Martín Sarmiento

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Martín Sarmiento
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Friar Martín Sarmiento. Engraving by Francisco Muntaner after Isidro Carnicero, 1774.
Born
Pedro José García Balboa

(1695-03-09)March 9, 1695
Villafranca del Bierzo, León
DiedDecember 7, 1772(1772-12-07) (aged 77)
Madrid
OccupationsWriter and scholar

Martín Sarmiento or Father Sarmiento, Pedro José García Balboa (Villafranca del Bierzo, March 9, 1695 – Madrid, December 7, 1772), was a Spanish Benedictine writer and scholar of the Enlightenment.

One author argued for his origin in Pontevedra (Álvarez Giménez, 1884), but according to most (Álvarez, 2002; Allegue, 1993; Avalle, 1773; Costa, 2002; Filgueira, 1994; López Peláez, 1895; Monteagudo, 2002; Pardo de Guevara, 2002; Pensado, 1973; Reguera, 2006; Santos, 2002) he was born in the Bierzo town of Villafranca del Bierzo, in the present-day Province of León, Castile and León. Recently, a researcher has posited that Sarmiento was a native of San Juan de Cerdedo (Province of Pontevedra, Galicia).[1]

Biography

At seven months of age he moved with his family to Pontevedra, where he spent his childhood and part of his youth. On May 3, 1710, at fifteen years of age, he went to Madrid to take the habit at the Monastery of San Martín in that city, thereby entering the Benedictine Order. Shortly afterward he changed his baptismal name, Pedro, to Martín, and some time later he took his mother's second surname. He studied Arts and Philosophy at the monastery his order had in Irache. He then went to the University of Salamanca in order to study Theology.

Having finished his studies, he became a teacher at several monasteries of the Benedictine order, such as San Pedro de Eslonza (León), Celorio (Asturias) and in Oviedo in May 1723, where he settled in the same convent in which Father Benito Jerónimo Feijoo resided. Sarmiento, who deeply admired Feijoo, regarded as a sage throughout Europe, became part of the group of people with whom he was close. In June 1725, at 30 years of age, Sarmiento returned to Galicia. After a brief stay in Pontevedra, he bade farewell to his mother and settled permanently in Madrid, a residence interrupted only between February 1726 and May 1727, when he moved to Toledo to catalog the books of the cathedral,[2] and by the rare visits he made to Galicia (after his departure in 1710 he returned only three times).

At 35 years of age a great interest in language reawakened in him, since he was convinced that people did not know many of the meanings of the words they used. He felt great curiosity about languages in general, especially the Romance ones, but above all about Castilian and Galician. Sarmiento thought that Galician should be taught in schools and that priests should know it in order to be able to hear the confessions of their parishioners.

In 1745 he returned to Galicia. On this journey he noted down in a notebook the names of the places he passed through. He liked to investigate the etymology of the Galician words he heard. He wrote a book in Galician titled Coloquio de veinticatro galegos rústicos, thanks to which we know the Galician that was spoken in his time. It consists of 1,200 coplas placed in the mouths of a group of Galicians returning from Madrid, who recount how King Philip V died and describe the festivities for the accession to the throne of Ferdinand VI.

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Coloquio en mil duascentas coplas galegas, a work also known under other titles, such as Colección de voces y frases gallegas or Coloquio de veinticuatro gallegos rústicos.

Sarmiento was interested not only in linguistics but in other disciplines such as botany and medicine; he had detailed knowledge of the names of plants and their healthful properties. He was a man very concerned with improving the technical and economic level of his country, very much in line with the thought of the Enlightenment. His great erudition in the most diverse fields led to his being entrusted with the iconographic program that was to decorate the Royal Palace of Madrid, then under construction. For the palace Sarmiento designed an ambitious allegory of the history of the Spanish monarchy, which because of its complexity was only partly carried out.

Together with Feijoo, he fought superstition and ignorance, proposing the founding of libraries in towns. He himself came to own one of the most important libraries in the Spain of his time. Unlike his master Feijoo, Sarmiento understood that it was necessary to know, recover and safeguard traditions and popular culture. In this he was a great precursor and contributed decisively to the research and recovery of Galician culture.

