The oft-overlooked poetic corpus of the Spanish-Neapolitan Francisco de Aldana (c. 1540–78) lies at the heart of this study in which I revisit and reassess our appreciation and understanding of the articulation of love in his lyric. Much like Garcilaso de la Vega and Juan Boscán before him, Aldana serves as a quintessential example of what we have come to acknowledge as the figure of the warrior-poet. Born to Extremaduran parents in the Spanish Kingdom of Naples, he grew up to be educated at the University of Florence where he dedicated himself to the study of classical languages and literatures. He was closely aligned with the family of Cosimo de’ Medici and formed part of Benedetto Varchi's literary circle. Aldana later became a soldier in the service of the Spanish Empire, like his father before him, for which he was recognised by Carlos V for his valiant efforts, and he was made an aide to the nephew of Felipe II of Spain, Don Sebastian of Portugal, until his death. Aldana's poetry was never published in his own lifetime, for it appears he had no inclination to do so, and so it was not until his brother Cosme took it upon himself to collect, edit and print Francisco's works after his death at the Battle of Alcazarquivir (1578) that his poetry came to light. The first part of his collected works was published in Milan in 1589, the second in Madrid in 1591, and a compendium volume again in Madrid in 1593. Two subsequent editions with minor adjustments were printed, most likely in Brussels, after 1593.

The history of Aldana's corpus is of interest by virtue of its fragmented, posthumous circulation. Cosme de Aldana, himself a self-published poet, was responsible for both the preparation and publication of Francisco's poetry. Both contemporary critics, such as Francisco de Quevedo, as well as modern scholars have lambasted Cosme's efforts as the editor of his brother's oeuvre. These critical opinions, however, could be said to mask the particularly interesting role he played in fashioning and curating Francisco's posthumous image as a poet. For example, the allographic writings that act as an intermediary and help shape the relationship between reader and text in the editions include Cosme's own poetry.