Arms and Letters in the Discursos of Antonio de Herrera (16^th century)

ABSTRACT

Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas is one of the best-known figures of the Spanish literary universe. Focusing on one of his texts that is part of the volume entitled Veinte y nueve discursos políticos históricos literários originales é ineditos del historiador y cronista de las Indias [Twenty-nine original and unpublished political, historical, and literary discourses by the historian and chronicler of the Indies], this article addresses the discourse of this author from the perspective that literature was necessary - as much as arms - for the training of Spanish nobles in the sixteenth century. Starting with the idea prevailing at that time that it was necessary to reconcile military performance with the cultivation of knowledge, this article shows the extent to which Antonio de Herrera sought to value historical literature as important for educating members of the nobility to conduct themselves virtuously in the present.

Keywords:
History Treatise; Moral; 16th century; Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas; Spain