Should Latin be spoken?: the Controversy between Sanctius Brocensis, Henry Jason and the Irish Jesuits of Salamanca 1

• Autores: Eustaquio Sánchez Salor
• Localización: Language dynamics in the Early Modern period / Karen Bennett (ed. lit.), Angelo Cattaneo (ed. lit.), 2022, ISBN 9780367552145
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This chapter describes a controversy that erupted in sixteenth-century Salamanca between Francisco Sánchez de las Brozas (1523–1600), otherwise known as Sanctius or El Brocense, and the Irishman Henry Jason, about whether Latin should be spoken. Sanctius believed that it should not be, on the grounds that it would be impossible to do so with the elegance of ancient Rome. However, Jason, an Irish Catholic exiled in Salamanca, demanded that it be used in the University's lecture halls, including in Sanctius's, since he did not speak Castilian. From this arose a controversy about what kind of Latin should be spoken (if it had to be spoken at all): a refined classical Latin or a colloquial version of the language, able to simply communicate thoughts. Sanctius argues against the corruption of Classical Latin, while Jason and the Irish Jesuits of Salamanca uphold the opposite, producing guides on how to speak that colloquial Latin. This work analyses the details of the controversy.