"Con arte se vence todo": Images of the English in Lope de Vega

Abstract

At the close of the sixteenth century, Spain and England were bitter religious and political rivals. When Felipe II and Elizabeth I died in 1598 and 1603, respectively, diplomatic relations between the two powers took a turn for the better, but at the level of popular culture Spain remained permanently vilified in the eyes of most Englishmen. This phenomenon is one aspect of the leyenda negra , the English roots of which are found in events such as Henry VIII's break with Rome, the translation of Las Casas's Brevísima relación , the reign of "Bloody Mary," and the failed invasion of the Spanish Armada. This article continues work on the comedia started by Donald Cruickshank, partly in an effort to redress an imbalance of studies on the image of Spaniards in England and the neglected image of the English in Spain. Although Spanish encounters with peoples of the New World have been closely examined, considerably less attention has been given to the question of European others in Spain. With this in mind, I look at Lope de Vega's English characters and settings in ten comedias written between 1598 and 1612, searching for evidence of a Spanish response to the Black Legend. Did Lope vilify in kind and, if not, why not? (RSS)