Cultural trade between the Southern Netherlands and New Spain

Cultural trade between the Southern Netherlands and New Spain

A history of transatlantic book circuits and book consumption in the early

modern age

KU Leuven - Faculty of Arts Doctoral thesis presented by

Research Unit History César Manrique Figueroa
in order to obtain the degree of
Supervisor: Prof. dr. Werner Thomas doctor in History

Leuven 2012
'¡Oh, si tan próximas como el sol estuviesen de nuestras tierras las oficinas
tipográficas de León de Francia, Amberes, Lovaina, Venecia y otras semejantes! ¿De
qué abundancia de libros, henchidos de toda clase de literatura, insignes por su
variedad, perfectamente acicalados, acabados a maravilla y como bruñidos para servir
de espejo a los rayos del sol no disfrutaría Europa? El Espíritu Santo no ha derramado
generosa y pródigamente la ciencia divina sólo sobre una parte del mundo, sino sobre
todas.

Juan José de Eguiara y Egurén, Biblioteca Mexicana

(Mexico City 1755) 137.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of abbreviations .............................................................................................................................. 10
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................................................................... 11
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 14
CHAPTER I .......................................................................................................................................... 35
The official reception of foreign books in the Hispanic kingdoms. Legal framework and censorship . 35
1.1 Book circulation and censorship in the Spain of the Catholic Kings .......................................... 37
1.2. Early Roman censorship ............................................................................................................. 45
1.3 The circulation of Lutheran books in Spain ................................................................................ 48
1.4 The severe repression of Protestant diffusion in mid-sixteenth century Spain ........................... 54
1.5 Censorship after 1559 .................................................................................................................. 61
1.6 The steady influx of foreign books in seventeenth-century Spain .............................................. 68
1.7 Local printers vs international book trade ................................................................................... 75
1.8 Foreign book in Spain under Bourbon rule ................................................................................. 81
1.9 The Spanish Crown and book censorship in Spanish America ................................................... 89
1.10 Inquisitorial book control at the Carrera de Indias................................................................... 93
1.11 Book censorship generated in New Spain. The Mexican Councils ........................................... 95
1.12 The Mexican Inquisition ......................................................................................................... 103
CHAPTER II ....................................................................................................................................... 114
Mapping the exported book production of the Southern Netherlands in New Spain ...................... 114
2.1 A long-term chronological overview. Period 1529-1588 .......................................................... 115
2.2 Antwerp's predominance ........................................................................................................... 134
2.3 Language of publication ............................................................................................................ 136
CHAPTER III ...................................................................................................................................... 139
Configuration of book circuits between the Southern Netherlands, Spain and the New Spain (16th-
18th centuries) ................................................................................................................................. 139
3.1 Early Flemish printers and booksellers in the Iberian world ..................................................... 141
3.2 Targeting vernacular editions to the Spanish nation established in the Netherlands ................ 145
3.3 Growing knowledge of the Iberian book market ....................................................................... 151
3.4 Book distribution through booksellers in Spain (sixteenth-seventeenth centuries)................... 161
3.5 Placing agents in Spain to assure a better book distribution ..................................................... 171
3.5.1 The duties of the agents based in Spain during the second half of the sixteenth-century ...... 175
3.5.2 The duties of the agents based in Spain during the seventeenth century................................ 182
3.5.3 The agents' insertion into the Spanish society ........................................................................ 188

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 3.6 contacts with the Spanish Court ................................................................................................ 190
3.7 The articulation of book trade between Spain and New Spain.................................................. 196
3.7.1 Shipping books published in the Southern Netherlands to New Spain .................................. 200
3.7.2 The procuradores of the religious orders acting as agents of book distribution .................... 203
3.8 Alternative circuits of book circulation ..................................................................................... 207
3.8.1 A private person sending books from Flanders to Spain ........................................................ 212
3.9 The Illegal circuits of book distribution during the Reformation .............................................. 218
3.9.1 'Brussels' and 'Antwerp' editions published in Protestant cities during the late seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries ......................................................................................................................... 226
3.9.2 'Brussels' and 'Antwerp' editions published in catholic countries during the late seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries .................................................................................................................. 231
CHAPTER IV...................................................................................................................................... 239
Consumption of Southern Netherlands books in New Spain .......................................................... 239
4.1 Urban spaces as cultural hubs ................................................................................................... 241
Mexico City ................................................................................................................................. 241
Puebla .......................................................................................................................................... 246
Guadalajara.................................................................................................................................. 247
Other centers................................................................................................................................ 248
Smaller towns and villages .......................................................................................................... 248
4.2 Geographical distribution of Southern Netherlands books in New Spain ................................. 250
4.3 The classification by genres ...................................................................................................... 253
4.4 The rapid incorporation of Southern Netherland's editions into New Spain's consumption
circuits ............................................................................................................................................. 259
4.5 The formation of the rich ecclesiastical collections in New Spain............................................ 264
4.5.1 Consumption and use of editions from the Southern Netherlands in ecclesiastic contexts .... 274
Augustinian libraries ................................................................................................................... 275
fray Alonso de la Veracruz (1507-1584) ..................................................................................... 280
Bethlemite libraries ..................................................................................................................... 283
Carmelite libraries ....................................................................................................................... 284
Dieguinos (Discalced Franciscans) libraries ............................................................................... 288
Dominican libraries ..................................................................................................................... 291
Franciscan libraries...................................................................................................................... 293
The Franciscan fray Juan de Torquemada (ca.1557-1624) ......................................................... 295
Propaganda Fide libraries ............................................................................................................ 296
Jesuit libraries .............................................................................................................................. 297

8
 Mercedarian libraries ................................................................................................................... 302
The Mercedarian fray Diego Rodríguez (1596-1668) ................................................................. 303
Oratorians .................................................................................................................................... 305
Secular Clergy libraries ............................................................................................................... 306
The secular cleric Juan José de Eguiara y Eguren (1696-1763) .................................................. 307
Books among the nuns ................................................................................................................ 310
4.5.2 Expurgation of books in ecclesiastic collections .................................................................... 312
4.6 Book consumption within secular contexts ............................................................................... 314
4.6.1 Reading on board the galleons ............................................................................................... 327
4.6.2 Books on sale in seventeenth-century Mexico City ............................................................... 329
A seventeenth-century Mexican savant Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (1645-1700) ................ 338
CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................................. 341
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................... 348
Archive sources ............................................................................................................................... 348
Archives in Belgium ..................................................................................................................... 348
Archives in Mexico....................................................................................................................... 348
Archives in Spain.......................................................................................................................... 348
Bibliographic sources published before 1800 ................................................................................. 349
Bibliographic sources ...................................................................................................................... 350
Websites .......................................................................................................................................... 374

9
 List of abbreviations

ADABI: Apoyo al Desarrollo de Archivos y BNAH: Biblioteca Nacional de

Bibliotecas de México, Mexico City.
AGN: Archivo General de la Nación de
México, Mexico City.
AHT: Archivo Histórico de Tlaxcala,
Tlaxcala.
AMO: Archivo Municipal de Orizaba 0José
María Naredo', Orizaba.
APCG: Archivo Parroquial de la Colegiata
de Nuestra Señora de Guanajuato,
Guanajuato.
BAOC: Biblioteca Armando Olivares
Carrillo de la Universidad de Guanajuato,
Guanajuato.
BC UNAM: Biblioteca Central de la UNAM,
Mexico City.
BCDSJ: Biblioteca de las Carmelitas
Descalzas de San José y Santa Teresa,
Puebla.
BCGZ: Biblioteca del ex Convento de
Guadalupe, Guadalupe, Zacatecas.
BEAZ: Biblioteca Elías Amador, Zacatecas.
BEFK: Biblioteca Eusebio Francisco Kino
de la Compañía de Jesús, Mexico Cit.
BFBO: Biblioteca Francisco de Burgoa,
Oaxaca.
BFCH: Biblioteca Franciscana de Cholula.
BFJR: Biblioteca Félix de Jesús Rougier de
los Misioneros del Espíritu Santo, Mexico
City.
BJIGC: Biblioteca José Ignacio Gallegos
Caballero del Eatado de Durango, Durango.
BJML: Biblioteca José María Lafragua,
Puebla.
BLT: Biblioteca Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada
de la Secretaría de Hacienda, Mexico City.
BMRQ: Biblioteca del Museo Regional de
Querétaro, Querétaro.
BMRY: Biblioteca del Museo Regional de
Yuriria (ex convento de San Pablo), Yuriria.
BMUNAVI: Biblioteca del Museo Nacional
del Virreinato, Tepotzotlán.
BMVZ: Biblioteca del Museo Virreinal de
Zinacantepec, Zinacantepec.
Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.
BNM: Biblioteca Nacional de México,
Mexico City.
BOSFN: Biblioteca del Oratorio de San
Felipe Neri de México, Mexico City.
BP: Biblioteca Palafoxiana, Puebla.
BPJ: Biblioteca Pública de Jalisco Juan José
Arreola, Guadalajara.
BPUM: Biblioteca Pública de la
Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de
Hidalgo, Morelia.
BRCC: Biblioteca Rafael Checa Curi de los
Carmelitas Toluca.
BSCQ: Biblioteca Florencio Rosas del
Seminario Conciliar de Querétaro,
Querétaro.
BSMG: Biblioteca de la Basílica de Santa
María de Guadalupe, Mexico City.
BSMGE: Biblioteca de la Sociedad
Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística, Mexico
City.
BUCACH: Biblioteca de la Universidad de
Ciencias y Artes de Chiapas, Tuxtla
Gutiérrez.
CST: California State Library, Sutro
Collection, San Francisco,USA.

10
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am firmly convinced that the successful completion of a doctoral program not only involves
a personal commitment with one's research project, but also implies the configuration of
professional and personal networks, in which several people participate and contribute in a
greater or a lesser degree to the accomplishment of what can be considered as a collective
effort. This is particularly the case when the concerned research project deals with
international topics, and its results have been accomplished thanks to the support of multiple
people and institutions located in different countries.

First of all, I want to thank the Department of Early Modern History of the University
of Leuven, for their positive reception and for providing me with excellent conditions to do
research. Particularly important has been the support of my supervisor, Dr. Werner Thomas,
with whom I have always had an intense communication and exchange of ideas and points of
view, concerning a wide range of topics. Prof. Thomas invited me to participate in this
doctoral project, so I am firstly grateful for the trust he has placed in me. The fact that he is
near-native Spanish speaker, allowed us to have a more personal and active communication.
Thus, his guidance and encouragement have been fundamental in the completion of this
thesis.

I am also grateful to the other professors and colleagues on the fifth floor of the
Faculteit Letteren for the enriching environment they created, based on daily academic and
personal conversations. In fact, not only ideas, books, articles, texts, suggestions, and
questions have been exchanged, but strong friendships have also been developed. These
relations are not only necessary but essential to be able to develop successful projects and
achievements, especially when living abroad. I would like to extend my gratitude to
Professors, Erik Aerts, Hans Cools, Pierre Delsaerdt, Gustaaf Janssens, Jan Roegiers, Eddy
Stols, Violet Soen, and Johan Verbeckmoes, who have always been eager to share their
expertise and to answer any kind of questions. My thanks go also to my dear colleagues,
whom I consider to be valuable friends, who have made the daily working life an enriching,
marvelous life experience. Thanks a lot, dear Violet, Johann, Brecht, Nele, Gert, Christian,
Emma, Nina, Bram, and Ulrike. How could I forget my dear friends and colleagues of the
other historical research units. Thank you Liesbet, Pieter, Marleen, Tessa, Lyvia, Truss,

11
Matthias, Tine, Staf, Agnès, Greet, Evert, Jozef, Joris, Hanneke, Eline, Christophe, Anneleen,
Jens, Josephine, Jan, and Raf. Some of you are already Doctors, some of you are also
completing your PhDs, some others are half way, and some others still have a way to go. To
all of you many thanks for this nice five years in our charming and pleasant fifth floor, and for
the wide array of activities we shared in and outdoors.

However, my personal relation with the Erasmushuis, also includes wonderful

friendships with other colleagues, particularly those related to the Spanish language research
units. Thus, I also want to thank all those good friends that have contributed to make my PhD
an enriching and a great experience, Silvana, Sol, Barbara, Bert, Reindert, Tomás, Seba,
Carla, Patri, and in general the members of our Club Hispánico. I also wish to thank the staff
of the International Office, who have always helped me to find my way in my second home,
Leuven. Particularly, Edmund Guzman, who, have always had an accurate and fast response
to all kind of practical questions. Thank you Edmund.

I am also most grateful to my dear friends/colleagues of the University of Antwerp, the

Erfgoed Bibliotheek and the Felix Stad Archief, who have always been eager to share their
personal knowledge and with whom I developed a valuable network. I should first mention,
my friend Stijn Van Rossem, with whom I had the privilege to explore archives and libraries
in Seville and in Mexico. I am also grateful to Maartje De Wilde, Miguel Ubarri, Steven Van
Impe, and Joost Depuydt.

Since my research project had an international character, I am also greatly indebted to

several colleagues in other countries, for their generous assistance, support and
encouragement. First of all, my two research periods in Seville, were possible thanks to the
financial support of the Spanish CSIC. I am particularly grateful to the Escuela de Estudios
Hispanoamericanos, and his director Salvador Bernabeu, for allowing me to explore the
archives and libraries, of Seville. In Seville I received generous comments and suggestions
from people like Dr.Natalia Maillard, Dr. Pedro Rueda, Dr. Carlos Alberto González Sánchez,
who are all specialists in books' transatlantic history, and from whose knowledge I have
deeply benefited. I am also grateful with the extraordinary friends and colleagues who made
my stays in Seville and unforgettable experience, specifically the team of researchers, with
whom I spent the time between archives, libraries, and enjoying that marvelous city of
Seville, Enrique Camacho, Adela Salas, María Ines Moraes, Zeca Vilardaga, Dafne Corona,
Caroline Cunill, Eleonora Poggio.

12
This thesis has also benefited from the helpful comments of colleagues and scholars like
Sandra Van Ginhoven, who has a great knowledge of international commercial networks, and
Diederik Lanoye, who is an expert on the world of the Flemish edition, and Stijn Van
Rossem, who has a deep knowledge of Flemish booksellers. Moreover, I would like to thank
my appreciated Mexican colleagues, Dr. Enrique González and Dr. Marina Garone, who have
always been eager to show me the wide and interesting world of the books in New Spain, as
well as Ken Ward of the John Carter Brown Library, who has always been extremely
generous in sharing his vast knowledge of booksellers. Thank you Lieve Behiels of Lessius
Antwerp, you have proven to have an eagle-eye in correcting details in my critical apparatus. I
should also thank my colleagues Bram de Ridder, and Christian Pistor, and my friends Jesús
de Prado and John Friday, for their accurate comments and suggestions regarding my non-
perfect English, and also my dear Steven Goossens, who has been busy reading my texts and
making commentaries on their structure.

I cannot overlook all other good friends, and family members, that had supported and
encouraged me during my thesis process on both sides of the Atlantic, and that had also
enriched me as a human being, thanks for sharing their friendship: all my friends in Belgium
(Marilu, Betty, Nelson, Maxi, Laura, Omar, Marcia, Kathleen, Jean-François, Theo, and
Kirsten and her passion to be mentioned in as many acknowledgements as possible,) my good
friends of my Dutch courses (Ewa, Elena and Maciek), my beloved Mexican friends (Daf,
Claudio and Mire), my old high-school friends (Vic, Fran, Edgar, Marco, Lili, Lulú and Ana),
my faculty friends (Martha, Nelly, Isa, Martin and Abraham), and my dear cousins.

A special mention deserves my Belgian family, the Goossens, for welcoming me as

part of their lovely clan, I am particularly grateful to Jeanne and Jos. Another special mention
deserves my own family, my mother, my father, and my brother, because without their love
and support, I would not be writing this acknowledgement. Finally, I would like to thank
Steven, who has shared with me this process from its very beginning, and who has always
been there to help me, encourage me, support me and specially to make me happy. Thank you
Stevie for sharing this endless adventure with me.

Antwerp, November 26, 2012

13
 INTRODUCTION

In November 1655, Rodrigo de Cervellón de Santa Cruz, a Spanish priest from the Canary
Islands died in the city of Merida, the capital of the diocese of Yucatan, where shortly before
he had been appointed as a member of the cathedral's chapter. Following his death, an auction
of his goods was announced and took place in the city's public square. Cervellón had amassed
a small library of 15 books, which were sold there. Virtually all this books had been printed in
Madrid, except for three of them which were issued in Antwerp: a Roman Breviary (1648),
two golden Diurnos or prayer books containing the canonical hours (1650), and another
liturgical book, an Officium Hebdemade Sante (1652).1 This particular case shows two
interesting facts: first the circulation of books within second hand circuits,2 and second, and
most important, the incidence of editions printed in the Southern Netherlands in colonial
libraries even in remote and isolated places like Yucatan. To reach New Spain these editions
were being exported within the commercial axis Antwerp-Seville-Veracruz. Therefore, this
research aims to offer a comprehensive overview involving commercial and cultural circuits
that allowed hundreds of editions printed in the Southern Netherlands to become part of the
bibliographic heritage of New Spain, where, because of their contents they contributed to the
formation of the local scholarly culture, religious and liturgical life, and institutional
operation.

Status Quaestionis

The studies of the relations between the Low Countries and the Hispanic World during the
early modern period have focused on different aspects: commercial and economic, political,
religious, artistic, and cultural. Depending on the approach, the studies followed two main
strands: on the one hand the economic-commercial relations, and on the other hand, the
political ones. In general, the majority of political and/or commercial studies focused on the
period that extends from the early sixteenth-century to the peace of Westphalia in 1648. As a
result, there is hardly any interest for the eighteenth-century especially after the signing of the
Treaty of Utrecht. In contrast, there has been more interest on the contacts established
between Belgium, Spain and the Latin American nations during the nineteenth and twentieth
century.

1
AGI, Contratación, vol. 446, nr. 2, ramo 2. Cervellón had also been treasurer of the cathedral of Cartagena as
well as dean of the cathedral of Caracas.
2
These kind of public auctions will be further mentioned in Chapter IV.

14
A) Commercial and economical relations

The commercial relations are divided into two main axis: Bruges-Iberian Peninsula, and the
most important Antwerp-Iberian Peninsula-with extension to the Spanish Americas. The first
one involves the Spanish nation established in Bruges and its commercial contacts with
Castile and other Kingdoms, however, with the flourishing of Antwerp the commercial
importance of this network clearly diminished. In fact, sixteenth-century Antwerp became a
world center of distribution for an extended range of products, expensive luxuries, as well as
the nucleus of a widely-branched European network of native and foreign merchants. 3 Hence,
the commercial and economic contacts have attracted much attention of the historiography of
early modern trade between the Southern Netherlands and the Iberian World.

In the late nineteenth century Fernand Donnet was possibly one of the first scholars to
notice the distinctive entrepreneurial spirit of the merchants of Bruges and Antwerp to
establish commercial relations between their city and the most distant countries of other
continents, including the Spanish America.4 Some decades later Jan Albert Goris expanded
the economical studies of Antwerp by exploring the economic life of the city during the time
of its greatest prosperity due to commercial and financial transactions in which Portuguese,
Italian and Spanish merchants were engaged, and actively contributing to the economic
development of the city.5 On the other hand, Charles Verlinden and Eddy Stols stressed the
importance of the widespread presence of Flemish citizens in the development of trade
circuits in the Iberian world.6 More specifically, John Everaert and Manuel Bustos Rodríguez
have focused on the activities of Flemish merchant firms at Cadiz during the last quarter of
the seventeenth century.7 Other researchers like Hilario Casado have paid attention to the

3
H. VAN DER WEE, J. MATERNÉ, ‘Antwerp as a World Market in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries’, 25.
4
F. DONNET, Notes pour servir a l'histoire des émigrations anciennes des anversois dans les pays d'outre-mer,
Antwerp, 1897.
5
J.A. GORIS, Étude sur les colonies marchantes meridionales (portugais, espagnols, italiens) à Anvers de 1488 a
1567. Contribution a l’Histoire des débuts du capitalisme moderne, Leuven, 1925. See also: V. VASQUEZ DE
PRADA, Lettres Marchandes D´Anvers, I-III, Paris, 1960.
6
C. VERLINDEN, 'Quelques types de marchands italiens et flamands dans la Péninsule et dans les premières
colonies ibériques au XVe siècle', H. KELLENBENZ ed., Fremde Kaufleute auf der Iberischen Halbinsel,
Cologne,1970, 31-47; E. STOLS, De Spaanse Brabanders of De handelsbetrekkingen der Zuidelijke Nederlanden
met de Iberische wereld 1598–1648, Brussels, 1971; E. STOLS, E. DARGENT-CHAMONT, 'Aventuriers des Pays-
Bas en Amérique hispano-portugaise', R. BLEYS and E. STOLS eds., Flandre et Amérique Latine. 500 ans de
confrontation et métissage, Antwerp, 1993, 41-68.
7
J. EVERAERT, De Internationale en Koloniale Handel der Vlaamse Firma's te Cádiz, 1670-1700, Gent, 1973; M.
BUSTOS RODRÍGUEZ, 'Le Consulat de Flamands à Cadix après la Paix d'Utrecht (1713-1730): Jacques Vermolen'
S. SPANOGHE ed., Orbis in Orbem: Liber amicorum John Everaert, Ghent, 2001, 109-132.

15
Castilian merchants established in Bruges.8 Recently, the role played by Flemish, but
particularly by Dutch merchants and their commercial expansion over the Atlantic World and
its impact on the socioeconomic and cultural history has been studied by Ana Crespo Solana
with an interdisciplinary approach shedding light on the complex, international early modern
trade networks.9

B) Political relations

It comes as no surprise that the political relations established between the Low Countries and
the Spanish Monarchy from the reign of the Catholic Kings, in particular during the time of
Charles V (Charles I of Spain) has garnered much scholarly interest. 10 With regard to Philip II
and the Netherlands, scholars have focused on his policies dealing with the Dutch revolt. 11
Subsequently, the government of the archdukes Isabella Clara Eugenia and Albert, including
the Twelve years Truce, has also been extensively studied.12 With regard to Philip IV, he

8
H. CASADO, 'La nation et le quartier des Castillans de Bruges (XVe et XVIe siècles', Handelingen van het
Gennotschap voor Geschiedenis te Brugge, 133 (1996), 61-77. See also: H. CASADO ed., Castilla y Europa.
Comercio y mercaderes en los siglos XIV, XV y XVI, Burgos, 1995.
9
A. CRESPO SOLANA, El comercio marítimo entre Cádiz y Ámsterdam, 1713-1778, Madrid, 1002; Entre Cádiz y
los Países Bajos: una comunicad mercantil en la ciudad de la ilustración, Cadiz, 2001; Mercaderes Atlánticos.
Redes del comercio flamenco y holandés entre Europa y el Caribe, Córdoba, 2009.
10
The most important general overview of the long relations established between the Southern Netherlands
and the Spanish Monarchy is M.A ECHEVARRÍA BACIGALUPE, Flandes y la Monarquía Hispánica, 1500-1713,
Madrid, 1998. For more recent works see: R. VEMEIR, M. EBBEN, R. FAGEL eds., Agentes y Identidades en
movimiento. España y los Países Bajos, siglos XVI-XVIII, Madrid, 2011. See also W. THOMAS, E. STOLS, 'La
integración de Flandes en la Monarquía Hispánica', W, THOMAS, R. VERDONK eds., Encuentros en Flandes,
Leuven, 2000, 1-73. Regarding the emperor and his relations with his Spanish possessions see: R. KONETZKE
(ed.), Charles-Quint. Et son temps. Paris 30 Septembre-3 Octobre 1958, Paris, 1959; H. SOLY ed., Charles-Quint
1500-1558: l'empereur et son temps, Antwerp, 1999; and its Spanish version H. SOLY ed., Carlos V (1500-1558),
Antwerp-Yuste, 2000. As to the relations established between the Catholic Kings and the Habsburg, see: F.
CHECA ed., Reyes y mecenas. Los Reyes Católicos, Maximiliano I y los inicios de la Casa de Austria en España,
Madrid, 1992; M.A. ZALAMA, P. VANDENBROECK, Felipe I el hermoso. La belleza y la locura, Madrid-Burgos,
2006.
11
See the Philips' II biography by Geoffrey Parker recently reviewed: G. PARKER, S. MARTÍNEZ eds., Felipe II la
biografía definitiva, Barcelona, 2011. Furthermore, the work of Parker, The Dutch Revolt (London, 1971) is still
a good introduction to the conflict. On the Dutch revolt see also: J. ISRAEL, Conflicts of empires: Spain, the Low
Countries and the struggle for world supremacy 1585-1713, London, 1997; Y. RODRÍGUEZ PÉREZ, De
Nederlanden in Spaanse historische en literaire teksten (circa 1548-1673). De Tachtigjarige Oorlog in Spaanse
ogen, Vantilt 2003. Recently Violet Soen has focused on Philip II's policies regarding the conflict in the Low
Countries, see: V. SOEN, 'Philip II's Quest. The Appointment of Governors-General during the Dutch Revolt
(1559-1598)', Bijdragen en Mededelingen Betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden, 126 (2011), 3-29.
12
B. GARCÍA, La Pax Hispanica. Política exterior del duque de Lerma, Leuven, 1996 and because of the 400
anniversary of the Twelve years Truce see: B. GARCÍA coord., Tiempo de paces. La Pax Hispánica y la Tregua de
los Doce Años 1609-2009, Madrid, 2009; W. THOMAS, L. DUERLOO, Albert & Isabella. 1598-1621. Essays,
Turnhout, 1998; see also: D. RAEYMAEKERS, Siempre un pie en palacio: het hof en de hofhouding van de
aartshertogen Albrecht en Isabella, 1598-1621, Doctoral Thesis, University of Antwerp, 2009, A.VERGARA, El
Arte en la Corte de los Archiduques Alberto de Austria e Isabel Clara Eugenia (1598-1633). Un Reino Imaginado,
Madrid, 1999; L. DUERLOO, Dinasty and Piety. Archduke Albert (1598-1621) and Habsburg Political Culture in an
Age of Religious Wars, London, 2012.

16
reigned through the majority of the Thirty Years War, therefore, the studies of the Spanish
policies in the Low Countries during this period have focused on military aspects.13 It seems
that after the Treaty of Utrecht and the transference of the Southern Netherlands to the
Austrian Habsburg, the political studies of the Brussels-Madrid axis (and in general all the
other studies with different approaches) considerably diminish, leaving a so-called
information vacuum about the political relations between Brussels and Madrid throughout the
eighteenth century. This is partly due to the consequences of the War of the Spanish
Succession, along with the increasing importance of the Austrian Netherlands' relations with
France.

Moreover, in contrast to the commercial, cultural and artistic studies, political studies
between the Netherlands and the Iberian World have focused almost exclusively on the
exchange between the Castilian and Burgundian Courts and from the time of Philip II the
attention has been devoted to the Brussels-Madrid axis. Practically no comparative studies
exist between the Spanish policies with the Indies and those intended for the Low Countries.

C) Artistic relations

The exportation, circulation, distribution and impact of cultural goods produced in the
Southern Netherlands within the Hispanic world during the ancien regime is a subject which
offers several possibilities for researchers because of the intense and constant flow of
engravings, paintings, tapestries, carved altars, sculptures, and textiles that reached the Iberian
Peninsula and Spanish America.14 In fact, since the last three quarters of the fifteenth century
Flemish art and its realism and new techniques had a strong appeal to Spanish taste, and was
therefore enthusiastically received in the Iberian Peninsula. By the second half of the
sixteenth century tapestries, paintings and carved altar pieces were in great demand and were

13
B. GARCÍA (ed.), 350 años de la Paz de Westfalia (1648-1998). Del antagonismo a la integración en Europa,
Madrid, 1999; R, VERMEIR, En Estado de Guerra. Felipe IV y Flandes, 1629-1648, Cordoba 2006; As to the
Cardinal Infante Ferdinand and his government in the Spanish Nederlands see: R. LESAFFER, Defensor Pacis
Hispanicae: de kardinaal-infant, de Zuidelijke Nederlanden en de Europese politiek van Spanje: van Nördlingen
tot Breda 1634-1637, Kortrijk, Heule, 1994. Regarding the Army of Flanders see the classic work: G. PARKER,
The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road 1567-1659, Cambridge, 1972. For more recent studies see: F.
GONZÁLEZ DE LEÓN, The Road to Rocroi. Class, Culture and Command in the Spanish Army of Flanders, 1567-
1569, Leiden, 2009.
14
See for instance the catalogue: Splendeurs d'Espagne et les villes belges 1500-1700, 2 vol., Brussels, 1985. See
also the exhaustive review of R. FAGEL, De Hispano-Vlaamse wereld. De contacten tussen Spaanjarden en
Nederlanders, 1496-1555, Brussels-Nijmegen, 1996; W. THOMAS, R. VERDONK eds., Encuentros en Flandes,
Leuven, 2000.

17
being exported in significant amounts across Europe. Thus, the copious Flemish artistic
patrimony that still remains within Spanish collections has been extensively studied.15

The free market and growing demand, especially during the seventeenth century,
provoked a boom in Antwerp's workshops, which were massively producing paintings for
cheaper national and international markets. Antwerp also witnessed the emergence of new
specialized dealers involved with every phase of the business of the art trade. Thus, recent
research focuses on this blooming artistic trade and its various aspects established between the
Southern Netherlands and cities like Seville.16 Additionally, the intermixture of styles, or the
Spanish influences exerted on Flemish artists active in Spain and on the other hand, the
assimilation of Flemish artistic traditions resulting in the so-called Hispano-Flemish style, as
well as the Flemish art adapted to the Spanish taste have been also studied.17 Finally, the
emigration of artisans, painters, sculptors, musicians, and other officers trained in the Low

15
Regarding Flemish painting in Spain see: El arte de Flandes en Santander, Santander, 1974; E. BERMEJO
MARTÍNEZ, La pintura de los Primitivos Flamencos en España, 2 vol, Madrid, 1980-82; A. BALIS et al., La
peinture flamande au Prado, Antwerp, 1989; E. BERMEJO MARTÍNEZ, F. FERNÁNDEZ PARDO eds., Las tablas
flamencos en la ruta Jacobea, León, 1999; De Van Eyck a Rubens. La senda española de los artistas flamencos
en El Prado, Madrid, 2009. Concerning the Flemish patrimony of the Canaries and the Madeira Islands see: C.
NEGRÍN DELGADO, Los Países Bajos y Tenerife: Pinturas del siglo XVI, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1994; F. CHECA, El
fruto de la fe: El legado artístico de Flandes en la isla de la Palma=16de eeuuse Vlaamse Kunst van het Eiland La
Palma, Madrid, 2005; C. NEGRÍN DELGADO ed., Ruta del azúcar y su cultura en las Islas Atlánticas. El arte de
Flandes en Madeira y Canarias, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 2006. As to sculpture see: R. DIDIER, 'L'art hispano-
flamand. Refléxions critiques. Considérations concernant des sculptures espagnoles et brabançonnes', Actas
del Congreso sobre Gil Siloe y la escultura de su época, Burgos 13-16 de Octubre de 1999, Burgos, 2001; F.
FERNÁNDEZ PARDO ed., La escultura en la ruta Jacobea. Arnao de Bruselas, Logroño, 2005. With regard to
carved altarpieces see: M.J. GÓMEZ BÁRCENA, Retablos flamencos en España, Cuadernos de Arte Español, 47,
Madrid-Barcelona, 1992. See also: L. JACOBS, Early Netherlandish Carved Altarpieces, 1380-1550. Medieval
tastes and Mass Marketing, Cambridge, 1998.
16
See: E. HONING, Painting and the market in early modern Antwerp, New Haven, 1998; N. DE MARCHI, H. VAN
MIEGROET, 'Exploring markets for Netherlandish Paintings in Spain and Nueva España', Nederlands
Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, 50 (1999), 81-111; F. VERMEYLEN, 'Exporting Art across the Globe. The Antwerp Art
Market in the Sixteenth Century', Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, Kunst voor de Markt, 50 (1999), 13-30;
H. VLIEGHE, A. BALIS eds., Concept, design & execution in Flemish painting (1550-1700), Turnhout, 2000; F.
VERMEYLEN, 'The Commercialization of Art: Painting and Sculpture in Sixteenth Century Antwerp', Early
Netherlandish Painting at the Crossroads, A Critical Look at Current Methodologies, New York, 2001, 46-61; N.
DE MARCHI, J. VAN MIEGROET eds., Mapping Markets for Paintings in Europe, 1450-1750, Turnhout, 2006.
Currently Sandra Van Ginhoven of Duke University writes her doctoral thesis on the Antwerp-firm of the
Musson family, specialized on the business art between Antwerp and Seville during the second half of the
seventeenth century.
17
Concerning Flemish influences on Spanish painting see: F.B. DOMÉNECH, La clave flamenco en los primitivos
valencianos, Valencia, 2001; J. FOUCART, La pintura gótica hispanoflamenca. Bartolomé Bermejo y su época,
Barcelona, 2003. Among the most recent contributions on the adaptation of Flemish art to Spanish taste see: D.
MARTENS, Peinture Flamande et goût Ibérique aux XVème et XVIème siècles, Brussels, 2010.

18
Countries and active in Spain has also been documented thanks to the abundant works they
left behind throughout the Iberian Kingdoms.18

In regard to the contacts with Latin America, scholars have focused on artistic and
cultural exchanges established within the Antwerp-Iberian Peninsula axis (normally Seville
and subsequently Cadiz)-Spanish America, as well as on the presence of Flemish artists and
artisans active in Spanish America. New Spain, Peru and Brazil are the regions with more
studies available. In 1945, Diego Ángulo Iñiguez, was the first to point out the influence of
Northern European engravings, particularly of the sixteenth century on colonial Latin
American art.19 Certainly, the Indian and then the mestizo, criollo or European artists active in
colonial Latin America quickly adopted Flemish models, which could be exploited as an
endless source for their own artistic development. Indeed the engravings issued from Flanders
soon became one of the most important sources in the development of colonial art throughout
Spanish America.

A few years later and in the same line, Manuel Toussaint noted the influence of Flemish
Art in the cultural process of cultural and artistic formation in New Spain, arguing that along
with Spain, Flanders had significantly contributed in the consolidation of the new colonial
culture.20 Toussaint also drew attention to Simon Pereyns, a painter born in Antwerp and
active in New Spain from 1566 to 1599. Toussaint considered him as a key figure to
understand the influences of Flemish art in New Spain.21 In addition, Francisco de la Maza
stated the importance of the work of the Flemish sixteenth-century master Maerten or Martin

18
E. HAVERKAMP BEGEMANN, 'Juan de Flandes y los Reyes Católicos', Archivo Español de Arte, XXV (1952),
237-247; J. BRANS, Vlaamse schilders in dienst der koningen van Spanje, Leuven, 1959; I. VANDEVIVERE, Juan
de Flandes, Brussels, 1985, With regard to musicians see: E. VAN DER STRAETEN, Les musiciens néerlandais en
Espagne du douzième au dix-huitième siècle, 2 vol., Brussels, 1885-1888; P. BECQUART, Musiciens néerlandais à
la Cour de Madrid. Philippe Rogier et son école (1560-1647), Brussels, 1967; L. ROBLEDO, 'La Capilla Real entre
Felipe el Hermoso y Felipe II: su influencia en la música española', W. THOMAS, R. VERDONK eds., Encuentros
en Flandes, Leuven, 2000, 291-310. See also: E. FÉTIS, Les artistes belges à l'étranger, 2 vol., 1857; G. KUBLER,
Building the Escorial, Princenton, 1982.
19
D. ÁNGULO IÑIGUEZ, 'Algunas huellas de Schongauer y Durero en México', Archivo Español de Arte, 72
(1945).
20
M. TOUSSAINT, El Arte Flamenco en Nueva España, Mexico, 1949.
21
M. TOUSSAINT, 'Documentos para la Historia del Arte en México. Proceso y denuncias contra Simón Pereyns
en la Inquisición de México', Suplemento de Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, 2 (1938), 38. In
fact, Simón Pereyns has been considered as the first important European painter to arrive in the so-called 'New
World'. Pereyns was a typical representative of the Antwerp Romanist style See also: J.G. VICTORIA, 'Un pintor
flamenco en Nueva España: Simón Pereyns', Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, XIV, 55 (1986),
69-84.

19
de Vos on the Mexican colonial painting.22 The figure of Rubens and his impact on New
Spain has also been one of the most important concerns regarding painting in New Spain.23

The Columbus Quincentenary (1992) sparked renewed interest in the study of

exchanges between the Low Countries and the Americas and several contributions relevant to
it have since appeared, mainly focusing on artistic and cultural topics, such as the catalogue of
the exhibition America bride of the sun,24 and Flandre et Amérique Latine.25 Furthermore, an
active exchange of art exhibitions displayed both in Mexico and Belgium has generated a
growing interest of the general public on the artistic patrimony as well as on the cultural
exchanges between the two countries.26

Thus, since 1992, scholars have focused their attention on the influence exerted by the
Southern Netherlands' artistic output in colonial painting, particularly in New Spain and the
Andes, by focusing on three aspects: first, the artists born in Flanders and trained in Europe

22
F. DE LA MAZA, El Pintor Martín de Vos en Mexico, México, 1971.
23
See for instance: R. RUIZ GOMAR, 'Rubens en la pintura novohispana de mediados del siglo XVII' in Anales de
Investigaciones Estéticas, 50-1 (1982), 87-101.
24
America Bride of the Sun, P. VANDENBROECK ed., Antwerp, 1992. This extensive catalogue contains several
contributions dealing with artistic exchanges and influences between the Low Countries and Latin America
from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century such as: R. FABRI, 'Luxury furniture from Antwerp in Latin
America', 49-56; N. LOVERA DE NAVARRO, 'Contributions of the Franciscan brother Peter of Ghent to the
painting and architecture of New Spain', 69-78; J. DE MESA, 'The Flemish Influence in Andean Art', 179-188; P.
VANDENBROECK, 'Amerindian art and ornamental objects in royal collections. Brussels, Mechelen,
Duurstede,1520-1530' 99-120; P. VANDENBROECK, 'Missionary iconography on both sides of the Atlantic
(Mechelen -Tunja -Cuzco), 77-96.
25
Flandre et Amérique latine. 500 ans de confrontation et métissage, E. STOLS, R. BLEYS eds., Antwerp, 1993.
Also contained several studies regarding art, commerce, culture, evangelization and book exchanges between
the Southern Netherlands and Latin America. Among the artistic contributions see: J. DE MESA, T. GISBERT, 'La
Flandre et le Monde andin', 169-198; J.G. VICTORIA, 'Présence de l'Art flamand en Nouvelle-Espagne', 155-168.
There are also several contributions regarding the nineteenth and twentieth century: R. BLEYS, 'La Muse
d'Outre-mer: Relations artistiques aux XXe siècle, 369-384; G. GOMES DA SILVA, 'L'Architecture métallique
belge en Amérique Latine' 353-368; E. STOLS, 'Présences belges dans la Modernisation de l'Amérique latine',
229-242; G. VAN BEECK, 'Architectes et Constructeurs belges en Amérique Latine', 337-352.
26
In 1993 the major international art festival Europalia (held every two years in Brussels to celebrate one
invited country's cultural heritage), Mexico was the invited country. See the catalogue Europalia México,
Brussels, 1993. The last edition of Europalia (2011) Brazil was the invited country. See the main catalogue,
Brazil-Brasil, Europalia, Brussels, 2011. In 2010 the BOZAR of Brussels hosted the festival of Mexico in which
two exhibitions devoted to Mexican art from the Prehispanic time to modern Mexico and to Frida Kahlo's
paintings were the two principal events. See the main catalogue: Imágenes del Mexicano, Brussels-Mexico,
2010. On the other hand, Mexico City has hosted different exhibitions focused on Flemish seventeenth-century
art and Belgian modern art. For example, Rubens y su siglo, exhibited in the Museum of San Carlos. Rubens y su
siglo, Mexico, 1998. On this catalogue see especially the contribution of Rogelio Ruiz Gomar: R. RUIZ GOMAR
'La presencia de Rubens en la pintura colonial de la Nueva España', Rubens y su siglo, Mexico, 1998, 47-58.
Recently an exhibition on Flemish seventeenth-century formed with pieces of the Museum of Royal Arts in
Antwerp was exhibited at the Museo Nacional de Arte (MUNAL) in Mexico City, see catalogue: Arte Flamenco
del siglo XVII, Mexico-Brussels, 2012.

20
who were active in the viceroyalties,27 second, the various types of artistic works exported to
the New World, especially paintings,28 and third, the artistic influence of Flemish engravings
in the artistic schools of both the Spanish and Portuguese Americas.29

D) The history of bibliographic exchanges

The book output and further exportation from the Southern Netherlands to the Iberian World
was part of the active cultural and economic exchanges between the two regions. However,
due to its own specific characteristics book trade required separate studies, since Peeters-
Fontainas published in 1933 his pioneer study Bibliographie des Impressions Espagnoles des
Pays-Bas,30 he highlighted the importance of the Spanish-language output of the presses in
the Southern Netherlands, particularly of Antwerp. This study allowed for analysis of a large
and wide-ranging bibliographical production that led to the use of different groups of readers

27
In this line there are studies devoted to the activities of the Antwerp painter Diego de Borgraf, active in
Puebla from 1640 to 1653. See: F. RODRÍGUEZ MIAJA, Diego de Borgraf: un destello en la noche de los tiempos.
Obra pictórica, Puebla, 2001. There are also studies of the engraver born in Antwerp, namely, Samuel
Estradanus. (Samuel van der Sraeten?), who was active in New Spain during the first half of the seventeenth
century. See: M. MATHES, 'Los flamencos en las artes gráficas en Nueva España en los siglos XVI y XVII: Cornelio
Adrián César, Enrico Martínez y Samuel Stradanus (van der Straet)', L. PÉREZ ROSALES, A. VAN DER SLUIS eds.,
Memorias e historias compartidas: intercambios culturales, relaciones comerciales y diplomáticas entre México
y los Países Bajos, siglos XVI-XX, Mexico, 2009, 41-69. Recently, Clara Bargellini found new engravings signed by
Stradanus.
28
Regarding 'lámina sobre cobre' (small paintings executed in copper or linen) exported from Europe to New
Spain see: C. BARGELLINI, 'La pintura sobre lámina de cobre en los virreinatos de la Nueva España y del Perú',
Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, 74-75 (1999), 79-98. See also Bargellini's recent considerations
on colonial painting: C. BARGELLINI, 'Originality and Invention in the Painting of New Spain', Painting a New
World. Mexican Art and Life 1521-1821, Denver, 2004, 79-91; C. BARGELLINI, 'Painting in Colonial Latin
America', The Arts in Latin America 1492-1820, Philadelphia, 2006, 322-334. See also the works on New Spain
painting by Rogelio Ruiz Gomar: 'Unique Expressions: Painting in New Spain', Painting a New World. Mexican
Art and Life 1521-1821, Denver, 2004, 47-78. See also the recent overview prepared by Valérie Herremans and
Nico Van Hout: V. HERREMANS, N. VAN HOUT, 'The influence of the Southern Low Countries on painting in
New Spain', Arte Flamenco del siglo XVII. Colección del Museo Real de Bellas Artes de Amberes Mexico-Brussels,
2012, 196-203.
29
See the recent studies of P. ESCALANTE and M. OLMEDO, 'La influencia del grabado flamenco en la Nueva
España', en W. THOMAS and E. STOLS (eds.), Un mundo sobre papel: Libros y grabados flamencos en el imperio
Hispanoportugués (siglos XVI-XVIII), Leuven, 2009, 199-212, A. BOHRER, 'Os missais de Plantin e outras
reminiscencias flamengas no barroco mineiro', W. THOMAS and E. STOLS, coords., Un mundo sobre papel:
Libros y grabados flamencos en el imperio Hispanoportugués (siglos XVI-XVIII), Leuven, 2009, 261-279; C.
MANRIQUE FIGUEROA, 'Maerten de Vos' paintings of Cuautitlán. New insights, new perspectives', Arte
Flamenco del siglo XVII. Colección del Museo Real de Bellas Artes de Amberes, Brussels-Mexico, 214-219. In fact,
all the current systematic research on colonial painting includes a part devoted to the European graphic
sources used as a source of inspiration. See for instance the project PESSCA: Project on the Engraved Sources of
Spanish Colonial Art, launched at the University of California as an effort to provide a database of
correspondences between engravings and paintings within the Iberoamerican colonial art. See:
http://colonialart.org/us.
30
J.L. PEETERS-FONTAINAS, 'Bibliographie des Impressions Espagnoles des Pays-Bas', De Gulden Passer, 11
(1933). For a more recent overview of the Antwerp Spanish-language output see: J. MOLL, 'Amberes y el
mundo hispano del libro', in W. THOMAS, R. VERDONK (eds.), Encuentros en Flandes, Leuven, 2000, 117-132.

21
throughout the Spanish world including the Low Countries. Consequently, researchers have
focused their efforts on the rise of Antwerp as a significant centre of Spanish vernacular
editions that occurred in the city's golden age between 1540 and 1560. During this period the
careers of two Antwerp publishers stand out: those of Joannes Steelsius,31 and Martinus
Nutius,32 whose editorial activities will be further analyzed.

A renewed interest followed the homage of the 400th anniversary of Christophe

Plantin's death (ca. 1520-1589), which was not far in time from the Quincentenary of
Columbus. Therefore, between 1989-1992 relevant scientific studies focused on the relations
of Christophe Plantin and the Iberian World, such as those of Frans Robben,33 and Francine
de Nave,34 which were published in conjunction with these two commemorations.
Subsequently, in 1995, the Fundación Carlos de Amberes issued the catalogue Cristóbal
Plantino, Un siglo de intercambios culturales entre Amberes y Madrid, in which well-known
Spanish researchers, such as Jaime Moll and Felipe Bouza focused on the impact of Plantin's
books in the Spanish printing industry, as well as on Philip II's books policy. 35 It is not
surprising that the figure of Benito Arias Montano and his extensive collaboration with the
Officina Plantiniana has attracted much attention from Spanish historiography.36 In fact, some
of the master pieces of the Flemish printing press realized by Christophe Plantin have been
lengthily studied, such as the largest typographical venture of the whole sixteenth century, the
Polyglot Bible of Antwerp or the Biblia Sacra Hebraice Chaldaice, Graece et Latina, Cura et
Studio Benedict Ariae Montani, issued in eight volumes between 1569–1573 by Christophe

31
Joannes Steelsius started his fruitful career in 1533, he remained active in Antwerp until 1562 when his
widow and heirs took over his print shop. See: Pedro R. LEÓN, 'Brief Notes on Some 16th Century Antwerp
Printers with Special Reference to Jean Steelsius and his Hispanic Bibliography'. in De Gulden Passer 54 (1976),
78–81.
32
Martinus Nutius was active in Antwerp from 1539–40 to 1558, See: for J.L. PEETERS-FONTAINAS, 'L’Officine
espagnole de Martin Nutius à Anvers', De Gulden Passer, 35 (1957), 1–104.
33
F. ROBBEN, 'De relaties van Christoffel Plantijn met de boekhandel in Spanje: een voorlopige inventaris', M.
DE SCHEPPER and F. DE NAVE eds., Ex Officina Plantiniana. Studia in memoria Christophoro Plantini (1520-
1589), Antwerp, 1989 [ = De Gulden Passer 66-67 (1988-1989), 399-418, F. ROBBEN, Cristóbal Plantino, (1520-
1589) y España, Madrid, 1989, F. ROBBEN, 'Juan de Pullman, librero y agente de la Oficina Plantiniana en
Salamanca (ca. 1579-1609), un avance', Simposio Internacional sobre Cristóbal Plantino, Madrid, 1990, 53-61, F.
ROBBEN, 'L'univers du livre à Anvers et ses relations avec l'Espagne au XVIème et XVIIème siècle', F. DE NAVE
coord., Christophe Plantin et le Monde Ibérique, Antwerp, 1992.
34
F. DE NAVE coord., Christophe Plantin et le Monde Ibérique, Antwerp, 1992.
35
J. MOLL, 'Plantino y la industria editorial española', F. CHECA ed., Cristóbal Plantino: un siglo de intercambios
culturales entre Amberes y Madrid, Madrid, 1995, 11-30., F. BOUZA, 'De política y tipografía en torno a Felipe II
y los Países Bajos', F. CHECA ed., Cristóbal Plantino: un siglo de intercambios culturales entre Amberes y Madrid,
Madrid, 1995, 31-52.
36
V. BÉCARES BOTAS, Arias Montano y Plantino: el libro flamenco en la España de Felipe II, León, 1999, V.
BÉCARES BOTAS and A. DÁVILA PÉREZ, Benito Arias Montano, correspondencia conservada en el Museo Plantin
Moretus de Amberes, 2 vols., Madrid, 2002.

22
Plantin under the royal auspice of Philip II and in collaboration with the Spanish humanist
Benito Arias Montano.37

Up to this point, what primarily distinguished the Spanish studies from the Belgian
ones, is that the former have strongly linked the figure of Philip II, his political and cultural
policies to the Officina Plantiniana, while the latter have focused on the Officina's trade
activities per se. Furthermore, the exceptional archive kept at the Museum Plantin-Moretus
provides invaluable data for the Plantinian studies from the time of Christophe Plantin and
throughout the era of his heirs and descendants, the Moretuses.38 Finally, some other studies
have investigated the influence of Flemish authors in the scholarly world of the
viceroyalties.39

Recently, the exhibition Un mundo sobre papel brought together a large number of
specialists focusing on different aspects of the exchanges between the Southern Netherlands
and Iberoamerica,40 such as the commercialization of the Spanish editions issued by the
Officina Plantiniana during the seventeenth and the eighteenth century,41 the contacts of other
printing families of Antwerp with Spanish clients,42 the circulation of Southern Netherlands
books both in the viceroyalty of New Spain, Peru, and colonial Brazil.43 The circulation of

37
F. PÉREZ CASTRO, L. VOET, La Biblia Políglota de Amberes, Madrid 1973. See also: J. MOLL, 'Una imprenta
para la Biblia Regia', in W. THOMAS, R. VERDONK (eds.), Encuentros en Flandes, Leuven, 2000, 319-326; A.
SÁENZ-BADILLOS, 'Arias Montano y la Biblia Políglota de Amberes', in W. THOMAS, R. VERDONK (eds.),
Encuentros en Flandes, Leuven, 2000, 327-340.
38
An improved and recent catalogue of the Museum Plantin's archive is provided by C. COPPENS, 'The Plantin
Moretus Archives: an index to Jan Denucé's inventory of 1926', De Gulden Passer, 76-77 (1998-1999), 333-349.
39
See for instance the Works on Neostoicism particularly the influence of Justus Lipsius: P. SCHMIDT,
'Neoestoicismo y disciplinamiento social en Iberoamérica colonial siglo XVII' in K. KOHUT and S. ROSE (eds.),
Pensamiento europeo y cultura colonial, Frankfurt-Madrid, 1997, 189-191; L. SCHWARTZ, 'Justo Lipsio en
Quevedo: Neoestoicismo, política y sátira', in W. THOMAS, R. VERDONK (eds.), Encuentros en Flandes, Leuven,
2000, 227-276.
40
The exhibition took place at the Museum Plantin Moretus from April 18 to July 19, 2009. See the catalogue:
W. THOMAS and E. STOLS, coords., Un mundo sobre papel: Libros y grabados flamencos en el imperio
Hispanoportugués (siglos XVI-XVIII), Leuven, 2009. The book was also published in Dutch: Een wereld op papier.
Zuid-Nederlandse boeken, prenten en kaarten in het Spaanse en Portugese wereldrijk (16de-18de eeuw),
Leuven, 2009.
41
D. IMHOF, 'Las ediciones españolas de la Oficina Plantiniana', W. THOMAS and E. STOLS, coords., Un mundo
sobre papel: Libros y grabados flamencos en el imperio Hispanoportugués (siglos XVI-XVIII), Leuven, 2009, 63-
82.
42
S. VAN ROSSEM, 'La imprenta de los Verdussen y la comercialización de sus libros en el mundo ibérico e
iberoamericano', W. THOMAS and E. STOLS, coords., Un mundo sobre papel: Libros y grabados flamencos en el
imperio Hispanoportugués (siglos XVI-XVIII), Leuven, 2009, 83-100. Currently Stijn Van Rossem of the University
of Antwerp is finishing his doctoral thesis on the Verdussen family and their editorial and commercial activity.
43
E. GONZÁLEZ, 'Libros de Flandes en la Nueva España', W. THOMAS and E. STOLS, coords., Un mundo sobre
papel: Libros y grabados flamencos en el imperio Hispanoportugués (siglos XVI-XVIII), Leuven, 2009, 183-198,
and C. SALAZAR-SOLER, 'El libro de los Países Bajos Meridionales en el Perú', W. THOMAS and E. STOLS, coords.,
Un mundo sobre papel: Libros y grabados flamencos en el imperio Hispanoportugués (siglos XVI-XVIII), Leuven,

23
printings from the Southern Netherlands in China is another theme of the book.44 Some other
topics discussed in depth are: the circulation of news and the representation of the American
continent in books printed in the Southern Netherlands,45 the technical impact of the Antwerp
typography in Mexican typography, particularly the Plantinian typography, as well as the
expertise of Flemish masters in developing the Iberian and Iberoamerican printing press.46
The impact and circulation of military books written by Spanish authors published in the
Southern Netherlands was also a significant topic of interest.47 In summary, Un mundo sobre
papel sparked fresh interest in transatlantic relations.

Since book exportation from Antwerp to the Americas was not direct, but always using
the distribution mechanisms of the so-called Carrera de Indias, the study of book trade
between Spain and the viceroyalties in America complements and explains the way books
published in the Southern Netherlands were shipped and distributed across the Atlantic.
Authors like Irving Leonard and José Torre Revello were pioneers in stressing the
importance of the Carrera de Indias in the distribution of European books in Spanish
America during the 1940s,48 these studies have recently become increasingly important
during the last ten years because of the research conducted by a group of scholars at
the University of Seville and
2009, 218-233, I. KANTOR, 'Impressos flamengos nas academias coloniais. Os leitores brasileiros de Ortelius e
Justus Lipsius', W. THOMAS and E. STOLS, coords., Un mundo sobre papel: Libros y grabados flamencos en el
imperio Hispanoportugués (siglos XVI-XVIII), Leuven, 2009, 253-259.
44
N. GOLVERS, 'La circulación de impresos procedentes de los Países Bajos Meridionales en China en los siglos
XVII y XVIII', W. THOMAS and E. STOLS, coords., Un mundo sobre papel: Libros y grabados flamencos en el
imperio Hispanoportugués (siglos XVI-XVIII), Leuven, 2009, 283-302. See also the recent book OF THE SPREAD
and penetration of Western books in China: N. GOLVERS, Libraries for Western Learning for China. Circulation
of Western books between Europe and China in the Jesuit Mission (ca., 1650- ca. 1750). Vol. 1 Logistics for book
acquisition and circulation, Leuven, 2012.
45
R. PIEPER, 'El Nuevo Mundo en los impresos flamencos del siglo XVI', W. THOMAS and E. STOLS, coords., Un
mundo sobre papel: Libros y grabados flamencos en el imperio Hispanoportugués (siglos XVI-XVIII), Leuven,
2009, 305-314.
46
M. GARONE, 'La tipografía de la Officina Plantiniana. Impacto y trascendencia en las imprentas
hispanoamericanas', W. THOMAS and E. STOLS, coords., Un mundo sobre papel: Libros y grabados flamencos en
el imperio Hispanoportugués (siglos XVI-XVIII), Leuven, 2009, 317-338; W. THOMAS, 'Los impresores de los
Países Bajos Meridionales en España e Hispanoamérica', W. THOMAS and E. STOLS, coords., Un mundo sobre
papel: Libros y grabados flamencos en el imperio Hispanoportugués (siglos XVI-XVIII), Leuven, 2009, 147-166;
47
P. LOMBAERDE, 'Los tratados de artillería, guerra y fortificación realizados en los Países Bajos Meridionales',
W. THOMAS and E. STOLS, coords., Un mundo sobre papel: Libros y grabados flamencos en el imperio
Hispanoportugués (siglos XVI-XVIII), Leuven, 2009, 339-362.
48
See: LEONARD, I.A. 'A shipment of Comedias to the Indies', Hispanic Review, 2-1 (1934), 39-50; Books of the
Brave. Being an account of books and of men in the Spanish Conquest and settlement of the sixteenth-century
New World, Cambridge, 1949; 'On the Mexican book trade, 1576', The Hispanic Review, 17-1 (1949), 18-34; 'On
the Mexican Book trade in 1600: A chapter in cultural history', Hispanic Review, 9-1 (1941), 1-40; 'On the
Mexican Book Trade, 1683', The Hispanic American Historical Review, 27-3 (1947), 403-435; 'Spanish Ship-
Board Reading in the Sixteenth Century', Hispania, 32-1 (1949), 53-58. See also: J.TORRE REVELLO, El libro, la
imprenta y el periodismo en América durante la dominación española, Buenos Aires, 1940; 'Sixteenth-Century
Reading in the Indies', The Americas, 14-2 (1957), 175-182.

24
other institutions, who analyzed the role played by booksellers (mostly based in Seville) in
supplying or generating a bibliographic demand in the Indies, as well as the mechanisms of
book distribution characteristic of the Carrera de Indias, this research has been possible
thanks to the archival sources kept in archives of Seville and Cadiz, particularly the Archivo
de Indias and the archives of Protocolos Notariales of both cities.49

As far as current Latin American Historiography, it has produced several

works concerning the multiple relations established between readers and books during
the Viceroyal period, as well as the circulation, reception and diffusion of written
culture, particularly in Peru,50 and New Spain.51 As in Europe, this research has been
strongly influenced by authors like Roger Chartier and Robert Darnton, who have
defined the field of study on the history of the book.52

49
See: GONZÁLEZ SÁNCHEZ, C.A., Atlantes de papel, adoctrinamiento, creación y tipografía en la Monarquía
Hispánica de los siglos XVI y XVII, Barcelona, 2008; Homo Viator, homo scribens. Cultura gráfica, información y
gobierno en la expansión atlántica (siglos XV-XVII), Madrid, 2007; GONZÁLEZ SÁNCHEZ, C.A. and MAILLARD
ÁLVAREZ, N., Orbe tipográfico: el mercado del libro en la Sevilla de la segunda mitad del siglo XVI. Gijón, 2003;
MAILLARD ÁLVAREZ, N., Circulación y Difusión de la Cultura Escrita en Sevilla. 1550-1600, Doctoral thesis,
Universidad de Sevilla, Facultad de Historia Moderna, 2007; 'El mercado del libro en Sevilla durante el reinado
de Felipe II', P.M. CÁTEDRA, M.I. PÁIZ, M.L. LÓPEZ VIDRIERO coords, La memoria de los libros, estudios sobre la
historia del escrito y la lectura en Europa y América, II, Madrid, 2004, 547-566. P. RUEDA RAMÍREZ: 'El comercio
de libros en la Carrera de Indias (1601-1650)', C. CASTAÑEDA and M. CORTÉS coords., Del autor al lector I.
Historia del libro en México, II, Mexico, 2002, 45-70; 'El contrabando de libros en la carrera de Indias: una
faceta poco conocida del comercio del libro', M.F. FERNÁNDEZ, C.A. GONZÁLEZ SÁNCHEZ and N. MAILLARD,
coords., Testigo del tiempo, memoria del universo. Cultura escrita y sociedad en el mundo ibérico (siglos XV-
XVIII), Seville, 2009, 153-174; 'El librero sevillano Antonio de Toro en el negocio del libro con América durante
el siglo XVII', M.P GUTIÉRREZ coord., Impresos y libros en la historia económica de México (siglos XVI-XIX),
Guadalajara, 2007, 41-75; 'La circulación de libros entre el viejo y el nuevo mundo en la Sevilla de finales del
siglo XVI y comienzos del siglo XVII', Cuadernos de Historia Moderna, 22 (1999), 79-105; 'La vigilancia
inquisitorial del libro con destino a América en el siglo XVII', C.A. GONZÁLEZ SÁNCHEZ and E. VILA comp.,
Grafías del imaginario. Representaciones culturales en España y América (siglos XVI-XVIII), Mexico, 2003, 140-
156; 'Libros a la mar: el libro en las redes comerciales de la Carrera de Indias', A. CASTILLO GÓMEZ ed., Libro y
Lectura en la Península Ibérica y América (siglos XIII a XVIII), Salamanca, 2003, 189-208; Mercaderes y libros en
la Carrera de Indias a finales del reinado de Felipe II', J.L. PEREIRA coord., Felipe II y su tiempo, I, Cadiz, 1999,
565-572; Negocio e intercambio cultural, el comercio de libros con América en la carrera de Indias, Seville, 2005.
50
T. MARTÍNEZ HAMPE, Bibliotecas privadas en el mundo colonial: la difusión de libros e ideas en el virreinato
del Perú,(siglos XVI-XVII), Frankfurt 1996; P. GUIVOBICH PÉREZ, ‘Bibliotecas de médicos en Lima colonial’, C.
CASTAÑEDA and M. CORTÉS coords., Del autor al lector. I Historia del libro en México, II. Historia del libro,
Mexico, 2002, 293-304.
51
See the different studies compiled in works like: C. CASTAÑEDA and M. CORTÉS coords., Del autor al lector. I
Historia del libro en México, II. Historia del libro, Mexico, 2002; M.P. GUTIÉRREZ LORENZO coord., Impresos y
libros en la historia económica de México (siglos XVI-XIX), Guadalajara, 2007; I. GARCÍA AGUILAR and P. RUEDA
RAMÍREZ, Leer en tiempos de la colonia: imprenta, bibliotecas y lectores en la Nueva España, Mexico, 2010; M.
GARONE GRANVIER ed., Miradas a la cultura del libro en Puebla. Bibliotecas, tipógrafos, grabadores, libreros y
ediciones en la época colonial, Mexico, Puebla, 2012.
52
C. CASTAÑEDA, 'Prólogo', C. CASTAÑEDA and M. CORTÉS coords., Del autor al lector. I Historia del libro en
México, II. Historia del libro, Mexico, 2002, 7.

25
Research Aim and Methodology

Despite this growing interest, there has been a lack of extensive and systematic research
focusing on the exportation of the editions specifically issued in the Southern Netherlands to
the Spanish and Portuguese Americas -via the aforementioned Carrera de Indias- from the
sixteenth to the eighteenth century. Moreover, little attention has been paid to the accurate
identification, reception, circulation and possible impact of these editions in the scholarly
colonial context. Finally, as of yet there does not exist a general overview of the still copious
bibliographic patrimony printed in the Southern Netherlands that belonged to colonial
libraries and that still remains a part of Latin American collections.

Beginning in 2008 the University of Leuven (KUL) launched the project (under the
direction of Doctor Werner Thomas) The infrastructure of globalization. The Printing press
in the Southern Netherlands and the construction of the Spanish colonial empire in Latin
America. The project aims to analyze the circulation, presence and assimilation of the editions
published in the Southern Netherlands within the colonial world, highlighting the commercial
circuits or configurations of book trade between Antwerp, the Iberian Peninsula and
Iberoamerica, as well as the circulation and consumption of these particular editions within
the circles of scholars in the American viceroyalties.

These editions have a decisive influence in the diffusion of European knowledge, taking
part in the formation of libraries and enriching the intellectual colonial culture, which sources
were to a lesser or greater extent non-Spanish editions.53 Therefore, this doctoral research
forms part of this wider-ranging global project, focusing on the case of New Spain from 1521
to 1800,54 and seeks to provide a contribution not only in the field of the history of book but

53
Results of the Project have been presented in international colloques and simposia in the Belgium, the
Netherlands and Mexico. See: W. THOMAS, C. MANRIQUE FIGUEROA, 'La Infraestructura de la Globalización: La
Imprenta Flamenca y la Construcción del Imperio Hispánico en América', in P. COLLARD, M. UBARRI (eds.),
Actas del III Congreso de la AHBx. Encuentros, desencuentros, reencuentros: Flandes, Países Bajos y el mundo
hispánico en los ss. xvi-xvii, Ghent, 2009, 43-69. See also: C. MANRIQUE FIGUEROA, 'From Antwerp to Veracruz.
Looking for books from the Southern Netherlands in Mexican colonial libraries', in De Gulden Passer, 87, 2
(2009), 93-112.
54
Three other scholars of the department of the University of Leuven: Ulrike Fuss and César Esponda currently
work on the areas of the viceroyalty of Peru and New Granada/Río de La Plata respectively. In the future it is
possible that the project will explore the exportation and circulation of editions of the Southern Netherlands in
Portuguese America, Goa or Philippines. Finally, Christian Pistor investigates the role of the Southern
Netherlands as a hub of translation within the Spanish empire, playing a relevant role in the dissemination of
knowledge at a local, regional and international level.

26
also in the cultural and commercial history, by investigating four main circuits or categories:
first, book production or the identification of printers of the Southern Netherlands involved
with the output of editions exported abroad, this category analyzes not only the historical
conjunctures that allow book trade to thrive between the two regions, but also identifies the
private entrepreneurs involved with this international trade; second, book distribution or the
configuration of commercial networks. Otherwise stated, the strategies developed to configure
international book circuits towards the Hispanic World and their particular characteristics will
be analyzed; third, book consumption or the penetration of those foreign books or foreign
bibliographic knowledge into the viceroyalty of New Spain with particular emphasis on the
scholarly circles and urban hubs, where this bibliographic knowledge was assimilated and/or
reshaped within the local context; fourth, the juridical frame that directly or indirectly
contributed to the free circulation or prohibition of these editions within the Hispanic World.

For this research a number of sources and studies of three different geographical areas
were collected. These sources are linked by the axis: Low Countries-Castile-New Spain or
more specifically the commercial axis: Antwerp-Seville-Veracruz. To analyze the book
production category it was first necessary to identify the editions of the Southern Netherlands
exported to New Spain that either left traces on archival records or that are still available in
current collections. Due to the extended period of time covered by this research (from
the sixteenth until the end of the eighteenth century) and because of the immense
territory of what was known as the viceroyalty of New Spain,55 it was necessary to
delimit the geographical boundaries of such a huge territory. As a consequence
attention was focused on the central areas of the viceroyalty (the bishoprics of Mexico,
Puebla, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Guadalajara, as well as Durango and Chiapa or
Chiapas), where the richest institutional and private libraries were to be found,
within the most important urban centers that flourished and developed during the
viceroyalty.

Virtually all the viceroyal religious libraries in Mexico City were incorporated into
public collections of the Mexican state during the turbulent nineteenth century,56 due to the
proclamation of the ‘reform laws’ 1859-1860 (under president Juárez’ government),57 that
55
Which included vast areas of the present USA, the Spanish East Indies -basically the Philippines-, as well as
the Spanish West Indies -The Hispaniola, Cuba-, and the territory of the Audiencia of Guatemala.
56
The nineteenth century was turbulent not only for Mexico but for all Latin American nations. The
independence wars started at the beginning of the century and during decades the young nations all over the
continent had similar problems such as the consolidation of their institutions and political parties, fights
between conservatives and liberals, civil wars and foreign invasions.
57
R. ROEDER, Juárez y su México, Mexico, 1972 is still a good introduction into Juárez' government.

27
demanded the nationalization of church property. The goal was to weaken the financial hold
the church had on Mexico. Accordingly, all cemeteries were secularized, monastic orders
banned and all church properties were nationalized, thereby resulting in a more stark
separation of Church and State. The government assumed control over the libraries, charging
intellectuals with collecting and caring for the books.58 As a result, several cities, particularly
the capitals of the central States of present Mexico, boast at least one public state library
having historical or special collections.

Hence, to have an approximate idea about the presence of editions of the Southern
Netherlands in the aforementioned central areas of New Spain, it was necessary to look into
the bibliographic repositories having historical collections (fondos históricos, colecciones
especiales, fondos conventuales or fondos reservados as they are called in Spanish), which as
already explained, come from the nationalized libraries of former monasteries, diocesan
seminaries, and in some cases, even private libraries. It is certainly not a coincidence that the
richest libraries are to be found in those geographical regions where the most important
colonial centers flourished and developed: Mexico City and its surroundings;59 the rich
Puebla-Tlaxcala region;60 the cities established along the ‘Silver Route’, like Querétaro and
the Bajío’s region;61 the important mining centers of Guanajuato and Zacatecas;62 the capital

58
P. JONES 'Indispensable in a Civilized Society. Manuel Payno’s. Las Bibliotecas de México’, Libraries & the
cultural record, 42, 3 (2007), 280.
59
As the former capital of the viceroyalty and as the present capital of the country, Mexico City has the largest
number of libraries having historical collections. The largest and more important are: Of course the National
Library of Mexico; The Library of the National Institute of Anthropology and History Library located in the
famous Anthropology Museum; the special collections of the Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada Library; the special
collections of the Central Library of the University (UNAM). Among other interesting collections located in the
city are the Library Eusebio Kino of the Society of Jesus; the Library Félix de Jesús Rougier of the Missionaries of
the Holly Spirit; the Library of the Oratorians of Saint Philip Neri; the Library of the Collegiate of Saint Mary of
Guadalupe; the library of the Universidad Pontificia of Mexico. Some other academic institutions also have
historical collections such as the Library Daniel Cosío Villegas of the Colegio de México (COLMEX), the Library of
the Centro de Estudios de Historia de México CARSO (CEHM); the Library Benito Juárez of the Society of
Geography and Statistic of Mexico; the Library of the Museum Franz Mayer. In the area around Mexico City
there are two important libraries: the Library of the National Museum of the Viceroyalty in Tepotzotlán and the
Library in the Museum of Zinacantepec not far from Toluca.
60
The city of Puebla boasts three major collections, the Palafoxiana Library; the Public State Library 'José María
Lafragua' of the Benemérita Universidad of Puebla (BUAP) and the Franciscan Library of the University of Las
Américas (UDLA) in nearby Cholula. Puebla also has collections belonging to nuns such as the Library of the
convent of the Discalced Carmelites of San José and Santa Teresa; not far from Puebla in neighbouring Tlaxcala
there is the Library of the Historical Archive of Tlaxcala.
61
In Querétaro the most important historical collection of the Library of the Regional Museum of History of the
city, there are also interesting collections at the Library Florencio Rosas of the Seminary of Our Lady of
Guadalupe of Querétaro. The Bajío (The Lowlands) is a geographical region of central Mexico. During the
Viceroyalty, the area was known as the breadbasket of the country, the region experienced substantial
development due to the fast growth of mining cities that needed supplies. Some interesting libraries are still
preserved in former Augustinian monasteries in this region such as the library of the former convent of San

28
of the large and rich bishopric of Michoacán, the former Valladolid (Morelia);63 the capital of
the Audiencia of New Galicia, Guadalajara;64 the northern city of Durango, seat of the
homonym bishopric.65 Towards the south, there are important collections in Oaxaca, capital of
the diocese and finally, in Chiapas.66 The copious book collections amassed in cities like
Mexico, Puebla, Valladolid (Morelia), or Guadalajara contrast with the poor panorama
offered by other regions, like the Peninsulas of Yucatan and Baja California, as well as vast
areas from Northern Mexico like in the present States of Sonora, Sinaloa or Tamaulipas,
where difficult geographical conditions along with a late and slow Hispanic acculturation,
constant uprisings and rebellions, and the lack of permanent human settlements well into the
latter part of the eighteenth and even the nineteenth century have resulted in a lack of libraries
having historical collections (at least containing books prior to the late nineteenth century) in
those regions.67

Outside Mexico, it is necessary to review the catalogue of the Sutro Collection, a part of
the California State Library in San Francisco, acquired between 1885 and 1887 by Adolph
Sutro in Mexico City from one of the most important bookstores of the city, the Abadiano's
family bookstore, which had a large and rich collection. This Mexican bookstore intrigued the
rich Californian bibliophile, so he decided to buy the entire collection. As a result, the Sutro
Collection has a very interesting Mexican book repertory, which includes a significant part of

Pablo of Yuririapúndaro, or the Library of the former convent of Salamanca, both of them located in the
present State of Guanajuato.
62
The Library Armando Olivares Carrillo of the University of Guanajuato, Guanajuato contains the historical
collections from this important mining city; and the Library Elías Amador in Zacatecas is considered to be the
largest historical library in Northern Mexico. Furthermore, the neighbouring city of Guadalupe, Zacatecas
boasts the Library of the former apostolic college of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
63
In present Morelia, the richest historical collection can be found at the 'fondo conventual' of the Public
Library of the Universidad Michoacana of San Nicolás de Hidalgo (UMICH): also in Morelia is the Library of the
José María Morelos House-Museum, which offers an interesting though not very well-known collection. Finally,
the special collection of the Library Luis González of the Colegio de Michoacán (COLMICH) located in the city of
Zamora also has an interesting historical collection.
64
The largest historical collection of Western Mexico and one of the most important within Mexico is located at
the Public Library of Jalisco 'Juan José Arreola' in Guadalajara.
65
The city of Durango boasts the Public Library 'José Ignacio Gallegos Caballero', which has an interesting
historical collection.
66
Definitely the Library Francisco de Burgoa in Oaxaca is the richest library having historical collection in
Southern Mexico. In the present capital of Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, there is an interesting collection at the
'fondo conventual' of the Library of the University of Ciencias y Artes de Chiapas (UNICACH). Finally, also in
Southern Mexico but in the State of Veracruz, the city of Orizaba boasts the Library of the Historical Archive of
the City which has possibly the most important historical collection of Veracruz.
67
However, this apparent lack of libraries does not mean that they did not exist. They did, even in hostile or
unwelcoming regions. Specially in the missions or colleges of the Jesuits or Franciscans. That had different
fortunes as it will be later reviewed.

29
the so-called first academic library in the American continent: the one belonging to the
sixteenth-century College of Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco.68

After searching in both online and published catalogues of the above

mentioned libraries, and also after visiting several of them to personally review the
collected editions printed in the Southern Netherlands, a database of titles was
gradually formed.69 The books collected are surviving volumes identifiable through
branding (marcas de fuego) or other markings of provenance (ex libris). This laborious
task was possible given the considerable progress recently made by Mexican
institutions in cataloguing the copious Mexican bibliographic patrimony, facilitating
this kind of bibliographic research.70 The result is the first database of editions published
in the Southern Netherlands from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century that were
available in colonial libraries.71

The database would certainly be incomplete without the inclusion of references to books
of the Southern Netherlands found in archival documents, especially because numerous
editions mentioned in archival records belonged to private libraries and are not longer
available in current collections. In fact, colonial institutions have left a rich documentary
record, particularly useful is the series of inquisitorial documents of the Archivo General de la
Nación of Mexico (AGN). As Liebmann has pointed out, it is impossible to write of colonial
Mexico without recourse to the inquisition documents, for they cover practically every facet
68
M. MATHES, 'La colección mexicana de la Biblioteca Sutro de San Francisco, California' in Revista Quinto
Centenario, 2 (1981) 213-218.
69
However, due to the amount of editions found was possible to review just a part of the total. Furthermore, in
some libraries is not possible to see all the wanted books due to questions of time or internal policies of the
libraries.
70
Some of the libraries have excellent online catalogues, such as the Library José María Lafragua of the
Benemérita Universidad of Puebla (BUAP), the Franciscan Library of Cholula of the University of Las Américas
(UDLA), the sixteenth-century collection of the Public Library 'Juan José Arreola' of Guadalajara, as well as the
Library of the Universidad Michoacana of San Nicolás Hidalgo in Morelia (UMICH). Moreover, the work done by
ADABI (Apoyo al desarrollo de archives y bibliotecas de México) in the restoration, preservation, research and
diffusion of Mexican archives and libraries included the cataloguing of major collections such as the Palafoxiana
of Puebla, the Library of the regional Museum of Querétaro, the Library of the National Museum of the
Viceroyalty in Tepotzotlán, the Library of the Museum of Zinacantepec, the Library Armando Carrillo Olivares of
the University of Guanajuato, the Library of the convent of Guadalupe also in Zacatecas, the historical
collections of the Library of the Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de Chiapas (UNICACH), among many others.
See: www.adabi.org.mx/.
71
The database was build using the Reference Manager program, which allowed the organization of
bibliographic references easily, providing a standard format of bibliographic description, and location of the
collected items. The data can be displayed alphabetically by author, by title, by publisher, by place of
publication, or chronologically by year. Moreover, the program also allows to load images (pictures of books for
instance), or to directly link to PDF files or to related internet links.

30
of life in New Spain.72 Inquisitorial documentation provides different kinds of sources, for
example: lists of private libraries confiscated by the Inquisition, belonging to people accused
of heresy, i.e., Lutheranism, Judaism, heterodoxy or witchcraft; isolated books seized to
review their content (particularly during the last quarter of the sixteenth century and the first
half of the seventeenth century); the 'memorias' presented by seventeenth-century booksellers
of Mexico City. Normally these book lists were requested by the Inquisition in order to have a
control over the typographic stock available in Mexican book stores;73 the inquisitorial
inspections or visitas carried out by Inquisitorial officers searching for prohibited books on
board the newly arrived fleets at Veracruz from 1575 to 1600.74 Finally in the AGN, the
sections Temporalidades or Jesuitas contain the inventories made of the Jesuit libraries after
their expulsion from all Spanish territories in 1767. These documents are particularly
interesting because they offer a good panorama of these rich libraries, some of them
considered as the most valuable in New Spain.75

To complete this picture, a group of memorias or lists of books (elaborated from 1623
to 1739) shipped to America from Seville by booksellers or particulars and approved by
the Tribunal of Seville to be dispatched, were also reviewed in the Archivo General de Indias
of Seville (AGI).76 To have more examples of private libraries in the AGI some 700
inventories of goods of Royal Officers active in New Spain were also reviewed, some of them
boasted a number of isolated books or even magnificent libraries.77 Finally, also in the
AGI 37 post mortem inventories 'bienes de difuntos' (dated from 1566 to 1677) of
Spanish individuals, who had died in New Spain and whose belongings were sold in
public auctions were also reviewed, some of these inventories contained books as well.78

72
S. LIEBMAN, 'The Jews of colonial Mexico' in The Hispanic American Historical Review, 43, 1 (1963), 96-97.
73
Several of these lists were published in 1939 in the Boletín del Archivo General de la Nación. See: E.
O'GORMAN, 'Bibliotecas y librerías coloniales 1585-1694', in Boletín del Archivo General de la Nación, 10-4
(1939).
74
The compilation has been originally published by Francisco Fernández del Castillo in 1914, since then the
book became a classic reference. See the recent edition: F. FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y libreros en el
siglo XVI, Mexico, 1982.
75
See for instance: AGN, Jesuitas, vol. III-30 contains the inventory of the Library of the Colegio Máximo of San
Pedro and San Pablo of Mexico City, and the Library of the Casa Profesa can be consulted at: AGN,
Temporalidades, 230.
76
See: AGI, Casa de la Contratación, vol. 674. The name of this record is 'Licencias del Tribunal de la
Inquisición'.
77
The inventories were made in 1622 at the beginning of the reign of Philip IV see: AGI, Audiencia de México,
vol. 259-261.
78
AGI, Casa de la Contratación, Autos sobre bienes de difuntos.

31
Thus, the books collected from current libraries together with the books collected in archival
records amount to nearly 2000 editions printed in the Southern Netherlands that belonged to
colonial libraries. To improve the accuracy of the registers found in present collections,
particularly those coming from archival materials, all of them have been compared with
international bibliographic resources: the Catálogo Colectivo del Patrimonio Bibliográfico
Español (CCPB),79 and the Short Title Catalogue Flanders (STCV), which is a database
containing extensive bibliographical descriptions of editions printed in Flanders between the
seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries,80 as well as the databases of the libraries of the
University of Leuven (KUL) and the Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique (KBR).81

On the basis of this sampling it was possible to analyze the book production category,
which involved all the publishers and printers active in the Southern Netherlands and whose
output reached New Spain and who were accurately identified. Such printers were active in
different cities, like Antwerp, Leuven and Brussels in the Duchy of Brabant; Ghent and
Bruges in the County of Flanders, as well as Mons and Tournai in the County of Hainaut. The
printers active in the Prince-Bishopric of Liège were also included. All these territories were
part of the Southern Netherlands. Thus, this database allows one to identify the most
important editorial houses involved in book trade towards the Hispanic World.

The most relevant city and the typographic center par excellence in the region was
undoubtedly Antwerp, as a consequence, attention has been concentrated on the booksellers
of this city and their international networks, precisely because, they were responsible for the
international exportation of books published in the region. Therefore, archival material
collected at the Archive of the Museum Plantin Moretus in Antwerp, along with information
collected of other author's research provide a good panorama of the configuration of book
circuits between Antwerp and the Iberian Peninsula. Finally, since all these editions were first
dispatched to Spain, archive material (contracts, testaments) found at the Archivo of
Protocolos Notariales of Seville (AHPS) has also been included to analyze book trade
between Antwerp and Seville.

79
This useful resource is an effort of the Spanish Ministerio de Cultura to describes and locate books and other
bibliographic resources belonging to Spanish libraries, both public and private, which, due to their age,
singularity or wealth form part of Spanish Historic Heritage, see:
www.mcu.es/bibliotecas/MC/CCPB/index.html.
80
See: www.vlaamse-erfgoedbibliotheek.be/dossier/short-title-catalogus-vlaanderen/stcv
81
Regarding the University of Leuven see: http://bib.kuleuven.be/ub. And regarding the Bibliothèque Royale de
Belgique/Koninklijke Bibliohtheek van België (KBR) see: www.kbr.be/

32
To examine the consumption circuit in New Spain of these exported editions, it was necessary
to study the occurrence of the books either in private and institutional libraries throughout the
studied areas of the viceroyalty. In addition, book consumption was exemplified using
specific cases mentioned in archival sources, and the reception or impact of some of these
Southern Netherlands editions was investigated based on New Spain scholars that quoted
them in their own works. In this manner the book production, distribution and circulation of
the Antwerp-Seville-New Spain axis was reviewed.

Research Structure

The thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter I analyzes the juridical frame and censorship
emanated from Spanish royal and ecclesiastic institutions in order to control the exported non-
Spanish books that were entering the Spanish kingdoms. Subsequently, royal policies dealing
with foreign books since the time of the Catholic Kings until the Bourbon rule are
examined, as well as the inquisitorial role both in Spain and New Spain and its forms of
censorship and book control specifically from the time of the Reformation when
non-Spanish books increasingly caused mistrust amongst governmental bodies.
Finally, the legislation dealing with books of the Mexican Church (the Mexican
Concilios) were also reviewed. This juridical frame provides a general overview of the way
in which foreign book have paradoxically been perceived as a useful and necessary
instrument to implement Christian policies, on the one hand, and on the other hand, as a
dangerous disseminator of ideas against dogmas of the Roman Catholic Religion.

Chapter II deals with the production circuit providing the numbers of books found in
libraries of New Spain based on the database collected, illustrating the degree of participation
of all the publishers whose editions reached New Spain. To have a better analysis four clear
periods were delimited: 1529-1588; 1589-1648; 1648-1713 and 1713-1796. Each one of these
periods shows the trends of international exportation towards the Hispanic World. Thus, the
overall objective of this chapter is to provide a detailed picture of those printers of the
Southern Netherlands whose output was available in New Spain, highlighting the most active
families, periods and genres produced for the Hispanic World.

Chapter III, encompasses a brief overview of the early contacts established between
Flemish printers and booksellers in Spain. Subsequently, the configuration of commercial
networks will be explained using a number of specific case studies of Antwerp publishers and
their families that managed to develop networks of book distribution towards Spain from the
33
first half of the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. Thereby, allowing to figure out how book
distribution departing from the Antwerp presses until its arrival at the Iberian Peninsula (from
where several editions were sent to New Spain was undertaken). Finally to complete this
picture alternative (i.e. not necessarily performed by publishers or booksellers) and illegal
circuits of book distribution will be also discussed.

Chapter IV, examines the distribution and consumption of these particular corpus of
editions issued in the Southern Netherlands amongst viceroyal urban centers like Mexico City
or Puebla, particularly within ecclesiastic and civil corporations who had access to written
culture. Moreover, the impact of some of these editions in the scholarly circles of New Spain
is studied using relevant cases of local and remarkable criollo scholars like Sigüenza y
Góngora and Eguiara y Eguren, who mentioned or quoted specific editions printed in the
Southern Netherlands in their own works, proving the contribution of these editions to the
development of viceroyal thought, as well as to academic, liturgical and institutional life.

Finally, an extensive and detailed appendix groups together all the editions collected,
classified by the library (or libraries) to which they originally belonged: libraries of the
regular clergy, libraries of the secular clergy, libraries of other colonial institutions, private
libraries, books on sale in Mexico City during the seventeenth century, books inspected by the
Inquisition, as well as books holding non-identified marks of provenance.

34
 CHAPTER I

The official reception of foreign books in the Hispanic kingdoms. Legal

framework and censorship

It is virtually impossible to analyze book circulation between Europe and New Spain during
the early modern period without taking into account the way books that were printed outside
Castile and Aragon, were allowed to enter, circulate and be commercialized in the Spanish
kingdoms. This reception can be reconstructed on the basis of the legislative framework and
censorship applied for imported books. This whole body of law, emanated by both royal and
ecclesiastical authorities, directly or indirectly had an impact on the export and import,
distribution and reading of the myriad of foreign books written either by Non-Spanish or by
Spanish authors and printed abroad, even if laws were not fully implemented or complied
with. As such, the imported European book was a cultural object that, due to the historical
conjuncture of the sixteenth century, went through a growing systematic scrutiny, leading to
an ambiguous reception reflected in the regulations and censorship established on the
importation of European books into the territories of the Spanish monarchy.

With the arrival of the printing press, the multiplication of copies

revolutionized the conditions of intellectual work, allowing the dissemination of
texts and its tremendous consequences throughout Europe. Advantages offered by
this highly innovative technology would soon be considered useful and favorable for
public utility. However, official authorities rapidly regarded the book not only as a
development factor for the common good, but also as a potential danger to society.
This dual and paradoxical opinion gradually resulted in the implementation of an
ambiguous policy which intended both the dissemination and the censorship of
books.

As to the Iberian Peninsula, the Catholic Kings almost immediately stimulated the
introduction and development of printing offices, as they realized the power of the
printed word and its potential to become an instrument that could be used to reinforce the
authority of the monarchy. However, they also initiated a gradual process of royal
involvement in the field

35
of book production and book marketing.82 This involvement became increasingly severe and
was already well defined by the time of Philip II.

Additionally, in Castile and Aragon censorship was the competence of the

Spanish Inquisition, established in 1478. This ecclesiastical tribunal depended almost
completely of the Crown, and although its leading officials were appointed by Rome,
the Papacy exercised almost no influence on its functioning and policy. Gradually it
became one of the most effective institutions that strengthened the power of the
Spanish kings throughout the Ancien Régime.83 As a consequence, Spain and its
territories followed an independent policy in terms of typographic control. The
Spanish Inquisition fiercely defended its autonomy and jurisdiction related to the
condemnation and expurgation of books. It even published its own Indexes different
from those issued by Rome.84 Despite this autonomy, not all of Rome's decrees were
ignored. Those proclaimed by the Council of Trent, not only on censorship but in
general, were fully enacted within the Spanish Monarchy.85

Furthermore, with the Granada War (1482-1492) the Spanish kings acquired from the
Papacy a set of privileges known as the Real Patronato, which allowed them to control major
appointments of Church officials and manage Church revenues. This Real Patronato, that
concerned the Indies, gradually took shape through the accumulation of graces granted to the
Crown by different pontiffs, beginning with Alexander VI in 1493.86 As a result,
the censorship of books exported to the Spanish Indies fell under the jurisdiction of the
Spanish Crown and the Inquisition. By the 1570s, inquisitorial tribunals in Lima and
Mexico began to operate under the authority and direct supervision of the Suprema in Madrid.

The study of book censorship in Spain and its territories raises another problem. As
Rolena Adorno points out, inquisitorial censorship occurred after the publication of a book,
82
MAILLARD ÁLVAREZ, Circulación y Difusión de la Cultura Escrita en Sevilla, 21.
83
WECKMAN, The Medieval Heritage of Mexico, 295.
84
DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 15. Actually books that were banned by the Roman Inquisition
were authorized by the Spanish Inquisition and vice versa. See: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y
América. Legislación y censura, I, 145.
85
DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 34. It has been considered that 'unlike the Spanish Inquisition,
the Roman organization was less effective in its persecution of heresy and in its suppression of heretical
matters'. Furthermore, the division of Italy into several states made the enforcement of papal decrees not
unanimous, for instance, powerful entities as Venice, 'chose almost with impunity to ignore many orders'. See:
GREEN and KAROLIDES (reviser), The Encyclopedia of censorship, 476.
86
This kind of patronage was not really an innovation in the History of the Church, not even in Spain. One of
the most important prerogatives of this Real Patronato was the collection and distribution by the Crown of the
diezmo or tenth, an ecclesiastical tribute. See: WECKMAN, The Medieval Heritage of Mexico, 315.

36
not before. Inquisitorial censorship dealt with books that were already in circulation and
was, therefore, essentially punitive.87 The state apparatus, on the contrary, was in
charge of evaluating texts before their publication, and granted permission for a
book to be printed. Nevertheless, as Ryan Prendergast recently observed, 'the
systematic scrutiny of printed texts, authors, booksellers, readers, and reading
habits, was a point of overlap between the Inquisition and the Crown'.88

Therefore, the distribution of jurisdiction between different bodies frequently resulted in

legal interferences between them, not to mention the confrontation of a variety of legal issues,
facing loopholes, corruption and a lack of means to enforce regulations. Roberto Moreno de
los Arcos pointed out that the most significant concerns of the censors within the Spanish
empire were the dissemination of heterodox ideas during the sixteenth century, starting in the
years of the Reformation, and the circulation of French libertarian ideas during the eighteenth
century.89 Meanwhile in the seventeenth century, the concern for political literature is
gradually visible. This chapter discusses book censorship intended to regulate the importation
of foreign books into the Spanish territories and analyzes the role of the different institutions,
civil as well as ecclesiastical, involved in this process.

This overview initiates with the Catholic Kings' policies regarding book circulation,
which was the starting point for subsequent legislation. In addition, a scrutiny of laws dealing
with books, emanated from the Spanish Crown itself, the Spanish Inquisition, the Roman
Authorities and finally the Mexican Church will provide an integrated vision of this complex
framework of rules and censorship archetypal of the Ancien Régime.

1.1 Book circulation and censorship in the Spain of the Catholic Kings

During the Late Middle Ages, a local production of codices flourished in the kingdoms of
Castile and Aragon. Also, since the time of John II (1406-1454) Italian codices were
circulating in Spain.90 A spread of literacy took place within the Castilian Court all over the

87
See: ADORNO, 'Censorship and its seasons, Madrid 1615', 18. Thus, the concept of censorship may be
understood as either preventive or punitive according to whether it was exercised before or after the
expression has been made public.
88
PRENDERGAST, Reading, Writing, and Errant Subjects, in Inquisitorial Spain, 12.
89
MORENO DE LOS ARCOS, Ensayos de Bibliografía Mexicana. Autores, Libros, Imprenta, 42.
90
ROMERO DE LECEA, El V Centenario de la introducción de la imprenta en España, Segovia 1472, 168.
Relatively little attention has been paid to the local production of codices in Spain, see. SÁNCHEZ MARIANA, 'La
ejecución de los códices en Castilla en la segunda mitad del siglo XV', 317-344. Actually, Florence had supplied
about one-third of all manuscripts books to be found in Castile at this time, see: GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of
Seville, 4.

37
fifteenth century, and soon it became an important intellectual center that favored the
dissemination of humanistic writings of Italian origins: poetry and music, chronicles, and
examples of new spirituality, such as the devotio moderna, which was spreading all over
Europe through vernacular versions.91

Manuscript books were imported mostly from Venice, Bologna, Florence and Paris.
They entered the Iberian Peninsula through the ports of Seville, Barcelona and Valencia.
Florentine merchants played an important role in this import business. This early international
manuscript book trade prior to the invention of the printed book, paved the way for later
extensive book trade. As a result of this influx of foreign manuscript books into Castile, the
official authorities began to consider the market value of the foreign book.92

With the emergence of the art of printing, the book became a social good. It was
soon considered as an object of public utility that provided a service to society.
According to Cynthia Brown, in the early years of printing, texts acquired identity and
importance through the involvement of a publisher who, recognizing the market
potential of the work, decided to bring a book to the press, or as Karl Schottenloher
observed: the work of printing became an object of capital and of enterprise, promising a
profit.93

The workshop of Juan Parix of Heidelberg in Segovia, established at the end of 1471 or
in 1472, was the first printing office on the Iberian Peninsula.94 Juan Parix was the first known
example of a new type of artisan who were not only welcomed, but also legally protected by
the Catholic Kings, who granted privileges for activities like printing, selling and marketing
books, such as those issued in 1477 by Ferdinand and Isabella in favor of Master Miguel de
Chanty and Theodorico Aleman, impressor de libros. These new entrepreneurs were able to
provide many and diverse books from any field of knowledge.95 Natalia Maillard points out
91
GARCÍA ORO and PORTELA SILVA, La Monarquía y los Libros en el Siglo de Oro, 26-31.
92
GARCÍA ORO and PORTELA SILVA, La Monarquía y los Libros en el Siglo de Oro, 32.
93
RIVERA, 'Historia de la linda Melosina', 132-134, BROWN, Poets, Patrons, and Printers: Crisis of Authority in
Late Medieval France, 61-62., SCHOTTENLOHER, Books and the Western World a Cultural History, 86.
94
Some years ago an exhibition in Segovia was devoted to the figure of Juan Parix, see the catalogue, Juan
Parix. Primer impresor de España, Segovia, 2004.
95
GARCÍA ORO and PORTELA SILVA, La Monarquía y los Libros en el Siglo de Oro, 32. Concerning this
Theodorico Aleman, Paul Bergmans arose an hypothesis in the late nineteenth century, which supposes him to
be the Flemish printer, Theodoricus Martens of Aalst. Actually, there is no ground for supposing that Martens
took such a journey [between Aalst and Spain] other than the correspondence of the name Theodoricus and his
own temporary disappearance from the Low Countries [between ca. 1475-1486]. Nonetheless, modern authors
still mention this hypothesis: After all 'there is as much to be said in favor of the identification as against it, see:
HAEBLER, The Early printers of Spain and Portugal, 10-11; MARTÍN ABAD, Los primeros tiempos de la imprenta
en España (c. 1471-1520), 157.

38
that the Catholic Kings issued more privileges in favor of foreign printers at the end of the
fifteenth century in Seville.96 These new artisans had not hesitated to relocate themselves if
the demand for their services requested them to do so, and had settled in several important
ecclesiastical centers, such as Toledo, Valencia or Seville, or in university cities, such as
Salamanca, with the clear purpose of fulfilling local needs with their specific expertise.97
These foreigners, generally Germans or Central Europeans, played a crucial role during the
first decades of the development of the printing press in the Iberian Peninsula.

The Chronica de España by Diego de Valera (Seville, Alfonso del Puerto, 1482)
provides a good example of the patronage of the Crown concerning books, since it was
printed by command of Queen Isabella at the expense of the German Michael Dachaver and
the Spaniard García del Castillo.98 The book´s colophon is remarkably interesting, as the
author puts emphasis on three relevant issues that reflect somehow the essential
characteristics of the early Spanish printing press: the inestimable value of services that the
press may render to society, the importance of the presence of foreign printers and their
expertise in order to stimulate the 'divine art of printing' in Spain, and finally the symbolic
role attributed to books.99

Not only the monarchy, but also the civil authorities and in particular the Church
supported local presses for the printing of liturgical or historical works and bulls of
indulgences. For example, the oldest book printed in Spain, the Expositiones nominum
legalium (Segovia, Juan Parix of Heidelberg, ca. 1472) was sponsored by the bishop of

96
MAILLARD ÁLVAREZ, Circulación y Difusión de la Cultura Escrita en Sevilla, 19.
97
MARTÍN ABAD, Los primeros tiempos de la imprenta en España, 157.
98
MÉNDEZ, Tipografía Española, 28.
99
First, Valera gives a eulogy to this marvelous art of printing, which will preserve knowledge and the
human understanding of the past, present and future: 'Now again, most serene princess [Isabella],
endowed with singular understanding, enlightened with every kind of learning, and exercising a clear
intelligence, as if sent for our assistance, they come forth [chronicle histories] with such a marvelous
art of writing, that we seem to have returned again to the golden age; replacing us by multiplication
of copies, in the knowledge of the past, the present and the future, as far as human understanding
can attain'. Second, the advancement of Germans in this 'divine' art of printing, noting that one of
the patrons of the work was precisely German: 'Germans, who are very experts and constant
inventors in this art of printing, which indeed may be called divine. Of which Germans is one Michael
Dachaver of marvelous talent and learning, most experienced and of copious memory, known to
your highness, at the expense of whom and of García del Castillo, resident of Medina del Campo,
treasurer of the brotherhood of Seville'. Third, Valera highlights the value of his book published for
the ennoblement of monarchs, God, and the State: 'This general history printed and multiplied by
order of Your Majesty, to honor the sovereign the immense God, one in essence, three in Person and
the honor of your royal State', see: HAEBLER, Bibliografía Ibérica del siglo XV. Enumeración de todos
los libros impresos en España Portugal hasta el año de 1500, 319.
39
Segovia, Juan Arias Dávila.100 Intellectual activity, along with the possession of books, were
signs of social prestige, allowing the formation of well-stocked libraries among both the
nobility and the clergy of the late fifteenth century.101

Despite this local activity, the domestic output of books was rather modest and limited
to local markets. As a consequence, foreign books mostly printed in Latin in cities like Basel,
Lyon, Cologne, Nuremberg and Venice, were well received. 102 In the Iberian Peninsula this
early international book trade was largely in the hands of foreign book traders as well.103
Although, during this period no typographic center of the Low Countries was amongst the
European cities that provided books to Spain, because during the years between 1472 and
1502 the Low Countries were not yet a significant book export center.104

During the first decades of the introduction of the printing press in Spain, the
government policy concerning the import of foreign books was in general rather open.
Although the Inquisition had been established in 1478, its activities mostly concentrated on
the converted Jews (conversos of New Christians) and did not involve the revision of
(Christian) books.105 Thus, the Tribunal did not fully concern itself with the censorship of
books until the beginning of the Reformation.

Royal legislation was therefore very liberal. As Elisa Ruiz García pointed out,
Ferdinand and Isabella considered the printed book as a means to strengthen the Crown's role,
and to facilitate the implementation of political ideas and the dissemination of legislative and
administrative innovations. Their main objective was to establish consensus and obedience
among the subjects of their kingdoms.106 The monarchs were particularly convinced that
books and printing presses were effective and required tools for the academic training of a

100
Recent studies have pointed out the bishop's sponsorship of the printing press in Segovia, and his role as
bibliophile, see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, 'El Obispo Bibliófilo: Arias Dávila y los libros', 225-264.
101
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, 'El Obispo Bibliófilo: Arias Dávila y los libros', 228.
102
In fact, in fifteenth-century Italy, Venice was the most important typographic center in Europe. Febvre
pointed out that between 1480-82 Venice printed 156 editions, followed by Milan (82), Augsburg (67),
Nuremberg (53), Cologne (44), Paris (35), Rome (34), Strasburg (28), Basel (24), see: FEBVRE and MARTIN, La
aparición del libro, 1962, 195; At the turn of the century Venice boasted some 150 printing-shops, while in
Spain it was exceptional even by 1520 for three or four offices to be operating in a single city, see: GRIFFIN, The
Crombergers of Seville, 3.
103
MARTÍN ABAD, Los primeros tiempos de la imprenta en España, 50.
104
According to the Catálogo Colectivo del Patrimonio Bibliográfico Español, the first book published in the
Southern Netherlands available in a Spanish library is: Pope John XXI, Summulae logicae: lib. I-VI et tractatus
parvorum logicalium VII-XIII. Omnia cum commento, Antwerp, Gheraeert Leeu, 1486. Available at the Biblioteca
de la Universidad de Zaragoza.
105
See: NETANYAHU, The Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth Century Spain, New York, 1976.
106
RUIZ GARCÍA, 'El Poder de la Escritura y la Escritura del Poder', 301.

40
loyal elite, vigilant and protective of royal interests. Therefore, in 1480, in the course of the
Cortes of Toledo, they initiated a series of administrative reforms which gradually created a
new hierarchy of political power, staffed by letrados, a term that applied broadly to any
scholar, and specifically to jurists.

They were central figures within this consolidation of political and jurisdictional power
in the hands of the monarchy; as they were university-trained officials, expected to join the
ranks of the officials staffing Castile's militant Church and the newly reorganized royal
administration.107 Hence, universities became increasingly important as educational centers of
the new bureaucrats. In addition, they played a vital role in the foreign policy of the Catholic
kings, which established five resident embassies at Rome, Venice, London, Brussels and the
migratory Austrian Court. As John Elliott correctly stated, these letrados were also drawn
from the same legally or clerically trained professional class which provided Ferdinand and
Isabella with their councilors, judges, and administrators.108

Consequently, the primacy of the letrados in this new administrative hierarchy is

directly reflected in the liberal book trade legislation of 1480, which exempted the import of
printed books in their kingdoms from any taxes because of their importance for the
intellectual training of clerks and officials.

'Inasmuch as the kings of glorious memory, considered the great advantage caused by
the arrival of books from other parts to these kingdoms in the training of letrados,
exempting them from the alcabala (sales tax or excise), and because recently some
national and foreign traders deal with an increasing amount of good books, which
apparently bring a universal benefit and the ennoblement of our realm, hence, we
order and command that from henceforth no book, brought either by sea or by land,
shall pay the almojarifazo (customs tariff), or the portazgo (toll), or any other tax, and
no almojarifes, portazgueros or any other customs officers shall ask books to pay, in
cities, towns, and places of our royal Crown, on the contrary all the referred taxes shall
be free'.109

107
KAGAN, Students and Society in Early Modern Spain, 70.
108
ELLIOTT, Imperial Spain 1469-1716, 132.
109
'Considerando los Reyes de gloriosa memoria, quanto era provechoso e honroso que a estos sus
reynos se truxesen libros de otras partes, para que por ellos se hiziesen los ommes letrados,
quesieron e ordenaron que de los libros no se pagase alcabala. Porque de pocos días a esta parte
algunos mercaderes nuestros naturales e estranjeros han tratado e de cada día tratan libros muchos
(e) buenos, lo qual paresçe que redunda en provecho universal de todos e enoblesçimiento de
nuestro Rey(no), por ende ordenamos e mandamos que, allende de la dicha franqueza, de aquy
adelante, de todos libros que truxeren a estos nuestros reynos, asy por mar como por tierra, no se
pida, ni se pague ni lleve almojarifazgo, ni diezmo, ni portazgo, ni otros derechos algunos por los
41
Despite the explicit formulation of the law, custom officials did not always apply it. In 1489,
for example, Antón Cortés, Florentine of origin and one of the most dynamic book traders
operating in the border towns of Gipuzkoa, denounced the custom officials that, in view of the
large numbers of Venetian books that he was introducing into Spain, had obliged him to pay
toll and custom duties.110

This openness towards book importation did not mean that the Spanish Kingdoms were
no strangers to religious zeal. In 1479, for example, on request of Pope Sixtus IV, Pedro de
Osma's works were condemned by the universities of Alcalá and Salamanca and banned by
the archbishop of Toledo, Alfonso Carrillo de Acuña, due to Osma's lack of orthodoxy on his
concepts of confession.111 This early concern regarding the content of published texts reflects
an ambiguous approach. On one hand, the Catholic Kings were sponsoring book editions
printed not only in Latin, but also in Spanish.112 On the other hand, with the specific political
and religious context that led to the unification of the kingdoms and the expulsion of the Jews,
religious books in the vernacular (such as translations of the scripture or bibles), Hebrew
books (the Talmud and Mosaic law books) as well as the Koran, started to become the subject
of discussion of controversy and no one doubted that Islamic and Jewish religious books of
the converts should be eliminated. In fact, from the 1490s public burnings of vernacular bibles
and books 'infected with Jewish or Muslim errors' were organized in Spain. 113 Indeed, there

nuestros almojarifes, ni por los dezmeros ni portazgueros, ni otras personas algunas, ansy de las
çibdades e villas e lugares de Nuestra Corona Real como de señoríos e órdenes e vehetrías, mas que
de todos los dichos derechos e diezmos e almojarifazgos sean libres e francos los dichos libros', see:
TORRE REVELLO, El libro, la imprenta y el periodismo en América, 21-22; DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, 'El
control legislativo', 95; MAILLARD ÁLVAREZ, Circulación y Difusión de la Cultura Escrita en Sevilla, 18-
19.
110
GARCÍA ORO and PORTELA SILVA, La Monarquía y los Libros en el Siglo de Oro, 36.
111
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 85. Pedro de Osma went on to deny that the
confession of sins was instituted by divine law, see: HAMILTON, Heresy and Mysticism in sixteenth-century
Spain, Cambridge, 1992.
112
In 1490 Ferdinand and Isabella summoned two companies of German printers to Seville, 'Documents show
that they bestowed certain privileges on them, including exemption of military service, and that when the local
authorities sought to override these right, the printers themselves successfully protested that their work
brought honor and profit both to the cause of letters and to the Crown', see: NORTON, Printing in Spain 1501-
1520, with a note on the early editions of the 'Celestina', 118.
113
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 85; GARCÍA ORO and M. J. PORTELA SILVA, La
Monarquía y los Libros en el Siglo de Oro, 41-43; MAILLARD ÁLVAREZ, Circulación y Difusión de la Cultura Escrita
en Sevilla, 19. Cfr. with the decree of 1498 the 'Licenciado Monesterio, inquisitor general': '…y por experiencia
en nuestro tiempo hemos visto que muchos hombres legos e idiotas, leyedo por las tales escrituras, han caído y
caen cada día en error y en duda de las cosas de la fe y de otras que no les conviene dudar, mayormente
algunos cristianos nuevos y descendientes de linaje de judíos que por la afición a las cosas de sus pasados
tenían, leyendo las historias y cosas de Moisés y de la ley vieja, han caído y caen en el dicho error duda de la fe,
y lo que peor es, muchos herejes han continuado por ellas los errores y herejías porque sus padres y malos
maestros falsificaron las dichas escrituras…', see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 87.

42
are early examples of book censorship in the kingdoms of Spain prior to 1502, especially in
Aragón, where according to Sierra Corella, the Inquisition exercised book censorship since its
introduction. The examples of Valencia and Catalonia are also early (the late 1470s), while
corrected books published in Seville appeared at the turn of the century, anticipating the
pragmatic of 1502.114

These antecedents and the wider context of State building, led the Catholic
Kings to take the first measures in order to control book trade and book production in
their kingdoms. On July 8, 1502 they enacted an elaborate royal decree containing
Diligencias que deben preceder a la impresión y venta de libros del Reyno, y para el
curso de los extranjeros.115 Following the guidelines of the previous papal bulls of
1487 and 1501, the pragmatic established preventive censorship of books published
in Spain through licenses granted by both civil and ecclesiastical officials designated by
the law.116 Its primary aim was not only to improve the material aspects of the books
published in Spain ('que toda la obra sea perfeta e que en ella no pueda aver ni aya
falta alguna'), but also to supervise their content, avoiding 'lecturas falsas y viciosas,
apócrifas o prohibidas' in the old books, as well as 'cosas vanas e supersticiosas' in the
new ones.117

The licenses mentioned in the pragmática were also imposed on merchants

and booksellers and their agents that were importing and distributing foreign
books into the kingdoms.118 The Crown was convinced that the import, distribution
and sale of a growing number of incoming titles in numerous branches of knowledge,
both in Latin and Spanish should be regulated. In the future, all imported books had to
be submitted for examination and approval by the appointed authorities before they
were exposed for sale. It might be possible that the authorities had in mind a number of
imprints intended
los Reyes to Castilian readers, that since
114
Fermín de provided an extensive list of books containing amendments and corrections, see: DE
LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 89-94.
115
The Pragmatic was a law issued by a competent authority, which differed from the royal decrees and orders
in the way of publication. According to the Real Academia de la Lengua Española in this legal sense, the word is
nowadays an obsolete term. The text of the pragmatic has been recently published in DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El
Libro en España y América, II, 779-781.
116
The civil and ecclesiastical authorities authorized to grant the licenses were the Kings; the presidents of the
two chancelleries of Valladolid and Ciudad Real; the archbishops of Toledo, Seville and Granada; and the
bishops of Burgos, Salamanca and Zamora, see: GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Lecturas e ideas en Nueva España', 44;
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, 'El control legislativo y los Index inquisitoriales', 95; MAILLARD ÁLVAREZ, Circulación y
Difusión de la Cultura Escrita en Sevilla, 21; TORRE REVELLO, El libro la imprenta y el periodismo en América, 22-
24.
117
GARCÍA ORO and PORTELA SILVA, La Monarquía y los Libros en el Siglo de Oro, 45. The text has been
published in SIERRA CORELLA, La censura en España. Indices y catálogos de libros prohibidos, 79-84.
118
Those who violated the law faced confiscation of their books and their profits, plus financial penalties.

43
the last two decades of the fifteenth century had been increasingly coming from abroad, like
the Historia de la linda Melosina (Toulouse, Juan Parix & Esteban Clebat, 1489), which was
one of the earliest chivalric romances destined for a Castilian readership and the first printed
translation of a French roman into Castilian. According to Isidro Rivera this book marked an
introduction of foreign romance into Spain, in a period were foreign publishers could foresee
the course of the Spanish market and began to tailor their production to books of a popular
nature.119 However, it should be noticed that the decree of 1502 did not prohibit the entry of
foreign book. On the contrary, Ferdinand and Isabella continued their favorable policy. For
instance, during the two decades following the enactment of the 1502 decree, when printing
and sellers from Venice and increasingly from Lyon and Paris kept providing the majority of
books which were needed by scholars in universities and ecclesiastical centers.

The royal decree of 1502 also devoted particular attention to the proscription of printing
unlicensed books, mostly those books judged to be apocryphal, superstitious, useless or
dangerous. Probably the well-known Celestina of Fernando de Rojas may have been
considered as such an inconvenient book of popular nature. La tragicomedia de Calisto y
Melibea, was first published anonymously in Burgos in 1499 and became a bestseller within
the year. A second edition appeared in 1500 in Toledo, followed by a third issued in 1501 in
Seville, and a fourth edition expanded on popular demand to twenty one acts published in
1502, again in Seville.120 Nevertheless, only a small number of books, printed in the next
three or four years after the enactment of the decree of 1502, on such varied subjects as
church music, Latin grammar, medicine and theology, contain a brief printed note of the
approbation of the royal commissioners. After 1506 these notes disappear except for
occasional reprint.121

However, it is widely accepted that this royal decree had no repressive intentions, but
was merely an instrument to guide the expansion of a technical phenomenon, whose political
and religious dimensions were barely glimpsed.122 The regulations of 1502 supervised the
printing and selling of books in Spain throughout the earlier part of the sixteenth century, and

119
Shortly after, Juan Parix , the first known printer active in Spain, transferred his operations from Segovia to
Tolouse in ca. 1475, in 1488 he joined Estevan Clebat in publishing ventures which targeted the Castilian
market, see: RIVERA, 'Historia de la linda Melosina', 131-135.
120
The third corrected and revised edition of La Celestina has been considered as a model, not to mention its
wide circulation and availability, see: BEHIELS and KISH, Celestina: an annotated edition of the first Dutch
translation (Antwerp: 1550), 61.
121
NORTON, Printing in Spain 1501-1520, 120.
122
RUIZ GARCÍA, 'El Poder de la Escritura y la Escritura del Poder', 302-303.

