[68] Embroiled as they were in money problems, shifting economies, baronial revolts, and all the travail of a medieval ruler, the two kings each managed to fill the traditional role of cultural leader. They were not merely monarch-patrons, however, but personally creative. For Alfonso this was his main persona; James's active contributions were more confined to fostering legal codes, universities, and a modest troubadour activity at court. Alfonso was the heart and soul of Castile's surge of high culture, whereas James presided over a society itself the source of diffused and intense cultural life. In both cases, context and a trajectory from the immediate past were essential ingredients. The world of letters, art, and scholarship does not exist in a vacuum or entirely transcend the prosaic. Mutual causality is at work -- the artist or scholar is a product of his times, formed like all his contemporaries by the actions of rulers, but simultaneously a shaper, expressing and remaking his times. The energy, affluence, and converging visions of a given period, and conversely its darker forces and even despair, are not irrelevant here. If each of our kings became identified with the burgeoning of his country's language and literature, for example, it was because the conditions for such a burgeoning preexisted, a movement to be entered and fostered, some public need and audience, even a European stirring that provided resonance and a wider dimension.
King James presided over a mercantile-aristocratic society that valued the troubadour; the young versifier Ramon Llull is exemplar here, "illiterate" as he considered himself to be because he lacked at first the academic's Latin. In Latin itself there was a subliterary outpouring of legal, notarial, religious, chancery, medical, and business writings. In James's lifetime, Catalan emerged as a mature and effective literary language, while Catalans such as Llull and Penyafort [69] also played a major role in academic Latin letters. In all this, the movement was more meaningful than the ruler, though James himselfcontributed strongly to the religio-chivalric-mercantile spirit fueling it. Like his society, James was intensely religious, a salient characteristic also of this literary movement. Like that society, he sponsored and shared in the new religious humanism -- the sensibility piety, iconography, language, and ethos of the novel Mendicant movement. If England's medieval culture was the work of the monks as Edward Gibbon argued, then in the words of Josep Torras i Bages, "one can similarly assert that it was the friars who gave shape to the Catalan spirit." (1) To understand the Catalan literary movement going forward under James, therefore, it will help to view it first in wider contexts that framed it, and second in its Mendicant connections.
Two periods of literary achievement stand out in the history of Catalan culture: the Middle Ages and the nineteenth-century Renaixença. The intervening centuries have little claim to intellectual distinction. Any men of letters who wished their works to be widely read would have penned them in Castilian, for during that interim a unified Spain made every attempt to introduce linguistic uniformity. It is appropriate to ask, Had circumstances changed so dramatically by the end of the nineteenth century? Was it not still true to say that the Castilian language continued to be the official mode of communication? Why was it that the men of the Renaixença felt the necessity to write in Catalan after nearly four hundred years of writing in Castilian? This question, intimately connected with the rise of Catalan nationalism, does not have to be answered here; but it is relevant to our reflections on the emergence of a distinct Catalan literary tradition in the thirteenth century. There was a significant similarity in the factors that gave rise to the two greatest moments of Catalan literary achievement. In both cases we see the city of Barcelona as a point of focus. In the thirteenth [70]century the move from the rural to an urban economy was epitomized in the development of Barcelona as a vibrant commercial, political, maritime, and cultural center. In the nineteenth century it was the advance of industrialization and consequent social awareness, which gave impetus to the ideas of Proudhon, Bakunin, Marx, and others, and which revitalized the city of Barcelona. Thus the largest city, strategically placed and commercially active, constituted a fundamental factor in the intellectual growth of the area.
