Gabriel Téllez, O. de M. (24 March 1583 – 20 February 1648), also known as Tirso de Molina, was a Spanish Baroque dramatist and poet, as well as a Mercedarian friar, and Catholic priest. He is primarily known for writing The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest, the play from which the character Don Juan originates. His work also includes female protagonists and the exploration of sexual issues.
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Life and career
Gabriel Téllez was born in Madrid to Andrés López and Juana Téllez, servants of the Count of Molina. As a youth, he studied at the University of Alcalá. He joined the mendicant Order of Our Lady of Mercy on 4 November 1600, by whom he was sent to the Monastery of San Antolín at Guadalajara to begin his period of novitiate on 21 January 1601. He had been ordained as a priest by 1610.
Téllez had been writing plays for ten years when he was sent by his superiors on a mission to the West Indies in 1615; as a result, he resided in the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo from 1616 to 1618. After returning to Europe, he resided at the Mercedarian monastery in Madrid, where he took part in the proceedings of the Medrano Academy, competed in the literary tournaments, and wrote for the stage.