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“ANOTHER KIND OF KNIGHTHOOD”: THE HONOR OF LETRADOS IN EARLY MODERN SPANISH LITERATURE By MATTHEW PAUL MICHEL A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2016 © 2016 Matthew Paul Michel To my friends, family, and colleagues in the Gator Nation ACKNOWLEDGMENTS “This tale grew in the telling,” Tolkien tells his readers in the foreword of The Fellowship of the Ring (1954). For me, what began as little more than a lexical curiosity—“Why is letrado used inconsistently by scholars confronting early modern Spanish literature?”—grew in scope until it became the present dissertation. I am greatly indebted to my steadfast advisor Shifra Armon for guiding me through the long and winding road of graduate school. I would also like to acknowledge a debt of gratitude to the late Carol Denise Harllee (1959-2012), Assistant Professor of Spanish at James Madison University, whose research on Pedro de Madariaga rescued that worthy author from obscurity and partially inspired my own efforts. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................4 ABSTRACT .....................................................................................................................................7 CHAPTER 1 GATEWAY TO THE LETRADO SOCIOTYPE IN EARLY MODERN SPANISH LITERATURE ..........................................................................................................................9 2 SOCIAL AND LEXICOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE LETRADO .............................24 Grammatical and Linguistic Perspectives of the Letrado .......................................................27 Antonio de Nebrija, Gramática castellana (1492) and Vocabulario español-latino (1494). ..........................................................................................................................28 Sebastián de Covarrubias, Tesoro de la Lengua Castellana O Española (1611). ............30 Contemporaries, Disciples, and Imitators of Nebrija and Covarrubias (1570-1620) ......33 Juridical Definitions of Letrados ............................................................................................38 University Education as the Foundation of the Letrado Class ........................................38 Medieval Origins of the Letrado Class as a Service Nobility: The Siete Partidas (1265) ...........................................................................................................................40 Reappraisal of the Letrado Class in the Early Modern Era: Nueva Recopilación (1581) ...........................................................................................................................44 Lexical Ambiguities Associated with Letrados ......................................................................47 “Lawyer” vs. “Jurist” .......................................................................................................47 “Service Nobility” vs. “Robe Nobility” ..........................................................................50 Current Criticism of the Letrado Class in Early Modern Spain .............................................56 Critical Sources Equating Letrados with Colegiales .......................................................59 Critical Sources Equating Letrados with Lawyers ..........................................................61 Critical Sources Identifying Letrados as Intellectuals .....................................................63 Disentangling the Semantic Confluence in the Term “Letrado” .....................................65 3 “RHETORICAL HIRED GUNS”: LETRADOS AND HUMANISM ..................................68 Alfonso de Valdés (ca.1490–1532) ........................................................................................73 Public Patronage of Letrados ...........................................................................................73 Diálogo de Mercurio y Carón (1529) ..............................................................................76 Juan de Valdés (ca.1490–1541) ..............................................................................................80 Private Patronage of Letrados .........................................................................................80 Diálogo de la doctrina cristiana (1529) ...........................................................................82 Hernán Pérez de Oliva (1494–1531) ......................................................................................86 Letrados and the “Nobility of Letters” ............................................................................86 Diálogo de la Dignidad del Hombre (1546) ....................................................................89 Cristóbal de Villalón (ca.1510–1588) .....................................................................................93 Universities and the “Republic of Letters” ......................................................................93 5 El Scholástico (ca. 1541) .................................................................................................95 Towards a New Nobility of Letters ......................................................................................103 4 “CLOSING THE DOOR TO THE TALENTS”: LETTERS AS PERFORMANCE ...........106 The Discourse of Utility .......................................................................................................111 Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote (1615) ...................................................................113 Pedro de Madariaga’s Honra de Escribanos (1565) ......................................................122 The Discourse of Performance .............................................................................................127 Miguel de Cervantes’ El licenciado Vidriera (1613).....................................................129 Diego de Hermosilla’s Diálogo de los Pajes del Palacio ..............................................137 Towards a New Letrado Elite ...............................................................................................142 5 “THE RANKERS OF REACTION”: LETRADO LITERATURE OF THE BAROQUE ..146 Francisco de Quevedo (1580–1645) .....................................................................................148 Quevedo and the Law: España Defendida (1618) and Política de Dios (1626) ............150 Quevedo and Letrados: Sueños y Discursos (1627) ......................................................154 Salas Barbadillo (1581–1635) ..............................................................................................162 The Letrado as Courtier .................................................................................................163 La Casa del Placer Honesto (1620) ...............................................................................165 El Caballero Perfecto (1620) .........................................................................................170 Suárez de Figueroa (1571–1644) ..........................................................................................173 The Letrado as Social Insider ........................................................................................173 El Pasajero (1617) .........................................................................................................176 Ruiz de Alarcón (1581–1639) ..............................................................................................180 The Letrado as Social Outsider .....................................................................................181 La Verdad Sospechosa (1634) .......................................................................................186 Polo de Medina (1603–1676) ...............................................................................................191 Letrados and the Culmination of “Double Aristocratization” .......................................191 Academias del Jardín (1630) .........................................................................................195 Consolidation of the Letrado Class .......................................................................................200 6 CONCLUSION: THE KNIGHTHOOD OF LETTERS .......................................................202 Recapitulation .......................................................................................................................204 Letrado as Sociotype .............................................................................................................209 LIST OF REFERENCES .............................................................................................................213 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................................237 6 Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy “ANOTHER KIND OF KNIGHTHOOD”: THE HONOR OF LETRADOS IN EARLY MODERN SPANISH LITERATURE By Matthew Paul Michel August 2016 Chair: Shifra Armon Major: Romance Languages The focus of the present study is the emergence, expansion, and consolidation of the letrado as a literary sociotype in early modern Spain. A serious lexical problem in studying the role of letrados in Spanish letters is