, on the other hand, you want to draw fruit from the contemplations, you should turn attentively with the whole devotion of your heart, ready to taste, slowly, without worrying or caring about anything else, to what has been said or done by the Lord Jesus and what is told about it, as if you were present” (Falkner 1988, 278). Very similar passages are found in the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius. Thus, at the very beginning of the Spiritual Exercises, it says: “not much knowledge satiates and satisfies the soul, but the sensing and tasting of things from within” (Ignatius von Loyola 1966, 15). The first preliminary exercise is the construction of the setting (composición viendo el lugar). “In this regard, it should be noted that in contemplating or reflecting on something visible, as in contemplating Christ our Lord, who is beholdable, this construction will consist in seeing, with the vision of the imagination, the physical place where the object to be contemplated is found. Physical place I call, for example, a temple or mountain where Jesus Christ or our Lady is, according to what I want to contemplate” (33–34). In contemplating Christ’s birth, the structure of the scene is as follows: “here, then, with the vision of the imagination, see the road from Nazareth to Bethlehem, consider the length, the breadth, and whether this road is level or leads through valleys and over hills. In like manner beholding the place or cave of the nativity, how spacious, how narrow, how low, how high, and how it was furnished” (49). Besides Ludolf of Saxony, Thomas of Kempen also influenced Ignatius with his Imitatio Christi, since this imitatio morum is also a recommendation to imitate the historical Jesus. Yet this writing is addressed to the individual believer. As in the case of Ludolf’s and Ignatius’ sensing and tasting of things from within and in their contemplation and meditation, the Pope and his bishops play as little a role in Thomas of Kempen’s work as official church dogmatics. In this respect it is justified

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to see Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises as well as the writings of his two predecessors with their mystical elements as turning towards the individual subject and turning away from the official church, by which they take up elements of humanism and the Reformation. In the Imitatio Christi by Thomas of Kempen (1380–1471), which is comprised of more than 750 manuscripts and is translated into more than 100 languages in about 3000 editions, the following or imitation of the historical Jesus is also recommended. Such a formulation of the imitatio morum is nothing new, for already in antiquity one spoke of the imitatio Alexandri, and in the Gospel of John it says: “I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). The idea of following Christ became central in the devotio moderna started by Gert Groote from the Netherlands. This inner-Catholic reform movement showed a way forward in fifteenth- and sixteenth-­ century Europe not for the whole Church but for the individual believer, calling at the same time for a turning away from externality and a return to the inwardness of faith (Milchner 2004, 335). In Spain, the Benedictine García de Cisneros spread the devotio moderna with his Exercitario, which he wrote after diplomatic missions to France, where he met with representatives of the devotio moderna. He was first prior and then abbot of Montserrat, where Ignatius of Loyola also stayed for some time and became acquainted with devotio moderna there (Biersack 2013, 89–92; Wehr 2011, 161–162). Characteristic is the turning away from scholastic theory to the practice of everyday life, to the “turning to experience, in the activation of affective forces and in the instruction of self-control” (Iserloh 1976, 7). It is precisely in everyday life that discipleship is to prove itself. It is not to the clergy, but to the laity that Thomas of Kempen addresses himself when he urges, “We should therefore see our highest task in investigating the life of Jesus Christ” (Thomas of Kempen 1989, 9). The believer is to “strive that his whole life may become a second life of Jesus” (9). The Imitatio Christi guides this in unsystematic form with core sayings of the spiritual life. Externalities, such as the pursuit of knowledge or material things, are to be avoided: “Turn to the Lord, and turn to him with all your heart; leave this wretched world, and your soul will find rest. Learn to spurn externals; learn to esteem highly what can set you right in yourself, and you will see the kingdom of God come into your heart” (56). The argument takes another mystical turn when it is suggested that in discipleship one should accept suffering and weigh every action to see if it is good, that is, if it corresponds to God’s will.

6.2.8  memoria and Don Quixote Are there traces of religious theories in fictional literature? The question can be answered by looking at Cervantes’ Don Quixote. “Si nombráis algún gigante en vuestro libro, hacelde que sea el gigante Golías, y con solo esto, que os costará casi nada, tenéis una grande anotación, pues podéis poner: ‘El gigante Golías, o Goliat, fue un filisteo a quien el pastor David mató de una gran pedrada, en el valle de

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Terebinto, según se cuenta en el libro de los Reyes’” (de Cervantes 2015, 16). This, namely to introduce the biblical giant Goliath and thus the possibility of further commentary, the preface says, was advised to Cervantes by a friend when he was short of ideas for the preface. Of course, the giants in Don Quixote do not come from the Old Testament, but from the books of chivalry, which in their own way provide great events, patterns of identification and rules of conduct. In any case, there are numerous expressions that connect Don Quixote with Christianity and identify him, as well as other characters in the novel, as “cristianos expresivos” (Villar Lecumberri 2008, 243). What parallels exist between the memoria in Don Quixote and in the Bible? Jan Assmann regards Deuteronomy as a paradigm of cultural mnemonics (Assmann 1991). It explains the afflictions of the present as God’s judgment for the fact that the Israelites repeatedly broke the covenant agreement they had made with God. The events portrayed in Deuteronomy therefore appear as history of apostasy, infidelity and relapse into paganism. When the forgotten book of the Torah, the book of the covenant agreement, was found again, one was horrified to discover that the commandments and laws recorded there were in stark contrast to the customs prevalent in the land. Since in the Torah the most severe punishments were threatened in case of non-compliance with the laws, one felt guilty and now understood all strokes of fate in the present and in the past as punishments of God. The surprisingly found book of the Torah creates identity by remembering the passage into the Promised Land after the exodus from Egypt and 40 years of wandering. Now two things must not be forgotten in any case: the history of deliverance and the law of the covenant. In Deuteronomy it is said, “If tomorrow thy child ask thee, What regard ye to the oaths, and to the statutes, and to the judgments, to which the Lord our God hath committed you? Then you shall answer your child: We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand” (Deut 6:20–21). The memory is to be served by making the history and the law one’s own and internalizing them, by bearing witness to them in speeches and conversations, by recalling them on the occasion of fixed feasts such as Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot, and by assembling the texts into a canon and sacralizing them. Since the land to which Israel has moved has a seductive power, it is important to distinguish oneself from the other inhabitants of the land, to remain strangers to them, not to be turned away from the one God by the prevailing polytheism. “That is, to remain a stranger in one’s own country and in one’s own presence” (Assmann 1991, 346). Very appropriately Assmann formulates: “When reality changes around one, then nothing is more obvious than that everything that had validity in the earlier reality is forgotten. For it now comes into opposition with external conditions and is no longer confirmed and supported by them” (Assmann 1991, 345). Thus, when the contrast of Babylonian bondage and freedom in Jerusalem is repeatedly remembered, such memory is counterpresentational with regard to the frame of reference of the respective present experience. Assmann sums up: “Religion forms the typical case of such an anachronic structure. Within the culture that shapes today, it keeps present yesterday, which must not be forgotten” (Assmann 1991, 349).

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The parallels between Israelite memory culture and Don Quixote are numerous. However, for Don Quixote, the past is the chivalric world of chivalric novels. Recalling their origin sagas, founding myths, and historical lore through his actions and words, he feels almost religiously motivated. He has so internalized them that he lives out of their spirit. They are responsible for his living as a stranger in his own land and present. His cultural memory related to the world of chivalry creates identity for him and sets him apart from the characters surrounding him, whose communicative memory is different. Don Quixote’s adventures, like his clothes and his speeches, are ritualized transpositions of memories from the past into present practice. At the same time, his journeys reveal the characteristics of that religious feast which eludes the everyday world, shows the place of the Other in the present experience, and opens up a second dimension to man. How do the aforementioned parallelisms show up in individual passages of Don Quixote? It should not be denied that the equally monotheistic and book-based Christianity offers comparable parallelisms. Nevertheless, it is not unlikely that contemporary readers understood not a few passages in Don Quixote as allusions to the Israelite religion, which is thus clear as one discourse among many. First, the meaning of the word “memoria” in Don Quixote will now be discussed, before the meaning and use of “ley” and “ordenanza” are analyzed. The word “memoria” occurs 128 times in Don Quixote. To have religion, albeit the Christian religion, in memory seems to be the best prerequisite for Sancho’s reign. Although he is not educated, he acts in memory of Christ. “Porque aun no sé el abecé, pero bástame tener el Christus en la memoria para ser buen gobernador [whereupon the Duke assures him] Con tan buena memoria […] no podrá Sancho errar en nada” (de Cervantes 2015, 1058). In general, however, in Don Quixote memoria refers to romances of chivalry, which Don Quixote considers foundational myths, that is, supposed pasts whose memories shape the present. Thus Don Quixote exclaims that the memory of Amadís may live and show the way: “Viva la memoria de Amadís, y sea imitado de don Quijote de la Mancha en todo lo que pudiere […] venid a mi memoria, cosas de Amadís, y enseñadme por dónde tengo de comenzar a imitaros” (318–319). Sáncho says of his master that he has all the rules of chivalry in his memory: “Sabe de memoria todas las ordenanzas de la andante caballería” (805). Memoria, however, refers not only to the time depicted in the chivalric novels, but also to Don Quijote’s own time, which is to be the subject of future memoria. It is very common for Don Quijote’s exploits to be recorded so that future generations will remember them: “Dichosa edad y siglo dichoso aquel adonde saldrán a luz las famosas hazañas mías, dignas de entallarse en bronces, esculpirse en mármoles y pintarse en tablas, para memoria en lo futuro” (50–51). Or Sáncho assures that Don Quijote’s exploits will be recorded in writing and preserved for lasting memory, “allí no faltará quien ponga en escrito las hazañas de vuestra merced, para perpetua memoria” (250). This is echoed by Don Quijote’s injunction to Sáncho: “toma bien en la memoria lo que aquí me verás hacer, para que lo cuentes y recites a la causa total de todo ello!” (305). Don Quixote describes himself as a knight-errant who will be an example to future generations, “no de aquellos de cuyos nombres jamás la fama se acordó para eternizarlos en su memoria” (596). While Don Quixote

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works on his place in history, Sáncho is content to keep his insignia as mementos after his reign, “que las quería llevar a su tierra por señal y memoria de aquel nunca visto suceso” (1301). In an exemplary individual case, the problem of memory is playfully concretized on the basis of oral and written tradition and made the subject of satire. After Don Quixote and Sáncho have found and read Cardenio’s libro de memoria, Don Quixote himself writes a letter to Dulcinea, which Sáncho is supposed to hand over to her after he has had the text transferred to writing paper by a scribe. Before doing so, however, Sáncho, although he says he has a poor memory, is to listen to the text once so that he can recite it from memory in case he loses his libro de memoria. In fact, Sáncho thinks he lost his libro de memoria when he tried to show it to the priest. The latter advises Sáncho to have Don Quixote issue the letter on paper again, “porque las que se hacían en libros de memoria jamás se acetaban ni cumplían” (323). Now Sáncho attempts to reconstruct the letter from memory, his good memory being praised by the barber and the priest, but the results must be set straight. Sáncho is asked to repeat the letter over and over so that it will be committed to memory, “para que ellos ansimesmo la tomasen de memoria para trasladalla a su tiempo” (324). Much later, Don Quixote asks Sáncho how he could have delivered the letter to Dulcinea, since he did not take the libro de memoria with him. Sáncho explains that he recited it from memory to a sacristan, who translated it verbatim and thought he had never read such a beautiful letter (391). In the Israelite texts, on the one hand, the importance of memoria and, on the other, the necessity of following religious laws had become clear. Ley and leyes are also frequently referred to in Don Quixote. In addition to the law of duel, the law of war, and the laws of love, three categories find particularly frequent use: the laws of the state, those of chivalry, and the religious. Referring to the religious context are phrases such as “la santa ley que profesamos, en la cual se nos manda que hagamos bien.” (939). Don Quixote, however, is generally under the dictates of the ley de caballería or the leyes de caballería. For Don Diego, Don Quixote is virtually an incarnation of the laws of chivalry, in which they would endure even if they were otherwise lost: “Si las ordenanzas y leyes de la caballería andante se perdiesen, se hallarían en el pecho de vuestra merced como en su mismo depósito y archivo” (940). Here we see not only that the word ordenanzas is also readily used as a synonym for leyes, but also that Don Quixote has perfectly adopted and internalized them.

6.2.9 Imitation in Don Quixote Where it is a question of reviving the memory of chivalry or where its laws are to be followed, Don Quixote has clear standards. Once he sets out to imitate concrete models, however, the choice between alternatives can become difficult. For example, he wavers over whether to imitate Roland in his frenzy or rather Amadís in his melancholy, or perhaps both, during his penance in the Sierra Morena. When Don

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Quixote retreats to repentance in the Sierra Morena, it also evokes the Christian discourse according to which Jesus, encouraged by the Spirit of God, went into the solitude of the desert and stayed there for 40 days. Israelite ideas, on the other hand, include sending sins into the wilderness on the Day of Atonement and thereby rendering them ineffective. The ceremony of the scapegoat, which is sent into the desert laden with the sins of the Israelites, serves this purpose (Rendtorff 1991, 200). Nevertheless, it is a central concern for Don Quixote to imitate his heroes. He wants to be knighted in imitation of the many he has read about. When he attacks opposing parties, it is to imitate what is in his books. When, after the lion episode, Don Quixote wants to be called Caballero de los Leones instead of Caballero de la Triste Figura, he is following the ancient custom of the knights-errant. Imitation is also a central principle of Christianity, since living according to Christian principles is precisely to do with following Jesus’ example in life (Mat 8:22; 9:9; 10:38; 16:24; 19:21; Mark 8:34; Luke 14:25–35). Between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, supported by Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Francis (Lapsanski 1974, 49–59), the imitatio Christi developed, placing the incarnate Christ at the center of piety. “Those who ‘follow’ Jesus in this period imitate his life, virtues, actions, behaviors, feelings, and sensations. [It is] a life and faith experience that embraces and transforms the whole person, at the heart of which is the external and internal re-experiencing and re-enactment of Christ’s way of life” (de Rentiis 1996, 1998, 296; Strosetzki 1998, 94–96; Wehr 2011). Thomas of Kempen made an important contribution to the understanding of imitatio Christi in the context of introversion mysticism and devotio moderna (Iserloh 1976; van Engen 1988) with his writing De Imitatione Christi libri IV, written shortly before 1427, one of the most printed and translated books alongside the Bible. To what extent Thomas’ understanding of inwardness, of reflecting on the life of Jesus, of the spiritual life and of the contempt for the world associated with it, as well as the devotio moderna that was also widespread in Spain, are relevant for the understanding of Don Quixote cannot be pursued in detail here. It will only be briefly suggested that there, too, the inner world dominates over the outer. This becomes clear when Thomas of Kempen calls on us to spurn the external, referring to the following biblical passage: “The kingdom of God is within you, says the Lord” (Luk 17:21). In any case, the parallelism with the Christian imitatio in Quixote goes beyond the formal, since a religious dimension was already attributed to the knight-errant as God’s helper: “somos ministros de Dios en la tierra, y brazos por quien se ejecuta en ella su justicia” (de Cervantes 2015, 151–152). Don Quixote compares the struggle of the saints to that of the knights, noting similarities in the direction of the struggle and seeing as the only difference, “que ellos fueron santos y pelearon a lo divino, y yo soy pecador y peleo a lo humano” (1198). In comparing the lives of knights and monks, it is evident that the life of the former requires no less austerity and asceticism than that of the latter. Given the numerous duties of a knight, Sancho believes that it is better to become a saint, or at least to live like a monk. In contrast, Don Quixote points out to him that chivalry is also a religious order, that not everyone can be a monk, and that there are many ways in which God directs his chosen ones to heaven. Thus Don Quixote can claim that through his hardships he has

