ABSTRACT
The entire sixteenth century witnessed a marvelous outburst of the national dramatic genius, which tried out different forms in a search for the one best suited to it. The contemporaries of Cervantes and Lope de Vega considered that Spanish drama began with Lope de Rueda. Rueda was a Sevillan. At first he followed the trade of goldbeater, then he became an actor, author and manager of a troupe. With these three, perhaps four professions he traveled over Spain. Joaquín Romero de Cepeda, though born in Badajoz, may be reckoned among the Sevillans, as his two plays were performed and printed at Seville. The more important, the Comedia Salvaje, testified to the popularity of the Celestina, as the first two acts of its four come from that source. Andres Rey de Artieda was a native of Valencia, spent part of his life there, and there he died, so that he belongs properly in the Valencian group.