Let us think for a moment of the other major Western literatures. In France and England the Middle Ages saw the emergence of a number of great writers. Poetry, prose, and drama reached previously unimagined levels of sophistication. The epic and chivalresque genres portrayed the idealistic elements of a warlike society that gloried in the brave acts of its citizens; on the other hand, the recreational tastes of the court and its followers are reflected in the popular love poetry of the time. These and other aspects of the literary genius of Catalonia's northern neighbors inspired writers in other European countries, who in turn adapted them to fit their own cultures. We see the influence of the Arthurian and Breton cycles in the rise of historical prose in Castile and Portugal. A period of creativity throughout medieval Europe was to act as a catalyst for many generations. Italy, although politically still a series of city-republics, gave to the world one of the geniuses of all times and places -- Dante. Other great writers emerged, first from ecclesiastical and then from court circles. Boccaccio wrote his Decameron. Works of scholarship and history occupied monks and clerics. Songs were composed by minstrels and troubadours to sing and play at the royal courts. In Castile even before the reign of Alfonso X the Poema del mio Cid, one of the earliest epics to be written in a vernacular language, showed the heroic exploits of a feudal lord. A tradition of romances, exempla, and lyric and epic poems is evident from the works of Alfonso X, Gonzalo de Berceo, Juan Manuel, Juan Ruiz, Pero López de Ayala, and others who made Castilian literature rank with that of the other medieval states. We can only be selective in referring to these traditions, [71]since our main concern is with the rise of an intellectual elite within the Crown of Aragon. This great surge of creative and scholastic endeavour surely did not occur in a vacuum or accidentally, but had its roots in the changing pattern of society in Western Europe in the thirteenth century. Similarly the Catalan Renaixença of the nineteenth century developed in conjunction with a change in social patterns, both within Catalonia and in the neighboring countries.
It becomes imperative to examine the rise of a generation of medieval Catalan writers as compatible with developments in England, France, the Italian republics, and the Iberian peninsula. In that context, can we ascribe the sudden cultural awareness as having its roots in the historical circumstances shared by the Crown of Aragon with the rest of Europe; or should we give prime credit to James I for the way in which his policies encouraged the development of a vernacular tradition in literature? That king's patronage certainly helped foster various intellectual endeavors that in turn contributed to an awareness of Catalan as a language capable of expression in literary form. Furthermore, this economic aid that a successful monarch was able to give to writers was instrumental in extending the opportunities for learning to a wider circle, whereas it had previously been restricted to the very few, primarily those scholars who worked in a monastic environment. Thus the political prosperity of the realms of Aragon provided the right setting for a cultural awakening. Together with the many features of the thirteenth-century renaissance it shared with most of Western Europe, James's much-enlarged territory was to produce some of the finest literary works ever written. Muntaner's description of James as "a king of good fortune, high courage and grace" is in no way exaggerated, and he may well be accurate in stating that never was a king born to whom God granted so many blessings during his life." (2) We must try to assess the effects of these "blessings" on the environment of the thirteenth century and relate them to the achievements of men like Ramon Llull [72]and his successors. In so doing, however, we would be remiss if we overlooked the optimism that was a feature of the medieval scene before the Black Death. Mankind had not yet reaped the disrupting influences and divisive characteristics associated with the nationalistic and individualistic aspirations of subsequent ages. (3)
King James's accession to the throne coincided with one of the most significant events in Western Christendom: the creation and expansion of the Mendicant orders. Both St. Dominic and St. Francis founded a new type of religious order that was to revolutionize not only the preaching of the Christian gospel but also the cultural life of the late medieval and renaissance periods. Established under papal patronage, these two Mendicant orders spread very rapidly throughout Europe and into North Africa. Everywhere the friars went, they became famous for their sermons and their message of poverty and love. They were soon joined by other foundations such as the Carmelites, Mercedarians, and Trinitarians. Religious fraternities and societies based on the guilds grew up around these orders whose work, unlike that of the old monastic houses, was centered on the urban settlements. Soon after their creation the new orders became a power that monarchs realized could be used for their own benefit. This was true also in the realms of Aragon. (4)
[73] They became international orders because they were exempt from episcopal jurisdiction and were under direct papal protection; and both the Dominicans and Franciscans were to earn great prestige and influence among the bourgeoisie. They enjoyed a greater freedom than either the monastic orders or the clerics, and as a result were able to grow in size and popularity without interference from local ecclesiastical authorities. The Mendicant friars traveled from one country to another -- often carrying royal messages, acting as papal emissaries, or studying at foreign universities -- and so became personally acquainted with scholars from many areas. In this way they benefited from wide exposure to the literary and philosophical ideas of the time. The movement of the friars may have been one of the most significant aspects in the expansion of learning and culture in the Mediterranean countries. (5) From the records that survive for medieval Catalan houses, it is obvious that a large number of the inhabitants of those early communities studied at centers far removed from the houses in which they had served their novitiate. (6)
