SOURCE: Foster, David William. “Works on the Nature of Man and Fortune.” In The Marqués de Santillana, pp. 19-47. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1971.

In the following essay, Foster examines the Comedieta de Ponça, Bías Contra Fortuna, the Doctrinal de Privados, and other works by Santillana that treat philosophical subjects.

I Comedieta De Ponça (comedy of Ponza)

In 1435, King Alfonso V of Aragon suffered a decisive defeat at the hands of the Genoese in the naval battle of Gaeta, off the island of Ponza in the Mediterranean. Alfonso and his brothers, Juan, King of Navarra, and Enrique, Maestre de Santiago, were imprisoned by the Duke of Milan, to be released toward the end of that year, but not before the queen-mother Leonor had passed away, supposedly in great part due to her grief at the sudden misfortune to the usually triumphantly victorious royal house.

Santillana...