La problemática fe de Hungría en unas obras teatrales de Antonio Mira De Amescua

Abstract

In Antonio Mira de Amescua's rich dramatic production, Hungary appears in at least four works. Each of them reveals the author's mentality and the reputation of this country in the Siglo de Oro Spain. In one of the four plays, La confusión de Hungría (The Confusion of Hungary), a complicated love affair, Hungary is no more than a far-away exotic land; in the other more serious three, the attention in focused on Transubstantiation, the main theme of La fe de Hungría (The Faith of Hungary) and La jura del Príncipe (The Prince's Oath), autos sacramentales in defence of this Catholic dogma. This was one of the most debated subjects showing the differences between the Catholic and the Reformed Church in the controversialist plays that appeared in Hungary in the 16th and 17th centuries. Those plays are quite different from most of the Spanish ones because of their lack of action. In fact, they only put debates on stage among the most important Christian Confessions, performed by the characters in a typical Hungarian confessional way. The last of Amescua's piece that we deal with, La hija de Carloe V (The Daughter of Charles V) hint at the same subject but only in a secondary plot.