Another Look at the Biography of Guillen de Castro (1958)

a later performance by the Riquelme company? 8.Pérez Pastor, 2a serie, doc. 417. As this list was drawn up just at the end of the theatrical season, it should be interpreted as referring to the preceding season (Easter 1642)—Shrove Tuesday 1643). The cast given in the ms likewise refers to the 1642 company which gave the play its estreno, probably in Madrid around Nov. 21, 1642. A few members of this original cast may have been replaced before the projected Valencia performance, since the company was reorganized April 5, 1643, when Juana de Espinosa entered into a partnership with Luis López. The Loaysa couple and most of the others named agreed to work in the EspinosaL ópez troupe (Pérez Pastor, 2a serie, doc. 429; see also docs. 422 and 444). 9.W. A. Kincaid, «Life and Works of Luis de Belmonte Bermúdez (1587M650? )," RH, LXXIV (1928), p. 167. Sánchez-Arjona gives also a license for Zaragoza, Jan. 7, 1656. 10.d un tiempo rey, y vasallo. Comedia famosa, de tres ingenios (En Sevilla, en la Imprenta Real, Casa del Correo Viejo—n.d.). A. L. Stiefel suggests that the third poet may have been Gerónimo Cáncer ("Notizen zur Bibliographie und Geschichte des spanischen Dramas," ZfRPh, XXXI, 1907, p. 486). Another Look at the Biography of Guillen de Castro John G. Weiger Lawrence College At the beginning of the nineteenth century , when little was known about Guillen de Castro, Lord Holland claimed that "little pains [were] taken by the Spaniards themselves to preserve any particulars of his [Castro 's] life or character. . . ," but managed to reach the conclusion that "it is clear that Guillen de Castro was a contemporary of Lope. . . :n In the latter half of that century, Mesonero Romanos was one of the first to resurrect the Valencian dramatist, maintaining that "la reputación y fama de don Guillen de Castro como poeta lírico y dramático no tuvo otra superior que la del gran Lope de Vega."2 Mérimée went even farther and said that "il n'est pas une célébrité de Valencia , il est une gloire de l'Espagne."3 Thus it appears that with the passing of time we are learning more and more about the author of Las mocedades del Cid. However , even in our own century, serious errors have been committed in connection with Castro 's biography. As recently as 195S, the editors of the textbook Cumbres refer to Castro as a "Golden age dramatist [whose dates of birth and death are] 1567-1631" (p. 53). This probably stems from the work of Ticknor who also cites 1567 as the year of birth. That Castro was born in 1569 has been conclusively shown by Julia, who points out that don Guillen was baptized on November 4, 1569.4 More confusion exists in connection with the year of the poet's death. Del Rio marks 1630 as the date of Castro's death, but there appears to be no foundation for this date.5 Klein says that "Castro starb in Madrid, am Montag des Jahres 1621, im Alter von 62 Jahren."6 The same date is given by Mesonero Romanos, undoubtedly obtained from the same source: "Murió Castro en Madrid, lunes 21 de 1621, de edad de sesenta y dos años. . . ."7 This must surely be in error for he cites 1569 as the year of Castro's birth. Julia, Mérimée and Said Armesto all agree on 1631 as the year of death. It has been supposed that Guillen de Castro was so poor at the time of his death that the costs of his funeral had to be paid by charity. Said Armesto writes that "llegó el pobre escritor a tal grado de penuria, que a su muerte no dejó siquiera con qué costear sus funerales."8 However, according to Hurtado and González Palencia, it is "falso, pues, lo que se ha venido diciendo de que lo enterraron de limosna, y es pura leyenda lo de su pobreza, aunque sea cierto que fué mediano administrador."9 Otis Green agrees that "it was long a tradition in...