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VICENTE, GIL (147o-1540)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 20 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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VICENTE, GIL (147o-1540) , the See also:father of the Portuguese See also:drama, was See also:born at See also:Guimaraes, but came to See also:Lisbon in boyhood and studied See also:jurisprudence at the university without taking a degree. In 1493 we find him acting as See also:master of See also:rhetoric to the See also:duke of See also:Beja, afterwards See also:King Manoel, a See also:post which gave him See also:admission to the See also:court; and the Cancioneiro Geral contains some See also:early lyrics of his which show that he took See also:part in the famous seroes do paco. The See also:birth of King See also:John III. furnished the occasion for his first dramatic See also:essay—The Neatherd's See also:Monologue, which he recited on the See also:night of the 7th–8th See also:June 1502 in the See also:queen's chamber in the presence of King Manoel and his court. It was written in See also:Spanish out of compliment to the queen, a daughter of See also:Ferdinand and See also:Isabella, and because that See also:language was then the fashionable See also:medium with the higher classes. This manger-hymn, which was a novelty in See also:Portugal, so pleased the king's See also:mother, the infanta D. Beatriz, that she desired Gil Vicente to repeat it the following See also:Christmas, but he composed instead the Castilian See also:Pastoral Auto, a more See also:developed piece in which he introduced six characters. The infanta, pleased again, required a further diversion for Twelfth See also:Day, whereupon he produced the Auto of the See also:Wise See also:Kings. He had now established his reputation as a playwright, and for the next See also:thirty years he entertained the courts of Kings Manoel and John III., accompanying them as they moved frcm See also:place to place, and providing by his autos a See also:distraction in times of calamity, and in times of rejoicing giving expression to the feelings of the See also:people. Though himself both actor and author, Gil Vicente had no See also:regular See also:company of players, but it is probable that he easily found students and court servants willing to get up a part for a small See also:fee, especially as the plays would not ordinarily run for more than one night. The Auto of the Sybil See also:Cassandra (produced at the monastery of Euxobregas at Christmas 1503), the Auto of St See also:Martin (played in the See also:church at Caldas on the feast of Corpus Christi 1504), and a See also:mystery See also:play, the Auto of the Four Seasons, all belong, like their predecessors, to the religious drama, but in 15o5 Gil Vicente wrote a See also:comedy of real See also:life, Who has See also:Bran to sell? a See also:title given it by the public. It is a See also:clever See also:farce depicting an amorous poor See also:squire and his See also:ill-paid servants, and opens a See also:rich portrait-See also:gallery in which the dramatist includes every type of Portuguese society, depicting the failings of each with the freedom of a See also:Rabelais. The next three years saw no new play, but in 15o6 Gil Vicente delivered before the court at Almeirim a See also:sermon in See also:verse on the theme Non velo, See also:vole, et deficior, in which he protested against the intolerance shown to the See also:Jews, just as in 1531 he interfered to prevent a See also:massacre of the " New Christians " at See also:Santarem.

The Auto of the Soul, a See also:

Catholic prototype of See also:Goethe's See also:Faust, containing some beautiful lyrics, appeared in 1508, and in 1509 the Auto da See also:India, a farce which has the eastern enterprise of his See also:country-men for background, while the Auto da See also:Fama (1516) and the Exhortation to Was (1513) are inspired by the achievements that made Portugal a See also:world-See also:power. If the farce of The Old See also:Man of the See also:Garden (1514) breathes the See also:influence and spirit of the See also:Celestina, the popular trilogy of the Boats of See also:Hell, See also:Purgatory and See also:Glory (1517, 1518, 1519) is at once a See also:dance of See also:death, full of splendid pageantry and See also:caustic See also:irony, and a See also:kind of Portuguese Divina Commedia. The Auto of the Fairies (1516), the Farce of the Doctors (1519) and the Comedy of Rubena (1521) ridicule unchaste clerics and ignorant physicians with considerable freedom and a See also:medieval coarseness of wit, and the Farce of the See also:Gipsies is interesting as the first piece of the See also:European See also:theatre dealing professedly with that See also:race. Ignez Pereira, usually held to be Gil Vicente's masterpiece, was produced in 1523 before King John III. at the See also:convent of See also:Christ at See also:Thomar, and owedits origin to certain men of bom saber, perhaps envious partisans of the classical school. They pretended to doubt his author-See also:ship of the autos, and accordingly gave him as a theme for a fresh piece the See also:proverb: " I prefer an See also:ass that carries tine to a See also:horse that throws me." Gil Vicente accepted the See also:challenge, and furnished a triumphant reply to his detractors in this comedy of ready wit and lively See also:dialogue. The See also:Beira See also:Judge (1526), the Forge of Love (1525) and The Beira See also:Priest (1526) satirize the maladministration of See also:justice by ignorant magistrates and the lax morals of the regular See also:clergy, and the Farce of the Muleteers (1526) dramatizes the type of poor nobleman described in Cleynart's Letters. The Comedy of the Arms of the See also:City of See also:Coimbra (1529) has a considerable antiquarian See also:interest, and the facetious Ship of Love is full of See also:quaint imagery, while the lengthy Auto of the See also:Fair (1529), with its twenty-two characters, may be described as at once an See also:indictment of the society of the See also:time from the standpoint of a See also:practical See also:Christian and a telling See also:appeal for the reform of the church. In an oft-quoted passage, See also:Rome personified comes to the See also:booth of See also:Mercury and Time, and offers her indulgences, saying, " Sell me the See also:peace of See also:heaven, since I have power here below "; but Mercury refuses, declaring that Rome absolves the whole world and never thinks of her own sins. The play concludes with a dance and hymn to the Blessed Virgin. The See also:Triumph of See also:Winter (1529) exposes the unskilful pilots and ignorant See also:seamen who cause the loss of See also:ships and lives on the route to India, and the Auto da Lusitania (1532) portrays the See also:household of a poor Jewish tailor, ending with a curious dialogue between " All the World " and " Nobody." The See also:Pilgrimage of the Aggrieved (1533) is an attack on discontent and ambition, See also:lay and clerical. After representing the Auto da See also:festa for the See also:Conde de Vimioso (1535), and dramatizing the romances of See also:chivalry in D. Duardos and Amadis de Gaula, Gil Vicente ended his dramatic career in 1536 with a mirthful comedy, The Garden of Deceptions.

He spent the evening of life in preparing his See also:

works for the See also:press at the instance of King John III., and died in 1540, his wife Branca Bezerra having predeceased him. Four See also:children were born of their See also:union, and among them Paula Vicente attained distinction as a member of the See also:group of cultured See also:women who formed a sort of See also:female See also:academy presided over by the infanta D. Maria. The See also:forty-four pieces comprising the theatre of Gil Vicente fall from the point of view of language into three See also:groups: (I) those in Portuguese only, numbering fourteen; (2) those in Spanish only, numbering eleven; and (3) the bilingual, being the See also:remainder, nineteen in all. They are also from their nature divisible as follows: a. Works of a religious See also:character or of devotion. Most of these are a development of the mystery or See also:miracle play of the See also:middle ages; and they may be subdivided into (I) Biblical pieces; (2) pieces founded on incidents in the life of a See also:saint; and (3) religious allegories. In this See also:department Gil Vicente reaches his highest poetical flights, and the Auto of the Soul is a triumph of See also:elevation of See also:idea and feeling allied to beauty of expression. b. Aristocratic works, or tragicomedies, the See also:composition of which was the result of his contact with the court; these, though often more spectacular than strictly dramatic, are remarkable for opulence of invention and sweetness of versification. c. The popular theatre, or comedies and farces. Gil Vicente's plays contain some See also:evidence of his knowledge and appreciation of See also:French See also:poetry; e.g. The Beira Judge wears a See also:general likeness to the products of the Clercs de la See also:Basoche, and his Testament of Maria Parda is reminiscent of the better-known See also:work of See also:Francois See also:Villon.