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already acquired abilities comparable to those of the ascetic. With the mystics he shares the idea that he must follow the call of God regardless of the world. Patiently enduring present hardships, Don Quixote is oriented towards a future Golden Age that resumes the paradisiacal conditions of a past Golden Age. For all the differences in content, there is a structural comparability here with Christian and Jewish religion. Don Quixote praises the Golden Age of the past as a time of innocence in which the right to property was unknown and peace reigned. He himself now sees his task as reviving the Golden Age and itinerant chivalry in the present Iron Age: “la cosa de que más necesidad tenía el mundo era de caballeros andantes y de que en él se resucitase la caballería andantesca” (de Cervantes 2015, 99). The use of the word “resurrection” can be seen as a clear allusion to the Bible. Another allusion is also striking: while Christ rises from the grave on the third day in fulfillment of his mission to save humanity, Don Quixote, for his part, is convinced that he has spent 3 days in the cave of Montesino, who had announced that he would inform him how to save the inhabitants of the cave. Don Quixote’s arrival appears to Montesinos as the fulfillment of a prophecy by the wise Merlin about a long-awaited savior: “Luengos tiempos ha, valeroso caballero don Quixote de la Mancha, que los que estamos en estas soledades encantados esperamos verte” (894). And now Don Quixote awaits Montesinos’ instructions. Ideas are thus evoked that parallel those of the biblical Messiah and of prophesied redemption, which, though different, inform Christianity and Judaism alike. It has thus been shown that the culture of remembrance, which is essential for Judaism, is also central to Don Quixote. The feast that serves memory, that makes the remembered present and contrasts it with the everyday as the other, is the basic principle in Don Quixote. In Don Quixote, memoria refers not only to books of chivalry, which serve the function of founding myths, but also to Don Quixote’s own heroic deeds, which in turn are to serve as founding myths for future generations. Corresponding to the founding myths are the laws that equally constitute the identity of those who make them their maxim for action. That memoria, whether conveyed orally or in writing, is not always reliable and thus not unproblematic is exemplified by Sáncho’s libro de memoria, the contents of which do not reach its addressee, Dulcinea. While the Jewish discourse in Don Quixote is visible in the terms memoria and ley, imitatio shows a stronger Christian influence, although imitatio is nothing other than a personalized form of memory and rule-following.

6.2.10  sola scriptura and Don Quixote as Reader Central doctrines of Protestantism are those of “sola scriptura” (Galling 1961, 866), the preference for the “sensus litteralis” (Rahner and Vorgrimler 1980, 377), the rejection of ecclesiastical tradition in the interpretation of the Bible, the emphasis on faith expressed in the doctrine of “sola fide” (Rahner and Vorgrimler 1980, 387), the rejection of confession associated with the valorization of penance, and the non-­ recognition of a canon of books to be read and not to be read. Don Quixote can be

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seen as an example of what happens when, as Protestantism desires, censorship and an index are absent to warn against harmful books. While Don Quixote devotes himself entirely to reading the books of chivalry rejected by the censors and loses his mind over them, the Catholic priest and the barber seek to protect him when, like the Inquisition and the censors, they first judge the books and then burn the harmful ones. The priest, commenting, highlights the benefits of general censorship of plays. He himself, unlike Don Quixote, is able to distinguish between fiction and reality when he finds the story of the Curioso impertinente improbable and the plot impossible in reality. If Don Quixote had been an experienced reader and had had insight into the genre traditions of the romances of chivalry and had not considered them to be the only important thing according to the Protestant principle of sola scriptura, his behavior would have been more moderate. And if he had not confined himself to the sensus litteralis in the romances of chivalry, he would not have taken everything literally, would not have taken giants and evil sorcerers for historical facts, and would not have found them in his own environment. The traditional medieval doctrine of the fourfold sense of scripture would have helped him to supplement the sensus litteralis hermeneutically with allegorical or ethical levels of meaning. But as he reads the knight-novels according to the Protestant principles of sensus litteralis and sola scriptura, he sets out to follow his model of the knight-errant, as the Bible calls him to follow Christ (Matt. 8:22; 9:9; 10:38; 16:24; 19:21; Mark 8:34; Luke 14:25–35). From the Catholic side, Melchior Cano, a representative of the Salamanca School and an influential participant in the Council of Trent, had opposed the sole authority of the Bible. In his work De locis theologicis (1563) he emphasizes the necessity of taking into account the traditions of the Roman Church, the Councils and the Church Fathers for theology (Chica Arellano 2001, 92). Another representative of the Salamanca School, Francisco de Vitoria, had emphasized the importance of tradition by making Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae the standard work of theological study at Salamanca. The anonymous transcripts of his students allow an insight into the teaching of the neo-scholasticism of the School of Salamanca (Langella 2018, 10). In Cervantes’ Don Quixote, it is the numerous, recurring religious allusions and aspects that suggest an interpretation in a religious context. Don Quixote not infrequently gives his knights a religious consecration, since they feel themselves to be God’s servants on earth and the executors of his justice. Knights and saints are on the same plane for him. As a result of his privations, he sees himself as comparable to an ascetic. Overall, he sees his itinerant knighthood in a Christian framework that he does not want to leave: “Así, oh Sancho! que nuestras obras no han de salir del límite que nos tiene puesto la religión cristiana, que profesamos” (de Cervantes 2015, 754). An important Protestant concern is penance. In Catholicism it is associated with contrition and confession, with individual internal and external penitential works being called penance. In Spain in particular, there was a rich literature in the Siglo de Oro explaining what penance was appropriate for what offense, with the severity

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of the offense determining the extent of the penance. In particular, however, Protestants opposed the sale of indulgences, which had arisen by the end of the fifteenth century. Indulgences certified a remission of temporal penalties of sin in purgatory corresponding to the amount of money paid, which could benefit the payer, but also his family members or others. The profits made from this were already ultimately condemned by the Council of Trent (1545–1563), and their misuse then finally prompted Martin Luther to reject the concept of indulgences in his 95 Theses of 1517. For Calvin, confession is not a sacrament and confession before a priest is not necessary, since the person himself is to perform a conversion and an abnegatio nostri (Krause and Muller 1981, 469). For Luther, the first of his 95 Theses states, “Since our Lord and Master Jesus Christ says, ‘do penance,’ etc. (Matt. 4:17), he willed that the whole life of believers should be penance.” A central meaning of penance also seems to be found in Don Quixote, as the word penitencia occurs 28 times. When Don Quixote goes to the Sierra Morena, he wants to atone of his own free will, without having incurred guilt through a specific act. His idols Cardenio and Amadís, on the other hand, both had to atone for specific offenses. Penitent brothers who flagellate themselves are in the entourage of a figure called Merlin, who asks Sancho to voluntarily give himself 3300 lashes in a time determined by himself. This involves a penance he is supposed to do so that Dulcinea will be disenchanted. He rightly wonders why it is he and not his lord, whose lady she is after all, who is to flagellate himself. The lashes, their voluntariness, their appropriate payment and distribution, and Sancho’s solution of secretly whipping trees and moaning as if he had been hit, instead of a public self-flagellation, present the theme of penance in such a playful and unrespectful way that its Protestant seriousness seems relativized. When Don Quixote dies at the end now endowed with clear and free judgment and provided with all the sacraments of the Church, one might wonder whether his journeys, like the journeys of the Persiles in Persiles y Segismunda, have led him back from the wanderings of heterodoxy to the orthodoxy of Roman Catholicism. Don Quixote’s reading of the romances of chivalry according to sola scriptura and sensus litteralis, his absolutization of chivalry in terms of sola fide, and his trivializing treatment of penance are not a satire of religious dogma, but they do reveal its difficulties.

6.2.11 Résumé To sum up, the practicality is astonishing where one would least expect it, namely in the literature of theologians. Even to a life sub ratione Dei there can be very concrete indications. And even when rhetorically the psychomachy of Prudentius is very elaborately evoked in order to make clear what an important role the cleric plays on the side of the believer in the spiritual struggle for souls, or when the Last Judgment and hell as the place of the damned are elaborately painted, this serves only to show the right way in the interest of moral perfection. Mostly the latter is also supported by giving rules of conduct. Frequently, however, the theological

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treatises become very concrete. Thus the cleric is supposed to give advice so that parishioners do not fall into poverty. A cleric helps write letters, whether they are addressed to presidents, judges, officials, or clergy, or whether they are letters of thanks. Prelates are shown how to preserve church property, for example, by consulting old and new documents and treaties. The missionary reclamation of possibly apostate Moors is done quite concretely by comparing the different religious commandments and the different weighting of spirit and matter in both religions, which proves the Christian religion not only to be reasonable, but also conducive to fine arts, culture and science, just in general to a spiritual life. Where a secluded life is praised, it is not the solitude of the medieval monk that is meant, but, at least for Acosta, an otium cum litteris, a spiritual meeting with persons who have written wise books. The Protestant critique of monasticism and Rabelais’s utopia of the Thélème Abbey are taken up by the Jesuits when they claim that the world is their house. When the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius with Ludolf of Saxony take as their guide the earthly life of Jesus, pay attention to every detail of the settings, and see him in things, they are oriented to reality and at the same time transcend it. Even closer to reality and even more application-oriented is the literature of the confessors. If the cleric hearing the confession has to judge the seriousness of the offence like a judge before imposing appropriate penalties as punishments, then he has to inform himself precisely about the facts and circumstances. It is all the more astonishing, therefore, that Don Quixote should go to the Sierra Morena to do penance, merely to imitate Amadís, and without any reason. The different possible facts are demonstrated with numerous details in the confessional literature, as the look at the commandments has shown. Thus, in the first commandment one had to consider whether one had made fun of priests or believed the words of witches, and in the seventh commandment one had to consider whether one had paid the domestics adequately or had made a bet while gambling, knowing full well that one would win. There seems to scarcely be a variety in everyday life which has not given rise to an examination of conscience, and which has been left out of account in the Confessionals. Through commandments and penalties for violations, everyday life is thus brought to the concept and thus spiritualized.

6.3 Lawyer As lawyers in the early modern period formed an emerging new middle class that increasingly occupied important offices in the state, it is natural that access to legal offices was not openly available. The colegios mayores, a university education at the great universities, especially in Salamanca, the reading of the most important basic legal literature and the manuals for exam preparation proved to be beneficial. The representatives of the Salamanca School discussed the links between natural law and international law, between jurisprudence and ethics as normative sciences. It was asked whether international law, which regulated relations between Romans

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and non-Romans, was positive law or natural law. For Castillo de Bovadilla, what matters in a jurist is not nobility of birth but nobleza de costumbres. If, following Plutarch, he considers the state as a body, then jurists are at the top and the tasks of defending the state assigned to the nobility are at the bottom of the hierarchy. As corregidores, jurists held the government and jurisdiction in a region. In this function they stand in the same field of tension as the princes as rulers, which is why the treatises about them can draw on principles of the princely mirrors. The same applies to the regidor with his duties in the town hall, who, in addition to the necessary knowledge, should also have the cardinal virtues, which is not always the case where he becomes the object of satire. In Spain, law appears so venerable that its introduction is attributed to King Tubal, Noah’s nephew, after the Flood. Nevertheless, the question of whether jurisprudence is a science is debated. Against this it is argued that in civil law there are opposing opinions, that the number of laws is innumerable, and that it is not reason but authority that is decisive  – arguments which are then refuted. But if reason dominates, what is the importance of experience? With regard to the person of the judge, the question arises whether he is more committed to justice or to the law, i.e. what scope remains for his own power of judgement. According to Saavedra Fajardo, since the prince as ruler cannot perform all tasks alone, he appoints advisors, presidents and deputies to whom he delegates his authority and power. Thus they also share in the knowledge of rulership, which Tacitus calls “secret knowledge,” since it must not be known to the public. The offices of ministers were introduced according to Mariana, when the quantity and complexity of the laws became so great that no individual could survey them. Ministers, like counsellors, are supposed to have broad knowledge, to have the cardinal virtues, and to know how to preserve and strengthen the state, since a bad prince is less harmful to a state than bad counsellors. Lawyers can also act as notaries or clerks at court hearings. The advocate’s position in court is associated with the noble aspiration to defend the defenseless. However, since the advocate depends on payments from his clients, he has less prestige than the judge paid by the state, who is the ex officio embodiment of law and justice. Court scenes and judgments also occur in Cervantes’ novel Don Quixote. In addition, hierarchies of different sources of law are made, such as when natural law stands above positive law, with Don Quixote identifying natural law with the rules and laws of chivalry. In justifying his attacks with the sword, he falls back on discussions of the legitimacy of war, since the difference between a duel and a war is only a quantitative one. When, in an inn, the audience becomes the judge to decide whether Don Quixote has rightfully taken Mambrin’s helmet as booty after a fair fight or stolen a barber’s basin, the action becomes a trial. And if Sancho, as lord of his island, is to dispense justice in trials, then the question arises in what light justice appears in these narratives. Does it conform to the ideals demanded in the tracts, or does it become the object of satire?

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6.3.1 Training Not every law student could expect to become a respected jurist. Pedro de Mercado, in his Diálogos de filosofía natural y moral (1558), complains that there were too many lawyers, and above all, that they were ignorant and would be better off practicing a craft. In northern Europe, the widespread practice of mechanical arts ensured stable societies and prosperity (Herrero 2004, 305–306). In any case, access to public office should not be open to all. According to Fayard, limpieza de sangre is an important prerequisite for entry into legal professions (Fayard 1979, 177). Control begins as soon as one enters the colegios mayores. Castillo also wants to exclude conversos, since they are rebellious, greedy, and thus dangerous, “sediciosos, codiciosos, y ambiciosos, y en consequencia de esto muy perniciosos para las Comunidades, y Oficios públicos” (Castillo de Bovadilla 1597, 68). Comparable is the case for the bailiff, the alguacil, a “hombre que ha de prender, y llevar presos a la carcel, y justiciar por mandado del Rey, o de sus Jueces” (173–174). He is supposed to be armed to guarantee the enforcement of judgments. According to Castillo, moriscos proved unsuitable for this office because they were not allowed to bear arms (190–191). By no means were career opportunities equal for all law students. If until the mid-sixteenth century there were only a few universities, such as Salamanca, Valladolid, Alcalá, Lérida, Valencia, and Sigüenza, in the seventeenth century numerous others were added. Also, the colegios mayores of the leading universities such as Salamanca, Valladolid, Alcalá and Bolonia played a major role as escuelas de Imperio for the recruitment of lawyers for top positions (Ramis 2021). Legal education was consolidated in Salamanca by the fifteenth century (de Dios 2012, 14–15). In the Siglo de Oro, it was the place from whose university the king recruited lawyers for the higher offices in the civil service. Carlos V referred to it as “tesoro, de donde proveo a mis reinos de justicia y gobierno” (Carabias Torres and Maria 2005, 25). What offices of state were open to the jurist? Most important to the king were the ministers. Saavedra Fajardo considers them deputies of the King, who cannot himself be everywhere: “Son los ministros unos retratos de la Majestad, la cual no pudiéndose hallar en todas partes, se representa por ellos […] La dignidad real [está] representada en los ministros, que son retratos de la Majestad” (Dedieu 2005, 580). Ministers were all those who belonged to the Consejo de Su Majestad as consejeros, contadores, oidores, and alcaldes. In legal education at the University of Salamanca, there was a discrepancy between theoretical training, oriented towards the commentary of Justinian’s Corpus Iuris Civilis, and later practical practice (Alonso Romero 2012, 191). Moreover, a need for harmonization emerged not only between canon law and Roman law, but also between Spanish legal sources, such as the Fuero Real, the Partidas, the Leyes de Toro, the Ordenamiento de Montalvo, or the Nueva Recopilación, and actual legal practice (38). However, María Paz Alonso Romero gives four aspects to consider: first, Roman legal doctrines had been transferred into legal practice; second, Spanish law was also taught at the University of Salamanca; third, both Roman, canonical, and Spanish law were taught not only theoretically but with