44
became the basis of subsequent enactments. In brief, the royal decree was the starting point
of a gradual process of royal involvement in the field of book production and book
marketing and even in the sphere of its reading.123 Between 1502 and 1512 almost no
measures were taken concerning foreign book trade, although king Ferdinand banned
on June 20, 1511 all Arabic books not only religious but also medicine and literature
works.124

1.2. Early Roman censorship

While Ferdinand and Isabella implemented a liberal book legislation in favor of the
consolidation of their political and jurisdictional power, the Roman Church was imposing
what can be considered the first examples of preventive and punitive censorship laws. They
were aimed to control the German press by authorizing the right to censor books, and were
first issued by Sixtus IV in a bull dated March 17, 1479. They were addressed to the rectors of
the University of Cologne and granted them the authority to use ecclesiastical censures
against heretical and erroneous books.125 The publication of the Disputatio sive Dialogus inter
clericum et militem super potestae eccleiastica, a short Latin tract which denied the
superiority of temporal power was the origin of the German bishops' concern about the
dangers of printing.126

Similar measures were extended to the Bishoprics of Wurzburg in 1482, where the
princely bishop Rudolph von Scheerenberg imposed previous censorship in his dioceses
because of the work of the Dominican André Zamometic.127 The same occurred in Mainz,
where in 1486 the archbishop Berthold Henneberg enacted a decree in which he took actions
against abuses on liturgical German books by appointing censors who should examine the
texts before printing.128 A year later, on November 17, 1487, pope Innocence VIII issued the
bull Inter multiplices, considered the first papal document with universal character upon the
printing press.129 The publication and condemnation of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola's

123
MAILLARD ÁLVAREZ, Circulación y Difusión de la Cultura Escrita en Sevilla, 21.
124
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 100.
125
WITCOMBE, Copyright in the Renaissance, 60. 'This appears to be the earliest instance of the exercise of
censorship by a university in connection with a printed book', see: PUTNAM, The Censorship of the Church of
Rome and its influence upon the Production and Distribution of Literature, II, 11. The text of the bull can be
consulted in DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América. Legislación y censura, II, 771.
126
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 79.
127
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 80.
128
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 80.
129
'Tam in Romana Curia, quam in reliquis Italiae, Germaniae, Franciae Hispaniarum, Angliae et Scotiae
aliarumque nationum quarunlibet Christianarum civitatibus, terris, castris, villis et locis', see: WITCOMBE,

45
Conclusions was the main reason that led to its enactment. The bull ordered that 'that printers
and authors under pain of excommunication latae sententiae and heavy fines not publish any
works that have not first been submitted for examination by the ecclesiastical authorities and
duly approved by them or their delegates'. Hence, no works that were deemed heretical,
impious or scandalous shall be printed without the permission of the masters of the Sacred
Palace in Rome and diocesan ordinaries throughout Christendom remarking its universal
character.130 Any work or works which were found by the ecclesiastical authorities to contain
'aliqua fide catholicae contraria, limpia, adversa, scandalosa, aur male sonantia', were to be
brought to them in order to be burned. Moreover, the authors of these books were to be sought
out, and if necessary punished with ecclesiastical censure.131

As Tavuzzi has remarked, despite excommunication and heavy material fines, in the
city of Rome itself only a few of the many books published there within the 25 years after the
enactment of the bull mention expressly that such a license granted by the Magister Sacrii
Palatii (Masters of the Sacred Palace) had been procured, concluding that Innocents VIII's
prescriptions remained largely dead letter.132 However, despite the restrictive diffusion of this
bull, these measures were maintained by the Church without great variation until well into the
nineteenth century.

In 1501, pope Alexander VI promulgated an almost identical bull with slight variations,
the Inter multiplices, addressed to the ecclesiastic provinces of Cologne, Mainz, Trier and
Magdeburg.133

'The art of printing can be of great service in so far as it furthers the circulation of
useful and tested books; but it can bring about serious evils if its permitted to widen
the influence of pernicious works. It will therefore be necessary to maintain full
control over the printers so that they may be prevented from bringing into print
writings which are antagonistic to the Catholic faith, or which are likely to cause
trouble to believers'.134

Copyright in the Renaissance, 60. The full text of the bull is given in PINTO OLIVEIRA, 'Le premier document
pontifical sur la presse. La constitution Inter Multiplices d'Innocent VIII', 638-643.
130
WITCOMBE, Copyright in the Renaissance, 61.
131
PERNICONE, The Ecclesiastical Prohibition of Books, 41.
132
TAVUZZI, Prierias: the life and works of Silvestro Mazzolini da Prierio, 83.
133
The original text has been reproduced by Reyes Gómez and also translated into Spanish, see: DE LOS REYES
GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, II, 774-778; see also: SIERRA CORELLA, La censura en España. Indices y
catálogos de libros prohibidos, 38-42.
134
The translated passage was taken from PUTNAM, The Censorship of the Church of Rome and its influence
upon the Production and Distribution of Literature, II, 80-81. The translation has also been reproduced in
WITCOMBE, Copyright in the Renaissance, 61; GREEN and KAROLIDES, The Encyclopedia of censorship, 280.

46
Undoubtedly, these bulls illustrate the paradoxical policy of Rome regarding the printed book.
On one hand, the Papacy recognized the great service provided by useful books, and on the
other hand, it warned of the evil influences caused by those books written by pernicious
authors. Therefore, printers should be kept under permanent control in order to protect the
unity of Christendom.

The Fifth Lateran Council convened by Julius II on May 3, 1512 and continued by Leo
X until 1517, was aware of the benefits and advantages offered by the printing press.
Nevertheless, the council called for the introduction of ecclesiastical censorship
considering the threat to faith and morality that this invention might become. Thus,
Papal censorship would become increasingly rigid after the promulgation of Leo X's bull Inter
sollicitudines on May 4, 1515 during the tenth session of the Fifth Lateran Council on the
matter of censorship of printed material, the decree was universal on its application.135 The
bull created a system of censorship for books and other printed texts under the authority of
the pope, the bishops and the inquisitors, this means that even before the apparition of
Luther's 95 theses in 1517, the Roman Church had already a precise legislation prior to
printing and a repressive censorship of texts already published. 136 The control of printing and
the diffusion of printed texts became utterly intolerant by the mid-century, with the
publication of the Roman Index of 1559. Nevertheless, despite the universal character of
Rome's decrees, the reception of the papal bulls by the Catholic European states varied
greatly.

135
The text has been published in SIERRA CORELLA, La censura en España. Índices y catálogos de libros
prohibidos, 42-43.
136
The content of the papal bull has been summarized in English by authors such as Ludwig von Pastor: 'In
highly enthusiastic terms the Pope celebrates the benefits to mankind and the Church conferred through the
favour of heaven by this discovery [of printing] which has come down as a gift from God to earth, By means of
printing everyone for little money can buy many books, the study of gifted minds is made easy. Catholic
scholars too (and the Catholic Church prays that they may be many) can be educated thereby and thus win
over unbelievers to the truth. But in different countries many masters of this new craft misuse it by the
circulation of works containing errors of faith and attack on persons in high station, which are not only
unedifying to their readers, but injurious to their religious and moral life, as experience has shown and in the
time to come will show more clearly still. But the Head of the Church must take heed that which was invented
for God's glory, for the exaltation of the faith, and for the diffusion of art and learning, does not become a
curse instead of a blessing, and endanger the salvation of the faithful, that the good seed and the cockle, the
medicine and the poison, are not mingled together. Therefore, the Pope forbids with the approval of the
Council, under pain of excommunication and of heavy fines, the printing of any book without the approbation
of the Bishop and the Inquisitor, and in Rome of the Cardinal Vicar and the Master of the Palace. Every book
printed contrary to these regulations shall be burned', see: WITCOMBE, Copyright in the Renaissance, 70. The
original text in Latin has been published in DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, II, 782-783.

47
 1.3 The circulation of Lutheran books in Spain

During the early years of the Reformation, when Lutheranism spread rapidly throughout
Europe, the reaction of the Catholic world against these new religious and intellectual ideas
was immediate. The Church tried to prevent by all means the printing, sale, and reading of
works that contained the new doctrine. The offensive against Lutheran books was conducted
by Church authorities and by universities, such as those of Leuven and Cologne, which both
rejected since 1517 the writings of the Reformer.137 In fact, the University of Leuven became
a Catholic bastion and put forth its utmost effort in intellectual research against Protestantism.

In Spain, the reformation of cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros far from prevented
the entry of Lutheranism. In a way, it even created a favorable environment to the reception of
Protestant ideas.138 Among the first Spaniards that openly sympathized with Luther were
numerous members of the Emperor's court that accompanied him to his imperial coronation in
Aachen in 1520.139

This open sympathy was brief, because in the middle of a religious turmoil, the Faculty
of Theology of the University of Paris ratified the unanimous approval of Luther´s
condemnation on the famous Determinatio of April 15, 1521.140 Some months before, on
January 3, 1521, pope Leo X had excommunicated Martin Luther. And on March 21, 1521
Leon X issued briefs to the regents of Castile, requiring them to adopt measures to prevent the
introduction into Spain of Luther's writings.141 It was just after this Papal excommunication
that Spanish courtesans close to the Emperor openly abandoned their support to the German
reformer.142

Nevertheless, the Spanish interest in Luther´s proposal was still alive, although, in a
more discrete and less open manner. Therefore, during these years, the aims of the Spanish
Inquisition were deeply altered by the emergence of Protestantism, which deviated its forces

137
DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 13.
138
Cfr. with a fragment of the process of Juan de Vergara: 'Al principio quando Lutero solamente tocava en la
necesidad de la reformación de la iglesia y en artículos concernientes corruptionrm morum todo el mundo lo
approvava y los mesmos que scriven contra él confiessan en sus libros que al principio se le afficionaron y que
así lo mesmo acaesció en España en lo de la comunidad que al principio cuando parescía que solamente se
pretendía la reformación de algunas cosas todos las favorescían: mas después que la gente se comenzó a
desvergonzar y desatacar; apártaronse los cuerdos y persiguieronla…' Proceso a Juan de Vergara, quoted in DE
LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 107.
139
THOMAS, La represión del protestantismo en España, 34-37.
140
FARGE, Orthodoxy and Reform in Early Reformation France, 128.
141
PETTEGREE, The Early Reformation in Europe, 221.
142
THOMAS, La represión del protestantismo en España, 38.

48
to prevent the spreading of Lutheran ideas and other forms of heterodoxy in Spain.
Consequently, the Holly Office began to take aim at censorship of Lutheran books and texts,
increasing not only its position in the order of society but also its sphere of activity.

This dramatic 'dogmatic change' as Bartolomé Escandell Bonet called it, sought to
eliminate any other form of non-orthodox religiosity and persecuted both Lutherans,
Alumbrados, and some years later Erasmists and Mystics. This renovated inquisitorial policy
should be understood within a complex political context that revealed the confrontation
between two antagonistic factions, defenders of two divergent religious ideologies, on the first
hand, those progressive, open to influences and new trends, and on the other hand, those more
traditionalist, defenders of the old medieval models and religious values. The former could be
identified with the supporters of queen Isabella, defenders of the new devotion, which had
developed a strong pietist strain, tending to stress mental prayer at the expense of forms and
ceremonies, and sympathetic to suppress social barriers between conversos and cristianos
viejos. The latter, more conservatives were represented by the Aragon court faction and
insisted on the preservation of the formal character and the external practices of religiosity,
defending social segregation and the persecution of conversos. Gradually, the conservatives
started a policy oriented without any doubt to strengthen their political influence within
Spanish society, fighting against any politic-religious resistance. This politic opposition was
precisely embodied in the diverse heterodox trends of the moment and of course, the old
enemies, the conversos and their supporters. 143

Within this political context, Lutheran books were rapidly entering in Spain in different
ways. At the beginning of 1519, for instance, the printer Froben sent to France and Spain
around 600 copies of Luther's works in Latin.144 As Henry Kamen stated, by 1521 Lutheran
books translated into Latin, were using the Flanders trade route to enter Spain.145 Therefore,
the decade of the 1520s marked a turning point in the scrutiny of foreign books. From these
years on the Inquisition took upon itself the examination of books suspected of Lutheran
heresy. Indeed, the Holly Office considered that the importation of Lutheran books, and the
ideas contained in them could infect the conversos. Therefore the greatest effort of the
Inquisition in its fight against Lutheranism was the confiscation and destruction of books.

143
ESCANDELL BONET, 'La consolidación del Santo Oficio (1517-1569): la coyuntura ideológica, procesos y
caracteres de la etapa', 438-440.
144
THOMAS, La represión del protestantismo en España, 40-41.
145
KAMEN, Spain, 1469-1714: a society of conflict, 121.

49
The medium used by the Inquisition to proceed with the condemnation of books was the
publication of edictos or banns, whose contents could vary considerably, containing either
general provisions or proscribing particular works. The first of these banns against Lutheran
works was issued by Adrian of Utrecht, in his role as inquisitor general, on April 7, 1521,
banning the reading and bookselling of Lutheran books, allowing a period of three days to
deliver the book to the Holy Office. The situation must have been disturbing, because during
the following days not only Adrian of Utrecht, but the Spanish prelates and the Council of
State wrote several letters (dated April 9, 12, 13 respectively) urging the emperor to act
sternly against Luther and his works that were entering Spain.146 Few months later on
September 1, 1521, the inquisitor general ordered the requisitioning of all Luther's works both
in Latin and in the vernacular.147

Books were not only sent to Spain by the commercial routes, members of the court also
brought Lutheran books to Spain in 1522. In this respect, Alfonso de Valdés, a young man
who accompanied Charles V as secretary to his coronation wrote at the request of the
humanist Peter Martyr d'Anghiera a particular account of the religious dispute in Germany.148
Among other things Valdés referred that in Germany Lutheran books were widely sold in the
streets and squares, so they could be easily bought by anybody. During his journey as part of
the imperial court, Hernando Columbus, acquired in Augsburg between December 1521 and
January 1522 the Loci communes rerum theologicarum of Melanchton (Wittemberg, 1521)
and the Quod non sit onerosa Christianis confession paradoxon, by Oecolampadius (Basel,
1521) and he brought them to Spain.149 On his way through Cologne, Columbus also
incorporated anti-Lutheran books to his famous library, such as the Articulorum doctrinae
fratris Martini Lutheri per theologos louanienses damnato[rum] Ratio ex sacris literis &
veteribus tractatoribus (Antwerp, 1521), written by the notable controversialist of Leuven,
Jacob Latomus.150

Still Lutheran books continued to arrive at all major ports in the Peninsula. In 1523 a
vessel was seized from the French at Pasajes, Biscay, it had its hold full of books containing
writings by Luther and his followers, the inquisitors of Navarre were appointed by the

146
THOMAS, La represión del protestantismo en España, 42.
147
DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 13.
148
M'CRIE, The Reformation in Spain, 1998, 80,
149
THOMAS, La represión del protestantismo, 39.
150
See the item's description in the Catálogo Colectivo del Patrimonio Bibliográfico Español, CCPB000362839-
6.

50
General Council to address this matter with all diligence.151 That same year the Inquisition of
Navarre was thanked for its vigilance at the ports and along the borders with France to
prevent condemned books and heretics from entering the kingdoms.152 In Burgos, Bernardino
Tovar was able to purchase Lutheran works imported from Flanders in 1525.153 However,
Lutheran books not only came from Northern Europe, in February 1525, the emperor was
informed that three Venetian galleys loaded with Lutheran books had been detected and
seized at a port of the Kingdom of Granada.154 In this regard, both royal officials and the
inquisitors of a district had jurisdiction over the borders and ports, and were in charge of
scrutinizing the entry of foreign books.155 The inspections of ports and borders became a usual
measure used by Inquisition and was also eventually applied to the American ports some
decades later. In addition, inspections or visitas organized by the inquisitors of Navarre and
Gipuzkoa specifically looking for Lutheran books were carried out since 1523.156

Some other books were destroyed even before they could reach their destination, on
February 28, 1521, the papal nuncio Jerome Aleander pointed out in a letter to Rome that 'in
Antvuerpia se imprime a Luther in hispanico, credo per sollicitudine di Marani, che sono in
Fiandra et se devea mandar in Ispania'. And in July Aleander burned in Antwerp, the Spanish
editions of Luther's works that the marranos were about to issue to Spain. Aleander was
obviously concerned because the marranos established in Antwerp since 1512, were known to

151
KAMEN, Spain, 1469-1714: a society of conflict, 121-122; DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, 'El control legislativo', 95.
The text is reproduced in DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 47, 'Agora avemos sido informados
que los del pasaje tomaron una nao muy rica a los franceses la qual diz que ellos avian tomado a unos
valencianos viniendo de Flandes y que en ella avia una arca llena de libros e las obras del dicho lutero y de sus
secuaces y que los dichos libros se repartieron por algunos bachilleres clérigos y otras personas de la tierra y
por ser esto cosa de tan grande escándalo y tanto deservicio de Dios y contra nuestra santa fe católica se a
proveuydo que se cobren a vuestro poder todos los dichos libros y qualesquiere traslados dellos si por ventura
fuesen sacados como mas largamente vereys por la provision que será con la presente.
152
PETTEGREEE, The Early Reformation in Europe, 222.
153
KAMEN, Spain, 1469-1714: a society of conflict, 121.
154
PETTEGREEE, The Early Reformation in Europe, 222. '…los venecianos tienen por costumbre como V.A. sabrá,
de inviar sus galeazas repartidas de tres en tres por el mundo, y las tres que por ora tienen por costumbre de
venir cargadas de cosas que nos traen poco provecho, esta vez cargaron de mucho daño.. Su mercaduría era
traer mucha suma de libros del Lutero, y diz que tantos que bastaban para cada uno el suyo, y para los mejor
emplear acordaron de venir en un puerto del reino de Granada, donde no es menester muy gran centella para
encender gran fuego, y quiso Dios que el corregidor, en siendo sabedor dello, prehendió a capitanes y gente
embarazó y tomó todos los libros y los tiene a buen recaudo… pareceme que por las dos partes más peligrosas
han ya dado dos tientos que eran por Vizcaya y por el reino de Granada.', see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro
en España y América, I, 109.
155
DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 54.
156
THOMAS, La represión del protestantismo en España, 288.

51
favor the dissemination of reformed literature beyond the Pyrenees, carrying out the
translation into Spanish of Luther´s Commentary on Galatians in 1520.157

In view of the massive arrival of Lutheran books to the Iberian Peninsula, it is no

surprise that in 1525 the inquisition promulgated its first general edict. According to Werner
Thomas, 1525 is a turning point for the inquisitorial censorship because of the edict of April 2
issued by Alfonso Manrique de Lara, inquisitor general and archbishop of Seville, in which
the absolute prohibition of reading books of Luther and his followers was renewed.158

Nevertheless, the resourceful smugglers quickly created ways to facilitate the

distribution of Lutheran books in the Spanish Kingdoms, using false and misleading imprints
and bringing the books from significant trade centers, such as Antwerp, which by the time
was already one of the most important meeting places for people of different nationalities and
therefore of news and ideas. They also used the trade routes established between the Frankfurt
Fairs and Antwerp to transport the books to Spain.159

By 1530, books of the famous protestant heresiarchs were being constantly introduced
in the Iberian Peninsula.160 The disturbing situation provoked by the avalanche of books led
the Inquisition to renew the edict of 1525 several times in 1531, 161 1532, 1535 and 1536,
granting the Inquisition the power to visit public and private libraries in search of prohibited
books.162 In addition, the Council of Castile enacted a prohibition in February 1532 which

157
BATAILLON, Erasmo y España, 113; THOMAS, La represión del protestantismo en España, 41-43.
158
THOMAS, La represión del protestantismo en España, 45.
159
The role of Antwerp in this smuggling will be analyzed within the third chapter.
160
See for instance, the letter of the inquisitors adressed to the Castilian tribunals in 1530; 'Habemos sido
informados que el dicho Martín Lutero y otros, sus secuaces y adherentes a sus falsas opiniones e inventores
de otros nuevos errores, viendo que no pueden divulgar sus libros y ponzoñosa doctrina tan libremente como
querrían por estas partes y por otras donde no consienten vender ni publicar cautelosa y mañosamente han
ejercido muchas de sus dañadas opiniones debajo de nombres de otros autores católicos, intitulando los libros
a ellos falsamente y en otras partes, glosando y adicionando libros conoscidos y aprobados de buena doctrina
con falsas exposiciones y errores, acordamos señor de daros aviso desto para que con todo cuidado y diligencia
entendáis en inquirir y saber y proveer en ello….', see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, II,
1240-1241.
161
On April 27, 1531, as a result of the discovery of Lutheran books in Salamanca, the Council of the Inquisition
enjoined to renew the edicts. ',,,y asi mismo debéis señores proveer con los prelados de todas las hórdenes que
manden so pena dexcomunión a los clérigos predicadores de su horen que en los sermones que hizieren digan
e publiquen como todos los que tienen los dichos libros y obras son descomulgados por la Inquisición y
también los que saben quien los tiene y nos los rebelan e manifiestan y que así mismo manden a los confesores
que dygan lo mismo a los que confesaren. Yten paresce que juntamente con las dichas cartas débeys señores
poner edittos contra los que saben de algunos que tengan la opinión e errores del dicho lutero y sus secaces…',
see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 143-144.
162
THOMAS, La represión del protestantismo en España, 189. In October 1536 the Queen and the Council of the
Inquisition entrusted the archbishop of Seville, to appoint fray Tomás de Villanueva to visit libraries, 'visite las

52
banned the introduction and sale of new prints from abroad, unless they were previously
examined.163 The promulgation of these edicts makes clear the perceived threat of foreign
books in general, as well as the more specific threat of Protestantism.

In 1535 a network of smugglers was dismantled in Barcelona. The seriousness of the

inroads of smugglers led the Spanish Inquisition forcibly to strengthen the control of
bookstores and libraries with the appointment of an inspector or controller in charge of all the
libraries of Valencia in 1535, and another one for the whole country in 1536.164 From 1539
inquisitorial suspicious fell on the English citizens in Biscay, and the Consejo sent to the
inquisitor of Navarre, Fernando de Valdeolivas, some guidelines concerning the ways to deal
with Anglicans. The Holly Office was determined to act against those Englishmen who
brought banned books.165

Despite all the inquisitorial measures displayed to create an effective cordon sanitaire,
such as the surveillance of the Spanish ports and the borders with France, or the inspection of
libraries and bookstores to verify the removal of prohibited books, the Holly Office could not
prevent the slow but steady influx and infiltration of Lutheran books and ideas to the Iberian
Peninsula. These new ideas led to the mobilization of certain social sectors and the creation of
the mid-century circles of Valladolid and Seville. But, in the end, as Werner Thomas pointed
out, the specific politic, religious, social and cultural characteristics of Spain, came together in
a way that led to the failure of the Reformation, since no significant Protestant movement
arose on Spanish soil among the popular classes. On the contrary, it seems that in general the
Spanish rejected Protestantism from the beginning and almost unanimously without even
considering its adoption. The few isolated manifestations were wiped out by the early 1570s.

Spain saw as well the loss of reputation and respect for Erasmus's works, who had
exerted great influence at the court of the emperor, reaching its peak of popularity from 1522
to 1530. But by 1530s, Erasmus' books and ideas had come under fire principally from the
Spanish conservative factions, who viewed both humanism and Erasmian leanings as heretical

librerías de estos nuestros reinos, y examine los libros que hallare para tomar y secuestrar los que tuvieren
algunos errores y herejías de Lutero', see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 144.
163
'Por la presente le embiamos un traslado de la provisión que se despachó en el consejo real destos Reynos
para que no se puedan traer ni vender en ellos libros que se ayan nuevamente compuesto e imprimido fuera
dellos no seyendo de los que se suelen imprimir y vender sin que primeramente los dichos libros nuevamente
impresos y compuestos se examinen. DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 110.
164
In 1532 alarm was expressed when it was suggested that a Lutheran book had been printed in Valencia, see:
PETTEGREEE, The Early Reformation in Europe, 222.
165
The role of the Inquisitor Valdeolivas marked a turning point and truly starts the protestant problem in
Spain, see: THOMAS, La represión del protestantismo en España, 194.

53
or at least highly suspicious. This hyper orthodox campaign practically put an end to the
Spanish Erasmian movement, clearly reflecting a growing climate of religious tension and
schism among the Church, where the humanist tradition was everywhere collapsing giving
way to the advance of religious dogmatism.166

1.4 The severe repression of Protestant diffusion in mid-sixteenth century Spain

The decade of 1540 saw an increase in the number of prosecutions against Lutherans in Spain.
This wave of Lutheran cases led to a radicalization of the orthodoxy and a growing religious
conservatism. During the decade of 1550, foreign books (prohibited and non-prohibited) were
entering in noteworthy quantities. A notable example is provided by the active smuggling of
Protestant books organized by Julián Hernández and other Spanish exiles abroad, from
Antwerp or Frankfurt to Seville before 1557.167 Therefore, Spanish authorities intended to
enforce both the laws issued by the Crown and the Inquisition, combination which will
continue to develop and to strengthen book policy. As a result, the censorial legislation took
definite shape and became progressively more severe and intolerant under Philip II and
Fernando de Valdés.

During the years preceding the enactment of the decrees of Trent, when the earlier
hopes of a religious settlement between Catholic and the Reformed religions had vanished, a
climate of incertitude both doctrinal and institutional prevailed.168 The strenuous efforts done
by the universities, Inquisitions and Church authorities to stem the rising tide of heterodoxy,
did not fail to include stern measures against Lutheran books, publishing lists of condemned
works and authors, beginning with the Index of forbidden books published in 1544 by the
Faculty of Theology of the University of Paris.169 Following the steps of the Sorbonne, the
University of Leuven published three catalogues in 1546, 1550 and 1558. 170 In Rome the new
pope Paul IV initiated a relentless persecution of heretics and under his papacy the first roman
Index was published in 1559, heralding a real policy of rigorous cultural repression and
intransigence.

166
Concerning Erasmianism in Spain the classic study remains BATAILLON, Erasmo y España, Mexico, 1982.
167
The Lutheran conventicle of Seville discovered in 1557 received catechisms, Spanish versions of the New
Testament and other books such as La Imágen del Antichristo.
168
GOODMAN, 'Philip II's Patronage of Science and Engineering', 49.
169
The theologians of the Sorbonne added lists updated in 1545, 1547, 1548, 1551 and 1556 making a total of
more than 500 condemnations, see: DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 14.
170
Other Indexes were published in Venice in 1549, 1554. The Portuguese Inquisition published four between
1547 and 1561.

54
Meanwhile in 1551, the Spanish Inquisition proceeded with the publication of its own
catalogue in four different known editions (Valladolid, Seville, Valencia and Toledo). This
first Index is based (to a greater or lesser extent depending on the edition) on the 1550 Index
of the University of Leuven, adding for the Spanish version the lists of books that had been
banned throughout the Spanish kingdoms. De Bujanda concluded that Toledo's edition was
the most important of the four, because it contained two sections, one in Latin and one in
Spanish, of books banned by the Spanish Inquisition, and also because it would be the basis
for the 1559 Index.171

Diego de Simancas, the most influential Spanish jurist of the period, member of the
General Council of the Spanish Inquisition and bishop of Ciudad Rodrigo, summarized the
inquisitorial position in relation to heretic books in his treatise De catholicis institutionibus
(Valladolid, 1552): 'they [the books] must be sent to fire […] because they can endure for
centuries and infect those that come after their publication. And while the voices of heretics
can only fill a city, books can pass from region to region, from kingdom to kingdom'. 172 As
studied by Martin Austin Nesvig, not only Simancas' writings saw wide distribution in the
Hispanic world, but also those of Alfonso de Castro and Francisco Peña. The works written
by these highly esteemed theorists of inquisitional doctrine justified censorship in most of the
territories of the Spanish monarchy.173

In 1554, the Royal Council deplored the fact that licenses or permissions had been
carelessly granted and that a torrent of inconvenient literature had been printed. 174 As a
consequence, from then on licenses would only be granted by the president of the Council. In
addition, a sort of legal deposit is established, providing that the original texts were to be
stored in the Council.175 Generally speaking, it has been considered that this ordinance

171
DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 63-69.
172
NESVIG, Ideology and Inquisition, 1. Apud. Diego de Simancas, De catholicis institutionubus, Valladolid, 1552,
tit. 38, nu, 10. 'Multae autem sunt causae, proper quas libri haereticorum in ignem mittendi sunt…. Deinde,
semel emissum volat irrevocabile verbum; ad scripta per multa secula Durant et posteros etiam inficere
queunt. Denique voces haereticorum civitatem unam replere vix possunt; libri vero de Populo in Populum, de
Regno in Regnum per facile transeunt.'.
173
NESVIG, Ideology and Inquisition, 63-64.
174
By the mid-century the authorities considered as bad literature all those books related with false theology,
heresy, immorality, obscenity and in general those books without any doctrinal profit to faith and social fabric.
175
'Mandamos que de aqui adelante las licencias, que se dieren para imprimir de nuevo algunos libros, de
qualquier condicion que sean, se den por el Presidente y los del nuestro Consejo, y no en otras partes: a los
quales encargamos, los vean y examinen con todo cuidado, antes que den las dichas licencias, porque somos,
informados que de haberse dado con facilidad, se han impreso libros inútiles y sin provecho alguno, y donde se
hallan cosas impertinentes. Y bien así mandamos, que en las obras de importancia, quando se diere la dicha

55
centralized Castile's book control in the hands of the Royal Council. However, recent research
has shown that this law had virtually no effect on book control.176 That same year the
collaboration between doctors from the University of Salamanca and Alcala, and other
intellectuals materialized the necessary expurgation catalogue of 65 Bible editions, which was
published in 1554 under the name Censura generalis contra errors, quibus recentes haeretici
sacram scriptura asperserunt, (Valladolid, Francisco Fernández de Córdoba).

The accession of Philip II in 1556, is followed by a stern policy regarding books which
introduced more restrictive measures. The discovery of Protestant circles in Seville and
Valladolid between 1557-1558 brought to light a complex international network of import and
distribution of reformed books printed mainly in Geneva and Frankfurt. These events
triggered an extremely severe inquisitorial offensive on all fronts. The intolerant and orthodox
measures of these years should be regarded within the process of confessionalization of the
Hispanic Monarchy or as Martínez Millan named it: 'el espíritu confesionalista de la
monarquía filipina'.177

In a letter addressed to Philip II on June 2, 1558, the inquisitor general Fernando de

Valdés insisted on the problem of Lutheranism and proposes 22 specific measures to face the
crisis. Concerning foreign books, he proposed: that booksellers could not open anymore the
shipments of imported books, first they needed to be examined by the inquisitors, while royal
officials had to register all foreign books entering Spain. 178 In his letter Valdés also stressed
that in the kingdoms of Spain, foreign books printed in Spanish were not to be freely sold.179
In addition, no person was allowed to buy books both in Latin and in Spanish or any other
language from any foreigner that had come to the Spanish kingdoms. 180 Philip II answered
positively to Valdés and to the Inquisitorial Council on a letter of September 6, not only
approving but also encouraging the work of the Inquisition regarding book control, praising

licencia, el original se ponga el en dicho Consejo, porque ninguna cosa se pueda añadir o alterar en la
impresión', see: DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 35.
176
MAILLARD ÁLVAREZ, Circulación y Difusión de la Cultura Escrita en Sevilla, 23.
177
MARTÍNEZ MILLÁN, La Corte de Felipe II, 197.
178
'Que los libreros no abran balas de libros que de fuera se trajeren, sin que primero sean vistos de las
personas que la inquisición nombrare y que los jueces seglares tengan registro de las balas que se trajeren y
libros que en ellas vienen', see: DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 95-96; see the whole text in DE
LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, II, 1252-1254.
179
'Que no se puedan vender en estos reinos libros en castellano que fueren impressos fuera dellos', see: DE
BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 95-96.
180
'Que ninguna persona compre libro, en latín y romance de cualquier lengua que sea, de ningún extranjero
que a estos reinos viniere', see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, II, 1253.

56
the surveillance measures taken at sea ports and at the borders with France. 181 Thus, from
1558 on the Crown gave to the Inquisition a key role on the control of imported books.

The public answer of Philip II was the enactment of the famous severe pragmatica of
September 7, 1558 issued by princess Juana on behalf of her brother Philip II. Eventually, as
Natalia Maillard stated, all the effort made over the first half of the sixteenth century to
control book production and circulation were reflected and somehow completed with the
promulgation of this pragmatica, which clearly established an elaborate system of repressive
censorship both preventive and punitive, executed by the Royal Council.182

In consequence, no book could be published until every page had been scrutinized by
members of the Royal Council.183 There were some exceptions concerning the reprint of
devotional literature, breviaries, missals, prayer books, flos sanctorum, grammars, cartillas,
but even these books had to be examined by local prelates and diocesan authorities.184
Concerning non-Spanish books, this law threatened with death penalty and confiscation to any
book seller who dared to import any vernacular book printed outside Castile, including
Aragón, Valencia, Catalonia and Navarre, and required printers and booksellers to submit
copies of each title to civil authorities for review and potential censorship of all those books

181
'Al Inquisidor general y a los del Consejo de la Inquisición […] Tengo mucho en servicio el cuidado que teneis
en recoger los libros prohibidos y escribir a los inquisidores que cada uno en su distrito publique edictos con
grandes censuras para que nadie los tenga; y fue bien proveer en los puertos de mar y fronteras de Francia que
no los consientan meter, y de nuevo os torno a encargar que hagáis las diligencias posibles en esto, que es una
de las cosas en que mayor necesidad hay', see. DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 96.
182
The text of the pragmatic has been published in DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América.
Legislación y censura, II, 799-804.
183
GOODMAN, 'Philip II's Patronage of Science and Engineering', 49. 'Defendemos y mandamos que ningún
libro ni obra de qualquier facultad que sea en latín ni en romance ni otra lengua se pueda imprimir ni imprima
en estos Reynos sin que primero el tal libro u obra sean presentados en nuestro Consejo y sean vistos y
examinados por la persona o personas a quien los del nuestro Consejo lo cometieren, y hecho esto se le dé
licencia firmada de nuestro nombre y señalada de los de nuestro Consejo', see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro
en España y América. Legislación y censura, II, 801.
184
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, 'El control legislativo', 97; MAILLARD ÁLVAREZ, Circulación y Difusión de la Cultura
Escrita en Sevilla, 24. 'Y porque habiéndose de hazer y guardar lo suso dicho en todos los libros y obras
generalmente, que en estos Reynos se oviesen de imprimir sería de gran embarazo e impedimento, permitimos
que los libros, misales, breviarios, diurnales, libros de canto para las yglesias y monasterios, horas en latín y en
romance, cartillas para enseñar a niños, flos sanctorum, constituciones sinodales, artes de gramática,
vocabularios y otros libros de latinidad de los que hay impresos en estos Reynos, no siendo los dichos libros de
que se ha dicho obras nuevas, sino de las que ya otra vez están impressas, se puedan imprimir sin que se
presenten en nuestro Consejo ni preceda la dicha nuestra licencia, y que se pueda hazer a tal impresión con
licencia de los Prelados y Ordinarios en sus distritos y diócesis…', see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España
y América, II, 802.

57
imported before the law´s promulgation in order to be reviewed, approved and get a license of
distribution.185

In brief, the Crown and its regulations assured control on previous censorship upon
Spanish production while the Inquisition would be responsible of the punitive censorship, and
the importation and circulation of books.186 Clearly, this 'sanction' decree of 1558 is somehow
the peak of all efforts made by the Crown during the first half of the sixteenth century to
control the production and circulation of books.187 According to Fermín de los Reyes, this
pragmática was the basis of the Spanish book legislation until the last third of the eighteenth
century.188 This severe law was a response to pressure from various authorities and an
inevitable consequence of a historical juncture.189

First, it appears to be an immediate reaction, resulting from the last years of the
emperor's reign. Which as it is well known, were marked by a failure regarding his policy to
preserve Europe's religious unity, particularly after the signing of the Augsburg treaty of
1555, based 'upon the principle of confessional parity and upon the ruler´s right to determine
the religion of his subjects (stated in the formula, cuius regio, eius religio).190 Moreover,
without any doubt these decrees confirmed a fear of overseas expansion of protestant and
other heterodox doctrines. Second, it came during the same period as the discovery of
Protestant cells in Valladolid and Seville, just a year before the onset of the inquisitor Valdés'
Index, and the issuing of the controversial pragmatic of November 22, 1559, which prohibited
to all Spanish subjects to go and study abroad in foreign universities, specifically Paris and

185
'Mandamos y defendemos que ningún librero ni otra persona alguna traiga ni meta en nuestros reinos libros
de romance impresos fuera de ellos, aunque sean impresos en los reinos de Aragón, Valencia, Cataluña y
Navarra, de cualquier materia, calidad o facultad, no siendo impresos con licencia firmada de nuestro nombre y
señalada de los del nuestro Consejo, so pena de muerte y perdimiento de bienes; y en cuanto a los libros de
romance de los impresos fuera de este reino hasta ahora y antes de la publicación de esta nuestra carta y
pragmatica que se hubieren traído sean obligados a los que los tuvieren a los presentar al Corregidor o Alcalde
Mayor de la cabeza del partido, el cual envíe ante los del nuestro Consejo la memoria de los que son, para que
visto se provea; y entre tanto no los tenga ni vendan, so pena de perdimiento de sus bienes y que sea
desterrados de estos reinos perpetuamente', see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América.
Legislación y censura, II, 801, see also: GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Lecturas e ideas en Nueva España', 49.
186
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 142.
187
MAILLARD ÁLVAREZ, Circulación y Difusión de la Cultura Escrita en Sevilla, 23.
188
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, 'El control legislativo', 97; MAILLARD ÁLVAREZ, Circulación y Difusión de la Cultura
Escrita en Sevilla, 25.
189
Virgilio Pinto Crespo remarked that this law was decisive in the stagnation of the Spanish thought of the
seventeenth century, see: PINTO CRESPO, 'Pensamiento, vida intelectual y censura en la España de los siglos
XVI y XVII', 181-182.
190
GUGGISBERG, 'The Secular State of the Reformation Period and the Beginnings of the Debate of Religious
Toleration', 94.

58
Leuven.191 Some years later the ban was extended to prevent the Netherlandish subjects from
studying at French Universities.

Despite this severity, some nuances could be added to the pragmatica's implementation.
As Kamen remarked, the law of 1558 only affected Castile. Accordingly, over a large part of
Spain, the severe law had no force.192 Moreover, the penalty exempted most ecclesiastical
Latin books, such as those written by the professors based at the University of Leuven, such
as Ruardus Tapper, Driedo, Ravesteyn, Hessels, Molanus, and Garetius, whose works opened
new paths for the study of theology during the second half of the sixteenth century. 'Effective
application of the law governing imports was not possible, because bookshops in Spain
depended for their living on supplies from abroad'. Finally, the most important problem with
the legislation of 1558 was that many Spaniards simply ignored it. Many authors went abroad
to publish their books, as will be discussed below. As a consequence, Kamen considered that
'the penalties laid down by the 1558 law often remained a virtual dead letter', since the
Spanish authors were publishing with impunity in Italy, France, the Netherlands and as far as
it is known not a single author -besides those condemned as Protestants- suffered the death
penalty.193

It is clear that this pragmatica was trying to prevent the arrival of a multitude of foreign
books printed in Spanish. Actually, before its enactment, some voices were raised against the
introduction of 'harmful' foreign books to the Spanish kingdoms. For instance, Luis Ortiz, in
his Memorial of March 1558, proposed a ban on all the imports, arguing in favor of a Spanish
typographic development, by means of printing not only liturgical books like missals or
breviaries but also theology, law and medicine books which usually came from abroad.194

Furthermore, the enactment of the 1558 law coincided with a flourishing period of the
Antwerp Spanish editions, printed by Martinus Nutius (or Nucio) and Joannes Steelsius (or

191
Some authors such as Bataillon considered this pragmatic as a cordon sanitaire, and in general the
Spanish historiography have considered it as the break with Europe, or as Ortega y Gasset said, 'The
Tibetanization of Spain'. However, Tellechea Idígoras noted that on the practice this cordon sanitaire
was very limited focusing on Leuven and Paris, see: TELLECHEA IDÍGORAS, 'Españoles en Lovaina en
1557', 145.
192
Until the later years of Philip II's reign the crown manage to claim some degree of control over licensing in
the crown of Aragon, in Catalonia from 1573, in Valencia from the 1580s, and in Aragon from 1592, see:
KAMEN, The Spanish Inquisition, 105.
193
KAMEN, The Spanish Inquisition. 106.
194
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 194-196.

59
Steelsio), which reached a peak between 1541-1559.195 In this regard, scholars like Robben
and Imhof believe that the law of 1558 seriously hampered the entry of Spanish books printed
in Antwerp to the Hispanic kingdoms.196 Frans Robben pointed that one of the consequences,
was that these unsold editions circulated in local markets, popularizing Spanish literature in
Northern Europe.197

By October 1558, the Crown along with the Inquisition enforced its provisions with
unprecedented severity,198 organizing systematic inspections of public and private libraries to
verify compliance with the law.199 The prelates had to visit the libraries of all the convents of
their provinces and the confessors were obliged to ask their penitents if they had Protestant
books or if they knew people who possessed, printed or sold them .200 Meanwhile, the
universities of Alcala, Salamanca, Seville, Granada, Toledo and Valladolid were ordered to
control their own libraries, and also to keep an eye on their students in order to avoid the
divulgation of Lutheran propositions.201 In fact, Philip II directly intervenes between the end
of 1558 and the first half of 1559 in the inspections carried out at the libraries of the
University of Valladolid.202

Furthermore, Philip II issued an order addressed to the corregidores of Gipuzkoa,

Oviedo, La Coruña, Cadiz, Jerez de la Frontera, Malaga, Gibraltar, Murcia, Vayona, Guadix,
Granada, the Island of La Palma, the governor of Galicia, and the resident judges of the
Canary Islands, Seville and Biscay to organize the surveillance of incoming book shipments,
preventing booksellers to have access to them without a preview examination. In addition, the

195
Steelsius and Nutius' activities will be lengthily discussed in chapter III.
196
IMHOF, 'Las ediciones españolas de la Officina Plantiniana', 64.
197
ROBBEN, Jan Poelman, 16-17.
198
Supported by the King, Valdés conducted an ambitious reform of the Holly Office's structure, see: GONZÁLEZ
NOVALÍN, 'Reorganización valdesiana de la Inquisición española', 616.
199
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, 'El control legislativo', 97.
200
Philip II addressed this order to the provincials of the Franciscans, Dominicans, observant Augustinians,
Mercedarians, and Trinitarians; the prelate of the order of the Minims, the general of the Hieronymites, the
general of the Order of Saint Benito; the reformer of Bernardins and the visitador of the Order of the
Carthusian Order, see: THOMAS, La represión del protestantismo en España, 230.
201
Philip II issued the order addressed to the rectors and doctors of Valladolid, Alcala, Salamanca, Seville,
Granada, Toledo, see: THOMAS, represión del protestantismo en España, 231. 'Por lo cual os mandamos que
luego con la diligencia posible visitéis las librerías desta universidad inquiráis si ay algunos libros reprobados y
sospechosos en poder de algunas personas desa universidad y con el cuidado quel caso requiere entenderéis y
procuraréis de saber si algunos estudiantes tienen y enseñan errores lutheranos y doctrinas que no sean
cathólicas y de lo que halláredes y cerca desto supierdes daréis luego aviso a los inquisidores desde partido
para que provean lo que convenga, que en ello demás de haxer lo que devéys yo recibiré mucho placer y
servicio.', see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 201-202.
202
DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 42.

60
corregidores of all these ports had to check all the imported merchandise in order to avoid the
smuggling of prohibited books.203

This broad counter-reformation program culminated with the publication of the 1559
Index, prepared by Fernando de Valdés and published in Valladolid.204 This strict compilation
became the cornerstone of all subsequent Indexes and formalized the ban on various known
heretical books. The list concentrated on theological works produced by the Reformers,
vernacular translations of the bible, as well as vernacular books of hours, some other works on
natural philosophy,205 as well as the works written by various suspect Catholic authors
including several by Erasmus, like his Enchiridion, and other popular religious works like the
Libro de Oración y Meditación of Luis de Granada, considered by far the sixteenth-century´s
greatest best-seller in Spain.206

The 1559 Spanish Index along with the actions of the Holly Office, probably caused the
disappearance of many works from bookstores and private collections. As Bataillon and
Tellechea Idígoras stated, the publication of this Index along with the decree or pragmatica of
1558, are the evidence of a critical moment in history, representing a shift or a turning point in
the development of the century.207 And as Nesvig remarked, 'the Index was the expression and
culmination of the horror with which censors viewed heretical ideas expressed in print. Or in
other words, a dreaded weapon of intellectual terror'.208 Thomas called this turning point, 'el
viraje filipino', (1559-1575) which led Spain to its partial enclosure in the coming decades.209

1.5 Censorship after 1559

After 1559, inquisitorial policy concerning foreign books continued to be severe. The review
and the seizure of foreign books in Spanish ports and at borders was strengthened, always
fearing the possible spread of Protestant ideas. In addition, the implementation of the
decisions of the Council of Trent in Spain consolidated the inquisitorial position within the
Spanish society.

203
The order was also issued on October 9, 1558.
204
DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 14.
205
GOODMAN, 'Philip II's Patronage of Science and Engineering', 50.
206
RUEDA RAMÍREZ, Negocio e intercambio cultural, 331.
207
TELLECHEA IDÍGORAS, '1559, ¿Crisis religiosa o europea?, 79.
208
NESVIG, Ideology and Inquisition, 5.
209
THOMAS, La represión del protestantismo en España, 253-271.

61
Stephen Haliczer noticed that ever-present danger of book smuggling from France increased
inquisitorial concerns. For instance, in 1567, cardinal Granvelle wrote to Madrid to warn that
the Huguenots were hoping to provoke disorder in Spain by sending quantities of subversive
books. As a result, the Suprema wrote provincial tribunals in June 1568 to take extra
precautions because of an alleged plot by the Huguenots to smuggle Protestant books into
Spain, utilizing compartments ingeniously fitted into wine casks. 210 Certainly, there was an
audience interested in Protestant books, as demonstrated by the case of a Castilian bookseller
established in Madrid's Calle Santiago in 1568,211 who, if necessary could personally get the
books in France within only two weeks. His eager customers were mostly French
courtesans.212 In brief, the vigilant inquisition served as the ultimate guardian of religious
ideology imposed by the confessional system. By the end of the 1560s 'the 'open' Spain of the
Renaissance had been transformed into the partially 'closed' Spain of the Counter-
Reformation.

The spirit of the Counter-Reformation is utterly reflected in the new pragmática of

March 27, 1569 issued by Philip II: 'Pragmática y declaración sobre los libros eclesiásticos
que vienen impresos fuera del reyno. Y para que de aquí en adelante no se puedan imprimir
sin licecia de los señores del Consejo de su Magestad'.213 The main objective of this new law
was to put into effect the decrees of Trent, and its application upon the printing press and the
production of Nuevo Rezado books. As a result, no liturgical book (missals, diurnals,
breviaries, choir books either in Latin or in vernacular), could be printed in Spain without the
previous review of the experts appointed by the Royal Council, which, in turn, would grant
the printing licenses, in order to avoid theological errors against Tridentine Provisions.214 In
addition, the importation and distribution of foreign liturgical books printed in Latin was also
banned without obtaining the pertinent license from the Royal Council. In a time where the
arrival of large numbers of foreign Latin books was very vigorous, even if such books had
been printed in Aragón, Valencia, Catalonia and Navarre, centralizing censorship around

210
HALICZER, Inquisition & Society in the Kingdom of Valencia, 288-289.
211
At an early stage from the mid-sixteenth century to the mid-seventeenth century, the booksellers of Madrid
were mostly established in the street of Santiago-Puerta de Guadalajara, see, AGULLÓ Y COBO, La imprenta y el
comercio de libros en Madrid, 132.
212
THOMAS, La represión del protestantismo en España, 251.
213
See the whole text in DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, II, 809-812.
214
The Pope endeavored to control the production of the new authoritative versions of these texts. Each newly
revised text was first officially sanctioned and then recommended to all members of the Catholic community;
all previously versions of the text were banned, see: BOWEN and IMHOF, Christopher Plantin and Engraved
Books Illustration, 123.

62
Castile as ordered by the pragmatic of 1558. Finally, sanctions or penalties were the same as
those imposed by the pragmatic of 1558.215

Meanwhile in the Low Countries, the same Counter-Reformation spirit along with the
repression displayed by Alva was also affecting the printing press through a system of
inspections of libraries based on the Spanish one, and implemented with Alva's consent. In
March 1569, apparently a lot of heretical books were seized in Antwerp, especially at the
house of a widow, who owned a printing shop, (unfortunately Alva did not provide further
information about the widow's identity).216 Some months later, in October 1569, the duke
informed about the Flemish presses question. In his letter Alva suggested that the number of
printers should be reduced to a few shops which were only to be established in important and
well-known cities, such as Antwerp, Leuven or Douai. In these cities only recognized shops
would operate under the rule of masters approved by the bishops. The system would impose
an ecclesiastical control upon the Flemish printing press. Moreover, Alva proposed the
existence of a loyal 'prototypographus' appointed by the king, who, in turn, should not only
examine the printer's abilities, but also approve and give license to all the apprentices, who
under no circumstances could work outside the shop of their masters, and work without an
examination signed by the 'prototypographus'.

215
'Mandamos que nos e impriman en estos reynos, misales, diurnales, pontificales, manuales, breviarios, en
latín ni en romance, ni otro libro alguno de coro, sin que primero se traigan al nuestro Consejo, y se examinen a
las personas a quienes lo cometieren, y se les de licencia firmada de nuestro nombre, para que en ellos no
pueda haber ningún vicio contra lo ordenado por su Santidad, ni se puedan vender en estos reinos los que
estuvieren impresos fuera de ellos sin el dicho examen y licencia, aunque estén impresos en los de Aragón,
Valencia, Cataluña y Navarra, sin embargo, en lo contenido en la pragmática de Valladolid [1558], que es la ley
precedente. Lo cual cumplan así los impresores como los libreros, y otras cualesquier personas de cualquier
calidad que sean so pena de incurrir en las penas que por la dicha ley están puestas, Y las justicias los
embarguen, y no los consientan vender, ni distribuir, ni usar de ellos y procedan contra los que lo contrario
hicieren, so pena de privación perpetua de sus oficios, y de cincuenta mil maravedíes por cada vez, y so la dicha
pena mandamos a las dichas justicias, que de los libros que así hallaren, envíen relación a nuestro consejo
dentro de veinte días', see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, 'El control legislativo', 97; GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Lecturas
e ideas en Nueva España', 49.
216
See Alva's letter to Philip II, dated March 18, 1569 'Para los 26 (día 26) tenía ordenado que en todas las villas
se tomasen las boticas de todos los libreros e impresores de estos Estados, y que en las cartas que escribí a los
ejecutores señalé las personas que habían de hacer la visita; y que hoy he tenido aviso de Anveres y Bolduque,
y me escriben que se ha hecho muy pacíficamente, y que en Anvers han hallado mucho mal. y particularmente
en una viuda y su criado que tenía una emprenta. Hanse prendido, y así hare a los demás que hubieran hecho
sus oficios, y contra esta y los demás que hallare culpados hare proceder conforme a los placartes del
emperador nuestro Sor. y de V.M.', see: SIERRA CORELLA, La censura en España. Indices y catálogos de libros
prohibidos, 101-102; 'Een soortgelyk onderzoek werd omtrent de drukpers ingesteld, en met veel ruwheid
doorgezet. Den 17n Maert 1569 namelyk werden op Alva's bevel al de winkels der boekverkoopers ,
boekdrukkers, en boekbinders gesloten. Al de boeken in die winkels aenwezig, werden door de geestelyke en
wereldlyke overheid onderzocht; en diegenen, welke men stryding bevond met de verordeningen van het
Concilium van Trente, werden in beslag genomen', see: MERTENS and TORFS, Geschiedenis van Antwerpen, IV,
450.

63
Thus, a double censorship under both royal and ecclesiastic influence, would be operating in
Flanders. Alva also reported that evil books had been printed everywhere in Flanders, with the
help of untrained young men. For this reason, it was not possible to make a distinction
between 'good' and 'bad' printers, and that was the main reason why Alva suggested a
regrouping of the printers in important urban centers, to facilitate control and if necessary
punishment of this printers.217 However, despite the general mistrust generated by the
presence and rapid dissemination of heterodox ideas throughout the Netherlands, intensified
by the active participation of its presses in the publication of heretical texts, the high standard
reached by the Flemish press could not be ignored. According to the Spanish authorities, a
reinforcement in the control upon the local presses was enough to ensure a highly regarded
book production. As a result, Christophe Plantin was appointed in 1570 as Philip's chief
printer in the Netherlands or 'prototypographus'. That same year the first of three Antwerp
Indexes was issued under the authority of Philip II, prepared by University of Leuven
theologians and Benito Arias Montano. This Index was based upon the Tridentine Index with
certain other titles incorporated.218

217
Letter of the Duke of Alva about the printing press in Flanders, Brussels, dated October 31, 1569: 'Que el
número de los impresores se reduzca a pocas casas. Y éstas no las puede haber sino en lugares principales y
conocidos como son Amberes, Lovaina y Duay y alguna otra villa que pareciere a propósito. Y que en éstas haya
ciertas imprentas públicas y conocidas por sus marcas, cuyos maestros sean examinados por los obispos
conforme a ciertos capítulos que se hacen para esta aprobación. Y siendo aprobados en lo que toca a la religión
y costumbres, que haya un prototipográfo puesto de parte de v.m.de buenas costumbres y fidelidad--- y que
éste examine en lo que toca a la habilidad y los dé carta de examen. Y que sean confirmados por V.M. o su
gobernador. Y este tal no solamente ha de examinar a los que son maestros y principales en la impresión, pero
todos los discípulos de manera que no pueda ninguno ganar sueldo fuera de la casa de sus maestros, ni
trabajar en las imprentas sin ser examinado y tener la carta de examen firmada por el prototipográfo con pena
al que lo contrario hiciese. Porque hasta aquí se imprimían libros malos por los rincones, en las aldeas, usando
de mozos de poca suficiencia que se dejaban cohechar y de esta manera no se podía concoer los malos
impresores ni los buenos. Ahora se pofrá luego saber y castigar y además de esto se ordenará que ninguno de
estos impresores tenga en su oficina persona que no sea conocida y aprobada por católica, see: DE LOS REYES
GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, II, 1260.
218
'Philippi II. Regis Catholici Edictum, de Librorum Prohibitorum Catalogo Observando, una cum iis qui
mandato Regiae Catholicae Majestatis, et illustriis. Ducis Albani, consiliiq. Regii decreto, prohibentur suo quaeq.
loco et ordine repositis', see: PUTNAM, The Censorship of the Church of Rome, 226. See the letter of Benito
Arias Montano to Philip II (May 10, 1579) referring the progresses on the catalogues: '…El Duque de Alba por
servicio de V. Md. me mandó el año pasado hacer un catálogo de los libros que entendiese debían ser
reprobados, para repurgar las librerías de estos Estados. Yo lo hice y conforme a él se repurgaron, e yo asistí a
la repurgación de las desta villa, y fue Dios servido que se hizo por todas partes bien y sin perjuicio de persona.
Después di aviso que para hacer un catálogo cumplido era necesario escribir a las universidades y obispos, para
que ellos diesen noticias de todos los malos libros que habían parecido en esta tierra estoa tiempos pasados,
ansi vulgares como latinos, y ansi se hizo, y después se celebró una junta en Bruselas, de los inquisidores
generales, el Obispo de Bolduqye, al presente de Anvers y Tiletanus que ya es fallecido, y el dean de Bruselas
que V. Md. ha hecho obispo en Bolduque, y fray Alonso de Contreras, que también es difunto, y a ella fui yo
mandado ir para que se viesen los avisos de los obispos y universidades, y que se diese orden en hacer el
catálogo general para pugar toda la tierra En la consulta que duró diez días, se determinaron tres cosas: la una
fue la ordenación y disposición del catálogo, la cual remitieron a mí los diputados, con los avisos y acuerdos

64
The production of liturgical and devotional editions was instigated by the Tridentine decisions
to have texts essential for the practice of the Catholic faith reformed. 219 These provisions and
the new liturgical decrees created and immediate, immense need for thousands of copies of
the given works that numerous printers were eager to satisfy for their own profit, as Bowen
and Imhof pointed out. By 1573 important printing centers, such as Venice, Paris, Lyon, and
Antwerp had an independent printer, authorized by a local authority to print all of the
reformed texts.220 In the Netherlands Christopher Plantin was the ultimate beneficiary, this
aspect will be reviewed in chapter III.221

However, not everyone in Spain was enthusiastic about the massive influx of foreign
books. In 1572, Francisco Sancho, professor at the University of Salamanca, suggested that in
order to clean the Spanish kingdoms of bad and infected books, it was convenient to print in
Spain all books required by the Spanish letrados, not allowing the entrance of foreign books.
However, this petition was unrealistic given the traditional dependence of the Spanish
market.222

Meanwhile, the ever-present and newly renovated and invigorated Inquisition of

Fernando de Valdés and his successor cardinal Diego de Espinosa, launched an unprecedented
persecution directed against foreigners between 1563 and 1575. This in an effort to stop
supplying routes and pathways of Protestant ideology, or in other words, the circulation of
books, ideas and people coming mainly from France. In fact, by 1573 the Inquisition seemed
to control the Lutheran problem. However, during this decade commerce between England
and the Iberian Peninsula entered an outstandingly prosperous decade, and in spite of
vigorous Inquisitorial opposition, the needs of international trade and the political interests of
the monarchy led to the formal lift of the embargo of trade between England and Spain in

que para ellos fueron necesarios. El catálogo e hizo muy bien cumplido, y juzgando las cosas con mucha
equidad, el cual se ha publicado aca y se obedece con grande observancia', see: SIERRA CORELLA, La censura en
España. Indices y catálogos de libros prohibidos, Madrid,1947, 102-105..
219
BOWEN and IMHOF, Christopher Plantin and Engraved Books Illustration, 123.
220
BOWEN and IMHOF, Christopher Plantin and Engraved Books Illustration, 123.
221
Plantin had a great advantage over other printers in Europe, since, by 1569, when he began printing the
reformed breviaries, he alone had ten presses, and that number subsequently increased, hovering between
fifteenth and sixteenth in the years 1574-75, see: BOWEN and IMHOF, Christopher Plantin and Engraved Books
Illustration, 124.
222
'A algunos de los Padres que dieron su parecer acerca del Catálogo, [the future 1583 Index] les ha parecido
que, para bien del todo limpiarse estos Reynos de libros malos y malas doctrinas en ellos, convernía que se
introduxese o hubiese en España impresión de todos los libros que en ella hubiesen de gastar y no se
permitiesen entrar libros impressos en Reynos estrangeros. Pero esto ha parecido, muy dificultuoso, aunque
muy provechoso a su magestad y a sus Reynos, si pudiese hacerse sin notable detrimento de las disciplinas y
profesores de ellas', see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 157.

65
April 1573.223 The Alva-Cobham agreement (December 1575), as it became known in English
historiography, was officially in effect in all Spanish ports by October, 1576. 224

Despite these moderated measures, the Inquisition under the aegis Gaspar de Quiroga
(who became inquisitor general in 1573 and replaced Bartolomé Carranza as archbishop of
Toledo in 1577), followed a policy of intense vigilance over book smuggling. The inspection
of all foreign ships, at once became a very important activity. 225 The Suprema constantly sent
out letters to the tribunals urging the tightening up of procedure. However, the inspections or
visitas to the foreign vessels were not carried out without jurisdictional clashes between the
representatives of the Inquisition and those of the Crown. Because both royal officials and the
inquisitors of a district had jurisdiction over the borders and ports and were in charge of
scrutinizing the entry of foreign books.226 But, by 1579, both the Council of the Indies and the
Royal Council promulgated detailed regulations on how the inspections or visits should be
carried out, setting the preeminence of the Holy Office during the inspection of foreign
vessels.227

During the 1580s the court of Philip II was the scenario of struggles between rival
factions. The annexation of Portugal realized the old Trastámara ambition of unifying the
entire peninsula, but the government was overshadowed by both the failure to subdue the
revolt in the Netherlands, and the outbreak of war with England in 1585, matter that was
weakening the royal authority and menacing the very fabric of the political apparatus.228 In
addition, a new wave of mistrust provoked by the discovery of new protestant circles mainly
of Huguenots, strengthened book censorship.229 The search for prohibited books on foreign
ships was as rigorous as ever. In 1583, for instance, the tribunal of Seville warned the

223
In 1563 difficulties between Elizabeth and the Habsburgs led to a brief embargo of trade with both the
Netherlands and Spain. Even more seriously, in December 1568 the affair of Alba's payships resulted in a
prolonged breakdown of relations. The consequent embargo was to last until April 1573. see: CROFT, 'Trading
with the enemy', 282-283.
224
This agreement offered assurances to the English merchants to freely trade with Spanish ports without
being molested in their persons of good by the Inquisition, provided they did nothing to offend the Holly
Tribunal openly, if such case should arise, only the goods of the offender himself would be sequestrated, see:
CROFT, 'Englishmen and the Spanish Inquisition', 254-255.
225
Pauline Croft underlines that the books which were occasionally found on English ships were always the
property of the crew or cape-merchant. CROFT, 'Englishmen and the Spanish Inquisition', 260.
226
DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 54.
227
RUEDA RAMÍREZ, 'La vigilancia inquisitorial del libro con destino a América', 141.
228
ELLIOTT, Imperial Spain 1469-1716, 269.
229
As Werner Thomas pointed out, by 1580s all the prosecuted were not Spanish citizens anymore, on the
contrary, the cases of Protestantism detected by the Inquisition occurred mostly among foreigners (French
citizens). The Protestantism had lost its appeal among Spanish citizens. THOMAS, La represión del
protestantismo en España, 294-295.

66
Tribunal of Madrid about the smuggling of heretical works from Flanders. Pauline Croft
remarked that during the war the tales in circulation grew even more grandiose, in 1590 the
tribunal of Seville reported to Madrid that it had heard that 45 000 books printed in Holland
and Zealand were steadily infiltrated into Spain.230

In the 1580s, a review and update of the Index of 1559 was more than necessary
because over the years, and with the publication of new titles, the Index of Valdés gradually
became obsolete. Under the auspices of inquisitor general Gaspar de Quiroga, a massive
Index, the most important of the sixteenth century, largely based on the Tridentine Index of
1564,231 and fashioned by conservative Dominicans in Salamanca was issued in 1583. This
new Index represented a new turn in inquisitorial censorship, that incorporated with some
nuances the Tridentine censorial program. The Index itself was divided in two parts, one of
works prohibited in their entirety, and the other of those works requiring expurgation (which
appeared in 1584), unlike the roman Indexes which only included a section devoted to
forbidden books.232

The war with the United Provinces and England was continuing without any prospect of
quick settlement. The bankruptcy in 1596 revealed a fragile and exhausted nation,
overwhelmed by a mountain of debts. Within this context of economical crisis, a law issued
on August 12, 1598 under the name 'Pragmática en que se establece la tasa para los libros
extranjeros', prohibited the introduction of books by both national and foreign booksellers,
without being first taxed, aiming an economic protection. To accomplish this law, one copy of

230
CROFT, 'Englishmen and the Spanish Inquisition', 260.
231
During the long drawn sessions XVII and XXV of the holy, ecumenical and general Council of Trent, the
normative required for the printing press was formally established and promulgated by Pius IV in the Index of
1564 called the Index of the Council of Trent, which has a coherent legislation on printing and on book
censorship. These laws remained in force with minor changes for over three centuries. Updated versions were
fashioned under Sixtus V in 1590 and Clement VIII in 1590 and 1593, see: DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition
Espagnole, 15
232
As Joseph Pérez noticed, 'it is still hard to see exactly why this or that work was banned, however, the
preface to the 1583 Index provides a few clues, It lists fourteen general clues subsequently reproduced (with a
few corrections and additions) in later Indexes'. 'The Index banned: 1.-All books condemned by popes and
councils before 1515; All books written by heretics; All books written by Jews or Muslims of or a kind to oppose
Catholic dogma; Translations of the Bible into the vernacular, in particular those produced by heretics; Books of
Hours in the vernacular; 'Disputes and controversies of a religious nature between Catholics and heretics, and
refutations of Mahomet's Koran in the vernacular, because such polemics enabled people to form some idea
about what infidels believed; Books on occult knowledge that served to invoke demons and books of judicial
astrology were also banned; Books that use the Holy Scriptures for profane ends were banned, as were poems
that interpreted the Holy Scriptures in a disrespectful manner, contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church;
All books that did not display the name of the author and publisher and the date and place of publication; All
interpretations disrespectful to the saints and members of the ecclesiastical hierarchy', see: J. PÉREZ, The
Spanish Inquisition, 185-186.

67
all editions that were aimed to be distributed and sold in Spain, was first to be given to the
Royal Council for its assessment. Pecuniary penalties and the confiscation of the books would
be applied to offenders. 233

King Philip died in September 1598, his death marking the end of almost half a century
of outlining the legal frame and censorship of books. In this respect the words of Thomas
Platter (who was travelling throughout Spain in 1599) are enlightening: 'The only thing why
the catholic religion exists in Spain is because the inquisitors severely repress all the others
with fire not allowing the entrance of any book of any other religion'.234

1.6 The steady influx of foreign books in seventeenth-century Spain

Less than encouraging was the political landscape inherited by Philip III, Spain could no
longer afford the luxury of war as an instrument of diplomacy. Therefore, in 1604 the Treaty
of London was signed, concluding nineteen years of Anglo-Spanish War. Although the treaty
did not allow absolute religious tolerance (the importation of banned or punished literature
was certainly not permitted), it started a way of coexistence between Spanish and English
citizens. In the same vein, the Twelve Years' Truce was signed in 1609 between the United
Provinces on one side and Spain and the Southern Netherlands on the other, after more than
40 years of civil war in Flanders. It guaranteed the citizens of the United Provinces the same
security and freedom that the subjects of the king of England had already been accorded by
the Treaty of London. The same regulations would almost literally end up in the peace treaties
of Munster of 1648.235

Despite the Treaty of 1604 and the Twelve Years' Truce, the need to be exceedingly
careful when dealing with foreign books was an ever-present concern, as the following
inquisitorial ban of 1605 indicates:

233
'Hemos sido informados que fuera destos reynos se han traído y traen muchos libros y se venden en ellos
sin traerlos al nuestro Consejo, para que se tassen y los venden a muy excessivos precios de que nuestros
súbditos y naturales reciben mucho daño y agravio. Y habiéndose tratado en el nuestro Consejo […] Mandamos
que qualesquiera personas, así naturales de estos reynos o extranjeros de ellos, que truxeren o metieren en
ellos cualesquier libros impresos no los puedan vender ni vendan, sin que primero sean tasados por los del
nuestro Consejo, y para ello envíen a él uno de los dichos libros, so pena diez mil maravedíes, y de haber
metido los libros que metieren y vendieren sin preceder la dicha tasa, aplicados a nuestra Cámara Juez y
denunciador por partes iguales, see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, 'El control legislativo', 97.
234
RUEDA RAMÍREZ, Negocio e intercambio cultural, 63, Apud. T. PLATTER, 'Descripción del viaje a través de
Francia, España, Inglaterra y los PaÍses Bajos: del Reino de España y especialmente del Condado de Cataluña',
Hermes. Revista de Traducción, 3 (1994), 81-90.
235
THOMAS, La represión del protestantismo en España 1517-1648, 357-358.

68
 'Because it is quite necessary to be very careful regarding the many books that come
from outside, that you do an inventory and keep a record of all the books that you have
in your power and from any field of knowledge… specifying in the record the author,
printer, type and place where they were printed.236
Regarding imported books, the tribunal kept reprinting Indexes that were published in Madrid
in 1612 by inquisitor general Bernardo de Sandoval y Rojas;237 at Seville in 1632 by
inquisitor general Antonio de Zapata;238 and at Madrid in 1640 by inquisitor general
Sotomayor.239 The Inquisition also continued demanding lists of books to the booksellers, as
well as performing visitas on libraries.240

An atmosphere of national disillusionment characterized the turn of the century and the
early years of the reign of Philip III. In this context the pragmatica of June 4, 1610 prohibited
Spanish authors to go abroad or to send their own texts to print in other reigns without having
a royal license. Furthermore, those Spanish subjects who violated this decree by publishing
books of any matter or science in any language abroad, would automatically lose half of their
properties, as well as their dignities and benefices. Moreover, those who help them to bring
and introduce their books into the Spanish kingdoms would also be punished. Finally, the law
of 1610 recalled the effect of the pragmatic of 1558, in which the introduction of unlicensed
vernacular books published abroad was forbidden.241 As was already observed, since the
sixteenth century Spanish authors sought to publish abroad. The advantages offered by the
presses of other countries were clear: less legal obstacles, and a better typographic quality.

236
'Es muy necesario tener mucho cuidado en materia de los muchos libros que vienen de fuera… hagan
imbentario y memorial de todos los libros que tuvieren en su poder en cualquier lengua y de cualquier
facultad… especificando en el dicho memorial el autor impreso tipo y lugar en donde fueren impresos', see: R.
PRENDERGAST, Reading, Writing, and Errant Subjects, in Inquisitorial Spain, 21.
237
Reprinted in 1614, 1619 and 1628 with slight variations, see: GREEN and KAROLIDES, The Encyclopedia of
censorship, 272.
238
Zapata's Index was the largest yet to appear, running to some 1000 pages.
239
It was reprinted in 1662 and 1667.
240
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 360.
241
'Por haberse llevado a imprimir a otros reynos las obras y libros que han compuesto y escrito algunos
naturales de estos, sin nuestra licencia, y aprobación de los del nuestro Consejo, y sin preceder y guardar las
demás diligencias a que obligan nuestras leyes y pragmáticas, van resultando y cada día se conocen algunos
inconvenientes muy considerables, y para que de aquí adelante se atajen y cesen, mandamos que ninguno de
nuestros súbditos naturales y vasallos de estos reinos, de cualquier estado y calidad, y condición que sea pueda
sin especial licencia nuestra llevar a imprimir, ni imprima en otros reynos las obras que compusiere o escribiere
de nuevo de cualquier Facultad, Arte y Ciencia que sean en cualquier idioma y lengua que se escribieren, so
pena que por el mismo hecho el autor de los tales libros y las personas por cuyo medio los llevase y los enviare
imprimir incurran en el perdimiento de la naturaleza , honras y dignidades que tuvieren en estos reynos y de la
mitad de sus bienes, aplicados por tercias partes Cámara, juez y denunciador, y de todos los libros que así
impresos se metieren en ellos, y queremos que sean condenados en las mismas penas cualesquier persona que
se atreviera a venderlos o meterlos en estos reinos sin licencia quedándose siempre en su fuerza y vigor las
prohibiciones y penas que por leyes y pragmáticas nuestras están puestas contra los que meten en estos
reynos libros de romance impresos fueras de ellos, see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, 'El control legislativo', 98.

69
For instance, the historian of Philip II's reign, Esteban Garibay y Zamalloa requested and
obtained license to publish abroad his Los XL libros del Compendio historial de las chronicas
y uniuersal historia de todos los reynos de España (Antwerp, Christophe Plantin, 1571).
Garibay was expressly looking for a better typographic quality, given the extent of his work
(40 volumes).242 Moreover, doctor Bernardo de Alderete published his Del origen y principio
de la lengua castellana o romance que oi se usa en España in Rome (Carlo Vullieto, 1606).
After 1610, several Spanish authors sought to publish their books abroad throughout the
seventeenth century.

During the reign of Philip III, the Crown was also concerned by those authors opposed
to the regime of the duke of Lerma, that were or went abroad to print their works. The
Carmelite Jerónimo Gracián de la Madre de Dios is a good example. During his stay at the
Carmelite convent of Brussels as the confessor of the Spanish ambassador, the marquis of
Guadaleste, he reprinted some of his works (Lámpara encendida, Brussels, Roger Velpius,
1609),243 or even published them in first edition (Tratado de la Redención de cautivos,
Brussels, Jean Mommaert, 1609, along with Zelo de la Propagación de la Fe, Brussels, Jean
Mommaert, 1609).244 Gracián was not only a polemical and apologetic author, his ideological
position supported a more aggressive intervention of the Spanish Monarchy in the European
context, defending the supremacy of Spain as a Catholic State. In this respect, Gracián
coincided with the anti-Lerma faction clearly established at the Court of Brussels after 1609.
This group was concerned about the loss of reputation, political influence and military power
of Spain as a result of the Pax Hispanica introduced by the duke of Lerma. Along with its
allies this faction called for a radical change in international politics through the elimination
of both Lerma in Madrid and Ambrosio Spínola, the right arm of Lerma at the court of the
archdukes in Brussels.245 Given this political context, and if Gracián, being an active member

242
'Por quanto por una nuestra cedula, firmada de nuestra mano, dimos licencia y facultad a vos Estevan
Garibay y Zamalloa, vezino de la villa de Mondragón, ques en la nuestra Muy Noble y Muy leal Proovincoia de
Guipuzcoa, para que pudiesedes imprimir una obra intitulada Compendio Historial de las Chronicas y Universal
Historia de tyodos los reynos de España, que contenía quarenta libros, donce aviades reduzido a compendio y
brevedad las historias de todos los reynos de España. y ansy mismo privilegio para que por tiempo de diez
años, vos o quien vuestro poder hubiese y no otra persona alguna pudiese imprimir la dicha obra ni traerla
impresa de fuera de estos reyos, y aogra por vuestra parte nos ha sido suplicado que porque la dicha obra es de
muy gran volumen y su impresión sea mejor y más aventajada os diessemos licencia y facultad para que la
pudiesedes imprimir fuera destos reynos y nos tubimoslos por bien. (July 1567), see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El
Libro en España y América, I, 230.
243
The first edition had been published in Lisbon, 1586, it was subsequently reprinted in Zaragoza, 1586,
Pamplona, 1589, Valencia, 1590, Madrid, 1604.
244
Gracián's wide editorial activity in Brussels will be further discussed.
245
THOMAS, 'Jerónimo Gracián de la Madre de Dios, 384-387.

70
of the resistance to Lerma-Spínola was easily printing books abroad, it seems accurate to
think that this was one of the factors that led to the enactment of the Law of 1610, along with
the numerous constraints of a bureaucratic, theological, economical and technical nature.

It is not known, whether Gracián did or did not know the law of 1610. However, after
this year, the Carmelite resumed his activity as a writer against heresy, increasingly focusing
against the peace policy of the duke of Lerma. His Diez lamentaciones del miserable estado
de los Atheistas de nuestros tiempos, (Brussels, Velpius, 1611) was dedicated to the inquisitor
general, this book was a thinly-veiled attack against the Pax hispanica. The text objected what
he called 'political atheists', or wicked princes under the influence of Machiavelli who left
religious policy in a second place.246

Despite the enforcement of this pragmática, the fact that the printing output was
technically better outside Spain, was a reality that could not be denied, not to mention the
shortage of paper in Spain, local printer's ineptness, their poor knowledge of Latin, limited
investment of capital, the high costs of the Spanish books. In summary, the outlook was not
encouraging. Therefore exceptions were allowed, and the Council began to dispatch licenses
to several authors, especially Jesuits, who requested their texts to be printed abroad, such as
father Luis de Alcázar,247 father Gaspar Sánchez,248 father Francisco de Labata,249 father Luis
de la Puente,250 as well as the bibliophile Lorenzo Ramírez del Prado,251 who was allowed to
print in Antwerp his Pentekontarxoz, sive, Qvinqvaginta militvm dvctor (Antwerp, Jan van
Keerberghen, 1612). Arguing not only that Antwerp was part of the Crown, but also that
Greek characters and other typographical matters for the book were next to impossible to find

246
THOMAS, 'Jerónimo Gracián de la Madre de Dios', 391.
247
He published in Antwerp his Vestigatio arcani sensus in Apocalypsi, (Antwerp, Jan Van Keerberghen, 1614
and 1619).
248
He published in Lyon several commentaries on the Scripture for instance: In Isaiam Prophetam Commentarii,
Lyon, Horace Cardon, 1615; Commentarii in Actus Apostolorum, Lyon, Horace Cardon, 1616; In Ieremiam
prophetam commentarii, Lyon, Horace Cardon, 1618; In Ezechielem & Danielem prophetas commentarii, Lyon,
Horace Cardon, 1619.
249
He published also in Lyon, Apparatus concionatorum seu loci communes ad conciones ordine alphabetico
digesti, Lyon, Horace Cardon, 1614, republished in Brescia by Giovanni Battista Bozzola, 1615, and in Cologne
by Johaan Crith, 1615.
250
He published in Paris his, Expositio moralis in Canticum Canticorum, Paris, Denys La Nove, 1622. 'Y luego que
salió la tal premática se vio el inconveniente de cómo no se podía guardar, y luego el Consejo empezó a dar
licencia a muchas personas para imprimir fuera destos Reynos, como fue al P. Alcázar, al P. Luis de Torres, al P.
Labata y otros muchos', see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 274-277.
251
During the first half of the seventeenth century the private library of Lorenzo Ramírez del Prado was one of
the richest and most famous in Madrid, rivaling that of the Duke of Olivares, see. SÁNCHEZ MARIANA,
Bibliófilos Españoles, 50.

71
in Spanish's presses.252 All these mentioned authors and their books printed abroad were
approved by the Inquisition and were certainly allowed to enter Spain without any
restrictions, because it was considered that they might provide a benefit to society.

The problem was not only limited to the books of Spanish authors published abroad.
Also foreign books written by non-Spanish writers were viewed with suspicion, as Cristóbal
Suárez de Figueroa commented on his half-narrative, half-didactic work El Passajero
(Madrid, Luis Sánchez, 1617): 'From what I´ve read, I infer that the treaties of some Northern
and Ultramontane Humanists are dangerous and suspicious to the faith, therefore, the
vigilance that the Holly Office must apply to expurgate them must be done with special
care'.253 Thus it comes as no surprise to learn that some conservative Spanish writers were
viewing with suspicion the increasing popularity in Spain of Northern Humanists like Justus
Lipsius.

The solution proposed by Suárez de Figueroa to contain the relentless influx of foreign
books was, to fully support the Spanish presses, so there would be no need to import books,
resulting in the diminishment of all kind of foreign books imported because of 'the greed of
foreigners'.254 This text is quite notorious as it shows to some extent the mentality of some
Spanish scholars at the time, who were aware of the editorial limitations in Spain, and who
were also well aware of the typographical dependence, and sought guarantees and support to
strengthen the local presses, a kind of editorial protectionism. Finally, as revealed by Suárez
de Figueroa, there existed an underlying kind of national pride which confronted all kind of
ideas introduced from outside. This was probably the result of years of efforts against the
dissemination of foreign ideas since the time of Philip II.

252
'Y porque la última ley que trata de la impresión de los libros prohibia a los naturales de estos reinos que los
imprimiesen fuera de ellos sin especial licencia nuestra, nos pedistes y suplicastes la mandásemos dar para que
en la ciudad de Amberes que era de nuestra corona le pudiéredes imprimir, atento que el dicho libro constaba
en muchas partes de letras griegas, y otras curiosidades, de que había gran falta en las imprentas de estos
reinos. y a que no teniades posibilidad para imprimille por la gran costa que causaría, si se hubiesen de fundir
caracteres nuevos', see: PALAU Y DULCET, Manual del Librero Hispanoamericano, XV, 75; see also DE LOS REYES
GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 275.
253
'Doctor. Colijo por lo que léí, ser peligrosos, mucho y de no poca sospecha en la Fe. Los tratados de algunos
Humanistas Septentrionales y Ultramontanos […]Por tanto es grande la vigilancia que para expurgarlos hace
poner el tribunal de la Santa Inquisición'. Quoted in DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 282.
254
'Si se alentara a los libreros españoles, y se diera cumplido favor a las imprentas, en ninguna parte de
Europa se hicieran impresiones de menos erratas, ni más lúcidas. Así se escusaran las venidas de estrangeros,
que codiciosos sobremanera introducen quantos libros les piden, sean o no prohibidos'. Quoted in DE LOS
REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 282.

72
In regard of this editorial protectionism, Doctor Sancho de Moncada, one of the most
outstanding arbitristas, profesor of Theology at the University of Toledo, wrote on his
Restauración Política de España (Madrid, Luis Sánchez, 1619) that foreign books had
inflicted terrible damages to the Spanish printing press, the same damage that all kinds of
foreign goods had also brought to the economy in general. In a desperate attempt to improve
the Spanish art of printing, and just as the banning of other genres of merchandises was
necessary, it was also compulsory to keep foreign books out of Spain.255

Nevertheless, during the 1620s, or the early years of Philip IV's reign several non-
Spanish authors were very active publishing Spanish political or historical literature abroad.
In the Southern Netherlands for instance, Emanuel Sueyro (Antwerp, 1587, Brussels, 1629),
son of a Portuguese family, which had settled in the Southern Netherlands, and who had the
title of chamberlain of the King of Spain. His works include historical accounts: Descripción
Breve del País Baxo (Antwerp, Geeraerd van Wolschaten, 1622), Anales de Flandes
(Antwerp, Petrus II & Joannes II Bellerus, 1624), translations from Latin into Spanish of
classics: Obras de Caio Crispo Sallustio, dedicated to Juan de Mendoza, duke of the
Infantado (Antwerp, Jan van Keerberghen, 1615), Las Obras de C. Cornelio Tácito (Antwerp,
Petrus II & Joannes Bellerus, 1619); as well as Hugo Hermann´s Obsidio Bredana (Antwerp,
Officina Plantiniana 1626), translated as Sitio de Breda rendida a las armas del rey don
Phelipe IV (Antwerp, Officina Plantiniana, 1627). Regardless of the origin of the authors or
the printing place, this kind of works aimed to influence the collective mentality and were
openly used as propaganda for the monarchy, which as Díez Borque remarked, had a
distinctly conservative attitude, a careful tendency to hide the plight of the seventeenth
century and a notable lack of ideas.256

A new period of restrictive censorship was implemented as part of Olivares effort´s to

stop Spain´s decline, concerning literature, licenses were more restricted to 'official' writers,
government mouthpieces. For this reason, the famous Francisco de Quevedo later claimed
that Spain was rich in books but poor in victories.257 In this respect, the law issued by Philip
IV in Madrid on June 13, 1627, by far the most important of the century, reenacted the
restrictive laws of 1558, 1569 and 1598 issued under Philip II. This law stressed:
255
'…los libros estrangeros han causado en la arte de imprimir la misma barbarie que las demás artes […] y
como importa que no entren las demás mercaderías, porque no se acaben de olvidar las demás artes, importa
no entren libros extranjeros, porque se impriman acá por un original, y se perficiona esta arte usándola'.
Quoted in DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 284.
256
DÍEZ BORQUE, Sociología de la comedia española del siglo XVII, 133.
257
STRADLING, Philip IV and the government of Spain, 78.

73
 'Observance of the preceding laws [1558, 1569, 1598]; and the unconditional
prohibition of publishing any papers without the license which must be arranged
beforehand. We order that the regulations [should] be observed and maintained. We
strongly advise that particular care and attention should be exercised in eliminating the
publication of books which are neither indispensable nor useful; as well as materials
which should or could be avoided, or whose content is not important for at present
there is an overabundance of these works; and it would be well to keep away from
them and to see it that superfluous works -from which neither general benefit nor
utility can be expected- are not issued in print and that they do not gain any
attention'.258
The law attempted to reduce and control the proliferation of widely distributed genres, like
memorials, accounts fictive or factual, letters, gazettes, papers dealing with affairs of State.
However, no restrictive measures were taken to avoid Spanish authors to print abroad.
Therefore, during the 1630s several Spanish authors went outside Spain to publish, or did so
while living abroad. This was the case for Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, Benedictine
theologian and professor at the University of Leuven, a very enthusiastic supporter of
Madrid's Catholic imperialism. Who, during the first year of the Franco-Spanish war,
published in the Southern Netherlands his well-known book, Declaracion mystica de las
Armas de España invictamente belicosas (Brussels, Lucas de Meerbeck, 1636), which
proclaimed Spain as an invincible monarchy, being no power on earth great enough to
overthrow the arms of Spain.259 Actually, Caramuel was a true supporter of the historical role
that the House of Austria had played in the history of Spain, showing predilection for Philip
II. For instance, in his book Philippus prudens Caroli V. Imp. Filius Lusitaniae, Algarbiae,
Indiae, Brasillae legitimus rex de monstratus (Antwerp, Balthazar Moretus I, 1639),
Caramuel raised the legitimacy of the Prudent King as monarch of the Portuguese throne, idea
continued in Respuesta al manifesto del Reyno de Portugal (Antwerp, Balthazar Moretus I,
1642).260

Prominent members of the court also kept seeking or sponsoring the printing of history
books abroad, don Manuel de Moura, second marquis of Castel Rodrigo, did so during his
fruitful stay in the Southern Netherlands, serving as adjunct governor from 1644 to 1647.
Castel Rodrigo patronized the writings of the anti-Bourbon political works by Jean-Jacques
Chifflet, such as, his Vindiciae hispanicae in uipus arcana regia, politica, genealogica,

258
The English translation was taken from: ESSES, Dance and instrumental diferencias in Spain during the 17th
and early 18th, I, 78.
259
STRADLING, Spain's struggle for Europe, 1598-1668, 132.
260
PENA BUJÁN, La Architectura civil recta y obliqua de Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, 21.

74
publico pacis bono luce donantur (Antwerp, Ex Officina Plantiniana, 1647), dedicated to
Philip IV.261

This stream of Spanish authors publishing in Antwerp and other European cities was
noticed and recorded by the French traveler François Bertaut in December 1659, in a letter to
the Jesuit Antonio de Escobar y Mendoza.262 Bertaut called attention to the fact that due to a
lack of financial means it was just not possible to carry out major editorial projects in Spain,
the printers of Lyon and Antwerp were taking advantage from this.

'Comme il n'avoit pas veu ces Lettres dont je viens de parler, je luy promis de luy
envoyer de France, & de parler aux Libraires de Lyon qui impriment ses œuvres &
dont il n'estoit pas satisfait; car il n'y a point d'imprimeurs en Espagne assez forts pour
entreprendre de grands ouvrages, qu'ils envoyent tous imprimer à Lyon ou Anvers'.263

1.7 Local printers vs international book trade

In 1625 Juan Serrano Vargas, printer of Seville, wrote a Memorial sobre los excesos en
materia de libros, where he denounced the excesses committed by booksellers and corrupted
authorities, introducing foreign books and giving printing licenses without any kind of
restriction.264 Concerning the entrance of foreign books, Serrano Vargas requested more
vigilance, claiming that corrupted prosecutors struck up a friendship with Flemish booksellers
established in Seville, such as the Van Keerberghen or Joannes Bellerus, 265 getting from them
foreign books for nothing or exchanging books with them as well. 266 In another memorial
addressed to the Inquisition, Serrano Vargas showed a great concern for imported books. He
argued that printers in England, Geneva, Germany, France and other parts were publishing,

261
CONNORS, 'Borromini and the Marchese di Castel Rodrigo', 435.
262
Antonio Escobar y Mendoza, published in Lyon several works of moral theology.
263
BERTAUT, Journal de voyage d'Espagne, París, 1669, 194-195. Quoted in DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en
España y América, I, 284.
264
El consejo Real de Castilla tiene en esta corte, Valladolid, Granada y Sevilla juezes particulares, oydores de
las audiencias para la entrada de libros estrangeros, dar licencias de un pliego de impresión dos o tres a lo más
largo, y visitar las imprentas y librerías; lo uno ni lo otro hacen, ni se acuerdan de llenar mas sus estudios de los
mejores libros sin paga, procuran su amistad con los extranjeros y travanla de manera, que hacen lo que
quieren en este caso, y en los pleitos suyos y de personas que piden su favor, see: RUEDA RAMÍREZ, Negocio e
intercambio cultural, 108-109.
265
Their activities in Seville would be further reviewed.
266
'Obtienen lo libros gratis y tienen amistad con los libreros, que hacen lo que quieren es más, tienen
nombrados fiscales de libros a personajes que quebrantan la ley, como Juan Berrillo y Alonso Pérez de Madrid
que 'son los que más bien los entran y hacen cosas contra ley y razón' este último además viaja a Sevilla cada
años un par de veces, donde lleva 'gran máquina de comedias libricos nuevos de entretenimiento y novedad',
que vende y envía a Indias y en parte trueca con los libreros extranjeros Queerbergio y Juan Belero y otros que
le proporcionan libros de fuera, see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 306-307.

75
and adding the name of catholic typographic centers to their works, to send them to different
Spanish ports, particularly Seville.267 These complains proof the frustration of a Sevillan
printer unable to compete and to curb the flow of foreign books to a city from where large
quantities of them were shipped to the Indies, and whose arrival was necessary to supply the
growing American market.

Despite these complaints, foreign books were still essential for maintaining book market
in Spain and, as Rueda remarked, they had definitely satisfied the increasing demands of
booksellers and consumers.268 Additionally, foreign editions -not only liturgical- were still
arriving in large quantities, primarily intended for circles of readers and very sought-after
among book collectors. The count-duke of Olivares was himself a proud possessor of a
splendid library, reflecting a strong interest in ancient and modern history, in theology,
philosophy and medicine. His critics accused him of having read the classical historians and
particularly Tacitus, all too well.269 Furthermore, authors from the Southern Netherlands, such
as Justus Lipsius, and his works, exercised an enormous intellectual influence during the years
in which Richelieu and Olivares were coming to maturity. 270 Olivares' library was actually
well-stocked with Lipsius's writings.

Additionally, a mid-seventeenth century Spanish economist, Francisco Martínez de la

Mata pointed out that poverty in Spain was the result of foreigners' abusive trade.271
Regarding books, Martínez de la Mata strongly criticized that following their personal
interests, Spanish subjects had directed the printing of their books to France, destroying the
Spanish printers' guild, taking away their jobs. Because of this large sums had gone to France,
which would have remained in Spain, if these books would have been printed here.272

In an attempt to prohibit this widespread practice, the Madrid's guild of printers reported
in 1651 to the Council of Castile that booksellers were favoring the edition of Spanish authors

267
See: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 308.
268
RUEDA RAMÍREZ, Negocio e intercambio cultural, 63.
269
RIVERO RODRÍGUEZ, 'Política y Políticos en el tiempo de Felipe III', 136-147.
270
ELLIOTT, Richelieu and Olivares, 26., See also, A. RIVERO RODRÍGUEZ, 'Política y Políticos en el tiempo de
Felipe III: Tácito, Séneca, Lipsio', 136-147.
271
MACKAY, Lazy, improvident people, 125.
272
'Los vasallos por sus particulares intereses han encaminado las impresiones de libros a Francia, con que han
destruido el gremio de los impresores , quitándoles de las manos en lo que han de trabajar. Por este medio han
pasado a Francia gran suma de millones , los quales se hallarán en España, si en España se hubieran impreso'
quoted in DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 284.

76
abroad, especially in Lyon.273 Their attorney Francisco Bermejo openly criticized this
damaging and common practice, arguing that the amounts of gold and silver that left Spain
each year under the pretext of book trade were increasingly large. 274 Moreover, shocking was
the free presence and circulation of French merchants, who set up contracts with booksellers
and other people in Madrid for books of Spanish authors published in Lyon, Paris, Geneva
and other parts, getting in return huge profits, and bringing ruin upon local presses. The
plaintiffs desperately denounced the illegal character of all these operations.275 This particular
case shows the impotence of Madrid printers facing the advance of the French press on their
local markets, clearly an unfair competition due to the lack of means of the Spanish presses,
this in contrast with the expansion and branching of seventeenth-century French printing
press.

On the other hand, the defendants, the booksellers, alleged that despite the prohibitions,
many Spanish citizens obtained licenses to publish their books abroad, looking for the
typographical advantages, such as the quality of paper, printing types, and diversity in
languages.276 They recalled that even a former members of the Council, like Francisco de
Salgado y Somoza had published his Labyrinthus creditorum concurrentium ad litem per
debitorem communem inter illos causatam in Lyon (Laurent de Annisson, 1651), or Juan

273
The plaintiffs printers were Julián de Paredes, Domingo Ortiz, Pablo de Val and their attorney was Francisco
Bermejo, see, DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 285-286.
274
'Y siendo de tanta conveniencia y utilidad a la República la rigurosa observancia de la dichas leyes, y autos
referidos contraviniendo a su disposición, muchos súbditos de por sí o por medio de los mercaderes de libros
imprimían no sólo en los Reinos y Provincias extrañas; pero las más de las veces en países de Príncipes
enemigos y con quienes había guerra declarada y en las Repúblicas inficionadas con la herejía, quitando el útil
que pudiera resultar de las dichas impresiones a nuestros vasallos, y en mayor beneficio de dichos enemigos…
a quienes se añadían fuerzas para que pudiesen continuar las hostilidades con que molestaban a nuestra
Monarquía. Pues la falta y oro que salía con pretextos de comercio de libro, importaba cada año gran suma de
ducados', see: RUEDA RAMÍREZ, Negocio e intercambio cultural, 36-37.
275
'Y el dicho comercio corría tan libremente, siendo de su naturaleza prohibido, ilícito, por leyes y pragmáticas
del contrabando, que todos los años venían a esta nuestra Corte muchos mercaderes franceses como al
presente los había, y hacían asientos con los mercaderes de libros de ella y otras personas que hacen diferentes
impresiones, a introducir partidas de libros con grande ganancia suya y ruina universal del dicho arte y de todos
sus profesores, como se reconocía con evidencia en los muchos libros de autores del Reino de todas las
facultades, que cada día se imprimían en León de Francia, París y Ginebra y otras partes', see: DE LOS REYES
GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 286.
276
'Los mismos autores sacaban cada día licencia para imprimir fuera del Reyno sus obras, por la bondad y
ventaja grande con que venían impressas, ansí en el papel como en la fundición de los caractetes, diversidad de
lenguas, excelencia en las correcciones, y otras calidades que alegava por notorios en las dichas impressiones. Y
porque de verdad de lo presupuesto era innegable, pues los dichos autores estaban vivos y algunos dellos eran
Ministros', see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 287.

77
Bautista de Larrea, who had published several of his books also in Lyon.277 These were
examples of authors that sought to print abroad their texts. In the end, after numerous
allegations, the Council of Castile favored the plaintiffs based on the law of 1610 and by
decree of April 9, 1658, it was forbidden to import books by Spanish authors and printed
abroad, in their first edition without having special license. Furthermore those books could not
be sold without being taxed in accordance with the laws in force. These measures, were trying
to stop the devastating inroads into the Spanish market of foreign editions that were relatively
cheaper and issued in different formats.

The seventeenth-century Spanish Inquisition also distrusted foreign merchants and

booksellers by the negative effects that the introduction of Spanish books reprinted abroad
had on the Spanish presses and on the authors that published in Spain at their own expense,
since these imported editions were normally cheaper and issued in smaller formats. Moreover,
even if the Spanish printers had an interest in reprinting old editions, the eagerness with which
foreign merchants reprinted them, did not give a chance to local printers to develop their
shops and therefore no one dared to print in Castile.278

With regard to taxes, imported books were practically not subject to such payment since
the time of the Catholic Kings. However, the political context modified this legislation. In
1635 the long-awaited war with France broke out, the demands of war provoked a large fiscal
need, combining extraordinary taxes with massive borrowing.279 Aiming to increase the weak
Spanish financial structure and its royal revenues. Within this fragile context the Cortes
agreed on November 25, 1632 the payment of 2.5 millions of ducados in six years from a levy
on the importation of paper and foreign books (24 reales per arroba). The decision took effect
on August 16, 1634. This affected not only European books, but also books printed in other
Iberian kingdoms such ad Aragon, Navarre and Portugal. As those most affected were foreign

277
Nouae decisiones Sacri Regij Senatus granatensis regni castellae, Lyon, Jacques Prost, 1635; Forenses
disputationes sententiarum Sacri Regii Senatus Granatensis Regni Castellae, Lyon, Jacques Prost, 1635;
Novarum Decisorum Granatensium pars secunda escritura absoluta, Lyon, Jacques Prost, 1639.
278
See an inquisitorial document dated around 1620: 'No se a bien acabado de imprimir el libro en Castilla
quando luego le ynbian [the foreign merchants] a sus correspondientes para que le impriman y los meten y
venden en estos Reynos contra los Previlegios… y en gran daño suio porque son los que meten ynpresos de
fuera de mas pequeña letra y de menos pliegos y danlos más baratos y con esto se pierden los autores y
libreros que aquí los imprimen a su costa y los libros que ya son pasados los privilegios son tan vigilantes en
traerlos y meterlos de fuera que aunque los naturales los quieran imprimir no les dan lugar a ello porque con lo
que ellos traen les ynposibilitan y nadie se atreve por esta causa a imprimir en el Reyno', quoted in DE LOS
REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 304.
279
ELLIOTT, Richelieu and Olivares, 141.

78
booksellers, there were hardly complaints by Castilian booksellers.280 Regular buyers
however, such as clerics and scholars complained, as showed in the Memorial al rey para que
se quite el tributo de los 24 reales sobre los libros que entren del extranjero (Request to the
king to eliminate the 24 reales taxed on the imported books), the plaintiffs pointed out the
need for such useful books, written not only by non-Spanish authors but also by natives who
because of the lack of financial and technical resources resorted to foreign presses. The
invoked list of well-known and very reputed Spanish theologians and jurists whose books had
been printed in other countries was long: Molina, Sánchez, Rodríguez, Suárez, Covarrubias,
Antonio Gómez, Gutiérrez Acevedo, Palacios Rubios among others.281

The problem was intensified with the law approved in the Cortes of December 15, 1635
ordering the application of alcabalas on books, which previously had enjoyed exemption
from all sale taxes since 1480. No wonder that the decree generated a strong opposition, and a
plethora of petitions from the booksellers. These requests justified the tax exemption in terms
of economic and ideological arguments.282 Such was the uproar generated that things had to
be returned to the previous situation by the laws of June 27 and July 16, 1636. Later on, the
tax of the 24 reales per arroba imposed on foreign book was repealed by decree of August 2,
1638.

The commercial problems and the bilateral relations with France were affecting book
trade as well. By royal decree of December 31, 1651, trade with France was forbidden, books
included. In fact, the Spanish printers had suggested the inclusion of imported books in the
ban. As usual the booksellers' response was immediate, they prepared a memorial entitled
Petición de los libreros para que no se aplique a los libros la prohibicón del comercio con
Francia en contra de las pretensiones de los impresores (Request of the booksellers to avoid
the inclusion of books in the ban of trade with France against the petitions of the printers).

280
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 321.
281
'Señor el Estado eclesiástico, y seglar, las Universidades y Estudios Generales destos reinos de la Corona de
Castilla, y todas las personas que profesan las letras suplican a V.M. se sirva de mandar, que se mejore el
arbitrio que se propuso en la nueva concesión de millones, de imponer 24 reales por arroba de tributo en los
libros impressos que entraren en ellos de los estraños' quoted in DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y
América, I, 321.
282
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, 'El control legislativo y los Index inquisitoriales', 94, F. DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro
en España y América, I, 322; see for instance, the argument against the measure written by Juan Bautista de
Valenzuela Velázquez, president of the Chancillería of Granada, who asked Philip IV to stop such an injurious
law: 'no passé adelante novedad tan prejudicial… como sería, y es hazer tributaries y pecheros a los libros, que
acerca de esta, y otras naciones loablemente an gozado de entera libertas en su venta y comercio', see: RUEDA
RAMÍREZ, Negocio e intercambio cultural, 52-53.

79
One of the arguments put forward by the complainants was the damage inflicted on the spread
of arts and sciences.

In this memorial, the booksellers categorized the imported books, explaining the content
by country, stressing the French output as the most relevant. From Germany policy books and
treaties were imported; Flanders was directly associated with Nuevo Rezado books, prayer
books and devotional tracts published in Latin; Italy provided some law books that due to
their high prices were hardly sold in Spain. Finally, the French printing press was extolled.
According to the booksellers France had always printed the most important, useful and
necessary books for the universities, such as law books, moral theology, scholastic, patristic,
Greco-Roman classics, and commentaries on the Bible. In brief, all types of learning. 283 This
classification illustrates the strength and boom of the mid-seventeenth century French printing
press. Some years later, on May 11, 1668, the Queen confirmed at the request of booksellers,
that the books exported from France and other foreign countries, were not considered within
the commercial prohibitions of smuggling.

With Philip IV's death in 1665 and the accession of his four years old ill son Charles,
Spain had lost the last vestiges of its political hegemony over Europe. Political censorship was
reinforced by the law of May 8, 1682 which banned the printing not only of books, but also of
memorials and 'papers' affecting the interests of the State, without preceding an exact
examination of the content and censorship of the Council of State.284 This law must be
understood as a desperate attempt to stem political criticism against the empire. Yet foreign
books were still considered necessary objects to support any study of scientific and

283
'Alemania, políticas y tratados de autores impíos y condenados; Flandes libros de rezo y otros opúsculos
latinos devotos; Italia, algunos libros de leyes que por estar muy subidos de precio, se comercian pocos a
España; y Francia se imprimen y han impresso siempre los libros más importantes, útiles y necesarios para las
universidades. Como son derechos Fabros, Cuiacios, Horomanos, Duareos, Donelos, Brifonios, Lexicones, y
todos los Institutarios, que son menester para introducirse la juventud, a la profesión de la Iurisprudencia. Y de
Teología Moral y Escolástica, Padres de la Iglesia, (Griegos, Latinos, los más Clásicos en las Escuelas, y para el
púlpito), Expositores Sagrados y todo linaje de erudición'. Quoted in DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y
América, I, 322.
284
'Habiendo reconocido que resultan muchos y muy graves inconvenientes al buen gobierno y conservación
de mis dominios, de que se impriman libros, memoriales y papeles en que se trate o discurra de ellos o cosa
que toque a su constitución universal ni particular por vía de historia, relación, pretensión, representación, o
advertencia sin que preceda un exacto examen con el inmediato conocimiento inteligencia que requiere la
importancia de las materias que suelen incluir semejantes escritos, he resuelto se prohíba generalmente la
impresión de ellos, sin que primero se haya visto por el Consejo a quien tocare el que se hubiere de tratar y
pasado por su censura, y así mando al consejo disponga, que en esta conformidad se den las órdenes
necesarias a su cumplimiento y que en ningún caso se conceda licencia por lo que mira a él, sin que esté
expedida la del Tribunal a cuyo territorio completa lo que se hubiere de imprimir'. Quoted in TOBAJAS, El
Periodismo Español, 20.

80
technological nature among the intellectual circles, such as the foreign books purchased in
1697 for a society created at Seville by a group of medical doctors for the purpose of
furthering experimental philosophy.285

1.8 Foreign book in Spain under Bourbon rule

No significant changes were observed regarding preventive censorship during the turbulent
change of dynasty. The central new government rather sustained a rigid position that required
a permanent revision of texts. In fact, the strict official spirit of the pragmatic of 1558 was
kept until the last third of the eighteenth century, as well as its noncompliance. For instance,
Philip V issued the auto of June 30, 1705, which title was: No se imprima papel algunos sin
licencia del Consejo, o del ministro encargado de esta comission. It retained the authority of
the Royal Council to grant printing licenses, stressing that all the Spanish printers must attach
to the regulation, and could not print any kind of paper especially of foreign authors without
royal authorization. In addition, the printers were not allowed to provide typographical tools
to their officials to print in private houses, otherwise pecuniary penalties and ten years in
prison would be applied.286 The recurrent disobedience of the law is reflected in the reiteration
of the autos of this matter on June 30, 1707 and then again on March 6, 1709.287 During the
same years, the Index of 1707, authorized by the inquisitor general Vidal Marín del Campo,
incorporated 67 years of new material (the last Index had been published in Madrid in 1640),
discovered during a special search of libraries and workshops carried out in 1706.288

Few years later, the problem of the centralized Castilian censorship, in place since the
pragmatic of 1558, was partially solved by the auto issued by the Royal Council on
November 27, 1716, named Requisitos para las impresiones de libros y papeles sueltos de
Aragón, Valencia y Cataluña, which stipulated that licenses to print books in these kingdoms
were still granted by the Royal Council as was traditionally since 1558. However, these books
no longer needed to be corrected by the general corrector of the Royal Council, given the
damages caused by delays. Regarding the publication in those kingdoms of papers u otras
285
ELLIOTT, Imperial Spain, 361-372.
286
'Para que se guarden los autos acordados y leyes del Reyno, y no se vulneren con el más leve pretexto,
mandamos que los impresores así de esta Corte, como de las ciudades, villas y lugares de estos reynos, no
impriman papel de ningún estado y calidad que sea en especial los que fueren de extranjeros, sin expresa
licencia del Consejo, o del ministro del a quien estuviere encargada la incumbencia de las impresiones, y que no
den letras, caxas ni otros instrumentos a sus oficiales para que lo ejecuten en casas particulares, pena al que lo
contraviniere, de diez años de presidio y de 500 ducados de vellón y que se pasara a tomar contra ellos otra
severa resolución', see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 409-410.
287
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 410-411.
288
GREEN and KAROLIDES, The Encyclopedia of censorship, 547.

81
cosas sueltas, the licenses granted by local audiencias would be sufficient, Finally, the
prohibition of clandestine printing is emphasized due to the damage that false editions brought
to the official licenses previously agreed.289

This law was issued almost at the same time the administrative reform under Philip V
issued the decrees of November 19, 1714 and August 31, 1717, suppressing internal customs
duties and transferring customs posts to the territorial frontiers of Spain, principally in the
interests of freeing and encouraging trade between Castile, Aragón, Valencia and
Catalonia.290 Furthermore, on October 29, 1720 a royal provision confirmed once more that
no book shall pay the almojarifazo (customs tariff), or the portazgo (toll), or any other tax,
recalling the law of 1480. This old law needed to be confirmed due to the abuses committed
from time to time by custom officers against booksellers in Madrid.291

On October 4, 1728 a royal decree recalled the prohibition of unlicensed prints and
admonished the chancillerías, audiencias, corregidores and judges to enforce and to observe
the compliance of this law. The king asked for monthly reports, submitted by the Secretary of
State containing accurate lists of all the books printed, indicating the name of the authors and
the specific subject of the text.292 To some extent, preventive censorship was politicized and
utterly worried about matters of State, continuing somehow the criterion used since the reign

289
'En los reynos de Aragón, Valencia y Cataluña, respecto a la unión hecha a los de Castilla, para la impresión o
reimpresión de libros se venga precisamente al Consejo a pedir licencia, en la conformidad que se acostumbra,
sin que se necesite los corrija el corrector general de libros de esta Corte por el perjuicio de las partes en la
dilación, mayormente hallándose los autores en dichos reynos. Y por lo respectivo a los papeles u otras cosas
sueltas, que no sean libros que se quisieren imprimir en dichos reynos, se acuda a las audiencias de ellos por las
licencias, y siendo conveniente que los impresores no impriman ocultamente, pues por este medio
falsificándose el lugar de las impresiones, se perjudican los privilegios y se vuelven a reimprimir sin las debidas
licencias, se notifique a los impresores no tengan presas ocultas y que no embaracen la entrada al corrector
para su conocimiento y registro'. Quoted in DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 424-425.
290
LYNCH, Bourbon Spain, 117-118.
291
This provision was also enacted in Aragon, some years later in 1734, see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en
España y América, I, 426-427.
292
'El Consejo ordene al ministro que es o fuere de las imprentas, haga notificar a los impresores de esta Corte,
se abstengan de imprimir papeles, relaciones ni otra cosa alguna por corta que sea, sin las aprobaciones y
licencias que convinieren, bajo las penas y multas que prescriben, y correspondieren a las circunstancias que
contuvieren los impresos, cuyo encargo hará también el Consejo a las Chancillerías y Audiencias y a los
Corregidores y Justicias, a quienes por las mismas leyes se concede la facultad de no permitir impresiones sin
licencia, para que cada uno en su respectiva jurisdicción las haga cumplir y guardar y para enterarme de que así
se observa remitirá a mis manos por las del Secretario de Estado y del Despacho a quien tocan las providencias
de esta naturaleza relación puntual todos los meses de los libros que se imprimieren, excepto de las
alegaciones de derecho y memoriales ajustados tocantes a pleitos, con expresión de los nombres de sus
autores, y de la materia principal que se tratare en ellos', see: MORENO DE LOS ARCOS, Ensayos de Bibliografía
Mexicana; DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 456-457.

82
of Philip IV. The law of March 17, 1745, prohibited the printing of works dealing with
matters of State or peace treaties without the license of the king himself.293

Under Ferdinand VI, respect for the Inquisition was diminishing, its workload
decreasing and the numbers of its personal contracting.294 However, in 1747 the Index of
Prado y Cuesta was prepared by the Jesuits, 'whose undisguised biases led to its swift
discredit'.295 Few years later, on November 22, 1752 a complex regulation known as the
Curiel Law was prepared by Juan Curiel, judge superintendent of printing, this law regulated
in detail what should be observed in printing and selling books. Curiel expresses that this
legislation was necessary because of the endemic non-compliance of both printers and
booksellers, who acted with total impunity, either due to ignorance or because they were
convinced the laws were already abolished. Therefore 19 dispositions were given, they were
an update of the previous legislation, which was still in force. It did not take a long time
before complaints against it arose, 33 of them were prepared by the booksellers of Madrid.
Among other things, the booksellers alleged that such laws were already derogated and
disused.296 The complaints resulted in the revision and modification of some aspects. The law
was finally sanctioned on July 27, 1754.

As to foreign books, there was a concern over both works written by Spanish and non-
Spanish authors, for instance, article 13 of the first version of 1652 dictated that no bookseller
may sell or introduce vernacular editions printed abroad and composed by the subjects of
these kingdoms, without a special license under death penalty and confiscation.297 The
booksellers and printers vehemently opposed such proposal, arguing that these legal
requirements were not anymore implemented. Moreover, the large majority of books dealing
with law, canon, moral theology, medicine and other disciplines were printed abroad. The
names of several Spanish authors were quoted proving that a lot of them sought to print
abroad because of the well-known printing facilities outside Spain (among the authors

293
'Mando que el Consejo se abstenga de conceder privilegio o licencia para imprimir libro o papel alguno que
tenga contexto con materias de Estado, tratados de paces ni otras obras semejantes y que los interesados que
lo soliciten acudan a mi Real Persona con la súplica para que haciéndola reconocer, resuelva lo que juzgue más
conveniente', see: MORENO DE LOS ARCOS, Ensayos de Bibliografía Mexicana, 46.
294
RAWLINGS, The Spanish Inquisition, 137.
295
GREEN and KAROLIDES, The Encyclopedia of censorship, 547.
296
Auto del Juez de Imprentas para que se haga saber a los impresores, mercaderes y tratantes de libros y otros
papeles impresos que observen las leyes de ventas de libros, impresiones etc. [1752] . Quoted in DE LOS REYES
GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 477-478.
297
Art. 13:'Ningún librero pueda vender o introducir libros compuestos por los naturales de estos reinos
impresos fuera de ellos, sin especial real licencia, pena de muerte y pérdida de bienes' Quoted in DE LOS REYES
GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 503-504.

83
mentioned were don Juan Bautista Larrea, Francisco Salgado, Manuel González Téllez, Diego
de Covarrubias). In addition, without those European books, the professors would quit their
jobs due to the lack of 'instruments' to teach. They also affirmed that for a period of 150 years
foreign books had been entering Spain without any problem and they were still arriving in
large quantities, supplying and satisfying the needs of the Spanish market. In addition, trying
to valuate these books was impractical due to the wide variety of titles, different qualities and
prices coming from all over Europe. Finally, several foreign books or even Spanish books
were rare, not easy to find, becoming highly praised in Spain. This particular argument
illustrates the disobedience and resistance offered by the booksellers against royal legislation.
In brief, the booksellers claimed that this article would result in the detriment of national
interests. This complains showed some effect, since the final text of article 13 published in
1754, specified that only foreign books written by Spaniards and published in Spanish abroad
could not enter Spain without royal license.298

Article 15 was more specific and remarked that booksellers could not sell books by
foreign authors on first impression and by Spanish authors on second edition without
following the proceedings prescribed by the law. The final version of 1754 remained exactly
the same.299 Article 16 regarding the inspections of libraries, ordered that no printer or
bookseller both foreigner or Spanish could avoid the inspections performed by the
superintendents or their delegates under the pretext of special privileges (fuero). In their
complains the booksellers argued that they had never resisted such inspections. They also
recall that this order was established during Philip II's reign but, on the other hand, it was not
intended to be accomplished forever.

In the final resolution of 1754, the law remained the same, but it remarked that the visits
would only be accomplished in specific cases where superiors ordered to do so.300 Finally,
article 18 prohibited the introduction (even in Navarre), selling and reprint of missals, diurnal,
pontificals, breviaries or choir books printed outside the kingdoms of Spain without
examination and licensing of the Council. This article recalls almost literally the law of 1569.

