Francisco Sánchez de las Brozas (1523–1600), also known as El Brocense, and in Latin as Franciscus Sanctius Brocensis, was a Spanish philologist and humanist.

Biography

Sanctius was born in Brozas,

province of Cáceres The province of Cáceres (; ; ; ) is a province of western Spain, and makes up the northern half of the autonomous community of Extremadura. Its capital is the city of Cáceres. Other cities in the province include Plasencia, Coria, Navalm ...

. His parents, Francisco Núñez and Leonor Díez, were of noble birth but had little money. Sancius was able to study thanks to the support of relatives, starting in

Évora Évora ( , ), officially the Very Noble and Ever Loyal City of Évora (), is a city and a municipalities of Portugal, municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of . It is the historic capital of the Alentejo reg ...

, where he learnt

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and humanities, and then in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. There he served Queen

Catherine I Catherine I Alekseyevna Mikhailova (born Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya; – ) was the second wife and Empress consort of Peter the Great, whom she succeeded as Emperor of all the Russias, Empress of Russia, ruling from 1725 until her death in 1 ...

and King

John III of Portugal John III ( ; 6 June 1502 – 11 June 1557), nicknamed The Pious ( Portuguese: ''o Piedoso''), was the King of Portugal and the Algarve from 1521 until he died in 1557. He was the son of King Manuel I and Maria of Aragon, the third daughter of ...

and remained in the court of the Portuguese kingdom until the death of the princess in 1545. In accordance with the desires of his supporting relatives, he went to the

University of Salamanca The University of Salamanca () is a public university, public research university in Salamanca, Spain. Founded in 1218 by Alfonso IX of León, King Alfonso IX, it is the oldest university in the Hispanic world and the fourth oldest in the ...

, where he studied Arts and Theology, which he did not complete. There he met, among his fellow students,

Juan de Mal Lara Juan de Mal Lara (Sevilla, 1524 – Sevilla, 1571) was a Spanish humanist, poet, playwright and paremiologue at the University of Seville during the period of the Spanish Renaissance in the reign of Philip II of Spain. Biography Mal Lara studi ...

. While still a student he married his first wife, Ana Ruiz del Peso, who gave him six children. In 1554, as widower at the age of 32, he married a relative of his first wife, with whom he had another six children. After that he suffered economic hardship in supporting his family and was forced to teach without pause. He was awarded the chair of

Rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

at Salamanca in 1573 after a failed attempt in 1554, and in 1576 was awarded the chair of the section of

Greek language Greek (, ; , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic languages, Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece, Cyprus, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), south ...

, with a higher salary. Despite two attempts he was unsuccessful in winning the chair of Grammar. In 1584 he had his first difficulties with the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...

, although he was exonerated. As a consequence of his great critical mind (for him the greatest authority was reason) and his noncomformity towards authority, the censors restricted the distribution of his works. A decade after his retirement, in 1595, new inquisitorial proceedings were initiated, which were only interrupted by his death. He died on 5 December 1600, isolated in his home as a result of house arrest imposed by the Inquisition. The importance of the ideas of el Brocense in the reform of classical studies in Spain in the mid-16th century is comparable to that of

Antonio de Nebrija Antonio de Nebrija (14445 July 1522) was the most influential Spanish humanist of his era. He wrote poetry, commented on literary works, and encouraged the study of classical languages and literature, but his most important contributions were i ...

at the beginning of the century. This appears in his ''Arte para saber latín'' (1595), in the ''Grammaticæ Græcæ compendium'' (1581) and, above all, in the ''Veræ brevesque Latinæ institutiones'' (1587), where he corrected Nebrija's method. Nevertheless, he is mostly remembered for his ''Minerva sive de causis linguæ Latinæ'' (Salamanca: Renaut, 1587), a Latin grammar in four books or sections (study of the parts of speech, the noun, the verb, and the figures), which subjected the study of language to reason. ''Minerva'' is one of the first epistemological grammars and made him a European celebrity for several generations. While the first grammarians of

Humanism Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and Agency (philosophy), agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The me ...

(

Lorenzo Valla Lorenzo Valla (; also latinized as Laurentius; 1 August 1457) was an Italian Renaissance humanist, rhetorician, educator and scholar. He is best known for his historical-critical textual analysis that proved that the Donation of Constantine w ...

) were still writing normative grammars based on the ''usus scribendi'' of the ancient authors, el Brocense took ''ratio'' (reason) as the cornerstone of his grammatical system. He acknowledged no authority other than reason and took to its ultimate consequences the logic of grammatical study. He was determined to make everything fit within rational schemes, and in his grammatical interpretation gave a very important role to

ellipsis The ellipsis (, plural ellipses; from , , ), rendered , alternatively described as suspension points/dots, points/periods of ellipsis, or ellipsis points, or colloquially, dot-dot-dot,. According to Toner it is difficult to establish when t ...

, an essential tool of his system. In the search for rational explanations he stepped beyond the limits of the Latin language to go as far as to foreshadow a universal grammar implicit in all languages. He is thus a most important milestone towards

Port-Royal Grammar The ''Port-Royal Grammar'' (originally ''Grammaire générale et raisonnée contenant les fondemens de l'art de parler, expliqués d'une manière claire et naturelle'', "General and Rational Grammar, containing the fundamentals of the art of speak ...

and

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...

generative grammar Generative grammar is a research tradition in linguistics that aims to explain the cognitive basis of language by formulating and testing explicit models of humans' subconscious grammatical knowledge. Generative linguists, or generativists (), ...

