O Mestre de moços : Bento Teixeira e a cultura letrada na América portuguesa em fins do século XVI (c.1566 - c.1595)

Abstract

This paper aspires to historisize the forms of the transmition of literary culture in Portuguese America during the second half of the XVI century, through the trajectory of the scholar Bento Teixeira. The difusion of the written and literary culture occurred at the time through the Jesuits School, first institution that was responsable to educate and form the scholars in the colonial society. Those schools pass by a organization during the five hundred years, period when the jesuits was just iniciating their education activties in Portuguese Amercia. However, part of that literary culture was transmited in the time society for other ways outside that institution. The transmition was made basically through individuals like Bento Teixeira, a scholar that once was a student in the Jesuit School and acquired his graduation in this intitution. With the knowledge he acquired, Bento promoted several literary practices in a circle of judaizers, and also in the time society. In the judaizer’s circle he made biblical translations from the latin, and oral readings of the bible, with the other groups, he taught them the written tecnology and latin grammar. With this we aim to built our analisys through the life trajectory of this Bento Teixeira, based, mostly in the documentation ensemble that arises from the Holy Office of the Inquisition- denunciations, confessions and criminal cases- also in jesuit documents and reports from XVI and XVII chroniclers. Through the trajectory of Bento Teixeira we intend to analyses the cultural practices that could define, in the specific context of XVI century, some subjects as scholars or man of letters.