Patronage of the Bible in Sixteenth-Century Spain: A Defence of the Faith or an Attack on Heresy?

Abstract

Early sixteenth-century Spain offers a particularly interesting framework for analysing the interest awakened by Bible studies and its patronage by the monarchy on the threshold of the early modern period. At that time, the Spanish Empire was approaching the period of its greatest splendour, the reign of Philip II, and there existed a series of issues of particular importance for its rulers. The main issue can be said to have been that of the defence of the faith, one of the pillars of a monarchy which had fought for several centuries to wrest peninsular territory from the last Muslims. The Catholic monarchs, after the conquest of Granada and the unification of their peninsular territories, made every effort to consolidate their kingdom by reinforcing the security of their policy. One of the most outstanding features of this strategy was a defence of the Catholic faith, and to this end a series of actions was undertaken with the aim of strengthening Christianity. The final years of the fifteenth century and the first years of the sixteenth represent an age of transition in which it became clear that the Catholic Church was in need of reform, aimed at building on principles that would go further towards satisfying believers, who longed to distance themselves from routine and find new forms of spirituality. Such reforms had been discussed at the Council of Constance in the early fifteenth century, where the need for a total reform of the Church had been made apparent. The universities were to play an important role in this task. 1 Published in E. Alfonso and J. Decter (eds.), Patronage, Production, and Transmission of Texts in Medieval and Early Modern Jewish Cultures, Brepols, XV+383 p., 35 b/w ill., 3 b/w tables, 156 x 234 mm, 2014.