298
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 503-507.
299
Art. 15. 'Que los libreros no puedan vender “libros escritos por extranjero de primera impresión y por
naturales de segunda, sin preceder las diligencias prevenidas por las leyes'. Quoted in DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El
Libro en España y América, I, 510.
300
Art.16. 'Que ningún impresor o librero, natural o extranjero Impida visitas del Superintendente de imprentas
o sus delegados' Quoted DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 511-512.

84
The final version of 1754 remained the same.301 In brief, this detailed 'Curiel Law'
summarized all previous dispositions issued since 1558, but unlike the age of Philip II the
Inquisition no longer held a leading role.

The Curiel law, shows the dependence on foreign books in eighteenth-century Spain. In
1760 he stated in a report the shortage of Spanish book specialists. Consequently, it was not
possible to print in Latin in Spain due to the lack of publishers or officials skilled in that
language.302 Regarding the foreign dependence, in a letter of 1753 written by François
Grasset, bookseller of Geneva to monsieur Malesherbes, Grasset mentioned the scant output
of the Spanish typographical industry along with its poor quality and expensive costs.
Moreover, a book published in Spain cost twice as much as a foreign book.303 In the same line
the French publisher Antoine Boudet (active in Paris from 1734 to 1787) addressed to a
certain Monsieur de Bombarde in 1763.304 In his letter, Boudet presented the state of the
Spanish and Portuguese typographic industries, which like the other industries, were heavily
dependent on foreign presses (Avignon, Lausanne, Geneva, Lyon, Paris, Antwerp, Rome,
Milano, Venice). Antwerp supplied the Nuevo Rezado books, as will be further discussed.
Therefore, Boudet estimated that 700 000 or even 800 000 could be exported there per year.
(from which 200 000 were from Antwerp).305

Some attempts to control this massive influx were done during the reign of the third
Bourbon monarch Charles III, who is generally held up as the example of a reforming
monarch. Under his reign prevailed a context of imperial reforms which above all worked to

301
Art.18.'No se pueden reimprimir, meter ni vender en los reinos misales, diurnales, pontificales, breviarios,
libros de coro, etc. Impresos fuera, incluso en Navarra, sin que se lleven al Consejo y se examinen y se les dé
licencia real. Pena: pérdida de bienes y destierro perpetuo del reino.' Quoted DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en
España y América, I, 512-513.
302 e
GUINARD, 'Le Livre dans la Péninsule Ibérique au XVIII siècle', 176.
303
'Il s'imprime très peu en Espagne, et le peu qui s'y imprime est si mal et si cher, que les livres qu'ils se font
chez eux haussent toujours de double de ceux qu'ils tirent chez l'étranger'. Quoted in GUINARD, 'Le Livre dans
e
la Péninsule Ibérique au XVIII siècle', 181.
304
This Monsieur de Bombarde seems to have had an important role on the French book business from 1760,
Jacques Guinard believed that it might be Pierre Paul de Bombarde royal counselor from 1720, see: GUINARD,
e
'Le Livre dans la Péninsule Ibérique au XVIII siècle', 176.
305
'L'Espagne est par rapport aux livres, ce que l'on sait qu'elle est par rapport à toutes productions et
fabriques, fournies principalement par les étrangers. Les livres en Latin et ceux même en espagnol (les unes et
les autres presque tous de théologie et de droit) lui viennent d'Italie, de Suisse, de Genève et de Lyon; les livres
de l'Office divin, c'est-à-dire les bréviaires, missels, diurnaux, livres de prières, tant pour les ecclésiastiques,
séculiers et réguliers, que pour les laïcs, lui sont fournis par l'imprimerie d'Anvers, les livres en français lui sont
envoyés de Paris en très petit nombre. mais en assez grande quantité de Lausanne, Genève, de Lyon,
d'Avignon. Je crois pouvoir dire, d'après des observations, que cette consommation peut extraire d'Espagne par
e
an 7 à 800 000 livres tournois'. Quoted in GUINARD, 'Le Livre dans la Péninsule Ibérique au XVIII siècle', 187-
188.

85
increase the revenues of Spain's overseas possessions remitted to the mother country. On
November 29, 1763, for instance, the king granted a privilege both to the Compañía de
Impresores y Libreros of Madrid and to the rest of Spanish booksellers prohibiting the
introduction in Spain and in America of foreign books already printed in Spain, as an attempt
to encourage the Company's interests to develop the local printing of Nuevo Rezado.306 As it
will be further discussed the privilege marked the beginning of the Officina Plantiniana's
collapse, for its once wide output was entirely restricted to the Spanish Nuevo Rezado editions
since the last quarter of the seventeenth century. A year later, on January 6, 1764 Charles III
ordered that the Nuevo Rezado should be printed in Spain. The contract of distribution was
signed between the Compañía de Impresores and the Hieronymites in June 3. As a result, on
April 15, 1766 a royal order prohibited the entrance of all kinds of non-Spanish Nuevo Rezado
to Spain.307 These agreements abruptly interrupted all the lucrative old trade established
between the Hieronymites and the Plantin press, condemning it to the bankruptcy.

The Bourbons reforming ministers also challenged the authority and economic power of
the Church. Charles III allowed in 1765 the publication of the anonymous Tratado de la
regalia de l'amortización:

'That questioned the right of the Church to posses real property. It argued that in all
temporal matters the State was supreme. Its author was the [regalist] count of
Campomanes, fiscal of the Council of Castile, who believed in a poor Church that
should confine its activities to prayer'.308

This policy against Church property was most clearly seen in the Crown´s action against the
Jesuit order in 1767. After the Jesuit expulsion, the count of Campomanes sought to reduce
Church authority and the independence of the Inquisition, to repress abuses and to confine its
sphere of influence to the suppression of heresy.309 Therefore, some laws issued between 1768
and 1778 sought to diminish the interference of the Holly Office, which was potentially a
royal tool, but in the eyes of the government it was compromised by its past association with
the Jesuits. And besides, the Inquisition was regarded as pro-papal, hostile to regalian rights,
arbitrary in its procedures, as well as obscurantist and a prone to autonomy by the reformers

306
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 552-553.
307
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 554-557.
308
ENGSTRAND, 'The Enlightenment in Spain', 440.
309
RAWLINGS, The Spanish Inquisition, 136.

86
around Charles III. In addition, inquisitorial activity was declining. The Inquisition of Toledo,
for instance, heard only three or four cases a year in the late eighteenth century. 310

In the law of June 16, 1768, Charles III demanded the regulation of the inquisitorial
edicts and expurgatory indices. The inquisitors were advised and urged to confine themselves
to matters of faith and morals, heresy and apostasy, and to imprison only when guilt was
established. No work of a Catholic author should be condemned without his being given a
hearing. Furthermore, no inquisitorial edict could be implemented without royal knowledge
and without getting the license of the State Council, as preliminaries and indispensable
requirements.311 With these measures the Council imposed severe restrictions on the
Inquisition's authority in matters of censorship. However, as Lynch remarked, royal action
might have regulated and restricted powers of the Inquisition but it made no attempt to
remove it, its traditional jurisdiction in spiritual matters was still preserved. 312 To some
degree, the law issued on April 20, 1773, confirmed this tendency, reducing the power of the
prelates in giving licenses to unpublished books, restricting them to examine and evaluate the
liturgical books, but in any case the definite license would be granted by the Royal Council.313
The law issued on February 1, 1778, reiterated the previous disposition.314

Along with 'the optimists' belief in Spain's general progress under Charles III, foreign
books were still viewed with suspicion, especially if we consider the vast amount of literature
published in French that arrived at this time. Thus, as late as June 21, 1784, the Crown
reiterated the prohibition of introducing foreign books without a specific license.315

The outbreak of the French Revolution horrified minister Floridablanca, who had
always been a conservative rather than a radical reformer. He decided that at all costs Spain

310
LYNCH, Bourbon Spain, 287-288.
311
MORENO DE LOS ARCOS, Ensayos de Bibliografía Mexicana, 49.
312
The gradual loss of the Inquisition's prerogatives concerning books during the final phase of its existence,
was not an impediment to strike men in public life, as confirmed by the abrupt arrest and trial of Pablo de
Olavide, royal official, intendant of Seville and administrator of the Sierra Morena settlements in 1776, see:
LYNCH, Bourbon Spain, 288-289.
313
MORENO DE LOS ARCOS, Ensayos de Bibliografía Mexicana, 51.
314
'Con motivo de haber ocurrido algunas dudas sobre la inteligencia de la antecedente real cédula (1773),
mandé a examinar este punto de nuevo y conformándose con lo que sobre él se me ha expuesto, tuve a bien
resolver y mandar que se cumplan y observen las leyes insertas en la misma Real Cédula, y que en su ejecución
los ordinarios eclesiásticos examinen, aprueben y den licencia por lo que ellos toca para los libros contenidos
en la ses. 4 de edit. et usu sacr. libri del Tridentino pero no podrán imprimirse sin que primero se presenten al
Consejo, para que no hallando inconveniente ni perjuicio a mi regalía, mande que se impriman. Ley XXVIII
Cumplimiento de las leyes sobre limitación de licencias de los prelados eclesiásticos para impresiones de libros.
Quoted in MORENO DE LOS ARCOS, Ensayos de Bibliografía Mexicana, 51.
315
MORENO DE LOS ARCOS, Ensayos de Bibliografía Mexicana, 51.

87
had to be preserved from the revolutionary ideas, and he quickly took steps to keep Spaniards
ignorant of events in France. Among other actions, by a rigid press censorship Floridablanca
sought to suppress news from France. And to stop the entry of French newspapers, he ordered
in September 1789 stricter vigilance at ports and borders. An Inquisition's edict of December
1789 prohibited the introduction of publications from France relative to the Revolution, on the
grounds that such works sought to disseminate 'the productions of a new race of philosophers,
men of corrupt mind whose object was to build on the ruins of religion and monarchy that
imaginary liberty which they wrongly supposed to be granted to all men by nature'. 316 Later
on a decree issued on January 1, 1790 forbade the entry of any foreign newspaper or material
referring to the revolution in France. The circumstances brought by the French Revolution,
were paradoxically the single factor that contributed most to extending the life of the
Inquisition and raising it in the esteem of many Spaniards.317

In such a context appeared the last Index, published by the Spanish Inquisition in 1790:
Índice ultimo de los libros prohibidos y mandados a expurgar para todos los reynos y
señoríos del católico rey de las Españas don Carlos IV. Issued by inquisitor general Agustin
Rubin de Cevallos, it contained all the books indexed in 1747 in the Index of Prado y Cuesta
and in subsequent edicts until the end of 1789. 318

As revolutionary literature continued to enter Spain in 1791, the Inquisition was

mobilized in 1792 by the minister to check printed material entering from France at the
customs points and to censor and exclude French books, primarily for their political context.
After all, the Inquisition was still a royal tool, as long as it was confined under royal authority
with limited prerogatives, as Floridablanca clearly expressed in a Instrucción reservada of
1792: 'It is important to favor and protect this tribunal, but care has to be taken that it does not
usurp the regalia rights of the Crown […] or depart from its proper function which is to
persecute heresy, apostasy and superstition, and to enlighten the faithful in these matters with
charity.'319

316
LYNCH, Bourbon Spain, 378-379.
317
RAWLINGS, The Spanish Inquisition, 138.
318
It was the first Index to accept that vulgate translations of the scriptures might be read without danger of
heretical corruption…It permitted individuals to expurgate their own books. The Index had already produced a
supplementary list in 1790 concentrating on the writings of the French Revolution, followed by further
additions in 1805, see: GREEN and KAROLIDES, The Encyclopedia of censorship, 274.
319
LYNCH, Bourbon Spain, 290.

88
This wave of fear triggered by the events in France led Charles IV to ban on January 5, 1791
the introduction in the kingdoms and dominions of any seditious paper, letter or manuscript
contrary to fidelity and public tranquility and the social welfare of the subjects.320 He also
suspended all private Spanish periodicals by a royal edict issued on February 24, 1791, only
the official press with its heavily censored news was allowed to continue. This fight against
exponents of the enlightenment carried out by the Crown and the invigorated Inquisition was
criticized by the intellectual Spanish circles. In 1794 Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, raised his
voice against the tribunal and its injustices, remarking that the time had come to get rid of
such a superfluous body.321

However, as John Lynch stated, the fear of the authorities was not supported by real
facts. Spain was not a fertile ground for revolutionary literature, much less for the French
propaganda campaign of these years. The existence of a few encyclopaedists, and intellectual
circles was unrepresentative compared to the mass of the Spanish people who showed less
concern about events in France.322

1.9 The Spanish Crown and book censorship in Spanish America

While in Spain book censorship and supervision of the printed word became increasingly
important from the 1520s on and led to the development of a legal and institutional apparatus
that supervised the production, import, distribution and use of books in the Iberian Peninsula,
the Crown began to pay attention to the shipments of books sent to the Americas, given that
the transatlantic book trade started very early.

320
'Prohibo la introducción y curso en estos mis reynos y señoríos de qualesquiera papeles sediciosos, y
contrarios a la fidelidad y a la tranquilidad pública y al bien de felicidad de mis vasallos: y en consequencia
mando que cualquier persona que tuviere, o a cuyas manos llegare carta o papel impreso o manuscrito de esta
especie los presente a la respectiva justicia, diciendo y nombrando el sujeto que se le haya entregado o
dirigido, si lo supiere o conociere, pena de que no haciéndolo así, y justificándose tener, comunicar, o expender
tales cartas, papeles será el que se verificare cometer estos excesos, procesado y castigado por el crimen de
infidencia; debiendo las justicias remitir a mi Consejo los papeles que se les presentaren, denunciaren o
aprendieren, procediendo en este asunto sin disimulo, y con la actividad y vigilancia que requiere su gravedad,
y en que tanto interesa el bien y el sosiego de mis amados vasallos: haciendo como hago responsable a las
mismas justicias de las resultas que hubiere por su omisión o negligencia, see: MORENO DE LOS ARCOS,
Ensayos de Bibliografía Mexicana, 51.
321
After a short-lived period of activity against the new heresies of 'egalité et liberté'; after a short authority
revival aiming to release the nation of subversive authority. The French overthrow of the Spanish monarchy in
1808 brought the Inquisition´s activities to an abrupt end. However, the definite end was coming and after the
chaotic first decades of the nineteenth century, when the Inquisition was definitely abolished on 15 July, 1834
under Queen Regent María Cristina acting on behalf of Isabella II, see: RAWLINGS, The Spanish Inquisition, 138-
143.
322
LYNCH, Bourbon Spain, 380.

89
The seventeenth-century historian Fernando de Montesinos mentions in his Anales del Perú
that in 1506, King Ferdinand issued some regulations for the good government of the Indies.
Among them, it was not permitted to sale books dealing with profane, frivolous and immoral
matters so that the Indians may not take to reading them.323 Apparently, the main purpose of
these royal regulations at this early stage was to protect the American Indians from vicious,
false and dishonest readings. However, traditionally the earliest known law concerning
censorship of books shipped to the Indies, is the law of April 4, 1531. By which the empress
Isabelle of Portugal, regent of Spain during her husband's absence, instructed the Casa de la
Contratación in Seville, that:
'Henceforth, neither to permit nor allow any person at all to take any books of fiction
and of secular matters in the vernacular to the Indies, such as the famous Amadis,
since it was judged a bad practice for the Indians, in contrast with the importance of
the books relating to the Christian religion and morality upon which the Indians and
other inhabitants of the Indies may practice the art of reading'.324
This royal decree, which marked the start of transatlantic book control, stressed the
royal policy which was in favor of religious books to the detriment of the fiction ones, more
specifically the popular genre of novels of chivalry. The final aim was an ideological
protection and doctrinal preservation of the American Indians. However, it did not include
censorship measures against Protestant literature that might have been transported to America.
This early legislation shows that the Crown was aware of the fact that any book transported
on board of the transatlantic galleons contributed in one way or another to the construction
and development of a new society in America. Therefore, special attention was paid to the
quality of the books that were exported to the Indies.

Few years later the prohibition was repeated in the Instrucciones the empress issued to
Antonio de Mendoza, first viceroy of Mexico, dated July 14, 1536. The Instrucciones still
emphasized the prohibition of carrying books of secular and fictional subjects, in order to
protect the Indians able to read and avoid that they would learn 'evil customs and vices from
them'. The Crown feared that the Indians might not be able to distinguish between the fantasy

323
LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 80-81.
324
The English was taken from Leonard, see; LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 81. 'Nros oficiales de la ciudad de
Sevilla que residís en la casa de la contratación de las Indias yo he sido informada q se pasan a las indias
muchos libros de Romance de historias vanas y de profanidad como son el Amadis y otros de esta calidad y
porque este es mal ejercicio para los indios e cosa en q no es bien que se ocupen ni lean por ende yo vos
mando que de aquí adelante no consintáis ni deis lugar a persona alguna pasar a las indias libros ningunos de
historias y cosas profanas salvo tocante a la Religión cristiana e de virtud en que se ejerciten y ocupen los dos
indios e los otros pobladores de las dichas indias…', see also: TORRE REVELLO, El libro la imprenta y el
periodismo en América, III.

90
world of the novels and the content of writings of genuine authenticity and authority, such as
the Holy Scripture.

Moreover, as 'some of the natives of that country are already beginning to be adept in
Latin', attention was to be paid to the kind of books they were reading. As a consequence,
viceroy Mendoza was ordered to instruct the preceptors of the Indians to always read books of
Christian and moral doctrine, for there are works among these in which they can progress
quite well in the Latin language.325 The Instrucciones were given the very same year of the
establishing of the theological school the Colegio of the Santa Cruz of Tlatelolco, founded in
1536, which was intended as a centre of higher Mexican studies, training Indian elites in
Spanish, Latin and in Catholic theology with the aim of producing a native clergy. 326

Some years later on September 13, 1543, the Crown issued a law of the same tenor of
those of 1531 and 1536, this time signed by prince Philip.327

'Know yet that much harm results from taking to the Indies books in the vernacular of
profane and imaginative character such as those about Amadis and other of his type of
lying histories, because the Indians able to read turn to them, forsaking words of sound
and proper doctrine; from these false tales they learn evil practices and vices'.328

325
Irving Leonard provides the translation in English see: LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 81-82. 'Algunos días A
quel Emperador y Rey mi dr Proveyo q no se llevasen a esas partes Libros de Romance de materias profanas y
fabulas Porque los indios que supuesen leer nose diesen aellos dexandolos Libros de buena y sana dotrina y
leyéndolos No aprendiesen [por] en ellos malas costumbres y vicios y también Por que des que supiesen que
aquellos libros de ystorias banas Avian sido compuestos sin averpassado Ansi no se perdiesen la autoridad y
crédito de nra. sagrada Sciptura y otros libros de dotores Santos. Creyendo como gente no arraigada en la fee
que todos nuestros libros eran de una autoridad y manaersa y Por que creemos que en la ex, on. desto no A
avido el cuidado que debria mucho Vos encargamos y mandamos Proveais como de aquí adelante no se
vendan libros algunos de esta calidad y no se Trayan de nuevo Porque cesen estos inconvenientes y
procurando que los españoles no los tenfan en sus casas ni permitan que yndio alguno lea en ellos y Porque
somos informados que ya comienzan a entender Gramatica algunos naturales de esa Tierra mandareis A los
preceptores que les enseñan que les lean siempre libros de cristiana o moral dotrina pues los ay en lque
pueden aprovechar bastante en la Latinidad..', see also: TORRE REVELLO, El libro la imprenta y el periodismo en
América, IV-V.
326
However, as Robert Ricard appointed, the College was surrounded by the suspicion and hostility of the
mendicant orders, such as the Dominicans, the secular clergy and lay elements, as a result the college was
virtually stillborn, see: RICARD, The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico, 288.
327
TORRE REVELLO, El libro la imprenta y el periodismo en América, 38; LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 82.
328
The English translation was published by I.A.LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 82. The original text is partially
reproduced in DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 36: 'Nos somos informados que de llevarse a esas
partes los libros de romance de materias profanes. y fabulas así como son libros de Amadis, y otros desta
calidad, de mentirosas historias, se siguen muchos inconvenientes; porque los indios que supieren leer,
dándose a ellos, dexaran los libros de sancta y buena doctrina y leyendo los de mentirosas historias,
dependeneran en ellos malas costumbres y vicios: y demás desto de que sepan que aquellos libros de historias
vanas han sido compuestos sin aver pasado ansi, podría ser que perdiesen el autoridad y crédito de la Sagrada
Escritura y otros libros de doctores creyendo como gente no arraygada en la fee que todos nuestros libros eran
de una autoridad y manera'. A couple of weeks later in September 29, a royal decree on the same matter was
adressed to the Audiencia of Peru, see DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 172.

91
Clearly the Crown still feared a misinterpretation of the authenticity and authority of the Holy
Scriptures and the writing of learned saints, because of the inexperience of the Indians, 'not
firmly grounded on the faith', that may regard 'all books of equal truth and authority'.

However, this constant admonition visibly shows that legislation was repeatedly not
literally observed, and that indifference and disobedience prevailed over these continual
commands. Given the cumulative nature of royal regulations, they were once more reiterated
within the Ordenanzas of the Casa de la Contratación given on November 4, 1552.329
According to the clerical moralists, these 'lying histories' may cause a great damage not only
among Indians, but also among Spanish themselves. In fact, one of the petitions presented at
the Cortes of Valladolid in 1555, urged the suppression of these false lectures pointing out
that 'Notorious is the harm done and being done to youths, maidens and other people in these
realms'.330

González Rodríguez remarked that judging by the lists of books commercialized in New
Spain, published by Leonard, the decrees of 1531 and 1543 were in disuse by the 1570s. 331
Therefore, Philip II issued a royal decree dated February 21, 1575 addressed to the officials of
the Casa de la Contratación to remind them the context and primary objective of the
instruction:

'We have been informed that in spite of the royal decree of 1531 many of these books
have been shipped and continue to be carried to the Indies, resulting in many problems
and a disservice to God and to me. Therefore, I command you to see the previous
decree [it was attached] and take all necessary precautions to fully comply with it'.332
This law seems anachronistic and the swan song of laws against books of imaginative
character or fiction books, which will gradually give way in subsequent decades to other
literary genres. This pedagogical, paternalistic and uplifting spirit of the Crown leads to an
329
'Otrosi mandamos a los oficiales de Sevilla, que no consientan, ni den lugar a persona alguna pasar a las
Indias los libros e historias fingidas, profanas, ni libros de materias deshonestas, salvo libros tocantes a la
religión christiana, y de virtud, en que se ocupen y exerciten los indios y los otros pobladores de las dichas
Indias', see: TORRE REVELLO, El libro la imprenta y el periodismo en América, 38.
330
LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 76; 'El daño que la lectura de libros de mentiras y vanidades como son el
Amadís y todos los libros que después de él se han fingido de su calidad y letura y coplas y farsas de amores y
otras vanidades ha producido en hombres mozos y doncellas', see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, 'El control
legislativo', 96.
331
GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Lecturas e ideas en Nueva España', 48.
332
'Y porque somos informados que sin embargo de lo que por la dicha cedula tenemos mandado se han
llevado y llevan a las dichas Indias muchos de los dichos libros de que resultan muchos inconvenientes en
deservicio de dios nuestro señor y mío y conviene que no se pasen en manera alguna yo vos mando que veais
la dicha cedula de que suso va incorporada y la guardéis y cumpláis y hagáis guardar y cumplir en todo según
de la manera que en ella se quiere y declara poniendo en ello toda la diligencia y cuidado que fuese posible',
see: TORRE REVELLO, El libro la imprenta y el periodismo en América, XXIV.

92
ambivalence between permitted and prohibited readings, in which not a single line is said
about banning the import of foreign liturgical books. On the contrary, it opened the door to
the possibility for the entry of non-Spanish books on the American market, with the implicit
intention to educate the young Christianity of all these territories.

During the period between 1530 and 1540, surely, important theologians and exegetes
of the Low Countries were considered appropriate for doctrinal instruction, such as Frans
Titelmans whose works extensively printed in Antwerp during the 1530s reached also the
distant shores of New Spain, as well as texts of Church fathers, like John Chrysostom, also
printed in Antwerp. In addition, throughout the decades of 1530s and 1540s the Low
Countries increasingly began to export their books to the Iberian Peninsula.333

The Crown kept the same rigor concerning European books exported to the Indies
during the seventeenth century. In 1609, Philip III enacted a royal decree, on February 11,
ordering the civil and religious authorities of America to seize all books brought to the Indies
by heretics.334 An ever-present fear of non-Spanish heretic book smuggled to the Indies was a
recurrent theme of the royal decrees issued by the Crown throughout the century. In 1682, for
instance, the introduction to New Spain of a book printed in Amsterdam under the name, La
Piedad del Monte sobre las Bárbaras crueldades, tiranías y destruición de los Indios, which
referred to Spanish crimes in the New World committed against the Indians was prohibited.
The Monarchy could not allow the distribution of this book in the viceroyalty, since the topics
dealing with the New World were an important issue of State.335

1.10 Inquisitorial book control at the Carrera de Indias

By the 1550s the protective spirit towards the Indians showed by the legislation issued
between 1531-1543, gradually gave way to a better control on the information provided by
booksellers, in order to prevent the passage of prohibited books. On September 5, 1550 the
emperor issued an order commanding the president and officials of Casa de la Contratación
at Seville, that, 'when any of the permitted books [of theology and Scripture] are to be taken
to the Indies, they shall have each one specified on the register, stating its nature, and such

333
The diffusion of these titles will be further discussed.
334
TORRE REVELLO, El libro la imprenta y el periodismo en América, 47.
335
Real Cédula al Virrey de Nueva España para que impida la introducción y recoja un libro holandés titulado La
Piedad del Monte , Madrid, 18 de Noviembre 1682, see: TORRE REVELLO, El libro la imprenta y el periodismo en
América, CXIX.

93
books shall not be registered in lots'.336 This order included both Spanish and non-Spanish
books.337 This new control on the shipped books to America rapidly ended up in the hands of
the Holly Office.338

During this period the Inquisition strengthened its operations in Seville. The tribunal
here differed from the others by the control exercised over the exportation of books to the
American ports. This ideological control primarily aimed to prevent the introduction of
heresies to the Indies by hampering the circulation of prohibited books, fearing that any slight
deviation would open the way to greater heresies. Thereafter, all imports were scrutinized,
especially at the shipping ports, to prevent the entrance of prohibited books printed in other
countries. In Seville, the inquisition worked with its comisarios (deputies) and its censors
(calificadores) in a complementary role. The former guarded the entrance of banned books
and heretics, as well as the traffic of suspected foreigners, while the censors were responsible
for the supervision of the books that were about to leave to America on the fleets.339

Therefore, book traders needed to follow a meticulous procedure to register their

shipments for export before both the Inquisition, which controlled ideological exportation,
and the Casa de la Contratación which was merely in charge of commercial activities. The
whole procedure followed by book traders has been fully described by authors like Irving
Leonard or more recently by Pedro Rueda. The description made by Leonard would vividly
illustrate this procedure.

Starting when the burros [donkeys] had deposited their burdens at the warehouses of
storage sheds of the House of Trade near the banks of the Guadalquivir, and finishing
after the customary routine was completed, handling the boxes of books in the same
fashion as other freight and in due course found a place in the cargoes of the outgoing
the vessels. But before booksellers could load their book shipments on the vessels,
they should have presented a list of books or memoria to the local tribunal and just
after a calificador had checked it, without finding any irregularities, gave the

336
LEONARD, The Books of the Brave, 100. '..que se especifique cada libro por si, declarando lo que es, vos
mando que de aquí adelante cada y quando se hubieren de llevar a las dichas nuestras Indias algunos de los
que se pudieren pasar conforme a los que por nos esta mandado, pongays en el registro que se hiziere dellos
específicamente cada libro por si, declarando de que, y no lo pongays a bulto como hasta aquyi lo aveys hecho',
see: GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Lecturas e ideas en Nueva España', 48; DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition
Espagnole, 37.
337
By 1550, there were already published the Indexes of the Faculty of Theology of Paris (1544, 1545, 1547,
1548); the Index of the University of Leuven (1546) and the Leuven´s theologians were preparing a new version
published also in 1550. And more important the Spanish inquisition was preparing the first Spanish Index of
1551.
338
RUEDA RAMÍREZ, Negocio e intercambio cultural, 36.
339
RUEDA, 'La vigilancia inquisitorial del libro con destino a América', 144.

94
 inquisition´s authorization, sealing the boxes, and giving a copy of the tribunal's
permission directed to the officials of the American tribunals.340
This control exercised by the Spanish Inquisition did not end with the departure of the
convoys to the New World. Hence, in ports like Veracruz, tentatively a further inspection
would be implemented by local inquisitorial branches.341

1.11 Book censorship generated in New Spain. The Mexican Councils

The process of book censorship generated in New Spain was uneven. It started de facto in
1555 with the decrees of the I Mexican Council, but really strengthened with the official
establishment of the Mexican tribunal in 1571. Consequently, as Martin Austin Nesvig has
recently confirmed, there is little to suggest that widespread and consistent purgation of books
took place in the period before 1571. In fact, few activity concerning books was carried out in
New Spain during this period in which some authors were singled out for particular
investigation, and on occasion inquisitional authorities investigated the reading habits of
persons accused of heresy.342

During the early years following the military conquest a 'Primitive Inquisition', as José
Toribio Medina named it, functioned in Mexico from 1522 to 1571, first under the aegis of
friar inquisitors in the 1520s and then under Episcopal jurisdiction from 1535 to 1571.343
During this formative period the archbishops Juan de Zumárraga and Alonso de Montúfar
were empowered as apostolic inquisitors exercising inquisitorial powers,344 since the canon
law provided for bishops to act as ordinary inquisitors when no specific delegated inquisitor
was present.345 Therefore, Zumárraga was invested by delegation with the office of inquisitor.
On this capacity, he carried out dozens of trials, especially concerning heresy and idolatry, the

340
In fact, Irving Leonard made the first reconstruction of the procedure employed by the House of
Trade and the Holy Office in handling the consignments of books at Seville, based on existing
documentation, see: LEONARD, The Books of the Brave, 132-133.
341
In this respect see the documents published by Fernández del Castillo. F. FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y
libreros en el siglo XVI, Mexico, 1982.
342
Zumárraga, for instance, prosecuted Pedro Ruiz de Calderon for superstitions, pacts with the devil and black
magic, Ruiz de Calderón was a racionero (shareholder) of Mexico City's cathedral chapter, he was processed
and sentenced on April 4, 1540 for preaching superstitions in Veracruz, for which he has to abjure his crimes,
he was also forbidden to say mass for two years and his books were to be sent to Spain, see: NESVIG, Ideology
and Inquisition, 118-119.
343
GREENLEAF, 'Historiography of the Mexican Inquisition', 250.
344
However, in Yucatan during the 1560s the monastic Inquisition continued to operate outside Mexico City
jurisdiction.
345
NESVIG, Ideology and Inquisition, 102.

95
most well known is that of the cacique of Texcoco don Carlos Ometochtzin or don Carlos
Chichimecatecotl. 346

That same year and in order to solve the problem of the supply of books to the
American territories, Juan de Zumárraga, the first bishop of Mexico, and Antonio de
Mendoza, viceroy of New Spain, requested the Crown to allow the creation of a printing press
in Mexico-Tenochtitlan that would provide the local market with the books that were needed.
Zumárraga as well as Mendoza were both conscious that this instrument would mean an
important asset in the evangelization of the New World. As a result of their mediation, on
June 12, 1539 a contract was signed between the German printer Johann Cromberger and his
Italian press operator Juan Pablos (Giovanni Paoli), both residents of Seville, in order to
establish a printing office in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, the first of its class in the New World.
During the following years, it primarily published catechisms and devotional works.347

The creation of a printing press in Mexico coincided with the celebration of the Junta
Eclesiástica of that year, in which vast divergences of opinion were expressed between the
bishops of Mexico, Oaxaca and Michoacán and the mendicant orders over the doctrinal
methods used by the latter. This theological juridical debate matched with the rift between
Orthodoxy and Protestantism in Spain and with the Spanish Crown assuming the
348
confrontation against the enemies of dogma. Moreover, during the Junta Eclesiástica of
1539, it was decided to allow a few mestizos and Indians to enter the minor orders. They were
selected with particular care from among the former pupils of the colleges and convents, who
knew reading, writing and if possible Latin. The bishops judged the experiment to be without
serious danger, as Robert Ricard noticed, since the minor orders did not lead to irrevocable
commitments. But this decision was apparently not put into effect and since these early years
monastic life, even in its humblest form was denied to the natives.349

346
The cacique of Texcoco, who had been educated in Tlatelolco, was prosecuted and convicted on charges of
idolatry, bigamy and conspiracy against the Spaniards and finally relaxed to the secular arm for execution at the
stake in November 1539. However, the emperor condemned Zumárraga's action, and subsequently he
prohibited the maximum penalty for Indians. After this case, no Indian was ever burned at the stake for heresy
or any other charge, see: MORENO DE LOS ARCOS, 'New Spain´s Inquisition for Indians from the Sixteenth to
the Nineteenth century', 23-36.
347
GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 85.
348
For example Zumárraga allowed that Indian dances could be performed only if they were kept out of the
churches and if they used new Catholic Cantares, see: GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, Carlos V y la cultura de Nueva
España, 24.
349
RICARD, The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico, 230.

96
No doubt that the feeling of intolerance that was increasingly present in Spain during the
1550s, started to reflect on the American law. In this respect, Zumárraga's successor, the
Dominican Alonso de Montúfar, who was prior of the convent in Granada and censor of the
Inquisition in the same city, was consecrated second archbishop of Mexico in 1553, arriving
in Mexico City in June 1554. Montúfar convoked the first provincial council of the Mexican
Church, celebrated between June 29 and November 7 1555.350 The Council's proposals
revealed its concerns over the problems of morality and discipline of both clergy and laity in
New Spain.351 The projected legislation was compiled within 93 chapters, covering the life
and organization of the Mexican Church and was published in 1556.

Some decrees of the first council directly or indirectly dealt with books. Chapter
LXXIV has been the most repeatedly studied within the bibliographic studies, because it
stipulated the prohibition of printing unlicensed books. It also prohibit merchants and
booksellers to sell foreign books without showing their official records of books (memorias),
which had to be reviewed by diocesan authorities under penalty of major excommunication
ipso facto incurrenda. These measures were aiming a doctrinal improvement of the Mexican
press, whose production had to be subject to the Catholic Church's precepts, avoiding the
impression of 'suspicious and bad doctrines', and with them all possible mistakes and
misunderstandings in the interpretation of the Holy Scripture. 352

350
It was attended by don Vasco de Quiroga, Bishop of Michoacan, fray Martin de Hojacastro, Bishop of
Tlaxcala, don fray Tomás Casillas, Bishop of Chiapa, and don Juan de Zárate, Bishop of Oaxaca, see:
LORENZANA, Concilios Provinciales Primero y Segundo, celebrados en la muy noble y muy leal Ciudad de
México, Mexico, Imprenta de Bernardo de Hogal, 1769.
351
CARREÑO, 'Don Fray Alonso de Montúfar', 285.
352
'Que ninguno imprima libros ni obras de nuevo sin licencia ni las así impresas venda y que ningún
mercader ni librero venda libros sin que primero muestre las memorias de ellos y sean examinados
por el diocesano o por quien él lo cometiere. Por experiencia conocemos cuántos errores se han
causado e introducido entre los cristianos por las malas y sospechosas doctrinas de libros que se han
impreso y publicado, y porque a nuestro oficio conviene proveer de remedio para excusar lo
susodicho, Sancto aprobante Concilio, estatuimos y mandamos que ninguno sea osado en nuestro
arzobispado y provincia imprimir o publicar libro ni obra alguna de nuevo sin que sea por Nos o por el
Diocesano visto y examinado, y para ello tenga nuestra expresa licencia y mandado, si lo contrario
hiciere incurra el tal impresor o el que tal libro publicare en pena de excomunión, ipso facto[…] Y
porque muchos libros sospechosos y prohibidos por la Santa Inquisición de España tenemos temor
que por no los perder allá, los traen a vender a estar partes: por ende, mandamos, so pena de
excomunión ipso facto incurrenda, y de 100 pesos de minas aplicados para obras pías, las que Nos
nombraremos, que ningún mercader ni librero, ni otra persona algún, venda libros a nadie sin que
primero por Nos o por las personas a quien lo cometiéremos, sean vistos y examinados y con
juramento muestren las memorias de tales libros', see: MEDINA, La Imprenta en México, I, 88.
97
This chapter did not hesitate to mention the fear inspired by the arrival of numerous
prohibited books. Therefore, it became a priority to prevent the distribution of these banned
books, intentionally exported from Spain to be freely sold in America away from inquisitorial
control. In this respect, the I Mexican Council sought to combine the provisions both of the
Spanish Index of 1551 and the Crown regulations in printing and licensing of books, as well
as the safeguard of doctrinal content and the preservation of the orthodoxy. This controversial
chapter explains why the first provincial council has been traditionally regarded as the
beginning of Mexican censorship, and the persecution against books and handwritten
literature in New Spain, even before the enactment of the Tridentine decrees. Some authors
stressed the important influence that Montúfar may have had on the decision-making of the
council, considering him a typical example of a Dominican mentality obsessed with the purity
of orthodoxy.

A good example of the application of chapter LXXIV is given by Montúfar himself,

who, obsessed with the question of idolatries and heresies, focused his censorship activities on
the scrutiny of doctrinal works written in Indian languages. In 1560, he banned and
impounded the distribution of the Diálogo de doctrina Cristiana en lengua de Michoacán
(Mexico, Juan Pablos, 1559), written by the Franciscan brother Maturino Gilberti. In 1563 the
Crown issued a formal ban on the Diálogo.353 In his Tarascan catechism, Gilberti followed the
precepts of his Franciscan order and insisted very strongly that the worship of images was not
directed to the material substance, arguing that 'if Christians kneel before a Crucifix or any
other image in attitude of worship, it was nevertheless not the Crucifix that they worshipped,
for it was only made of wood, but God Himself our Lord that is in Heaven'. 354 Maturini
insisted on this ideas, arguing that it would be best to discourage the Indians from venerating
images so as to avoid idolatry. Therefore, this was the reason why he was suspected of heresy.
However, many of Montúfar´s censorship proceedings were considered hyper orthodox even
by the Suprema in Madrid, that often reversed his judgements as precisely in the case of
Maturino Gilberti's Diálogo, which was ultimately overturned in 1588.355 It is well known
that the attack on the Franciscan Gilberti was part of a broader assault on the Franciscans and
their humanist activities launched by Montúfar. In a time where Spain experienced a process
of severe censorship under Philip II and inquisitor general Fernando de Valdés, the arrest and

353
Maturino Gilberti's dossier is one of the inquisition documents published in FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO,
Libros y Libreros del siglo XVI, Mexico, 1982.
354
RICARD, The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico, 103.
355
FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y Libreros, 37, See also: NESVIG, Ideology and Inquisition, 118.

98
trial of Luis de León and the prosecution of Bartolomé de Carranza were reflected organically
in Mexico in Montúfar's broad agenda as correctly expressed by Martin Austin Nesvig. 356

Recently, the role of the provincial council of 1555 as promoter of both book printing
and book reading has been reconsidered.357 This last opinion is largely based on chapters,
such as XLV, which dealt with the required intellectual background of the candidates to
become priests, stressing that if their instruction had been poor, then they should have books
to study and focus on their intellectual weaknesses. This chapter also applied for those who
preached the gospels and administrated the sacraments (especially the cases of conscience),
who should dispose of essential books like the Bible, the Sermons of Saint Vincent Ferrer or
other sermonaries, the Suma Silvestrina, or the Suma Angélica, the Manipulus Curatorum and
the Suma Cayetana.358 In this respect, some years later some Antwerp's editions of the
Sermons Aestivales, Sermons de Sanctis, and Sermons Hyemalis of Saint Vincent Ferrer,
published by Nutius and Steelsius between 1570 and 1579 were available in several libraries
in New Spain.

The education of Christian doctrine among children is discussed in chapter III, which
supported the old pedagogical statement which suggests that good lessons are learned better at
an early age. Therefore, there should be enough teachers, providing a good example to
children, who may be either Spanish, Indian or even black slaves under twelve years old. The
basis of this instruction required the active knowledge of the Church sacraments, the
Decalogue, the seven deadly sins, the works of mercy both corporal and spirituals, the
theological and cardinal virtues, as well as the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, chapter III
encouraged the teaching of reading and writing in schools, as long as the learning process was
carefully complemented with the reading of prayers and other fruitful doctrinal readings.359

356
NESVIG, Ideology and Inquisition, 118-119.
357
FERNÁNDEZ ZAMORA, 'Los concilios mexicanos promotores del libro y de la lectura en el siglo XVI', 105-123.
358
'Para los que an de ser curas[...] que sean examinados, con todo rigor en la administracion delos
sacramentos, en especial de la penitencia, y confessión, y casos de conciencia. Item que si por
necesidad urgente, se ofreciere: que alguno sea admitido a ser Cura, que no sepa todo lo susodicho,
que en tal caso, los nuestros examinadores le manden tener libros, por donde estudie en lo que
estuviere falto, o defectuoso[...]
Item, que tenga suficiencia de buena doctrina para declarar el evangelio[...] para lo cual tenga libros
necesarios, y para los casos de conciencia, como son la biblia, Sant Vicente, o otro buen sermonario, una Suma
Silvestrina, o Angélica, Manipulus Curatorum, y un confesionario como Defecerunt u otro semejante y la Suma
Cayetana[...]', see: LORENZANA, Concilios Provinciales Primero y Segundo, 107-112.
359
'Mandamos que los maestros que enseñan a los Niños, en sus escuelas hagan leer, y decir la dicha Doctrina
cada dia una vez, y no les enseñen a leer ni escribir, sin que juntamente se les enseñen las dichas Oraciones, y
las otras cosaS', see: LORENZANA, Concilios Provinciales Primero y Segundo, 44.

99
This was clearly seeking to inculcate among young pupils the controlled reading of doctrinal
issues.360

The standardization of the doctrine translated into indigenous languages in order to print
and disseminate them among Church ministers, is discussed in chapter IV.361 In opposition,
chapter LXIX, ordered not to give sermons to Indians to translate into their languages, as well
as doctrines without having been examined by any expert in the field, and ordered that all
collections of sermons in the native languages to be seized. This suggests not only mistrust of
the translation itself, but also fear of Christian doctrine's misinterpretation.362 According to
Robert Ricard, this chapter was possibly written under Montúfar's influence.363

The publication of the Council Constitutions (which actually happened in 1556), is

argued in chapter XCII, in which all the mayordomos of the cathedrals in New Spain had to
buy two copies of the book, placing them in the choir, to be easily read and consulted. These
ordinances were also directed to all the mayordomos of parish churches throughout the
archdiocese, who within a period of six months had to buy the book and once in the church
place it either in the sacristy or in the choir (securing it with a chain to avoid theft), to be read
by all those who wished. Finally, all prebendaries, vicars, chaplains, and other dignities had to
buy the book at their own expense, in order to be unable to pretend ignorance of its contents
364
and dispositions. This represents an obvious example of a book sponsored and promoted
by the Church.

360
This system of memorization prevailed in New Spain throughout the colonial period and beyond, according
to Guardino's, even with the Bourbon emphasis on acculturating Indians, Oaxaca's teachers continued to stress
the memorization of the basic catechism, normally using the catechism written by the Jesuit priest Gerónimo
de Ripalda in the sixteenth century. Later on Benito Juárez 'pointed out that the curriculum of the urban
primary school of the urban primary school he attended in Antequera (Oaxaca) in 1819 consisted of reading,
writing and memorizing Padre Ripalda's catechism', see: GUARDINO, The time of liberty: popular, political
culture in Oaxaca, 110.
361
Capítulo IV, 'Que se hagan doctrinas para los Indios: 'Ordenamos y mandamos que se hagan dos Doctrinas,
la un abreve, y sin glosa,[…] y la otra con declaración substancial de los Artículos de la Fe, y Mandamientos y
Pecados Mortales, con la declaración del Pater Noster, Y se traduzcan en muchas lenguas y se impriman.', see:
LORENZANA, Concilios Provinciales Primero y Segundo, 45.
362
Capítulo LXIX, 'Que no se den a los Indios Sermones en su lengua, uy que ninguna Doctrina se traduzca en
lengua de indios, si no fuere examinada por Clérigo o Religioso, que entienda la lengua en que se traduce', see:
LORENZANA, Concilios Provinciales Primero y Segundo, 143-144.
363
RICARD, La conquista espiritual de México, 133.
364
'Despues, que estas nuestras constituciones fueren imprimidas de molde, y hechos Libros de ellas, compren
dos Libros, y el uno pongan en un Coro, y el otro en otro de nuestra Iglesia, y de las demas Iglesias Cathedrales
atados con su cadena, porque los Beneficiados de ellas, y los otros Eclesiásticos puedan leer, y lean en los
dichos Libros; y mandamos a los Mayordomos de las Iglesias parroquiales de todo nuestro Arzobispado, y
Provincia, que dentro de seis meses compren un Libro de ellas, a costa de las fabricas cada uno en su Iglesia, y
los hagan poner en el Coro, o Sacristía ligados con una cadena, donde puedan leer en ellos todos los que

100
The I Mexican Council was issued in a time when Spain was visibly tightening its censorship
policies. Shortly after the enacting of the Mexican Council, a royal decree issued by Philip II
on October 10, 1556, was addressed to viceroyal authorities urging them to inform the
treasury officers at the ports of America:

'To exercise extreme care in checking the cargoes of arriving vessels with the sealed
registers they brought in order to note the possible inclusion of books on the Index
(1551), any listed works discovered must be turned over promptly to the archbishops
or their duly appointed representatives'.365
The decree also required ecclesiastical prelates to use all possible means in finding out in their
dioceses the presence of this kind of books. If so, they had to confiscate them and follow the
procedures stipulated by the Inquisition, not allowing its incidence in those provinces.366
Although, it is not clearly known whether this decree remained in force in New Spain after the
promulgation of the famous pragmatica of September 7, 1558. Or as Leonard stated, possibly
the lax enforcement of this command -the fate of so many in the sixteenth century and later-
soon obliged the authorities to consider the establishment of a special agency to perform this
and other functions.367 Yet even after the publication of the Index of 1559, there was no
systematic purge of libraries and bookstores in Mexico during the 1560s.368

Parallel to efforts in Spain, the II Provincial Council expressly convoked by Montúfar in

369
1565, had as a main objective to put into effect the decrees of Trent and its application in
New Spain,370 The legislation was compiled in XXVIII chapters.

quisieren; asimismo mandamos a todos los Prebendados, Beneficiados, Vicarios, Rectores, y Capellanes, y a
cada uno de ellos, que dentro de el dicho término compren a su costa los dichos Libros, porque cada uno de
ellos las tenga, y no pueda pretender ignorancia de lo en ellas contenido, establecido, ordenado y mandado.',
see: LORENZANA, Concilios Provinciales Primero y Segundo, 170.
365
LEONARD, The Books of the Brave, 67.
366
'Nuestros Virreyes, Presidente y Oidores pongan por su parte toda la diligencia necesaria y den orden a los
Oficiales reales par que reconozcan en las visitas de los navíos si llevaren algunos libros prohibidos, conforme a
los expurgatorios de la Santa Inquisición y hagan entregar todos los que hallaren a los Arzobispos y Obispos o a
las personas a quien tocare por los acuerdos del Santo oficio. Y rogamos y encarecemos a los Prelados
eclesiásticos que por todas las vías posibles averigüen y procuren saber si en sus diócesis hay algunos libros de
esta calidad y los recojan y hagan de ellos lo ordenado por el Consejo de la Inquisición y no consientan ni de
lugar a que permanezcan ni queden en aquellas provincias'. Quoted in GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Lecturas e ideas
en Nueva España', 48.
367
LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 166.
368
NESVIG, Ideology and Inquisition, 119.
369
The second provincial council began on August 15, 1565. It was attended by Thomas Casillas, Bishop of
Chiapa, Fernando de Villagomez bishop of Tlaxcala, Fr. Francisco Toral bishop of Yucatan, Fr. Pedro de Ayala,
bishop of Guadalajara and Fr. Bernardo de Alburquerque bishop of Oaxaca, see: LUNDBERG, 'Las actas de los
tres primeros concilios mexicanos', 263.
370
RICARD, La conquista espiritual de México, 40.

101
Regarding books, chapter XVII, favored the possession of books, requiring that priests had to
have necessarily Bibles in their possession,371 and also some Sums of practical theology,
focusing mainly in cases of conscience, either in Latin or in Spanish, such as the Suma of
Navarro,372or the Defecerunt of S. Antonino,373or the Silvestrina,374 or the Angélica.375

The cultural intransigency against the Indians is shown in chapter XXIII, which strongly
argued that the ignorance of the neophyte Indians, makes them unreliable subjects to have
books, sermonarios, manuscripts, unless the texts had been previously reviewed and approved
by the clericals, and translated by specialists.376

In 1585, the III Mexican Council was presided by the archbishop Pedro Moya de
Contreras,377 who unlike his two predecessors belonged to the secular clergy and was
consecrated in 1572.378 The regulations of the first and second councils regarding books were
maintained. They remained in force and had a decisive impact throughout the colonial period

371
Capítulo XVII, 'Muy necesario es a los que tienen cargo de ánimas tener ciencia para que sepan regillas, u
gobernallas, y encaminallas a lo que cumple a su salvación y porque hay en muchos de los dichos Curas mucha
negligencia en tener libros, que les puedan alumbrar, para entender lo que cumple a la salvación de sus
súbditos, y saber ligar y desatar, S.A.C., ordenamos y ,andamos, que todos los curas tengan Biblias, y algunas
sumas de casos de conciencia en latín o en romance, así como la Suma de Navarro, o Defecerunt de S.
Antonino, o Silvetrina, o Angélica, y algún libro Sacramental en que lean', see: LORENZANA, Concilios
Provinciales Primero y Segundo, 199.
372
The famous Manual de Confesores y Penitentes of Martin de Azpilcueta or Doctor Navarro was first
published in Coimbra in 1549, and reprinted countless times in Spanish: Coimbra, 1552, 1553, 1559; Medina del
Campo, 1554, 1555; Toledo, 1554; Valladolid, 1555; Zaragoza, 1555; Salamanca, 1556, 1557, 1562; Estella,
1565. In Antwerp it was published by Nutius, 1555; Steelsius 1557; and by the Widow and heirs of Steelsius,
1559.
373
The Confessionale Defecerunt scrutantes scrutinio by Antoninus of Florence, was first published in Valencia
in 1477, and reprinted several times, the first edition in Spanish appeared in Zaragoza ca. 1499-1502: Summa
de Confesion llamada Defecerunt Compuesta por Fray Antonio Arzobispo de Florencia. However, the Mexican
Council certainly recommended the editions published in Medina del Campo by Pedro de Castro in 1547 and
1550.
374
The famous Summae Silvestrinae, called after Silvestro Mazzolini da Prierio, for whom practical theology
would become a 'lifelong involvement with pastoral, moral issues, which eventually result in the publication in
1515 of his most famous and popular work, the Summa Silvestrina', printed throughout the sixteenth century,
see: TAVUZZI, Prierias: the life and works of Silvestro Mazzolini da Prierio, 13.
375
'Summa de Casibus Conscientiae' by moral theologian Angelo Carletti di Chiavaso, called after him, 'Summa
Angelica'.
376
Capítulo XXIII, 'Muy a cuenta se debe tener, en que la gente ignorante, especialmente los Indios
nuevamente convertidos a nuestra Santa Fe no tengan libros sermonarios, ni Escritos, que no sean vistos, y
aprobados por aquellos a quienes incumbe. Por tanto S.A.C. ordenamos y mandamos, que no se permita a los
Indios tener Sermonarios, Nóminas, ni otra cosa de Escriptura escrita de mano, salvo la doctrina Christiana
aprobada por los Prelados y traducidas por los Religiosos Lenguas', see: LORENZANA, Concilios Provinciales
Primero y Segundo, 201-202.
377
It was attended by Fr. Gómez de Córdova Bishop of Guatemala, Fr. Juan de Medina Rincón, Bishop of
Michoacan, Diego Romano, Bishop of Tlaxcala, Fr. Gregorio Montalvo, Bishop of Yucatan, Fr. Domingo Arzola,
Bishop of New Galicia, Fr. Bartolomé de Ledesma, Bishop of Oaxaca.
378
Ricard considered this as one of several examples of the declining influence of the mendicant orders in New
Spain during the last quarter of 16th century, see: RICARD, La conquista espirtual de México, 35.

102
and even beyond, because the deliberations of the IV Council, celebrated in 1771, did not
receive papal approve, due to its intense regalism'.379

In general, a strong opposition to the decrees of the 1585 Council was generated among
the different sectors of society, that considered its resolutions extremely severe, such as
members of the Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians and even the corporations of the
medics and silversmiths. Therefore, the resolutions were published until 1622.380

Regarding books the 1585 Council established that ne liber ullus imprimatur, nisi de
Episcopi licentia, no book shall be printed unless it has the license of the bishop. For this
reason, according to the Council of Trent, this synod commanded that no one was to print,
buy, circulate, sell, or have any books, without being examined and approved by the
Ordinary.381 If taken literally, this regulation would concern any book (cualesquiera),
meaning not only those printed in New Spain, but all the rest as well. For this reason in 1629
one of the prebendaries of Puebla's cathedral, Juan de Cevicos judged this legislation as even
more severe than that of Trent: 'Is extraordinarily rigorous, Trent stipulates quavis libros de
rebus sacris, and not only quavis libros…'.382

1.12 The Mexican Inquisition

The definite tightening of Mexican book censorship came after 1571 with the establishment of
a Mexican central tribunal of the Inquisition, which was officially in charge of the censorship
and control both of book printing and book arrival. The Holy Office in Mexico City operated
under the authority and direct supervision of the Suprema based in Madrid. Its jurisdiction
was immense covering the whole of New Spain and the Philippines, its jurisdiction stretched
over Puebla, Guadalajara, Zacatecas, Veracruz, Yucatán, Acapulco, Guatemala, Nicaragua
and Honduras. However, the slow and irregular communication, and the vast distances were

379
WECKMAN, The Medieval Heritage of Mexico, 314-315.
380
MARTÍNEZ FERRER, 'Hacia una edición crítica de los decretos del Tercer Concilio Mexicano', 103-110.
381
'De la impresión y lección de Libros. Ningún libro se imprima sino con la licencia del obispo. No menos por
escrito que de palabra suele ser de gran daño la perversa doctrina. Por lo cual con arreglo al concilio Tridentino,
establece y manda este sínodo que ninguno se atreva a imprimir, mandar a imprimir, circular ni comprar, ni
vender, ni tener consigo cualesquiera libros, si ni es que antes hayan sido examinados y aprobados por el
Ordinario y escritos e impresos con su licencia bajo la pena de excomunión en que se incurrirá por el mismo
hecho', see: GALVÁN RIVERA, Concilio III Provincial Mexicano, 21-22.
382
GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Lecturas e ideas en Nueva España', 46.

103
problems utterly insuperable. In consequence the Mexican tribunal gave its judges unofficial
leeway to bend the Suprema's rules.383

Within the next two decades, intensely active periods of prosecution and censorship were
accomplished by the Mexican Holly Office.384 The tribunal worked not only with censors, but
also with consultores, who were by definition jurists who acted as advisors on matters of law,
and with comisarios or deputies, who established as vicars of the inquisitor in the major cities
and ports of New Spain.385

Books immediately claimed the special attention of the Inquisition.386 Book control
implemented by different means:

-Visitas of the annual fleets anchored in Veracruz seeking prohibited editions among the book
shipments and the personal books of the passengers in the galleons.

- Confiscation of books to be reviewed

- Seizure of private libraries of individuals processed by the Tribunal

- Visitas of bookshops

- Promulgation of edicts dealing with prohibited books

- Expurgation of books

While the tribunal of Seville controlled book shipments prior the departing of the fleet, its
Mexican counterpart had to do the same after its arrival, through customs inspections or
visitas, which were preventive measures theoretically designed to maintain effective control
over any possible prohibited book 'inimical to the faith or to good morals' or passengers
suspected of heresy aboard all the incoming ships of the annual convoys or flotas, anchored at
ports like San Juan de Ulúa.

383
KAGAN and DYER, Inquisitorial Inquiries, 183.
384
According to Martin Austin Nesvig, the newly established Holly Office proved to be extremely active and
vigorous, terminating on average more than thirty-two trials per year from its inception in November 1571
until the end of 1579, making it quantifiably the most vigorous period between 1527 and 1640, see: NESVIG,
Ideology and Inquisition, 137.
385
NESVIG, Ideology and Inquisition, 142.
386
LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 168. Given the extensive research done by Irving Leonard on this
topic, his descriptions will be consistently quoted for this section.
104
Thus, concerning books the aim was 'to exclude from entrance to the ports of debarkation any
subversive work, which might evade the vigilance of the official in the homeland'. 387 It was
becoming increasingly clear that the most fundamental obligation of the inquisitors was to
control the influx of printed matter which attacked or undermined the religious orthodoxy of
New Spain. This printed material could come from any European typographic center.388 Jaime
González Rodríguez pointed out that the oldest known documentary evidence to control the
arrival of books in Mexico is a letter from the inquisitorial deputy López de Rebolledo dated
September 24, 1572 (just a year after the official establishment of the Mexican Holly Office),
in which he explained that based on the catalogue, he examined the books aboard the ships; if
they were not prohibited, they were returned to their owners.389 Theoretically, the deputies of
the inquisition worked with the Index in their hands to review the prohibited books. However,
as Martin Nesvig pointed out: 'yet late in 1585 the inquisitors in Mexico City still had not
received a copy of a new Index (1583)'.390 And even worse, their deputies in most of Mexico
never saw an Index.

In 1575 the Suprema in Madrid sent a letter to the Mexican tribunal with instructions to
the commissioners at the ports to step up surveillance on the book trade.391 This order was
issued by Fernando de Valdés and his successor Diego de Espinosa, who during the same
years were launching an extraordinary persecution directed against foreigners between 1563
and 1575, in an effort to stop the circulation of books, ideas and people mainly from France.

Before the inquisitorial visitas were created in the 1570s, treasury officials were
appointed to inspect all incoming ships at the terminal ports. Generally speaking, the
implementation of parallel inspections for ecclesiastical purposes presented a fundamental
problem, that of jurisdiction (typical trouble which affected the fragile balance of daily life in
the viceroyalty of New Spain) between royal authorities and the Inquisition, which hindered
the process. The establishment of this type of inspection had diverse inconveniences, first it
exacerbated tensions between inquisitorial and civil authorities and second and possibly more
important, it meant a menace to the illicit revenues that the treasury officers (always jealous
of their prerogatives) found so remunerative.392 Thus, considering the dishonest opportunities

387
LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 166.
388
GREENLEAF, 'Historiography of the Mexican Inquisition', 253-254.
389
GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Lecturas e ideas en Nueva España', 51-52.
390
NESVIG, Ideology and Inquisition, 5.
391
GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Lecturas e ideas en Nueva España', 49.
392
LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 170.

105
for private revenues during the inspections, the evident hostility and resentment of both
Crown inspectors and merchants against the inquisitorial visitas are understandable.

The routine of the visitas has been vividly described in the inquisitorial sources, and by
authors like Leonard. Both the secular and inquisitorial inspectors were to start their
respective inspection as soon as ships anchored, so that the debarkation of passengers and
freight was delayed as little as possible, because, 'no goods or persons could go ashore until
this indispensable formality was completed'.393 The Crown inspectors were searching for any
unregistered goods and unlicensed persons, while the representatives of the Holy Office were
looking for prohibited books, indecent images and heretics among the passengers. The deputy
of the Holy Office, was accompanied by a notary and an alguacil (bailiff),394 and sometimes
by a familiar (civil deputy) of the Inquisition who bore its emblem of authority (vara).395

'These inspectors summoned the shipmaster, the pilot, and one or two passengers or
members of the crew were brought together and each one of this group was
constrained to answer eight questions and to swear to speak the truth, under penalty of
the severest anathema of the Church'.396
The first two questions inquired about the journey and the scales of the trip, in order to
identify in detail the route to see in which ports had the fleet stopped and to figure out if
prohibited books may have been loaded. The next questions inquired if there were Jews,
Moors, Lutherans or Calvinists on board.397 The last two questions directly inquired about
books and images. The seventh question directly inquired:

Whether on board of the ship there are any images or figures of saints, popes,
cardinals, bishops, priests, friars, and missionaries that are indecent, ridiculous and
wretchedly painted, or any forbidden books of the Lutheran and Calvinist sects or of
other heretics, of any of those forbidden by the Holy Office of the Inquisition, or any
other unregistered and concealed, or without license of the Holy Office'.398

393
LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 169.
394
A constable can be defined as an officer, who possesses power as a conservator of the peace at common
law, and by virtue of various legislative enactments.
395
LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 171-172, see also: GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Lecturas e ideas en Nueva
España', 50.
396
LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 172.
397
The first question inquired about the port from which the ship sailed, the date of sailing, the owner of the
ship, and its destination. *The second inquired about the ports where the fleet had stopped. *The third concerned
the passengers on board, their origins, nationalities and religious affiliation. *The fourth question asked that in
case that any Jew, Moor, Lutheran or Calvinist were on board, 'the witness shall testify as to what things or
ceremonies, of their rites or wicked sects they have seen them perform'. *The fifth question demanded if anyone
had attacked the faith, the Church, the Lord, the Virgin, the saints, or even the Holy Office by saying or doing
anything. *The sixth was concerned with the goods belonging to heretics of infidels of rebels, whose are they
and to whom are they consigned
398
LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 173.

106
Finally, the last question inquired the precedence of the books, in whose charge they were
being brought and to what persons they were consigned. Based on Fernández del Castillo both
Irving Leonard and Jaime Gónzalez Rodríguez remarked that sometimes both the content and
order of the questioning varied or was altered, but the changes did not differ much from the
original questionnaire.399 If there was nothing worthy of note, the deputy with his assistants
and the notary 'were to search the stern cabin and others they thought necessary, they were to
open few boxes, chests or bales', always looking for possibly banned books,400 seeking to
perform these functions with circumspection avoiding possible protests of angry and
displeased owners and shippers.

The application of the full procedure would have been an arduous task, therefore, in the
practice, a short cursory inspection was made by opening some book cases, but normally, the
Deputy of the Holy Office stated that:

'So far as the Holly Office was concerned, disembarkation of passengers and freight
could proceed at once. The complete short report was signed by the representative of
the Inquisition, the shipmaster, the pilot, and the other witnesses and finally the whole
was countersigned by the notary.401
In the event of serious infractions, a more extensive document was obligatory, those
responsible were imprisoned and books out of register were seized and taken to the
headquarters of the Holly Office in Mexico City. However, the written regulations were by far
more strict, an edict of 1572 declared that:

'If on opening cases or boxes, any books or sacred writings, philosophy, or related
subjects were noticed, the inspectors must promptly close the containers in question
without attempting to read or even glance through such printed works. It was then
their duty to place the seal of the Holy Office on the shipment and forward it directly
to Mexico City for checking at the head office of the inquisition before the owners
could take possession'.402
Regrettably, the total of boxes and cases of books transported each year between Veracruz
and the headquarters of the inquisition in Mexico City is not known: 'the quantity surely
varied considerably from time to time, in 1584 one hundred twelve cases are recorded; at least

399
GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Lecturas e ideas en Nueva España', 51.
400
LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 173-174. Apud. FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y Libreros, 402.
401
LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 174.
402
LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 173-174.Apud. FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y Libreros, 467.

107
seventy seven were hauled up the next year, and in 1586 eighty more followed'. 403 In any case
the archival records are incomplete.

The majority of this sent books was presumably examined by trusted consultores of the
Holy Office, who checked with the official catalogue of prohibited books and with the edicts
subsequently issued: 'those volumes regarded as harmless and free of heretical taint, usually
the great majority, were permitted to reach the warehouses of shops of the merchants and
booksellers chiefly in the viceregal capital but also in the larger provincial towns'.404 This
process of determining the nature of suspect statements was known as calificación or review
and in the case of the Hispanic world, 'inquisitors called on theologians, often university
professors or well-placed members of the mendicant orders or the Jesuits to review the
content of suspect ideas.' 405

In 1580 the Mexican tribunal complained about the malfunctioning of the inspection
due to negligence of the escribano real Marcos Rodríguez.406 There were doubtless many
similar clashes between the inquisitorial and royal authorities. Therefore, in 1585 the Mexican
tribunal ordered that the deputy of the Holy Office could begin the visita on a ship other than
the treasury officials to avoid problems between authorities.407 Due to these conflicts Philip II
issued a royal decree in January 1585, in which he specifically charged the prelates of the
Church to require its provisors at the port of entry to be on hand to make the examination of
incoming ships for prohibited books, leaving the rest of the goods to the treasury officers.408
Yet in 1586 a recommendation issued by the Mexican tribunal ordered that 'the two scrutinies
may take place separately, one group working on the ship while the other was fulfilling its
obligations on another, so as to avoid the intemperate clashes between rival agents'. 409 But
still if the royal officials that were performing their own visit, had to open some cases of
books, they needed to do so in the presence of the inquisitorial deputy, without touching the

403
LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 181 Apud. FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y Libreros, 330, 409, 428.
404
LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 181.
405
NESVIG, Ideology and Inquisition, 2.
406
GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Lecturas e ideas en Nueva España', 51. Apud. FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y
Libreros, 382-383.
407
GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Lecturas e ideas en Nueva España', 52. Apud. FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y
Libreros, 412-413.
408
'Rogamos y encargamos a los Prelados que ordenen a sus Provisores puestos en puertos de mar que cuando
los Oficiales de nuestra Real Hacienda visiten los navíos que en ellos entraren se hallen a las visitas para ver y
reconocer si llevaren libros prohibidos. Y mandamos a nuestros Oficiales que no hagan las visitas sin la
intervención y asistencia de los Provisores y de otra forma ninguna persona los pueda sacar ni tener', see:
GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Lecturas e ideas en Nueva España', 50.
409
LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 171. Apud. FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y Libreros, 424.

108
books in question.410 Based on this documental data it is easy to visualize the amount of
endless problems generated during the visitas.

The entire procedure was itself annoying, time consuming, and it caused severe
discomfort among tired passengers, anxious merchants and crews. For instance the visita of
the fleet which arrived to Veracruz in September 1582 lasted eight months.411 All this
inconvenience combined with the unhealthy environment, in which 'yellow fever, tertian
ague, and spotted fever are very common and carry off many visitors both European and
native',412 the insufferable heat of Veracruz, the resulting disarrangements and the lack of
courtesy and tact of the deputies of the Holly Office did not increase the popularity of the
visita, on the contrary it was deemed as an infamous formality. And above all, the
omnipresent corruption of the functionaries and inspectors was always ready to assist in
avoiding the formalities of the inspection process, overlooking certain irregularities.

The deputies of the inquisition who were in charge of performing the visitas not
uncommonly participated into:

'More or less convivial meetings, with the shipmaster acting as host. Food was
liberally dispensed and wine flowed freely. No doubt merchants on the incoming
vessels contributed to these festivities for certain ulterior motives of their own […]
under this circumstances bargains and agreements of a private nature affecting the
entry of books and other articles of possibly contraband character into the realm were
doubtless consummated.'413
Thus, the purposes of the inquisitorial inspection degenerated and 'were often defeated by
flagrant flouting of its regulations'.414 This became even more obvious, as the Inquisition
regularly appointed some representatives who had family links with merchants.

Regarding this, the viceroy Villamanrique complained in 1586 that the Inquisition had
placed an alguacil (bailiff) who bore its emblem of authority (vara), what could only be done
in the cities where the tribunal resided, and as the aforementioned was a merchant and an
agent that received books for different people in Mexico City, he was abusing his powers at

410
GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Lecturas e ideas en Nueva España', 51. Apud. FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y
Libreros, 424-425.
411
GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Lecturas e ideas en Nueva España', 52. Apud. FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y
Libreros, 393.
412
O'CROULEY, The Kingdom of New Spain, 45.
413
LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 175.
414
LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 175-176.

109
the expense of the royal treasury through the smuggling of illegal goods.415 The viceroy
undoubtedly referred to Juan Pérez Aparicio, merchant of Burgos, appointed constable
(alguacil) in 1583, who at least since 1578 was active in buying books especially from Diego
Mexía, important bookseller of Seville, and since 1582 he received books shipments for the
doctors De la Fuente and Pedro López, as well as Juan Treviño among others.416 Viceroy
Villamanrique continued his accusations saying that Pérez Aparicio was in collusion with the
cathedral canon Diego Caballero Bazán, who happened to be the brain of a smuggling
network of prohibited and unregistered goods, in particular books, involving other fellows of
the Inquisition, such as Juan de Villaseca.417

Given these situations, Leonard concluded that the visitas to the fleets, were
occasionally performed in a strict way by the inquisitors:

'The [available] meager data and careless compilation indicate how casually the
inquisitors performed their functions [..] These random notations also show how
ineffective was the effort to exclude truly heretical works, since the officials
apparently contented themselves with purely superficial investigations'.418
There were some exceptions that proved the rule, for example, the events of the arrival of the
fleet in 1608, aboard which were numerous distinguished individuals such as Mateo Alemán,
author of the famous picaresque novel Guzman de Alfarache (1599), and the new archbishop
of Mexico, fray García Guerra. The presence of this important passenger surely transformed
the inefficient inspections into an apparently serious, thorough and zealous visita.

When the fleet dropped the anchor finally in San Juan de Ulúa on August 19, 1608,
representatives of the Inquisition came aboard for the customary inspection. On this
occasion it appears that decks and passenger-cabins were examined with more than the
usual perfunctory care, possibly in an effort to impress the arriving archbishop with
the efficacy of this method of excluding the entry of heretical books into his vast
ecclesiastical domain.419
Surely, great was the surprise of Mateo Alemán when a copy of his own books, a Quijote was
confiscated by an 'overly zealous' inspector who dispatched it to the inquisitorial superiors in

415
'Y que so color de traerla por el S.Oficio hacía mil insolencias porque es mercader y encomendero y que no
hay quien le vaya la mano así en cobrar los dineros que a V.M. le pertenecen de la ropa que él contrata como
de la que recibe por cuenta de sus encomenderos y otras cosas de competencia de jurisdicción que en tierra
tan nueva traen muy grandes inconvenientes (…) solamente hay alguaciles de Inquisición en la parte donde la
Inquisición reside', see: GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Lecturas e ideas en Nueva España', 53.
416
GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Lecturas e ideas en Nueva España', 53.
417
GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Lecturas e ideas en Nueva España', 53.
418
LEONARD, The Books of the Brave, 162.
419
LEONARD, 'Mateo Alemán in Mexico', 321.

110
Mexico City. However, the book was returned at the request of the archbishop.420 Finally, as
González Rodríguez pointed out, much of the legislation concerning book control at the ports
of the Indies seemed more a politic voluntarism than an effective control, because the State
lacked the means to enforce it.421

As far as book censorship concerned, the inquisitorial activities in Mexico were not
limited to the visitas of the ships. As in Spain, private libraries were also subject of
inspections, and prohibited books could be confiscated and expurgated. In 1572 the first large-
scale purge of books took place in Mexico, and as Martin Austin Nesvig remarked, yet during
this purge it was revealed that even the oidor of the Audiencia Vasco de Puga possessed a
banned copy of the gospels in Spanish.422

According to Nesvig after the 1580s the inquisitors increasingly appointed censors in
provincial sites or areas to act primarily as books correctors in libraries of religious houses, or
among the populace in general. In addition, the comisarios of the inquisition had among their
rights the faculty to confiscate prohibited books, which was sometimes delegated to friars to
undertake the expurgation. For instance, in Yucatán in 1573 the local comisario Cristóbal de
Miranda appointed fray Thomas de Arenas and fray Diego de Cañizares to correct Latin
Bibles.423

Regarding the prohibition of books, the Mexican Tribunal did not only rely on the
Spanish Indexes. The edict was also used in order to ban the distribution of specific titles that
were already circulating within the Hispanic world. Although some edicts were directly
emanated from the Suprema in Madrid and then ratified and promulgated in Mexico, some
others were promulgated by the Mexican Tribunal responding to specific situations generated
in the viceroyalty. Thus, along with the visitas implemented at the ports, libraries and
bookshops, the edict was a practical tool used by the Inquisition in New Spain to control book
circulation, to disseminate rules of conduct, as well as pointing out errors in matters of faith
and Christian morality everything in accordance with the Counterreformation spirit.

420
LEONARD, 'Mateo Alemán in Mexico', 321.
421
GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Lecturas e ideas en Nueva España', 52.
422
NESVIG, Ideology and Inquisition, 96.
423
NESVIG, Ideology and Inquisition, 141-142.

111
Normally the edicts lack a regular periodicity as they were published as a reaction to a
specific historical context.424

One of the first of these edicts was promulgated in October 1586. Some months before,
on May 2, 1586 Madrid sent a letter to the tribunals of Mexico and Lima notifying that two
specific recent editions had to be seized: the Devocionario by Marco Antonio Ramírez
(Alcalá, Hernan Ramírez, 1585), a Concilia Matrimonalia by Sigmund Brunellus (Frankfurt,
s.n., 1580). If the books seized during a visita were prohibited then their destruction was
recommended by the Tribunal. However, if the title only required expurgation, then the
correctors of the Tribunal did the meticulous task of expurgate specific parts of the text
(occasionally they were small fragments or several pages).

As observed by José Abel Ramos a total of 264 edicts dealing with books (containing
2018 prohibitions) were promulgated from 1576 to 1819. However, only 110 prohibitions
(5%) were published between 1576 to 1739 and the rest 1908 (95%) were published after
1739, given the abundance of texts considered as suspicious, dangerous and seditious printed
basically in France, England, the Northern Netherlands or Switzerland dealing with modern
philosophy, or with the French Revolution.425

Generally speaking, the inquisitorial activity had a steadily decline through the first
decades of the seventeenth century. As Martin Austin Nesvig remarked, the extensive floods
of Mexico City in the 1620s, along with the dramatic declining of revenues, and a widespread
corruption led to the tribunal's lowest levels of activity over a century arriving to a critical
point for inquisitorial activity by 1640.426 However, concerning book censorship a new
invigorated period started between 1655 and 1660. To this period belongs what can be
considered within the historiography of the Mexican Inquisition as the most famous case of a
private library inspection, the process against the architect Melchor Pérez de Soto, which will
be discussed in chapter IV.

During this same period the Mexican Inquisition undertook two inquisitorial inspections
or visitas in 1654 and 1660.427 The booksellers of the city were ordered to produce complete

424
Besides the banning of books, the edicts deal with different matters such as heresy, Judaism, Islam,
solicitation of sexual favors in the confessionary, royal infidelity, polygamy, astrology, necromancy,
superstitions, Satanism, see: RAMOS, Los delincuentes de papel. Inquisición y libros en la Nueva España, 98-99.
425
RAMOS, 'Los orígenes de la literatura prohibida en la Nueva España' 27.
426
NESVIG, Ideology and Inquisition, 10.
427
Recently some of these inventories have been carefully analyzed, see: GONZÁLEZ, and GUTIÉRREZ
RODRÍGUEZ, 'Libros en venta en el México de Sor Juana y de Sigüenza', 103-132.

112
inventories of their stocks. As a result 40 inventories are still kept in the Inquisition section of
the Archivo General de la Nación.428 Among the Mexican booksellers notified by the
Inquisition, who presented exhaustive lists of their stock to the Mexican tribunal, were Juan
de Rivera, Francisco Lupercio and his partner Agustín de Santiesteban, Hipólito Rivera and
Antonio de Calderón, who was in charge of his mother's bookstore, Paula de Benavides
widow of Calderón. These inventories not only show the inquisitorial activity during the
second half of the seventeenth century, but also the bibliographic supply of Mexico City´s
bookstores at this time, which will be also further analyzed in Chapter IV.429

428
In 1939, with the celebration of the 4th centenary of the establishment of the printing press in Mexico, the
Archivo General de la Nación published: O'GORMAN, 'Bibliotecas y librerías coloniales 1585-1694', 663-907.
429
CASTANIEN, 'The Mexican Inquisition Censors a Private Library, 1655', 374.

113
 CHAPTER II

Mapping the exported book production of the Southern Netherlands in New

Spain

The aims of this chapter encompass the identification of the publishing houses located in the
Southern Netherlands whose output was available in New Spain's private and institutional
libraries between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, as well as highlighting the most
active periods when these books were printed and establishing the genres to which they
belong, including the languages and places of publication.

The identification of the printers and publishers not only stresses the importance of the
well-known Officina Plantiniana's output but also the copious presence of books issued by
other scarcely studied families. As the output of book of the Southern Netherlands exported to
New Spain covers three centuries (encompassing the Spanish rule in Mexico) such a long
period has been divided in four chronological parts in order to facilitate its study:

1529-1588. The first surviving books to have been printed in the Southern Netherlands
that were available in New Spain were published in 1529. This first period therefore begins
with this year of publication of the earliest books found in a library in New Spain, and extends
until 1588, three years after the fall of Antwerp. During this period Alexander Farnese, duke
of Parma, granted a temporary treaty of reconciliation to the city for a period of three years,
after which the Protestants who wanted to stay permanently had to be reconciled with the
Catholic Church.430 Therefore, after 1588 those printers who remained in the city were
theoretically Catholics and remained printing for catholic clients and markets; the Protestants
had to emigrate and went mainly to the Northern Netherlands. In sum, between 1585-1589 the
printing press in the Southern Netherlands underwent a deep reconfiguration. From this period
onwards, the domestic output was exclusively focused on printing editions that were in
accordance with the Catholic European values.

1589-1648. The second period covers almost 60 years, with its ending marked by the
signing of the Peace of Westphalia, after which Spain lost its European political hegemony
with an alleged diminishment of commercial and cultural contacts with the Southern
Netherlands. Accordingly, one of the consequences was a greater trade openness between

430
SOEN, 'Reconquista and Reconciliation in the Dutch Revolt', 14.

114
Spain and the Dutch Republic and the definitive commercial decline of Antwerp in favor of
Amsterdam.

1649-1715. The third period also covers more than 60 years, finishing with one of the
most important political consequences of the Peace of Utrecht of 1713, namely the formal
transfer of what was left of the Spanish Netherlands to the Austrian Habsburgs by the Barrier
Treaty of 1715.

1716-1794. This last and rather late period encompasses virtually the whole eighteenth
century, like in the precedent periods, a political fact marks its ending. 1794 when the
Southern Netherlands were annexed to the French first Republic, as a consequence of the
French Revolutionary Wars.

2.1 A long-term chronological overview. Period 1529-1588

Number of titles per year

35
32

30 28

25 23 23
22 22
21
19 19 19
20 18 18
17
15
14
15
12 12
11
9 9
10 8 8 8 8
7 7 77
6 6 66 6 6 6 6
5 5
4 4 44
5 3 333 3 3 3 3
2 2 22
1 111 1
0
0
1529
1531
1533
1535
1537
1539
1541
1543
1545
1547
1549
1551
1553
1555
1557
1559
1561
1563
1565
1567
1569
1571
1573
1575
1577
1579
1581
1583
1585
1587

Fig. 1 Chronological overview of production, 1529-1588

Figure 1 gives a comprehensive overview of the number of editions published in the Southern
Netherlands from 1529 to 1588 found in New Spain libraries (this data is based on titles, not
on the total number of copies). While a modest number of editions published during the 1530s
and the 1540s were available, the 1550's and especially the period from 1564 to 1576
witnessed a marked peak in the number of available editions. This is largely explained by
three different circumstances: firstly there is the increasing production of editions printed in
shops like those of the widow and heirs of Joannes Steelsius and the one of Christophe
115
Plantin; moreover, (as it will be further reviewed in chapter III) the period 1550-1570
witnessed a consolidation and diversification of book networks established between the
booksellers of Seville and those of New Spain, contributing to the steady growth of the
domestic book demand, which was supplied with a broad bibliographic assortment including
non-Spanish editions published in the Netherlands, France, Italy or the German catholic cities;
and finally, this international trade also benefited from the regularization of the fleets annually
dispatched from Seville.

However, the graph demonstrates a marked decline in the number of exported editions
found in New Spain from 1577 until the end of this first period. It may be supposed that such
decrease is in line with the harsh political situation of the Netherlands at that time. Probably
the consequences of the Spanish Fury in Antwerp of 1576 had an influence, when merchants
fled the city in vast numbers, especially to cities like Cologne. After this the city surrendered
to William of Orange during the summer of 1577, when the new political 'anti-Spanish'
Protestant regime along with the massive exodus provoked the decline of the economic life of
the city from 1578 to 1585.431 During this turbulent time it was not easy to retain or to find
skilled labour, which possibly affected the productive capacity in all sectors. Moreover, on
January 14, and August 14, 1582 Lamberto Lamberti one of the commercial agents based in
Antwerp of the famous Castilian merchant Simón Ruiz wrote that 'the prices of all the goods
remained expensive and there are no indications that they will decrease unless this war comes
to an end'. Regarding the local production of tapestries, he noted that it was paralyzed since
all the skilled workers had emigrated to other cities.432 Thus, according to the merchants of
Antwerp, all goods remained expensive throughout 1583 and 1584.433 Furthermore, after the
fall of Antwerp, the governor-general Alexander Farnese in his role as commander and lenient
diplomat sought among other things the resumption of political and economic activities in the
reconquered city by granting a three-year period of reconciliation. However, the massive
exodus of Protestants to the Northern Provinces had left Antwerp with only half of its original
population, and in an economically deplorable state, not in the least the book trade. 434 Hence,
the political and economical situation of the Netherlands and particularly Antwerp as the

431
By 1582 only three Spanish firms remained, see: VÁZQUEZ DE PRADA, Lettres Marchandes D´Anvers, III, 30-
32.
432
Letters of Lamberto Lamberti to Simón Ruiz, Antwerp, January 16 and August 16, 1582, see: VÁZQUEZ DE
PRADA, Lettres Marchandes D´Anvers, III, documents 767 and 795.
433
See the Letters of Lamberto Lamberti to Simón Ruiz dated December 28, 1583; March 7, 1584 and May 8,
1584, see: VÁZQUEZ DE PRADA, Lettres Marchandes D´Anvers, III, documents 913, 943 and 963.
434
SOEN, 'Reconquista and Reconciliation in the Dutch Revolt', 10, 21.

116
leading typographic center is undoubtedly reflected in the downtrend of 1577-1588, with
which the first period finishes.

In short, 534 editions issued by 50 different printers have been collected for this period.
(See table 1). Although the printers of Leuven were almost as numerous as those of Antwerp,
the period was clearly dominated by the output of three important Antwerp printing shops: the
Officina Plantiniana (144 editions, 27% of the total), followed by the shop of Joannes
Steelsius (86 editions, 16%); followed by Steelsius' widow and heirs (78 editions, 14%); the
fourth position is occupied by one of Nutius' heirs, Philippus (30 editions, 5%). In fact, the
presence of Martinus Nutius was remarkably low (only 16 editions). It is not a coincidence
that Plantin and the families Steelsius and Nutius developed an international network of book
distribution towards the Hispanic World, as will be further analyzed in chapter III.

Joannes Bellerus Petrus Bellerus Heirs of A.

Jan Bogard Hubert Goltzius
3% 3% Birckmann 2% 2%
Bartolomeus Grave
2%
2%
All the rest Martinus Nutius
Petrus Zangrius 18% 3%
3% Philippus
Nutius
Heirs of J. Steelsius 5%
14%
Christophe Plantino
27%
Joannes Steelsius
16%

Fig. 2 Participation of the printers during the period 1529-1588

117
Among others printers with ten or more editions are: the Bellerus brothers: Joannes I (11
editions) and Petrus I (16),435 the heirs of Arnold I Birckmann (11), some printers of Leuven,
such as Jan Bogard (10), Bartolomeus Grave (11), Petrus Zangrius Tiletanus (14), the
humanist printer of Bruges Hubert Goltzius (10). Only 12 printing shops had an important
place within this period. The other 36 printers provided small amounts of titles, totalizing all
together to 18% of the total.

Table 1 Alphabetic list of printers and their output 1529-1588

Printer City Latin editions Vernacular Total

editions

Bathenius, Jacobus Leuven 1 1

Bellerus, Joannes I Antwerp 13 1 (Sp) 14
Bellerus, Petrus I Antwerp 15 15
Bergaigne, Anthoni-Marie Leuven 4 4
Birckmann, Arnold I Antwerp 1 1 (Sp) 2
The heirs of Birckmann Arnold I Antwerp 10 1 (Sp) 11
The widow of Birckmann Arnold I Antwerp 7 7
Bogard, Jan I Leuven 10 10
Bonte/Bontius Gregorius Leuven 2 1 (Sp) 3
Cock, Symon Antwerp 7 7
Coppens van Diest, Gillis Antwerp 1 1
Fowler, John Leuven 6 6
Goltzius, Hubert Bruges 9 1 (Sp) 10
Grave/Gravius Bartholomeus van Leuven 13 13
Grave Joannes van Leuven 1 1
Haeghen, Govaert van Antwerp 1 1
Hillenius Hoochstratanus, Michel Antwerp 3 3
Hovius, Henricus I Liège 1 1
Keyser, Merten Leuven 2 2
Laet, Hans de Antwerp 2 2
Loe, Jan van der Antwerp 3 3
Manilius, Gislenius Ghent 3 3
Nutius, Martinus I Antwerp 10 6 (Sp) 16
The widow and heirs of Nutius M. Antwerp 3 2 (Sp) 5
Nutius, Philippus Antwerp 28 2 (Sp) 30
Plantin, Christophe Antwerp 143 1 (Sp) 144
Querceus, Erasmus Ghent 1 1
Rescius, Rutgerus Leuven 2 2
S.n. (no name specified), Leuven [?] 1 1
Or no identified Antwerp [?] 1 1
Sassenus, Andreas Leuven 1 1
Sassenus, Servaes I Leuven 1 1
Silvius, Willem Antwerp 1 1
Simon, Guillaume Antwerp 1 1

435
They are also known as Bellero, Bellère or Beelaert.

118
Speelmans, Gérard Antwerp 1 1
Steelsius, Gillis Antwerp 2 2
Steelsius, Joannes Antwerp 80 6 (Sp) 86
The widow and heirs of Steelsius J. Antwerp 74 4 (Sp) 78
Thielens, Antonius Antwerp 2 2
Trognesius, Emanuel Philipus Antwerp 1 1
Velpius, Reinerus Leuven 1 1
Velpius, Rutger Leuven 5 5
Verhasselt, Merten Leuven 5 5
Vervliet, Daniel Leuven 1 1
Vorsterman, Willem Antwerp 1 1
Waen, Jan Leuven 2 2
Wellaeus, Hieronymus Leuven 6 6
Winghe, Joannes Leuven 1 1
Withagius, Joannes Antwerp 4 4
Zangrius Tiletanus, Petrus I Leuven 14 14
Total 50 4 508 26 534

2.1.1 A long-term chronological overview. Period 1589-1648

Number of titles per year

25
22 22 22

20 19 19 19
18
17
16 16 16
15 15 15
15 14 14
13 13 13 13 13
12 12
11 12 11 11
10 10 10 10 10
10 9 9 9 99 9
8 88
77 77 7 7
6 66 6
5 55
5 4 4
3 3
2
1
0
1589
1591
1593
1595
1597
1599
1601
1603
1605
1607
1609
1611
1613
1615
1617
1619
1621
1623
1625
1627
1629
1631
1633
1635
1637
1639
1641
1643
1645
1647

Fig.3 Chronological overview of production, 1589-1648

As illustrated by figure 3, the first two years offer of the period modest numbers as a direct
consequence of the aforementioned economic decline of Antwerp. Additionally, Christophe
Plantin died in 1589 and before the beginning of the fruitful era of Jan I Moretus, who took
over the shop from 1597 until 1610, the production of the Officina Plantiniana was in the

119
hands of his widow and heirs until 1596. In fact, the number of titles available in New Spain
remained steady from 1597 to 1624, reaching peaks in the years 1614, 1617 and 1621.

In fact, according to Francine de Nave, from the middle of the 1590s Antwerp printing
experienced a brilliant season until about 1640.436 This prosperous period may be explain by
the increasing production not only of the Officina Plantiniana under Jan I Moretus and his
sons (Jan II and Balthazar I Moretus), but also by the shops of other families like those of
Petrus Bellerus (who was the successor of the Steelsius family), Jan Van Keerberghen,
Martinus II Nutius and his heirs, all of them active in Antwerp. And more important, all of
them were able to establish direct commercial circuits with the Iberian market creating a tight
network or reliable contacts, well established in the economic life of cities like Seville or
Madrid (as is going to be further explained in chapter III).

Additionally, Brussels appeared as a typographic center of some significance for the

Hispanic world (given the Spanish titles printed there) thanks to the activity of Rutger Velpius
and Jan I Mommaert, who were working in the sphere of the governing bodies of the
archdukes Albert and Isabella. Actually, the political context was at least theoretically also
favorable for this economic revitalization, as the signing of the Twelve Years' Truce with the
Dutch Republic on April 9, 1609 further strengthened expectations of renewed prosperity.
Therefore, these years may be considered a period of recovery and of steady growth and
exportation towards the Iberian markets, with 1597 marking a turning point when the
exported copies to New Spain experienced a relatively rapid expansion up to the middle of the
1620s.

From 1625 to 1629 there is a marked downturn. While these years were dominated by
the production of Balthazar I Moretus, there are few editions of other printers like Petrus II
Bellerus or Martinus III Nutius, partially because this was a transitional period during which
the printers traditionally involved with the Spanish market like Jan Van Keerberghen were not
active anymore and others like Johannes Van Meurs started to increase their exported output.
However, it is possible that this downturn was also the result of a collision of other factors,
including the end of the Twelve Years' Truce.

The subsequent period from 1630 to 1631 witnessed a moderate growth, with an
unusual downturn in 1633 immediately followed by two peaks in 1634 and 1635. During this

436
DE NAVE, 'A printing capital in its Ascendancy Flowering and Decline', 93.

120
last year Johannes Van Meurs printed at least twelve books required by the Jesuit Order
(Constitutiones, Decreta, Litterae Apostolicae, Ratio Studiorum), which were extensively
exported. Indeed, Jesuit authors were increasingly published in Antwerp during these years,
not only by Johannes Van Meurs but also by other printers like Jan Cnobbaert, Hendrik I
Aertssen, Balthazar I Moretus or Martinus III Nutius. Between 1636 and 1638 there is a
downturn in the number of editions, but from 1639 to 1648 the number of editions available in
New Spain remained steady with an average of 9.3 editions per year. This confirms the
evolution and growing of the publishing industry particularly in Antwerp up to 1648.

639 editions (105 more than the previous period) issued by 74 different printers (26
more than the first period) have been collected (see table 2). The period was clearly
dominated by the output of the Moretuses: Jan I Moretus and the widow of Christophe Plantin
(26 editions); Jan I Moretus (119); the widow and sons of Jan I Moretus (33); Balthazar I &
Jan II Moretus (13); Balthazar I & the widow of Jan II Moretus & Joannes Van Meurs (23);
Balthazar I (43); and the start of Balthazar II's career (18).

Aertssens, Bellerus, Petrus I Bellerus

H 2% Petrus II &
2% Joannes II
Keerberghen Jan v.
3%
8%
Verdussen, All the rest Meurs Jan van
Hieronymus 22% 5%
2%

Tongheren Willen
van
1%

The Moretusses
The Nutius (Martin 44%
II, Martin III
11%

Fig. 4 The most important printers, 1589-1648

Among other printing houses with ten or more editions are: Hendrik I Aertssens (11), Petrus I
Bellerus (14), Petrus II & Joannes II Bellerus (22), Jan Van Keerberghen (48); the already
mentioned Joannes Van Meurs (30); Martinus II Nutius (16), the heirs of Martinus II Nutius

121
(22), Martinus III Nutius (29); Willem van Tongheren (10) and Hieronymus I Verdussen (16).
All these publishers were active in Antwerp, confirming the importance of the city within the
typographic output in the Southern Netherlands.

During this period, the heirs of Nutius (Martinus II, Martinus III) had a more active
participation than during the previous period. The Steelsius family is no longer present,
because Petrus I Bellerus (son-in-law of Joannes Steelsius) took over the printing shop. Thus,
the Bellerus brothers remained active during this period with Petrus II & Joannes II.
Particularly remarkable is the activity of both Jan Van Keerberghen and Johannes Van Meurs,
the latter actually worked together for a time with the Moretusses. Concerning the members of
the Verdussen family, they would gain ground in the subsequent periods. In general, the
expansion and dynamism experienced by the Officina Plantiniana under the aegis of Jan I
Moretus and his sons Balthazar I and Jan II until the period of Balthazar II can certainly not
be denied. In fact, this is the period that provided the largest number of editions.

Finally, as happened during the previous period, the families that dominated the book
export were based in Antwerp: the Bellerus, the Nutius, the Moretus, the Van Keerberghen
and the Van Meurs. All of them were successful in the creation of book distribution networks
towards the Iberian Peninsula, particularly commercial hubs like Seville and Madrid, as will
be further analyzed in chapter III.

Table 2 Alphabetic list of printers and their output 1589-1648

Printer City Latin Vernacular Total

editions editions

Aertssens, Hendrik I Antwerp 11 11

Anthoine-Velpius, Hubert I Brussels 3 (Sp) 3
The widow of Anthoine-Velpius, H. Brussels 1 (Sp) 1
Anthoine-Velpius, Hubert II Brussels 1 1
Bellerus, Gaspar Antwerp 2 2
Bellerus, Joannes I Antwerp 3 3
The widow and heirs of Bellerus, Joannes I Antwerp 3 3
Bellerus, Joannes II Antwerp 2 2
Bellerus, Petrus I Antwerp 14 1 (Sp) 15
The widow and heirs of Bellerus, Petrus I Antwerp 2 1 (Sp) 3
Bellerus, Petrus II Antwerp 7 7
Bellerus, Petrus II & Bellerus, Joannes II Antwerp 21 1 (Sp) 22
Beys, Gilles Antwerp 1 1
Bill/Billium, John Leuven 1 1
Bogard, Jan Leuven 1 1
Bossuyt, Martinus Brussels 1 1

122
Bouvet, André Leuven 3 3
Brouw, Phillippus de [?] Aalst 1 (Nl) 1
Cnobbaert, Jan Antwerp 6 1 (Sp) 7
The widow and heirs of Cnobbaert, Jan Antwerp 8 8
Coenestijn, Cornelis Leuven 3 3
Coninx, Arnout Antwerp 2 2
Dormael, Philippus Leuven 2 2
Flavius, Jean-Christophe Leuven 2 2
Franciscans of Liège & Namur Liège 1 1
Haestens, Henrick Lodewijczoon Leuven 2 2
The widow of Haestens, Henrick L. Leuven 1 1
Hasrey, Juan Antwerp 2 (Sp) 2
Havart, Jean Mons 1 (Fr) 1
Hovius, Henricus I Liège 3 3
Janssens, Guislain/Gheleyn Antwerp 2 2
Keerberghen, Jan van Antwerp 48 48
Laurent, Nicolas Tournai 1 1
Leestens, Willem Antwerp 4 4
Maes, Bernardinus I Antwerp 2 2
Manilius, Gualterus Ghent 1 1
Masius, Joannes I Leuven 2 2
Meerbeck, Jan van Brussels 2 (Sp) 2

Meerbeck, Luc van Brussels 1 1 (Sp) 2

Meeren, Cornelis vander Ghent 1 1
Mertens, David Antwerp 1 1
Meurs, Jacobus van Antwerp 5 5
Meurs, Johannes van Antwerp 31 2 (Sp) 33
Mommaert, Jan I Brussels 5 (Sp) 5
Moretus, Balthazar I Antwerp 43 1 (Sp) 44
Moretus, Balthazar I & Moretus, Jan II Antwerp 14 14
Moretus, Balthazar I & the widow of Antwerp 25 25
Moretus Jan II & Meurs, Joannes van
Moretus, Balthazar II Antwerp 18 1(Sp) 19
Moretus, Jan I Antwerp 119 119
Moretus, Jan I & the widow of Plantin C. Antwerp 26 26
The widow & sons of Moretus, Jan I Antwerp 33 33
Nempaeus, Hieronymus Antwerp 2 2
Nutius, Martinus II Antwerp 17 17
The heirs of Nutius, Martinus II Antwerp 23 23
Nutius, Martinus III Antwerp 27 27
The heirs of Nutius, Martinus III Antwerp 1 1
Ouwerx, Christian II Liège 1 1
Plantin, Christophe Antwerp 4 4
Quinqué, Adrianus Tournai 1 1
Rivius, Geeraert Leuven 4 4
S.n. (no name specified) (Antwerp, 2 2
Tournai)
Schovaert, Godefridus Brussels 2 2
Sersanders, Alexander Ghent 1 1
Tongheren, Willem van Antwerp 10 10

123
Tournay, Jean Liège 1 1
Trognesius, Caesar Joachim Antwerp 1 1(Sp,Fr,Nl) 2
Trognesius, Joachim Antwerp 4 1 (It) 5
Urient, Johannes Baptista Antwerp 1 1
Velpius, Rutger Brussels 1 4 (Sp) 5
Verdussen, Hieronymus I Antwerp 16 16
Verdussen, Hieronymus II Antwerp 2 2
Vryenborch, Jan Leuven 2 2
Waudré, Jean Mons 2 2
Witte, Everaerd de Leuven 2 2
Zangrius, Petrus III Leuven 1 1
Zegers, Jacob Leuven 1 1
Total 74 7 609 30 639

2.1.2 A long-term chronological overview. Period 1649-1715

Number of titles per year

25
22

20 19 19 19
18
17
16
15 15
15 14
13
12 12 12
11 11 11 11 11
10 10 10 1010 10
10 8 9 9 9 9 9
8 8 8
7 7 7 7 7 7
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
555 5 5 5
5 4 4 44 44 4
3 3 3
2
0
0
1658
1649
1652
1655

1661
1664
1667
1670
1673
1676
1679
1682
1685
1688
1691
1694
1697
1700
1703
1706
1709
1712
1715

Fig. 5 Chronological overview of production, 1649-1715

The third period started with steady numbers. However, the graphs show three important
intervals before 1715 in which the number of editions available in New Spain reached peaks.
The first and most important interval extends from 1657 to 1665 reflecting the steady
production and exportation levels of the shops of Balthazar II Moretus, Jacobus Van Meurs,
Petrus III Bellerus, Hieronymus III Verdussen together with his brother Johannes Baptista I
Verdussen, all of them active in Antwerp, as well as François I Foppens of Brussels. It comes
as no surprise that all these names had been traditionally involved with the trade towards the
Iberian markets. However, during this period the Verdussen family consolidated itself as
124
international book traders and printers. There is also a systematic presence of other less
important printers whose titles are to be found in good quantities in New Spain, all these
second rank printers had commercial contacts with the most important shops in Antwerp, such
as the Officina Plantiniana. Examples are Hendrik II Aertssen, the widow and heirs of Jan
Cnobbaert, Engelbertus Gymnicus or Cornelis Woons from Antwerp; François Vivien from
Brussels; Johannes Mathias Hovius from Liège; the Tipografía de la Inmaculada Concepción,
established in Leuven and run by the Spanish Franciscan Pedro Alva y Astorga, whose texts
specialized on treatises on the Immaculate Conception were being extensively exported.

The second important interval from 1675 to 1680 practically involved the same
abovementioned families except for the Officina Plantiniana, which was run by the widow
and heirs of Balthazar II Moretus. During this period Jacobus Van Meurs and the Verdussen
brothers Hieronymus III and Johannes Baptista I actually dominated the period regarding the
number of editions. There is an isolated peak in 1685, a year clearly dominated by the editions
of the Verdussen family. Finally the last important interval extends from 1693 up to the turn
of the century (1705). During this period other members of the Verdussen family were
printing in their own shops: the widow of Johannes Baptista I, but especially the output of
Henricus Verdussen together with Cornelis I Verdussen is to be found in New Spain's
libraries during this interval, displacing in the number of titles the Nuevo Rezado editions
exclusively printed under the era of Balthazar III Moretus. Furthermore, Jacobus Van Meurs
and the Foppens of Brussels were not active anymore resulting in a clear preponderance of the
Verdussen at the turn of the century. However, from 1705 the number of editions collected
became rather modest. By this time the Verdussen family (Johannes Baptista II, Henricus II
together with Cornelis I Verdussen, as well as Johannes Baptista II), and the widow of
Balthazar III Moretus were clearly focusing their efforts on the Iberian market, as the
presence of other printers is rather minimal and isolated.

A total of 580 editions were collected for this third period (59 editions less than the
1590-1648 period, but 49 editions more than the 1529-1589 period), published by 88 different
printing houses (14 more than in the previous period). Therefore, this is the second most
important period regarding the number of editions available in New Spain and the first
concerning the number of printing houses.

This time the supremacy of the Moretusses lost ground. Various underlying factors can
be cited to explain this decrease in number of editions. On the one hand, the Verdussen's

125
activities gained substantial ground, thanks to their development of international networks
linked to the Spanish market, as clearly illustrated by the numbers of their editions:

All the members of the Verdussen family active during this period totalized to 165
editions, positioning the dynasty on the first place.437 Furthermore, the printing shop of
Jacobus Van Meurs experienced a very strong expansion, in particular through the significant
output of Latin Jesuit book (86 editions), positioning his own output in second place, although
he occupied first place when considering individual printers instead of printing dynasties.

The widow & heirs Petrus III Michiel Cnobbaert François I Foppens
of Jan Cnobbaert Bellerus 3% 4%
3% 2%
Johannes Mathias
Hovius
2% Ex T.
All the rest Inmaculada
28% Concepción
3%
Jacobus van Meurs
14%

The Moretussen
13%
The Verdussens
28%

Fig. 6 The most important printers of the period 1649-1713

In contrast, the numbers provided by the Moretusses decreased: Balthazar II Moretus (43
editions);438 the widow of Balthazar II (9); Balthazar III (12); the widow of Balthazar III
(10); Balthazar IV (2). This results to 76 editions, positioning them behind Jacobus Van
Meurs. These numbers were the direct consequence of the process of specialization that the
Officina Plantiniana experienced under the aegis of Balthazar III, who specifically focused
on the so-called Nuevo Rezado or liturgical books. Thus although thousands of copies were
still exported to the Hispanic world, when it comes to editions, the number was drastically
diminished since the range of titles printed was considerably reduced to missals or breviaries,

437
Hieronymus II Verdussen (3); Hieronymus III & Johannes Baptista I (26); Hieronymus III (18); Johannes
Baptista I (21); the widow and heirs of Hieronymus III (10); the widow of Johannes Baptista I (15); Hieronymus
V (5); Henricus II Verdussen & Cornelis I Verdussen (55 editions issued together); Johannes Baptista II (12).
438
Not to forget that Balthazar II was also active since the previous period.

126
leaving behind the once golden period of Christophe Plantin, Jan I Moretus and his sons
Balthazar I, Jan II and even the period of Balthazar II, which still provided a good number of
editions also issued in Spanish.

Among other printers with ten or more editions are: Petrus III Bellerus (10); the widow
and heirs of Jan Cnobbaert (15); Michiel Cnobbaert (15); François I Foppens of Brussels (25),
whose shop experienced an important increase in the number of exported editions due to the
several vernacular editions intended for the Spanish market; Johannes Mathias Hovius of
Liège (13), this was the first time that a printer of Liège provided more than ten editions;
finally, the Ex Typographia de la Inmaculada Concepción of Leuven (15), which was active
for few years under the aegis of the Spanish Franciscan Pedro de Alva y Astorga, who put
Leuven again on the map of editions specifically intended to the Spanish market. Thus, in
contrast with the previous period when the printers of Antwerp dominated the numbers, an
increasing participation of printers active in Brussels, Liège and Leuven can be observed.

Hence, the general idea that after the Peace of Westphalia the cultural contacts between
the Southern Netherlands and Spain diminished is refuted (at least concerning book trade),
given the vitality and the expansion shown by the Moretusses, the Verdussen, Jacobus Van
Meurs, and by the increasing importance of printers like the family Foppens of Brussels.

Furthermore, (as is going to be further discussed in chapter III) during this period the
Flemish printers had to find efficient ways of distribution, which included the creation of
commercial circuits using the ports of the Northern Netherlands since the Dutch ships were
increasingly trading with cities like Cadiz or Seville. Therefore, this is also a period of
commercial readjustments in response to the new political situation created after Westphalia.

127
Table 3 List of printers and their output 1649-1715

Printer City Latin Vernacular Total

editions editions

Aertssens, Hendrik I Antwerp 1 1

Aertssens, Hendrik I & Woons, Cornelis Antwerp 3 3
Aertssens, Hendrik II Antwerp 6 6
The widow of Aertssens, Hendrik II Antwerp 1 1
Barbier, Antoine Mons 1 (Fr) 1
Bellerus, Petrus II Antwerp 1 1
Bellerus, Petrus III Antwerp 8 8
Beyers, Adolphe Liège 1 (Fr) 1
Braeckel, Arnout van Antwerp 1 1
Broncart, Jean-François Liège 2 2 (Fr) 4
Claudinot, Antoine Brussels 1 1
The widow and heirs of Cnobbaert, Jan Antwerp 13 13
Cnobbaert, Michiel Antwerp 15 15
Ex Typographia Cnobbariana & Muller F. Antwerp 5 5
Coenestijn, Cypriaan Leuven 1 1
Denique, Aegidius Leuven 4 4
Dobbeler, Petrus Brussels 1 1
Dunewalt, Hendrik II Antwerp 2 2
Foppens, Bartholomaeus Antwerp 1 1
The widow of Foppens, Bartholomaeus Antwerp 3 3
Foppens, François I Brussels 8 15 (Sp), 1 25
(Fr),1(Fr-Sp)
The heirs of Foppens, François I Brussels 1 (Sp) 1
Foppens, François II Brussels 3 (Sp) 2 (Fr-Sp) 5
Foppin, Henricus Liège 1 1
Fricx, Eugene Henri Brussels 1 5 (Fr) 6
Gerard, Pierre Namur 1 1
Graet, Maximilian Ghent 1 1
The heirs of Graet, Maximiliam Ghent 1 1
Grieck, Judocus Brussels 1 1
Gymnicum, Engelbertus Antwerp 8 8
Hovius, Henricus II Liège 1 1
Hovius, Johannes Mathias Liège 13 13
Hoyoux, Henri I Liège 7 7
The heirs of Hoyoux, Henri I Liège 1 1
Hullegaerde, Martinus Leuven 2 2
Ex Typographia de la Inmaculada Concepción Leuven 13 13
Jacobs, Petrus Antwerp 2 2
Jacobus, Gregoire Mons 1 1

Jouret, Petrus Antwerp 1 1

Kerkchove, Bernardus-Benedictus van den Ghent 1 1
The widow and heirs of Kerkchove J. van den Ghent 1 1
Landas, Claude Liège 1 1
Langenacker, Petrus van Leuven 1 1
Leestens, Willem Antwerp 4 4

128
Lipsius, Georgius Leuven 1 1
The widow of Maes Bernardinus II Leuven 1 1
Manilius, Bauduyn Ghent 1 1
Marchant, Lambert Brussels 1 1 (Sp) 2
Meurs, Jacobus van Antwerp 80 2 (Sp) 82
[Descendant?] of Meurs, Johannes van Antwerp 2 2
Migeot, Gaspard Mons 1 (Fr) 1
Mommaert, Jan II Brussels 3 3
Moretus, Balthazar II Antwerp 33 9 (Sp) 42
The widow of Moretus, Balthazar II Antwerp 8 1 (Sp) 9
Moretus, Balthazar III Antwerp 10 2 (Sp) 12
The widow of Moretus, Balthazar III Antwerp 7 2 (Sp) 9
Moretus, Balthazar IV Antwerp 3 1 (Sp) 4
Nempaeus, Hieronymus Antwerp 7 7
Parys, Marcelis Antwerp 3 3
Potter, Lucas de Antwerp 5 5
Robyns, Joannes Paulus Antwerp 2 2
S.n. (no name specified) (Bru, Leu, 4 4
s.l.)
Serstevens, t' Frères [François I and Simon] Brussels 1 1
The widow of Sleghers, Reynier Antwerp 1 1
Smedt, Johannes Brussels 2 2
Streel, Guillaume-Henri Liège 6 6
Stryckwant, Gielis I Brussels 1 1
Stryckwant, Guilielmus Brussels 5 5
Thieullier, Hendrik I Antwerp 3 3
The widow of Thieullier, Hendrik I Antwerp 8 8
Velde, Peter van de Brussels 1 1
Verdussen, Henricus II & Verdussen Cornelius I Antwerp 45 14 (Sp) 59
Verdussen, Hieronymus II Antwerp 3 3
Verdussen, Hieronymus III Antwerp 16 2 (Sp) 18
Verdussen, Hieronymus III & Verdussen, Antwerp 21 4 (Sp) 25
Johannes Baptista I
The widow & heirs of Verdussen, Hieronymus III Antwerp 6 1 (Sp) 7
Verdussen, Hieronymus V Antwerp 5 5
Verdussen, Johannes Baptista I Antwerp 15 6 (Sp) 20
The widow of Verdussen, Johannes Baptista I Antwerp 15 15
Verdussen, Johannes Baptista II Antwerp 9 4 (Sp) 13
Vivien, Balthazar Brussels 3 1 (Sp) 4
Vivien, François Brussels 4 4
Vleugart, Philippe Brussels 3 3
The widow of Vleugart, Phillipe Brussels 1 (Sp) 1
Wolschaten, Balthazar van Antwerp 1 (Sp) 1
Woons, Cornelius Antwerp 9 9
Woons, Jacobus Antwerp 1 1
Zangres, Michel Leuven 1 1
Total 88 7 495 85 580

129
 2.1.3 A long-term chronological overview. Period 1716-1794

Number of titles per year

12
10
10
8 8
8 7 7 7 7
6 6 6 6 6
6 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 44 4
4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 33 33
2 2 2 2 2 2 22 2 2
2 1 1 1 1 1 1 11
0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0000 0 00000
0
1725

1737

1749

1761

1773

1785
1716
1719
1722

1728
1731
1734

1740
1743
1746

1752
1755
1758

1764
1767
1770

1776
1779
1782

1788
1791
1794
Fig. 7 Chronological overview of production, 1715-1794

During this last period two dynasties dominated the typographical landscape of the Southern
Netherlands, at least concerning books exported to the Spanish Empire: the Moretusses
(Balthazar Moretus IV, active from 1696 to 1730; Joannes Jacobus Moretus, active from 1716
to 1757; and Franciscus Joannes Moretus, active from 1755 to 1768), and the Verdussens
(Hieronymus V Verdussen, active from 1683 to 1717; Cornelis I Verdussen, active from 1689
to 1728); the widow of Johannes Baptista I Verdussen, active from 1689–1718; Henricus I
Verdussen, active from 1692 to approximately 1722; and Johannes Baptista II Verdussen,
active from 1692 to 1759). However, even from the briefest glance at the statistics, it is
possible to sense the remarkable downturn in the number of available editions published in
the Southern Netherlands throughout the rest of the eighteenth century, the graph
demonstrates modest numbers with some exceptional peaks in 1718, 1736 and 1752.

The cause of this decline was the result of a collision of different factors. Despite
appearances, probably the change of political regime as a consequence of the Treaty of
Utrecht (1713), and more specifically of the Treaty of the Barrier (1715), which resulted in
the cession of what was left of the Spanish Netherlands to Austria, may not be the only factor
that favored this trend. During this period other European cities, such as Paris, Lyon, Venice,
Geneva largely dominated the book supply to the American viceroyalties, especially after the
second half of the eighteenth century. Additionally, in Spain the Bourbon Reforms sought for

130
the revitalization of national industries including the domestic printing press. Therefore, the
output of cities like Madrid or Valencia supplying the American market increased in huge
amounts.

