The King, the Greatest Alcalde by Lope de Vega Carpio

First published:El mejor alcalde, el rey, 1635 (English translation, 1918)

Type of work: Drama

Type of plot: Tragicomedy

Time of plot: Sixteenth century

Locale: Spain

Principal characters

• Sancho, a poor laborer
• Nuno, a farmer
• Elvira, his daughter
• Don Tello de Neira, a nobleman
• Feliciana, his sister
• Pelayo, a swineherd
• Don Alfonso VII, the king of Leon and Castile

The Story:

Sancho, a poor peasant, is in love with an equally poor girl, Elvira, the daughter of a farmer named Nuno. When the old man gives Sancho permission to wed his daughter, he insists that Sancho also secure the consent of Don Tello, master of all the surrounding lands, and of Don Tello’s sister, Feliciana. In obedience to Nuno, Sancho goes with Pelayo, a swineherd, to the castle to ask his lord’s approval of the marriage. Both Don Tello and his sister Feliciana readily give their consent and their blessing, and they declare that they themselves will attend the wedding.

When Don Tello sees the beautiful Elvira, however, he is filled with such passion for her that he decides to postpone the wedding and take Elvira to satisfy his own lust before giving her to Sancho for his wife. Dismissing the priest, he tells the assembled guests that the wedding must wait until the next day. Sancho and Elvira feels themselves already married, however, since the priest heard them declare their true love for each other, and Sancho plans to go to Elvira’s room that night. When Elvira opens her door, she confronts not her lover but Don Tello and his attendants, all masked, who carry her off to the castle.

Sancho and Nuno, learning of this betrayal, are ready to die. Nuno cautions Sancho not to despair, however, for he knows his daughter will die rather than lose her honor. Nuno knows his daughter well. Although Don Tello pleads with her and threatens her, she will not give herself to him. Feliciana begs him to remember his good name and his honor and not to force the girl.

Sancho and Nuno, going to Don Tello, pretend that they hear but cannot believe that he stole Elvira away. Don Tello pretends also that he is outraged at such a story and would whip those who tell such lies to defame his honor. However, when Elvira enters the room, Don Tello flies into a rage and orders Sancho and Nuno beaten to death. They flee for their lives. Don Tello vows that he will force Elvira to submit to him or be killed. Again Sancho wants to die, but once more Nuno persuades him that there is still hope. He sends Sancho and Pelayo to the court of Alfonso, the king of Castile, for the king is a good man and well known for his justice in dealing with high and low alike.

When the king hears Sancho’s story, he immediately writes a letter to Don Tello, ordering him to release Elvira at once. Don Tello ignores the letter and declares that on his own land his people will do only his will. Pelayo assures Sancho that Don Tello did not yet possess Elvira, for he would have obeyed the king were his lust satisfied. Sancho and Pelayo go again to the king, to tell him that Don Tello did not obey his orders. The king promises to go in person to Don Tello and force him to return Elvira to her father and husband-to-be. He intends to go in disguise, taking with him only two attendants.

Don Tello, filled with wild rage and passion at Elvira’s refusal to accept him, swears that he will take her by force. Nuno speaks with her through the bars of the room where she is confined and tells her that Sancho went for help, and she promises again to die rather than lose her virtue. When Sancho and Pelayo return with word that the king is sending help, Nuno is not much encouraged, for he knows that Don Tello keeps his castle well guarded and cannot be overcome by only three men. What Nuno does not know is that the king himself is coming, though Pelayo is hard put to it to keep the secret.

When King Alfonso arrives, he questioned Nuno’s servants and is convinced that Sancho and Nuno tell the truth. Then he goes in disguise to Don Tello’s castle. There he is rudely received by that haughty nobleman. At last the king reveals himself and orders Elvira brought before him. Elvira tells the king of her pure love for Sancho, of having obtained her father’s and Don Tello’s permission, of her seizure by Don Tello and his men, and, finally, of her lost honor. Don Tello carried out his vow. He ordered her taken into a wood and there, even though she fought until she was weak, he raped her. She declares that she can never know joy again, for her honor is lost forever.

The king orders Don Tello beheaded, both for his treatment of the innocent girl and for his failure to obey the king’s command sent in his earlier letter. Although Feliciana pleads for her brother, the king refuses to be moved by her tears. Don Tello confesses that he deserves the penalty, for he sinned twice, against his own honor and against the king. Then the king pronounces his final sentence. He will wed Elvira to Don Tello, then execute him. As his widow Elvira will inherit half his lands and gold. These will be her dowry when she marries Sancho. Feliciana he will take to court, to wait on the queen until a noble husband can be secured for her. The peasants bless the king’s wisdom and actions for he rights their wrongs as far as is humanly possibly.

Bibliography

Cañadas, Ivan. Public Theater in Golden Age Madrid and Tudor-Stuart London: Class, Gender, and Festive Community. Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2005. Compares English Tudor and Spanish Golden Age drama, focusing on theatrical conventions, social significance of the plays, and reception of audiences in London and Madrid. Examines Lope Vega Carpio’s peasant honor plays, including The King, the Greatest Alcalde.

Chandler, Richard E., and Kessel Schwartz. A New History of Spanish Literature. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1961. An excellent survey of the development of Spanish drama. Provides a helpful explanation of Vega Carpio’s art.

Hays, Francis C. Lope de Vega. New York: Twayne, 1967. Acquaints English-speaking readers with Vega Carpio’s life, career, and the new dramatic art of his comedies. Contains an effective formula for comprehending the elements of Vega Carpio’s comedies.

Northup, George Tyler. An Introduction to Spanish Literature. 3d rev. ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960. A helpful presentation of the Spanish comedia. Includes a chapter devoted to Vega Carpio and his dramatic school.

Samson, Alexander, and Jonathan Thacker, eds. A Companion to Lope de Vega. Rochester, N.Y.: Tamesis, 2008. Twenty-one essays provide various interpretations of Vega Carpio’s life and work. Includes discussions of Vega Carpio and the theater of Madrid, his religious drama, his chronicle memory plays, his comedies, and Vega Carpio as icon.

Vega Carpio, Lope de. Four Plays by Lope de Vega. Translated by John Garrett Underhill. Westport, Conn.: Hyperion Books, 1978. Contains an English translation of The King, the Greatest Alcalde that is mainly in verse. The volume has an introduction and critical essay by Jacinto Benavente.

Wright, Elizabeth R. Pilgrimage to Patronage: Lope de Vega and the Court of Philip III, 1598-1621. Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 2001. Chronicles how Vega Carpio used his publications and public appearances to win benefactors at the court of Philip III. Describes how his search for patrons shaped his literary work and how the success of his plays altered the court’s system of artistic patronage.