The academia literaria ('literary academy') was a literary tertulia popular during Spain's Golden Age (Siglo de Oro) of literature and the arts, from the early sixteenth century to the late seventeenth century (c. 1500 – 1681),"Golden Age". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 1 January 2025. and especially during the reign of the Spanish Habsburgs and, in particular, that of King Philip II (1556–1598), a significant patron of Spanish art and culture. By the seventeenth century, these literary academies had become "one of the most prominent features of literary life... in Spain",Robbins, Jeremy (1997). Love Poetry of the Literary Academies in the Reigns of Philip IV and Charles II, pp. 1, 10–11. Tamesis. Google Books. Retrieved 2 January 2025. and many leading men of letters, such as Lope de Vega, Luis de Góngora, Luis Vélez de Guevara and Francisco de Quevedo would be members of more than one academia.
Many sought to make their voices heard in the literary gatherings frequented by poets and artists for the amusement and entertainment of nobles and patrons: the academia literaria. Nobles frequently attended these gatherings, with one often assuming the role of Academy president, while a distinguished literary figure took on the position of "secretary". Membership in some academies could require certain qualifications, such as having published multiple works, or just one if it was a heroic poem, though attendance itself did not have such restrictions. Zaragoza, as the capital of the kingdom of Aragón was, along with Madrid, one of Spain's most important centres of academic activity in the seventeenth century.
At the end of the first part of Don Quixote (1605), Miguel de Cervantes refers to the 'Academia de Argamasilla', in "a place in La Mancha". In all likelihood there was no such academia, but Cervantes' experience of these literary gatherings led him to make derisive reference to a tertulia of people from La Mancha. He also makes more general or specific references to the academias in other, later works, including in "Rinconete y Cortadillo" (Novelas Ejemplares, 1611). Moreover, according to Francisco Márquez Villanueva, Cervantes' Viaje del Parnaso (1614) is a "monumental sarcastic takedown on the pompous aspirations of the academies".
Each gathering would close with a vejamen (lampoon), a satirical piece of prose that was "an integral part of any academy session".
Notable academias in Spain
Academia Imitatoria [Academy of the Art of Imitation] (Madrid, 1584 or c. 1590): Madrid's first academia literaria was mentioned by Juan Rufo in 1596 as imitating the famous Italian academias. Most likely a member of it himself, Cervantes mentions it in his "The Dialogue of the Dogs" (Novelas ejemplares, 1613) as Academia de los Imitadores [Academy of Imitators] and again, this time indirectly, in the second part of Don Quixote (1615).. Sliwa, Krzysztof (2006). Vida de Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, pp. 565-572. Fayetteville State University. Google Books. Retrieved 1 January 2025. Lupercio Leonardo de Argensola, a close friend of Cervantes' was also a member.
Academia de los Nocturnos [Literary Society of the Night Revelers] (Valencia, 4 October 1591 – April 1594): Its ten founding members were Bernardo Catalán (Silencio), Hernando Pretel (Sueño), Gaspar Aguilar (Sombra), Francisco Pacheco (Fiel), Fabián de Cucaló (Horror), Maximiliano Oscuridad (Matías Fajardo) (Temeridad), Francisco D'Esplugues (Descuido), Francisco Agustin Tarrega (Miedo), Miguel Beneyto (Sosiego) and Gaspar de Villalón (Tinieblas). Another forty-five members would join over the course of this academy's existence, including Guillen de Castro (Secreto), Pelegrín Cathalán (Cuydado), Juan Andrés Núñez (Lucero), Hernando de Balda (Cometa), Estacio Gironella, Evaristo Mont, Andrés Rey de Artieda (Cautela), Jaime Orts (Tristeza), Jerónimo de Virués (Estudio), Guillem Belvis, Gaspar Gracián (Peligro), Manuel Ledesma (Recogimiento), Gaspar Mercader (Relámpago), Juan López Maldonado (Sincero). Ferri Coll, José María (1998). "Burlas y chanzas en las academias literarias del Siglo de Oro: Los Nocturnos de Valencia". IN: Florencio Sevilla and Carlos Alvar (eds.): Actas del XIII Congreso de la Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas (1998a), pp. 331–332, 334. Centro Virtual Cervantes. Instituto Cervantes. Retrieved 2 January 2025. Tomás Cerdán de Tallada (Trueno), Juan Fenollet (Temeroso), Escolano (Luz), and Matías Fajardo (Oscuridad). The academy held 88 weekly sessions over its three years of existence, during which its members submitted 805 works in verse and 88 works in prose.. Rodríguez Cachón, Irene (2020). "Temas y motivos de los discursos en prosa de la Academia de Nocturnos de Valencia". Edad de oro, 39, pp. 159–176. ISSN: 0212-0429. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
Academia de los Humildes de Villamanta (21 January 1592): Members included Lupercio Leonardo de Argensola.