King James, upon accession to the throne of Aragon, had one major ambition: reconquest of the land occupied by the Muslims on the periphery of the lands he already held. He [74] was able to relate his political mission to the spiritual one of the friars, who traveled to Islamic territories in order to convert the inhabitants to Christianity. Later they also preached inflammatory sermons intended to convert the Jews; in fact these sermons were often the cause of violent outbursts on the part of the populace, who saw in the Jews a threat to their own economic and social well-being. (7)
It has been said that the Iberian peninsula in the Middle Ages showed tolerance toward the minority religions. England and France were the first to expel the Jews, yet thirteenth-century chancery registers suggest that long before the Black Death in 1348 antipathy was felt toward non-Christians within the lands of the Crown of Aragon. (8) This hostile sentiment occurred at precisely the same time as in England and France, and reevaluation of this whole period in Aragon and Castile may reveal greater similarities in attitudes toward the Jews in southern and northern Europe than has traditionally been believed. One should not overemphasize this point, for there is no doubt that a form of coexistence between Jews, Muslims, and Christians continued until the expulsion of the Jews in 1492. The presence of the non-Christian minorities in the peninsula may have given a certain impetus to the Christian communities to establish their own identity, however; and it may have made a positive contribution toward the literary works of a philosophical and mystical nature by heretical or unorthodox writers. In Castile we know that there were authors like Šem Tob in the fourteenth century, whose views of contemporary life are representative of Judaism. It is conceivable that the Catalan friar and author Francesc Examenis or Eiximenis had Jewish blood, although to date no evidence to support this theory has been found except for the fact that he apparently knew Hebrew. He was sent to examine the Hebrew works in the Jewish quarters or calls of Valencia in the late fourteenth century to attest to their acceptability. (9)
[75] How does James I fit into the three cultures that existed in the thirteenth-century realms of Aragon? To what extent did his influence affect the cultural movements of both his own century and those that followed? I have already suggested that it was in his political interest to favor the new religious orders. His generosity had great significance for the development of the Dominican and Franciscan orders in the early part of his reign, for it enabled them to found houses and acquire economic stability. (10) The acquisition of property and books was essential if they were to become influential members of society. Study could not be avoided, yet many disputes arose among of them because of the emphasis the Mendicants placed on the importance of learning. (11) Ways had to be found by which the wealth donated to them be used profitably without infringing upon the rule of poverty. The orders themselves did not handle this money directly, for example, but appointed administrators to look after it. (12) Freed from material concerns, they could devote themselves to their spiritual mission, confident that they had the wherewithal to fulfill these duties adequately. Nearly all Franciscan and Dominican friars in the early period of their orders' history came from well-to-do families; indeed as they became more firmly established they included among their number many royal members. (13) James initially seemed to show favor to the Dominicans, but after 1240 his favor was extended as well to the Franciscans. (14) It may be that the latter at first expanded less [76] rapidly than the followers of St. Dominic, making them of less consequence to the king, whose interest in the friars seemed to be primarily as a unifying force in his newly expanding territories. (15) By 1250 both orders enjoyed royal patronage, and we have the king's will with its subsequent revisions to prove this. (16)
James also showed a partiality for beautiful women, and very likely employed troubadours to entertain them. (17) Probably the early literary compositions were composed for such ceremonies. They must have been very primitive, but that they were encouraged at all suggests at least that the upper classes were beginning to take an interest in culture. (18) Provence was not too far away from James's lands, and the Provençal troubadours were accorded a cordial reception as they used their talents to entertain the court of Aragon. Poets came from Roussillon too; and we know that Ramon Vidal, a minstrel at the end of the twelfth century, had already praised the luxury and generosity of the court of James's grandfather Alfonso the Troubadour, where a number of minstrels were said to have resided permanently. (19)
Guillem de Cervera, or Cerverí de Girona as he is called, is mentioned a century later by Francesc Examenis as a poet of great distinction. (20) He held the position of poet for special [77] occasions to Alfonso, James's son by Leonor of Castile; and he continued to enjoy some form of royal patronage until at least 1285, the last recorded date on which he was still alive. (21)Another troubadour, Fra Jofre de Foixà, found favor in royal circles at the end of the same century. His case is interesting. He entered the order of Friars Minor and lived at the Barcelona house. In 1275 he transferred to the monastery of Sant Feliu de Guíxols, where he became a Benedictine. (22) (It was not uncommon for men to change orders in the Middle Ages, but it is not always clear what the reasons were.) (23) The poetry of men like Cerverí de Girona and Jofre de Foixà is clearly more primitive than the prose of the contemporary Catalan chronicles and the works of Ramon Llull. This may in part reflect the oral tradition it shared. Regardless of the quality of these poets, their work has its importance in that it probably provided the basis for the more stylized compositions of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The troubadours and minstrels enjoyed royal favor, and thus others were stimulated to follow their example. Indeed the popularity of this form of entertainment places the court of James I on a European level, for similar festivals were held by the monarchs of England, France, Castile, and Portugal.