He died at the Convent of San Martín in Madrid on December 7, 1772, at 77 years of age.

In defense of his fellow member of the order and friend Father Feijoo, he published in 1732 two volumes of a Demostración críticoapologética del Theatro Crítico Universal. The rest of his numerous works, the fruit of a great capacity for work, nevertheless remained unpublished. His friend the Duke of Medina Sidonia gathered the Benedictine's manuscript works into seventeen volumes, and in 1775 the publication of his Obras póstumas began, although it did not go beyond the first volume, which comprises the Memorias para la Historia de la poesía y poetas españoles, a curious book full of insights. In 1787 the Disertación sobre las virtudes maravillosas y uso de la planta llamada carqueixa was published in Madrid. Other opuscules by Father Sarmiento have appeared sporadically, individually at different times or in journals, but most of his work remains unpublished.

The Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid was created at Sarmiento's urging. Since 1743 he had been calling for the creation of public libraries and botanical gardens in various Spanish cities, in the style of those emerging in the Europe of the time, as well as the establishment of Academies and the endowment of university chairs of Natural History, Agriculture and Botany.

Friar Martín Sarmiento was a man ahead of his time. Apart from his works related to botany and the natural sciences, he carried out a very important work of analysis of the Galician language. The Galician Literature Day was dedicated to him in 2002.

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Instituto Padre Sarmiento de Estudos Galegos, in Santiago de Compostela.

In 1944 the Instituto Padre Sarmiento de Estudos Galegos was founded, with the purpose of being a continuation of the Seminario de Estudos Galegos. This institute currently hosts exhibitions, publications and research work in the fields of the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Works available online

