Juan de Espinosa Medrano

During his lifetime, Espinosa Medrano acquired widespread recognition for the stylistic sophistication and conceptual rigor of his work, which conformed to the dominant scholastic and Baroque epistemological standards of the period. These epithets appear in contemporary ecclesiastical sources and later biographical accounts, including sermon records, seminary archives, and the 19th-century biography by Clorinda Matto de Turner, he who was a swan, an eagle, a phoenix, in song, in sharpness, and in the extraordinary. Self-identification in the Apologético (1662) In his study of the Apologético, Pedro Lasarte confirms the existence and authorship of the original 1662 edition held at Yale University's Beinecke Library. He transcribes Espinosa Medrano's full self-identification as printed on the frontispiece, where the author publicly presents himself as: Spanish: Colegial Real en el insigne Seminario de San Antonio el Magno, Catedrático de Artes y Sagrada Teología en él; Cura Rector de la Santa Iglesia Catedral de la Ciudad del Cuzco, cabeza de los Reynos del Perú en el nuevo Mundo. English: Royal Fellow of the illustrious Seminary of San Antonio the Great, Professor of Arts and Sacred Theology therein; Rector Priest of the Holy Cathedral Church of the City of Cuzco, head of the Kingdoms of Peru in the New World. According to historian Pedro Guibovich, it was "an institution controlled by a small group of affluent criollos and mestizos, many of whom were connected to the ecclesiastical administration and claimed a certain noble status." As noted in Espacios de saber, espacios de poder, such ecclesiastical institutions were established to serve the educational needs of nobility. == Portrait and coat of arms ==

with a wide scarlet collar, reflecting his scholarly and ecclesiastical authority. Embroidered over his chest is a small golden coronet. The portrait of Juan de Espinosa Medrano serves as a visual testament to his dual identity as an Indigenous intellectual and nobleman, combining symbolic elements that reflect both his scholarly stature and his ancestral lineage. while the right half displays the arms of the influential House of Medrano, from his mother, Paula de Medrano. His mother's coat of arms displays two recognizable argent Medrano crosses fleury rendered hollow, This dual design reflects the merging of two noble lineages and visually affirms his dual heritage within the colonial nobility. This practice was shared by other noble families of mixed descent, such as the Guzmán, placing Espinosa Medrano's heraldic expression within the wider syncretic elite of colonial Spanish America. == Biography ==

