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James Fitzmaurice-Kelly
Published by Good Press, 2019
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Apart from the fact that Luis de Leon was taught singing,[13] as became the future friend of Salinas, we know next to nothing of his early youth. From himself we learn that he was taken from Belmonte to Madrid when he was five or six, that at the age of fourteen he was entered at Salamanca University, where one of his uncles—Francisco de Leon—was lecturer on Canon Law, and that shortly afterwards he resolved to enter a religious order.[14] The eldest son of a judge,[15] Luis de Leon renounced most of his share of the paternal estate,[16] and gave it up to one—or both—of his younger brothers Cristóbal and Miguel, each of whom had been veinticuatro of Granada at some date previous to April 15, 1572.[17] On January 29, 1544, Luis de Leon was formally professed in the Augustinian order.[18] In his monastery we may plausibly conjecture that he led a solitary and bookish existence, poring over his texts and attending lectures assiduously. As early as 1546–1547 his name appears on the list of students of theology at Salamanca; the registers of theological students covering the years 1547–1548 to 1550–1551 are missing; Luis de Leon's name does not appear in the register for the academic year 1551–1552, but it recurs in the University books for the years 1552–1553 and 1554–1555. He there figures still as a student of theology.[19] He would seem, therefore, to have shown no amazing precocity in the schools; but his application, we may be sure, was intense, and there is nothing rash in assuming that during part of the two years that he was absent, as he tells us,[20] from Salamanca, he was lecturing at Soria. The remaining eighteen months he probably devoted to exegetical studies at Alcalá de Henares, where he matriculated in 1556.[21] He was about thirty when he rather unexpectedly graduated as a bachelor of Arts at the University of Toledo.[22] Why he preferred to take his degree at Toledo instead of at Salamanca is not clear; it is plausibly conjectured that economy may have been his motive, as the obtaining of a bachelor's degree at Salamanca was an expensive business.[23] Confirmation of this conjecture is afforded by the fact that he speedily returned to his allegiance, was 'incorporated' as a bachelor at Salamanca in 1588, graduated there as a licentiate of theology in May 1560, and in the following month became a master of theology.[24] It soon became clear that he did not regard a University degree as a mere distinction. The retirement of Gregorio Gallo caused a vacancy in the chair of Biblical Exegesis at Salamanca. Luis de Leon, though but a master of a few months' standing, presented himself as a candidate for the post. He failed to obtain it, being defeated by Gaspar de Grajal, a future ally and fellow victim:[25] so far as can be ascertained, this was Luis de Leon's sole academic check. Manifestly he was not daunted. He claimed, and established, his right to take part in certain examinations in his faculty,[26] and 'con mucho exceso' thwarted the designs of the famous Domingo Bañez, whom he afterwards described as 'enemigo capital'.[27] His combativeness did him no immediate harm, for, in December 1561, he was elected Professor of Theology at Salamanca.[28] He was obviously not disposed to hide his light under a bushel, nor to perform his academic duties in a spirit of humdrum routine. Whatever he did, he did with all his might, and his strenuous versatility made him conspicuous in University life. In 1565 he was transferred from the theological chair to the chair of Scholastic Theology and Biblical Criticism, in which he succeeded his old master Juan de Guevara.[29]
Such successes as Luis de Leon had hitherto won he owed mainly to his own talents.[30] Brilliant as he was, there is no reason to assume that he was personally popular in Salamanca.[31] It does not appear that he made any effort to win popularity; nor is it certain that he would have succeeded even if he had sought to win it. His temper was impulsive, his disposition was critical and independent; his tongue and pen were sharp and made enemies among members of his own order; moreover, he contrived to alienate the Dominicans, a powerful body in Salamanca, as in the rest of Spain. No doubt he had many admirers, especially among his own students. Yet the University, as a whole, stood slightly aloof from him, and before long in certain obscurantist circles cautious hints of latitudinarianism were murmured against him. For these mumblings there was absolutely no sort of foundation.[32] As might be inferred from the simple fact that he was afterwards chosen to be the first editor of St. Theresa's works, Luis de Leon was the most orthodox of men. His selection for this piece of work may have been due to the influence of the saint's friend and successor, Madre Ana de Jesús, who had the highest opinion of him.[33] But it was not often that he produced so favourable a personal impression; he had not mastered the gentle art of ingratiation; it is even conceivable that he did not strictly observe St. Paul's injunction to 'suffer fools gladly'.[34] Though fundamentally humble-minded, he was intolerant of what he thought to be nonsense: a quality which would perhaps not endear him to all his colleagues. He set a proper value on himself and his attainments; he was prone to sift the precious metal of truth from the dross of uninformed assertion; he had an incurable habit of choosing his friends from amongst those who shared his tastes. A good Hebrew scholar, he was on terms of special intimacy with Gaspar de Grajal and with Martin Martinez de Cantalapiedra,[35] respectively Professors of Biblical Exegesis and of Hebrew in the University of Salamanca. Frank to the verge of indiscretion and suspecting no evil, Luis de Leon scattered over Salamanca fagots each of which contained innumerable sticks that his opponents used later to beat him with. Lastly, he had the misfortune, as it proved later, to differ profoundly on exegetical points from a veteran Professor of Latin, Rhetoric, and Greek.[36] This was Leon de Castro, a man of considerable but unassimilated learning, an astute wire-puller and incorrigible reactionary whose name figures in the bibliographies as the author of a series of commentaries on Isaiah—a performance which has not been widely read since its tardy first appearance in 1571. The delay in publishing this work, and the contemporary neglect of it, were apparently ascribed by Castro to the personal hostility of Luis de Leon who, though he did not approve of the book, seems to have been perfectly innocent on both heads.[37]
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