Don Karlos, Infant von Spanien, Johann Christoph Friedrich Schiller's drama of forbidden love between stepson and stepmother, a royal family portrait, and a revolutionary philosophical-political debate, is among Schiller's best-known works and was his fourth completed drama in the six years between 1781 and 1787, following the Sturm und Drang dramas Die Räuber [The Robbers, 1781], Die Verschwörung des Fiesko zu Genua [The Rebellion of Fiesco of Genoa, 1783], and Kabale und Liebe [Cabal and Love, 1784]. Composed when Schiller was between eighteen and twenty-eight years old, these four dramas were followed by a period characterized by preoccupation with historical works, journal publications, aesthetic studies, and Schiller's first attack of the illness that eventually proved fatal, during which he produced no dramas. Set in Spain of the 1560s, Don Karlos is based on the story...
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Citation: High, Jeffrey L.. "Don Carlos". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 September 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11147, accessed 05 December 2025.]
