Castillejo, Cristóbal de (c. 1494–1550)

Spanish poet. His poems, including Sermón de amores/Sermon on Love Affairs (1542) and Diálogo de las condiciones de las mujeres/Dialogue on the Condition of Women (1544), are written in a bright or satirical style, with great verve.

Castillejo was born in Ciudad Rodrigo, Salamanca. He was first a page, and then secretary, to the Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand I, and spent many years in Germany. Castillejo strongly opposed the poetical innovations of the Boscan School, which sought to introduce Italian metres, such as the sonnet and the terza rima, into Spanish literature. His poems were first edited in 1573.