Virtuous Labor, Courtly Laborer: Canonization and a Literary Career in Lope de Vega's Isidro
In the course of one of early modern Europe's longest and most prolific literary careers, Lope de Vega (1562-1635) wrote numerous hagiographies, typically upon commission from a city council, an aristocrat, or a court official. Yet his saints' lives have received far less critical attention than his cloak-and-dagger comedias or his love lyrics.' Scholars, in general, have emphasized questions about how creative authorial energies shaped or altered literary forms that enjoy high prestige in our own time. Lope's arte nuevo that transformed the comedia de capa y espada fits this preference, while his numerous hagiographies represent a now marginal literary form. Moreover, the devotional works written on commission highlight Lope as a writer whose pen bolstered or depended upon political and religious
Local Religion in Sixteenth-Century Spain
The description for this book, Local Religion in Sixteenth-Century Spain, will be forthcoming.
Francis Drake: The Lives of a Hero.
This biography presents Drake through the accounts of friends and enemies on both the national and personal level. From his family's fierce love of Protestantism, and their early poverty which drove him to sea while still a boy, until his death at sea in 1596, it was a life of drama in which opportunism, courage, greed, religion and national policy all played a part, alongside the sailing skill and navigational brilliance of the first man to sail all the way around the world. His naval battles and audacious piratical raids on Spain's empire and shipping are described using eye-witness accounts from both Spanish and English and his stormy personal relationships reveal a man whose distrust of colleagues contrasted with a generosity of spirit which was a source of wonder to his enemies.