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recipient of both a classical education at
S
ALAMANCA
, and training in church music
and choral presentations. He subsequently
became a composer and choral conductor
at the court of the duke of A
LBA
, whose
patronage in later years would free him to
pursue his literary activities. By the age of
30 he had already created well over 100
musical and dramatic pieces. After 1500 he
spent extended periods in Rome where he
became a confidant of Popes A
LEXANDER
VI
and Leo X. Having received minor orders
in his youth, he was now ordained and
journeyed to the Holy Land where he cel-
ebrated his first Mass. Encina's residence
in Italy also brought him into contact with
the new dramatic techniques of the Renais-
sance, and his later work reflects a depar-
ture from the pastoral and religious themes
that had originally inspired him. His later
work contains a considerable number of
secular themes, although many of the
plays are filled with the gods and goddesses
borrowed from classical tradition. In his
last phase Encina makes use of an even
wider range of innovations, including the
introduction of dance as well as music to
his plays.
Although Encina has been presented by
some critics as the virtual creator of Spanish
drama, he clearly shares the title with sev-
eral other major Renaissance figures; never-
theless, he pioneered in the transition from
the medieval emphasis on religious subjects
to at least a partial acceptance of “profane”
themes and characters. Furthermore, while
his
églogas
(pastoral poems modeled on Vir-
gil's eclogues) are clearly derived from estab-
lished formulas, his free and humorous use
of the peasant dialect known as
sayagués
for
the simple-minded dialogues of shepherds
would evolve into a regular feature of Span-
ish comedy in subsequent generations.
Some commentators have even suggested
that the use of dance to accompany musical
“numbers” by this former chorister repre-
sents the origins of the Spanish musical
comedy known as
ZARZUELA
. Among the
notable works of Encina are
Égloga de Plácida
y Victoriano
(1513),
Égloga de Cristino y Febea,
and
Auto del repelón.
encomienda
A system of allocation of land and labor made
by the Spanish Crown from the earliest
period of settlement in the New World. Orig-
inally introduced in H
ISPANIOLA
(present-day
Haiti and D
OMINICAN
R
EPUBLIC
), it was later
extended to the entire colonial area. Span-
iards favored by the authorities or deserv-
ing of rewards were assigned jurisdiction
over the life and labor of indigenous peo-
ples living within a certain district. The
holder of the
encomienda,
the
encomendero,
would be entitled to “tribute” from the
Indian population, to be paid in goods or
services. In practical terms this arrangement
led to a system of compulsory labor by Indi-
ans who became vassals of a particular
enco-
mendero
or even their virtual slaves. The
related practice of
repartimiento,
a form of
distribution of Indian tribute obligations,
enabled certain Spaniards to become mas-
ters of plantations and mines worked by
hundreds of compulsory laborers. Originat-
ing in similar grants made in Spain during
the conquest of the Muslim population,
these institutions were balanced by the
obligation of each
encomendero
to safeguard
the health and material well-being of the
subjects entrusted to him under his
enco-
mienda
and to see that they received reli-
gious instruction.
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