Leandro Fernández de Moratín (; 10 March 1760 – 21 June 1828) was a Spanish dramatist, translator and neoclassical poet.

Biography

Moratín was born in

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 ...

the son of Nicolás Fernández de Moratín, a major literary reformer in Spain from 1762 until his death in 1828. Distrusting the teaching offered in Spain's universities at the time, Leandro grew up in the rich literary environment of his father and became an admirer of Enlightenment thought. In addition to translating works of

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...

and

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

into Spanish, he himself was a major poet, dramatist and man of letters whose writings promoted the reformist ideas associated with the

Spanish Enlightenment The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment () came to History of Spain, Spain in the 18th century with the Spanish royal family, new Bourbon dynasty, following the death of the last House of Habsburg#Spanish Habsburgs: Kings of Spain, Kings of Portugal ...

. Early in his career, he was supported by statesman and author

Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (born Gaspar Melchor de Jove y Llanos, 5 January 1744 – 27 November 1811) was a Spain, Spanish Spanish Enlightenment literature, neoclassical statesman, author, philosopher and a major figure of the Age of Enlighte ...

, who, in 1787, arranged for him to study for a year in Paris. In 1792, the Spanish government provided the funds for him to travel to England in order to extend his education. In 1790 he published his first comedy ''El viejo y la niña'' (''The Old Man and the Young Girl''), a sombre work which attacked the consequences of arranged marriages between people of differing ages. Two years later, in 1792, he wrote the play ''La comedia nueva'' (''The New Comedy''), a dramatic attack on the extravagant plots used by other contemporary playwrights. A

supporter In heraldry, supporters, sometimes referred to as ''attendants'', are figures or objects usually placed on either side of the shield and depicted holding it up. Historically, supporters were left to an individual's free choice and were assu ...

Joseph Bonaparte Joseph Bonaparte (born Giuseppe di Buonaparte, ; ; ; 7 January 176828 July 1844) was a French statesman, lawyer, diplomat and older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. During the Napoleonic Wars, the latter made him King of Naples (1806–1808), an ...

, whose rule had allowed far more expression of liberal thinking than Spain's Bourbon monarch Carlos IV was willing to tolerate, Moratín was given the post of royal librarian. However, his 1805 comedy '' El sí de las niñas'' (''The Maidens' Consent'') was denounced upon the reinstatement of the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...

when

Ferdinand VII Ferdinand VII (; 14 October 1784 – 29 September 1833) was King of Spain during the early 19th century. He reigned briefly in 1808 and then again from 1813 to his death in 1833. Before 1813 he was known as ''el Deseado'' (the Desired), and af ...

regained the throne after the fall of the Bonapartes, and he had to abandon playwriting and was forced into exile in France. Moratín died in Paris and was buried there in the

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...

. However, at the turn of the 20th century, his remains were brought back to Spain for interment in Madrid's '' Panteón de Hombres Ilustres'' (''Pantheon of Illustrious Men'').

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez De Moratin, Leandro 1760 births 1828 deaths Writers from Madrid Spanish dramatists and playwrights Spanish male dramatists and playwrights 18th-century Spanish poets Afrancesados Age of Enlightenment Members of the Royal Spanish Academy Translators to Spanish Royal Order of Spain members Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Spanish male poets 18th-century Spanish male writers