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Catalan literature is the name conventionally used to refer to literature written in the Catalan language. The focus of this article is not just the literature of Catalonia, but literature written in Catalan from anywhere, so that it includes writers from the Valencian Community, Balearic Islands and other territories where Catalan or its variants are spoken.
Martí de Riquer i Morera, 8th Count of Casa Dávalos was a Spanish–Catalan literary historian and Romance philologist, a recognised international authority in the field. His writing career lasted from 1934 to 2004. He was also a nobleman and Grandee of Spain.
The Cançoner Gil is an Occitan chansonnier produced in Catalonia in the middle of the 14th century. In the systematic nomenclature of Occitanists, it is typically named MS Sg, but as Z in the reassignment of letter names by François Zufferey. It is numbered MS 146 in the Biblioteca de Catalunya in Barcelona where it now resides.
Ramon de Rosselló or Raimon de Rusillon was a minor Catalan troubadour. Only one of his Occitan compositions survives, and in only one manuscript. His sole cobla esparsa is insignificant literarily, but it mentions the troubadour Montan, who from a debate with Sordello, allows Ramon's life to be placed in the mid-thirteenth century.
The Consistori del Gay Saber was a poetic academy founded at Toulouse in 1323 to revive and perpetuate the lyric poetry of the troubadours.
The Consistoride Barcelona was a literary academy founded in Barcelona by John the Hunter, King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona, in 1393 in imitation of the Consistori del Gay Saber founded in Toulouse in 1323. The poetry produced by and for the Consistori was heavily influenced by the troubadours. The Consistori's chief purpose was to promote "correct" styles and themes and discourage vices (vicis) by awarding prizes in competition to poets who adhered to the "rules" of poetic composition. The names of few poets laureate have come down to us and despite some excellent descriptions of the Consistori's activities, associated persons and poems are obscure.
Lorenç Mallol was a Catalan poet of the fourteenth century, the first Petrarchan of his country and one of the last troubadours. His two surviving pieces are composed in Old Occitan. His first name is also spelled Laurenç in modern Occitan and Llorenç in modern Catalan.
Lo Bord del rei d'Arago, literally "The Bastard of the King of Aragon", is the name assigned to the composer of three coblas in an Occitan chansonnier. Lo Bord wrote two peticions and one remissio to Rostanh Berenguier de Marselha, who also wrote a fourth peticion of his own to Lo bord, but without a surviving response. This poem without a response, Pos de sa mar man cavalier del Temple, contains internal clues permitting it to be dated to between 1291 and 1310. All these coblas were edited and published by Paul Meyer in Les derniers troubadours de la Provence.
The viadera was a lyric genre of Catalan and Occitan literature invented by the troubadours. It was a dance song devised to lighten the burden of a long voyage or to enliven the trip. It was a popular as opposed to "high" form and only infrequently used by cultivated poets. According to the Catalan Cançoneret de Ripoll, it was la pus jusana spècies qui és en los cantàs and elsewhere it is called la més baixa espècie de cançons.
Floral Games were any of a series of historically related poetry contests with floral prizes. In Occitan, their original language, and Catalan they are known as Jocs florals. In French they became the Jeux floraux, and in Basque Lore jokoak. The original contests may have been inspired by the Roman Floralia held in honour of Flora.
A maldit was a genre of Catalan and Occitan literature practised by the later troubadours. It was a song complaining about a lady's behaviour and character. A related genre, the comiat, was a song renouncing a lover. The maldit and the comiat were often connected as a maldit-comiat and they could be used to attack and renounce a figure other than a lady or a lover, like a commanding officer. The maldit-comiat is especially associated with the Catalan troubadours. Martí de Riquer describes un autèntic maldit-comiat as a song where a poet leaves a mistress to whom he has long been fruitlessly devoted, and explains her failings which have led him to depart.
Thomàs Périz de Fozes was an Aragonese troubadour of the knightly class, who has left two poems in the Occitan language. His mother tongue was evidently Aragonese. His Occitan is the literary koiné of the classical era of the troubadours (1160–1220) and was apparently learned: it is in general grammatically and rhythmically perfect asides from a few errors of declension caused by his greater familiarity with Aragonese.
Pau de Bellviure was a Catalan poet of the fourteenth and/or fifteenth centuries. To the Catalan and Spanish writers of the Renaissance he was a model of courtly love who had attained gran fama. Pere Torroella lists him among the "doctors" of poetry. According to Ausiàs March, his love for his lady turned him mad and he broke his neck and died, a martyr to love.
Johan Blanch was an Occitan troubadour who composed a canso for a joc floral at the Consistori del Gay Saber. According to the rubric of the fourteenth-century chansonnier that preserves it, he was a Catalan whose poem "won the violet", top prize. His canso is elegant and pleading.
Melchior de Gualbes was a Catalan knight, politician, and author of three short poems. His poetry is preserved in the Cançoner Vega-Aguiló, in a section badly damaged by humidity. Only the use of ultraviolet radiation has made possible full readings of all his pieces.
Arnau March was a Provenço-Catalan knight and poet of the famous March family. He was related—it is unknown how—to Jaume I, Jaume II, Pere, and Ausiàs March. He bore the rank of mossèn ("milord"). He was active during the life and consortship of Margarida de Prades, to whom he addressed one poem, and before the compilation of the Cançoner Vega-Aguiló (1420–30), which contains three of his poems. In total, he has left only six pieces of verse. His dates suggest that he came a generation or two after the brothers Jaume II and Pere and one before Ausiàs. He may have been a nephew of the former and cousin of the latter, but it cannot be proved.
Joan Toralles was a Catalan author from Vic of a brief historical tract, the Noticiari ("Notices"). It is little more than a list of names, dates, places, and events, probably compiled largely from memory, covering the years from 1365 to 1427. The gossipy nature of the tract leads Martí de Riquer i Morera to label Toralles as a representative of the vox populi of the early fifteenth century in Catalonia. Despite the tract's brevity, Toralles displays a wide knowledge of current events, shrewdness, and capacity for concision. That Toralles hailed from Vic is corroborated by his deep knowledge of the geography of Osona. It is possible that his Noticiar was composed by more than one person, judging by the long period of time it covers. He covers the earthquake that stuck Olot on 15 May 1427 like this:
Luys d'Averçó or Luis de Aversó (c.1350–1412x15) was a Catalan politician, naval financier, and man of letters. His magnum opus, the Torcimany, is one of the most important medieval Catalan-language grammars to modern historians. His name is spelled Lluís d'Averçó or d'Aversó in modern orthography.
Peyre de Rius (fl.1344–86) was an Occitan troubadour from Foix. He wrote under the patronage of Gaston Phoebus, Count of Foix, and Peter the Ceremonious, King of Aragon. He is one of the few troubadours known by name who lived for a time at Peter's court in Barcelona. His name in standardised Occitan is Peire or Pèire, in Catalan it is Pere, and in modern French Pierre.
Guerau de Massanet or Maçanet was a Catalan nobleman and poet of the early fifteenth century. He is known only from his writings and those of others. Johan Basset dedicated his Letovari to him, whom he called a friend from temps passat.
References
- Riquer i Morera, Martí de (1964). Història de la Literatura Catalana, vol. 1. Barcelona: Edicions Ariel.