Calle de Francisco Santos

Guindalera

The street bears the name of the Madrid writer Francisco Santos (1623-1698), a royal servant and soldier in the Royal Guard of Philip IV and Charles II, a prolific chronicler of manners in the 17th century. The council dedicated the street to him on 2 March 1887, renaming the former calle de Abenoza in the Guindalera district.

On his title pages he signed as “servant of the king our lord and native of Madrid”. Francisco Santos was born in Madrid in 1623 and died there in 1698. He served as a soldier in the Royal Guard under Philip IV and Charles II, married in 1645 and had nine children. He wrote satire and manners in the twilight of the picaresque novel. Between 1663 and 1685 he signed nearly twenty prose works: Día y noche de Madrid, Las tarascas de Madrid, El no importa de España and Periquillo el de las gallineras. Anyone who wants to know how life was lived in the Madrid of the late 17th century turns to his pages, which serve historians as a portrait of everyday life; even Alain-René Lesage borrowed episodes from him for his Diable boiteux. The calle de Francisco Santos runs through La Guindalera, between the avenida de los Toreros and the calle de Eraso. Until the council resolution of 2 March 1887 it was listed as calle de Abenoza.

Its names

  • Calle de AbenozaAnterior a 1887
Sources (5)