According to the graph the incidence of editions of the Southern Netherlands in New
Spain's libraries was virtually irrelevant after 1768.439 In fact, from, 1764, king Charles III of
Spain cancelled all privileges of foreign typographers resulting in the economic collapse of
the Officina Plantiniana, which was basically specialized in the edition of Nuevo Rezado for
the Spanish market. After this moment only sporadic and isolated shipments were dispatched
to Spain.440 (By this time, the other important family, the Verdussens were apparently also not
active anymore in the international book trade). Hence, although books printed in the
Southern Netherlands continued to be exported to New Spain, they constituted a much smaller
percentage of foreign books than in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and after 1768
only isolated editions are to be found since there was no systematic and important book trade
operating anymore between this region and the Iberian World.441

With 230 titles, the fourth and last period also presents the lowest number of editions
issued in the Southern Netherlands found in colonial libraries since the sixteenth century. The
books were printed by 52 publishing houses. At first sight the numbers appeared to be higher,
but on subsequent reviews, all the mystified or false editions published in the Northern
Netherlands, Geneva, Lyon, Venice or even Spain with Antwerp or Brussels as the supposed
place of publication were eliminated of the list.442

Contrary to the last period, the Moretusses reclaimed the lead, as a result of the copious
and repetitive editions of Nuevo Rezado books: Balthazar IV Moretus (17 editions); Joannes
Jacobus (38); Franciscus Joannes Moretus (12); The widow of Franciscus Joannes (1),

439
MANRIQUE FIGUEROA, 'New Spain's imports of Culture from the Southern Netherlands', Das Achtzehnte
Jahrhundert und Österreich (International Series of the Austrian Eighteenth Century Journal), (in press).
440
IMHOF, 'Las ediciones españolas de la Officina Plantiniana', 78.
441
During the early nineteenth century, the new independent nations of Hispanic America opened themselves
to new markets and new possibilities. Thus, during the first decade of national regime countries like Mexico
began to receive large amounts of books in Spanish printed notably in France, England and the United States,
or as Eugenia Roldán clearly states: the opening of this region to world trade was used by industrialized
countries to seek new markets for their manufactures, including books. The London Publisher Rudolph
Ackermann, dominated the import of foreign books to Mexico and most Spanish speaking countries of the
continent during the 1820's. Thus, under the new national regimes, imported books were still arriving, coming
from other new dynamic markets such as the English or North American, see: ROLDÁN VERA, 'Libros
extranjeros en Hispanoamérica independiente', 188-189.
442
All those printers of Geneva, Amsterdam, Venice, Lyon or even Spain that were allegedly publishing either in
Antwerp or Brussels will be further mentioned.

131
totalizing to 68 editions. On the other hand, the extraordinary impetus of the Verdussens'
output of the previous period diminished. Their total output positioned them in a second place
after the Moretusses: Johannes Baptista II Verdussen (21 editions); Henricus II & Cornelius I
Verdussen (12); the widow of Henricus II & Cornelius I (6); Cornelius I & the widow of
Henricus II (11); Hieronymus V (1); Hieronymus VI (1). This totals to 52 editions. During
this period no other dynasties had an important role regarding books intended for the Spanish
market. Among other publishing houses with ten or more editions were: Pierre François
Goessin of Ghent (10); Bernardus Albertus van der Plassche of Antwerp (15), and the
Societas of Antwerp (10).

Moretusses
All the rest 28%
36%

Verdussen
Societas Antwerp 22%
4%
Bernardus Albertus Pierre François
van der Plassche Goessin
6% 4%

Fig. 8 The most important printers of the period 1716-1794

As illustrated by the graphics, it was not after Westphalia but after Utrecht that the trade of
books issued in the Southern Netherlands intended for the Spanish market diminished, as the
last generations of Moretusses and Verdussen were the only relevant families still working in
this trade.

Table 4 List of printers and their output 1716-1795

132
 Printer City Latin Vernacular Total
editions editions

Typographia Academica Leuven Leuven 2 2

Bassompierre, Jean-François I Liège 9 (Fr) 9
Beken, Joannem Nicolaum Antwerp 1 1
Berghen, Jan van der Brussels 1 (Fr) 1
Brasseur, Jean Bouillon 1 (Fr) 1
Broncart, Jean-François Liège 1 1
Caesaro Regiis Brussels 1 1
La Compagnie Brussels 1 (Fr) 1
Denique, Pierre-Auguste Leuven 1 1
Desoer, F.J. Liège 1 (Fr) 1
Eeck, Franciscus van Bruges 2 (Fr-Nl) 2
Eelst, Laurentius van Mechelen 2 2
Eton, Jan Ghent 1 1
Evrardi, Guilielmum Bouillon 1 1
Foppens, Petrus Brussels 1 (Sp-Fr) 1
Foppens, François II Brussels 1 5 (Sp-Fr), 1 (Fr) 7
Fricx, Eugene Henri Brussels 1 1 (Fr) 2
Gherwen, Jacobus Antonius van Antwerp 1 1
Goesin, Pierre François II Ghent 10 10
Gramme, Philippe Liège 1 (Fr) 1
Häyez, Frédéric-Maximilien Brussels 1 (Fr) 1
Hoyois, Henri-Joseph Mons 1 (Fr) 1

Jouret, Jacobus-Bernardus Antwerp 1 1

Kints, Everardus Liège 1 1
Langhe, Joannes Courtrai 1 (Fr) 1
Lemarié, François Liège 1 (Fr) 1
Libraries Associés Liège 2 (Fr) 2
Michel, JPG/Joannes Petrus Georgius Leuven 3 3
Moretus, Balthazar IV Antwerp 14 14

Moretus, Franciscus Joannes Antwerp 10 1 (Sp) 11

The widow of Moretus, Franciscus Joannes Antwerp 1 1
Moretus, Joannes Jacobus Antwerp 32 6 (Sp) 38
Moulin, Jacobum du Antwerp 4 4
L'imprimerie des Nations Liège 1 (Fr) 1
Overbeke, Johannes Franciscus van Leuven 2 2
Overbeke, Martin van Leuven 6 6
Plassche, Bernardus Albertus van der Antwerp 15 15
Plomteux Clément Liège 1 (Fr) 1
Robyns, Joannes Paulus Antwerp 1 1
S.n. (no name specified) (Bru,Leu, 1 4 (Fr) 5
Liè)
Serstevens, Simon Brussels 3(Fr) 3
Societas Antwerp Antwerp 9 9
Societas Leuven Leuven 3 3
Stryckwant, Guilielmus Brussels 2 2
The widow of Thieullier, Hendrik I Antwerp 1 1

133
Verdussen, Henricus II & Verdussen Cornelius I Antwerp 11 2 (Sp) 13
The widow of Verdussen, Henricus II & Antwerp 5 1(Sp) 6
Verdussen Cornelius I
The widow of Verdussen, Cornelius I Antwerp 2 (Sp) 2
The widow of Verdussen, Henricus II Antwerp 8 3 (Sp) 11
Verdussen, Hieronymus V Antwerp 1 1
Verdussen, Hieronymus VI Antwerp 1 1
Verdussen, Johannes Baptista II Antwerp 13 6 (Sp) 19
Vleminkx, Henri Brussels 2 2
Total 52 11 170 60 230

2.2 Antwerp's predominance

As confirmed by table 5, the output destined for export was mainly printed in Antwerp, which
was by far the most important printing center of the Southern Netherlands throughout the four
periods studied. In fact, as in other economic sectors Antwerp surpassed the rest of the cities
in the region, it became a sixteenth-century metropolis, a world center of distribution for an
extended range of products, expensive luxuries, as well as the nucleus of a widely-branched
European network of native and foreign merchants.443 This preponderance of Antwerp turned
the city in the natural place for the production of important, voluminous and illustrated books.
According to Waterschoot, three specific features could be observed in the output of Antwerp
printing houses since the early years: diversification, topicality and mass production.444

The table also reveals that during the first period the production of Leuven linked to the
famous theologians of the University was the second printing center in terms of exported
production. After 1588 the exported output of Leuven experienced a downward trend with a
recovery in the eighteenth century. It is also important to draw attention to the advance of
Brussels from 1589 onwards, which occurred with the specialization of some printers in
Spanish vernacular editions from the last quarter of the sixteenth century onwards, especially
throughout the seventeenth century (Velpius, Hubert Anthoine, Mommaert, Foppens). In fact,
the role of the archdukes' court as promoters of vernacular editions published in Brussels was
decisive.445 Finally, Liège's exported output experienced a steady growing from 1649
onwards, during this period religious book published under the auspice of religious orders like
the Franciscans or Jesuits of the Prince-bishopric were extensively printed. By the eighteenth
century several vernacular French editions were also being exported.

443
VAN DER WEE, and MATERNÉ, ‘Antwerp as a World Market in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries’, 25.
444
WATERSCHOOT, 'Antwerp: books publishing and cultural production before 1585', 234-235.
445
MANRIQUE FIGUEROA, 'Los impresores bruselenses y su producción dirigida al mercado hispano', 205-226.

134
City 1529-1588 1589-1648 1649-1715 1716-1794
534 editions 639 editions 580 editions 230 editions

Antwerp 82.3% 89.8% 76.3% 63.8%

Leuven 15.1 4.2 4.2 8.3
Bruges 1.9 0 0 0.9
Ghent 0.7 0.5 0.9 5

Brussels 0 3.4 11.9 11

Liège 0 1.2 6.2 7.8
Others (Mons, Namur, 0 0.9 0.5 0.5
& Tournai)
Others (Bouillon, Courtrai, 0 0 0 2.7
Hasselt, Mechelen

Table 5 Place of publication: percentage by total editions recorded by city

Some other cases were virtually linked to the exclusive activity of one printer like the
humanist printer and bookseller of Bruges, Hubert Goltzius, who had commercial relations
with the Officina Plantiniana and whose marvelous editions were to be found in New
Spain.446 Or later in time, the popular religious editions of Pierre François II Goesin of Ghent
during the eighteenth century placed Ghent with 5% of the total during the last period studied.

In summary, one of the main characteristics of the publishing industry as it developed in

the Southern Netherlands is the strength of Antwerp as the most important printing center of
the region, or as Pettegree has pointed out: the emergence of Antwerp as an economic and
cultural force in the sixteenth century cements the place of the Netherlands in the second rank
of European print culture alongside Spain and England but behind the Southern German
cities, France and Italy in terms of total production.447

However, this preponderance was not absolute in terms of output. In fact, Pettegree has
proposed three different models of national print cultures in sixteenth-century Europe: in one
of them the centre is totally dominant with respect to the periphery (the case of London is
paradigmatic); secondly there is one predominant center of print, but also other significant
printing centers which carve out either an independent existence at a rather modest level than
the main centre (like the relationship between Paris and Lyon).448 Hence, aside from France,
the Low Countries, Italy and the Swiss Confederation all conform to this partially dispersed

446
See for instance: BOWEN and IMHOF, Christopher Plantin and Engraved Books Illustration, 299.
447
PETTEGREE, 'The Reformation and the Book: A reconsideration', 791-792.
448
PETTEGREE, 'The Reformation and the Book: A reconsideration', 794.

135
model; finally, the fully dispersed model was clearly represented by the experience provided
by Germany, where the total output was distributed among a diverse range of significant
printing centers. This model found an echo in Spain, and the nearest equivalent was to be
found later in a later age namely the Dutch Republic in the seventeenth century.449

Thus, in terms of production Antwerp was the predominant center in the region but
there were other cities whose output was directly linked to their main economic or political
activities, such as the academic life of the University in the case of Leuven, or the activity of
the governing bodies established in Brussels. However, in terms of international exportation
Antwerp was totally dominant in the region, since the international export of editions issued
in cities like Leuven, Brussels, Ghent or Liège heavily depended on the links established with
Antwerp publishers, who developed international circuits of book trade.450

In fact, Antwerp was the perfect place to start a fruitful printing shop of international
scale, given the movement of capitals, the availability of materials, the abundance of
craftspeople and the easy access to the market. In a letter to Pope Gregory XIII dated October
9, 1574 Christophe Plantin explained his choice of Antwerp (he moved to the city in 1548) in
terms of all these abovementioned factors.451 As a result, Antwerp evolved into one of the
most important European centers of book distribution. Therefore, the mechanisms to reach
international book markets rapidly evolved during the first half of the sixteenth century as is
going to be reviewed on chapter III.

2.3 Language of publication

City 1529-1588 1589-1648 1649-1715 1716-1794

Antwerp 95.1% 97.9% 88.6% 84.9%

Leuven 98.7 100 100 100
Bruges 90 - - 0452
Ghent 100 100 100 100

Brussels - 27.2 53.7 29.1

Liège - 100 91.4 11.8

449
PETTEGREE, 'The Reformation and the Book: A reconsideration', 794-796.
450
Although from 1531 Brussels became the center of the political power in the Low Countries, allowing the
flourishing of the city which rapidly became one of the most important cities in Brabant, the city only attracted
a limited number of printers and booksellers, namely about 20 during the sixteenth century, see: ROOBAERT,
'De zestiende-eeuwse Brussels boekhandelaars', 68.
451
WATERSCHOOT, 'Antwerp: books publishing and cultural production before 1585', 241.
452
For this period two editions of Bruges published in bilingual editions (Dutch-French) have been collected.

136
Mons - 66.7 50 0
Namur - - 100 -
Tournai - 100 - -
Bouillon - - - 50
Courtrai - - - 0453
Hasselt - - - 100
Mechelen - - - 100

Table 6, Percentage of the Latin works available in New Spain published in a given city.

Despite Antwerp being the only international center of vernacular Spanish publication of any
significance from 1540 to 1560 with publishers, such as Joannes Steelsius or Martinus Nutius.
The vast majority of collected items printed in Antwerp were published in Latin throughout
the four periods.

As for Brussels, only 27.2% of the editions were published in Latin during the second
period. This high proportion of vernacular editions is the direct consequence of the Spanish
editions issued by printers like Jan I Mommaert, Rutger Velpius, his son-in-law Hubert I
Anthoine-Velpius, all of them active in Brussels from the early years of the seventeenth-
century onwards.

An increasing presence of vernacular editions is noted during the third period, with 85
editions mostly printed in Spanish and in French (the first and second period only registered
23 and 30 vernacular editions respectively). This raise was a direct consequence of the
Spanish editions issued by printers, such as François I and François II Foppens of Brussels,
Balthazar II Moretus, and by all members of the family Verdussen (Henricus II and Cornelius
I, Johannes Baptista I and Johannes Baptista II). Regarding the French language, the Foppens
were also printing bilingual editions, as the well as the French output of printers like Henri
Eugene Frick of Brussels (which included classical authors, or current French historians).

Although Latin was the still the most important language of publication during the
fourth and last period, the vernacular editions reached their peak, not in amount but in the
total percentage. 61 editions count for 26.4%, which is certainly an increase in comparison
with the 85 vernacular editions of the previous period that only amounted to 14.6% of the
total.

To conclude, 32 editions were printed in French in cities like Brussels or Liège during
the fourth period, which illustrates the increasing importance and expansion of this language
453
Only one book printed in Courtrai has been found but it was published in French.

137
throughout the eighteenth century and its international exportation; six editions were bilingual
(Spanish.-French), only two editions were published in Dutch-French. Finally, 21 were
Spanish editions, which were specifically produced by the Verdussen, the Moretusses and the
Foppens.

138
 CHAPTER III

Configuration of book circuits between the Southern Netherlands, Spain and the
New Spain (16th-18th centuries)

The Antwerp-Seville-Veracruz commercial axis comprised two branches, on the one hand, the
active trade established from the Middle Ages between the Low Countries and the Iberian
Peninsula, which favored economic, cultural, artistic and politic exchanges between the two
regions, particularly with the incorporation of the Netherlands to the Habsburg global empire.
This commercial axis allowed the exportation of Castilian wool, Basque iron, or wine an other
Mediterranean agricultural products brought from Andalusia or the Levante. Thus, relevant
merchants of Antwerp, or Castilian cities like Burgos or Medina del Campo (an subsequently
Madrid) participated in an active trade linking the two geographical regions.454 And on the
other hand, the transatlantic trade established between Seville (and subsequerntly Cadiz) and
Spanish America, the so-call Carrera de Indias completed the Antwerp-Seville-Veracruz
axis. Thus, this was not a direct commercial route since it was divided into two different and
well-defined branches.

Seville was certainly an attractive commercial hub for the Northern Eruropean
merchants, since it was the gateway to the Spanish Atlantic, which strategic location rendered
it a mandatory departing point of the Carrera de Indias (as it is well-known by the eighteenth
century this role was taken over by Cadiz), as a result, Seville was a coveted city, which
offered acces to the lucrative colonial market. If one looks into merchant letters from
sixteenth-century Antwerp, one observes that they were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the
American fleet at Seville loaded with silver and other products, and complaining on other
occasions when they knew it was not very rich.455

From the Netherlands a wide-range of textiles produced in the region and in Northern
France were exported towards the Iberian Peninsula, such as luxury products, artistic objects,
furniture, and from the 1540's books. Editions published in cities like Antwerp or Leuven

454
See the letters of the merchant Simón Ruiz, VÁZQUEZ DE PRADA, V., Lettres marchandes d´Anvers,
3 vol., París, 1960.
455
'It will be very convenient if the American fleet comes as rich as normally said, especially in this
time of shortage of money', wrote Benedetto Bernardino Bonvisi, commercial agent based in
Antwerp, in a letter to Simon Ruiz, castellan merchant based in Medina del Campo. Antwerp, August
23, 1575, see: VÁZQUEZ DE PRADA, Lettres Marchandes D´Anvers, I, 153-154.
139
were being exported along with all the other merchandises. Indeed, with the extensive
integration of the Southern Netherlands in the Spanish Habsburg empire, Antwerp became a
distribution centre, a hub between Northern and Southern Europe, and the nucleus of a
widely-branched European network of native and foreign merchants who were also active in
the colonial trade of the Iberian World.456

Regarding book production, and as in other economic respects Antwerp surpassed the
rest of the cities in the region. The city was the perfect place to start a fruitful printing shop of
international scale, given the movement of capitals, availability of materials, the abundance of
craftspeople and easy access to the market. In a letter to Pope Gregory XIII dated October 9,
1574 Christophe Plantin explained his choice of Antwerp (he moved to the city in 1548) in
457
terms of all these abovementioned factors. As a result, Antwerp evolved into one of the
most important European typographic centers. Other cities like Brussels or Leuven remained
as secondary typographic centers, the international export of editions issued in those cities
heavily depended on the links established with Antwerp publishers.458

This preponderance of Antwerp printers turned the city in the natural place for the
output of important, voluminous and illustrated books. According to Waterschoot, three
specific features could be observed in the output of Antwerp printing houses since the early
years: diversification, topicality and mass production.459 Therefore, the mechanisms to reach
international book markets rapidly evolved during the first half of the sixteenth century. The
Iberian Peninsula was a good target due to the lack of means of the domestic typography.
Regrettably, there is little information about the early book trade between Flanders and the
Iberian Peninsula for the years 1500-1530, a period during which the way was paved for the
intense book trade between the two regions, which reached a more tangible scale after 1530
and further developed throughout the sixteenth century.460

Once in cities like Medina del Campo, Burgos, Alcalá or Seville imported non-Spanish
books might be directly dispatched by local booksellers to Spanish America either to their
456
VAN DER WEE and MATERNÉ, 'Antwerp as a World Market in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth
Centuries', 25.
457
WATERSCHOOT, 'Antwerp: books publishing and cultural production before 1585', 241.
458
Although from 1531 Brussels became the center of the political power in the Low Countries, allowing the
flourishing of the city which rapidly became one of the most important cities in Brabant, the city only attracted
a limited number of printers and booksellers, about 20 during the sixteenth century, see: ROOBAERT, 'De
zestiende-eeuwse Brussels boekhandelaars', 68.
459
WATERSCHOOT, 'Antwerp: books publishing and cultural production before 1585', 234-235.
460
It is a fact that the archival documentation from the second half of the sixteenth century either in Flanders
or Spain provides more information about book circuits between the two regions.

140
own agents or to booksellers in New Spain or Peru. However, books were also travelling as
personal belongings or private libraries of passengers en route to the Indies, as will be further
analyzed in chapter IV.

Hence, this chapter discusses the configuration of networks and circuits of book
distribution between Antwerp and cities like Seville or Madrid. Moreover, editorial strategies
developed in the Southern Netherlands to reach the Spanish market are also studied as well as
parallel or alternative circuits of book distribution both legal and illegal. Finally, an oversight
of the book trade established between booksellers of Seville and their agents or booksellers of
New Spain completes the analysis of the international commercial axis of book distribution:
Antwerp-Seville-Veracruz.

3.1 Early Flemish printers and booksellers in the Iberian world

Spanish readers were familiarized with the circulation of European manuscript books since
the reign of John II of Castile (1406-1454) when Castilian court circles showed a greater
interest in humanistic writings. This early international manuscript book circulation -mostly
of Italian origin- paved the way for the international trade of printed books that rapidly
developed under the reign of the Catholic Kings.461 Fifteenth-century Italian booksellers did
not hesitate to use previously established circuits in the traffic of other merchandises,
particularly wool and textiles to circulate their books. Some of them are well-known, Antón
Cortese was active in Northern Spain by the end of the fifteenth century. 462 Soon after, the
Giunti or Junta family started its prolific editorial activity in Salamanca during the first
decades of the sixteenth-century.463

The prestige of Italian printers was already significant by the late fifteenth century. In
his work about the editorial dependency of Valencia's printing press, Philippe Berger
suggested how liturgical books were a prime target of these foreign editions. The edition of a
missal of Valencia printed in Venice in 1482 or the contract for the Milanese merchant
Bonagracia de Crivellis to deliver 500 Valencian missals in 1483,464 prove that liturgical
books intended for Spanish dioceses were frequently printed abroad.465 In sum, the last decade

461
In fact, the city of Florence supplied about one-third of all manuscripts books to be found in Castile at this
time, see: GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 4.
462
GARCÍA ORO and PORTELA SILVA, La Monarquía y los Libros en el Siglo de Oro, 36-37.
463
DE LA MANO GONZÁLEZ, Mercaderes e Impresores del Libro en Salamanca del siglo XVI, Salamanca, 1998.
464
BERGER, 'La dépendance éditoriale de l'Espagne: le cas de Valence', 6-25.
465
GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 3.

141
of the fifteenth century was characterized by the entrepreneurial drive of Italian printer-
booksellers who were increasingly associated with Spanish merchants and letrados eager to
publish their texts.466

Italians were certainly not the only foreigners with editorial activities in Spain, at that
time several Germans opened bookshops. Anton Koberger, the famous printer of Nuremberg,
sent his nephew to fifteenth-century Barcelona to open a shop for imported editions.467 In fact,
from these early years of international book trade it became a common practice among
foreign booksellers to send agents to Spain. Luca Antonio Giunti or Junta also sent his
nephew Juan/Giovanni to Salamanca.468 In order to ensure their share of the growing Spanish
market, French printers tailored their output to books of popular nature as Isidro Rivera
showed in his study of the Historia de la linda Melosina (Toulouse, Juan Parix & Esteban
Clebat, 1489).469 Actually, Toulouse played a central role in the international bookselling with
Spain during this period. Publishers based in Lyon used their associates in Toulouse to gain
access to the Spanish market.470

These examples illustrate the well-known Spain's dependency on foreign books

throughout the ancien régime. Just as happened with other manufactures, book printing was
cheaper abroad, allowing foreign printers to sell their books to the Spanish public at lower
prices than those issued by domestic output. As Griffin stated, the scale of printing in Spain
was rather modest and printers there were not able to compete with the mass-produced books
coming from the presses of France, Italy and Germany.471 In addition, the difficulties raised
by the already discussed system of preventive and punitive censorship in Spain were difficult
to overcome.472 Therefore, an inevitable demand for books issued abroad was generated,
attracting European publishers and booksellers able to exploit the need for books in the
Spanish market, and to fill the vacuum left by the Spanish presses.473 Normally a pragmatic
and mercantilist ideology marked to a greater or lesser extent the expectations of most
European printers, publishers and booksellers involved with international book trade, not

466
GARCÍA ORO and PORTELA SILVA, La Monarquía y los Libros en el Siglo de Oro, 39.
467
GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 8.
468
DE LA MANO GONZÁLEZ, Mercaderes e Impresores del Libro en Salamanca, 34.
469
RIVERA, 'Historia de la linda Melosina', 131-135.
470
RIVERA, 'Historia de la linda Melosina', 134-135.
471
GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 3.
472
Regarding censorship, see chapter I
473
DE LA MANO GONZÁLEZ, Mercaderes e Impresores del Libro en Salamanca, 39.

142
completely excluding motivations of a more idealistic character. 474 Or in other words, the
impulse to make a profit was generally involved in the marketing of a book, which became an
object of capital and of enterprise.475

Luis Gil Fernández observed that Spanish consumers of books had a reputation for not
being very highly educated or wealthy. Put differently, the scholarly audience was too limited
to make editions for this public produced in Spain profitable.476 However, Sara Nalle noted
that it would be a mistake to think that the lack of a scholarly literary book-market implied the
absence of a reading public.477 In fact, the early presses in Italy and France preferred to cater
to the masses, by producing popular, vernacular texts demanded in Spain. Or as Isidro Rivera
pointed out:

Imprints of chivalric tales, folk stories, saints lives and collections of traditional
legends from Antiquity and the Middle Ages gradually began to dominate book
production. At the same time publishers introduced new practices for cultivating their
readership. Many imprints incorporated illustrations into the design and layout of the
editions in order to facilitate contemporary readers' understanding of the printed
text.478
Concerning the early presence of Flemish book, from the second half of the fifteenth-century
onwards large numbers of illuminated devotional works, particularly books of hours, were
dispatched to Spain from Flanders as part of the commerce in luxury goods. 479 These
preexistent commercial routes were the perfect vehicle to introduce books as another valuable
merchandise. This is not really a surprise since the Italian booksellers had done the same with
their existing Mediterranean trade routes. However, the presence of printers of booksellers

474
DE LA MANO GONZÁLEZ, Mercaderes e Impresores del Libro en Salamanca, 38. As Griffin remarked: ‘There
were, particularly outside Spain, printers of considerably erudition and scholarly ambitions. But the importance
of the economics of printings should never be underestimated’. see: GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 9.
475
RIVERA, 'Historia de la linda Melosina', 134; SCHOTTENLOHER, Books and the Western World, 86.
476
NALLE, 'Literacy and Culture in Early Modern Castile', 81. Therefore, printer Miguel de Eguía expressed
himself on these terms: 'How accursed we are in Spain, where our printing offices ceaselessly pour out
common and Occasionally even obscene doggerel, tasteless ditties and works which are yet more worthless
than these'. Cfr. Eguías's dedication, addressed to the Archbishop of Toledo, of an edition of the Precatio
Dominica, (Alcalá, 1525), quoted in GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 10.
477
NALLE, 'Literacy and Culture', 81.
478
RIVERA, 'Historia de la linda Melosina', 134,
479
GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 5. Since the mid fifteenth century, Flemish art was highly appreciated
in the Iberian Peninsula, King John II of Castile for instance, donated in 1445 an altarpiece (The triptych of the
Virgin) to the Carthusian Monastery of Miraflores near Burgos, commissioned to Rogier van der Weyden it was
one of the first examples of Flemish triptychs on the Iberian Peninsula, see: WOODS, 'Netherlandish Networks',
86. Furthermore, Queen Isabella I of Castile 'La Católica', was inclined toward Flemish art, in this way, most of
the paintings that she left to the Royal Chapel of Granada were executed in Flanders or Brabant, among the
most notable examples is possible to find, Dirk Bouts, Hans Memling or the Master of the Legend of Saint
Catherine, see: PITA ANDRADE, 'Pinturas y pintores de Isabel la Católica', 13-71.

143
from the Netherlands was rather modest in Spain prior to 1530.480 Although the first steps
were taken in this period, it would certainly be inaccurate to speak about an intense traffic of
printed books between the two regions.

It is believed that the first Flemish printer active in Spain was Matthaeus Flander also
known as Mateo Flandro. Operating at least since 1475, Flander was at the same time
Zaragoza's first printer, where he published his only known work, the Manipulus Curatorum
by Guido de Monte Rocherii (1475), the first book published in Spain with full colophon.481
No further documentation has been found on the shop of Flander that may shed light on his
editorial and commercial activity. As a consequence, Flandro remains an enigmatic figure of
the era of the incunabula in Spain.482

At that time, the first Flemish bookseller started to operate in the Iberian Peninsula. In
1479 Eustache de la Fosse, a merchant from Tournai, traveled to Spain, where he took charge
of his patron's business in Burgos and Seville.483 De la Fosse set sail from Bruges to Laredo
and thence inland to Burgos, Toledo, Cordoba, Seville, Sanlúcar de Barrameda and Cadiz.484
Once in Toledo, he was facing an adverse situation (moneyless) and tried to find another
merchant of his own 'nation' that could assist him. Coincidentally, he was told that another
man from the Low Countries was currently in the city. This man, a certain Loys from
Flanders, was a bookseller. He assisted De la Fosse and accompanied him to Burgos.
Regrettably, De la Fosse does not provide further information about this particular man. Are
we in the presence of an early itinerant Flemish bookseller? Was he possibly offering titles
printed in Northern Europe in important Castilian urban centers? Is this an isolated case of an
early trend that preceded the important presence of Flemish printers and booksellers? Many
questions with few responses. However it is likely that this Flemish bookseller was definitely
attracted like many other German and Central European men by the opportunities offered by
the growing Spanish market.

480
THOMAS and MANRIQUE FIGUEROA, 'La infraestructura de la globalización: la imprenta flamenca y la
construcción del imperio hispánico en América', 52.
481
THOMAS, 'Los impresores de los Países Bajos Meridionales en España e Hispanoamérica', 149; See also:
MÉNDEZ, Tipografía Española, 73.
482
DELGADO CASADO, Diccionario de impresores españoles, I, 239.
483
ESCUDIER, Voyage d'Eustache De la Fosse, Paris, 1992. As Fagel has remarked, the journey of Eustache de la
Fosse is one of the best sources for the history of Netherlandish merchants in Spain. Cfr. FAGEL, De Hispano-
Vlaamse wereld, 210-211.
484
From there his journey continued to the Canaries and the African West Coast.

144
Bartolomé de Lila and Justo Alemán also illustrate the early and modest Flemish presence in
the emerging typographic Iberian world. The first one was from Lille, at the time an integral
part of the Netherlands. De Lila printed indulgences for some convents in Toledo between
1480-1483. By 1489 he was active in Coria. There is no further information about his activity
after 1490.485 Justo Alemán or Justo Canaeus Alemán was from Bruges, just as his wife
Catalina Vandenbroeck (or Bandeburque). They were established in Seville at least since
1504, where Justo was active as printer and bookseller until 1525.486

3.2 Targeting vernacular editions to the Spanish nation established in the Netherlands

Meanwhile, by the end of the 1520's, the presence of Spanish speaking circles in the
Netherlands was becoming increasingly evident due to the first vernacular editions
published in Spanish in Antwerp presses. In fact, it has been fully accepted by Jean Peeters-
Fontainas and Jaime Moll, that possibly the first edition issued in Spanish in the Netherlands
was printed precisely in Antwerp in 1529 by Joannes Grapheus (active in Antwerp from
ca.1520-1569). It was the popular Libro Áureo de Marco Aurelio by the famous preacher
and spiritual advisor of the emperor, fray Antonio de Guevara.487 This edition was issued
just one year after the publication of the first one (Seville, Jacobo Cromberger, 1528). 488 The
book had an extraordinary success among aristocratic circles, for it was destined to become
one of the widely read books of the sixteenth century.489 Several editions followed in a few
years: (Valencia, s.n., 1528), Paris (Galliot, 1529), Zaragoza (Jorge Coci, 1529) and the
aforementioned of Antwerp.490 Grapheus' edition does not contain any license or privilege,
presumably because the Libro Áureo was first published without Guevara's consent and

485
THOMAS, 'Los impresores de los Países Bajos Meridionales en España e Hispanoamérica', 149.
486
But so far no document related to these two activities has been found, see: ÁLVAREZ MÁRQUEZ, La
impresión y el comercio de libros en Sevilla, 74.
487
Although the first Spanish vernacular book printed in Antwerp is de Libro áureo, the first Spanish author that
used the Antwerp's press was the famous inquisitor Juan de Torquemada in 1498, see: ROBBEN, 'L’Universe du
livre à Anvers et ses relations avec l’Espagne', 45.
488
MOLL, 'Amberes y el mundo hispano del libro', 118.
489
Leonard noticed that the Libro Áureo, was seldom missing from sixteenth-century book lists, tending to
confirm the statement that this work was as widely read as Amadís of Gauland the Celestina, see: LEONARD,
Books of the Brave, 118.
490
The expanded version of the Libro Áureo: Relox de Príncipes appeared simultaneously in Zaragoza (Jorge
Coci, 1529) and Lisbon (Gemao Glarde, 1529). The two Guevara's books were not only a best-selling in Spain
but throughout Europe, as they were rapidly into French, Italian, English, German, Latin, Russian, Swedish,
Polish, Hungarian and even Armenian. For a detailed version of Guevara's translation, see: GÓMEZ CANEDO,
'Las Obras de Fray Antonio de Guevara', 441-603. Guevara was also the most popular Spanish author in
sixteenth-century England and, indeed, the first to be translated into English prose, see: GRIFFIN, The
Crombergers of Seville, 154.

145
because privileges and licenses of books issued in Spanish in Antwerp were granted from
the 1540s.

Joannes Grapheus began his activity as a printer in Antwerp during the 1520s, working
along with other printers, such as Gregorio de Bonte (or Bontius),491 or Rolandus
Bollaerd.492 Grapheus was in contact with the humanist circles of the Netherlands, which
included well-known scholars, such as Gemma Frisius or Joachim Sterck van Ringelbergh.
The contact with the humanist entourage of the emperor, along with the immediate success
of the first editions of Guevara's Libro áureo, possibly explains the intention to published it
in Antwerp. As the Spanish-speaking humanistic entourage of the emperor and the members
of the Spanish nation established in Antwerp and Bruges formed and interesting group of
potential buyers/readers. On the other hand, one prominent member of the court might have
suggested the printing of this particular book in Antwerp.493 In this vein, it seems correct to
point out that the book was originally intended to satisfy the reading needs of the Spanish
public in the Netherlands, or even for those Spanish-speaking populations established in
England, as Henry Thomas believed that a considerable proportion of the Spanish books
printed in the Netherlands reached England.494

Joannes Steelsius (active in Antwerp from 1533 to 1562), who has been linked to the
rise of Antwerp as a significant international center of Spanish-language edition during the
first half of the sixteenth century, was certainly aware of the lucrative possibilities that the
Spanish market might provide.495 From the beginning of his career, Steelsius targeted the

491
With whom he published: Palaephatus, Palaephati De non credendis Historijs, libellus utilissimus.
Phornuti de natura Deorum libellus / Iodoco Uelareo interprete. Epitaphium Isabellae illustriss.
Danorum reginae / Cornelio Sceppero autore. Luciani de astrologia oratio, Antwerp, Gregorio
Bontio, Joannes Grapheus, 1528. Or the Flemish scholar, Joachim Sterck van Ringelbergh's Liber de
Formis dicendi, Gregorio de Bontio, Joannes Grapheus, Antwerp, 1529.
492
With whom he published: Petrus Apianus, Cosmographicus liber Petri Apiani studio se correctus, ac erroribus
per Gemman Phrysyum, Rolandi Bollaert, typis Joannes Grapheus, Antwerp, 1529.
493
This work was conceived by Guevara as an educational treatise for the new king of Spain, Charles I. In a
more or less imaginary biography Marcus Aurelius' entire life was reviewed, with special attention to his
outstanding virtues and to personal problems, see: MEZZATESTA, 'Marcus Aurelius fray Antonio de Guevara
and the ideal of the perfect prince', 620-633.
494
WILKINSON, Iberian books, xviii. Apud, THOMAS, 'The output of Spanish books in the Sixteenth-Century'. The
Library, 4 (1920), 86.
495
Steelsius was not merely a printer, but a publisher who by making use of other Antwerp printers (such as
the aforementioned Joannes Grapheus, Hans de Laet or Michael Hillenius) was able to publish some 350
editions in different languages, though mostly in Latin. In the 1540's Steelsius consolidated his position as a
significant publisher of Antwerp. In 1546 the aforesaid Michael Hillenius, a humanist printer, who had been
prodigiously active since 1506, handed over his shop to his son-in-law Steelsius, who had married Hillenius'
daughter. Actually, since 1537 Steelsius was republishing in second edition some books which had been

146
cosmopolite merchant nation established in Antwerp as a potential reading public as proved
by the publication of the Diccionario Quinque linguarum, Latinae, Teuthonicae, Gallicae,
Hispanicae, Italicae, dilucidissimus dictionaries in 1534.496 The dictionary is divided in
chapters. Each one dealing with different matters, such as the vocabulary used in Latin,
German, French, Spanish and Italian about different aspects of daily life.497 Robben points
out that these first multilingual dictionaries were published to facilitate the contact among
the cosmopolite merchant communities established in the blooming port of Antwerp, where
the knowledge and use of several languages was fundamental to establish contacts within the
city and abroad.498

Moreover, during the following years, Steelsius clearly tailored his output to satisfy
the needs of the Spanish public established in the Netherlands by printing or reprinting
popular editions. In 1534 he republished (along with Grapheus) the Libro áureo de Marco
Aurelio, but unlike the previous edition of 1529 printed in 4°, Steelsius picked up the
practical 8° format. The book did not hold privilege, nor license, possibly because Jacobo
Cromberger was the privilege-holder for a space of ten years to print Guevara's works.499
The Spanish bestseller was subsequently reprinted at least five times by Steelsius until 1546.
(1539, 1540, 1543, 1545 and 1546).500 Finally, in 1550 the Libro Áureo containing its
extended version Reloj de Príncipes was reprinted by Steelsius and by Martinus Nutius.
These repeated Antwerp editions prove its great success and wide distribution. In the
meantime, early liturgical works were published, as well as the Oras en romance castellano
según uso de la iglesia de Roma, en loor y alabanza de dios nuestro señor y de la gloriosa
virgen santa María (1539).

previously printed by his father-in-law such as the English bishop of Rochester John Fisher´s, Assertionum,
lutheranae confutation iuxta verum ac originalem archetypum, nunc ad unguem diligentissime recognita. (first
edition: Hillenius, 1523, second edition Steelsius, 1537). Hillenius issued authors by and against Protestant
reformation and he showed an interest for English authors as well such as Henry VIII or the bishop of Rochester
John Fisher champion of the Catholic orthodoxy in England, see: WINGER, 'The cover design', 418-419, Apud.
MACHIELS, Post incunabula in the Low Countries, Boston, 1978, 78; see also: WILLOUGHBY, 'The cover design',
59.
496
MOLL, 'Plantino y la industria editorial española', 17.
497
Such as God, the Trinity, the power, the richness, the saints and their names, the Pater Noster, the Ave
Maria, the evil, the hell, the purgatory, the time, the months of the year, the days of the week, the human
body and its different parts. The dictionary also included lists of substantives, adjective, adverbs, 'nicknames',
as well as practical idiomatic expressions currently used by native speakers.
498
ROBBEN, 'L’Universe du livre à Anvers et ses relations avec l’Espagne', 45.
499
GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 140.
500
The third Antwerp edition of the Libro Áureo had been printed in gothic characters by Francisco Aertsen
(1536).

147
Martinus Nutius (active in Antwerp from 1539/1540 to 1558) became the second Antwerp
publisher of the first half of the sixteenth century whose output was to a great extent focused
on the Spanish nation established in the Netherlands, proving the increasing potential of this
community. Because Nutius had previously worked in Steelsius' shop, it is worth
speculating whether he acquired his interest in Spanish-language books while he was
Steelsius' employee.501 In any case, it is clear that Nutius realized the benefits which the
Spanish nation of the Netherlands might bring to his emerging shop. As a result, from the
very beginning of his career Nutius published almost exclusively for the Spanish readers of
the Netherlands, or readers familiar with the language. In the end, 'the student surpassed the
teacher' because in general historiography has considered Nutius' Spanish output better in
extent and quality than that of Steelsius.502

The book demand of the Spanish nation established in the region lasted through the
second half of the sixteenth century and endured during the seventeenth century as well.
This regional distribution trend was observed by Imhof for the last years of the sixteenth-
century when Bernardino de Mendoza's Theoria y practica de Guerra (Jan I Moretus, 1596)
was mostly distributed in regional markets, as between July 3, 1596 and the end of
December 1597, 660 copies had been sold, 228 in the Southern Netherlands (including
Liège), 28 in the Northern Netherlands, 120 in France, 88 in England and 156 in
Germany.503 This distribution of editions published in Spanish in Antwerp within domestic
markets and neighboring countries, like Germany, is also confirmed by the shipment sent by
Jan I Moretus of 216 copies of the Franciscan Andrés de Soto's Contemplación del crucifixo
(Jan I Moretus, 1601), from which 46 copies were reserved to the author himself (who was
the confessor of Isabella Clara Eugenia), 36 to the archdukes, 40 to Rutger Velpius publisher
of Brussels and remarkably 100 hundred were reserved to the Fair of Frankfurt. 504 These
numbers suggest the importance of the regional markets in the distribution of Spanish
editions published in the Southern Netherlands during the first quarter of the seventeenth-
century.

The heirs of Jan I Moretus, Balthazar I and Jan II (who worked together from 1610 to
1618) were also paying attention to the local markets of the Spanish and Portuguese
communities established in the Southern Netherlands as revealed by the fragment of a letter

501
LEÓN, 'Brief notes on some 16th century Antwerp printers', 85.
502
LEÓN, 'Brief notes on some 16th century Antwerp printers', 85.
503
IMHOF, 'Las ediciones españolas de la Officina Plantiniana', 65.
504
IMHOF, 'Las ediciones españolas de la Officina Plantiniana', 66.

148
written by Balthazar I Moretus dated December 13, 1613 in which he informed that the
Plantiniana had been printing oficios demanded by the Portuguese and the Spaniards
established in the Southern Netherlands’.505 Subsequently, the second half of the seventeenth-
century was a very active period for the Officina Plantiniana, under the aegis of Balthazar II
Moretus (the son of Jan II), who had been working with his uncle Balthazar I for about ten
years when he succeeded him as head of the Plantiniana. The Journal of the Plantiniana
under Balthazar II's direction shows the daily business with local clients, such as leading
publishers, booksellers or religious institutions from the Southern Netherlands. During this
thriving period the Spanish editions were being purchased by clients established in the region.

For instance, on the record of April 2, 1659, Johannes Matthias Hovius publisher of
Liège (active from 1651 to 1689) owed the amount of 48 guilders 12 stuivers a compte d'
argent and 57 guilders a compte de change, for some books he ordered, among them liturgical
books, such as the typical Missalia, Breviaria, or Diurnalia published by the Plantiniana.506
Spanish editions recently published were also included, among them six copies of the epic
poem Napoles recuperada por el rey don Alonso ( Balthazar II Moretus, 1658) written by
Francisco de Borja, Prince of Esquilache and former viceroy of Peru between 1615-1621.507

It appears that barter was a common form of payment among contemporary printers
and booksellers elsewhere in Europe.508 On April 30, 1659, Hieronymus III Verdussen
(active in Antwerp as a publisher from 1643 to 1687) ordered a large list of books from
Balthazar II Moretus for a total value of 672 guilders, 7 stuivers, among them 32 copies of
the Nápoles Recuperada were listed with a value of 89 guilders 12 stuivers. Only surpassed
by 125 copies of the popular Doctrina Christiana (Explicación de la doctrina Christiana by
the Dominican Juan de Santo Tomás, 1651). On the same request more Spanish-language
editions are mentioned, such as the 12 Obras of Saint Teresa (probably the edition of
1641).509 The same day Hieronymus III Verdussen gave as a credit a number of books
published by him on practically the same value of his debt, 672 guilders 10 stuivers. Among
the books he left it is possible to identify five copies of the Spanish diplomat Diego de

505
Original text in Latin: 'Nam etsi pauciora hactenus breviaria et missalia Hispani a nobis postularint, fratibus
Hieronymianis impedientibus, propia tamen SS. Hispaniae officia excudere haud negleximus, qua Lusitani
itemque in Belgio Hispani ea a nobis exigerent', see: IMHOF, 'Las ediciones españolas de la Officina Plantiniana',
80.
506
MPM Archive 459, Journal 1659, fol. 32r.
507
Concerning the privilege of Nápoles Recuperada, it was transferred by the authors (via some letters) to
Balthazar II Moretus and it was granted in Brussels on 16 July, 1657.
508
GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 40.
509
MPM Archive 409, Journal 1659, fol. 39v.

149
Saavedra & Faxardo, Idea de un príncipe político christiano representada en 100 empresas,
normally known as: Empresas Políticas (Hieronymus III Verdussen, it may be the edition of
1655 or even the newest one of 1659), ten copies of another Saavedra & Faxardo's best-
seller his Corona Gothica Castellana (Hieronymus III Verdussen, it may be the edition of
1658).510

Some months later François Vivien printer of Brussels (active from 1631-1651),
ordered some liturgical books as well as three copies of Nápoles Recuperada (for a value of
8 guilders 5 stuivers).511 Finally, in November 1659, Jacobus Van Meurs (active in Antwerp
from 1643 to ca 1668) member of a well-known family of printers in Antwerp bought
himself 200 copies of Thomas a Kempis, IV Libros de imitación de Christo, translated by
the Jesuit Juan Eusebio Nieremberg ( Balthazar II Moretus, 1656) and 204 copies of the
aforementioned Explicación de la doctrina Christiana by Juan de Santo Tomás.512 These
particular examples confirm that during the second half of the seventeenth-century Spanish
books were not only exported abroad but circulated among local markets as well. Moreover,
different families of printers of the Southern Netherlands had interest on the novelties issued
by the Plantiniana.

Religious institutions established in Antwerp were regular clients of Balthazar II

Moretus, since the Officina was the ideal place to acquire Nuevo Rezado books. The Spanish
Carmelites of Antwerp bought via their sexton, one Missalia Romana in February 1659 for 3
guilders 12 stuivers.513 Besides, some Spanish citizens established in the Southern
Netherlands who wished to increase their personal libraries were also regular clients of the
Plantiniana. Don Juan de Borja, governor of the castle of Antwerp, bought two magnificent
and expensive books: one Atlas issued in 4 vols. for 160 guilders and a Theatrum Orbium, in
fol. 2 vols. for 140 guilders (probably the most recent edition of Ortelius' Theatri Orbis
Terrarum, published by Balthazar I Moretus in 1624). The two editions were both gilded
and illuminated.514 Don Tomás de Miranda, secretario de superintendente de la justicia
militar of Brussels ordered one Breviario romano, one Diurno Romano, two Oficios de la
Semana Santa paying for these books 21 guilders 16 stuivers on October 31, 1659. 515 Thus,

510
MPM Archive 409, Journal 1659, 39v.
511
MPM Archive 409, Journal 1659, 4 Octobre.
512
MPM Archive 409, Journal 1659, fol. 101r. apud. D. Imhof, 'Las ediciones españolas de la Officina
Plantiniana', 82.
513
MPM, Archive 409, Journal 1659, 10 Février.
514
MPM, Archive 403, Journal 1653, fol. 82v.
515
MPM, Archive 409, Journal 1659, 31 Octobre.

150
the Spanish communities of Brussels or Antwerp kept buying books from domestic presses
throughout the seventeenth century. Moreover, Spanish merchants established in Antwerp
occasionally bought books as well, such as Francisco Dias de la Torre, Spanish merchant of
the Keyserstraat, who acquired one Breviario Romano in 4° and two other treatises of
exorcism for a total value of 21 guilders 6 stuivers.516

The members of the Spanish nation living in the Southern Netherlands were not only
buyers but occasionally demanded specific editions to local publishers, as confirmed by the
words provided by François I Foppens (publisher active in Brussels from 1655 to 1682),
whose output was to a great extent devoted to vernacular editions issued in French or Spanish.
Foppens addressed to his readers in the foreword of his edition of the popular devotional book
of Bernardo de Sierra, Ramillete de divinas Flores (François Foppens I, 1670). There he
explained the keen interest shown by the Spanish nation established in the Southern
Netherlands (mainly those active in the service of his Majesty for the defense and
conservation of the Low Countries) to print this book.517 Thus, this example shows the lasting
influence exerted by the Spanish nation to obtain specific titles issued by local publishers for
their own consumption, stimulating the printing of popular Spanish devotional titles in the
presses of the Southern Netherlands even during the second half of the seventeenth century.

3.3 Growing knowledge of the Iberian book market

The early Spanish output printed in Antwerp during the 1530s was rapidly targeted not only
to the Spanish speaking communities established in the Netherlands but to the Iberian
Peninsula as well. Two major factors allowed the Flemish book to be distributed towards
Spain between the 1530s and the 1540s: the lack of means of the Spanish typography, which
allowed the massive arrival of non-Spanish book from the late fifteenth century, as well as
the better knowledge of international markets displayed by non-Spanish publishers. In fact,
one of the features of the Antwerp publishers, was precisely their awareness of the market
by rapidly reprinting the books that sold best.518 Beardsley and Griffin have noted that by
1540 the production of books printed in Spanish outside the country overtook domestic
output and a decline in the quality of Spanish printing also accompanied this trend. 519
Furthermore, Griffin remarked that it was significant that printers in Antwerp took

516
MPM, Archive 409, Journal 1659, fol. 49r.
517
DE SIERRA, Ramillete de Divinas Flores. Bruselas, Francisco I Foppens, 1670.
518
WATERSCHOOT, 'Antwerp: books publishing and cultural production before 1585', 240.
519
BEARDSLEY, 'Spanish printers and the Classics 1482-1599', 25-35; GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 13.

151
advantage of their relatively low prices and the long-established trade links with Spain to
make devastating inroads into the Spanish market, particularly affecting local printers in a
city like Seville, because of its character as a major port of entry of products of the Low
Countries.520

Actually, the merchants of Antwerp involved with the Spanish trade, might have a key
role in the configuration of international book circuits, since they were a perfect audience
that might have spread books printed in the Netherlands towards the Iberian Peninsula. Or as
Waterschoot noted, the presence of so many diverse nations and languages made Antwerp
an obvious centre for the exchange of all kinds of information.521 The fact is that both
Steelsius and Nutius were exporting large numbers of Spanish books to cities like Seville in
the 1540s and 1550s.522 In fact, some editions in Spanish issued in Antwerp prior to 1540
were already circulating in Spain, as evidenced by the large inventory of Juan de
Cromberger's shop completed in 1540 (the year of Cromberger's death), where ten copies of
'Marco Aurelio de Flandes' were listed.523

During the period 1540-1558-63,524 both Steelsius and Nutius were devoting
considerable attention to the Spanish market, by issuing re-editions which ensured a steady
and guaranteed income, clearly developing an editorial Spanish line intended for
exportation. Their wide range of Spanish titles comprised devotional and liturgical works as
well as Biblical translations, moral and vernacular literature, prose fiction, secular poetry,
history and lexicographical works. Among the authors and works published in Spanish were:
Saint Augustine,525 and the pseudo Saint Augustine,526 Thomas a Kempis,527 Antonio de

520
GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 13.
521
WATERSCHOOT, 'Antwerp: books publishing and cultural production before 1585', 239-241.
522
GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 106.
523
It may be the editions of (Johannes Grapheus 1529, but more likely the one issued by Steelsius in 1539. In
this respect, Beardsley believed that Nutius and Steelsius produced books for Spain and the New World
through an arrangement with the Crombergers, however, as Clive Griffin noticed, this is unlikely to be true,
since they were rather competitors than partners, see: GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 106.
524
Nutius died in 1558 and Steelsius in 1562.
525
The Confessions of Saint Augustine were translated into Spanish by the Augustinian friar Sebastián Toscano
and issued by Nutius in 1555.
526
Libro de las meditaciones y soliloquios (Nutius, 1550). The first edition was published in Valladolid in 1511 by
Diego de Gumiel. This book opened the path of the flourishing popular genre of meditation treaties largely
based on the abundant medieval assortment of legends, as well as myths of martyrs and saints, see: STOLL,
'Conversiones/ Inversiones modelos de asimilación para moros/moriscos y judeoconversos en la literatura
española del siglo XVI', 808.
527
The successful Spanish translation of Kempis' Contemptus Mundi, by fray Luis de Granada (Steelsius, 1546).

152
Guevara,528 Pedro Mexía,529 Juan de Dueñas,530 fray Antonio de Madrid,531 Ambrosio de
Montesinos,532 Martín de Azpilcueta,533 Juan Boscán and Garcilaso de la Vega,534 Juan de
Mena,535 Juan de Flores,536 Diego de San Pedro,537 Fernando de Rojas,538 the Lazarillo de
Tormes and its Segunda parte.539 Bartolomé de Torres Naharro,540 Cancioneros de
romances,541 Jerónimo de San Pedro,542 Ludovico Ariosto,543 Baldassare Castiglione,544

528
The aforementioned editions of the Libro Áureo was published by Steelsius several times (1534, 1539, 1540,
1545, 1546). On the other hand, Nutius published the rest of Guevara's works: Epístolas familiares (1544),
Segunda parte de las Epístolas familiares (1547, 1550), Una década de Césares (1547), Libro llamado aviso de
privados y doctrina de cortesanos (1545, 1546, 1550), Libro llamado Monte Calavario (ca.1545), La primera y la
segunda parte del libro Monte Calvario (1550), Libro de los inventores de artes de marear (1546), Libro llamado
menosprecio de corte y alabanza de aldea (1546).
529
Silva de varia lección (Nutius, 1550, 1555). In fact, Mexía was immensely popular as a result of his Silva that
happened to be his first book, which was a compilation of a 'twisted fact and fancy with long-standing
popularity in Spain, its Indies and Europe generally', see: LEONARD, The books of the Brave, 121.
The first edition of the Silva was published in 1540 by Juan Cromberger in Seville, having some 26 editions in
Spanish as well as several translations, but it was not the first Mexía's title published by Nutius, in 1547 he
reissued Coloquios y diálogos… en los cuales se disputan y tartan varias y diversas cosas de mucha erudición y
doctrina. This title was simultaneously published in 1546 in three different cities: Zaragoza (by Bartholome de
Nagera), in Seville (by Domingo de Robertis) and Antwerp (by Martinus Nutius). Furthermore, La Historia
Imperial y Cesarea of Pedro Mexía was published by Nutius in 1552. It was first published in Seville by Juan de
León in 1545.
530
Espejo de consolación de tristes (Nutius, 1545, 1550). The Espejo was a typical example of Spanish ascetic
literature. The subsequent parts were also published by Nutius: Segunda parte del Espejo de consolación
(Nutius, 1551), Quinta parte del Espejo de consolación (Nutius 1556 and 1558). The first edition appeared in
Burgos in the shop of Juan de Junta in 1540.
531
Arte de servir a Dios (Nutius, 1551). The first edition was issued in 1521 in Burgos by Juan de Junta. This
book illustrates another example of a popular Spanish devotional book and actually it was one of the
fundamental readings of Saint Teresa of Ávila, see: ZOLLA, Los místicos de Occidente: místicos franceses,
españoles y portugueses de la edad moderna, 208.
532
Epístolas y evangelios (Steelsius, 1558). The book of the Franciscan monk had been first published in 1537 by
Juan Cromberger.
533
Martín de Azpilcueta also known as Doctor Navarro, was one of the most prestigious and consulted moralist
theologian of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. His Manual de Confesores (Nutius, 1555) became a
classical text in ecclesiastical practice.
534
Obras, (Nutius, 1544, 1545, 1546-47, 1550, 1556). Steelsius also published the book in 1554. The successful
Obras had been first published in Barcelona in 1533 by Carlos Amorós.
535
Todas las obras de Juan de Mena (Nutius, 1552), the same year Steelsius published Las Trezientas also by
the Castilian poet Juan de Mena.
536
Histoire de Aurelio et Isabelle, fille du Roy d'Escoce: nouuellement traduict en quatre langues, Italien,
Español, François & Anglois (Steelsius, 1556). This multilingual edition of the love-intriguing history was surely
targeted to the cosmopolite merchant community of Antwerp.
537
Cuestión de amor y cárcel de amor (Nutius, 1546, 1556). It was first published in 1492 in Seville by the '4
compañeros alemanes' [Pablo de Colonia, Juan Pegnitzer, Magno Herbst and Tomás Glockner].
538
La Celestina (Nutius, 1550).
539
The famous picaresque novel was published by Nutius in 1554. And the Segunda Parte one year later in
1555, also by Nutius. In fact, the first edition of Lazarillo may have been published at some point in 1553,
currently four different editions published in 1554 are known: Burgos, Medina del Campo, Alcalá de Henares
and the aforementioned of Antwerp.
540
Propaladia (Nutius, ca. 1544-1549). The Propaladia was a collection of plays. It was first published by Jacobo
Cromberger ca.1520.
541
Cancionero de romances en que están recopilados la mayor parte de los romances castellanos que asta
agora se an compuesto (Nutius, 1547-48, 1550, 1554, 1555). This Cancionero brought together romances that

153
translations of Erasmus,545 contemporary historians, such as Luis de Ávila y Zuñiga,546 Juan
Calvete de la Estrella,547 Pedro Cieza de León,548 Francisco López de Gómara,549 Agustín de
Zárate (1555),550 and Portuguese historians, such as Fernão Lopes de Castanheda,551
Francisco Alvares,552 as well as some works by Antonio de Nebrija553 and classical authors,
like Aesop,554 Apuleius,555 Heliodorus,556 Homer,557 Cicero,558 Flavius Josephus,559
Sallustius,560 and Seneca.561

Accordingly, the majority of the Spanish re-editions of first editions issued by Nutius
and Steelsius virtually guaranteed commercial success and a rapid income. On the other
hand, Spanish-language scientific books were clearly not the target of the two Antwerp

had individually been published. Thus Nutius had the merit of saving from oblivion a large number of ballads
and romances that were orally transmitted, see: MOLL, 'Plantino y la industria editorial española', 17.
542
Libro de caballería celestial del pie de rosa fragante (Nutius, 1554). This first chivalric romance allo divino
was first published by Nutius.
543
Orlando Furioso (Nutius, 1549, 1554, 1557). Actually this was the first Spanish edition, translated by
Jerónimo Urrea.
544
The Spanish translation of Il cortegiano of Castiglione was published by Nutius (1544, 1554). It was first
published in Barcelona in 1534 by Pedro Monzepat.
545
Libro de vidas y dichos graciosos agudos y sentenciosos, translated by Juan de Jarava (Steelsius, 1549).
Nutius reprinted more Erasmus' Spanish translations which were very popular in Spain, such as the Libro de
Apothegmas, translated by Francisco de Tamara (Nutius, 1549), La lengua de Erasmo, translated by Bernardo
Pérez (Nutius, 1550), the first edition appeared in 1533 [s.l., s.n.], Enchiridion o manual del cavallero christiano
en romance, translated by Alfonso Fernández de Madrid (Nutius, 1555), the first edition was published by
Jacobo Cromberger (Seville, 1528), Preparación y aparejo para bien morir, translated by Bernardo Pérez
(Nutius, 1555) and Sílenos de Alcibíades, translated by Bernardo Pérez (Nutius, 1555), the first edition appeared
in Valencia in 1529 in the shop of Jorge Costilla
546
Comentario de la guerra de Alemania (Steelsius, 1549, 1550).
547
Felicissimo viaje del muy alto y muy poderoso príncipe don Phelippe (Nutius, 1552).
548
Parte primera de la chronica del Peru. This account was first published in Seville in 1553. And in 1554 was
published in Antwerp by three different publishers: Nutius, Steelsius and Joannes I Bellerus. In this respect
Pedro R. León raised several questions about these triple publication: was Cieza de León a literary figure
important enough to merit three Antwerp editions the same year? Did he have enough money to afford them?.
Presumably he decided that three different editions from well-known Flemish printers would definitely help his
literary aspirations. See: P.R. LEÓN, 'Brief notes on some 16th century Antwerp printers', 78.
549
Historia general de las Indias (it was published separately by both Steelsius and Nutius in 1554).
Furthermore, Nutius issued the Historia de México con el descubrimiento de la Nueva España (1554). It had
been first published in by Agustín Millán in Zaragoza in 1552.
550
Historia del descubrimiento y conquista del Perú (Nutius, 1555).
551
Historia del descubrimiento y conquista de la India por los portugueses (Nutius, 1553, 1554).
552
Historia de las cosas de Etiopía (Steelsius, 1557).
553
Dictionarium (Steelsius, 1545), Dictionarium latino-hispanicum, et vice-versa hispanico-latinum, 1553, 1560).
554
La vida y fábulas (Steelsius, 1546).
555
Historia del asno de oro (Steelsius, 1551).
556
Historia Ethiopica de Heliodoro (Nutius, 1554).
557
De la Ulyxea de Homero (Steelsius, 1550, 1556).
558
Libro de los Oficios (Steelsius, 1546, 1549, 1550).
559
Los veynte libros de las angituedades judaicas (Nutius, 1554), Los siete libros los quales contienen las guerras
de los judíos y la destrucción de Hierusalen y del templo (Nutius, 1554).
560
Salustio Cathilinario y Iugurta (Nutius, 1554).
561
Epístolas familiares (Steelsius, 1551) and Libros de Lucio Anneo Seneca (1551).

154
publishers, who rather focused on popular devotional, literature and history books, with a
couple of exceptions.562 However, as Karel Davids has recently remarked, 'important
contributions to the advancement of [scientific] knowledge [within the Hispanic World]
often did not appear in print, or at best only in an incomplete version', which was partly
explained by the deliberate policy of secrecy conducted by the Crown in areas like
geography, cartography, and navigation technology.563 Thus, scientific books published in
Spanish were not really being published abroad. As a result, Nutius and Steelsius should be
regarded as printers who were well aware of the Spanish market and its trends.

The insertion of the Spanish output issued by Steelsius and Nutius, required not only
accurate knowledge of the market, but also the development of editorial strategies to ensure
possible clients. Therefore, it was necessary to rely on Spanish scholars living in the
Netherlands, such as Martín Cordero de Valencia, Hernando de Jarava and his alleged
nephew Juan de Jarava to improve the standards of the Spanish language editions,.564

In fact, the two Antwerp publishers reached a remarkable degree of specialization of

their Spanish output. By the mid-1550s they clearly knew how to issue high quality editions
of popular Spanish texts which favored successful inroads in the Spanish market in
detriment to local shops. In this regard, the dedicatory letter of the edition of the Obras of
Boscán and Garcilaso de la Vega (Nutius, 1556) is revealing. Here Nutius explained the
reasons why he wanted to publish these authors, particularly since the book had been printed
countless times. First, Nutius declared the quality and popularity of the authors. Then he
explained that such good authors deserved a better edition than all the previous ones.

562
However, during the decade of 1550´s some example of medical books were issued in Spanish by printers
such as Hans de Laet or Arnold Birckman for instance: Dioscorides, Acerca de la materia medicinal y de los
venenos mortíferos / Pedacio Dioscorides anazarbeo , traduzido de lengua griega en la vulgar castellana &
illustrado con claras y substantiales annotationes ... por el doctor Andrés de Laguna, Antwerp, Haens de Laet,
1555, Fuchs, Leonard, Historia de las yeruas y plantas : sacadas de Dioscoride anazarbeo y otros insígnes
autores, con los nombres griegos, latinos y españoles / traduzida nueuamente en español por Iuan Iaraua ... con
sus virtudes y propriedades y el vso dellas y juntamente con sus figuras pintadas al viuo, Antwerp, Arnold
Birckman and Haens de Laet, 1557.
563
DAVIDS, 'Dutch and Spanish Global Networks of Knowledge in the Early Modern Period', 42.
564
Juan de Jarava was established in Leuven as a 'médico y philosopho', he has been considered as a supporter
of Erasmian ideals. The two Jarava were actively working for both Steelsius and Nutius as translators of classical
authors, yet Juan de Jarava also published his own titles such as Problemas, o preguntas problematicas, ansi de
Amor, como naturales, y a çerca del vino / bueltas nueuamente de Latin en lengua Castellana: y copiladas de
muchos y graues autores, por el Maestro Ivan de Iarava Medico. Y vn dialogo de Luciano, que se dize Icaro
Menippo o Menippo el Bolador. Mas un Dialogo del viejo, y del mancebo, que disputan del amor. Y vn Colloquio
de la Moxca y de la Hormiga, in 8°, Leuven, Ruterio Rescius, 1544. The book was republished in Alcalá two
years later by Juan de Brocar, see: LÓPEZ PIÑERO, and LÓPEZ TERRADA, La traducción por Juan de Jarava de
Leonard Fuchs, 33.

155
Therefore, he corrected and rectified it in many places. As a result, Nutius proudly remarked
that anyone who wished to compare any of the previous editions would notice the
difference.565 In fact, Nutius had made some adjustments on the text, therefore, he cautiously
added, that he had not dared to do these modifications without the approbation of wise men
skilled in the language of Castile (probably the aforementioned Martín Cordero de Valencia,
who had been working with Steelsius and Nutius). Nevertheless, to avoid any kind of
censure and risk, Nutius decided to send the text to Juan de Heredia to obtain royal favor for
its publication.566

This particular dedication suggests that the increasing degree of specialization reached
by the Spanish editions issued in Antwerp by the mid-1550s was of a very high quality,
since Nutius was not only publishing best-sellers, but also because he was able to make
amendments of a title that was already very popular, certainly relying on the expertise of
Spanish scholars and proof-readers to assure that his Spanish-language books were
linguistically accurate and surely expecting that the result would secure him a reputation
among Spanish readers, as well as economic profit.567 Griffin suggests that this practice of
adding forewords was not only a conventional use of captatio benevolentiae by a foreign
publisher, but clearly shows that demand in Spain was indeed outstripping the capacity of
the domestic presses.568

By the mid-sixteenth century the Spanish language was already considered a major
one, because of the fabulous expansion underwent by the Spanish monarchy all over the
world. This trend is confirmed by the words of fray Tomás Padilla, translator of the Historia

565
'Queriendo imprimir las obras de Boscan y Garcilaso de la Vega, y considerando que tantas vezes
avian sido impresas, que a gran pena se halla autor vulgar que se les yguale, ni que tan acepto sea a
todos, pareciome que merecían autores tan buenos, que se mirasse mucho en la impresión d'ellos,
y aszi hize lo que pude corrigiendo y emendandolos en infinitos lugares, de tal manera que quien
quisiere cotejar todas las impresiones con esta nuestra, conocera la diferencia, y que tengo razón',
see: BOSCAN and DE LA VEGA, Las obras de Boscán y algunas de Garcilaso, Antwerp, Petrus I
Bellerus, 1597, 2.
566
'Hallarse ha también en esta impresión alguna mudanza en la manera de escribir de lo que hasta
agora no he osado sacar a luz hasta que fuese aprobada de muchos hombres doctos y abiles en la
lengua Castellana, cuya aprobación me dio alas para comunicarla. Pero como sea cosa que requiere
favor determine enviarlo a V.S. y suplicarle, lo reciba en su protección y recebido osara parecer sin
vergüenza delante de todos', see: BOSCAN and DE LA VEGA, Las obras de Boscán y algunas de
Garcilaso, 2-3.
567
Some printers in Lyon were doing the same, the aforementioned Guillaume Rouillé, considered it worth to
employ a learned Spaniard as a proof-reader to ensure the accuracy of his Spanish-language books, see:
GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 13.
568
GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 13.

156
de las cosas de Etiopía by the Portuguese Francisco Alvares (Steelsius, 1557).569 In the
dedication of this first edition addressed to Antonio de Zuñiga, knight of Calatrava and a
gentilhombre of the emperor, Padilla shed some light on the motivations that moved
Steelsius to print this particular title, showing that potential success and wide distribution
were factors to consider.

Padilla argued that Steelsius, bookseller of Antwerp and a very zealous man who
always published books in benefit of the Catholic faith, had requested him to translate the
book from Portuguese into Spanish. Padilla considered the Portuguese as a limited and
rough language that was not widely spoken outside Portugal, while Spanish was not only
spoken in Spain, but in Italy, Hungary, Germany and particularly in Flanders where only
few gentleman and merchants could not speak it correctly. Even in France, England and
Berbery many people proudly knew it. Moreover, Padilla remarked that in the Spanish
Indies that represented a quarter of the known world, there were countless people who spoke
Spanish remarking that all over this vast geographical area no other language is spoken and
no other laws are accomplished than those of Castile.570 These clear words illustrate that

569
Francisco Alvares was the chaplain of King Manuel and member of the first Portuguese embassy sent to
Ethiopia led by Duarte Galvao that remained in East Africa for six years. Alvares' book was the result of a
research and a compilation of materials that were later use to produce a well-documented description about
this African land.
570
'Al muy ilustre señor Antonio de Zuñiga, caballero de la orden de Alcántara, y Gentil hombre del
Emperador Carlos quinto Rey de España, Quando el entendimiento quiere buscar alguna
recreación, muy Ilustre Señor, averiguado es, que a de dar de mano, como cosa no necessaria, al
descanso, quietud, y ociosidad que el cuerpo siempre aconseja: y se a de emplear en la lecion que
dispute y trate de la verdadera philosophia, o que enseñe, predique y manifieste, los hechos
antiguos de los Señalados Príncipes y varones, las costumbres de las naciones, las leyes y fetas que
guardar suelen, y assi certificansode de unas cosas, y maravillándose de otras alcanza
contentamiento y queda satisfecho en lo que pretendía. Considerando yo algunas vezes esto, cobre
animo para aprovechar a mi nación, para lo cual determine volver en romance castellano la relación
que Francisco Alvarez capellán rey de Don Manuel Rey de Portugal escribió de todas las cosas que
vio y le sucedieron en el imperio de Etiopia. […] A esto también no tanto me ha movido, porque me
sobrase mucho tiempo, […] porque Juan Steelsio librero en Anvers, hombre muy zeloso y amigo de
sacar en publico todas las cosas que suceden en gloria y alabanza de nuestra fe católica, me lo rogo
demasiadamente, diciendo que demás del servicio que se hazia a Dios en ello, movería también los
corazones de muchos, a que particularmente le orasen y suplicase que por su infinita piedad y
misericordia juntase en verdadera conformidad la iglesia de Etiopia con la de Roma. Persuadiame
también en ello a ver esta relación no se hallase sino en lengua Portuguesa: de cual por estar en
lengua Portuguesa por ser cerrada y áspera: no es tan conversable fuera de sus reynos, quanto oy
en día vemos ser la Castellana, no solo en España, más en Italia, Hungría, Alemania y en especial en
los Estados de Flandes, donde pocos caballeros y mercaderes se hallan, que no la procuren muy
bien hablar: pues en Francia, Inglaterra y Berberia, de creer es que ay muy muchos que se precian
de saberla. Sin estos reynos de Europa y Africa es manifiesto que en las Indias de Castilla quarta
parte del mundo, son infinitas poblaciones por los reynos de la Nueva España, Nueva Galicia,
157
Steelsius wanted to publish the text in Spanish with the intention of having worldwide
diffusion, using the language of Castile as a vehicle to reach several international readers.
Therefore, Steelsius and Nutius favored this kind of publications, searching for an assured
financial benefit.

However, high-quality editions published under the supervision of scholars were not
enough to put into circulation the book on foreign markets. The books had to be in
conformity with Catholic orthodoxy and Spanish censorship. In this respect Steelsius and
Nutius started to include imperial or royal privileges in both their Spanish and Latin editions
from the 1540s. The licenses were compulsory to distribute their books in the Iberian
Peninsula. In fact, Martinus Nutius was first concerned with this requirement, since he
obtained from the emperor a privilege dated in 1544 to print wide-read Spanish authors,
such as Juan de Guevara and Juan de Dueñas. Furthermore, Steelsius obtained in 1548 the
imperial privilege to print all Seneca's Spanish translations.571

The rising censorship in Spain during the 1550s (expressly with the publication of the
pragmatic of 1558 and the Indexes of 1551 and 1559), partially affected both the vernacular
and Latin output of several foreign and Spanish printers. For instance, some of Steelsius'
Latin re-editions of Erasmus and other humanists like Achilles Pirmin Gasser and
Bartholomaeus Westhemerus were included in the Index of 1551.572 Furthermore, during the
period 1552-1554 a general censure of Bibles was carried out in Spain. On September 17,
1552, the Council of the Supreme Inquisition demanded the Spanish tribunals to verify if
copies of an attached list of several bibles printed in different European cities were

Castilla del Oro, Nicaragua, Popayan, Perú, Chile, Río de la Plata, Nueva Andalucía, Nueva Granada,
Provincias de Cumana, Venezuela, Santa Marta, Cartagena, Tierra firme, y en muchas islas y
grandes como la de San Juan, Española, Cuba, Jamaica, en todos los cuales reynos y provincias que
se estienden por mas de dos mil leguas de norte a sur, no se trata de otro lenguaje ni obedecen
otras leyes, que las de Castilla de manera que vista la buena intención del librero. y el placer que el
animo de los lectores recivira en saber como nuestro señor ha conservado tantos años la
Christiandad de Etiopía: estando cercado por todas partes de los mas poderosos reynos del
paganismo, como son Egipto, Arabia, Aden, y otros muchos así que con esto me determina a
ocupar algunas horas menos necesarias en la traducción de este libro. Aunque es verdad, que de tal
suerte lo he hecho Castellano ue todavía sabe a Portugués: porque son de tal calidad las cosas de
aquella nación que siempre conservan en si cierto ser y fuerza tan extraña, que por ella jamás
dejará de mostrarse. Despues de acabado este pequeño trabajo atrevime a que se imprimiese en
bajo del favor y amparo del muy ilustre nombre de V.M. para que mas agradable fuese […]Lovaina,
10 de agosto de 1557', see the dedication in ALVARES, Historia de las Cosas de Etiopía, Antwerp,
Martinus Nutius, 1557.
571
MOLL, 'Amberes y el mundo hispano del libro', 120-121.
572
DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 217-275.

158
circulating in their districts. If so, the tribunals had to send a copy of each volume. The list
included two bibles of Steelsius published in 1538 and 1542,573 which were included in the
Censura generalis bibliorum, printed in Valladolid by Francisco Fernández de Córdoba
(1554).

The severe Index of 1559 kept censoring some of Steelsius' editions, such as the Novum
Testamentum (1544),574 as well as other Latin re-editions that had escaped censorship in 1551,
like Jordan Raymundus' Contemplationes Idiotae: de amore divino, de Virgine Maria (1535)
and its vernacular translation Contemplaciones del idiota (1550).575 Controversial
contemporary works published by Steelsius, like the Doctrina Christiana (1554) by
Constantino Ponce de la Fuente were also included. On the other hand, Nutius' Spanish
biblical translations of Hernando de Jarava were regarded as influenced by Erasmus. As a
result, all these texts were included in the Indexes of 1559, and 1583.576 Additionally, Nutius
first published one of the most controversial sixteenth-century Spanish-language books, the
Comentarios al catecismo cristiano (1558) of the archbishop of Toledo, Bartolomé de
Carranza.577 The Catecismo was prepared during Carranza's one-year stay in Antwerp. Two
dozens were sent to Spain to some theologians to be reviewed. However, when Carranza
returned to Spain in June 1558, his work already aroused suspicion and concern. As a
consequence general inquisitor Valdés rapidly commissioned Melchior Cano and Domingo de
Soto the theological censorship of the Catecismo. Finally, the book was included in the Index
of 1559, the bulk of the edition was blocked in Antwerp, his author was imprisoned and
submitted to one of the most famous inquisitorial trials in Spanish history.578

Neither Steelsius nor Nutius could foresee the annoying consequences of publishing
apparently 'innocent' books. The publication of the Segunda parte del Lazarillo de Tormes
(Nutius, 1555), resulted in the inclusion of the first and second parts in the Index of 1559. As
Reyes Coll-Tellechea clearly explained it was the publication of the sequel of 1555, that
allowed the Inquisition to intervene in the case:
573
DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 83. The list did not only included Steelsius, but other
Antwerp's printers such as Jacob van Liesvelt, Willem Vorsterman, Merten de Keyser (Caesar Martinus), or
publishers from cities like Basel, Lyon or Paris.
574
DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 418.
575
The Contemplaciones del idiota had been first published in 1536 by Willem Vorsterman, see: DE BUJANDA,
Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 465.
576
Among the translations were: Siete Psalmos penitenciales, Los quize salmos del canticugrado, Las
lamentaciones de Jeremías (Nutius, 1543, 1546 and 1556) and Las liciones de Job con los nueve psalmos
(Nutius, 1550).
577
DE BUJANDA, Index de L'Inquisition Espagnole, 459, 471.
578
MUÑOZ MACHADO, and ALCALÁ, Los grandes procesos de la historia de España, 248-249.

159
 'In the Antwerp edition, composed of the 1554 text plus the 1555 Segunda parte, the
story of Lázaro had taken a turn toward political criticism of the court, which the
Spanish authorities could not tolerate. The inquisition realized that the circulation of
the two parts of the novel highlighted certain anti nobiliary tones already present in the
1554 text'.579
Indeed the Segunda parte, was read as a political provocation in a time of increasing
censorship, as chapter one lengthily explained. Thus, the required knowledge of the Spanish
market, the degree of specialization, along with the typographic quality of the editions and the
licenses of impression obtained beforehand did not prevent the inclusion of some works
published by Steelsius and Nutius in the indexes of 1551 and 1559. Despite this apparent
severity, the conformity with catholic orthodoxy showed by both Steelsius and Nutius could
be regarded as a fact for several reasons. First, unlike other contemporary Antwerp printers,
they did not risk to print authors with Lutheran or Calvinist convictions. Additionally, since
the 1540s they were certainly aware of the imperial and royal privileges necessary to
distribute their books in Spain.

Nutius died in 1558 and Steelsius a few years later, in 1562, their respective shops were
taken over by their widows and heirs who continued the vernacular and Latin editorial line of
both publishers. As to Spanish editions both families were still printing some of the Spanish
best-sellers already issued in their printing shops: Ariosto,580 Azpilcueta,581 Juan Boscán and
Garcilaso,582 Castiglione,583 Dueñas,584 Kempis,585 Mexía,586 among others. Additionally, the
widows and heirs of Nutius and Steelsius certainly took the initiative to publish new Spanish
titles. The widow of Martinus Nutius published several first editions practically since 1559.
For instance, political treatises, such as the work of the famous political thinker Fadrique
Furió Ceriol, Concejo y consejeros del príncipe (1559).587

579
COLL-TELLECHEA, 'The Spanish Inquisition and the battle for Lazarillo', 78.
580
La primera parte del Orlando Furioso (Widow and heirs of Nutius, 1558).
581
Manual de confesores (Widow and heirs of Steelsius, 1568).
582
Obras (Widow and heirs of Nutius, 1566).
583
El cortesano (Widow and heirs of Nutius, 1561, 1571).
584
Espejo de consolación (Widow and heirs of Nutius, 1559), Segunda parte del espejo de consolación (Widow
and heirs of Nutius, 1559).
585
Contenmptus Mundi, nuevamente romanzado (Widow and heirs of Steelsius, 1564).
586
Silva de varia lección (Widow and heirs of Nutius, 1558, 1560, 1561, 1564).
587
In general, the widow and heirs of Nutius remained more active than the Steelsius' family in the
maintenance of the Spanish editorial line. Yet, the Steelsius family also published first editions of literary works
such as Pedro Hurtado de la Vera's Comedia intitulada dolería del sueño del mundo (1572), as well as the
translation of the same author of the popular italian book Historia lastimera d'el príncipe Erasto, hijo del
emperador Diocletiano (1573).

160
However, as a direct consequence of the severe period of 1558-1559 the two families avoided
publishing vernacular translations of the Bible, such as those made earlier by Hernando and
Juan de Jarava, as well as Erasmus' works, and controversial authors like Bartolomé de
Carranza and Constantino Ponce de la Fuente. Furthermore, chroniclers dealing with the
history of the Indies, like Cieza de León, Zárate and López de Gómara were not published any
longer. One possible explanation is the impact of the law issued by Philip II, on September
21, 1556 and August 14, 1560, in which no book concerning the Indies was allowed to be
published without the approbation of the Royal Council.

Thus, the relevance of Joannes Steelsius and Martinus Nutius consisted in the
developing of editorial lines that made successful inroads in the Spanish market, paving the
way for the next generation of Flemish printers interested in the Spanish market. By the
second half of the century the international book exportation would be dominated by the shop
of Christophe Plantin (active from 1555 to 1589).588 Since his very first editions the output
was diversified, topical and multilingual. As Steelsius and Nutius, he was aware of the
benefits of printing in vernacular languages, such as French, Italian and Spanish. 589 However,
his world fame was caused mainly by his Latin editions since they were extensively exported.

3.4 Book distribution through booksellers in Spain (sixteenth-seventeenth centuries)

In the sixteenth century there were two options to export books to Spain. The first was to
contact a bookseller active there to begin a collaboration that included the sending of editions
published in the Southern Netherlands, in particular Antwerp to be sold -probably at good
profits- in the bookshops of the printers or booksellers settled down in Spain. The second was
to specifically place agents in Spanish cities to retail the books dispatched (this second
modality will be discussed in section 3.5). The fundamental difference was that an agent was
basically subordinated to the publisher, receiving a wage and probably with few or without
additional benefits, while the bookseller was independent and had the choice to accept or
decline collaborations with the Antwerp publishers.

588
Plantin was born in about 1520 in a village near Tours in France. He was trained as a bookbinder in Caen.
Then he moved to Antwerp in 1548, where he originally installed his shop as a bookbinder and leather worker.
589
His first title was a French-Italian edition of a handbook destined to the young ladies education, written by
the Italian humanist Giovanni Michele Bruto, La institutione di una fanciulla nata nobilmente, L´institution
d´une fille de noble maison (Christophe Plantin, 1555).

161
The two entrepreneurial ventures offered advantages and disadvantages. The election of
booksellers already operating in Spain ensured a rapid distribution of the exported books,
obtaining benefits for both the bookseller and the publisher. However, the bookseller was
always free to chose with whom to make business attracted by the best offers. On the other
hand, with an own placed agent, the new bookshop required not only investment to supply it
but also time to develop it. However, if everything went as expected the profit might have be
higher. In both cases delays on payments or problems with the booksellers or with the own
agents were ever-present problems.

With regard to the mid-sixteenth century it appears that Mathias Gast played a key role
in the importation of Flemish books. Gast, who was born in Antwerp, came first to Medina
del Campo as a bookseller, a professional activity he continued the rest of his life in
Salamanca where he was established since 1547. There he entered the employ of the famous
Juan de Junta and soon after he married Junta's daughter Lucrecia. As a consequence, his role
in Junta's shop became increasingly important. During Junta's absences, he was in charge of
the shops in Burgos and Salamanca, representing the family's business and legal interests until
probably 1558.590 From that year on Gast started his own business, alternating his activities as
a printer and as a bookseller in Salamanca until 1577. Delgado Casado observed that Gast
kept in contacts with his native Antwerp and visited the city in 1553, 1558 and 1561.591 In
concordance with this, Robben affirmed that Gast and Nutius had commercial contacts.592
Thus, presumably large numbers of editions of Nutius and Steelsius were sold to Mathias Gast
allowing him to offer recent Antwerp editions in the bookstore of his father-in-law that may
have been easily sold on the local market. This mutually beneficial book trade was possibly
established at some point between 1547 and 1553.

The shipment of books established between Antwerp publishers and Mathias Gast can
certainly be verified in the inventory of Juan de Junta's bookstore in Burgos completed in
1557, where several Spanish editions of Steelsius but mostly of Nutius have been identified.
Pettas pointed out that along with Lyon, which played a major role in supplying the Burgos
book market, Basel, Antwerp and Paris also produced many of the works in the stock of
Junta's shop.593 Among the several editions published by Nutius and Steelsius that were listed
in the inventory identified by Pettas there are the biblical translations of Hernando de

590
PETTAS, A sixteenth-century Spanish Bookstore, 7.
591
DELGADO CASADO, Diccionario de impresores españoles, 267.
592
ROBBEN, 'Juan Pulman, librero y agente de la Oficina Plantiniana', 54.
593
PETTAS, A sixteenth-century Spanish Bookstore, 5.

162
Jarava594 as well as other religious works by authors like Guevara, 595 Saint Francis of
Borgia,596 the pseudo Saint Augustine,597 Alonso Fernández de Madrigal -El Tostado-,598 the
Italian reformer Girolamo Savonarola,599 as well as large numbers of works by Eramus, which
were readily available in Pre-Index Burgos, in spite of the well-known hostility displayed in
Spain against the Dutch humanist.600 There are also entertainment books, such as the
Celestina,601 the Obras of the poet Juan de Mena,602 as well as Ludovico Ariosto's Spanish
translation of Orlando furioso.603 Finally, historical accounts have also been identified, such
as those written by Pedro Cieza de León604 and Juan Calvete de la Estrella.605 This
unmistakable presence of Steelsius' and Nutius' editions in Juan de Junta's shop proves that
the two Antwerp publishers managed to construct a network of book distribution towards
Spain, using Flemish booksellers particularly Mathias Gast.

Eventually, young Flemish apprentices or officials were also sent to Spain in order to
learn the know-how of local trade, as well as the language, or they moved there searching for
a successful career in Spain. Cornelio Bonardo or Cornelis Boonaerts from Antwerp was

594
Las liciones de job con los nueve psalmos (Nutius, 1543, 1550), 24 copies of Jarava's Siete psalmos
penitenciales. Los quinze psalmos del canticugrado. Las lamentaciones de Jeremías. (They could be either the
editions printed by Nutius in 1543, 1546 or 1556). Jarava's translations were included in the Spanish Index of
1559, see: PETTAS, A sixteenth-century Spanish Bookstore, 127, 137.
595
Two copies of the Libro llamado Monte Calvario of fray Antonio de Guevara (Nutius °ca.1545 and 1550), see:
PETTAS, A sixteenth-century Spanish Bookstore, 131.
596
Obras Muy deuotas y prouechosas para qualquier fiel Christiano (Nutius, 1556), see: PETTAS, A sixteenth-
century Spanish Bookstore, 134.
597
Five copies of the Libro de las meditaciones y soliloquios (Nutius, 1550), see: PETTAS, A sixteenth-century
Spanish Bookstore, 130.
598
Five copies of Las XIIII questiones del Tostado: a las quatro dellas por marauilloso estilo recopila toda la
sagrada escriptura (Nutius, 1551), see: PETTAS, A sixteenth-century Spanish Bookstore, 139.
599
Nine copies of Las obras que se hallan romanzadas (Nutius 1549), see: PETTAS, A sixteenth-century Spanish
Bookstore, 133.
600
For instance, eight copies of the Libro de Apophtegmas translated by Francisco de Tamara (Nutius 1549) as
well as one copy of the Lengua de Erasmo (Nutius, 1550), which indeed was included in the Index of 1559.
Some other Erasmus' editions may have been published by Nutius such as the three copies of the Silenos de
Alcibiades (Nutius, 1555), which was also included in the severe Index of 1559, along with three copies of the
Preparación y aparejo para bien morir (Nutius, 1555) and three more copies of the Enchiridion o manual del
cavallero christiano en romance (Nutius, 1555), see: PETTAS, A sixteenth-century Spanish Bookstore, 103, 104,
120 and 127, 143.
601
Pettas believed that the 28 Celestinas listed in the inventory may have been the Nutius' edition of 1550.
PETTAS, A sixteenth-century Spanish Bookstore, 109.
602
Obras (Nutius 1552), see: PETTAS, A sixteenth-century Spanish Bookstore, 134.
603
Three copies of the first Spanish translation of Orlando furioso translated by Jerónimo de Urrea (they may
be either Nutius' 1549 or 1554 edition), see: PETTAS, A sixteenth-century Spanish Bookstore, 134.
604
Pettas supposed that the inventory listed nine copies printed in Antwerp of the Parte primera de la Chronica
del Perú of Pedro Cieza de León (it was printed three times in Antwerp in 1554 by Steelsius, Nutius and Joanes
Bellerus), see: PETTAS, A sixteenth-century Spanish Bookstore, 107.
605
One copy of Felicissimo Viaje del muy alto y muy poderoso príncipe Don Phelippe (Nutius 1552), see: PETTAS,
A sixteenth-century Spanish Bookstore, 175.

163
trained as printer in Nutius’ workshop possibly during the 1550's. He took up residence in
Salamanca at the beginning of the 1570's, where he married to Hieronima Gast (one of the
daughters of Mathias Gast and Lucrecia Junta). By 1574 he was directing his father-in-law's
shop, becoming subsequently an independent publisher and bookseller. Following Mathias
Gast's death in 1580, Cornelio along with his wife Hieronima and other heirs continued to run
the shop for some years. And after Lucrecia Junta's death (1586), Cornelio took over the
press.606 It is also believed that Jan I Mommaert (active in Brussels from 1585 to 1631), may
have completed his training at the shop of Gast, since Mommaert declared in his application
as a publisher to the Privy Council in Brussels that he had acquired his knowledge in
Salamanca, although he did not mention with whom.607

As for the early seventeenth century Juan Hasrey or Hertsroy, who was born in Brabant,
became a prominent bookseller in Madrid, where he was established at least since the first
years of the century. In Madrid, Hasrey was a key figure for the importation of Flemish book
since he kept numerous contacts with other Spanish and foreign merchants, booksellers and
printers, such as his own cousin Martinus II Nutius (son of Martinus Nutius), Jan I Moretus,
Jan Van Keerberghen, as well as with the famous publisher Luis Sánchez of Madrid. 608 In
addition, Hasrey was not only a bookseller but also an editor, for instance, the edition of Las
varias antigüedades de España, África y otras provincias by Bernardo José Aldrete, was
published along with the Antwerp printers Geeraerd van Wolschaeten and Henri I Aertssens
in 1614. Finally, he was an active merchant handling with a great amount of goods, such as
textiles, tapestries and even paintings.

The turn of the century witnessed the escalation in the exportation of Antwerp books
mostly issued in Latin towards the Hispanic world. As a result, the services of Hasrey were
sought by two important Antwerp publishers, Jan I Moretus the famous son-in-law of
Christophe Plantin (active from 1590 to 1610) and Jan Van Keerberghen (active from 1586
until 1624). Both publishing houses experienced a rapid growth as already mentioned in
chapter II. Prior to 1606 Hasrey had bought book shipments from Jan I Moretus. However,
Van Keerberghen was also looking to allocate his editions in the Spanish market as the vast
majority of his output dealt with modern theologians. These include several works by Spanish

606
ROBBEN, 'Juan Pulman, librero y agente de la Oficina Plantiniana', 54.
607
CLAESENS, 'Deux familles d'imprimeurs brabançons. Les Mommaert et les Friccx', 206-207.
608
DELGADO CASADO, Diccionario de impresores españoles, II, 633-634.

164
Jesuits (Luis de Alcázar, Luis de Molina, Juan Osorio, Juan de Pineda, Francisco Suárez or
the Portuguese Emmanuel Sá).

Jan Van Keerberghen signed a contract of exclusivity with Juan Hasrey from 1606 until
1612, period in which Hasrey undertook the distribution of the books dispatched by Van
Keerberghen.609 Consequently, the commercial operations between the Plantiniana and
Hasrey suddenly stopped. This maneuver made Van Keerberghen a direct competitor of the
Plantiniana, at least concerning the Spanish market.610 As a result, the Moretuses perceived
with distrust the operations of Van Keerberghen, as illustrated by a letter of Balthazar I
Moretus (one of the sons and successors of Jan I Moretus active from 1610 to 1641), 611
addressed to Phillipus de Peralta (who was the link between the Moretuses and the archbishop
of Toledo) dated January 15, 1613, in which Balthazar I complained about the difficulties to
find a good agent in situ. Moreover, the fact that Jan Van Keerberghen allegedly was printing
his editions in Germany (just putting his name and that of the city of Antwerp on the cover)
was strongly criticized. This allegedly trick resulted in cheaper editions that Van Keerberghen
could easily send to his agent Hasrey in Madrid.612

As to the rivalry established between the Moretusses and Van Keerberghen, it was
undoubtedly not a coincidence that Balthazar I Moretus openly discredited Jan Van
Keerberghen, as this last one, had also a privilege to print 'Nuevo Rezado' books particularly
Biblias and Sacrosancti et Oecumenici Concilii Tridentini. It is worth noting a petition of
1615 done by the Hieronymites of El Escurial to Philip III, asking him to mediate with the
archdukes so that the families Moretus and Van Keerberghen had to reduce the excessive
prices of their religious works. The fathers of El Escurial added that only these two printers
had privilege and faculty to print these books in those states.613 Jan Van Keerberghen's

609
On March 23, 1612, Jan Van Keerberghen the Younger on behalf of his father put an end to this contract,
see: AGULLÓ Y COBO, La imprenta y el comercio de libros en Madrid, 126.
610
IMHOF, 'Las ediciones españolas de la Officina Plantiniana', 68.
611
From 1610 to 1618 Balthazar I worked along with his brother Jan II Moretus. From 1619 he worked along
with the widow of his brother and with Joannes Meurs until 1626. And from 1627 he was completely in charge
of the Plantiniana.
612
IMHOF, 'Las ediciones españolas de la Officina Plantiniana', 68.
613
The title of the copy kept at the MPM is: 'Copia d'una supplica a sa. Magd. de los Padres de St. Jermo. El
prior y convento de St. Lorenzo el Real dizen que los herederos de Xpl. Plantino y Juan Keerbergio impressores
de Flandes venden los libros del Nuevo Rezado que imprimen muy caros y a precios excessivos, por razón de
qu'ellos dos solamente tienen privilegio y facultad de poderlos imprimir en todos aquellos estados, por cuya
causa no se pueden tener los dichos libros del rezo en el estanco de aquí a precios moderados, y en la
abundancia que se desea. Suplica a v.md. se sirve de su consentimiento y mandar escrivir al Archiduque
Alberto de su cedula y privilegio al dicho convento de St. Lorenzo para que la persona que nombrare de

165
response to this complaint is not known unlike that of Balthazar I and Jan II Moretus who
argued that the typographical quality of their prints (the delicate edition, luxurious paper,
elegant typography and wonderful engravings), which were superior in quality and value to
those illustrations of Van Keerberghen's books (who was considered a disloyal competitor),
justified the costs, and that their prices followed the trends of the French and Italian markets.

In 1613, Hasrey and the family Van Keerberghen strengthened their partnership when
Jan Van Keerberghen the Younger signed a contract with him on March 23, in which he
agreed to take on his brother Joost or Justo Van Keerberghen as an apprentice in his shop for
six years. Thus, as observed with Mathias Gast, young apprentices were also sent to Hasrey
in order to learn the office. On the same day Hasrey was granted the faculty to deal with all
the Van Keerberghen's business.614 However, the contract was soon cancelled on November
21.

By 1615, Juan Hasrey was working again for the Moretusses as the contact person
sending the liturgical books of the Plantiniana to the monastery of the Hieronymites at El
Escurial getting a 10% commission.615 Probably due to a rapprochement between the
Plantiniana and Hasrey, the partnership between the Van Keerberghen family and Juan
Hasrey was suddenly ceased in 1613. Thus, possibly Hasrey found more attractive the
participation on the increasing trade of Nuevo Rezado books, which had been retaken by Jan I
Moretus and his heirs Balthazar I and Jan II.

Furthermore, Martinus II Nutius (active in Antwerp from 1579 to 1608), cousin of

Hasrey had also contacts with him as Nutius' will illustrates.616 Among the list of debtors
appeared booksellers of the Southern Netherlands, Balthazar, Lucas & Petrus Bellerus, Jan
van Keerberghen, Joachim Trognesius, Hieronymus I Verdussen and Gerard van Wolschaten,
all of them active in Antwerp, as well as Rutger Velpius of Brussels and Henricus Hovius of
Liège. Furthermore, booksellers of Amsterdam and Cologne were also listed,617 as well as
merchants and members of the local clergy. In Spain the contacts included his cousin Juan

aquellos estados pueda imprimir en ellos libremente y sin incurrir en pena alguna, los libros del rezo que de aca
se le ordenaren', see: IMHOF, 'Las ediciones españolas de la Officina Plantiniana'. 81.
614
AGULLÓ Y COBO, La imprenta y el comercio de libros en Madrid, 126.
615
IMHOF, 'Las ediciones españolas de la Officina Plantiniana', 70. Concerning Juan Hastrey see also: STOLS, De
Spaanse Brabanders, I, 264. Hastrey died in 1616 and the Moretus sent their shipments to Cornelis Martens.
616
The testament was included in the series published by DUVERGER, Antwerpse Kunstinventarissen uit de
zeventiende eeuw, I, testament 166.
617
Such as Bernad Adrianssen or Adriaanssens of Amsterdam and Johannes Critz and Anthoni Hirart of Cologne.

166
Hasrey. Thus, Martinus II Nutius also established direct links and received first hand
information about the trends of the Spanish book market through his cousin.

Accordingly, Juan Hasrey was a key figure of Flemish book distribution in Madrid
during the early seventeenth century. His position and good connections established with local
and foreigner printers and booksellers made that his services were required at least by three
important Antwerp printing shops. In the end, Hasrey benefited from the competition between
the Moretusses and Van Keerberghen, and from his non-subordinated position he chose the
best option for his own interest. This competition confirms the interest of Antwerp publishing
houses in the distribution of their books by the means of other Flemish citizens and
booksellers already established in Spanish cities and certainly Madrid was a sought-after
center of international book distribution.

During the seventeenth century Madrid remained as a magnet for Flemish booksellers,
as proved by at least three members of the Bellerus family active during the first half of the
century in Madrid: Balthazar, Antonio and Juan Bautista. They managed to establish their
bookshops at the heart of Madrid's book-trade, the Calle Mayor. According to Mercedes
Agulló a document of 1615 mentioned a certain Balthazar Bellerus working as an assistant
at Juan Hasrey's shop, then he became an independent bookseller. Thus, he learned the
office with an important figure of the Flemish book trade of the first decades of the
seventeenth century. Additionally, there are notices of his activity in the city making
valuations of private libraries at least until 1663.

Antonio Bellerus came to Spain in 1632, although the first official record of his
establishment as bookseller in Madrid dates to 1641. He established his bookshop also at the
Calle Mayor, where he was focused on the importation of books, particularly from Flanders.
Actually the Flemish booksellers were grouped together at the Calle Mayor, where other
Flemish librarians were also established by the 1640s, such as a certain Gaspar Berbeecque
(Verbeeck?) or Ignacio de Laet from Antwerp.618 Concerning Juan Bautista Bellerus, he also
chose Madrid to start his career as a bookseller in 1624 focusing on book importation, he
also had his shop at the city's main street the Calle Mayor.619 This branch of the Bellerus
family firmly established at the heart of the empire proves how vigorous and integrated the
Flemish community was during the seventeenth century confirming that the importation of
618
AGULLÓ Y COBO, La imprenta y el comercio de libros en Madrid, 25-26, 29.
619
Eddy Stols noticed that this Juan Bautista also established a commercial company on Málaga along with
Justo de Tollenaere in 1649. The family De Tollenaere, were merchants of Bruges trading in Spain, Justo de
Tollenare was established in Málaga around the 1640s, see: STOLS, De Spaanse Brabanders, II, 6, 65.

167
books to Spain was to a greater extent in the hands of foreign booksellers. Finally, the
activity of a certain José or Jusepe Bellerus has also been documented. He was a bookseller
of Seville specialized in the importation of foreign books during the mid-seventeenth
century.620

Not only the Flemish booksellers like Mathias Gast, Juan Hasrey or the members of
the Bellerus family were the only options to sell books. Other foreign booksellers
represented an option since as Griffin pointed out, bookselling throughout Spain, was
largely in the hands of immigrants particularly Germans, Genovese and French, apart from
Flemish.621 After the rupture with Hasrey, it become compulsory for the Van Keerberghen
family to find another agent. On April 9, 1616 Jan Van Keerberghen the Younger signed a
contract with Jerónimo or Jerome de Courbes granting him the authority to deal with all his
family operations in Spain. The choice was indeed excellent since De Courbes was the most
important French bookseller of Madrid, as well as a merchant and a moneylender. De
Courbes was originally from Paris and took up residence in Madrid in 1611 where he
worked until at least 1631. He managed to create an extensive network, which involved
French, Italian and Flemish booksellers, as well as Spaniards from Alcalá, Zaragoza,
Valencia, Salamanca and Seville. Furthermore, Joost or Justo Van Keerberghen, who had
been for a short period an apprentice at Hasrey's shop, was apparently working with De
Courbes because by 1618 the French bookseller granted him the authority to ask the
payment of a debt from Bernarda del Castillo, bookseller of Alcalá. However, it is not
clearly known how many years lasted this new partnership. There is documentary evidence
of 1624 when Justo paid Courbes 34 000 maravedíes that he had used at the court, but the
specific reason is not known.622 Finally, prior to 1620 Van Keerberghen had also
commercial operations with another French bookseller active in Madrid, Jacques Cardon
relative of the Cardon family, whose bookshop was one of the most important in Lyon
during the first half of the seventeenth-century.623 In addition, the Cardon family was busy
sending books to booksellers of Medina del Campo until 1608 and subsequently to Madrid
and Valladolid.624

620
RUEDA, Negocio e intercambio cultural, 193, 264.
621
GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 27.
622
AGULLÓ Y COBO, La imprenta y el comercio de libros en Madrid, 69-72, 242.
623
PALMISTE, 'Los mercaderes de libros e impresores flamencos en Sevilla, 264.
624
ROJO VEGA, Impresores, libreros y papeleros en Medina del Campo y Valladolid, 49.

168
Spanish booksellers had also contacts with Antwerp publishers, such as the most thriving
bookseller of Seville in the 1640s, Juan López Román, as illustrated by his testament that
was drawn up in 1649.625 The document sheds light on the active trade established between
López Román and Antwerp printers. According to Pedro Rueda, the activities of Juan López
Román increased the book trade of Seville during the 1640s. 626 Therefore he has been
considered along with Antonio de Toro as the leading book exporter to America during this
period.627 Indeed López Román and Antonio de Toro regularly shipped books to the Indies.
Among the shipments detected by Rueda stand large amounts of comedies, such as the
treinta y seis dozenas de comedias sent in 1646.628 In fact, López Román and De Toro had
established together a company, in which the latter was responsible for two-thirds of it, this
company would eventually dissolve with the death of one of the two parts. In addition, they
were not only partners but relatives since López Román's first wife was Margarita de Toro
daughter of Antonio.

López Román's will stated that 211 reales had to be paid to Martinus Nutius (already
deceased), it surely referred to another member of the Nutius dynasty, Martinus III (active in
Antwerp between 1620-1639). This third-generation member of the well-known Antwerp
printing shop had been primarily busy in printing well-known Jesuit authors, like Thomas
Sánchez, Jacobus Tirinus, Antonius Sucquet or the popular Flemish exegete Cornelius a
Lapide, whose books were easily placed in Spain and overseas. Consequently, the third
generation of the Nutius still had some presence in the Spanish market.

However, more important was an old debt that had to be paid to the heirs of Joannes
Van Meurs (active in Antwerp from 1613 to 1649). The debt amounted 2900 reales de plata
for a book shipment, that had been sent long time ago. This particular clause confirms that
Jan Van Meurs was also involved in international book circulation. Van Meurs’ printing
shop experienced a rapid growth, because of the numerous editions of Jesuit authors, that
were widely circulating all over Europe and overseas. These editions can be still found in
libraries throughout the Hispanic world.629 Although López Román's will did not mention

625
AHPS, Oficio 19, 12914, fol. 565r-569r. I am very grateful to Kennet Ward who also gave me this
information.
626
RUEDA RAMÍREZ, Negocio e intercambio cultural, 53.
627
RUEDA RAMÍREZ, 'La circulación de libros entre el viejo y el nuevo mundo', 86-87.
628
RUEDA RAMÍREZ, Negocio e intercambio cultural, 264-265.
629
Such as the Compendium privilegiorum facultatum et gratiarum Societati Jesu (1635), the Decreta
congregationvm generalivm Societatis Iesv (1635), the Index generalis in omnes libros instituti Societatis Iesv
(1635), the Litterae Apostolicae, quibus institutio, confirmatio, et varia privilegia continentur societatis Jesu

169
the kind of books shipped by Van Meurs, they were surely Latin Jesuit books that could be
easily purchased by important clients, such as the Jesuits of Seville, who were avid book
consumers, particularly if the editions were related to their order.

Finally, 4800 reales had to be paid to Balthazar II Moretus (considerably more than the
amounts to be paid to Nutius and Van Meurs).630 These numbers reflect that during the time
of Balthazar II Moretus as head of the Plantiniana (he was active from 1641 to 1674), Spain
became the most important market around 1640-1650). According to Materné this was
possible because of the development of Madrid [and Seville] as an essential center of both
book production and international distribution, as well as the shrinking of the once traditional
market of the Officina Plantiniana the German market. Thus, this trend reflecs the decline of
the Frankfurt Fairs.631

López Román's will also proves his extended network of contacts and the increasing
participation of French booksellers in the Spanish markets, such as the considerably amount
of 3900 pesos and 36 reales de plata, that had to be paid to Laurent Anisson and company
established in Lyon, or the 4000 reales de plata, to be paid to Antoine Bertier, Paris printer.
These clauses reflect that during the seventeenth century Seville's bookshops were still to a
large extent dependent on foreign booksellers.632 That was the reason why large shipments
of books from Antwerp, Florence, Venice, Paris and Lyon, could find their own way into the
Atlantic routes of book distribution departing from Seville.

This rich typographic offer was indeed often shipped to the Indies. In fact, after the
'international' debts, López Román's will lists the debts he had with Spanish clients and people
in the Indies. For instance, Pedro de Santos Argüello owed 20 055 reales de plata to him for
23 cases of books to be delivered at Portobelo to the agent of the Lima printer, Julián Santos
de Saldaña. This example perfectly illustrates how a printer of Lima received a book shipment
sent by a bookseller of Seville, who was specialized in importing foreign books. Moreover,
Pedro de Santos Argüello took with him 6500 estampas de vitela iluminadas.633 The revenue

(1635), the Ratio atque institutio studiorum societatis iesu (1635) or the Regulae societatis Jesu avctoritate
septimae congregationis generalis auctae (1635). All these books were essential to any Jesuit library.
630
AHPS, Oficio 19, 12914, fol. 565r-569r.
631
Only with Cologne did trade remain fairly brisk, see: VOET, The golden compasses, II, 407-408; see also:
MATERNE, 'Restructuring the Plantinian Office', 296, 301.
632
RUEDA RAMÍREZ, 'El contrabando de libros en la carrera de Indias', 162,
633
The Word vitela still means in Colombia: 'estampa que representa a Cristo, la virgen o los santos'. Thus
possibly all these estampas de vitela referred to prints depicting Christ, the virgin or the saints.

170
from the sale of these thousands of estampas had to be delivered to the heirs of Diego de
Coques, who was the consul of the Nación Flamenca (Flemish trading nation) in Seville.

This noteworthy seventeenth-century testament sheds light on the international

character of López Román's commercial operations, confirming his activity as importer of
foreign books printed either in Antwerp, Lyon or Paris. These contacts allowed him to
supply his bookshop with the most select assortment of new publications available in
Europe, printed by famous editorial houses of that time. Therefore, López Román was able
to send to America a wide range of books. The testament confirms as well the dynamic
international book markets during the mid-seventeenth century and the intense relations
between Antwerp and Seville.

3.5 Placing agents in Spain to assure a better book distribution

From the mid-sixteenth century Antwerp publishers had all the elements to develop a
commercial network, which brought together a certain number of individuals or agents,
whether belonging to the same firm or not, located at different points on a circuit or a group of
circuits.634 In order to have a better knowledge of the Spanish market and its inner trends it
became compulsory to establish direct contacts through agents based in Spanish cities, which
ensured -at least theoretically- a better distribution and allocation of foreign editions within
the Iberian market. The person or persons selected to perform such an important task had to
enjoy the complete confidence of the publisher.

It was certainly not easy to find trustworthy persons abroad since it required loyalty,
personal confidence, scrupulousness and respect for instructions. In fact, the merchant
profession could not do without a network of reliable go-betweens and associates. Therefore,
the family offered the most natural and sought-after solution as Braudel already pointed out.
As a consequence, the candidates were often relatives: sons, sons-in-law, cousins or
nephews.635 Juan Bellero or Bellerus (agent in Seville from 1583 to 1588) was Petrus I
Bellerus's nephew.

The choice of other individuals either during the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries
heavily depended on private recommendations done by family or colleagues. For instance, Jan
Poelman (agent of Plantin in Salamanca) was the son of the humanist and philologist

634
BRAUDEL, Civilization and Capitalism, 149.
635
FBRAUDEL, Civilization and Capitalism, 150.

171
Theodorus Pulmannus whose works on classical authors had been printed by Plantin since
1562. Robben noted that probably through Pulmannus' advise his son Jan entered the service
of Plantin in 1567 becoming later his agent in Salamanca.636 In the first letter that Balthazar
II Moretus sent to Carlos Du Pont (who eventually become the agent of the Plantiniana in
Madrid) on May 26, 1665, he expresses that because of the death of Jan Michilsens (his
previous agent) he was forced to look for another one. In the meantime he had been informed
by his cousin Guilbert Faume that Du Pont was available to serve him as his new agent. Thus,
the family recommendation was taken into account to hire Du Pont.637

The activities of the agents were fundamental in cities like Seville since they had
firsthand and precious information about local trends, prices and since they could easily
recourse to local intermediaries that were already familiar with the complex world of the
port. Thus, they were usually acquainted with the commercial techniques and the
mechanisms of book circulation.638 The election of Seville was not casual, the city offered
good prospects for international book distribution since it was a large commercial centre,
with a potential market of books. In addition, America's trade monopoly turned Seville into
a platform of persons and merchandises and a compulsory desirable hub to participate in the
so-called Carrera de Indias.639 As to Castilian sixteenth-century urban centers like
Valladolid, Alcalá but especially Salamanca and its academic life directly connected to its
famous University, offered as well opportunities to set up bookshops specialized in
importing foreign editions.

From the last decades of the sixteenth century and throughout the seventeenth century
Madrid became an important center of foreign book importation, given its position as the
center of the Spanish political power. In addition, if the Antwerp publishers or booksellers
were able to establish contacts with members of the Court linked to the highest spheres of
government, this could result in profitable contracts as well as royal favor to support
important projects.

The book shipment to the Iberian Ports required contact persons supervising the
maritime operations. These shipping agents had to pay the transport costs as well as find a
suitable ship en route to Bilbao, San Sebastián, Seville or Cadiz (and in case of having

636
Pulmannus and Plantin were close friends as well.
637
VAN POPPEL, De boekenafzet der Moretussen op Spanje en de koloniën, 65.
638
RUEDA RAMÍREZ, 'Libros a la mar: el libro en las redes comerciales de la Carrera de Indias', 193.
639
PALMISTE, 'Los mercaderes de libros e impresores flamencos en Sevilla', 251.

172
Portuguese clients to Lisbon) supervising the loading of book cases. In the event that no
ships were available or that the weather conditions were not favorable, the cases had to be
stored in warehouses. This knowledge was crucial in order to send books on time to Spain.
Accordingly, the choice of a specific port depended to a great extent on the place from
where the books could be sent as fast as possible according to the interests of the Antwerp
publishers.

With respect to the ports of departure sixteenth-century Antwerp had the primacy but
with the city´s economic decline that began with the capitulation of the city in 1585, and the
consequent blockage of the Scheldt -the city's main economic artery- imposed by the armies
of the Rebel Provinces, other regional ports like Middelburg or Rotterdam, and Amsterdam
benefited. Accordingly, for numerous merchants of Brabant and Flanders, these ports
emerged as viable alternatives to the problem of Antwerp.