The first major Catalan prose writer, Ramon Llull, was born in Majorca around 1232. He spent not only his early years there, but many of his most productive years. The island had been reconquered from the Muslims by James I between 1229 and 1232, just before Llull's birth, though many Muslims elected to remain there under Christian rule. (24) Before we examine Llull's literary importance, it is interesting to look, if only briefly, at the history of the Llull family. They [78] originated in Barcelona and took their name from the property they owned in the "pla d'En Llull" in the vicinity of the present Ciudadela Park. (25) Ramon's father was one of the beneficiaries of the resettlement of Majorca after the reconquest. A document dated 6 September 1231 is witnessed by a man with the same name as the famous writer, who had a connection with the royal family. (26) The grant of property mentioned in this document was a royal gift, and Ramon obviously benefited from the change in his father's fortunes. Later Ramon himself served as seneschal to James II of Majorca, but soon abandoned court life to devote himself to the service of God. (27) His experience at court and his association with the royal family must have proved invaluable to him. He would have met the most outstanding men of his time, had contact with other men of letters, and received financial support for his work.
Thirty years of Llull's life, until his conversion experience in the early 1260s, had been spent on King James's Majorca. The subsequent first decade of his new life coincided with James's own busy last decade; during that period Llull published sixteen books. Eventually Llull finished five hundred works, of which some 250 survive. Leaving behind his wife, his children, and his persona as a womanizing troubadour, Llull traveled constantly in the cause of socioreligious reform, to royal courts and other centers of power in Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. He still holds a secure place in the history of European philosophy, mysticism, and intercultural contact. His Ars magna influenced Leibnitz's universal calculus and our symbolic logic; his philosophical machine seems to some distantly to foreshadow the computer. Llull's treatises, poems, dialogues, sermons, letters, novel, autobiography, and other outpourings mirror a unique personality, remarkable in his own time and in ours -- an amalgam of [79] rationalist, mystic, Mendicant activist, explorer of Islam and Judaism (with missionary preoccupation), language enthusiast and socioreligious propagandist to rulers and popes.
His prose is quite remarkable in its sophistication; no other Catalan writer of the thirteenth century succeeded in writing with such precision, beauty, and clarity. Yet this achievement took place when vernacular works in Catalan were still in their infancy. Even Llull's successors lacked the stylistic perfection that made him stand out from his generation. Here we remember that Dante too was unequaled by his contemporaries, and his Divine Comedy remains one of the great works of literature. Chaucer also stood out from his peers in fourteenth-century England, as did Shakespeare in his day, Camôes in sixteenth-century Portugal, and Cervantes in seventeenth-century Spain. With Llull, they achieved a greatness that has received universal acknowledgment.
It is impossible in a general essay to say much about Llull's prolific literary output, but his connection with the Franciscans is relevant and needs noting. Llull describes the Franciscan house at Miramar in Majorca, and tells us how he helped found it in order to train missionaries who would convert the Muslims. (28) In his novel Blanquerna Llull frequently mentions the friars' missionary work and the type of training they were given. (29) It may be that he chose Majorca as a location for training missionaries because of its connection with the Almohads and because it was well positioned geographically, with access to trade and shipping in the Mediterranean. We know that slaves were taken back to Majorca for use in this house; doubtless some of these were taken captive in raids along the coast and during the campaigns of James in reconquering land from the Moors. Despite his interest in and support for the Franciscans, Llull did not belong to the order of [80] Friars Minor. Some believe that he joined the laymen's Third Order of St. Francis, when it was first established toward the end of the thirteenth century. (30) Whatever his formal affiliation with the order, his works show the influence of Franciscan spirituality and thought. From that time on, many of the ideas spread by the Franciscans found their way into literature, especially in the Iberian peninsula. Llull's works were translated into many languages and quickly became popular, above all in Castile and Portugal. (31) His extraordinary ability must surely have benefited from contact with Islamic culture.
