CALDERON (Dox PEDRO) DE LA BARCA HENAO Y RIANO, was b. in Madrid, in the year 1601, and received his early education in the Jesuits' college at Madrid. After wards, at Salamanca, he studied chiefly history, philosophy, and law. His poetical genius was precocious. Before he was 14 years old, he had written a drama, El Carro del Cielo (The Celestial Chariot). In early life he gained, by his poetry, and also by his fertile invention of decorations, etc., for festive occasions, the patronage of several dis tinguished persons, and, on leaving Salamanca, 1619, was well received by the courtiers at .Madrid. Love of military adventure induced him to enter the army, 1625; and, after serving with distinction in 3Iilan and the Netherlands, he was recalled to the court of Philip IV., a prince fond of theatrical amusements, by whom be was employed to super intend various court amusements, and especially to invent dramas for the royal theater. In the following year C. was made knight of the order of San Jago, and took part in the campaign in Catalonia. Peace brought him back to poetry. The king gave him a. pension, contrived to let him cultivate uninterruptedly his fertile dramatic genius, and spared no cost in securing for his plays a splendid initiation on the stage. In 1651, C. received from the head of the order of San Jago permission to enter the church, and, in 1653, was appointed to the chaplaincy of the archepiscopal church of Toledo; but, as this post removed him too far from the court, he was appointed chaplain in the royal chapel at Madrid, 1663,.and received, with other favors, a pension charged on the reve nue of Sicily. In the same year he was appointed a priest in the brotherhood of San Pedro, and shortly before his death, was elected by his brethren as their caplaa mayor. Ile died May 25, 1681, leaving his considerable property to the fraternity of San Pedro, by whom a splendid monument to his memory was raised in the church of San Salvador at Madrid. Fame and pecuniary prosperity had accompanied his career. The chief
cities of Spain—such as Toledo, Seville, and Granada—had paid him, from time large sums of money for writing their Autos Sacramentales, or Corpus (Aristi pieces. In these compositions, O. excelled all his predecessors, and esteemed them more highly, than all his other works, though in many respects the latter display the author's genius quite as remarkably.
Spain numbers C. among its greatest poets, and criticism must allow that many of the defects in his works are to be ascribed to circumstances, and the times in which he lived, rather than to the native tendencies of his genius. He is characterized by bril liancy of fancy, elegance of versification, and a richness of detail, which from its very abundance often becomes tedious. His collected dramatic works—including many pieces of intrigue, heroic comedies, and historical plays, of which some deserve the title of tragedy—amount to 128. Among his romantic tragedies, the Constant Prince (El Prin. cipe Con.stante) holds the first rank. Besides these. he wrote 95 Autos Sacramentales; 209 Loas (preludes); and 100 Saynetes (divertissements). His last play, ilado y was written in his 80th year. Ills shorter poems have perished; but his dramas have held their place on the stage better than those of Lope de Vega himself. The most complete edition of his dramas appeared at Madrid (9 vols., 1683-89); another was published by Apuntes (10 vols., Madrid, 1760-63). Goethe and Schlegel have made him popular in Germany, but in Britain he is not well known, and in France not cared for.