Part of his biography has been preserved in the oral tradition of the Apurímac region, where it has acquired unique characteristics, as well as in Cusco and within the Peruvian literary canon. However, knowledge of his life and work is largely limited to scholars of Colonial Spanish American literature. This undervaluation is also noticeable in the assessment of Medrano's work by indigenous critics in Cuzco in the late 20th century (Yépez Miranda and Ángel Avendaño). They discarded Medrano's work in literary historiography with limited scientific rigor, primarily due to its Baroque nature and Western culture. Finally, in the second half of the century, writers Luis Loayza and Martín Adán had inaccurate approaches to Medrano's work. Juan de Espinosa Medrano's Indigenous identity, documented through oral tradition, visibly present in his portraitures, and reinforced by his lived experience as a mestizo intellectual navigating both Indigenous nobility and elite Castilian spheres, has too often been marginalized or questioned by historians. However, contemporary scholarship increasingly acknowledges that his noble and Indigenous ancestries were not mutually exclusive, but coexisted powerfully in the person of El Lunarejo, representing a fusion that redefines the understanding of colonial nobility in the Andes. Juan de Espinosa Medrano was a contemporary and relative of Sebastián Francisco de Medrano, founder of the Poetic Medrano Academy and close friend of Luis de Góngora, whose literary style Espinosa Medrano defended in his Apologético. His Apologético, dedicated to Luis Méndez de Haro, reflects the intellectual and political alignment of his family, notably shared by his relative Diego Fernández de Medrano y Zenizeros, who also addressed Haro in his political treatise Heroic and Flying Fame of Luis Méndez de Haro. along with Juan de Medrano, colonial governor of the province of Chametla, Sinaloa. Doctor Gaspar de Medrano was the second-ranking Councilor of Castile and member of the Council of the Inquisition during Juan's lifetime. At the time of Juan's rise, one of the most powerful members of the Medrano lineage, García de Medrano y Álvarez de los Ríos, regent of the Kingdom of Navarre and a member of the Council of Castile and Councilor of the Indies and Inquisition. Consequently, Agustín Cortés de la Cruz's (disciple and first biographer of the author) assertion about the origin of Espinosa Medrano should be taken as true: "in his first stages, scant favor he received from what the vulgus calls Fortune." Likewise, Clorinda Matto de Turner's novelization of the author's life as: He who entered the world in humble cradle, set foot on the steps of book and prayer... Then ascended to reach the literary skies of the America of the South, as king of stars there he shined. A second major episode occurred in 1678 and reflects his growing stature in ecclesiastical and literary circles: ''"The second important event in the biography of Juan de Espinosa Medrano corresponds to the sending of a letter to Carlos II, King of Spain, by the Bishop of Cuzco, Manuel de Mollinedo y Angulo in 1678. This event clearly demonstrates the admiration and high regard the author enjoyed, both within religious circles and among the literati in the city. The name of Juan de Espinosa Medrano began to be disseminated beyond the colonial bishopric of Cuzco and the Viceroyalty of Peru. In the letter, the bishop recommends the assignment of a position in the Cuzco Cathedral for Espinosa Medrano and writes to the king: 'He is the most worthy individual in the bishopric due to his extensive and outstanding knowledge and virtue'."'' The emphasis on virtue, wisdom, and public service in these communications echoes the values promoted by other notable members of the House of Medrano, such as Diego Fernández de Medrano y Zenizeros and Tomás Fernández de Medrano, whose writings similarly asserted moral authority, eloquence, and the responsibilities of leadership within the Spanish imperial framework. In an imperial society in which access to intellectual enterprise was circumscribed to the nobles and highborns, Espinosa Medrano achieved prominent instruction, indicating his high and noble status. The details about his first years of life are, almost in their entirety, unknown. The absence of significant biographical data put forward in the will written by the author himself days before his death has further led to speculation about his ethnicity and identification. It has also led to manipulation and tendentious interpretations of the data preserved about his existence; such interpretations have often introduced distortions pronounced in the many works of biographers, critics or commentators, akin to the political agenda of Criollo and Indigenismo in Peru. What is incontrovertible, however, is that Espinosa Medrano, while of Indigenous and noble descent, often operated within the ideological and cultural frameworks of the Spanish Empire; this is reflected in his writings, where he frequently characterizes Native populations as 'barbarous' or 'idolatrous'. Drawing on oral traditions from rural Peru, Matto constructed her portrayal with limited documentary evidence, relying instead on collective memory and popular accounts. While her depiction lacks rigorous historical sourcing, it played a pivotal role in popularizing Espinosa Medrano's legacy and embedding his image as an Indigenous intellectual within the national imagination. Clorinda Matto de Turner's biographical account of Juan de Espinosa Medrano, while influential in shaping his popular image in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, has been criticized by modern scholars for its lack of documentary support. In the absence of archival evidence, Matto constructed much of her narrative through literary embellishment and oral tradition. Though her portrayal of Espinosa Medrano as an Indigenous intellectual hero was instrumental in the early development of Peruvian indigenismo, contemporary historiography regards her work more as a romanticized or symbolic interpretation than a factual biography. Her text is now viewed as part of a broader nationalist and ideological project rather than as a rigorously historical source. Despite the limitations of Matto's biography, the Indigenous and noble status of Juan de Espinosa Medrano is today supported by portraiture, family lineage, and contemporary academic studies. Clarification in place, it is nonetheless necessary to briefly refer to the biography of Espinosa Medrano as it was composed in 1887/1890 by Clorinda Matto via the oral accounts by the people of Peru. For her biography is still the most influential source for Peruvian popular imagination of the author, as well as the most and only known outside of the academic world. According to Clorinda Matto, Juan de Espinosa Medrano was the offspring of an indigenous conjugal union, that of Agustín Espinosa and Paula Medrano, humble parents that raised their little child "in a shack at the joyous town". At seven, Juan started his education at the class for infants taught by the priest of Mollebamba, class where, besides being a remarkable student, Juan de Espinosa Medrano would also receive instruction to act as sacristan of the parish (the parish is, according to Clorinda Matto's biography, the place in which Espinosa Medrano discovered both the religious and literate vocation that would later flourish in him as time went by). After a period of instruction and service in favor of the priest of Mollebamba, Juan de Espinosa Medrano would start a life in the city of Cuzco as an indio servant. According to Matto, there he would obtain admission into the Seminary of Saint Anthony the Abbot, precinct where the young Juan de Espinosa Medrano would quickly develop mastery of different musical instruments and skill in seven languages. He would also reach expertise in sciences and grammar, according to this biography, erudition that would cause admiration in his contemporaries. == Education ==

