The Spanish playwright was born on November 25, 1562. 460 years have passed, but read the biography of one writer – and as if everything is happening in our time. The same passions, ways to fix things, friends and villains. If Lope de Vega lived now, his name would constantly be at the top of the scandalous news.
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Felix Lope de Vega y Carpio’s parents were farmers, but they moved to Madrid, where the head of the family mastered the art of gold embroidery. Having collected loans, he bought a patent for the nobility and did everything to ensure that his son received an education. The child prodigy wrote poetry at the age of five. At ten he was translating ancient Roman poets. At 13 he composed the play True Lover. At 15 he entered the university. Then he began to study love sciences: he got along well with the widow Maria de Aragon, who gave birth to a daughter, Manuela. But the freshly baked dad retired to the fleet and went on a military campaign to conquer new lands from Spain. Back, he decides to devote himself to literature: as a child his brother-in-law, an astrologer, heralds success on this path.
The sailor poet had a relationship with the actress Elena Osorio. His father, Jeronimo Velazquez, led a theater company that staged the works of de Vega.
True, Elena had a husband, but he was often on the road and did not interfere with lovers. The connection lasted more than four years, until Elena got rich patrons. On New Year’s Eve 1588, after the performance, the police rounded up Lope de Vega. At the same time, his beloved father smirked. A little earlier, the playwright refused to give Velazquez the plays on which he got rich. In retaliation, Jeronimo accused the writer of writing gossip that was circulating around the city – the influential Velasquez family managed to annoy many.
Lope was tried on charges of “insulting a nobleman”. For eight years he was unable to get within 20km of Madrid. Violation was punishable by death.
In 1632, de Vega wrote the novel “Dorotea” – about the connection with Elena Osorio, where both the unfaithful passion and her cunning relatives will go through.
butcher’s daughter
Going to leave Madrid, Lope convinced one of her friends, Isabel de Urbina Aldreta y Cortinas, to run away with him. Imprudent: the girl was a minor, and her father is the police chief of Madrid, and she immediately reported it. De Vega, to avoid a new punishment, married in absentia, through a confidant, since he could not appear in the city. Isabelle was alone in front of the altar. But she was only reunited with her husband, as he, as part of the “Invincible Armada”, went to the shores of England. The British and Dutch defeated the Spanish squadron. After the defeat, de Vega could not hope for an amnesty and fled with his wife to Valencia. He worked as a secretary for the nobles. But there was no happiness in the family. At the age of three, Anthony’s first daughter died. Isabel fell into despondency and after the birth of her second daughter, Theodora, she died. The child did not long outlive her mother.
Lope returned to Madrid. Velázquez has dismissed the lawsuit in the hope of getting his hands on new plays by his former partner. Furthermore, Elena Osorio was a widow and was not averse to being reunited with her lover. She didn’t want to deal with traitors.
De Vega married Juan de Guardo – her father supplied meat to the royal court. The couple had two daughters and a son, Carlos Felix. Alas, Juana died soon after. And at the age of seven, Carlos died. But at that moment an illegitimate child appeared – 15-year-old Fernando was a monk.
Even during Juana’s life, the writer became friends with actress Michaela de Lujan. The fruits of love are the daughter of Marcela and the son of Lope Felix (he will die in his youth fishing for pearls). De Vega rented a house for Michaela in Madrid and lived with two families. Five years later, the woman disappeared. The writer took illegitimate children for himself.
After syphilis
Along with plays, the playwright writes dramas on religious topics and becomes a servant of the Inquisition. A couple of years later, he falls in love with 26-year-old Martha de Navaris-Santoyo, forgetting about the appeasement of the flesh. The lady is married, but when did Lope get in the way?! Martha inspires him to create the comedy The Widow of Valencia. She will give birth to a daughter, Antonia Clara, by de Vega. Martha’s husband will be listed as the parent, but Antonio will later officially list de Vega as the father. Rumors that the child was not his infuriated Don de Navaris-Santoyo, who staged an assassination attempt on the writer. Lope narrowly escaped death, but the cuckold suffered a stroke when his wife filed for divorce.
After the death of a rival, de Vega settled his beloved woman with her daughter in the house where her illegitimate offspring lived. Soon Marta went blind and went crazy – they talked about the echoes of syphilis. Two years after the death of Antonio’s mother, Clara ran away from home with a thief and only appeared in society when her father was gone.
Grave debt
Lope de Vega died at the age of 72 of a heart attack. During the farewell, the procession turned to the monastery of the barefoot Trinitarians in Madrid, so that the abbess – illegitimate daughter of Marcela de San Felix – greeted her father. The playwright was buried in the church of S. Sebastian. But soon, due to a debt to pay the place, his remains were transferred to a nearby cemetery. Over time, the grave was lost. In 1969 in the church of S. Sebastian has a commemorative plaque.
Speaking of which
- 1.5 thousand works were written by one prolific author over the years of creativity. About 400 have come down to us.
- It takes its name from the great martyr S. Lupa, the writer often signed works in Latin Lupus – wolf.
Photo source: Legion-Media, Still from the film