It is obvious that orthodox zeal and a deep spiritual commitment alone were not responsible for producing geniuses such as Dante and Llull, each of whom in his own way marked the dawn of a new era. They were able to profit from the optimism and progress of the thirteenth century, and from contact with non-Christian minorities. In the case of Llull and his fellow countryman Arnau de Vilanova, contact with Islamic culture almost certainly had a formative influence on their thought. The proximity of King James's University of Montpellier to the Mediterranean made it easy for scholars from all parts to gain access to it. Vilanova studied medicine at Montpellier, where Christians, Muslims, and Jews availed themselves of a wide variety of sources. (32) He also attended [81] the theological lectures given by the Dominicans. The location of Montpellier in the south of France made it a natural meeting-place for scholars and clerics from France, the Iberian Peninsula, the Italian republics, and countries with easy access via the trade routes to the north and Flanders, or via the ports of the Mediterranean such as Marseilles. In common with the troubadours who entertained with their poems and songs and thus found royal favor, Vilanova as physician to James II of Aragon acquired a prominent position at court. Much of the interest of his medical works lies in the way they made use of recipes for maintaining health as well as curing disease, and how they recorded the medicinal properties of plants. Like his contemporary I'Antidotaire Nicolas in France, Vilanova collected material that found its ways into the works of Francesc Examenis and later writers. (33)
Like Llull, Vilanova was an eminent figure in the wider world of Europe. His Arabic studies in King James's Valencia, and his Hebrew studies at Barcelona, led him to translate Arabic medical works for his European colleagues. As a professor at the University of Montpellier's famed school of medicine, Vilanova was, in the words of his best and most recent historian Michael McVaugh, "the principal figure in Montpellier's fusion of Western empirical tradition with the systematic medical philosophy of the Greeks and Arabs." He transformed European pharmaceutical theory. Swept up in [82] the Joachite apocalyptic obsessions fashionable in the later thirteenth century, and influenced as well by the wave of Jewish messianism then prevalent, Vilanova also became a storm-ily controversial figure as a politicoreligious visionary. His fascination with Islamic and Hebraic learning was not only conversionist in impulse, like Llull's, but by a bitter paradox hostile to those communities whose learning he shared. Credited with some seventy scientific treatises, Vilanova seems to many the first great figure of Western medicine.
Why did writers such as Llull and Vilanova have such an impact on the cultural scene, and to what extent was their creative ability inspired by an awareness of a national language? Here one must refer to the gradual development of a sense of national identity, which no doubt encouraged the move away from Latin to the vernacular. Castile had consolidated its lands under Alfonso X and his successors; James I had succeeded in bringing about a larger and more unified crown or realms of Aragon. Both availed themselves of the spiritual elements that in the thirteenth century would give their enterprises support and respectability. The Reconquest was a holy war, an attempt to use Christianity for political unification; an attempt that must be regarded as having been successful. France and England under strong monarchs at the same time were affirming their rights as national states not bound to Pope or Empire; the Italian republics had their moment of glory as traders and moneylenders. Thus Aragon was not unique, but shared the general awakening that political and social circumstances of the thirteenth century had helped to promote. If we concede this, and relate the development in culture to economic and political prosperity, would it not be equally valid to connect literary stagnation or a decline in quality to periods of less achievement? Although there may be some connection, assertions in this regard must be less definite. In any case, first we must look at the historical prose that spanned periods of both prosperity and decline.
There were abundant themes for chroniclers at a time when the Crown of Aragon was expanding. The interest evinced in the recording of these heroic deeds can be directly paralleled [83] in the other European countries at their moments of greatness: in Castile at the end of the fourteenth century; in Portugal when the new dynasty of Avis and the discoveries led to an era of optimism and prosperity; in France with Froissart and Commines during the period covered by the Hundred Years' War and the fifteenth-century dynastic troubles. The Catalan chronicles of James I, Bernat Desclot, Bernat Descoll, and Ramon Muntaner record events, customs, and a wealth of social details that are invaluable to historians. These men were either eyewitnesses or near enough to the events they described to make their accounts among the most reliable sources for the period. (34) The chronicle of Peter IV the Ceremonious in the fourteenth century reconstructs for us the period when the three Peters of Aragon, Castile, and Portugal were often engaged in war with one another. We can compare Peter IV's account with that of Fernao Lopes and Pero López de Ayala for Portugal and Castile.
