Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio was a Spanish playwright, poet, novelist and marine.
Background
Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio was born in Madrid to a family of undistinguished origins, recent arrivals in the capital from Valle de Carriedo in Cantabria. His father, Félix de Vega, was an embroiderer. Little is known of his mother, Francisca Fernández Flórez. He later added the distinguished name of Carpio from one of his in-laws.
Education
His great talent bore him to the school of poet and musician Vicente Espinel in Madrid, to whom he later always referred with veneration. In his fourteenth year he continued his studies in the Colegio Imperial, a Jesuit school in Madrid, from which he absconded to take part in a military expedition in Portugal. Following that escapade, he had the good fortune of being taken into the protection of the Bishop of Ávila, who recognized the lad's talent and saw him enrolled in the University of Alcalá. Following graduation Lope had planned to follow in his patron's footsteps and join the priesthood, but those plans were dashed by falling in love and realizing that celibacy was not for him. Thus he failed to attain a bachelor's degree and made what living he could as a secretary to aristocrats or by writing plays.
In 1583 he took part in the Spanish expedition against the Azores.
In 1590 he was appointed secretary to the duke of Alba, whom he followed to Toledo and then to the ducal estate at Alba de Tormes, where his wife died in childbirth in 1595. He auctioned off everything he owned and left for Madrid, where his public concubinage with the widow Antonia Trillo de Armenta caused him another lawsuit (1596).
He had left the duke’s service in 1595, and in 1598 he went to the home of the marqués de Sarriá, with whom he remained until 1600.
From 1605 until his death he remained a confidential secretary and counselor to the duke of Sessa, with whom he maintained a voluminous and revealing correspondence. In 1608 he was also named to a sinecure position as a familiar of the Inquisition and then prosecutor (promotor fiscal) of the Apostolic Chamber. By this time, Vega had become a famous poet and was already regarded as the “phoenix of Spanish wits.” In 1609 he published Arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo (“New Art of Writing Plays in This Time”), a poetic treatise in which he defended his own plays with more wit than effectiveness.
In 1609 he entered the first of several religious orders. From this time on he wrote almost exclusively religious works, though he also continued his theatrical work, which was financially indispensable.
In 1610, in the midst of full literary production - on the road to his 500 comedias - Vega moved his household definitively from Toledo to Madrid.
In 1614 he entered the priesthood, but his continued service as secretary and panderer to his patron, the duke of Sessa, hindered him from obtaining the ecclesiastical benefits he sought. The duke, fearful of losing Vega’s services, succeeded in having one of the poet’s former lovers, the actress Lucia de Salcedo, seduce Vega. The duke thus permanently recovered his secretary. Vega thereafter became involved in new and scandalous romantic relationships.
In 1627 his verse epic on the life and execution of Mary, queen of Scots, La corona trágica, which was dedicated to Pope Urban VIII, brought in reward a doctorate in theology of the Collegium Sapientiae and the cross of the Order of Malta, out of which came his proud use of the title Frey (“Brother”).
He died in Madrid in August 1635 evoked national mourning.
Quotations:
"Harmony is pure love, for love is a concerto."
"With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy."
"Never do but one thing at a time, and never put off till to-morrow what you can do today."
"There is no greater glory than love, nor any greater punishment than jealousy."
"Dreaming of a tomorrow, which tomorrow, will be as distant then as 'tis today."
"But life is short: while one lives, everything is lacking; when one is dead, everything is superfluous."
Connections
Sometime around 1595 he met the illiterate and singularly beautiful actress Micaela de Luján, who was to be for nearly 20 years the poet’s most peaceful love; she was the “Camila Lucinda” of numerous magnificent verses composed for her by Vega. He took a second wife, Juana de Guardo, the daughter of a wealthy pork butcher, by whom he had two children, Carlos Félix and Feliciana.