Lope de Rueda (c.1505<1510–1565) was a Spanish

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 ...

and author, regarded by some as the best of his era. A versatile writer, he also wrote comedies,

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...

s, and pasos. He was the precursor to what is considered the golden age of

Spanish literature Spanish literature generally refers to literature (Spanish poetry, prose, and drama) written in the Spanish language within the territory that presently constitutes the Kingdom of Spain. Its development coincides and frequently intersects w ...

. His plays are considered a transitional stage between Torres Naharro and

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 literatur ...

Early life

He was born early in the sixteenth century in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...

, where, according to

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 ...

, he worked as a metal-beater. His name first occurs in 1554 as acting at Benavente, taking mainly comic roles. Evnetually he got to be, between 1558 and 1561, manager of a strolling company which visited

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is in the Inner Plateau ('' Meseta central''), near the northern slopes of t ...

, Seville, Toledo, Madrid,

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

and Córdoba.

, a child at the time, recalled having seen him and his company perform.

Works

His works were issued posthumously in 1567 by

Timoneda Timoneda is a locality located in the municipality of Lladurs Lladurs is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Solsonès Solsonès () is a comarca (county) in Catalonia, Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_ ...

, who toned down certain passages in the texts. de Rueda's more ambitious plays are mostly adapted from the Italian; in ''Eufemia'' he draws on

Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was some ...

, in ''Medora'' he utilizes Giancarli's ''Zingara'' as well as Byzantine motives, in ''Arinelina'' he combines Raineri's ''Attilia'' with Cecchi's ''Servigiale'' to create a satirical work ridiculing the superstitions current among

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...

ns, and in ''Los Engañados'' (''The Deceived'') he uses ''Glingannati'', a comedy produced by the Intronati, a literary society at

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...

- itself ultimately derived from

Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus (; c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the g ...

' ''Menaechmi''. These follow the original so closely that they give no idea of de Rueda's talent; but in his ''pasos'' or prose interludes he displays an abundance of riotous humour, great knowledge of low life, and a most happy gift of dialogue. His works in the genre include ''Las accitunas'' (''The Olive Trees''). ''Cornudo y contento'' (''Cuckolded and Content''), ''El condidado'' (''The Guest''), ''Los criados'' (''The Servants''), and ''Los lacayos lardones'' (''The Thieving Lackeys''). ''Discordia y cuestion de amor'' (''Discord and a Question of Love'') is a rhymed pastoral play. ''Auto de Naval y Abigail'' (''The Story of

Naval A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It inclu ...

and

Abigail Abigail () was an Israelite woman in the Hebrew Bible married to Nabal; she married the future King David after Nabal's death ( 1 Samuel ). Abigail was David's second wife, after Saul and Ahinoam's daughter, Michal, whom Saul later ma ...

'') is an

Auto sacramental Autos sacramentales (Spanish ''auto'', "act" or "ordinance"; ''sacramental'', "sacramental, pertaining to a sacrament") are a form of dramatic literature which is unique to Spain, though in some respects similar in character to the old Morality play ...

play based on the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

. He disdained the use of bombastic language and what he considered an excessive use of

deus ex machina ''Deus ex machina'' ( , ; plural: ''dei ex machina''; English "god out of the machine") is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence. Its function ...

by other playwrights. Lope de rueda-Las quatro comedias y dos coloquios pastoriles 7

His predecessors mostly wrote for courtly audiences or for the study; de Rueda with his strollers created a taste for the drama which he was able to gratify, and he is admitted both by

and

to be the true founder of the national theatre. His works have been reprinted by the marqués de Fuensanta del Valle in the ''Colección de libros raros curiosos'', vols. xxiii. and xxiv.

Modern adaptation

Nineteen of the 26 pasos were translated into English between 1980 and 1990 by Joan Bucks Hansen, and staged by Steve Hansen and the St. George Street Players of St. Augustine,FL where they were performed nightly for five years in the city's restored Spanish Quarter; and they presented seven of the translations in 1984 at the Ninth Siglo de Oro Festival at Chamizal.Nineteen pasos translated into English
/ref>

Personal life

He was twice married; first to actress, singer and dancer, Mariana, who had spent six years as a performer in service to the frail and infirm Don Gaston, Duke de Medinaceli, an avowed friar and cleric, whose estate was the subject of a lawsuit filed by Lope de Rueda on his wife's behalf laying claim to six years of back wages. de Rueda's second marriage was to Rafaela Angela, a Valenciana and woman of property, who bore him a daughter.

Death

In Córdoba, de Rueda fell ill, and on 21 March 1565 made a will which he was too exhausted to sign; he probably died shortly afterwards, and is said by Cervantes to have been buried in Córdoba cathedral.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rueda, Lope de Spanish Golden Age 1500s births 1565 deaths People from Seville Spanish male dramatists and playwrights 16th-century Spanish dramatists and playwrights 16th-century theatre managers