A Spanish writer of the Golden Age (1590–1661), María de Zayas is one of the few women of letters of her era to have published under her own name. Her story collections, Novelas amorosas y exemplares (1637) and Desengaños amorosos (1647), boldly denounce male domination and champion women's education.
María de Zayas(1590 — ?)
María de Zayas y Sotomayor
Espagne
8 min read
Frequently asked questions
Famous Quotes
« Las mujeres tienen las mismas almas que los hombres y el mismo entendimiento.»
Key Facts
- Born around 1590 in Madrid, into a family of the Spanish lesser nobility
- Published Novelas amorosas y exemplares in 1637, a collection of ten stories that met with immediate success
- Published Desengaños amorosos in 1647, a darker sequel denouncing violence against women
- A contemporary of Lope de Vega and Calderón de la Barca, recognized by her male peers
- Disappears from the historical record after 1647; the date and place of her death remain unknown
Works & Achievements
A first collection of ten novellas published in Zaragoza, framed as a gathering of men and women exchanging stories. The work blends romantic intrigue with social critique, openly championing women's education and dignity.
A second collection of ten novellas, published ten years after the first, in a markedly darker and more disillusioned tone. The stories more forcefully condemn male abuse and often end with female protagonists entering a convent as their last refuge.
The only play attributed to María de Zayas, this comedy of manners depicts romantic rivalry between women and the betrayal of female friendship by love. It reflects the breadth of her talents and her participation in the dramatic tradition of the Spanish Golden Age.
María de Zayas contributed commendatory poems to the collections of several contemporary authors, most notably Lope de Vega. These contributions attest to her integration into Madrid's literary circles and to the recognition of her talent by her peers.
Anecdotes
María de Zayas was one of the very few women of her time to publish literary works under her own name, without a male pseudonym. At a time when women were largely excluded from the world of letters, this boldness was in itself a remarkable act of resistance.
In the prologue to her Novelas amorosas y exemplares (1637), María de Zayas addresses her readers directly to defend women's intelligence, arguing that if women appear less learned than men, it is solely because they are denied access to books and education — not for any lack of natural ability.
Her novellas depict women as victims of male violence with a rawness unusual for the time. Some contemporary critics were shocked by the darkness of her stories, while others compared her favorably to Lope de Vega and Cervantes — an exceptional compliment for a woman of the seventeenth century.
The date of María de Zayas's death remains unknown: she disappears from historical records after 1647, the year her second collection was published. Some historians believe she may have ended her life in a convent, a common choice among learned women of the era who wished to preserve their intellectual independence.
Her works were reprinted several times during the seventeenth century, testament to their popularity, yet they fell into obscurity for more than two centuries. It was not until the twentieth century that feminist scholars rediscovered her, recognizing her as a major forerunner of Hispanic feminist literature.
Primary Sources
Who can doubt, dear reader, that it will astonish you that a woman should have the boldness not only to write a book, but to send it to the press?
Women have souls equal to those of men; the reason they fall short is that they are not allowed to exercise their faculties, with books and schools closed to them.
There is nothing more ungrateful than a man who has been loved, nor more forgetful than a woman who has loved without being loved in return.
If men practiced the same faithfulness they demand of women, there would not be so many wretched souls.
Key Places
The kingdom's capital and intellectual center of Golden Age Spain, Madrid is the city where María de Zayas spent most of her life. She frequented literary academies and the cultured circles of Philip IV's court.
It was in Zaragoza that María de Zayas's first collection was published in 1637, by the printer Pedro Escuer. The city was an important center of printing and literary distribution in 17th-century Spain.
Her father, Pedro de Zayas, served as a soldier and administrator for the Spanish Crown in Italy. María de Zayas likely spent time in Naples during her childhood, which explains her familiarity with Italian culture and literature evident throughout her works.
A former capital of Spain where the royal family resided in the early 17th century, Valladolid was an important cultural hub that María de Zayas may have frequented in her youth.
