Santillana, Iñigo López de Mendoza, marqués de

Santillana, Iñigo López de Mendoza, marqués de (ēnyē`gō lō`pĕth dā māndō`thä märkās` dā säntēlyä`nä), 1398–1458, Spanish poet and literary patron. Influenced by Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, his work marks the transition between medieval and Renaissance Spanish literature. The first to write sonnets in Spanish, he also wrote the first Spanish ars poetica; an allegorical poem, Comedieta de Ponza (1436); and several songs called serranillas. Santillana's refranes, or proverbs, were translated into English in 1579.

Bibliography

See study by D. W. Foster (1971).