In 1499, an anonymous 16-act play was published in the Spanish city of Burgos that influenced the flourishing of the Spanish language and literature. Known as La Comedia de Calisto y Melibea, it became very popular. As a result, other editions were published in the next three years. A second edition came off the press in 1500 and a third edition was printed in 1502. In this 1502 edition, readers were able to name the author, Fernando de Rojas, who added five more acts with an introduction and concluding material. The title was then changed to The Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea, but this masterpiece later became known simply as La Celestina – the name of the cunning and seductive protagonist.
Celestina is an old woman who has lived a life of sin and vice. Known for cosmetics, sex, prostitution, murder, corruption, envy, betrayal, recycled virgins, and money, it’s no wonder she’s the star of the job. She engages the reader as an “intermediary” for Callisto, a young nobleman who has lost his mind, in love with the haughty Melibea, also a young woman from a noble family. Two prominent characters are Sempronio and Parmeno, annoying servants of Callisto. Sempronio secretly plans to make money from her by helping Calisto organize a meeting with Melibea. To do this, he seduces Melibea into falling in love with Calisto. Parmeno does not trust Celestina but finally decides to work with Sempronio to obtain money from the services of the old woman. However, all they receive are two prostitutes who “work” in Celestina’s house: Elicia and Areúsa. Sempronio and Parmeno never get what they really want, which is Celestina’s money, and this starts a chain of tragic plots that ends with the death of the five main characters.
Not much is known about the author. Fernando de Rojas was born around 1470 and died around 1540. He was a law student at the University of Salamanca when he wrote La Celestina. As far as scholars know, Rojas did not write any other literary works. He became a successful lawyer and later mayor of a Spanish city where he lived for three decades. But, Rojas was born into a family of “converts”, Jews who converted to Christianity. He grew up for a time in Spain when the Inquisition tried, tortured, and turned Jews into Christians.
Rojas was very well educated. His library included not only books on law, but many other books on the works of ancient Roman and Greek writers, in addition to many Italian medieval and Renaissance writers, chivalric novels, sentimental novels, and poetry. This is evident since it incorporates so many references and quotes from such classic sources that they abound in this work.
Rojas’s only literature was a great contribution to Spanish culture that is considered to be Spain’s Golden Age, which marked the end of medieval times and the beginning of the Renaissance. He was a true humanist because his references to the classics were stimulated by the philosophy of secularism, an appreciation of worldly pleasures, and above all he intensified the assertion of personal independence and individual expression.