The multi-authorial Espejo de príncipes y caballeros cycle (1555-1587) was the most successful cycle of the genre during the second half of the sixteenth century. This cycle is composed of three different imprints that circulated widely. The first one, Espejo de príncipes y caballeros or El cavallero del Febo, was written by Diego Ortúñez de Calahorra and published for the first time in 1555. The second was written by Pedro de la Sierra Infanzón and first published in 1580, whilst the third, by Marcos Martínez, appeared in 1587, but remained in print until 1623. These three romances are the best examples of the last paradigm of the genre. Their influence and circulation prevailed until the second half of the seventeenth century.

Espejo de príncipes y caballeros (I) by Diego Ortúñez de Calahorra

In this section, I will analyse the foundation of the mise en cycle of the Espejo cycle and its development in the first romance by Diego Ortúñez de Calahorra. The princeps of the opening romance appeared in Zaragoza in 1555, followed by six more editions, including one from as late as 1617 (Eisenberg and Marín Pina 2000: 323–324). The influence and success of these editions was significant beyond its number of editions, as the Espejo de príncipes y caballeros (I) was translated into English, French, and Italian. In Spanish literature, several works from different genres attest to its cultural importance. The Espejo (I) was adapted into thirteen ballads of Lucas Rodríguez's Romancero historiado (1579), Calderón's play El castillo de Lindabridis (1661), and Pérez de Montalbán's play on Florisel de Niquea: Para nosotros amantes, para con todos hermanos (1632). The sequels that make up the Espejo cycle demonstrate its success within the genre, and its direct influence on Don Quijote has equally been proven (Eisenberg 1975: XLIX–LII).

The romance narrates in three sections the adventures of Emperor Trebacio's offspring, the Cavallero del Febo and Rosicler. Structurally, Espejo (I) follows the biographical model of the Amadís cycle, focusing on the heroic accounts of Trebacio's genealogy as a way to move the plot over time (Campos 2003a: 7–8). Ortúñez's romance contains many of the constituent events and topoi from the Amadís cycle and the rest of the genre (Campos García Rojas 2002: 392–394, 2008a). Hence, imitatio remained a central technique employed by the author in the composition of Espejo (I).