Three Major Plays by Lope de Vega, Gwynne Edwards Page A

Tradition", Bulletin of Hispanic Studies , 40 ( 1963), 69-78.
    Pring-Mill, D. F., Introduction to Lope de Vega: Five Plays , trans. Jill Booty ( New York, 1961).
    Wade, Gerald E., "Lope de Vega's El castigo sin venganza: Its Composition and Presentation", Kentucky Romance Quarterly , 23 ( 1976), 35764.
    Wilson, E. M., "Cuando Lope quiere, quiere", in Spanish and English Literature of the 16th and 17th Centuries ( Cambridge, 1980), 155-83.
    Further Reading in Oxford World's Classics
    Luís Vaz de Camõs, The Lusíads , trans. and ed. Landeg White.
    Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote de la Mancha , trans. Charles Jarvis, ed. E. C. Riley.
    ---- Exemplary Stories , trans. and ed. Lesley Lipson.
    -xxxix-

CHRONOLOGY OF LOPE DE VEGA'S LIFE
1562
Lope Félix de Vega Carpio born 25 November in Madrid.
1577
A student at the University of Alcalá de Henares.
1581?
Birth of Tirso de Molina, another major Golden Age dramatist.
1582
Leaves Alcalá de Henares.
1583
Begins a five-year affair with Elena Osorio, daughter of an actor-
manager.
1588
Banished from Madrid for eight years and from Castile for two
years as a result of libellous attacks on Elena Osorio and her
family. Marries Isabel de Urbina by proxy. Sails with the Armada
in the attack on England and is one of the few survivors.
1595
Death of Isabel de Urbina.
1596
Relationship with Antonia Trillo de Armento leads to prosecution.
1598
Lope marries Juana de Guarda, daughter of a Madrid butcher.
Extra-marital affair with Micaela de Luján, wife of an actor. Death
of Philip II, succeeded by his son, Philip III.
1600
Birth in Madrid of Calderón de la Barca, one of the great Golden
Age dramatists.
1605
Lope Peribáñez possibly written in this year. Part I of Cervantes
Don Quijote .
1609
Publication in Madrid of Lope's poetic essay, The New Art of
Writing Plays .
1612?
Lope Fuente Ovejuna .
1613
Death of Juana de Guarda. Lope becomes a priest. Writes The
Dog in the Manger . Cervantes Exemplary Novels published.
1615
Extra-marital affair with Marta de Nevares Santoyo. Publication
of Part II of Cervantes Don Quijote .
1616
Death of Cervantes.
1620
Possible date for Lope The King is the Best Judge and The Knight
from Olmedo .
    -xl-

1621
Death of Philip III, succeeded by Philip IV.
1630
Publication of Tirso de Molina's Don Juan play, The Trickster of Seville .
1631
Writes Punishment Without Revenge .
1632
Death of Marta de Nevares Santoyo.
1634
Lope's daughter, Antonia, elopes with a courtier, and his son, Lope, is drowned in the Caribbean.
1635
Lope dies in Madrid on 27 August, aged 72.
    -xli-

[This page intentionally left blank.]

FUENTE OVEJUNA
    -1-

THE CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY
Fernán Gómez, the Grand Commander of Calatrava
Ortuño
Flores, his servants
The Master of Calatrava, Rodrigo Téllez Girón
Pascuala
Laurencia, peasant-women
Mengo
Barrildo
Frondoso, peasants
Juan Rojo, alderman, Laurencia's uncle
Esteban, magistrate, Laurencia's father
Alonso, magistrate
King Fernando of Aragón
Queen Isabel of Castile
Manrique, Master of Santiago
An Alderman *
Cimbranos, a soldier
Jacinta, a peasant-woman
Boy
Peasants
A Judge
Musicians
    -2-

ACT ONE *
    Enter the COMMANDER, with his servants FLORES and ORTUÑO.
    COMMANDER. Doesn't the Master * know I'm here?
    FLORES. He does.
    ORTUÑO. Now that he's older, he's much More high and mighty.
    COMMANDER. But he surely knows That I am Fernán Gómez de Guzmán?

FLORES. He's still a boy. It's not surprising.
5

    COMMANDER. But if not my name, my rank of Grand Commander. *
    ORTUÑO. There are those who advise Him not to show respect.
    COMMANDER. Then he'll not Win much affection. Respect's the key
To men's good will; discourtesy merely
10
Makes enemies.
    ORTUÑO. If such men knew How everyone detests them and longs To see them grovel, they'd sooner die.
    FLORES. Such people are so hard to take!
Such surliness and lack of manners.
15
Amongst equals it's pure folly; Towards inferiors sheer tyranny.
But you shouldn't take it to heart, sir. He's still too