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Theater and Hospitals in the Spanish Golden Age Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requir An Inn-Yard Empire: Theater and Hospitals in the Spanish Golden Age Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Rachael Irene Ball Graduate Program in History The Ohio State University 2010 Dissertation Committee: N. Geoffrey Parker, Advisor Dale van Kley, Co-Advisor Elizabeth Davis ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Copyright by Rachael Irene Ball 2010 ! ! ! ! ! ! Abstract This study examines the development of commercial theater in important urban locations of the Spanish Empire during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and compares them with their English counterparts. Based on manuscript and printed sources, it argues that the Spanish theaters developed into a well-entrenched and exportable system of public drama through their financial relationship to hospitals in those cities. Unlike in cities in the Anglo-Atlantic, this meant that theater was centrally integrated into the physical space of cities in Spain and its colonies. This relationship also gave Spanish public playhouses an upper hand when dealing with anti-theatrical moralizers. Additionally this study examines the impact that various groups had on the development of Renaissance theaters. Actors, playwrights, troupe directors, hospital administrators, actresses, and audience members, as well as imperial, local, and religious authorities, played a role in the creation of the most productive and most attended public drama of the early modern period. ii Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to Bailey. iii Acknowledgments Upon my arrival as a graduate student at the Ohio State University, I was lucky enough to work with John Brooke, whose energy, kindness, and brilliance never fail to astound. He guided me through my MA. Geoffrey Parker and Dale van Kley have supervised my PhD thesis, and I could not have asked for two more grounded, reliable, patient, kind, and willing advisors. Elizabeth Davis has been a helpful and kind mentor. She and Tom Postlewait have read drafts, given criticism and feedback, and written letters of recommendation for grants that enabled me to complete my dissertation research. I am also grateful to Jim Amelang, Bernardo García García, Fernando Bouza, David Cressy, Richard Dutton, Don Larson, and Ruth Mackay. I’m thankful to my faculty mentor at Kenyon College Jeff Bowman for letting me bounce ideas off of him and for arranging for me to present my research. My graduate student experience would have been a far less rewarding experience both professionally and personally if not for my colleagues and amigos Jim Bennett, Laura Michele Diener, John Hunt, David Dennis, Jaimie Sassone, Andrea Smidt, Katherine Becker, Larry Skillin, Lizzie Nixon, Ric Rader, and Glenn Kranking. I would have gotten far less accomplished without the coercive pressure of Think Tankers Richard Gordon, Lisa Voigt, M. Kittiya Lee, Fabricio Prado, and Lucía Costigan. iv This dissertation could not have been written without the generosity of the Ohio State University Department of History, the US Fulbright Commission, the Spanish Ministry of Culture, and the Tinker Foundation. The archivists at the Biblioteca Nacional de España, the Archivo de la Villa de Madrid, the Archivo Historico Nacional de España, the Archivo Regional de la Comunidad de Madrid, the Archivo General de Simancas, the Archivo General de las Indias, the Archivo General de la Nacion de Mexico, the Archivo del Distrito Federal de Mexico, and the Archivo del Ayuntamiento de Puebla all made available resources that were crucial to the writing of this dissertation. In 2006-2007, I spent a wonderful year doing research in Madrid, Spain. The friendships that I formed with other Fulbright Fellows, Nicholas Bomba, William Goldman, Mayte Mercado-Green, J. Melvin, and Patrick O’Banion during that year enriched my research. Maria de la Cruz de Carlos and Javier Castro gave me new perspectives on early modern Spanish history and aided me with translations. In the summer of 2008 I spent a month in Toronto at a Making Publics (MaPs) summer seminar, led by Paul Yachnin and Steven Mullaney. I am grateful for their feedback on my project, as well as that of the other seminar participants, especially Javier Castro, Joy Crosby, Jeff Doty, Amy Rodgers, Meg Pearson, and Gladys Robalino. My mom and sister listened and gave support and encouragement for this “big paper.” I love them both with all my heart. My best friend, partner, and husband, Mark Rice, read drafts, gave feedback, and listened to my complaints without complaint. Finally, my dog Bailey has provided me with comic relief and an excuse to take breaks and get outside in the fresh air. I dedicate this dissertation to her. v Vita May 2003……………………………………B.A. History, The University of Oklahoma September 2003 to present………………….Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of History, The Ohio State University December 2004 …………………………….M.A. History, The Ohio State University September 2006 – June 2007 ……………….U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Spain August 2009 – May 2010 …………………..Visiting Instructor of History, Department of History, Kenyon College Fields of Study Major Field: History Area of Emphasis: Early Modern Europe vi Table of Contents Abstract............................................................................................................................... ii! Dedication..........................................................................................................................iii! Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iv! Vita..................................................................................................................................... vi! Introduction: Commercial Theater in the Spanish Atlantic World:.................................... 1! I. The Origins of Public Drama in Golden Age Spain .................................................... 6! II. From a National Theater to an Atlantic World Export............................................. 10! III. Sources and Organization........................................................................................ 17! Chapter 1: “The Money that Comes from the Plays:” ...................................................... 23! The Centrality of Theater in Early Modern Madrid.......................................................... 23! I. Madrid as the New Court with New Corrales de Comedias...................................... 24! II. Changes in the Administration of the Theaters: The Seventeenth Century ............. 36! III. The London Comparison......................................................................................... 44! IV. The Confessionalization of the Theater Season...................................................... 50! V. Charitable Hospitality and the Battle Against Disease and Poverty ........................ 55! vii Chapter 2: “The playgoers cheered:” Plays, Players, and Audiences in Renaissance Madrid and London........................................................................................................... 64! I. Playwrights and Players in Golden Age Madrid........................................................ 66! II. City Comedies: Madrid ........................................................................................... 76! III. The London Comparison......................................................................................... 80! IV. Theatrical Publics in Early Modern Madrid and London: Audiences, Diplomats, and Heroes..................................................................................................................... 85! Chapter 3: “Notable is the confusion!”: Theater and Health in Seventeenth-Century Seville and Dublin, 1550-1660 ......................................................................................... 94! I. Seville: A Theatrical City and a City of Theaters...................................................... 95! II. Charitable Hospitals and the State of Public Health in Golden Age Seville.......... 110! III. The Dublin Comparison........................................................................................ 118! IV. Theater as a Mirror in Seville and Dublin............................................................. 123! The Colonial Theater of New Spain ............................................................................... 127! I. American Origins: Indigenous Drama and The Theater of Evangelism in Mexico 130! II. Commercial Theater and Charitable Hospitals in Mexico City ............................. 136! III. Puebla: The City of Angels and Actors................................................................. 149! IV. Actors, Audiences, and Playwrights in their Colonial Contexts........................... 154! Antitheatrical Sentiment and Legislation in Spain and England .................................... 165! viii I. Antitheatrical Antecedents....................................................................................... 169! II. Charitable Hospitals, Melancholy Theater and Declinación.................................. 182! III. Censorship and Theatrical Crisis........................................................................... 195! Chapter 6: On the stage, in the “stew pot” and in the streets:........................................ 207! Gendered Performance and Health ................................................................................
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