Luis de León facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Fray Luis de León
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An image of Luis, depicted by Francisco Pacheco c. 1599 in El libro de descripción de verdaderos retratos, ilustres y memorables varones (The book of description of real portraits, illustrious and memorable men).
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| Born | 1527 |
| Died | August 23, 1591 (aged 63–64) |
| Education | University of Salamanca |
| Occupation | Lyric poet, Augustinian friar, theologian and academic |
Luis de León (Belmonte, Cuenca, 1527 – Madrigal de las Altas Torres, Castile, Spain, 23 August 1591), was a Spanish lyric poet, Augustinian friar, theologian, and academic. He was an important figure during the Spanish Golden Age, a time when Spanish arts and literature were at their peak.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Luis de León was born in Belmonte, Cuenca, a town in the Province of Cuenca, around 1527 or 1528. His parents were Lope de León and Inés de Varela. His father was a lawyer, which led the family to move to Madrid in 1534 and later to Valladolid.
Luis received a very good education. He spent a lot of time studying and translating religious texts. He was very good at Greek, Hebrew, and Latin, which are ancient languages.
At the age of fourteen, in 1541, he started studying Church Law at the University of Salamanca. Soon after, he decided to join the Augustinian Order, a group of friars. He officially joined them in 1544. He then continued his studies, focusing on theology.
In 1552, Luis earned a bachelor's degree in theology from the University of Toledo. He kept learning, studying Hebrew and how to understand the Bible at the University of Alcalá de Henares.
Academic Career
After returning to Salamanca, Luis de León earned his master's degree in Theology from the University of Salamanca in 1560. The next year, he won an election to become a professor of Theology at the same university. In Salamanca, professors were chosen through elections.
He continued to win elections for different teaching positions over the years. In 1566, he became the administrator of an Augustinian college in Salamanca. In 1567, he also served as the university's vice-rector. By 1571, he was teaching Sacred Letters, which involved studying religious texts.
During his time at the university, he translated important classical and biblical writings. He also wrote many works about religious topics, becoming well-known for his writings.
Imprisonment
In 1571, some professors accused Fray Luis de León of having ideas that went against the church. They reported him to the Spanish Inquisition, a powerful religious court. One of the main reasons for the accusation was his translation of the Song of Solomon into Spanish. This was risky because translating the Bible into Spanish was not allowed at the time. He was also accused of criticizing the Vulgate, which was the official Latin version of the Bible.
Because of these accusations, he was put in prison in Valladolid from March 1572 until December 1576. He became ill and stayed in poor health during this time. Even though he was isolated and the conditions were bad, Fray Luis kept writing and studying while in prison.
In December 1576, after almost five years, Fray Luis was found innocent of all charges. He was released from prison, but he was told to be more careful about what he published and said. He returned to Salamanca in triumph.
It is said that when he gave his first university lecture after being released, he started with the famous words, "Dicebamus hesterna die," which means "As we were saying yesterday...." This showed his calm and unbroken spirit.
Later Life and Works
Fray Luis continued to teach at the university. He was given a special teaching position shortly after his release from prison. He later became a professor of Moral Philosophy and then, in 1579, was elected to the most important teaching position at the university: the Chair of Holy Scripture, also known as the Bible Chair.
He faced another investigation by the Inquisition in 1582, but he was not imprisoned this time. He was cleared of these new charges two years later.
Most of Fray Luis's important works were published in the 1580s. Some of these he had even started writing while in prison. Between 1583 and 1585, he published his famous three-book work, The Names of Christ. In 1583, he also published The Perfect Wife, a popular book offering advice to newly married women.
In 1588, Fray Luis published the first collection of writings by Teresa of Ávila, another famous Spanish mystic. He carefully put together her manuscripts to create a complete and accurate text.
Fray Luis de León passed away on August 23, 1591, at the age of 64, in Madrigal de las Altas Torres. He is buried in Salamanca. Just ten days before his death, he was chosen to be the head of the Augustinian Order.
