Biography
Rojas Zorrilla is known to have been born at Toledo; the only other fact recorded about his life is that he became a knight of Santiago in 1644. The exact date of his death is unknown. It is believed that he studied at the University of Toledo and University of Salamanca, and for a time followed a military career.
His plays were published between 1640 and 1645; his greatest dramatic composition, Del rey abajo ninguno, was printed separately under the title of Garcia del Castanar. Of his other pieces, apart from their intrinsic merit, an international interest attaches to No hay padre siendo rey, which was borrowed by Jean Rotrou for his Venceslas; to Donde hay agravios no hay zelos and the Amo criado, which were imitated by Paul Scarron in his Jodelet Souffleté and Maître Valet; to Entre Bobos anda el juego, the source of Thomas Corneille's Don Bertrand de Cigarral, as well as of Scarron's Don Japhel d'Arménie; to Obligados y ofendidos, from which are derived Les Généreux Ennemis by François le Metel de Boisrobert, Les Illustres Ennemis by Thomas Corneille, Scarron's Écolier de Salamanque, and the story of Count Belflor and Leonor de Cespedes in Alain-René Lesage's novel Le Diable boiteux(fr) (1707); and to La traición busca el castigo, upon which are based Sir John Vanbrugh's False Friend and Lesage's Traître puni.
Read more about this topic: Francisco De Rojas Zorrilla
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