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92-572: He was born in Alcalá de Henares . Little is known about him today, save that he was a cleric and probably studied in Toledo . Though his birth name is known to be Juan Ruiz, he is widely referred to by his title of "archpriest of Hita." According to his own book, he was imprisoned for years, thought to be between 1337 and 1350, as punishment for some of his deeds (if the poem is any guide, they were quite inconsistent with his position as priest ). However,

184-639: A compluvium ). The city boundaries have been inhabited since the Chalcolithic phase of the Bronze Age . Romans conquered the area in the 1st century BC, and built the town of Complutum near a previous Carpetanian settlement, Iplacea. With 10,000 inhabitants, it reached the status of municipium and had its own governing institutions. It played an important role, located on the Roman road connecting Emerita Augusta and Caesaraugusta . After

276-521: A collegiate church , and derives from the requirement that all of the canons of the cathedral must possess the academic distinction of Doctor of Theology in order to serve there. In addition to that of Saints Justus and Pastor, the cathedral also houses the tomb of renowned 17th-century Spanish sculptor Gregorio Fernández . The city is also home to the Archbishops Palace. This site is where Christopher Columbus and King Ferdinand planned

368-526: A princeps edition prior to 1499. Some scholars wish to explain this discrepancy about the 1499 date, considering the version published in 1500 in Toledo to be the first edition; however, there is no positive proof of this, and there are some contradictions: The Toledo 1500 edition contains 16 acts, and also some stanzas with acrostic verses such as "el bachjller fernando de royas acabo la comedia de calysto y melybea y fve nascjdo en la puebla de montalvan", which means "the graduate Fernando de Rojas finished

460-454: A Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford , was published under the title The Spanish Bawd . Rojas makes a powerful impression with his characters, who appear before the reader full of life and psychological depth; they are human beings with an exceptional indirect characterization , which moves away from the usual archetypes of medieval literature . Some critics see them as allegories . The literary critic Stephen Gilman has come to deny

552-592: A bishopric seat in the 5th century. One of the several Muslim citadels in the Middle Mark of al-Andalus (hence the name Alcalá , a derivative of the Arabic term for citadel) was established on the left bank, while, after the Christian conquest culminated c.  1118 , the bulk of the urban nucleus returned to the right bank. For much of the late middle-ages and the early modern period before becoming part of

644-431: A commuter town, with many of its inhabitants travelling to work in the capital. By Cercanias (railway) is the lines C2 and C7 that links Alcalá de Henares with Madrid in 35 minutes, or Guadalajara in 25 minutes, also exists in the peak hours trains called CIVIS, direct train, that makes the journey in 20 minutes. Also it is linked by bus to Madrid, Guadalajara and several towns and villages in nearby. By car, Alcalá de Henares

736-461: A major recreational center for city residents and lies along a main road of Alcalá, Vía Complutense. Recent archaeological excavations have opened up the city's Roman forum where a large complex comprising a basilica, public baths, a cryptoporticus , a market and a large monumental façade stands out. Alongside the forum is the Domus with an extraordinary collection of Roman domestic mural paintings. On

828-468: A result of Rojas humanizing his characters. One common feature of all of the characters (in the world of nobles as well as servants) is their individualism , their egoism , and their lack of altruism . The theme of greed is explained by Francisco José Herrera in an article about envy in La Celestina and related literature (meaning imitations, continuations, etc.), where he explained the motive of

920-551: A rich young bachelor named Calisto enters a garden where he meets Melibea, the daughter of the house, and is immediately taken with her. Unable to see her again privately, he broods until his servant Sempronio suggests using the old procuress Celestina. She is the owner of a brothel and in charge of her two young employees, Elicia and Areúsa. When Calisto agrees, Sempronio plots with Celestina to make as much money out of his master as they can. Another servant of Calisto's, Pármeno, mistrusts Celestina because he used to work for her when he

1012-567: A subversive element in the society , by spreading and facilitating sexual pleasure. She stands apart for her use of magic . Her character is inspired by the meddling characters of the comedies of Plautus and in works of the Middle Ages such as the Libro de Buen Amor ( The Book of Good Love ) by Juan Ruiz and Italian works like The Tale of Two Lovers by Enea Silvio Piccolomini and Elegía de madonna Fiammeta by Giovanni Boccaccio . She

