Humanism and the Crown of Aragon: Literary History

Humanism and the Crown of Aragon

Humanism in the Crown of Aragon grew through contacts with Italy, commercial relations, and the papal court of Avignon. Italian authors heavily influenced Catalan prose. During the reign of Peter the Ceremonious, many French translations of classics appeared, which also came thanks to the Royal Chancery because Italian texts arrived there.

The Royal Chancery

Under Peter the Ceremonious, the Royal Chancery was reorganized. It was a great secretariat in the royal palace where writers, notaries, and protonotaries worked. All court documents were written there. The officials dominated three languages: Catalan, Aragonese, and Latin. The writers and copyists were the primary serious translators of classical works into Catalan from the original texts. Thanks to official contacts maintained with Italy, they began to redact their writings imitating the prose and elegance of the Italian Quattrocento that fascinated them.

The Papal Court of Avignon

This served as an important channel for the introduction of humanism, as the kings of Aragon maintained a strict contact with it. Through this channel came the influence of Italian authors such as John of Fernandez Erdi.

Bernat Metge

Bernat Metge was a member of the Royal Chancery, very important because he was the quintessential humanist and a universal humanist. His life began in Barcelona in 1340 or 1346. His father died when Bernat was very young. His mother remarried a cultured man, well-versed in Latin, who was very influential in Bernat's life since young king started learning Latin topics under his domain. Bernat easily accessed the career of the chancery since his stepfather held a high position.

• He helped in the registry of the royal chancellery.
• He wrote with confidence and always counted on the king's trust, serving as a confidant and master.

This position and privilege brought accusations regarding the embezzlement of public funds, which were never proven. After the death of King John I, proceedings were opened against 38 members of the chancery. Bernat was a defendant, accused of having accepted bribes. He was also accused of the king's death and was imprisoned. Bernat wrote Lo Somni (The Dream) against the defense of these accusations. The pardon of King Martin eventually absolved all defendants.

Works in Verse and Prose

• Sermó (Sermon): A parody of medieval preachers' sermons. It is a satire of Christian ethical values and attitudes, showing irony and little scrupulosity.
• Medicina apropiada a tot mal (Medicine appropriate for all evil).
• Valter e Griselda: A novel, a translation of Petrarch's Epistle.
• Apologia: A philosophical dialogue in the style of Cicero and Seneca. When he was imprisoned, he left this unfinished work, which is considered a sketch of Lo Somni.
• Fortunata and Prudència.

Lo Somni (The Dream)

A universal work. After escaping prison, Bernat used this work to clear his name, remove any shadow of culpability, and regain the king's favor.

Character and Structure

The work uses classical dialogue resources, mythological personages, and the modeling of the best-known authors of the Italian Trecento. It is structured into four books:

• Book 1: The author visits and converses with the imprisoned soul of King John. It begins with a dialogue about the immortality of the soul. This book shows a skeptical, rational, and proper attitude of humanism.
• Book 2: The author discovers the identity of his companions, along with the circumstances of his imprisonment and the current political situation and death of King John.
• Book 3: Orpheus converses with the author about life and includes a description of the inferno. Tiresias discusses the illicit love of King John and makes a diatribe against gifts.
• Book 4: The author praises gifts, followed by an ironic criticism of gifts. Finally, the author wakes up.

Stil and Legacy

His prose features a measured style and impeccable syntax. Bernat Metge was one of the first to write Catalan with a clear aesthetic and cultural goal. Regarding the novel's aftermath: after the reign of Martin the Humane, who died without descendants, the Trastamara dynasty from Aragon began to reign. The 15th century was the peak of splendor for the crown, even though it started with a political and social crisis. The 15th century was the golden age for important authors like Jordi de Sant Jordi, Joan Roís de Corella, Ausiàs March, and Joanot Martorell. Towards the end of the 15th century, the printing press arrived, making Valencia a new cultural capital. Barcelona and Valencia were the cultural centers within the Crown of Aragon driven by economic, social, religious, political, and strategic causes.

Alfons el Magnànim (Alfonso the Magnanimous)

After the death of Martin the Humane and the extinction of the house of Barcelona, Alfonso married Maria of Castile. He was a lover of poetry, music, and art. He was surrounded by cult poets and artists. Following military expeditions in 1421, he decided he was the legitimate heir to the lands of Naples, where he transferred his court. This caused Catalan poets to become bilingual (writing in Catalan and Castilian) while gradually abandoning Latin.

