Dos "Gallardos" teatrales: El "catalán" de Lope de Vega y el "español" de Cervantes

From a printing error on the editio princeps of the Comedia famosa del Gallardo español, the first of the Ocho comedias written by Cervantes (where it appears as "Gallardo catalán"), we have carefully examined possible similarities between this work and the Comedia famosa del gallardo catalán by Lope de Vega. Although the story lines seem at first glance quite divergent, it is surprising to find no less than fifty coincidences relating to the plot, the characters, the situations, and even manifold linguistic aspects which definitely show the influence of Lope's model. Cervantes did not plagiarize the Phoenix, however; but rather tried to demonstrate that by using the resources and rules of the comedia nueva it was possible to create a more aesthetically pleasing text.