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1104-515: Is a massive and episodic work that combines poems to Jesus and Mary; Ruiz's unrequited love, and fables. The poem itself is 1,728 stanzas long. The breadth of the writer's scope, and the exuberance of his style have caused some to term him "the Castilian Chaucer ." Speculation regarding whether or not the book was actually an autobiography is incessant. His language is characterized by its richness and its sermon-like tendency to repeat

1196-412: Is attributed to Fernando de Rojas , a descendant of converted Jews , who practiced law and, later in life, served as an alderman of Talavera de la Reina , an important commercial center near Toledo. The book is considered to be one of the greatest works of all Spanish literature and is even the single topic of a Spanish literary journal, Celestinesca . La Celestina is usually regarded as marking

1288-464: Is generally known simply as Alcalá , but de Henares (‘of the river Henares ’) is appended when needed to differentiate it from a dozen Spanish cities sharing the name Alcalá (from the Arabic word القلعة al-qalʿa , for fortification or citadel , typically a castle). Its Latin name, Complutum , means " confluence ", where rivers' water (or rain water) flow into one place (i.e.,

1380-421: Is it possible to fix the precise date of his imprisonment. Albornoz nominally occupied the see of Toledo from 1337 to 1368, but he fell into disgrace in 1351 and fled to Avignon . A consideration of these circumstances points to the probable conclusion that Ruiz was in prison from 1337 to 1350, but this is conjecture. What seems established is that he finished the Libro de buen amor in 1343. Indeed, almost nothing

1472-461: Is known about the author(s) of the poem or if he was even named Juan Ruiz. One scholarly study found hundreds of clerics in mid-fourteenth-century Castile named Juan Ruiz. The name appears to be the equivalent of John Smith and may have been chosen to represent the everyman . It has been estimated that he died around 1350 (presumably in prison); by 1351, he no longer held the title of archpriest of Hita. El Libro de Buen Amor (The Book of Good Love)

1564-689: Is located in the central part of the Iberian Peninsula , in the southern half of the Inner Plateau . It lies on the valley of the Henares , a left-bank tributary of the Jarama , which is in turn a right-bank tributary of the Tagus . The right (north) bank of the river (on which the current urban nucleus was built) displays a very flat relief with a series of quaternary fluvial terraces , while

1656-520: Is named "Universidad de Alcalá", the ancient institution founded by Cisneros is the one now called "Universidad Complutense", translocated in the capital city of Madrid ("Complutensis" is the Latin word for "native of Alcalá"). The modern university is related to the original institution in name only, although it occupies the former buildings of the Complutense. Aside from the buildings associated with

1748-495: Is no indication of title or author. It is preserved in the Hispanic Society of New York City . On the first page of the 1500 edition of Toledo, which is for the first time entitled Comedia de Calisto y Melibea , it states: nuevamente revista y enmendada con la adición de los argumentos de cada un auto en principio ("newly reviewed and amended with the addition of the synopses of each act at its beginning"), alluding to

1840-720: Is said to have died 7 or 8 years after his release from the Inquisition's holding facility. There are today three manuscripts of the Libro de Buen Amor . The Salamanca version, denoted S, resides in Madrid's Biblioteca Real and is considered the best of the three codices. The other two are the Academia Española version, known as Gayoso (G), and the Toledo (T) manuscript. Ruiz's influence is visible in El Corbacho ,

1932-480: Is the most suggestive character in the work, to the point that she gives it its title. She is a colorful and vivid character, hedonistic , miserly, and yet full of life. She has such a deep understanding of the psychology of the other characters that she can convince even those who do not agree with her plans to accede to them. She uses people's greed, sexual appetite (which she helps create, then provides means to satisfy), and love to control them. She also represents

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2024-463: Is the one who suggests to Calisto to ask Celestina for help with wooing Melibea; he is also the one who suggests to Celestina that by working together they could swindle money and other items of luxury from Calisto. Sempronio is in love with one of Celestina's prostitutes, Elicia. Through him, we can also see the sexism of how this work represents its day and age. After all, after he and Pármeno kill Celestina he cannot begin to even fathom being betrayed by

