JUAN BAUTISTA

DIAMANTE (164o ?-1684 ?)  , Spanish dramatist, was born at Castillo about 164o, entered the army, and began writing for the stage in 1657 . He became a knight of Santiago in 166o; the date of his death is unknown, but no reference to him as a living author occurs after 1684 . Like many other Spanish dramatists of his time, Diamante is deficient in originality, and his style is riddled with affectations; La Desgraciada Raquel, which was long considered to be his best play, is really Mira, de Amescua's Judia de Toledo under another title; and the earliest of Diamante's surviving pieces, El Honrador de su padre (1658), is little more than a free translation of Corneille's Cid . Diamante is historically interesting as the introducer of French dramatic methods into Spain .