Documentation found indicates that by the year 1645, when he was about fifteen years old, Juan de Espinosa Medrano was a student in the Seminary of Saint Anthony the Abbot. Tutors His tutors in this institution were: Francisco de Loyola, Augustinian prior and cofounder, in 1559, of the Monastery of Saint Augustine in Cuzco, Loyola stated that young Juan was "an exceptional prowess, and also very virtuous"; Espinosa Medrano became a Doctor of Theology at eighteen years old. Royal Collegian As a formally recognized Colegial Real (Royal Collegian) of the prestigious Colegio de San Antonio el Magno in Cuzco, he entered an institution whose highest-ranking posts were typically reserved for students of noble lineage. Access to the colegios mayores was restricted to youths who could prove purity of blood and legitimacy of birth, and who often came from families of the nobility or the high clergy. == Ecclesiastical Career and Intellectual Endeavours ==

In 1655, Juan de Espinosa Medrano's ecclesiastical career starts. He serves, in the first place, at the Parish of the Sanctum (Parroquia del Sagrario) where he conducts a series of marriage ceremonies and baptisms, a final one documentally registered in 1659. Parish priest and magisterial canon From 1669 to 1676, Espinosa Medrano takes charge of the parish of Chincheros (today part of the Sacred Valley of the Incas). Since 1678 he has been parish priest of San Cristóbal, one of the most important Indigenous parishes in Cusco, a position that he will maintain until 1683 or 1684 when he is named magisterial canon in the city cathedral. In 1674, probably in August, he preached the "Oración panegírica al glorioso Apóstol San Bartolomé" at the Hospital of San Bartolomé in Cuzco. In 1677, probably in July, he delivered the "Sermón de Nuestra Señora del Carmen" at the Monastery of the Descalzas Carmelitas of San José and Santa Teresa in Cuzco. In 1679, during Lent, he preached the "Sermón del Miércoles de Ceniza" at the Catedral del Cuzco. In August 1681, he delivered the "Re-elección evangélica o sermón extemporal" as part of his competition for the magisterial canonry of the Catedral del Cuzco, which he won. == Jesuit censorship ==

His extensive Baroque production, composed in Spanish, Latin, and Quechua, using an aesthetic register distinct from contemporary dialects, was published in both the Americas and Europe, although it reached the latter only near the end of his life. Its influence remained largely confined to the Viceroyalty of Peru, partly due to coordinated opposition by Jesuit priests in Rome in the late 17th century, which impeded the dissemination of his Latin philosophical treatise Philosophia Thomistica in Europe. This tension limited the broader recognition of Espinosa Medrano's Latin scholastic work outside the Americas, despite its adherence to prevailing European theological standards. == Chaplain to the valido, Luis Méndez de Haro ==

. Espinosa Medrano defined the wolves of Haro as "symbols not of aggression, but of loyalty and harmony." In a dedicatory letter dated 20 February 1662 in his most famous Apologético and addressed from Cuzco to Luis Méndez de Haro, chief minister (valido) to Philip IV of Spain, Espinosa Medrano signs with the title: Chaplain to Your Excellency, Dr. Juan de Espinosa Medrano. Similar to Diego Fernández de Medrano's panegyric, Espinosa Medrano's dedication to the valido preserves this renewed status, depicting Haro as a "Prince of Peace," "Apollo of the Muses," and bearer of the wolves of Haro as symbols of loyalty and harmony. Ibero-America intellectual continuity One of the most striking passages presents the letter as a gift of exceptional origin: A plume from the Indies descends to Your Excellency's feet, not from so humble a nest that it has not at least survived the Antarctic sea and the Gades... and this single drop dares to reach the immense ocean of Your Excellency's glories. The "plume from the Indies" functions as an emblem of distance, perseverance, and distinction. Espinosa Medrano positions his voice as the product of effort and refinement, worthy of being received at the highest level. His words suggest that learning, virtue, and devotion could bring recognition, despite location, provided they were presented with dignity and fidelity. The appointment of Espinosa Medrano as chaplain in the Americas to the valido carries significant historical meaning. Alongside his relatives such as Diego Fernández de Medrano, who served Haro as chaplain in Europe at court, Espinosa Medrano contributed to maintaining and preserving the doctrines and natural precepts of the Spanish Monarchy. == The Philosophy of Juan de Espinosa Medrano, "El Lunarejo" ==