With regard to Ostend, it became significant trade ports in the Southern Netherlands
from the second half of the seventeenth century onwards.640 As a result, some Antwerp
dynasties of publishers, like the Moretusses sought to base their agents there. From Ostend the
final destination in Andalusia was fundamentally Cadiz. In fact, the trade between Ostend and
Cadiz was accomplished through a convoy of ships and during a period the trade was
prosperous. Additionally, several companies based in the Southern Netherlands continue to
use it during the second half of the seventeenth-century.641 The maritime convoy of Ostend
'Convoy de Ostende' also connected Dunkirk, which was another possible departure port for a
large number of Flemish and French manufactures and other products, such as books. From
Dunkirk it was possible to reach the Southern ports of Western Andalusia and even the
Canary and the Madeira Islands.642

The Maritime Convoy of Ostend was not a company in the strict sense of the word but
rather a convoy of ships chartered by private merchants. However, this convoy did not last
long and did not survive the war of the Spanish succession.643 In consequence after 1713 the
vast majority of commercial transactions of the convoy of Ostend were taken over by the
navigation services provided by the Dutch, such as the Levant Company of Amsterdam and

640
CRESPO SOLANA, Mercaderes atlánticos, 55.
641
Such as the Flemish company Groote-Herincx
642
CRESPO SOLANA, Mercaderes atlánticos, 56.
643
The Ostend Company was later founded by the emperor Charles II in 1722, although it was operating since
1718, its main objective was to trade with Asiatic products from the East Indies. However, due to British and
Dutch pressure it was ultimately closed down in 1731.

173
Middelburg, which in practical terms eventually supplanted the trade carried on from Ostend.
In fact, during the last third of the seventeenth century a growing number of merchants from
Flanders and Brabant increasingly preferred the use of ships provided by the Dutch 'Levantse
handel', not only for its frequency and punctuality of departures but also for the efficient
connections between markets.644 Moreover, during the eighteenth century, the Levant
Company began arriving on annual basis to Cadiz concurring with the months when the fleet
and galleons were being prepared and organized by the Casa de la Contratación of Cadiz
(established there from 1711). Finally, as Ana Crespo has remarked, even the Dutch ships
continued using the route from Ostend when the Republic was in the midst of war.
Confirming that the Dutch interest to use Flemish ports to their own convenience heavily
depended on the military context. In summary, the Dutch used every method possible before
stopping the lucrative trade with Spain.645

Three key factors determined the choice of the port of departure, first of all the safety
of the merchants, the regular and rapid dispatch and finally the costs of transport. When the
shipments of the Moretuses were sent through Ostend they were first dispatched from
Antwerp to Ghent or Bruges, in all these ports they had contact persons. The bales of books
that were sent from Dunkirk were always addressed to the agent of Ostend. Concerning
Middelburg, the Moretusses directly sent there to their agents their shipments of books.
Finally, when the books were sent to Spain via Amsterdam the shipments were sent there
either via Delft, Rotterdam or Utrecht, once in Amsterdam the contact persons dispatched
them to Spain.646 The figures elaborated by Van Poppel's research show the primacy of
Amsterdam with a total of 272 book shipments sent from 1670 to 1700, Middelburg comes
second with 205 book shipments, then Ostend with 199 and Dunkirk is a distant fourth with
only six book shipments.647

From the moment ships left the Low Countries, the agents had to provide detailed
information regarding the description of the book cases sent, both the names of the ship and
the captain, the place of destination, the exact date of departure, the costs of transport and
the recipient. In the case of the Moretuses' agents they wrote down this information in a
'conossement' or consignment. With this meticulous information the publishers in Antwerp
644
CRESPO SOLANA, Mercaderes atlánticos, 68.
645
CRESPO SOLANA, Mercaderes atlánticos, 72-73.
646
The navigation between Antwerp and Gent was made using the Schelde and then the canal that linked Gent
to Bruges was ready by 1624 and the one between Bruges and Ostend was ready in 1623, see: VAN POPPEL, De
boekenafzet der Moretussen op Spanje en de koloniën, 102-108.
647
VAN POPPEL, De boekenafzet der Moretussen op Spanje en de koloniën, 110.

174
knew the date of departure of the ships immediately proceeding to send letters to their agents
based in the Iberian Ports. On the other hand, the agents based in the Spanish ports regularly
informed about the availability of ships en route to the Netherlands. Finally, they sent the
payments back in the form of bills of exchange completing the cycle.

Normally, the shipments intended for Madrid were dispatched to the Northern Spanish
ports, such as Bilbao or San Sebastián and those intended for Seville to Cadiz (especially
from the second half of the seventeenth century). Once in Bilbao (or San Sebastián) the
book cases were sent with 'arrieros' muleteers to Madrid or other Castilian urban centers. If
the bales were dispatched to Cadiz and the final destination was Seville the book cases were
sent via the Guadalquivir river.

3.5.1 The duties of the agents based in Spain during the second half of the sixteenth-
century

Once the agent was recruited, it was necessary to open a bookshop and to start a network of
possible clients in the selected city. On the other hand, the Antwerp publisher had to dispatch
book shipments at regular intervals, which had to be sold by the agent at a good profit. The
best documented network of the second half of the sixteenth-century established between
Antwerp and Seville is provided by Petrus I Bellerus (active in Antwerp from 1563 to 1600),
Bellerus was Steelsius' son-in-law and probably because of the experience acquired with him
Bellerus orientated his efforts to the Spanish market. However, unlike Steelsius, who
apparently did not have an agent based in Spain, Petrus I Bellerus managed to establish a
direct network with Seville during the 1570s.648 His agent was a Flemish bookseller already
established there, called Juan Lippeo or Lippens (the collaboration lasted some years from the
1570s to 1582).649

Moreover, during the same decade Christophe Plantin sought to strengthen his
commercial operations with Spain and to serve his Spanish customers more efficiently
through his own agent: Jan Poelman or Juan Pulman (The collaboration lasted two periods

648
By the 1570's Petrus I Bellerus was already an experienced publisher of Antwerp. Furthermore he was
directly linked to Joannes Steelsius because he was his son-in-law. In fact, Petrus undertook the commercial
interests of the Steelsius family in the Frankfurt Fairs, which he regularly attended along with his older brother
Joannes at least since the mid-century. In 1562 the year of Steelsius' death, Bellerus became an independent
printer.
649
WAGNER, 'Flamencos en el comercio del libro en España', 432.

175
from 1581-1586 and from to1591).650 Thanks to Robben's research it is well-known that
Poelman was a Flemish bookseller who took up residence in Salamanca in 1579.651 Thus,
both Lippeo and Poelman were Flemish citizens already established in Spain. Indeed the
agents abroad had to be familiar with the language spoken in the city where they were based.
Poelman went first to Spain as the agent of the Spanish merchant based in Antwerp Luis
Pérez. In fact, through Pérez' mediations Plantin had already some commercial operations
with Spain, which confirms the importance of the Spanish merchants based in Antwerp in
configuring international networks.652

Bellerus and Plantin provided all the books, which were sent on regular basis to Seville
and to Salamanca respectively, where the agents had to sold them in their bookshops.
Moreover, as part of his duties, Poelman constantly travelled to Medina del Campo and
Madrid where he picked up the shipments consigned to him and in turn transferred sums of
money to Antwerp.

In the case of Lippeo, he was nor the proprietary nor the beneficiary; he worked just as
an employee of Bellerus. This is confirmed by his will (it was dictated in Seville on May 31,
1582 due to illness), where he declared that: 'All books and printing equipment currently
stored on my bookstore, belong to Pedro Bellero, fellow citizen of Antwerp, who expressly
sent it and gave it to me to be sold, nor the books or the profit are of my property, I just have
my wage.'653

Unlike Lippeo who only had his wage, Poelman had a small participation on the society
with Plantin. Poelman was back in Antwerp in 1581. There he started a company on
September 9, 1581 along with the merchant Martín Pérez Varrón (the son-in-law of the
abovementioned merchant Luis Pérez). The original contract stipulated that during three years
Poelman would run a bookstore in Salamanca. Martín Pérez Varrón supplied an initial
quantity of 6000 guilders on behalf of his father-in-law and of Christophe Plantin, who

650
REKERS, Benito Arias Montano, 17.
651
Robben has documented Poelman's activity as Plantin agent: ROBBEN, 'Juan Pulman, librero y agente de la
Oficina Plantiniana', 53-61.
652
In the fall of 1578 Pérez bought a huge book cargo for a total value of 18 000 guilders, see: ROBBEN, 'Juan
Pulman, librero y agente de la Oficina Plantiniana', 56.
653
'Declaro diciendo verdad que todos los libros e herramientas e aderezos del dicho oficio que al presente
tengo en mi tienda, que es todo de Pedro Belero, vecino de la ciudad de Anberes, el qual me lo dio, e entregó e
envió para que lo vendiesse e beneficiase por su cuenta e yo no tengo ninguna cossa en ello mas de solamente
el salario, see: WAGNER, 'Flamencos en el comercio del libro en España', 436.

176
actually were the main shareholders. For his part, Poelman supplied 200 guilders. 654 The
society was supposed to end during the last months of 1584, however, Poelman went back to
Antwerp only in 1586, due to the turbulent political situation and the fall of the city in
1585.655 As a result, Poelman concluded the contract with the society on July 31, 1586 (his
balance of the operations made during the period 1581-1584 was positive). This encouraging
experience resulted in a new contract celebrated immediately after between Jan Poelman and
Jan I Moretus on August 1, 1586. This new agreement stipulated that Poelman would
continue his activities for the next five years. Moretus supplied 4313 guilders on behalf of his
father-in-law, Christophe Plantin, and this time Poelman supplied 1000 guilders, and although
two thirds of the benefits would fall on Jan I Moretus, this time Poelman had more decision
power concerning the bookshop and its daily operations. By January 1587, Poelman was back
in Salamanca.

As already mentioned, the agents had primarily to sell the editions in their bookshops,
as well as establish contacts with potential clients like booksellers already active in Spain. In
this regard Lippeo's testament sheds light on his connections with other remarkable
booksellers active in Spain, like Vicente de Portonariis of Salamanca and the frenchman
Benito Boyer established in Medina del Campo. Furthermore, as illustrated by his will
Lippeo had established contacts with other Flemish merchants not necessarily booksellers,
since a chest containing canvas and thread (lienzos e hileras) property of Jacques Quecoba
from Antwerp, who had sent it to him for sale, was also mentioned, along with other chest
containing parchments (pergaminos) property of Juan Hensen also from Antwerp. This
illustrates the ramifications reached by Lippeo's activities in just few years.656 Concerning
Poelman, he also managed to create a wide network of clients that included renowned
professors of the University of Salamanca, such as fray Luis de León, Francisco Sánchez de
las Brozas 'El Brocense', as well as other booksellers established either in Salamanca like
Lucas Junta or Vicente de Portonariis or in oth cities like Benito Boyer of Medina del
Campo and Blas de Robles of Madrid.657

654
At the Plantin Moretus Archive there are three records of Poelman's lists of debtors elaborated in 1581,
1584 and 1586. Cfr. MPM Archive 116, fol. 509 r-v., fol. 522r-529r. and MPM Archive 117, fol. 29r-31v.
655
Therefore, it was only possible to return to Antwerp until 1586.
656
ÁLVAREZ MÁRQUEZ, La impresión y el comercio de libros en Sevilla, 158-159. Lippeo owed money to Benito
Boyer, for ten cases of books he had bought on account of which 1600 reales had been already paid.
Futhermore, Lippens possessed books sent by Benito Boyer for its sale and distribution.
657
ROBBEN, 'Juan Pulman, librero y agente de la Oficina Plantiniana', 57.

177
Occasionally, the book shipments arrived in bad conditions. In 1578, Petrus I Bellerus sent
to Lippeo a rich assortment of books, which was seriously damaged due to the salt water that
broke through the freight. Regrettably, the document that notified the failure did not describe
in detail the origin of most of the books, only a few times the document declared that these
were books printed in Paris, Frankfurt, Antwerp and from this last city some had been
printed by Christophe Plantin.658

Regarding the assortment of books offered. Poelman sold basically Plantin's editions of
which Poelman received a 15% discount. It is known that between 1579 and 1591 Poelman
received books for a total value of 18 000 guilders.659 On the contrary the range of books
offered by Bellerus was richer. This statement is confirmed by the inventory of Lippeo's
bookshop, which was completed on May 17, 1583. The detailed document revealed 854
registers of 736 different titles, the stock of books exceeded 3000 copies. 660 The French books
formed the largest group (230 titles from Paris, Lyon and Geneva), which shows the vitality
and the important presence of French book highly praised everywhere. 162 titles were
provided by Spanish cities particularly Salamanca and Alcalá. 146 titles were provided by
German Catholic centers, such as Cologne and to a lesser extent Dillingen and Ingolstadt.
These German books surely arrived via Antwerp, because of the previous contacts established
by Petrus I Bellerus with the Frankfurt Fairs and with printers of Cologne, such as the heirs of
Arnold I Birckmann.661 Regarding the Southern Netherlands, Wagner identified 108 titles (95
from Antwerp, nine from Leuven and the rest came from other cities, such as Gent, Bruges,
Douai and Liège with just one title each). As for the 94 Italian books the vast majority were
printed in Venice (83). Only one Portuguese item printed in Lisbon demonstrated the small
role played by the Portuguese book in Spain. 662 To finish, a press, bookbinding tools, as well
as other instruments used in the art of printing were also listed in the inventory.

658
This kind of misfortune events, were not rare. Although K. Wagner mentioned a misfortune with salt water,
Álvarez Márquez, mentioned that due to a fight with thiefs the cases and books sent from Antwerp were
damaged, see: ÁLVAREZ MÁRQUEZ, La impresión y el comercio de libros en Sevilla, 158.
659
According to Dr. Erik Aerts and Dr. Brecht de Wilde of the University of Leuven, this amount was very
impressive for the time, thus, the shipments of dispatched books might have been very important as well.
660
1962 copies were already bound 'sunt compacti', 960 still had to be bound 'sunt incompacti scilicet in albis',
Finally, 62 were imperfect 'sunt imperfecti', see: ÁLVAREZ MÁRQUEZ, La impresión y el comercio de libros en
Sevilla, 197.
661
WAGNER, 'Flamencos en el comercio del libro en España', 433-435.
662
WAGNER, 'Flamencos en el comercio del libro en España', 435.

178
 Origin of the titles in Lippeo's library according to Klaus
Wagner
Portuguese books
less than 0%
Italian
books
Flemish books 13%
14% French books
31%

German
books Spanish book
20% 22%

Fig. 9 Origin of the titles in Lippeo's bookstore

When it comes to the places of publication, Lyon was positioned in the first place with the
impressive amount of 143 titles, followed by Antwerp (95), Paris (86), Venice (83) and
Salamanca (67). These numbers clearly reflect the preeminence of the first four cities as the
leading typographic centers of the time and the importance of Salamanca within Spanish
typography.

The second position of Antwerp within this inventory comes not as a surprise since an
Antwerp publisher was directly involved. In fact, Petrus I Bellerus was not only supplying
his output but also that of other Antwerp colleagues. Wagner identified 24 titles provided by
the presses of Christophe Plantin, 11 provided by Petrus I Bellerus himself, 11 provided by
the widow and heirs of Steelsius, 6 provided by Phillipus Nutius and 6 provided by Joannes
I Bellerus. These numbers prove the contacts established between Petrus I Bellerus and
other Antwerp publishing houses, particularly with the Plantiniana, and with the heirs of
Steelsius, who were actually his family-in-law, with Philippus Nutius and certainly with his
brother Joannes.

The 9 titles provided by Leuven clearly reinforce the image of Antwerp as the most
important typographic center of the region and the secondary role played by other cities in
the Southern Netherlands. Concerning the language of the Antwerp editions, the dominance
of Latin in Lippeo's inventory was evident, as only three editions issued in the Southern
Netherlands were printed in Spanish. The Latin editions were bibles, classical authors,

179
theology books and a couple of remarkable scientific works.663 The three titles in the
vernacular were, as expected, literature of entertainment, such as Jorge de Montemayor's Los
siete libros de la Diana,664 Lorenzo de Sepúlveda's Romances,665 and Diego de San Pedro's
Question de amor y cárcel de amor.666 Hence, through Lippeo, Petrus I Bellerus was able to
circulate not only his own production but also the output of the most important Antwerp
houses whose books were intended for exportation.

Due to Lippens' death in 1582, Petrus I Bellerus had to find another reliable agent,
actually, Bellerus wanted to keep a permanent contact with the rich city of Seville, which was
a perfect place to preserve the family´s business.The new agent was a member of his family,
Juan Bellerus (or Bellère or Bellero), whose activities in Seville during the last quarter of the
sixteenth-century have been documented.667 Juan Bellerus was established as a 'mercader de
libros' in the city until 1627. The substitution of an agent by a family member was
theoretically a maneuver that secured the family interests. Thus, in 1583 (a year after Lippeo's
death) Petrus I Bellerus signed a power of attorney asking his nephew Juan Bellerus to retail
his books in Seville.

However, both the Plantiniana and Petrus I Bellerus underwent serious problems in
payments with their agents. Concerning Poelman the second agreement was not successful at
all. The operations became worse from 1588 due the increasingly irregularity on Poelman's
payments. His most important argument was the alleged stagnation on sales. As Robben
noted, Plantin and Jan I Moretus were constantly forced to remind him his obligations,
eventually the tone of the letters became unfriendly and a mutual distrust was also observed.
In the meantime Christophe Plantin died on July 1, 1589. By the end of the contract in 1591
the overall balance of payments showed a deficit of 4828 guilders, this considerable debt was

663
Such as Cornelius Gemma's De arte cyclognomica (Plantin, 1589) and Matthias Lobel's Plantarum seu
stirpium historica (Plantin, 1576). See the entries 200 and 218 of the inventory of Lippeo's bookstore, see:
WAGNER, 'Flamencos en el comercio del libro en España', 449-450.
664
Probably the edition of Petrus I Bellerus of 1581.
665
Probably the edition of Petrus I Bellerus of 1580. Actually, as the heirs of Steelsius and the heirs of Nutius
had done, Petrus I Bellerus re-published some successful Spanish titles already published by the two families,
such as the Obras of Boscán and Garcilaso de la Vega (1576, 1597), Jorge de Montemayor's Los siete libros de la
Diana enamorada (1575, 1581), Lorenzo de Sepúlveda's Romances nuevamente sacados de historias antiguas
de la crónica de España (1580), Pedro Mexía's Historia imperial y cesarea (1578), Antonio de Guevara's
Segunda parte de las Epístolas familiares (1578). Finally, Petrus Bellerus published for the first time a couple of
Spanish titles such as Simon Verepaeus' Manual de Oraciones translated by Jerónimo de Campos (1577),
Campos was a preacher at the army of Flanders.
666
Probably the edition of Phillipus Nutius of 1576.
667
Eddy Stols was probably the first to notice the presence of some members of the family Bellerus active in
Spain during the seventeenth century, see: STOLS, De Spaanse Brabanders, II, 6.

180
never fully paid by Poelman, despite the strong claims of Plantin's heirs. 668 Robben wondered
whether Poelman had to be considered as a victim of economic circumstances or someone
that was deliberately concealing information about sales and revenue for his own benefit.

Regarding Juan Bellerus he transferred his obligations with his Antwerp family in favor
of the aforementioned Flemish bookseller Cornelio Bonardo, son-in-law of Mathias Gast on
March 17, 1588 to receive different kind of books not only issued in Flanders, such as the
copies of the Bibles of François Vatable.669 Thus, Juan Bellerus deliberately interrupted the
connection with his family, possibly looking for more autonomy to set up his own business
and in order to diversify his contacts and clients. In fact, Juan Bellerus increasingly focused
on the importation of foreign books and established contacts with other Antwerp printing
houses. Dirk Imhof has documented Juan Bellerus' direct commercial operations with the
Officina Plantiniana.670 In August 1620, four cases of books for a total value of 2241 guilders
7 stuivers were sent to Juan Bellerus with a wide range of titles.671

Juan Bellerus' will was drawn up several years later in April 1627,672 he declared that he
was a bookseller at the parish of Santa María la Mayor at Seville, which was incidentally, the
richest district in the city where traditionally many foreign merchants lived and worked. This
parish gathered businessmen, artisans, retailers and also booksellers.673 About his accounts
receivable, Juan Bellerus left it to his eldest son Francisco, who by the time was older than 25
and certainly familiar with his father's accounts. Actually his son Francisco and his wife
Sebastiana de Tejeda were named as executors of his will.674 Among other things Juan
Bellerus declared that he had accounts receivable with some clients of Seville, such as don

668
ROBBEN, 'Juan Pulman, librero y agente de la Oficina Plantiniana', 59-61.
669
ÁLVAREZ MÁRQUEZ, La impresión y el comercio de libros en Sevilla, 160.
670
IMHOF, 'Las ediciones españolas de la Officina Plantiniana' 74, see: MPM, Archive 227, Journal 1620.
671
MPM, Archive 227, Journal 1620, fol. 125v-126v.
672
This research has greatly benefited from the archive tips provided by Kennet Ward, who kindly informed me
about the existence of Juan Bellerus' testament located at Seville, AHPS, Oficio 19, 12974, fol. 182r-185v. From
surviving notarial documents it is possible to piece together a history of commercial operations of the
booksellers and in general all kind of merchants established in cities like Seville. Therefore, the AHPS, which
contains notarial documents of the city is a gold mine of information for all those scholars interested in
commercial operations within the city.
673
The parish of Santa María, occupied a large surrounding the cathedral, it was the hub's of Seville's
commerce and was always the richest district in the city, it was also the neighborhood were the most
important bookshops and presses were located, no doubt it was the most important area of the city for
commercial operations related to books, in addition, in this place the consulate of merchants and the Casa de
la Contratación were located as well, see: GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 27; RUEDA RAMÍREZ, 'Libros a la
mar: el libro en las redes comerciales de la Carrera de Indias', 192.
674
Francisco Bellerus became himself the agent of the Moretus in Seville during the 1640s, see: STOLS, De
Spaanse Brabanders, II, 6.

181
Alonso de la Serna, cathedral's prebendary, doctor in theology and to whom he sold a few sets
of books, which remained unpaid.

The rupture with his uncle Petrus I Bellerus is confirmed by the will, as Juan Bellero
declared that he had other accounts receivable with the heirs of his uncle Petrus I Bellerus,
who long time ago had been an Antwerp's resident, (indeed, Petrus I had died in 1600). Juan
Bellerus explained that due to the distance and the years, the payments for some shipments
that his Antwerp relatives had sent to him remained unpaid, moreover, he was no longer
certain about the amounts to be paid to each other. Thus, he asked to renegotiate the debts
with his Antwerp relatives. This particular clause suggests how complicated commercial
operations between a family established in Antwerp and its relatives in Spain could be. At
first glance, one may think that this kind of family business could operate with no delays or
nonpayment among the two parts of the family. Furthermore, Juan Bellerus clearly expressed
with some regret, how distance and time (and possibly some neglect) could affect business
operations to the point of just not knowing with certainty the amounts owed to each other,
making the renegotiation of debts compulsory. In this case not even the family ties avoided
the permanent delays on payments, which as Clara Palmiste remarked, affected everyone with
no exception.675

3.5.2 The duties of the agents based in Spain during the seventeenth century

By the early seventeenth century a new modality was observed among Antwerp publishers,
the direct sending of their sons acting as agents to set contracts in Spain as proved by Jan
Van Keerberghen the Younger, who, as already discussed was actively dealing with his
father's business in Madrid not only setting contracts with the aforementioned bookseller
from Brabant Jan Hasrey but also signing contracts with Spanish authors, such as the one
celebrated with the Jesuit Luis de Alcázar in Madrid in 1612, in order to print his Vestigatio
arcani sensus, which was published by his father in Antwerp in 1614.676

On May 5, 1620 Jan Van Keerberghen the Younger was also in Seville, he presented
himself as the official agent of his father in the city, where he was sent to close the debt of
Jacques Goos, Flemish merchant established there, for 18 cases of books that had been
dispatched from Antwerp in 1619.677 In the same year he ratified the settlement of a debt

675
PALMISTE, 'Los mercaderes de libros e impresores flamencos en Sevilla', 268.
676
The author handed over the ten-year privilege he possessed on the book, getting in return 300 copies that
had to be send to Seville, see: AGULLÓ Y COBO, La imprenta y el comercio de libros en Madrid, 242.
677
AHPS, Oficio 5, 3606, fol. 571v.

182
that French bookseller Jacques Cardón active in Madrid owed to him and to his brother
Joost.678 Thus, Jan Van Keerberghen's legal and commercial operations were achieved
thanks to the intermediation of his sons. Jan van Keerberghen was probably one of the first
Flemish printers that sent his own sons to Spain. Jan the Younger and Joost or Justo were
working on behalf of their father setting up contracts with Hasrey, with Spanish authors,
with Flemish merchants in Seville or with active French booksellers, such as the Cardon,
confirming Van Keerberghen's interest to have a wide distribution of his own Latin editions
within the Spanish book market.

Concerning the Officina Plantiniana, they did not rely exclusively on booksellers as
their agents (Poelman or Hasrey). It is well known that under Balthazar II Moretus the book
trade with Seville was accomplished by means of the Flemish merchants Carlos de Licht and
Jorge de Coninck based in the city. De Licht was born in Antwerp, he was the son of
Cornelius Licht, Presidente de las Casas de Moneda of the Province of Brabant and Isabel
van Immerseel.679 He was involved with the Plantiniana's interests until 1689.680 In Seville
De Licht and De Coninck acted as the intermediaries between the Plantiniana's clients
established in the city, such as the abovementioned bookseller José Bellerus or the Jesuit
procuradores de Indias, interested in books printed by the Moretusses for the supply of their
colleges in the Indies.681 Thus, through his agents Balthazar II shipped books to José Bellerus
during the 1650s.

The book trade established with bookseller José Bellerus during the 1650's became
increasingly regular as illustrated by monthly book shipments dispatched in 1653. For
instance, in February 12, a case of books intended for Bellerus was remitted to the agent
Carlos de Licht and sent via Ostend. The total value of the shipment was 882 guilders, 10
stuivers. Among the books were dozens of Nuevo Rezado (Breviarios, Misales, Oras de
Nuestra Señora), as well as recent Spanish editions issued by the Plantiniana.682 Less than
one month later, on March 8, 1653 a larger case of books with a value of 1225 guilders 16
stuivers (binding included) intended for Bellerus was dispatched via Dunkirk remitted to
Carlos de Licht, it also contained dozens of Nuevo Rezado books and recent Spanish editions

678
AHPS, Oficio 5, 3607, fol 191v.
679
DUFFY ZEBALLOS, Murillo's devotional paintings, 164.
680
VAN POPPEL, De boekenafzet der Moretussen op Spanje en de koloniën, 69.
681
IMHOF, 'Las ediciones españolas de la Officina Plantiniana', 74-75.
682
Such as 53 copies of the Explicación de la Doctrina Christiana by Juan de Santo Tomás ( Balthazar II Moretus,
1651) and ieght copies of the Respuesta al manifiesto del Reyno de Portugal by Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz (
Balthazar II Moretus, 1642). MPM, Archive, 403, Journal 1653, fol. 10r.

183
as well.683 Again, in April 2, a larger case of books consigned to Carlos de Licht and Jorge de
Coninck was sent via Dunkirk, the total value of this new shipment was 1574 guilders 13
stuivers, as usual it contained Nuevo Rezado editions, as well as Latin theological books and
recent Spanish editions.684 The shipments intended for José Bellerus continued throughout
1653 and 1654.685

However, this commercial exchange was suddenly interrupted in 1655 when the
Hieronymites of the monastery of El Escurial considered that this out of order Nuevo Rezado
shipments were a disloyal maneuver since they were theoretically the only authorized
institution to sell these prints throughout the Spanish possessions. Therefore, Balthazar II
Moretus was forced to put an end to the shipments intended for Bellerus.686 José Bellerus died
some years later because in 1659 his widow, María de Urbina appears closing all debts
contracted between her and José Montero, who was a regular cargador (stevedore) to the
Indies, such as the price for five cases that Montero had shipped to the Indies and the payment
of 1578 pesos owed by Hipólito de Rivera booksellere in Mexico.687

The Jesuits of Seville were also regular clients of the Plantiniana as showed by some
shipments dispatched to the agents of Balthazar II. On July 23, 1653, three cases consigned
to Carlos de Licht and Jorge de Coninck were sent to Seville via Dunkirk to the Procurador
General de Indias of the Jesuits, Jorge de la Carrera, the price of the books was 1055
guilders 18 stuivers, with an extra cost of 508 guilders 6 stuivers for the binding (the books
were bound in gilded cordobán). In total the Jesuits needed to pay 5465 reales de plata. This
shipment was quite typical since it exclusively contained Nuevo rezado books. According to

683
Among Nuevo Rezado, 43 Breviarios Rom. in 8°, 37 Officios de la Semana Santa in 24°, 24 Oras de Nuestra
Señora (en cordobán doradas) in 24°, 47 copies of the Explicación de la Doctrina Christiana of Juan de Santo
Tomás ( Balthazar II Moretus, 1651) and four more copies of the Respuesta al manifiesto del Reyno de Portugal
by Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz ( Balthazar II Moretus, 1642). MPM, Archive, 403, Journal 1653, fol. 17v.
684
Among Nuevo Rezado books included were 27 Missales, 16 of them devoted to Spanish saints, 52 Breviaria,
195 Diurnales, 12 Martirologios, 77 Officios de la Semana Santa, 13 Oras de Nuestra Señora. In addition, it
included four copies of the theological treatise over the matrimony, Disputationum de sancto matrimonii
sacramento by the Jesuit Thomas Sánchez (it may be the edition printed by Jacobus Meurs in Antwerp, 1652)
and 12 copies of the famous Corona Gothica y Castellana of the well-known Spanish diplomat Diego de
Saavedra y Faxardo (it may be the first edition printed by Juan Jansonio in Munster in 1646), see: MPM,
Archive, 403, Journal 1653, fol. 33r.
685
On July 23, 1653 a shipment valued 1276 guilders 8 stuivers, or 5530 reales de plata, was sent via Dunkirk,
among the Nuevo Rezado books it were 300 Oras de Nuestra Señora in different formats (12°, 24° and 32°), it
were also included, also 6 copies of Obras de Santa Teresa, see: MPM, Archive 403, Journal 1653, fol. 63v.,
Another bale of Nuevo Rezado books valued in 865 guilders 10 stuivers (2813 reales de plata) was sent via
Dunkirk on September 6, see: MPM, Archive 403, Journal 1653, fol. 79r.
686
IMHOF, 'Las ediciones españolas de la Officina Plantiniana'. 82.
687
I'm grateful for helpful tips provided by Kenneth Ward who informed me about the existence of this
document at the AHPS of Seville. Cfr. AHPS, Oficio 19, 12957, fol. 126 r-v.

184
Imhof on the records of the Plantiniana, important shipments of liturgical books are sent to
father Carrera until 1673.688

The growht of Madrid as a hub of international book distribution also required the
intermediation of agents, as observed in Seville, Balthazar II's agents of Madrid were also
Flemish merchants. Carlos du Pont became the agent of the family in 1655. Everaert noticed
that Du Pont was a well-known Flemish agent in Spain, that along with Carlos de Licht was a
regional agent of the commercial Flemish firma of the Boussemart family. 689 Thus, the
seventeenth century Flemish book trade intended for Spain preferred the services of Flemish
merchants that were offering their services to other Flemish firms as intermediaries between
them and their clients.

Among the Madrid clients of Balthazar II Moretus were Flemish merchants and
booksellers established in the city, such as Cornelis Seghers,690 or Francisco Helant, active in
Madrid during the 1650's.691 Furthermore, Spanish merchants appeared as well as regular
clients, a shipment was sent to Juan Antonio Bonet bookseller of Madrid on August 22,
1654.692 Juan Antonio Bonet (born in Barcelona) was an important and rich editor and
bookseller of Madrid active at least since 1630s. By 1651 he was already established at the
Calle Mayor.693

Balthazar III Moretus took over the Plantiniana and ruled it from 1674 to 1696. He
devoted his efforts to the printing of Nuevo Rezado books exported to Spain. As a result, the
most important clients of Madrid were the Hieronymites of the Escurial, with whom the
book trade was increasingly important. According to Van Poppel a total of 196 753 liturgical
works were sent to the Hieronymites of Madrid and 80 862 were sent to their office of
Seville from 1670 to 1700. In 1690 the operations with the Hieronymites represented 52% of

688
MPM, Archive 403, Journal 1653, fol. 62v-63r. Apud: IMHOF, 'Las ediciones españolas de la Officina
Plantiniana', 75.
689
EVERAERT, De internationale en koloniale handel der Vlaamse firma's te Cadiz, 304, 574.
690
Seghers bought 150 copies of Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz' Respuesta al manifiesto del Reyno de Portugal (
Balthazar II Moretus, 1642), see: IMHOF, 'Las ediciones españolas de la Officina Plantiniana', 82; see also:
STOLS, De Spaanse Brabanders, II, 61.
691
MPM, Archive, 409, Journal 1659, 9 Janvier 1659.
692
Containing among other things 75 copies of the lately published book of Laurent Chifflet, Tres exercicios
espirituales y muy devotos de la incarnación de la virgen ( Balthazar II Moretus, 1654). In 1656 a new shipment
included 300 copies of father Eusebio Nieremberg's popular translation of Thomas à Kempis' De imitation
Christi ( Balthazar II Moretus, 1656). MPM, Archive 404, Journal 1654, fol. 85v. and MPM Archive 406, Journal
1656, fol. 33r, see: IMHOF, 'Las ediciones españolas de la Officina Plantiniana', 54-55.
693
There are several news of Juan Antonio Bonet's activity in AGULLÓ Y COBO, La imprenta y el comercio de
libros en Madrid, 42-44.

185
the Plantiniana's sales.694 Hence, the need of reliable agents based in Madrid was
mandatory. As a rule, the orders of Nuevo Rezado books requested by the fathers of El
Escurial were remitted to the agents based in Madrid, who directly wrote to the Plantiniana.
Only exceptional requests were directly asked by the Hieronymites to the Plantiniana.

Indeed, the shipments dispatched by the Plantiniana to clients in Spain during the
second half of the seventeenth century became increasingly uniform, mostly including their
own Nuevo Rezado editions, as well as their theological and Spanish books, and
occasionally works published by other Antwerp printers. As observed in chapter II, this
degree of specialization led the path open to other Antwerp families, such as the Verdussen
who were increasingly involved with the output of editions intended for the Spanish market.

As it is stated Carlos du Pont was Balthazar II's agent in Madrid since 1665 even after
Balthazar II's death he continued working for Balthazar III. It seems also that during
September 1679 Nicolas du Pont (Carlos' son) and his partner Jacome Van Meurs were
involved with Balthazar III Moretus' business in Madrid. They took over the duty as the
agents of Balthazar III. Van Meurs was himself a cousin of Balthazar III and a member of
the third generation of the well-known Antwerp family of printers Van Meurs.695

As already mentioned, not even family ties guaranteed correct operations. In 1681 a
disagreement occurred between the Officina Plantiniana on one side, and the agents in
Madrid Nicolas du Pont and Jacome Van Meurs on the other side. They were concealing the
payments already done by the Hieronymites and even Du Pont received a house from father
Nicolas de Alcozer as payment for ten book cases dispatched to Seville in October 1680. As a
result, Balthazar III decided to send to Madrid an agent with full authority (the one in charge
was Carlos du Pont, who was a cousin of Nicolas du Pont) to find out the real situation.696 The
result was the replacement in the course of December 1681 of these 'unfaithful' agents by the
company of the Palynck brothers (Livinus and Antonius), who would continue the operations
with the fathers of the Escurial.697 The first essential duty of the new agents was probably to

694
VAN POPPEL, De boekenafzet der Moretussen op Spanje en de koloniën, 186, 193.
695
Jacome van Meurs was son of Jacob van Meurs and grandson of Jan van Meurs, who in turn was married to
the sister of Maria de Sweert the wife of Jan II Moretus and mother of Balthazar II Moretus.
696
It was not until April 1682 that the new administrator of Nuevo Rezado, father Diego de Valdemoro (71 979
reales, one half in silver and the other half in vellón). All the details of this case are provided by Tom Van
Poppel. Cfr. VAN POPPEL, De boekenafzet der Moretussen op Spanje en de koloniën, 145-157.
697
In the Plantin Moretus Archive remains the 'Poder embiado a los senores Livino y Antonio Palincque a
Madrid', where all his duties and obligations as agents were listed, concerning the commercial operations with
the fathers of El Escurial, see: MPM, Archief 297, fol. 262r-263v.

186
take all the contacts and accounts from the previous agents. The Palynck brothers were only
replaced by Fernando Manier in 1696.

Regarding the agents in Seville, the above mentioned Carlos de Licht, agent of
Balthazar II, was still involved with the family business until 1689. Then his son Alexandro
Carlos de Licht took over this duty.698 Balthazar III had also intermediaries based in Bilbao,
such as Thomas de Santa Colonna y Fuentes, who was in charge to receive the book
shipments coming from the Low Countries and then resend them to Madrid. When Thomas de
Santa Colonna died in 1694, a certain Diego de Allende Salazar took over his duty as
Moretus' intermediary. Finally, a certain Pedro Verbist was based in Cadiz in 1671. His
function was to ensure that Carlos de Licht was quickly aware of the arriving of ships in
Cadiz containing bales of books. After Pedro Verbist a certain Paulo Boon, another city's
merchant, acted as an agent there. Thus, the Nuevo Rezado books intended for Madrid were
sent via Bilbao and those intended for Seville via Cadiz.699

During the reign of Charles II, Spain faced a chronic economic crisis, affecting the
payments of the Hieronymites. Accordingly, delays were a daily thing. The situation became
critical and Anna Goos, Balthazar III's mother determined to send him to Spain in order to
settle the family business. It was the first time on the long history of the Plantiniana that a
member of the family was sent to Spain, not even Jan I Moretus had been there to solve all
the problems they had with Jan Poelman. Balthazar III arrived in Madrid on April 26, 1680,
to meet father Nicolas de Alcozer, who at the time was the administrator of the Nuevo
Rezado (R.P. Administrador General del Nuevo Rezado).700

After two months of difficult negotiations between the two parts a new agreement was
reached on June 29, 1680. A renewed contract of exclusivity signed before two notaries on
July 3, stipulated that the Hieronymites would pay all their old debts. Moreover, they would
only purchase Nuevo Rezado issued by the Plantiniana and on the other hand, the famous
Antwerp printing press committed itself not to distribute its editions in Spain through other
booksellers. This new agreement was a major step forward in terms of trade relations

698
See the letter that Balthazar III wrote to him on September 27, 1689, where he expresses his condolences
and accepts him as the replacement of his father, see: VAN POPPEL, De boekenafzet der Moretussen op Spanje
en de koloniën, 70.
699
VAN POPPEL, De boekenafzet der Moretussen op Spanje en de koloniën, 70-71, 123-125.
700
Alcozer remained as Nuevo Rezado administrator until 1681 when it was replaced by father Diego de
Valdemoro.

187
between the Plantiniana and the Hieronymites. The mission of Balthazar III was a complete
success and he was back in Antwerp on September 8, 1680.

One of the agent's duties was precisely to keep an eye on the fathers, informing
Balthazar III if they were not surreptitiously receiving liturgical books from printers of
Lyon. The distrust shown towards other competitors, like the Annissons was not fortuitous,
since the French printers extensively practiced the contrefaçon of books. By 1690 Balthazar
III was still concerned about other liturgical books that were entering Spain. In 1690 he
addressed a letter to Leonardo Vercolme requesting him to keep him regularly informed
concerning the sales of liturgical works printed by other publishers in Venice or Lyon.701
Vercolme was a Flemish bookseller that took up residence in Seville. In fact, he was the
agent there of the Verdussen family.702

The trends observed during the seventeenth century, like the employ of Flemish
merchants as intermediaries between the Spanish clients and the Antwerp publishers,
particularly the Plantiniana were implemented during the first half of the eighteenth century.
For instance, during the period of Balthazar IV Moretus (active in Antwerp from 1696 to
1730), the book cases were sent first to Amsterdam where the expediteurs or agents were
based. As in the previous century, the Rezo intended for Madrid was dispatched to Bilbao and
that of Seville to Cadiz. In Seville a certain Carlos de Licht was the contact person until 1736
(he may be the son of the above mentioned Alejandro de Licht, Balthazar III's agent since
1689), member of a family that had been providing agents to the Moretusses since the time of
Balthazar II.703

3.5.3 The agents' insertion into the Spanish society

The Flemish, Dutch, German and foreign communities in general had a tendency as any other
minority to stick together for mutual aid and self-defense when abroad.704 For instance, in
case of death the members of the Flemish or eventually other members of Northern European
nations established in Spain might be the executors of testaments or became guardians ad

701
See the letter addressed to Vercolme on February 14, 1690 'De sortement van Rezo soo van venetian als
Lyons in UL quartieren van Spagnien ingebracht wordt'. VAN POPPEL, De boekenafzet der Moretussen op
Spanje en de koloniën, 179. Van Poppel made a mistake in reading Vercolme's last name, he wrote Vercoline,
but it is undoubtedly Vercolme.
702
This research has greatly benefited from the personal archive research of Stijn Van Rossem, who kindly
informed me about the link between the Verdussen family which he is studying and Leonardo Vercolme.
703
MICHIELSEN, 'Notas's over dern rijkdom en den boekhandel der Moretussen', 57-58.
704
BRAUDEL, Civilization and Capitalism, 165.

188
litem. Justo Alemán established links with the German masters Meinardo de Ungut and
Jacobo Cromberger in Seville. In 1525, a year after Justo's death, Jacobo Cromberger became
guardian to his children. Melchior de Canaeus (ca.1512-1513) and Catalina Vandenbroeck (or
de Bandeburque, ca.1518). Furthermore, in 1528 at the request of Catalina Vandenbroeck,
Jacobo's son Juan de Cromberger was appointed as the guardian ad litem of Justo's children.
By that time Melchior (age 16) was living in Flanders with relatives, in which period Juan
Cromberger held Melchior's money. This case illustrates the close ties established with the
Crombergers of German origin, proving that Northern European printers and booksellers
tended to stick together for mutual help.705 Furthermore, the testament executors of Juan
Lippeo agent of Bellerus were all of them members of the Flemish community: Juan Senat or
Senate, Pedro Hughe and Giraldo Silvio.706 The latter was Lippeo's right hand and was
proposed to Petrus Bellerus as his replacement in case of death, as long as no other person
was appointed and sent to Seville.

The Flemish community was strong and firmly established with their own societies
and merchants guilds at cities like Seville. Accordingly, the Flemish citizens already
established in Spain were certainly very useful to rapidly integrate in the local world of
booksellers and printers. In this respect, Jan Poelmans' election of Salamanca as the city
where he took up residence was surely not random, since Poelman probably knew from
before the Flemish bookseller Cornelio Bonardo with whom he stayed. As a result, Poelman
and Bonardo became close friends and the latter became also one of his first clients.707

It was a common practice among foreign merchants and booksellers to marry local
women to consolidate their social positions in the cities where they were operating. The
dowries brought by the brides may have facilitated the insertion into local society. In
summary, the election of a wife and the potential dowry brought by her offered the
opportunity to get funds as well as the required information and contacts to set up a
commercial network.708 Juan Lippeo declared on his will that he had married Sebastiana de
Tejeda since approximately 1595, her dowry amounted 1400 ducados, which certainly

705
GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 29; ÁLVAREZ MÁRQUEZ, Impresores, Libreros y Mercaderes de Libros en
la Sevilla del Quinientos. II Libreros y Mercaderes, 28-30.
706
Klaus Wagner believed that this Giraldo Silvio was possibly linked to Willem Silvius printer of Antwerp active
from 1558 to 1579.
707
ROBBEN, 'Juan Pulman, librero y agente de la Oficina Plantiniana', 57.
708
PALMISTE, 'Los mercaderes de libros e impresores flamencos en Sevilla', 260.

189
facilitated Bellerus' own insertion in the city. Together Lippeo and De Tejeda had nine
children, all of them were born in Spain. 709

With regard to Jan Poelman, after the troubles experienced with Christophe Plantin and
Jan I Moretus, he remained the rest of his life in Salamanca (he died there around 1608),
where he also developed an editorial activity after 1592. There he married Ana Rodríguez,
daughter of the bookbinder Juan Rodríguez and had 11 children. Jan Poelman and his wife
regularly were the godparents of the children of booksellers, printers and bookbinders of
Salamanca proving his successful insertion to the Spanish society.

Carlos de Licht, Flemish merchant and agent of the Plantiniana in Seville, took a
Spanish woman, María de Reyna y Aguilar from Ecija. Eventually, Carlos de Licht became
the Primer Consul de la nación Flamenca of Seville. In consequence, he was the head of the
Flemish merchant nation represented at the Consulado de la Casa de la Contratación, which
was an internal judicial body of merchants to arbitrate disputes.710 Lisa Duffy-Zeballos has
studied De Licht´s facet as art collector. His post-mortem inventory of goods elaborated in
September 1689 contains over one-hundred paintings, this particular collection was fairly
typical of the collections of Flemish merchants at this time, because the Flemish were eclectic
art collectors and their inventories contain the greatest varieties of subjects, artistic media and
exotic items acquired from trade in the Indies.711

3.6 contacts with the Spanish Court

Unlike Steelsius, Nutius, the Bellerus, or Van Keerberghen, Plantin went a step further in the
construction of his Spanish international network, by seeking to have important contacts
based in the heart of the political power of the Spanish empire, Madrid. Like Gabriel de
Zayas, Secretary of State to Philip II. It is well-known that thanks to Zayas' intervention, the
project of the Polyglot Bible was well accepted by the Spanish king, who was willing to
subsidize the huge project. Philip II summoned to Antwerp his personal confessor, the
renowned theological scholar and humanist Benito Arias Montano, to supervise its
achievement. Arias Montano arrived in Antwerp in 1568, establishing from the very

709
MAILLARD ÁLVAREZ, Circulación y Difusión de la Cultura Escrita en Sevilla, 576.
710
De Licht may have commissioned a half-length portrait to commemorate his elevation to the office to primer
consul, the portrait depicts him 'with a moustache wearing an open Flemish Sytle shirt holding a scroll with the
inscription: 'Don Carlos de Licht primer consul de la nación flamenca en Sevilla', see: DUFFY ZEBALLOS, Murillo's
devotional paintings , 164.
711
DUFFY ZEBALLOS, Murillo's devotional paintings, 164.

190
beginning the guidelines to follow and coordinating the selected team of humanists and
exegetes assembled by Plantin.712

It took five years to accomplish the project 1569-1573. The result was the Biblia Sacra
Hebraice Chaldaice, Graece et Latina, Cura et Studio Benedicti Ariae Montani, issued in
eight volumes. The Polyglot Bible of Antwerp, as it is also known, was the largest
typographical venture of the whole sixteenth century. The text was issued in Hebrew,
Chaldean, Aramaic, Greek and Latin. In addition, the work was illustrated by the leading
engravers of Antwerp, Jean Wierix and Philippe Galle. In summary, the Polyglot Bible was
deemed not only as Plantin´s masterpiece but as the most important work realized by one
single printer in the Low Countries.713

The stay of Benito Arias Montano in Antwerp (1568-1574) was fruitful not only for him
but also for Plantin since they both established a close friendship and Plantin published
several of his works.714 Furthermore, Arias Montano developed in Antwerp an extraordinary
editorial activity. In 1569 for instance, he was commissioned to create the first of three
Antwerp Indexes of forbidden book, published under the title Index expurgatorius librorum ...
iuxta sacri Concilij Tridentini decretum, Philippi II ... iussu & auctoritate, atque Albani Ducis
consilio ac ministerio in Belgia concinnatus (Christophe Plantin, 1571).

Arias Montano was probably one of the first Spanish humanists who noticed Plantin´s
technical advances, considering his editions better than those of the presses of Venice,
Germany or France.715 In fact, Arias Montano's letters to Spain were full of enthusiastic
reports of Plantin´s works and its quality, in contrast with the works burdened with mistakes
and amendments of Venice or Rome, which in his opinion were simply intolerable. Thus, to a
great extent the enthusiastic advises made by Arias Montano were instrumental in the
development of Plantin´s Spanish network.716

712
PÉREZ CASTRO and VOET, La Biblia Políglota de Amberes, 66.
713
DE NAVE, 'Christophe Plantin et le monde Ibérique', 16.
714
Such as the Rhetoricorvm libri IV (1569), Communes et familiares hebraicae linguae idiotismi (1569),
Commentaria in Dvodecim Prophetas (1571), Humanae salutis monumenta (1571), Liber Ioseph sive de arcano
sermone (1571 as part of the Polyglot Bible), Liber Ieremiae sive De actione (1571, as part of the Polyglot Bible).
715
'Y de esto [the art of printing] entiendo yo tanto que a lo menos no me podrán burlar... Esto puedo afirmar
que si cosa pulida y acabada se puede hacer hay aquí [Antwerp] mejor aparejo para ello que en Venecia,
Alemania, Francia ni en toda Europa, y para decir lo que siento de aquella muestra [liturgical books printed in
Salamanca] la letra es mala y desigual', see: BÉCARES BOTAS, Arias Montano y Plantino, 52.
716
According to Arias Montano: 'Esto puedo afirmar, que si la cosa polida y acabada se puede hacer, hay aquí
[Antwerp] mejor aparejo para ello que en Venecia, Alemania, Francia, ni en toda Europa, y para decir lo que
siento de aquella muestra [diurnales and breviarios printed in Salamanca], la letra es mala, y desigual, y las

191
The typographical fame achieved by Plantin resulted in his appointment as Philip's chief
printer in the Netherlands or 'prototypographus' on June 1, 1570. However, as already
remarked by De Nave, this function was not remunerated and was rather irritating than
helpful.717 However, thanks to Arias Montano's intervention and despite the opposition
generated in some sectors, Plantin received in 1571 one of the most lucrative contracts of that
time since he was the ultimate beneficiary in the Netherlands of the necessity to have new
liturgical books 'Nuevo Rezado' in line with the Tridentine decisions (missals, breviaries,
offices, book of hours). Therefore, he garnered the first large orders of the especially modified
versions of the missal and breviary for use in the Spanish domains officially extended in
February 1571 (ratified by the pope in April of that year). 718 The traditional Spanish
dependence on foreign book and the lack of means to print such amount of books there, were
also factors that favored this controversial choice.719 However, the royal predilection for the
printer of Antwerp, must not be understood as the concession of a monopoly but just as a
concession that made him the primary provider of the revised liturgical book for the Spanish
market.

It is believed that more than 50, 000 Nuevo Rezado books issued by Plantin's presses
were sent to Spain alone from October 1571 through April 1576.720 The favorable
circumstances directly contributed to the expansion and flowering of the Officina Plantiniana
between 1572 and 1576. Thanks to the massive output of Nuevo Rezado, Plantin managed to
successfully penetrate the Spanish market allowing the Plantiniana to become one of the most
important European enterprises of its time.

Despite this huge volume of books, it represented a small part of the Nuevo Rezado
needs, since books were not only brought from Antwerp, but also from Venice, Paris, Lyon
and some Spanish cities, such as Alcalá, Burgos, Zaragoza, Salamanca among others. This
massive influx was one of the reasons why by royal decree of July 15, Philip II entrusted the
Hieronymites of the Escurial with the printing and distribution of the Nuevo Rezado texts
within his domains.721 Since then, they took on their hands the orders for these books,

madres dellas están mal justificadas: solamente aplace el papel batido y delgado muy blanco y las letras
apartadas', see: BÉCARES BOTAS, Arias Montano y Plantino, el libro Flamenco, 52.
717
DE NAVE, 'Christophe Plantin et le monde Ibérique', 14.
718
BOWEN and IMHOF, Christopher Plantin and Engraved Books Illustration, 123.
719
VOET, The golden compasses, 68.
720
BÉCARES BOTAS, Arias Montano y Plantino, 106-107.
721
The text has been reproduced in MORISSE, 'Blas de Robles (1542-1592) primer editor de Cervantes', 312-
313.

192
implying a great power and ensuring the economic interest of the liturgical book. These
privileges were confirmed by Philip III in 1603, by Philip IV in 1640, by Mariana of Austria
on behalf of Charles II in 1666.722 On December 1, 1573 Philip II, extended these orders to
the Indies. To enable the vast distribution of Nuevo Rezado book the Hieronymites established
two offices of book reception. The most important was settled in Madrid and a subsidiary
house at Seville, which was logically used for further overseas exportation. However, the
implementation of these rules became soon a significant problem, since the high demand for
these books could not be entirely satisfied by the Hieronymites and because of the high prices
set by the monastery, accordingly, it became common practice to introduce books without
permission of the friars of the Escurial.723

In 1576 the political upheavals of the Netherlands (the Spanish Fury in Antwerp 4-6
November) forced Plantin to stop the shipments.724 In addition, the complaints coming from
dissatisfied Spanish booksellers, the disagreements caused by the amendments made by
Plantin on the texts, or rather, Plantin's failure to take into account the warnings concerning
the specific Spanish liturgical use, which he tried to unify with the Roman one in order to sell
more, earned him eventually the enmity of the friars.725

This enmity is evident from the words that fray Juan del Espinar 'Procurador General'
of the Monastery wrote in 1576 with respect to Plantin´s editions: 'Our printings are better
than those of Plantin, not only typographically, but also regarding the paper's quality because
it comes from Venice, which excels that of Antwerp'.726 As a consequence, the main

722
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 352.
723
DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 223-224.
724
Plantin was obliged to ransom his life and property several times. He was able to resume his business, see:
MOLL, 'Plantino y la industria editorial española', 28.
725
BÉCARES BOTAS, Arias Montano y Plantino, 109; see the letter of Plantin to Juan de Toledo dated May 31,
1576, in which: 'proteste de son zèle a suivre en tout les prescriptions reçues de Rome par l'intermédiaire du
Père Buyssetius, notamment celles qui se rapportent au Bréviaire in 4° de 1575. Plantin sait qu'à Rome,
plusieurs prélats se sont étonnés de cette édition. Dans ses Bréviaires et Missels. il a suivi cependant
l'orthographe de Paul Manuce que tous les imprimeurs ont observée jusqu'ici. De sa propre initiative, il
n'oserait jamais toucher à un texte sacré: la Bible royale et ses autres ouvrages de liturgie sont là pour le
prouver', see: ROOSES and DENUCÉ eds., Correspondance de Christophe Plantin, II, 723. In this respect see also
the letter of Juan de Toledo to Philip II, (1577): '..Lo que pasa es que quando vino este breviario de quarto de
Plantino, yo topé con tantas cosas alteradas y innovadas en él que me parescio necesario saber si venían así
con autoridad de Su Santidad, y dando parte dello al obispo de Salamanca y a los demás de la Congregación por
dos o tres veces, me mandaron que yo escribiesse a Plantino y le embiasse las cosas que tenía advertidas así en
el breviario como en el missal que venían alteradas, y que de su parte le pidiesse la autoridad con que lo avía
hecho…', DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 225.
726
'Algunas personas muy de veras y aun allá de inxerir en España a Plantino, y muy en perjuicio del privilegio
que S.M. ha dado a su Monasterio de San Lorenzo, y juntamente con esto muy en deshonor de nuestras
impresiones, porque las que tenemos al presente son tan buenas y digo son mejores que las de Plantino, así en

193
beneficiaries of this disruption will be the Junta family, as in 1577 Julio Junta along with Juan
de la Presa achieved the exclusive contract for the supply of all kind of Nuevo Rezado books
indefinitely for Castile and the Indies, with the exception of the principality of Catalonia
whose printing was carried out both in the local presses as in the presses abroad. The contract
was signed with fray Juan del Espinar, on February 7, 1577.727

Finally, under the Calvinist regime (1578-1585) Plantin’s work for the king of Spain
came to an abrupt end. It was not until the early years of the seventeenth century (1606) that
the contact between the Hieronymites and Jan I Moretus was renewed according to some
letters found by Voet.728 However, this new period was not comparable to the period of 1572-
1576 in terms of volume. From 1615 during the era of Balthazar I and his brother Jan II
Moretus, huge quantities of liturgical books were sent each year to the Escurial.729

The Spanish friendships of Plantin with Zayas or Arias Montano resulted in an

extraordinary economic benefit that consolidated him as the most important printer in the Low
Countries. Therefore, the royal favor could represent an invaluable factor to develop a
printing shop as proved by the case of the Plantiniana, certainly no other Antwerp printing
house reached the output and level of exportation to the Iberian World achieved by Plantin
and his successors. On the other hand, such a privilege position made them object of enmities
and conflicts that eventually threatened their subsistence.

By the time of Balthazar II Moretus (1641-1674) the exportations of Nuevo Rezado

increased to the point to become a raison d'être of the Plantiniana.730 In fact, the long
tradition of diversified editions issued by the Plantiniana since the time of Christophe Plantin
stopped from the moment Balthazar II Moretus died in 1674. Since then, only exceptionally

la letra, porque es de aquella forma que él la usa, como en el papel, porque es de Venecia y lo tienen ventaja',
see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, 226-227.
727
FERNÁNDEZ VALLADARES, La Imprenta en Burgos, I, 222, 'Iten, que los dichos Juan de Presa y Jullio de Junta
ayan de imprimir, sin ecetar ni reservar cosa alguna, todo el tiempo que por horden de su Magestad y de los
señores que administran esta hazienda se imprimieren, sin tener tiempo limitado, sin que ninguna otra persina
en estos reynos ni fuera dellos las puedan imprimir de ningún género para provisipon destos reinos y de las
Yndias ni para otra ninguna parte donse se ayan de proveer, si en alguna parte se huviere de imprimir a de ser
en el principado de Catalunya, para distribuirse y venderse sólo en aquel principado', see: DE LOS REYES
GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, I, 226.
728
The first contact was a letter dated November 25, 1606, written by the superior of the house to Jan I
Moretus, requesting him to supply breviaries, referring to the royal privileges and papal bulls with which
Plantin had been favoured Cfr. VOET, The golden compasses, I, 214.
729
But by this time the Hieronymites did not possess an absolute monopoly of the Plantinian imports.
Occasionally, there were even other Spanish monastic orders and clergy involved in the import of Nuevo
Rezado books, see: VOET, The golden compasses, II, 406-407.
730
VOET, The golden compasses, I, 225-226.

194
no liturgical works were issued. Basically the descendants of Balthazar II benefited
economically with the printing of Nuevo Rezado books though still beautifully executed, until
well into the eighteenth century.731 Put differently, the entire policy of the celebrated Antwerp
printing-press was virtually restricted into the Spanish demand for Nuevo Rezado. The
humanistic spirit that included a great diversity of publication in all fields had gone.

From 1716 to 1730, the period of partnership of Balthazar IV and Joannes Jacobus
Moretus sons of Balthazar III,732 the Officina invoiced the fabulous amount of 1 097 040
guilders of Nuevo Rezado payments.733 These colossal transactions have been considered as
exceptional especially for the Southern Netherlands where economic life was still stagnating.
Thus, the liturgical books of the Moretusses were among the principal finished export articles
that left the Austrian Netherlands. And the Plantiniana possibly remained as one of the most
important printing firms in the world.734

Although the sales were affected during the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48).
The real problem came with the Bourbon Reforms in Spain that sought for the revitalization
of national industries, encouraging local monopolies and abolishing those retained by
foreigners. The argument was that what the printers abroad had produced and were still
producing could be turned out by producing it in Spain itself avoiding valuable currency
being drained from the country. Thus, the local Spanish printing press was officially
supported to set up and print Nuevo Rezado. As a result, in a royal decree dated June 3, 1764,
Charles III cancelled all privileges of foreign typographers, confirming at the same time the
previous agreements of April 15, 1764, in which the company of Impresores y Libreros of
Madrid was granted to print the Nuevo Rezado intended for the Hieronymites.

Thus, in the end the royal monopoly resulted in a disastrous setback for the Plantiniana,
that was completely specialized in a limited branch of typography since the period of
Balthazar III.735 The collapsed press, once thriving and prosperous declined from 1764, the

731
VOET, The golden compasses, I, 225-226.
732
After Balthazar IV died in 1730, Joannes Jacobus took over the Plantin press until 1757, followed by his son
Franciscus Joannes Moretus, it was under him that the collapse of the printing press occurred.
733
MICHIELSEN, 'Nota's over den rijkdom en den boekhandel der Moretussen', 56-57.
734
VOET, The golden compasses, I, 244.
735
The figures are dramatically low for the years 1788 to 1791 when only two employees were considered
sufficient to keep the Officina going, see: VOET, The golden compasses, I, 246.248.

195
trade with Spain rapidly diminished, it seems that after this period only sporadic and isolated
shipments were dispatched there.736

3.7 The articulation of book trade between Spain and New Spain

To complete the overview of the Antwerp-Seville-Veracruz axis, an oversight of the

mechanisms of book distribution used in the Carrera de Indias, will be briefly mentioned.
Once in Spain, foreign imported books were subjected to different fortunes: they may have
been purchased by local readers and remained in Spain; or on the other hand, they may have
travelled as part of passengers' personal effects or as part of books of religious missions en
route to the Indies; or they may have been directly shipped by booksellers to New Spain, Peru
or other Spanish America's provinces, to other local booksellers or to their agents to be sold
there. Once in New Spain those non-Spanish books became part of both personal or
institutional libraries.

The first large amounts of books that crossed the Atlantic were part of the necessary
items brought by the missionaries to begin with the massive Christianization of the New
World in the years immediately following the military conquest. In June 1508, Tommaso de
Vio or Thomas Cajetan was appointed as the general of the Dominicans. By October of the
same year the illustrious theologian wrote a letter to fray Tomás de Matienzo the vicar
provincial of Castile ordering the sending of 15 Dominicans friars to the Hispaniola in order
to found convents and to Christianize the island. The friars had to travel with the strict
minimum needed, however, they were encouraged to bring their books with them.737 As a
result, the first Dominican expedition arrived to the Hispaniola in 1510, the Dominican fray
Pedro de Córdoba, who had studied theology at the University of Salamanca arrived along
with fray Antonio de Montesinos, fray Bernardo de Santo Domingo and fray Domingo de
Villamayor. There they founded the first convent of the Order in the whole American
continent. By the end of December 1511 the second Dominican expedition arrived as well. A
list of books and liturgical objects that king Ferdinand ordered the royal officials of the Casa
de la Contratación to buy for this second expedition is still preserved at the Archive of the
Indies in Seville.

736
IMHOF, 'Las ediciones españolas de la Officina Plantiniana', 78.
737
MEDINA, Los Dominicos en América, 52; FERNÁNDEZ RODRÍGUEZ, Los Dominicos en el contexto de la
primera evangelización de México, 43.

196
Among the books the document mentions: some Decretals (of Gregory IX), Clementines (the
decrees of Clement V), three small Bibles, the book of cardinal Ugo over the Bible (possibly
the works by the Dominican Hugo di Vinac de Prato Florido), the works by Saint Thomas
available in Seville, two Dominican missals, the Summa of Antonio (the Summa Theologica
of the Dominican Saint Antonino archbishop of Florence), 'the Summa Angelica' (it refers to
the Summa of Saint Thomas Aquinas, who was traditionally known as the Angelic Doctor),
six commented arts of grammar (of Antonio de Nebrija), a 'vocabulario católico', six triunfos
fidei, and a book either of Innocent (probably the Dominican pope Innocent V), or of the
abbot (?). All the books had to be bound. Along with the books, liturgical objects, images,
cases, a bottle of ink and paper were also listed.738 Miguel Ángel Medina found among the
registers of the Casa de la Contratación two lists of books delivered to the Order including a
psaltery bound in parchment, illuminated with antiphons and anthems of the Dominican
liturgy, 30 artes of Antonio de Nebrija, two Dominican breviaries, two Bible concordances, as
well as the works by Saint Augustine bound.739 This is one of the earliest documented book
shipments to the Americas, which illustrates the kind of books used in such missions to carry
out the religious conversion and education, which not only inculcated spiritual conformity but
also the process of Hispanisation of the continent.

Gradually huge consignments of books were being shipped to the newly conquest vast
territory of Mexico. In 1527 an expedition of seven Dominicans (the Order arrived there a
year before, in 1526) brought with them three tons of books and liturgical ornaments. In 1533
the emperor authorized the payment of the freight rates of books and liturgical ornaments of
another Dominican expedition.740 In 1539 he also made a donation to fray Luis Cáncer and
fray Antonio Dortas of half a ton of books to each one that were intended to be shipped from
Seville to Puerto Rico as part of a Dominican mission.741 Thus, over time, with the
consolidation of the Spanish colonization and presence in the new territories huge shipments
of books traveling with missionaries multiplied, such as the 13 book cases transported by a

738
'El rey ordena a los oficiales de Sevilla que compren unas decretales y Decreto Sexto y Clementinas, 3 Biblias
chiquitas, el Ugo Cardenal sobre la Biblia, las obras de Santo Tomás que hubiere en Sevilla con una tábula
curiosa y 2 misales dominicos, la suma doctrinal del Antonio, una suma Angélica, 6 artes de gramática
comentadas, un vocabulario e Católico […] una resma de papel, cajas en que vayan todas estas cosas, todos los
libros han de ir encuadernados, una botella con tinta, Seis Triunfos Fidei y un doctor sobre el dicho Inocencio o
el Abad o cualquiera de los dos', see: MEDINA, Los Dominicos en América, 52.
739
MEDINA, Los Dominicos en América, 53.
740
MEDINA, Los Dominicos en América, 108.
741
MEDINA, Los Dominicos en América, 53.

197
group of Franciscans en route to New Spain in the fleet of 1595. 742 However, these shipments
necessary to perform the ministry of the religious orders did not encompass the reading needs
of the society as a whole, allowing for the configuration of networks of booksellers interested
in the Carrera de Indias.

The first known connection between a single printer and the New World occurred in
1512 when Jacobo Cromberger sold a number of sheets of devotional woodcuts and two
thousand ABC's (cartillas) to a Franciscan expedition which was setting off under the
leadership of Fray Alonso de Espinar to evangelize the islands in the Caribbean.743 In
addition, the Crombergers launched the first systematic book shipments dispatched to New
Spain between 1536-1537 and, on June 12, 1539 a contract was signed between Johann
Cromberger and the Italian press operator Giovanni Paoli (known in Spanish as Juan Pablos)
in order to establish a printing office and a bookshop in Mexico City, the first of its type in the
New World. In addition, Johann Cromberger obtained a privilege from the emperor in order
to be the only bookseller allowed to trade ABC's and other print materials and books
obtaining 100% of profit. This privilege lasted ten years.744 Thus, in New Spain the early
period of book trade (1530-1540) was rather dominated by the monopoly granted to the
Cromberger printing-shop.

Despite the early presence of a domestic printing-shop, its output was rather modest and
primarily focused on the publishing of books needed in the process of the evangelization:
catechisms, devotional works, grammars, vocabularies in the indigenous languages. In fact,
around 200 titles were issued in the Mexican printing-press from 1539 to 1600, an average
annual of 3.6. These numbers are insignificant in comparison with the amount of titles
brought from Europe as already observed by authors like Nora Jiménez.745 This precarious
situation allowed the massive entrance and commercialization of European book.

The book supply of New Spain rapidly became dependent on the books yearly exported
in the fleets. The scant data provided in archives, especially inquisitorial sources, show that
international book trade carried out between sixteenth-century booksellers established in cities
like Medina del Campo or Seville gradually increased its operations with New Spain during
the second half of the sixteenth-century (there is few archive material prior to the 1550s),
742
FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y libreros, 437.
743
GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 52; DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en España y América, 171.
744
GRIFFIN, 'The Crombergers of Seville', 59-60.
745
JIMÉNEZ, 'Comerciantes de libros en la Nueva España en el siglo XVI', 20. To give and idea the presses of
Paris produced some 25 000 titles during the sixteenth-century and those of Lyon, 15 000.

198
breaking the monopoly granted to the Crombergers as booksellers of Medina del Campo or
Seville began an active participation in the so-called Carrera de Indias.746

An active and intense book trade flourished in New Spain from the 1570s coinciding
with the regularization of the annual fleets dispatched to Veracruz and with a real fast-
growing demand for books as urban centers developed and the viceroyal corporations and
institutions consolidated their presence in New Spain leaving behind the first decades of
colonization.747 From the 1570s New Spain merchants and booksellers sought a direct contact
with booksellers or their agents established in cities like Salamanca, Medina del Campo or
Seville to have a better supply of books for a growing market. 748 On the other hand,
booksellers in Spain -especially in Seville- sought to have a direct participation on the
Atlantic trade supplying the needed books or generating the offer of specific editions. As
Pedro Rueda has observed, copious book shipments of the Carrera de Indias were directly
dispatched by the Spanish booksellers either to their agents or to the booksellers of Mexico
City and Puebla.749 This contact with important book dealers established in Spain allowed to
offer a good assortment of imported books published not only in cities like Salamanca,
Medina del Campo, Alcalá or Seville but also in France, Italy, Germany and the Low
Countries.

Among the individuals active with book trade in New Spain during the last quarter of
the sixteenth century were the merchants Alonso de Losa, Diego de San Román, Diego
Navarro Maldonado and the booksellers Juan Pérez Aparicio, Pablo de Rivera, Juan de
Treviño and Pedro Balli.750 From 1582 Aparicio, Navarro Maldonado, Treviño and Rivera
regularly received book shipments sent by the leading bookseller of Seville Diego Mexía,
who was one of the most relevant figures of the last third of sixteenth-century Seville
transatlantic book trade.751

746
RUEDA RAMÍREZ, 'El comercio de libros en la Carrera de Indias', 47.
747
As Nora Jiménez pointed out from the last quarter of the sixteenth-century an abundance of sources on
book trade is clearly perceived since the Inquisitorial sources become regular from 1572 helping to understand
the configuration of international book networks established between Spain and New Spain, see: JIMÉNEZ,
'Comerciantes de libros en la Nueva España en el siglo XVI', 31.
748
In New Spain traders had often different sources of income which ensured access to circulating money, see:
JIMÉNEZ, 'Comerciantes de libros en la Nueva España en el siglo XVI', 39.
749
RUEDA RAMÍREZ, 'El librero sevillano Antonio de Toro', 41, 58.
750
FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y libreros, Mexico, 1982.
751
MAILLARD ÁLVAREZ, Circulación y Difusión de la Cultura Escrita en Sevilla, 750-757. There are several letters
and shipments of books dispatched by Diego Mexía to New Spain from 1582 to 1600 documented by

199
Finally, passengers en route to New Spain were also travelling with their personal libraries,
particularly high dignities of the Church and of the civil government, such as the first bishop,
Juan de Zumárraga, who brought with him what can be considered as the first personal library
to New Spain in 1528.752 The Franciscan fray Juan Gaona, a prominent Spanish theologian
that became professor at the college of Tlatelolco and future provincial of the Order from
1551, Gaona passed to New Spain in 1538 travelling with part of his library (the other part
remained at the Franciscan convent of Burgos).753 In 1583 the newly appointed bishop of
Guadalajara, fray Domingo de Alzola (he was in the office from 1582 to 1590) brought with
him two cases of books.754 Other professionals took with them their own specialized libraries
required for their offices, such as the physician Cristóbal Méndez, who took with him a
library of 70 volumes essentially dealing with medicine on his journey from Seville to
Veracruz in 1562.755 Or the Dutch engineer Adriaan Boot, who arrived to Mexico in 1614 in
order to work on the colossal and famous project of the open drain of the Lake of Texcoco
bringing with him his specialized and select library. 756

3.7.1 Shipping books published in the Southern Netherlands to New Spain

One of the first documented 'market research' to know the reading preferences prevailing in
New Spain and intended to place Flemish books was done by the editor and bookseller of
Seville Antonio Vivas (active from 1577 to 1593).757 Vivas had loaded ten book cases on July
7, 1586 consigned to Juan de Treviño bookseller of Mexico City in the fleet of New Spain. 758
However, according to a letter dated also July 4, 1586 written by Vivas (published by
Fernández del Castillo), it appears that he had already sent Treviño some books. 759 On his
letters Vivas remarked that the book cases shipped in 1586 were a well-supplied shipment that
was on his stock, which he considered to be good titles, although they could have been better

Fernández del Castillo, see: FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y libreros, 252-446. In the AGI, Pedro Rueda has
found 14 book shipments dispatched by Diego Mexía to the Indies from 1594 to 1600.
752
MATHES, 'Oasis culturales en la Antigua California', 375.
753
Among his books were Opus magnum agustini and the quinquagenas in two volumes, the civitate dei, as
well as a volume of Saint Johns' Chrysostom works, see: BAUDOT, 'La biblioteca de los evangelizadores de
México: un documento sobre fray Juan de Gaona', 612.
754
FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y libreros, 396.
755
GONZÁLEZ SÁNCHEZ, 'Cultura escrita y emigración al Nuevo Mundo', 32.
756
Boot's library has been recently studied by José Ignacio Urquiola.
757
Vivas' activities have been recently documented, see: ÁLVAREZ MÁRQUEZ, Impresores, libreros y
mercaderes de libros en la Sevilla del quinientos, II. Libreros y mercaderes de libros, 308-310; MAILLARD
ÁLVAREZ, Circulación y Difusión de la Cultura Escrita en Sevilla, 852-854.
758
ÁLVAREZ MÁRQUEZ, Impresores, libreros y mercaderes de libros en la Sevilla del quinientos, II. Libreros y
mercaderes de libros, 309-310.
759
FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y libreros, 258-259.

200
if Treviño would have suggested in advance the specific titles required in New Spain.
Moreover, in the case that Treviño had no interest in the shipment then Vivas requested him
to act as his agent selling the books to the highest bidder. Finally, Treviño was requested to
declare which kind of books could be send in subsequent shipments for a better distribution,
since Vivas was in the possession of several Flemish books not daring to include any of them
in the shipment since he did not know if such books could be sold well in New Spain.
Accordingly, Vivas would be satisfied to know this first-hand information.760 The answer of
Treviño is not known, however, Vivas bought books from Christophe Plantin for a price of
590 guilders between 1587 and 1590.761 This example reflect a clear interest to put into
circulation Antwerp editions that possibly could be sold well in the growing market of New
Spain.

Apparently during these years it became frequent that the merchants or booksellers sent
a memoria of requested or needed books in advance to their contacts in Spain using the navíos
de aviso (scout ships).762 In a letter dated April 1, 1585 sent by Isabel de Cornejo, widow of
the well-known bookseller of Salamanca Vicente de Portonariis to the aforementioned Juan
de Treviño, she remarked that it was not possible to find all the requested books because some
of them were 'exquisite editions' difficult to obtain.763 In the same tenor wrote the bookseller
of Seville, Diego Mexía also to Juan de Treviño in a letter dated June 6, 1585, however,
Mexía considered that his shipment was good and assorted.764 These letters shows the degree
of specialization reached by the book market in New Spain during the last quarter of the
sixteenth-century.

Other sources shed light regarding book trade of books issued in the Southern
Netherlands shipped to the Indies, such as the consignments directly dispatched to the
'cargadores de Indias' or people dealing with trade to the Indies kept at the Plantin-Moretus

760
'Invió 10 caxas de Libros Surtidos de los que yo tenía en mi tienda y creo son buenos aunque si tuviera aviso
de vm fueran mejores', see: FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y libreros', 258-259.
761
VOET, 'Christophe Plantin et la Peninsula Ibérique', Christophe Plantin et le monde ibérique, Antwerp, 1992,
55-78. Vivas had also commercial operations with booksellers of Lyon through the intermediation of Italian
agents based in Seville see: MAILLARD ÁLVAREZ, Circulación y Difusión de la Cultura Escrita en Sevilla, 854.
762
A Navío de Aviso was a boat that carried mail of both crown and merchants. They were small and usually
rapid, see: O'FLANAGAN, Port cities of Atlantic Iberia, 91.
763
'Yo quisiera que fueran todos los libros contenidos en su memoria de vm más no fue posible porque algunos
son libros exquisitos y con el dinero en la mano no se pueden hallar', see: FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y
libreros, 300.
764
'Algunas suertes de libros de los que su majestad pedía no envío por no hallarlos, envío de todo lo mucho
que ha salido, que es bueno, como lo verá por las memorias que van con ésta'. The shipment did not only
include books but also textiles such as silk, velvet, paper and other things. Moreover, Mexía was looking for a
young female black slave for Treviño, see: FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y libreros, 306.

201
Archive. Some of these shipments had been already documented, like those addressed to
Lorenzo de Velez, 'merchant to Mexico, Peru and the Indies', who entrusted some shipments
of books to the merchant of Antwerp Gilles de Nimay.765 For instance, on March 22, 1653, a
shipment of 18 cases valued in 6927 guilders 13 stuivers, (including the prices of binding,
cases and packing) had to be remitted to Velez. Six of these cases were specifically
consigned to Mexico (probably Mexico City) and other six cases to Puebla, which by that
time was the second most important city in New Spain. The shipment to Mexico contained
hundreds of Nuevo Rezado books (106 misales, 264 breviarios, 464 devocionarios of
different formats, and 418 Thomas a Kempis' De la imitación de Christo in 24°). The
shipment to Puebla comprised 192 prayer books for the discalced Carmelites. The total
value of the bales intended for New Spain was 4795 guilders 10 stuivers.766

However, these registers found in the Plantin-Moretus Archive remained exceptional,

therefore, it is necessary for modern scholars interested in the study of book shipments
across the Spanish Atlantic may use other sources, such as the so-called registros and
memorias submitted by booksellers, publishers or even private individuals both to the Casa
de la Contratación and to the Inquisition of Seville, whose correctors or calificadores
reviewed its content searching for prohibited books. If the corrector did not find any
irregularity the authorization was granted. Theoretically the corrector needed to go to the
customs in order to verify if the content of the list matched with the books stored there
(however, there were several irregularities in the enforcement of the law as already
discussed in chapter one). If everything was in conformity with the orhodoxy, the Inquisition
sealed the book cases and granted its permission of departure.767

Prior to 1583 these records are extremely fragmentary or nonexistent. Even then they
are incomplete. However, they become progressively regular during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries.768 The accurate identification of the titles listed in these documents is not
an easy task due to several reasons. First, the scarce data provided which often is excessively
abbreviated. Second, for Latin editions one word of the title which not always corresponds

765
IMHOF, 'Las ediciones españolas de la Officina Plantiniana, 76.
766
MPM, Archive 403, Journal 1653, fol. 25r-27v; see also: IMHOF, 'Las ediciones españolas de la Officina
Plantiniana', 76; RUEDA RAMÍREZ, 'Libreros y librerías poblanas', 377-397.
767
GONZÁLEZ SÁNCHEZ, Atlantes de papel, 19.
768
From the 1660's the books were increasingly registered in cases and not individually before the Casa de la
Contratación because the 'avería' was suppressed during this period. The avería was the tax covering the
equipment and defense costs of the transatlantic fleets and was the only tax required to booksellers to
dispatch their books. Yet the detailed lists of books were still required by the Inquisition, see: GONZÁLEZ
SÁNCHEZ, Atlantes de papel, 23.

202
with the first word is normally listed and repeatedly author's names were omitted, thus
affording no clue to their authorship. Therefore the vernacular editions are to some extent
easier to recognize. Finally, even if the title and authors were identified the edition might have
been printed in several cities of different countries within a short period of time. For instance,
on May, 1669, a certain Antonio Gómez requested permission to dispatch eight book cases to
the Indies. Among the titles listed, one Governador Christiano was mentioned, which without
a doubt was the work of the Augustinian Juan Márquez. However, this particular book had
been recently printed four times one in Antwerp (Jacobus Van Meurs, 1664), two in Brussels
(François Foppens, 1664 and 1665) and one in Madrid (Antonio Ribero, 1665). As a result,
the item listed on this memoria might have been issued in any of these three different cities.
Despite these identification problems, several editions published in the Southern Netherlands
have been identified within a sample of memorias approved by the Tribunal of Seville kept at
the AGI (elaborated from 1623 to 1739), which proves the widespread presence of these
editions in the book stream yearly shipped to the Viceroyalties.769

3.7.2 The procuradores of the religious orders acting as agents of book distribution

Supplying books for the monasteries, colleges and seminars in New Spain heavily depended
on shipments from Europe. In Mexico City, for instance, the newcomer Jesuits wrote several
letters to their headquarters in Rome, complaining about the lack of books for their colleges,
and in 1575 the General of the order replied:

'We understand that in the Mexican college there is a great necessity of books, this is
not a small issue and will be larger if the problem is not solved soon, because without
large numbers of good books it is not possible to carry out our aims. That is why I
want you to solve this situation as soon as possible. The easiest way to do it, is to send
a good amount of money to the general envoy of Indies in Seville, with a list of the
necessary books; the envoy will order all what is needed and will bring it from
Antwerp'.770
As the fragment illustrates, the envoys or ‘Procuradores’, were members of religious or
civilian groups that were sent to Spain in order to resolve legal, juridical and practical issues.
These envoys were necessary in a period were long distances and slow communications

769
In chapter IV several examples will be provided.
770
Letter from the General of the Order, Mercuriano to Pedro Sánchez the Provincial in Mexico, dated March
12, 1576, see: ZUBILLAGA ed., Monumenta Mexicana, II, 188; see also: OSORIO ROMERO, Colegios y profesores
jesuitas, 24.

203
between America and Europe resulted in very long and tedious legal processes.771 Among
other things, the envoys were in charge of supplying books to the American provinces or
dioceses. Via intermediaries they manage to brought books from the most important printing
centers in France (Lyon or Paris) and other cities, like Antwerp or Venice. In the instructions
given to the Jesuit envoys the role of traders and merchants as intermediaries was
emphasized: 'With the help of merchants it is easier to have a good provision of books, thus
order them in Flanders, and you must be careful to be well informed about good titles that
could be useful for our purposes'.772 Finally, when they collected the requested books the
envoys followed the usual procedure in Seville, the books were sent in the annual fleet to New
Spain or to Peru after receiving the Inquisitions' license. Once arrived in the port of Veracruz,
the rector of the local Jesuit college received all the boxes and delivered them to Puebla,
Mexico City or elsewhere. Not only the Jesuits but the other Orders received large book
shipments. In 1595 21 cases of books were dispatched from Seville to the Augustinian
convents of Puebla and Oaxaca. Five years later in 1600 the fleet brought 12 more cases of
books for the Augustinians.773 Recently Pedro Rueda has documented two book shipments
intended for the Augustinians of Mexico and Puebla made in 1604 and 1609.774

Diocesan church also received large shipments of books. The fleet of 1577 brought 22
cases of books consigned to the archbishop, Pedro Moya de Contreras (he was in the office
from 1571 to 1593), in the fleet of 1583 six cases of books were also dispatched to the
archbishop, and in the fleet of 1584 five cases of Nuevo Rezado books were also consigned to
Moya de Contreras.775 Not only the archbishop but other dignities received books, in 1595 the
'nao' Santa Margarita had brought four book cases to the 'chantre' (cantor) of the cathedral of
Valladolid, Pedro Díaz y Barroso.776

As previously mentioned, the AGI of Seville holds several shipment licenses requested
of the Inquisition by these envoys. On June 23 1699, the Inquisitor gave his license to the
Jesuit Juan de Vargas to transport two cases containing different kind of books: 'preaching,
moral and sacred books, and books about human stories, to ship them in the navy Jesús María

771
MANRIQUE FIGUEROA, 'From Antwerp to Veracruz. Southern Netherlands books in Mexican colonial
libraries', 93-112.
772
RUEDA RAMÍREZ, Negocio e intercambio cultural, 174-175.
773
FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y libreros, 437, 445.
774
The shipment of 1613 was dispatched by the bookseller of Seville, Antonio de Toro, see: RUEDA RAMÍREZ,
'El abastecimiento de libros de la biblioteca conventual de San Agustín de Puebla de los Ángeles', 17-43.
775
FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y libreros, 375, 401, 411.
776
FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y libreros, 436.

204
y José and to deliver them in Mexico City to Francisco de Borja y Aragón, priest of the
Society of Jesus'.777 Occasionally the envoys or the intermediaries sent a large part of one
single edition, for instance, in the same fleet of 1699, on June 12, Don Juan Bautista de
Arregui, inhabitant of Seville, asked permission of the Inquisition to deliver four boxes with
254 books to Sebastián de Estrada, rector of the novitiate in Mexico City. These 254 books
were the Sermones exornatorios y de Cuaresma by Juan Rodríguez Coronel (Madrid, Juan
García Infazón, 1694).778

There are also memorias presented by procuradores to the Mexican Inquisition. The
Jesuit Francisco Vello, procurador of the Province of Philippines, who listed in detail all the
books that he had brought from Spain, the memoria is dated November 23, 1660 and
comprised 103 titles, from which five of them were issued in the Southern Netherlands, all of
them published during the seventeenth century (from 1612 to 1658). As expected these
editions included classic Jesuit works published in Antwerp, such as the Imago Primi Saeculi
Societatis Iesu (Antwerp, Balthazar I Moretus, 1640), as well as Latin works by Jesuit
theologians, like Jacob Bidermann and Hermann Busembaum; vernacular editions of popular
devotional titles, such as Kempis' Imitación de Cristo issued by the Plantiniana and one
edition of the well-known cartographical Ortelius' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum was also
mentioned.779 The father Vello presented this memoria because the books were intended for
the Philippines. Therefore, they needed to be reviewed by the Mexican Inquisition.

They were also cases of memorias that had been already presented to the Inquisition of
Seville but once in Mexico they were again reviewed by the Mexican Tribunal. The
Franciscan Juan Martín del Castillo presented a memoria listing 177 books brought from
Spain. It was certainly a rich assortment, 20 editions were issued in the Southern Netherlands
(19 in Antwerp and one in Brussels). They comprised Franciscan theologians (Bonaventura
Dernoye, the Flemish Petrus Marchant, Theodorus Smising); Jesuit theologians (the
aforementioned Hermann Busembaum, Franciscus Costerus, Martinus Philippus de Convelt,
Heinrich Marcellius, Thomas Tamburinus); Augustinian theologians (the Italian Agostino
Paleotti, Johannes Baptista vanden Cruijce); one Dominican theologian (Santes Pagnini); one

777
AGI, Contratación, Licencias del Santo Oficio, fol. 207r.
778
AGI, Contratación, Licencias del Santo Oficio, fol. 194r.
779
Jacob Bidermann, Ignativs sive De vita et gloria S. Ignatii Loiolæ soc. Iesv (Antwerp, Balthazar I Moretus,
1635), Hermann Busembaum, Medula theologiae moralis (Brussels, Jan II Mommaert, 1658), Thomas a Kempis,
Imitación de Cristo (Antwerp, Balthazar II Moretus, 1656); Abraham Ortelius' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
(Antwerp, widow and heirs of Jan I Moretus, 1612), see: O'GORMAN, 'Bibliotecas y librerías coloniales 1585-
1694', Document XII, Items #26, 32, 37, 44, 47.

205
secular theologian (Alessandro Calamato); Bibles and Nuevo rezado books; Emblem books
written by authors like Antonius a Burgundia; linguists like the Italian Angelo Canini;
Classical authors, such as Cicero. 12 of these editions were recent titles (published during the
1650's). The four liturgical books and the Cicero were published between 1635 and 1645.
Two more titles had been published from 1600 to 1612 and only one edition of Christophe
Plantin belonged to the sixteenth century. Thus, fray Juan Martín del Castillo had bought
relatively new editions. All of them issued in Latin.780 These two memorias illustrate the wide
range of editions yearly bought by the procuradores in cities like Seville where as already
discussed foreign book trade was (as elsewhere in Spain) in the hands of foreign booksellers,
who had the necessary contacts to bring books from France, the Southern and Northern
Netherlands, Italy, Germany or the other Spanish cities.

It was also possible to establish contact with booksellers of Seville, in 1582 one of the
most important printers and booksellers on sixteenth-century Seville, the Florentine Andrea
Pescioni received 400 reales from the viceroy of New Spain [probably the count of Coruña
viceroy from 1580 to 1583] that were paid on behalf of 'fray Alonso Beracruz [sic], de la
horden del señor san Agustín'.781 Thus, fray Alonso de la Veracruz, established contacts with
famous printers and booksellers of Seville like Pescioni, who could supply an extensive
assortment of books for the libraries of the Order.

780
Bonaventura Dernoye, Medulla S. Evangelii per Christvm dictata S. Francisco (Antwerp, Petrus III Bellerus,
1657), Petrus Marchant, Fundamenta duodecim Ordinis fratrum minorum S. Francisci (Brussels, François Vivien,
1657) and Speculurn totius hominis christiani (Antwerp, Petrus II Bellerus, 1650), Theodorus Smising,
Disputationum theologicarum. Tomus secundus : de Deo Trino. (Antwerp, Willem Leestens, 1626), Hermann
Busembaum, Medula theologiae moralis (Brussels, Jan II Mommaert, 1658), Franciscus Costerus, De universa
historia dominicae passionis meditationes quinquaginta (Antwerp, Jan I Moretus, 1600), Martinus Philippus de
Convelt, Theatrum excellentiarvm ss. Deiparæ (Antwerp, widow and heirs of Jan Cnobbaert, 1655), Heinrich
Marcelus, De augustissimo corporis sanguinis dominici sacramento sex libris (Antwerp, Jacobus van Meurs,
1656), Ambrosio de Peñalosa, Vindiciae Deiparae Virginis de peccato originali (Antwerp, Hieronymus II
Verdussen, 1650), Thomas Tamburino, De sacrificio missæ expedite celebrando libri tres (Antwerp, Jacobus van
Meurs, 1656), Agostino Paleotti, Discvrsvs prædicabiles in omnes dominicas et festa ab adventu usque ad
quadragesimam (Antwerp, Cornelis Woons, 1659), Joannes Baptista vanden Cruijce, Genealogia Iesv Christi per
mundi ætates versu deducta (Antwerp, Hendrik I Aertssens, 1654), Santes Pagnini, Hoc est Epitome Thesauri
linguae sanctae (Antwerp, Christophe Plantin, 1578), Alessandro Calamato, Auctarium, seu, Stella
concionatorum (Antwerp, Hendrik I Aertssens & Cornelis Woons, 1657), Biblia Sacra (six volumes, Antwerp,
Johannes van Meurs, 1635), Biblia Sacra (Antwerp, Balthazar II Moretus, 1645), Sacrorum bibliorum vulgatae
editionis Concordantiae (Antwerp, Balthazar II Moretus, 1642), Sacros. concilium tridentinum (Antwerp,
Johannes Meurs, 1644), Antonius a Burgundia, Lingvæ vitia & remedia (Antwerp, widow of Jan Cnobbaert,
1652), Angelo Canini, De locis S. scripturae hebraicis (Antwerp, widow and heirs of Joannes I Bellerus, 1600),
Cicero, De officis liber primvs (Antwerp, Jacobus Meurs, 1645), see: O'GORMAN, 'Bibliotecas y librerías
coloniales 1585-1694', Document XIII.
781
MAILLARD ÁLVAREZ, Circulación y Difusión de la Cultura Escrita en Sevilla, 796.

206
 3.8 Alternative circuits of book circulation

It is well-known that among the Spanish members of Charles I's court who accompanied
him on his journey to his imperial coronation in Aachen in 1520, some of them brought
different book editions printed in Antwerp.782 Illustrating other possibility in which Flemish
books arrived in Spain, the direct acquisition in situ.

Hernando Columbus is clearly the most relevant example, since all the copies he
bought outside Spain were intended to build up his magnificent library in Seville.783
Columbus, who was an ardent bibliophile, began to systematically purchase books from
1510 onwards, normally in Seville, Medina del Campo, Toledo, Valladolid, Calatayud,
Lérida or Alcalá, however, the offer in Spanish bookshop was still limited. Thus, Columbus
was convinced that in order to have the best editions it was mandatory to travel abroad to
Rome. Venice, Nuremberg, Antwerp, Paris and Lyon.784

When Columbus was travelling to Aachen as a member of Charles I's court in 1520, he
was able to acquire a wide range of foreign editions, for instance, Erasmus's works in Ghent.
By this time, the Dutch humanist was very popular and the court was infused with a
humanistic atmosphere. Thus, Columbus incorporated into his library the Responsio ad
annotationes Eduardi Lei... [liber secundus-tertius] (Antwerp, Michael Hillenius, 1520),
purchased in Ghent in August 1520.785 In fact, Columbus personally met Erasmus in Leuven
in October 1520 where the humanist gave him a copy of his recently published
Antibarbarorum liber (Basel, Johann Froben, 1520).786 Also in Ghent Columbus purchased
the Conclusiones in sententias Magistri (Leuven, Theodor Martens, 1519) by Aegidius

782
Actually, some members of the emperor's court brought some Lutheran books to Spain in 1522, see:
THOMAS, La represión del protestantismo en España, 37-38.
783
The famous Biblioteca Colombina, began to be assembled ca. 1509 reaching more than 15 000 copies in
1539, year of Columbus's death, see: WAGNER, 'Hernando Colón: semblanza de un bibliófilo y de su biblioteca',
475-492.
784
During his frequent trips Hernando Columbus visited several times Italy (between 1512-1516), where he
stayed long periods in Rome. He visited as well the Low Countries, Germany and England (between 1520-1522),
and again Italy, Germany and the Low Countries (between 1529-1531) Finally, between 1536-1536, he visited
the South of France see: WAGNER, 'Hernando Colón: semblanza de un bibliófilo', 478-479.
785
Biblioteca Colombina: 1-3-20(1). The cover of the book has this legend: 'Erasm' auctor damnatus cum
expurge permisus'. (Erasmus, condemned author purged with permission) Columbus had as a habit, to write
with his own handwriting information concerning the location where the book had been purchased and the
price of it.
786
Biblioteca Colombina: 12-2-26.

207
Delphus,787 as well as the Declamationes Syllanae quinque (Antwerp, Michael Hillenius,
1520) by Juan Luis Vives.788

After the imperial coronation in Aachen, the court moved to Cologne, remaining there
from 29 October until 18 November. There, Columbus could purchase recent books dealing
with Lutheran reformation, such as the Epístola Philippi Melancht. ad. Jo. Oecolampadium
de Lipsica disputatione (s.l., ca.1519), some days later in Mainz, Columbus acquired his first
book of Luther, Acta apud Dominum Legatum Apostolicum Augustae (Leipzig, 1518).789

Then, Columbus remained in Worms during the Diet, but his interest in explore libraries
was clearly more important for him than the political issues and the crucial events that were
taking place there. Consequently, he left the court and continued the journey on his own,
reaching Speyer, Strasbourg, Basel, Milan, Pavia, Geneva, Cremona, Ferrara and finally
Venice, which was his main objective. He stayed in the city from May until October 1521.
From there, Columbus began the journey back to rejoin the emperor's court in Brussels.
Unfortunately, all the books that had been purchased between Worms and Venice (1600 in
total) were definitely lost in a shipwreck on their way from Venice to Seville.790

On his return voyage to Brussels he stopped in Nuremberg in December 1521, where he

bought more than 700 books. From there he went ahead to Würzburg, Frankfurt, Mainz. By
the end of February he was again in Cologne, where he could acquire more than 1000 books,
among them both Lutheran and anti-Lutheran books, such as the first book published in the
Netherlands against Luther, Jacobus Latomus's Articulorum doctrinae fratris Martini Lutheri
per theologos louanienses damnato[rum] Ratio ex sacris literis & veteribus tractatoribus
(Antwerp, Michael Hillenius, 1521).791 Leuven university discussions were also acquired in
Cologne in 1522, such as Henricus a Fine´s Questiones tres elegantissime nuper in publico
liberalium disciplinarium gymnasio in celeberrima Lovaniensium Academia disputatae
(Antwerp, Willem Vorsterman, 1517).792

787
Biblioteca Colombina: 4-2-19 (1).
788
Biblioteca Colombina: 6-3-39.
789
WAGNER, 'Hernando Colón: semblanza de un bibliófilo', 482.
790
WAGNER, 'Hernando Colón: semblanza de un bibliófilo' 483.
791
'The price of this book in Cologne was 22 pfennige in February 1522, and the gold ducat worth 296
pfennige', see: Biblioteca Colombina: 8-2-10.
792
'Este libro costo en colonja 5 fenins por hebrero de 1522 y el ducado de oro vale 296 fenjns', see: Biblioteca
Colombina: 13-1-1(13).

208
Subsequently, from February to April 1522, Columbus, bought in Leuven different genres of
books, such as Jan de Coster's Latin grammar, Syntaxis Brechtana in metra sane quam facilia
super coacta (Antwerp, Michael Hillenius, 1521).793 Or Flemish humanist Johannes
Despauterius's De figuris liber ex Quintiliano Donato, Diomede, Valla Placentino,
Mancinello, Nigro, pluribusq diligenter concinnatus (Antwerp, Michael Hillenius,1521)
acquired in Leuven at the end of February 1522.794 As well as rare editions on church history:
Constitutiones synodales Atrebatenses (Leuven?, Theodoricus Martens, 1500),795 Confirmatio
& aprobatio statutorum synodalium & curie Leodiensis & illorum modificationum auctoritate
apostolica sancta (Leuven, Theodoricus Martens, 1501) by pope Nicolas V.796 As well as
popular books on domestic devotions, such as the Legenda diue virginis et martyris Dympne
(Antwerp, Michael Hillenius, ca.1510).797

From Leuven, Columbus rejoined the imperial court at Brussels. On his way back to
Spain, they stopped in June in London, where, Columbus acquired books. It is worth noting
that among the 80 books purchased in London, only seven were printed in England.798 Among
the Flemish bought there were the Hic modicus tractatus in dialogi morem sacerdotibus
(Antwerp, Nicolas de Grave, 1515),799 the Speculum de confessione by the Italian jurist
Antonius de Butrio (Leuven, Joannes of Westphalia, c.1477-1483),800 Vita Iesu (Leuven,
Joannes of Westphalia, c. 1484-1487) by Ludolph of Saxony (also known as Ludolph the
Carthusian),801 the Ars grammatica, of Nicolaus Le Panetier (Leuven, Joannes of Westphalia,
ca.1477-1483),802 or the medical book of Cornelius Roelans, De aegritudinibus infantium
(Leuven, Johannes Veldener, 1486).803

793
'Este libro costo en lovayna 12 negmits a fin de hebrero de 1522 y el ducado de oro vale 320 negmits', see:
Biblioteca Colombina: 6-2-27(1).
794
'Este libro costo en lovayna 12 negmits a fin de hebrero de 1522 y el ducado de oro vale 320 negmits', see:
Biblioteca Colombina: 6-2-13(4).
795
'Costó en Lobayna 16 negmits, abril de 1522', see: Biblioteca Colombina: 8-1-4.
796
It was also purchased in Leuven in April 1522, see: Biblioteca Colombina: 13-3-16 (58).
797
Biblioteca Colombina: 8-2-34 (36).
798
WAGNER, 'Hernando Colón: semblanza de un bibliófilo', 484. About the books purchased in London see:
RHODES, 'Don Fernando Colón and his London book purchases, June 1522', 231-248.
799
Biblioteca Colombina: 12-1-20(9).
800
Biblioteca Colombina: 3-6-29.
801
Biblioteca Colombina: 12-5-1 (2).
802
Biblioteca Colombina: 12-2-23.
803
Biblioteca Colombina: 15-4-20.

209
Some years later, from September 1529 until May 1531, Columbus returned to Italy,
travelling through several cities (Bologna, Venice, Torino, Trent),804 where he managed to
purchase more books for his library. On his way north, he crossed the Alps visiting Innsbruck,
Augsburg, Ulm, Constance, Basel, Strasbourg, Cologne. In July he was in Brussels, Leuven,
and Antwerp from where he traveled on his way back to Spain. In fact, in Antwerp he was
still buying books published by the humanist publishers, Joannes Grapheus, Martin de
Keyser, and Michale Hillenius, like Transumptum bullae indulgentiarum apostolicarum by
pope Clemens VII (Antwerp, Joannes Grapheus, 1529),805 the Elucidatio in omnes psalmos
iuxta veritatem vvlgatae & ecclesiae vsitatae aeditionis latinae by the popular Franciscus
Titelmans (Antwerp, Martin de Keyser, 1531),806 the Disciplinis libri XX by Juan Luis Vives
(Antwerp, Michael Hillenius, 1531).807

Among the Antwerp and Leuven books acquired by Columbus the presence of Michael
Hillenius' editions stands out, he was a well-known prolific Antwerp publisher (active from
1506 to 1546). He published more than 150 books, ranging from humanists authors, such as
Erasmus or Latomus to almanacs. He also worked for the English market and as it has been
illustrated some of his editions also reached New Spain. Finally he was the father-in-law of
Steelsius who took over his printing shop in 1546.808

It was precisely in Leuven in 1531 that Columbus was looking for someone who could
help him to run his growing library. There, he was informed about the Flemish humanist
Nicolas Clenardus of Diest, who finally was hired as collaborator along with his pupil
Johannes Vasaeus of Bruges, both of them were former students of the university of
Leuven.809 Actually, their contract was valid for three years. They are considered to be the
first Flemish humanists active in Spain. They travelled to the Iberian Peninsula in late October
or early November 1531. Once there they went to Medina del Campo through Vitoria, Burgos
and Valladolid. Clenardus and his accompanying spent some time in Medina del Campo, then
they travelled with Columbus to Salamanca, where Columbus had to settled legal matters.

804
For instance, in Torino in January 1531 Columbus purchased the Apophthegmata by Plutarch (Leuven,
Theodor Martens, 1521). Biblioteca Colombina: 3-2-19.
805
Biblioteca Colombina: 13-3-16 (11).
806
Biblioteca Colombina: 4-4-1.
807
Biblioteca Colombina: 6-5-1.
808
WATERSCHOOT, 'Antwerp: books publishing and cultural production before 1585', 234.
809
Clenardus was born in Diest in 1495 and Vasaeus in Bruges ca.1511-1512.

210
In Salamanca Clenardus took advantage of the cultural milieu offered by the university
where he immediately began to study Arabic, there he made also some contacts and friends,
such as the bishop of Cordoba, Juan de Toledo. In fact, Clenardus preferred to stay in
Salamanca and in February 1533 requested Columbus the cancellation of his contract.
Columbus readily agreed on condition that Clenardus would obtain a professorship at the
university. Under these favorable conditions, Clenardus finished his contract, immediately
after he was allowed to teach a private course of Greek in April 1533.810

In the preserved Latin letters of Clenardus, there is one dated May 14, 1533 addressed
to Columbus, in which the Flemish humanist informed him about his successful Greek
courses at Salamanca, furthermore, the restless activity of Columbus as fervent bibliophile is
also mentioned pointing out that thanks to Columbus' efforts, Seville had been provided with
the most celebrated library that ever existed.811 Regrettably, no other Clenardus's letters
mention any activity related to the magnificent library, thus it is not possible to know the
exact duties as librarians established in the contract between Columbus and the Flemish
humanists.

On the other hand, Vasaeus divided his time between Medina del Campo where he
was attached to the chancellery of the viceroy of the West-Indies and Seville where he
worked at the Colombina library. However, as already noted the activities that he performed
at the library are not known. After the expiration of his contract with Columbus (October
1534), he went to Salamanca where he became the tutor to the son of Francesco de Vaylle,
member of a wealthy Spanish family of financiers established in Antwerp since the early
sixteenth century. Then he became professor of rhetoric and Greek in a college depending
on the university. He married a Spanish girl from Segovia in 1537, then from 1538 until
1550 he developed his academic career in neighboring Portugal. In 1550 he was definitely
called by the university of Salamanca, where he occupied the prime chair of grammar from
1551 until his death in 1561.812

810
By November 1533 Clenardus obtained a public chair of Greek and Latin at the university. From 1533 to
1538 he stayed in Portugal, then he returned to Spain where he stayed at the Alhambra with the viceroy of
Granada, marquis of Mondéjar. There, he became increasingly interested in the idea of a peaceful crusade with
the Moors, his objective was to found a school for priests in Leuven, but his ideas did not found support neither
in Portugal nor in Spain, then he left to Morocco where he stayed until 1542, the same year he went back to
Spain where he died in Granada, see: ROERSCH, Correspondance de Nicolas Clénard, I, xii; see also: THOMAS
and STOLS, 'La integración de Flandes en la Monarquía Hispánica', 46-47.
811
ROERSCH, Correspondance de Nicolas Clénard, III, 8.
812
ROERSCH, Correspondance de Nicolas Clénard, II, 35-36; FAGEL, De Hispano-Vlaamse wereld, 371-372.

211
The fact that Columbus wanted Flemish scholars for the administration of his own library is
enlightening. He was conscious that only prepared scholars could assist him to organize
such a large bibliographic collection. Concerning Flemish books, the modern catalogue of
the Colombina demonstrates that the majority of the Flemish books purchased by Columbus
were acquired during his aforementioned voyages. After 1534, some other Flemish books
were purchased in Spain, such as De septem verbis Domini in cruce tractatus pius iuxta &
eruditius of Arnoldus Carnotensis abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Bonneval
(Antwerp, Merten de Keyser, 1532). According to the ex libris this copy was purchased in
Alcala de Henares in January 1534.813

The formation of Columbus' magnificent private library stopped with his death in
1539. One of the most extraordinary characteristics of this library, was that purchase criteria
were not subject to any restrictions on linguistic or furthermore, on ideological issues. On
the contrary, this openness made it possible that Columbus assembled the largest number of
works dealing with the reformation both of the Protestant and the Catholic side in sixteenth-
century Spain.814

Columbus was clearly the most brilliant example of a Spanish bibliophile who could
acquire books outside Spain between 1520-1531, using not only the networks established by
the printers and booksellers, hiring Flemish humanists as librarians, but above all putting
himself in an endless pilgrimage throughout European bookshops of his time. However, the
example of Columbus remained extraordinary. Subsequently, most of the Spanish
bibliophiles had to purchase their own foreign books on Spanish bookshops through the
important intermediation of booksellers -many of them foreigners as already noted- that
supplied the Spanish market with foreign editions, which confirms that after 1540s the
contacts with foreign booksellers had increased to the point that it became easier to acquire a
broad scope of titles in bookshops opened in Spain.

3.8.1 A private person sending books from Flanders to Spain

Not only publishers or booksellers were involved in international book circuits. Religious
orders, such as the Jesuits or the Franciscans developed circuits for the distribution of the
books required in their own convents and colleges established all over the world, through the
intervention of Procuradores. Occasionally, private persons or authors could also develop

813
Biblioteca Colombina: 13-2-6 (5).
814
WAGNER, 'Hernando Colón: semblanza de un bibliófilo', 490.

212
alternative circuits of book distribution between the Southern Netherlands-Spain and
overseas. For instance, during the early seventeenth century the presence of the Carmelite
fray Jerónimo Gracián de la Madre de Dios at the court of the archdukes illustrates these
alternative circuits.

Fray Jerónimo Gracián was a polemical and apologetic author, who arrived as the
confessor of the Spanish ambassador in Brussels, the marquis of Guadaleste. As his first
letters written in Brussels in 1607 illustrate, Gracián expressed that the main reason why he
went to the Low Countries was to have his books printed, because of the typographical
facilities provided there, found nowhere else in Europe.815 In fact, Gracián's direct link with
the court of Brussels allowed him to get in contact with significant local publishers.816

In a letter addressed to the general of his order, father Enrico Silvio, Gracián detailed
how the general himself ordered him to reprint some of his books. For this reason Gracián
received economical support of his Order, in order to accomplish this Gracián went first to
Valencia, but this was expensive due to the high costs of paper. In fact, the cost of paper was
the heaviest burden on the printer's budget and had to be paid before production began.
These words largely confirm the problem of Spanish authors who wished to publish in
Spain. In the same letter Gracián confirmed that Antwerp and Brussels provided better
conditions than in Spain to print his books. Moreover, Gracián requested Silvio to send him
a 'universal license' to print any of his books in any language either Latin, Spanish, French
or Italian.817

815
'Víneme a apaear al monasterio del Carmen de los calzados donde estoy entendiendo en lo principal a que
vine, que es imprimir mis obras, que ay en estas tierras mayor comodidad que en ninguna parte'. Cfr. Letter
addressed to Juliana de la Madre de Dios of the Discalced Convent of Seville, dated Brussels July 8, 1607, see:
GRACIÁN, Cartas, 402-404.
816
The link with the Court of the archdukes certainly facilitated this connections. For instance, the Franciscan
fray Andrés de Soto, confessor of Isabella Clara Eugenia managed to publish his works with remarkable
publishers of Brussels and Antwerp, such as his Contemplación del Crucifixo y consideraciones de Christo
(Antwerp, Jan I Moretus, 1601), Redempcion del tiempo cautivo: en que se declara quan preciosa cosa es el
tiempo y lo mucho que pierde el que le tiene cautivo y como se ha de redimir (Antwerp, widow and heirs of
Petrus I Bellerus, 1606), Declaración y prafrase de las lamentaciones de Ieremías (Brussels, Jan I Mommaert,
1609).
817
'V.S. me ha mandado que procure imprimir mis libros, máxime el de la Disciplina regular en español., [Della
disciplina regolare, Venice, at expense of the Carmelites, 1600] , y otros que he compuesto. Y para cumplir esto
vine el reyno de Valencia, donde pensé poderlo hazer, mas las impressiones y papel son tan costosas, que no
tuve caudal para ello […] Vine con mucha comodidad [to Flanders] y he hallado aquí [in Brussels] y en Anveres
mejor aparejo para imprimir mis libros que en España […] Assimismo me envíe una licencia universal para
poder imprimir qualesquiera de mis obras en qualquier lengua que quisiere, o latina o española o francesa o
italiana'. Cfr. Letter addressed to Enrico Silvio general of the Carmelites in Rome, dated Brussels, July 12, 1607,
see: GRACIÁN, Cartas, 405-407.

213
During his stay at the Carmelite convent of Brussels, he reprinted several of his works with
well-known Brussels publishers, such as Rutger Velpius (also known as Velpio first active
in Leuven from 1565 to 1580, then in Mons until 1585 and then in Leuven until 1614) and
Jan I Mommaert (active in Brussels from 1585 to 1631),818 such as the Dilucidario del
verdadero espíritu (Jan I Mommaert, 1608),819 Lámpara encendida (Rutger Velpius,
1609),820 Iosephina: Summario de las excelencias del glorioso S. Ioseph (Jan I Mommaert,
1609),821 Mystica Theologia: collegida de lo que escrivio S. Buenaventura del verdadero
camino del Cielo (Rutger Velpius, 1609),822 and his Tratado de la Redención de cautivos
(Jan I Mommaert, 1609).823

Gracián's stay in Brussels was also prolific, as to his eleven Spanish new editions
published either by Jan I Mommaert or by Rutger Velpius and his son-in-law Hubert
Anthoine (who was printing along with his father-in-law between 1611 and 1614, following
Velpius' death, Hubert-Anthoine took over the printing press until 1630).824 Vida del Alma:
libro que trata de la imitacion de Christo (Jan I Mommaert, 1609), Zelo de la Propagación
de la Fe (Jan I Mommaert, 1609), Declamacion en qve se trata de la perfecta vida y virtudes
heroycas de la B. Madre Theresa de Iesus (Rutger Velpius and Hubert Anthoine, 1611), El
soldado catholico: que prueua con historias, exemplos razones claras (Rutger Velpius and
Hubert Anthoine, 1611), Regla de la Virgen Maria maestra de toda perfeccion, para las
almas deuotas (Rutger Velpius and Hubert Anthoine, 1611), Diez lamentaciones del
miserable estado de los Atheistas de nuestros tiempos (Rutger Velpius, 1611), Discurso del
misterioso nombre de María (Rutger Velpius and Hubert Anthoine, 1612), Velo de una
religiosa (Rutger Velpius and Hubert Anthoine, 1612), Leviathan engañoso (Rutger Velpius
and Hubert Anthoine, 1614), Arte de bien morir (Rutger Velpius and Hubert Anthoine,

818
An extensive revision of the Spanish output issued by Rutger Velpius and his heirs and Jan I Mommaert and
his heirs in Brussels, which included major military treatises, historical accounts, as well as edicts, ordinances
and instructions granted by the Archdukes, literary and lexicographical works and devotional titles can be
reviewed in MANRIQUE FIGUEROA, 'Los impresores bruselenses y su producción dirigida al mercado hispano',
205-226.
819
It was first printed in Madrid in 1604.
820
The first edition was published in Lisbon in 1586 and then it was subsequently reprinted in Zaragoza (1586),
Pamplona (1589), Valencia (1590) and Madrid (1604).
821
It was first printed in Roma in 1597.
822
The first edition appeared in Valencia in 1607.
823
The first edition appeaerd in Rome in 1597.
824
Gracián expressed in one of his letters that while some of his old titles are reprinted he will work to
accomplish new titles, 'porque mientras se imprimen unos yré concertando otros'. Cfr. Letter addressed to
Enrico Silvio general of the Carmelites in Rome, dated Brussels, July 12, 1607, see: GRACIÁN, Cartas, 405-407.

