Biography

The most prolific Spanish playwright of the Golden Age, he was nicknamed "The Monster of Nature", because of his incredible ability to turn out plays quickly. It is assumed he wrote at least 135 of them, some in as little time as three days.

One of Miguel de Cervantes's greatest rivals in the theatre. Lope de Vega was a huge success as a playwright; none of Cervantes' plays were successful onstage. It has been speculated, but never proven, that Alonso Fernandez de Avellaneda, the mysterious and otherwise unknown author who wrote a pirated sequel to Cervantes' great novel "Don Quixote", was actually hired by Lope de Vega to do so. Cervantes had written only what we now know as the first half of "Don Quixote", until the phony and apparently atrocious sequel inspired him to write the second half of it (both halves of the Cervantes novel are now nearly always published in one volume).

He entered the priesthood during the last decades of his life, and when he died he was given a state funeral that lasted nine full days.

He literally flogged himself to atone for what he believed were his sins.

He suffered many family misfortunes during his life. One of his daughters was carried off by a courtier, and another went blind and insane. His son was accidentally drowned.