ABSTRACT
The appearance of royal favorites on stage coincides with the emergence of all-powerful ministers, such as the Duke of Lerma, the Cardinal Richelieu, and the Duke of Buckingham, in the monarchies of Spain, France, and England, respectively. Throughout the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the favorite minister develops into frequent character in numerous dramas and becomes the protagonist of at least 150 plays. However, the approach of authors of dramas on favorites to history is primarily rhetorical and has little interest to research events from the past. The establishment of patronage relationships between dramatists and powerful courtiers responded to a mutual interest, since the latter provided protection and favors to playwrights, who, in exchange, offered a cultural product that could serve as both entertainment and propaganda for patrons. Of the three principal dramas analyzed in this book, La paciencia is the play that most clearly shows the playwright's purpose to eulogize the figure of royal favorite, the Duke of Lerma.
