Juan de Espinosa Medrano (Calcauso?, 1630? –
Cuzco
Cusco, often spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu ()), is a city in Southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. The city is the seventh most populous in Peru ...
, 1688), known in history as ''Lunarejo'' (or "The Spotty-Faced"), was an
Indigenous cleric
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
, sacred preacher, writer, playwright,
theologian
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...
and
polymath
A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...
from the
Viceroyalty of Peru
The Viceroyalty of Peru ( es, Virreinato del Perú, links=no) was a Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in South America, governed fro ...
.
He is the most prominent figure of the Literary
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including th ...
of
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = National seal
, national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
and one of the most important intellectuals from
Colonial Spanish America
Spain began colonizing the Americas under the Crown of Castile and was spearheaded by the Spanish . The Americas were invaded and incorporated into the Spanish Empire, with the exception of Brazil, British America, and some small regions of ...
(along with the
New Spain writers
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Sor may refer to:
* Fernando Sor (1778–1839), Spanish guitarist and composer
* Sor, Ariège, a French commune
* SOR Libchavy, a Czech bus manufacturer
* Sor, Azerbaijan, a village
* Sor, Senegal, an offshore island
* Sor River, a river in t ...
and
Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora
Don Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (August 14, 1645 – August 22, 1700) was one of the first great intellectuals born in the New World - Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain (Mexico City). He was a criollo patriot, exalting New Spain over Old. ...
).
Juan de Espinosa Medrano is the author of the most famous literary apologetic discourse in the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with t ...
in the 17th century: the ''Apologético en favor de Don
Luis de Góngora
Luis de Góngora y Argote (born Luis de Argote y Góngora; ; 11 July 1561 – 24 May 1627) was a Spanish Baroque lyric poet and a Catholic priest. Góngora and his lifelong rival, Francisco de Quevedo, are widely considered the most prominen ...
'' (1662). He also wrote ''
autos sacramentales'' in
Quechua
Quechua may refer to:
*Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru
*Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language
**So ...
—''El robo de Proserpina y sueño de Endimión'' (c. 1650) and ''El hijo pródigo'' (c. 1657)—; comedies in Spanish —out of which only the biblical play ''Amar su propia muerte'' (c. 1650) is preserved—;
panegyric sermons —compiled after his death in a volume called ''La Novena Maravilla'' (1695)—; and a course in
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 ...
of
thomistic
Thomism is the philosophical and theological school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the Dominican philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, Aquinas' disputed question ...
philosophy —''Philosophia Thomistica'' (1688)—.
He acquired fame in life for the stylistic distinction and conceptual depth of his
oeuvre (which was praised for its first-rate accordance to the
scholastic and
baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including th ...
epistemological
Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics.
Episte ...
parameters of his time). His polymathy, erudition and poetic ingenuity in the composition of sermons and literary works gained him the epithets of ''Sublime Doctor'' and ''Indian
Demosthenes'', as well as the less frequent ones of ''Criollo Phoenix'' and ''
Tertullian
Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of La ...
of the Americas'' (all used to refer to him while alive). Additionally, after the Peruvian independence from
Spanish Imperial rule took place, Juan de Espinosa Medrano
's memory begun to be used as an exemplary model of the intellectual and moral potential of the peoples from
South America (criollo,
mestizo
(; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though thei ...
s and
indigenous populations included).
The circumstances of Juan de Espinosa Medrano
's origin, and the details about his first years of life, are—almost in their entirety—unknown. The absence of significant biographical data put forward in the will written by the own author days before his death has further led to speculation about his
ethnicity
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
(or
race
Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to:
* Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species
* Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
) and identification. It has also led to manipulation and tendentious interpretations of the data preserved about his existence; such distortive reading has been especially pronounced in the many works of biographers, critics or commentators, akin to the political agenda of
Indigenismo
''Indigenismo'' () is a political ideology in several Latin American countries which emphasizes the relationship between the nation state and indigenous nations and indigenous peoples. In some contemporary uses, it refers to the pursuit of great ...
in
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = National seal
, national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
.
What is incontrovertible, however, is that Juan de Espinosa Medrano always regarded himself both as Criollo and Spanish (an ideological servant of the Empire); evidences for such self-identification are to be found in his oeuvre, in which Juan de Espinosa Medrano sides constantly with the Spaniards, and often describes Native American populations as 'enemies', 'barbarous' and 'idolatrous' (he does not link himself with Native American peoples' cultures and ethnicity, and it is also unthinkable that an indigenous person could have held the power and clergy positions he did during his lifetime).