2116-452: Is well known for its population of white storks . Their large nests can be observed atop many of the churches and historic buildings in the city, and are themselves a significant tourist attraction. Situated in the lowlands of the Henares river , the city is an attractive home for the migratory storks due to the wide availability of food and nesting material in the area. For over twenty years, Alcalá's storks have been counted and studied, and

2208-532: Is well linked with the state roads network with the nearby A-2 , the highway which starts in Madrid and continues on to Barcelona and to France. La Celestina The Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea ( Spanish : Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea ), known in Spain as La Celestina is a work entirely in dialogue published in 1499. Sometimes called in English The Spanish Bawd , it

2300-637: The Universidad Complutense , one of the oldest universities in the world, as a Studium Generale . With the patronage of Cardinal Cisneros , it was recognized in a 1499 papal bull , and quickly gained international fame as a main centre of learning of the Renaissance thanks to the production of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible in 1517, which is the basis for most of the current translations. By royal decree,

2392-582: The Disticha of Dionysius Cato , and admits his indebtedness to Ovid and to the De Amore ascribed to Pamphilus ; his references to Blanchefleur , to Tristan and to Yseult, indicate an acquaintance with French literature, and he utilizes the fabliaux with remarkable deftness; lastly, he adapts fables and apologues from Aesop , from Pedro Alfonso 's Disciplina clericalis , and from medieval bestiaries . All these heterogeneous materials are fused in

2484-592: The Henares River , it is located 31 kilometres (19 miles) to the northeast of the center of Madrid . As of 2018 , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated municipality . Predated by earlier settlements ( oppida ) on the left bank of the Henares, the city has its origins in the Complutum settlement founded in Roman times on the right bank (north) of the river, that became

2576-612: The Libro de buen amor is mainly written in the cuaderna via modelled on the French alexandrine , but he imparts to the measure a variety and rapidity previously unknown in Castilian, and he experiments by introducing internal rhymes or by shortening the fourth line into an octosyllabic verse; or he boldly recasts the form of the stanza, extending it to six or seven lines with alternate verses of eight and five syllables. But his technical skill never sinks to triviality. All his writing bears

2668-645: The Plaza de Cervantes and is traversed by a long pedestrian main street, the Calle Mayor . The city includes the Moorish quarter, the Jewish quarter, and the Christian quarter. These distinct neighborhoods have given Alcalá the reputation of "the city of three cultures". The old city centre has been largely preserved, unlike the suburbs. There has been no clear planning by the city councillors regarding expansion, and

2760-613: The Spanish Civil War . Thousands of prisoners were held in different camps in the city after the end of the war. From March 1939 to February 1948, at least 264 individuals were executed in Alcalá by the Francoist authorities . The town of historic importance was one of the first bishoprics founded in Spain. The polyglot Bible known as the Complutensian Polyglot Bible , the first of the many similar Bibles produced during

2852-573: The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party in the province of Madrid in 1903. Emerging in reaction to Socialist advances, Social catholicism also took hold in the city from 1905, founding a number of organizations such as Centro Católico de Acción Social Popular and the Mutual Obrera Complutense . Following the 1936 coup d'etat that sparked the Spanish Civil War , putschist elements seized key posts around

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2944-771: The University of Salamanca , where Fernando de Rojas studied, favoring the emergence of Renaissance humanism in Spain. Thus, 1492 began the transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It is precisely in the 1490s when the first editions of Comedy of Calisto and Melibea began to appear. The unification of all the territories of the Iberian Peninsula , except Portugal and the Kingdom of Navarre , under one king and one religion, Catholic Christianity, took place in this period. Claudio Sánchez Albornoz highlighted

3036-526: The 14th-century Satire by Marrano Pero Ferrús . During the 15th century, the Jewish congregation of the city was one of the largest in Castile , having about 200 Jewish families. Hebrew studies at the University of Alcalá were encouraged by Cardinal Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros during the 16th century, bringing some Jews and Marrano Hebraists to work in the city. The location of the Jewish quarter of

3128-579: The Catholic faith. There are two versions of the play. One is called a Comedy and has 16 acts; the other is considered a Tragic Comedy and has 21 acts. Although most scholars admit that an earlier version by an unknown author already existed, the first known edition is credited to be the Comedy published in Burgos by printer Fadrique de Basilea in 1499. The first page is missing and consequently there