Other published works

  • “Aprobación” of the Ilustración Apologética by Feijoo, Madrid, 1729
  • Planta curiosa sobre entablar los estudios en la Orden Benedictina de España (1729), edited by José Santos, in Témpora, 2nd series, 1, (1997), 255-305, La Laguna
  • Cartas sobre el estado de la religión benedictina y pago del 8 % (1743), published by Eduardo Llanos under the title Manifiesto del Recibo de Rentas de los Monasterios de la Religión de San Benito, in Conferencias científico-religiosas predi-cadas en Barcelona, Santiago, 1879.
  • Viaje a Galicia (1745), edition and study by José Luis Pensado, Salamanca, 1975
  • Catálogo de voces y frases de la lengua gallega (1745-55), edited by José Luis Pensado under that title, Salamanca, 1973
  • Coplas gallegas y Glosario (1746-..) The coplas have been edited on quite a few occasions. The most recent by Xosé L. Axeitos, La Coruña, 1982, and Ramón Mariño Paz, Santiago, 1995. The best edition, which also incorporates the Glosario, is that of José Luis Pensado, Colección de voces y frases gallegas, Salamanca, 1970. There is a facsimile and digitized edition produced in 2002 by H. Monteagudo
  • Cartas al Duque de Medinasidonia (1747-1770), ed. by José Santos, Ponferrada, 1995. Some were published in the Semanario Erudito of Valladares, VI, 1787, 201-215, and others in the Epistolario produced by Filgueira Valverde and Fortes Allén.
  • Sistema de adornos ... para el nuevo Palacio Real (1743-47), published in large part by Sánchez Cantón in Opúsculos gallegos sobre bellas artes de los siglos XVII y XVIII, Santiago, 1956, pp. 151-252.
  • De las utilidades que se seguirán si se compone el antiguo camino de carros desde el Rivero de Avia hasta Pontevedra (1751), published in installments in Galicia, Revista Universal de este Reino, between January 1 and December 1, 1862.
  • Plano de un nuevo y fácil método para recoger infinitos materiales para una general descripción geográfica y completa de toda la Península y toda la América (1751), published by Pensado, Sarmiento. Escritos geográficos, Santiago, 1996
  • Notas al privilegio de Ordoño II (1752). An extensive selection has been edited in an appendix to the work of Mª A. GALINO, Feijoo, Sarmiento y Jovellanos, tres hombres y un problema ante la educación moderna, Madrid, 1953. sobre Archiveros.pdf Digital edition produced by the Museo de la Educación de La Laguna[dead link]
  • Catálogo de voces vulgares y en especial de voces de diferentes vegetables (1754-55), published by José Luis Pensado, Salamanca, 1986
  • Viaje a Galicia de Fr. Martín Sarmiento (1754-1755), edition and notes by Sánchez Cantón and Pita Andrade, Santiago, 1950.
  • Sobre el Origen de la Lengua Gallega y sobre la Paleografía española (1755), a letter to Terreros published on several occasions, most recently by J.L. Pensado in Opúsculos lingüísticos gallegos del s. XVIII, Vigo, 1974
  • Sobre el chasco que se da a los gallegos en la Cruz de Ferro. Although it is undated, it is from 1756, as shown by Pensado, who has published it in Escritos sobre el Meco y la Cruz de Ferro, Salamanca, 1992.
  • Sobre los vegetables kali, sosa y la barrilla (1756), edited in installments in Galicia Revista Universal de este Reino in several issues of the year 1862.
  • De los atunes y de sus transmigraciones (1757), published by José Luis Pensado, Salamanca, 1992. There is a facsimile edition by López Capont in La faceta pesquera del P. Sarmiento y su época, Pontevedra, 1997.
  • Sobre el chasco del meco (1757). Published by J.L. Pensado, under the title Confirmación de que el origen de la fábula del Meco y del chasco nació fuera de Galicia, in Escritos sobre el Meco y la Cruz de Ferro, Salamanca, 1992.
  • Mostayo, en castellano, en León, Asturias y Bierzo mostayo, en Liébana mostazo (1757), edited by J.L. Pensado in Cuadernos de Estudios Gallegos, volume XXXIII, 1982, pp. 449 ff.
  • Sobre los castellanos de Orense (1758), edited in the Boletín de la Comisión de Monumentos de Orense, volume XI, 1938. And more recently by García Pardo, Grial, 26, (1969), 413-420.
  • Etimología de la voz Valdeorras y de su puente Cigarrosa (1758), published by Antolín López Peláez in La Región gallega, Lugo, 1897.
  • Ir a la guerra, navegar, y casar, no se puede aconsejar (1758), published at the press of Andrés Ramírez, Madrid, 1788
  • Onomástico etimológico de la lengua gallega (1758-69). It was published in a rather defective and now extremely rare edition by Lago, in Tuy, 1923. There is a modern edition produced by José Luis Pensado, Fundación Barrié de la Maza, La Coruña, 1999.
  • Geografía de las cuatro vías militares que salían de Braga a Astorga (1759), was edited, based on the copy of the Academia de la Historia, under the title Estradas militares romanas de Braga a Astorga, Lisbon, 1901, and by Díez Sanjurjo under the title Los caminos antiguos y el itinerario n.º 18 de Antonino en la Provincia de Orense. P. Sarmiento, vía 3ª militar romana desde Braga a Astorga por los pueblos cuaquernos, Boletín de la Comisión de Monumentos de Orense, various issues and pages (from no. 56 of 1907 to no. 63, of 1908).
  • Disertación sobre las eficaces virtudes y uso de la planta llamada carqueixa (1759), Imprenta de Hilario Santos, Madrid, 1786, reprinted Madrid, 1787. And in Opúsculos médicos gallegos del siglo XVIII, Santiago, 1961. Incomplete and not very rigorous editions.
  • Noticia de la Verdadera patria (Alcalá) de El Miguel de Cervantes (1761), edited in 1898 by Librería de Verdaguer of Barcelona, and more recently by J. Luis Pensado, Santiago, 1987.
  • Tiempo de marras (1761), edited by J.L. Pensado in Noticia de la Verdadera patria (Alcalá) de El Miguel de Cervantes, cited above.
  • Sobre el origen de las bubas (1761), incomplete and defective edition, Antigüedad de las bubas, extracto, press of Don Blas Román, Madrid, 1787.
  • Sobre el origen del nombre Samanos (1761), edited by Antolín López Peláez in El Monasterio de Samos, Lugo, 1884.
  • Problema Chorográfico para describir Galicia con un nuevo método (1762), edited by José Luis Pensado in Fray Martín Sarmiento. Escritos geográficos, Santiago 1996.
  • La Educación de los niños, edited on several occasions, is a fragment of the 660 pliegos.
  • La Pantómetra del P. Sarmiento, a fragment of the Obra de 660 pliegos, edited by José Luis Basanta Campos, A Coruña, 1991
  • Nacimiento y crianza de San Fernando en Galicia, a fragment of the Obra de 660 pliegos published by Juan Manuel Bedoya, Orense, 1849
  • Sobre un grande espejo de piedra durísima y cristalina que vino de América. Piedra negra de la América llamada gallinaza, also known as discurso sobre la singularísima piedra negra del ara de Lugo (1766), edited by Antolín López Peláez under the title Las aras de la catedral de Lugo, discurso inédito del P. Sarmiento, Lugo, 1892
  • Elementos Etimológicos, siguiendo el método de Euclides, y sobre el origen de las lenguas (1766) was edited by Julián Paz in the Boletín de la Real Academia Española, under the title Escritos filológicos (volume XV, 1928, pp. 22-38; volume XVI, 1929, pp. 244-255 and 366-382; volume XVII, 1930, pp. 275-290, 571-592 and 721-742; volume XVIII, 1931, pp. 118-135). There are two modern editions, the facsimile by Pilar Allegue, Universidad de Vigo, 1997, and that of José Luis Pensado, Fundación Pedro Barrié de La Maza, La Coruña, 1998.
  • Sobre métodos de estudios de San Isidro (1769), edition by José Santos, “El último texto educativo de Sarmiento, Sobre el método de estudios de San Isidro de Madrid”, Cuadernos de Estudios del S.XVIII, no. 6-7 (1998), 207-238.
  • Discurso apologético por el arte de rastrear las etimologías de las lenguas vulgares (1770), edited by José Luis Pensado in Boletín de la Real Academia Gallega XXXI, 1971-72
  • Epistolario, disposto por Filgueira Valverde y Fortes Alén, Santiago, 1995

