Guillén de Castro y Mateo (1569 – 28 July 1631) was a Spanish

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. Ben Jonson coined the term "playwri ...

of the

Spanish Golden Age The Spanish Golden Age (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Siglo de Oro'', , "Golden Century"; 1492 – 1681) was a period of literature and the The arts, arts in Spain that coincided with the political rise of the Spanish Empire under the Catholic M ...

. He was distinguished member of the "Nocturnos", a Spanish version of the "Academies" in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Life

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

n by birth, he soon achieved a literary reputation. In 1591 he joined a local literary academy called the ''Nocturnos''. At one time a captain of the coast guard, at another the protégé of Benavente, viceroy of

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, who appointed him governor of Scigliano, patronized by Pedro Téllez-Girón, 3rd Duke of Osuna and

Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, 1st Duke of Sanlúcar, 3rd Count of Olivares, , known as the Count-Duke of Olivares (taken by joining both Count of Olivares, his countship and Duke of Sanlúcar la Mayor, subsequent dukedom) (6 January 1587 – 2 ...

, Castro was nominated a knight of the order of Santiago in 1623. He settled at Madrid in 1626, but died there in such poverty that his funeral expenses were defrayed by charity.

Career

He probably made the acquaintance of

Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist who was a key figure in the Spanish Golden Age (1492–1659) of Spanish Baroque literature, Baroque literature. In the literature of ...

at the festivals (1620–1622) held to commemorate the beatification and canonization of St Isidore, the patron saint of Madrid. On the latter occasion Castro's ''octavas'' were awarded the first prize. Lope de Vega dedicated to him a celebrated play entitled ''Las Almenas de Toro'' (1619), and when Castro's ''Comedias'' were published in 1618-1621 he dedicated the first volume to Lope de Vega's daughter. The drama that has made Castro's reputation is ''Las Mocedades del Cid'' (c. 1605–1615), to the first part of which

Pierre Corneille Pierre Corneille (; ; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great 17th-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronage ...

was largely indebted for the materials of his tragedy. The two parts of this play, like all those by Castro, have the genuine ring of the old romances; and, from their intense nationality, no less than for their primitive poetry and flowing versification, were among the most popular pieces of their day. Castro's ''Fuerza de la costumbre'' is the source of '' Love's Cure'', a play in the John Fletcher canon. He is also the reputed author of ''El Prodigio de los Montes'', from which Calderón derived ''El Mágico prodigioso''. Sometime between 1605 and 1608, Castro wrote a ''comedia'' titled ''Don Quixote de la Mancha'', a play based upon some parts of Cervantes' novel of the same name. The play includes a dramatisation of the story of Cardenio in the novel. Some critics believe that Castro's play may be a link between the Cardenio story in Cervantes' novel and William Shakespeare and John Fletcher's (now lost) 1612 play ''Cardenio''.Hammond, Brean, Ed. ''Double Falshood''. London: Arden Shakespeare. 2010. pp. 34-5.

References

Attribution: * 1569 births 1631 deaths Writers from Valencia 17th-century Spanish dramatists and playwrights Spanish male dramatists and playwrights {{Valencia-stub