Alfonso Martínez de Toledo

Alfonso Martínez de Toledo ( * 1398 in Toledo, † in Talavera de la Reina 1470 ) was a Spanish novelist, canon of Toledo and Archpriest of Talavera.

Life

Martínez was chaplain of King John II of Castile. He wrote about the life of Saint Isidore and Ildefonso, but his main work was " Corbacho o reprobación del amor Mundano ", which appeared in 1495. It is based on Italian sources and is an attack on worldly love, and it combines folk idiom with satirical comments on contemporary mores. It is one of the earliest masterpieces of Spanish literature and at that time was hugely successful.