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reference to practical application; and fourth, Spanish law was formulated starting from Roman law (193–196). For this, at least, the textbooks of Juan Vela Acuña Tractatus de poenis delictorum (1596) and Modus, seu ordo procedendi in causis criminalibus (1595) are evidence (202–203; Varela 2018; Planas Rosselló and Barcelo 2011). Whether, however, as a result of the purchasability of offices in Spain, a noblesse de robe in the French sense could not emerge, as Pelorson and Domínguez Ortiz thought (Domínguez Ortiz 1963, 271; Pelorson 1980, 281), and whether in reality the purchasers of the offices of regidores were sometimes so poorly educated that their predecessors protested on various occasions, but without finding a hearing with King Philip (Domínguez Ortiz and Ezquerra 2005, 167), the answer to these questions is left to historians. The Modos de pasar, that is, handbooks for the proper study and successful examination of jurisprudence, constitute a genre of their own. They were often distributed among students as manuscripts and circulated outside the university of their origin. One example is the Modo de pasar (1587) by Diego Enrríquez, catedrático de Prima de Leyes of the University of Salamanca. That he does not confine himself to the realm of knowledge, but has a broad pedagogical approach, is shown at the beginning of the work by his exhortation to the student to go first to confession and then to communion, since one cannot find access to wisdom with an evil disposition. In Latin, there were already precursors in the fifteenth century, such as the Modus studendi in utroque iure by Giovanni Battista de Caccialupi, De modo studendi libellus by Johannes Jacobus Canis, Epistola de modo studendi in utroque iure by Johannes Camers, or, from the Spanish side, Ars et doctrina studendi et docendi by Juan Alfonso de Benavente (Beck Varela 2018, 231). In his work, Diego Enrríquez gives advice on how to divide the 8 hours of daily work, instructions on how to concentrate on one area of law in a day, how to write exposés, how to answer exam questions of the 4–5 years of study until the final exam of the licenciatura, although this was less important than the state of mind acquired during the studies, which was enough for many to pass themselves off as legal experts (Beck Varela 2018, 240). Diego Enrríquez concludes with reading recommendations to prioritize for the student in the unmanageable amount of printed books. Nevertheless, the volume of reading is so considerable that it brings to light the rank and dignity of academic law studies and its graduates, especially to those who obtained offices without long studies. Other publications by jurists can be divided into different genres. First of all, there are inventories such as the Repertorium fororum et observantiarum regni aragonum (1513) by Miguel de Molino, who in the second prologue of his work modestly denies jurisprudence the character of a science, since it is only important to remember laws and special regulations (Alonso y Lambán 1963, 627). This standard work was annotated in 1587 by Gerónimo Portoles in Scholia, sive adnotationes ad repertorium Michaelis Molini. Another genre, less widely represented, is exegetical literature, of which the Comentarii in quatuor Aragonensium Fororum libros (1592) by Juan Ibando de Bardaxí y Almenara is an example. There are also manuals, such as the Suma de los fueros y observancias del noble e inclito reino de Aragón (1524) by Jaime Soler, and monographs, such as the Tractatus de

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succesionibus ab intestato secundum Leges Aragoniae (1558), which deals with successions without wills. Books on the rules of procedure, such as the Practica judiciaria del reino de Aragón, con todas las fórmulas y libelos en todas causas y reglamento de sus sentencias (1575) by Pedro Molino, and collections of decisions, such as the Decissionum Sacrae Regiae audientiae Causarum civilium Regni Aragonum (1598) by Martín Monter de la Cueva, also form separate genres. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the university teaching of jurisprudence was based on the Corpus Iuris Canonici and the Corpus Iuris Civilis (Gallego-­ Burín 2020, 704), starting with the Institutiones by Justinian in the latter and continuing with the Digestes, also called the Pandects. In contrast, law in Castile appeared as a form of application that was referred to Roman law in concordances. In the universities there were two orientations. While the representatives of the mos gallicus, starting from France, studied the ancient textual sources in a humanistic manner, correcting errors that arose in their transmission and commentary, the representatives of the mos italicus were more oriented towards legal practice (708). Francisco Bermúdez de Pedraza (1576–1655), who was more committed to legal humanism than mos italicus, published an early legal textbook in Spanish in 1612, Arte legal para el estudio de la jurisprudencia, which was reprinted in 1633.

6.3.2 School of Salamanca Representatives of the School of Salamanca such as F. de Vitoria, D. de Soto, Medina y Báñez or later Francisco Suárez had theological chairs and are called late scholastics, since they fall back on the teachings of Thomas Aquinas, but they also dealt with legal issues. Vitoria, for example, is credited with being the first to address a universal order, i.e. not limited to Christians but applicable to all, starting from natural law and thus laying the foundation for international law (Martínez de Morentin Llamas 2017, 405). Domingo de Soto addresses property rights in his writing De dominio (1534). For him, the fact that material goods in the world are divided and privatized is a consequence of original sin. But the rich are obliged to give to the poor what they do not need. If they do not do so, they commit a grave sin, as he writes in his Deliberación en la causa de los pobres (1544). Nor is it permissible to take goods from the unbelievers by force, since they are by nature no different from Christians and therefore the same natural law applies to them (410–412). That de Soto, as a theologian and philosopher, is a jurist is evident where, starting from moral philosophy, justice is discussed as one of the four cardinal virtues along with prudence, fortitude, and temperance, and in De iustitia et iure (1554) law and justice are brought together, which were treated separately in Thomas Aquinas. When de Soto addresses property law, it must be remembered that he does so as a Dominican living in dispossession. Nevertheless, he presents manifestations and implications of property in as sophisticated a manner as is common in handouts to merchants. According to compensatory justice, iustitia commutativa, goods are to be distributed in proportion among individuals according to entitlement, dignity, or

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merit. Such distribution can also be regulated in voluntary contractual relations such as purchase or sale. In general, a distinction must be made between ownership, possession, use and enjoyment. Since the division of property meets two needs, that of efficient use and that of the preservation of peace, it is quite reasonable for a good to be transferred from one to the other by will of the rightful owner or by operation of law (431). De Soto rejects usury in money lending when the annual interest exceeds 14%. On the whole, de Soto distinguishes as the most important forms of contract purchase, exchange, loan, hereditary lease and rent. For him, trade is neither good nor bad. If profit is not the primary goal, but the trade also pursues other goals, then it is permitted. Nevertheless, a trade may be illicit under certain circumstances, as Francisco Garcia has already shown in relation to trade. For de Soto, this may be conditioned by the object, for example, if sacraments are sold; by the person, if it is a priest who sells; by the time, if the trade occurs on a Sunday; or by the place, for example, if trade occurs in a sacred space such as a church. One violates charity if, by deception, he sells a commodity much more expensively than it is, or if he buys it much more cheaply than it is. The seller who sells a good at full price, knowing that it has defects, also violates justice (Martínez de Morentin Llamas, 445). The idea of a law of nations can already be found in Cicero. While civil law applied to Roman citizens, a ius gentium regulated relations between Romans and non-Romans (Cicero, De officiis 3, 17, 69). Since the latter has general validity, for Seneca it is at the same time a ius naturae or a ius commune generis humani (García Castillo 2017, 494). While the Roman jurist Gaius identifies international law with natural law, the jurist Ulpian distinguishes natural law, which is valid for all humans and animals, from international law, which is instituted by humans. Thomas Aquinas inconsistently sees international law once as positive law, once as natural law (García Castillo 2017, 496). While for Vitoria international law as natural law includes the right to learn and teach the truth, to defend the innocent, and to make peace, Suárez sees international law as positive law.

6.3.3 Chief Magistrate The growing importance accorded to jurists in the Spanish Siglo de Oro is legitimized argumentatively in contemporary treatises. In the following, the corregidor in the service of the state will be considered first. Covarrubias defines him, as follows: “Corregidor, el que rige y gobierna alguna ciudad o pueblo, latine praetor” (Covarrubias Orozco 1995, 359). The duties consisted at the same time in the government over a region and in the administration of justice, thus had an executive and a judicial side. While as a ruler he is responsible for peace and order, as a judge he has to serve justice. In the environment of the court, the functions of lawyers, procurators and bailiffs also come into view. First, however, let us consider the prestige attributed to jurisprudence as a subject and the arguments put forward to prove it a science. On the subject of corregidores, let us refer to Castillo de Bovadilla’s Política para corregidores, y senores de vasallos, en tiempo de paz, y de guerra, the

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first edition of which appeared in 1597. Castillo (1547–1605) had studied law at Salamanca, was therefore close to the school of Salamanca, and was himself corregidor of Soria and Guadalajara. The argumentation to prove the scientific nature of jurisprudence is found in Francisco Bermúdez de Pedrazas Arte legal para estudiar la Jurisprudencia of 1612. Bermúdez (1576–1655) had studied law in Granada, practiced law in Granada and Madrid before becoming a priest in 1628 and holding the offices of canónigo and treasurer of Granada Cathedral. Both are united in their appreciation of jurisprudence. For Bermúdez, the law is the soul of the state, which, like the human body, cannot live without a soul: “un cuerpo humano no puede persistir sin alma, que lo vivifique, assi la Republica no puede permanecer sin la virtu de la ley que la conserva” (Bermúdez 1612, 27). And Castillo invokes Plato and Thomas Aquinas when, for him, the art of government is the highest and he means “el arte de gobernar es arte de las artes” (Castillo de Bovadilla 1597, 112). His ideas about the state and private property emerge from his engagement with Plato, Aristotle, and the Bible (Byrne 2014, 65–66). A founding myth is also suitable for increasing the prestige of a subject. Bermúdez has the origin of law in Castile begin with the biblical Flood and King Tubal, Noa’s nephew. After him, the Romans and the Goths brought new laws to Spain. After the expulsion of the Moors, the old laws were reverted to: “De suerte que despues de la restauracion de España el primer libro de leyes, que se ordenó fue el fuero Real: el qual contiene quatro libros” (Bermúdez 1612, 70). Castillo takes the Old Testament a step further back when he not only states God in the abstract as the source of the justicia divina or of the lex divina, but names him in Genesis as the order-giver of paradise, who subordinated the animals to humans and enacted as law that it was permitted to eat of all fruits, except those of the tree of knowledge, the “ciencia del bien, y del mal: por cuya transgresion les hizo proceso de su culpa; […] formado el juicio, los condenó, y castigó con justicia, cuya execucion cometió al Angel su Ministro” (Castillo de Bovadilla 1597, 14–15). By punishing Adam and Eve’s violation of the law, God becomes for Castillo himself the ancestor and founder of the juridical office of corregidor. The question now arises as to what consequences the high esteem in which the king holds the lawyers has for the status of the nobles, who have always been close to the king. On the one hand, Castillo’s relationship with them is characterized by respect. Recognizing their exemplary function, he claims higher punishments for them, since they should honor and support justice (275). On the other hand, they should not be punished dishonorably, for example, by “penas viles de azotes, galetas, o de ahorcar” (69). Can it nevertheless be argued that the jurists, with their competence and specific knowledge, changed the status structure of the Middle Ages and introduced a kind of middle class? At any rate, the work Guerra de Granada, attributed to Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (1503–1575), states that “gente media entre los grandes y pequeños […] cuya profesión eran letras legales” (Hurtado de Mendoza 1970, 202). Pelorson questions the extent to which the ideal of the jurist does not rival that of the courtier (Pelorson 1980, 40). Finally, in the debate on the value of armas and letras, the jurist, as representative of the letras, takes up the legacy of the medieval clergy, who represented sapientia over the fortitudo of the

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nobility. When Castillo considers nobility, it is no longer associated with a prominent social position. Many nobles by birth, he argues, are impoverished so that ancestral nobility no longer confers authority on them, illustrating that nobility is not something that becomes one’s nature unless supported by prowess. It seems to Castillo that good manners rather than birth matter. On this he quotes Acrusius, according to whom one’s standing is acquired only by one’s own prowess and not by that of one’s ancestors. And summing up, if nobility is not linked to historic achievement, then prowess is more important than ancestry, “preferirse ha la nobleza de costumbres a la del linage” (69). And who better to represent the “nobleza de costumbres” than the jurists? Considering their tasks, Castillo concludes that they are far more important than the nobles, who only defend the state. Quoting from a partida of Alfonso the Wise, Castillo says jurisprudence is a kind of knighthood: “la sabiduría de los Derechos es otra manera de Caballería” (117). The explanation to this is that jurists enforce the government, which the military must obey as material: “De la qual ley se colige, que la justicia, y los Oficiales de ella, que han de saber el Derecho, y juzgarlo, que son los Corregidores, son la causa eficiente, cabeza é instrumento principal por dó se ha de regir, y mantener la República en paz, y justicia; y los hombres de armas son los miembros, y materiales, que obedeciendo a la dicha cabeza, y executando sus ordenes, han de ministrar la República. Y así el Emperador Justiniano, tratando de los hombres de letras, y de los de guerra, pone primero a los Letrados, que a los Soldados” (117). It is no different when Castillo, following Plutarch, considers the state as a body, with the king being the head, the corregidores the ears, the judges the eyes, the advocates the tongue, the counselors the heart, the defenders the hands, and the workers the feet: “que era un cuerpo compuesto de sus miembros, y que el Rey era la cabeza, los Corregidores las orejas que oyen, y reciben el mandado del Rey, para hacer justicia, y guardar la tierra: los Jueces eran los ojos, porque han de ver de lejos el bien, y el mal de los Pueblos: los Sabios, y los Abogados eran la lengua; los Consejeros el corazon; los Caballeros, que han de defender, eran las manos; los Labradores, y Oficiales, que andan trabajando, y sufriendo el cuerpo, eran los pies” (265–266). In the hierarchy illustrated here by the model of the body, the task of defending the state assigned to the nobles is far below, just above the tasks corresponding to other bodily activities. Although nobles may have become expendable in the warfare transformed by gunpowder, they are not given a prominent place elsewhere in the hierarchy of society either.

