SOURCE: Lihani, John. “Personal Elements in Gil Vicente's Auto Pastoril Castellano.” Hispanic Review 37, no. 2 (April, 1969): 297-303.

In the following essay, Lihani explores the influence of Lucas Fernández on Vicente's playAuto Pastoril Castellano.

To answer the enigma of how the influence of Lucas Fernández (1474-1542), the Spanish dramatist of the school of Juan del Encina, reached Gil Vicente (1465?-1537?) in the latter's early days as a dramatist in the Portuguese court, we can have recourse to the evidence presented by the works of Gil Vicente himself. We recall that Lucas Fernández's first Comedia (c. 1496), a marriage play, was a direct source for Gil Vicente's Auto pastoril castellano (1502).¹ Gil Vicente admitted knowledge of Lucas Fernández's works years later in a letter to King John III of Portugal (reigned 1521-1557) in which he spoke of Os livros das obras que escritas vi. This letter was subsequently...