by Tirso de Molina

Gabriel Téllez, better known by his pseudonym Tirso de Molina, was born in Madrid around 1583. His parentage is unknown, although some scholars have claimed that Tirso was actually the bastard son of the Duke of Osuna. Information on Tirso’s early years is likewise sketchy. After studying at the University of Alcalá, he entered the monastic order of Our Lady of Mercy (Mercederian order) at Guadalajara in 1601. In 1610, while living in Madrid, the young monk first began to write for the theater, adopting his pseudonym in 1616. Between 1616 and 1618, Tirso taught theology and tended to Mercederian affairs in Santo Domingo in the West Indies. Around 1620, Tirso moved back to Madrid and began the major phase of his literary activity, writing an estimated 300 to 400 plays, 80 of which are extant today, although...