Privanza e integridad nacional: Lope de Vega y las crisis del poder

Abstract

84

Many of Lope’s historical plays are set either in the years preceding the fall of the Visigothic kingdom or in the first centuries of the Reconquista. Such is the case of El último godo and Las paces de los reyes y judía de Toledo respectively. Written during the reign of Philip III, these dramas reflect an empire in crisis. They function as symbolic representations of the State whose king is a paradigm of unstable and decaying power. The image of a triumphant, imperial Spain has as its foil the impoverished and defeated nation whose monarchs delegate state prerogatives to court favorites. The parallels drawn between Philip III and Pelayo suggest that these comedias promote the idea of an integral state whose mythical foundation coincides with the beginning of the Reconquista. However, they simultaneously function as veiled critiques of an imperial power already showing signs of decline.

Keywords

Patronage, Crisis of power, Historical drama, Lope de Vega