Seville and Lope's Parte Dedications

SEVILLE AND LOPE'S PARTE DEDICATIONS Thomas E. Case, California State University, San Diego Lope de Vega's affection for Seville and its inhabitants is a fact borne out by many laudatory references in his plays and poetry. Lope's mention, in the dedication of La hermosa Ester to Doña Andrea Maria de Castrillo, of having spent "algunos de los primeros [días] de mi vida en casa del inquisidor don Miguel del Carpio, de clara y santa memoria mi tío," led La Barrera, in his Nueva biografía, to take this to be an allusion to Lope's sojourn in Seville in 1600. He inferred: "Cierto es que puede referirse a otra de las anteriores épocas en que visitó a Sevilla; sin embargo, sus términos parecen aludir a una estancia dilatada, como lo fue, en efecto, la que vamos historiando."1 Rennert and Castro disagreed with La Barrera, believing Lope's statement to be a reference to a much earlier period in his life.2 Alonso Zamora Vicente reminds us that Miguel del Carpio died in 1579.3 Further evidence of Lope's childhood days in Seville has been woefully lacking. Lope's visits to Seville in the years 1600-1604, on the other hand, can be well documented. He was then enjoying full popularity as a dramatist, and the good reception he received certainly enhanced his fondness for the city. This chapter of his life followed a series of events which began in 1596 with the death of his first wife, Isabel, at Alba de Tormes. Soon after, he entered the service of the Marqués de Malpica and later that of the Marqués de Sarria, a post he left when he parted for Seville. In 1600, while he was a successful playwright, he was eager to be recognized as a cultured poet. He continued to work on some of his best sonnets, and was finishing La hermosura de Angelica for publication.4 Once in Seville, he made friends with its active Hterary circle and began a Hfelong association with such notables as Juan de Arguijo, Francisco Pacheco, and Juan Antonio de Vera y Zúñiga. He returned to Madrid in 1601, was in both cities in 1602, but spent most of 1603 in Seville.5 It is doubtful he returned there after 1604, for his involvement with family, the theater in Madrid, his service to the Duque de Sessa, and later his life as a priest and eventually old age placed too many obstacles on such an undertaking. The 1600-1604 episode in SeviUe seems to have been remarkably fruitful and happy from many standpoints. It is believed that he lived there with Micaela de Lujan (his wife, Juana, stayed in Madrid).6 He reached maturity as a cultured poet, was in favorable company for both intellectual and personal stimulation, and still could live comfortably without being too sensitive over the criticism of his life and art. Years later, in 1617, Lope took over the personal direction of the publication of his plays with Parte IX.7 Previous partes (1604-1617), some of which contained plays by other playwrights , had been published without his personal guidance. The issue of literary piracy became acute in the second decade of the seventeenth century . With Parte XIII Lope began to dedicate each of the twelve plays of an edition to a different individual, with the result that in Partes XIII-XX (16201625 ) he was able to honor ninety-four different persons in ninety-six dedications .8 These dedications were a particularly intensive attempt to solicit favor and to carry on personal campaigns to protect his HveHhood and literary reputation in Madrid. In addition to his problems as a dramatist, 65 Lope was the object of attacks from the culteranos and the academicians, as evidenced by the Hbelous Spongia (1617).' In poHtics, the fall of the Duque de Lerma had also brought disfavor for the Duque de Sessa, Lope's patron. The new power ènte, led by the Conde de Olivares, was not well-disposed to him. While many of the dedications were addressed to other dramatists and poets, such as Vicente Espinel, Guillen de Castro, G...