Gomez Suarez de Figueroa, Patron of Diego Sanchez de Badajoz's Recopilacion en metro

GOMEZ SUAREZ DE FIGUEROA, PATRON OF DIEGO SANCHEZ DE BADAJOZ'S RECOPILACIONENMETRO Ann E. Wiltrout Mississippi State University Diego Sánchez de Badajoz's Recopilación en metro, compiled posthumously and edited by Juan de Figueroa, the playwright's nephew, was licensed for publication in 1552. It was published in Seville two years later under the auspices of Gómez Suárez de Figueroa, fifth Count of Feria. The book's colophon reads: Fue impresso el presente libro/ en la muy noble y leal ciudad de Seuilla/ junto al Mesón de la Castaña. Acab óse/ a ocho días del mes de otu/ bre. Año de mil y quiñi/ entos y cinquenta y quatro.(l) Antonio Rodríguez Moñino and Frida Weber de Kurlat identified the publishing house as having belonged to Juan Canalla.(2) Their identification is based on an incomplete pliego suelto entitled «Relación muy verdadera de las rebelliones que ha auido en el Reyno de Inglaterra en el principio desta quaresma»... and bearing the complete colophon: «En Seuilla por Juan canalla junto al me/ son de la castaña: en xxiiij. dias de Marco de mil/ quinientos y cincuenta y quatro» (Rodríguez Moñino, pp. 221-224 and Weber de Kurlat, p. 156). The pliego prints an anonymous letter from one of Prince Philip's messengers, dated Valladolid, 12 March 1554, and sent to Francisco Duarte, purveyor to the king (Rodríguez Moñino, pp. 74, 221, 223).(3) Duarte apparently received the letter in Seville and remitted it to Canalla for immediate publication, for the tract was published within two weeks of the date it was written. Canalla's business did not flourish; in fact, he ceased working at his trade in 1554 or 1555, perhaps having gone out of business by October 1554 when the Recopilación en metro was published. Weber de Kurlat explains the book's incomplete colophon, suggesting that upon printing it, Canalla's successor removed his name, for otherwise it would have appeared in the line above «junto al Mesón de la Castaña» (Weber de Kurlat, pp. 159-160). That the book is faulty is seen in the poor quality of the paper, incomplete and smudged letters, poor inking, typographical errors, and inconsistent orthography . And following common practice, the woodcut on the cover was not original: it had been used several times before in important works from other publishers (Weber de Kurlat, pp. 158-59 and Recopilación, pp. 9-26). 43 44Bulletin ofthe Comediantes Few copies of the book, perhaps only 100, were printed (Recopilación, p. 11). The only extant copy surfaced in Paris where don Pedro Salva purchased it for his father's library in 1860.(4) Don Ricardo de Heredia, Count of Benahavis , purchased the Salva collection in 1873, and the Heredia collection later passed in block to the Biblioteca Nacional where the book remains. Gómez Suárez de Figueroa, fifth Count of Feria, to whom the book is dedicated, was the second son of the third Count of Feria, don Lorenzo Suárez de Figueroa and the second Marchioness of Priego, doña Catalina Fernández de Córdoba. After embarking on a military career at an early age, don Gómez served as ambassador to Genoa from 1529 to 1549. He then returned to Spain where he became the fifth Count of Feria in 1552, inheriting the title from his brother Pedro. Two years later, in the capacity of captain of the Spanish guard, he was sent to England to help arrange the marriage of Prince Philip to Mary Tudor.(5) As a member of the official commission, he could certainly have known the authors of the correspondence on the matter that was sent back to Spain, including the original source of the tract Canalla published in Seville. It is not surprising that Feria selected Canalla, who cooperated in popularizing the royal marriage, to publish the Recopilaci ón en metro. Although little is known of Diego Sánchez de Badajoz or of the nature of his service and relationship to the Counts of Feria, Francisco de Ledesma, who granted the publication license for the Recopilaci...