Guillén de Castro y Bellvis

At one time a captain of the coast guard, at another the protégé of Benavente, viceroy of Naples, who appointed him governor of Scigliano, patronized by Pedro Téllez-Girón, 3rd Duke of Osuna and Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares, Castro was nominated a knight of the order of Santiago in 1623.

[3] He probably made the acquaintance of Lope de Vega at the festivals (1620–1622) held to commemorate the beatification and canonization of St Isidore, the patron saint of Madrid.

[4] The drama that has made Castro's reputation is Las Mocedades del Cid (c. 1605–1615), to the first part of which Pierre Corneille was largely indebted for the materials of his tragedy.

The two parts of this play, like all those by Castro, have the genuine ring of the old romances; and, from their intense nationality, no less than for their primitive poetry and flowing versification, were among the most popular pieces of their day.

[5] Sometime between 1605 and 1608, Castro wrote a comedia titled Don Quixote de la Mancha, a play based upon some parts of Cervantes' novel of the same name.