References

Works cited

  • Álvarez Giménez, Emilio (1884). Biografía del R. P. Fray Martín Sarmiento y noticia de sus obras impresas y manuscritas. Pontevedra: Imprenta de José Millán.
  • Álvarez Lires, María (2002). Sarmiento, científico da segunda Ilustración. Santiago: Universidad de Santiago
  • Allegue Aguete, Pilar (1993). A filosofía ilustrada de fr. Martín Sarmiento. Vigo: Xerais.
  • Avalle, Anselmo (1773). Oración Fúnebre que el M.R.P.M. fray Anselmo Avalle dixo (...) a la buena memoria de fr. Martín Sarmiento. Madrid: Pérez de Soto.
  • Costa Rico, Antón (2002). Sarmiento. Vida e obra. Vigo: Xerais.
  • Filgueira Valverde, José (1994). Fray Martín Sarmiento. A Coruña: Fundación Barrié de la Maza.
  • López Peláez, Antolín (1895). El Gran Gallego. La Coruña: Andrés Martínez.
  • Monteagudo, Henrique (2002). Martín Sarmiento, Sobre a lingua galega. Antoloxía. Edition, notes and indexes. Vigo: Galaxia.
  • Pardo de Guevara y Valdés, Eduardo (2002). Fray Martín Sarmiento, el amador de la verdad. A Coruña: Diputación Provincial.
  • Pensado Tomé, José Luis (1972). Fray Martín Sarmiento, testigo de su siglo. Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca.
  • Reguera Rodríguez, Antonio (2006). La obra geográfica de Martín Sarmiento. León: Universidad de León.
  • Santos Puerto, José (2002). Martín Sarmiento. Ilustración, educación y utopía en la España del siglo XVIII. 2 vols. A Coruña: Fundación Barrié de la Maza.

Notes

  1. ↑ José Santos Puerto (2008). "Martín Sarmiento, natural de San Juan de Cerdedo" (PDF). Sarmiento. Anuario Galego de Historia da Educación (in español) (12).
  2. ↑ He made the catalog together with Father Diego de Mecolaeta, and it is preserved in MSS/13413 of the National Library of Spain.
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