6.3.4 Jurisprudence: A Science? As is well known, in the early modern period the practical professions of the artes mechanicae were hierarchically below the theoretical ones. For this reason, the fine arts, for example, sought to be upgraded by inclusion in the canon of the artes liberales. Jurisprudence, it is true, already belonged to the higher faculties. But the question of whether it was a true science was disputed. Bermúdez mentions some

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arguments against the scientific character of jurisprudence, in order to contrast them immediately with counter-arguments (Bermúdez 1612, 17–23). For example, he argues that in civil law there are different and opposing opinions, which should not be the case in a science. He counters that although the law as such is constant and reasonable, it varies according to time and place. Moreover, there are different opinions in other sciences as well. In astronomy, for example, 10 celestial spheres were initially assumed, but this was later corrected and 11 were assumed. In natural science, too, there is still a dispute as to whether the world is eternal or has a beginning. And in medicine, the different theories of Galen and Hippocrates are opposed to each other. Another argument against the scientific character of jurisprudence is that real science deals with unchanging and eternal things, while civil law is subject to fluctuations and changes. Of course, Bermúez replies, divine law and natural law are immutable, but subject to different and fluctuating forms depending on the regions. One can compare this with the air, which is the same everywhere, although it is warmer in Spain than in Germany or France. Similarly, he refutes the assertion that science deals with universal laws, while law is different in Italy, Spain or Turkey. Here he counters by pointing out that the spirit of the law is universal: “La razón de la ley es universal” (Bermúdez 1612, 20). The following argument is somewhat idiosyncratic, as is its refutation. Sciences, it is claimed, are supposed to imitate nature, which is not the case with civil law where it permits slavery contrary to natural law. Here the refutation argues that wars did not originally exist in the state of nature. In view of the present wars, however, it is better to make prisoners of war slaves than to kill them. Purely formal are the following two arguments. The argument that a discipline which has innumerable laws cannot be a science is countered by the exact number of laws in the individual law books. The argument that jurisprudence has no fixed order and therefore cannot be a science is countered by the argument that it goes from causes to effects, or first considers things, then persons and actions. Finally, Bermúdez counters the argument that jurisprudence is not based on reason but on the authority of laws, and is therefore not a science, by arguing that laws are reasoned, that the reason of the legislator is therefore decisive, and that logical arguments are naturally used in the application of laws (17–23). Bermúdez expands on the latter argument elsewhere, where he discusses Huarte’s Examen de ingenios. The prerequisite for the jurist, he argues, is not, as Huarte thinks, to have a good memory, since it is less important to memorize laws than to fathom their meaning, requiring “entendimiento, cuyo exercicio es raciocinar” (Bermúdez 1612, 13). Where, then, should one study jurisprudence? Care should be taken in the choice of the place of study. One should choose a place far from home, because only then one could study undisturbed by friends and distractions. One should choose a university with “estudiantes de floridos ingenios, por cuya communicacion se abren los ojos del entendimiento al conocimiento de varias sciencias” (15). What does the jurist have to know besides jurisprudence? Castillo refers to the Reyes Católicos, who issued a decree according to which the letrados, if they wanted to become corregidores, had to have completed a 10-year law course and be

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at least 26 years old (Castillo de Bovadilla 1597, 86). Whoever aspires to the office of corregidor should, according to Castillo, have acquired a broad general knowledge. He should not only be versed in jurisprudence, but also in other fields, “en las otras ciencias, y artes liberales” (82). After all, he argues, the mathematician is better able to form an idea of the state of affairs in matters of commerce, or the surveyor in the construction of a house. Thus, the more extensive the general education, the better for the corregidor. But if we now consider the basic principle of jurisprudence, according to Castillo it is not experience, as in other sciences. For him, experience without jurisprudential knowledge is blind: “Y no basta la experiencia sola sin la ciencia […] la experiencia sin jurisprudencia es ciega, y falacisima” (119). Nor is it reason, it is the laws and their authority that are of the greatest importance and which the jurist must follow to the letter, which is one reason for his designation letrado. “De aqui es, que solo el jurista, entre todos los hombres de letras, se llama Letrado, y es por ser a letra dado, que quiere decir, hombre que no tiene libertad de opinar conforme a su entendimiento, sino que por fuerza ha de seguir la composicion de la letra, y regular conforme a ella el sentido” (368). If, as before in the argument about the scientificity of jurisprudence, the authority of the laws is decisive, then the question now arises whether jurisprudence is a normative science and how to distinguish between jurisprudence and ethics. For Bermúdez, jurisprudence and ethics are oriented towards human happiness as an end and therefore belong together: “El fin de la Jurisprudencia es la felicidad de la vida humana […] porque las leyes corresponden a aquella parte de la Philosophia, que llaman Ethica” (Bermúdez 1612, 28). Bermúdez is correct in that jurisprudence is a science of norms. Law is to be defined as a norm that has a spatial and temporal scope. Legal science, even in today’s view, is concerned with the cognition of norms and therefore differs from other sciences that are bent on causal-legal explanations (Kelsen 2008, 21–22). However, the German jurist and philosopher of the early Enlightenment Thomasius (1655–1728) already distinguished between enforceable iustum and non-enforceable honestum, while Kant differentiated between the external compulsion of law and the internal compulsion of moral conscience. Law is clearly hierarchized and structured when murder is punished more severely than theft. But law is also coagulated morality and can change with it, as in the case of lese majeste and strikes, which are no longer offences today. The development of law mirrors moral development. Nor can the language of law do without moral terms, for example when speaking of base motives, malice or offence against morality. In this context, the question arises whether the judge is more committed to the law or more committed to justice. Dedieu, in his study of the letrado, claims that the judge had a great deal of freedom in passing judgment because he was less oriented toward the law than toward justice “y la justicia no era de los hombres, sino de Dios” (Dedieu 2005, 482). This can be refuted by Castillo, who, quoting Domingo de Soto, emphasizes the importance of laws created with the common good in mind, “que mas util, y seguramente se gobierna la República por la ley, que por el hombre, porque aquella hizose con deliberacion dirigida al bien público” (Castillo de

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Bovadilla 1597, 254). In contrast, the judge could be blinded by affects such as hatred, love, or greed, and lose sight of the common good. Thus, the general question arises to what extent the judge is to be seen as a mere servant of legal security. Does he have only to comply with the will of the law to be valid and to sacrifice his own sense of justice to the authoritative command of law? If what is right is valid, never asking whether it is also just, then this requires a sacrificium intellectus (Radbruch 2003, 84–85). Here, one could raise as a counter-argument whether a consideration of the ethical foundation of law would not be necessary and whether the judge should then not be content with fidelity to the law, the handling of rational methodical operations and methodical diligence (Kriele 2004, 39–40).

6.3.5 Dignity of the Lawyer In Spain, since the Catholic Monarchs, corregidores “por Gobernadores, y Jueces” (Castillo de Bovadilla 1597, 17) have been appointed for the period of 1 year with the possibility of multiple extensions. The king, however, remains supreme judge “y todos los Magistrados, y Dignidades proceden, y se derivan de el como de fuente de justicia” (18). Inasmuch as all power emanates from the king, one can speak of absolutism (de Dios 2014, 27). Like the corregidor as ruler, as judge he stands between the alternative of severity and leniency. Thus, in Machiavelli’s sense, he may prefer to be feared, and in accordance with Hobbes’s theory of deterrence, when punishing as revenge, the retribution of one evil by another, he may look not to the greatness of the past evil, but to the future benefits, the improvement of the offender and the guidance of others. Castillo, however, prefers the opposite, namely, a corregidor who is loved by the people and revered like a father. Incidentally, Castillo envisions for the corregidor those behaviors that apply to the prince in the Princely Mirrors. These include moderation in eating and drinking, “con lo qual preservará el alma de vicios, el cuerpo de enfermedades, y la República de muchos daños” (Castillo de Bovadilla 1597, 34). Nor should he waste his time in diverting conversation, dancing, or games (37). Since he judges others, he should be an example himself (56). He should also be committed to the common good and not greedily pursue self-interest (Castillo de Bovadilla 1597, 256). As a judge, he should follow Erasmus’s saying “Festina lente,” “Haste make waste” in handling his cases and take into account all the surrounding circumstances. “Atienda a las adherencias, y circunstancias de los hechos, y negocios […] y en los delitos considere las personas, la causa, el lugar, el tiempo, la calidad, la cantidad, y el efecto” (77). A great social and intellectual difference exists in the Siglo de Oro between the judges in the countryside and the highest judges such as “oidores y alcaldes de las Audiencias y Chancillerías, alcaldes de casa y corte, consejeros de Castilla” (González Alonso 2003, 228). While the latter had a university education, the former exercised their magistracy as mayors in villages, often orienting themselves to rural customs without legal knowledge.

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In conclusion, jurists occupy an upper place in the social hierarchy, as the example of the corregidor shows. This results from the esteem in which jurisprudence is held as the soul of the state and arte de las artes, from its founding myths, which place its origin with Adam and Eve in Paradise and in Spain after the Flood, respectively. Jurisprudence can be considered a serious science because it meets all the criteria for it. After all, a corregidor had to prove 10 years of study. The authority of the legal texts, which is already expressed in the word “letrado” as “ser a la letra dado”, led on the one hand to the question of how jurisprudence as a normative science differs from ethics, and on the other hand to the question of whether the judge is more obliged to the law or to justice, or whether the will of the law to be valid stands above the judge’s sense of justice. The corregidor as ruler and judge is not to be feared by cruelty and severity, but to be esteemed as a result of his leniency, and on the whole to correspond to the ideal images of the espejos de príncipes. The corregidores become dominant when they are contrasted as the head and main instrument for maintaining peace and justice with the military, which appears as a subordinate authority that receives instructions. The same applies to the image of the state as a body, in which the jurists are assigned to the head and the defense forces to the hands. Thus they are not presented as the new middle class, but as the new upper class. As the importance of the cities increased in the Siglo de Oro, tensions arose not only between the royal administration and the city, but also between commoners and nobles regarding their rights when filling official positions. As a result, conflicts of interest arose both in personnel policy and in the delimitation of powers. The most famous literary example of the latter is Pedro Calderón’s El alcalde de Zalamea. Captain Don Álvaro’s exclamation, “¡Ah villanos con poder!” shows that for him, as a nobleman, the villanos in the town hall are a nuisance. From Chispa’s statements about the house of the regidor in the same play, it can be inferred that not only power but also wealth was found in the town hall, because everything was in abundance at the regidor’s house and every month a 1000 gifts are added: “la casa del regidor,/donde todo sobra, pues/al mes mil regalos vienen” (Calderón 1991, 74–78). It is understandable, then, that positions on the municipal council were coveted.

6.3.6 Alderman At the top of the hierarchy in the town hall were the mayor and his deputy. Although the king could appoint the mayor, the city councils usually had the right to elect the mayor. The council included the corregidor, the regidor, the síndico and the escribidor. Next to them sat the jurors. León, for example, had one corregidor, 25 regidores, and jurors; Toledo had 36 regidores and 54 jurors; and Mérida had one corregidor and 24 regidores for life. Since in Andalusia there were initially 24 regidores in a council, the council was called the “Council of Twenty-Four,” and this explains why Granada ended up with 55 councilors, or veinticuatros (Minguijón

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Adrián 1933, 368). Madrid, whose population in 1600 was around 200,000, also had the same structure, although the size of the city and the presence of the court meant that many more posts were added (Borque and Maria 1978, 120, 124–126). However, it was not in the capital Madrid that Iuan de Castilla y Aguayo gained experience in the office of regidor, but in one of the larger cities of Spain, Córdoba. Taking advantage of this experience, he wrote the dialogue El perfecto regidor (1586). It is a didactic work in which Don Felix, already talented in his early childhood and elected a city councilor, invited friends. Don Ambrosio and a doctor, both experienced in the business of government, are the ones who open the discussion. The various theses are always supported with examples and explanations from Greek and Roman antiquity, as well as examples from scholasticism and patristics. While in the examples from the Roman world the res publica is taken as a reference, in the Greek world it is the πόλις. Based on the fact that a newly elected regidor wants to change everything in 3 days, the importance of experience, which should be guided by the mind, is emphasized. The doctor cites examples to emphasize the importance of the mind, while Ambrosio opts for experience as top priority. There is a special reverence associated with nobility that disappears through lack of prowess, for nobles cannot be honored if they are vicious (Castilla y de Aguayo 1586, 161). Since prowess is supposed to be inseparable from nobility, the lack of prowess cannot be compensated by that of the ancestors. Neither favoritism, nor negotiating skills, nor knowledge can substitute for virtue, which is the basic condition for recognition. The court is the place where virtue and vice are especially prominent, where unchecked avarice leads to loss of wealth and poverty, and where the uselessness of the courtiers’ services tempts the king to vice. What is true of the court may be applied to the city. Since the high officials, like the nobles and regidores, are imitated by the common people, they have a special responsibility. The magnificence which at court shows the distance from non-nobles and is achieved by ruinous expenditure is not appropriate in the city. Therefore the regidor should not regard the wealth of the city as his own, over which he could freely dispose. The four cardinal virtues, their necessity and their specific manifestations in the context of the town hall are presented in detail. It is not for nothing that fortitudo stands at the beginning. It is thanks to it that man can endure the tragedy of the world and transform fear, especially the fear of death, into hope. As it progresses, fortitude is secularized and adapted to the circumstances of the regidor, as he is primarily interested in gaining power and maintaining it. In the first place, the strength of the regidor might be damaged if he were afraid of upsetting the corregidor. Even if the latter is his superior, he cannot harm him, provided that as regidor he has only the general good in mind, Livius’ account of the Roman Marcus Curtius, who sacrificed himself in the interests of the general public when he threw himself, arms and horse, into the depths of a cleft that had opened up in the middle of the forum, serves as an example. In the scholastic tradition, prudence is the first cardinal virtue and has to do with the knowledge of moral duty and the concrete ways to fulfill it. Thus, it is possible to give the ruler particularly concrete advice that will enable him to make the right

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decision. On the other hand, decisions should not be made hastily, but neither should they be made over a long period of time. For communication, this means not talking too much in the local council. Those who remain silent are better able to listen to the other council members, are better able to observe, and are better able to draw conclusions. Relatively brief is the treatment of the cardinal virtue of moderation, which helps the regidor avoid angry reactions. In almost all rulers, all evils have two causes: Greed to enrich oneself and ambition to command. Moderation keeps both under control and prevents harm. The regidor is most interested in public opinion, since honor and usefulness are important motivators: “Todos los bienes que pretendemos de las tejas abaxo, se reduzen a dos que son honra y prouecho” (Castilla y de Aguayo 1586, 157). Justice is another virtue required of the ruler. Traditionally, it is defined as that attitude which, strengthened by a persistent and firm will, grants everyone his right. The laws, which on the one hand appear to be binding and on the other depend on the vote of the municipal council, follow the purpose of giving the regidores a special position as their defenders. It has been shown that the dialogue El perfecto regidor characterizes the cardinal virtues that traditionally determined the lines of conduct of the princes’ mirrors less religiously and ethically than pragmatically oriented towards efficiency. Thus fortitudo is portrayed as the ability to maintain power and public opinion as the guarantor of reputation. The enactment or amendment of laws and budgetary resolutions, along with the right to vote in the municipal council, were the power factors of the regidor that gave him a superior position, responsibility, and recognition among the citizens. Therefore, the question arises whether such a position would be better filled by a nobleman or a citizen. It is posed in the dialogue, warning of the ignorance of part of the nobility of the time.

6.3.7 Lawyers in Fictional Literature While in Castilla y de Aguayo the regidor is given norms of behavior, in fictional literature his behavior is viewed critically and satirically. In the second chapter of Part Two of Lazarillo, when Lazarus compares his welfare and leisure to those of a regidor, he is thinking primarily of wealth: “usando su oficio y ganando él muy bien de comer y de beber, porque Dios no crió tal oficio, y vale más para esto que la mejor veinteycuatría de Toledo” (Anonymous 1988, 242). Lazarus, then, feels very happy and thinks that his position has nothing to do with Adam’s, when he was thrown out of Paradise to work by the sweat of his brow. In Chap. 12 of the picaresque novel La vida y hechos de Estebanillo González, the landlady mentions the position of a regidor, referred to as veinte y cuatro, when Estebanillo wants to pay his bill after an excessive orgy worthy of a regidor: “Vuestra merced no se ha bebido más de veinte y cuatro tazas de a dos dineros; si yo tuviera veinte y cuatro parroquianos tan buenos oficiales, mi marido fuera en breve tiempo veinte y cuatro en Sevilla” (Estebanillo 1990, 294).

