Francisco de Enzinas, a Reformation-minded Humanist with a Vernacular Dream: A Spanish Translation of Scripture

One of the main issues in the sixteenth century debates in Western Europe was the question of whether it was permissible, or even desirable, that the laity read the Bible in the vernacular and of whether the Bible might be translated into various national languages. Also in Spain, where the humanistic ideas of Desiderius Erasmus received much support, consideration was given to this question. Several young Spaniards left their homeland and went to the Low Countries, inspired by Erasmus' ideas. One of them was the young and many-sided humanist Francisco de Enzinas, who cherished one dream above all, namely to provide his people with a Spanish translation of Scripture. In his brief, but eventful life, during which he finally admitted his allegiance to Reformation, he was only able to publish a translation of the New Testament and of some books of the Old Testament. Nevertheless, Enzinas presented himself as a convinced advocate of vernacular Bible translation. In this article we provide an overview of Enzinas' life, focusing on the realisation of El Nuevo Testamento. Thereafter we counter his assertion that he was responsible for the very first Spanish translation of the New Testament. We consequently analyse his translation of the New Testament. In conclusion, we discuss the reformation-minded bias of his translation.status: publishe