CASTRO Y BELLVIS, beTves, GalSen, Spanish poet and dramatist: b. Valencia 1569; d. Madrid, 28 July 1631. Next to Lope de Vega he is the greatest Spanish dramatic poet of his day. He lived at an age when Spanish drama was almost at its best; for the dramatic writers who followed him and Lope de Vega added practically nothing to the essentials of the drama. Their efforts were spent in adding literary adornments to it. Castro's work had a strong influence on his own and succeeding generations of dramatists and, in a secondary sense, on all Spanish literature. He was born of an old and noble family; and such com paratively slight information as survives rela tive to his life shows that he had always friends in high positions who were constantly interesting themselves in his welfare. He was successively captain of the mounted coast guard of Valencia, governor of Seyano and oc cupant of other high positions under the government. From the Duke of Osuna he received a pension of 1,000 crowns; and the Count of Olivares secured for him a pension of like amount from the King. Through this same strong court influence he was created a knight of the Order of Saint James in 1623. All his friends, admirers and followers ranked him as at least the equal in dramatic talent to Lope de Vega.
The age in which Castro lived was one of encouragement of literature; and Valencia, the ((romantic home of the Cid" was one of the two great literary centres of Spain. Literary societies and guilds formed a prominent part of the life of the city; and literary contests, lyrical, epic, dramatic and pastoral, formed a part of the order of the day. Castro took a prominent part in these literary contests and won many prizes and honors in competitions held by the Church, the State and the literary fiuilds. A very active theatre completed the incentive to and, more especially, dramatic life, to which Castro was irresistibly drawn. At the age of 20 he was already counted among the promising young poets of his day and he apparently counted among his friends the powerful and brilliant literary set of Valencia. He appears to have been much of a spendthrift and to have been cursed with an imperious and haughty temper which con tinually estranged from him friends of high estate; and as his reputation as a poet and dramatist grew, his infirmities of temper seem to have increased and to have been the direct cause of the loss of many of the social and material advantages which he had enjoyed in his earlier life. It was maintained by his earlier biographers that he finally became re duced to such poverty that he was buried at the public expense. But his will, which was signed a few days before his death, and which is still in existence, would seem to disprove this, as it disposed of considerable property. He undoubtedly had, to the end of his days, a certain income from his literary work which was in constant demand by the regular theatres and the Church, and must, therefore, have been well paid for. Moreover it is known
that the habit of the Order of Santiago was conferred upon him in Madrid in 1623, only eight years before his death.
To Castro the historical drama in Spain owes much; and his influence in this literary field was strongly felt in France and England. Castro's (Don Quixote) was imitated by Guerin de Bouscal and presented in Paris in 1635; Moreto found his model for
Ligno don Diego) in (El Narciso en su opinion' ; Fletcher's 'Love's Care' is derived from