3220-565: The Comedy of Calisto and Melibea and was born in La Puebla de Montalbán ." (This is the reason it is believed that Rojas was the original author of the play.) A similar edition appeared with minor changes "Comedia de Calisto y Melibea", Sevilla, 1501 A new edition entitled Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea (Tragic Comedy of Calisto and Melibea) (Seville: Jacobo Cromberger ) appeared in 1502. This version contained 5 additional acts, bringing

3312-548: The Night Guard, Sempronio and Pármeno are caught and are beheaded later that day in the town square. Elicia, who knows what happened to Celestina, Sempronio, and Pármeno, tells Areúsa of the deaths. Areúsa and Elicia come up with a plan to punish Calisto and Melibea for being the cause of Celestina, Sempronio, and Pármeno's downfall. After a month of Calisto sneaking around and seeing Melibea at night in her garden, Areúsa and Elicia enact their plan of revenge. Calisto returns to

3404-536: The Ottoman Empire. The origins of Miguel de Cervantes' family are supposed (there is no total certainty) to be Jewish. Because his father worked on the former Jewish neighbourhood, the birthplace was close to the workplace, and also because the surname Cervantes makes reference to a different site in the Northwest of Spain, and geographical surnames were common among the Jewish population. Alcalá de Henares

3496-418: The active protection and maintenance of their nests is by official policy. Although once in danger of disappearing, with only eleven pairs counted between 1986 and 1987, the population has grown to around 90 resident pairs today, many of which have shortened the distance and duration of their typical migrations to remain in the city nearly all year. Some 18% of the population are of foreign origin, according to

3588-724: The area located in between the railway and the A-2 motorway and beyond. The climate in this city of central Spain is semi-arid , with cold, dry winters and hot, dry summers. The average year-round temperature is 14 °C (57 °F). The average year-round rainfall is about 300 mm (11.8 in), mainly in spring and autumn. Temperatures vary from some degrees below 0 °C (32 °F) in December and January to some over 40 °C (104 °F) in July and August. Dry season coincides with maximum heat in summer. The major landmark and one of

3680-545: The city during the persecutions of the Roman Emperor Diocletian at the beginning of the 4th century. In 414 a chapel was erected at the site of Justus and Pastor's martyrdom, and was converted into a cathedral during the period of Visigoth control of Hispania ; bishops from Alcalá were present at the Councils of Toledo beginning in the 7th century. In 1053 the old city of Alcalá ( Alcalá la Vieja )

3772-578: The city is well known – between Mayor, Santiago, Imagen and Cervantes streets. One synagogue stood in Carmen Calzado street, no. 10. The other was on Santiago street. After the 1492 Alhambra Decree Jews were required to become Christians to continue living in Castile and Aragon; those who refused had to leave these kingdoms and most of them found residence in the North of Africa, Amsterdam and

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3864-616: The city. However, following the botched coup in Madrid, Rebel forces in Alcalá eventually surrendered to Republican Colonel Ildefonso Puigdendolas and his troops on 21 July. Alcalá, that reportedly became a Soviet power base during the conflict—a "republic within the republic" where the Republican national government held a tenuous grip—was the place were POUM leader Andrés Nin was transferred to and tortured and killed in June 1937 by NKVD agents. The city suffered severe damage during

3956-696: The downfall of the Roman Empire, under the Visigoths , it declined, although it also became a pilgrimage destination in remembrance of the Saints Justo and Pastor . When the Moors invaded in 711, they conquered the Visigothic city and founded another site, building an al-qalʿa , which means "citadel" in Arabic, on a nearby hill, today known as Alcalá la Vieja (Old Alcalá). On 3 May 1118, it

4048-487: The end of the medieval period and the beginning of the renaissance in Spanish literature. Although usually regarded as a novel, it is written as a continuous series of dialogues and can be taken as a play, having been staged as such and filmed. The story tells of a bachelor, Calisto, who uses the old procuress and bawd Celestina to start an affair with Melibea, an unmarried girl kept in seclusion by her parents. Though

4140-399: The entire first act is about his love for her. Even going as far as to 'create a new religion' worshipping her (Act 1 pg 92-93). He is also quite insecure as, after he gets rejected, he is easily convinced to go to the witch Celestina for assistance. In the 16-act version, Calisto dies as he falls while climbing down a ladder after a sexual encounter with Melibea. Servant to Calisto. Sempronio