Philosophy in Cuzco, Peru, in the 17th century: Espinosa Medrano Juan de Espinosa Medrano ("El Lunarejo"), professor at the University of San Antonio Abad in Cuzco, Peru, published his Philosophia Thomistica in 1688, the year of his death. It was the first of a projected three-part cursus philosophicus (logic, physics and metaphysics), the usual textbook in the "Second Scholasticism" since the 16th century. The work consisted of summulae (formal logic) and dialectica (philosophy of logic, epistemology and metaphysics) of 41 and 419 pages respectively. The Latin in which he wrote his work, like his Castilian and his Quechua, was elegant and suited to his purpose. Half of the almost 300 philosophers he mentions are "second" scholastics, of whom about a quarter published their works in the 16th century and a third in the 17th century. Espinosa Medrano considers many more writers working in his own century than in any other and refers to at least 16 works published in Europe after his birth (1632). Yet he complains that: Espinosa Medrano had two motives for publishing his work: • (1) To defend traditional philosophy from recent attacks and • (2) To defend the intellectual reputation of Ibero-America against misinformed Europeans. In regard to the first, he states on his title page that he wishes: The "moderns" whose arguments he examines are chiefly the Jesuits Pedro Hurtado de Mendoza (d. 1651, cursus, 1615), Francisco Oviedo (d. 1651, cursus, 1640) and Rodrigo de Arriaga (d. 1667, cursus, 1632). He identifies these writers with the fourth appearance of the "nominalism" of William of Ockham (15th century), anticipated by Roscelin (11th century) and Heraclitus (c.500 bc), and credits himself for ending the trend once and for all: Latin: Me Ochami sectam Hurtadus revocarat ab Orco Ter functam; at quarto nunc sequor Euridicen; En jaceo, ingeniis non tanta potentia in umbris: Vox et conceptus absque re larva sumus. English translation: Hurtado, by Ockham's sect, had drawn me back from Orcus Thrice dead; but on the fourth, I now follow Eurydice; Behold, I lie here, for among the shades, genius holds no such power: We are voice and thought without substance, mere phantoms. Espinosa Medrano stresses his objectivity in the polemic: {{Blockquote Espinosa Medrano explains his second motive in this way: Espinosa Medrano then marshals poets and philosophers in an eloquent defense of America to answer Lipsius's slight to Ibero-American universities. Besides Espinosa Medrano and Valera, four other authors took part in this challenge to Europe. The importance of Espinosa Medrano's work rests on his philosophical claims and on the arguments he developed to defend them in the context of the scholastic polemic of the XVII century. In his work Second Scholasticism (1969), Walter Redmond provides examples of his originality: his theory about the Platonic ideas. He began by asking this question, surprising for the "Aristotelians" (Thomists and Scotists) of his time: {{Blockquote On the contrary, he thought that: {{Blockquote Although both theories seem to entail a separation between what is possible and what is actual, he came to reject: {{Blockquote He added that: {{Blockquote Espinosa Medrano is asserting that the Platonic theory of ideas is entailed by the scholastic doctrine of possibles. Curiously, a similar theory has recently been put forward by a contemporary author Lloyd P. Gerson. In his study, Aristotle and other Platonists, he notes that in the first century B.C. Plato and Aristotle were thought to be complementary and that the later Neoplatonists saw a harmony (συμφωνία) between them. Recent events Before 1968, there was little interest in the academic philosophy ("Second Scholasticism") done in colonial Latin America. A review of the relevant bibliography was published as the Bibliography of the Philosophy in the Iberian Colonies of América, a catalogue of printed and manuscript works on the philosophy of the period with an annotated bibliography of the secondary literature. In 1970, the National and Catholic universities of Peru supported a detailed study, known as the Philosophia Thomistica of Espinosa Medrano and published the result in La lógica en el Virreinato del Perú. Since then, a number of studies of the content of this philosophy, especially in New Spain, have been published and supported by several Mexican universities in Puebla. In the half-century since this research began, the scene has changed essentially. Not only are there a large number of excellent works on this philosophical movement in Latin America, but also on the second scholasticism in general, where it is frequently compared to recent trends in analytic philosophy. == Works by Juan de Espinosa Medrano ==