His vast baroque production, written in Spanish,
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 Quechua—in an aesthetic register different to the dialects now extant—was published both in America and
Europe, however, only at the end of his life in the Old World. It had impact exclusively in the Viceroyalty of Peru, nonetheless, particularly because of a sabotage plan carried out by
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders = ...
priests in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (Romulus and Remus, legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
...
at the end of the 17th century, which succeeded in impeding the circulation of Juan de Espinosa Medrano
's philosophic course in Latin across the Old World (the work is the aforementioned ''Philosophia Thomistica''). It was in this period that the Jesuit University of
Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Ignatius of Loyola, S.J. (born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; eu, Ignazio Loiolakoa; es, Ignacio de Loyola; la, Ignatius de Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spanish Catholic priest and theologian, ...
contended with the Seminary of
Saint Anthony the Abbot in Cuzco —institution that Juan de Espinosa Medrano represented— for the maintenance of its right in exclusivity to grant the degree of doctor to those instructed in Theology (a situation that forced the Seminary students, of Thomist instruction, to present themselves before a jury of Jesuit theologians —followers of the doctrine of
Francisco Suárez
Francisco Suárez, (5 January 1548 – 25 September 1617) was a Spanish Jesuit priest, philosopher and theologian, one of the leading figures of the School of Salamanca movement, and generally regarded among the greatest scholastics after Thomas ...
— for the evaluation leading to the conferral of their degree).
In the present, the mysteries of his biography and the intrinsic quality of his literary production notwithstanding, the study of the works and life of Juan de Espinosa Medrano has extensively fallen to relegation or oblivion. This way, even if a certain part of his biography still survives in the
oral tradition
Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (198 ...
of the
region of Apurímac—where it has acquired unusual characteristics—, in Cusco as well as in the
Peruvian Literary Canon, knowledge of his life and work circumscribes mostly to scholars of literature in Colonial Spanish America.
Biography
Origin and first years
After a series of studies and archive analysis, the space-time coordinate of Calcauso, 1630, appears to be the most accurate intersection in which to place the origin (the birth) of Juan de Espinosa Medrano.
Of his parents, their ethnicity, condition and lineage, nothing is known; such complete lack of information serves, however, as a principle for the deduction of absence of nobility in the author and his family —being most likely that Juan de Espinosa Medrano grew up in a humble, rural environment. This setting is, at the same time, somewhat suggestive of a possible case of
miscegenation.
Consequently, Agustín Cortés de la Cruz's —disciple and first biographer of the author— assertion about the origin of Espinosa Medrano should be taken as true: "in his first stages, scant favor he received from what the vulgus calls Fortune".
[ Quotes translations by Milton André Ramos Chacón.] Likewise,
Clorinda Matto de Turner's novelization of the author's life as: "He who entered the world in humble cradle, set foot on the steps of book and prayer... Then ascended to reach the literary skies of the America of the South, as king of stars there he shined".
In an imperial society in which access to intellectual enterprise was circumscribed to the nobles and highborns, Espinosa Medrano achieved prominent instruction, overcoming the difficulties of a rural, unprivileged genesis. This reality does not guarantee, however, that he was an ''indio'' (as Clorinda Matto and the oral tradition asseverate) for he would not have become a sacred preacher and reached fortune and power in Cuzco had this been the case (such activities and wealth were then inaccessible to the native castes).
The enigma of Juan de Espinosa Medrano's origin acts (still) as a recurrent stimulus for the creation of an oral and imaginary biography in which the author is an Indian. The model for such constant imagination in Peru lies on the biographical approximation to the author that Clorinda Matto undertook at the end of the 19th century (Clorinda Matto de Turner made Espinosa Medrano the subject of an "indigenist" legend, imputing indigenous ancestry to him, "but archival research has shown that there is no evidence that Espinosa Medrano was a pitifully poor Indian, but on the contrary, that he was a man of fairly substantial means closer to the figure of a 'baroque gentleman' ").
The early and indigenous biography of Juan de Espinosa Medrano by Clorinda Matto
Clorinda Matto de Turner published her famous biographical study "Don Juan de Espinosa Medrano —that is— the Spotty-Faced Doctor" in 1887 in
Lima
Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...
