VEGA, GARCILASO DE LA (1503-1536), Spanish sol dier and poet, was born at Toledo. At the age of 17 he was attached to the bodyguard of Charles V., fought against the insur gent communeros, and afterwards gained great distinction by his bravery at the battle of Pavia (1525). In 1526 he married a lady in-waiting to Queen Eleanor. He took part in the repulse of the Turks from Vienna in 1529, was present at the coronation of the emperor at Bologna in 153o, and was charged with a secret mission to Paris in the autumn of the same year. In 1531 he accompanied the duke of Alva to Vienna, where, for conniving at the clandestine marriage of his nephew to a maid-of-honour, he was imprisoned on an island in the Danube. During this captivity he composed the fine cancion, "Con un manso ruido de agua cor riente y clara." Released and restored to favour in June 1532, he went to Naples on the staff of Don Pedro de Toledo, the newly appointed viceroy, by whom he was twice sent on public business of importance to Barcelona, in 1533 and 1534. After having
accompanied the emperor on the expedition to Tunis (1535), he took part with him in the invasion of Provence and was mortally wounded while storming a fort at Muy, near Frejus. His poems, which are among the finest in their language, include three pas torals, which rank among the finest in the Spanish language, 37 sonnets, five canciones, two elegies, and a blank verse epistle, all influenced by Italian models. An English translation was pub lished by J. H. Wiffen in 1823. Garcilaso's delicate charm has survived all changes of taste, and by universal consent he ranks among the most accomplished and artistic of Spanish poets.
See H. Keniston, Garcilaso de la Vega (1922-25).