The School of Salamanca 1500-1600
Outline
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University education in Europe in 1500
The teaching of philosophy, theology and law
The context : Spain and the the discoveries
1492-1525 in the New World
The Spanish School of Salamanca
Ideas of the different protagonists
Impact and legacy
Universities in 1500
Faculties
• Law :Roman Law: Digest and Codex of
Justinian; Canon Law, Decretum Gratiani
• Medicine : Hippocrates, Galen, Avicenna
• Theology : comemntaries on Peter Lombard’s
Quattuor libri sententiarum
Contributions to renaissance thought
• reformulated the concept of natural law- all that
exists in the natural order shares in this law.
Conclusion : given that all humans share the
same nature, they also share the same rights to
life and liberty.
• Economic theory (value, price, monetary supplydemand); just price is no more and no less than
the naturally exchange-established price.
• Just war theories
• Universal human rights
Salamanca University
• Main Gate of University
With Luis de Leon
• Courtyard of a college
Principal areas of original thinking
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The law of peoples and international law
Just war theory
Rights of indigenous peoples
Economics- new interpretations of natural law
theory- natural prices and value
• Private property
• Money, price, value
• Interest and usury
Who is Who in the School
The Dominicans (Salmanticenses)
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Francisco de Vitoria op (1485-1546)
Domingo de Soto op (1494-1560)
Martin de Azilcueta op (Navarrus) (1493-1586)
Tomas de Mercado op (1530-1576)
Juan de Medina op (1490-1546)
And the non-Dominican Diego de Covarrubias
y Leiva (1512-1577) Archbishop of Santo
Domingo
The Augustinians
• Colegio San Guillermo
• Luis de Leon OSA 1527-1597
• Dicebamus hesterna die...
• De los Nombres de Cristo
(The Names of Christ)
Francisco de Vitoria op
The Founder : Francisco de Vitoria op
1485-1546
• Educated in St Jacques in Paris ; spent 16 years
teaching there
• Appointed to Primus Theologicus chair in
Salamanca in 1526
• Close friend of Erasmus, Vives
• Concerned with relations between the church
and the state ( De potestate Ecclesiae, De
potestate vivili, De Indis)
Vitoria 2 : the powers of church and
state
• Church and state are equally sovereign
societies – temporal and spiritual.
• The powers of the church are indirect over
society – the pope directs the spiritual
activities of men
Vitoria 3: The Problems of Colonization
and the rights of Indigenous peoples
• Natural law guarantees indigenous peoples
the mastery of the lands they inhabit –
politically AND economically
Vitoria 4: Colonization
• Cannot make war on natives for “crimes” –
Europeans are just as guilty
• Cannot impose Christianity on them by force –
it must be pacific and pedagogical
• The Spanish settlers are under no
circumstances the judges of the indigenous
peoples
• Slavery is never justified for purely economic
reasons
Vitoria 5 : Claims examined and
rejected:
• The emperor is the ruler of the world
• The pope has the right to concede to Spain
the lands of the new world (possession vs
interest areas)
• Vitoria denies the claim of “discovery”
• We have no more right to take their lands
than they would have to take ours if they first
discovered our continent” (Relectiones)
Victoria 6 : Colonization- justified
reasons
• All men have the right to travel the world
freely – Europeans as well as Indians
• All can exploit goods “left open”
• Christians may preach the gospel openly
• Under no circumstances is there a moral
justification for the exploitation of man by
man
Vitoria 7 - Human rights- the Natives
of the New World
• "The upshot of all the preceding is this, then,
that the aborigines undoubtedly had true
dominion in both public and private matters,
just like Christians, and that neither their
princes nor private persons could be despoiled
of their property on the ground of their not
being true owners."
Vitoria 8 : The Opposing views on
natural law and colonization
• Juan Sepulveda (1490-1573) theologian of
Charles V
• Used the Politics of Aristotle to defend slavery
(De regno et regis officio)
• Following Aristotle: Three categories of men:
natural slaves (he is a slave who is strong in
body and dull in intelligence); some are
neither slaves nor masters by nature, and
lastly, those who are masters by nature)
Vitoria 9 : De Indis
• Physical power does not confer a right to annex
the property of others and Christian zeal is in no
case a justification of making war on the
indigenous peoples
• Took the accepted view of slavery of the time:
justified only as a penal measure
• Jesuit Molina’s position more extreme – all te talk
of slavery as a process of conversion was false – it
was purely a commercial affair (De iustitia)
Vitoria 10 : Justified situations of force
• if the pagan sovereigns force converts to return to idolatry
• If there come to be a sufficient number of Christians in the newly
discovered land that they wish to receive from the Pope a Christian
government.
