Traidor, inconfeso y mártir

José Zorrilla, author of Traidor, inconfeso y mártir.

Traidor, inconfeso y mártir ("Traitor, unconfessed and martyr") is a Spanish play published in 1849 by José Zorrilla.^[1] It is loosely based on the incident of impostor Gabriel de Espinosa, who tried to impersonate the king Sebastian of Portugal.

Plot

Sebastian of Portugal

An alleged pastry chef from the town of Madrigal, Gabriel Espinosa, is accused by King Philip II of Spain of impersonating the late Portuguese monarch, Sebastian of Portugal, to usurp the throne.^[2] The mayor, Don Rodrigo de Santillana, a strict man, decides then to seize him. His son, César, a captain of the tercios, helps at first to Gabriel, since he is in love with Gabriel's adopted daughter, Aurora. However, she rejects him, since she is in love with his adoptive father. César, enraged, orders the arrest of Gabriel and his false daughter, who are imprisoned in Medina del Campo. Afterwards, he is tortured to try to make him confess that he has tried to impersonate the Portuguese king, but he denies it by claiming that he has always been an innocent baker and that he has never claimed otherwise. Nevertheless, the Marquis of Tavira, a noble Portuguese man, recognizes him to be the Portuguese king.

Due to this, the mayor Don Rodrigo receives the order of the Spanish monarch to hang him to prevent any pretension to the throne. However, he decides to release Aurora since, as Gabriel had told him, she was his (the mayor's) daughter whom she had with a young woman she raped.

Even at the gallows Espinosa still refuses to have ever pretending to be a king but after being hanged, they find a note where he confesses to be the true king, Sebastian of Portugal.

References