, the capital of Peru. Three years later, after small corrections, she published the biographical study again in ''Pencil Sketches of Acclaimed Americans'' (1890),
book that includes a chapter on Juan de Espinosa Medrano that Clorinda Matto was able to elaborate after obtaining data from the oral tradition in rural Peru.
Clorinda Matto's biographical study is, in substantial sections, barely rigorous for it is troubled by the absence of documentary evidence —a void that she seeks to fill through an exercise of fictionalization of the life of Espinosa Medrano. Such purpose (though still laudable for its exaltation of the author) has led the present academic community to question the legitimacy of her biography up to such a dramatic point that, in the present, her work is no longer considered legitimate or true (on the contrary, her biography is now discarded as a source for fantasy, especially for its lack of historical objectivity). The manifest ideological character that the text also displays —and that Clorinda Matto does not pretend to camouflage— has further led to the dismissal of her biographical attempt as inaccurate. It is, in summary, averse to the aspiration to truth present in biographical works of such nature.
Clarification in place, it is nonetheless necessary to briefly refer to the biography of Espinosa Medrano as it was composed in 1887/1890 by Clorinda Matto. For her biography is still the most influential source for Peruvian popular imagination of the author, as well as the most and only known outside of the academic world.
According to Clorinda Matto, Juan de Espinosa Medrano was the offspring of an indigenous conjugal union, that of Agustín Espinosa and Paula Medrano, humble parents that raised their little child "in a shack at the joyous town".
At seven, Juan started his education at the class for infants taught by the priest of Mollebamba, class where —besides being a remarkable student— Juan de Espinosa Medrano would also receive instruction to act as sacristan of the parish (the parish is, according to Clorinda Matto's biography, the place in which Espinosa Medrano discovered both the religious and literate vocation that would later flourish in him as time went by).
After a period of instruction and service in favor of the priest of Mollebamba, Juan de Espinosa Medrano would start a life in the city of Cuzco as an ''indio'' servant. According to Matto, there he would obtain admission into the Seminary of Saint Anthony the Abbot, precinct where the young Juan de Espinosa Medrano would quickly develop mastery of different musical instruments and skill in seven languages. He would also reach expertise in sciences and grammar, according to this biography, erudition that would cause admiration in his contemporaries.
Espinosa Medrano would finally obtain the degree of Doctor, at eighteen years old, in the Jesuit University of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
From that point onwards, he would have to defy the common prejudice that asserted that no Indian could take hold of ecclesiastical charges of significance in Cuzco.
[Raquel Chang-Rodriguez, ''Hidden Messages: Representation and Resistance in Andean Colonial Drama'' (Bucknell University Press, 1999), 85.]
Ecclesiastical career and intellectual endeavors
Documentation found indicates that by the year 1645, when he was about fifteen years old, Juan de Espinosa Medrano was a student in the Seminary of Saint Anthony the Abbot.
His tutors in this institution were: Francisco de Loyola,
Augustinian prior and cofounder, in 1559, of the Monastery of
Saint Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afr ...
in Cuzco —Loyola stated that young Juan was "an exceptional prowess, and also very virtuous"
—; Juan de Cárdenas y Céspedes, famous dean of the Seminary of Saint Anthony the Abbot in Cuzco (from 1632 to 1702, the year he passed away); and Alonso Bravo de Paredes y Quiñones, sacred preacher and professor of philosophy at the Seminary —Paredes y Quiñones was also a censor of the ''Apologético'').
Juan de Espinosa Medrano's studies must have extended until 1649 or 1650, years that provide records of him now in charge of the art classes at the Seminary.
Between 1655 and 1657, Espinosa Medrano would acquire the degree of Doctor in Theology (after evaluation at the Jesuit University of Saint Ignatius of Loyola), performing as professor of such sacred discipline at the Seminary starting from 1658.
In 1655, Juan de Espinosa Medrano's ecclesiastical career starts. He serves, in the first place, at the Parish of the Sanctum (''Parroquia del Sagrario'') where he conducts a series of marriage ceremonies and baptisms —a final one documentally registered in 1659.
