Nebrija and freedom of speech
Learn why Nebrija's belief in freedom of expression would not be out of place today and find out what consequences those beliefs had for him.
Elio Antonio de Nebrija
Antonio Martínez de Cala y Xarana (1441–1522) was the first Spanish Humanist. He was best known for his Castilian Grammar (1492). Throughout his life, he used his own publications to speak up in defense of freedom of expression. Read on to find out more:
Salamanca University Library (12-03-2022)Fundación Antonio de Nebrija
Nebrija was a professor of grammar. Today, someone with that job would be teaching Latin to high school and undergraduate students. His superiors were professors of higher studies (especially law and theology), and those roles were more politically powerful.
St. Jerome Writing (1652) by José De RiberaOriginal Source: Prado Museum
The defense of freedom of expression in Nebrija's life
Until the fourth century, the Bible was only written in its original languages (the Old Testament in Hebrew, and the New Testament in Greek). St Jerome was commissioned by the pope to bring it all together into one volume, now known as the Latin Vulgate.
The Vulgate (1542) by Isidoro ClarioOriginal Source: National Library of Spain
The Latin text was, of course, a translation and those such as Nebrija who revised it used the original Hebrew and Greek texts as a reference, looking simultaneously at the two versions to correct mistranslations.
The Virgin surrounded by Saints (1772) by Ferrien, L. J. (s. XVIII)Original Source: National Library of Spain
Nebrija dared to modify the text of the Bible, doing so from a linguistic perspective. However, in so doing he pitted himself against theologians and canonists, who were socially his superiors, and who disagreed with these changes being made.
A scene from the Inquisition (1831) by Victor Manzano y MejoradaOriginal Source: Prado Museum
At the time, following the death of Isabel I of Castile, the Spanish Inquisition was being implemented as a political tool. Nebrija had also begun to publish a series of texts that brought him into conflict with theologians, as well as with scholars of the law and of medicine.
Friar Diego de Deza y Tavera, Archbishop of Seville (1598) by Francisco de ZurbaránOriginal Source: Prado Museum
Diego de Deza was an Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition. Having warned Nebrija two years earlier, "You can not continue in this way," he seized these documents from Nebrija on his arrival in Salamanca. Nebrija responded by publishing them from memory.
Condemned by the Inquisition (1860) by Eugenio Lucas VelázquezOriginal Source: Prado Museum
On learning of what Nebrija had done, the Inquisitor began legal proceedings against him. Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, who succeeded Deza as Inquisitor, came to Nebrija's help. The matter could have ended there, if it had not been for Nebrija's decision to write and publish his Apologia.
Apology (1535) by Antonio de NebrijaOriginal Source: National Library of Spain
The Apologia
The work was probably based on the depositions that Nebrija had to present to the Inquisition, which was a legal process. Apologia is a highbrow word meaning a discourse in defense of something.
Apology (1535) by Antonio de NebrijaOriginal Source: National Library of Spain
Although the text was primarily a legal one for Nebrija to respond to the accusations of the Inquisition, he also used it to speak in defense of freedom of professorship, of expression, and of thought. The text was a courageous one. Although Nebrija was no longer in any trouble, he took the decision to fight for the truth.
"What kind of servitude is this or what unjust and tyrannical domination that does not permit, with respect to piety, to say freely what you are thinking? I mean saying it, not even writing it down while hiding inside the walls of your house, or digging a hole and whispering it inside, or at least thinking about it, turning it over in your mind."
A universal right
Today, freedom of expression is sacred in a way that Nebrija could scarcely have imagined.
Silhouette man (01-02-2020)Fundación Antonio de Nebrija
There are people who support freedom of expression unreservedly, when it is important that freedom of expression is defended on the basis that we have robust freedom of thought.
People walking (01-02-2020)Fundación Antonio de Nebrija
The world as it was in Nebrija's time, in which there was still a need to fight for this right, led to the need for a new Humanism that included the natural order of the processes of knowledge: knowledge, thought, and expression.
Information taken from the contributions by Pedro Martín Baños and Iñaki Gabilondo in the MOOC Antonio de Nebrija: Apología del saber. (Antonio de Nebrija: Apologia on Knowledge) © Photographic Archive, Prado Museum (Museo Nacional del Prado)
