Francisco Sánchez de las Brozas (1523–1600), also known as El Brocense, and in Latin as Franciscus Sanctius Brocensis, was a Spanish philologist and humanist.
Biography
Sanctius was born in
Brozas,
province of Cáceres
The province of Cáceres ( ; es, provincia de Cáceres, ) is a province of western Spain, and makes up the northern half of the autonomous community of Extremadura. Its capital is the city of Cáceres. Other cities in the province include Pla ...
. His parents, Francisco Núñez and Leonor Díez, were of noble birth but had little money. Sancius was able to study thanks to the support of relatives, starting in
Évora
Évora ( , ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of 1307.08 km2. It is the historic capital of the Alentejo and serves as the seat of the Évora District.
Due to its well-preserved old ...
, where he learnt
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
and humanities, and then in
Lisbon. There he served Queen
Catherine I
Catherine I ( rus, Екатери́на I Алексе́евна Миха́йлова, Yekaterína I Alekséyevna Mikháylova; born , ; – ) was the second wife and empress consort of Peter the Great, and Empress Regnant of Russia from 1725 un ...
and King
John III of Portugal and remained in the court of the Portuguese kingdom until the death of the princess in 1545. In accordance with the desires of his supporting relatives, he went to the
University of Salamanca
The University of Salamanca ( es, Universidad de Salamanca) is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the city of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It was founded in 1218 by King Alfonso IX. It is t ...
, where he studied Arts and Theology, which he did not complete. There he met, among his fellow students,
Juan de Mal Lara. While still a student he married his first wife, Ana Ruiz del Peso, who gave him six children. In 1554, as widower at the age of 32, he married a relative of his first wife, with whom he had another six children. After that he suffered economic hardship in supporting his family and was forced to teach without pause. He was awarded the chair of
Rhetoric at Salamanca in 1573 after a failed attempt in 1554, and in 1576 was awarded the chair of the section of
Greek language
Greek ( el, label= Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy ( Calabria and Salento), southe ...
, with a higher salary. Despite two attempts he was unsuccessful in winning the chair of Grammar. In 1584 he had his first difficulties with the
Inquisition
The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...
, although he was exonerated. As a consequence of his great critical mind (for him the greatest authority was reason) and his noncomformity towards authority, the censors restricted the distribution of his works. A decade after his retirement, in 1595, new inquisitorial proceedings were initiated, which were only interrupted by his death. He died on 5 December 1600, isolated in his home as a result of house arrest imposed by the Inquisition.
The importance of the ideas of el Brocense in the reform of classical studies in Spain in the mid-16th century is comparable to that of
Antonio de Nebrija
Antonio de Nebrija (14445 July 1522) was the most influential Spanish humanist of his era. He wrote poetry, commented on literary works, and encouraged the study of classical languages and literature, but his most important contributions were i ...
at the beginning of the century. This appears in his ''Arte para saber latín'' (1595), in the ''Grammaticæ Græcæ compendium'' (1581) and, above all, in the ''Veræ brevesque Latinæ institutiones'' (1587), where he corrected Nebrija's method. Nevertheless, he is mostly remembered for his ''Minerva sive de causis linguæ Latinæ'' (Salamanca: Renaut, 1587), a Latin grammar in four books or sections (study of the parts of speech, the noun, the verb, and the figures), which subjected the study of language to reason. ''Minerva'' is one of the first epistemological grammars and made him a European celebrity for several generations. While the first grammarians of
Humanism
Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and Agency (philosophy), agency of Human, human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical in ...
(
Lorenzo Valla
Lorenzo Valla (; also Latinized as Laurentius; 14071 August 1457) was an Italian Renaissance humanist, rhetorician, educator, scholar, and Catholic priest. He is best known for his historical-critical textual analysis that proved that the ''Do ...
or
Antonio de Nebrija
Antonio de Nebrija (14445 July 1522) was the most influential Spanish humanist of his era. He wrote poetry, commented on literary works, and encouraged the study of classical languages and literature, but his most important contributions were i ...