4232-562: The excursion to the West as well as the birthplace of Catherine of Aragon , daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, who would be the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and therefore queen consort of England . Alcalá's Corral of Comedies , which hosts a full program of theatre and is open for tours, is the oldest documented corral in the history of Spain. The center of the city remains essentially medieval, with many winding cobbled streets, and many historic buildings. The city centre surrounds

4324-637: The faculty of genial observation Ruiz has the gift of creating characters and presenting types of human nature: from his Don Furón is derived the hungry gentleman in Lazarillo de Tormes , in Don Melón and Doña Endrina he anticipates Calisto and Melibea in the Celestina , and Celestina herself is developed from the Trotaconventos of Ruiz. Moreover, Ruiz was justly proud of his metrical innovations:

4416-412: The first half of the 14th century, and his impartial irony lends a deeper tone to his rich coloring. He knows the weaknesses of both clergy and laity, and he dwells with equal complacency on the amorous adventures of great ladies, on the perverse intrigues arranged by demure nuns behind their convent walls, and on the simpler instinctive animalism of country lasses and Moorish dancing-girls. In addition to

4508-465: The first line " Nun bin ich dein, du aller Blumen Blume ". The translation was set to music for voice and piano by Hugo Wolf (1860–1903), and published in his 1891 Lieder collection also called Spanisches Liederbuch . Alcal%C3%A1 de Henares Alcalá de Henares ( Spanish pronunciation: [alkaˈla ðe eˈnaɾes] ) is a Spanish city in the Community of Madrid . Straddling

4600-457: The garden for another night with Melibea; while hastily leaving because of a ruckus he heard in the street, he falls from the ladder used to scale the high garden wall and dies. After confessing to her father the recent events of her love affair and Calisto's death, Melibea jumps from the tower of the house and dies too. La Celestina was written during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella , whose marriage took place in 1469 and lasted until 1504,

4692-459: The gossipers and servants to be "greed and robbery", respectively, in the face of the motives of the nobles, which are raging lust and the defense of social and family honor . The private benefit of the lower-class characters forms a substitute for the love/lust present for the upper class. Fernando de Rojas liked to create characters in pairs, to help build character development through relationships between complementary or opposing characters. In

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4784-409: The great prides of the city, its university, uses sites throughout the city, but has two main campuses. The first is on the north side of Alcalá. This campus includes most science departments and student housing (as well as its own, separate Renfe station ). The second, central campus, houses most of the humanities and social-science departments, including a law school. The architectural influence of

4876-444: The importance of being Christian in a society that has warned against members of other religions, such as Jews and Muslims, and even came to outright rejection. Society was suspicious of converts, such as Christians who had been Jews before or had Jewish ancestry, and those who had to hide their conditions. Finally, those of other religions were expelled from the kingdom and the Inquisition would enforce orthodoxy among those who professed

4968-557: The influence of his friend Raymond de Sauvetât , the Archbishop of Toledo , decided not to restore the Diocese of Alcalá at that time. Instead, de Sauvetât was able to secure the incorporation of Alcalá into his own archiepiscopal territories through a donation from King Alfonso VII in 1129. The church was rebuilt again some three hundred years later by a subsequent archbishop of Toledo, Alfonso Carrillo de Acuña, who elevated it to

5060-535: The left (southern) bank features a very steep slope of clays from the miocene , rapidly rising up to the moors of La Alcarria . Standing at an average altitude of 654 m, and occupying some 88 km ; the city was for a long time contained in between the Henares to the South and the Madrid-Barcelona railway to the North. However, the increasing population brought on the sprawl of the urbanised area to

5152-514: The modern Colegio de San Ildefonso, the Colegio de Málaga and other Colegios , and the structures have served as a model for other universities across the Spanish territories in the Americas and other dependencies. The university chapel dedicated to Saint Ildefonso has a monument to the university's founder, Cardinal Cisneros, by Fancelli , an Italian sculptor. Although the present university

5244-441: The official data, a large part of the newcomers (30%) are immigrants from Eastern Europe . Many Chinese businesses have also been established in the city. Alcalá has the largest community (18%) of Romanian immigrants in Spain , with over 35,000 people. In 2007, for the first time, the immigrants from Romania created a political party for the elections to come. Alcalá's excellent transport links with Madrid have led to its becoming