The chronicles also confirm the importance of the Mendicant orders, who sometimes are given the role of forecasting success in battle. In 1264 the Cortes or parliament of Zaragoza had been held at the Dominican house, for example, and James I's chronicle refers to a Franciscan who had a vision. It is possible that the chronicler was confused at this point between Franciscans and Dominicans; but the vision is interesting in itself as reminiscent of those related in Alfonso X's Primera crónica general, written at about the same time. (35) This Friar Minor from Navarre had seen in his sleep a man dressed in white, who spoke to him by name and asked whether he was asleep. The friar was afraid, and made the sign of the cross as he asked who his visitor was. "I am an angel of the Lord," the vision said, "and I am telling you that this trouble [84] that has come between the Moors and the Christians in Spain" must be put right by a king who will "guard that this evil not come on Spain." (36) The angel explained that the king referred to was James I of Aragon. Obviously a hagiographic element common to the chronicles of the thirteenth century, this incident is indicative of the reputation the friars had acquired as defenders of the Christian faith. It was the vision of a Mendicant friar that had forecast James's success in the Reconquest; this is significant in itself, as it stresses the importance of the new orders in the realms of Aragon at the end of the thirteenth century. Similarly Fernão Lopes predicted the success of John of Avis, who became king of Portugal in 1385, by recounting the story of Frei João da Barroca, a hermit who had traveled from Jerusalem to Lisbon to forecast Portugal's future dynastic change. (37) Such material enlivens the narrative, but it also has another very definite function. In the absence of the sophisticated novelistic technique that was to develop in later centuries, it maintains the reader's interest and keeps him in suspense. It also means that the writer can introduce prematurely the denouement of a particular passage, and thus emphasize its importance.
James's chronicle or Llibre dels feyts has been attributed to the king himself, but since the earliest text belongs to the fourteenth century, it is difficult to establish the mechanics of its authorship. If we take the analogy presented by Alfonso X's Primera crónica general, the king might merely have been the organizer of the material or have given the impetus for the writing of the chronicle. (38) The events narrated in the Llibre dels feyts date from 1208 and come to an end in 1276. They cover most of James's reign, the major incidents in his life, his rule, and his participation in the Reconquest.
A constant procession of characters wanders through its pages; and the deep religious devotion that can be discerned, [85] especially to the Blessed Virgin Mary, reflects James's commitment to the spiritual beliefs of his age. In his Christian sentiment he resembles Berceo, Llull, Alfonso X, and Dante. The Marian tradition is closely linked to Franciscan spirituality, and it provided inspiration for these and many subsequent writers. Thus James shows that he shared the tradition that gained popularity during his reign largely through the sermons of the popular preachers, to whom he gave generous financial assistance. Even the court entertainers may have shared this veneration of the Blessed Virgin, and we are reminded that the liturgical drama produced in Catalonia, especially around Vich and Ripoll, did much to create a popular religion. (39)
James's chronicle gives picturesque accounts of the campaigns at Majorca and Valencia, two areas that were important for men of letters. Similarly, as Martí de Riquer suggests, the way in which these events are narrated is reminiscent of a novelesque epic, no doubt partly because of the presence of the minstrels who would have been familiar with the French chansons de geste. Rhymed sources were also used in the composition of Desclot's chronicle, which tells of events in the reign of Peter the Great in a tone reminiscent of an epic poem; the Poema del mio Cid comes to mind, since it too narrates the great battles of a warrior through the medium of epic poetry. In the sixteenth century Camoes in his Lusíadas weaves an intricate pattern of Portugal's discoveries overseas, also in epic form. The early chronicles are often the only remaining evidence of lost epics, as is clearly evident from some of the Castilian refundiciones. (40) So far scholars have not discovered traces of epic verse in the Catalan chronicles, but the type of material used by the author of the Llibre dels feyts makes one wonder whether this is merely due to lack of research. Indeed some of the fictitious material that appeared in these chronicles later came to be regarded as fact, giving rise to many legends and myths. One such example will support this and [86] show how a later author related legend to history. Francesc Examenis, in the third book of his great Christian encyclopedia, states that the dynasty of Alfonso X of Castile was defeated because of the king's blasphemy. Alfonso had said that if he had been with God when He created the world, God would not have made heaven the way He did -- thereby implying that Alfonso was greater than God. This is interesting as the earliest recorded example of the legend on which John Keller has commented. (41)
