History of Spanish Literacy
Dec 2024 - Alex Alejandre

Spanish literacy in 1920

Language is the perfect instrument of empire - Antonio de Nebrija, 1492, presenting his, the first, Spanish grammar to his sovereigns

The Catholic monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand, elevated Castilian to Spanish, the language of all Spain. Castilian culture displaced Leonese during the Reconquista, driven by Humanism and universities:

The Erasmian invasion of Spain is one of the most remarkable events in sixteenth-century Spanish history. In no other country of Europe did the writings of Erasmus enjoy such popularity and so widespread a diffusion. In 1526 the Enchiridion appeared in a Spanish translation, and the translator was able to write proudly to the author: ‘At the Court of the Emperor, in the towns, in the churches, in the monasteries, even in the inns and on the roads, everyone now has the Enchiridion of Erasmus. Hitherto it was only read in Latin by a few scholars, who did not always understand it; now it is read in Spanish by men of all conditions, and those who had previously never heard of Erasmus now know him through this one book.' from Elliott’s Imperial Spain

Aragon, where the Crown exercised little power over the governing courts, could not compete with Castile either, for Catalonia was sparsely populated, with but 278,000 inhabitants in 1497.

In 1520, Castilian nationalists (comuneros) rebelled against the foreignizing influence of empire - emperor Charles V prefered to live in Germany, leaving Dutch cardinal Adrian of Utrecht to rule. This pattern would persist; Spanish governance neglected local development, such that by 1900 but 1/3 could read. The Spanish intellectual and ruling tradition, fueled by outside rents, prioritized foreign models and (abstract) humanistic subjects like theology and law over concrete pursuits like agriculture, commerce and economic modernization, neglecting the prosperity of their rural subjects. Though spoken Spanish extended to the New World, Latin held preeminence in Spain even while French and English scholars were busy forging their national literatures; Of Course, jewels like Don Quijote, La Araucana etc. appeared. the Counter-Reformation stressed Latin and even advocates of Castilian-Spanish like Martín de Azpilcueta said:

Navarro birthed me, New Castile educated me, France made me a man, Old Castile exalted me in Salamnca, Portugal honored and enlightened me. Finally I came to Italy, the chosen world’s most chosen land and reside in Rome, the mother and teacher of the world.

280 years later, Juan Bravo Murillo said:

Spain does not require educated men but oxen to work

This state of affairs, ignoring the local populace and national development, persisted until the 20th century shook things up (by turmoil, revolution and eventual centralization) such that while Germany, the UK (which, with the Netherlands, freeing themselves of Spanish rule in the 80 Years' War, surpassed 50% literacy before 1600), the US etc. enjoyed over 80% literacy in 1870, Spain’s stayed under 20%. 1857’s Moyano Act is representative of the limited attempts to improve this situation, nominally establishing a centralized national education system but in practice leaving funding, curriculums etc. to local communities, which simply continued to do nothing. As a comparison, Italy’s centralizing Casati law and Daneo-Credaro reforms improved literacy successfully. On the other hand, religiously inspired Puritan education achieved even better results in the 18th century without any centralization.

Spain so neglected her people that Spaniards would first experience a truly literate society as immigrants in the New World. Late 19th Century Argeninia’s great national project built a mass education system to turn millions of Italian immigrants into (literate, Spanish-speaking) Argentines. Though fewer in number than the Italians, 1.5 million Spaniards also emigrated to Argentina (1897-1947), 70% from Galicia, where in 1900 30% of adults and 50% of children could were literate. In Argentina, their children would approach 100% literacy.

What does this mean for the habits and styles in Spanish-speaking literary cultures as a whole? (Argentine presidents like Sarmiento tried to implant Anglo-Saxon culture into their nation!) Indeed, what does it mean to see that the Spanish people were the first colonized and among the last liberated from the Spanish elites?

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