Academia de Francisco Pacheco (Seville). Although founded earlier by Juan de Mal Lara, with Fernando de Herrera and the Dean of Seville Cathedral, Francisco Pacheco, by 1597, the painter Francisco Pacheco, nephew of the Dean, had taken over as director.. Soto, Myrna (2005). El arte maestra: un tratado de pintura novohispano, p. 27. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Google Books. Retrieved 6 January 2025. Its gatherings brought together painters, poets and writers such as Francisco de Rioja, Juan de Arguijo, Antonio Ortíz Melgarejo,. Ceán Bermúdez, Juan Agustín (1805). Descripcion artistica de la catedral de Sevilla, p. XXXIV. Google Books. Retrieved 7 January 2025.Luis del Alcázar,. Fernández López, José (2002). Programas iconográficos de la pintura barroca sevillana del siglo XVII, p. 61. Secretariado de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Sevilla. Google Books. Retrieved 7 January 2025. Pablo de Céspedes, Juan de Jáuregui, Francisco de Rioja, Gaspar de Zamora, the Duke of Alcalá de los Gazules, Cervantes, Francisco de Calatayud, Melchor del Alcázar, Baltasar del Alcázar and Juan de la Cueva.
Academia de Ochoa (Seville, c. 1598): Founded by Juan de Ochoa, its members included Cervantes and Lope, who was received by this academia in 1598. Cervantes coincided there with Mateo Alemán, Alonso Álvarez de Soria and Luis Vélez de Guevara.
Academia [de] Saldaña, Academia de Madrid or Academia Castellana (Madrid): Refers to two academias founded by Diego de Sandoval y Rojas, 9th Count of Saldaña, the son of the powerful Duke of Lerma, on two occasions; 1604 and 19 November 1611,. Martínez Hernández, Santiago. "Diego de Sandoval y Rojas de la Cerda". Diccionario Biográfico electrónico (DB~e). Real Academia de la Historia. Retrieved 1 January 2025. although another source states that the academy's first session was held on 15 April 1612, with an inaugural speech by Vélez de Guevara.. Mora Lorenzos, Cristina (2005). "Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616): una biografía madrileña y fortuna de los inmuebles que habitó en la corte". Madrid. Revista de arte, geografía e historia, pp. 25-26, 37, footnote 24. Comunidad de Madrid - Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Retrieved 1 January 2025. Its members included Góngora, Quevedo, Lope, Cervantes, and Luis Vélez de Guevara, secretary to the Count. Among the sources that refer to Cervantes having attending Saldaña's academia is a letter by Lope to the Duke of Sessa, dated 2 March 1612, in which he comments on having had to borrow Cervantes' spectacles ("... which looked like badly fried eggs...")Ríos Castaño, Victoria (2021). "Cervantes and Other Literary Circles". IN: Aaron M. Kahn. The Oxford Handbook of Cervantes, pp. 535–538. OUP. Google Books. Retrieved 3 January 2025. in order to read his own verse at that event, which he refers to, at that time, as having taken place at the "academia de Parnaso", although it would later also be known as the Academia Selvaje.. González, Aurelio (2017). El viaje del parnaso: texto y contexto (1614-2014), footnote 17. Google Books. Retrieved 3 January 2025. Lope himself was the Secretary, albeit for only two weeks, due to the difficulties the role entailed. Other attendees, either as men of letters themselves or as patrons of the