214
1615). Finally the Mistica theologica y senda angosta, que encamina las almas por el
verdadero camino a la vida eterna (Hubert Anthoine, 1617).

Once Gracián's copious editions came out of the Brussels presses, he delivered copies
to his friends the Spanish Carmelites nuns, such as the copy of the Dilucidario del
verdadero espíritu (Jan Mommaert, 1608) sent to mother Francisca de las Llagas prioress of
the convent of Consuegra, near Toledo.825 In order to accomplish the shipment of books
towards Spain, Gracián used different means. In fact, it was not a simple question as the
Truce with the United Provinces had not yet been signed. In 1608, for instance, Gracián
wanted to send more copies of the abovementioned new edition of the Dilucidario del
verdadero espíritu to Juliana de la Madre de Dios of the convent of Seville (provided that
some books he had already sent her to Seville did not arrive). To accomplish this new
shipment, he spoke with the merchant established in Bruges, Diego de Aranda, member of a
well-known family of Spanish origin established in the city. Aranda informed him that a
vessel en route to Seville was being prepared. Gracián was tempted to send his books via
Bruges, however, other possibility was Antwerp because there his friend Pedro Zerezo [Sic]
Pardo had a contact in Seville.826 Occasionally, Gracián entrusted Spanish passengers en
route from Flanders to Spain to carry some of his books but this kind of favors could not
always be accomplished. That was the case of don Rodrigo Lasso Niño de Guevara, son of
Aldonsa Niño (patroness of the convent of Cuerva), count of Añover, who had been
courtesan at the Court of Philip II and in Brussels at the Court of the archdukes where he
was Albert's mayordomo mayor, this illustrious man refused to take with him four copies of
the new Brussels re-edition of Gracián's Dilucidario and some other engravings to the
disappointment of Gracián.827

825
Cfr. Letter addressed to Francisca de las Llagas prioress of the convent of Consuegra dated Brussels, May 8,
1608, see: GRACIÁN, Cartas, 407-408.
826
'Los días pasados embié con un criado de Su Alteza a V.R. unos libros del Dilucidario, no spe si avrán llegado
allá. Offreescióseme dos días ha, hablar a un mercader flamenco [Diego de Aranda] que tiene aý [in Seville]
correspondencia y él reside en la ciudad de Brujas y es conocido de Pedro Zerezo Pardo, nuestro amigo. Y
diciéndome que se partía ahora una nao para Sevilla, quise tentar para ver si por essa vía pudiese embiar
algunas, si acaso los que envié no hubiesen llegado, y si los que se van imprimiendo se pueden llevar a Sevilla y
aver allá alguna correspondencia, o por la vía de Amberes o donde me dijo éste [Diego de Aranda] que la tiene
Pedro Zarezo con un primo suyo. Para esso le escrivo essa carta que aý va, porque si huviesse esa
correspondencia, fácilmente se podrían embiar. Llámase el mercader de Brujas Diego de Aranda'. Cfr. Letter
addressed to Juliana de la Madre de Dios of the convent of Seville dated Brussels, July 16, 1608, see: GRACIÁN,
Cartas, 409-410.
827
'Dios se lo perdone a D. Rodrigo Lasso, hijo de d[oña] Aldonza Niño, la fundadora de Cuerva, que no quiso
llevar quatro libros que enviaba con él con muchas estampas finas'. Cfr. Letter addressed to Francisca de las

215
Gracián even recommended the transatlantic distribution of his own books. In a letter dated
July 28, 1608, addressed to Francisca de las Llagas prioress of the convent of Consuegra,
Gracián did not want that the mice would eat his books. Consequently, he requested mother
Francisca either to send the remained copies of his book Iosephina: Summario de las
excelencias del glorioso S. Ioseph esposo de la Virgen Maria (Toledo, Pedro Rodríguez,
828
1605) to Seville and from there to the Indies, or to divide the books among all the
convents of the Discalced nuns in Spain, or a combination of the two proposed solutions was
also suggested.829 In a subsequent letter sent to Francisca de las Llagas, he reiterated his
wishes to distribute his books on Saint Joseph among the Spanish Carmelite convents both
of friars and nuns, in order to send some of them to Seville, and from there to the Indies,
since he was informed that the devotion and cult to St. Joseph was widespread there.830 This
is confirmed in a letter addressed to Juliana de la Madre de Dios, prioress of the convent of
Seville dated Brussels, February 10, 1609, in which Gracián basically informed her that
some of his books on Saint Joseph would be send from Consuegra and from there they
should be dispatched to the Indies.831 Indeed, Saint Joseph had been declared the patron of
New Spain since the first New Spanish Provincial Council celebrated in Mexico City in
1555.832

In March 1609, Gracián was willing to send 50 copies of each of his lately re-editions
published in Brussels to San Sebastián.833 He was also enthusiastic because the edition of the

Llagas prioress of the convent of Consuegra and María de San José (Gracián's sister) dated Brussels, October 28,
1608, see: GRACIÁN, Cartas, 417-420.
828
The new edition of the Iosephina: Summario de las excelencias del glorioso S. Ioseph esposo de la Virgen
Maria, was being prepared and it came out from Mommaert's press in 1609.
829
'Los Libros de S. Joseph que aý están, parésceme que no será razón que se coman de ratones, sino que
hagan una de dos cosas: o que los embíen a Sevilla para que de allí los carguen a Indias […] o que los repartan
todos por los conventos de las Descalzas, embiando algunos a conventos más cercanos para que de allí los
lleven a otros, o puédese hazer entrambas cosas: embiar alguna summa dellos a Sevilla para las Indias, y
repartir otra summa dellos.' Cfr. Letter addressed to Francisca de las Llagas of the convent of Consuegra dated
Brussels, July 28, 1608, see: GRACIÁN, Cartas, 410-413.
830
'Que distribuyan los libros de San Josef entre nuestros monesterios de frayles y monjas, porque para eso se
imprimieron, y escrivo a la Madre Juliana de Sevilla que le embiará V.R. algunos que encaminen allí para Indias,
que aunque no aya otro fruto sino la devoción de S. Josef, que me dice es mucha en aquellas partes'. Cfr. Letter
addressed to Francisca de las Llagas of the convent of Consuegra dated Brussels, February 9, 1609, see:
GRACIÁN, Cartas, 430-431.
831
'Allí [Consuegra] dexé algunos libros de S. Josef de una impression que se hizo en Toledo [1605]. Dícenme
que en las Indias tienen devoción con este Sancto'. Cfr. the letter addressed to Juliana de la Madre de Dios
prioress of the convent of Seville dated Brussels, February 10, 1609, see: GRACIÁN, Cartas, 432-434.
832
See, Chapter XVIII of the first Council, LORENZANA, Concilios Provinciales primero y segundo, 67.
833
The titles were the Dilucidario del verdadero espíritu (Jan I Mommaert, 1608), Lámpara encendida (Rutger
Velpius, 1609), Iosephina: Summario de las excelencias del glorioso S. Ioseph (Jan I Mommaert, 1609), Tratado
de la Redención de cautivos (Jan I Mommaert, 1609), and the first edition of Zelo de la Propagación de la Fe
(Jan I Mommaert, 1609).

216
Mystica Theologia (Rutger Velpius, 1609) was almost ready. Furthermore, he was preparing
the Vida del Alma that as already mentioned was published by Jan I Mommaert, precisely in
1609.834 Gracián believed that the recent Truce with the Dutch Republic would facilitate the
shipments of books, since the navigation from Antwerp would be again open. 835 But in the
end with the aforementioned Dutch maritime expansion this was certainly not the case.

The Spanish Carmelite nuns requested fray Jerónimo engravings (estampas) for
devotional use.836 In fact, Gracián ordered in Flanders engravings depicting the portrait of
Saint Teresa to be sent to Spain. In a letter dated October 28, 1608, addressed to Francisca
de las Llagas prioress of the convent of Consuegra and Gracián's own sister María de San
Josef, he remarked that as soon as some engravings ordered by him were ready, he would
send it to the convent. Such engravings depicted the image of Saint Teresa.837 Moreover, in
a subsequent letter addressed to the nuns of Consuegra, Gracián attached some engravings
depicting Saint Teresa ordered by him based on her own portraits. Although Gracián did not
mention the name of the engraver, who was said to be the best, 'el mejor maestro que aquí
ay'. The engravings were made by Jan Wierix, who along with his brothers Hieronymus and
Anton was considered among the leading engravers of the Antwerp school of the time.838
Therefore, it is clear that Gracián's activity in the Southern Netherland's contributed to the
establishment of a Teresian iconography.

Moreover, Gracián's works were largely distributed principally among Carmelite

communities in Spain and overseas, since several copies had been located in different
Carmelite libraries of New Spain, such as the libraries of the College of San Ángel close to
Mexico City or the library of the Convent of the Santo Desierto of Tenancingo close to
Toluca. In addition, the presence of fray Jerónimo Gracián favored the printing of other
Carmelite authors in Brussels. Velpius for example, printed the Vita et mores, spiritus Zelus

834
Cfr. Letter addressed to Francisca de las Llagas and María de San José dated Brussels, March 28, 1609, see:
GRACIÁN, Cartas, 434-436.
835
'Y agora que hay treguas con Olanda, que yrán naves, puedo embiar por mar lo que quisiere'. Cfr. Letter
addressed to Francisca de las Llagas dated Brussels, April 17, 1609, see: GRACIÁN, Cartas, 437-438. The Twelve
Years' Truce was agreed in Antwerp few days before this letter was written on April 9, 1609.
836
'Embióme V.R. a pedir algunas estampas para los breviaries, yo quisiera embiar muchas más. Ay unas pocas,
las quales se han de repartir'. Cfr. Letter addressed to Isabel de Jesús of the convent of Cuerva close to Toledo
dated Brussels, May 15, 1608, see: GRACIÁN, Cartas, 408-409.
837
'Embiaré […] algunas estampas de las que aquí he hecho hazer de retratos de la Madre Theresa y del
captivo, que por no estar acabadas no las embío ahora'. Cfr. Letter addressed to mother Isabel de Jesús of the
convent of Cuerva close to Toledo dated Brussels, May 15, 1608, see: GRACIÁN, Cartas, 408-409.
838
Cfr. Letter addressed to the nuns of the convent of Consuegra, dated Brussels, January 17, 1609,
see:GRACIÁN, Cartas, 428-429.

217
et doctrina seruae dei Theresae de Iesu (1610), which was a biography of Saint Teresa of
Avila written by the Carmelite fray Juan de Jesús María. Furthermore, thanks to the
initiative of fray Jerónimo Gracián, Velpius first published Saint Teresa's Libro de las
fundaciones de las hermanas descalças Carmelitas (1610) as well as the Conceptos del
Amor de Dios (1611).

3.9 The Illegal circuits of book distribution during the Reformation

This overall revision of commercial networks would be incomplete without the inclusion of
the illegal circuits of distribution generated after the Reformation. As early as 1521,
Lutheran books started to enter Spain using the already established trade routes between
Flanders and the Iberian Peninsula.839 The Reformation was a historical event that allowed
the development -at least in a scale large enough to be noticed by the Inquisition- of illegal
circuits of Lutheran bookselling between these two regions. Throughout the 1520s several
examples confirm this trend, as the French vessel that came from Flanders, 'full of Lutheran
books' seized at Pasajes, Biscay.840 Or the fact that Bernardino Tovar, half-brother of Juan
de Vergara, was able to acquire Lutheran books imported from Flanders in 1525.841 The
smugglers rapidly employed techniques, such as the falsification or mystification of
imprints, or in other words, the intentional fake of titles, cities and names of the printing
presses, in order to facilitate the distribution of not allowed or prohibited books beyond the
Pyrenees.

Essentially, these first clandestine book circuits established between Antwerp and
Spain developed for two major reasons. First, the privileged position of Antwerp as a major
port with a developing network of communications under the sphere of the Spanish Empire.
Second, the proximity of the reformed German countries, factors that weighed in favor of
Antwerp. Moreover, the activity of Luther's fellow-Augustines in their Antwerp convent, as

839
KAMEN, Spain, 1469-1714: a society of conflict, 121.
840
'Agora avemos sido informados que los del pasaje tomaron una nao muy rica a los franceses la qual diz que
ellos avian tomado a unos valencianos viniendo de Flandes y que en ella avia una arca llena de libros e las obras
del dicho lutero y de sus secaces y que los dichos libros se repartieron por algunos bachilleres clérigos y otras
personas de la tierra y por ser esto cosa de tan grande escándalo y tanto deservicio de Dios y contra nuestra
santa fe católica se a proveuydo que se cobren a vuestro poder todos los dichos libros y qualesquiere traslados
dellos si por ventura fuesen sacados como mas largamente vereys por la provision que será con la presente,
see: AHN, Inquisición, Lib. 319, fol. 13v-14v.
841
See chap. I.

218
well as the presence of a powerful German nation of merchants and not least the tolerance of
the city magistrates contributed to this proliferation.842

This new bookselling route also involved the beginning of the translation of several
Lutheran works into Spanish. The Spanish Marranos (established in Antwerp since 1512)
played an important role in translating Lutheran works into Spanish and disseminating them
among their countrymen, for they clearly sympathized with Luther's anti-inquisitorial and
pro-Jewish opinions.843 They translated into Spanish Luther´s In epistolam S. Pauli ad
Galatas commentarius and his Tractatus de libertate christiana.844 However, the amount of
these translated texts that effectively reached Spain is not known, since some of these
editions were destroyed before they could be shipped to their destination, for instance, in
July 1521, when the papal nuncio Jerome Aleander burnt in Antwerp the Spanish Lutheran
editions that the Marranos were about to be dispatched to Spain.845

Antwerp was for a long time the refuge of several exiled Spanish Protestants who
published their works in the city. As a consequence a significant number of their Protestant
books were issued in Antwerp prior to 1540.846 In fact, Jean-François Gilmont noticed three
clear phases concerning Spanish publications of a Protestant tendency. The first one
corresponded to Antwerp, the second to Geneva, which started after the religious
persecution in Antwerp during the 1540s and the third and last one to London.847

Francisco de San Román, a merchant of Burgos, was one of these Spanish exiles. As a
young men, he went to Flanders on commercial business. Having been sent by his
employers from Antwerp to Bremen he listened there to Jacob Spreng, the former prior of
the Augustinian monastery of Antwerp, who had to flee to save his life. It is believed that
San Román became then influenced by Lutheranism. San Román is the author of a Lutheran
catechism.848 The well-known Francisco de Enzinas was born into a family of Burgos linked

842
WATERSCHOOT, 'Antwerp: books publishing and cultural production before 1585', 235.
843
THOMAS, La represión del protestantismo en España, 41-42.
844
J.E. Longhurst pointed out that Luther's De servio arbitrio was translated into Spanish with the clear
intention to send it to Spain, see: LONGHURST, 'Luther in Spain: 1520-1540', 69.
845
THOMAS, La represión del protestantismo en España, 41-43.
846
In Antwerp the doctrines of Ulrich Zwingli, Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger, but particularly the Anabaptists'
ideology were increasingly circulating among the people. However, such as W. Thomas and G. Marnef
remarked, in Antwerp the religious persecution became very severe after 1535 and by 1554, the Protestant
doctrines had considerably lost its importance, see: THOMAS, La represión del protestantismo en España, 56;
MARNEF, Antwerp in the Age of Reformation, 40-41.
847
GILMONT, 'La propagande Protestante de Genève', 120-121.
848
STAMP and FOXE, Martyrologia, 371.

219
to the international wool trade and left Spain for the Netherlands at an early age. Once there,
Enzinas also came in contact with the ideas of Erasmus, Luther and Calvin. Subsequently,
during his brief stay at the Collegium Trilingue in Leuven (1539-1541), he wrote his Breve y
compendiosa institución de la religion Christiana (Antwerp, Mathias Crom, 1542),849 which
actually was a vernacular version of the first edition of Calvin's Catechismus sive
Christianae religionis institutio (Basel, [Robert Winter] 1538). This book was published
under a pseudonym (Francisco de Elao), under a fictitious address and date as well (printed
in Topeia by Adamo Corvo, 1540). The Breve y compendiosa institución is accompanied by
a Tractado de la Libertad Christiana, which was Enzinas' translation of Luther's De
libertate Christiana (Wittemberg, 1520). Finally, a rather free translation of the seven
penitential psalms (Los siete salmos que vulgarmente son llamados penitenciales) and psalm
37 complete the edition.850 As Jonathan L. Nelson noted, Francisco de Enzinas probably lied
about the date of publication (1540 instead of 1542), having as purpose to pretend that the
book was published before the enactment of the imperial edict of September 22, 1540 that
prohibited the printing of any book dealing with Sacred Scripture.851

By means of some informants, the Spanish Inquisition was aware of Francisco de

Enzinas's activities. Moreover, they knew that Diego de Enzinas, Francisco's brother, was on
his way to Spain with 300 or 400 books of the Breve y compendiosa institución. In fact, the
Enzinas brothers worked together as a team. Diego not only acted as an agent for book-
distribution but also supervised Francisco's editions.852 As a consequence, the Suprema
requested the immediate seizure of these books both in the ports where the books were
introduced or at the bookshops particularly of Burgos, Santander and Valladolid. The
implemented actions had to be accompanied by the examination of people who may be in
possession of these books, inquiring from who and how they got them.853

Francisco de Enzinas also prepared a biblical translation that appeared under the name
Nuevo testamento de nuestro redemptor y Salvador Jesu Christo (Antwerp, Steven Mierdman,

849
Recently the works by Francisco de Enzinas had been re-edited and commented in a critical edition: F. DE
ENZINAS, Breve y compendiosa institución de la religion Cristiana (1542), J.L. NELSON ed., Albacete, 2008.
850
DE ENZINAS, Breve y compendiosa institución de la religión Cristiana (1542), 22.
851
'De cualquier libro que habla de la sagrada Escritura o que hace mención de ella, o que toca de manera
alguna nuestra santa fe y las constituciones de la Iglesia', see: DE ENZINAS, Breve y compendiosa institución de
la religión Cristiana (1542), 24.
852
Jaime Enzinas also published a catechism in Antwerp (1541), see: THOMAS, La represión del protestantismo
en España, 47-48.
853
DE ENZINAS, Breve y compendiosa institución de la religion Cristiana (1542), 24.

220
1543).854 The publication of Enzinas's Nuevo Testamento resulted in his imprisonment in
Brussels in 1543, from where he escaped in 1545. He fled to Wittemberg living for the rest of
his life as an exile in reformed cities, such as Basel, Strasbourg and Cambridge. The
consequences of printing Protestant authors were occasionally high to pay. Adriaan van
Berghen, started as the most important publisher on Dutch books of theology, but after 1522
he became the most assiduous printer of Protestant books in the Netherlands. As a result, the
ministers of Antwerp banished him from the city in 1536. He continued his activity in the
Northern Netherlands where he was selling books in different towns, until he was sentenced
to death on October 2, 1542 in The Hague.855 Moreover, the aforementioned Steven
Mierdman who had been active printing Protestant books in Antwerp from 1542 until 1546
was forced to move to London, where he continued working from 1549 until 1553.

Julián Hernández is probably the most well-known case of a exiled Spanish who
directly participated in Protestant book smuggling to Spain.856 Hernández was born in Seville,
he fled to Paris around 1551-1552, after the arrest of Juan Gil (or Doctor Egidio) who had
preached Lutheran doctrines at Seville's cathedral. In Paris he got in contact with Juan
Morcillo, the famous catholic theologian who had attended Trent but finally converted to the
Calvinism. After a stay in Scotland, Hernández finally settled down in Frankfurt where he
was actively involved in the traffic of books established between the city and Antwerp.
Finally, Hernández decided to leave to Geneva around 1555-1556, following the example of
other countrymen, like Cipriano de Valera and Juan Pérez de Pineda, who were already living
there.857 Pérez de Pineda and Hernández worked together in the Spanish edition of Juan de
Valdés's Epístola de San Pablo a los Romanos i a los Corintios. Actually, it seems that Julián
Hernández acted as a corrector of the Spanish-language books printed in Geneva.858 This
suggest the degree of specialization reached by this prohibited editions.

But with the discovery of the Protestant community of Seville, Hernández decided to go
there, carrying not only reformed books but also letters from the religious exiles addressed to
their families. In any case, Hernández had actively participated in book smuggling from

854
Steven or Estienne Mierdman, was active in Antwerp from 1542 to 1546 and then he moved to London,
where he was active from 1549 to 1553. Finally, he appeared in Emdem from 1554 to 1558.
855
WATERSCHOOT, 'Antwerp: books publishing and cultural production before 1585', 236.
856
Longhurst published an article devoted to Julián Hernández's life, see: LONGHURST, 'Julián Hernández,
protestant martyr', 90-118.
857
THOMAS, La represión del protestantismo en España, 212-213. Several Spanish exiles settled down in
Geneva particularly during 1557, particularly the monks of San Isidro del Campo of Seville who had fled there
after the discovery of the Protestant circle in the city of the Guadalquivir.
858
GILMONT, 'La propagande Protestante de Genève', 119-134.

221
Frankfurt to Antwerp and from there to Spain, but this time he personally undertook the
journey from Geneva to Seville as a muleteer conveying two large casks full of prohibited
books, such as Pérez de Pineda's Testamento Nuevo de Nvestro Señor y Salvador Iesu Christo
(Geneva, Jean Crispin, 1556), the Spanish edition of Prediche LXV and a sermon of the Italian
reformer Bernardino Ochino under the title Imagen del Antichristo.859 Surprisingly and
despite the vigilance at the borders with France he managed to successfully enter Spain
without further reverses and arrived in Seville in July 1557. 860 Once there, Hernández quickly
distributed part of the books and the correspondence. However, a fateful confusion with a
name made him deliver a copy of the Imagen del Antichristo to an homonym, who
immediately denounced him to the Inquisition.861 The story as is already well-known finished
with his capture in October 1557 and his death at the stake in the auto de fé that took place on
December 22, 1560.

The investigations conducted by the archbishop of Toledo, Bartolomé Carranza during

his one-year-stay in Flanders (1557-58),862 provided insights into the way Protestant books
were brought twice a year from the Frankfurt Fairs to Antwerp and then sent to Spain.
Actually, the zealous Carranza tried to determine the methods that the Spanish heretics were
using to smuggle books. The archbishop of Toledo obtained accurate information through his
own inquiries and his informants, like don Francisco de Castilla or the Dominican Baltasar
Pérez, who was sent to Antwerp to buy books and discretely inquire with the local
booksellers, such as the aforementioned Petrus I Bellerus, who was fully aware of booksellers'

859
Undoubtedly, a Spanish exiled at Geneva with the pseudonym of Alonso de Peñafuerte translated this Italian
sermon, see: GILMONT, 'La propagande Protestante de Genève', 128.
860
LONGHURST, 'Julián Hernández, protestant martyr', 108-109; GILMONT, 'La propagande Protestante de
Genève', 126-129.
861
See the letter of the Council of the Inquisition to Philip II, November 17, 1557: 'También nos escriben [los
inquisidores de Sevilla] que han traído a aquella cibdad muy gran número de libros que contienen muchas
herejías, los cuales se han hallado en poder de personas principales de aquella cibdad y fuera della, y que
tienen relación que un doctor, Juan Pérez, que reside en Francafort, gran amigo del doctor Egidio, que se fue
de aquella cibdad, cuando a éste prendieron, los compuso y envió con un español luterano, que está preso, y
con los dichos libros venían algunas cartas del doctor para las dichas personas. Procédese en en el examen de
aquel hombre y en negocio tocante a las personas en cuyo poder están los libros. De lo que subcediere
daremos aviso a V.Md. También nos escriben que tienen aviso que el doctor Juan Pérez ha enviado muchos de
los dichos libros a esa corte y no sabemos a qué personas. A V.Md. suplicamos sea servido de mandar proveer
que luego se recojan, y las personas que los tienen sean castigadas…', see: DE LOS REYES GÓMEZ, El Libro en
España y América, I, 148.
862
During his stay in Flanders, Carranza was a zealous persecutor of heretics and no one could imagine that two
years later he would be involved in a controversial inquisitorial process that would last seventeenth years, see:
TELLECHEA IDÍGORAS, 'Bartolomé Carranza en Flandes', 318.

222
trade secrets,863 how and when the exiled Spanish heretics travelled from Germany to
Flanders and the routes used by them to send Lutheran books to Spain.864 Petrus I Bellerus
provided this precious information:

'Those who brought the heretic books both in Spanish and Latin from Germany are
Antwerp's booksellers, who twice a year leave to the fair of Frankfurt where they
purchase all the new heretic books. Furthermore, the exiled Spanish citizens who
reside in Germany also go there and some of them come each year to Flanders with
some shipments of heretic books to dispatch them from here to Spain'.865
Bellerus also pointed out in his declarations that some people in Spain paid large sums to
sponsor the printing of non-allowed books and that some 'infected' people were already living
there, particularly in Andalusia and Aragón.866 Bellerus added that in Frankfurt someone had
offered him large amounts of letters drawn up in Spanish intended for Philip II as well as
falsified papal bulls for a good price, as long as he could dispatch them to Spain. But
apparently, he rejected this offer (or at least this is what his declaration states).867

Indeed, Antwerp played a vital role concerning international Lutheran book distribution,
as it was the hub that tied Frankfurt with Spain, or in other words, the reformed and the
catholic worlds. This position was ingeniously exploited by the Spanish sympathizers of the
Reformation who were exiled in the reformed countries, such as the Enzinas brothers or Julián
Hernández, along with the Antwerp's booksellers themselves. The two groups had a key role
in developing complicated smuggling book networks, which linked the Frankfurt Fairs to

863
Concerning the declarations of Petrus Bellerus, they are contained in a exceptional document part of
Carranza' inquisitorial process: La diligencia que hicieron el arzobispo de Toledo y don Francisco de Castilla en
Flandes, para saber porqué vía y quiénes enviaban libros de herejes a España, see: TELLECHEA IDÍGORAS,
'Bartolomé Carranza en Flandes', 329-330.
864
'Al fraile dominico [fray Baltasar Pérez] envió a Amberes con color que lo comprase algunos libros, e
tratando con los libreros que él conocía, entendiese disimuladamente quándo e cómo baxaban hergees
españoles de Alemania a Flandes e por qué vía traýan libros de hereges e los embiaban a España'. see:
TELLECHEA IDÍGORAS, 'Bartolomé Carranza en Flandes', 327.
865
'Los que traen los libros de hereges en español e latín de Alemania son algunos libreros de Anveres que van
dos vezes al año a la feria de Francafort, donde e cada feria traen todos los libros que ay de nuevo de hereges.
E allí vienen también los españoles que están en Alemania huidos de España por la religión, e de éstos baxan
cada año a estos editados de Flandes e traen algunas caxas o fardeles de libros de hereges para guiarlos de aquí
a España', see: TELLECHEA IDÍGORAS, 'Bartolomé Carranza en Flandes', 341.
866
'El que fuese a la feria de Francafort, entendería los libros españoles que se inprimen y quién es el auctor
dellos e para qué provincias o lugares de España se inprimen: porque allá en España se paga la costa de las
enprentas, que es grande: e tiénese por cierto que allá ay alguna gente dañada, particularmente en el
Andaluzía e Aragón, e así lo confessó un herege que quemaron el año pasado en Brujas. que en España tenían
también ellos iglesia, aunque oculta', see: TELLECHEA IDÍGORAS, 'Bartolomé Carranza en Flandes', 341.
867
'La carta en español intitulada al Rey nuestro señor e la Bula contrahecha por los hereges, traxo Pedro
Bellero, librero de Anveres, criado de Estelsio, e otros libreros traxieron más. Y este vio en Francafort grandes
toneles de estas Bulas e cartas para enviar a España a vender e a él se las vendían a buen mercado para que las
enbiase a España, pero no quiso tomarlos', see: TELLECHEA IDÍGORAS, 'Bartolomé Carranza en Flandes', 341.

223
Cologne,868 the port of Antwerp, the terrestrial routes through France via, Lyon or Bordeaux,
to finally, introduce the books via Aragón (Jaca) and via Navarra, crossing the Pyrenees. 869

Francisco de Enzinas, for instance, had contacts with well-known publishers, like
Arnold I Birckmann, who was active in Antwerp and Cologne from 1530 until 1542 and
whose commercial activities expanded to London and Paris. Thus, it can easily be said that his
firm showed an international character particularly during the first half of the sixteenth-
century.870 Bellerus declared that Pieter Wilmans (Pedro Vilman) was linked to Julián
Hernández, used to buy all kind of books either heretics or not, sending them to Medina del
Campo and Seville.871 These two cities were during the first half of the sixteenth century,
node points where booksellers and publishers gathered to distribute and purchase their
wares.872

Bellerus also declared that not only booksellers, such as Wilmans but also merchants
were using commercial and familiar networks to distribute books among other merchandises.
For example, a certain Cosme, rope maker (cordonero) from Antwerp had an heretic cousin in
Germany, who used to come from there to Antwerp. Cosme along with the merchant
Francisco de Ávila sent to Cosme's brother (also a merchant who operated in Malaga and
Granada) merchandise including Lutheran books.873 This was a very usual technique, to
dispatch a wide-range of items -including books- to easily place them on the Spanish market.

Although Bellerus did not mention it, it is a fact that the marranos of the Spanish nation
of merchants established in Antwerp kept playing a significant role in supporting this illegal

868
The economic relations established between Antwerp and Cologne dated back from the Middle Agesand
grew up parallel with the expansion of Antwerp as a trade center. Furthermore, it is well-known that after the
capture of Antwerp by Farnese, Cologne received many Dutch and foreign merchants from Antwerp.
869
'Y que los herejes que habían huido de Sevilla, bajaban de Alemania a Flandes y traían muchos libros
dañados y los enviaban a España', see: TELLECHEA IDÍGORAS, 'Bartolomé Carranza en Flandes', 323.
870
After his death his widow and heirs took over Birckman's printing press until 1562, they were active in
Antwerp, Leuven and Cologne and had also connections in Leuven and Paris, see: COOLS, 'Arnold Birckman',
71-78.
871
'Dixo el mesmo Pedro Vellero que Pedro Vilman, que vive en Anveres, mercader de libros aunque no tiene
tienda aquí, tiene un criado con tienda en Medina del Campo o en Sevilla. Este conpra aquí libros todos los que
le paresce y embía a España. Créese que ha enviado malos y buenos libros. Hánse de visitar las tiendad que
tienen en España. Este sabe por qué vía se an embiado los libros hereges a España', see: TELLECHEA IDÍGORAS,
'Bartolomé Carranza en Flandes'. 342.
872
GRIFFIN, The Crombergers of Seville, 11.
873
'Dixo que Cosme el cordonero que vive en Anveres en la calle de la Balssa que sale a la mera (?), tiene un
primo hergege que ya viene de Alemania. Este corrompió a Francisco Román que fue quemado en Valladolid. E
Francisco de Ávila mercader que se a alzado en Anveres dos o tres vezes: estos sabrán decir si han llevado
libros hereges a España por qué vía dirán el nombre de su primo. El Cosme tiene un hermano en Málaga que
trata allí y en Granada: a éste guían sus mercaderías e sus libros e de él se sabrá en España si ham embiado
libros dañados', see: TELLECHEA IDÍGORAS, 'Bartolomé Carranza en Flandes', 342.

224
trade.874 In this regard, the Council of State was informed by Margaret of Parma, the regent of
the Netherlands and by the merchant and by Philip II's factor Gerónimo de Curiel in 1566 that
a network of smugglers led by the rich Spanish marrano merchant Marcos Pérez, leader of the
marrano Calvinists in Antwerp was planning to send thousands of Calvin's Bibles to Spain,
Actually Pérez had commercial contacts in important cities, like Seville and Medina del
Campo.875 Furthermore, other significant members among the Spanish converso community
of Antwerp, such as Martin López, had contacts with the refugees from Seville in Antwerp
who had been in France and Germany. López, who was Marcos Pérez' brother-in-law, had
commercial contacts in Medina del Campo. He also contributed with his funds to equip the
army raised by the prince of Orange in Germany.876

It is particularly noteworthy to highlight that the illegal book-trade between the

Netherlands and the Iberian Peninsula was clearly related to the development of the
Reformation in Spain, the illegal flow of books was performed with the participation of
Antwerp booksellers, Spanish exiles and merchants. This clandestine flow took advantage of
the already established trade routes and gradually gave rise to the consolidation of one of the
most dynamic illegal book-trades in European book history.

However, this active prohibited book smuggling was drastically weakened and rapidly
dismantled during the increasingly severe period of 1557-1559, starting with the discovery of
the Spanish Protestant nucleus of Valladolid and Seville, the arrest of Julián Hernández, the
accurate information provided by Carranza's research, the enactment of the pragmatic of
1558, the publication of the Index in 1559, the pragmatic that prohibited to all Spanish
subjects to study abroad in foreign universities like Leuven also issued in 1559 and in general
the failure of the Protestant expansion in Spain.

874
The study of Goris is still a classic on the Spanish nation of Antwerp, see: GORIS, Étude sur les colonies
marchantes meridionales, (portugais, espagnols, italiens) à Anvers, New York, 1971.
875
Marcos Pérez and his agent Peter Tilman had bookshops in Medina del Campo and Seville, actually Pérez'
book trade of prohibited books, had the intention to 'evangelize' his Spanish fellows, see: BÉCARES BOTAS,
Arias Montano y Plantino, 59-60; see also: VAN DER ESSEN, 'Épisodes de l'histoire religieuse et commerciale
d'Anvers dans la seconde moitié du XVIe siècle', 351.
876
VAN DER ESSEN, ''Épisodes de l'histoire religieuse et commerciale d'Anvers dans la seconde moitié du XVIe
siècle', 323, 353-354; see also: VERMASEREN, 'De Antwerpse koopman Martin Lopez en zijn familie in de
zestiende en het begin van de zeventieden eeuw', 3-79.

225
 3.9.1 'Brussels' and 'Antwerp' editions published in Protestant cities during the late
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

A second period of illegal book-trade was clearly developed from the second half of the
seventeenth century and especially during the eighteenth century in Protestant typographic
centers willing to circulate their copious vernacular editions (either published in French or
Spanish) within the Spanish market, among the strategies developed was the use of well-
known catholic typographic centers, such as Antwerp and Brussels. Thus, instead of using
fictitious places of publication, the imprints refer to an existing place though not the real place
of publication. The so-called 'mystification', as the name of the place of publication is not
invented but rather mystifies the truth about the origin of the work. 877

By the 1730s, Marc-Michel Bousquet and Company were actively printing Spanish
titles in 'Antwerp' and 'Brussels' (Antwerp from 1737 until 1740, Brussels from 1740 until
1742, again Antwerp from ca.1745 until 1758), mostly translations of well-known French
authors of the time of Louis XIV, such as Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, who has been considered
one of the most brilliant orators of all time, as well as other distinguished French preachers
like Esprit Fléchier, bishop of Nimes, or the French Jesuit Louis Bourdaloue, whose sermons
were highly praised at Versailles. The Bousquet Company was clearly interested in the
printing of historical accounts written by these illustrious authors, for example: Jacques-
Bénigne Bossuet's Historia de las Variaciones de las Iglesias Protestantes (1737), Esprit
Fléchier's Historia del Cardenal don Fray Francisco Ximénez de Cisneros (1740), Charles
Rollin, rector of the University of Paris and his Compendio de la Historia Antigua (1745). All
these editions could be easily found in New Spain libraries in significant amounts. Thereby
illustrating the expansion of the Bousquet Company during the first half of the eighteenth
century.

The Bousquet Company was not only printing Spanish translations in a time of an
increasing interest for French literature and French culture in general. Marc-Michel Bousquet
also reprinted Spanish classics, such as the Spanish Jesuit Juan de Mariana's great work
Historia de España. First published in Toledo in 1592, the book was so well-received that it
was still circulating and re-printed more than a century later. Bousquet’s edition was printed
between 1737 and 1754. Bousquet's editorial line is a perfect example to see how some

877
This chapter had benefited from the remarks provided by Diedrik Lanoye, such as this one of the concept of
mystification.

226
sixteenth-century Spanish titles had become essential books in every eighteenth-century's
library. As a result, the Bousquet company did not only publish Juan de Mariana's classical
history. Teresa de Ávila's Obras and Antonio de Solís' Historia de la Conquista de México,
came also from Bousquet´s press. Solís' Historia de la Conquista de México proved to be a
popular edition in the Hispanic world and actually remained as the most important European
source on Mexican history up through the first part of the nineteenth century.

The Bousquet Company addressed to its Spanish readers to emphasize the advantages of
these new editions, for instance, on the 'note to the reader' of Fléchier's Historia del Cardenal
Ximenez de Cisneros (1740), the Bousquet Company wanted to provide the Spanish public
with a new edition of such an esteemed book and although the Historia was first published in
French in 1694, with a first Spanish translation of 1696,878 Marc-Michel Bousquet's edition
was completely based on the Lyon's re-edition published by Antonio Briasson in 1712.879
However, the reader is informed that in contrast with this edition of Lyon, the one of
'Antwerp' was better because for practical reasons it was divided in two parts, corrected of
many faults. Moreover, a better and more extended analytic index was also added. Finally, as
a good marketing strategy, the Bousquet Company announced the re-edition of some other
Spanish texts, such as the Historia de la Conquista de México, which indeed was published
the following year (1741). With these efforts the Bousquet Company hoped that all the wise
persons of Spain will receive with delight the result of these efforts made in providing good
Spanish-language books.880

878
Fléchier, Histoire du Cardinal Ximenés, was First published in French in Paris, 1694, Historia del Señor
Cardenal Don Francisco Ximénez de Cisneros, was First published in Zaragoza, 1696.
879
Fléchier, Historia del Señor Cardenal Don Francisco Ximénez de Cisneros, first Spanish edition was published
in Lyon, 1712).
880
'Ha sido, y es estimada por toda la Europa, la Historia del Celebre Cardenal Don Fray Francisco Ximenez de
Cisneros , Cardenal de España y Arzobispo de Toledo, Escrita por el ilustrissimo Señor Flechier, Obispo de
Nimes, que avemos creido no po er [sic] emplear mejor nuestro cuidado, que en darle a el Público Español una
Nueva Edición de ella, impressa por la que salió a luz en lengua castellana en Leon en el año de 1712.
Y es aquella edición de Leon de que nos avemos servido para esta, excepto, que para la conveniencia de el
Letor la avemos dividido en Dos Tomos medianos poniendo a el principio de cada uno de ellos los sumarios de
los Libros que contiene. Demás de esto, esta edición se aventaja a la dicha edición de Leon en dos cosas bien
notables. La primera en la corrección de un gran número de faltas de que se hallaba llena la dicha edición del
año 1712 y que la desfiguraban muchissimo. Y la segunda es una Tabla de las materias razonada, y muy
dilatada, que le faltaba a la Edición antecedente, que no contenía más que 18 Paginas de impression, y la de
esta Edicion tiene mas de Ochenta.
Nosotros trabajamos actualmente a la reimpression de otros buenos y diversos Libros españoles: y el primero
que saldrá de nuestra Emprenta es: La Historia de la Conquista de México, escrita por don Antonio de Solís en
folio con Estampas muy bien gravadas: y esperamos que todas las personas doctas de la España, recibirán con
gusto los esfuerzos que hazemos en procurarlas la facilidad de conseguir los buenos libros, see: FLÉCHIER,
Historia del Cardenal Ximénez de Cisneros, Antwerp [Geneve], Marc-Michel Bousquet, 1740, ii-iii.

227
Some years later in 1745 in the 'note to the reader' of Charles Rollin's Compendio de la
Historia Antigua (1745) the translator a certain 'abbot of Saint Martin of Chassonville'
(obviously a pseudonym) offered his modest justification to translate such famed, well-known
and respected book in Europe, especially knowing by long experience, how the erudite
Spanish readers decidedly enjoy and admire all the excellent books and its authors. 881 In
addition, the translator declared that after returning from Italy where he had been present at
the bloody battle of Camposanto (1743), he met by chance Mr. Bousquet and discussed with
him about his idea to translate this book. Thus, because this 'tireless book seller' wanted
always to provide the Spanish nation with the translations of the most illustrative books, he
encouraged him to publish it.882 The translation was issued in a six-volume compendium
instead of the fourteen-volume of the original text, always putting an effort in a clear and solid
translation invariably needed to get a pleasant reading. Finally, the abbot addressed a final
warning to his potential Spanish readers:

First, the author apologized for the limited Spanish used in the book, resulting in a large
number of mistakes, not without having some concerns. However, it was not possible to
correct them, because the translator was very far from Spain [he never mentioned where]
without the proper books or intellectuals' advise, only supported by his own knowledge of the
Spanish language acquired while he lived some years in the 'blessed Spain'. As a
consequence, it was not completely possible for him to deal with the most rigorous terms of
the Spanish that according to him was a refined and elegant language.

The most remarkable characteristic of this Spanish production is that the Bousquet
Company was not only using fictitious names for its translators, the firma did not include
licenses or privileges in their books. In fact, Marc-Michel Bousquet was the publisher of a
Swiss company located in Lausanne and Geneva and certainly not in Antwerp and Brussels.

881
'A los que leyeren el Abreviador y Tradutor:No dexara de parecer en mi, animosidad temeraria, o por lo
decir mas claro, ossadia, el aver abreviado, y trasladado en lengua Castellana, la afamada Historia Antigua del
Señor Rolin, tan conocida como respetada, y aplaudida en todas las partes de Europa: y Razon es, pues que de
a concoer el Lector los motivos principales que me han dirigido y como me he procedido a tan larga, difícil, y
peligrosa impressa.
Mucho tiempo ha que durava en mi inclinación el intento de trasladar esta Historia, y alimentava mi animoso
dictamen la grandeza del asunto, conociendo por larga experiencia, quanto gustan los eruditos Españoles, las
excelentes obras, y quanto estiman y quieren a los Autores de ellas', see: ROLLIN, Compendio de la Historia
Antigua, Antwerp [Geneve], Marc-Michel Bousquet, 1745, i-ii.
882
A mi vuelta de Italia, en donde me avia hallado en la sangrienta batalla de Campo-Santo, […] me halle por
fortuna con el señor Bousquet, discurriendo sobre esta Obra que oy sale de su emprenta, y como el principal
estudio, y el continuo cuidado de este infatigable Librero, consisten a procurar a la Nacion Española, las
traducciones de los mas ilustres, y doctos libros, me dio animo, y me determino a esta traducción tanto mas
voluntariamente que lisonjeaba mi deseo, see: ROLLIN, Compendio de la Historia Antigua, ii-iii.

228
In line with this Cristina Gómez and Laurence Coudart noted that concerning editions coming
from non-Spanish Europe during the eighteenth century, it is advisable to be systematically
cautious with the information given in imprints.883

The use of fictitious addresses was an ingenious marketing strategy used by different
firms in Geneva, such as the very well known Frères de Tournes (active in Geneva and
Amsterdam virtually during the whole eighteenth century from 1700 to 1781),884 Henri Albert
Gosse & Co. (active in Geneva from 1745 to 1751) that reprinted the successful Dictionnaire
nouveau des langues françoise et espagnole (1744) by Francisco Sobrino putting 'Brussels'
instead of Geneva on its cover.885

Protestant centers located in the Northern Netherlands also provide false information in
order to have a better distribution of their Spanish translations and re-editions and even for
their export of their Latin catholic titles. For instance, Frederik van Metelen (active in
Amsterdam from 1681 to 1709) occasionally put 'Antwerp' or 'Leuven' in some of his
books;886 Philips Van Eyck (active in Amsterdam from 1657 to 1682) put 'Antwerp' instead of

883
COUDART and GÓMEZ ÁLVAREZ, 'Las bibliotecas particulares del siglo XVIII', 183.
884
21 editions issued both in Spanish and Latin published by the Tournes between 1727 and 1776
have been found in New Spain libraries, among the books were the Spanish Jurist Jerónimo Castillo
de Bobadilla's Política para corregidores, 2 vol., Antwerp [Geneva], 1750, was part of the Turriana
Library in Mexico City, see: BNM: RFO 342.46 CAS.p. 1750; the Jesuit Gabriel Daniel's Historia de Luis
XIV, 2 vol., Antwerp [Geneva], 1740, was part of the Library of the Seminario Trindentino of San José
in Guadalajara, see: BPJ: vol.1 (FE128623), vol.2 (FE128623); the Jesuit Maximilien Dufrené's
Rudimentos históricos o methodo facil y breve para instruirse la juventud catholica en las noticias
historicas, Antwerp [Lyon?], 1755, was part of the Library of the Seminario of Morelia, see: BPUM:
LB1025 R8; Jean-Baptiste Gonet's Manuale thomistarum, seu, totius theologiae brevis cursus,
Antwerp [Geneva], 1742, it was part of the Library of the Carmelites of Toluca see: BMVZ: 4238; the
Franciscan Antoine Pagi's Critica historico-chronologica in universos annales ecclesiasticos, Antwerp
[Geneva?], 1727, was part of the Library of the Diocesan colleges of San Juan and San Pedro in
Puebla, (the Palafoxiana Library has two sets), see: BP: PAFX BR143 P3, vol.1 (21304, 21375), vol.2
(21305, 21376), vol.3 (21306, 21377), vol.4 (21307, 21378); the bishop of Quito Alonso Peña y
Montenegro's Itinerario para párochos de indios, Antwerp [Lyon?], 1754, the Jesuits has one copy in
the Library of the College of San Pedro and San Pablo in Mexico City, see the inventory of the Library:
AGN, Jesuitas-III-30, 443r.
885
This edition was available in New Spain libraries as well. For instance it was part of the Library of the Jesuit
novitiate of San Francisco Javier at Tepotzotlán, see: BMUNAVI: in the catalogue of ADABI the items has the
numbers: vol.1 (52 902) and vol.2 (53 657). The same publisher also issued the Diccionario Nuevo de las
lenguas española y francesa (1751) by Francisco Sobrino using as well the name of Brussels instead of Geneva.
This last edition was available in several libraries in New Spain such as the Convent of La Merced of Puebla,
BJML: vol.1 (38888-11140303), vol.2 (37680-1140403). Or the Library of the Seminario Conciliar of San José in
Guadalajara, BPJ: vol.1 (FE3123482), vol. 2 (FE3123746).
886
Such as, MODERSOHN, Conciones in Psalmos poenitentiales, Antwerp [Amsterdam], 1695. The
edition was available in a private library, see: BNM: RFO 223.207 MOD.c. 1695.
229
Amsterdam in some of his catholic titles;887 Jacob Van Velsen (active in Amsterdam from
1662 to 1679) did exactly the same;888 as also did the widow of Jan Jacobs Schipper (active in
Amsterdam from 1670 to 1688);889 the output of George Gallet (active in Amsterdam from
1691 to 1703) holds 'Antwerp' instead of Amsterdam from 1703 probably as a strategy of his
heirs to distribute their books.890

Not only the places of publication but also the names of the printers were occasionally
fictitious, such as a certain Joannes Baptista de la Bry 'printer of Antwerp' whose book De
antiquis ecclesiae ritibus libri IV., (1736-1738) by the Benedictine Edmond Martène may
have been printed in Geneva as well.891 Moreover, a certain Andrés Moreno issued at his
expense the first Spanish translation of the abbot of Bellegarde's El arte de conocer a los
hombres y máximas para la sociedad civil ('Antwerp', 1743). No other edition issued at the
expense of this Andrés Moreno is known, thus possibly this is also an edition printed in
Geneva or other Protestant city.892

This persistent strategy is confirmed some years later in 1754, when the Swiss
publisher, Grasset, wrote to the Males-Herbes director of a French bookshop, in these terms:
'Our printing-shops in Geneva and Laussane always employ the name Coloniae Allobrogum
on the covers, because without these words, even if the book is not prohibited, it could not be
sold in Spain with the name Geneva or Lausanne due to the huge Spanish prejudice'. 893 As the

887
Such as, LANUZA, Tractatus Evangelici, 2 vol. Antwerp [Amsterdam], Philips Van Eyck, 1663; as
well as CAIGNET, Dominicale pastorum, 3 vol., Antwerp [Amsterdam], Philips Van Eyck, 1682. Both
editions were available in New Spain libraries. Lanuza was for instance available at the Library of the
Dominican College of Porta Coeli in Mexico City, see: BNM: RFO 231 LAN.t. 1663; or in the Franciscan
convent of Guadalajara, see: BPJ: Vol.1 (FE3128404), vol.2 (FE3111970). Furthermore, Antonio
Caignet's book was available in the Library of the Franciscan Novitiate of San Cosme close to Mexico
City, see: BNM: RFO 252 CAI.d. 1682.
888
Such as BARRIOS, Sol de la vida, Antwerp [Amsterdam], 1679. There is one item at the National Library, see:
BNM: RFO 861.3 BAR.s.
889
Such as, BONA, Opera, Antwerp [Amsterdam], 1677. The Oratorians of Mexico City had one item, see: BNM:
RFO 081 BON.o. 1677.
890
Such as, PÉTAU, Opus de doctrina temporum, 3 vol., Antwerp [Amsterdam], 1703, which was available in
New Spain libraries. The Palafoxiana Library, for instance, has one set, see: BP: vol.1 (20 970), vol.2 (20 971);
vol.3 (20 972).
891
This edition was available at least in three New Spain libraries, such as the Carmelite College of San Angel
close to Mexico City, see: BNM: RFO 4.93-41753; the Seminario Conciliar of Mexico City, see: BLT: 200/L40 and
the College of San Juan in Puebla see: BP: (the Palafoxiana has two sets): PAFX BV174, vol.1 (13782, 13502), vol.
2 (13783, 13505), vol.3 (13784, 13504), vol.4 (13785, 13503).
892
The edition was available in New Spain libraries, such as the library of the oidor (judge) of the
Audiencia of Nueva Galicia, Joseph Manuel de la Garza Falcón, see: DIEGO FERNÁNDEZ SOTELO,
'Biblioteca del oidor de la audiencia de la Nueva Galicia Joseph Manuel de la garza falcón', item 514.
893
COUDART and GÓMEZ ÁLVAREZ, 'Las bibliotecas particulares del siglo XVIII', 183.

230
eighteenth-century progressed cities, like Geneva or Amsterdam became leading book centers
and their presses experienced a steady growth on their outputs. Accordingly, the booksellers
active in those cities managed to establish international contacts in cities like Cadiz, which by
the time was an entry of books to Spain and a redistribution point to the Americas. 894 Marc-
Michel Bousquet or the Frères de Tournes used the names of Antwerp and Brussels, because
they were two cities that had remained catholic and reliable typographic centers whose
prestige was still highly praised. Contrary to Lausanne, Geneva or Amsterdam, cities located
in old reformed countries, which still by the eighteenth-century were perceived with suspicion
by the Spanish authorities.

3.9.2 'Brussels' and 'Antwerp' editions published in catholic countries during the late
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

Not only in Geneva or Amsterdam printers used Antwerp in their false editions. Printing
offices in Spain or Italy used the same practice, some titles possibly printed in Spain have
been recently identified. For instance, there are two editions published in Spanish dealing with
the history of Peru and New Granada and allegedly issued by Johannes Baptista I Verdussen
in 1688.895 However, as Van Rossem noted,896 the Spanish edition of Lucas Fernández de
Piedrahita, (historian, theologian and member of the chapter of the cathedral of Bogotá),
Historia general de las conquistas del Nvevo Reyno de Granada (1688), as well as La estrella
de Lima convertida en Sol (1688) by Francisco Echave y Assu, volume that commemorated
the beatification of the archbishop Toribio de Mogrovejo of Lima cannot have been issued in
Antwerp due to their typographic characteristics, which completely differ from those
normally used by the Verdussen in their editions. Furthermore, the engravings of the two
books were done by Joseph Mulder, a Dutch engraver and drawer.897 Finally, at least the
Historia general de las conquistas del Nvevo Reyno de Granada presents typographic
elements used by the printer of Seville Thomas López de Haro (active in Seville from 1677 to

894
The frères Cramer of Geneva for instance: 'vendent directement a Cadix, centre de redistribution, même
pour les Indes Occidentales', see: RUEDA RAMÍREZ., 'Mercaderes y libros en la Carrera de Indias a finales del
reinado de Felipe II', 567.
895
As it has already mentioned Johannes Baptista I Verdussen was active in Antwerp from 1653 to 1689,
actually until 1675 he was printing along with Hieronymys II Verdussen and from then on he published by
himself until 1689.
896
VAN ROSSEM, 'From Antwerp to America: the Verdussens and trade in catholic books (XVII century)'. (The
conference was dictated at the Rubenianum of Antwerp and at the National Library of Mexico, in December
2011 and April 2012, respectively).
897
Mulder was born in 1660 in Amsterdam and he was active until 1735, see: KLOSSOWSKI, El juego áureo, 533
grabados alquímicos del siglo XVII, 307.

231
1693).898 Accordingly, the books may have been published at the request of this printer.
Concerning the Dutch engravings, López de Haro had family in Leiden (the López de Haro
family active there), thus, it is plausible that the delicate engravings were done in the Northern
Netherlands and then sent to Spain, or even that the editions were printed in Leiden or
Amsterdam and then shipped to Seville.899

Moreover, an inquisitorial license granted to Francisco Echave y Assu allowing him to

transport 46 cases of books from Seville to Lima, the license was issued on December 29,
1689 mentioned that: Don Francisco de Echave y Assu, Knight of the Order of Santiago
resident of Seville was ready to make the journey in the galleons en route to Peru. He declared
that among his belongings he was carrying 46 cases of books, including his own work La
estrella de Lima and the aforementioned La conquista del Nuevo Reyno de Granada, as well
as the popular Artes by Antonio de Nebrija, devotional books, such as the Ramillete de
divinas flores by Bernardo de Sierra; catechisms by father Ripalda and classical authors, like
Martial or Quintus Curtius.900 Regrettably, no specific number of copies of each book is
provided. However, 46 cases of books was already a considerable shipment of books
especially for a particular like Echave de Assu.

In case that López de Haro was the printer of these two Spanish editions, may the
authors (Echave de Assu and Fernández de Piedrahita) have requested him to publish their
titles in Antwerp to obtain a better quality in the editions? Or on the other hand, López de
Haro offered them to print their books in Antwerp, while he did it in his own workshop just
adding Dutch engravings? Why a printer of Seville would provide a fictive place of
publication of books that obviously were in conformity with the Spanish religious orthodoxy
and that would not pose any risk for the printing shop. This may be considered as a strategy
that possibly increased the price of the editions, since a book printed in Antwerp was
considered to have a better typographic quality than a Spanish one. In any case, this was not a
new phenomenon, Maurits Sabbe was one of the first authors that observed the 'contrefaçon'
of books issued under the name of the leading and respected printing-shops, such as the
Officina Plantiniana.901 Thus, certainly both editions were not published in Antwerp, but it
appears that the majority of the copies were rapidly sent in the shipment of Echave de Assu to
Peru and presumably to New Granada, where the name of Antwerp and a well-known

898
The case of López de Haro would be further mentioned.
899
Stijn Van Rossem thinks that only the engravings were done in the Northern Netherlands.
900
AGI, Casa de la Contratación, 674, fol. 88r.
901
SABBE, 'Valsche Plantin en Moretusdrukken', 182.

232
Antwerp publisher, such as Johannes Baptista Verdussen had to be highly praised and well
paid by potential book buyers.

Two works by bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza were allegedly issued in Brussels by
François I Foppens and by Johannes Baptista I Verdussen in 1682, the first was the Vida
interior del excelentissimo Señor Don Juan de Palafox y Mendoza Obispo antes de la Puebla
de los Angeles (François I Foppens, 'Brussels' [Seville] 1682).902 Actually, some of Palafox's
works had been already printed in Brussels from 1655 by well-known Brussels printers, such
as François I Foppens and François Vivien.903 However, as Peeters-Fontainas pointed out, this
particular imprint holds a fictitious address.904 In line with this, if one takes a closer look at
the book, the typography completely differs from the books issued in Brussels by Foppens.
The book may have been printed in Spain, possibly in Seville, since all the approvals and
censures were given by members of Seville's clergy, such as the ex provincial of the
Franciscans in Seville fray Bartolomé Pulgarín and doctor Gregorio Bastán y Arostegui vicar-
general of Seville's metropolitan cathedral.905 This is confirmed in the foreword of the Vida
interior included in the first volume of the Obras del ilustrissimo y excelentissimo don Juan
de Palafox y Mendoza (Madrid, Gabriel Ramírez, 1762) where it is stated that the alleged
edition of Brussels (1682) was rather published in Seville.906

The second Palafox' edition allegedly issued by Johannes Baptista I Verdussen in

Brussels in 1682 was the Guía y aliento del alma viadora, para guiarla y alentarla à que
camine à la ciudad de Dios ('Brussels' [Seville], Johannes Baptista I Verdussen, 1682). The
book was on sale at the shop of the printer Thomás López de Haro of Seville. This second
edition sheds some light on the plausible identity of the Seville printer interested in Palafox's
works. First, as already noticed Johannes-Baptista I Verdussen was a member of a well-

902
The edition was available in New Spain libraries, the Jesuits for instance had one copy at the library of the
College of San Pedro and San Pablo of Mexico City, see the inventory of the library: AGN, Jesuitas-III-30, 452r.,
The convent of Belén of Puebla also had a copy, see: BJML: 28356-41040305.
903
Such as the Historia Real y Sagrada, luz de príncipes y súbditos (Brussels, François I Foppens, 1655). The first
edition had been published in Puebla de los Ángeles in the press of Francisco Robledo in 1643. According to
Nicolás Antonio the second edition was published in Madrid although the year is not provided. Furthermore,
The Pastor de Nochebuena (first published in Madrid in 1645) was also republished in Brussels by François
Vivien in 1655. In 1675 Palafox's second edition of his devotional book Año espiritual was issued in Ghent in the
shop of Bauduyn Manilius. Some years later in 1662 François Foppens republished it in Brussels.
904
PEETERS-FONTAINAS, Bibliographie des impressions espagnoles des Pays-Bas, II, 1032.
905
PALAFOX Y MENDOZA, Vida interior, Brussels [Seville?], 1682.
906
'Se dicen hechas en Bruselas (1682) aunque verdaderamente se hicieron en Sevilla' See: de 'Noticia historial
o prólogo de la vida interior', see: PALAFOX Y MENDOZA, Obras, I, Madrid, Gabriel Ramírez, 1762.

233
known family of printers based in Antwerp.907 He was active from 1653 to 1689, all his books
were printed in Antwerp not a single one in Brussels and as far as it is known this example is
also the only 'Verdussen edition' which mentions that the book was on sale on Thomás López
de Haro's shop. Hence, it is likely that Thomás López de Haro published himself both the
Vida espiritual and Guía y aliento of Palafox in 1682. Possibly with the intention of obtaining
better prices and distribution of his books.

These are not isolated examples, it appears that Thomas López de Haro used fictitious
addresses on regular basis, as illustrated by a contract found at the Archive or Protocolos
Notariales of Seville dated February 28, 1680 where Thomás López de Haro printer and
resident of Seville at the Génova street (the street were the major printers and booksellers
had their shops) committed himself to print, to bind and to deliver 500 copies to Jesuit father
Pedro del Espinar, who was the 'Procurador General' for the provinces of the Indies, of a
book entitled Pláticas [domésticas] espirituales of the Italian Jesuit Giovanni Paolo Oliva
also known in Spanish as Juan Pablo Oliva who at that time was the Superior General of the
Society of Jesus.908 Moreover, López de Haro also committed himself to deliver 50
additional bound copies intended for the author printed at López de Haro's own expense. For
his part father Del Espinar would pay him for the 500 books, four maravedíes for each sheet
of paper (pliego) and two reales for the binding. Finally, López de Haro reiterates that he
commits himself to deliver 500 good-quality copies printed in good paper. Otherwise, father
Del Espinar was free to choose another printer and he will get his payments back. 909 In fact,
the Jesuits of Seville had good connections with booksellers since they could supply them
books for their colleges and missions overseas.

In his commitment to deliver good quality copies, possibly López de Haro offered to
print the book in the Southern Netherlands, although he did not do it. Oliva's Pláticas y
discursos espirituales was allegedly published in Brussels in 1680 by François Serstevens or
Tserstevens or T'serstevens (printer active in Brussels from ca.1690 to 1717). If one takes a

907
Currently Stijn Van Rossem of the University of Antwerp is working on his doctoral thesis about the
Verdussen family of Antwerp, see also: VAN ROSSEM, 'La imprenta de los Verdussen y la comercialización de
sus libros en el mundo ibérico e iberoamericano', 83-100.
908
The edition was available in New Spain libraries as well, the Jesuits had five copies in the Library of San
Pedro and San Pablo, see the inventory of the Library: AGN, Jesuitas-III-30, 425r., 426r., 429r., 432r., 435v; the
Carmelites of Toluca also had one copy, see: BMVZ: 1349.
909
Concerning the terms of payment, 30 pesos were paid in cash to begin the printing. Then after having
printed 25 sheets of paper 30 additional pesos would be paid and still 30 pesos more would be paid after
having printed 35 sheets of paper. And the rest would be paid after having delivered the 500 books. AHPS,
Oficio 4, 2743, fol. 791r.-791v.

234
look at the edition, there are typographic and decorative elements used by López de Haro in
his own editions. In addition, all the preliminaries were made in Seville, such as in the noted
case of Palafox's Vida interior, allegedly printed in Brussels by Foppens in 1682. For
instance, the dedication was addressed to the Jesuit Province of Peru and was written by
Jesuit Lorenzo Ortiz who happened to be the translator of the book as well (the first edition
appeared in Italian), it was signed in Cadiz on April 1, 1680 (just slightly more than one
month after the contract between López de Haro and Del Espinar had been signed). On the
other hand, the censure was given at the Jesuit Professed House of Seville by father Juan de
Cárdenas on July 14, 1680. Furthermore, the license of the Ordinary was granted by the
abovementioned doctor Gregorio Bastán y Arostegui vicar-general of the metropolitan of
Seville also on July 14, 1680.910

Thus, López de Haro developed a parallel activity of editions published with fictitious
addresses along with his Spanish publications issued in Seville. There is another example of
a Jesuit work allegedly published by François Serstevens in Brussels 1684, the Sermones
varios, predicados en la ciudad de Lima, corte de los reynos del Perú by Joseph de Aguilar
professor of rhetoric in the Collegium Maximum of San Pablo in Lima, which as the
aforementioned editions may have been published in Seville instead of Brussels. The end
justifies the means, as the old proverb says. Thus, López de Haro exemplifies a clever
printer of seventeenth-century Seville that probably sold at higher prices his 'Brussels' or his
'Antwerp' editions to his clients.

There exists also a certain Francisco Berdussen [instead of Verdussen] (allegedly

active in Antwerp from ca.1694 to ca.1718). The remarkable thing is that not only the place
of publication 'Antwerp' was fictitious, but also the name of the printer, which instead of
Verdussen the well-known dynasty of Antwerp was deliberately changed to Berdussen.
Such editions were probably issued in Spain since the typographic characteristics are
entirely different from those used by the real Verdussen on their books and according to
Stijn Van Rossem, there are no recordings of activities of this Francisco Berdussen. 911 Four
of these Francisco Berdussen's Latin editions published during these years have been found
in New Spain libraries, such as Sacrosancti et oecumenici Concilii Tridentini (1694, 1718);
Dictorvm factorvmqve memorabilivm libri IX. (1703) by Valerius Maximus; Historia

910
OLIVA, Pláticas domésticas y espirituales, Brussels [Seville?], François Serstevens, 1680.
911
His period of activity coincided with the death of Thomas López de Haro. Were possibly their heirs and
successors behind this the identitiy of the abovementioned Francisco Berdussen?

235
Alexandri Magni (1706) by Curtius Rufus Quintus.912 In fact, these kind of titles were
frequently printed in Antwerp by the Verdussen, thus, this 'Francisco Berdussen' surely took
advantage of this fact, and tried to allocate his own editions on the Spanish market.

Other false Verdussen Spanish editions have been identified for this period. There is one
remarkable title issued under the name of Cornelius I and his brother Henricus II
Verdussen,913 Memorias tiernas, dispertador afectuoso, y devociones practicas con los
dolores de la Santisima Virgen (1695) by the Mexican Jesuit José de Vidal, the typographic
characteristics of this particular title confirm that it is a false or fake edition: first the book
holds 'Amberez' [sic] instead of 'Amberes' as the place of publication, this noteworthy mistake
may have never been made by the experienced brothers who always put Amberes in their
Spanish titles; second the book lacks the typical mark of the Verdussens, the lion on the first
page; third this author was never published in the Southern Netherlands. The first edition of
Vidal's Memorias tiernas was published in Mexico City by Paula de Benavides in 1686, in
fact this particular edition of 'Amberez' may also be considered as an edition issued either in
Spain or even in Mexico.

Additionally, there is another edition allegedly published by Cornelius I and Henricus II

Verdussen: Compendium latino-hispanum utriusque lingvae (1724) by the Jesuit Pedro de
Salas (published at least three times in 1724, 1732 and 1740). The three editions hold
Henricus II and Cornelius I Verdussen as the printers. However, from 1722 Cornelius was
publishing along with the widow of his brother Henricus. Moreover, the three editions were
published at the expense of Spanish publishers: the one of 1724 at the expense of Francisco
Lasso, the one of 1732 at the expense of Juan de Oliveras and the one of 1740 at the expense
of Luis Correa. In fact this Pedro de Salas' editions may have been issued in Madrid. As
Francisco de Lasso was a bookseller of Madrid active from 1708 to ca.1723. One of his
daughters Josefa was married to the aforementioned Luis Correa, bookseller of Madrid, who
took over the bookshop located at the Calle Mayor when Lasso died. Furthermore, the second
daughter of Lasso, Francisca married to the aforementioned Juan de Oliveras in 1730, who

912
According to Stijn Van Rossem who has been lately working on the Verdussen's editions, the
aforementioned Sacrosancti Concilii Tridentinii (1718) which was examined in Mexico at the Library of the
Museo Virreinal de Zinacantepec (BMVZ: 3309), was indeed a false edition, since its typography completely
differs from the one used by the Verdussens. Therefore, Van Rossem's opinion strength the idea that this
Berdussen may have been a Spanish publisher.
913
As it has already mentioned Henricus II was active from 1692 to 1721 and Cornelius I from 1689 to 1728.

236
was also a bookseller and a printer.914 Thus, possibly the three editions were issued in Madrid
and not in Antwerp and certainly not by the Verdussen brothers.

The works by a second Mexican Jesuit were also allegedly published in Antwerp by
Johannes Baptista II Verdussen in 1734,915 those of Antonio de Peralta, who was a professor
of theology at the College of San Pedro and San Pablo in Mexico City: Dissertationes
scholasticae de divina scientia media (1734),916 Dissertationes scholasticae de divinis
decretis, sacratissimae Virgini Mariae Dei-Genetrici (1734),917 Dissertationes scholasticæ de
sacratissima virgine Maria genitrice (1734),918 Dissertationes scholasticae de S. Joseph
(1734).919 All these volumes were first published in Mexico City by the heirs of Miguel
Ribera Calderón and by José Bernardo de Hogal between 1721 and 1729. There are several
elements to consider these editions as not printed in Antwerp. First, the books do not hold the
mark used by Joannes Baptista II Verdussen on his books: the storks (duarum ciconiarum),
instead an engraving of poor quality depicting the Holly Family was used. In fact, the quality
of the engraving must be also taken into consideration, since it has a lower quality than those
used in the books published during the same period by Johannes Baptista II Verdussen.920
Furthermore, according to the STCV there is not a single copy of these Peralta's editions kept
in Flemish libraries that belonged to Jesuit collections, which is not usual since the works
published in Latin by Jesuit authors in the Southern Netherlands were not only world-wide
distributed among Jesuit convents and colleges, but the books were normally available in
local Jesuit houses. All these cases confirm that the name of a well-known Antwerp dynasty
involved with the Spanish book trade was deliberately used by other printers probably to
obtain higher prices and a better distribution of these false Verdussen editions.

Spanish printers also changed the place of publication but without changing their own
names as the printers of Geneva or Amsterdam did. Thus, the so-called mystification. For
instance, José de Navarro y Armijo one of the most active printers of eighteenth-century
Seville (active there from 1735 to ca.1769),921 put Antwerp on one of his early editions:
Fastorum libri VI, Tristium libri I, De ponto libri IIII (1736) by Ovid. Navarro was possibly

914
AGULLÓ Y COBO, La imprenta y el comercio de libros en Madrid, 151, 218.
915
Johannes Baptista II was active in Antwerp from 1692 to 1759.
916
First published in Mexico City by José Bernardo de Hogal in 1724.
917
First published in Mexico City by José Bernardo de Hogal in 1727.
918
First published in Mexico City by the heirs of Miguel Ribera Calderón in 1721.
919
First published in Mexico City by José Bernardo de Hogal in 1729.
920
See for instance, the engravings used on the title pages by Joannes Baptista II Verdussen collected by the
STCV.
921
AGUILAR PIÑAL, Impresos sevillanos del siglo XVIII, 17-18.

237
searching for a wide distribution, and for a better price regarding his own edition. In fact, no
other book issued by Navarro holds Antwerp as the place of publication.

Finally, not only in Spain but in cities like eighteenth-century Venice where the system
of censorship was strong and the editorial output was abundant, it was also frequent to hide
the real place of publication to avoid rigorous control and to get a better distribution of books
within international markets.922 This was the case of Francesco Pitteri, printer from Venice
allegedly printing in other cities, such as Lyon or Antwerp,923 Giambattista Recurti who put
Antwerp and Cologne as the place of publication,924 and Giambattista Remondini.925 Also in
eighteenth-century France, several publishers put Brussels on some of their editions, such as
Denys Humblot (active in Paris from 1759 to ca.1798), possibly to avoid censorship during
these troubled years.926 In summary, the editions allegedly issued in Antwerp or Brussels,
which were published in Spain, Italy of France, were possibly avoiding censorship in order to
reach international markets using the name of famed catholic cities with a long typographic
tradition.

922
BRAVETTI and GRANZOTTO, False date. Repertorio delle licenze di stampe veneziane con falso luogo di
edizione (1740-1797), 7-28.
923
For instance, Jean-Baptiste Gonet's Clypeus theologiae tomisticae, 2 vol., Antwerp [Venice] 1753 and 1754,
the Convent of La Merced in Guadalajara had one set, see: BPJ: vol.1 (FE3116574), vol.2 (FE3116572).
924
Such as, Antoine Pagi's Breviarium histórico-chronologico-criticum illustraria pontificum romanum, Antwerp
[Venice] vol.5 (1748) and vol. VI (1753). These were available in New Spain libraries. For instance, the items
were available at the Franciscan Convent of Querétaro, see: BMRQ: vol. V (21 517) and vol. VI (23 191).
925
Such as, Gaspard Juenin's Theologia redacta in compendium per interrogate et response, Antwerp [Venice]
1759. This edition was available in New Spain libraries. The Biblioteca Burgoa of Oaxaca has one item, see the
catalogue online: www.bibliotecaburgoa.org.mx
926
For instance: Histoire Littéraire de la Congregation de Saint Maur, Ordre de S.Benoit (1770) the edition was
allegedly published in Brussels. This book was prohibited by the Mexican Inquisition in 1797, see: RAMOS 'Los
orígenes de la literatura prohibida en la Nueva España', 46.

238
 CHAPTER IV

Consumption of Southern Netherlands books in New Spain

By studying the different contexts where the books of the Southern Netherlands were being
read in New Spain, this chapter aims to illustrate New Spain's book consumption circuits of
this specific bibliographic corpus, highlighting the geographical book distribution, particularly
within urban contexts of the central areas of the Viceroyalty, as well as the most important
genres available, and cases of books being used in both clerical and secular contexts.
However, before providing this overview, it should be pointed out that the cultural context in
which books were being read and used was restricted to a small segment of the population.

The Spanish military conquest of the Aztec Empire accomplished in 1521, set de stage
for one of the most fascinating and complex processes of development in human experience; a
new reality and society were born. Colonial or viceroyal society (the Viceroyalty of New
Spain was established in 1535),927 was in the words of Gruzinski and Bernard, real human
laboratory.928 In Mexico, Spanish rule lasted for three centuries, until the first decade of the
nineteenth century, which eventually give way to the formation of Mexico as an independent
nation.

In such an heterogeneous society, access to education and therefore to higher European

culture was restricted to the dominant population of Hispanic origin, which numerically was a
minority compared to the abundant Indian, black and 'mixed' population. Although some early
attempts to create a local Indian clergy and a college devoted to Indian higher education were
promoted in the sixteenth century with the foundation of the Imperial College of Tlatelolco, in
the end the project failed due to several external factors.929

927
This vast territory comprised not only present Mexico but part of Central America, and the
present states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Texas and even the Philippines. Therefore,
the appellation viceroyal of viceroyalty of New Spain will be used throughout this chapter.
928
BERNARD and GRUZINSKI, Historia del Nuevo Mundo del Descubrimiento a la Conquista, I,9. As Mathes has
observed: full colonial expansion to the Americas by Spain was initiated after three decades of insular
occupation with the conquest of Tenochtitlan. This involved transference of Spanish institutions and
civilization, with necessary modifications, to the Kingdom of New Spain, with special considerations for the
incorporation of Mesoamerican high-level cultures into the Spanish world, see: MATHES, 'Humanism in
Sixteenth-and Seventeenth-Century Libraries of New Spain', 415.
929
RICARD, The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico, 217-238, 288.

239
Regarding the Royal University of Mexico (created in the 1550s), very few Indians, most of
them of noble origin were admitted. Enrique González had remarked that widespread Indian
access to university might have granted indigenous people opportunities to graduate and to
form a dynamic native clergy that could compete with the criollo clergy in the repartition of
doctrines and parishes. Hence, the efforts made by the dominant Hispanic segment of the
population to prevent Indian or mestizo access to the academic sphere.930

As a result, the Indian, black, and mestizo population had little access to written culture
throughout the colonial period. There were a few exceptions. For instance, In the city of
Puebla an extensive book inspection was carried out in March 1588. The person in charge was
one of the canons of the cathedral and official of the Inquisition. The list of collected
prohibited or suspicious books showed the popularity of devotional titles in Spanish, as well
as vernacular and Latin books of hours. However, the Puebla list also showed the presence of
books in unexpected contexts, like in the property of a slave, a certain Gregorio, an African
slave of Francisco Velasco. Gregorio had three popular titles, one of entertainment and two
devotional books (two of them have been identified), La Celestina, Espejo de la Vida humana
by Bernardo Pérez de Chinchón and one Contemptus Mundi by fray Luis de Granada (it had
to be one of the several vernacular editions).931 No further details are revealed by the list, like
how Gregorio obtained these books or whether he was the actual owner of the books or only
happened to have them in possession. Possibly, he was working as part of the domestic
service, where he could gained access to books. However, illiteracy was generalized in New
Spain and books remained objects which few people had access to. Therefore, this case is
rather exceptional. Confirming this trend, books are hardly ever mentioned within Indian
testaments in central Mexico.932

Thus, the scholarly education, the circulation of books, the formation of libraries, and
the cultivation of a taste for reading was with few exceptions reserved to the population of
Hispanic origin. The criollos or those who were born to Spanish parents, conceived
themselves as inheritors of European culture, but living in another continent and facing
different human experiences, and in some way feeling isolated and resigned to play a
marginal role in the cultural world emanated from the old Europe. Or as Enrique González
clearly stated: the criollos had the intellectual and analytical European tools (the language,

930
GONZÁLEZ GONZÁLEZ, 'La Universidad en la cultura novohispana del siglo XVII', 338-339.
931
FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y Libreros, 342-345.
932
See: ROJAS RABIELA, Vidas y bienes olvidados: testamentos indígenas novohispanos, Mexico, 1999.

240
culture, religion) to face, interpret, understand and assimilate a much more complex and new
reality than that of the motherland. However, this group was constantly confronted with the
fact that despite being the owners of vast lands, they were subject to the Crown's policies,
which were not always well-informed about the American reality. Accordingly, the so-called
criollismo, or the cultural identity generated by this group included symbolic and ideological
representations derived from this tense reality within a hierarchical society constantly faced
with delicately balanced situations.933 Within this complex reality the exported editions of the
Southern Netherlands gradually became part of the bibliographic patrimony amassed in the
libraries of New Spain by scholars and readers of Hispanic origin from the sixteenth to the
eighteenth century.

4.1 Urban spaces as cultural hubs

Urban centers have always been ideal places for book consumption, fundamentally, because
of the concentration of power, capital, culture, production, and knowledge allowing the trade
of a wide scope of merchandises.934 Furthermore, the cities were (and still are) poles of
attraction for social groups whose social significance and professional activities demand
books, such as the clergy, scholars and other intellectuals and professionals. In New Spain,
Mexico City was the most important cultural hub. Therefore, much attention will be given to
its particular case.

MEXICO C ITY

Hernán Cortés decided that the new political capital had to be erected where the former Aztec
capital, the Great Tenochtitlan had stood. That meant on an island of the old basin of the
Texcoco Lake. Despite the apparent disadvantages that this implied (floods, supply of
provisions, a feasible siege), the city was constructed atop the ruins of the Aztec capital from
1523. The choice was indeed not ideal.935 Yet, it flourished as one of the most important,
effervescent and active cultural hubs of the American continent as the city was at the centre of
the east-west route which joined the Atlantic and the Pacific, a crucial link in a fledging world

933
GONZÁLEZ GONZÁLEZ, ‘La Universidad en la cultura novohispana del siglo XVII’, 346.
934
See for instance Werner Waterschoot's considerations over Antwerp: WATERSCHOOT, 'Antwerp: books
publishing and cultural production before 1585', 233-248.
935
In fact, the supply of water and the weak subsoil in the central part of the present city due to drying out of
the old basin are still serious problems affecting the modern megalopolis, which is located in a seismic area.

241
economy. It was also the axis of the North-South route that linked New Spain's capital to the
mining zone.936

Mexico City rapidly developed as the most important hub of European culture: first the
new city (as many others in the American viceroyalties) was traced following Renaissance
patterns, it became the head of the diocese (1530), it was also rapidly raised to the rank of
viceroyal court (1535), and the head of the archbishopric (1546). In addition, Mexico City
hosted the first printing workshop of the continent (1539) and by the royal decree of 1551 the
first university in the Americas was allowed to be founded, the Royal and Pontifical
University of Mexico, starting academic activities with the chair of rhetoric taught by doctor
Francisco Cervantes de Salazar on June 3, 1553.937

A significant proportion of book consumers in New Spain were related to the

university.938 It rapidly became a regular institution comprising the teaching of different
chairs (ten by 1575 and 23 by 1763),939 which were increasingly in the hands of the alumni.
Additionally the student attendance rapidly increased.940 The Royal and Pontifical University
of Mexico proved to be a convergence point for New Spain scholars, and as many of its
graduates held important offices among the civil and ecclesiastical institutions, the projection
of its former students far exceeded the academic life, exercising a strong influence on the
ruling institutions of the viceroyalty especially within urban contexts. The University also
became a forum where numerous confrontations among the dominant corporations were
decided, especially concerning the control of the governing bodies and the provision of the
chairs, such as the traditional dispute between criollos and the newcomer Spaniards, between
secular and regular clergy, between civil and ecclesiastical authorities.941

Thus, the university was itself an exclusive corporation and eventually its main social
role was to train its students in the liberal professions within the standards of the academic
European culture, providing degrees, and enabling the graduates to join the civil or

936
CHAUNU, Séville et l'Atlántique (1504-1650), VIII, 689-690, quoted in BOYER, 'Mexico in the Seventeenth-
century: Transition of a Colonial Society', 455.
937
Regarding the beginning of the Mexican University, see: LUNA DÍAZ MORENO, 'Las ceremonias de fundación
de la Universidad de México', 13-21.
938
To see the different lines of relatively recent research about Hispanic universities see: RODÍGUEZ SAN
PEDRO-BEZARES, 'Las universidades hispánicas en la edad moderna. Líneas de investigación', 508-529.
939
Six of theology, five of canons, two of law, four of medicine, one of rhetoric and one of mathematics, two of
philosophy, and two more on Indian languages (nahuatl and otomi), see: DE AJOFRÍN, 'Diario de viaje', 70.
940
RAMÍREZ GONZÁLEZ and PAVÓN ROMERO, 'De estudiantes a catedráticos un aspecto de la Real Universidad
de México en el siglo XVI', 210.
941
GONZÁLEZ GONZÁLEZ, 'La Universidad en la cultura novohispana del siglo XVII', 339-341.

242
ecclesiastical administration of the viceroyalty. As a result it was perceived as a promoter of
social mobility.942 The more modest the student's origin, the more heavily they depended on
this social mobility to get a place on the civil or ecclesiastical administration or get involved
in the internal policy of the institution and eventually became professor. In this respect, the
degree of bachelor, which was relatively inexpensive gave the opportunity to begin with a
professional career, such as a scholarly post in the Audiencias, or to obtain a parish (in the
case of clerics). The degree of 'licenciadom for its part, proved the erudite capacity for future
teaching, while those who had wealthy families (or wealthy sponsors) who could achieve the
expensive doctoral degree contended for the prestigious parishes of the important cities, a seat
on the chapters, positions in the government of the dioceses, or a honorary seat at the
Audiencia (these positions were the only allowed to the criollos, who, as already noted were
excluded from the highest government posts, such as those of oidor, archbishop or viceroy).
In summary, the doctoral degree was a matter of pomp and ceremony. Thus, the ultimate aim
of the University was of a practical nature, the training of local men to join the secular or
religious administration, not really aiming to produce great scholars or wise men.943

The city also boasted several colleges of higher education normally ruled by religious
orders.944 For instance, the Jesuit colleges were concentrated in the northeast of the city, in
what may be called a student neighborhood: the Jesuit colleges of San Pedro & San Pablo,
San Ildefonso, and San Gregorio. This Jesuit network of colleges hosted some 300 students
(of grammar, rhetoric, arts, and theology) at the end of the sixteenth century, up to 500 in
1609 and almost 1000 in 1623.945 Actually, the student population of Mexico City might be
classified into three broad categories: first, those students who lived with their parents or any
other relatives; second those living in a boarding regime either temporary (in colleges) or in a
permanent way (in convents, such as those belonging to religious orders); finally, those out-

942
GONZÁLEZ GONZÁLEZ, 'La Universidad: estudiantes y doctores', 261-262, 264.
943
GONZÁLEZ GONZÁLEZ, 'La Universidad en la cultura novohispana del siglo XVII', 343, 345; GONZÁLEZ
GONZÁLEZ, 'La Universidad: estudiantes y doctores', 290; RODÍGUEZ SAN PEDRO-BEZARES, 'Las universidades
hispánicas en la edad moderna. Líneas de investigación', 517.
944
In New Spain and in general throughout Spanish America, the colleges could be divided for study in different
categories: Those belonging to the religious orders, to the diocesan seminars, those sponsored by the kings, or
those sponsored by private patrons and governed by a Board of Trustees. In addition, the colleges hosted
different groups of beneficiaries such as criollas girls, Indian nobles, mestizos or novices. Finally, some other
colleges were mere places of residence (without academic activities), normally intended for scholarship
students. In contrast, with those colleges hosting one or more chairs mostly intended for the resident students,
see: GUTIÉRREZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'El Colegio Novohispano de Santa María de Todos los Santos', 23-24.
945
From 1621, a decline in the amount of students was observed, see: GONZÁLEZ GONZÁLEZ, 'La Universidad:
estudiantes y doctores', 269.

243
of-town students that had already studied in colleges in their hometowns, and just came to the
capital to obtain a university degree, staying on their own.946

Hence, urban centers offered a favorable context for cultural development and by the
seventeenth century Mexico City was already the quintessential urban space in New Spain
allowing a steady progress of cultural and academic expressions.947 Furthermore, given its
centrality to Atlantic, Pacific, and intercontinental trade, Mexico City imbibed foreign cultural
currents.948

Among book consumers were the numerous students of the University and colleges,
other professionals, such as the oidores, jurists, lawyers and legal advisors related to the Real
Audiencia as several inventories of their private libraries illustrate.949 Moreover, public
notaries, architects and physicians also required books for their offices. Other groups of
readers were merchants as well as artisans. However, the clergy both secular and regular was
certainly the most important group of readers and the importance of the religious corporations
established in the city directly increased the demand for books.950 Actually, the libraries of the
college-convents of the regular orders, the diocesan seminaries and the university were used
by professors or students, acting as a sort of semi public libraries with restricted access.951
Therefore, ecclesiastic repositories have been considered as the equivalent of the current
University libraries.952

For avid readers and book collectors, Mexico City was the best place to acquire books
in New Spain, as a first option it was possible to buy them in the bookshops established in the
city since the sixteenth century.953 By the first half of the seventeenth century Mexico City

946
GONZÁLEZ GONZÁLEZ, 'La Universidad: estudiantes y doctores', 267-268, 271-272.
947
About daily life in Mexico City during the viceroyal period, see: RUBIAL GARCÍA, La plaza, el palacio y el
convento. La ciudad de México en el siglo XVII, Mexico, 1996; LEÓN CÁZARES, 'A cielo abierto la convivencia en
plazas y calles', 19-46.
948
MERRIM, The Spectacular City, Mexico and Colonial Hispanic Literary Culture, 6. In 1604, the Spanish poet
living in Mexico, Bernardo de Balbuena extolled on his panegyric the grandeur of Mexico City (Grandeza
Mexicana, 1604), see: DE BALBUENA, La Grandeza Mexicana, y compendio apologético en alabanza de la
poesía, Mexico, 2001; see also: BARRERA LÓPEZ, 'Entre la realidad y la exaltación: Bernardo de Balbuena y su
visión de la capital mexicana', 355-364.
949
MANRIQUE FIGUEROA, 'Bibliotecas de funcionarios reales novohispanos de la primera mitad del siglo XVII',
Boletín del Instituto de Investigaciones Bibliográficas, UNAM, in press.
950
In fact, the book consumers of Mexico City were very similar to those of any other Spanish city of the time,
such as Seville or Madrid, see: VEGA ROJO, Impresores, libreros y papeleros en Medina del Campo y Valladolid,
50: MAILLARD ÁLVAREZ, 'El mercado del libro en Sevilla durante el reinado de Felipe II', 549.
951
RUBIAL GARCÍA, 'Los Conventos Mendicantes', 176.
952
MATHES, 'Oasis culturales en la Antigua California.', 375.
953
Such as the first printer of the city Juan Pablos, Antonio de Espinosa, Pedro Ocharte, Pedro Balli, Antonio
Ricardo.

244
had the printing shops and book shops of Diego Garrido and his widow, and Bernardo de
Calderón. During the mid-seventeenth century book consumers could find a rich assortment
of books in the city's four bookshops: the one of Juan de Rivera bookseller, Agustín de
Santiesteban bookseller and his partner Francisco Lupercio; Paula de Benavides, widow of
Bernardo de Calderón printer and bookseller; and Hipólito de Rivera, printer and
bookseller.954 During the last quarter of the century it was possible to acquire books with the
widow of Francisco Lupercio and in the book and printing shop of María de Benavides
(daughter of Paula de Benavides widow of Calderón) and her husband the aforementioned
Juan de Rivera.955 All these bookshops offered recent publications along with second hand
older editions published either in Mexico, Spain or other European cities.

Books could also be acquired in haberdashery stores since books were considered just
another profitable merchandise. In 1564, the aforementioned Alonso Losa bookseller of
Mexico City declared to the diocesan authorities that Alonso de Castilla had on sale in his
store a number of books including Erasmus' Enchiridion and other prohibited books. In fact,
Alonso de Castilla's stock of merchandise comprised textiles from France and the
Netherlands, combs, mirrors, bars of iron, bowls of pewter, female shoes, thimbles as well as
books.956

Informal trade offered books as well since it was possible to buy them in rustic stalls
installed under the busy portals (arcades) next to the Plaza Mayor. In 1692, María de
Benavides and her husband Juan de Rivera expressed their concern in a list of their books (or
memoria) addressed to the Inquisition, in which they referred how some illiterate regatones
(traders that go from marketplace to marketplace) had been recently selling books without any
inquisitorial control, favoring the trade of prohibited books and possible theft of monastic and
private libraries due to the facility to sell books on the streets without control at low prices. 957
This kind of alternative book circuits were possibly very popular among students without
regular income.

Books were also sold in public auctions (almonedas públicas), organized to sell the
goods of a deceased person in order to obtain a profit that may be redistributed among the
heirs in Spain or that may pay old debts as well. This was a typical American institution

954
The stock on sale of these bookshops will be further reviewed.
955
RIVAS, 'Impresores y mercaderes de libros en la Ciudad de México en el siglo XVII', 70-102.
956
FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y libreros, 48-55.
957
O'GORMAN, 'Bibliotecas y librerías coloniales', Document XXI.

245
called 'Juzgado de bienes de difuntos'.958 These auctions took place in public squares all over
the Spanish Empire upon the death or legal bankruptcy of an individual. There it was possible
to acquire furniture, clothes, paintings and books.959 These public auctions put into circulation
all these second-hand copies allowing members of lower classes, students or bachelors to gain
access to different kind of goods. Occasionally, booksellers also went to these auctions
seeking books especially if the goods of other booksellers were being auctioned.960 This was a
way or 'recycling' libraries of deceased owners.961

PUEBLA

Described in 1763 as a populous and distinguished city, and one of the most beautiful of New
Spain for the sumptuous churches and buildings. Puebla was indeed the second most
important city in New Spain.962 The city of Puebla de los Ángeles was founded in 1531 as a
town of Spaniards who were to cultivate the soils and create fields and farms as they did in
Spain.963 The new city owed its rapid development and growth to its strategic position
connecting the Port of Veracruz with the Valley of Mexico. Moreover, it was located in a rich,
fertile, and densely populated valley favorable for a development of agriculture, trade and
local industries.

Like Mexico City, Puebla displayed an active academic life in the Tridentine colleges of
San Pedro and San Juan, as well as the Jesuit colleges of San Ildefonso, San Ignacio and San
Jerónimo, and the Dominican college of San Luis Rey. As a result, Puebla had a high
concentration of clerics interested in different kind of editions.

To satisfy this increasing demand it is known that Puebla's book market initially
benefited from books sent by booksellers of Mexico City. In fact, Pedro Rueda believes that at
least during the last decade of the sixteenth century, the booksellers of the viceroyal capital
established agents in Puebla to facilitate the city´s book supply and to act as intermediaries in
958
Regarding the Spanish emigrants who died in Peru and whose goods were sold at public auction
or almoneda pública, see: GONZÁLEZ SÁNCHEZ, Dineros de ventura: La varia fortuna de la emigración
a Indias (siglos XVI-XVII), Seville, 1995; Concerning the Mexican case see also: C.A. GONZÁLEZ
SÁNCHEZ, 'Cultura escrita y emigración al Nuevo Mundo: Nueva España en los siglos XVI y XVII', 21-
43.
959
FALOMIR, 'Artists’ responses to the emergence of markets for paintings in Spain’, 143.
960
GONZÁLEZ SÁNCHEZ, Atlantes de papel, 91.
961
GONZÁLEZ GONZÁLEZ and GUTIÉRREZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Libros en venta en el México de Sor Juana y de
Sigüenza', 106.
962
DE AJOFRÍN, 'Diario de viaje', 43.
963
MOTOLINÍA, Memoriales o Libro de la Nueva España, 263. Quoted in PREM, 'Spanish Colonization and Indian
Property in Central Mexico, 1520-1620', 446.

246
the commercial traffic of book after their arrival in Veracruz.964 However, the establishment
of Diego López's bookshop in the heart of Puebla at the beginning of the seventeenth century,
certainly marked a new period in Puebla's cultural life.965 To satisfy the demand of Puebla's
book consumers, local booksellers like Diego López developed an active trade with their
colleagues in Spain.966 As a result, Puebla became a center of book distribution for regions
like the neighboring bishopric of Oaxaca or even the Audiencia of Guatemala, using either
formal or informal networks of book distribution.967 Finally, a domestic printing-press was
established there in 1644 being the second established in New Spain.

GUADALAJARA

Guadalajara was definitively founded in 1542. By 1550 the Bishop of New Galicia had
established his residence in the city, and in 1560 it became the capital of New Galicia when
the Audiencia transferred its seat there. And although its cultural, economic and politico-
administrative hegemony took time to develop, it became the dominant city in western
Mexico. As Van Young remarked, the city's cultural efflorescence reached its major
splendour during the late colonial period as the city functioned as a political capital, a bank, a
market, a hub of commercial distribution, and an intellectual centre and point of reference.968

In fact, the institutional and cultural life of Guadalajara had blossomed along with the
increase in its population especially after 1790 with the establishment of an university in
Guadalajara (1792).969 As Carmen Castañeda pointed out, in Guadalajara the city council was
the promoter of the university's foundation as it sought to improve the city's cultural level as
well as an element of social prestige. Moreover, this sort of decentralization in higher
education, a reaction against the cultural and academic preponderance of Mexico City, was
bound to strengthen local interests.970 Finally in 1793 Guadalajara saw the establishment of a

964
RUEDA RAMÍREZ, 'Libreros y librerías poblanas. La oferta cultural en el mundo moderno', 391.
965
RUEDA RAMÍREZ, 'Libreros y librerías poblanas. La oferta cultural en el mundo moderno', 391-392.
966
For instance, the trade between the bookseller from Alcalá, established in Seville Antonio Toro and Diego
López, bookseller of Puebla has been documented from 1604 to 1621 by Pedro Rueda, a total of six book
shipments consigned to Diego López in 1604, 1606, 1609, 1613 and 1621 reveal the configuration of a network
of distribution focused on religious titles, see: RUEDA RAMÍREZ, 'El librero sevillano Antonio de Toro', 49; the
activities of the Borja family of Puebla, who was active in book distribution in the city have been recently
analyzed by Mercedes Salomón, see: M. SALOMÓN, 'Los Borja: puerta de entrada al devenir de la imprenta en
Puebla', 205-242.
967
RUEDA RAMÍREZ, 'Libreros y librerías poblanas. La oferta cultural en el mundo moderno', 385.
968
VAN YOUNG, Hacienda and Market in Eighteenth-Century Mexico. The rural economy of the
Guadalajara Region, 11-12.
969
Prior to 1792 a Jesuit college had been established in the city since the late sixteenth-century.
970
CASTAÑEDA, 'Censura y universidad en la Nueva España', 54-55.

247
printing press. However, prior to this time it was already possible to acquire books in
domestic bookshops, such as the one of Antonio de Mier.971

OTHER CENTERS

Among other urban centers which also boasted a bibliographic patrimony, normally linked to
religious institutions were medium-sized towns like Valladolid, Querétaro, Oaxaca or the
mining centers of Guanajuato and Zacatecas. In general these towns lacked networks of
specialized book dealers, therefore, those who wanted to acquire books normally had two
options, either to go personally to Mexico City or Puebla or to make recourse to local traders
or intermediaries that had connections in the large urban centers.972 For instance, according to
his will drawn up in 1680, one of the members of the cathedral chapter of Valladolid,
Francisco Castellanos (who was born in Puebla and arrived in Valladolid in 1672), was
indebted to several Valladolid merchants who had brought him books from Mexico City.
Mexico City booksellers like Francisco Lupercio were also listed among his debtors. 973 The
illustrious Jesuit Francisco Xavier Clavijero, who was sent by his order to Valladolid in 1764
in order to teach philosophy at the city's Jesuit college acted in a similar manner. Whenever
he needed books, Clavijero requested them from one of his friends in Puebla, the priest
Vicente Torija, who dispatched them to Valladolid.974

SMALLER TOWNS AND VILLAGES

It has been documented that itinerant merchants or peddlers offered some popular books or
devotional prints to sell in small villages during religious festivities, or what can be
considered as an informal book trade.975 However, the formation of libraries in small villages
depended heavily on a particular interest to develop studies or a personal inclination for the
letters by members of the clergy or civil administration in particular. Thus, the panorama
offered outside urban centers is not uniform. On the one hand books were not considered as
everyday or essential objects, and as a result, they did not receive much public interest. This is
illustrated by an auction of the goods of a deceased cleric of the village of San Juan de los
Lagos (present day Jalisco) in 1780. The objects belonged to don Tomás de Aguilera, a poor
cleric, who had died ab intextato. Therefore, the Juzgado de bienes de difuntos of Guadalajara
971
CORTÉS, 'Libros en la Nueva Galicia: el intestado de don Tomás Aguilera', 272.
972
CORTÉS, 'Libros en la Nueva Galicia: el intestado de don Tomás Aguilera', 272.
973
MAZÍN GÓMEZ, El Cabildo Catedral de Valladolid de Michoacán, 213.
974
MANEIRO, Vida de algunos Mexicanos ilustres, 452.
975
RUEDA RAMÍREZ, 'Libreros y librerías poblanas. La oferta cultural en el mundo moderno', 378.

248
organized the almoneda pública of his goods. During the auction several of his personal
goods were sold, such as images of saints, a cloak, a desk, an inkhorn, objects that were surely
regarded as useful. However, the books of his personal library were hardly sold (the library
comprised 81 titles in 102 vol. of which only three or four books were sold during the
auction). On a second auction more people, including three bachelors, acquired 14 books, but
for the rest it was worthless to sell what had remained in the village. Consequently, it was
necessary to dispatched the books to Guadalajara where they could theoretically be rapidly
sold. Thus, the limited cultural and educational opportunities available in rural areas were
essential factors that could hamper book consumption.976

However, small monasteries or parishes located in villages or remote missions,

normally boasted a modest library, usually amassed by religious men with particular interests
in developing personal studies. According to Mathes, these small libraries could be divided in
four sections: a work library, which included liturgical, ascetic and spiritual works; a study
library, which contained works of philosophy, theology, patristic, hagiography; a reference
library, which boasted canon books, theological and scientific works; an entertainment
library, which included works of literature, poetry, and history.977

Throughout the viceroyalty were to be found convents or missions in small villages

where intellectual activity was being developed. When Antonio de Remesal visited the
Dominican Convent of Coyoacan in 1613 (the number of clergy resident in the Coyoacan
monastery never exceeded the four or five friars),978 the prior was fray Antonio de Hinojosa,
who had a doctoral degree in theology granted by the University of Mexico, Remesal
remarked that the Convent seemed more an university than a cloister of monks given the
atmosphere of studies and seriousness.979 In the case of the isolated missions of the Sierra
Tarahumara, or the Californias, the libraries assembled in the missions by the Franciscans or
Jesuits were practically the only link they had with the European culture.980

976
The problem was to send the books to Guadalajara since no muleteer was interested to carry such a heavy
burden. Consequently, the books were dispatched until 1785, see: CORTÉS, 'Libros en la Nueva Galicia: el
intestado de don Tomás Aguilera', 278-280.
977
MATHES, 'Oasis culturales en la Antigua California.', 379.
978
HORN, Postconquest Coyoacan: Nahua-Spanish relation in Central Mexico, 83.
979
Hinojosa was a scholarly man, he was even considered to be a candidate for the rectory of the University in
1610, just four years after his graduation as a doctor. Quoted in BEUCHOT, Filósofos dominicos novohispanos
(entre sus colegios y la Universidad), 43; see also: BEUCHOT, 'Algunos profesores dominicos de la Universidad
de México durante el siglo XVII', 101-108.
980
BURRUS and ZUBILLAGA eds., Misiones Mexicanas de la Compañía de Jesús, 1618-1745, Cartas e informes
conservados en la “Colección Mateu”, Madrid, 1982.

249
 4.2 Geographical distribution of Southern Netherlands books in New Spain

As illustrated by the map of figure 10 the large majority of the 3179 collected copies (either in
current libraries along with archival records) belonged to libraries situated in urban centers,
Mexico City and surroundings, including villages like Tacuba, San Ángel, Tacubaya,
Churubusco, Cuautitlán with a total of 1794 copies (56.5%). Followed by Puebla de los
Ángeles and surroundings, including places like Tlaxcala, Cholula, Huaquechula,
Huejotzingo, Texmelucan, Tecali, Acatlán, Atlixco, Tecaxic, with a total of 616 copies
(19.4%). And by Guadalajara, capital of the Audiencia of New Galicia with a total of 378
copies (11.9%). On a second rank, other urban centers complete the list: Valladolid (Morelia)
with a total of 87 copies (2.7%); Antequera (Oaxaca), 71 copies (2.2%); the mining center of
Guanajuato and the cities of the Bajío, like San Miguel (de Allende), Irapuato, Salamanca and
Celaya, 69 copies (2.1%); Toluca and surroundings including places like Tenancingo and
Sultepec, 61 copies (1.9%); the city of Querétaro, 44 copies (1.4%), and the mining center of
Zacatecas, including the adjacent village of Guadalupe (1.3%).

It comes as no surprise that collected books are concentrated in the geographical regions
of the Valleys of Mexico, Puebla-Tlaxcala and Toluca; the Valley of Guayangareo (where
present Morelia is located); the Valley of Atemajac (where Guadalajara is located); the route
of the silver going north from Mexico City to Querétaro, the Bajío, the mining centers of
Guanajuato and Zacatecas and the Central Valleys of Oaxaca. Or in other words books are
logically concentrated in the most important urban centers of the viceroyalty. On the contrary,
sparsely populated areas, such as the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the bishopric of Chiapa, or
regions where Hispanic presence was not consolidated, such as vast areas of present-day
Northern Mexico and the bishopric of Yucatán, only boast few isolated books

250
 Durango,
missions of
Baja California
11 copies

Zacatecas,
Guadalupe 44
copies

Guanajuato and
Bajío 69 copies

Querétaro 44
copies

Puebla-
Tlaxcala and
surrounding
s 616 copies

Orizaba,
Guadalajara
Córdoba 7
378 copies
copies

Michoacán 87 Yucatan 3
copies copies
Tepotzotlán
Mexico City
24 copies
and
Oaxaca 71
Toluca and surroundings copies Chiapa 14
surroundings 1796 copies copies
61 copies

Fig. 10 Map of New Spain by Hessels Gerritsz, 28x36 published in Joannes De Laet, Beschrijvinghe van
West Indien, Leyden, Elzeviers, 1630.981

981
I appreciate the help given by Joost Depuydt of the FelixArchief (the city archives of Antwerp), who
suggested the use of this New Spain's map.

251
However, this apparent lack of libraries does not mean that they did not exist, a lot of
bibliographic material was destroyed without leaving any kind of archival record. Weather
conditions, for instance, often played a destructive role in the conservation of books. From
throughout the American continent there are a number of testimonies illustrating the relentless
effect of the weather on collections of books. In his account written at the end of 1763 father
Francisco de Ajofrín observed that in Mexico no parchment was enough to stop the presence
of moisture on books during the rainy season. 'How many exquisite and expensive books are
damaged and almost lost', Ajofrín wondered. He also criticized those that did not want to
spend four pesos on a good binding to better protect the book, as a consequence luxury
editions of 100 pesos were lost due to this neglect.982

Constant Indian uprisings and rebellions also claimed their toll, particularly in the
Northern missions of Franciscans or Jesuits. A look at the bitter letters and relations written
by the missionaries reveals the deplorable situation of the libraries in their Northern missions,
such as the account of the Jesuit Mission in Tórim (present state of Sonora) in which father
José Lorenzo García complained that: 'The rest of the books and papers from the first
missionaries were lost in 1640, this year was the uprising in which [...] we lost the largest and
the best part of the library in this region, which was a very large and select one because of the
studies and efforts of the missionaries'.983 As a consequence, books stored within more
protected places, such as monastic or diocesan libraries situated in urban contexts were more
likely to survive up to present day.

Human negligence, lack of interest in academic activity and a consequent disregard for
books and studies also favored the loss of books. This was immediately stated by the English
friar Thomas Gage at the very beginning of his well-known journey throughout New Spain in
1648. During his short stay at the Dominican convent of Veracruz, the young and vain prior
received him and his companions at his private luxury cell that seemed rather a room of a
mundane non-religious man. To Gage's surprise, instead of finding a magnificent library
illustrating the prior's love for studying and a personal inclination for letters, a bit more than a
dozen old, dusty, forgotten books covered with spider webs indicated the vain character of

982
DE AJOFRÍN, 'Diario de viaje', 12. Moreover, in 1598, the English John Layfield chaplain to the Earl of
Cumberland wrote the best-known account of the short-lived English occupation of San Juan, Puerto Rico that
same year. His account not only gives a picture of the city and its environs; among other things, Layfield
remarked that the library of the Dominican Convent of San Juan had a collection of books admirably bound but
damaged by vermin and consequently lost, see: PICO, 'Historiography of Puerto Rico', 419.
983
'Relation of the Mission of San Ignacio Tórim (Sonora), written in 1744 by José Lorenzo García', Misiones
Mexicanas de la Compañía de Jesús, 1618-1745, 69.

252
this young prior, surrounded by silks, tapestries and other luxuries.984 In summary, as the
popular saying goes, 'cowl does not make the friar'. The intellectual vocation was also not
generalized even in the clerical spheres, not all the members of a particular religious Order, or
all civil servants were gifted to reach the highest levels of the restricted academic world in
New Spain, and certainly not everyone had a particular interest in amassing a personal library.

In this respect, the figures provided are neither absolute nor rigid, on the contrary, a lot
of the Mexican bibliographic patrimony of the viceroyal period is still waiting to be
accurately studied and catalogued. However, given all the repositories and archive material
analyzed, these numbers do provide an accurate overview of book distribution in New Spain
at least concerning the editions of the Southern Netherlands, highlighting the importance of
urban libraries.

4.3 The classification by genres

In order to understand not only the geographical book distribution, but also the patterns of
book consumption among New Spain's readers, the collected editions have been classified
according to several disciplines: theology (which includes, moral theology, pastoral, patristic,
ecclesiastic history, homiletic, hagiography and Mariology), exegesis, as well as liturgical
works (bibles, breviaries, missals) have been given separate categories.

Classical authors; literature; history; jurisprudence encompasses canonical and civil

law; science includes geography, cartography, astronomy, mathematics and medicine.
Furthermore, linguistic includes lexicographical works; educational works and philosophy
were grouped together; arts includes architecture and emblems books; finally the category
'others' includes general and political works. This classification scheme has been broadly
inspired by the classification proposed by Alexander Wilkinson in his recent research.985

984
'El prior de aquel convento no era ningún severo anciano […] sino un galante y amoroso joven […] Después
de comer nos llevó a algunos de nosotros a su cámara donde observamos su ligereza y escasa inclinación a la
religión y la mortificación. Creíamos encontrar en su cámara una majestuosa biblioteca que nos hablara de
amor al estudio y al saber pero no vimos arriba de una docena de libros viejos, ubicados en un rincón y
cubiertos de polvo y telarañas', see: GAGE, El inglés americano: sus trabajos por mar y tierra o un nuevo
reconocimiento de las Indias Occidentales [1648], 87.
985
A. WILKINSON, Iberian books, xix-xx. Wilkinson's categories includes genres such as music, military
handbooks, and newsbooks, which are not relevant among the collected books of the Southern Netherlands in
New Spain. Furthermore, according to Wilkinson's division, disciplines like astrology and cosmography, as well
as medical books were put into individual categories, while in this case these books are all grouped together
under the category science.

253
The results of these analysis can be found in figures 2-5, which corresponds with the four
chronological periods already studied in chapter II, (1529-1588, 1589-1648, 1649-1715, and
1716-1794). First theological and then exegetical works boast the majority of the editions
throughout the four periods. Regarding theological works they range from 45 to 49% during
the first three periods. The last period witnessed a declining of theological editions (33%)
which is directly explained by the increase of liturgical works as will be explained below.

Literature
2%
History 1529-1588
2% Education/Philos.
Arts
Linguistic 1%
Science 4% 2%
4%
Jurisprudence
6%
Classical Theology
authors 45%
7%

Liturgie Exegesis
3% 24%

Fig.11 Classification of editions by genre 1529-1588

254
 Education and
Arts Philos. 1589-1648
0% 2% Others
Literature History 3%
4% 10%

Linguistic
2%
Science Theology
4% 47%

Jurisprudence
6%
Exegesis
14%
Classical authors
4%
Liturgy
4%

Fig.12 Classification of editions by genre 1589-1648

Arts
Linguistic
1%
2% 1649-1715
History Education & Philos.
Science Literature 3% Others
1%
3% 1%
5%

Jurisprudence
3%
Classical Theology
authors Liturgy 49%
4% 11%

Exegesis
17%

Fig. 13 Classification of editions by genre 1649-1715

255
 Linguistic
History
3%
1716-1794 Arts
1%
3% Education & Philos.
Literature
Science 2%
3%
2%
Jurisprudence Theology
7% 34%
Classical
authors
1%

Liturgy
29% Exegesis
15%

Fig.14 Classification of editions by genre 1716-1794

Regarding exegetical works, they account for 23% of the total during the first period and for
the rest they maintain a uniform average of 15% of the total. For the first period exegetical
works published by the Steelsius and Nutius families and Christophe Plantin were particularly
numerous (the works of Benito Arias Montano, Joannes Chrysostom, Cornelius Jansenius,
Heitor Pinto, Adam Sasbout, Franciscus Titelmans, Lorenzo de Villavicencio and Johann
Wild).986

As for liturgical works (bibles and the so-called Nuevo Rezado editions), they witnessed
a steady increase from the third period (in the first two periods they account for only 3 and
4% of the total). This is significant, since the well-known Nuevo Rezado editions published by
Christophe Plantin is not found in New Spain, with the exception of Bibles published from
1560s onwards. This fact confirms that the extensive Nuevo Rezado editions published by
Christophe Plantin did not massively reach New Spain. However, the figures, although solid,
are not absolute, and may also be deceptive since these kinds of liturgical books were used on
a daily basis during the divine office and must thus have suffered extensive wear. In this way
some of these sixteenth-century editions may have been destroyed. For the second period an
increase is noted due to the activity of Jan I Moretus and Balthazar I Moretus. However, from

986
See the incidence of all these authors throughout the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain'.

256
1649 onwards liturgical books account for 11% of the total, which reflects the activity of
Balthazar II and Balthazar III Moretus and their specialization in printing Nuevo Rezado
editions as already explained in chapter III, a pattern that is continued during the last period in
which liturgical books gained ground (33% of the total) at the expense of theological editions.

The rest of the genres count for a global averages of less than 10% of the total.:
Jurisprudence accounts for a global average of 5.5%. In fact, the most relevant Spanish jurists,
such as Alfonso de Castro, Diego Covarrubias y Leyva, Antonio Gómez, Juan Gutiérrez, Juan
López de Palacios Rubios, Juan Matienzo, the Jesuit Luis de Molina, Antonio Pérez, and
Diego de Simancas, were extensively published in the Southern Netherlands. In general, the
percentages for all these non-religious genres decline by the fourth and last period, except for
jurisprudence, which experiences a modest increase from 3 to 7% given the numerous works
of canonists like Bernard Espen Zeger and Anaklet Reiffenstuel who were published by
different printers in Antwerp, Brussels or Leuven.

History accounts for a global average of 4.5%. Vernacular editions written by sixteenth-
century Spanish authors like Esteban de Garibay y Zamalloa or Pedro Mexía, were among the
historical accounts published in the Southern Netherlands during the first period. History as a
genre reached 10% during the second period because of the numerous much sought-after
Justus Lipsius'editions dealing with Roman history mostly printed under the aegis of Jan I
Moretus. During this same period several works about the recent history of the Southern
Netherlands were extensively published. These included the accounts of Diego de Aedo y
Gallart, Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, Guido Bentivoglio, Antonio Carnero, Hugo Hermann,
and Famianus Strada. After the second half of the seventeenth century, authors like Caterino
Dávila, Manuel Faria y Sousa, the Spanish diplomat Diego de Saavedra y Faxardo, and
Antonio de Solís, were also being published especially by the Verdussen.

Classical authors account for a global average of 4%. Several of these authors were
constantly mentioned in inventories of New Spain, these books were mostly used for
educative purposes and were thus quite common. The most popular classical authors include
Ovidius, Cicero, Seneca, Vergilius, Terentius, Martialis, Marcus Valerius, Julius Caesar,
Tacitus, Sallustius, Suetonius, and Flavius Josephus.

Literature accounts for a global average of 3.5%. This genre includes humanists, poets
and writers from the Netherlands, like the sixteenth-century bishop of Antwerp, Laevinus
Torrentius, the Antwerp Jesuit of Spanish descent Martín Antonio del Río, Simon Verepaeus,

257
Josse de Weerdt, Erycius Puteanus, and Willen van Oonsel; Italian authors like Octavianus
Mirandola/Mirandula or Vicenzo Guiniggi; French authors like the well-known seventeenth-
century Jesuit, François Pomey, as well as Spanish authors like Miguel de Cervantes, Baltasar
Gracián y Morales, Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas, Bernardino de Rebolledo, Francisco de
Borja, prince of Esquilache, and Diego de Saavedra y Faxardo.

