de Vega, Lope (1562–1635)

A prolific Spanish playwright, Félix Lope de Vega y Carpi was born and raised in Madrid, the son of a common tailor. He wrote poetry and learned Latin at a young age, and began writing plays at the age of twelve. He joined the Spanish Armada during a campaign against the Portuguese in the Azores. After returning to civilian life, he became a professional playwright. His sharp tongue and hot temper, however, got him banished from the capital for slandering his former mistress, Elena Osorio. In 1588 he volunteered for the Spanish naval expedition against England; while the powerful Armada was wrecked in the turbulent seas of the English Channel, de Vega survived and returned home. Penniless, he became a secretary to the Duke of Alba. In 1595 he left the duke's estate near Toledo to return to Madrid. After a series of misfortunes, including the loss of his wife and son, he became a priest in 1614, and was soon appointed an officer of the Spanish Inquisition. In the meantime, he wrote an astonishing number of stage works: histories, romances, dramas, and comedies, as well as ballads, sonnets, verse histories and biographies, and other poetic works. He drew on material from ancient myths to current history, as well as his own turbulent personal life, creating quickmoving, cloak-and-dagger plots based on the rivalries and adventures of Spain's kings and nobles. He turned out plays in a few days or a week, making them to order for certain actors and theaters that commissioned his work. Although none of his plays was printed during his lifetime, about 450 of them, about one-quarter of all those he wrote, have survived to this day.

See Also: Cervantes, Miguel de