Las armas y las letras

Las armas y las letras ("the weapons and the letters"), also known by the synecdoche of la pluma y la espada ("the pen and the sword"),^[1] is philosophical and literary motif of the Spanish Golden Age. Originated in the Renaissance school of humanism and rooted in Classical antiquity, it reflects the union of military and intellectual life, either balanced or in subordination from one to the other.

This motif would define much of the spirit of the imperial Spain of the 16th and 17th centuries, in quick global expansion due to the Age of Discovery, thriving in multiple fields of knowledge and militarily successful in both Europe and America.^[2] Due to the optimism caused by these successes, contemporaneous currents of thought sought inspiration in the glory and values of Ancient Greece and Rome, among them the idiom fortitudo et sapientia (Latin for "strength and wisdom"),^[1] the union of warlike and philosophical life, which had been mostly antagonistic up to the point.^[3] Spanish culture examined this motif in deep through the role of many soldier-writers like Garcilaso de la Vega, Cervantes, Lope de Vega and Calderón de la Barca.^[4]

Weapons and letters were reflected too in Spanish Renaissance art, features painters like Titian and sculpters like Leone Leoni, who added to the age's anthropocentrism by vesting the human figure in the distinct attributes of Apollo and Mars from Roman mythology.^[3] The passion for the pen and the sword influenced the foreign concept of Spaniards, depicting them as Quixotic, dedicated to defend virtue and law by the force of weapons, heroically but often at the expense of practical convenience.^[2][5]

Weapons and letters were, along with religious life, the two main ways to ascend socially in 15-17th century Spain, especially for nobility and hidalgos, who found no equivalent esteem in artesany, commerce or other jobs. The quick expansion of the Spanish Empire also required a stable source of men of letters and administrators, often common people, which forced their entry in the court.^[5][6] It was therefore considered that the weapons and sciences ennobled commoneers and validated noblemen.^[4]

War itself changed heavily with the transition from the Middle Ages to the early modern period. Leaving behind many noble or knightly ideals, Renaissance armies broke the aristocratic monopoly and gave passage for many common people,^[7] often mercenaries or condottieros fighting for an income, employing techniques based on cold calculation like artillery and firearms, which displaced elements like personal valor.^[8] This coincided with the end of the Reconquista in Spain with the conquest of Granada, reducing the aristocracy's chances to earn glory in battle, yet at the same time allowing them time to cultivate intellectual disciplines.^[7] Knowledge became another obligatory field of nobility.^[9]

As a result, science and stdies became a newfound bridge to personal glory in Golden Age Spain, at the same level as warrior feats, and through them the man of letters ascended to the level of the hidalgo.^[6] However, Spanish culture of honor continued differenciating between them. Men consecrated to intellectual matters were not expected to be challenged to duels of weapons, nor were they expected to accept such challenges, while the opposite was true for men dedicated exclusively to the weapons in the legal context.^[10]

• The pen is mightier than the sword
• Mens sana in corpore sano
• Humanism

• Arellano, Ignacio (2009). Autoridad y poder en el Siglo de Oro. Universidad de Navarra. ISBN 9788484894704.
• Romojaro, Rosa (1998). Funciones del mito clásico en el siglo de oro: Garcilaso, Góngora, Lope de Vega, Quevedo. Anthropos. ISBN 9788476585450.
• Strosetzki, Christoph (1996). La literatura como profesión: en torno a la autoconcepción de la existencia erudita literaria en el Siglo de Oro español. Reichenberg. ISBN 9783930700929.