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In Cervantes, the regidores appear in the entremés La elección de los alcaldes. Here the two regidores Panduro and Alonso Algarroba elect the new mayor from a number of candidates who are presented in a somewhat strange plenary session. The session is interrupted by dancing and music from some gypsies: “Reverencia os hace el cuerpo,/regidores de Daganzo,/hombres buenos de repente,/hombres buenos de pensado; […]/¡Vivan de Daganzo los regidores,/que parecen palmas, puesto que son nobles!” (de Cervantes 1945, 80–81). Then, when the sexton asks the gypsies to return to order, the candidate Rana protects them by pointing out the importance of a regidor’s governmental business: “¿Quién te mete/a ti en reprehender la justicia?/¿Has tú de gobernar a la república?/Métete en tus campanas y en tu oficio./ Deja a los que gobiernan; que ellos saben/lo que han de hacer, mejor que no nosotros” (de Cervantes 1945, 84–85). In Cervantes’ Entremés El retablo de las maravillas, it is the duty of the dignitaries to decide on the performance of the play, which may only be seen by those who are not of Jewish or illegitimate descent. It is interesting to note the order in the commissioning, which also corresponds to a hierarchical order: “Salen el gobernador y Benito Repollo, alcalde, Juan Castrado, regidor, y Pedro Capacho, escribano” (de Cervantes 1987, 800). The regidores are funny not least as parts of the comic genre of entremés. Lope de Vega develops the contrast between the intelligent and clever regidor and the incompetent mayor in two entremeses. In the Entremés del soldadillo, the mayor wants to drive all the donkeys out of town; the regidor calls him a fool and demands that he orders sensible things. Further on, the lack of wood, of cutting boards for butchers, and the lack of a resident doctor are pointed out. When the mayor orders the veterinarian to do a doctor’s work as well, the regidor replies, “Y curaráos a vos” (Lope de Vega 1963a, 174). The more incompetent the mayor appears, the more competent the regidor seems. If here the mayor is incapable of keeping order, in Entremés del degollado (289–295) he is not only incapable of providing justice, but he is himself a gluttonous and simple-minded thief. After stealing radishes, bread, and eggs from Teresa’s shop, Teresa turns to the regidor with a request to see that justice is done. The regidor is appalled at the mayor’s behavior and decides to play a trick on him: He makes the mayor believe that he has injured himself so badly while shaving that he cannot move for several hours. During this time, a banquet is held in which he can only participate by watching. The punishment, then, does not take the form of a trial but, in keeping with the genre of the entremés, a comic one. In the first act of Lope de Vega’s play San Diego de Alcalá, two regidores and two mayors prepare the local festivities in a town council meeting. When a nobleman joins them at the end, a discussion begins in which the regidores deny the nobleman privileges. One regidor complains about the arrogance of the nobles, “Estos hidalgos cansados/nos tienen por sus criados.” To the nobleman, who is astonished that something should be donated to the poor, the second regidor replies firmly that it is customary: “El Concejo/tiene costumbre de dar/a la gente del lugar/ pan y queso y vino añejo” (Lope de Vega 1965, 106). The nobleman leaves the plenary session when he fears that he will have to contribute – at first without reason – to the cost of the dances that the regidores have included in the program. Finally, he

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is asked to contribute a sum for the Passion procession. In this meeting and in this way, the nobility is exposed as stingy and without regard for tradition, unless it is their own family. The plot continues after the nobleman leaves, which ultimately shows that he is completely expendable. The town council seems superior to him in every way. The regidores also play an important role in Lope de Vega’s play Fuente Ovejuna. Here, a nobleman appointed by the king, the Comendador Mayor of the Order of Calatrava, Fernán Gómez de Guzmán, enslaves and tyrannises an entire town. In the end, he is murdered by the townspeople. There are four regidores: Juan Rojo, the peasant and uncle of Lucrecia, Cuadrado is called another regidor from Fuente Ovejuna, and two regidores from Ciudad Real who also appear in the play. The latter appear before King Ferdinand in the ninth scene of the first act, asking for help against the enemy. At the beginning of Act II, the setting is the marketplace of Fuente Ovejuna, where an alderman has a conversation with the mayor in which he pleads for the preservation of peace (Lope de Vega 1969, 106). Finally, the regidores are the ones who advise how to deal with the humiliating tyrant Gómez de Guzmán. When it is determined that the citizens feel their honor has been violated, the regidor Juan Rojo suggests that two regidores may seek help from the king: “Mas pues ya se publica y manifiesta/que en paz tienen los Reyes a Castilla,/y su venida a Córdoba se apresta,/vayan dos regidores a la villa,/y echándose a sus pies, pidan remedio” (134–135). Another councilor, however, opts for the bloodier solution of killing the tyrant: “¿Qué esclavo se trató con más bajeza?/Juan. ¿Qué es lo que quieres tú que el pueblo intente?/Regidor. Morir, o dar muerte a los tiranos, pues somos muchos, y ellos poca gente” (134–135). When arms are laid down after the tyrant’s assassination, it is a regidor who offers the mayoralty to the regidor Juan. Although the mayor and other citizens are also involved in the uprising, it is the regidores who play a significant role. While in Fuente Ovejuna the regidores are not noble, such as the peasant Juan Rojo, and have the noble Gómez de Guzmán as their antagonist, the situation is different in Peribáñez y el comendador de Ocaña. In this play by Lope de Vega, two councilors of Toledo appear before the king to inform him that Toledo accepts his just demands (Lope de Vega 1963b, 64). Here, then, there is complete agreement between the king and the noble regidores. In Lope de Vega, the regidores do not always appear, though often, in conflict with a character of higher rank. Unlike in the picaresque novels or in the Entremeses of Cervantes, in Lope de Vega they are not the objects of satire, but figures who exemplify justice. This is evident in Fuente Ovejuna, when the oppression of the people is ended by the murder of the tyrant; in San Diego de Alcalá, when the councillors challenge the hidalgo as stingy, impious, and selfish; and finally in the two Entremeses, when shrewd regidores take it upon themselves to keep incompetent mayors under control. In all these cases, the regidor behaves in an exemplary manner according to the cardinal virtues traditionally postulated for the behavior of noble rulers in the Princely Mirrors. In the picaresque novels, on the other hand, the regidor, as a figure of the ruling class, is the object of satire. He appears above all as a well-fed, wealthy and uneducated representative of the notables and, as in Cervantes, hardly differs from the

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mayor. It can be seen that the regidor in fictional texts is the prototype of a communal ruling class whose conflicts – usually successfully resolved – with the king, the corregidor, the military commanders, the mayors or the nobility indicate that both the authors and the audience felt a certain sympathy for this figure.

6.3.8 Lawyers as Advisers to Rulers Further up in the social hierarchy is the confidant and advisor of the prince or king, who is privy to his secret knowledge. Tacitus coined the term secret knowledge, which as a technique of rule ensures that the reputation of a ruler is maintained and promoted. It consists in not letting morally questionable and criminal motives of political actions become public or in covering up political murders. Information about the ruler’s person, background, health and past can also be concealed. Scandals can be covered up, files disappear, or the press is brought into line, obstructed and intimidated. Another way to keep secrets is to deceive by spreading false information, lying to the public or staging a good rule. In the Renaissance, Jean Bodin (1529–1596), starting from Tacitus, had seen secrecy as a means of the reason of state and wanted statistics on the size of the population and the wealth of a country to be kept secret from its enemies (Lotter 2014). Before him, it had been Machiavelli who had made the principle of deception and fraud the maxim of the reason of state. In the interest of acquiring and maintaining power, the prince should outwit and deceive possible opponents, break promises and treaties alike, regardless of moral and religious problems (Stolleis 1990, 39). And what applies to the prince can also be applied to other hierarchical levels. In this context, the parallels between the mysteria ecclesiae, and its secularized descendant arcana politica, between priests and jurists, both of whom, as knowledge elites, administer a specific secret knowledge, appear of central importance for the absolutist state in the seventeenth century (38). Decisions of the absolute ruler should, as far as possible, not be publicly comprehensible. But it was public discourse that was demanded by Rousseau’s volonté général. The idea of popular sovereignty, as it prevails in democracies, excludes in principle any arcana imperii. Even if this sovereignty is temporarily or partially delegated to others, it is not lost as long as the people retain control, can demand accountability, and reclaim their own sovereignty. Hobbes had wanted to end the war of all against all by having individuals surrender their freedom and self-­ determination to a state that would control and discipline them in the interest of security and peace. The argumentation is similar today when people speak of a world civil war against terrorism and give intelligence services the sovereignty to stand outside the rule of law and kidnap or imprison enemies. In the process, the state of emergency serving as justification easily becomes the rule (Lotter 2014, 19–22). What is true of power is also true of knowledge. When a counsellor advises the king to help consolidate the king’s absolute power, he is supposed to increase the

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king’s knowledge, support him and facilitate his decisions. But what happens when the advisor pursues his own interests that conflict with those of the king, when he manipulates and withholds knowledge in such a way that it serves him rather than the king? The reason of state then becomes related to the individual, and a razón de estado de tí mismo emerges, as Baltasar Gracián puts it. But first, we will show how the ideal relationship between king and counsellor is theoretically postulated in the treatise literature. In the Siglo de Oro, in the Spanish monarchy, the king was a sovereign ruler who possessed all the powers of the state. The court and the festivities held there were intended to serve as a representation of this power, but all this could not hide the fact that the king had to delegate some of his power to others, either by following their advice or by entrusting them with various tasks. The fact that he did not lose his sovereignty by doing so allows us to reflect on the separation of the core of state power from the way it is fulfilled, or in other words, to distinguish between the one who holds sovereign power and the many who exercise it (Schielsky 2004, 81). Alonso Carrillo Lasso, in his work Soberanía del Reyno de España (1626), attributes to Justinian the distinction between the supreme power of the king and the ordinary power, the latter descending from the subordinate ministers to the most remote parts of the realm (Ferrari 1945, 117). Nevertheless, princes do not need advisors in all matters. If the matters are trivial, if there is no other choice, if matters are always resolved in the same way, or if they are conditioned by nature or fate, then advisors are superfluous (Graßnik 2004, 167). A wise choice of good advisors is as valuable as the advice of selfish conspirators can be harmful, for they undermine the sovereignty of the ruler. The texts dealing with the tasks, characteristics and selection of the king’s advisors are in the tradition of the princely mirrors, which not infrequently also contain explanations of the advisors (Mühleisen et al. 1997). Some princely mirrors explicitly refer to themselves as “counselors” (Singer 1981, 56, 61) or are works of counselors, such as the thirteenth-century Libro de la nobleza y lealtad, originally titled Libro de los doce sabios. The relationship between counselor and king also resembles that between the medieval knight and his lord. The lord demanded obedience, loyalty and respect from his knights, to which were added, as more important duties, consilium and auxilium, i.e. consilium as support through advice and auxilium as war service (Wohlfeil 1976, 322). What is the sense and purpose of the consejeros? Saavedra Fajardo derives, in a very practical way, the need for help from the fact that there is no prince so intelligent, clever and industrious that he could accomplish all the tasks alone. “Esta flaqueza humana obligó a formar consejos y tribunales y a criar presidentes, gobernadores y virreyes, en los cuales estuviese la autoridad y el poder del príncipe” (Saavedra Fajardo 1927, 234). Thus, the king cedes power and authority to those who support him without losing his prerogatives. A simile could be formed with the sun, which disappears at night to let the moon shine, but which, with its brightness, points to the sun as the essential authority. The same happens with power when it is delegated, “cuando el príncipe entrega parte de los negocios al valido, reservando a sí el arbitrio y la autoridad” (237). If the king retains the final say in every decision,

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his power remains intact; the danger to him arises when he places everything in the hands of a powerful vassal (239). Cautiously critical statements of this kind against the Conde-Duque de Olivares were not uncommon in the literature (Cruickshank 2002, 99), for since 1622 the Spanish king had placed much of the business of government in his hands. Andres Mendo, in his emblem book Príncipe perfecto y ministros aiustados (1657), goes so far as to claim that it is less harmful for a state to have a bad prince and good advisors because bad advisors cannot be controlled even by a good prince (Mühleisen 1990, 184). Pedro de Rivadeneira, in his Tratado del principe cristiano (1595), derives from the miseria hominis the need for the counsel of others. Given the limitations of judgment and the strength of the passions, the counsel of others is needed in important and complicated matters. He appeals to Augustine, for whom it is arrogance to trust only in one’s own judgment, and to John Chrysostom, according to whom God is the only one who does not need the advice of others. When the king takes advice from wise men and friends of the good of the republic (Rivadeneira 1952, 554), there is no loss of power; on the contrary, his laws and decrees acquire greater authority. Thus, the ruler needs viceroys, presidents, ambassadors, governors, and ministers, which Rivadeneira gives as examples in the chapter on counselors. In the same chapter on councilors in Del Rey y de la dignidad Real (1599), Juan de Mariana takes as his starting point the question of whether it is better for the state to be led by one person or by many. In a historical review, he derives the origin of the laws from the weaknesses of the rulers, who could not regulate everything equally justly and efficiently on their own: “Se promulgaron, pues, las leyes, que hablasen constantemente a todos con una misma voz” (Mariana 1930, 46). While in the beginning there were only a few simple laws, over time they increased in quantity, complexity, and rigor. Thus, according to Mariana, the weaknesses of rulers combined with the introduction of laws lead to a certain separation of powers, which could be made better if, as with the kings of Persia, “ministros de consumada experiencia” (Mariana 1930, 53) were introduced to serve as complementary eyes and ears for the king. The introduction of other officials is also about the distribution of power, “ya se trate de constituir un senado, ya de elegir jueces” (Mariana 1930, 55). The loss of power that the introduction of councilors entails is recognized, but also commended, as it protects the people from the weaknesses of their monarch and the monarch from unjust lawsuits. The advisor is the theme of numerous authors of the Siglo de Oro. Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda points out that since succession in monarchies does not always involve the best and wisest kings, advisors become necessary. However, it would be too risky to confide in a single advisor. Rather, the king should consult many people known for their wisdom and talent in important matters (Ginés de Sepúlveda 2001, 86). However, too many advisors may unsettle the king in the event of war with the result that opportunities and chances for great deeds are missed (93). Juan de Pineda compares the state to a body in which the king is the head and the senate or council is the heart (Juan de Pineda 1964, 136). Fadique Furió Ceriol deals in great detail with the importance of the council and the councilors. First, he makes it clear that, in his view, the councilors can only have an auxiliary function. The prince should