5336-710: The original Roman site, and the Muslim one was abandoned. Under Christian rule until the end of the Reconquista, the town had both a Jewish and a Moorish quarter and a renowned marketplace. Its central position allowed it to be a frequent residence of the Kings of Castile , when travelling south. At some time in the 1480s, Christopher Columbus first met there the Reyes Católicos , King Ferdinand II of Aragon and his wife Queen Isabella I of Castile , who financed

5428-593: The outskirts is the House of Hippolytus, an old school. In turn, the Regional Archaeology Museum (MAR) holds highly valuable mosaics. The city hosts a large population of international students due to the presence of the university, and in particular its Spanish language and literature programs for foreign students. Alcalingua, a branch of University of Alcalá , is one of the major foreign language learning centers for students from abroad. Alcalá

5520-424: The play in general there are two opposite groups of characters, the servants and the nobles, and within each group are characters divided into pairs: Pármeno and Sempronio, Tristán and Sosia, Elicia and Areúsa, in the group of servants, and Calisto and Melibea, Pleberio and Alisa, in the group of nobles. Only Celestina and Lucrecia do not have a corresponding character, but this is because they perform opposite roles in

5612-438: The plot: Celestina is the element that catalyzes the tragedy, and represents a life lived with wild abandon, while Lucrecia, Melibea's personal servant, represents the other extreme, total oppression. In this sense, the character of the rascal Centurio added in the second version is an addition with little function, although he has something to do with the disorder that calls the attention of Calisto and causes his death. Celestina

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5704-460: The poem has long been considered as pseudo- autobiography and the verses that mention his imprisonment appear at the end of the book and are generally thought to have been added after the fact. One of his poems states that he was imprisoned on the order of Gil Albornoz , the Archbishop of Toledo . It is not known whether he was sentenced for his irregularities of conduct, or on account of his satirical reflections on his ecclesiastical superiors. Nor

5796-408: The possibility of analyzing them as characters, based on the belief that Rojas limited dialogue in which interlocutors respond to a given situation, so that the sociological depth can thus be argued only on extratextual elements. Lida de Malkiel, another critic, speaks of objectivity, whereby different characters are judged in different manners. Thus, the contradictory behavior of characters would be

5888-465: The procuress with a valuable gold chain. The lovers arrange to meet in Melibea's garden the following night, while Sempronio and Pármeno keep watch. When the weary Calisto returns home at dawn to sleep, his two servants go round to Celestina's house to get their share of the gold. She tries to cheat them and in rage they kill her in front of Elicia. After jumping out of the window in an attempt to escape

5980-528: The province of Madrid, Alcalá de Henares was a seigneurial estate of the archbishops of Toledo . Its historical centre is one of UNESCO 's World Heritage Sites . The city has a long university tradition. Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros founded the Complutense University in Alcalá de Henares in the late 15th century. The city currently hosts the (refounded) University of Alcalá . It is the native city of Miguel de Cervantes . Locally, it

6072-410: The revival of Biblical studies that took place in the 16th century, was printed at Alcalá under the care of Cardinal Cisneros . A papal bull of 7 March 1885, united Alcalá with (effectively merging it into) the diocese of Madrid , which includes the civil province of Madrid, suffragan of the archbishopric of Toledo . The bishop's residence has since been used for preserving historical archives. It

6164-404: The same concept in several different ways. Noted for being very creative and alive, his work utilizes colloquial, popular vocabulary. His natural gifts were supplemented by his varied culture; he clearly had a considerable knowledge of the colloquial (and perhaps also of literary) Arabic widely spoken in the Spain of his time; his classical reading was apparently not extensive, but he knew by heart

6256-581: The sprawling suburban areas are irregularly constructed, with the addition of 1970s-style high rise blocks in many places. One of the most important streets in the city is the Calle del Cardenal Cisneros which takes tourists from the Madrid Gate at the entrance of the city, to the old city center and the cathedral in Santos Niños Square. The main park of Alcalá, Parque Municipal O'Donnell is

6348-447: The stamp of a unique personality, and, if he never attempts a sublime flight, he conveys with contagious force his enthusiasm for life under any conditions — in town, country, vagabondage or gaol. Johan Ruys (original spelling), arcipreste de la Hita, was imprisoned by the Inquisition for a few years due to his one-sided love affair with a lady of the nobility. In our modern society, he would have been charged with "harassment". He

