Note 1785 — ACTO SEGUNDO

Don Alvaro de Luna, a Spanish courtier, born about 1388, was, in his youth, a page at the court of John II, whose favor he later enjoyed to a high degree. He was made Constable of Castile in 1423 and a few years later grand master of the order of Santiago—a double distinction never enjoyed by any other man. He afterwards fell a victim of a conspiracy of the Spanish feudal grandees and was executed at Valladolid in 1453. His life and achievements became a popular theme for Spanish authors, and doubtless much of interest written concerning him has been lost. The romances relating to don Alvaro de Luna which have come down to us concern his fall and execution, and some of them are favorites of beggars who sing in the streets of Spanish cities. It is evidently to a romancero or collection of these poems that reference is made by Lope.