Most of the plays are written in the See also:

national redondilha verse, and are preceded by initial rubrics stating the date when, the place where, in whose presence, and on what occasion each was first performed, and these make up the See also:annals of the first thirty-four years of the Portuguese drama. Most of them were put on the See also:stage at the different royal palaces; some, however, were played in hospitals, and, it is said, even in churches, though this is doubtful; those of which the subjects are liturgical at the See also:great festivals of Christmas, See also:Epiphany and Maundy See also:Thursday, others on the happening of some event of importance to the royal See also:family or the nation. Many of the plays contain songs, either written and set to See also:music by the author, or collected by him from popular See also:sources, while at the See also:close the characters leave the stage singing and dancing, as was the See also:custom in the medieval comedies. Though so large a proportion of his pieces are` in Spanish, they are all eminently national in idea, texture and subject. No other Portuguese writer reflects so faithfully the language, types, customs and See also:colour of his See also:age as Gil Vicente, and the rudest of his dramas are full of genuine comic feeling. If they never attain to perfect See also:art, they possess the supreme See also:gift of life. None of them are, strictly speaking, See also:historical, and he never attempted to write a tragedy. Himself a man of the people, he would not imitate the products of the classical theatre as did Sa de See also:Miranda and See also:Ferreira, but though he remained faithful to the Old or Spanish school in See also:form, yet he had imbibed the See also:critical spirit and See also:mental ferment of the See also:Renaissance without its culture or erudition. Endowed by nature with acute observation and considerable See also:powers of See also:analysis, Gil Vicente possessed a felicity of phrase and an unmatched knowledge of popular superstitions, language and See also:lore. Above all, he was a moralist, with See also:satire and ridicule as his See also:main weapons; but if his invective is often stinging it is rarely See also:bitter, while more than one incident in his career shows that he possessed a kindly See also:heart as well as an impartial See also:judgment, and a well-balanced outlook on life. If he owed his early See also:inspiration to Juan de See also:Encina, he repaid the See also:debt by showing a better way to the dramatists of the neighbouring country, so that he may truly be called the father of the rich Spanish drama, of Lope de See also:Vega and See also:Calderon. Much of his fame abroad is due to his position as an innovator, and, as Dr See also:Garnett truly remarked, " One little corner of See also:Europe alone possessed in the early 16th See also:century a drama at once living, indigenous and admirable as literature." Gil Vicente perhaps lacks psychological See also:depth, but he possesses a breadth of mental See also:vision and a critical acumen unknown in any medieval dramatist.

In his attitude to See also:

religion he acts as the spokesman of the better men of his age and country. A convinced but liberal-minded Catholic, he has no sympathy with attacks on the unity of the Church, but he cries out for a reform of morals, pillories the corruption and See also:ignorance of the clergy and laity, and pens the most bitter things of the popes and their court. He strove to take a middle course at a time when moderation was still possible, though, had he lived a few years longer, in the reign of religious fanaticism inaugurated by the See also:Inquisition, his bold stand for religious See also:toleration would have meant his imprisonment or See also:exile, if not a worse See also:fate. He is a great dramatist in embryo, who, if he had been born fifty years later and preserved his See also:liberty of thought and expression, might with added culture have surpassed Calderon and taken his place as the Latin and Catholic See also:rival of See also:Shakespeare. Some of the plays were printed in Gil Vicente's lifetime, but the first collected edition, which included his lyrics, was published after his death by his son Luiz (Lisbon, 1562), with a See also:dedication to King See also:Sebastian. A second edition appeared in 1586, with various omissions and alterations made at the instance of the Inquisition. A critical edition of the See also:text in 3 vols. came out at See also:Hamburg (1834), with a glossary and See also:introductory essay on Vicente's life and writings, and a poor reprint of this edition is dated Lisbon 1852. He has never found a translator, doubtless because of the difficulty of rendering his form and explaining his See also:wealth of topical allusions.

End of Article: VICENTE, GIL (147o-1540)

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