Library of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial

The Library of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial (Spanish: Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial), also known as the Escurialense or the Laurentina, is a large Spanish Renaissance library founded by Philip II, located in San Lorenzo de El Escorial and part of the heritage of the monastery of El Escorial.

Motivation

The main reasons for Philip II's idea of establishing a grand library in Spain were the following:

the humanist character of the king himself, a person with a strong intellectual formation, as well as a great bibliophile, who saw the impulse to build a library as natural. More recent historiography has coined the term Librería Rica (Rich Library) to refer to the private library of Philip II, which has been considered the embryo of the Escurialense or, at least, a great contribution to the funds of the latter. the context of humanism, a characteristic cultural movement of the Renaissance, which entailed the constant promotion of every intellectual activity. the need to establish the court in a fixed location. the work of the monarch's advisors, many of them were humanists who, with Benito Arias Montano at their head, marked the course of Spanish culture at that time. All of them were avid readers and bibliophiles, so they willingly advised the king on the policy he should carry out if he wanted to build a proper library.MUÑOZ COSME, A., Los espacios..., p. 91.

Formation process The creation of a grand library in Spain had been in Philip II's mind since 1556, but the "transhumant character" of the Spanish Court delayed the project.DE ANDRÉS, G., Real Biblioteca..., p. 9. Around that time, the king told some of his advisors, such as Páez de Castro, to gather books for a royal library.

As the court already established in Madrid, the royal decision to choose San Lorenzo de El Escorial in 1559 as the construction site was a controversial decision that went against the indications of his advisors, who were in favor of places such as Salamanca, since it had a university tradition and therefore a greater interest, on a general level, in books. In addition, the remoteness of the place with respect to the university centers par excellence of the time, such as Salamanca or Valladolid, was considered another problem.

The first books began to arrive in 1565. The first acquisitions corresponded to 42 duplicates of books that were already in the palace.

In 1566, a second consignment of books arrived, among which were works of great value such as the Codex Aureus, the Figurated Apocalypse or, perhaps the most important, a De baptismo parvulorum, by Saint Augustine, supposedly written in his own handwriting.

Over the next two years, the collection surpassed the thousand-volume mark due to the contributions of advisors such as the bishop of Osma, Honorato Juan. At that point, the library was a reality, and Philip II met with leading representatives of all kinds of disciplines to seek advice on the acquisition of copies. The tendency in those years was to acquire originals and antique volumes, since, according to the criteria of the time, this was what made a library "advantaged over others".

Historical background

Philip II

In 1571, part of the library of Gonzalo Pérez, one of the king's advisors, who had died five years earlier, was acquired after negotiations with his son.DE ANDRÉS, G., Real Biblioteca..., p. 11. This involved 57 Greek manuscripts from Sicily and 112 Latin manuscripts from the library of the Duke of Calabria. That same year another of the royal secretaries, Juan Páez de Castro, died, and part of his library was purchased from his heirs. A total of 315 volumes were acquired, mainly of Greek and Arabic origin.

Since the Escurialense was at that time an institution of great prestige, the figure of the ambassadors arose, who were sent everywhere with instructions and purchasing power for the acquisition of numerous copies. In consequence, purchases were made from cathedral archives and monastic bookstores in national territory, while in major European cities there were emissaries in charge of acquiring renowned works. The work of the emissaries abroad was coordinated with that of the librarian/commissioner, since the latter was in charge of ordering and classifying the pieces that arrived at the library of El Escorial. One of the most valuable collections to arrive at the library was that of Greek manuscripts and Latin codices compiled by Diego Guzmán de Silva during his stay as ambassador in Venice (1569–1577).Anonymous. Catálogo de Los Códices Latinos de La Real Biblioteca Del Escorial. BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2009. , pp. 22–23

In 1576 an inventory was made that collected 4546 volumes, including manuscripts (around 2000) and printed books (approximately 2500). That same year the library of Diego Hurtado de Mendoza was acquired, considered the most important in Spain.DE ANDRÉS, G., Real Biblioteca..., p. 12. This involved more than 850 codices and 1000 printed volumes, most of them acquired in a commercial enclave for books par excellence at that time: Italy.

At that time the volume of the library was so large that it required the collaboration of Benito Arias Montano, who needed about ten months to catalog the works, arranging them according to their language.

In the early 1580s, the Escurialense acquired works of great importance. The first example was donated by the lord of Soria, Jorge Beteta: a codex of the Visigothic Councils dating from the 9th century.DE ANDRÉS, G., Real Biblioteca..., p. 13. In addition, around 500 printed works were obtained from the library of Pedro Fajardo, Marquis of Los Vélez. On the other hand, books belonging to Isabella the Catholic were taken from the Royal Chapel of Granada, many of them of great beauty. Some, such as the Books of hours, are even sold today in facsimile reproductions due to their visual splendor.

