Castro, Guille de

Castro, Guille de, a Spanish dramatist, in the judgment of Voltaire the writer of the first true tragedy that had appeared in modern Europe, was born in Valencia in 1569, and was at one time commander of a Neapolitan fortress. In his later years he lived in Madrid, and was on intimate terms with Lope de Vega; but his sour temper lost him many friends, and he is said to have died in abject poverty in 1631. Castro's memory has been chiefly preserved by his authorship of Las Mocedades del Cid, to the first part of which Corneille was indebted for the plot and many of the beauties of his celebrated tragedy. The second part of the Mocedades has few passages that rise above mediocrity; and his other plays are badly constructed, and chiefly distinguished for their intensely national spirit. See Lord Holland's Lives of Lope de Vega and Guillen de Castro (vol. ii. 1817).