La princesa de Éboli: Cautiva del rey. Vida de Ana de Mendoza y de la Cerda (1540–1592) by Helen H. Reed and Trevor J. Dadson (review)

Two distinguished scholars of early-modern literary history have come together to examine and contextualize the remarkable life of Ana de Mendoza y de la Cerda (1540–1592), the Princess of Éboli (hereafter Éboli or Doña Ana). Reed and Dadson anchor their study in the primary-source documents they compiled and glossed for an earlier partnership, the Epistolario e historia documental de Ana de Mendoza y de la Cerda, princesa de Éboli (Madrid, Iberoamericana; Frankfurt am Main, Vervuert, 2013). A collaborative spirit towards scholarly labors animates the book. As the authors explain in the preface, Reed had prepared a biography of Éboli in an initial draft in English. Dadson then joined her, translating this text into Spanish, adding material from his own archival work along the way. The authors also take great care to recognize the works on which they build, most notably Gregorio Marañón’s classic biography of Antonio Pérez and Esther Alegre Carvajal’s series of studies on the Princess of Éboli.

Reed and Dadson’s foremost aim is to peel away the layers of myth and caricature that have accumulated around Éboli. In theater history, a particularly durable fiction took shape when Giuseppe Verdi—following Friedrich Schiller—transformed a complicated noblewoman from the storied Mendoza family into a Romantic character informed by stereotypes of Spain, blending motifs of Moorish allure with the darker visions of Inquisitorial oppression associated with the Black Legend. In his Don Carlos (debut 1867), Éboli is a secondary character who complicates the tragic love story, as she vies with Isabel de Valois for Don Carlos’s love. The crowning moment of this mezzo-soprano part is the “Veil Song” of Act 2 (“Au palais des fées”; “Nel giardin del bello” in the Italian version). In Hispanic studies, Éboli has also assumed a somewhat villainous profile as the estranged patron responsible for subjecting Teresa of Ávila to Inquisitorial scrutiny.

To provide an accurate assessment of the full life in all its complexity, the authors present ten chapters organized with the precise chronology of traditional biography. Thus, they begin with a first chapter on “Familia, infancia y educación de Ana de Mendoza,” continuing with nine more chapters focused on the following milestones: betrothal and marriage to the up-and-coming courtier Ruy Gómez de Silva (Chs. 2–3); the court of Isabel of Valois (Ch. 4); the organization of Pastrana as a ducal village (Ch. 5); her widowhood and fateful entanglement with Antonio Pérez (Chs. 6–7); and finally, the murder of Juan de Escobedo and the resulting imprisonment (Chs. 8–10).

Theater scholars will find Chapter 4 (“En la corte de Isabel de Valois”) of special interest, with its analysis of documents that record the emergence of a sophisticated palace theater in the milieu of Philip II’s third queen consort. Isabel of Valois sponsored over forty performances by professional actors between 1561 and 1567 in the room of the Alcázar palace known as the “salón de comedias o saraos.” Éboli, as a close contemporary and companion of the French queen, was a key protagonist among the court damas who acted in “invenciones teatrales” on such occasions as the feast of the Epiphany in 1564. The alluring portrait of Doña Ana in pastoral costume by Sofonisba Anguissola (ca. 1565) records the extent that popular literature informed the courtly pastimes. But the levity and sophistication here would contrast with the horrific consequences of Don Carlos’s mental unraveling. Indeed, the chapter closes with the double tragedies of the royal heir’s death while imprisoned by his father and the young queen’s death in childbirth. Here, Reed and Dadson draw attention to the letter of condolence Éboli writes to Isabel’s mother...