• In the case of overthrowing a tyranny or a government that is
harming innocents (e.g human sacrifice)
• If associates and friends have been attacked — as were the
Tlaxcaltecas , allied with the Spanish but subjected, like many other
people, to the Aztecs— once again, this could justify a war, with the
ensuing possibility of legitimate conquest as in the first case
• The final "legitimate title" although qualified by Vitoria himself as
doubtful, is the lack of just laws, magistrates, agricultural
techniques, etc. In any case, title taken according to this principle
must be exercised with Christian charity and for the advantage of
the Indians.
Vitoria 11 : International Law
• Law of nations (ius gentium) not just an agreed code – it has the force of a
natural law “ having been established by the authority of the whole world”
(de potestate civili) – no real notion of covenant as a basis for universal
law
• “what natural reason has established among all nations is called ius
gentium”
• It has a natural law basis but also a secondary contractual element
creating rights and obligations
• relations between states ought to pass from being justified by force to
being justified by law and justice
• extrapolated his ideas of legitimate sovereign power to society at the
international level, concluding that this scope as well ought to be ruled by
just forms respectable of the rights of all. The common good of the world
is of a category superior to the good of each state. This meant that
relations between states ought to pass from being justified by force to
being justified by law and justice.
Spain’s colonial empire in 1550
Antonio de Montesinos op 1
1490?-1545
Antonio de Montesinos op 2
1490?-1545
• Montesinos became a Dominican at the convent of St. Stephen in
Salamanca, where he may have studied. He was part of the first band of
Dominicans to come to Hispanola , in September 1510, under the
leadership of Pedro de Cordova.
• On the 21st of December, 1511, the fourth Sunday of Advent Montesinos
preached an impassioned sermon criticizing the practices of the Spanish
colonial encomienda system, and decrying the abuse of the Taino indian
people on Hispaniola
• Montesinos's preaching lead to the conversion of Bartolome de la Casas
and his subsequent entrance into the Dominican Order.
• Led to the promulgation of the Laws of Burgos
Antonio de Montesinos op 3
• On December 4, 1511, Montesinos announced that the topic of his sermon
would be based on Matthew 3,3: “I am a voice crying in the wilderness.”
• To a packed house, Montesinos preached about the horrors he had seen.
“Tell me, by what right or by what interpretation of justice do you keep
these Indians in such a cruel and horrible servitude? By what authority
have you waged such detestable wars against people who were once
living so quietly and peacefully in their own land?”
• Montesinos continued, implying that the souls of any and all who owned
slaves on Hispaniola were damned.
Bartolommeo de la Casas 1484-1566
Las Casas Protector of the Indians and
Inspiration for the New Laws 1542
The New Laws of 1542 – protection of
the Indians – but rarely enforced fully
Las Casas 4
Luis de Grenada op
1505-1588
• Ascetical theologian : La Guia de Pecadores
(Sinner’s Guide) 1555. Thomas a Kempis
• Memorial de la vida christiana
• Made provincial of the Portuguse Dominicans
Melchior Cano op 1509-1560
Melchior Cano op 1509-1560
• Followed Vitoria in chair of theology at
Salamanca (1546-1552) , councillor to Philip II,
attended Trent, and became embattled with
newly founded Jesuit Order
• Made Bishop of Canaries, then recalled to
Salamanca by Philip
Melchior Cano op 2
• In 1556 he wrote his famous Consultatio
theologica, in which he advised the king to
resist the temporal encroachments of the
papacy and, as absolute monarch, to defend
his rights by bringing about a radical change
in the administration of ecclesiastical
revenues, thus making Spain less dependent
on Rome. With this in his mind Paul IV styled
him "a son of perdition."
Melchior Cano 3
• De Locis theologicis (Salamanca, 1562)
• Attempted to free late scholastic theology of
word-play and subtleties founding it upon a
scientific method
• Introduced serious attention to historical sources
and the need to treat them scientifically
• The "De Locis" was the outcome of a movement
inaugurated by Francis de Victoria to restore the
best patristic learning and to give to theological
discourse a purer diction and an improved literary
form.
The Economists: Martin de Azpilcueta
(Navarrus), 1493-1586 1
• Taught for fourteen years in Salamanca in the chair of
canon law
• "Other things being equal in countries where there is a
great scarcity of money, all other saleable goods, and
even the hands and labor of men, are given for less
money than where it is abundant."
• Extended this to a more general scarcity theory of
value, arguing that "all merchandise becomes dearer
when it is in strong demand and short
supply". Explicitly denounced price controls and
defended money-changing and usury.
Martin de Azpilcueta (Navarrus) 14911586 2
• The time value of money is the value of money
figuring in a given amount of interest earned over a
given amount of time. The time value of money is the
central concept in finance theory.
• For example, GBP 100 of today's money invested for
one year and earning 5% interest will be worth GBP
105 after one year. Therefore, GBP 100 paid now or
GBP 105 paid exactly one year from now both have the
same value to the recipient who assumes 5% interest;
using time value of money terminology, GBP 100
invested for one year at 5% interest has a future value
of GBP 105. This notion dates at least to Martin de
Azpilcueta.