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always consider two opinions, his own and those of others, and then make his decisions depending on the place, the time, the parties involved and the cause. Decisions should never be in the hands of the counsellors, because then each would have only his own interests in mind and the state would be leaderless, “porque siendo los hombres naturalmente codiciosos, los Consejeros no quieren dexar passar la ocasión de aprovecharse” (Mechulan 1973, 94). Here it is not the advisor who limits the king’s power, but the king who is supposed to limit the advisor’s power. The king can listen to arguments and counter-arguments, though he is not to trust anyone, but to subject everything to his scrutiny. A central characteristic of the counsellor, emphasized by Lorenzo Ramirez de Prado in his book Consejo y consejero de príncipes (1617), is prudence, which is actioned in four stages. First, it asks for the goal, then it searches for the means, selects among them the safest and least dangerous ones, and considers how to put them into practice without effort, expense, or labor (Ramirez de Prado 1958, 15). Thus, Ramirez de Prado shows that prudence, like constancy and bravery, can only be acquired through experience with resistance, obstacles, and effort. Thus, it is experience that makes advisors experts. Other qualities recommended by Ramirez de Prado for the advisor, besides advanced age for the sake of experience, are knowledge of philosophy, law, rhetoric, foreign languages, and history. In contrast, for Rivadeneira, virtue is the most important quality of the counsellor:” Porque los hombres fundados en la virtud están fundados en Dios y se contentan con poco, y huyen el resplandor engañoso de la córte” (Pedro de Rivadeneira 1952, 555). In this sense, Mariana also wants to exclude from state office those who, because of their greed for money, violate divine and human laws, so that they do not infect the country with their behavior (Juan de Mariana 1950, 538). Specifically, Furió Ceriol recommends seven bodies of advisors that anticipate what would later become seven ministries. In the first place, he mentions the body in charge of finances, responsible for the ordinary and extraordinary revenues of the king. These are followed by a body for internal affairs, dealing with the civil service; a Consejo de Guerra, responsible for the defence of the country; a Council of Subsistence or Supply, responsible for commerce; a Council of Law, responsible for justice; and, finally, two councils, complementary to each other: The Consejo de Pena is responsible for punishing wrongdoing, while the Consejo de Mercedes is in charge of finding out and rewarding meritorious behavior (Mechulan 1973, 106–119). Diego Saavedra Fajardo, in the 16th empresa of his Idea de un príncipe político-­ cristiano, emphasizes that the duties of a counselor in the office of secretary do not only include the joining of letters. In that case the printer would be more suitable. Rather, the secretary, as the active hand of the prince’s will and as the instrument of his government, had to prepare and complete the things that came up. Other sources on the duties of a secretary or advisor are Francisco Bermúdez de Pedraza’s El secretario del rey (1620) and Furió Ceriol’s El concejo y consejeros del príncipe (1559) (Scandellari 2008, 277). As the secretary also performs activities of an ambassador as needed, he is supposed to keep secrets and master the courtly game of deception and dissimulation (Scandellari 2008, 294). The secretary and counsellor thus act in

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the vicinity of the prince or king, while notaries and court clerks also perform sovereign tasks, but nevertheless carry them out from a greater distance. The author Bartholome de Carvajal, an escribano de su Magestad, vezino de la ciudad de Granada, complains in the preface to his Instruction y memorial para escribanos y juezes executores, assi en lo criminal como civil, y escripturas publicas (1585) that most aspire to the offices of notary publics and clerks of courts out of greed and ambition, rather than paying attention to what is essential, “que es saber hazer su officio” (Carvajal 1585, prologo). He wants to contribute to the correct exercise of office with his handouts. The word escribano, according to Covarubias, before the invention of printing, was used to describe those who wrote for others for pay. Plutarch had called those notarios who took notes at court hearings. Since they wrote quickly, they used abbreviations for words and syllables, so-called notas, which is why they were called notarios. Escribanos enjoyed high prestige in their work for the king or in the province, as secretaries of princes or cabinets. Carvajal gives advice on how escribanos should proceed when taking witnesses, and shows how in cases of inheritance, dowry, contract of sale, contract for work, donation, execution of boundary determinations between two towns, grant of time by the creditor to the debtor, authorization of the husband to the wife, issuance of deeds, and taking of rents, refusal of an inheritance, but also, from today’s point of view, astonishing events such as the forgiveness of an adultery, a “perdon que otorga el marido a la muger aviendo le cometido adulterio” (Carvajal 1585, 96), a slave sale or exchange, “venta de esclavo” (113) and “trueque y cambio de esclavos” (115). It has been shown how complex the relationship between the absolute ruler and his lawyers is. Since the king delegates power on the one hand and makes himself dependent on foreign information on the other, he loses his prominent position. This is unproblematic as long as the advisors cooperate with him and pursue his goals, as long as the king’s secrets are also those of his advisors. It only becomes problematic when the advisors pursue their own interests that oppose those of the king. Then they diminish his power and have secrets of their own that they hide from the king. The sovereignty of the king and thus of the state is endangered when the king gives too much decision-making power to the advisors and when he chooses the wrong advisors, those who pursue self-interests, who lack virtue, wisdom and general education.

6.3.9 Advocate Another figure relevant to the legal system is the advocate, whose role was already figuratively given a title of nobility in the Middle Ages. Thus, in the commentary on the Sachsenspiegel by Johann von Buch (ca. 1290–1356), the advocate is described as a knight in court, since he, like the knights, defends the defenceless, as it were, with the sword against deadly attacks and, as their advocate, wages a battle with words. In doing so, as in the knightly battle, it is quite permissible to use cunning,

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for example by provoking the witnesses in such a way that they lose credibility. He also gives the lawyer 13 rules to follow with his client in court. He should better give his party too little hope than too much. If they then win, they will be all the more grateful. After all, he would win if he took a rightful position, and lose if he took a wrongful position. The French king went further in his order in 1274 when he required the advocate, under penalty of loss of admission, to resign the mandate if he realized that, contrary to his initial opinion, he was not representing a just cause after all (Kannowski 2011, 13–19). In the early modern period, a distinction was made between the procurator, who was authorized to represent a party in court as a litigant, and the advocate, who provided out-of-court advice and prepared the pleadings that he gave to the procurator (Kannowski 2011, 22). Unlike Johann von Buch, Castillo makes it very clear that the advocate, who was not in the service of the state like the procurator, is considered less important. Castillo even asks whether a shorter course of study is sufficient for the Advocate. In favor of this, he argues, is the fact that an application or request can be made by anyone, “puedelo hacer un idiota, y sin letras, como sea práctico, y versado en negocios” (Castillo de Bovadilla 1597, 87). In addition, it was the right of each party to take the lawyer of their choice, and it was their fault if they did not take the best one. “Será culpa suya, sin no buscáre al mas docto” (88). It was also every sick person’s own fault if they did not choose the best doctor. The judge, on the other hand, speaks justice ex officio and embodies justice. Not every representative of a legal profession, therefore, can enjoy the high prestige of the judge or the corregidor. Also, because the advocate depends on clients paying for his services and is considered beholden not to justice but to his party, he came to enjoy less prestige (Dedieu 2005, 489–495). While the French kings had already sought control over the admission of advocates in the Middle Ages, it was the decree of Blois in 1579 by which Henry III required advocates to take an oath in writing in which they pledged obedience to the court and taxation of all fees. It was against this interference by the authorities that the Parisian advocates went on strike in the early seventeenth century and subsequently regained control of admissions themselves. A college now required every prospective advocate to have the surety of a practicing advocate and to serve an apprenticeship of up to 4 years. The French kings countered this by creating new royal intendants who would enforce absolutism directly under the crown. When the legal system was restored after the French Revolution, the old professional associations were reintroduced but placed under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior (Burrage 1988, 63–65). In Spain, negative representations of the advocate are opposed to ideal models as formulated in Jerónimo de Guevara’s Discurso legal de un perfecto y cristiano abogado (1640). Let him be versed in jurisprudence, skilled in negotiation, humble, truthful, prudent, perceptive, and cautious, but not verbose, sophistical, and miserly (Garriga 2015, 493). This ideal is contrasted in the mid-sixteenth century with a reality in which there are too many advocates, so much so that they take on obviously hopeless and unjust cases to the detriment of the commonwealth in order to make a living (499). As compulsory advocates for the poor, they were paid by the

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city, while their salary at court was 20% of the amount in dispute, but could not exceed a certain sum (523).

6.3.10 Satire Let us look again at the representation of the lawyer in fictional literature. Esther Borrego gives numerous examples of the satirical representation of legal professions from the fifteenth-century Danza General de la Muerte to Quevedo’s Los sueños, Cervantes’s Novelas ejemplares, the teatro cómico breve, and the villancicos (Gutiérrez and Esther 2021). In La Lozana andaluza (1528) by Francisco Delicado, the judiciary in Italy as in Spain also becomes the object of satire (Gernert 2021). In collections of judicial sentences such as the Tratado de los juicios, jueces y orden de las penas criminales by Antonio de la Peña, one finds punishments for adultery, for a slap in the face, or for fraud in sales. It seems remarkable that there inciting adultery, as Anselmo does in the novella El curioso impertinente interpolated in Don Quixote, is considered a greater offense than adultery itself (Byrne 2021). Divorce could be enforced by the courts in the case of impotence. Evidence of divorce trials for domestic violence or after a forced marriage is found in the sixteenth century. Cervantes’ Entremés El juez de los divorcios becomes a satirical portrayal of divorce trials, where first an old husband wants to go to a convent after the divorce, but this is not possible without the wife’s consent, then an unworldly soldier is tried as a husband who is impotent and incapable of earning money, thirdly a wound surgeon whose wife angrily argues that he pretended to be a medical doctor before the marriage and thus deceived her. After listening to a number of cases, the judge decides that everything should be submitted in writing and that witnesses should be called. So he does not judge, but adjourns the trials and thus the possible divorces indefinitely (Atienza 2004). Wolfgang Matzat proposes a reading of Cervantes’ Licenciado vidriera starting from the fact that since the end of the sixteenth century the promotion prospects of lawyers have been diminished, so that again the origin from a noble or a bourgeois family plays a role. Moreover, studies and venal offices are becoming more and more expensive. Tomás, the protagonist of Licenciado vidriera, who does not want to give any information about his origins, also seems to come from a family that converted from Judaism, which further complicates his career. If we now compare his career with that of Picaro’s Guzmán in Mateo Alemán, he appears to be a faithful servant and serious student, although his social position is equally precarious (Matzat 2021). That Quevedo’s satire of the jurist has numerous levels is shown by the example of the Sueño de la muerte, which can at the same time be seen as a parodic examination of the Jesuit meditations of Ignatius in view of the visualization of hell as heaven’s punishment for sins (Wehr 2021). Beyond the tracts in praise of the jurist and the satirical texts against him, a list of possible sins of the advocate can be found in the handouts on confession written for priests. Emilio Blanco shows confessionals structured by profession, listing the offenses of judges, notaries, and

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advocates separately. For example, Fray Francisco de Alcocer concludes his Confesionario breve y muy provechoso para los penitentes (1572) with a chapter entitled “De algunas doctrinas acerca de los particulares estados, oficios y artes.” An advocate may commit a sin if he obtained his license illegally, if he defends obviously guilty persons by deception and lies, if he takes on so many cases that he can no longer prepare for them, if he uses false witnesses, if he gives his clients false hope, or if he provides secret information to the other side (Blanco 2021).

6.3.11 Satire in Don Quixote Does Don Quixote act in accordance with the law, or at least legitimately, when he assaults others or comes to the aid of the weak? To answer this question, let us first go a little further. The Christian doctrine of creation assumes a common order for creator and creation and thus establishes the derivation connection between ius divinum and ius naturale. On three levels the order of the lex Dei may apply: in nature, in the laws of the state and in the commandments for the individual. Thus, if the individual acts morally good, he or she orients his or her individual reason to the reasonableness of creation. From the ius divinum a ius naturale can be derived, which in turn may be decisive for the laws of positive justice. Thus, a hierarchy results in which the respective higher law has greater authority than the subordinate one. He who breaks valid laws acts illegally but legitimately, as far as he can refer to higher laws. Now, if the superior laws are invented or invalid, invoking them becomes a satire of the legal hierarchy. Don Quixote frequently violates positive law and repeatedly invokes higher law to legitimize himself. A possible background for Don Quixote’s violations of the law could be the simultaneity and incompatibility of different sets of laws, which caused confusion after 1580. Side by side stood “the Siete Partidas, the Fuero Real, the Leyes de Toro, the Fuero Juzgo, the Espéculo, the Fuero Viejo, The Ordenamiento de Alcalá and the Ordenanzas Reales de Castilla” (Byrne 2012, 50). However, Don Quixote speaks of a “ley natural”, a law of nature, when he stresses that everyone is obliged to support the knights-errant (de Cervantes 2015, 135). Otherwise, he invokes the laws legitimizing war, the “buena guerra,” but also, and especially frequently and willingly, the laws of the knights-errant, or the books he has read and from which he takes these laws. In legitimizing his attacks, the background is the legitimization of just war, since, according to popular opinion, there is only a quantitative, not a qualitative, difference between a war in which two armies face each other and a duel. St. Thomas Aquinas listed as a prerequisite for just war, first, the authority of a rightful prince who gives the order for war; second, the blameworthiness of those against whom the war is directed; and third, the right intention, i.e., to promote good and prevent evil. Thus, vindictiveness, belligerence, and destructiveness are not right intentions. The Thomistic approach finds a continuation in Francisco de Vitoria’s writing Sobre el derecho de la guerra. In his theses of 1539 he proceeds also from the laws of war of Deuteronomy and Augustine.

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For him it seems permissible to draw the sword and to take up arms against the evildoers and the rebels in one’s own country as well as against the enemies outside. In support of this, he quotes Psalm 82:4 and calls for the weak and poor to be freed from captivity. Don Quixote seems to adopt the systematic nature of the reasons for war, although he caricatures their order somewhat ironically. He allows the following reasons for war to be the most important: First, to defend Catholicism; second, to defend his life; third, to defend his honor and possessions; fourth, in the service of the king in just war; fifth, which could also be second, to defend the fatherland. “La primera, por defender la fe católica; la segunda, por defender su vida, que es de ley natural y divina; la tercera, en defensa de su honra, de su familia y hacienda, la cuarta, en servicio de su rey en la guerra justa; a si le quisiéramos añadir la quinta, que se puede contar por segunda, es en defensa de su patria. A estos cinco causas, como capitales, se pueden agregar algunas otras que sean justas y razonables y que obliguen a tomar las armas” (de Cervantes 2015, 939). The need to defend the Church was already clear from the intention of the knightly orders to conquer Jerusalem, drive out the Turks and take up the fight against Islam. This concern is also found in Ramón Lull, when he attributes to the knight the defense of Catholicism: “Es oficio del caballero mantener y defender la santa Fe católica” and sees cleric and knight united in the same cause, “la mayor amistad que puede haber en este mundo, debería ser entre clérigo y caballero” (Lull 1949, 28–29). By force of arms, the knight is to take action against “los infieles que cada día se afanan en destruir la Santa Iglesia” (Lull, 28–29). Don Quixote embraces this concern and sees giants in the windmills he fights to eliminate. He places himself in the tradition of the Crusades when he declares that there is nothing but injury to be gained in his adventures: “que esta aventura, y las a esta semejantes, no son aventuras de ínsulas, sino de encrucijadas, en las cuales no se gana otra cosa que sacar rota la cabeza, o una oreja menos” (de Cervantes 2015, 123). An important argument to justify a warlike attack is the oppression of the good and innocent who are too weak to defend themselves. The oppressors, according to Francisco de Vitoria, the theorist of the legitimacy of war, must be persecuted and punished in the interest of the good of the globe. It would be bad if tyrants and thieves went unpunished, “si los tiranos, los ladrones y los depredadores pudieran ofender y oprimir impunemente a los buenos y a los inocentes, y no fuese lícito a éstos, a su vez, escarmentar a los culpables” (Vitoria 1998, 165). There are examples of this reason for legitimacy at the very beginning of Don Quixote. Just recall that Don Quixote thinks he is helping a distressed person when he frees the servant who is beaten by the peasant for not taking care of the cattle. Or when 12 bound persons and their guards approach Don Quixote, he wants to offer them protection and succor, not seeing that they are convicts who are to do forced labor in the galleys for the king. He thinks violence is being done to them, which he sees as his task to thwart: “desfacer fuerzas y socorrer y acudir a los miserables” (de Cervantes 2015, 258). In his position, he sees it as his job to intervene here, consciously defying the king’s orders, the validity of which Sancho recalls. Even as Don Quixote seeks to protect Marcela, he has the same motive. When he mistakes two flocks of mutton and sheep for hostile armies, that of the Moor Alifanfarón and that of the Christian

