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Medrano Academy

Spanish Golden Age Literary Academy (1616–1622) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Medrano Academy (Spanish: Academia Medrano) also known as the Poetic Academy of Madrid, was a famous academia literaria of the Spanish Golden Age founded by Dr. Sebastián Francisco de Medrano. Established between 1616 and 1622 on Leganitos Street in Madrid, the Medrano Academy was composed of some of the greatest poets and writers of the Baroque period: Lope de Vega, Quevedo, Góngora, Tirso, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Luis Vélez de Guevara, Alonso de Castillo Solórzano, and many others.[1][2]

Quick Facts Other name, Founder ...
Medrano Academy
Latin: Academia Medranensis
Other namePoetic Academy of Madrid
FounderDr. Sebastian Francisco de Medrano
Established1616
MissionTo promote literary and artistic expression during the Spanish Golden Age
FocusLiterature and arts
PresidentDr. Sebastian Francisco de Medrano (1616–1622)
Key peopleLope de Vega, Francisco de Quevedo, Luis de Góngora, Tirso de Molina, and others
AddressLeganitos Street, Madrid, Spain
Location
Madrid
,
Kingdom of Castile
Dissolvedc. 1622
Renowned for its influence on Spain's Golden Age of literature and arts.
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Establishment

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Further information: academia literaria

The Medrano Academy was among the most significant academias literarias ('literary academies'), a type of literary tertulia that flourished during Spain's Golden Age of literature and the arts during the reign of the Spanish Habsburgs.[3] By the seventeenth century, these literary academies had become one of the most prominent features of literary life in Spain.[4]

Thumb
Detail from Mancelli's map of Madrid in the first half of the 17th century. In an enclosed garden, the fountain of the Leganitos stream is depicted.

A group of young poets had been gathering since 1615 in a Jesuit house. When the poets could no longer gather at this house, Dr. Sebastian Francisco de Medrano established the Medrano Academy on Leganitos street in 1616, became its president, and dedicated space in his home to the poets until he was ordained a priest in 1622.[5] The street of Leganitos, which runs from the Plazuela de Santo Domingo to the outskirts of the town between the North and West, is a long avenue of regular buildings, it is mainly used for private residences.[6]

Many of the most illustrious names in the Spanish Golden Age aspired to share their voices at the literary gatherings hosted by the Medrano Academy. These meetings often attracted nobles, with Medrano himself serving as the Academy's president, while a prominent literary figure fulfilled the role of "secretary".[7] Many poetic contests occurred at the Medrano Academy.[8] Each gathering would close with a vejamen (lampoon), a satirical piece of prose that was "an integral part of any academy session".[9] From 1623 onward, Medrano's Poetic Academy of Madrid was directed by Francisco de Mendoza, and meetings were held at his residence.[10]

José Sánchez suggests that it likely started around 1607 under the leadership of Félix Arias Girón, son of the Count of Puñonrostro, though details about this early phase are obscure. The Academy was more definitively active at Dr. Sebastian Francisco de Medrano’s residence from 1616 to 1622, coinciding with Alonso de Castillo Solórzano’s arrival at court and leading up to the publication of his first work, Donaires.[7]

President

Further information: Sebastian Francisco de Medrano

According to Solórzano, the founder and president Sebastián Francisco de Medrano had been born in Madrid, into the illustrious Medrano family at the end of the 16th century.[11] President Medrano presided over many poetic contests "with great elegance and erudition, delivering judgments without offending anyone."[8] The influential House of Medrano are well known patrons and participants of literature and the arts during the Spanish Golden Age; in 1622 Medrano became a priest and commissioner of the Spanish Inquisition, acting as the official censor of comedias.[11] Alonso de Castillo Solórzano writes:

To an academy which was founded in Leganitos, I came to become a poet, although by novice layman.[12] Medrano was a teenager when he founded the Academy ...[13] the most celebrated Academy of Madrid, where he was Most deserving President ...[14] the prince of the most renowned Academy Madrid ever had.[8]

Members

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President Medrano gathered many of the greatest poets and playwrights of the Baroque period, some of whom remain unnamed. This is evident in his Favores de las Musas, where he directly addresses Solórzano:

... I summoned so many flourishing minds to the academies ... [these] individuals are famous in all poems and celebrated in all sciences, subjects, and faculties, and are supreme objects of admiration ... to those I acknowledge as my superiors, [I] ask forgiveness from those whom I have not named.[15]

The most illustrious names in the Spanish Golden Age were part of the Medrano Academy; an incomplete list by Dr. Sebastian Francisco de Medrano exists consisting of the participants and in many cases coinciding with the Saldaña Academy.[16] Among them were:[17]

Royal attendance

One session was attended publicly by the Monarchs of Spain and the most illustrious figures of Spain, both in lineage and intellect.[8] Speaking about the attendance of King Philip IV at one of Medrano's academy sessions, Luis Velez de Guevara wrote:

On that beautiful spring night in the year 1622... the Academy of that night came to an end.[19][20]

Regarding Prince Francisco de Borja y Aragón, a member of the academy, Medrano writes:

I turned my attention to Francisco de Borja y Aragón, prince of Squillace, for whom heaven not only made him illustrious in blood but also equaled his genius, which was outstanding in all sciences and faculties.[21]

References

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