The Quevedo Case (1639)

On the evening of 7 December 1639 Francisco de Quevedo was arrested at the house of the Duke of Medinaceli in Madrid. From there he was conducted to the monastery of San Marcos in Ledn, where he remained imprisoned until mid-1643. Why was the poet taken into custody? Was the memorial Catdlica, sacra, real magestad a contributing factor? Indeed, was Quevedo the author of this celebrated verse satire? These are some of the questions which have traditionally claimed scholarly attention. Until now, information about public reaction to the Quevedo case in the months immediately following the arrest has been drawn from a few brief passages in newsletters which circulated in Spain. On 13 December 1639 a Jesuit letterwriter reports the fact of the arrest at Medinaceli's house and that Quevedo has been taken to las Torres de Leon. Concerning the reason, the same letterwriter says: No se sabe de cierto la causa, aunque debe de ser algo que ha dicho o escrito contra el gobierno.' Also of 13 December is a paragraph in one of Pellicer's Avisos, where a few more details are set forth. Pellicer relays some of the rumors that were current: Unos dicen era porque escribia satiras contra la monarquia, otros porque hablaba mal del gobierno; but he gives more weight to rumors attributing the imprisonment to the poet's having established contact with French agents: Otros con mas certeza, segiin me han dicho, aseguran que adolecia del propio mal que el sefior Nuncio, y que entraba cierto frances, criado del serior cardenal de Richilieu, con gran frecuencia en su casa.2 In subsequent weeks Pellicer refers in passing to Quevedo in other letters. On 20 December, he reports that he has heard the poet has been hanged,3 but by 27 December he can say that the rumor has been dispelled by the return to Madrid of the officials who had escorted Quevedo to Leon.4 Sometime in February 1640 a writer of a newsletter sent from Oviedo observes that

Art · Early Modern Spanish Literature · Historical and Literary Analyses · Historical Studies on Spain · History

• La transmisión textual del Memorial “Sacra, católica, real majestad” de Francisco de Quevedo

  Fernando Plata Parga•Calíope•2023

  Add to list