In 1656, Juan de Espinosa Medrano begins his sacred preaching career. His first sermon "The panegyric prayer to Our Lady of Antiquity" ("''La oración panegírica a Nuestra Señora de la Antigua''") is followed by the "First sermon to Saint Anthony the Abbot" ("''Sermón Primero de San Antonio Abad''"), preached in 1658; the "First Sermon to
Saint Blaise
Blaise of Sebaste ( hy, Սուրբ Վլասի, ''Surb Vlasi''; el, Ἅγιος Βλάσιος, ''Agios Vlasios''; ) was a physician and bishop of Sebastea in historical Armenia (modern Sivas, Turkey) who is venerated as a Christian saint and ...
, bishop and martyr" ("''Sermón de San Blas obispo y mártir''"), preached in 1659; and "The panegyric prayer to
James the Great (or Moorslayer)" ("''Oración panegírica al glorioso Apóstol Santiago''") in 1660, perhaps the most important sermon for the comprehension of Juan de Espinosa Medrano's oeuvre.
In 1662, in Lima, the ''Apologetic in defense of Luis de Góngora'' (''Apologético en favor de Don Luis de Góngora'') is published.
It is important to highlight, however, that Espinosa Medrano's intellectual activity in the profane had already started in the decade of 1650 —the biblical play ''To Love One's Own Death'' (''Amar su propia muerte'') had been written c. 1650; the ''autos sacramentales'' ''The Seizure of
Proserpine and the Dream of
Endymion'' (''El robo de Proserpina y sueño de Endimión'') and ''
The Prodigal Son'' (''El hijo pródigo'') had also been written c.1650 and c.1657 respectively.
From 1664 to 1680, Juan de Espinosa Medrano continues writing panegyric sermons to be preached in diverse religious precincts of Cuzco. Among the most important are the "Sermon for the Funeral of
Philip IV" ("''Sermón a las Exequias de Felipe IV''") in 1666 and the "Panegyric Prayer to the
Immaculate Conception
The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception.
It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth ...
of Our Lady" ("''Oración Panegírica a la Concepción de Nuestra Señora''") in 1670.
Espinosa Medrano further advanced in his ecclesiastical career by acting as priest of
Juliaca
Juliaca ( Quechua and ay, Hullaqa) is the capital of San Roman Province in the Puno Region of southeastern Peru. It is the region's largest city with a population of 276,110 inhabitants (2017). On the Altiplano, Juliaca is above sea level, is lo ...
from 1660 to 1668. That year a miners uprising takes places in the town of Laicacota, the same that is repressed by the
Viceroy
A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...
Pedro Antonio Fernández de Castro, Count of Lemos. From 1669 to 1676, Espinosa Medrano takes charge of the parish of
Chincheros (today part of the
Sacred Valley of the Incas). Finally, from 1678 to 1683/1684 he acts as priest of the parish of
Saint Cristopher (''San Cristóbal''), one of the most important Indian parishes of Cuzco even today.
From this period in the adult life of Juan de Espinosa Medrano it is necessary to highlight two events in which he demonstrated his prowess to peoples in possession of high positions in the Spanish Imperial System.
The first event corresponds
El primer evento corresponde a la visita al Cuzco del Virrey Conde de Lemos en 1668, paso que permite al Virrey la lectura (o audición) de obras líricas y sagradas de Juan de Espinosa Medrano, las mismas que quizás fueron preparadas para su recepción. El evento es fundamental por demostrar, en la biografía del author, reconocimiento oficial a la distinción de su producción barroca (cuya singularidad los coterráneos alababan). Según el testimonio del ya mencionado primer biógrafo y albacea, Agustín Cortés de la Cruz, "El señor Conde de Lemos luego que oyó en el Cuzco algunas obras y versos
e Espinosa Medranocon que le celebró el Colegio de San Antonio, los hizo trasladar, sin que quedase papel que no fuese digno de su estimación, por darlos a la estampa en España".
Lamentablemente, nada concreto se sabe sobre la veracidad y el paradero de este traslado de su obra a Europa.
El segundo evento de importancia para la biografía de Juan de Espinosa Medrano corresponde al envío de una carta a
Carlos II, Rey de España, por parte del obispo del Cuzco,
Manuel de Mollinedo y Angulo en 1678. Este evento muestra, con mayor claridad, la admiración y alta estima que se tenía hacia al author tanto por parte del ámbito religioso como también por parte del letrado en la ciudad. El nombre de Juan de Espinosa Medrano —se ve aquí— empieza a ser difundido más allá del obispado colonial del Cuzco y el Virreinato del Perú. El obispo recomienda en la carta la asignación de un puesto en la Catedral del Cuzco para Espinosa Medrano y escribe al rey: "es el sujeto más digno que tiene el obispado por sus muchas y relevantes letras y virtud".
