GARCILASO DE LA VEGA, la's6 da la viega (properly GARCIAS LASO DE LA VEGA), Spanish poet: b. Toledo, 6 Feb. 1503; d. Nice, 14 Oct. 1536. His father was councillor of state to Ferdinand and Isabel; and later Ambassador at the Court of Rome; and his mother belonged to the noble house of Guz man. According to an account given in the 'Historia de las Guerras Civiles,' the Garcilasos received their surname from their combats with Moorish heroes, in the great valley of Granada, called La Vega. Garcilaso soon found his proper sphere. His genius was kindled by the study of the ancients, particularly of the Ro mans. Boscan had already begun to trans plant the versification of the Italians into Spanish poetry. Garcilaso followed his ex ample, and succeeded so well that he is still ranked among the best Spanish poets. Most of the events of his life may be learned from his own works. He lived for a long time in Italy, and afterward traveled through part of Germany, in the service of Charles V. In 1529 he was engaged in the expedition against Soliman, and in 1535 in that against Tunis.
In the latter he received a wound in his arm, after which he remained some time in Naples. In 1536 he commanded 30 companies of in fantry, and accompanied the imperial army against Marseilles. He was mortally wounded during an attack on the part of Muy and died three weeks later. Spanish poetry is highly indebted to him; for without his aid Boscan, (his bosom friend) a foreigner, would never have succeeded in his innovations, more particu larly as he had a formidable adversary in Christoval de Castillejo. His writings consist of eclogues, epistles, odes, songs, sonnets (in which he imitated Petrarch) and some smaller poems. A volume of his poems first appeared at Barcelona in 1543. An edition of his works, with notes, appeared in 1765, and Herrera's commentary (1580), with notes by Azara (1765). Consult Fernandez de Navarrete, E., 'Vida de Garcilaso de la Vega' ; Flamini, F., 'Imitazioni italiani in Garcilaso de la Vega' (Milan 1899).