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In-Depth Information
“glorious year,” 1492, which saw the culmi-
nation of the R
ECONQUISTA
of Spain and the
voyage of C
HRISTOPHER
C
OLUMBUS
that
began the building of the Spanish Empire.
It was, on a more personal level, the year
when E
LIO
A
NTONIO
DE
N
EBRIJA
launched
the Spanish Renaissance with the publica-
tion of his famous
Gramática,
the same
Nebrija whose chair at Alcalá would be
offered upon his death to Spain's greatest
living Renaissance scholar, Vives. A darker
connection might also be found between
the year of Vives's birth and the expulsion
of the Jews from Spain, for there are com-
plex questions related to the future human-
ist's converso origin and the circumstances
of his departure from Spain.
Privately educated in at least the funda-
mentals of both law and medicine, Vives
pursued advanced studies in the humani-
ties in Paris (1509-12) then moved on to
Bruges, where he became a tutor in a
wealthy household whose daughter he
would later wed. In the Netherlands he
became a friend of Erasmus, whose philo-
sophical and religious ideas he admired,
and was urged by his mentor to undertake
a treatise on St. Augustine's
De civitate Dei
(1522). This display of his learning brought
Vives to the attention of Henry VIII, who
had a strong interest in theology, and wel-
comed him to England. Vives became an
adviser to Henry's Spanish-born consort,
C
ATHERINE
OF
A
RAGON
, preceptor to her
daughter (the future queen Mary I), and a
lecturer at Oxford. Vives fell from royal
favor when he opposed Henry's plan to
divorce his wife, even though the Spanish
scholar declined her request to be her trial
counsel. After a period of house arrest Vives
returned to the Continent, living in France
for most of his remaining years.
Despite poor health he devoted himself
to study and writing and further enhanced
his reputation as a thinker and innovator
in the realms of philosophy, education,
and what would come to be known as psy-
chology. In a series of publications on the
training of both boys and girls he pio-
neered in the advocacy of schooling for
women, the study of the natural world,
and the importance of practical subjects
such as modern languages. Although only
one of his approximately 70 works was
originally published in Spanish (Latin
being still the universal language of schol-
arship), he is considered one of the most
distinguished of Spain's thinkers and phi-
losophers. His promotion of the inductive
method of analysis, inspired by his Eras-
mian studies, would have great influence
on many fields of learning and shape the
work of scholars throughout Renaissance
Europe. Vives's works include
De ratione
studii puerilis
(On the right method of
instruction for children, 1523),
De causis
corruptarum artium
(On the causes of cor-
ruption of the arts, 1531),
De disciplinis
(On
education, 1531),
De prima philosophia
(First philosophy, 1531), and
De institutione
feminae christianae
(
The Instruction of a Chris-
tian Woman,
1523).
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