Typical Objects
The everyday writing tool of a seventeenth-century author, the trimmed goose quill allowed María de Zayas to set her lengthy novellas down on paper. Using it required technical skill and access to resources that few women of the era possessed.
María de Zayas drew direct inspiration from Boccaccio's Decameron and the Italian novellieri, whose collections circulated in Spanish translation. These volumes served as both her literary models and her thematic sources of inspiration.
Spanish aristocratic fashion in the seventeenth century favored dark fabrics and restrained ornamentation, as dictated by court etiquette. María de Zayas, who came from the minor nobility, most likely wore these codified garments, which she describes with precision in her stories.
A ubiquitous object of Catholic devotion in Golden Age Spain, the rosary structured the daily rhythm of women from respectable families. In Zayas's novellas, Catholic religion and morality frequently provide the framework for criticizing male behavior deemed hypocritical.
Before publication, texts by Golden Age writers circulated in manuscript form through literary academies and salons. María de Zayas moved in these Madrid circles, where her work was read and discussed before going to print.
A symbol of vanity and illusion in Baroque literature, the mirror is a recurring image in Zayas's work, evoking the deceptiveness of appearances and men's duplicity toward women.
School Curriculum
Vocabulary & Tags
Key Vocabulary
Daily Life
Morning
María de Zayas began her day with morning prayer, a mandatory practice in 17th-century Catholic Spain. After a light breakfast — bread, cheese, and hot chocolate introduced from the Americas — she settled early at her writing desk, making the most of natural daylight before afternoon visitors interrupted her concentration.
Afternoon
Afternoons were devoted to the social obligations of her station: courtesy calls, receiving learned acquaintances, and sometimes attending a literary academy where texts were read aloud and poetry and prose were debated. These mixed gatherings, though supervised, offered her a rare space for public intellectual expression.
Evening
By candlelight in the evenings, she reread her manuscripts and likely corresponded with publishers and fellow authors. The evening also included evening prayers, and in noble households, a reading aloud of pious or literary texts before bed. The curfew imposed on unaccompanied women severely limited her ability to go out at night.
Food
The diet of Madrid's minor nobility in the 17th century centered on wheat bread, legumes (chickpeas, lentils), pork and mutton, and salted fish on lean days. Hot chocolate, imported from the Americas, had become an affordable luxury for the upper classes, and María de Zayas herself mentions it in her novellas as a drink associated with women's gatherings.
Clothing
María de Zayas wore clothing typical of the Spanish minor nobility of the 17th century: a long gown in taffeta or black wool, a white lace collar (cuello), a rigid corset (cuerpo), and a wide hooped petticoat (guardainfante) fashionable at the court of Philip IV. The restraint of dark colors was a marker of social distinction enforced by Spanish court etiquette.
Housing
She most likely lived in a rented apartment in a multi-tenant building (casa de vecinos) in central Madrid, a typical arrangement for minor nobility without stable income. The apartment would have included a few rooms furnished in dark wood, a small private oratory, a reception room, and a personal study — a precious and uncommon space for a woman of her era.
Historical Timeline
Period Vocabulary
Visual Style
Style pictural baroque espagnol, inspiré de Velázquez : clair-obscur dramatique, palette sombre rehaussée d'ivoire et d'or, intérieur aristocratique madrilène du XVIIe siècle.
Sound Ambience
Ambiance sonore d'un intérieur madrilène du XVIIe siècle : grattement de plume, cloches d'église, murmures d'une académie littéraire et bruits de la ville baroque en toile de fond.
Liens externes & ressources
Références
Œuvres
Novelas amorosas y exemplares
1637
Desengaños amorosos (Parte segunda del Sarao y entretenimiento honesto)
1647
La traición en la amistad (comédie)
vers 1620-1630
Poèmes dans les paratextes d'œuvres contemporaines
1620-1637
