Fray Luis de León

Tyler Fisher (University College London)

Ed. by Duncan Wheeler, University of Leeds
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.6.2.01: Spanish Literature and Culture from the Beginning to the Golden Age.
Vol. editors: Andrew M. Beresford (University of Durham), Stuart Green (University of Leeds), Juan Pablo Rodriguez (Yale University), Duncan Wheeler (University of Leeds)

Dates

Born 1527
Died 1591
Activity c. 1550-1591

Places

Born in Spain
Active in Spain

Activities

Primary

Religious writer

Other

Poet

Resources

León's Works

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Fray Luis de León (c. 1527-1591) composed some of the most well known Spanish lyric poetry of the sixteenth century, as well as original prose and translations from Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Italian. His vernacular translation of the Hebrew Song of Songs (also known as the Song of Solomon), among other alleged offenses, led to his being denounced to the Spanish Inquisition in 1572 and imprisoned for nearly five years. Vernacular translations of Scripture had been prohibited in Spain, with varying degrees of severity and success, from the Middle Ages, and the Spanish Inquisition renewed this prohibition with their

Index

of 1554, because the religious authorities deemed Bible reading perilous for untrained laypeople without priestly guidance based on the Latin Vulgate. Fray Luis’s…

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1520 words

Citation: Fisher, Tyler. "Fray Luis de León". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 November 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13154, accessed 16 April 2024.]

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