In his perceptive work on the interrelationship between history and literature, Louis Montrose advocates a resituation of texts within their contexts, which leads to "a reciprocal concern with the historicity of texts and the textuality of history" (20). For Montrose, aesthetic works can historicize the past and provide an understanding and explanation of times past, but they cannot provide an objective portrayal of history (20).1 It is in this spirit that I would like to approach Lope's Fuenteovejuna (161 0-1614). To resituate Lope's renowned drama within its socio-historical context is to make possible a more profound understanding of the various contemporary pressures that inform its plot.