if many were repelled by Luis de Leon's austerity and implacable
righteousness, his own reputation as a pedant and reactionary did not
mark him out for leadership. His lack of expository power may also
have struck him as a disqualification.[42] Further, on tactical
grounds, he may have argued that his notorious hostility to Luis de
Leon made it advisable for him not to figure too prominently in the
ranks of the attacking party. Whatever his motive may have been,
Castro gave place to a younger and far abler man, the well-known
Dominican, Bartolomé de Medina, whose relations with Luis de Leon,
never cordial, had grown strained, owing to various checks and
disappointments. Medina honestly differed from Luis de Leon's views as
regards Scriptural interpretation; he would have been a good deal more
(or less) than human if he had not been galled by a series of small
personal mortifications. He particularly resented, as well he might,
being out-argued when he presented himself before Luis de Leon to be
examined for his licentiateship of theology; the knowledge that this
incident was talked over by mocking students did not improve
matters.[43] Medina was, however, too wily to delate Luis de Leon
directly; he reported to the Inquisition on the general situation at
Salamanca, and in this document no names were mentioned. Luis de Leon
was not in a position to counteract the manoeuvres of his opponents.
It is not certain that he could have done so, had he been continuously
in Salamanca at this time: as it happened, he was absent at Belmonte
from the beginning of 1571 till the month of March, and on his return
he fell ill. All this while, Medina and Castro were free to go about
sowing tares, making damaging suggestions, and collecting such
corroborative evidence as could be gleaned from ill-disposed
colleagues and garrulous or slow-witted students.[44] It appears that
Medina's statement, embodying seventeen propositions which (as he
averred) were taught at Salamanca, reached the Supreme Inquisition in