Tirant lo Blanc, Ausiàs March and Catalan Renaissance Literature
S. XIV marks the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, which is known as Humanism. Italy is the birthplace of this movement (Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy; Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron; Francesco Petrarca, Secretum), with a return to classical antiquity and a rejection of medieval aspects. Humanists had great erudition in the classical world and considered the Middle Ages barbaric. They wanted to resurrect Greek and Latin ideals: cultured and refined literature. Humanism was fully accepted by the Crown of Aragon (Joan I and Martí l'Humà), which obliged knowledge of Latin in the royal chancery, a bureaucratic body that handled documents of royalty, nobility and the ecclesiastical estate. Created in the 13th century, it focused on 1373 copyists and linguistic uniformity in the koiné.
The chivalric novel tells the stories of adventures of famous knights who fight, and tales of deeds, both real and imaginary. It is a genre of the Middle Ages. We must bear in mind that the different orders of chivalry (brotherhoods) were institutions of great prestige, defending well, the Church and the weak. Honor, valor, justice and generosity are its great literary myth. The Arthurian novels, or matter of Britain, revolve around the knights of the Round Table who sought the Holy Grail. Chrétien de Troyes stands out in the 12th century as a chivalric novelist with a fantastic character. The Catalan novel (Tirant lo Blanc and Curial e Güelfa, 15th century) features realism and verisimilitude. Martí de Riquer makes this distinction.
Tirant lo Blanc is the most important and best-known Catalan novel. Cervantes praised it in Don Quixote, and Mario Vargas Llosa studied it in Carta de batalla por Tirant lo Blanc (1969). It is a total novel (chivalric, historical, erotic, adventurous) with modernity: realism, and surprising aspects such as demystification, irony, eroticism, and a varied use of language according to the person and situation.
Joanot Martorell was a knight. His wealthy family gradually became ruined. Travel worsened his situation. He had battles of letters with other knights (Joan de Monpalau) and did not see his work published. He died at around 50 years old, in 1490, and Martí Joan de Galba completed the work.
The English part (liberation of England) tells of Guillem de Varoic, who goes from knight to hermit. Tirant meets Guillem de Bretanya (GDB) and learns the characteristics and virtues of the order of chivalry. Tirant is armed as a knight, fights his first battles, and wins Agnès' collar, fighting Sir Vilsermes.
Tirant in Sicily and Rhodes: the siege of Rhodes, where the treason of two knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem is discovered because of a double morality in a girl. The siege of Rhodes ends with a naval stratagem. There are gallant and amorous scenes at the court of the Queen of Sicily.
Tirant in the Greek Empire: Tirant goes to Constantinople to free it from the Turkish threat. He falls in love with Carmesina, declares himself with a mirror, and battles the Great Turk and the Sultan. There is a false dream of Plaerdemavida, Estefania with Diafebus, weddings, and sordid affairs. Carmesina and Tirant do not, and Tirant tries to put Carmesina in bed. She hides among mattresses. There is a tournament where Tirant faces Diafebus with a covered face. The Empress and Hipólito have a love affair. There is an episode of mirrors and deception with the Widow Reposada and Tirant.
Tirant in North Africa: Tirant and Placerdemavida are shipwrecked on the coasts of Barbary. He serves the Caudillo, liberates Tremecén and Margadina, who falls in love with him. He evangelizes 44,000 Moors, converts the captain, and finds Placerdemavida.
Return to the Greek Empire: Carmesina loses her virginity. The Sultan and the Great Turk withdraw. Carmesina dies and Tirant becomes Emperor.
After Tirant's death: Hipólito is with the Empress. Tirant and Carmesina are buried in Brittany.
The novel has a strong total character, alternating epic-amorous and ironic-dramatic episodes, made up of many small episodes with a certain narrative autonomy. It mixes historical facts and fiction (the Christian always wins against the Turks) and emphasizes the importance of the feminine world.
Ausiàs March is the creator of Catalan poetry, second only to prose, because of the persistence of the troubadour tradition (poetry was written in Provençal until the 15th century). He was the first author to write cultivated poetry in Catalan without Provençalisms. He broke with the troubadour tradition with his own and unique style. He was born in Gandia in 1397. He was an armed knight, took part in military campaigns, and was named falconer major by Alfons III the Magnanimous. He married twice (Isabel Martorell and Joana Escorna). He died in Valencia in 1459.
March's work consists of 128 poems: songs of love, of death, moral songs, and a spiritual song. The love songs are the best known and break with courtly love of the troubadours and the dolce stil nuovo. He calls himself "the most extreme lover" but says that obsessive love is sick, a false idolatry and a personal condemnation of the soul. He rejects the idealization of love as an absolute. There are high degrees of realism in the poems, with domestic images. They are not easy: long images, scholastic influence, and moralizing use of classics give them considerable complexity. Other features include the senhal (a concealed name for the beloved), reason, and recurring images such as the lily among thorns. The spiritual song is an extensive poem in estramps (stanzas). It is addressed to God, fearing he has sinned in his amorous life, and asks God to take him to another life.