The Rise of Pseudo-Historical Fiction: Fray Antonio de Guevara's Novelizations

Fray Antonio de Guevara (1482-1545), the most prolific writer of pseudo-historical prose in sixteenth-century Spain, was named official chronicler by Emperor Charles V in 1526. Despite his title, Guevara never wrote a conventional history. A master of fictional semblance, Guevara self-fashioned his own literary personae or masks – among them those of friar, bishop, chronicler, courtier, imperial counselor, and court buffoon. In his pseudo-historical prose, Guevara resoundingly uses the voices…