SOURCE: Stathatos, Constantine Christopher. Introduction to A Critical Edition with Introduction and Notes of Gil Vicente's Floresta de Enganos, pp. 9-63. Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press, 1972.

In the following excerpt, Stathatos discusses the textual and critical history of Floresta de Enganos.

Gil Vicente and the Court

For thirty-four years and under the patronage of two successive kings, Manuel I (1495-1521) and John III (1521-1557), Gil Vicente served as purveyor of entertainment for the Portuguese Court. His was not an age of art for art's sake.¹ His entire dramatic career, initiated with the Monólogo do vaqueiro (1502) and concluded with the Floresta de Enganos (1536), was guided by the need to please his patrons. All his plays were written for the Court, and many were expressly designed to celebrate particular festivals. It remains uncertain, however, to what extent the dramatist had to subordinate his art...