Abstract

“… it is all the more dangerous to know them”. The Controversial Reception of Florentine Renaissance Platonism by Spanish Humanists (1486 – c. 1530)

Florentine Renaissance Platonism represented syncretistic, eclectic philosophical thinking, which provided humanists a useful justification for their dedication to pagan philosophy and mythological poetry; furthermore it also challenged the authority of the Catholic Church. So far it is unknown how Florentine Platonism came to Spain and was received by the Spaniards, although it is presumed that it had a strong influence on Spanish Golden Age Poetry and Mystic. Towards the end of the 15th century, works of Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola had already been circulated in Spain and were discussed amongst scholars. Humanist teaching at universities and Latin schools provided the environment for the diffusion of these texts. However, the influence of Neo-Platonist thinking did not happen without controversy. At the court of the Catholic Kings, humanists such as Pietro Martire d'Anghiera had to defend their Platonism against orthodox clerics. This controversy was not only about the implementation of mythological writings in the classroom by humanist teachers, but mainly about the authority of theology to interpret religious truth.