Born November 25th, 1562, about two years
before Marlowe and Shakespeare,
Lope Félix de Vega Carpio would outlive them both. The
first Spanish dramatist to make a living as a playwright--and
now considered the greatest of all Spanish playwrights--Lope
is said to have written over 2,200 plays, over 500 of which have
survived!
Today, Lope would be considered a prodigy. At the age of five,
he could read Latin, as well as Spanish, and had begun composing
poetry. At fourteen, he was a student at the Imperial College
at Madrid, but ran off with a classmate and joined a military
expedition against Portugal. Fortunately, the Bishop of Avila
came upon Lope and, sensing the young boy's talent, took him
under his wing. Under the Influence of the Bishop, Lope enrolled
at the University of Alcalá and graduated with a bachelor's
degree. He was on the verge of following in the the Bishop's
footsteps and becoming a priest when, suddenly, he fell violently
in love, revealing a passion that would later manifest itself
in his plays.
After graduating from Alcalá, Lope joined a naval expedition
to the Azores, then went to Madrid where he began his assault
on the Theatre. He quickly fell in love with a married woman,
the daughter of the producer who bought his plays. The affair
lasted for five years, and Lope celebrated his love under the
name of Filis in many of his ballads, but when it ended, it ended
violently. Lope fell into a furious quarrel with the woman's
father and began to refuse him his plays. He also lampooned the
man mercilessly which resulted in a libel suit. Lope was first
imprisoned, then exiled from the kingdom of Castile for two years.
Within three months, Lope returned to Madrid at the risk of being
sent to the galleys and eloped with Isabel de Urbina, the daughter
of a prominent courtier, only to later abandon her. In 1588,
he left Isabel in Madrid and joined the Spanish Armada.
Fortunately for the good of the Spanish Theatre, Lope escaped
the fate of many of his fellow soldiers during this disastrous
venture against Britain. His ship, the San Juan, was one
of the few to return safely. Not only did Lope survive, but he
spent the six month voyage composing the epic poem The Beauty
of Angelica.
After returning to Valencia, Lope set about the business of
making a living in the theatre. Soon, he was composing so many
plays that more than one manager was dependant upon the young
playwright for his supply. But Lope still found time to carry
on his love affairs. He soon initiated a tryst with the actress
Micaela de Luxon who would provide him with four children and
inspire many a sonnet. He would remain as constant to her as
was possible for a man of his ilk, which meant that she would
share him with several other Spanish ladies. In 1598, he married
the daughter of a successful pork merchant.
Lope's affairs produced a large number of offspring. In 1605,
he found himself the father of both a son by his wife and a daughter
by Micaela. Two years later, Micaela also gave birth to a son
named Lopito who would become a talented poet. In spite of his
many affairs, Lope was a devoted father. When his wife died in
1613, he brought all of his children together under one roof.
In 1614, Lope became a priest. However, he continued to write
secular plays, and he continued to carry on his affairs--most
notably with the wild actress Lucia de Salcedo and a young married
woman named Doña Marta. However, he seems to have been
devoted in his own way to the priesthood, for he was known to
have been in the habit of scourging himself for "the good
of his soul" until the walls of his room were flecked with
blood!
In 1632, Lope lost Doña Marta. Three years later, his
son Lopito was lost at sea, and his illegitimate daughter eloped
with a courtier. These losses weighed heavily on the seventy-three-year-old
playwright. Lope de Vega died on August 27, 1635.
Most of Lope's plays revolve around the conflicting claims
of love and honor. His most popular work is Fuente Ovejuna
or The Sheep Well (1614) in which a tyrannous feudal lord
is murdered by villagers who refuse to confess and are eventually
spared by intervention of the king. Other popular plays by Lope
de Vega include The Foolish Lady (1613), Finding Truth
Through Doubt (1620-24), The Knight from Olmeda (1622)
and Punishment without Revenge (1631).
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