Martin de Azpilcueta (Navarrus) 14911586 3
• Developed an early version of the quantity theory of
money
• In monetary, the quantity theory of money is the
theory that money supply has a direct, proportional
relationship with the price level.
• The quantity theory descends from Copernicus.
followers of the Azpilcueta, Jean Boudin and various
others who noted the increase in prices following the
import of gold and silver, used in the coinage of money,
from the New World . The “equation of exchange”
relates the supply of money to the value of money
transactions.
The Economists: Diego de Covarrubias y Leiva
1512-1577 1
The Economists: Diego de Covarrubias y Leiva
1512-1577 2
• Studied at Salamanca canon law under
Azpilcueta, and theology under Vitoria and De
Soto
• Made archbishop of Santo Domingo, the
successively Ciudad Rodrigo, Segovia and
Cuenta
• Participated in the debate on the rights of
native peoples supporting Vitoria and Las
Casas
Covarubbias 3: The Theory of Value
• “ The value of an article does not depend on
its essential nature but on the estimation of
men, even if that estimation is foolish."
(1554).
• A subjective theory of value, arguing that the
price of goods was determined by the
agreement of buyer and seller in light of a
product's relative abundance or scarcity.
The Economists : Tomas de Mercado op 1525-1575
(Mexico –died at sea)
• Summa de Tratos y Contratos 1571
• Co-founder of the economic tradition called
“ Iberian monetarism”
• first to link the price revolution that was affecting Spain
to the influx of American gold, and Mercado extended
this analysis, remarking that:
• "High prices ruined Spain as the prices attracted Asian
commodities and the silver currency flowed out to pay
for them. The streets of Manila in the Spanish
territories of the Philippines could be paved with
granite cobblestone brought from China as ballast in
Chinese ships coming to get silver for China”.
Tomas de Mercado 2
• the concept of the fair or "just price", analyzing it in
terms of wheat, and strongly supporting the tasa or
fixed price set by the government on social and ethical
grounds, even if it meant producers selling at a loss.
• Mercado devoted a chapter to the African slave trade ,
of which he was highly critical, seeing clearly that the
concept of "just enslavement" did not reflect the
practice of the actual trade. However he regarded it as
acceptable for Europeans to buy slaves enslaved by
Africans, and accepted the enslavement of captives in
war, those sentenced for crimes, or children sold by
their parents from necessity
Tomas de Mercado 3
• “ It is public opinion and knowledge that no
end of deception is practiced and a thousand
acts of robbery and violence are committed in
the course of bartering and carrying off
Negroes from their country and bringing them
to the Indies and to Spain.... Since the
Portuguese and Spaniards pay so much for a
Negro, they go out to hunt one another
without the pretext of a war, as if they were
deer;”
Domingo de Soto op
1494-1560
• Trained at Alcala, left academy became
Dominican and professor at Salamanca
• Known for his contribution to economic
theory on price differentials in interest
practices
• Confessor to Emperor, legatus to Trent’1552
succeeds Melchor Cano as professor of
theology in Salamanca
Francisco Suarez sj
Who is Who in the School
The Jesuits (Conimbricenses)
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Luis de Molina (Molineus) 1535-1600
Cardinal Juan de Lugo 1553-1660
Leonad de Leys (lessius) 1554-1623
Juan de Mariana 1536-1624
Francisco Suarez 1548-1617
Gabriel Vazquez 1549-1604
Francisco Suarez 1
• Human beings, argued Suárez, have a natural social nature
bestowed upon them by God, including the potential to make laws.
• But when a political society is formed, the authority of the state is
not of divine but of human origin; therefore, its nature is chosen by
the people involved, and their natural legislative power is given to
the ruler
• Because they gave this power, they have the right to take it back, to
revolt against a ruler — but only if the ruler behaves badly towards
them, and they're obliged to act moderately and justly. In particular,
the people must refrain from killing the ruler, no matter how
tyrannical he may have become.
• If a government is imposed on people, on the other hand, they not
only have the right to defend themselves by revolting against it,
they are entitled to kill the tyrannical ruler.
Francisco de Suarez sj
• Vitoria’s ius gentium is divided into ius inter
gentium (modern international law) –common
to all countries – not natural law, but positive
law and therefore not necessarily universal;
• and ius intra gentes is specific to each nation
Luis de Molina sj
• political power is exercised on behalf of the
ruled, and power derives from both the sovereign
and the collective will of the governed
• Counter arguments to the divine right of kings:
popular sovereignty arguments : man are freee
by nature and may depose unjust government
• People are the vehicle of divine sovereignty –
which they delegate to prince ( Suarez, Defensio
Fidei Catholicae adversus Anglicanae sectae
errores)