Pedro de Lerma

Pedro de Lerma ( * ca 1461 in Burgos, † August 11, 1541 in Paris) was a Spanish theologian and the first Chancellor of the University of Alcalá. From the Inquisition persecuted, he emigrated to Paris in old age.

Life and work

Pedro de Lerma came from a prominent family in the northern Spanish Burgos. He studied at the University of Paris and taught initially on the art at the Collège de Navarre. From 1500 he pursued his studies at the Sorbonne, where he received his doctorate in 1504 in theology to the doctor. 1506 he was appointed canon to Burgos and returned to Spain. On August 11, 1508 he was appointed as a teacher at the University of Alcalá, founded in 1499 by Gonzalo Jiménez de Cisneros. He was the first chancellor of the university and therefore abbot and Pastor.

In 1527 he participated at the request of Alonso Manrique, inquisitor general in Spain, from June 27 to August 13 at a conference in Valladolid in part, to examine together with other scholars, the writings of Erasmus on the basis of complaints by the Inquisition. De Lerma supported Erasmus. In 1535 he gave up his position as Chancellor of the University and returned to Burgos. 1537 Pedro de Lerma was accused of heresy by the Inquisition because he allegedly promoted the ideas of Erasmus in his sermons, and forced them to withdraw to the public. At the end of Lerma decided nearly seventy years old, to leave Spain, and again went to Paris, where he taught until his death in 1541 at the Sorbonne theology, most recently as Dean of the Faculty.

Narrated by Lerma are some Versdichtungen, published in 1498 in Paris. One of his younger relatives was Francisco de Enzinas, who took care of the first translation of the New Testament into Spanish and was present at Lerma 's death in Paris.