“En boca del mentiroso hasta lo cierto se hace dudoso": ¿fue Lope de Vega realmente un poeta soldado?

The ideal of the perfect courtier was a model of virtue for the people at the end of the 16th century. Before and after Lope de Vega, many poets of the Golden Age tried to be “a second Garcilaso". The Fénix wanted the same, so he proclaimed to have served his King as a soldier in two occasions: the Azores islands and the Armada Invencible. With this last episode on quarantine, the tale of the victorious campaign of the marquis of Santa Cruz that can be found in his comedy El galán escarmentado wouldn't prove that Lope participated in the conquest of the Terceira island. Just the opposite. Because a comparative analysis with the Comentario en breve compendio of Cristóbal Mosquera de Figueroa demonstrate that the poet used it to compose his verses. The fact that he needed the testimony of others to tell the events that he witnessed would question his presence in that military campaign and therefore his precious status of soldier-poet of which he constantly boasted about it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]