Friar Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro

Background

Friar Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro was born at Ourense, Spain on October 8, 1676.

Career

Friar was a Benedictine monk and from 1699 to 1739 devoted himself to teaching first philosophy and later theology.

Between 1726 and 1739 he published his Teatro críticocritico universal, a series of articles and essays. In 1742 appeared the first volume of the Cartas eruditas, a series completed in 1760. The subject matter of these two series is extremely varied and ranges from a Defense of Women and a Study of the Remedies for Memory, to an Intellectual Map and Comparison of Nations.

Like Addison and many other of his contemporaries, Feijóo was imbued with the attitude of a spectator and he turned his critical attention to the customs, beliefs, ideas, and superstitions of his time. Such a storm of refutations and polemics was provoked upon the publication of his criticisms that Ferdinand VI, an admirer of Feijóo, Feijoo, issued a special royal decree in 1750, prohibiting further attacks on the author. Feijóo'sFeijoo's writings had a great influence in Spain and in Spanish America.

In the history of Hispanic literature and thought, he was among the first to emancipate himself from the past in favor of the contemporary world. Characteristically he broke away from the traditional Spanish attitude toward science and even went so far as to praise Francis Bacon. Thus Feijóo marked a turning point in the history of Spanish thought. The new thought required a new style for its expression.

Feijóo wrote clearly and neatly; avoiding the elaborate rhetoric of his immediate predecessors, he returned to the tradition of such writers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as Pérez de Guzmán, Hernán Pérez de Oliva, and Juan de Valdés.

Many critics have considered Freijóo as merely a follower of French ideas, but he is authentically Spanish. Although he was deeply influenced by French culture, like most of his contemporaries, his apologetic writings in behalf of Spain were extensive, and in all Spanish literature there is scarcely a tract of this description that exceeds in fervor his Glories of Spain.

Also, he was much more than a critic and scholar. In aesthetic ideas he may be considered a forerunner of the Romantic period. His influence was deeply felt among those Spanish-American thinkers who intellectually shaped the movement for independence.

Feijóo belongs to the Hispanic world and is one of its important eighteenth-century figures.

Achievements

• Friar was noted for encouraging scientific and empirical thought in an effort to debunk myths and superstitions.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Teatro crítico universal (Spanish Edition)

    (Teatro crítico universal Benito Jerónimo Feijoo, ensayist...)

Connections

Father:

Antonio Feijoo Montenegro y Sanjurjo

Mother:

María de Puga Sandoval Novoa y Feijoo