. His ''Minerva'' was very successful, with 15 editions by 1761. The dense scholia by Scioppius appeared in the mid 17th century and would accompany the ''Minerva'' until the 19th century. The notes by

Perizonius Perizonius (or Accinctus) was the name of Jakob Voorbroek (26 October 1651 – 6 April 1715), a Dutch people, Dutch classical scholar, who was born at Appingedam in Groningen (province), Groningen. He was the son of Anton Perizonius (1626– ...

were written at the request of a publisher from

Franeker Franeker (; ) is one of the eleven historical City rights in the Low Countries, cities of Friesland and capital of the municipality of Waadhoeke. It is located north of the Van Harinxmakanaal and about west of Leeuwarden. As of 2023, it had 13,0 ...

in the Netherlands. They were included in the 1687 edition and were so successful that the same publisher reprinted it fraudulently in 1693. Sanctius published editions of the ''Bucolics'' by

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

(1591), some works of

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

, the ''Satyres'' by

Persius Aulus Persius Flaccus (; 4 December 3424 November 62 AD) was a Roman poet and satirist of Etruscan origin. In his works, poems and satire, he shows a Stoic wisdom and a strong criticism for what he considered to be the stylistic abuses of his ...

and the ''Ars poetica'' by

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

; commented editions of the ''Sylvae'' by

Angelo Poliziano Agnolo (or Angelo) Ambrogini (; 14 July 1454 – 24 September 1494), commonly known as Angelo Poliziano () or simply Poliziano, anglicized as Politian, was an Italian classical scholar and poet of the Florentine Renaissance. His scholars ...

and the ''Emblemata'' by

Andrea Alciato Andrea Alciato (8 May 149212 January 1550), commonly known as Alciati (Andreas Alciatus), was an Italian jurist and writer. He is regarded as the founder of the French school of legal humanists. Biography Alciati was born in Alzate Brianza, n ...

; and translations of

and of the ''Canzoniere'' by

Francesco Petrarca Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's let ...

. He wrote and printed ''Comentarios'' to works by

Juan de Mena ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Phili ...

and Garcilaso de la Vega (1582 and 1574 respectively). When he was accused of having identified the influences of Græco-Latin classics in the lyrical work of the latter, thus diminishing his poetic originality, el Brocense said that he didn't consider anyone who didn't imitate the classics a good poet. He also wrote a great number of Latin poems and scholia. He had a mainly formal understanding of literary beauty, as revealed in his rhetorical treatises ''De arte dicendi'' (1556) and ''Organum dialecticum et rethoricum cunctis discipulis utilissimum et necessarium'' (Lyon, 1579). It is pertinent to point out here that he was tried by the

because he dared to criticise the literary form of the gospels. He favoured

Erasmus of Rotterdam Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and theologian, educationalist, satirist, and p ...

and in his scientific works shows the encyclopedic inclinations that were characteristic of

, as in ''Declaración y uso del reloj español'' (1549), ''Pomponii Melæ De situ orbis'' (1574) or ''Sphera mundi ex variis auctoribus concinnata'' (1579). Among his philosophical works the main ones are ''Doctrina de Epicteto'' (1600), ''Paradoxa'' (1581) and ''De nonnulis Porphyrii aliorumque in dialectica erroribus'' (1588). He had three encounters with the

: one, mentioned above, in 1584, where he was exonerated, a second in 1595, when he had already retired, and a third in 1600, which was interrupted before its resolution due to his death, in

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

, at the age of 78.There are copies of the Inquisition's proceedings against Francisco Sánchez in th
Colección de documentos inéditos para la historia de España
vol. II.

Works

*''Declaración y uso del reloj español'' (1549) *Edition and commentary of Angelo Poliziano, ''Angeli Politiani: Sylvæ, nutricia, manto, rusticus, ambra illustratum per Franciscum Sanctium Brocensem'', Salmanticæ: excudebat Andreas a Portonariis, 1554. *''De arte dicendi'' (1556) *Edition and commentary of the ''Emblemata'' by Alciati: ''Comment. in And. Alciati Emblemata: nunc denuò multis in locis accurate recognita et quamplurimis figuris illustrata'' Lugduni: apud Guliel. Rouillium, 1573. *''Comentarios'' to the work by Garcilaso de la Vega (1574) *Edition of ''Pomponii Melæ De situ orbis'' (1574) *''Organum dialectum et rethoricum cunctis discipulis utilissimum et necessarium'' (Lyon, 1579) *''Sphera mundi ex variis auctoribus concinnata'' (1579) *''Paradoxa'' (1581) *''Grammaticæ Græcæ compendium'' (1581) *''Comentarios'' to the work by

(1582) *''Minerva sive de causis linguæ Latinæ'' (Salamanca: Renaut, 1587) *''Veræ brevesque Latinæ institutiones'' (1587) *''De nonnulis Porphyrii aliorumque in dialectica erroribus'' (1588) *Edition of the ''Bucolics'' by

(1591) * Edition and commentary of the ''Ars poetica'' by

: ''In Artem Poeticam Horatii Annotationes'', Salmanticæ: Apud Joannem & Andream Renaut, fratres, 1591. *''Arte para saber latín'' (1595) * Edition and commentary of ''Auli Persii Flacci Saturæ sex: cvm ecphrasi et scholiis Franc. Sanctij Brocen.'' Salmanticæ: apud Didacum à Cussio, 1599. *''Doctrina de Epicteto'' (1600)

References

External links

* Portrait of Francisco Sánchez de las Brozas with an epitome about his life included in the book Retratos de Españoles ilustres, published in 1791.
Bilingual edition and study of the ''Minerva'' by el Brocense
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez De Las Brozas, Francisco Spanish humanists 1523 births 1600 deaths University of Salamanca alumni Academic staff of the University of Salamanca People from Salamanca Philologists

Biography

Works

References

Further reading

External links