Martín de Azpilcueta | |
|---|---|
_Portretten_van_beroemde_geleerden_(serietitel)_Imagines_L._Doctorum_Virorum_(serietitel)%2c_RP-P-1909-1062.jpg) Martín de Azpilcueta | |
| Born | 13 December 1491 |
| Died | 1 June 1586 |
| Philosophical work | |
| Era | Renaissance philosophy |
| Region | |
| School | Thomism School of Salamanca |
| Main interests | |
| Notable ideas | Quantity theory of money |
Martín de Azpilcueta (Azpilkueta in Basque)[1] (13 December 1492 – 1 June 1586), orDoctor Navarrus, was a Navarresecanonist,theologian andeconomist.
Renowned in his time, he was the first to formulate thequantity theory of money in 1556 and was withFrancisco de Vitoria andDomingo de Soto one of the main thinkers of theSchool of Salamanca in relation to law and economics.
Born inBarásoain in a noble family ofNavarre, Martín de Azpilcueta was a relative ofFrancis Xavier. In 1508, he was amongst the rare students accepted in the newColegio Mayor de San Ildefonso, founded by thecardinal Cisneros.[2]
After his obtention of degrees inphilosophy andtheology atAlcalá,[3] then for political reasons[4] he fled to France in 1516 to study at theuniversity of Toulouse[5] and obtained a degree of doctor in civil andcanon law in 1518.[6]
Beginning in 1524, Azpilcueta served in several canon law chairs at the University of Salamanca. He got the chair ofDecretum in 1532[7] and then obtained the first chair of canon law in 1537, when he taught toDiego de Covarrubias and Arias Piñel.[7]
At the invitation ofCharles V of Spain andJohn III of Portugal,[6] he taught atCoimbra University inPortugal from 1538 to 1555.[2] There he became friendly withHenry, future king of Portugal.[2]
Back to Spain in 1555, he was charged byPhilip II of Spain to defend his friendBartolomé Carranza,Archbishop of Toledo, accused before the Tribunal of the Inquisition. At the age of eighty, he went toRome to followed the process. Though he failed to exculpate the Archbishop, Azpilcueta was highly honoured at Rome by several popes, and was looked on as an oracle of learning and prudence. His humility, disinterestedness, and charity were proverbial. thepope Pius V made him counsellor of theApostolic Penitentiary and tried, without success, to make him a cardinal.[8]
Azpilcueta died in Rome at the age of 94.[6] He is buried in thenational Church of San Antonio de' Portoghesi. Among other lives of Azpilcueta there is one by his nephew, prefixed to the Roman edition of his works.
In this work, Azpilcueta argued that the use of "money in exchanges is not unnatural," asAristotle had claimed, and "put money on the same level as any other merchandise, and, consequently, established that the morality of exchanges did not depend on money as their object but on an equitable exchange".[9] Then he legitimated the practice ofinterest against the catholic prohibition ofusury.
Congitating about the effects of gold and silver arrivals from theSpanish Empire, Azpilcueta independently formulated thequantity theory of money in 1556.[10][11] He also allegedly invented the mathematical concept of thetime value of money.[12]
In his work on the revenues of benefices, dedicated toPhilip II of Spain andPope Pius V, he maintained that beneficed clergymen were free to expend the fruits of their benefices only for their own necessary support and that of the poor.
HisManual de confesores y penitentes (1549), originally written in Spanish, was enormously influential in the fields of canon law and ethics, and by the first quarter of the seventeenth century, it had gone through 81 editions.[6] TheManual made an important step in the development ofmoral theology as its own discipline.[13] One of the four appendices Azpilcueta wrote for theManual, addressing exchange, supply and demand, and money, has recently been translated into English and published asOn Exchange (2014).[14]
He formulated a basic form of the principle of contractual consensualim, which was later elaborated upon by other members of theSchool of Salamanca likeLeonardus Lessius andPedro de Oñate [fr].[15]
Azpilcueta cogitated also on the concepts of commutative justice,just price and fairness in exchange: with a large interpretation of the principe oflaesio and of theseventh Commandment, he considered that contracts doesn't be burdens for a party and that any violation of the equity can be take to ecclesiastical courts.[16]
In the face of use by the reformed Church of natural languages in their liturgy and divulgation, theCatholic Counter-Reformation reacted by hanging onto Latin. On the other hand, Azpilcueta supported the use of vernaculars in his 1545Commento en Romance released inCoimbra, writing down the prayers Our Father, Hail Mary, and Creed both inLatin and Romance, i.e.Castilian, coming up against the opposition of the defenders of the Latin tradition.[17]
Later, he had to explain in his 1586Miscellaneum centum that vernaculars had been used before, as approved by bishops and inquisitors, citing "a pious and knowledgeableCantabrian", referring to Sancho de Elso fromEstella, who had usedBasque in different prayers. He partially put down the unfamiliarity of "the rustic dwellers and highlanders" with the Christian teachings to the use of Latin, "instead of their native language, learning them by heart".[17]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Martin Aspilcueta".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.