The Representation of Astrology in Golden Age Spanish Theatre: Different Points of View in Calderon’s El astrologo fingido1

This paper examines the representation of astronomical phenomena, and their astrological interpretation, in the Spanish theatre of the sixteenth century. The idea is not to use the plays as direct sources of information on the practice of astrology and also medicine, as has been previously done by Chevalier, Soufas and Sanchez Granjel.** Instead, I will look at the representation of astrology and its practitioners in theatre plays, considered as a cultural creation of their contemporary society. The first part of this study is focused on the representation of the variety of astrological practitioners, and how they dramatize the contact between academic astrology (taught at the universities) and other non-scholarly astrological practices, usually associated with magic and popular predictions. I also look at the interest of the general public in conventional representations of astrological theories.