My research explores the intersection of medieval and early modern Spanish literature, philosophy, science, and culture. Specifically, I examine how the blending of Mediterranean intellectual traditions in Spain influenced the creation of historical narratives that interpreted the legacies of Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Additionally, I investigate how theatrical productions were used to both celebrate the past and address intellectual, religious, and military conflicts in early modern Europe. Currently, I am focusing on the translation and reception of external intellectual achievements in the Iberian Peninsula and the Spanish Empire. This includes the reception of Muslim, Jewish, and Classical traditions in the Castilian court of Alfonso the Wise, as well as the introduction of Neo-Aristotelian, Neo-Scholastic, and Neoplatonic thought in early modern Spanish and Latin American universities and intellectual circles.
The first part of this project is nearly completed, with the recent publication of my first monograph and several articles. My book The Spanish Hermes and Wisdom traditions in Medieval Iberia: Alfonso X’s General Estoria (Durham University IMEMS Press / Boydell and Brewer) explores the Castilian rendering of Hermes Trismegistus, a Hellenistic conflation of the Greek Hermes (god of interpretative wisdom) and the Egyptian Thoth (god of wisdom), who was considered by many in the medieval world as the father of culture. This book follows the ways in which Hermetic knowledge was brought to the Iberian Peninsula, showing how Hermes became the philosophical and spiritual inspiration for Christian, Arabic, and Jewish scholars there. I also unveil the pivotal role of King Alfonso X (“the Learned”) of Castile (1252-84) in creating this Spanish Hermes. Papers which complement the research of this book have been published in the Journal of Iberian Medieval Studies, the Hispanic Journal, Cincinnati Romance Review, and there is another one forthcoming this year in La Coronica.
The second book project I am working on is a logical progression from the first one. It is tentatively titled: The Twilight Humanist and the Old Sage: Hermes Trismegistus in Renaissance and Baroque Spain. In this book, I aim to reevaluate the perception of Hermes Trismegistus by Christian humanist scholars and the general public during the Renaissance and Baroque in Spain and Europe. Considering the blend of Platonism, Aristotelianism, and Stoicism that formed the underlying philosophy of Hermetic thinking in Antiquity, I will reexamine the eclectic reception and relationship these three philosophical movements had with Hermes in the early modern era, and also will look at the controversies of Christian dogma associated with them, both in Europe and the New World.
I also author publications on Spanish Golden Age theatre and playwrights such as Lope de Vega, Andrés de Claramonte, Vélez de Guevara, and particularly Calderón de la Barca as a member of the research group Calderón. I am particularly interested in how these authors depicted and interpreted medieval and early modern history for their audiences, as well as the portrayal of foreign religions in both historical dramas and hagiographies. In this regard, with a Mediterranean Studies perspective, I published a scholarly edition of Lope de Vega’s La Santa Liga, which focuses on the Ottoman-Spanish wars, and several papers. I have also joined the international digital humanities research group ISTAE, which is integrated into the federated configuration management database ASODAT. In ISTAE, I work on digital and bibliographical cataloging for a group of “comedias sueltas” (seventeenth and eighteenth century single-printed plays), conducting bibliographical research to re-map the reception history of these plays over time. I am currently working on future publications that align with my shared interests in Mediterranean history on stage, early modern plays, and the material history of their production and reception.