On Hernando Arias de Ugarte – The Academic Training of a Creole Bishop in the Spanish Colonial Era

Abstract

When he was 16 years old Hernando Arias de Ugarte travelled from Bogotá, his home town, to Cartagena de Indias. He was accompanied by a Spaniard, a friend of his relatives. Both went there to prepare their travel to Salamanca, the Athens of Spain, where the young man was going to get his formation from 1577 to 1583, as a lawyer. Once in Spain, the young creole found himself in the golden era of this institution (the 16th century) widening his intellectual and cultural horizons; he got acquainted with ethical and humanistic ideals in the School of Salamanca where the rights of the natives of the New World were defended. All this appeared to be the seeds which were going to give their fruit later on, when he was in charge of several civil and ecclesiastical duties on behalf of the bishop Arias de Ugarte, considered then as the Charles Borromeo of Spain. This bishop was the promoter of the foundation of universities in the New World (such as the Javeriana in Bogotá and the University of Saint Francis Xavier in Charcas. He also coauthored the first statutes of St. Thomas University in the New Kingdom). The young man from Santa Fe de Bogotá finished his studies as lawyer and got other academic achievements during the reign of Philipp II, being awarded a doctorate Utroque Iure, in the University of Lérida, in 1586.