Antonio Mira de Amescua (1578?1636?),

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, was born at

Guadix Guadix (; Local pronunciation: aˈðih is a city and municipality in southern Spain, in the province of Granada. The city lies at an altitude of 913 metres, on the centre of the Hoya of Guadix, a high plain at the northern foothills of the Sierr ...

( Granada) about 1578. He is said, but doubtfully, to have been the illegitimate son of one Juana Perez. He took orders, obtained a canonry at Guadix, and settled at

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

early in the 17th century. He is mentioned as a prominent dramatist in ''Rojas Villandrandos Loa'' (1603), which was written several years before it was published. In 1610, being then arch-dean of Guadix, he accompanied the count de Lemos to

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, and on his return to Spain was appointed (1619) chaplain to the Cardinale-Infante Ferdinand of Austria; he is referred to as still alive in Montalbán's ''Para todos'' (1632), and he collaborated with Montalbán and Calderón in ''Polifemo y Circe'', printed in 1634. The date of his death is not known. Mira de Amescua's plays are dispersed in various printed collections, and the absence of a satisfactory edition has prevented, his due recognition. He has an evenness of execution which indicates an artistic conscience uncommon in Spanish playwrights; he resisted the temptation to write too much, and he unites a virile dignity of expression to impressive conception of character. Two of his plays''La adversa fortuna de Don Bernardo de Cabrera'' and ''El ejemplo mayor de la desdicha''are respectively the sources of Rotrou's ''Don Bernardo de la Cabrère'' and ''Belisaire'';

Moreto Moreto is a red Portuguese wine grape variety that is planted primarily in the Alentejo. As a varietal, the grape makes neutral wines. J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Wine Course'' Third Edition pg 144 Abbeville Press 2003 Synonyms Moreto is ...

's ''Caer para levantar'' is simply a recast of Mira's ''El Esclavo del demonio'', a celebrated drama which clearly influenced Calderón when composing ''La Devoción de la cruz''; and there is manifestly a close relation between Mira's ''La Rueda de la fortuna'' on the one hand and

Corneille Pierre Corneille (; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronag ...

's ''Héraclius'' and Calderón's ''En esta vida todo es verdad y todo es mentira''. A few of Mira de Amescua's plays are reprinted in the ''Biblioteca de autores españoles'', vol. xlv.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mira De Amescua, Antonio 1570s births 1636 deaths Spanish dramatists and playwrights Spanish male dramatists and playwrights People from Guadix