Vicente Gómez Martínez-Espinel (; 28 December 15504 February 1624) was a Spanish writer and musician of the

Siglo de Oro The Spanish Golden Age ( es, Siglo de Oro, links=no , "Golden Century") is a period of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain, coinciding with the political rise of the Spanish Empire under the Catholic Monarchs of Spain and the Spanish Ha ...

. He is credited the creation of the modern poetic form of the ''décima'', composed of ten

octameter Octameter in poetry is a line of eight metrical feet. It is not very common in English verse. E.g.: - ''Trochaic'' :Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary :Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore- :While ...

s, named '' espinela'' in Spanish after him.

Biography

Espinel was born in

Ronda Ronda () is a town in the Spanish province of Málaga. It is located about west of the city of Málaga, within the autonomous community of Andalusia. Its population is about 35,000. Ronda is known for its cliff-side location and a deep chasm ...

. He studied at the

University of Salamanca The University of Salamanca ( es, Universidad de Salamanca) is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the city of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It was founded in 1218 by King Alfonso IX. It is th ...

, where he adopted as his own his father's second surname, and later on at the universities of Granada and Alcalá. As a

latinist Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, he translated to Spanish

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

's ''Epistola ad Pisones''. After leaving university, he had an adventurous life as a soldier, serving in

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

and elsewhere. He was a prisoner of pirates at Argel and a soldier in Italy after being liberated, and returned to Spain about 1584. Afterwards, he moved to

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

and took holy orders in 1589. Four years later he became chaplain at

, but absented himself from his living. Still, his musical skill obtained for him the post of choirmaster at

Plasencia Plasencia () is a walled market city in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Western Spain. , it has a population of 41,047. Situated on the bank of the Jerte River, Plasencia has a historic quarter that is a consequence of the city's stra ...

. His (''Assorted Rhymes''), produced in 1591, showed a caustic wit. Later, in 1618, the printer

Juan de la Cuesta Juan de la Cuesta (?-1627) was a Spanish printer known for printing (not publishing) the first editions of ''Don Quixote de la Mancha'' (1605) and the ''Novelas ejemplares'' (1613), by Miguel de Cervantes, as well as the works of other leading figu ...

published Espinel's

picaresque novel The picaresque novel (Spanish: ''picaresca'', from ''pícaro'', for " rogue" or "rascal") is a genre of prose fiction. It depicts the adventures of a roguish, but "appealing hero", usually of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corrup ...

, for which he is best known. This book, with several autobiographical details, was printed in France the same year and inspired later Lesage's ''Gil Blas de Santillana''. Espinel also revived the measure known as ''décimas'' or ''espinelas'', consisting of a

stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian language, Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or Indentation (typesetting), indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme scheme, rhyme and ...

of ten

octosyllabic The octosyllable or octosyllabic verse is a line of verse with eight syllables. It is equivalent to tetrameter verse in trochees in languages with a stress accent. Its first occurrence is in a 10th-century Old French saint's legend, the '' Vie de ...

lines.

Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio ( , ; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Age of Baroque literature. His reputation in the world of Spanish literature ...

, who referred to Espinel as his teacher, dedicated him ''El caballero de Illescas'' (1602). Espinel also befriended

Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-emin ...

, Góngora (whose poetry he helped to publish) and Quevedo. Like his friends, he was a member of congregation ''Esclavos del Santísimo Sacramento''. At the time of his death, he was the chaplain at Madrid, and also the music teacher of the

bishop. His bust can be found in Ronda, the city of his birth, in the small Plaza de los Gigantes. His head is decorated with a

laurel wreath A laurel wreath is a round wreath made of connected branches and leaves of the bay laurel (), an aromatic broadleaf evergreen, or later from spineless butcher's broom (''Ruscus hypoglossum'') or cherry laurel (''Prunus laurocerasus''). It is a sy ...

References

Enciclopedia Libre Universal – Vicente Espinel (in Spanish)

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Espinel, Vicente 1550 births 1624 deaths People from Ronda Renaissance composers Spanish male writers University of Salamanca alumni Male classical composers