Jordi de Sant Jordi

He participated in the expedition against Corsica and Sardinia, which exposed him to Italian lyric poetry. From a young age, he enjoyed the protection of Alfonso the Magnanimous and his wife. Born in Valencia in the late 14th century, he died around 1425 at the age of 25. He served as a chamber musician, putting his poems to music and singing them before the court. He was present in Naples, where he wrote his famous work El Presoner (The Prisoner).

El Presoner

A realistic poem written while in captivity. Because of his location and suffering, it is considered a petition addressed to poet-king Alfonso the Magnanimous, asking for help as a good courtly knight, arguing that his situation is entirely the fault of bad luck. It is a nostalgic and sincere poem.

Poems of Jordi de Sant Jordi

His poems center on loving reflections differing from traditional troubadour poetry (such as enyorament). His sentiment is one of nostalgia and longing for the destinations of the poems, often disguised under a senyal (pseudonym). He adopts troubadour topics like the inaccessibility of women and the superiority of the poet's lady, while maintaining great tenderness.

Just Face It

He declares his submission to love, following the lady who has captured him with the images of 'under the front' where love and life become a game. By linking love to the courtly tradition, he embraced the typical conceptual ownership of the troubadours.

Ausiàs March

A self-taught poet. His family had deep roots, and his father was Pero March and his mother Leonor Ripoll. He grew up well protected and was educated by the best tutors since his family belonged to high-literary circles. He learned to be a good and great knight and loved falconry. He maintained good friendships with the king. He participated in the conquest of Sardinia (by sea). Afterward, he returned to Valencia to take charge of his lands and slaves (managing many estates). Following many Mediterranean travels, he left military life to dedicate himself to his family's holdings. At around 40 years old, he married Isabel Martorell, who died soon after their marriage. He had no legitimate children, though he had three out of wedlock. In his later years, he returned home, marrying Joana Escorna, a woman from a rich family who died after nine years. At 62 years old, Ausiàs March died. His will mentioned five children (plus a sixth born out of wedlock). He was buried in Valencia next to Joana Escorna.

Character and Style

• He did not write in Provençal; he was little influenced by the troubadours.
• He distances himself from the troubadour conceptualization of love, where the woman is all-important, and instead seeks correspondence and equality.
• He writes in decasyllabic verse (4+6) using many couplets, making life seem insignificant.
• He confesses his flaws and passions, using commutative terms.
• He possesses great strength and passion, moving beyond courtly love into rich, metaphorical, and colloquial language with direct, syncopated, and provocative style.

The Soldier-Poet

He reflects the complete complexity of human love. He faces a major contradiction regarding love: love can be an idealized, spiritual, and pure force, yet the flesh also desires physical love. This generates a conscience problem for him. This internal struggle causes sadness, and he warns that if the reader does not understand this sadness, they cannot truly understand his work.

His sadness and disillusionment grow when he attempts to find a female reader who understands his reflections on the opposition between spiritual and beastly love, as all his relationships end in failure. Facing the incomprehension of his poems' recipients, the soldier-poet chooses his own path. His poems are the result of making his unique experiences understood by nobody else. Writing becomes a way to apply discipline, reform oneself, and liberate oneself from the anguishes of living. Therefore, his style is abrupt, direct, contradictory, and deeply personal, even while reclaiming troubadour topics.

Thematic Classification

• Liaison and love: Poems divided according to his senyals (six cycles addressing different ladies), with each presenting different concerns and approaches to love.
• Plena de seny (Full of wisdom): Comprises a difference in the conception of love compared to earlier troubadour lyric poetry.
• Entre pur carbó: Falls in love with another lady and dedicates 35 poems proposing a much purer, intellectual conception of love.
• Foll amor: 12 poems where the poet admits that love is neither pure nor perfect, acknowledging the need for physical pleasures and bodily desires.
• Spiritual song: A distinct poem where the recipient is God; it is a confession and a penance for not having completed a full life.

Love and Death

Death is treated with varying degrees of forcefulness, especially in the Songs of Death. These six poems are dedicated to Joana Escorna. They are poems of deep sorrow where the poet attempts to streamline his sentiments, preoccupying himself with destiny, life, and the absence of his beloved, whose memory continues despite death.

Major Themes

Love, moral dictates, misogyny, death, and spiritual songs.