carefully prepared for publication. The volume contains
a remarkable number of fi rsts in Spanish literary history:
the fi rst treatise on poetic theory (Arte de poesía castel-
lana); the earliest rendering of Latin verse in Castilian
meter (a paraphrase of Virgil’s Bucolics); and the eight
pastoral eclogues that have earned him the title “father
of the Castilian theater.”
The playlets that Encina produced and acted in at the
ducal court were to have a lasting infl uence on Iberian
drama throughout the sixteenth century. Their single
greatest contribution was the character of the shepherd
(pastor), the uncouth, unkempt, and ignorant rustic
whose highly expressive stage language of sayagués
Encina modeled on the rural dialect of his region. On
one level the pastor was simply a comic fi gure intended
to elicit laughter from a noble audience. In Encina’s
hands, however, he also gave voice to a variety of seri-
ous issues, such as social confl ict, religious disharmony
between Old and New Christians, and the diffi culties
of the artist-patron relationship. Last but not least,
and aided by the fact that Encina often played the role
himself, the shperherd became a vehicle for blatant
self-promotion.
A notable lack of dramatic illusion often comple-
ments the multifarious role of the shepherd. In eclogues
1 and 2, for example, the shepherds are alternately
contemporary Salamancan rustics guarding the duke
of Alba’s fl ocks, the four Evangelists, and biblical wit-
nesses of the Nativity; one of them also represents the
playwright and his anxieties about receiving adequate
recognition from his patrons.
Another important infl uence on Encina’s theater is
clearly evinced in the fi nal eclogues of the 1496 col-
lection: the vast body of fi fteenth-century love lyrics.
In order to dramatize the power of love to transform
lives and equalize social differences, eclogues 7 and 8
in particular draw heavily on the language and concepts
of this amatory verse.
Social harmony becomes more elusive and love less
benevolent in Encina’s six remaining plays, probably
written between 1493 and 1499. Eclogue 9, a Christmas
play, deals only marginally with the Nativity, dwelling
instead on the desolation wrought on town and country
by the great rains of 1498 and the squabbling of four
shepherds seeking shelter from the storm. The work
seems to refl ect a growing disillusionment, common to
Encina’s generation, with the possibility of peaceful co-
existence between Old and New Christians in Spain.
It is believed that Encina’s failure to secure ecclesi-
astical advancement and his continuing dissatisfaction
with the Duke of Alba’s patronage caused him to leave
the latter’s employ sometime around 1498. Shortly
thereafter he left Spain for the fi rst of three extended
stays in Rome.
Encina’s best-known works, eclogues 11–14, refl ect
his experience of the cultural wealth of Renaissance
Rome, where his musical talents gained him the protec-
tion of three successive popes. The plays are noteworthy
for their greater structural complexity, their borrowings
from classical and Italian literature, and their increas-
ing secularization, culminating in the sacrilegious
suicide for love that occurs in eclogue 14, Égloga de
Plácida y Victoriano. Eclogue 11, Égloga de Cristino
y Febea, is generally regarded to be Encina’s most ac-
complished. Although he had previously dramatized its
theme of love’s power to resolve confl icting values and
lifestyles, here he achieves a more highly developed
scenic structure.
Égloga de Plácida y Victoriano was performed
in 1513. Some six years later Encina was ordained a
priest and went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He spent
the last ten years of his life (ca. 1520–ca. 1530) as prior
of the cathedral of León. He had written the plays that
determined the shape of Spain’s secular theater before
the age of thirty.Further Reading
Andrews, J. R. Juan del Encina: Prometheus in Search of Prestige.
Berkeley, 1959.
Encina, J. del. Obras dramáticas. Vol. 1. Cancionero de 1496.
Ed. R. Gimeno. Madrid, 1975.
——. Teatro (Segunda producción dramática). Ed. R. Gimeno.
Madrid, 1977.
Sullivan, H. Juan del Encina. Boston, 1976.
Barbara F. WeissbergerENGELBERT OF BERG (d. 1225)
A member of the noble family of the counts of Berg
and Altena, Engelbert of Berg became a member of
the cathedral chapter at Cologne during the episcopate
of his cousin Adolf of Altena, who sat as archbishop
1193–1205. Over time he acquired the provostships of
the collegiate churches of St. George, St. Severin, St.
Mary in Aachen, Deventer, and Züften. In 1203, he was
even elected bishop of Münster but declined, claiming
he was too young for such an honor. In reality, he had
his eye on the Cologne archiepiscopal chair. Adolf’s
political position in 1205 led to his being deposed, but
the support of many of the prominent cathedral canons
and other dignitaries of the archdiocese precipitated a
schism that lasted until the Fourth Lateran Council in- During the schism, Engelbert continued to sup-
port Adolf, and in 1216 the priors of Cologne elected
Engelbert, who by now was cathedral provost as well
as archdeacon, to be archbishop.
In 1220, just before returning to Sicily, Emperor Fred-
erick II appointed Engelbert as regent for young Henry
(VII), the not yet ten-year-old heir to the Staufen thrones.
As regent, Engelbert displayed great administrative abil-
ENCINA, JUAN DEL