Las Mocedades del Duque de Osuna

About the Book

The Duke of Osuna escapes from prison and goes in pursuit of a famous swordsman, Afanador, to see how good a fighter he really is. Plays various pranks on his way, always rewarding his victims with double or three times the value of the damaged goods, meets a former lover and gathers some followers who join him on his trip to Flanders. The play ends with the duke and his friends being imprisoned at first and then pardoned and praised by the King of France who had witnessed a tumultuous clash between Spaniards and Frenchmen at a play performance, provoked by an insult to the dignity of the the King of Spain by one of the French actors. The French King admired the duke's nobility, his patriotism, courage , valor and extreme dedication and respect shown to his king.


Trabajo en todos aspectos meritorio, esta magnífica obra del Profesor Manuel Barroca tiene la virtud de ofrecer al lector un lúcido análisis a una curiosa faceta de la obra de Don Cristobal Monroy, fecundo pero injustamente poco divulgado autor.

-Eduardo Mayone Dias
Professoe Emeritus
Department of Spanish and Portuguese
University of California at Los Angeles

About the Author

The author is a retired teacher of Spanish and Portuguese. For his doctor's thesis he made a thorough study of the life and literary work of Monroy -" Vida y Obra de D.Cristóbal de Monroy y Silva," the author of this play. M.B.Barroca taught at several colleges in the United States and in New Zealand , at the University of Aukland. He published in the Journal of Australian Universities Language and Literature Association, AULLA, in 1973, a paper he read at the University of New South Wales, Sidney, "Monroy uno de los Olvidados" and , in 1976 "Dos Comedias Inéditas de Monroy," Estudios de Hispanófila, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Manuel Barroca retired in 1988 and ,since then, when not travelling or writing he enjoys his retirement with his family and friends in the S.F. Bay Area.