Where and when was Luis de León born?
Luis de León was born in 1527 in Belmonte, a small town in the province of Cuenca. His father Lope de León practiced law and moved the family to Madrid in 1534.
Questions about Luis de León
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What academic positions did Luis de León hold at the University of Salamanca?
Luis de León won election to the minor Chair of St Thomas in 1561 and secured the Chair of St Durandus by 1565. He attained the prestigious Chair of Sacred Letters in 1571 and served as vice rector of the University starting in 1567.
Why was Luis de León imprisoned by the Inquisition between 1572 and 1576?
Dominican professors submitted seventeen propositions claiming Fray Luis held heretical opinions based on his Spanish translation of the Song of Solomon. Authorities arrested him on the 27th of March 1572 and held him at Valladolid until December 1576 while he suffered from illness.
Which literary works did Luis de León write during his imprisonment or shortly before death?
The prison period produced significant literary output including The Names of Christ which he wrote three books of between 1583 and 1585. His prose work The Perfect Wife appeared in 1583 and his commentary on Job remained unfinished until he completed it months before dying in 1591.
How many original poems did Luis de León compose and when were they published?
Fray Luis composed twenty-three original poems mostly between 1559 and 1584 but chose not to publish them during his lifetime. Francisco de Quevedo printed the collection finally in 1631 after his death and Hispanists fixed the canon at twenty-nine poems today.