His works include: • El robo de Proserpina y sueño de Endimión (c. 1650) • The Apologético en favor de Don Luis de Góngora (1662) dedicated to Luis Méndez de Haro, Count-Duke of Olivares. • panegyric sermons, compiled after his death in a volume called La Novena Maravilla (1695) • Philosophia Thomistica (1688), a course in Latin of thomistic philosophy, the first volume of a tract devoted to the philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas, which was published in Rome in 1688, suppressed by the Jesuits Quechua works Juan de Espinosa Medrano wrote theatrical works in both Spanish and Quechua. His Quechua-language works include: • El hijo pródigo (a religious play, also known as Auto sacramental del hijo pródigo; The Prodigal Son) in 1657, out of which only the biblical play Amar su propia muerte (c. 1650) is preserved • El rapto de Proserpina (The Abduction of Proserpina), a mythological piece, published in 1650 As the first great Quechua playwright, he composed original dramas, poetic works, and a now-lost translation of Virgil into Quechua, blending European classical forms with Indigenous expression. After Medrano's death, one of his disciples, the Cuzco priest Agustín Cortez de la Cruz, compiled and published a volume of thirty of his sermons under the title La novena maravilla (The Ninth Wonder) in 1695. Espinosa Medrano's noble lineage and familial ties to the Medrano tradition of political and literary thought contextualize his decision to dedicate the Apologético to Luis Méndez de Haro, the valido of Spain. Far from a generic gesture of patronage, this dedication reflected a continuity with his relative Diego Fernández de Medrano, Lord of Valdeosera, who had addressed Haro in his own political panegyric-treatise in the 17th century titled Heroic and Flying Fame of the Most Excellent Lord Don Luis Méndez de Haro. Juan de Espinosa Medrano's Apologético was written in defense of the poet Luis de Góngora, countering the criticisms made by Portuguese writer Manuel de Faría y Sousa and affirms the transatlantic continuity of the Medrano family's political, educational, and cultural authority within the Spanish Empire. It is the first Apologético in the Americas. In the Apologético, published in Lima in 1662, Espinosa Medrano eruditely displays his knowledge of classical and contemporary literature. To support his arguments, Espinosa Medrano refers to, among others, the works of Apuleius, Augustine of Hippo, the Bible, Camoens, Miguel de Cervantes, Erasmus, Faria, Garcilaso, Homer, Pedro de Oña, and Lope de Vega, the latter also a member of the Medrano Academy. Amaru su propia muerte (1645) As a young student, he wrote in Spanish the drama Amar su propia muerte (To Love One's Own Death) (ca. 1645). Amar su propia muerte is based on the story of the sufferings and peregrinations of the Jewish people in Chapter 4 from the Book of Judges in the Old Testament. There they are punished by God for various offences and are oppressed by several Canaanite kings until the judge, Deborah, prophesies that God will liberate them. Characters of this play include Sisera, a general of Canaan; Jabín, king of Canaan; Jael; Barak, a general of the armies of Israel. Deborah signals the time to attack the enemy and plays a crucial role in the divine intervention, which was needed to free the Israelites from unjust bondage. But the work is much more than a mere recitation of this Bible story into the tale, Espinosa Medrano weaves a complex plot of love, betrayal and political intrigue between the Canaanite king, Jabin, his captain, Sisara, who are both in love with the Hebrew, Jael, and her jealous husband, Cineo. As the central character, Jael feigns love for both Canaanite men only to deceive them both in the end to free her people. Espinosa Medrano skilfully includes Cineo's desire to fight the Canaanites as a way to link the main biblical plot with the sub-theme of marital honour. The outstanding edition of Amar su propia muerte by Juan Vittulli fills an enormous gap in scholarship on Espinosa Medrano's work. It situates the play in all the ambiguity, ‘otherness’, and contradiction of a young Juan de Espinosa Medrano, an Indigenous Andean writer who would leave his small town and enter into the cloisters, classrooms and pulpits of the ‘lettered city’ in seventeenth-century Cuzco, Peru. As Vitulli signals in his prologue, the Spanish playwright, Antonio Mira de Amescua, also wrote a similar work based on the same passages, thus, Espinosa Medrano is not only able to imitate but also compete with the great dramatists from the Spanish Golden Age of the seventeenth century. In Espinosa Medrano's opinion, there would be only one possible aspect of imitation, which would be what "great eloquence" has in common and is "mediocre." More specifically, there are "two aspects in style: one, born of Nature, which cannot be attained, and the other, born of Art, which can be achieved". == Juan Espinosa Medrano District ==

The district of Juan Espinoza Medrano is one of the seven districts of the province of Antabamba located in the department of Apurímac, under the administration of the Regional Government of Apurímac, in southern Peru. It is bordered to the north by the district of Sabaino and the district of Huaquirca, to the west by the district of Antabamba, to the south by the department of Ayacucho and the department of Arequipa, and to the west by the province of Aymaraes. From the hierarchical point of view of the Catholic Church, it is part of the Diocese of Abancay, which, in turn, belongs to the Archdiocese of Cusco. The district was created through Law No.9690 of 12 December 1942, in the first government of President Manuel Prado Ugarteche. Its first mayor was D. Florentino Suárez Rea. It bears the name of Juan Espinoza Medrano, in recognition of this writer born in Calcahuso, one of the annexes. ==Notes==