The chronicles also provide a link with another popular form of literature in the Middle Ages: the works of chivalry. Desclot refers to legends of chivalry and shows the influence of the Arthurian cycle that provided inspiration for such novels as the Catalan Curial e Güelfa. (42) Chivalry, or the knightly code, acquired an almost mythical quality in the literature of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance, long after the historical tradition had ceased to be a reality. This reflected the highly religious society in which a significant number of inhabitants engaged in warlike pursuits. The ideal knight was described by Ramon Llull, Juan Manuel, and others; but in many of the works of the late Middle Ages he took on a more fictitious character. The fantastic adventures of Amadis or Palmeirim led to numerous imitations of the genre. (43) The number and absurdity of these chivalresque novels was satirized by Cervantes in Don Quixote. Examenis too condemns the reading of works of fiction, and he mentions Tristan et Roland and El Libre de Na Guineu (Le Roman de Renard) as "inutils e falses e trufadores." (44) In the thirteenth century, [87] however the crusader or the chivalrous knight was still a reality. Valiant deeds on behalf of Christendom still occurred; optimism permeated the faith that in turn gave more impetus to the Reconquest and ensured James's success. When the reality of chivalry declined, it is significant that fictitious accounts of knightly deeds acquired even more fantastic proportions, perhaps in an attempt to recreate the spiritual ambience of an earlier, more favorable age. (45)
Without elaborating on the literary traditions of the late Middle Ages, I believe it significant that a particular genre occurred or became popular at a given moment in time. Thus the fact that the Catalan chronicles were written immediately after the Reconquest confirms the importance of James's achievements. To his contemporaries the Reconquest was a major development in the history of the realms of Aragon, and as such had to be recorded for posterity. Similarly in Castile, Portugal, France, and England noteworthy events found their way into the pages of chronicles, diaries, and other written records so that future generations would be able to appreciate the advances made. The king's involvement in such affairs in the thirteenth century was inevitable, because he was central to the government of the country. Thus King James interested himself in culture, social life, and the church as aspects of the glorious kingdom he hoped to create. Royal protection of the religious orders naturally followed, and helped create the intellectual life necessary to accompany the great physical achievements. Study and writing also expanded the demand for books. Several copies were produced of the most popular -- some of them not too accurate, because of the way they were transcribed. In the fourteenth century, Examenis's prolific output may have resulted from the fact that he was requested to write. (46) His fame is certainly greater than his talent, but he enjoyed the favor of the royal house of Aragon.
Francesc Examenis entered the order of Friars Minor at [88] Barcelona sometime before 1351, when he was ordained subdeacon, but his first great works date from much later. The traditional form of his name has been Eiximenis, and he so appears in the history books. My recent researches have uncovered many contemporary documents with the simpler variant, which seems historically more exact. (47) His style bears no comparison with that of Ramon Llull, though the amount he wrote was equally large. His ability as a writer is vastly inferior to that of his fellow countryman and predecessor, which is curious, for one might expect that he would have profited by the intervening hundred years. As already noted, he may have been under pressure to produce for the king and nobles. We know that he dedicated his works to nobles such as Pere d'Artès and that he was asked by the jurats of Valencia city to write a treatise on the Regiment de la cosa pública, which when completed was affixed to a table in the Town Hall. Most of his works, including his Christian encyclopedia Lo Crestià, were copied and translated into several languages, suggesting that they met a need at the time. Examenis's activities were not entirely literary, and this may explain why the king urged him to complete book three of the encyclopedia before moving from Barcelona to Valencia. Once there, he participated actively in social and political events. Records also confirm that he was a constant recipient of royal and noble generosity. The extent to which this is true is revealed by some recently discovered documents in the Reino de Valencia archives. (48) These show that he was paid for preaching the sermon at the funeral of Peter the Ceremonious, and that he had to press his claim before the debt was liquidated by Peter's successor.