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Pentapolín del Arremangado Brazo, he intervenes with the motive of supporting the needy, that is, “favorecer y ayudar a los menesterosos y desvalidos” (206). Whether a fight is legitimate requires careful consideration. Don Quixote, however, is often just waiting to instigate a fight, recognizing in every situation the opportunity to imitate what he has read in his books on chivalry. In the situation where Sancho has no mount, Don Quixote figures that it would be practical to take a horse away from someone at the next opportunity. So he accepts the law violation of stealing a horse in order to comply with the higher law for him that his squire must have a mount. So there is a certain arbitrariness shown in the use of knightly laws, which are invented and transgressed. It should be noted that Don Quixote always invokes higher laws when he believes that he is violating existing positive law. Whether it is divine law or natural law, whether it is the legitimation of the military or the arguments for the legitimation of war, or whether it is the laws of chivalry as they exist in law collections or books of chivalry, Don Quixote is never at a loss to cite a suitable law. If he is in search of a horse or a helmet, he is just as quick and easy to find laws that allow him to prey upon them. That he may only fight knights is a law he makes himself and also violates himself. So the cases of him breaking knight laws are not rare. And what about the cases where he helps the weak and oppressed in the spirit of the knight’s laws? Here it happens that the situation is misjudged and therefore the application of the laws is inappropriate. Indeed, he does not fight against real giants, but against wineskins and windmills, does not stand up against criminals, but against innocent monks and dolls. When he frees Andrés and the galley convicts, he is not dealing with the unjustly oppressed and the needy. Therefore, it is not outmoded chivalric laws, but rather Don Quixote’s lack of judgment that leads to conflict with positive law. Of course, Don Quixote is unaware of this when he claims to do everything according to the laws of chivalry. As Don Quixote’s appeals to higher law are obviously incorrect and contrived, they become a satire of appeals to higher legal authorities such as ius divinum and ius naturale. It is striking that Don Quixote, who in the first part of the 1605 work repeatedly blames himself for transgressing the law and justifies these violations of positive law by invoking the higher law of the laws of chivalry, acts largely in accordance with the law in the second part of 1615 (Byrne 2015, 130). The negotiations over Mambrin’s helmet in Chaps. 44 and 45 of the first part of Don Quixote are already reminiscent of a court of law. At the very beginning, there is both accusation and defence, when the barber entering the tavern, asking King and Justice for succour, calls Don Quixote a thief and highwayman, while Sancho, in defence, argues that Don Quixote, after a just fight and victory, has taken the booty due to him. The reader, who from now on assumes the position of judge, knows that taking booty is legitimate in a just war, but that in the present case, since the barber had fled without a fight, there was no just duel between Don Quixote and the barber. The facts of the case, whether robbery or legitimate taking of possession, depend on the definition of the object: If it is a beard basin, then it is unlikely to have been captured in a just fight and Don Quixote is guilty. If it is the helmet of Mambrin, then it is likely to have been captured in a just fight and Don Quixote is innocent. So

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ambiguity reigns in the question of whether something is what it is and which context is accurate. Therefore the barber brings into play the donkey’s saddle, which in his view has also been stolen, in order to show that what applies to the saddle must apply a fortiori to the beard. To prove this, he suggests that one could put the saddle on his donkey and see how exactly it fits him. Don Quixote, however, confuses this line of argument by asserting that, after taking the helmet, he allowed Sancho to take the horse’s saddle in his turn, which had probably been transformed into a donkey’s saddle by the intervention of a magician. Now, if there is a transformation in the saddle, it is no longer suitable for the argument a comparatione in favor of the helmet, which Sancho sees when he remarks: “Si no tenemos otra prueba de nuestra intención que la que vuestra merced dice, tan bacía es el yelmo de Mambrino como el jaez deste buen hombre alabarda!” (de Cervantes 2015, 569; Strosetzki 2019). For Don Quixote, at any rate, the donkey’s saddle remains a horse’s saddle, the barber’s basin a helmet, and the inn a castle. An out-of-court settlement is reached with the stolen barber: The priest hands him eight reales without Don Quixote’s knowledge, whereupon he acknowledges receipt and waives any further claims. The dispute between the stolen barber and Sancho also ends with an out-of-court settlement: only the saddles, not the girths and other accessories, were to change hands. Since the facts depend on the object in question, but its identity remains disputed, it is not possible to decide whether Don Quixote should be condemned as a thief or acquitted as a victorious warrior. Alongside this most famous scene, which resembles a trial, are the cases that Sancho has to solve as governor and judge. Since all these cases are distinctly civil or criminal trials, the question follows in what light the judicial system appears. Does it judge astutely and justly, or is it as inefficient as the inn attendants judging Mambrin’s helmet? Just as the bearded basin transforms into the helmet del Mambrin for Don Quixote, so too is there a transformation in the first case Sancho is called upon to judge: The hoods requested by the peasant become thimbles, for he wanted as many as possible so as not to leave any cloth for the tailor. As is usual in a civil case, the peasant, as plaintiff, presents his legal claim. He wants his cloth, which he gave to the tailor, back or a sum of money corresponding to its value. It would now be necessary for the court to review the accuracy of the claim made by the plaintiff in both factual and legal terms in a discovery proceeding. The defendant, the tailor, could request the dismissal of the claim in whole or in part, deny individual factual allegations and explain why the factual allegations are false from his point of view. But he confirms the facts alleged by the plaintiff, and alleges as a new fact that the farmer demanded of him first one and then finally five hoods, so that no piece of cloth would remain which the tailor could steal from him. And pointing out that the farmer did not pay him, the tailor brings a counterclaim, which he brings as a defendant against the plaintiff. The farmer’s suit for performance, who wants compensation for the cut cloth, is thus opposed by the tailor’s suit for performance, who wants his wages. When the tailor finally shows his five thimbles, he brings in evidence of his work by inspection, which, as we know, is done by direct perception by the court of facts relevant to the evidence. After the evidence

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has been taken, the court would now have to discuss the state of affairs and the dispute again on the basis of the newly obtained findings. It would have to be clarified to what extent a counterclaim would have to be granted or a set-off of the claims of the opposing parties. Finally, a contract came into being between the farmer and the tailor with the placing of the order, i.e. the agreement of wills declared by two persons on the bringing about of a legal result. Such a contract exists in legal transactions if there are two concurring declarations of intent. In the case of the farmer and the tailor, however, there is a lack of agreement, since the former did not pay attention to the latter’s recipient horizon, nor to the latter’s interpretive diligence. In the sense of hermeneutics, the recipient’s horizon includes knowledge of the circumstances, knowledge of the rules, knowledge of previous actions and accompanying circumstances, while interpretive diligence means the requirements of care and attention to be directed at the recipient of the declaration. The principle of “falsa demonstratio non nocet.” is not applicable, since there is no converging understanding of the parties involved. If a contract exists, contractual liability also applies with the obligation to provide compensation for the contractual performance owed or expected. The obligation to pay compensation presupposes that the debtor is responsible for the breach of duty. A contractual obligation creates a claim by the creditor. Can the farmer claim damages instead of the whole performance, although the tailor has performed a partial performance after all? In addition, the aggrieved farmer is partly to blame for the occurrence of the damage, which can lead to a division of the damage or even to the loss of the claim. If one thinks of the perhaps unjustified imputation of theft by the farmer to the tailor, the farmer is partly to blame. How the percentage of the damage is actually divided depends on the extent to which the perpetrator as well as the injured party have been involved in the occurrence of the damage. Contributory negligence on the part of the injured party also applies in those cases in which the latter had failed to draw the attention of the damaging party to the danger of the damage occurring or had failed to avert or mitigate the damage. The misappropriation of another is to be punished, not the intention to become richer oneself, whereby the hitherto civil case changes into a criminal one. Judge Sancho does not seem to have made such considerations, as the matter does not seem to him so involved as to require long investigation. He judges that the peasant loses his cloth and the tailor his macho wages, thus taking into account the contributory negligence of both. The fact, however, that it is contrary to all experience of life for a tailor to tailor thimbles instead of a hood, makes the case seem improbable, and the court seriously judging it a subject of satire. In another case, a showdown occurs between the judge and the accused. A lad is caught by the police and brought before the judge. Since he had run away from the authorities, there was initial suspicion of a criminal offence. He answers the questions about his identity with joking remarks and contradictions, by which the judge Sancho feels provoked. He had run away to spare himself unnecessary questions and had been outside to get some air. When the judge now orders that he be left to sleep in jail without air, the proceedings become a trial of strength, and anger at the defendant’s disrespect for the court prompts an appropriate response. Sancho thus

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does not judge impartially, but out of affect, in order to make an example by demonstrating his power. Consistently, the defendant’s rebuttal shows the limits of judicial power: He could no more make him king than force him to sleep. When Sancho now replies that he has the power to seize him or let him go as he pleases, this appears as absolutist judicial arbitrariness that knows no laws. Sancho lets the fellow go only after he has obtained from him the explanation that the latter does not sleep because he wants to enforce his own will, and not because he wants to violate Sancho’s judicial will. That the one conditions the other he sees as little as the fact that he has shown himself more ridiculous than wise with his attempted demonstration of power. Also from the next case the judge Sancho does not get away without damage. Again someone is picked up by the police for running away. First a beautiful girl, then her handsome brother is brought before the judge with the initial suspicion of a crime. But it turns out that the sister, who has been locked up for years by her father, accompanied by her brother, secretly wanted to see the city at night, unnoticed by her father, which from the judge’s perspective is as legal as it is legitimate, but not justiciable, although Sancho points out the dangers girls are exposed to in public. Nevertheless, he does not hesitate to make himself an accomplice and see to it that the two are escorted home so as to be back in time and unnoticed. Here he is guilty of favoritism, having not previously had anyone he banished escorted. Judge Sancho completely loses his impartiality when he takes it upon himself to marry the handsome brother to his daughter Sanchica. Sancho’s last case leads into the world of fairy tales, where everything is possible and everything is believable. This applies to the facts of the case as well as to Sancho’s judgment, especially since it is praised as particularly wise and worthy of a Lycurgus. As a superior authority, Sancho is asked for advice by four judges who are perplexed in the present case. When someone crosses the bridge of a river, he is asked to declare under oath where he is going and what he intends to do. If he tells the truth, he can pass unharmed. If he lies, he is immediately hanged on the gallows. But now someone has come who has sworn that he will die on said gallows. The dilemma is: If one lets him pass, then he has sworn a false oath and should actually die. Hang him and he has told the truth and should have passed unscathed. Sancho’s first advice is to let the part of the man who told the truth pass, and hang the part that lied. But since you would then have to cut him in two, which would not work, he judges that since the reasons for his acquittal and conviction are balanced in the scales of justice, it is better to show mercy and let him go. Borrowed from the famous paradox, the dilemma is “Epimenides the Cretan said, ‘All Cretans are liars.’” Is he lying when he says this, or not? One could defuse the antinomy by defining a liar as one who sometimes lies. Assuming that liars always lie, one could tighten the sentence, “A man says, ‘I am lying right now.’” Here there is a self-reference consisting of a statement which, on the meta-level, simultaneously says something about that statement. The proposition is one of those famous mathematical logical paradoxes that might be difficult for Judge Sancho to understand. Complicating matters in the present case, however, is the fact that true or false can only be an assertion about the present or the past, not the intention of a

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planned action. An intention can be sincere even if the intended action is not ultimately performed. That is, the passerby may have sincerely intended to be hanged after crossing the bridge. This intention does not remain a lie even if he is not hanged afterwards. In what, then, is the defendant to be blamed? He did not commit perjury if he had a sincere intention to be hanged. Judge Sancho, therefore, ought not to have judged mercifully in dubio pro reo, but should have advised his subordinate fellow-judges to acquit him unreservedly. In conclusion, let us look back at Sancho’s judicial activity. Are his proceedings more efficient than those in which Don Quixote is involved? After all, he is praised as a wise judge. In what light do court and judicial proceedings appear in his cases? In the dispute between peasant and tailor, Sancho correctly recognizes the contributory negligence of both, but fails to realize that it is contrary to all life experience for a tailor to tailor thimbles instead of a hood, and makes a fool of himself. In the trial of strength between judge and accused, Sancho only lets the fellow go when he hears that the latter wants to have his own way and not go against Sancho’s judicial will. Here Sancho knows neither rules nor laws, but shows himself to be power-­ mad, affect-driven, and arbitrary. In the case with the beautiful girl and the handsome brother, he commits favoritism in office and loses his impartiality through his plans to marry the handsome brother to his daughter Sanchica. In the case involving the bridge, Sancho, as a judge of higher authority, is not up to the logical complexity of the task. Despite some good approaches, Sancho’s tenure as judge provides more of a satirical picture of an inadequate court and of contestable trials than an exemplary demonstration of the workings of a wise and impeccable judge. As governor, Sancho represents the authorities. In doing so, when he passes judgement as a magistrate, he is acting on the judicial side of state power. The situation in which Don Quixote is accused of robbing a barber’s basin and claims to have taken the Mambrin’s helmet as booty in a just fight appears as a court case that comes to nothing. By repeatedly relativizing positive law with his invocation of the superior law of chivalry, Don Quixote, as a knight, arrogates to himself legislative powers without having them. In all three cases, the judiciary and jurisprudence are given a bad report card, if only satirically.

6.3.12 Résumé To sum up, in the Siglo de Oro, jurists became the centre of attention because they became representatives of the authorities, not only in the jurisdictional and legislative spheres, but also in the executive. Even if there is not yet a separation of powers this is particularly evident in the case of the corregidor, who is responsible for the affairs of government as well as for jurisdiction in a given area. Therefore the same rules apply to him that the princely mirrors lay down for kings and rulers. They are to perfect themselves in an exemplary manner by good morals and the observance of the cardinal virtues, and to distinguish themselves by the mastery of the art of government. In the allegory of the body, they are placed at the top, that is, in the

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head, compared with the nobles, to whom hands and feet are assigned, since the task of defense is assigned to them as a physical activity. Through the hierarchy in the body allegory, the intellectual life again proves superior to the artisan. A position comparable to that of the corregidores is occupied, as has been shown, by the regidores in the cities. Where the ruler has to transfer areas of responsibility to others because of the complexity of the matter, he seeks out jurists as advisors, ministers or secretaries, who then share with him the knowledge of rulership that is kept under secrecy. Within the framework of the cardinal virtues, they appear as reinforcing fortitudo through auxilia. Below this level are the escribanos as court clerks or notaries. Lawyers are outside the hierarchy as they are not paid by the state but by their respective clients. It is understandable, therefore, that access to the new state-­ bearing rank of jurist was made more difficult by making rules of descent and by not giving equal prestige to all places of training. The science of jurisprudence itself, on the other hand, was seldom questioned, for example, about its relationship to ethics, about its scientific character in view of the importance of the authority and multiplicity of partly competing law books. After all, for Castillo de Bovadilla a 10-year law degree is not sufficient for the office of corregidor. To this must be added experience and a broad general education in the artes liberales and in the other sciences, in order to be able to form a competent judgment and make the right decision in all possible matters. Lawyers thus define themselves as the new authorities or their substitutes and, unlike doctors and theologians, therefore appear as representatives of state power. Not least for this reason they become the target of satire.

