The Spanish poet and playwright Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Henao (1600-1681) is second only to Lope de Vega in Spain's Golden Age, 1580-1680. He used the stage to interpret and champion Catholicism, to battle the Reformation, and to exalt the monarchy.

Born in Madrid on Jan. 17, 1600, Pedro Calderón was orphaned by the age of 15. He studied first with Jesuits, then at the universities of Alcalá and Salamanca; his studies included rhetoric, logic, theology, the Bible, law, philosophy, grammar, the classics, and history. He obtained his degree in canon law from the University of Salamanca in 1619.

From 1638 until 1642 Calderón and his brother José were in the King's service, assigned to help quell an insurrection in Catalonia. Afterward, Pedro returned to Madrid, where sometime during the 1640s his inamorata bore him a son. She died during this decade, as did...