Science accounts for a global average of 3.2%. This genre encompasses the works of
cartographers, astronomers, geographers, botanists, physicians, and mathematicians mostly
from the Netherlands, such as the famous Petrus Apianus, Gemma Frisius, Abraham Ortelius,
Carolus Clusius, Rembert Dodoens, Levinus Lemnius, François d'Aguilon, the Antwerp
Jesuits Leonardus Lessius, André Tacquet, and Gregorius of Saint Vincent. Also included are
the Spanish engineer active in Brussels, Sebastián Fernández de Medrano, as well as the
Spanish Jesuit, Juan de Nieremberg.

Linguistic accounts for a global average of 2.5%. Grammars and works on philology
written by authors from the Southern Netherlands are included within this category, such as
Nicolas Cleynaerts, Joannes Despauterio, Justus Lipsius, and Andreas Masius. Also found are
the famous dictionaries by Spanish and French authors like Antonio de Nebrija, César Oudin
or Francisco Sobrino.

Finally, the genres, education and philosophy (1.5), arts (1.25%), %), and 'others' (1%),
all account for less than 2%. The first category includes best-sellers of very popular Spanish
authors like Juan Luis Vives, fray Antonio de Guevara, and Martin de Azpilcueta. Regarding
the category 'arts', emblem, numismatic and architecture books were included, such as the
works of the Flemish humanist, Hubertus Goltzius, the Antwerp Jesuit Henri Engelgrave, the
painter and draughtsman Otto van Veen, and the Italian Andrea Alciato. Finally, within the
category 'others', one finds the general works of Justus Lipsius as well as the political treatises
of well-known authors within the Hispanic world, like Jerónimo Castillo de Bobadilla, Diego
de Saavedra y Faxardo, and Juan de Solórzano y Pereira.

What these figures illustrate is the preponderance and stability of religious books
(theology, exegesis, liturgy) in terms of consumption statistics over the four periods. In fact,
theological books are to some extent easier to trace not only in archival records but also in the
surviving copies of the libraries given the marks of brand and ex libris left in the books.
However, although secular vernacular and Latin editions were being read both in clerical and

258
secular contexts, they were certainly not the majority, even if they are count as a single
category.

Accordingly, the editions printed in the Southern Netherlands available in New Spain,
were to a great extent specialized books in Latin, much sought after and valued among circles
of readers (especially in the ranks of the clerical spheres), for their typographical
characteristics and content, confirming the trend that the clergy (both secular and regular) was
the most important book consumer in New Spain.

4.4 The rapid incorporation of Southern Netherland's editions into New Spain's
consumption circuits

Before beginning with the analysis of book use and consumption, both in ecclesiastical and in
secular contexts, it is important to understand that although it is a fact that books of the
Southern Netherlands began arriving regularly from the second half of the sixteenth century,
this does not mean that in most cases the exact year of the book’s arrival in New Spain is
precisely known. Indeed, European titles could reach America relatively rapid, However, they
could also arrive as part of the passenger's personal belongings many years or even decades
after their publication; in the meantime they may have circulated from hand to hand as it was
common practice to buy books in second-hand markets, or at public auctions or sales.987
Therefore, few sixteenth-century specific cases have been chosen to illustrate both the rapid
and delayed arrival of books from the Southern Netherlands in New Spain:

The library of the College of the Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco was enriched by the efforts of
Bernardino de Sahagún, in a second inventory of the library drawn up in 1574 there are 40
more volumes than in 1572, the date of the first inventory. Among the new acquisitions made
under Sahagún's direction was the patristic work of saint Cyprian, bishop of Carthage.988 The
Opera D. Caecilii Cypriani Carthaginiensis Episcopi (Antwerp, Widow and Heirs of
Johannes Steelsius, 1568), this particular book is now in the California State Library and

987
See, for example the deceased good (bienes de difuntos) studied by González Sánchez: GONZÁLEZ
SÁNCHEZ, Dineros de ventura: la varia fortuna de la emigración a Indias (siglos XVI-XVII), Seville,
1995.
988
CASTRO, RODRÍGUEZ MOLINERO, Bernardino de Sahagún: primer antropólogo en Nueva España,
138-139.
259
bears the College's brand mark.989 There is therefore a six year gap between the copy leaving
the Antwerp presses and its inclusion in the viceroyalty’s first academic library.

In fact, at least since the 1570's books recently issued in Antwerp were being
specifically requested in New Spain, as proved by a purchase order, drawn up in Mexico City
on June 12, 1576 between Pablo García and Pedro de Trujillo to purchase from Alonso de
Losa merchant and bookseller a miscellany of 341 books. Among them some Plantinian
editions were requested, such as the well-known historical account of Esteban Garibay de
Zamalloa's Los XL libros del Compendio historial de las chronicas y uniuersal historia de
todos los reynos de España. Donde se escriven las vidas de los reyes de Castilla y León
(published by Plantin in 1571), as well as 18 copies of Julius Caesar's Commentarii: nouis
emendationibus illustrate (Antwerp, Christophe Plantin, 1574), and a Diego de Simanca's
treatise on primogeniture, Liber disceptationum in quo de primogeniis Hispaniae, ac
patissime de illorum publicatione disputatur (Antwerp, Christophe Plantin, 1575).990 This
means that only few years after the first edition of these works they were specifically ordered
in Mexico.

Leonard has also documented a notarized note which Alonso de Losa gave to the
leading book-dealer of Seville Diego Mexía, through the latter’s agent, Pedro Calderón dated
December 22, 1576. The indebtedness recorded was '2065 pesos de oro común' for an order of
approximately 1190 volumes. Despite the excessively abbreviated form of the listed titles, the
place of publication was occasionally mentioned, particularly when a specific edition was
desired from foreign presses, such as those from Lyon, Paris, Antwerp, Rome.991 Among the
editions specifically requested from Antwerp were classic authors: 18 copies of Julius
Caesar's commentaries in Latin from the Plantiniana.992 As Leonard also noted, of the 26
copies of Cicero´s, De Officis, 16 were specified as from Antwerp and 10 from the Plantin
Press.993 Some copies of Vergil's were requested from the presses of Lyon and Antwerp.994
This kind of book may be easily placed among students and docents of Latin grammar.

989
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 181.
990
The list has been published by Irving Leonard, see: LEONARD, Books of the Brave, 202.
991
LEONARD, 'On the Mexican book trade, 1576', 18-34.
992
Possibly the requested edition was: C. Iulii Caesaris Commentarii, Antwerp, Christophe Plantin, 1574.
993
LEONARD, 'On the Mexican book trade, 1576', 21. The requested edition has not been identified.
994
LEONARD, 'On the Mexican book trade, 1576', 22. Possibly the requested edition was: Virgilius collatione
scriptorum graecorum illustratus, Antwerp, Christophe Plantin, 1568.

260
As to Castilian literature a dozen out of 18 'Celestinas' were specifically requested from the
Antwerp press.995 This particular request is remarkable since the last edition issued in
Antwerp was the one of Martinus Nutius (1550). Probably Losa or one of his clients had seen
a copy of this edition in New Spain and it was assumed that such a popular book had been
recently reprinted in Antwerp. Furthermore, 9 out of 38 Dianas by Jorge de Montemayor
were also requested from the Antwerp press.996

Regarding other genres, a Theatri Orbis Terrarum by Ortelius was also requested,997 as
well as 25 copies in 8° of a book of Juan Luis Vives printed in Antwerp, however the title was
not specified.998 While two copies of De Iustitia & Iure by Domingo de Soto issued in
Antwerp were also listed.999 Finally, Losa also requested several bibles in different formats
(8°, folio, with engravings, issued by Plantin or in Antwerp).1000 This kind of document shows
the diversified reading interests in New Spain. It also shows that the readers were already
familiar with Antwerp editions of different genres that were circulating in New Spain, and
that the reputation of Antwerp and particularly of the Plantin printing press was a fact in the
collective imaginary of book consumers.

Throughout the seventeenth century new editions published in the Southern Netherlands
were yearly arriving as illustrated by the already mentioned registros and memorias submitted
by booksellers, publishers and private individuals to the Casa de la Contratación and to the
Inquisition of Seville. For instance, the memoria presented to the Inquisition by a certain Juan
Merino on May 18, 1669 (because of the date, Merino probably intended to load the books in
the galleons en route to New Spain) listed some 26 titles both in Latin and Spanish including
one copy of Obras del príncipe de Esquilache, which undoubtedly corresponds with the
recent edition of Balthazar III Moretus published in 1663 of the works of Francisco de Borja,
prince of Esquilache and former viceroy of Peru.1001 This particular edition has also been

995
LEONARD, 'On the Mexican book trade, 1576', 22.
996
LEONARD, 'On the Mexican book trade, 1576', 23. The edition was possibly the recent Los siete libros de la
Diana de George de Monte Mayor agora nueuamente añadida, Antwerp, Petrus I Bellerus, 1575.
997
It had been printed several times in Antwerp since 1570.
998
It could be both the Linguae Latinae Exercitatio, Antwerp, Joannes Steelsius, 1563. Or even the Introducción
a la sabiduría, Antwerp, Joannes Steelsius, 1551.
999
The edition was undoubtedly the one printed in 1573 by Philippus Nutius.
1000
LEONARD, 'On the Mexican book trade, 1576', 26-34.
1001
AGI, Casa de la Contratación, 674, fol. 20r.

261
identified in the memoria of a certain Diego Sánchez dated 1674, which listed some 112 titles
both in Latin and Spanish.1002

The memoria of the printer and bookseller of Seville, Thomas López de Haro dated
June 20, 1671, listed 58 editions both in Spanish and Latin, including four Thomas de Kempis
printed in Flanders, which may be either the Oraciones y meditaciones de la vida de Iesu
Christo (Brussels, François I Foppens, 1661), or De Imitatione Christi libros quator
(Brussels, François I Foppens, 1660). Moreover, one vocabulario de Antonio [de Nebrija]
printed in Flanders (the edition has not been identified), as well as four Doctrinas de Santo
Tomás also printed in Flanders (it refers to the Explicación de la doctrina Christiana by fray
Juan de Santo Tomás, probably the Plantinian edition of 1651).1003 On a second memoria
presented by López de Haro on May 12, 1687, some Obras de Santa Teresa, which certainly
were the latest edition of Brussels (François I Foppens, 1684) were available,1004 there is also
a 'Zuleta', which may refer to the Antwerp's edition of the Jesuit Ignacio de Zuleta's Iacobvs,
sev commentaria litteralia et moralia in Epistolam catholicam S. Iacobi apostolic
(Hieronymus III & Johannes Baptista I Verdussen, 1672), which was the latest Zuleta's book
published.1005

The license granted to Joseph del Pozo on May 12, 1687 to ship 20 book cases to New
Spain mentioned several editions that may have been issued in the Southern Netherlands, such
as 47 copies of the Acta Sanctorum of the Bollandists, who had established a veritable school
of hagiographists.1006 12 volumes of the Flemish Jesuit and exegete Cornelius a Lapide's
works,1007 as well as one 'Saavedra [Diego de Saavedra y Faxardo] obras, corona ghotica',
which may be the edition issued by Johannes Baptista I Verdussen in 1681 or even the latest
edition of 1687.1008

The license granted to Manuel de Aguinaga resident of Seville on June 25, 1689 to ship
one book case to the Indies, included one copy of the Obras de Santa Teresa, which might be

1002
AGI, Casa de la Contratación, 674, fol. 38r.
1003
AGI, Casa de la Contratación, 674, fol. 25r.
1004
AGI, Casa de la Contratación, 674, fol. 48v.
1005
AGI, Casa de la Contratación, 674, fol. 49v.
1006
During the 1680s, Michiel Cnobbaert (active in Antwerp from 1662 to 1689) had been printing the Acta
Sanctorum maii (1680 and 1685), which may have been included on this 47 copies.
1007
Between 1680 and 1687, during these years Jacobus Van Meurs, his widow and Hieronymus III Verdussen
were printing the Works of the well-known Flemish exegete.
1008
AGI, Casa de la Contratación, 674, fol. 47r.47v.

262
the abovementioned latest edition of Brussels (François I Foppens, 1684).1009 The same
Foppens' edition was mentioned in the memoria of don Julián González de Matos, resident of
Seville, that requested permission to dispatch books to New Spain on June 23, 1689.1010 This
shipment also comprised three editions allegedly published in Brussels by François
T'sertsevens but in reality published in Seville by Thomas López de Haro, as has been already
discussed in chapter III, the Pláticas domésticas y espirituales by the Jesuit Giovanni Paolo
Oliva (Brussels [Seville], 1685), Sermones de Aguilar by the Jesuit José de Aguilar (Brussels
[Seville], 1684), Sermones de Herrera by Francisco Gaspar de Herrera (Brussels
[Seville],1685).1011

The license granted to Juan de Orul, resident of Seville on June 22, 1689 to ship two
book cases to the Indies, mentioned two breviaries in 4° printed in Antwerp, which were
possibly issued by Balthazar III Moretus.1012 These specific samples illustrate how the
editions of the Southern Netherlands were being shipped yearly along with all the rest of
European books available on the Spanish market to New Spain, as part of the bibliographic
flow of the Carrera de Indias with a relatively short interval between the copies leaving the
Southern Netherlands' presses and their arrival in New Spain.

On the other hand, books also remained in circulation within New Spain's consumption
circuits decades after they were printed, as illustrated by Esteban Garibay y Zamalloa's
abovementioned historical account, which appears in the report or inventory presented in
1660 to the Inquisition by Paula de Benavides, who ran one of the largest bookshops in
Mexico City at that time.1013 There were also early books that were introduced into libraries
decades after they were printed. One example is Ovid's Metamorphoseon (Antwerp, Govaert
van der Haeghen, 1529), this work belonging to the library of the College of the Society of
Jesus of Pátzcuaro, founded in 1574, was added at least 50 years after the work was
printed.1014 Joannes Driedo's De ecclesiasticis scripturis & dogmatibus (Leuven,

1009
AGI, Casa de la Contratación, 674, fol. 58r.
1010
AGI, Casa de la Contratación, 674, fol. 61r.
1011
AGI, Casa de la Contratación, 674, fol. 62r.
1012
AGI, Casa de la Contratación, 674, fol. 59r.
1013 O'GORMAN, 'Bibliotecas Coloniales', 713-769; GONZÁLEZ and GUTIÉRREZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Libros
en venta en el México de Sor Juana y Sigüenza', 103-134.
1014
The copy is now hosted in the historical collection of the Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada Library in Mexico City,
see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 165.

263
Bartholomeus van Grave, 1550) was allocated to the library of the convent of La Merced in
Puebla by a certain fray Juan […] on April, 29, 1623, thus, 73 years after publication.1015

4.5 The formation of the rich ecclesiastical collections in New Spain

As in the entire catholic world, in New Spain the clergy was divided into secular and regular
clergy. The former comprised the archbishop, bishops, members of cathedral chapters
(canónigos) as well as the regular priests and ministers. On the other hand, the regular clergy
comprised five Mendicant Orders (Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians, Carmelites and
Discalced Franciscans or 'Dieguinos'), plus the Jesuits, the fathers of the Mercy
(Mercedarios), the Oratorians, the Bethlemites and the Nuns.

In New Spain theological and philosophical studies were largely cultivated in the
monasteries of the Regular Orders. The Dominicans, for instance, had the opportunity to teach
philosophy and theology at the University. In fact, the chair devoted to saint Thomas Aquinas
established at the beginning of the seventeenth century was expressly given to the Dominicans
from 1618.1016 The Franciscans were given the chair of Duns Scotus, and the Augustinian and
the fathers of the Mercy dominated the chairs of theology.1017 Hence, the regular orders
achieved to amass considerable libraries which were normally housed in the large convents of
their provinces (in Mexico City or Puebla, as well as in Guadalajara or Valladolid).

In addition, in New Spain the Church played a key role in the intellectual and cultural
life through its educative institutions and libraries. From its ranks came the majority of
Spaniards and criollo scholars active in New Spain. All these religious corporations required
the use of books from the early stages of the novitiate or the seminary. Regarding the novices,
the young aspirants to admission in the Order were instructed in the spirituality of the
corporation and the common practice of the daily obligations that took place in the
convent.1018 Therefore, the novitiates and seminaries required important amounts of books to
carry on this preparation towards the profession. Additionally, liturgical books were used on a
daily basis to perform the oficio divino, specialized theology and exegesis books were a good

1015
BJML: 7898-31060401.
1016
For instance, the Dominican fray Francisco Naranjo held the chair of St. Thomas from 1638 to 1653, or fray
Juan Bautista Méndez (also a chronicler of the Order), who held it from 1689 to 1700, see: BEUCHOT, Filósofos
dominicos novohispanos (entre sus colegios y la Universidad), 45.
1017
PESET, 'Poderes y universidad de México durante la época colonial', 71; see also: MUÑOZ DELGADO,
'Profesores mercedarios de la Real y Pontificia Universidad de México hasta 1821', 311-380.
1018
RUBIAL GARCÍA, 'Los Conventos Mendicantes', 175.

264
source for the preparation of sermons, personal study, preparation of arguments for doctoral
defenses, or to write theological texts.

Since Monastic and Diocesan libraries were property of the religious communities, they
were constantly growing. Six different factors allowed the formation of rich libraries within
the religious orders. It should be noted that books published in the Southern Netherlands have
been located in each one of these six contexts.

-The acquisition of books in Spain or in New Spain via procuradores or third parties

-The reception of books property of deceased members of a corporation.

-The donation of private libraries.

-The sponsorship of royal authorities to create a library.

-The reception of library collections that belonged to secularized convents from the
second half of the seventeenth century but especially during the eighteenth century.

-The incorporation of libraries of suppressed regular orders among diocesan libraries

specifically after the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767.

The acquisition of books in Spain via procuradores or third parties.

Although the role of the procuradores has already been discussed in chapter III. One specific
early example of a convent that ordered a shipment of books in Spain in 1550 will be recalled,
the Dominican monastery of Coyoacan (close to Mexico City) prepared a list of requested
editions, which was published by Klaus Wagner. It is an uncommon document found at the
Archive of Protocolos Notariales of Seville, in which a certain Pedro Alonso, shearer
(tundidor) concluded a contract with a Diego de la Torre (both residents of Seville), in which
De la Torre committed himself to acquire the books listed on a separate sheet. Thus, Wagner
presumed that the convent first made an arrangement with Pedro Alonso, and shortly after he
enlisted someone able to accomplish the order. De la Torre had a considerable freedom of
choice since only in two items the place of publication was specified (the works of saint

265
Augustine and of saint John Chrysostom both prepared by Erasmus and published in
Basel).1019

The requested books were typical examples of an ecclesiastic library, particularly

comprising Dominican authors, such as saint Thomas Aquinas, Tommaso de Vio, saint
Vincent Ferrer, saint Anthony of Florence, Guillaume Pépin, a Bible, as well as the
Franciscan Nicholas of Lyra, or the Flemish Franciscus Titelmans, Denis the Carthusian,
Basil of Caesarea (also known as saint Basil the Great), Richard of Saint Victor, or the
German theologian Johann von Eck. One Spanish author was ordered as well, the bishop of
Ávila, Alfonso Fernández de Madrigal also known as 'el tostado' or 'el abulense'.1020 Although
the majority of the requested books had been already printed in cities like Paris, the Titelmans'
'super psalmos' and 'super epistolas' were also available in Antwerp editions.1021

It is not known if De la Torre found all the books requested in Seville or if he had to
order them with the city´s foreign booksellers. In any case he had eight months to achieve the
order, which had to be delivered in cases (adequately marked with letters P. C. A. vertically
linked forming an anagram) to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, the price agreed was 1600 maravedíes
plus shipping and handling.1022 Thus, a small Dominican convent was ordering 34 books via
an intermediary in Seville in 1550. Possibly the initiative came from the current vicar fray
Tomás de la Corte, who wanted to begin or increase a small library in the convent.1023

The reception of books property of deceased members of a religious corporation

The members of religious communities were allowed to have books. The General Chapter of
the Franciscan Order celebrated in Toledo in 1583, which approved the Tridentine Reforms,

1019
It might be saint Augustine, Omnium operum (Basel, Johann Froben, 1529) or probably the most recent
Omnivum opervum (Basel, Hieronymus Froben, 1540-1542). Regarding Chrysostom's works the list may refer to
Conciunculae perquam elegantes sex de fato & proveidentia Dei (Basel, Johann Froben 1526) or the Aliquot
opuscula D. Chrysostomi graeca: lectu dignissima cum praefatione Erasmi Roterodami (Basel, Johann Froben,
1529).
1020
WAGNER, 'Libros para el convento de Santo Domingo de Coyoacan', 118.
1021
Elvcidatio in omnes epistolas apostolicas, quatuordecim paulinas, & canonicae septe (Antwerp, Michael
Hillenius, 1529), Elucidatio in omnes psalmos (Antwerp, Merten de Keyser, 1529), In omnes epístolas
apostolicas (Antwerp, Joannes Steelsius, 1540).
1022
WAGNER, 'Libros para el convento de Santo Domingo de Coyoacan', 117-118.
1023
In fact, the vicars were not only overseeing religious affairs. De la Corte, for instance, was actively involved
with the administration of the village, since he held one of the three keys to the municipal treasury. He
received goods and labor service from the Nahuas of Tacubaya and Coyoacan, using his position to channel
products to Spaniards in Mexico City allegedly in exchange of goods or services for the monastery. For instance,
charcoal had been delivered to Manuel Terrique, a silversmith in payment for a lamp, to a Portuguese
blacksmith in exchange for tools, and to a locksmith in exchange for locks, see: HORN, Postconquest Coyoacan:
Nahua-Spanish relation in Central Mexico, 83.

266
allowed the possession of personal books among friars provided that books were used to
perform the monks' ministry. Additionally, once a friar had died his personal effects, such as
books passed into the hands of the Province where they had professed. Therefore, the
Provincial had to allocate these books either to the most needy libraries or to the most needy
friars. Finally, book theft was penalized with excommunication incurred ipso facto.1024
Similarly, the constitutions of the Order of the Mercy or La Merced also allowed that once
friars who had amassed personal libraries in their cells had died, these libraries had to be
incorporated into the convent's main library allowing its growth and enrichment.1025 Thus, the
death of a member of a religious Order was also a steady factor that allowed the incorporation
of books to the libraries of the corporations.

Moreover, within the religious Orders books were distributed among the numerous
convents and houses. In 1567 the Franciscans recommended the provision of each of their
convents with basic libraries containing around 50 books in order to prevent that monks carry
books from one convent to another.1026 Thus, there existed a specific interest to distribute the
Order's bibliographic patrimony to serve the interests and ministry of the friars.

Usually, these redistributed books hold ex libris mentioning the year when the copy was
allocated to a specific library. For instance, Johann Hoffmeister's Homiliae in evangelia
(Antwerp, Joannes Steelsius, 1562) belonged to the Franciscan convent of San Gabriel
Tacuba near Mexico City and to the Convent of Mexico City, this copy was allocated to the
first convent by 'fr. Michael Navarro comissarius generalis' in 1575.1027 Fray Miguel Navarro
was elected provincial of the Order from 1567 to 1569 and Commissary General of the Order
from 1573 to 1575, which gave him authority over all Franciscans in New Spain.1028
Furthermore, it appears that fray Rodrigo de Santillán elected provincial of the Franciscans
from 1592 to 1595 placed saint Vincent Ferrer's Sermones hyemales (Antwerp, widow & heirs
of Joannes Steelsius, 1572) in the novitiate of the Order located in San Cosme on the outskirts
of Mexico City.1029

Not only the provincials but also other friars placed books in the monastic libraries,
such as Concordantiae bibliorum utriusque testamenti, veteris et Noui, nouae et integrae

1024
PORRAS, 'Los Franciscanos en México: un impreso', 62-63.
1025
TRABULSE, 'Los libros científicos en la Nueva España', 203.
1026
OSORIO ROMERO, Historia de las bibliotecas novohispanas, 36-37.
1027
See: YHMOFF CABRERA, Catálogo de los impresos europeos del siglo XVI, II, 204-205.
1028
RICARD, The spiritual conquest of Mexico, 43-44.
1029
See: YHMOFF CABRERA, Catálogo de los impresos europeos del siglo XVI, III, 434-435.

267
(Antwerp, widow & heirs of Joannes Steelsius, 1567), this copy was placed in the library of
the convent of San Diego in Mexico City by the guardian of the convent, fray José de Aguirre
in 1724.1030 Joannes Justus Lanspergius' In omnes Dominicales Epistolas & Evangelia
Paraphrases & Exegeses Catholicae (Antwerp, widow & heirs of Joannes Steelsius, Antwerp,
1570), was donated by fray Juan Liaño to the library of the Franciscan convent of
Jilotepec.1031 Pierre de la Palud's Sermones siue Enarrationes in Euangelia de tempore
(Antwerp, widow & heirs of Joannes Steelsius, 1571), was placed in the Franciscan convent
of Tlalnepantla by fray Mateo de Aguilar.1032

Occasionally, it was not known how a specific book had been incorporated to a library,
consequently, the copy was reallocated. That was the case of Franciscus Titlemans' Summa
mysteriorum christianae fidei (Leuven, Martin de Keyser, 1532), which was reallocated to the
library of the Franciscan convent of Guadalajara because it was not known who had brought it
to the Library of the nearby Franciscan convent of Zapotlán.1033

This book distribution was, also a disadvantage since it dispersed the bibliographic
patrimony. As a result, the centralization of book collections was sometimes implemented. In
1602 the Augustinian Province of San Nicolás Tolentino of Michoacán was legally erected
splitting from the Mexican Province of the Santísimo Nombre de Jesús.1034 In a general patent
given on May 6, 1609 the separation of the two provinces was confirmed. Among the points
mentioned there, it was specified that books located in small convents had to be moved to the
major ones with the permission of the prior as well as a small compensation.1035 Thus, it
seems that the Augustinians were trying to prevent book dispersion amongst the copious
convents of the Order, something which might end up in the loss and damage of numerous
copies.

The donation of private libraries

1030
See: YHMOFF CABRERA, Catálogo de los impresos europeos del siglo XVI, I, 431-432.
1031
See: YHMOFF CABRERA, Catálogo de los impresos europeos del siglo XVI, II, 240-241.
1032
See: YHMOFF CABRERA, Catálogo de los impresos europeos del siglo XVI, II, 508-509.
1033
BPJ: 242.1 TIT.
1034
The new province comprised the territories of Michoacán and Jalisco. The study of the long process of the
province separation due to political conflicts between the factions of the criollos and the Spaniards or
'peninsulares' within the order is studied by JARAMILLO ESCUTÍA, Los agustinos de Michoacán 1602-1652. La
difícil formación de una provincia, Mexico, 1991; see also: RUBIAL GARCÍA, El convento agustino y la sociedad
novohispana, Mexico, 1989; as well as RUBIAL GARCÍA, Una monarquía criolla: la provincia agustina de México
en el siglo XVII, Mexico, 1990.
1035
JARAMILLO ESCUTÍA, Los agustinos de Michoacán 1602-1652, 115.

268
While the friars' libraries were automatically incorporated into those of their corporations
after their death, this was not generally the case among the secular clergy. Here private
libraries were normally subject to three different fortunes after the owner's passing, either
being sold to a bookseller or to another individual,1036 being sold at a public auction, or being
donated to an institutional library. The last option was usual among the members of
cathedral's chapters or bishops, such as the library of the first bishop and archbishop of
Mexico fray Juan de Zumárraga (he was appointed first bishop of Mexico in 1528,
consecrated in 1533 and appointed archbishop in 1547), which according to his will written in
1548 was divided among three different institutions (the Metropolitan Cathedral, the
Franciscan Convent of Mexico City and the Franciscan House of Aranzazu in his homeland
Durango, Biscay. Actually Zumárraga had already donated books in 1536 for the formation of
one of the first academic libraries on the continent, the library of the Imperial College of
Tlatelolco.1037

Moreover, the first bishop of Antequera (Oaxaca), Juan López de Zárate (he occupied
the post from 1535 to 1555), who was doctor in theology, stipulated that after his death the
third part of his library had to be donated to the Dominican convents of Mexico and Oaxaca,
the rest remaining in his own cathedral's library.1038 The first bishop of Michoacán, Vasco de
Quiroga (bishop from 1536 to 1565) did the same with his personal library donated it to the
college of San Nicolás Obispo of Pátzcuaro. Given that the college was linked to the
ecclesiastic chapter of Michoacán, Vasco de Quiroga stipulated that the dean and the canons
had to take care of the library, controlling the books that had been borrowed preventing theft
and losses, and selling the old and hardly read books in order to buy new editions more useful
for the students.1039

Undoubtedly the most famous library donation in New Spain's history was the one of
Juan de Palafox, bishop of Puebla from 1640 to 1655, who donated his renowned library on

1036
For instance, Miguel García Paramás y Quiñones member of the chapter of the Valladolid cathedral, sold
the Juridical section of his library to José Velázquez de Montenegro, who was also a member of the chapter of
Valladolid, as illustrated by the testament of the former made in 1640, see: MAZÍN GÓMEZ, El Cabildo Catedral
de Valladolid de Michoacán, 165.
1037
OSORIO ROMERO, Historia de las Bibliotecas Novohispanas, 16-17.
1038
See the Dominican chroniclers: DÁVILA PADILLA, Historia de la Fundación y de la Provincia de Santiago de
México, Bruselas, Jean de Meerbeck, 1625, 109; MÉNDEZ, Crónica de la Provincia de Santiago de México de la
Orden de Predicadores, (1521-1564), 233; and see also: OSORIO ROMERO, Historia de las Bibliotecas
Novohispanas, 35.
1039
OSORIO ROMERO, Historia de las Bibliotecas Novohispanas, 35-36. Concerning the college of San Nicolás
Obispo see: LEÓN ALANÍS, 'San Ramón Nonato Puente en entre el Colegio de San Nicolás Obispo de Michoacán
y la Real Universidad de México', 97-110.

269
September 6, 1646 to the city's diocesan colleges of San Pedro and San Juan, allowing the
formation of the so-called Palafoxiana Library. This donation comprised about 5000 books of
theology, law, canon, philosophy, medicine and literature.1040 Other seventeenth-century
prelates, such as the archbishop and viceroy of Mexico fray Payo Enríquez de Rivera (he was
archbishop from 1668 to 1681), also donated their own libraries. He had been appointed
viceroy from 1673 to 1680 due to the death of viceroy duke of Veragua, when fray Payo
returned to Spain in 1681 he gave his personal library to the Oratorians of Mexico City. 1041
The bishop of Puebla Manuel Fernández de Santa Cruz (elected to the Puebla See from 1676
to 1699) donated his library to the diocesan colleges of San Pedro and San Juan increasing
their stock as his predecessor Palafox did some decades before.1042 After Juan de Ocampo, a
seventeenth-century member of Puebla's chapter, passed away in 1633, his provate library
was divided among different convents of the city, such as the convents of San Agustín and
Santo Domingo.1043 Subsequently, the bishop of Oaxaca Nicolás del Puerto donated his
library to the Tridentine Seminary of Santa Cruz founded in the city in 1681 during his
administration.1044 The new seminary rapidly became one of the most important study centers
of the city because of the chairs of grammar, philosophy and theology established there. 1045

During the eighteenth-century archbishop and viceroy of Mexico, Juan Antonio de

Vizarrón y Eguiarreta (he was archbishop from 1730 to 1747 and due to the death of viceroy
marquis of Casafuerte, Vizarrón took over his post in 1734 until 1740 following royal
instructions). His library was donated to the Metropolitan cathedral of Mexico enriching its
stock.1046 Eighteenth-century Puebla was also an ideal place in New Spain for the formation
of rich libraries among the members of the clergy. Some members of the Puebla's cathedral
chapter also left significant libraries that were donated to religious corporations after their
owner's passing. One of the most remarkable cases is the personal library of the chantre
(cantor) of the cathedral doctor don Andrés de Arze y Miranda. 1047 After his death in 1776, he

1040
TORRES DOMÍNGUEZ, Colegios y colegiales palafoxianos de Puebla en el siglo XVIII, 82.
1041
EGUIARA Y EGUREN, Prólogos a la Biblioteca Mexicana, 119.
1042
JEGUIARA Y EGUREN, Prólogos a la Biblioteca Mexicana, 120.
1043
BERMÚDEZ DE CASTRO, Theatro Angelopolitano, 229.
1044
EGUIARA Y EGUREN Prólogos a la Biblioteca Mexicana, 120-121. Nicolás del Puerto was the first mestizo
priest elevated to the Rank of bishop, see: GRAÑÉN PORRÚA, 'Libros e imprenta en Oaxaca durante la época
colonial', 346.
1045
OSORIO ROMERO, Colegios y profesores jesuitas, 214-215.
1046
EGUIARA Y EGUREN Prólogos a la Biblioteca Mexicana, 119.
1047
Andrés de Arze y Miranda (1701-1774), was born in Huejotzingo nearby Puebla, as it was normal for a
criollo of New Spain he completed his theology studies with the Jesuits in their colleges of Puebla (Espíritu
Santo, San Ignacio and San Ildefonso), subsequently he obtained his doctoral degree in theology and in law at
the University of Mexico. He started a pastoral career among Indian communities in the bishopric of Puebla,

270
left virtually his whole library to Puebla's convent of San Francisco (more than 2000
copies).1048 Also in eighteenth-century Puebla the bishop Francisco Fabián y Fuero (bishop
from 1765 to 1773) left his library in 1771 to the city's Diocesan colleges. 1049 And in
eighteenth-century Oaxaca the bishop José Gregorio Ortigoza (bishop from 1775 to 1791) left
his library to the aforementioned Seminary of La Santa Cruz.1050

Ex alumni of educative institutions also donated their libraries, such as don Juan Gómez
de Parada, who was born in Compostela near Guadalajara. As expected for a criollo he started
his studies with the Jesuits, studying theology and philosophy at their college of San Ildefonso
in Mexico City. Then he entered as a scholarship student at the college of Santa María de
Todos Santos also in Mexico City. Furthermore, he completed his doctoral studies in
Salamanca, Spain. Once again in Mexico he became a member of the chapter of the
Metropolitan Cathedral and soon he was sent to Madrid as procurador. In Madrid he was not
only in charge of several matters before the Court, he also studied dogmatic theology and
began to amass a personal library, that was rich in new and old editions according to Eguiara
y Egurén. Once again in Mexico, Gómez de Parada was appointed bishop of Yucatán (from
1715 to 1728), bishop of Guatemala (from 1730 to 1735) and then he was promoted to the
bishopric of Guadalajara (from 1735 to 1751). After his death and following his will, his
library was donated to his former college of Santa María de Todos Santos providing that it
had to be open to the public.1051

Occasionally, members of the clergy donated their books to convents providing that the
users of the library that received the books had to pray for the eternal rest of their soul. That
was the case of the dean of the cathedral of Valladolid, don Álvaro de Contreras y Garnuca,
who donated his library to the convent of San Diego of Mexico City in 1708. 1052 Finally, a

and from 1748 to 1774. He was a member of the city´s cathedral chapter. As already mentioned in 1753 he was
presented as bishop of Puerto Rico, but he did not take possession.
1048
His library had been studied by Columba Salazar based on books with his ex libris located at the Biblioteca
Lafragua of Puebla, see: SALAZAR IBARGÜEN, Una biblioteca virreinal de Puebla (siglo XVIII). Fondo Andrés de
Arze y Miranda, Puebla, 2001.
1049
SALAZAR IBARGÜEN, Una biblioteca virreinal de Puebla (siglo XVIII), 21-22.
1050
GRAÑÉN PORRÚA, 'Libros e imprenta en Oaxaca durante la época colonial', 347.
1051
EGUIARA Y EGUREN Prólogos a la Biblioteca Mexicana, 118. The College of Todos Santos (established in
1573) was among those colleges of Mexico City that did not belong to the religious orders (it was governed by a
board of trustees, as well as the college of Cristo also located in Mexico City), Todos Santos was intended to
accommodate ten scholarship students (six of law and canon and four of theology) all of them already
graduated as bachelors who were attending to obtain their doctoral degrees. See the work of Víctor Gutiérrez
who provides a detailed view of the daily life and the graduates of the college, see: GUTIÉRREZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'El
Colegio Novohispano de Santa María de Todos los Santos', 23-35.
1052
MAZÍN GÓMEZ, El Cabildo Catedral de Valladolid de Michoacán, 213.

271
library could be donated to relatives, poor students or even foundling children as Tomás de
Alcocer, member of the chapter of Valladolid, did donating 210 devotional books to a
foundling child in 1686.1053 Thus, the donation of private libraries was one of the most
important factors that allowed the growth of conventual and diocesan libraries, since it was
not always feasible to spend a fixed budget on the acquisition of books.1054

Donated books are to some extent easy to identify since they usually hold ex libris
mentioning who was the donor. The year of the donation is occasionally mentioned as well.
For instance, the books donated by the bishop Andrés de Arze y Miranda to the convent of
San Francisco Puebla hold this ex libris:

'Este libro con los demás de su librería, dejò á este convento de N. P. S. Francisco De
la Puebla el señor Chantre Dr. D. Andres de Arze y Miranda. Electo obispo de Porto-
Rico. Con la condicion de que en ningun tiempo se pueda vender, enagenar, ò
permutar, y de que no pueda salir del convento.' (This book along with the rest of his
library was donated to the convent of San Francisco, Puebla by the chantre Dr. don
Andrés de Arze y Miranda, elected bishop of Puerto Rico [he never took possession]
providing that the copies could not be sold, exchanged or leave the convent.1055
The sponsorship of royal authorities to create a library

Royal intervention might also be a factor to consider in the formation of a library. Thanks to
Zumárraga's intervention, a royal decree granted by the emperor dated May 21, 1534
authorized that the fifth part of the expenses related to the cathedral's fabric had to be used
during three years for the formation of a library.1056

The reception of library collections that belonged to secularized convents

Other external factors have to be taken into account, such as the steady process of
secularization underwent by the Mendicant Orders, or in other words the increasing power of
the bishops that took away the parishes from the regular clergy, provoking the moving of
several libraries located in the convents of numerous villages to the main houses. For
instance, in the bishopric of Puebla, the Franciscans had a solid presence since the early years
of the colonization leaving behind an array of convents throughout the region (Cholula,
Huejotzingo, Calpan, Huaquechula, Tecamachalco, Tecali, Texmelucan). However, by the

1053
MAZÍN GÓMEZ, El Cabildo Catedral de Valladolid de Michoacán, 213.
1054
GONZÁLEZ GONZÁLEZ and GUTIÉRREZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Libros en venta en el México de Sor Juana y de
Sigüenza', 106.
1055
The books are mostly preserved at the Biblioteca Lafragua although some other copies had been found at
other libraries such as the Biblioteca Francisco Kino.
1056
OSORIO ROMERO, Historia de las bibliotecas novohispanas, 18.

272
eighteenth century the Franciscans only kept their houses in the city of Puebla, Tehuacán and
Totomihuacan. The libraries of all the other Franciscan convents were mainly moved to the
convent of Puebla.1057

The distribution of Jesuit libraries especially among diocesan libraries and the university after
the Jesuit's expulsion in 1767

The decree of Carlos III in June 1767, expelling all the regulars of the Company of Jesus from
Spain and all Spanish possessions, left the Jesuit heritage in a legal status similar to that of an
open succession or a heritage ab intestato. Therefore, following the expulsion, different
'Juntas de Temporalidades' were created throughout Spanish America to undertake the
distribution of the Jesuit patrimony. The libraries were inventoried and relocated among
different corporations, diocesan seminaries, or the university. Regrettably, a lot of books were
lost during this process that in some cases took several years. Books were frequently gathered
in inappropriate humid places where this remarkable bibliographic patrimony was vulnerable
to the effects of time, humidity, attacks of xylophages insects and theft.

In Oaxaca, the library of the Jesuit college went to the Seminary of La Santa Cruz
which received 2545 books plus 41 choir books, while those titles considered of lax morality
where sent in 41 cases to Mexico City.1058 Throughout New Spain the Jesuit libraries were
mostly assigned to diocesan seminaries, whose collections were increased. For instance, the
diocesan college of San Nicolas of Valladolid, Michoacán received the books of the Jesuit
college of San Luis de la Paz.1059 The Seminary of Durango received the books of the Jesuit
college of Parras (present State of Coahuila) in 1793, as well as the books belonging to the
college of Chihuahua and the missions of the Sierra Tarahumara. 1060 In Puebla the diocesan
colleges received the rich collections of the city's Jesuit colleges, and in Mexico City part of
their collections went to the Library of the University.

1057
OSORIO ROMERO, Historia de las bibliotecas en Puebla, 28-29.
1058
Currently several Jesuit books are available at the Burgoa Library of Oaxaca, see: GRAÑÉN PORRÚA, 'Libros
e imprenta en Oaxaca durante la época colonial', 348.
1059
AGN, Temporalidades, vol. 175.
1060
AGN, Temporalidades, vol. 50, vol. 164, see also: PACHECO ROJAS, El Colegio de Guadiana de los Jesuitas
1596-1767, 138-139.

273
 4.5.1 Consumption and use of editions from the Southern Netherlands in ecclesiastic
contexts

In New Spain monastic and diocesan libraries were the most important in terms of their size
and their collections. With the libraries of the Jesuits and Franciscans being the most notable
among the regular orders. And the Diocesan libraries of the dioceses of Mexico and Puebla
among the secular clergy. Since most of the books of the Southern Netherlands collected
belonged to clerical libraries, our analysis will start with the libraries of the regular clergy. An
overview of the book distribution per ecclesiastical library will be provided, along with
examples of how these books were used on a daily basis within the religious corporations.

However, because of the constant book circulation among the libraries of the same
Order, it is not an easy task to provide definite numbers. For instance, while analyzing books'
ex libris, it was noticed that a book that belonged to the library of the Dominican College of
San Luis Rey, Puebla, for instance, also belonged to the Library of Santo Domingo of the
same city.1061 Or a book that belonged to the Franciscan Novitiate of San Cosme near Mexico
City also belonged to the library of the Convent of San Francisco in Mexico City. These are
but two among many similar examples.1062 In such cases, it has been decided to incorporate
the items to the most important of the two or three collections.

1061
That is the case of, Saint Augustine, Operum, Tomus X, Antwerp, Christophe Plantin, 1576, see the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 54.
1062
That is the case of Benito Arias Montano, Commentaria in Dvodecim Prophetas, Antwerp, Christophe
Plantin, 1571, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 56.

274
 AUGUSTINIAN LIBRARIES

The Order of Saint Augustine, established

in New Spain in 1533, amassed relevant
collections in urban centers like Mexico
City, Puebla or Guadalajara, smaller cities
like Celaya or Querétaro, or in
monasteries established in villages like
Yuririahpúndaro. A total of 197 surviving
items belonging to former Augustinians
monasteries have been collected for this
research in nine Mexican libraries.

Fig. 15 Augustinian brand mark of the convent of Puebla.1063

Library Copies

Convent of San Agustín, Mexico City 77

College of San Pablo, Mexico City 44
Convent of San Agustín, Puebla 42
Convent of San Agustín, Guadalajara 9
Convent of San Agustín, Celaya 8
Convent of San Pablo, Yuririahpúndaro 7
Other convents 6
Convent of San Agustín, Querétaro 2
Total 197

Table 7 Copies collected in Augustinian libraries.1064

Although no books belonging to other Augustinian important libraries, such as those of the
convents of Valladolid or Oaxaca have been collected,1065 this sample gives solid basis to
have a detailed idea of the authors and editions published in the Southern Netherlands that
were being read by the Augustinian Order.

1063
See the catalogue online of marcas de fuego launched by the Biblioteca Lafragua, Puebla.
www.marcasdefuego.buap.mx The brand mark has the identification number: BJML-1005.01. I would like to
thank Mercedes Salomón, jefe de conservación of the Biblioteca Lafragua who is in charge of the 'marcas de
fuego' project, she provided most of the photos used for this section.
1064
For a detailed overview of the collected editions within Augustinian libraries see the appendix 'Libraries of
New Spain', 4-16.
1065
No Augustinian items were found in the catalogue of the Biblioteca Pública de la Universidad Michoacana
in Morelia, possibly the Augustinian books of the city are to be found in the Library of the Museo Casa de
Morelos in the same city, which library has been recently catalogued by ADABI, however, the online catalogue
did not specify the brand mark of the items. The same applied to the Burgoa Library's online catalogue of
Oaxaca.

275
Among the corpus of books published in the Southern Netherlands being used in Augustinian
colleges-convents were authors that were extensively printed throughout Europe's presses,
like saint John Chrysostom,1066 saint Jerome,1067 or saint Thomas Aquinas,1068 as well as
Spanish theologians extensively published in Antwerp like Benito Arias Montano,1069 Martín
de Azpilcueta,1070 as well as cardinal Cesare Baronio and his Annales ecclesiastici.1071
Juridical works by Spanish theologians and jurists were also available, such as the well-
known De potestati legis penalis, Alfonso de Castro's most important work on criminal
law.1072

The collection found in the convent in Puebla is especially rich in sixteenth-century

theologians, such as Thomas Beuxamis (particularly his homilies),1073 the French cleric René
Benoist,1074 the Franciscan Adam Sasbout,1075 the Spanish theologian from Salamanca
Domingo de Soto,1076 and the English catholic controversialist Thomas Stapleton.1077
Particularly numerous were the exegetical works of the Franciscan Johann Wilde, extensively
published in Antwerp by Martinus Nutius.1078 Puebla's collection also boasted the works of
the Flemish jurist Jacobus Raevardus (Raewaerd in Dutch), who was a friend of humanists
like Hubert Goltzius and Justus Lipsius, and professor of law in Douai.1079

Of particular interest is the great number of Jesuit authors published in Antwerp, whose
theological handbook or 'cursus' were being used by the Augustinians. These authors include

1066
Johannes Chrysostom's editions were available in the library of the college of San Pablo, and in the library
of the convent of Puebla, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 9, 12.
1067
One eighteenth-century edition of saint Jerome's Epistolae was available in the convent of Mexico City, see
the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 6.
1068
Thomas of Aquina's works were available in the convent of Mexico City, and in the Library of the Hospice of
Santo Tomás de Villanueva also in Mexico City, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 4, 11..
1069
Arias Montano's works were available in the convents of Mexico City, the college of San Pablo, and in the
convent of Celaya, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 4, 8, 15.
1070
Two sixteenth-century vernacular editions of Azpilcueta's works were available in the convent of Mexico
City, one of his Latin works was available in the convent of Puebla, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 4,
12, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 14.
1071
Volumes of Baronio's Annales, were available in the convents of Mexico City, the college of San Pablo, and
the library of Yuririahpúndaro, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 4, 9, 16.
1072
It was available in the convent of Mexico City. In addition, Castro's Aduersus omnes haereses was available
in the library of Guadalajara, see 'Libraries of New Spain', 5, 15.
1073
Two of Beauxamis' editions were available in Puebla, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 12.
1074
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 12.
1075
Sasbout's works were available in the convents of Mexico City and Puebla, see the appendix 'Libraries of
New Spain', 8, 13.
1076
One Domingo de Soto's edition was available in Puebla, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 14.
1077
One Stapleton's edition was available in Puebla, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 14.
1078
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 14.
1079
Three of Raevardus' editions were available in the library of Puebla, see the appendix 'Libraries of New
Spain', 13.

276
Francesco Amici, 1080 and the Irish Jesuit, Richard Archdekin. The latter pursued an academic
career in the Jesuit colleges of Antwerp and Leuven, and his works, like the Theologia
tripartita, enjoyed extensive popularity.1081

In the seventeenth-century the new genre of cursus philosophicus emerged, which

consisted of logic, physics, and metaphysics. A case in point is the Cursus philosophicus by
Thomas Carleton-Compton, an English Jesuit teaching at the Society's college in Liège.1082
Moreover, the Augustinians were also using the Cursus philosophicus (first published in
Antwerp in 1632) by the Spanish philosopher Jesuit Rodrigo de Arriaga. 1083 In fact, Arriaga
was, along with other Spanish Jesuits like Hurtado de Mendoza, and the Cistercian Juan
Caramuel de Lobkowitz, part of a somewhat rebellious movement within Spanish
scholasticism. These authors 'challenged traditional authority in philosophy up to a certain
point and often sought fresh solutions to old problems'.1084

The exegetical works of the Flemish Jesuit Cornelius a Lapide were particularly copious
in the library of the convent of Saint Augustine (8 copies), 1085 and in the library of the college
of San Pablo (also 9 copies),1086 both situated in Mexico City. Other available Jesuit exegetes
whose works were published mainly in Antwerp were, the Spanish Luis de Alcázar,1087 the
Portuguese Manuel or Emmanuel Sá,1088 and Ignacio Zuleta.1089 The well-known work by
Leonardus Lessius' De iustitia et iure, which was certainly a best-seller due to its theological
approach to financial questions, was also part of the Augustinian collection of Mexico
City.1090 All these editions confirm that Jesuit theologians and philosophers were being used
in college-convents of other regular orders in the context of neo-scholastic studies.

The convent of Yuririahpúndaro, illustrates that not all the liturgical Nuevo rezado
editions, were issued by the Officina Plantiniana since its library boasted a Concordantiae

1080
Amici's Cvrsvs theologici was available in the convent of Mexico City, see 'Libraries of New Spain', 4.
1081
Archdekin's Theologia tripartita was available in the convent of Mexico City, see 'Libraries of New Spain', 4.
1082
It was available in the convent of Mexico City, and Carleton's Cursus theologici was available in Guadalajara,
see 'Libraries of New Spain', 5, 15.
1083
Arriaga's Cursus philosophicus was available in the convent of Mexico City, see 'Libraries of New Spain', 4.
1084
See: REDMOND, 'Latin American Colonial Philosophy', The Americas, 30-4 (1974), 479.
1085
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 6.
1086
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 9-10.
1087
One of Alcázar's works was available in the convent of Guadalajara, see the appendix 'Libraries of New
Spain', 14.
1088
The convent of Mexico city also boasted one of Sá's edition, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 8.
1089
Zuleta's works were available in the convents of Mexico city, Querétaro, and Celaya, see the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 8, 15, 16.
1090
Additionally, other Lessius' editions were available in the convent of Mexico City, and in the college of San
Pablo, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 6, 10.

277
bibliorum, and a Sacrorum bibliorum vulgatae editionis concordantiae published by other
Antwerp families, such as the Van Keerberghen, and the Verdussen.1091 Contrary to the
library of the convent of Guadalajara, which boasted a Breviarium and a Missale Romanum
published by Joannes Jacobus Moretus between 1733 and 1736.1092 These examples illustrate
that liturgical books published in Antwerp were not exclusively provided by the Plantiniana
press.

Regarding the authors of the Augustinian Order, undoubtedly, the works of Joannes
Driedo, who was also a theologian in Leuven, are the most significant (they were extensively
used by local theologians as will be below discussed).1093 Other Augustinian authors available
were the German humanist and anti-Reformation publicist Johannes Altenstaig, whose work
was available in the library of Puebla,1094 The works of the German Johann Hoffmeister were
also available, actually his editions should also be placed in the context of the Reformation
debate,1095 Lorenzo de Villavicencio, one of Philip II's informants in the Netherlands,1096 and
commentators on the works of saint Tomás of Villanueva like Franciscus Pauwens, who was
also a theologian at the University of Leuven.1097

Remarkably the library of the convent of Saint Augustine in Mexico City boasted five
different works by Justus Lipsius,1098 such as De militia romana, Monita et exempla politica,
and Politicorum siue Ciuilis doctrinae, were also available.1099 In this respect, there is still
further research needed to analyze the popularity of Justus Lipsius among clerical authors
throughout Spanish America, (further examples will be provided). Among other historical
accounts available to the Augustinians, was a vernacular edition by the famous Philip II's
chief chronicler Antonio de Herrera published by the Verdussen in 1728; Historia General de
las Indias Occidentales o de los hechos de los castellanos en las Islas y Tierra Firme del Mar
Oceano. This edition was first published between 1601 and 1615, and was considered the
most complete overview on Spanish American history at that time. Thus this eighteenth

1091
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 16.
1092
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 15.
1093
Driedo's editions were available in the convent of Mexico City, and the college of San Pablo, see the
appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 5, 9.
1094
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 12.
1095
One of Hoffmeister's works was available in the convent of Puebla, 13.
1096
Mexico City's library also boasted a copy of Villavicencio's works, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain',
8.
1097
The college of San Pablo boasted two editions edited by Pauwens, See the appendix 'Libraries of New
Spain', 10.
1098
For a detailed view, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 7.
1099
The convent of Puebla also boasted two Lipsius' editions, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 13.

278
century Antwerp edition illustrates the significant interest in historical works written during
the Spanish Golden Age.1100 Other sixteenth-century Spanish historians, whose accounts were
available in the Augustinian convents of Puebla were Esteban Garibay y Zamalloa and the
Catalan Francisco Tarafa,1101 both of which were compendia on the history of the Spanish
kingdoms. The political and historical works of the well-known seventeenth-century Spanish
diplomat Diego de Saavedra y Faxardo, were also part of San Pablo's library collection.1102
Regarding classical authors, two Plantinian editions of Julius Caesar were collected in the
convents of Puebla and Celaya.1103 The poetry of Claudius Claudianus was also available in a
Plantinian edition, as well as a Nutius' edition of Marcus Porcius Cato.1104

It should be noted that in New Spain's libraries, books that were being used by a specific
member of a religious Order or a diocesan seminary, frequently hold a manuscript ex libris. It
was certainly not a mark of property since the book already belonged to an ecclesiastic
library. It rather indicated that the book was being consulted for an indefinite period. Thus,
the ad usum ex libris was rather a mark of temporal possession, since the copy had to be
returned (at least theoretically) to the library.

The Augustinian fray Diego de Aguiar, who was since 1668 a well-known professor of
theology at the college of San Pablo in Mexico City, certainly reviewed several books
belonging to Augustinian collections to prepare his own lessons. This is illustrated by
Aguiar's manuscript ex libris that is to be found among the exegetical works of Joannes
Chrysostom: Commentarium in Acta Apostolorum (Antwerp, Joannes Steelsius, 1542) of the
library of the college of San Pablo,1105 as well as the copy of the convent of Puebla.1106 And
Chrysostom's Commentarii qui extant in sanctum Iesu Christi Euangelium secundum Marcum
& Lucam (Antwerp, Joannes Steelsius, 1542), also belonging to the college of San Pablo.1107
Aguiar's ex libris is also visible in books by University of Leuven theologian Joannes Driedo
belonging to the College of San Pablo in Mexico City. They include: Driedo's Tomus Quartus

1100
It was available in the library of the convent of Mexico City, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 6.
1101
Garibay y Zamalloa was available in the convent of Puebla, while Tarafa was available in the convent of
Nuestra Señora de Gracia, also in Puebla, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 13, 14.
1102
Two vernacular editions of the Corona gothica castellana were part of San Pablo's library, 11.
1103
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 13, 16.
1104
Claudianus' edition was available in the convent of Puebla, as well as Cato's edition, see the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 12.
1105
See: YHMOFF CABRERA, Catálogo de los impresos europeos del siglo XVI, II, 214-215.
1106
BJML: 6377-31050501.
1107
See: YHMOFF CABRERA, Catálogo de los impresos europeos del siglo XVI, II, 212.

279
Operum (Leuven, Bartholomeus van Gravius, 1553),1108 Operum tomus primus (Leuven,
Bartholomeus Grave, 1556),1109 and Tomus tertius: De concordia liberi arbitrii et
praedestinationis divinae liber unus. De gratia libero arbitrio duo (Leuven, Bartholomeus
Grave, 1550).1110

This case is not exceptional, on the contrary, several books that belonged to ecclesiastic
collections still hold ex libris. For instance, Hieronymus ab Oleaster's Commentaria in Mósi
Pentateuchum (Antwerp, widow & heirs of Joannes Steelsius, 1568), is a copy that belonged
to the Augustinian college of San Pablo in Mexico City and was ad usum of fray Ignacio
Lasso de la Vega.1111

One of the most relevant sixteenth-century intellectuals figures active in New Spain was
certainly the Augustinian fray Alonso de la Veracruz (1507-1584), while one of the most
important theologians in Leuven was the Augustinian Joannes Driedo or Driedonis
(1479/1480-1535). Therefore, a specific example of De la Veracruz' use of Driedo's works to
develop his own ideas has been chosen to complete the overview of the use of such books
within the Augustinian Order.

FRAY ALONSO DE LA VERACRUZ (1507-1584)

Fray Alonso, first studied arts and theology in Salamanca where Francisco de Vitoria was one
of his professors. Then he took the journey to New Spain arriving to Veracruz in June 1536,
shortly after he was entrusted with the office of Magister Novitiorum of the Augustinian
Order. In 1540 the Augustinians founded its first Studium generale intended for the novices at
the convent of San Juan Bautista of Tiripitío (a small village of the present State of
Michoacán), which was also one of the first of its kind in New Spain. Fray Alonso de la
Veracruz acted as its first professor of arts and theology from 1540 to 1542, providing the
college with one of the earliest academic libraries established in the American continent,

1108
YHMOFF CABRERA, Catálogo de los impresos europeos del siglo XVI, I, 531-532.
1109
YHMOFF CABRERA, Catálogo de los impresos europeos del siglo XVI, I, 527-528.
1110
YHMOFF CABRERA, Catálogo de los impresos europeos del siglo XVI, I, 529-530.
1111
YHMOFF CABRERA, Catálogo de los impresos europeos del siglo XVI, II, 449. It appears that fray Ignacio
Lasso de la Vega won the third place in a contest of poetry celebrated in Mexico City in 1730. The contest
commemorated the recent canonization of saint John of the Cross, see: VILLEGAS AGUILAR, 'Un certamen
poético de 1730', 53.

280
along with the one of the College of Tlatelolco.1112 By 1542 he taught the first course of
philosophy in the American continent.1113

Fray Alonso also taught the course of prime theology at the newly founded University
of Mexico during the inaugural academic year of 1553-1554. From 1562 to 1572 he was in
Spain. Once back in Mexico, he was appointed provincial of the Order for the third time in
1575 (he had already been elected for the periods 1543-1546, 1549-1551), and in the same
year he erected the college of San Pablo in Mexico City providing it with 60 cases of books
that he had brought from Spain. It is said that fray Alonso used to peruse the new books,
sharing their content with his students. Finally, he died in 1584.1114

There still are several books from the Southern Netherlands that belonged to the
Augustinian college of San Pablo and to the major convent of the Order in Mexico City stored
in current Mexican libraries. Some of them were used by fray Alonso. For instance, the works
of a well-known professor of theology in Leuven, Joannes Driedo, De ecclesiasticis
scriptoribus et dogmatibus (Leuven, Bartholomeus van Grave, 1533).1115

Driedo's influence is noticeable in fray Alonso's De dominio infidelium et iusto bello

(Mexico, 1553) one of his humanist works criticizing the Spanish conquest, domination and
usurpation of the Indians' rights. The book is organized in eleven questions, the first six
concern the rights and duties of the Spaniards, mostly the encomenderos, questions seven and
nine deal with the authority of both the pope and the emperor. Finally, the last two questions
draw attention to the legitimacy of the wars against the Indians. 1116 It is precisely in question
seven that Alonso quoted Driedo's De libertate Christiana, with regard to the notion of the
emperor's authority commissioned by the pope in order to have dominion over a new
kingdom.1117

1112
OSORIO ROMERO, Historia de las bibliotecas novohispanas, 38; JARAMILLO ESCUTÍA, Los agustinos de
Michoacán, 23.
1113
REINHARDT, 'Fray Alonso de la Veracruz and the beginnings of philosophic speculation in the Americas',
210.
1114
CUEVAS, Documentos inéditos del siglo XVI para la historia de México, doc. XXXIII; see also: OSORIO
ROMERO, Historia de las bibliotecas novohispanas, 38.
1115
'Habet ad vsvm Fr. Alphonsus a Vera Cruce', see: YHMOFF CABRERA, Catálogo de los impresos europeos del
siglo XVI, I, 533-534.
1116
This work of fray Alonso has been recognized as the most relevant scientific contribution written in the
New World concerning the ethic of the Conquest With regard to the content see: CARRILLO CÁZARES, El debate
sobre la Guerra Chichimeca, 141-162; see also: LUPHER, Romans in a New World: Classical Models in sixteenth-
century Spanish America, 158-166.
1117
See: DE LA VERACRUZ, Sobre el dominio de los Indios y la Guerra justa, 243.

281
Fig. 16 'La cátedra de fray Alonso de la Veracruz', anonymous, eighteenth century, oil on canvas,
Pinacoteca, Morelia, Michoacán.1118

1118
Thanks to Dr. Nelly Sigaut for the image provided, which has been recently published in the catalogue,
SIGAUT ed., La pintura virreinal en Michoacán, 342-348.

282
 BETHLEMITE LIBRARIES

The Bethlemites were a hospitaller order

established in Guatemala in 1655. From
there they expanded their foundations to
other cities like Mexico (1675) or Puebla
(1682). A total of 6 items of the library of
the Hospital of Our Lady of Belém in
Puebla have been collected, they belong to
the Biblioteca Lafragua's collection.

Fig. 17 Brand mark of the Hospital of Our Lady of Belém, Puebla.1119

The small collection of editions published in the Southern Netherlands collected in the
Hospital of Puebla included the Cartas of saint Teresa, Martín de Azpilcueta's Manual de
confesores, the Obras of the most famous writers of the Spanish Golden Age, Francisco de
Quevedo and Baltasar Gracián, as well as the famous Epistolas familiares by fray Antonio de
Guevara. The only Latin edition collected in this library of Puebla was the famous Schola
cordis, by the Benedictine Benedictus van Haeften.1120 Haeften was the provost of Affligem
Abbey (near Brussels), and a former student of the University of Leuven. His Schola Cordis
was one of the best examples of meditation books written in prose. The passages of this book
are accompanied by emblems focusing on the theme of the sacred heart. This work was issued
in the Southern Netherlands during the first half of the seventeenth-century, the illustrations
being provided by Boetius a Bolswert.1121 Thus, this small library of the Bethlemites of
Puebla, reflects an equal interest in devotional and popular entertainment titles mostly
published in Spanish.

1119
See the catalogue online of marcas de fuego www.marcasdefuego.buap.mx. BJML-2005.
1120
For a detailed view, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 16-17.
1121
SAUNDERS, The seventeenth-century French emblem. A study in diversity, 195-196.

283
 CARMELITE LIBRARIES

The Discalced Carmelites arrived in New

Spain in 1585, their most important
libraries were to be found in their convents
and colleges in Mexico City and
surroundings (San Ángel, Tacuba, Desierto
de los Leones), Puebla, Guadalajara,
Oaxaca as well as other centers like
Toluca, and the isolated 'Santos Desierto'
of Tenancingo.

Fig. 18 Brand mark of the convent of Our Lady of Los Remedios, Puebla.1122

Library Copies

Convent of San Sebastián, Mexico City 71

College of Santa Ana, San Ángel 70
Convent of Our Lady of Los Remedios, Puebla 45
Convent of San Joaquín, Tacuba 42
Convent of El Carmen, Guadalajara 30
Convent of La Concepción, Toluca 23
Convent of the Santo Desierto of Tenancingo 17
Convent of La Santa Cruz, Oaxaca 12
Other convents (Atlixco, Celaya, Valladolid) 12
Total 322

Table 8 Copies collected in Carmelite libraries.1123

As in the case with the Augustinian libraries, few copies have been collected from the
libraries of Valladolid and Oaxaca. However, the libraries of Mexico, Puebla, Guadalajara,
Toluca and Tenancingo provide a good overview of the presence of Southern Netherlands
book in the Order's libraries. As already observed among the Augustinians, works by Jesuit
exegetes, theologians, jurists, and poets published in the Southern Netherlands are particularly
abundant within Carmelite libraries. One finds the Latin orations of Nicolas Avancini, 1124 the

1122
See the catalogue online of marcas de fuego www.marcasdefuego.buap.mx The brand mark has the
identification number: BJML-3008.01.
1123
For a detailed overview of the collected editions within Carmelite libraries see the appendix 'New Spain
Libraries', 17-37.
1124
Avancini's works were available in the convents of Mexico City, and Toluca, see the appendix 'Libraries of
New Spain', 17, 35.

284
compilation of Latin poetry of the Italian Vincenzo Guiniggi, 1125 the famous Thesaurus
Indicus of the Peruvian Jesuit Diego de Avendaño,1126 the famous collection of sacred
emblems, the Lux Evangelica, by the Antwerp Jesuit Henricus Engelgrave,1127 as well as,
Antonio Sucquet's book on emblematic meditation, the Via vitae aeternae,1128 several works
of Leonardus Lessius,1129 the Spanish Jesuit jurists, Luis de Molina,1130 Francisco Suárez,1131
and the exegete works of Manuel Sá,1132 and Ignacio de Zuleta.1133

However, thanks to his exegetical works Cornelius a Lapide was the author printed in
the Southern Netherlands most widely available in Carmelite libraries; 22 copies have been
collected in the library of Mexico City, 14 in the library of the novitiate of San Joaquín,
Tacuba, 9 in the convent of Oaxaca, 7 in the library of the college of San Ángel, 3 in the
convent of the Santo Desierto de los Leones, and 1 more copy in the library of Guadalajara,
making for a grand total of 56 exegetical works by Lapide.1134

Other religious books collected are those written by Saint Augustine, Saint John
Chrysostom (7 of his works were collected in the library of the convent of Puebla),1135 Saint
Thomas Aquinas,1136 the Franciscan Franciscus Titelmans,1137 the abovementioned
Benedictine Benedictus Haeften,1138 the abovementioned works of Martín de Azpilcueta,1139

1125
Guiniggi's Allocutiones gymnasticae, was available in the library of the college of San Angel, see the
appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 23.
1126
It was available in the convent of Mexico City, and in the convent of Guadalajara along with two more of his
works, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 17, 32.
1127
Engelgrave's Lux evangelica was available in the libraries of Mexico City, and in the library of Valladolid
(Morelia), see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 18, 33.
1128
It was available in the library of Mexico City, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 21.
1129
Lessius' works were available in the library of the college of San Angel, in the library of Puebla, and the
library of Celaya, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 24, 30, 33.
1130
Luis de Molina's De iustitia et iure was available in the libraries of the college of San Angel, and the convent
of Celaya, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 24, 33.
1131
Suárez' Tractatus de legibus ac Deo legislatore was available in the library of Mexico City, see the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 21.
1132
Manuel Sá's works were available in the library of Mexico City, and in the library of the college of San Angel,
see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 20, 24.
1133
Zuleta's works were available in the libraries of Mexico City, the college of San Angel, and the convent of
Oaxaca, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 21, 25, 37.
1134
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 18-37.
1135
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 29-30.
1136
Saint Thomas Aquinas' editions were available in the libraries of the college of San Angel, and the convent
of Tacuba, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 21, 28.
1137
Titelmans' works were available in the libraries of Mexico City, and Toluca, see the appendix 'Libraries of
New Spain', 21, 36.
1138
Haeften's Schola cordis was available in the library of Mexico City, see the appendix 'Libraries of New
Spain', 18.

285
Benito Arias Montano,1140 cardinal Cesare Baronio,1141 the popular Dominican theologian
fray Luis de Granada,1142 as well as other Spanish Dominican Melchor Cano,1143 the
Augustinian Joannes Driedo,1144 Cornelius Jansenius, the first bishop of Ghent,1145 the
Franciscan Jean Royard or Royardus,1146 and the famous meditation works of Thomas a
Kempis.1147 The religious works by the archbishop of New Granada, Diego del Castillo y
Artiga, which were extensively published and exported by the Verdussen family. 1148 The
juridical books of the aforementioned Alfonso de Castro are also available.1149

Moreover, the specific spirituality of the order required the reading of Carmelite
authors, among those published by the presses of the Southern Netherlands were undoubtedly,
Saint Teresa of Ávila, whose Cartas and her Obras, were extensively exported.1150 In chapter
III, the works and activity of fray Jerónimo Gracián de la Madre de Dios and his prolific stay
in Brussels have been already discussed; 4 of his works were collected in the library of San
Ángel, 4 in the library of the Santo Desierto of Tenancingo, 1 in Mexico, 1 in Puebla, and 1 in
Toluca, making for a total of 10 copies.1151 Among other Carmelites collected were the
sixteenth-century Spanish fray Tomás de Jesús,1152 and fray Juan de Jesús María,1153 the

1139
Azpilcueta's Latin works were available in the libraries of Mexico City, and the college of San Angel, while
four of his vernacular editions were available in the library of Toluca, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain',
17, 22, 35.
1140
Four of Arias Montano's works were available in the library of the college of San Angel, see the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 22.
1141
Baronio's volumes were available in the libraries of Mexico City, and Puebla, see the appendix 'Libraries of
New Spain', 17, 29.
1142
Two of Granada's editions were available in the library of the college of San Angel, see the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 23.
1143
Cano's De locis theologici was available in the library of the college of San Angel, see the appendix 'Libraries
of New Spain', 22.
1144
Driedo's works were available in the libraries of the college of San Angel, Puebla, Tenancingo, and Toluca,
see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 23, 30, 34, 35.
1145
Two of Jansenius' works were available in the library of Puebla, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain',
30.
1146
Two of Royardus´ works were available in the library of Puebla, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain',
31.
1147
Kempis' works were available in the libraries of Mexico City, San Angel, and Tenancingo, see the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 18, 24, 34.
1148
Castillo y Artiga's works were available in the libraries of San Angel, Tacuba, Guadalajara, Toluca, and
Oaxaca, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 22, 25, 32, 35, 36.
1149
Castro's works were available in the library of Puebla, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 29.
1150
Saint Teresa's Obras were available in the libraries of Mexico City, and San Ángel. Furthermore, her Cartas
were also available in the libraries of San Angel, and Puebla. Finally, her book of Las fundaciones de las
Descalzas was available in the convent of Tenancingo see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 17, 22, 29, 33.
1151
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 18, 23, 30, 35,
1152
Fray Thomas de Jesús' works were available in the libraries of Mexico City, San Angel, and Tenancingo, see
the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 18, 23, 34.
1153
Fray Juan de Jesús María's Vita et mores, spiritus zelus, was available in the library of San Angel, see the
appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 23.

286
Flemish Carmelite Isidorus a Sancto Aegidio, prior of the convent of Antwerp,1154 as well as
the Portuguese exegete João Da Sylveira, 7 of his works were collected in the library of
Tacuba, and 2 in the library of Toluca,1155 and the prolific Leonardus a Sancto Martino, who
can be considered as the most important exegete of the Austrian Netherlands, whose works
were extensively published in Ghent, 7 of his works were collected in the convent of Mexico
City, 5 in the convent of Tacuba, 2 in the library of San Ángel, and 1 in the convent of
Guadalajara.1156

The college of San Ángel boasted educational editions, such as an Antwerp edition of
Erasmus' De dvplici copia verborvm et rervm, which became widely used,1157 and was
reprinted at least 150 times in the sixteenth century. It was a manual that influenced
pedagogical practices and affected ideas on composition and style throughout the century.
Being largely derived from Cicero and Quintilianus, it was a basic instrument of grammar-
school training.1158 A copy of Seneca's opera was also to be found in the college.1159 This kind
of books were certainly used in the instruction of Latin among Carmelite novices.1160

Regarding other genres, in the library of the convent of Tacuba, a Geographia o

Moderna descripcion del Mundo y sus partes by the Spanish military engineer and
geographer, Sebastián de Fernández y Medrano was available.1161 The chronicle of the
Dominican fray Agustín Dávila Padilla about the history of the Dominican province of
Santiago established in New Spain, was printed in Brussels in 1625, and one copy of this
work belonged to the Carmelite library of Guadalajara.1162 A history of Leopold I, Holy
Roman Emperor, written by father Constantino Roncaglia published in Spanish by the
Verdussen family was also found in the library of Oaxaca.1163

1154
One of Sancto Aegidio's works was available in the convent of Tacuba, and in the convent of Toluca, see the
appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 27, 36.
1155
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 27-28, 36.
1156
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 20-33.
1157
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 23.
1158
Collected works of Erasmus colloquies, Toronto, 1997, 164.
1159
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 25.
1160
Among other classical authors, a sixteenth-century copy of Terentius was available in the convent of
Guadalajara, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 33.
1161
Fernández de Medrano's work was available in the convent of Tacuba, see the appendix 'Libraries of New
Spain', 26.
1162
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 32.
1163
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 37

287
Of particular interest is the fact that the convent of Guadalajara, boasted one set of the
magnificent Biblia Políglota published by Plantin.1164 Furthermore, one or several members
of the Order certainly must have had a specific interest in the philology of ancient languages,
since an interesting collections of philological and linguistic works was amassed in the library
of the convent of Mexico City. Such a collection included a work by one of the collaborators
from the team which produced Plantin's Biblia Poliglota; the Frenchman Guido Fabricius
Boderianus, and his Dictionarium Syro-chaldaicum.1165 We also found works by Italian
linguist Angelo Canini,1166 as well as by the Flemish syriacist graduated from the University
of Leuven, Andreas Masius.1167 This interesting collection was complemented by one of the
works of the Dominican and Italian philologist, Santes Pagnini or Pagnino.1168

DIEGUINOS (DISCALCED FRANCISCANS) LIBRARIES

The Dieguinos (Discalced Franciscans)

established the Province of San Diego, New
Spain in 1599. Their most important libraries
were located in Mexico City and
surroundings (Tacubaya, Churubusco),
Puebla and Guanajuato

Fig. 19 Brand mark of the convent of San Diego, Mexico.1169

Table 9 Copies collected in the libraries of the Dieguinos.1170

Library Copies

Convent of San Diego, Mexico City 73

Convent of San Antonio (Santa Bárbara), Puebla 54
Novitiate of San José, Tacubaya 33

1164
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 32.
1165
It was available in the library of Mexico City, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 17.
1166
Canini's De locis S. scripturae hebraicis was available in the library of Mexico City, see the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 17.
1167
Masius' Syrorum peculium was available in the library of Mexico City, see the appendix 'Libraries of New
Spain', 19.
1168
Pagnini's Thesauri hebraicae linguae was available in the library of Mexico City, see the appendix 'Libraries
of New Spain', 19.
1169
See the catalogue online of marcas de fuego www.marcasdefuego.buap.mx. BF-12009. I would like to thank
Paco Mejía and Rocío Cázares of the Biblioteca Franciscana of Cholula for the images of the Dieguinos,
Franciscans and Colleges of Propaganda Fide.
1170
For a detailed overview of the collected editions collected in the libraries of the Dieguinos, see the
appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 38-49.

288
Convent of San Pedro de Alcántara, Guanajuato 15
Convent of Santa María Magdalena, Texmelucan 10
Convent of Santa María, Churubusco 4
Other convents 4
Total 193

The popularity of Benito Arias Montano's works in New Spain is confirmed by their presence
in the libraries of the Dieguinos, (6 of his works were collected in the library of Mexico City,
4 in the library of Guanajuato).1171 In addition, another complete set of the Biblia Políglota
belonged to the convent of Mexico City.1172 Among other highlights that deserve to be
mentioned regarding the bibliographical collections of the Dieguinos, is the widespread
presence of many of the abovementioned Jesuit works (Diego de Avendaño, 1173 the
Portuguese Sebastião Barradas,1174 the Flemish Cornelius a Lapide,1175 Leonardus Lessius,1176
Luis de Molina,1177 Martín Antonio del Río,1178 Manuel Sá,1179 the famous French Jesuit
François Pomey,1180 the prolific works of the hagiographer Daniel Van Papenbroek, one of the
Antwerp Bollandists),1181 as well as the Benedictine, Benedictus van Haeften,1182 the works of
the popular Martin de Azpilcueta,1183 and the sermons of Saint Vincent Ferrer.1184

In the library of the Novitiate of San José in Tacubaya, novices did not only have access
to religious work but also to historical works of celebrated authors like Justus Lipsius,1185 or

1171
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 38, 48.
1172
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 39.
1173
One of Avendaño's works was available in the convent of Mexico City, see the appendix 'Libraries of New
Spain', 38.
1174
One of Barradas's works was available in the convent of Mexico City, see the appendix 'Libraries of New
Spain', 38.
1175
Lapide's works were available in the libraries of Mexico City, Tacubaya, and Churubusco see the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 40, 43, 44.
1176
Lessius' works were available in the libraries of Mexico City, and Puebla, see the appendix 'Libraries of New
Spain', 40, 47.
1177
Molina's popular De iustitia et iure was available in the libraries of Mexico City and Tacubaya, see the
appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 40, 43.
1178
Two of Del Río's works were available in the convent of Mexico City, see the appendix 'Libraries of New
Spain', 41.
1179
Sá's works were available in the libraries of Mexico City, and Puebla, see the appendix 'Libraries of New
Spain', 41, 47.
1180
Pomey's works were were available in the library of Tacubaya, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain',
44.
1181
Five Papenbroeck's works were available in the library of Tacubaya, see the appendix 'Libraries of New
Spain', 44.
1182
Two copies of Haeften's Schola cordis were available in the library of Mexico City, see the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 40.
1183
Azpilcueta's vernacular works were available in the libraries of Tacubaya, and Puebla, see the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 42, 45.
1184
Three copies of saint Vincent Ferrer's works were available in the library of Mexico City, see the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 42.
1185
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 43.

289
the Historia natvrae, maxime peregrinae,1186 by the Jesuit Juan Eusebio Nieremberg,
published in Antwerp in 1635.1187 Moreover, one of the Antwerp editions of the Arithmeticae
Theoria et Praxis by the Jesuit mathematician André Tacquet from the so-called Antwerp
School was also available.1188

The convent of San Antonio & Santa Bárbara in Puebla, boasted a rich collection of
sixteenth century theological works, this library also contained works belonging to various
secular genres. For instance, a remarkable Spanish edition of Homer's Odyssey published in
Antwerp in 1556 was part of the convent's collection.1189 Other Latin editions of Cicero,1190
Marcus Valerius Martialis,1191 and Quintus Smyrnaeus were also available,1192 as well as
writers of the Spanish Golden Century like Baltasar Gracián or the famous Francisco de
Quevedo.1193 Also found was the abovementioned historical account of Esteban de Garibay y
Zamalloa.1194

As the Dieguinos, were actually Discalced Franciscans, the presence of saints,

theologians, and authors of the Franciscan order are well represented in their libraries: Saint
Bonaventura,1195 the influential Spanish Francisco de Osuna,1196 Diego de Estella,1197 Juan de
Cartagena,1198 the works of Alfonso de Castro,1199 various Scotist theologians, such as the
Alcala professor Francisco del Castillo Velasco.1200 Also found were Pedro de Alva y
Astorga's prolific works regarding the defense of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
As already mentioned in chapter II, these voluminous editions were published in his own
printing press in Leuven.1201 Logically the list of Franciscan authors also includes friars from

1186
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 43.
1187
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 44.
1188
For a detailed view, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 42-44.
1189
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 47.
1190
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 46.
1191
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 47.
1192
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 47.
1193
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 47.
1194
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 46.
1195
Saint Bonaventura's works were available in the libraries of Mexico City, and Puebla see the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 39, 46.
1196
Osuna's works were available in the library of Mexico City, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 41.
1197
Estella's works were available in the library of Guanajuato, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 49.
1198
Cartagena's works were available in the library of Puebla, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 41.
1199
One of Castro's works was available in the library of Tacubaya, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain',
42.
1200
One of Castillo Velasco's works was available in the library of Mexico City, see the appendix 'Libraries of
New Spain', 39.
1201
Alva y Astorga's works were available in the libraries of Mexico City, Tacubaya, the hospice of Tlalpan see
the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 38, 42, 44.

290
the Southern Netherlands, such as the well-known Franciscus Titelmans,1202 and Petrus
Marchant, who was the Commissary General of the Belgian province.1203 One of the few
works by a female author collected was, not coincidentally, the popular Mystica ciudad de
Dios by the Franciscan Spanish nun María de Jesús de Agreda.1204

DOMINICAN LIBRARIES
The Ordo Praedicatorum or Dominican
Order, was the second after the Franciscans
to arrive in New Spain (1528). Their most
important libraries were housed in the
convents and colleges of Mexico City,
Puebla, and Oaxaca. However, the surviving
items collected show that Franciscan,
Carmelite and Augustinian libraries were
apparently richer at least regarding the
Southern Netherlands editions,

Fig. 20 Brand mark of the convent of Santo Domingo, Puebla.1205

Library Copies

Convent of Santo Domingo, Mexico City 36

College of Santo Domingo, Puebla 23
College of Porta Coeli, Mexico City 15
College of San Luis Rey, Puebla 5
Other convents (Zacatecas, Ciudad Real) 5
Total 84

Table 10 copies collected in Dominican libraries.1206

In general Dominican libraries contained all the aforementioned editions published in the
Southern Netherlands. However, more Dominican authors are to be found there, these

1202
Titelman's works were available in the libraries of Mexico City, Puebla, and Guanajuato see the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 42, 48, 49.
1203
Marchant's works were available in the libraries of Mexico City, and Puebla, see the appendix 'Libraries of
New Spain', 40, 47.
1204
The works of María de Agreda werea available in the library of Puebla, see the appendix 'Libraries of New
Spain',45.
1205
See the catalogue online of marcas de fuego www.marcasdefuego.buap.mx. BJML-4002.
1206
For a detailed overview of the collected editions within Dominican libraries see the appendix 'Libraries of
New Spain', 49-55.

291
included certainly Saint Thomas Aquinas,1207 the Spanish Saint Vincent Ferrer,1208 Alanus
Bouchot, whose books published in Antwerp were devoted to one of the most important
Dominican Marian devotions, the Virgin of the Rosary,1209 Tomás or Thomas de Lemos,
Spanish Dominican, controversialist and a passionate defender of Thomas de Aquinas's
teachings,1210 the well-known fray Luis de Granada,1211 the Flemish Dominican, prior of the
convents of Bruges and Ghent, Willen Van Oonsel,1212 the provincial of the Dominican
province of Belgium, Johannes Baptista Verhuys,1213 as well as the Italian fourteenth-century
Dominican Johannes de Sancto Giminiano,1214 the Italian Bartolomeo Fumo,1215 the Summa of
the Italian theologian Silvestro Mazzolini da Prierio/Prierias,1216 and the French Dominican
philosopher Durandus of Saint-Pourçain.1217

Other authors who were also being reviewed in the Dominican college-convents of New
Spain, such as cardinal Baronio and his Annales,1218 a remarkable edition of the Catholic
Church historian, Antwerp priest, and prefect of the Vatican Library, Emmanuel Schelstraete
was available in the library of the college of San Luis Rey. 1219 Also found are the casuistic
Italian priest Antonino Diana,1220 the French canonist and liturgical writer Guillaume
Durand/Durandus,1221 and the University of Leuven theologian Jacobus Latomus.1222 Finally,

1207
Thomas Aquinas' works were available in the libraries of the convents of Mexico City, and Zacatecas see
the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 49, 54.
1208
Saint Vincent Ferrer's works were available in the library of the convent of Puebla, see the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 54.
1209
One Bouchot's work was available in the library of the convent of Mexico City, see the appendix 'Libraries of
New Spain', 50.
1210
Lemos' works were available in the libraries of the convent of Mexico city, and the college of Porta Coeli,
see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 51, 52.
1211
see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain',
1212
One Oonsel's work was available in the library of the convent of Mexico city, see the appendix 'Libraries of
New Spain', 51.
1213
One Verjuys' work was available in the library of the convent of Mexico city, see the appendix 'Libraries of
New Spain', 52.
1214
Sancto Geminiano's work was available in the library of the convent of Mexico city, see the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 51.
1215
Fumo's work was available in the library of the convent of Puebla, see the appendix 'Libraries of New
Spain', 53.
1216
Mazzolini's Summa was available in the library of the convent of Puebla, see the appendix 'Libraries of New
Spain', 54.
1217
Durandus of Saint Pourçain's work was available in the library of the convent of Puebla, see the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 53.
1218
Several Baronio's volumes were available in the libraries of the college of Porta Coeli, and the convent of
Puebla, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 53.
1219
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 54.
1220
Diana's works were available in the library of the convent of Mexico City, see the appendix 'Libraries of New
Spain', 50.
1221
One Durand's work was available in the library of the college of Porta Coeli, see the appendix 'Libraries of
New Spain', 52.

292
among the secular authors were well-known cartographers from the Netherlands, such as
Gemma Frisius and Abraham Ortelius.1223

FRANCISCAN LIBRARIES

The Franciscans were the first Order to

arrive in New Spain (1524). They were
together with the Jesuits among the most
important book consumers in New Spain
given the figures offered by their rich
libraries. The most important collections
were kept in their convents in Mexico City
and surroundings, the numerous convents
of the Valley of Puebla-Tlaxcala, but also
in Guadalajara, Valladolid, the Valley of
Toluca, the cities of the Bajío like
Querétaro, Salamanca and the mining cities
of Guanajuato and Zacatecas.

Fig.21 Brand mark of the Novitiate of La Consolación, San Cosme.1224

Library Copies

Convent of San Francisco, Guadalajara 140

Convent 'Grande' of San Francisco, Mexico City 136
Convent of San Francisco, Puebla 78
Convent of San Buenaventura, Valladolid 45
Novitiate of La Consolación, San Cosme 37
Convent of San Francisco, Querétaro 29
Convent of San Francisco, Zacatecas 27
Convent of San Gabriel, Cholula 23
Convent of the Collection of San Francisco 22
Tepoyanco, Tlaxcala
Convent of La Asunción, Toluca 18
Convent of San Francisco, Salamanca 18
Convent of San Francisco, San Miguel de Allende 9
Convent of San Martin de Tours, Huaquechula 8
Other convents in the Valley of Puebla-Tlaxcala 5

1222
One Latomus' work was available in the library of the convent of Mexico city, see the appendix 'Libraries of
New Spain', 51.
1223
One of Frisius' works was available in the library of the convent of Mexico city, and the Theatro de la Tierra
Universal by Ortelius was available in the library of the convent of Oaxaca, see the appendix 'Libraries of New
Spain', 50, 54.
1224
See the catalogue online of marcas de fuego www.marcasdefuego.buap.mx. BF-12041.

293
Other convents in the Bajío region 4
Other convents (Ecatepec, Zinacantepec, Cordoba) 3
Total 602

Table 11 Copies collected in Franciscan libraries.1225

The bibliographic patrimony of the religious corporations was then reserved to those novices,
professors, illustrious theologians or scholars, that were interested in the use of the vast
collections to develop their academic or their pastoral activities. However, this restricted
patrimony was protected to avoid theft and dispersion, particularly among the Franciscans. On
November 4, 1568 Pope Pius V, issued a bull of excommunication of all persons who may
remove or retain a book for their own use from any Franciscan monastic library.1226

Accordingly, books belonging to Franciscan libraries regularly hold a manuscript ex

libris confirming that it was penalized to remove them from the library, as illustrated by the
copy of Joannes Driedo's De concordia liberi arbitrii [et] praedestinationis diuinae liber unus
(Leuven, Bartholomeus van Grave, 1547) of the library of the Franciscan convent of
Valladolid (Morelia), whose ex libris indicates that it was property of the convent and that
papal excommunication was reserved to anyone that stole it.1227 The same warning of
excommunication is provided in the Concordantiae bibliorum utriusque testamenti, veteris et
Noui, nouae et integrae (Antwerp, widow & heirs of Joannes Steelsius, 1567), of the library
of the Discalced Franciscan (Dieguino) convent of San Pedro de Alcántara in the mining town
of Guanajuato.1228 And by Juan Viguera's Institvciones ad christianam theologiam, sacrarum
literararum, vniuersalimque (Antwerp, widow & heirs of Joannes Steelsius, 1572) of the
novitiate of the Discalced Franciscans (Dieguinos) of Tacubaya.1229

Moreover, all the authors already mentioned in the other libraries were widely available
within the rich Franciscan collections, for that reason, a review of a wide-range array of
sources used by one of the most illustrious Franciscans of New Spain, will be provided.

1225
For a detailed overview of the collected editions within Franciscan libraries, see the appendix 'Libraries of
New Spain', 55-95.
1226
MATHES, 'Oasis culturales en la Antigua California.', 375.
1227
'Es del convento de San Francisco de Valladolid, quien lo enagenare, excominión reservada al Papa', see:
BPUM: BT20 D7 1546.
1228
'Hay excomunión contra el que robe algún libro de dicha librería', see: BAOC: CO. 8070.
1229
'Este libro es de la librería de este Convento del Señor san Joseph de Tacubaya ay excomunión mayor
reservada a su Santidad para quien lo usurpare de dicha librería', see: YHMOFF CABRERA, Catálogo de los
impresos europeos del siglo XVI, III, 438-439.

294
 THE FRANCISCAN FRAY J UAN DE TORQUEMADA (CA.1557-1624)

The Franciscan fray Juan de Torquemada's great chronicle the Monarquía Indiana (first
published in Seville, 1615) provides an extended array of sources and materials available in
the intellectual milieu of educated early seventeenth-century Mexico. Among the European
sources used by Torquemada and carefully listed by Elsa Cecilia Frost, there were several
titles published in the Southern Netherlands.1230 The following editions had been clearly
identified as published mostly in Antwerp and Leuven.1231

Scientific works included the well-known Cosmographia, siue descriptio vniuersi orbis
(Antwerp, it may be the edition published by Joannes Withagius, 1584), by the German
humanist, mathematician, astronomer and cartographer, Petrus Apianus.1232

Among the theological works published mostly in Antwerp and quoted by Torquemada
were Benito Arias Montano, In XXXI. Davidis Psalmos priores Commentaria (Antwerp, Jan
Moretus, 1605).1233 The theologian from Leuven, Jacobus Janssonius and his work, In
psalterium et cantica quibus per horas Canonicas Romana vtitur Ecclesia, exposition
(Leuven, Joannes I Masius, 1597),1234 the Benedictine theologian and exegete from Liège,
Rupertus Tuitensis or Rupertus of Deutz, Libri XLII de operibus Sanctae Trinitatis (Leuven,
the widow of Arnold I Birckmann, 1551),1235 the work of the Franciscan theologian and
professor at the University of Leuven, Adam Sasbout, In Esaiam prophetam commentaria
(Leuven, Anthoni Marie Bergaigne, 1563),1236 the Spanish Dominican, Pedro de Soto's

1230
The critical edition of the Monarquía Indiana was prepared from 1975 to 1983 by a seminar of scholars
drawn primarily from the Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas IIH of the UNAM in Mexico City under the
direction of Dr. Miguel León-Portilla. The volume VII included the identification of biblical, patristic, classical
and contemporary European sources elaborated by Elsa Cecilia Frost and as Woodrow Borah accurately
mentioned it this edition along with the appendices constituted a major feat of detection of almost incalculable
value for future studies. The edition has been put online in the internet site of the Instituto de Investigaciones
Históricas see: www.historicas.unam.mx/publicaciones/publicadigital/monarquia/index.html.
1231
There were several authors whose books were not only published in Antwerp but in other cities, such as
Cesare Baronio, Alfonso de Castro, Johannes Chrysostom, Stanislaus Hosius, Hieronymus Oleaster, Pierre de la
Palud, among others.
1232
FROST, Apéndice 3, Monarquía Indiana de Juan de Torquemada, VII, Mexico, 1983, 287.
1233
FROST, Apéndice 3, VII, 288, item 76.
1234
FROST, Apéndice 3, VII, 312, item 264. Actually, a copy was available in the library of the Convent 'Grande'
of San Francisco in Mexico City, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 60.
1235
FROST, Apéndice 3, VII, 330, item 366. A copy belonged to the Franciscan novitiate of San Cosme close to
Mexico City, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 65.
1236
FROST, Apéndice 3, VII, 282, item 5. A copy belonged to the library of the Convent 'Grande' of San Francisco
in Mexico City, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 62.

295
Institutionis christianae libri tres (Antwerp. Joannes Steelsius, 1551).1237 Regarding Church
history, the work of the English monk known as the ´father of English-History', Bede or the
Venerable Bede (672/673-735), Ecclesiasticae Historiae Ghentis Anglorum (Antwerp,
Johannes de Grave, 1550) was also consulted by Torquemada.1238 This sample illustrates the
access scholars like Torquemada had to the books published in the Southern Netherlands
stored in the collections of the Order, which certainly supported scholar's personal research.

PROPAGANDA FIDE LIBRARIES

The Apostolic Colleges of Propaganda Fide

belonged to the Franciscan Order and were
first established in Querétaro in 1682. Their
most important libraries were amassed n the
colleges of Mexico City, Querétaro,
Guadalupe (Zacatecas), and Zapopan.
Regrettably, the library of Querétaro has
been dispersed and few items have been
collected. However, the colleges of Mexico
City and Guadalupe provide an idea of the
Southern Netherlands editions that circulated
among them.

Fig. 22 Brand mark of the College of Propaganda Fide of Guadalupe, Zacatecas.1239

Library Copies

Prpaganda Fide College of San Fernando, Mexico 33

City
Propaganda Fide College of Our Lady of Zapopan 20
Propaganda Fide College of Guadalupe, Zacatecas 13
Propaganda Fide College of San José de Gracia, 5
Orizaba
Propaganda Fide College of la Santa Cruz, Querétaro 2
Propaganda Fide College of Pachuca 1
Total 74

Table 12 Copies collected in the libraries of the Propaganda Fide colleges.1240

1237
FROST, Apéndice 3, VII, 333, item 368. No surviving copy has been found within Franciscan libraries,
however, this particular edition was only issued in Antwerp.
1238
FROST, Apéndice 3, VII, 292, item 76. No item has been found within a Franciscan collection, however, a
surviving copy has been located in the Augustinian convent of Ocuilán, see the appendix 'Libraries of New
Spain', 11-12.
1239
See the catalogue online of marcas de fuego www.marcasdefuego.buap.mx. BF-12028.

296
The libraries of these colleges were well-stocked with virtually all the aforementioned
editions, largely Franciscans theologians and saints of the order (Saint Bonaventura, María de
Jesús Agreda, Alva y Astorga).1241 In addition, the colleges of Propaganda Fide were
intended to prepare the missionaries who were sent to the Northern Franciscan Missions. For
this reason, one finds handbooks focused on pastoral activities. These include a popular
edition published in Spanish in Antwerp from 1698 onwards. The famous Itinerario para
párochos de Indios by Alonso de la Peña y Montenegro, bishop of Quito, this book was
widely distributed in Spanish America since it was a manual for priests who worked among
Indian communities. The libraries of the college of San Fernando in Mexico City, and the
college of Santa Cruz in Querétaro boasted different copies published in Antwerp.1242

J ESUIT LIBRARIES

The Society of Jesus arrived to New Spain

in 1572. Their libraries were particularly
rich in their convents and colleges of
Mexico City and surroundings (the
novitiate of Tepotzotlán), the network of
colleges of the city of Puebla, as well as
other cities like Guadalajara.

Fig. 23 Brand mark of the College of San Ildefonso, Mexico City.1243

The study of Jesuit libraries present one inconvenience, their early dispersion after the
Society's expulsion in 1767, when much of their patrimony was lost or looted. But in general
the libraries were incorporated into other diocesan collections of even to the University. On
the other hand, the inventories of several colleges and convents prepared by the Junta of
Temporalidades, which made inventories of all the Jesuit patrimony (including their libraries),
have been reviewed for this research. As a result, the numbers of books provided are
particularly high, which also confirms the importance of the Southern Netherlands presses in
publishing Jesuit authors or Jesuit books specifically intended for the Order.

1240
For a detailed overview of the collected editions in the Libraries of the Propaganda Fide colleges, see the
appendix 'Libraries in New Spain', 95-101.
1241
See for instance, the copies collected of the Library of the college of San Fernando in the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 95-98.
1242
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 98, 100.
1243
See the catalogue online of marcas de fuego www.marcasdefuego.buap.mx. BEFK-6001.

297
Regrettably, few copies have been collected in the convents of Michoacán, the region of
Guanajuato, and Oaxaca. However, the detailed and extensive data provided by the archival
records of the College of San Pedro and San Pablo and the Casa Profesa of Mexico City it is
possible to give a solid overview of the Southern Netherlands editions that were being used by
the Society of Jesus.

Jesuit colleges were cultural centers with an active academic life, these institutions
consumed large numbers of books, both for their libraries, and for the educational activities of
professors and students. And indeed the students needed numerous, specialized editions.1244
Therefore, the Jesuits were possibly the most important book consumers in New Spain.
Finally, their bibliographic legacy left after 1767 allowed to enrich or to start new libraries all
over Hispanic America. In Mexico City, for instance, the collections of the College of San
Pedro and San Pablo enriched the University's library.

Library Copies

College Máximo of San Pedro & San Pablo, Mexico 599

City
Casa Profesa, Mexico City 236
College of San Juan Bautista, Guadalajara 56
College of the Espíritu Santo, Puebla 32
Novitiate of San Francisco Javier, Tepotzotlán 24
Other Jesuit colleges of Puebla (San Jerónimo, San 21
Ildefonso, San Ignacio, San Javier)
College of San Gregorio, Mexico City 14
College of Ciudad Real (San Cristóbal de Las Casas) 12
Convents and colleges of Michoacán 4
Convents and colleges in Guanajuato and 4
surroundings
Missions of Baja California 4
Other colleges (Zacatecas, Oaxaca) 2
Total 1008

Table 13 Copies collected in Jesuit libraries.1245

It should be noted that before the Jesuit establishment in New Spain (1572) the absence of
colleges and schools devoted to basic and intermediate education was evident not only for the
indigenous people but for the criollos as well. After the establishment of the Jesuits in New
Spain, it became usual to follow humanities at their colleges, although it was also possible to
study humanities with a private tutor or at the colleges of other religious orders. This first

1244
RUEDA RAMÍREZ, Negocio e intercambio cultural, 172.
1245
For a detailed overview of the collected editions within Jesuit libraries see the appendix 'Libraries of New
Spain', 102-169.

298
academic cycle was considered as an introductory education and primarily prepared students
in Latin and eloquence.1246 Concerning the introductory courses of grammar and rhetoric
required to enter the University, the Jesuits had a noteworthy teaching staff in humanities
provoking a massive exodus of students to their classrooms beginning in 1572.1247 As a result,
the University definitely abandoned grammatical teaching during the first decade of the
seventeenth century leaving it to the Jesuits.

Jesuit training included disputation, plays, and literary acts or contests. Typical texts
were grammar manual and colloquies containing dialogues as models for language
training.1248 Furthermore, Jesuit grammar and rhetoric professors often used selections of
Cicero's works, as well as the works of Horace, Julius Caesar, Ovid, Sallust, Seneca, Titus
Livius, Valerius Maximus in their courses. According to Ignacio Osorio the most read
classical author in Jesuit colleges were Cicero, followed by Vergil, Ovid, Julius Caesar,
Terence and Sallust.1249 Several editions issued mainly in Antwerp were to be found in Jesuit
colleges, such as San Pedro and San Pablo or the Profesa house in Mexico City. 1250 However,
the use of classics was more focused on the transmission of Counter-Reformation values
rather than on a purely humanistic training, or as Liss has observed: Jesuit education within
the Hispanic world after the 1570s was not broadly humanistic in the Renaissance sense, its
purpose was largely religious and vocational.1251

The use of classics was usual in Jesuit colleges and other educative institutions to teach
Latin. However, the classics were viewed with suspicion by the most orthodox factions of the
Church due to their 'pagan nature'. During the inquisitorial visit of 1575 of the fleet anchored
in Veracruz, a certain student called San Clemente (a passenger on board the 'nao' La
Candelaria) was reading the life of Julius Caesar (edition no identified). The officers of the
Inquisition asked him why he was reading the life of a pagan that was in hell instead of
reading about a Christian life, such as that of saint Francis of Assisi. It appears that a dispute
was initiated resulting in the making of a file against the student due to 'suspicion against the
faith'.1252 In line with this, Juan Pérez de Moya remarked on his Comparaciones, o similes
para los vicios, y virtudes (Alcala, 1584) that the occasional reading of 'libros gentílicos'

1246
GONZÁLEZ GONZÁLEZ, 'La Universidad en la cultura novohispana del siglo XVII', 349.
1247
See: OSORIO ROMERO, Colegios y profesores Jesuitas, Mexico, 1979.
1248
LISS, 'Jesuit Contributions to the Ideology of Spanish Empire in Mexico', 451.
1249
OSORIO ROMERO, Floresta de gramática, poética y retórica en Nueva España, 63.
1250
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', Jesuit libraries, 102-169.
1251
LISS, 'Jesuit Contributions to the Ideology of Spanish Empire in Mexico', 454.
1252
FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y libreros, 510-511.

299
could be fruitful provided that only the 'good' parts of them were assimilated, arguing that 'a
rose could be found among the thorns'.1253

Furthermore, within the grammar courses the students enrolled with the Jesuits analyzed
manuals, compendiums as well as authors like Joannes Despauterius, whose grammar was
extensively used from the sixteenth-century in the intermediate grammar class taught by the
Jesuits.1254 As in Europe, some Jesuit colleges in New Spain were exclusively devoted to the
teaching of Latin, such as the college of Pátzcuaro (founded in 1574). 1255 Among the books of
this library was precisely a Rudimenta (Antwerp, Joannes Withagius, 1565) by the Flemish
humanist Despauterius.1256 Regarding arts, geography, history, lexicography and literature,
authors like Andrea Alciato, Francisco de Afferden, Abraham Ortelius, Justus Lipsius,
Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas, Bernardino de Rebolledo, Francisco Sobrino or Famianus
Strada were available in Jesuit libraries.1257

In the Society's educational work, science played an important role from the beginning,
particularly the exact sciences, mathematics, and astronomy. The works of the Jesuits Gregory
de Saint Vincent (1584-1667) and André Tacquet were available in the college of San Pedro
and San Pablo and the Casa Profesa.1258 The former was born in Bruges and became professor
of mathematics in Antwerp and Leuven, then in Prague. He founded a famous school of
mathematics in Antwerp. He is considered as one of the founders of analytical geometry.1259
Tacquet was another prominent mathematician of the Antwerp school. In fact, the two
Flemish Jesuit mathematicians were well known by illustrious eighteenth-century scholars. In
his biographies of the expelled Mexican Jesuits, Juan Luis Maneiro remarked how a very
young Francisco Xavier Clavijero (1731-1787) wanted to study mathematics during his free
time reading André Tacquet or the Valencian Tomás Vicente Tosca.1260 Furthermore, the
Mexican astronomer and anthropologist Antonio de León y Gama (1735-1802) explained that

1253
Quoted in PEÑA DÍAZ, 'Normas y transgresiones de la cultura escrita en el siglo de oro', 138.
1254
OSORIO ROMERO, Floresta de gramática, poética y retórica en Nueva España, 29-30.
1255
OSORIO ROMERO, Historia de las bibliotecas novohispanas, 25.
1256
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 165.
1257
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 102-169.
1258
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 102-158.
1259
O'CONNELL, 'Jesuit Men of Science', 309.
1260
MANEIRO, Vida de algunos mexicanos ilustres, Mexico, 1988, 444.

300
authors like Archimedes, Ptolemy, the German Jesuit Christopher Clavius, Leibniz and
Gregory of Saint Vicent had studied the famous problem of the squaring of the circle.1261

As to theology, philosophy or rhetoric the handbooks and treatises of Jesuit authors

published in the Southern Netherlands were extensively consumed by the Order, such as those
of Luis de Alcázar, Richard Archdekin, Rodrigo de Arriaga, Nicolas Avancini, Diego de
Avendaño, Sebastião Barradas, Martinus Becanus, Robert Bellarmine, Pedro Bivero, Joannes
Bollandus, Thomas Carleton-Compton, Gilles de Coninck, Balthazar Cordier, Jan David, Juan
de Dicastillo, Hieremias Drexellius, saint Franciscus Xaverius, Cornelius a Lapide, Leonardus
Lessius, saint Ignace of Loyola, Adrianus van Lyere, Juan Martínez de Ripalda, Luis de
Molina, Jerónimo de Nadal, Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, Daniel van Papenbroeck, Theodorus
A. Peltanus, François Pomey, Luis de la Puente, Pedro de Ribadaneira, Martín Antonio del
Río, Heribertus Rosweyde, Manuel Sá, Thomás Sánchez, André Schott, Caroli Scribani,
Guillaume Stanyhurst, Antonio Sucquet, Jacobus Tirinus, Nicolas Trigault, Gabriel Vázquez
Bellomontano, and Ignacio de Zuleta, as well as book specifically intended for the Society,
such as the Imago primi saeculi (Antwerp, Balthazar I Moretus, 1640) or the Litterae annvae
societatis Iesv (Antwerp, Heirs of Martinus II Nutius & Johannes Van Meurs).1262

The works of other theologians and doctors of the Church published in the Southern
Netherlands, like Benito Arias Montano, Thomas Aquinas, Martin de Azpilcueta, Cesare
Baronio, Basil of Caesarea, Laurent Beyerlink, Martinus Bonacina, Hermann Busembaum,
Diego Castillo y Artiga, Alfonso de Castro, saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Joannes Driedo, Jean
de Gagny, Johann Hoffmeister, Gommaire Huygens, saint Jerome, Thomas a Kempis, Miguel
Luna y Arellano, David Mauden, Guilielmus Peraldus, Heitor Pinto, Rupertus Tuitensis,
Pedro de Soto, João da Sylveira, Franciscus Titelmans, Aegidius Dominicus Topiarius,
Nicolas Turlot, Juan Viguera, saint Vincent Ferrer among many others were also available in
large quantities, as well as Bibles and liturgical books.1263

This broad scope of bibliographic materials printed throughout Europe supported the
well-defined Jesuit educational project, which from the outset was oriented to the preparation
of the criollos through a network of colleges established in 22 different urban centers like
Mexico, Puebla, Guadalajara, Valladolid, resulting in the consolidation of Latin studies in

1261
See: Carta de don Antonio de León y Gama al autor de la Gaceta, Mexico, 1785. Quoted in TRABULSE,
Historia de la Ciencia en México, 453.
1262
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 102-169.
1263
See the appendix. 'Libraries of New Spain', 102-169.

301
New Spain and almost 200 years of education for the local elites.1264 Thus, through its
educative system, members of the Society of Jesus achieved a position of prestige and
influence within the society of New Spain.1265

MERCEDARIAN LIBRARIES

The Order of the Merced was established in

New Spain in 1592, afterwards it received
explicit viceroyal support becoming one of
the most powerful religious corporations in
Mexico. Thus, the Order archived the
formation of rich libraries especially in their
convent in Mexico City, other important
collections were to be found in Puebla and
Guadalajara. However, regarding Southern
Netherlands editions the items collected are
rather few compared to other regular Orders.

Fig.24 Brand mark of the convent of San Cosme and San Damián, Puebla.1266

Library Copies

Convent of La Merced, Mexico City 42

Convent of San Cosme and San Damián, Puebla 30
Convent of La Merced, Guadalajara 14
Convent of La Merced de Las Huertas, Tacuba 1
Total 87

Table 14 Copies collected in Mercedarian libraries.1267

Practically all the editions that have been mentioned within this extensive review of clerical
libraries, were also available in the librarians of the Mercedarian Order. Thus, in order to
avoid repetition, a specific case study regarding one of the most relevant scholars of the Order
and his use of scientific books will be provided.

1264
OSORIO ROMERO, Historia de las bibliotecas novohispanas, 25.
1265
LISS, 'Jesuit Contributions to the Ideology of Spanish Empire in Mexico', 449.
1266
See the catalogue online of marcas de fuego www.marcasdefuego.buap.mx. BJML-7002.
1267
For a detailed overview of the collected editions within Mercedarian libraries see the appendix 'Libraries of
New Spain', 168-174.

302
 THE MERCEDARIAN FRAY DIEGO RODRÍGUEZ (1596-1668)

The Convent 'grande' of La Merced in Mexico City, became an active cultural center of
higher studies in the seventeenth century, allowing for the developing of relevant scientific
personalities as fray Diego Rodríguez, who was born in the small village of Atilalaquia, north
of Mexico City in 1596. And as Trabulse remarked, for a young criollo with scientific
proclivity but coming from a poor family, the best option to develop his scholarly abilities
during the seventeenth century was the cloister. Within the Order the majority of the higher
studies were done after having professed, before the profession only the grammar course was
obligatory as an indispensable step towards the subsequent studies in the arts.1268 Self-
educated personalities, such as fray Diego Rodríguez, developed an interest in other branches
of knowledge, such as scientific studies. From 1613 to 1637 fray Diego deepened his
understanding of mathematics, astronomy, and hermetic sciences. Actually, he was granted
the chair of mathematics at the University from 1637 to 1668 in which he discussed the works
of astronomers, such as Ptolemy, Monterregio, Purbach, Apianus, Brahe, Copernicus, Galileo,
Magini, Kepler, and among the mathematicians Euclid, Tartaglia, Cardano, Bombelli, Napier,
or the Flemish mathematician Simon Stevin, and the astrologer Cornelius Gemma son of
Gemma Frisius. Thus, Rodríguez can be considered as the first diffuser of modern scientific
knowledge in Mexico. In fact, the Inquisition authorized fray Diego to read the works of
protestant authors, such as Kepler or Tycho Brahe.1269

As Trabulse remarked, Rodríguez was a scientist of transition, which means he used the
concepts of both modern and ancient authors neither entirely accepting the new currents of
thought nor framing his work in a traditional context.1270 As many others scholars interested
in astronomy, Rodríguez prepared a text on the comets on the occasion of the comet observed
in Mexico in 1652.1271 With regard to the tail or 'hair' of the comets, fray Diego Rodríguez
supported the ideas of different sixteenth-century authors universally accepted, such as the
Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, Petrus Apianus, Gemma Frisius and his son Cornelius

1268
Fray Diego was sent by his parents to Mexico City at the age of 14 to study grammar with the fathers of the
Mercy, and before beginning with his higher studies of theology and philosophy, he entered the Order and
professed in 1613, afterwards he got the university degrees of bachelor in Philosophy and Theology, see:
TRABULSE, 'Los libros científicos en la Nueva España', 193-195.
1269
MUÑOZ DELGADO, 'Profesores mercedarios de la Real y Pontificia Universidad de México', 350.
1270
TRABULSE, Historia de la Ciencia en México, Mexico, 2005, 324.
1271
RODRÍGUEZ, Discurso ethereológico del nuevo cometa visto en aqueste hemisferio mexicano: y
generalmente en todo el mundo, este año de 1652, Mexico, Widow of Bernardo de Calderón, 1652. Quoted in
TRABULSE, Historia de la Ciencia en México, 324-337.