Part III

Outlook

Chapter 7

Craft and Hierarchy

Taylor’s model, it was suggested in the preface, should be contrasted with other categories in the Siglo de Oro: intellectual life, moral perfection, and social advancement through knowledge. Time and again, these categories have been shown to be effective. Thus, the Platonic preference for ideas over real events or the explanation of individual phenomena according to the Aristotelian doctrine of four causes repeatedly shaped models and argumentation, with teleological thinking at the same time providing legitimizing strategies. Spiritual life appears primary over material, even in the mechanical arts, where morality, public spirit, and knowledge are paramount. Tracts on the military speak first of the cardinal virtues in the commander and of virtues in the common soldier. Thereafter follows the relevant knowledge, emphasizing that victories are won not by muscular strength but by the intellect, which should know how to deal with treason or with a popular uprising and to deceive the enemy skillfully. Intellectual preparation is also required for the various weapons. Mathematical knowledge is required for the handling of the sword, chemical and geometrical knowledge for the operation of the cannon. Even the merchant does not get far if he is bent merely on maximizing profit in his mechanical profession. Before that he has to deal intellectually with such branches of knowledge as mathematics, bookkeeping, and the art of contract. Arithmetic moves first in theory anyway, as do astronomy and music. When the physician deals with Hippocrates, Galen, or dietetics and the effect of the affects of the soul on the diseases of the body, he builds up complex mental models which become the basis of his practical cures. That the theoretical edifice is similarly complex in the other two faculties, the theological and the juridical, is clear. In these two faculties, too, the student is introduced to a spiritual life marked by theory, which becomes the later foundation. In most of the tracts virtues are given which are necessary for the respective professions. The more the profession is pursued with these virtues in mind, the better it is pursued. Thus morality becomes a prerequisite and its optimal observance a requirement. Moral perfection, it has been shown, is a demand made upon the general, as upon the common soldier, and upon the representatives of the mechanical as © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE, part of Springer Nature 2023 C. Strosetzki, Manual Work and Mental Work, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-66366-0_7

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well as the liberal arts. If the peasant, with his life spend living in line with nature, is a model in this respect, justice is also demanded of the merchant in the price, while the works of the fine arts develop moral pedagogical effects. The theologian supports his faithful in a psychomachy, a spiritual struggle, while for the physician a morally ordered soul is the cornerstone of a healthy body. Finally, the jurist, as a representative of the ruler, has to possess the cardinal virtues like the ruler in the princely mirrors. The lesson is that optimal professional practice requires moral perfection. In the tracts, awareness of the hierarchical structure of society became clear again and again, accompanied by hope of social advancement as a result of the acquisition of knowledge. Such expectations are boosted by the lists of outstanding personalities who have brought fame to a city or a country, the lists of inventors who have advanced individual fields since antiquity, and the repeatedly cited examples from Roman history of people who have made it from the simplest backgrounds to the highest offices. Knowledge is also an important prerequisite where encyclopaedic knowledge is demanded of individual professional representatives for the better exercise of their profession. It is also cognition that makes the difference between the physician, the surgeon and the barbero, and which determines the social position. The same is true in the field of jurisprudence for the difference between the corregidor and the advocate, when in the case of the latter a shorter course of study is sufficient. Such arguments do not make the lowly craftsman and the skillful practitioner appear as models to be imitated. They rather show the connection between knowledge and social position, and thus the path of advancement through the acquisition of knowledge, which they call upon. Once again, let us look back at Taylor’s theses. When he observes that in the early modern period useful inventions appear to be more important than philosophical speculations, he overlooks the fact that the purpose and usefulness of inventions have been appreciated since antiquity and that Polydor Vergil as well as Juan de la Cueva see them teleologically in connection with the Aristotelian doctrine of four causes. The thesis that the useful craftsman became a model in early modern times could not be confirmed either, since this is opposed by the still widespread teaching of Aristotle that the training of virtues, which are indispensable for the exercise of political offices, is impossible when one is engaged in crafts. Separate from this, virtues are also required for the craftsman. In the representation of the mechanical trades in the tracts the appreciation of the importance of the virtues comes first, philosophical speculation, namely that of the ethicist, still seems to dominate over manual skills. The closest traces of the ordinary life evoked by Taylor can be found in early modern domestic literature, which modeled peasant life on the ancient Golden Age. This closeness to nature was linked to a kind of rejection of progress, opposing the corruption of morals through the enjoyment of luxury goods and denying peasant children advancement to legal professions. And ordinary life in the countryside was not only valued in the early modern period. Even among the Romans, farmers were honored. Their way of life was considered original and unspoiled. Diligence, modesty, moderation and avoidance of luxury were the

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hallmarks of their morals. The most famous hero of ancient mythology who was a craftsman was Odysseus, who made his own bed. There can be no question of the utilitarianism of the merchant having displaced the glory-seeking of the military, since neither the merchant is reducible to utility, nor the warrior to glory. Urrea, after all, had remarked that eternal glory was deserved only by those who adhered to Christian justice, quoting Plato, according to whom it was better to suffer insults than to insult. And Garcia de Palacio had warned the prince against starting a war in the interest of gaining land or glory. Certainly, the invention of the military is not for the glory of the leaders, but for the protection of the weak from attack, which legitimizes it. The commander is supposed to excel primarily in the cardinal virtues and knowledge of sciences such as mathematics, cosmography, astronomy and astrology, literature and rhetoric, since victories are not won by the superiority of arms but by that of the mind, for evidence of which Alcibiades is cited as an example. The path of professionalization led the military away from the sword and the horse and toward artillery, and thus away from the nobility and toward those who master geometry and chemistry. If by the utilitarianism of the merchant it is meant his profit orientation, then this is precisely not the first priority in the Spanish tracts. Providing for the community is recommended as a service to the common good. Virtues such as justice are to prevail in the pretium iustum and in the avoidance of usury. Usury is mitigated, according to Ludovicus de Alcala, when the main intention is charity and only a secondary intention is the hope of gain. Legally correct handling of contracts, mathematical knowledge for bookkeeping and the correct assessment of market conditions are characteristics that show trade not as a mechanical art associated with ordinary life, but as a field of activity characterized by knowledge and morality. The leisure attributed by Taylor to the ancient philosophers not only enables undisturbed speculation, with which the philosopher stands in contrast to the working population, it has also been claimed for the manual worker since antiquity. The moments of leisure are, after all, necessary as breaks in work for recuperation, after which the work can be continued. The craftsman, too, must be careful with how he fills his moments of leisure. Games of chance lead to greed and addiction to gambling. They often end in poverty, as does simple idleness. Better for leisure are instructive questioning or board games. When Taylor ascribes ordinary life to the lowly craftsman or the artful practitioner, he overlooks distinctions that are already made on the building site or in the workshop. In the relevant tracts, the builder excels before the mason because his knowledge approximates that of the architect. The tailor’s workshop seems to be primarily concerned with geometry, while the painter in the artist’s workshop, as poet to the eyes, is supposed to possess the universal knowledge of a poeta doctus. The latter derives his dignity not from his craft practices, but from the fact that he is able to incite imitation through his images of heroes or figures of saints, appearing superior even to the moral philosopher and the rhetorician. Moreover, the new prestige of ordinary life, which sees its fulfillment in simple work and family, noted by Taylor, is contradicted in the Siglo de Oro by the popularity of directories of outstanding personalities in various fields of activity and

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expertise. Here those are listed who have significantly shaped the country, its position in the world, its culture, and its science. And when the social ascent from the bottom to the top is presented as a possibility, this proves precisely the awareness of a social hierarchy in which the mechanical arts are located at the bottom. Does Taylor’s paradigm shift have consequences for the sciences? The artes liberales, as liberal arts, are by definition free from practical utility. If they enjoy a high reputation in the early modern period, this argues against a paradigm shift in favor of the useful lower crafts. Their reputation was conditioned in the first place by the fact that they offered not only a first step on the way to university study, but also, with the grammarian as tutor, the first initial instruction. When the student deals with texts of antiquity or history and creates a library in miniature out of them by his excerpts, he is far from being fit for everyday life. What is true of the word-oriented trivium is also true of the number-oriented quadrivium. Arithmetic, with its abstract numbers, seemed to provide proof of the correctness of the speculative philosophy of the Platonic doctrine of ideas. The definitions and distinctions into species and genera made with numbers and geometrical forms seem downright scholastic and speculative. If celestial bodies are adduced as causes for the reckoning of time, and their purposes are the adornment of the heavens and illumination for the inhabitants of the earth, then astronomy is no less speculative than astrology, with its influences on the sublunary realm of men and the elements at war. Finally, the music of the spheres in the macrocosm of the celestial bodies is seen as a correspondence for the practice of music, which seems impossible without theoretical harmony theory, and not only for this reason. That the three higher faculties of medicine, theology and jurisprudence are quite distant from ordinary life and the lowly craftsman is obvious. If, however, the latter had become the leading paradigm in the early modern period, then this should also be noticeable in these three disciplines. If medicine is accused of caring only for the body and not for the soul, this is unjustified at least insofar as the Aristotelian doctrine, according to which the soul is the purpose and form cause of the body, prevailed in the Siglo de Oro. That medicine should not be limited to material bodily processes is evidenced by a comprehensively understood dietetics designed to prevent mental passions from making the body sick, the possible influence of the heavenly bodies on health, and possible punitive divine interventions. That Galen and Hippocrates set the tone in university medicine made it difficult for newer doctrines such as Harvey’s blood circulation theory and Paracelsus’ alchemy to gain acceptance. And where medicine appears as an empirical science, it fails to convince with useful advice, such as to use wood fire against the plague or tobacco against asthma. So it is not surprising that healing practitioners like the barbero did not enjoy a special reputation compared to the university physicians. From the theologian one expects a decided orientation towards the hereafter with the consequence of a radical turning away from the practice of ordinary life. Here the Reformation seems to have had an impact on the Spanish Counter-Reformation in that the latter absorbed some of the former’s approaches. An example of this is the Jesuit order, which not only renounced the monastery but meditatively focused on the reality of Jesus’ life and actively ministered to fellow men in the classroom

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or as confessors. The counseling literature on confession in particular testifies to a differentiated knowledge of social realities, especially when there are facts and circumstances to be judged. Here theology has really arrived in ordinary life, which it then, however, immediately grasps in categories. Useful for everyday life are also pieces of advice to ecclesiastical dignitaries on how to preserve vested interests and to the faithful who have difficulties in writing the appropriate letter in a certain situation. The cleric hearing confessions has to judge the sinner like a judge and impose a penance as punishment. In his judging activity he finds himself in a certain proximity to the jurist. As the latter took the place of the authority in the early modern period, he is characterized like the prince in the princely mirrors. Thus he is said to have the cardinal virtues and, in addition, to possess a broad general education in all the sciences. Whether he is corregidor, regidor, counselor, minister, or secretary, as a representative of the power of the state he is supposed to be experienced in the jurisdiction as well as in the execution or legislature. If in the allegory of the state the jurist is to be placed as a body at the top, namely at the head, then in the social hierarchy he is the counterpart of the manual labour which figures far below. He explicitly distances himself from the mechanical art of the noble warrior. Luhmann’s binomial guiding differences can be successfully used ideologically if they are used to clarify argumentatively the reasons for which one position or activity is superior to others and this primacy is justified. But they can also form the basis of satire, namely when one’s own is presented as reasonable and the other as inferior, ridiculous or false. The following examples are given in the form of adjectives and nouns: mental – physical, spiritual – material, free – serving, work – leisure, ruler – subject, contemplative – active, high object of work – low object of work, noble – not noble, theoretical – practical, little theoretical – very theoretical, extensively trained  – poorly trained, tradition-oriented  – open to innovations, virtuous – vicious. If truth depends on the social location of the one who utters it, then the helmet of Mambrin in Don Quixote provides a good example. From the point of view of the knight-errant, it is a just spoil after a victory in battle. The barber, however, sees in the corpus delicti nothing other than his own barber’s basin. And when Don Quixote repeatedly invokes the higher law of chivalry when he violates positive law, his position and perspective are different from that of Sancho, who wants to restrain him. Here literary fiction reveals what Karl Mannheim calls the “standortgebundene Aspektstruktur eines Denkens”, the structure of thinking bound to positions (Mannheim 1929, 52). Garzoni comes closer to understanding ideology in Marx’s sense when he judges the world of mechanical professions as a native nobleman and criticizes it with his value system regarding its shortcomings. When Erasmus of Rotterdam calls soldiers murderers and arsonists, it is clear that he is not a representative of the military profession, but a theologian and humanist scholar. Juan de Torija, who declares the superiority of the builder over the mason and his proximity to the architect, is himself a builder and architect. The higher rank of the silversmith over the ironworker is well known. When Nicolás Monardes reverses this hierarchy and claims that iron is superior to gold because it can be used to make tools and weapons, it must be remembered that Monardes was not a blacksmith, but is making

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a joke from the perspective of a physician. Numerous examples can be found of utterances conditioned by the location of the one who makes them. Thus the arithmetician warns against believing that one is already a mathematician if one can count, or the grammarian against thinking that one is a polymath if one has only mastered the grammatical rules. It is not surprising that, depending on one’s level of education, one’s professional pride is different. Thus the university physician looks down disparagingly on surgeons, barbers, or algebristas, while Lobera de Avila, médico de la Casa Real, first looks disdainfully on medical speculations, such as about biblical age or attentiveness in sermons, and then presents practical prescriptions to help in specific cases. Finally, Juan de Cabriada was one of the physicians who sparked polemics between traditionalists and innovators, and who founded a medical academy. In the world of jurisprudence, too, one’s social location conditions one’s judgment of others. Whether one sees in the advocate first the noble aspiration to defend the defenseless, or the avarice to make a lot of money by defending them, will depend on location. Like the ideological criticism and devaluation of the other seen from one’s own point of view, satire also takes as its target what appears to be the opposite from the satirist’s point of view. Thus, already in Lucian of Samostata, the cobbler comes to the conclusion that he has it better than the rich with their sorrow and envy. The Spaniard Jerónimo de Mondragón plays with the contrast between the wise and the ignorant when he lets Hippocrates discover that madness did not afflict Democritus but the inhabitants of Abdera. This contrast is played out in numerous other variations. Saavedra Fajardo makes fun of the ignorance of historians, who pretend to have been present at all the secret meetings of the princes, and yet know only a few dates. He reproaches astrologers for telling people’s fortunes, although they know nothing at all about the properties of the heavenly bodies. And when the jurists are at a loss, according to Saavedra Fajardo they cover up their ignorance by invoking divine law or natural law. As a caricature of the actual educated humanist, the pedant is portrayed as half-educated. If he knows only a few verses from ancient literature, he makes a fool of himself by wanting to join in the discussion of all sorts of subjects. The philologists who do textual criticism appear as patchworkers and cobblers who deface old things. Imitators and compilers, he says, are nothing but thieves. Diego de Estella seems better to be ignorant and humble than knowing and arrogant. The less the knowledge, the greater the arrogance, which Quevedo satirically portrays in the grammarian, who has mastered Latin but not his own language. He wishes, on the other hand, for a university chair where one can learn to do good. Greed is a vice to be avoided and criticized by satire not only among merchants and physicians; among lawyers it belongs to the typical sins noted by confessors for this professional group. Don Quixote, which is always about recalling and imitating books of chivalry, can be read as a satire of a memoria in which its own orientation ensures that the reference to reality is lost. This has all the more serious implications because the rule sola scriptura encourages false reading and false understanding. This is not, of course, a satire of the theology of the time, but perhaps it was intended to encourage a critical attitude towards exaggeration. In the case of the scenes in the novel with

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legal implications, there is likewise no satirical questioning of the legal system as such, but only of the all too quick invocation of a higher law by inadequately trained lawyers, which Saavedra Fajardo also accuses lawyers of doing. Don Quixote considers it a ius divinum or ius naturale to help the knights-errant, he derives the legitimacy of his violations of positive law from the knights’ right, which commands them to help the oppressed. This satirically reflects at once the arbitrariness, arrogance, and incompetence of the judiciary of his time, just as Sancho’s judgments as a judge are further examples of this. Nor is the idealism of Don Quixote, emphasized by Romanticism, suitable as an example of ordinary life or the world of lowly artisans.

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