Carmen Parrilla assumes that San Pedro was a grown man by the end of the 15th century, when he wrote Desprecio de la Fortuna, because he apologized for the mistakes of his youth in this work.
Whinnom describes San Pedro as an hidalgo, or a member of the lower nobility, who did as he was ordered, seemed afraid of ridicule, and was willing to go to extreme lengths to please the ladies-in-waiting of the queen.
Several scholars point to the tone of some of San Pedro's works in support the theory, and maintain that Cárcel del amor is a literary response to the initiation of the Inquisition, but all this is mere speculation.
The Spanish sentimental romance is a 15th and early 16th century prose genre that uses courtly love to explore the themes of desire and death.
In addition to being famous for his popular fiction, Diego de San Pedro is also recognized for his cancionero verse, a type of lyric poetry that was one of the bases of entertainment at the Catholic Monarchs court.
San Pedro's courtly poetry is characterized by the theme of love, and shows a preference for octosyllabic verse, and the use of abstract terms which create ambiguity.