Sidney Scribbled: The Mysterious Case of Deffensa de la poesia

Abstract

A manuscript in the Biblioteca Nacional de Espana contains a translation into Spanish of Philip Sidney’s The Defence of Poesy. This seventeenth-century document is possibly the first translation of Sidney’s treatise into any language as well as a very rare example in this period of cultural transmission from England into Spain, which was at the time isolating itself from foreign influence, especially from protestant countries. The mere existence of this manuscript invites a number of questions about the transmission of literary texts in early modern Europe, the relationship of the Sidney family to the Spanish court, and the possible readings a treatise on poetics could receive. This article explores some of the enigmas that surround Deffensa de la Poesia, and examines the puzzling marginalia contained in its pages, a facet of the text ignored by the few previous scholars who have discussed it.