6440-443: The status of a collegiate church . It was finally reconstructed in its present Isabelline Gothic style under Cardinal Cisneros (1495–1517), the founder of the university. A tower was added between 1528 and 1582, achieving its modern appearance in 1618. The processional cloister and the Chapel of Saint Peter were incorporated into the building in the 17th century. The building was declared a national monument in 1904. Nevertheless, it

6532-460: The substance of his versified autobiography, into which he intercalates devout songs, parodies of epic or forensic formulae, and lyrical digressions on every aspect of life. He shows a profound knowledge of human emotion and is able to strike a balance between gentleness and brazenness in his shrewd and frequently ironic writing. Ruiz, in fact, offers a complete picture of picaresque society in the most complex and rich cultural geography of Europe during

6624-453: The total to 21. Another edition with the title Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea (Tragic Comedy of Calisto and Melibea) (Valencia: ) appeared in 1514. This version contained those 5 additional acts, with the total of 21. In 1526 a version was published in Toledo that included an extra act called the Acto de Traso, named after one of the characters who appears in that act. It became Act XIX of

6716-426: The touch of her girdle. When she mentions Calisto's name, Melibea becomes angry and tells her to go. But the crafty Celestina persuades her that Calisto has a horrible toothache that requires her aid, and manages to get the girdle off her and to fix another meeting. On her second visit, Celestina persuades the now willing Melibea to a rendezvous with Calisto. Upon hearing of the meeting set by Celestina, Calisto rewards

6808-521: The travel for the Discovery of America . Cardinal Cisneros granted the town a new fuero in 1509. Despite being largely ruined, the town acquired the status of city in 1687 after long negotiations. In decadence since the mid-18th century, Alcalá de Henares experienced a relative demographic and economic upturn in the second half of the 19th century, based on its newly acquired condition of military outpost, to which an embryonic industrial nucleus

6900-400: The two use the rhetoric of courtly love , sex — not marriage — is their aim. When he dies in an accident, she commits suicide. The name Celestina has become synonymous with "procuress" in Spanish, especially an older woman used to further an illicit affair, and is a literary archetype of this character, the masculine counterpart being Pandarus . While chasing his falcon through the fields,

6992-468: The university can be found in other present-day academic institutions. The University of San Diego is largely based on the Spanish university; its campus and address take the name "Alcalá Park". In addition, some buildings at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas were modeled after the architecture of Universidad de Alcalá de Henares. In 1293 in Alcalá de Henares King Sancho IV of Castile founded

7084-592: The university moved to Madrid in 1836 (initially as the Universidad de Madrid, later as the Universidad Central, which in the 1970s would finally be renamed Universidad Complutense de Madrid ). A new university was founded in the old buildings as the Universidad de Alcalá in 1977. Parts of the new university occupy the buildings of the old Universidad Complutense in the city centre, including

7176-600: The university, one of the city's most important and historic building is the Cathedral-Magistral of Saints Justus and Pastor , known formally in Spanish as the Santa e Insigne Catedral-Magistral de los Santos Justo y Pastor or more familiarly as the Catedral de los Santos Niños . Constructed between 1497 and 1514, the cathedral houses the remains of Saints Justus and Pastor, two Christian schoolboys martyred near

7268-454: The victim of a strong passion induced by Celestina's spell. She is really bound by her social conscience. She worries about her honor , not modesty , not her concept of what is moral. Her love is more real and less "literary" than that of Calisto: her love motivates her actions, and Celestina's "spell" allows her to retain her honor. A young nobleman who falls madly in love with Melibea. He is shown to be quite egotistical and full of passion as

7360-468: The women, for the women are now their property. Servant to Calisto. Son of a prostitute who was friends with Celestina many years ago. As a child, Pármeno worked for Celestina in her brothel doing odd-jobs around the house and the town. Pármeno is in love with the prostitute Areúsa. A prostitute who lives with and works for Celestina. Cousin to Areúsa. Both she and her cousin deeply respect their mistress as they use words such as "Señora" to describe her. It

