Who was Juan Latino? His story

Juan de Sessa, better known as Juan Latino, has been one of the slaves who have marked a great trajectory throughout our history. Poet, Latinist and professor at the University of Granada during the 16th century.

Would you like to know more about his history? Continue reading this article, it will not leave you indifferent. 

Juan Latino's personal life 

Juan Latino was raised in Cordoba, lived with the third Duke of Sessa and, from the age of twelve, settled in Granada, where he finally died. At that time he was in the personal service of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, the grandson of the Great Captain.

To speak of Juan Latino is to tell the unknown story of slavery in Spain. Africans were already very present in Nasrid Granada, as slaves of the Hispano-Muslim nobility who, in 1492, as a result of the Seizure of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs, were manumitted. However, slavery continued to live on in Granada until its abolition in Spain in 1880.

He had an affair with the young Ana de Carneval, daughter of an administrator of the Duchy of Sessa and of whom it is said that Juan himself was a private music teacher, with whom he eventually married and had four children.

His remains rest in Granada, in the crypt of the Mudejar Church of Santa Ana and San Gil, next to the river Darro. 

Juan Latino, from slave to professor 

He benefited from the education given to the Duke and even later, when he had to accompany him to the University of Granada to receive his classes, he managed to receive them as well. It was not easy, however, as he was not allowed to enter and had to listen from outside the classrooms.

All this attracted the admiration of all his fellow students and teachers, who were pleased to see his worth.

It was clear to John Latinus that knowledge was the only means he had to achieve both his liberation and his ascent in a society based on the status quo.

He developed his academic life and in 1556 he graduated and was elected by the archbishop of Granada, Pedro Guerrero, to the chair of Grammar and Latin Language at the Cathedral of Granada, a post he held for twenty years.

He was also the first black writer to publish a book in print. Miguel de Cervantes praises him in the prologue of ‘Don Quixote’ and also the Phoenix of Wits, Lope de Vega. 

The work of Juan Latino 

He wrote mainly in Latin and his literary oeuvre includes him in the list of poets of the European Renaissance.

His work includes translations and commentaries on the Greco-Latin classics and original books, written in Latin, as befits a humanist. The following are some of his most significant works: 

• De translatione corporum regalium. He narrates the transfer to the pantheon at El Escorial of the royal bodies that were resting in Cordoba.
• Epigrams. A work dedicated to Ferdinand, son of Philip II, and to Dona Maria of Portugal.
• Austriadis Carmen. Epic poem in which he commemorates and sings of the victory of Don Juan of Austria over the Ottomans in the Battle of Lepanto.
• Ad Excellentissimum et Invictissimum D. D. Gonzalum Ferdinandez a Corduba. Poetic composition dedicated to his friend and protector.

On the other hand, he also dedicated some poems to Philip II in which he praised his person, his lineage and his relatives buried there.

The quality of his rhetoric, the forcefulness of his dialectics, his advanced pedagogy and the coherence of his arguments made him one of the most admired Latin poets and writers of Humanism. 

Why take our route on Saint John Latin? 

As we can see, the life of John Latinus is framed by slavery and the great difficulties he managed to overcome through his courage, something worth knowing and remembering.

If you would like to get more information about one of the most remarkable characters of Granada, do not hesitate to book the route of Juan Latino through our official website of the Archdiocese of Granada.