303
Gemma.1272 However, Rodríguez was especially in line with Brahe when arguing that the tail
of the comet was nothing but the rays of the sun which have passed through the body of the
comet letting those solar rays past through which are seen as a long tail hanging to the head of
the comet.1273 Additionally, Brahe exemplified that the great comet observed in 1577 had a
very long and large tail, but it gradually grew smaller and shorter, and at all times this comet
had its tail turned directly away from the sun, as other comets that had been observed by
Apianus and Gemma Frisius.1274 Furthermore, to prove that the comets were located just
above the moon Rodríguez quoted several authors like Cornelius Gemma.1275 Furthermore,
Rodríguez refuted Cornelius Gemma's correlation of monstrous births with political events
explained in his De naturae diuinis characterismis seu raris et admirandis spectaculis
(Antwerp, Christophe Plantin, 1575).1276 Rodríguez argued that neither a monster nor a comet
were causes of calamities or death and that such arguments should be regarded as
nonsense.1277 Finally, among the surviving copies located within the convent of Mexico City
one edition of the Mathematician and Antwerp Jesuit, André Tacquet (Cylindricorvm et
annvlarivm libri IV. item De circvlorum volutione per planvm dissertatio physiomathea) was
located, which might be one of the books reviewed and by Rodríguez.1278

1272
Petrus Apianus had seen the comet Halley in 1531 and he was the first to perceive that the tails of comets
were always opposite to the sun. This rule was afterwards confirmed by Gemma Frisius and his son Cornelius
Gemma, whose work on comets the De prodigiosa specie, naturaq[ue] cometae (Antwerp, Christophe Plantin,
1578) was inspired by the 'great comet' observed in 1577 as well as Tycho Brahe's Astronomiae instauratae
progymnasmata (First published in Prague in 1602), see: AMÉDÉE and GLAISHER, The World of Comets, 206.
1273
CHRISTIANSON, 'Tycho Brahe's German Treatise on the comet of 1557', 135. Fray Diego wrote on these
terms: 'El sol con sus rayos ilumina el cuerpo del cometa […] y con lo ígneo y el impulso de ellos se lleva tras sí
la materia más tenue y más superficial de él y esta materia, resistiéndose y apeteciendo la unión de su cuerpo y
la mayor parte de la materia que la tiene y llama, sin soltarse causa la madeja [the tail]. Quoted in TRABULSE,
Historia de la Ciencia en México, 334.
1274
CHRISTIANSON, 'Tycho Brahe's German Treatise on the comet of 1557', 135.
1275
E. TRABULSE, Historia de la Ciencia en México, 330. Regarding Frisius' idea of the comets above the moon
see: WESTMAN, The Copernican Question. Prognostication, Skepticism, and Celestial Order, 254.
1276
About the idea of monsters in Cornelius Gemma see: WITTKOWER, 'Marvels of the East. A Study in the
History of Monsters', 187.
1277
Rodríguez said that: 'Y aunque sean los cometas (como algunos los llaman) monstruos del cielo, no por eso
se infiere el que sean por esta razón causadores de las calamidades y muertes que les imputan; como tampoco
lo son cuantos monstruos suelen admirarse entre los peces del mar, entre los animales de la tierra y aun en la
especie humana (aunque más pretenda lo contrario Cornelio Gemma en su libro De Naturae Divinis
Characterismis: porque si es cosa digna de risa'. Quoted in: TRABULSE, Historia de la Ciencia en México, 342.
1278
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 170.

304
 ORATORIANS

The first Oratory of Saint Philip Neri was

established in Mexico City in 1702. The
Oratorian's most important collections
were to be founds in Mexico City, Puebla
and Guadalajara. Their library in Mexico
City was enriched with several items that
belonged to the Casa Profesa of the
Jesuits.
Fig.25 Brand mark of the convent of the Church of Santa Veracruz and San Felipe Neri, Puebla.1279

Library Copies

San Felipe Neri, Mexico City 41

Santa Veracruz and San Felipe Neri, Puebla 30
San Felipe Neri, Guadalajara 9
Total 80

Table 15 Copies collected in Oratorian libraries.1280

In Mexico City, the Oratorians received part of the Jesuit's library of the Casa Profesa after
the Society's expulsion in 1767. For this reason, the high-incidence of Jesuit authors among
the Oratorians' library. However, at least one Oratorian author, the Italian Giusepe Mansi,
whose Locupletissima bibliotheca moralis was extensively published in Antwerp, was also
available.1281

1279
See the catalogue online of marcas de fuego www.marcasdefuego.buap.mx. BJML: Reference 14 570.
1280
For a detailed overview of the collected editions within Oratorian libraries see the appendix 'Libraries of
New Spain', 174-179.
1281
It was available in the library of Mexico City, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 175.

305
 SECULAR C LERGY LIBRARIES

The first bishop of New Spain was fray

Julián Garcés (bishop of Puebla-Tlaxcala
1528). Fray Juan de Zumárraga was
appointed as the first bishop of Mexico
in 1528 (but he was consecrated in
1533), afterwards new dioceses were
successively created (Oaxaca 1535,
Michoacán 1536, Chiapa 1539,
Guadalajara 1548, Yucatan 1562. The
most important diocesan libraries were
amassed in the bishoprics of Puebla,
Mexico, Guadalajara and Michoacán.

Fig. 26 Brand mark of the Diocesan Seminary of Mexico City.1282

Library Copies

Diocesan colleges of Puebla (Palafoxiana) 130

Diocesan Seminary of San José, Guadalajara 82
Cathedral, Mexico City 53
Seminary of Morelia 20
College of San Nicolás, Morelia 12
College of Santa María Todos Santos, Mexico City 10
Diocesan Seminary of Mexico City 9
College of la Santa Cruz, Tlatelolco 8
Diocesan Seminary of Querétaro 8
Other Seminaries (Guanajuato, Durango, Oaxaca, 6
Zacatecas)
Clerical Seminary of El Salvador, Guadalajara 5
Collegiate of Our Lady of Guadalupe 4
Total 347

Table 16 Copies collected in the libraries of the Secular clergy.1283

Like the regular clergy, the secular or diocesan clergy also amassed rich libraries. Generally,
the bishops and archbishops of Mexico boasted significant collections. Actually, one of the
first illustrious figures in New Spain that used books of the Southern Netherlands as a source

1282
See the catalogue online of marcas de fuego www.marcasdefuego.buap.mx. BJML: 9001.01
1283
For a detailed overview of the collected editions within libraries of the Secular clergy see the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 180-202.

306
of theological knowledge to develop his own personal ideas was the first bishop and
archbishop of Mexico, fray Juan de Zumárraga. His library was particularly rich in Erasmian
books, such as Erasmus' Paraphrasis D. Erasmi Roterodami In omnes epistolas apostolicas
summa cura denuo ab ipso autore recognita (Antwerp, Joannes Steelsius, 1540). It is well-
known that Zumárraga was very much influenced by Erasmus' ideas, such as a renovated
interiorized Christianity favoring, the classical curriculum over scholastic training for
instructing the Indians. Therefore, Erasmus' program was viewed as a modern theology to be
employed in the vast project of Christianization.1284 This particular edition was one of
Zumárraga's personal books that were sent from Mexico to the Franciscan House of Aranzazu
in his homeland Durango, Biscay by order of his will written in 1548. The books that
remained in Mexico were dispersed after his death, few of them went to the Mexican
Cathedral, but the majority to the Franciscan Convent of Mexico City.1285

The members of cathedral chapters also had the means to amass significant libraries.
Probably one of the most relevant examples in Mexican historiography is the one provided by
the cleric Juan José Eguiara y Egurén. For this reason, a brief, case study of his use of books
from the Southern Netherlands will be provided.

THE SECULAR CLERIC J UAN J OSÉ DE EGUIARA Y EGUREN (1696-1763)

The vindication of the criollo scholarly culture developed and reached in the New World
found in Eguiara y Eguren’s Bibliotheca Mexicana one of its greatest exponents. The
Mexican savant was born in Mexico City in 1696. He studied in the Jesuit colleges of San
Ildefonso and San Pedro & San Pablo where he completed philosophy studies continuing his
academic curriculum at the University where he studied arts, philosophy and theology. He
obtained the degree of bachelor in arts in 1709, bachelor in theology in 1712 and finally, a
doctoral degree in theology in 1715. From 1713 to 1722 he was substitute professor at the
University teaching rhetoric, prime of theology and prime of Holy Scripture and from 1724 to
1747 he became professor of theology. From this last year Eguiara become a member of the
cathedral's chapter. In 1751 he was elected bishop of Yucatan but he declined arguing health

1284
VERÁSTIQUE, Michoacán and Eden, Vasco de Quiroga and the evangelization of Western Mexico, 65.
1285
The whole list of books has been published in GREENLEAF, Zumárraga and his family letters to Vizcaya,
1536-1548, 122-127; see also: MORALES, 'Cómo se formaron las bibliotecas franciscanas. Una mirada a través
de la Biblioteca Franciscana de Cholula', 4-5. When Zumárraga died his personal library comprised some 400
titles, from which 41 had been identified by Michel Mathes, see: MATHES, 'Oasis culturales en la Antigua
California.', 375; see also: OSORIO ROMERO, Historia de las Bibliotecas Novohispanas, 16-17.

307
problems and that he was already busy writing his vast bio-bibliography, the Bibliotheca
Mexicana. After his prolific career Eguiara died in 1763.1286

As it is well-known the main Eguiara's main motivation to write his Bibliotheca

Mexicana was to refute the slanderous affirmation of Manuel Martí dean of Alicante, who
considered the intellectual and academic activity produced in the New World as backwards,
denying it any kind of merit. Throughout the Bibliotheca Mexicana several authors were
quoted showing the vast erudition displayed by Eguiara, vindicating the honour and letters of
his patria.1287 Of particular interest is the fifth of the prologues where Eguiara used the
testimonies of illustrious authors that had shed light upon the education provided by Mexican
Indian civilizations prior to the Spanish conquest in order to combat the negative images often
related to ancient Mexicans affirming that the barbarism and ignorance which are habitually
associated with their cultures were product of unfair defamations.

As a result, he started an enumeration of pre-Columbian educative examples quoting

first the work of Justus Lipsius' Lovanium, sive, Opidi et Academiae ejus descriptio libri tres
(Antwerp, Jan I Moretus, 1605). In the third book, chapter six of this book Lipsius wrote
about 'Vetus Academiarum specimen in Oriente item Aethiopia, Africa, Novo orbe'.
Concerning the 'Novo orbe', Lispius explained that he had read that the ancient Mexicans of
the nobility used to send their children as soon as they were five years old to the temples to
receive education.1288 Eguiara literally quoted Lipsius' text, who in turn, quoted chapter
CCVIII 'de los niños' of Francisco López de Gómara's well-known account the Historia
general de las Indias e Historia de la conquista de México (probably one of the editions
issued in Antwerp in 1554).1289 Thus, Eguiara quoted Lipsius, who quoted López de Gómara.
However, Eguiara did not mention Gómara's as the original source (even if Lipsius mentioned
it in the text), instead Eguiara preferred to directly quote the Flemish scholar because surely
Eguiara considered him not only an illustrious but also a respected foreigner, whose positive
remarks about the old Mexicans' education were considered to have a positive effect on the
reader given Lipsius' authority.

1286
EGUIARA Y EGUREN Prólogos a la Biblioteca Mexicana, 25-30.
1287
Understanding the term of patria as both a city or a country that possessed a characteristic historical
identity and a social reality that clearly distinguished it from Castile or Aragon.
1288
EGUIARA Y EGUREN Prólogos a la Biblioteca Mexicana, 84-85, and LIPSIUS, Lovanium, sive, Opidi et
Academiae ejus descriptio libri tres, Antwerp, Jan I Moretus, 1605, 101-104.
1289
Francisco López de Gómara's Primera y Segunda parte de la Historia General de las Indias con todo el
descubrimiento y cosas notables que han acaecido desde que se ganaron hasta el año de 1552, first appeared in
Zaragoza in 1552 (in the shop of Agustín Millán). The work was reprinted by Steelsius and by Martinus Nutius in
1554.

308
Furthermore, the Spanish bibliophile Lorenzo Ramírez de Prado, who printed several of his
books in Antwerp, paid tribute to Lipisus' authority on this subject, literally quoting him in
one of his notes made in the Opera quae extant Chronicon et aduersaria (Antwerp, Balthazar
I Moretus, 1640) written by the historian and bishop of Cremona, Liutprand.1290 Eguiara drew
attention to the fact that Lorenzo de Prado followed Lipsius' authority (and not Gómara's),
even if De Prado clearly expressed in his note that 'ex Gomara Lipsius transcripsit'. The effect
was presumably to stress Lipsius authority on this topic. In addition, De Prado was considered
a savant in seventeenth-century Spain and his library was one of the richest and more famous
in Madrid.1291 Thus, Eguiara was proving that illustrious and erudite foreigners held a positive
view of the education of pre-Hispanic Mexicans.1292

In the same fifth prologue Eguiara wanted to prove as well that foreign authors also
based their opinions on authors from New Spain. For example, the famous Spanish Jesuit (of
German descent) Juan Eusebio Nieremberg who based himself upon doctor Francisco
Hernández' manuscripts on his Historiae naturae maxime peregrinae (Antwerp, Balthazar I
Moretus, 1635).1293 Eguiara quoted Nieremberg's third book that describes the 'templo mayor'
of the Aztec capital also mentioning the Calmecac as one of the Aztec's educative
institutions.1294 Doctor Francisco Hernández was born in Spain, but he spent almost seven
years (from 1570 to 1577) in New Spain as protomédico general of the Indies appointed by
Philip II making research on botany and pharmacopoeia.1295 Thus, Hernández carried out the
great majority of his extensive research in Mexico, where he had access to the manuscripts of
scholars like Ixtlixóchitl, Chimalpain, as well as Sahagún and Motolinía. This intellectual
activity done in Mexico may be the reason why Eguiara considered doctor Hernández as a
local author.

1290
EGUIARA Y EGUREN Prólogos a la Biblioteca Mexicana, 85. See also Liutprand of Cremona Opera quae
extant Chronicon et adversaria, annotated by Lorenzo de Prado, Antwerp, Balthazar I Moretus, 1640, 424-425.
1291
SÁNCHEZ MARIANA, Bibliófilos Españoles, 50.
1292
Eguiara kept quoting illustrious European authors such as Johann Heinrich Alsted, Gerardus Mercator,
Theodor Zwinger, to support his idea about the educative institutions developed in New Spain before and after
the Spanish conquest, see: EGUIARA Y EGUREN Prólogos a la Biblioteca Mexicana, 85-86.
1293
An insightful analysis of Nieremberg's Historiae is provided by DE ASÚA and ROGER, A new world of
animals. Early modern Europeans on the creatures of Iberian America, 162-169.
1294
EGUIARA Y EGUREN Prólogos a la Biblioteca Mexicana, 86-87.
1295
Actually doctor Francisco Hernández was born nearby Toledo ca. 1517-1518. He studied at the University of
Alcalá. He was professor at the University of Seville, a city where medical celebrities such as Nicolás Monardes
were living, subsequently he was appointed as the personal physician to Philip II in 1567 and 'protomédico
general' of the Indies in 1570. The same year he was sent to America in order to make research on natural
history. He stayed in New Spain until 1577 when he came back to Spain. One year before in 1576 he sent to
Spain 16 volumes resulting from his botanical extensive research made in New Spain, see: HERNÁNDEZ,
Antigüedades de la Nueva España, 13-18.

309
Although some of Hernández' volumes were published posthumously in Rome in 1628 and
1648,1296 Father Nieremberg had access to the original manuscripts that were kept at the
library of the imperial college of the Jesuits in Madrid. In fact, Nieremberg's Historiae
Maxime Peregrinae published in Antwerp in 1635, included Hernández' original
illustrations.1297 As a result, Hernández' research was known via Nieremberg's edition.
Eguiara stressed that thanks to Hernández' research Nieremberg was able to include precious
information in his work.

BOOKS AMONG THE NUNS

In the feminine convents the needed books were acquired via the intermediation of the rector
or the chaplains responsible for the spiritual formation of the novices, as well as via private
gifts provided by family members or patrons of the convent.1298 The nunneries or convents for
nuns belonging to different Orders (Concepcionists, Clarisses, the nuns of Saint Jerome,
Carmelites, Capuchins, Augustine and Dominican nuns) were particularly abundant in cities
like Mexico and Puebla, although other monasteries were founded in Guadalajara, Valladolid,
Antequera (Oaxaca), Mérida, San Cristóbal (de Las Casas) and Querétaro.1299 As in Europe,
in New Spain the sisters were cloistered nuns. They theoretically had to lived in the cells of
the cloisters. However, depending on the social status, and with the support of a wealthy
family or wealthy sponsors, a nun was able to pay for a private cell for herself, a kind of small
house adjacent to the convent that was just adapted (the exterior windows and doors were
closed, and on the other hand, it was connected with the convent). Accordingly, the female
convents used to incorporate neighboring houses to their architectural ensembles.1300 Thus,
the female convents in New Spain occasionally appeared to be a city within a city, such as the
Flemish Béguinages.

1296
Rerum medicarum Novae Hispaniae thesaurus (Rome, 1628), Nova plantarum, animalium et mineralium
mexicanorum historia a Francisco Hernández in indis primum compilata (Rome, 1648).
1297
HERNÁNDEZ, Antigüedades de la Nueva España, 20.
1298
On feminine conventual cultura see: LORETO LÓPEZ, Los conventos femeninos y el mundo urbano de la
Puebla de los Ángeles en el siglo XVIII, Mexico, 2000.
1299
Just in Mexico City 16 Convents had been erected during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: La
Concepción (1540), Our Lady of Balvanera (1540), Regina Coeli (1573), Santa Clara (1568), Jesús María (1580),
San Jerónimo (1585), La Encarnación (1593), Santa Catalina de Siena (1593), San Juan de la Penitencia (1598),
San Lorenzo (1598), Santa Inés (1600), Santa Isabel (1601), San Jose de Gracia (1610), Santa Teresa la Antigua
(1615), San Bernardo (1636), San Felipe de Jesús (1666). Puebla hosted the convents of (Santa Catalina de Siena
(1568), La Concepción (1593), San Jerónimo (1600), San José or Santa Teresa (1604), Santa Clara (1607),
Santísima Trinidad (1619), Santa Inés de Montepulciano (1626), Santa Mónica (1688), Santa Teresa (1695). See:
SALAZAR SIMARRO, 'Los monasterios femeninos', 249.
1300
The works of Josefina Muriel on female monastic architecture, are particularly illustrating on this topic,
MURIEL DE LA TORRE, 'La habitación plurifamiliar en la ciudad de México', 267-282.

310
Some other wealthy nuns boasted little houses (functioning as private cells) within the
spacious patios and gardens of the monasteries. Those private cells comprised a dormitory or
dormitories, a pantry, a living room, and a kitchen. Frequently the privileged nuns were not
the only inhabitants of these private cells, family (mothers, sisters, cousins aunts) as well as
young female pupils (orphaned girls), servants and even female slaves also lived there. These
cell-houses were a space used for personal studies or social activities with the other members
of the community.1301

Although the nunneries lacked a specific space reserved for a library, books were
available in different spaces where they were used, for instance, the novitiate, the choir, the
refectory or the chapels. At times, the private cells also housed small book collections. In
paintings depicting nuns, books are placed on a desk, or tables, or somewhere in the
dormitories. In this regard, Mariana de San Jerónimo of the Convent of Jesús María in Mexico
City, had 14 books, particularly devotional titles, such as the popular Flos sanctorum.1302

Exceptionally, a splendid library was to be found in a nunnery, like the one amassed by
an extraordinary nun of the second half of the seventeenth-century, Juana Inés de la Cruz of
the convent of San Jerónimo in Mexico City, whose life and literature works have been
considered among the more outstanding cultural highlights in all of Mexican history. 1303 It is
believed that her cell had to be of considerable size since Sor Juana had a library of about
4000 volumes of theology, astrology, mathematics, as well as scientific and musical
instruments, and the numerous presents offered by her friends. However, no first-hand
inventory of her library has been preserved, as a consequence, the exact content of her
outstanding library remains unknown.1304 Finally, under the pressure of the clergy, and
possibly with some regrets, the illustrious nun sold her library in 1694 (she died in 1695) to
help poor people with the profits made out of the sale. This was supposed to be a proof of
humility against her alleged literary arrogance strongly criticized in a society traditionally
dominated by men.

1301
MURIEL DE LA TORRE, 'La habitación plurifamiliar en la ciudad de México', 278.
1302
A book on saint Joseph, another one on Our Lady, on saint John Cassian, one of father Gregorio López, one
of saint Peter of Alcántara, one more on mental prayer, as well as Palafox's Pastor de Nochebuena, the popular
Contemptus mundi and a book of prayers, see: SALAZAR SIMARRO, 'Los monasterios femeninos', 238-240.
1303
Sor Juana's work had been extensively studied especially from a literature perspective. In this regards see
the classic literary, biographical and historical essay on her: PAZ, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz o las trampas de la
fe, Mexico, 1982, or the English version: Sor Juana, or the traps of faith, Harvard, 1988.
1304
OSORIO ROMERO, Historia de las bibliotecas novohispanas, 59; see also: FERNÁNDEZ, 'De puertas adentro:
la casa habitación', 75-76.

311
Regrettably, much of the bibliographic patrimony of the nuns was lost during the nineteenth
century, particularly with the proclamation of the ‘reform laws’ (1859-1860), when all church
properties were nationalized. As a consequence, few libraries have remained up to the present
day, such as the collection of the Discalced Carmelites of San José and Santa Teresa of Puebla
that has recently been catalogued.1305 This particular nuns library boasts two of the Brussels'
vernacular editions of the aforementioned Carmelite fray Jerónimo Gracián de la Madre de
Dios,1306 such kind of editions were in accordance with the spiritual and devotional formation
of nuns.

4.5.2 Expurgation of books in ecclesiastic collections

A large proportion of theological books that belonged to ecclesiastic libraries underwent

expurgation. This does not imply that books that were being used within secular contexts were
not subject to this procedure. However, the surviving copies, which to a great extent were
located in ecclesiastical collections shed light on the way ecclesiastical collections were
subject to periodical reviews performed by the inquisitorial correctors. The expurgation began
to be applied in Mexico after the issuing of the Index of the inquisitor Quiroga of 1583 and its
complementary expurgation Index of 1584. However, it appears that the great majority of
books collected was expurgated after the issuing of the Index of general inquisitor Sandoval
in 1612. Since then books were regularly corrected in conformity with the Indexes of 1632,
1640 and 1707. In fact, in New Spain the expurgation was done some years after the issuing
of the Spanish inquisitorial indexes.

For instance, sixteenth-century Portuguese Dominican Hieronymus ab Oleaster's

Commentaria in Mósi Pentateuchum (Antwerp, widow & heirs of Joannes Steelsius, 1568), a
copy that belonged to the Franciscan convent of Milpa Alta near Mexico City contains several
ex libris, one of them proving that it was expurgated in 1588 by a certain fray Pedro Orozco in
conformity with the Index of 1583. 'Correctus est hic liber jussu Reverendorum Superiorum
S. Officii inquisitionis iuxta edictum expurgtorii maioris, Mexici 29 mensis septembris 1588
fr. Petrus Orozco'.1307 Normally, the corrector left his name on the book, and the year when
the expurgation was done. It is particularly interesting that Oleastro was certainly not a
prohibited author, on the contrary he had been inquisitor in sixteenth-century Portugal.

1305
See the online catalogue of ADABI (Apoyo al desarrollo de archivos y bibliotecas de México):
www.adabi.org.mx.
1306
For a detailed view of feminine conventual libraries see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 179-180.
1307
See: YHMOFF CABRERA, Catálogo de los impresos europeos del siglo XVI, II, 449.

312
One of the most remarkable cases is that of Alfonso de Castro, who was one of the pillars of
Spanish censorship during the reign of Philip II. Castro's Aduersus omnes haereses libri XIIII
(Antwerp, Joannes Steelsius, 1556), was extensively expurgated during the seventeenth and
eighteenth century. One copy, for instance, was expurgated in Guadalajara in conformity with
the Index of 1612, it was again corrected following the Index of 1632 and once more in
conformity with the Index of 1707.1308 Another expurgated copy of Castro's Aduersus omnes
haereses belonged to the Jesuits of Ciudad Real (current San Cristóbal de Las Casas,
Chiapas), was expurgated in 1634.1309 Furthermore, the copy of Castro's Adversus omnes
haereses of 1565 (Antwerp, Widow and Heirs of Joannes Steelsius), which belonged to the
Franciscan convent of Puebla was expurgated according to the index of 1632 by fray
Francisco Rodríguez, and again corrected in conformity with the Index of 1707 by fray Joseph
de Alcaraz.1310 The copy belonging to the Franciscans of Mexico was corrected in 1716 in
conformity with the index of 1707 by fray Antonio Benegas, the same year the copy
belonging to the Dieguinos' novitiate of San José of Tacubaya was expurgated by fray Joseph
de Hoyos (this last copy had been also expurgated according to the index of 1632 by Simón
del Toro).1311 Finally, the copy belonging to the Franciscan convent of Xochimilco was
expurgated in 1717 in conformity with the Index of 1707 by fray Francisco Navarro.1312

Occasionally, the ex libris referred to an author as 'autoris damnati' (a condemned

author) that was the case of Erasmus' De dvplici copia verborvm et rervm, commentarii dvo,
Additae svnt adnotatinevlae, epitome de verborvm copia (Bruges, Hubert Goltzius, 1565).
Among others, the copy belonged to the Carmelite college of San Angel, and the Carmelite
convent of Puebla. The copy had been twice expurgated by fray Alonso de Jesús according to
the indexes of 1612 and 1632.1313 Other authors were considered as 'author damnatus opus
permission', which means that the book might be read with the permission of a superior
authority of the convent, such as the prior. That was the case of Joannes Mahusius' Epitome
Annotationum in Novum Testamentum (Antwerp, Joannes Steelsius, 1538).1314 This particular
book belonged to the Oratorians of Mexico City and was expurgated in 1716. Finally, there
1308
BPJ: 273 CAS.
1309
BUCACH: colección de libros eclesiásticos: 600.
1310
BJML: 6248-31020204. The Biblioteca Lafragua has another item that belonged to the Carmelites of Puebla
that underwent expurgation in 1717 by a certain fray Manuel de la […] according to the Index of 1707. See:
BJML: 7177-311013.
1311
See: YHMOFF CABRERA, Catálogo de los impresos europeos del siglo XVI, I, 349-350.
1312
See: YHMOFF CABRERA, Catálogo de los impresos europeos del siglo XVI, I, 349-350.
1313
See: YHMOFF CABRERA, Catálogo de los impresos europeos del siglo XVI, I, 577.
1314
See: YHMOFF CABRERA, Catálogo de los impresos europeos del siglo XVI, I, 578-579. The work had been
included in the Index of Rome of 1559.

313
are also surviving copies that had already been expurgated in Spain. For instance, Claude de
Sainctes' Liturgiæ sive Missæ Sanctorum (Antwerp, Joannes Steelsius, 1562) which belonged
to the library of the Oratorians of Puebla had been expurgated in 1586 in Toledo by don
Antonio Zapata.1315

4.6 Book consumption within secular contexts

Unlike the copious editions published in the Southern Netherlands collected in clerical
libraries, other editions that were being read within secular contexts are hardly to be found in
modern libraries. Hence, archive records are particularly useful to locate them in private
secular contexts.

Although, detailed inventories of private libraries are less common than for clerical
libraries, there are some examples of such inventories. For instance, in 1622, the new viceroy
of New Spain, the marquis of Gelves, wanted to implement radical reforms in the
administration of the viceroyalty. The impetus for such reforms came directly from Madrid,
where the accession to the throne of the new king Philip IV brought new expectations that
reform would offset the crisis inherited from the young monarch's father Philip III. In 1622
the marquis of Gelves ordered that all royal officials who had held a post in the public
administration of New Spain since 1592 had to delivered inventories of their properties.1316
The viceroyal order was announced throughout the cities and villages of the viceroyalty
between June and December 1622.1317 The inventories had to be done according to a given
model, which not only required information on real estate, silver, jewelry, and income from
salaries but also the total value of furniture, tapestries, and libraries.

Hundreds of inventories were prepared by a wide range of public officials including,

bailiffs (alguaciles), district governors (alcaldes mayores), official scribes, governors,
magistrates, and lawyers generally related to the high courts (Audiencias), as well as the
prestigious and respected judges of the Audiencias, the so-called oidores, were dispatched to

1315
BJML: 4597-31040501.
1316
Recently Christian Büschges has made a revision of marquis de Gelves' government. See: BÜSCHGES,
'¿Absolutismo virreinal? La administración del marqués de Gelves revisada', 31-44. Regarding the brief
government of the marquis of Gelves, and the problems with archbishop of Mexico, Juan Pérez de la Serna and
the Audiencia of Mexico, see, the classic work of Jonathan Israel: ISRAEL, Razas, clases sociales y vida política
en el México colonial, 1610-1670, Mexico, 1980.
1317
DE LA PEÑA, Oligarquía y propiedad en Nueva España, 20-21.

314
Mexico City and from there to the Council of the Indies in Seville. Consequently, the
inventories are still kept at the Archivo de Indias.1318

In Seville a sample of 712 inventories was reviewed, from which only 39 (5.5%)
declared the possession of a few books or of magnificent libraries. This is a surprisingly low
percentage, especially given that the inventories pertained to the property of royal officials.
However, this illustrates how restricted the formation of private libraries actually was even
among social groups that had access to written culture. Yet, these kinds of inventories, also
illustrate the rich libraries amassed by lawyers, or oidores.

In fact, the eighteenth-century Mexican erudite, Juan José de Eguiara y Egurén noted
that among the bibliophiles in New Spain, not a few of them had achieved remarkable private
libraries, either for the amount of volumes, either for their value, among them, oidores,
canons, university professors, lawyers, physicians and other personalities in particular the
members of the religious orders.1319 However, the formation of private libraries was certainly
restricted since it required economic means (books were certainly not cheap) and an
appropriate space to place it. Therefore, a real, decent library remained a luxury only
affordable for a minority, and usually the members of the clergy or the oidores of the
Audiencias had the most important private libraries. The large majority of professionals, such
as lawyers, scribes, physicians (with a couple of exceptions) had isolated books used in their
professions or to satisfy their intellectual curiosity as well as their devotional and
entertainment needs.1320

The inventories of 1622, offer the perfect opportunity to prove that the richness of
libraries increased with the importance of the office held by public officials. Tables 17-21
show a detailed view of the 39 inventories, in which books were declared in different
modalities.

1318
AGI, Audiencia de México, vol. 259-261.
1319
'Existen muchísimas e importantes, ya por el número de sus volúmenes ya por el valor de éstos, que
pertenecen a los oidores reales, a los canónigos, profesores universitarios, doctores, abogados, médicos y otras
personas, en particular a los individuos de las órdenes religiosas', see: EGUIARA Y EGURÉN, Biblioteca
Mexicana, 100, see also: TRABULSE, 'Los libros científicos en la Nueva España', 7-37.
1320
GONZÁLEZ SÁNCHEZ, 'Cultura escrita y emigación al Nuevo Mundo', 30.

315
Table 17 Functionaries who declared the number of books and /or their value in 1622

Name Function (s) Number of books Total value of the

library
1.-Cristóbal de Bailiff, Villa Alta 2 Devotional books 4 pesos
Morales
2.-Juan de Scribe, Tlalpujahua 3 devotional and Not specified
Maseguer juridical books
3.-Alonso de Paz Judge of the gild of 3 Nuevo Rezado 3 pesos
de las Barillas the furriers books
4.-Manuel Cepeda Bailiff of Antequera 12 copies Not specified
Alavés
5.-Bachelor GarcíaScribe of Villa Alta, 16 volumes (13 102 pesos
Fernández Oaxaca titles) of juridical,
histórical, literary
and devotional
books
6.-Francisco Magistrate of 20 juridical and Not specified
Olivera Ávila Atlatlauca, and historical books
Tepeapulco
7.-Pedro Scribe of México 45 copies Not specified
Salmerón City
8.-Juan Quintero District governor, 70 books of history 100 pesos
Nexapa and entertainment
9.-Juan de Magistrate of 80 juridical, Value calculated
Saavedra Guzmán Tequisistlán, and historical and together with that
Cholula devotional books of textiles and
paintings for a
total of 250 pesos
10.-Lorenzo de Counsellor of the 112 copies 112 pesos [sic]
Herrera Audiencia of
Mexico
11.-Bachelor Bailiff of Tlaxcala 130 copies 500 pesos
Francisco García
12.-Doctor Galdós Oidor of the ca. 157 copies Not specified
de Valencia Audiencia of
Mexico
13.-Doctor Luis Lawyer of the 400 copies 600 pesos
Cifuentes Audiencia, and
professor at the
University
14.-Francisco Lawyer of the 400 copies of 1000 pesos
López de Solís Audiencia juridical works
15.-Juan Paz de Oidor of the ca. 400/500 copies 500 pesos
Vallecillo Audiencia of of juridical
México historical, literary,
humanist and
devotional books

316
Table 18 Functionaries thar declared the total value of their libraries without specifying the number
of copies

Name Function(s) Total value of the library

1.-Miguel Contreras Scribe of México City Some vernacular books
valued at 50 pesos
2.-Alonso de Santiago y Scribe of Taxco Books of his office and
Serna other subjects valued at
100 pesos
3.-Juan de Medina Laywer of the Books valued at 150
Vargas Chancellery pesos
4.-Juan Bautista Balli Lawyer of the Audiencia A library estimated at
and of the Chancellery of 300 pesos
Guadalajara
5.-Francisco López District governor and Books valued at 300
Muñiz magistrate of Xichú pesos
6.-Lic. Jerónimo Sedano Lawyer of the Audiencia A library estimated at
y Mendoza of Mexico 350 pesos
7.-Cristóbal del Hierro Lawyer of the Audiencia A library estimated at
Guerrero and profesor of the Univ. 400 pesos
8.-Doctor Fernando Magistrate and district A 'medium' library
Villegas y Peralta governor of different estimated at 400 pesos
towns
9.-Doctor Lorenzo Justice of the Audiencia A library estimated at
Terrones (he has been lawyer in 500 pesos
the Chancellery of
Granada, Spain, and
oidor in the Audiencia of
Nueva Granada)
10.-Antonio Roque del Lawyer of the Audiencia, A library estimated at
Estero Rector of the University 600 pesos
11.-Doctor Juan Cano Lawyer of the Audiencia, A juridical library
and professor at the estimated at 900 pesos
University
12.-Doctor Hernán Lawyer and counsellor of A mostly juridical library
Carrillo Altamirano the Audiencia estimated at 1324 pesos
13.-Bachelor Juan del Lawyer of the Audiencia A juridical library
Castillo estimated at 1500 pesos
14.-Doctor León Rojas y Lawyer of the Audiencia A juridical library, which
Ayora also included other
subjects, valued at 2000
pesos

Table 19 Libraries estimated not by copies but as cases of books

Name Function(s) Number and value of

the cases containing
books
1.-Lic. Benito de Mena Counsellor of the 2 cases of books

317
 Audiencia estimated at 100 pesos
2.-Francisco de Figueroa Counsellor of the 5 cases of books
Venegas criminal court of the estimated at 250 pesos
Audiencia

Table 20 Libraries estimated together with furniture, textiles, artistic objects (paintings, tapestries)
Name Function(s) Total value of the library,
furniture, textiles,
and/or artistic objects
1.-Pedro de Salceda y District governor of Books and wall
Ahumada Valladolid coverings, 200 pesos
2.-Doctor Juan de Lawyer of the Juridical books, portraits
Arteaga Audiencia and other paintings, 300
pesos
3.-Antonio de Carvajal District governor of Books, paintings on
y Tapia Tepeaca copper, paintings,
altarpieces, 500 pesos
4.-Luis Carrillo y District governor of Books, paintings, and
Alarcón Tehuacán writing desks, 1000
pesos
5.-Diego de Treasurer of Mexico Books, paintings and
Ochandiano writing desks, 1200
pesos

Table 21 General value of the library including the bookshelves

Name Function(s) Total value of the library
and the shelves
1.-Esteban de Contreras Lawyer of the Audiencia A juridical, philosophical,
y Córdoba and humanistic library,
together with its cedar
shelves, 1000 pesos
2.-Doctor Pedro de la Counsellor of the A juridical, humanist,
Vega Audiencia and historical library of
500 volumes, together
with its mahogany
shelves and a Biblioteca
jurídica, humanística,
1500 pesos
3.-Doctor don Juan de Justice of the Audiencia A library of 920 volumes
Canseco on different subjects and
its shelves, 900 pesos

The problem with such inventories, as well as with other similar archive records like
testaments are the general and short descriptions normally used when referring to books. Due
to this lack of detailed information, the accurate identification of books and their place of
publication remains a difficult task. Therefore, for this kind of broad, long-term research the

318
ecclesiastical and the institutional libraries offer better possibilities to accurately identify the
copies stored in there. Moreover, several surviving copies belonging to ecclesiastical libraries
are still available in current collections.

The same trend was observed in a sample of 32 testaments of Spaniards living in New
Spain, who died there between 1566 and 1677.1321 All these testaments mentioned the
possession of books.1322 However, the majority of these documents mentioned the books in
general terms. The testament of a certain Juan Román, a Sicilian physician who died in the
village of Tulancingo in 1614, is a good example for this. Among his goods that were sold at
a public auction in Tulancingo were eight copies of medicine old books described as 'viejos y
rotos' but without any specification regarding their titles.1323

Other testaments were certainly more generous with the provided information regarding
books, in 1630, Domingo de Páez, a merchant from Santiago de Compostela, died in Oaxaca,
leaving among his personal belongings a books on the 'Conquista de México', which was
possibly one of the editions of Francisco López de Gómara's historical account. Some editions
of this work had been published in Antwerp by Steelsius and Nutius as already mentioned in
chapter I. Regrettably, no further details are given to confirm where this copy was published.
Furthermore, two other copies, referred to as books of 'Our Lady of Remedies', were also
listed. However, the vague reference to their title does not allow to make an accurate
identification.1324 Only in one of these testaments can books issued in the Southern
Netherlands be clearly identified. This is the case for the testament of the cleric Rodrigo de
Cervellón (already mentioned in the introduction) who died in Mérida, Yucatán in 1655.
Among his personal library, which included 13 copies, 3 Nuevo Rezado books published
between 1648 and 1652 by the Officina Plantiniana, were listed.1325

1321
AGI, Contratación, Autos sobre bienes de difuntos, vol. 272, num. 1, file 1; vol 289, num. 8; vol.
290b, num. 15; vol. 298, num. 7; vol. 309, num. 1, file 8; vol. 312b, num. 14; vol. 375a, num. 4; vol.
377, num. 2; vol. 401, num. 2; vol. 405, num. 13; vol. 407b, num. 15; vol. 427, num. 2, file 2; vol. 430,
num. 1; vol. 446, num. 2, ramo 2; vol. 453b, num. 4; vol. 454a, num. 1, file 6; vol. 455, num. 1, file 1;
vol. 462a, num.3; vol. 471, num. 6, file 11, file 12.; vol. 472, num. 4; vol. 498, num 3, file 3; vol. 498a,
num. 2, file 2; vol. 498b, num. 5, file 1; vol. 503b, num. 13; vol. 510, num. 2; vol. 516, num. 1; vol.
522, num. 9; vol. 523, num. 4; vol. 538, num. 8; vol. 562, num. 14; vol. 937, num. 2; vol. 938a.
1322
These testaments had been already studied by Carlos Alberto González Sánchez, see: GONZÁLEZ
SÁNCHEZ, Dineros de ventura: La varia fortuna de la emigración a Indias (siglos XVI-XVII), Seville,
1995.
1323
AGI, Contratación, Autos sobre bienes de difuntos, vol. 522, num. 9, fol. 26v.
1324
AGI, Contratación, Autos sobre bienes de difuntos, vol. 538, num. 8, fol.75v, 78r.
1325
AGI, Contratación, Autos sobre bienes de difuntos, vol. 446, num. 2, ramo 2, fol. 14v-15v.

319
Inquisitorial sources are also an alternative source of information when looking for specific
editions. Thus, a few cases involving book seizure mentioned editions issued in the Southern
Netherlands, which are no longer preserved in current Mexican libraries. For instance, in
November 1585, the Dominican fray Alonso de Noreña official of the Inquisition in the
bishopric of Chiapa, seized some books in Ciudad Real (San Cristóbal de Las Casas), the
inspection was ordered by the Mexican Tribunal in order to put into effect the Index of
Quiroga of 1583. Among the books seized was a Cancionero general que contiene muchas
obras de diuersos Autores antiguos, con algunas cosas nueuas de modernos, de nueuo
corregido y impresso (Antwerp, Philippus Nutius, 1573) from a certain Gonzalo de Mundaca,
who declared that a certain Diego de Uriona son of Martin de Uriona from Tabasco had lent it
to him.1326

Fray Alonso de Noreña considered that the Cancionero contained many errors, first of
all it was anonymous. Second, a 'copla' devoted to Mary Magdalene as a guide to lovers
seemed not to be in accordance with orthodoxy.1327 Third, the works of Garci [Sic] Sánchez
de Badajoz concerning the Lessons of Job were also prohibited.1328 The case reflects one
interesting fact, this is the only edition of a Cancionero printed in Antwerp by the Nutius
family that has been collected in New Spain, confirming that although in small quantities
(compared to all the Latin editions), at least one edition of the Antwerp's sixteenth-century
Cancioneros circulated in New Spain even in remote regions like Chiapas.1329

Noreña notified the Mexican Inquisition of his finding along with his personal doubts
about certain editions, and one month later in December 1585 the Mexican tribunal replied
confirming that the abovementioned Cancionero of Antwerp had indeed to be seized.
Moreover, the tribunal also warned about a vernacular translation of a book originally
published in Latin in Antwerp, the Precationum piarum enchiridion by the humanist and

1326
FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y Libreros, 331-332.
1327
'La Magdalena. Si la Magdalena es guía de los bien enamorados guía llevan mis cuidados para ser bien
empleados de vuestra parte y la mía. Vela muestra ya es la muestra vuestro gran merecimiento de la mía mi
tormento pues nació por causa vuestra'. The 'copla' has been copied by the Martinus Nutius' edition of 1557,
which was reprinted by Philippus Nutius in 1573, see: Cancionero general que contiene muchas obras de
diuersos Autores antiguos, con algunas cosas nueuas de modernos, de nueuo corregido y impresso, Antwerp,
Martinus Nutius, 1557, 279.
1328
Cancionero general que contiene muchas obras de diuersos Autores antiguos, con algunas cosas nueuas de
modernos, de nueuo corregido y impresso, Antwerp, Martinus Nutius, 1557, 161.
1329
The Cancionero de romances was published several times by Martinus I Nutius (1547-1548, 1550, 1554,
1555, and reissued by Philippe Nutius in 1568 and 1573), the work brought together romances that had been
individually published, saving from oblivion a large number of ballads and romances that were orally
transmitted, see: MOLL, 'Plantino y la industria editorial española', 17.

320
priest Simon Verepaeus (published in Antwerp, 1564).1330 The Inquisition remarked that this
book had been included in the Index of 1583 and along with two Spanish translations (issued
in Seville and Alcala in 1580 and 1584 respectively),1331 were not accurate, the translator was
Jerónimo de Campos, who was a preacher in the army of Flanders. The inquisitor's remarked
that if Verepaeus' Latin edition was already prohibited, a vernacular translation must certainly
be confiscated. Accordingly, Noreña was requested to seized any of the copies that may arrive
in Chiapas.1332

Finally, in May 1586, the Mexican Tribunal gave further instructions to fray Alonso de
Noreña. First the prohibited books had to be secretly burned, remarking that these books (the
Cancionero), were not prohibited because the authors were heretical but because they
contained matters against the good policy of the Christian Republic. 1333 This was a typical
argument of the Counter-Reformation spirit that prevailed among the Mexican Inquisitorial
authorities during the last quarter of the sixteenth century. Regarding the owners of these
books, the Mexican Tribunal showed some flexibility and did not asked fray Alonso Noreña
to apply any kind of punishment, as prior to the Index of 1583 no Indexes were available
since the publication of the Index of 1559, which certainly had little impact in New Spain.
Regrettably, no further information is provided about the book owner, Gonzalo de Mundaca.

It appears that the inquisitors' concern was well-founded for Verepaeus' vernacular
translations were already circulating in different geographical regions of New Spain. In
August, 1586 a book inspection ordered by the Tribunal of Mexico City was carried out in the
remote bishopric of Yucatan, the visita was well-performed among the owners of books,
mostly members of the secular and the regular clergy (including an array of Franciscan
convents in the region: Mérida, Calkiní, Izamal, Homún, Maní, Motul, Oxcutzcab, Tekax,
Tizimín), and few laypeople resident in Mérida, Campeche and Valladolid.1334 Among the
prohibited books collected was a 'Manual de oraciones, hecho por Simón de Verrepeo'
property of fray Juan Bautista Salvago of the Franciscan convent of Mérida.1335 Furthermore,

1330
It was first published in Antwerp in 1565 by Jan I Bellerus.
1331
These editions has not been identified. Certainly the first Spanish edition appeared in Antwerp under the
title: Manual de Oraciones de muchos Padres Catholicos de la Yglesia, translated by Jerónimo de Campos
(Petrus I Bellerus, 1577).
1332
FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y Libreros, 331.
1333
FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y Libreros, 335.
1334
Several bibles printed in Lyon were collected as well as several devotional vernacular editions particularly
the best-seller Libro de la meditación y oración by fray Luis de Granada, see: FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y
Libreros', 320-326.
1335
Although the place of publication is not mentioned, see: FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y Libreros, 321.

321
on the other side of the viceroyalty in Guadalajara the 'chantre' (cantor) of the cathedral and
commissary of the Inquisition, Francisco M. Segura notified in March 1586 about the
confiscation of 63 books in the city, among them a 'Manual de Oraciones por Verrepeo,
traducido por Gerónimo de Campos, Amberes. 1574'.1336 However, the owner was not
specified.1337 This rare vernacular editions have not been found in any Mexican library,
possibly because they were often destroyed by the officials of the inquisition.

Inquisitorial documentation also proves that certain vernacular editions issued during
the period of activity of Joannes Steelsius and Martinus Nutius (first half of the sixteenth
century), which are also no longer preserved in current Mexican collections, reached New
Spain and where circulating in different contexts during the early seventeenth century. An
extensive list of prohibited books that had to be seized throughout the bishopric of Mexico
made in 1573 registered two copies of Hernando de Jarava's biblical translations, the Siete
psalmos penitenciales, Los quinze psalmos del canticungrado, Las lamentaciones de Jeremías
(Martinus Nutius, 1543, reprinted in 1546 and 1556). The copies belonged to a certain don
García de Albornoz and Juan Zapata possibly residents of Mexico City.1338 As already
mentioned these translations were regarded as influenced by Erasmus' ideas and as a result
had been included in the Indexes of 1556 and 1583.

Particularly remarkable was a book inspection carried out in the village of Acatlán
(located between Puebla and the Mixteca region) in 1604. The inventory of all the books
collected (470 in total) was done by a certain bachelor Esteban de Castroverde at the end of
1603. The list was reviewed and corrected by a certain Gabriel de Arrieta in Puebla in
January, 1604. The content of the two lists was compared by a corrector of the Inquisition, the
bachelor Pedro de Ayala at the request of the bishop of Tlaxcala, don Diego Romano. In the
end Ayala's list (462 items in total) was the final result of the comparison between the two
former memorias of all the books collected in Acatlán.1339 Ayala's final list was divided by
discipline (juridical, theological, history, grammar, and editions issued in 'mexicano' or
Nahuatl (like vocabularies or doctrines). However, the problem is that the books were listed in
general without adding further information about the identity of the owners.

1336
This Antwerp edition has not been identified.
1337
FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y Libreros, 334.
1338
FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y Libreros, 477.
1339
The document was published in O'GORMAN, 'Bibliotecas y librerías coloniales', Document I.

322
Among the editions identified as published in the Southern Netherlands there were few
unexpected treasures; such as Spanish editions printed in Antwerp by both Nutius and
Steelsius. These included Spanish translations of Erasmus, historical accounts, like Francisco
Alvares' Historia de las cosas de Etiopía (Antwerp, Joannes Steelsius, 1557), Juan Calvete de
la Estrella's Viaje del muy alto y muy poderoso príncipe Don Phelippe, (Antwerp, Martinus
Nutius, 1552), Esteban Garibay y Zamalloa's Los XL libros del Compendio historial de las
chronicas y uniuersal historia de todos los reynos de España (Antwerp, Christophe Plantin,
1571), Fernão Lopes de Castanheda's Historia del Descubrimiento y conquista de la India,
por los portugueses (Antwerp, Martinus Nutius, 1553 or 1554).

Also included were geographical works, such as Abraham Ortelius' Theatro de la Tierra
Universal (Antwerp, Christophe Plantin, 1588), Spanish translations of classical authors like
Flavius Josephus, and even one of the original works of Juan de Jarava's Problemas, o
preguntas problematicas, ansi de Amor, como naturales, y a çerca del vino (Leuven, Rutger
Rescius, 1544). Concerning works of grammar, authors like the Flemish humanist Johannes
Despauterio and Justus Lipsius were available to Acatlán's readers. Finally, theologians from
Leuven, such as Joannes Driedo or Cornelius Jansenius were also listed.1340

Acatlán's list reflects that at least one of the book's owners in that village had bought
and possibly brought from Spain several vernacular editions issued in Antwerp and Leuven.
The editions were probably purchased in a city like Burgos or Seville where, as already
discussed Antwerp booksellers had established networks of book distribution. Regrettably,
since the owner is not known it is not possible to make any further statements. However, there
are few possibilities, either the owner was related to the Dominicans that established a
convent in Acatlán, or on the other hand, the owner was related to the civil administration of
the village.

Inquisitorial sources also shed light on private libraries seized from individuals accused
of heresy, Lutheranism, Judaism, heterodoxy or witchcraft. Possibly the most famous of the
libraries seized in New Spain, are those of the Dutch engineer Adrian Boot and that of the
architect Melchor Pérez de Soto. Boot was born in Delft and arrived to Mexico in 1614 in
order to work on the colossal and famous project of the open drain of the Lake of Texcoco.
This project, begun in 1607, sought to find a solution to the periodical floods that hit Mexico
City since Aztec times. Boot was appointed by the Court of Madrid in June 1613 as an

1340
All the books seized in Acatlán are listed in the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 220.

323
engineer to assist the project with his knowledge of drainage matters and in July 1614 he
sailed on the fleet to New Spain, where for the next 23 years he served the government of
New Spain as a consulting engineer, architect, and cartographer.

Adrian Boot also worked in military projects, such as the fortification of the Castle of
San Diego in Acapulco, the gateway to the Manila trade.1341 However, like many other
foreigners living in New Spain (the French printer Pedro Ocharte, the Flemish painter Simon
Pereyns, the Dutch printer Cornelio Adriano César), Boot attracted the inquisition's attention
in 1637 being accused of spying for the Dutch Republic. This resulted in his arrest and the
seizure of his goods in September 1637. His personal library had 240 items, from which a
large portion had been bought in Europe, several editions having been printed both in the
Northern and in the Southern Netherlands.1342

Regarding the editions printed in the Southern Netherlands, 15 editions have been
identified, including editions published in Spanish (3), in Italian (2), in Dutch (3), in Latin (6)
and one bilingual (Spanish/Latin). They were published between 1545 and 1625 (eight
editions were published during the sixteenth-century and seven during the seventeenth-
century),only two copies had been published after 1614, which suggests that the majority of
Boot's books were bought and brought from Europe.

Among the copies were to be found works by scientists, humanists, historians, writers,
or artists, such as Petrus Apianus' Libro de cosmographia (Antwerp, Gregorius Bontius,
1548), Hubertus Goltzius' Los viuos retratos de todos los Emperadores, desde Iulio Cesar
hasta el Emperador Carlos V y Don Fernando su hermano (Antwerp, Gillis Coppens van
Diest, 1560), and one of Justus Lipsius' works on roman history, Admiranda, siue de
magnitudine Romana (Antwerp, Jan I Moretus, 1599).

Other historical accounts were Ludovico Guicciardini's Italian edition of his

Descrittione [...] di tvtti i Paesi Bassi, altrimenti detti Germania inferiore (Antwerp,
Christophe Plantin, 1581), Aubert Le Mire's Illustrium Galliae Belgicae scriptorum icones et
elogia (Antwerp, Theodor Galle, 1608), Otto van Veen's Historia septem infantivm de Lara =
Historia de los siete infantes de Lara (Antwerp, Philippus Lisaert, 1612), and Antonio
Carnero's Historia de las guerras civiles que ha avido en los estados de Flandes desde el año

1341
SLUITER, 'The fortification of Acapulco, 1615-1616', 73-75.
1342
The library has been recently studied by José Ignacio Urquiola.

324
de 1559 hasta el de 1609 (Brussels, Jean de Meerbeck, 1625). This last edition was acquired
while Boot was already living in New Spain.

Books of emblems, such as Hadrianus Junius' Emblemata (Antwerp, Christophe Plantin,

1566 and 1575), were also available, as well as classical authors, like Horatius and Ovidius,
the latter was available in Dutch, Ovidius' Metamorphosis dat is: Die herscheppinghe oft
veranderinghe (Antwerp, Gheleyn Janssens, 1615). This last title is quite relevant to show
that vernacular editions published in Dutch, were virtually non-existent in New Spain's
libraries, except for those few isolated items that travelled along with Dutch speaking
passengers en route to New Spain, such as Adrian Boot. Two more titles in Boots' library
were also in Dutch, an arithmetic book written by Gielis van der Hoecke, In arithmetica: een
sonderlinge excellent boeck, leerende veel schoone ende perfecte regulen der selver conste,
(Antwerp, Symon Cock, 1545) and the allegorical book of Petrus Opmeer the younger, Dat
schip van patientie ende penitentie (Antwerp, Arnout Conincx, 1593).1343

Finally, an Italian military treatise available in Boot's library had also been printed in
Antwerp, Ludovico Melzo's Regole Militari sopra il governo e servitio particolare de la
cavalleria (Antwerp, Joachin Trognesius, 1611). An examination of the aforementioned titles
clearly suggests that the Dutch engineer was not only reading texts related to his own
profession, but that Boot did not exclude the more humanistic disciplines as an essential part
of his intellectual equipment. It may be possible that Boot feared to find a limited book
market while being in New Spain. Therefore, he brought with him his precious library, which
was undoubtedly among the richest in New Spain regarding the quality of the Southern
Netherlands editions, which represented 6.2% of his library.

Boot's library was larger and richer than that of the German engineer, astronomer and
printer Enrico Martínez (Heinrich Martin in German), who, according to De la Maza was
probably born in Hamburg between 1550 and 1560. Enrico Martínez arrived to New Spain in
1599 with the title of royal cosmographer, and among other things Martínez served as
interpreter of the Mexican Inquisition (since he knew German and Dutch), Martínez also set
up his own printing press in 1599. Within his library, some editions of the Southern
Netherlands directly related to his profession were available, such as two Spanish editions of
the well-known Petrus Apianus' Cosmographia (Antwerp, Gregorius Bontius 1548, and

1343
To see the detailed editions of the Southern Netherlands within Adrian Boot's library see the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 214-215.

325
Joannes Bellerus, 1575),1344 and Abraham Ortelius' Theatro de la tierra (Antwerp, Christophe
Plantin, 1588).1345

As for Melchor Pérez de Soto (Cholula -near Puebla 1606- Mexico City 1656), he was
arrested in Mexico City on January 13, 1655, on charges that he was a practitioner of judicial
astrology and that he owned prohibited books on the subject. On the same day of his arrest,
representatives of the Holy Office searched his house for books and found 1592 volumes. The
inventory of the library made by the clerks of the Inquisition reveals what was probably one
of the finest private collections of books in seventeenth-century Mexico. His library revealed
a great variety of topics and interests, since he was clearly interested in books on architecture,
astrology, navigation, science, military and political history and geography, reflecting the
scientific activity displayed in New Spain during the mid seventeenth-century.

Pérez de Soto had had exchanges of ideas and books with the Mercedarian scholar fray
Diego Rodríguez, who from 1637 to 1646 brought together a group of learned men forming a
scientific group (printers, surgeons, scholars) interested in mathematics and astrology. This
confraternity has been considered as the first flash of modern science in Mexico. However,
from 1646 this Academy went into decline due to the harsh influence of the ever-present
Inquisition, concerned about the interdiction of almanacs and all kind of astrological
knowledge. In 1655 when the inquisitorial proceedings against the architect Melchor Pérez de
Soto took place, the scientific group ceased to meet.1346 Pérez de Soto's case ended in a
tragedy because after several weeks in solitary confinement the Mexican architect began to
show signs of excessive melancholy, and the Inquisitors ordered that another prisoner had to
be placed in his cell. The next day Pérez de Soto was found dead due to a fight between the
two prisoners.1347

Among his fine collection some precious scientific and historical editions published in
the Southern Netherlands have been identified, such as two of the few Italians editions found
in New Spain published in Antwerp: Ludovico Guicciardini's Descrittione [...] di tvtti i Paesi
Bassi, altrimenti detti Germania inferior (Antwerp, Christophe Plantin, 1581) and Ludovico

1344
DE LA MAZA, Enrico Martínez. Cosmógrafo e Impresor de Nueva España, 152-153. According to De la Maza,
the edition of 1548 was taken from the testament of Juan Ruiz, a well known printer and mathematician, and
alleged son of Enrico Martínez. However, no further documentation has been located related to the kinship
between Martínez and Ruiz, see: MATHES, 'Enrico Martínez of New Spain', 68.
1345
DE LA MAZA, Enrico Martínez. Cosmógrafo e Impresor, 154.
1346
TRABULSE, 'Los libros científicos en la Nueva España', 195, 213-214; see also: MUÑOZ DELGADO,
'Profesores mercedarios de la Real y Pontificia Universidad de México', 339-340.
1347
CASTANIEN, 'The Mexican Inquisition Censors a Private Library, 1655', 374-375.

326
Melzo's Regole Militari sopra il governo e servitio particolare de la cavalleria (Antwerp,
Joachim Trognesius, 1611). The library of Adrian Boot also comprised the aforementioned
works of Guicciardini and Melzo. It may be possible that these two editions were originally
part of Boot's library, whose rare editions might have been sold and purchased by
seventeenth-century book collectors, such as Pérez de Soto.

Among other authors published in the Southern Netherlands available in Pérez de Soto's
library were well-known astronomers and cartographers, such as Gemma Frisius' De
principiis astronomiae [&] cosmographiae (Antwerp, Gregorius Bontius, 1530) and Federico
Saminiati's Lucensis tabulae astronomicae (Antwerp, Martinus II Nutius, 1599) , or the
military treatise of the roman writer Publius Flavius Vegetius' Aliorvmqve aliqvot vetervm de
re militari libri (Leiden, Franciscus Raphelengius, 1606).1348 These editions also reflect Pérez
de Soto's particular interest in other disciplines than merely architecture, but most importantly
his library provides the best example of a rich, private library amassed in seventeenth-century
Mexico.1349

4.6.1 Reading on board the galleons

Another context where religious and vernacular editions of the Southern Netherlands were
being read, was on board the transatlantic fleets, as illustrated by the documentation published
by Fernández del Castillo regarding inquisitorial inspections or visitas carried out in the newly
arrived fleets at Veracruz from 1575 to 1600, where it has been possible to identify few titles
issued in Antwerp.1350 However, these archive registers are incomplete and their data vary
greatly in details giving no solid base for statistics, or further statements.1351

Yet, in the inspection carried out in 1579 at least two 'Cesares' were detected by the officers of
the Inquisition in the ships San Salvador and San Juan Bautista.1352 This title corresponds
with the well-known Historia Imperial y Cesarea, written by one of the most well-known
sixteenth-century Spanish authors, Pedro Mexía, Charles V's chronicler (the work was first
issued by Juan de León in Seville, 1545). Although neither the year nor the place of
publication were provided, these two titles were possibly the editions issued in Antwerp in

1348
To see a detailed list of the items published in the Southern Netherlands within Mechor Pérez de Soto's
library see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 215-216.
1349
See the online catalogue of the exhibition devoted to Pérez de Soto's library organized by the John Hay and
the John Carter Brown Library: library.brown.edu/exhibits/Desoto.php.
1350
FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y libreros, 371-374, 375-381, 385-446, 508-510.
1351
LEONARD, 'Spanish Ship-Board Reading in the Sixteenth Century', 56.
1352
FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y libreros, 379-380.

327
1578 or even the one of 1579 (published by Petrus I Bellerus and by Philippus Nutius
respectively),1353 which were the most recent editions of this work.

During the inquisitorial visita of the 'naos' of 1583 the Historia del descubrimiento de la India
por los portugueses, by the Portuguese historian Fernando Lopes da Castanheda (Antwerp,
Martinus Nutius, 1553 or 1554) was registered in the books of the ship San Buenaventura.1354
These titles confirm how passengers read along with literature, history, during the long
transatlantic journeys, and not only books printed in Spanish presses. Actually, historical
accounts became popular titles, since it was a genre broadly read and appreciated among the
readers. In fact, Pedro Mexía wrote in the dedication to prince Philip of his Historia imperial,
'El género de esta escriptura, historia, que son las letras y lecion que mas utiles son', (The
genre of this text, history, is the most useful one among the letters).1355 Therefore, history was
not considered as pure entertainment but also as an edifying genre.

Furthermore, devotional literature along with entertainment books were leading favourites of
the Atlantic travellers as Irving Leonard has vividly described:

'While conversation consumed long hours for the passengers, the general apathy
induced by monotony and nausea resulted in extended periods of silence. Some might
find refuge from the tedium of the voyage in their own thoughts, but the more literate
sought forgetfulness in perusing the books included among their immediate effects.
And while some read aloud a current book of fiction or poetry to attentive listeners,
others might have dipped into their volumes in solitude'.1356
Reading edifying books during long maritime journeys was advised by several sixteenth
century authors. For instance, the well-known fray Antonio de Guevara offers on his Libro
de los inventores del arte de marear (Valladolid, Juan de Villaquirán, 1539),1357 a vivid
description of the abuse, discomfort, filth, misery and dangers suffered by the passengers
while travelling on board the galleys of the Mediterranean sea. Among other things Guevara
advised the passengers who claimed to be sane and honest, to buy some good and devout
books of hours to read, because namely there are three activities on the sea: playing cards, to
talk and to read, but the more fruitful and less harmful was precisely the third one.1358

1353
The edition had been first published in Seville by Juan de León in 1545.
1354
FERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, Libros y libreros, 394.
1355
MEXÍA, Historia Imperial y Cesarea, Antwerp, Martinus Nutius, 1561), i.
1356
LEONARD, The Books of the Brave, 160.
1357
It was republished in Antwerp in 1546 by Martinus Nutius.
1358
Actually Guevara wrote his treatise out of experience, because as preacher and chronicler of the emperor,
he accompanied him in the expedition to Tunis in 1535 and to the peace negotiations of Aigues-Mortes with
Francis I in 1538. 'Es saludable consejo para el pasajero que presume de ser cuerdo y honrado, compre algunos

328
 4.6.2 Books on sale in seventeenth-century Mexico City

While Adrian Boot brought the majority of his books from Europe, other book consumers like
Melchor Pérez de Soto, exclusively depended on the available stock in New Spain. The city's
bookstores offered a rich scope of titles for students, professors, professionals or book
collectors. In this respect, the Inquisition obliged the owners of bookshops to submit
memorias or lists of their books on stock, to review that the editions on sale were in
conformity with the Indexes issued in Spain. The AGN holds different memorias of Mexico
City's bookshops that were the result of inquisitorial inspections or visitas ordered in 1634,
1655 and 1660.1359 Among the Mexican booksellers notified by the Inquisition in 1655 and
1659, who presented exhaustive lists of their stock were Juan de Rivera, Francisco Lupercio
and his partner Agustín de Santiesteban, Hipólito de Rivera and Antonio de Calderón, who
was in charge of his mother's bookshop. His mother was Paula de Benavides widow of
Calderón.1360

The lists presented illustrate the availability of editions circulating on seventeenth-

century Mexico City´s book market, where it was possible to acquire all kind of editions both
modern and old, religious or entertainment literature printed in Mexico and in Europe.
Furthermore, the memorias allow us to know the different origins of those books on sale in
the capital of the New Spain viceroyalty. The degree of detail of the memorias varied. On the
one hand some of them just listed titles in general without making any mention of the place
or year of publication. On the other hand, some others even give the name of the publisher.

libros sabrosos y unas horas devotas, porque de tres ejercicios que hay en la mar, es a saber, el jugar, el parlar y
el leer el más provechoso y menos dañoso es el leer, see: MARTÍNEZ, Pasajeros de Indias, 249. On the same
line, the sixteenth-century Spanish navigator, Juan Escalante de Mendoza recommended on his Itinerario de
navegación de los mares y tierras occidentales (1575), that any good sailor not only needed to have good
maritime books, but also devotional and good author´s books 'Serían bien advertir y aconsejar a todo buen
marinero que demás de los libros de su arte, siempre traiga consigo otroa de buena doctrina y sabios autores, y
que el tiempo que hubiere de estar ocioso o jugando lo emplee y ocupe en leer y estudiar en ellos' . Quoted in
GONZÁLEZ SÁNCHEZ, Atlantes de papel, 64-65.
1359
These inquisitorial inspections or visitas were implemented to have extra control on the book circulation
since the inquisitors were concerned about the entrance of 'prohibited' books and the diffusion of heretical
ideas, see: RUEDA RAMÍREZ, 'La vigilancia inquisitorial del libro con destino a América en el siglo XVII', 53-71.
1360
The documents were published in 1933 by the Boletín General del Archivo General de la Nación coordinated
by Edmundo O' Gorman, see: O'GORMAN, 'Bibliotecas y librerías coloniales', Documents IX [shop of Simón de
Toro, 1634]; Document X A [shop of Juan de Rivera, 1655]; Document X B (shop of Juan Lorenzo Bezón, 1655];
Document X C [shop of Agustín de Santiesteban and Francisco Lupercio, 1655]; Document X D [shop of Paula de
Benavides, 1655]; [shop of Agustín de Santiesteban and Francisco Lupercio, 1660]. The memoria of the widow
of Calderón has been carefully studied by Enrique González and Victor Gutiérrez, see: GONZÁLEZ GONZÁLEZ
and GUTIÉRREZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Libros en venta en el México de Sor Juana y de Sigüenza', 103-132.

329
Therefore, some memorias allow a rapid and precise identification of the items issued in the
Southern Netherlands.

According to the inventories the editions available published in the Southern

Netherlands were rather specialized focusing on theological and liturgical Latin titles. In fact,
the great majority of them can still be found in Mexican repositories, since such kinds of
editions generally belonged to monastic or diocesan libraries, or to persons related to the
clergy. However, they were also purchased by other professionals who had the opportunity to
amass personal libraries, such as those related to the viceroyal administration. Additionally,
vernacular editions printed mostly in Antwerp have also been identified.

One known memoria elaborated during the first half of the seventeenth century was
made by Simón de Toro in 1634. It listed 203 titles (without mentioning year or place of
publication). According to De Toro all his stock was in conformity with the last Index of 1632
issued by general inquisitor Zapata. Among the titles available were the works of Jesuits
extensively published in Antwerp particularly by Jan van Keerberghen during the first quarter
of the century, although not exclusively, since they were also issued in other European cities,
like Lyon, such as the Spanish Luis de Alcázar, the Portuguese Jesuit and exegete Sebastião
Barradas, the Jesuit Gabriel Vázquez Bellomontano.1361

In 1655 the inquisitor and visitador Pedro Medina Rico,1362 requested memorias of the
available stock from the more important booksellers and printers active in the city, Hipólito de
Rivera, and his brother Juan de Rivera, Francisco Lupercio and his partner Agustín de
Santiesteban, Juan Lorenzo Bezón who, worked with the aforementioned Lupercio, and the
bachelor Antonio de Calderón, who was in charge of his mother's book and printing shop
(Paula de Benavides). The intention was to verify if the previous Index of 1640 had been
accomplished and to prevent the circulation of both prohibited editions or without required
expurgation.

The memoria prepared by Juan de Rivera listed 72 titles (without year or place of
publication). Therefore, the detection of items published in the Southern Netherlands was not

1361
All the possible editions issued in the Southern Netherlands found in De Toro shop are listed in the
appendix 'New Spain libraries', 203-204, see also: O'GORMAN, 'Bibliotecas y librerías coloniales', Document IX.
1362
He was inquisitor in Seville and had arrived to New Spain in 1654, one of the first issues that concerned him
was the oversight in which the Mexican inquisitors have concerning book control. Medina Rico remained in
New Spain eight years, see: GONZÁLEZ GONZÁLEZ and GUTIÉRREZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Libros en venta en el México
de Sor Juana y de Sigüenza', 117.

330
self-evident, resulting in the accurate identification of only one Spanish vernacular edition.1363
On the other hand, Juan Lorenzo Bezón listed 272 titles (also without year or place of
publication). The supply was richer than Rivera's shop, it comprised Latin theological and
juridical editions.1364 Between three and four editions possibly published in the Southern
Netherlands have been identified.1365

With regard to the memoria prepared by Agustín de Santiesteban and his partner
Francisco Lupercio (1655), it listed 343 titles including the year and place of publication, and
even mentioning whether the copies had undergone expurgation, and providing the corrector's
name.1366 Nine titles were issued in the Southern Netherlands (2.6%).1367 Hipólito de Rivera's
memoria listed 720 items (it also did mention the year and place of publication), 22 titles were
from the Southern Netherlands (3%).1368 Finally, the memoria presented on behalf of Paula de
Benavides, widow of Bernardo de Calderón was prepared by her son, the bachelor Antonio de
Calderón, displayed 1126 titles. However, the memoria did not include the year and the place
of publication.1369 For this reason, only 13 editions have been identified as published in the
Southern Netherlands, a number which would otherwise certainly be higher. From these
memorias of 1655, the one presented by Hipólito de Rivera included the largest number of
titles issued in the Southern Netherlands (as already mentioned the memoria of Paula de
Benavides was larger in scope but it did not provide the place of publication), 22 out of a total
of 720 (3%). Although this actually is not a representative total amount, it proves the lasting
presence of very specific theological and scientific editions mostly issued in Antwerp.

According to the lists of 1655, the supply of books published in the Southern
Netherlands available in Mexico City boasted precious liturgical editions, mostly printed
during the second half of the sixteenth-century, such as Concordantiae bibliorum (in different
editions issued either by the heirs of Steelsius or Plantin).1370 However, earlier copies were
available as well, like Meditationes, Soliloquia & Manuale (Antwerp, Joannes Steelsius,

1363
See: O'GORMAN, 'Bibliotecas y librerías coloniales', Document X A.
1364
See: O'GORMAN, 'Bibliotecas y librerías coloniales', Document X B.
1365
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 205.
1366
See: E. O'GORMAN, 'Bibliotecas y librerías coloniales', Document X C.
1367
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 205.
1368
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 206-207.
1369
See: O'GORMAN, 'Bibliotecas y librerías coloniales', Document X D.
1370
Different items were available on the stock of Agustín de Santiesteban and his partner Francisco Lupercio.,
and on the stock of Hipólito de Rivera, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 205-207.

331
1540), which probably was one of the oldest copies on the stock of Lupercio and
Santiesteban.1371

Sixteenth-century theological editions included authors, such as saint Thomas of

Aquinas, theologians from Leuven, such as Cornelius Jansenius,1372 or Joannes Hessels,1373 as
well as editions by illustrious Spanish theologians, such as Benito Arias Montano, Franciscan
theologians, like the popular Flemish Adam Sasbout,1374 Franciscus Titelmans,1375 and the
German Johann Wild,1376 Dominican theologians were also available, such as the popular fray
Luis de Granada, Pierre de la Palud, the well-known Pedro de Soto of the School of
Salamanca, as well as the Portuguese Hieronymite Heitor Pinto,1377 sixteenth-century works
on Ecclesiastic History, such as one of the volumes of the Annales of cardinal Cesare Baronio,
were also to be found.1378

Recent works published by seventeenth-century theologians were also available. These

included works by Spanish theologians like Tomás de Hurtado,1379Italian theologians like

1371
It was available on the stock of Agustín de Santiesteban and his partner Francisco Lupercio, see the
appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 205.
1372
The works of Aquinas, Summa sacræ theologiæ, Secvnda Secvndae Partis svmmae sacrosanctae
theologiae and Tertia pars Summæ Theologiæ (Antwerp, widow and heirs of Joannes Steelsius,
1576), and Jansenius, Paraphrases in omnes Psalmos Dauidicos (Leuven, Petrus I Zangrius, 1574),
were available on the stock of Agustín de Santiesteban and his partner Francisco Lupercio, see the
appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 205.
1373
Joannes Hessels, Probatio corporalis praesentiae corporis et sangvinis dominici in eucharistia
(Leuven, Jean I Bogard, 1566? ,1568?), was available on the stock of Hipólito de Rivera, see the
appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 206.
1374
Benito Arias Montano, Commentaria in duodecim prophetas (possibly the Plantinian edition of 1583), and
Adam Sasbout, In Esaiam prophetam commentaria (it may be one of the editions printed either in Leuven by
Anthoni Marie Bergaigne in 1558 or 1563 or in Antwerp by Joannes Steelsius in 1563), were available on the
stock of Paula de Benavides widow of Calderón, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 204.
1375
Franciscus Titelmans, Elucidatio in omnes psalmos (Antwerp, Philippus Nutius, 1573), was available on the
stock of Agustín de Santiesteban and his partner Francisco Lupercio, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain',
205.
1376
Johann Wild, In sacrosanctum Jesu Christi Domini nostri evangelium secundum Joannem
(Antwerp, widow & Heirs of Martinus I Nutius, 1565), was available on the stock of Hipólito de
Rivera, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 207.
1377
Fray Luis de Granada, Sylva locorum communium (Antwerp, Martinus II Nutius, 1596); Pierre de La Palud,
Sermones siue enarrationes in euangelia et epistolas quadragesimales (Antwerp, Widow & Heirs of Joannes
Steelsius, 1572); Pedro de Soto, Tractatus de institutione sacerdotum (Leuven, Hieronymus Wellaus, 1566);
Heitor Pinto, In Esaiam Prophetam Commentaria (Antwerp, Widow & Heirs of Steelsius, 1572). All these titles
were available on the stock of Hipólito de Rivera, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 206-207.
1378
Cesare Baronio, Annales Ecclesiastici…Tomus Tertius (Antwerp, Widow of Christophe Plantin & Jan I
Moretus, 1593), was available on the stock of Hipólito de Rivera, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 206.
1379
Tomas Hurtado, Praecursor Theologus affecta a D. Thomae (Antwerp, Willem Leestens, 1641), was
available on the stocks of Hipólito de Rivera and Paula de Benavides, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain',
204, 206.

332
Bartolomeo Gavanti,1380 Jesuit theologian, such as Rodrigo de Arriaga,1381 the well-known
Flemish exegetes Cornelius a Lapide,1382 and Leonardus Lessius,1383 and Franciscan
theologians, like Francisco Castillo y Velasco.1384 Seventeenth-century liturgical works, such
as Bibles or Concordantiae bibliorum were also to be found,1385 finally, some of the
vernacular works of the Carmelite fray Jerónimo de la Madre de Dios were also listed, as well
as the recently issued Explicacion de la doctrina christiana by the Dominican fray Juan de
Santo Tomás (Antwerp, Balthazar II Moretus, 1651).1386 Probably these books were regularly
acquired by professors of theology, or individuals related to the diocesan or regular clergy.

While liturgical and theological books were the most copious among the books of the
Southern Netherlands on sale in the aforementioned bookshops, other genres were also
available. Concerning geography Apollonius Levinus' description of Peru was listed in the
memoria of Hipólito de Rivera,1387 as well as one work of Abraham Ortelius,1388 and a work
of the Leuven jurist Petrus Vanderanus.1389 The booksellers also offered works of the

1380
Bartolomeo Gavanti, Thesavrvs sacrorvm ritvvm (Antwerp, Balthazar II Moretus, 1646), was available on the
stock of Hipólito de Rivera, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 206.
1381
Rodrigo de Arriaga, Dispvtationes theologicæ in secvndam secvndæ D. Thomæ (Antwerp, Balthazar II
Moretus, 1649) or the Dispvtationes theologicae in tertiam partem D. Thomae (Antwerp, Balthazar II Moretus,
1650), were available on the stock of Juan Lorenzo Bezón, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 205.
1382
Cornelius a Lapide, Commentaria in omnes Divi Pavli Epistolas (Antwerp, Heirs of Martinus II Nutius, 1614?,
1619?), was available on the stock of Hipólito de Rivera, and Cornelius a Lapide, Commentaria in Pentatevchvm
Mosis (Antwerp, Johannes Van Meurs, 1648), was available in the stock of Juan Lorenzo de Bezón, see the
appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 205.
1383
Leonardus Lessius, De perfectionibvs moribvsque divinis (Antwerp, Balthazar I Moretus, Widow of Jan II
Moretus and Johannes Van Meurs, 1620) was available on the stock of Paula de Benavides, widow of Calderón,
see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 204.
1384
Francisco Castillo y Velasco, Subtilissimi Scoti doctorum super tertium sententiarum librum (Antwerp, Petrus
II Bellerus, 1641), was available on the stock of Hipólito de Rivera, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain',
206.
1385
A copy of the Biblia Sacra (Antwerp, Balthazar I Moretus, Widow of Jan II Moretus and Johannes Van
Meurs, 1619), and a copy of Concordantiae bibliorum sacrorum (Antwerp, Balthazar I and Jan II Moretus, 1617,
annotated by Lucas Franciscus Brugensis), were available in the stock of Paula de Benavides, widow of
Calderón, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 204.
1386
Fray Jerónimo Gracián de la Madre de Dios, Lámpara encendida (Brussels, Rutger Velpius, 1609),
Vida del alma (Brussels, Jan I Mommaert, 1609) and fray Juan de Santo Tomás' Explicación de la
doctrina Cristiana (Antwerp, Balthazar II Moretus, 1651), were available on the stock of Paula de
Benavides, widow of Calderón, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 204.
1387
Apollonius Levinus, De Peruviae, regionis, inter Novi Orbis provincias celeberrimae (Antwerp, Joannes I
Bellerus, 1567), was available in the stock of Hipólito de Rivera, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 206.
1388
Abraham Ortelius, Synonymia geographica, sive populorum, regionum, insularum, urbium, opidorum,
montium ... appellationes et nomina (Antwerp, Christophe Plantin, 1578), was available on the stock of Hipólito
de Rivera, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 206.
1389
Petrus Vanderanus, De privilegiis creditorum (Antwerp, Joannes I Bellerus, 1560), was available in the stock
of Hipólito de Rivera, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 207.

333
sixteenth-century Leuven jurist Joost de Damhouder.1390 Finally, seventeenth-century works
from classical authors, such as Valerius Maximus,1391 Justus Lipsius' works on Tacitus,1392 or
Emmanuel Sueyro's translations on Sallustius were also listed.1393

Seventeenth-century history accounts published in Spanish were also available, such as

Diego de Aedo y Gallart, Bernardo de Aldrete,1394 or Philippe de Commines' account on
French history, Las memorias de Felipe de Comines señor de Argenton de los hechos y
empresas de Luis undecimo y Carlos Octavo reyes de Francia (Antwerp, Johannes Van
Meurs, 1643).1395 Also found were recent polemic works issued in Spanish, such as Juan
Caramuel y Lobkowitz' Manifiesto del Reyno de Portugal (Antwerp, Balthazar II Moretus,
1642,1396 finally, vernacular re-editions of sixteenth-century bestsellers, like fray Antonio de
Guevara's Epístolas familiares (Antwerp, Johannes Van Meurs, 1648) were also available.1397

Five years later, the Mexican Tribunal implemented a new book inspection, and again,
Mexico City´s booksellers submitted their memorias. This time Juan de Rivera declared 706
items in contrast with the 72 editions declared in 1655 (and unlike the previous list, the year
and place of publication were included, which certainly facilitated the identification of the
editions).1398 The wide-ranging memoria declared 30 books issued in the Southern
Netherlands. In addition, in 1659 the Mexican Inquisition bought from Juan de Rivera 519
titles specialized in law, an assortment of books that had been considered of a superior
academic quality.1399 Enrique González and Víctor Gutiérrez wondered how Juan was able to

1390
Joost de Damhouder, Subhastationum compendiosa exegesis D. Iodoci Damhouderii ... In laudem Hispanicæ
nationis quae in Flandria nostra iam olim fixa sede celeberrimam negotiationem exercet (Gent, Erasmus
Querceus, 1546), was available on the stock of Paula de Benavides, widow of Calderón, see the appendix
'Libraries of New Spain', 204.
1391
Valerius Maximus, Dictorvm factorvmqve memorabilivm […] Ivsti Lipsi notae (Antwerp, Widow & Heirs of
Petrus I Bellerus, 1615), was available on the stock of Agustín de Santiesteban and his partner Francisco
Lupercio, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 205.
1392
Justus Lipsius, Ad Annales Cor. Taciti liber commentarivs (Antwerp, Jan I Moretus, 1610), was available on
the stock of Paula de Benavides, widow of Calderón, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 204.
1393
Sallustius and Emanuel Sueyro, Obras de Caio Crispo Sallustio (Antwerp, Jan Van Keerberghen, 1615), was
available on the stock of Paula de Benavides, widow of Calderón, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain',
204.
1394
Diego de Aedo y Gallart, Viaje del infante cardenal don Fernando de Austria (Antwerp, Jan Cnobbaert,
1635), and Bernardo Alderete, Varias antigüedades de España y Africa (Antwerp, Juan Hasrey, 1614), both
were available on the shop of Lupercio and Santiesteban, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 205.
1395
It was available on Juan de Rivera's bookshop, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 205-206.
1396
It was available on the stock of Hipólito de Rivera, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 206.
1397
It was available on the stock of Hipólito de Rivera, see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 206.
1398
See the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 207-213.
1399
O'GORMAN, 'Bibliotecas y librerías coloniales', Document XI, see also: GONZÁLEZ GONZÁLEZ and
GUTIÉRREZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Libros en venta en el México de Sor Juana y de Sigüenza', 119.

334
sell 519 titles to the Inquisition in 1659 and to declare 706 items in his bookshop in 1660, if
he allegedly only had 72 items in 1655.1400

In the meantime, Hipólito de Rivera (Juan's brother), died between February 3 and April
5, 1659, However, his testament has not survived in the Notarial Archive of Mexico City, (the
volume of 1659 is missing). Thus, there is no archival record to prove that Juan took
Hipólito's business. But, if Juan de Rivera's list is compared with the one submitted by his
brother Hipólito in 1655, there are some items that are repeated in both lists, such as
Francisco Castillo y Velasco's Subtilissimi Scoti doctorum super tertium sententiarum librum
(Antwerp, Petrus II Bellerus, 1641.), Tomás Hurtado's Praecursor philosophus (Antwerp,
Willem Leestens, 1641), Apollonius Levinus's De Peruviae, regionis, inter Novi Orbis
provincias celeberrimae, (Antwerp, Joannes I Bellerus, 1567), Pedro de Soto's Tractatus de
institutione sacerdotum (Leuven, Hieronymus Wellaus, 1566), and Petrus Vanderanus' De
privilegiis creditorum (Antwerp, Joannes I Bellerus, 1560).1401

While it is true that the works of Francisco Castillo y Velasco, Tomás Hurtado and
Pedro de Soto often circulated within New Spain libraries, there exists the possibility that
these were different copies than those listed by Hipólito de Rivera in 1655. Nevertheless, the
inclusion of rare editions, such as the works of Levinus and Vanderanus published in Antwerp
supports the idea that Juan took over Hipólito's business. Furthermore, according to Ken
Ward, Hipólito took delivery of the aforementioned shipment of books intended for the
Inquisition from Bellero's widow. Following his death, on December 2, 1659, Juan went to
the Tribunal to collect the remaining payment of 800 pesos. Accordingly, it is correct to assert
that Juan took over Hipólito's shop.1402 Finally, the only copy identified as printed in the
Southern Netherlands of the first short list submitted by Juan de Rivera in 1655 (the history of
the kings of France by Philippe de Commines), was mentioned again in the list of 1660. Thus,
even precious, non-Spanish editions which at first sight might appear to have been very
sought-after by collectors could remain unsold for years.1403

1400
GONZÁLEZ GONZÁLEZ and GUTIÉRREZ RODRÍGUEZ, 'Libros en venta en el México de Sor Juana y de
Sigüeza', 119.
1401
O'GORMAN, 'Bibliotecas y librerías coloniales', Document XV, registers #240, 689, 504, 625 and 593.
1402
I express my gratitude to Ken Ward and his valuable remarks on this subject. Regarding, the books intended
for the Inquisition and its payment, See: AGN, Inquisición, 458, exp. 1. This reference was also provided by Ken
Ward.
1403
See the detailed list of the items listed by Juan de Rivera in 1660 in the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain',
211-212.

335
With regard to the memoria of 1660 prepared by Lupercio and his partner Santiesteban it
registered 587 titles (244 more than in 1655), 27 (18 more than in 1660) were issued in the
Southern Netherlands.1404 Concerning Paula de Benavides, widow of Calderón her memoria
of 1660 registered 1239 titles (113 more than in 1655) including 50 titles issued in the
Southern Netherlands.1405 [See tables 22 and 23].

Table 22 Memorias of 1655

Bookseller Memoria of Items from the Language Place and year

1655 Southern of publication
(Total items) Netherlands provided

Paula de Benavides 1126 13 9 (Lt.), 4 (Sp.) No

Juan Lorenzo Bezón 272 3 or 4 3?(Lt.), 1 (Sp.) No
Francisco Lupercio & 343 9 (2.6%) 7 (Lt.), 2 (Sp.) Yes
Agustín de Santiesteban
Juan de Rivera 72 1 1 (Sp.) No
Hipólito de Rivera 720 22 (3%) 20 (Lt.), 2 (Sp.) Yes
Total 2533 49

Table 23 Memorias of 1660

Bookseller Memoria of Items from the Language Place and year

1660 Southern of publication
(Total items) Netherlands provided

Paula de Benavides 1239 50 (4%) 41 (Lt.) 9 (Sp.) Yes

Francisco Lupercio & 587 27 (4.6%) 21 (Lt.), 5 (Sp.) Yes
Agustín de Santiesteban 1 (Fr.)
Juan de Rivera 706 30 (4.2%) 28 (Lt.), 2 (Sp.) Yes
Total 2532 107 (4.2%)

A wide-ranging assortment of editions published in the Southern Netherlands was offered in

1660. Unlike the memorias prepared in 1655, those of 1660 provide place and year of
publication (see table 23). As a result, the identification of editions was accurate providing
larger number of editions. In fact, by 1660 the total percentage of books of the Southern
Netherlands available in the stock of the bookstores reached an average of 4.2%.

1404
See the full detailed list in the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 210-211.
1405
See the full detailed list in the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 207-210.

336
Definitely, the best supply of books was to be found at the shop of Paula de Benavides,1406 as
her editions from the Southern Netherlands included several sixteenth-century theology
editions, among the authors were early fathers of the Church, like Prosper of Aquitaine,
Spanish theologians, like Benito Arias Montano; French preachers, like Thomas Beuxamis;
catholic English theologians, such as William Allott, Jesuit theologians, like Petrus Canisius
or Manuel Sá; Dominicans, like Melchor Cano, Franciscans, like Adam Sasbout.

Among other genres, sixteenth-century editions of Cicero, Ovid, or Terentius were also
on sale, as well as juridical works of the aforementioned Joost de Damhouder. Concerning
sixteenth-century vernacular editions, it was possible to find historians, like Esteban de
Garibay y Zamalloa, or Juan Calvete de la Estrella's account Felicissimo Viaje del muy alto y
muy poderoso príncipe Don Phelippe (Antwerp, Martinus Nutius, 1552), as well as works of
the popular fray Antonio de Guevara, or Castilian poets, like Juan de Mena, or works on
grammar by Francisco de Thamara.

Regarding seventeenth-century editions, the widow of Calderón offered liturgical

books, like Bibles or Concordantiae bibliorum; Franciscan theologians, such as the
aforementioned Francisco Castillo y Velasco, Carmelite authors, like fray Jerónimo Gracián
de la Madre de Dios; Jesuits like Leonardus Lessius; polemic authors like Juan Caramuel y
Lobkowitz; editions of classic authors like Horatius or Valerius Maximus; and vernacular
editions of Kempis, and a recent edition of the Spanish diplomat Diego de Saavedra y
Faxardo.

The offer of Lupercio and Santiesteban included both sixteenth and seventeenth century
works by several authors of different regular Orders,1407 Augustinians, like fray Lorenzo de
Villavicencio, Carmelites, like fray Jerónimo Gracián, Franciscans, like Alfonso de Castro
and Fraciscus Titelmans, Jesuits, like Petrus Canisius, Arnaldus Cathio, Pedro de Ribadeneira,
Manuel Sá, and Thomas Sánchez, Italian secular theologians, like Bartolomeo Gavanti;
Spanish secular theologians, like Tomás Hurtado, Flemish secular theologians, like Joannes
Malder (bishop of Antwerp). Also found were sixteenth and seventeenth-century editions on
classics, such as Cicero, Horatius, Lucanus, sixteenth-century juridical works of Joost de
Damhoudere, scientific sixteenth-century works by Petrus Apianus, vernacular sixteenth and
seventeenth-century history works by the abovementioned Diego de Aedo y Gallart, Esteban

1406
For a detailed view see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 207-210.
1407
For a detailed view see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 210-211.

337
de Garibay y Zamalloa, Philippe de Commines, polemical works by Juan Caramuel, and a
remarkable French Plantinian edition of Aurelio de Pasino.

Finally, in Juan de Rivera's shop,1408 his clients could find sixteenth and seventeenth-
century bibles (published in 1569, 1574 and 1608), as well as Franciscan theologians, such as
Alfonso de Castro, Theodorus Smising or Johann Wild, Dominican theologians, like
Bartolomeo Fumo and Pierre de la Palud, Jesuit theologians, such as Franciscus Costerus and
Heribertus Rosweyde, a Hieronymite theologian, the Portuguese Heitor Pinto, a Theatine
theologian, the well-known Antoninus Diana, secular Italian theologians, like Bartolomeo
Gavanti, and Justus Lipsius.

Jurists, like Jodocus Damhouder, works of classics printed in both sixteenth and
seventeenth century, such as Quintus Curtius, Valerius Maximus, and a remarkable
Metamorphoses by Ovidius published in Antwerp in 1545 (which actually was one of the
oldest copies on stock), Flemish sixteenth-century humanists, like Hubertus Goltzius,
scientific works by Antonius Reita and the Flemish Jesuit Andreas Tacquet. Finally, a rare
vernacular edition of Pierre Boaistuau's El Theatro del Mundo was also included.

Bookshops played a key role in the configuration of cultural circuits of distribution that
allowed the increasing demand for books. Mexico City´s bookstores offered a quite
international selection of titles, that might have satisfied the needs of local book consumers,
who looked for specific editions to enrich either private or institutional libraries. In this
respect, the editions available published in the Southern Netherlands were to a great extent
more specialized and probably more expensive editions, as illustrated by the copies already
described in the bookshops' stocks. Moreover, bookshops in Mexico City or Puebla were
heavily dependent regarding their international editions on the yearly bibliographic influx
provided by the Carrera de Indias, as well as on the recycling of private libraries that came to
the market after the owners' death. However, there is much research to do in order to fully
know the supply circuits used by booksellers in New Spain.

A SEVENTEENTH -CENTURY MEXICAN SAVANT C ARLOS DE S IGÜENZA Y GÓNGORA

(1645-1700)

As it has already proved by the examples of the Augustinian fray Alonso de la

Veracruz, the Franciscan fray Juan de Torquemada, the Mercedarian fray Diego Rodríguez or

1408
For a detailed view see the appendix 'Libraries of New Spain', 211-212.

338
the cleric Juan José de Eguiara y Egurén, the corpus of books of the Southern Netherlands
yearly exported or brought by private individuals to New Spain was incorporated into the
cultural and intellectual activity displayed in New Spain. Although it is not possible to
measure the particular influence exerted by those books in the scholarly circles of the
viceroyalty, the aforementioned cases prove the direct impact of such editions in the academic
production of illustrious scholars active in New Spain. In concordance with this, and to show
the use of sources from the Southern Netherlands in secular scholarly contexts, a brief case
study of a secular scientist, one of the most reputed scholars of his time, Carlos de Sigüenza y
Góngora, and his use of one of the most relevant scholars of the Southern Netherlands, Justus
Lipsius, has been chosen to conclude this chapter.

Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (1645-1700) was a Mexican criollo, who had been
considered a savant of his time. He was born in Mexico City in 1645. Sigüenza belonged to a
generation of New Spain scholars influenced by both the modern science and the Hermeticism
tradition. His library contained some 1000 titles and was famous among his contemporaries
since it also included Prehispanic codex. In summary, it was one of the most remarkable
documentary collections amassed by an individual in New Spain. Although his library was
apparently 'looted' by his 'friends' after Sigüenza's death in 1700, part of it (170 volumes of
books and 28 volumes of manuscripts) went to the collections of the Jesuit library of the
college Máximo of San Pedro and San Pablo.1409

In his Teatro de virtudes políticas que constituyen a un príncipe (1680), while

describing the triumphal arc dedicated to the joyful entrance of the new viceroy marquis De la
Laguna (viceroy from 1680 to 1686), Sigüenza listed the political virtues that a ruler needed
to observe. The models of political wisdom proposed to the viceroy were Itzcóatl, Tizoc,
Moctezuma Ilhuicamina among others Aztec sovereigns. Sigüenza remarked the prudence
(prudential) as a virtue possessed by Itzcóatl and certainly necessary to a prince. This concept
was directly quoted from one of the most influential thinkers of the late sixteenth/early
seventeenth centuries, the Flemish-humanist Justus Lipsius. The term prudentia had been
earlier introduced into political discourse in Lipsius' Politicorvm sive civilis doctrinae libri
sex, which was Lipsius' insight into public life.1410 For Lipsius the ultimate aims of prudence

1409
OSORIO ROMERO, Historia de las bibliotecas novohispanas, 55-57.
1410
The first edition appeared in Leiden in 1589, see: SCHMIDT, 'Neoestoicismo y disciplinamiento
social en Iberoamérica colonial siglo XVII', 189-191.
339
were found not in politics but in constancy and piety in order that an individual or a state
might flourish as a virtuous entity.1411

Justus Lipsius' guides for action were particularly influential in the establishment of
moderate absolutism throughout the seventeenth-century. In fact, what Lipsius' proposed in
his political writings was the molding of individuals for public life by teaching them the most
sophisticated statecraft. As already explained by Corbett, Lipsius' combination of scholarship,
religious piety and sophisticated statecraft made him far more popular than any politique in
the Hispanic World.1412

The originality of Sigüenza's theoretical approach was to use a concept (the prudence)
proposed by Lipsius as one of the virtues required of the new viceroy, exemplifying it in the
personification of an Aztec ruler in an effort to blend the pagan statecraft of the Aztec
tlatoanis with traditional Christian and Western values, integrating the Indian past of New
Spain into the universal history and vindicating the antiquity of the New World at least within
a theoretical context.1413 Consequently, Sigüenza y Góngora's approach possibly provides the
most original example of applied Neostoicism on American soil blending both Lipsius' guides
for political action and the criollo cultural and historical context.1414

1411
CORBETT, 'The Cult of Lipsius: An Early Source of Early Modern Spanish Statecraft', 143.
1412
CORBETT, 'The Cult of Lipsius: An Early Source of Early Modern Spanish Statecraft', 136, see also: LEIRA,
'Justus Lipsius. Political Humanism and the Disciplining of 17th century Statecraft', 83-101.
1413
As Helga von Kügelgen has noted, Sigüenza's academic interests included the research of the Indian past
and its integration to the Universal History, see: VON KÜGELGEN, 'La línea prehispánica. Carlos de Sigüenza y
Góngora y su Teatro de Virtudes Políticas que constituyen a un Príncipe', 205.
1414
SCHMIDT, 'Neoestoicismo y disciplinamiento social en Iberoamérica colonial siglo XVII', 191.
340
 CONCLUSIONS

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the geographical and cultural region known as
the Southern Netherlands flourished as a knowledge hub, a crossroad where knowledge was
being generated, assessed, exchanged, stored, and disseminated.1415 In fact, the region
supplied religious, technological, scientific, artistic, military and political knowledge. It did so
via the exported cultural or artistic objects, such as books and paintings, or through the
international mobility of professionals, craftsmen, artists, diplomats, soldiers, and religious
men, who spread their technical and scholarly knowledge they had acquired in the Southern
Netherlands to areas far beyond the Low Countries, as it was the case with the so-called
Hispanic world.

In this vein, it is accurate to refer to a more specific category, a so-called bibliographical

knowledge hub, that is, a place where there was significant editorial activity of a domestic,
regional and transatlantic character. Otherwise stated, a bibliographical knowledge hub in the
early modern period, was a leading typographic center(s) of a same region or country, where a
wide-ranging editorial output was produced, having a decisive influence in the spread of
knowledge. In Early Modern Europe, France, Italy, the German States, the Northern and the
Southern Netherlands, as well as the Swiss cities, the Iberian Kingdoms, and England were all
to a greater or to a lesser degree bibliographic knowledge hubs. In the Southern Netherlands,
the bibliographic knowledge hub was spatially situated in a number of urban centers,
particularly the port of Antwerp, followed by other cities in the Duchy of Brabant like
Brussels and Leuven; in the County of Flanders, Ghent or Bruges, and in the Prince-Bishopric
of Liège.

The thriving trade established between the Southern Netherlands and the Iberian
Peninsula on the one hand, and the Carrera de Indias, on the other hand, allowed for the
configuration of a transatlantic commercial cultural axis of two branches, the Antwerp-Seville
and the Seville-Veracruz axis, in which people, art, books, and knowledge in general was able
to circulate.

1415
According to Karel Davids, a knowledge hub is a nodal point or cross-road in regular, long -and short-
distance flows of knowledge. See: DAVIDS, 'Dutch and Spanish Global Networks of Knowledge in the Early
Modern Period', 29.

341
The bibliographic output of the Southern Netherlands to Spain was mainly exported by book
sellers or important publishers who configured networks of international distribution. The
conditions to succeed depended on several factors, such as the creation of complicated
networks relying on family members, agents, partners, or go-betweens that were placed, or
that were already established in cities with an active trade, such as Madrid or Seville. An
efficient network secured first-hand information about book markets and local trends.
Moreover, the Spanish state apparatus, and its particular legislation, and censorship always
had to be taken into account to avoid confiscations and subsequent economic losses.

For this latter reason, after the period of strict censorship Spain was put through in the
period 1558-1559, the heirs of Steelsius, those of Nutius, and even Christophe Plantin
refrained from exporting controversial authors in Spain, like Erasmus or authors influenced by
him. Despite, the ever present mechanisms of vigilance, book trade with Spain was able to
thrive thanks to the output of a wide range of authors, whose works were in accordance with
the official doctrinal orthodoxy, universal values, and scientific knowledge accepted in the
Hispanic world. This stands in contrast to what happened with authors printed in cities like
Basel or Geneva, which were considered as heretic bibliographic knowledge hubs. It is not a
coincidence that the broad Spanish vernacular output printed in Geneva during the eighteenth
century by different publishers like Jean-Michel Bousquet or the Tournes brothers were
allegedly published in Antwerp or Brussels to avoid censorship, and to place it in the Spanish
market.

Indeed, the international bibliographic trade towards the Hispanic Kingdoms, depended
on the entrepreneurial spirit and the strategies developed by the publishers and book sellers.
Thus, all the major families (mostly based in Antwerp), involved with book trade towards the
Iberian Peninsula, the Steelsius, the Nutius, the Bellerus, Plantin and the Moretusses, the Van
Keerberghen, the Van Meurs, the Verdussen and the Foppens, offered and exported editions
that were absolutely in accordance with the then-contemporary Spanish values and norms,
particularly after the period following the pragmatic of 1558 and the publication of the Index
of 1559. All these private enterprisers played a pivotal part in exporting bibliographic
knowledge.

The exported corpus of editions towards the Hispanic world, was mostly printed in
Latin, which speaks about a explicit kind of book sought by a select group of readers. And
although the vernacular edition of Antwerp and Brussels (mostly in Spanish but also in

342
French, particularly from the second half of the eighteenth century onwards), played a
relevant role in certain moments in the early modern period, its incidence was always
surpassed by the vernacular editions published in the Iberian centers themselves.

In fact, the large majority of the books shipped and listed in archival sources in the
Archivo General de Indias in Seville, may be considered as popular, entertainment, and
devotional titles, which could be easily distributed in a growing market. These cheap
vernacular editions were normally issued by Spanish-presses, complemented in smaller
quantities with vernacular editions published in cities like Antwerp and Brussels, as well as
Paris, Venice, Lyon, or Milan, but always on a modest scale in contrast to the larger
proportion of exported Latin books published in such European typographic centres. In the
same line, Wilkinson remarks that one of the defining characteristics of publishing in the
Iberian Peninsula was the relatively low percentage of books printed in Latin compared to the
vernacular languages (Spanish, Portuguese or Catalan).1416

Therefore, non-Spanish books, like those issued in the Southern Netherlands were more
specialized Latin editions, more expensive, oriented to a select public and shipped in smaller
quantities. These editions usually dealt with theology, law, science, literature and history.
These specialized editions were normally purchased by clerics, jurists, physicians, architects
and other professionals, and since these editions were more expensive and very sought after
by those who were able to amass a library, they were very profitable for booksellers. Thus,
these considerations confirm the statements made by authors like Pedro Rueda.1417

The numerous Latin editions exported from the Southern Netherlands to the Hispanic
world, disseminated European knowledge in the areas of theology, liturgy, history, linguistic,
science, jurisprudence. The countless editions exported from the reign of Philip II were an
excellent example of the counter-reformation editorial line developed in the Southern
Netherlands, intended for local, regional and international consumption, since Latin was the
lingua franca of the scholarly circles. Before the 1550s, the output of the Southern
Netherlands certainly had a more humanistic character, which eventually give way to a more
orthodox output, illustrating the direct influence of the confessionalization of the Southern
Netherlands' presses.
1416
WILKINSON, Iberian books, xviii.
1417
RUEDA RAMÍREZ, 'El comercio de libros en la Carrera de Indias (1601-1650)'; RUEDA RAMÍREZ, 'El librero
sevillano Antonio de Toro' 64.

343
Moreover, the long-established fact that after the second half of the seventeenth-century the
book trade between the Southern Netherlands and the Hispanic world was only nourished by
the Nuevo Rezado editions that ultimately condemned the Plantiniana to failure, is certainly
an erroneous impression. On the contrary, a rich and diverse range of Latin and vernacular
editions was still being shipped to the Hispanic world. However, the most active period of
book trade developed from the second half of the sixteenth until the second half of the
seventeenth century. Finally, after the War of Spanish Succession, and the change of regime,
a gradual decline in book trade was witnessed, according to the numbers of available editions
in New Spain.

In addition, although knowledge was able to be disseminated between the Southern

Netherlands and the Hispanic world and vice versa, the explicit bibliographic flux of books
was only exported from the Southern Netherlands to the Hispanic world and not the other way
around, primarily because the Southern Netherlands were a leading bibliographic knowledge
hub, and because of different factors, such as the already discussed endemic lack of means of
the Spanish typography to supply domestic markets (at least during the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries). In turn, the Hispanic world was mainly a receptive region of
bibliographic knowledge published throughout Europe.

As a consequence, New Spain emerged as an early centre of knowledge and

bibliographic accumulation in Spanish America, the earliest to be significant in the early
modern world in the American continent. The military conquest of the Mesoamerican
civilizations led to the establishment of a viceroyal court as early as 1535, an early printing-
press, a university and a network of colleges, hospitals, monasteries, diocesan seminaries, and
civil institutions, such as the Audiencias. Hence, the knowledge infrastructure of New Spain
developed from an early stage of its history, allowing a rapid importation and reception of a
yearly flow of European knowledge.

In New Spain, this flow of European knowledge, particularly as it was transmitted by

books, was accumulated yearly in the scholarly circles of the viceroyalty (basically among the
population of Hispanic origin), and while it is true that they were numerically a minority, they
were also the ruling elite from where the European acquired knowledge might have been
orally transmitted to other ethnic groups, such as the Indians or Afro communities, who had
little access to European bibliographic knowledge.

344
Once in New Spain, the specific historical context adapted, reshaped or reconfigured the
received knowledge according to its local characteristics. Hence, relevant scholars like
Sigüenza y Góngora or Eguiara y Egurén adapted different ideas taken from books published
in the Southern Netherlands to their own works, written in the frame of a cultural vindication
of the criollo culture.

Yet, the bibliographic knowledge received from the presses of the Southern Netherlands
was not only reshaped according to particular local contexts (like the criollismo), it was also
acknowledged as universally valid propositions. That was certainly possible due to the
uniform method of study, mainly spread by religious groups, like the Society of Jesus and its
universal presence (a long-distance corporation as stated by Harris),1418 contributing to the
transmission of knowledge and book circulation among its network of colleges, and
promoting Latin education among the young generations whether in Europe, Asia and the
Americas. In this way, religious organizations played a leading role in the accumulation and
exchange of knowledge in the Catholic World.1419 Furthermore, Antwerp was a Jesuit
bulwark, where several authors and books related to the Order were regularly published.
Therefore, a particular bibliographic knowledge, like that printed in the Southern Netherlands
was an invaluable tool in spreading universal, Catholic European values, particularly after the
Counter-Reformation. Such values were similarly or equally conceived either in Mexico City,
Lima, Seville, Rome, Paris or Antwerp.

In this respect, the religious genres of books published in the Southern Netherlands and
available in New Spain, considerably exceeded the secular ones, partly because the clergy
(both secular and regular) constituted the most important group of readers and book
consumers within a hierarchical society, where culture was permeated by religious
convictions and where religion inevitably become a factor of social cohesion. Thus, the
impact of more secular literature is barely recognizable at least from what can be extracted
from the available sources.

In summary, the books printed in the Southern Netherlands contributed to the

development of new ideas under new local and original perspectives archetypical of Spanish
America, such as the incorporation of a pre-Columbian history into the criollo identity, or the
application of European categories of knowledge to analyze the juridical and theological

1418
HARRIS, 'Long-Distance Corporations, Big sciences and the Biography of Knowledge', 269-304.
1419
DAVIDS, 'Dutch and Spanish Global Networks of Knowledge in the Early Modern Period', 41.

345
figure of the indigenous peoples. In addition, these books also strengthened the religious and
scientific universal values created in Catholic Europe. This double function nourished the
criollos idiosyncrasy, providing them with European knowledge, with which they were
culturally connected to the Metropolis, and using the same tools to understand, and to explain
their particular context, always subordinated and marginalized from the main European
centers of knowledge during the early modern period, and developing their own cultural and
national identities.

As a consequence, it is virtually impossible to speak about the culture in New Spain

without considering the copious bibliographic non-Hispanic patrimony assembled throughout
the viceroyalty, which directly or indirectly (oral culture and the circulation of manuscripts
were common practices in early modern societies), contributed to the accumulation of
European knowledge. Therefore, this kind of research involving international commercial and
cultural trades is fundamental to understand the incorporation of non-Hispanic bibliographic
knowledge into the configuration and development of local scholarly circuits in Spanish
America.

The same applies for the rest of Spanish America, viceroyalties, such as Peru, New
Granada, or Río de La Plata evolved both as hubs of knowledge at a regional level and as a
receptive areas of bibliographic knowledge published in the leading typographic centres in
Europe. Therefore, the project The infrastructure of globalization. The Printing press in the
Southern Netherlands and the construction of the Spanish colonial empire in Latin America,
will provide a general overview of the book trade, circulation, and consumption of book
printed in the Southern Netherlands in colonial Latin America.

Future lines of research relating to other foreign bibliographic corpora available in New
Spain, like those produced in France, the German Catholic States, the Italian cities, the
Northern Netherlands, the Swiss cities, England and Central Europe, are necessary to have a
complete overview of the exportation, circulation and consumption of these editions in New
Spain. It is equally crucial study other parallel routes of book distribution that also thrived,
and had their own periods of prosperity or of economic decline. Of particular interest are the
Paris/Lyon-Seville-Veracruz axis, the Venice-Levante-Andalusia-Veracruz axis and the
Amsterdam-Cadiz-Veracruz axis. The analysis of these other bibliographic corpora may
provide similar results concerning the genres exported, which certainly encompassed a
majority of Latin specialized editions. In addition, particular studies of specific scholars active

346
in the Hispanic world and the kind of international sources they used to sustain their works
are always relevant to have a better understanding of cultural output in Spanish America.

This research also has a patrimonial character since many of the editions collected are
still available in current repositories situated mostly in Mexico. Thus, the preservation,
conservation and study of national bibliographic patrimonies, play a key role in this kind of
bibliographic research. Although the Mexican institutions have recently made considerable
progress in cataloguing the copious bibliographic patrimony amassed during the colonial
period and the nineteenth century, setting the foundation to catalogue, to study, and to
preserve it,1420 there is still much work to do since there are still countless books that ought to
be properly catalogued.

This is certainly one of the main challenges concerning bibliographic studies not only in
Mexico but also in other countries in Latin America which boast rich bibliographic
patrimonies, such as Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, and Guatemala. The importance of
these collections throughout Latin America is worth stressing, since they often contain unique
and rare items that have frequently been overlooked by the scholarly community. Therefore,
the preservation and study of national bibliographic patrimony should be of primary
importance for the cultural policies of the Latin American governments.

Finally, as Ana Crespo Solana has recently remarked, the common history between the
Iberian World and the Netherlands will always be an unfinished one. 1421 Thus, hopefully this
research will clarify some points in relation to the intense cultural and bibliographic trade that
flourished between the Southern Netherlands and New Spain via the Iberian Peninsula in a
long-term period, and thereby deepen understanding into this kind of international contacts
that have to be necessarily done from international perspectives, meaning the research of
different archival sources located in international repositories and the analysis of different
kind of sources (commercial, inquisitorial, secular), opening new paths for future researchers
that want to delve in the endless world of transatlantic exchanges.

1420
In fact, Mexico was the first Latin American country to established an institute specifically devoted to book
research; the Instituto de Investigaciones Bibliográficas (IBB), which is one of the research institutes of the
National University of Mexico (UNAM). The institute was created in 1967 and is directly linked to the National
Library of Mexico. The main lines of investigation focus on bibliographical, bibliological, hemerographical and
archivistical, studies, as well as on librarianship. See the internet site: www.iib.unam.mx
1421
CRESPO SOLANA, Mercaderes atlánticos, XIII.

347
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ARCHIVES IN BELGIUM

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B) Journal, vol. 62, vol. 69, vol. 73, vol. 75, vol. 102, vol. 126, vol. 127, vol. 135, vol. 179, vol. 180, vol.
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a) Inquisición, vol. 139, num. 24; vol. 267, fol. 293v-294r; vol. 293, fol. 30r-42r; vol. 289, num. 9, num.
13; vol. 299, num. 4; vol. 438.

b) Jesuitas, vol. III, 30.

c) Temporalidades, vol. 50, vol. 64, vol. 96, vol. 173, vol. 175, vol. 178, vol. 191, vol. 230.

Biblioteca Nacional de México (BNM)

a) Archivos y manuscritos, ms. 109/1499.2, ms. 930, ms. 998, ms. 1073, ms. 10252.

Archivo de la Catedral Metropolitana de México (ACMM)

a) Actas de cabildo catedralicio, vol. 1.

ARCHIVES IN SPAIN

Archivo General de Indias, Seville (AGI)

a) Audiencia de México, vol. 259, files 1-278; vol. 260, files 1-219; vol. 261, files 1-215.

b) Contratación, Autos sobre bienes de difuntos, vol. 272, num. 1, file 1; vol 289, num. 8; vol. 290b,
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num. 1; vol. 446, num. 2, file 2; vol. 453b, num. 4; vol. 454a, num. 1, file 6; vol. 455, num. 1, file 1;
vol. 462a, num.3; vol. 471, num. 6, file 11, file 12.; vol. 472, num. 4; vol. 498, num 3, file 3; vol. 498a,

348
num. 2, file 2; vol. 498b, num. 5, file 1; vol. 503b, num. 13; vol. 510, num. 2; vol. 516, num. 1; vol.
522, num. 9; vol. 523, num. 4; vol. 538, num. 8; vol. 562, num. 14; vol. 937, num. 2; vol. 938a.

c) Contratación, Licencias de la Inquisición para cargar libros, vol. 674.

d)Contratación, Registros de ida a Nueva España, vol. 1079, num. 1, ramo 13; vol. 1081, num. 1; vol.
1144a, num. 1, ramo 3; vol. 1144b, num. 1, ramo 10; vol. 1149, vol. 1154B, num. 1, ramo 9; vol. 1159,
num. 9; vol. 1170b, num. 12, num. 14.; vol. 1173, num. 2, ramo 2; vol. 1179, num. 1, ramo 13.

Archivo de Protocolos Notariales, Seville (APN)1422

a)Oficio 4: vol. 1680-1, fol. 791r-791v. Oficio 5: vol. 3606, fol. 571v.; vol. 3607, fol. 191v. Oficio 7: vol.
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PALAFOX Y MENDOZA, JUAN DE, Obras, Madrid, Gabriel Ramírez, 1762.

ROLLIN, C., Compendio de la Historia Antigua, Antwerp [Geneve], Marc-Michel Bousquet, 1745.

SIERRA B. de, Ramillete de Divinas Flores. Bruselas, Francisco I Foppens, 1670.

1422
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