Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
hidalgo (Portuguese:
fidalgo
)
Title of a subordinate class of nobles, roughly
equivalent to the gentry or country gentle-
man in England, this term is derived from
hijo de algo,
signifying “son of something.” It
came into use during the early Middle Ages
and survived until the 19th century. Con-
ferring certain legal protections and privi-
leges, it entitled individuals who were
recognized as members of this class to rep-
resentation in a distinct chamber of the
COR
-
TES
(a form of Spanish parliament), separate
from the nobles and the commoners. Tradi-
tionally distinguished by the right to display
a coat of arms and wear a sword, the hidalgo
was generally an object of respect or deri-
sion, depending on whether he had the
financial means to support his pretensions.
By the 19th century the term had become
essentially customary or rhetorical.
one of the most influential figures in the
Portugal of his time.
Herrera, Fernando de
(1534-1597)
Spanish poet
Esteemed the greatest poet of the Spanish
Renaissance and hailed by his contempo-
raries as El Divino (The Divine One), Her-
rera was a native of S
EVILLE
who founded
the Sevillian school of poetry. Having taken
minor orders to secure an ecclesiastical ben-
efice that would support him, he devoted
his life to poetry. Herrera was preoccupied
by the form, content, and scope of the
poetic art, constantly making notes on
images and ideas that he might introduce
into his own work. He was in a sense a pro-
moter, as well as a practitioner, of poetry.
The literary circle over which he presided at
the mansion of the conde de Gelves was
Spain's first tertulia (literary salon). His pre-
ferred form was the epic, and his verses cel-
ebrating the achievements of J
OHN
OF
A
USTRIA
(Don Juan de Austria) and the vic-
tory over the Turks at L
EPANTO
are merely
the best known of repeated excursions into
this genre. He clearly aspired to be Spain's
great epic poet, as L
UÍZ
DE
C
AMÕES
was that
of Portugal. But Herrera was also capable of
tender emotions, and his poems celebrating
the virtues of the condesa de Gelves clearly
reflect the warm feelings that lay beneath
his rather cold and sometimes hostile per-
sonality. Perhaps the most striking charac-
teristic of Herrera's work is his preoccupation
with original and striking images and meta-
phors. His richness and even novelty of lan-
guage would be much imitated by
subsequent generations of S
IGLO
DE
O
RO
poets, culminating in the verbal excesses of
L
UIS
DE
G
ÓNGORA
.
Hispaniola (Española)
This island in the central West Indies
(encompassing nearly 30,000 square miles)
was reached by C
HRISTOPHER
C
OLUMBUS
on
his first voyage of discovery in 1492. He
named it
La Española
(for “the Spanish
[Island]”) and left a small settlement on his
departure in 1493. This had disappeared by
his return voyage in 1494 but was suc-
ceeded by a permanent settlement named
Santo Domingo in the eastern end of the
island. This town became the seat of Span-
ish administration in the New World and
the launching place of the first phase of
expeditions to the American mainland. The
influx of Spaniards soon led to the virtual
extinction of the original Amerindian pop-
ulation, but the need for a labor force led to
the importation of a large numbers of Afri-
can slaves.
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