Major Works
Cantar de los Cantares (Translation of Song of Songs)
In 1561, Fray Luis began translating the Song of Songs into Spanish for his cousin, Isabel Osorio. She was a nun who could not read the original Latin text. He also wrote comments to go along with the translation. This was his first major translation of a Bible text.
Translating parts of the Bible into Spanish was not allowed by the Church at that time. Because of this, his translation was copied and shared only among his friends. However, this translation later became a key part of the accusations against him when he was investigated by the Inquisition in 1572. The book was not officially published until 1798, long after his death.
La Perfecta Casada (The Perfect Wife)
This book is Fray Luis's explanation of the Proverbs of Solomon from the Bible. He wrote it to give moral advice to his young niece who had just gotten married. The book guides young women on how to behave and what their duties are as married women, both to their husbands and their children.
The Perfect Wife quickly became a popular wedding gift. It was seen as a guide for marriage. It also offered a new way of looking at women's roles in society at that time. It was first published in 1583 and was so popular that it had six editions by 1632.
De los Nombres de Cristo (The Names of Christ)
This well-known work was written to help everyday people understand the main ideas of the church. It is written as a conversation between three friends. They discuss fourteen different names for Christ found in the Bible over two days in a country house. Each part of the book ends with a beautiful poem. The main idea of the book is how central and important Christ is to everything.
The book became very popular in Spain, with seven editions printed by 1605.
Scholarly Commentaries in Latin
In 1589, Fray Luis published a book of his scholarly comments in Latin on several books of the Bible. These works show his great skill as a Bible scholar.
Twenty-Three Original Poems in Spanish
Fray Luis wrote many poems, mostly between 1559 and 1584. He did not publish them himself, but he shared them with his friends.
His poems were first published in 1631 by another famous poet, Francisco de Quevedo. Today, we know of twenty-nine poems written by Fray Luis.
Below are two of his most famous poems: The Life Removed and Ode to Salinas.
Poetry Selections
The Life Removed
In the poem The Life Removed, Fray Luis talks about choosing a peaceful life away from the noise of the world. He says that people who chase power and money will not find true peace. Instead, peace, happiness, and freedom come to those who follow a quiet, hidden path. The poem also talks about a ship in a storm, where the sailors are driven by greed. It suggests they will not find the calm ending that those on the hidden path will.
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"La Vida Retirada" |
"The Life Removed" |
| —Peers 165 |
Ode to Salinas
Another well-known poem by Fray Luis is an ode written for his friend Francisco de Salinas. They often talked about art and poetry and listened to music together. Salinas was an organ player and composer. He believed, like Fray Luis, that music could help people feel more religious and think about spiritual things. The ode, partly shown below, uses many positive images to describe music as a way to think about God and overcome ignorance.
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"Oda III - A Francisco de Salinas" |
"Ode to Salinas" |
| —Translated by M. Smith |
Later Reputation
In the centuries after his death, Fray Luis de León was especially admired in Spain as a poet. In 1631, the poet Francisco de Quevedo put together an edition of León's poems. In the 1700s, he inspired many Neoclassical poets.
See also
In Spanish: Luis de León para niños
- Gilbert Luis Centina III
- Spanish Renaissance literature
Modern Translations
- The unknown light: the poems of Fray Luis de León, translation and introduction by Willis Barnstone, (Albany, 1979)
- Rivers, Elias L, Fray Luis de León: The Original Poems, (London: Grant & Cutler, 1983).
- Fray Luis de León, The Names of Christ, translation and introduction by Manuel Durán and William Kluback, (New York: Paulist Press, 1984) [translation of Nombres de Christo]
- A bilingual edition of Fray Luis de León's La perfecta casada: the role of married women in sixteenth-century Spain, translated and introduction by John A. Jones and Javier San José Lera, (Lewiston, NY; Lampeter, UK: E. Mellen, 1999)
- Luis de León, Luis de León: Ode to Francisco Salinas, trans Michael Smith, (Shearsman Books, 2006). [1].
