Don Juan

Posted on October 5, 2007 in Reading Scoundrels Sexuality

From Carlos Fuentes The Buried Mirror:

The king, it was widely believed, was the model for [[Don Juan]], the rake of Seville, as depicted in [[El_burlador_de_Sevilla_y_convidado_de_piedra|the seminal play]] published in 1634 by the friar [[Gabriel Tellez]], whose nom de plume was Tirso de Molina (though the model for Don Juan could have been another libertine, Don Miguel de Manara, known for his seductions of cloistered nuns.) [[Philip_IV_of_Spain|Philip IV]] was more tempted by actresses than by handmaidens to the Lord. He had thirty bastard children, only one of which he officially recognized: [[John_of_Austria_the_Younger|Don Juan]], his son by the actress Maria Calderon. Once he had cast off a mistress, however, Philip did send her to a nunnery, thus assuring that no one would have her after he had. A lady of the court, when refusing the king’s enticement, once told him, “Sire, I do not have a vocation for the convent. His fame as a libertine was indeed stupendous, and only comparable to his bouts of religious repentance and his attachment to the abbess of Agreda, who was his most steadfast friend and counselor.

No, I am not here. I am still on vacation. Check my Twitterings for the latest details.

For additional entertainment, check out this genealogy of Philip’s son, Charles II. They called him “The Bewitched” — he was just inbred.