Fuenteovejuna

Fuenteovejuna (pronounced: [fwenteoβeˈxuna]) is a play by the Spanish playwright Lope de Vega. First published in Madrid in 1619 as part of Docena Parte de las Comedias de Lope de Vega Carpio (Volume 12 of the Collected plays of Lope de Vega Carpio), the play is believed to have been written between 1612 and 1614. The play is based upon an actual historical incident that took place in the village of Fuenteovejuna (now called Fuente Obejuna) in Castile in 1476. While under the command of the Order of Calatrava, a commander, Fernán Gómez de Guzmán, mistreated the villagers, who banded together and killed him. When a magistrate sent by King Ferdinand II of Aragon arrived at the village to investigate, the villagers, even under the pain of torture, responded only by saying "Fuenteovejuna did it."

Rapid change took place in Spain in the almost 150 years from the original events at Fuenteovejuna in 1476 to the publishing of Lope's play in 1614. In that time, Spain had united under the Habsburgs and become a world super-power with the discovery of the New World. At the time of Lope's writing, Spain was still in the midst of a Siglo de Oro (Golden Century), which saw a veritable blooming in all fields of the arts and academics.

In 1469, seven years before the events at Fuenteovejuna, Princess Isabella I of Castile married Prince Ferdinand II of Aragon. With their marriage, the two major kingdoms of Spain—Castile and Aragon—were joined. This marriage would later ensure the successful completion of the Christian Reconquista of Spain from the Muslim Moors. When Isabella ascended the throne upon the death of her half-brother, Enrique IV, in 1474, Alfonso V of Portugal crossed into Spain in order to secure the throne for Juana, Princess of Castile, the daughter of Enrique. At the Battle of Toro, two years later, Isabella and Ferdinand's forces defeated the forces of Juana and Alfonso.

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