COUNT ALARCOS:
A TRAGEDY


by Benjamin Disraeli


As there is no historical authority for the events of the celebrated
Ballad on which this Tragedy is founded, I have fixed upon the
thirteenth century for the period of their occurrence. At that time the
kingdom of Castille had recently obtained that supremacy in Spain which
led, in a subsequent age, to the political integrity of the country.
Burgos, its capital, was a magnificent city; and then also arose that
masterpiece of Christian architecture, its famous Cathedral.

This state of comparative refinement and civilisation permitted the
introduction of more complicated motives than the rude manners of the
Ballad would have authorised; while the picturesque features of the
Castillian middle ages still flourished in full force; the factions of
a powerful nobility, renowned for their turbulence, strong passions,
enormous crimes, profound superstition.

[Delta]

London: May, 1839


DRAMATIS PERSONAE