The last decade of that century began with the purchase of the library of the canonist Antonio Agustín, one of the most extensive in Spain. Not all of his works reached San Lorenzo, as some went to the Vatican Library, but around a thousand copies reached the Royal Library of El Escorial.

Other Habsburgs

The 16th century concluded with the death of Philip II in 1598, who before his departure established a pension for the library so that it could continue to have a budget for acquiring books.

His successor, Philip III, continued this policy by enacting a privilege whereby the Escurialense would receive a copy of each published book at no cost.DE ANDRÉS, G., Real Biblioteca..., p. 14. As for the increase in the catalog after Philip II, the dynamic continued to be upward. Arias Montano donated series of works, including some Hebrew codices, while Luis Fajardo seized a large number of Arabic codices in 1612 from Sultan Muley Zidan.

The Royal Library of El Escorial continued to grow throughout the 17th century and became a true symbol not only of the Habsburg monarchy, but also of the country itself. In fact, Philip IV personally arranged for the arrival of no less than 1000 manuscripts around 1656, most of them from the library of his illustrious valide, the Count-Duke of Olivares, who had copies from various monastic and cathedral libraries.DE ANDRÉS, G., Real Biblioteca..., p. 15.

The fire On 7 June 1671, there was a massive fire that caused great losses to the Library and to the Monastery as a whole. Although, according to the sources, the human effort to suffocate the flames was enormous, this did not prevent the loss of more than 4000 codices in all languages, originals and copies. Among the most important losses, which were many, were the Visigothic Councils, as well as the Natural History of the Indies – a 19 volume work by Francisco Hernández de Toledo.

During the fire, the procedure to save books was simply to remove as many as possible. Once the fire was extinguished, the codices remained piled up in the same room, and remained in disorganized for about half a century without anyone deciding to put an end to this disorder. Finally, in 1725, Father Antonio de San José was appointed as librarian, who spent a quarter of a century reordering, reclassifying and re-cataloguing all the volumes. In total, the new inventory provided the amount of 4500 copies as the list of items that survived the fire.DE ANDRÉS, G., Real Biblioteca..., p. 16.

The 18th century: a change of tendency With Charles III there was a complete change of tendency, perhaps due to the "before and after" caused by the fire of 1671. Whereas in the past the predominant idea was to accumulate works to enrich the Library, the 18th century society thought of extrapolating works from the Escurialense to enlarge its collection.DE ANDRÉS, G., Real Biblioteca..., p. 17. In other words, the intellectuals of the time wished to disseminate the manuscripts found in San Lorenzo de El Escorial. Thus, catalogs were published on the collections so that the learned scholars would be aware of the volumes found there.

The 19th century

The French invasion of 1808 constituted a danger for the institution -not for the works- comparable to the great fire, as there was a risk of a great diaspora of the volumes due to the fact that the French government ordered the transfer of the funds to France. This task was entrusted to José Antonio Conde, a supposed Frenchman who did not display such an attitude, since during the French occupation he hid the works in the convent of La Trinidad in Madrid.

However, in 1814 Ferdinand VII decreed that the works be returned to their original location, but many were stolen and lost in the transfer. Among the works that were no longer in the Escurialense were the Cancionero de Baena -purchased by the French government at auction-, the Codex Borbonicus -also acquired by the French- and two Greek Gospel books now in the British Museum and the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City. Thus, when an inventory was made in 1839, 20 manuscripts and 1608 printed copies were missing.

From the middle of the 19th century there were constant changes in the selected people in charge of the library. In 1837, the management of the Escurialense passed into the hands of the Royal Academy of History. Until then it had been managed by the Hieronymite community, but the Queen Governor decreed its extinction. However, although a scholar was at the head of the Laurentina, the actual management was carried by ex-hieronomists such as Gregorio Sánchez or José Quevedo. In 1848 the Royal Academy of History concluded its work, passing into the hands of the Royal House. Once again there was a superficial transformation, since despite the change of organization, the position of librarian continued to be held by the ex-hieronomist José Quevedo.DE ANDRÉS, G., Real Biblioteca..., p. 18.

The period of change did not mean, as might be expected, a stagnation in the development of the library. During those decades, much more exhaustive inventories were carried out, as well as beautiful rebindings. The acquisition of new volumes was not such in terms of novelties, but the main work was the recovery of works that were stolen or simply borrowed. Nonetheless, changes continued to take place.

During 1854, the library returned to the Hieronymites, as the order was restored for a short period of time. Management during this time was somewhat disastrous, as the work Descripción del Escorial by Juan de Herrera was sold for a small sum. Nevertheless, 106 printed works from Valladolid were recovered. In this period there was a fire, on the night of 1 to 2 October 1872, which, although not comparable to that of 1671, brought back old ghosts and caused some damage.

Current state