It is known that he entered the
Dominican seminary
A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...
of San Antonio Abad in
Cuzco
Cusco, often spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu ()), is a city in Southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. The city is the seventh most populous in Peru ...
. There, as a young student, he wrote many of his plays.
[Raquel Chang-Rodriguez, ''Hidden Messages: Representation and Resistance in Andean Colonial Drama'' (Bucknell University Press, 1999), 84.] He wrote plays in both
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
and
Quechua
Quechua may refer to:
*Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru
*Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language
**So ...
. He wrote in Spanish the drama ''Amar su propia muerte'' (To Love One's Own Death) (ca. 1645). Characters of this play include Sísara, a general of
Canaan
Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Te ...
; Jabín, king of Canaan; Jael; Barac, a general of the armies of
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
.
He wrote in Quechua a religious play, ''El hijo pródigo'' (also known as ''Auto sacramental del hijo pródigo''; ''
The Prodigal Son''),
[Biografia de Juan de Espinosa Medrano](_blank)
/ref> as well as a mythological
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
piece, ''El rapto de Proserpina'' (''The Abduction of Proserpina
Proserpina ( , ) or Proserpine ( ) is an ancient Roman goddess whose iconography, functions and myths are virtually identical to those of Greek Persephone. Proserpina replaced or was combined with the ancient Roman fertility goddess Libera, whose ...
''). The theatrical piece ''Ollantay'' is also attributed to him.
He also wrote a piece defending Góngora's poetry called ''Apologético en favor de Don Luis de Góngora, Príncipe de los poetas lyricos de España: contra Manuel de Faria y Sousa, Cavallero portugués'' (1662). In the ''Apologético'', published in Lima
Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...
in 1662, Espinosa Medrano eruditely displays his knowledge of classical and contemporary literature. To support his arguments, Espinosa Medrano refers to, among others, the works of Apuleius, Augustine of Hippo, the Bible, Camoens, Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best know ...
, Erasmus, Faria, Garcilaso, Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the '' Iliad'' and the '' Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of ...
, Lope de Vega
Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio ( , ; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Age of Baroque literature. His reputation in the world of Spanish literatu ...
, and Pedro de Oña. His defense of Góngora has been viewed as "a plea for recognition on behalf of himself and of writers living and working on the periphery of the Spanish empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its predece ...
."
Antonio Cortéz de la Cruz, one of his disciples, collected Espinosa Medrano's sermons and published them posthumously in Valladolid
Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peopl ...
, in a book entitled ''La novena maravilla'' (''The Ninth Wonder'') (1695).
Espinosa Medrano also wrote ''La Lógica'' (Logic), the first volume of a tract devoted to the philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known ...
, which was published in Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (Romulus and Remus, legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
...
in 1688.[Raquel Chang-Rodriguez, Hidden Messages: Representation and Resistance in Andean Colonial Drama (Bucknell University Press, 1999), 84-5.]
References
Sources
* ''Atlas departamental del Perú'', varios autores, Ediciones Peisa S.A., Lima, Perú, 2003
* ''El Perú en los tiempos modernos'', Julio R. Villanueva Sotomayor, Ediciones e Impressiones Quebecor World Perú S.A., Lima, Perú, 2002.
* ''Historia de la República del Perú'', Jorge Basadre Grohmann, Diario "El Comercio", Lima, Perú, 2005. .
* ''Nuevo Atlas del Perú y el Mundo'', Juan Augusto Benavides Estrada, Editorial Escuela Nueva S.A., Lima, Perú, 1991.
External links
Juan de Espinosa Medrano
* ttp://www.andes.missouri.edu/andes/Especiales/CP_Lunarejo.html La Panegírica Declamación de Espinosa Medrano o el discurso peruano de las armas y las letras
Amar su propia muerte
(online digitized text)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Espinosa Medrano, Juan De
1629 births
1688 deaths
People from Apurímac Region
Peruvian male writers
Peruvian Dominicans
History of Peru
Quechua-language writers