The date of composition of Las cadenas del Demonio by Calderón

Along with the doubts about the Calderonian authorship of Las cadenas del Demonio, another disputed aspect of this comedia is its date of composition. After reviewing the critics’ dating proposals, we consider that the date established from the polymetric criterion is until now the most accurate chronological dating of Las cadenas del Demonio, because it can be supported by other criteria that coincide in locating its composition between 1635 and 1636, as part of some Calderonian “ex-periments” with the genre of comedia de santos that concluded with El mágico prodigioso in 1637.