"Príncipes traductores de la historia en el Renacimiento", en Planteamientos historiográficos sobre la traducción en el ámbito hispánico

This chapter focuses on the translation of history as part of the moral and political education of early modern princes, in particular the French and Spanish ancestors of the infante don Gabriel de Borbón, an outstanding translator and commentator of Sallust. Pellicer y Saforcada’s late 18th-century comments on the suitability of don Gabriel as a translator point to a rather common early modern phenomenon in the Republic of Letters: the practice of translation of historiographic works by royal subjects. This chapter provides an overall panorama of the role of translation in the early modern curriculum as an exercise that helped build rhetorical skills and political knowledge while expanding the French and Spanish genealogy of royal translators proposed by Pellicer y Saforcada. Lastly, it analyzes the different translations of historiographical works attributed to the royal forefathers of Don Gabriel in order to assess the significance of these historical sources for the education of the ruling elite, as well as the arguments put forth by humanist pedagogues and preceptors on the usefulness of both history and translation. Key words: royal translators, princes, early modern history, Julius Cesar, Tacitus