Gonzalo de Céspedes y Meneses (c. 1585January 27, 1638) was a Spanish

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

Biography

He was born at

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

about 1585. Nothing positive is known of him before the publication of his celebrated romance, the ''Poema trágico del español Gerardo, y desengaño del amor lascivo'' (1615-1617).Translated into English by Leonard Digges in 1622 as ''Gerardo the Unfortunate Spaniard.'' There is evidence that he had been sentenced to eight years at the galleys previous to January 1, 1620, and that the penalty had been remitted; but the nature of his offense is not stated. His treatment of political questions in the ''Historia apologética en los sucesos del reyno de Aragon, y su ciudad de Zaragoza, años de 91 y 92'' (1622), has led to the confiscation of the book, Céspedes took up his residence at

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

and

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. While in exile he issued a collection of six short stories entitled ''Historias peregrinas y exemplares'' (1623), the unfinished romance ''Varia fortuna del soldado Píndaro'' (1626), and the first part of his ''Historia de Felipe IV.'' (1631), a fulsome eulogy which was rewarded by the author's appointment as official historiographer to the Spanish king. His novels, though written in a ponderous, affected style, display considerable imagination and insight into character. The ''Poema trágico'' has been utilized by John Fletcher in ''The Spanish Curate'' and in ''The Maid of the Mill''. The ''Historias peregrinas'' has been reprinted (1906) with a valuable introduction by Emilio Cotarelo y Mori.

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References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cespedes y Meneses, Gonzalo 1580s births 1638 deaths Writers from Madrid Spanish male novelists Year of birth unknown 16th-century Spanish novelists 16th-century Spanish male writers