) were still writing normative grammars based on the ''usus scribendi'' of the ancient authors, el Brocense took ''ratio'' (reason) as the cornerstone of his grammatical system. He acknowledged no authority other than reason and took to its ultimate consequences the logic of grammatical study.
He was determined to make everything fit within rational schemes, and in his grammatical interpretation gave a very important role to
ellipsis
The ellipsis (, also known informally as dot dot dot) is a series of dots that indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning. The plural is ellipses. The term origin ...
, an essential tool of his system. In the search for rational explanations he stepped beyond the limits of the Latin language to go as far as to foreshadow a
universal grammar
Universal grammar (UG), in modern linguistics, is the theory of the genetic component of the language faculty, usually credited to Noam Chomsky. The basic postulate of UG is that there are innate constraints on what the grammar of a possible hu ...
implicit in all languages. He is thus a most important milestone towards
Port-Royal Grammar
The ''Port-Royal Grammar'' (originally ''Grammaire générale et raisonnée contenant les fondemens de l'art de parler, expliqués d'une manière claire et naturelle'', "General and Rational Grammar, containing the fundamentals of the art of speaki ...
and
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...
's
generative grammar
Generative grammar, or generativism , is a linguistic theory that regards linguistics as the study of a hypothesised innate grammatical structure. It is a biological or biologistic modification of earlier structuralist theories of linguisti ...
. His ''Minerva'' was very successful, with 15 editions by 1761. The dense scholia by
Scioppius appeared in the mid 17th century and would accompany the ''Minerva'' until the 19th century. The notes by
Perizonius
Perizonius (or Accinctus) was the name of Jakob Voorbroek (26 October 1651 – 6 April 1715), a Dutch classical scholar, who was born at Appingedam in Groningen.
He was the son of Anton Perizonius (1626–1672), the author of a once well-kn ...
were written at the request of a publisher from
Franeker
Franeker (; fry, Frjentsjer) is one of the eleven historical cities of Friesland and capital of the municipality of Waadhoeke. It is located north of the Van Harinxmakanaal and about 20 km west of Leeuwarden. As of 1 January 2014, it had 12 ...
in the Netherlands. They were included in the 1687 edition and were so successful that the same publisher reprinted it fraudulently in 1693.
Sanctius published editions of the ''Bucolics'' by
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...
(1591), some works of
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
, the ''Satyres'' by
Persius
Aulus Persius Flaccus (; 4 December 3424 November 62 AD) was a Roman poet and satirist of Etruscan origin. In his works, poems and satires, he shows a Stoic wisdom and a strong criticism for what he considered to be the stylistic abuses of his ...
and the ''Ars poetica'' by
Horace; commented editions of the ''Sylvae'' by
Angelo Poliziano
Agnolo (Angelo) Ambrogini (14 July 1454 – 24 September 1494), commonly known by his nickname Poliziano (; anglicized as Politian; Latin: '' Politianus''), was an Italian classical scholar and poet of the Florentine Renaissance. His scho ...
and the ''Emblemata'' by
Andrea Alciato
Andrea Alciato (8 May 149212 January 1550), commonly known as Alciati (Andreas Alciatus), was an Italian jurist and writer. He is regarded as the founder of the French school of legal humanists.
Biography
Alciati was born in Alzate Brianza, n ...
; and translations of
Horace and of the ''Canzoniere'' by
Francesco Petrarca
Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists.
Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited ...
. He wrote and printed ''Comentarios'' to works by
Juan de Mena
Juan de Mena (1411–1456) was one of the most significant Spanish poets of the fifteenth century. He was highly regarded at the court of Juan II de Castilla, who appointed him ''veinticuatro'' (one of twenty-four aldermen) of Córdoba, ''sec ...
and
Garcilaso de la Vega (1582 and 1574 respectively). When he was accused of having identified the influences of Græco-Latin classics in the lyrical work of the latter, thus diminishing his poetic originality, el Brocense said that he didn't consider anyone who didn't imitate the classics a good poet. He also wrote a great number of Latin poems and scholia.