Arts, included Andrés de Claramonte, the Duke of Pastrana, Francisco de Borja (Prince Esquilache), Count of Lemos, the Count of Cantillana, Diego Duque de Estrada, and the Count-Duke of Olivares.. Jiménez Belmonte, Javier (2007). Las Obras en Verso del Príncipe de Esquilache: Amateurismo y Conciencia Literaria, pp. 56, 75, 166. Google Books. Retrieved 1 January 2024.Cervantes' Novelas Ejemplares (1611), was dedicated to Pedro Fernández de Castro, Count of Lemos, one of the regular attendees of this academia. Lemos, while viceroy of Naples had been a patron of the Accademia degli Oziosi created there in 1611. Other works Cervantes dedicated to Lemos include the second part of Don Quixote (1615), Persiles, completed just days before he died.. Enciso Alonso-Muñumer, Isabel. "Pedro Fernández de Castro". Diccionario Biográfico electrónico (DB~e).] Real Academia de la Historia. Retrieved 1 January 2025. In January 1612, Lope informed Sessa that sessions were still being held by the Academy and that, although he no longer attended, he still sent, "always", a sonnet dedicated to the Virgin. The academia finally broke up due to the animosity between two opposing factions following a violent row between Pedro Soto de Rojas and Luis Vélez de Guevara. Many of its members then joined the Academia de Parnaso.
Congregación del Santísimo Sacramento [Congregation of the Most Saintly Sacrament] (Madrid, c. 1606): Founded by the Archbishop of Toledo, Bernardo de Sandoval and the Duke of Lerma, its members included Vicente Espinel, Quevedo, Alonso Jerónimo de Salas Barbadillo, Luis Vélez de Guevara and Cervantes, all of whom also attended the Academia de Saldaña.
Academia de Pítima (full name: Pítima contra la ociosidad, Aragón, 9 June – 30 August 1608): Founded under the patronage of Count of Guimerà.Ferri Coll, José María (2021). "La sociabilidad en una academia literaria. El caso de los Nocturnos de Valencia...". Philobiblion: Revista de Literaturas Hispánicas, 14, pp. 24, 31–32. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Retrieved 5 January 2025. The Biblioteca Nacional de España has the statutes, minutes, and many of the compositions of this academy preserved in MS. 9396.
Academia de Huesca (Aragón, August 1610 – 20 July 1611). Its members included Justo de Torres, Jorge Salinas, Juan Miguel de Luna and Bartolomé Santolaria.
Academia de Parnaso, later renamed Academia Salvaje or Academia Madrileña (Madrid, February April 1612 – summer 1614): Founded by Francisco de Silva,. Egido, Aurora (1984) . "Una introducción a la poesía y a las Academias Literarias del siglo XVII", Estudios Humanísticos. Filología, pp. 13–15, 22. Universidad de León. Retrieved 1 January 2025. its members included Cervantes, Luis Vélez de Guevara, Alonso de Salas Barbadillo, Lope, Quevedo, Góngora. In February 1612, Lope, in one of his regular letters to the Duke of Sessa, mentioned the opening of the Academia del Parnaso at Francisco de Silva's home, adding that "there were no nobles present; they must not yet know of it; it will last until they do". Martínez Hernández, Santiago. Cuadernos de Historia Moderna. 2010, vol. 35, 35-67, pp. 55–56. Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
Academia de Montañeses del Parnaso (Valencia, 1616): founded by Guillén de Castro, members included Juan Yagüe de Salas.