The Gentleman, the Virtuoso, the Inquirer - Cambridge Scholars ...

18
Chapter Two
Lastanosa’s Project
In 1630, a pastor who was tending his flocks in the vicinity of the town of
Tamarid found a large quantity of silver coins with Spanish characters.
The news spread rapidly, and soon people began seeking coins in the
region. People found many pieces of silver, and the findings "enriched
many residents of Tamarid," Silver shops of Zaragoza melted many of
these coins, and so the "inquiridores de la Antiguedad," as Lastanosa
called the antiquarians, had few coins left to study. 9
The discovery of Tamarid put two groups to compete for the coins
buried in the region: the antiquarians and Tamarid’s residents who saw an
opportunity in the silver coins of becoming rich—by melting them. About
this last group, we know little. They probably were pastors, like the one
found the first coins, peasants, and artisans. This was a group of people
who was probably able to appreciate the value of the coins as antiques, but
preferred their value in silver. A significant number of people like the
residents of Tamarid decided, throughout the sixteenth century, to seek
their fortunes in America—the left Spain, the Old World, in search of
gold, silver, and riches in the New World. I am not arguing that the actual
residents of Tamarid left for the New World, probably few of them left
because it was more difficult for people from Aragon to migrate to the
New World than people from Castile. After all, American felt under the
crown of Castile, and legally it was easier for Castilians to migrate to the
New World. My point is simple. There are at least two cultures in place in
Aragon, and the Spanish empire in general: the elite, high-culture of the
“inquiridores de la Antiguedad,” and the artisan, entrepreneurial culture of
peasants and artisans. I further argue that they had a different relationship
with time, the first group looked to the past, the second group looked to
the future.
More is known about the inquiridores de la Antiguedad: Don Juan de
Lastanosa Vicencio was one of them. He lived few hundred kilometers
from Tamarid, in Huesca. His encounter with the coins of Tamarid would
result in his life-long interest in coins, medals, books, and curiosities. Most
antiquarians stayed in Spain: they project to collect antiques was a project
intrinsically connected to the creation of a Spanish past that could be
related to the 1640s situation of Spain.
The artisans and peasants who melted the coins and the antiquarians
who preserved for their museums represent two different ways of
understanding nature yet they shared a similar method—empirical
method—to study it.