7452-473: The work of another jovial goliard , Alphonso Martinez de Toledo, arch-priest of Talavera, who wrote more than half a century before the Libro de buen amor was imitated by the author of the Celestina . Ruiz is mentioned with respect by Santillana, and that his reputation extended beyond Spain is proved by the surviving fragments of a Portuguese version of the Libro de buen amor . By some strange accident he

7544-574: The work, bring the total number of acts to 22. According to the 1965 edition of the play edited by M. Criado de Val and G. D. Trotter, "Its literary value does not have the intensity necessary to grant it a permanent place in the structure of the book, although various ancient editions of the play include it." The first translation of the work into another language was that by Alfonso Ordoñez into Italian, appearing in 1506. An anonymous translation into French first appeared in 1527 and went through many editions. In 1631, an English translation by James Mabbe ,

7636-577: The year of Isabella's death, which occupies the last phase of the Pre-Renaissance for Spain. Three major events in the history of Spain took place during the union of the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon in 1492. These events were the discovery of the Americas , the conquest of Granada and the expulsion of the Jews . It is also the year that Antonio de Nebrija published the first grammar of the Spanish language, together with Nebrija's own teachings at

7728-421: Was a child. Pármeno warns his master not to use her. However Celestina convinces Pármeno to join her and Sempronio in taking advantage of Calisto. His reward is Areúsa. As a seller of feminine knick-knacks and quack medicines, Celestina is permitted entrance into the home of Alisa and Melibea by pretending to sell thread. Upon being left alone with Melibea, Celestina tells her of a man in pain who could be cured by

7820-405: Was also added. The population steadily increased from 1868 to 1939. The population was still agrarian to a large extent, with high levels of illiteracy and poverty. Seeking social change, Republican and later Socialist movements grew in force in the city. The leading figure in the latter movement was Antonio Fernández Quer  [ es ] , who became the first municipal councillor from

7912-513: Was burned during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), and practically all of its contents were destroyed with the exception of a few minor relics and choir seats. It was not until 1991 that the Diocese of Alcalá was finally restored, being separated from the Archdiocese of Madrid, at which time the building was granted its present status of cathedral-magistral (although the title "magistral"

8004-473: Was conquered by Ferdinand the Great , only to be recaptured the following year by the Moorish armies then warring for control of the Iberian Peninsula , who destroyed the cathedral as an act of retaliation. At that time the relics of Saints Justus and Pastor were taken to Huesca for safekeeping until after the reconquest of Alcalá in 1118. Although a church was rebuilt on the site in 1122, Pope Urban II , under

8096-497: Was designed by Alonso Berruguete and has a famous staircase. During Muslim rule, the Jewish community of the city was granted equal rights as the Christians living in it: special restrictions were not placed on Jews regarding criminal compensation, residency, and other municipal aspects. In the Middle Ages , the Jewish congregation of the city paid taxes to the Archbishop of Toledo . The Jews of Alcalá were mentioned in

8188-454: Was neglected, and apparently forgotten, until 1790, when an expurgated edition of his poems was published by Tomás Antonio Sanchez ; from that date his fame has steadily increased, and by the unanimous verdict of all competent judges he is now ranked as the greatest Castilian poet of his century. Paul Heyse (1830–1914) published a translation into German of a poem by Ruiz in the 1852 collection Spanisches Liederbuch (Spanish Songbook), with

8280-408: Was once a prostitute , and now she dedicates her time to arranging discreet meetings between illicit lovers, and at the same time uses her house as a brothel for the prostitutes Elicia and Areusa. Melibea is a strong-willed girl, in whom repression appears as forced and unnatural; she feels like a slave to the hypocrisy that has existed in her house since her childhood. In the play she appears to be

8372-451: Was originally granted by Cardinal Cisneros, the building was still technically only a collegiate church , and not yet a cathedral within the ecclesiastical meaning of the term). The Cathedral of Alcalá is notable as one of only two churches in the world to be granted the special title "magistral" (along with St. Peter's Church in Leuven , Belgium ). The title reflects its former status as

8464-458: Was reconquered by the Archbishop of Toledo Bernard de Sedirac at behest of Castile . Soon after, on 10 February 1129, Alfonso VII gave Alcalá to Raymond de Sauvetât , also Archbishop of Toledo, becoming an archiepiscopal property for centuries to come. Raymond granted the town an old fuero (charter) in 1135. The Christians preferred the Burgo de Santiuste ("Saint Just's borough") on

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