He had a mainly formal understanding of literary beauty, as revealed in his rhetorical treatises ''De arte dicendi'' (1556) and ''Organum dialecticum et rethoricum cunctis discipulis utilissimum et necessarium'' (Lyon, 1579). It is pertinent to point out here that he was tried by the
Inquisition
The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...
because he dared to criticise the literary form of the gospels. He favoured
Erasmus of Rotterdam
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' w ...
and in his scientific works shows the encyclopedic inclinations that were characteristic of
Humanism
Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and Agency (philosophy), agency of Human, human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical in ...
, as in ''Declaración y uso del reloj español'' (1549), ''Pomponii Melæ De situ orbis'' (1574) or ''Sphera mundi ex variis auctoribus concinnata'' (1579). Among his philosophical works the main ones are ''Doctrina de Epicteto'' (1600), ''Paradoxa'' (1581) and ''De nonnulis Porphyrii aliorumque in dialectica erroribus'' (1588).
He had three encounters with the
Inquisition
The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...
: one, mentioned above, in 1584, where he was exonerated, a second in 1595, when he had already retired, and a third in 1600, which was interrupted before its resolution due to his death, in
Salamanca
Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Herit ...
, at the age of 78.
[There are copies of the Inquisition's proceedings against Francisco Sánchez in th]
Colección de documentos inéditos para la historia de España
vol. II.
Works
*''Declaración y uso del reloj español'' (1549)
*Edition and commentary of Angelo Poliziano, ''Angeli Politiani: Sylvæ, nutricia, manto, rusticus, ambra illustratum per Franciscum Sanctium Brocensem'', Salmanticæ: excudebat Andreas a Portonariis, 1554.
*''De arte dicendi'' (1556)
*Edition and commentary of the ''Emblemata'' by Alciati: ''Comment. in And. Alciati Emblemata: nunc denuò multis in locis accurate recognita et quamplurimis figuris illustrata'' Lugduni: apud Guliel. Rouillium, 1573.
*''Comentarios'' to the work by
Garcilaso de la Vega (1574)
*Edition of ''Pomponii Melæ De situ orbis'' (1574)
*''Organum dialectum et rethoricum cunctis discipulis utilissimum et necessarium'' (Lyon, 1579)
*''Sphera mundi ex variis auctoribus concinnata'' (1579)
*''Paradoxa'' (1581)
*''Grammaticæ Græcæ compendium'' (1581)
*''Comentarios'' to the work by
Juan de Mena
Juan de Mena (1411–1456) was one of the most significant Spanish poets of the fifteenth century. He was highly regarded at the court of Juan II de Castilla, who appointed him ''veinticuatro'' (one of twenty-four aldermen) of Córdoba, ''sec ...
(1582)
*''Minerva sive de causis linguæ Latinæ'' (Salamanca: Renaut, 1587)
*''Veræ brevesque Latinæ institutiones'' (1587)
*''De nonnulis Porphyrii aliorumque in dialectica erroribus'' (1588)
*Edition of the ''Bucolics'' by
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...
(1591)
* Edition and commentary of the ''Ars poetica'' by
Horace: ''In Artem Poeticam Horatii Annotationes'', Salmanticæ: Apud Joannem & Andream Renaut, fratres, 1591.
*''Arte para saber latín'' (1595)
* Edition and commentary of ''Auli Persii Flacci Saturæ sex: cvm ecphrasi et scholiis Franc. Sanctij Brocen.'' Salmanticæ: apud Didacum à Cussio, 1599.
*''Doctrina de Epicteto'' (1600)
References
Further reading
*''Diccionario de literatura española'', Madrid: Revista de Occidente, 1964 (3.ª ed.)
External links
*
Portrait of Francisco Sánchez de las Brozas with an epitome about his life included in the book
Retratos de Españoles ilustres, published in 1791.
Bilingual edition and study of the ''Minerva'' by el Brocense
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez De Las Brozas, Francisco
Spanish humanists
1523 births
1600 deaths
University of Salamanca alumni
Academic staff of the University of Salamanca
People from Salamanca