Examenis represented a tradition sponsored by royalty [89] from the time of James I. (49) In their dual role as spiritual and political advisers to the royal family, the friars seemed to embody the best of the church and state to which they belonged. Many of the great writers indeed were clerics; in Catalonia after 1300 a large percentage of such writers were members of religious orders, the Franciscans and Dominicans prominent among them. The Dominican Vicenç Ferrer, later canonized, was contemporary to Examenis. The two men were rivals, probably because of their respective religious affiliations and maybe because of the crowds who gathered to hear their sermons. (50) Both men also vied for royal favor. The sermons of St. Vicenç reveal a high degree of expertise; indeed the style of his sermons can in itself be considered an art form. The friars' preaching acquired for them a fame and popularity that was the envy of the parish priests, because it was directly reflected in the bequests made by noble families. These families gave wealth, goods, and land, and even asked that their bodies be buried in the habit of the order they had supported, in the cemetery adjoining the local house. Many members of the royal family, down to Alfonso the Magnanimous, asked to be buried in the Franciscan habit. (51) (James I on his deathbed donned the older habit of the Cistercians.) Not all preachers were equally popular with their superiors, as can be seen from the story of Fra Jaume Moxó, a Franciscan who lived in the early part of the fourteenth century. He was accused by the Inquisitor of having spoken words in the parish church of Santa María in Tárrega, categorized as "fort males e terribles." (52) It would seem that the friar had criticized the Inquisitor for his treatment of a confrere. The dispute was [90] probably theological, and was finally resolved by recourse to the General Minister of the Franciscan order.
The tradition of writers and preachers continued into the fifteenth century, though those who did not belong to religious orders began to emerge, with Bernat Metge and Ausias March among the most important. Bernat Metge owes much of his success to the patronage of King John I and to the new ideas that entered Catalonia from France through his wife, Violant de Bar, and her followers. (53) This was the period of the revival of the classics. Bernat Metge and his contemporary Fra Antoni Canals were among the most prominent translators of the age. A Dominican from Valencia, Canals, became the first teacher at the Dominican college in Lérida, where his brother was also teaching philosophy. In 1395 as a result of royal support he was given the chair of theology vacated by St. Vicenç Ferrer, who had been called to Avignon by Pope Benedict XIII. (54) Examenis, it will be remembered, also taught biblical studies in Valencia at this time, but there is no evidence to suggest that he and Canals ever came into contact with each other.
Another Valencian, Ausias March, carried on the tradition. Born around 1397, he was privileged to hear one of St. Vicenç's sermons. (55) A knight in the service of Alfonso the Magnanimous, he was influenced by the court at Naples. Married to the wife of Joan Martorell, the author of Tirant lo Blanch. (56)he seems somehow to represent a transition period between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. His poetry reflects his knowledge of the literary revival of the classics, but his life seems to reveal the ideals of an earlier age. The religious fervor that provided much of the inspiration for knights and their literary expression, the chivalresque novels, is linked in Ausias March to the humanistic spirit that emphasized the [91] aspirations of the individual. Ultimately this emphasis on man's potential was to lead away from the spiritual interpretation of a mankind dependent on God's will, toward a more secular view of the universe expressed by the philosophes in the eighteenth century and Proudhon and Marx in the nineteenth.
With Ausias March more than two centuries had elapsed since James I had expanded his territories and encouraged learning and scholarship in his domains. To what extent was this outstanding monarch responsible for Catalonia's greatest literary achievements, or was he responsible at all? James may have been blessed by providence; his reign was indeed favored bv the recent creation of the Dominican and Franciscan orders, which he was astute enough to enlist in his cause. They became both defenders of orthodoxy and often exponents of unorthodox views, yet they were the pope's right arm and the king's spiritual motif. Similarly Barcelona, as a great port, favorably situated between the countries of the northern part of Europe and the route to Africa via the Mediterranean, supplied the focal point for all the king's endeavors. Both the friars and the men of commerce traveled extensively and came into contact with men from other lands. They brought back ideas and customs from the north and south. The friars went as missionaries, scholars, papal emissaries, and royal messengers, and were internationally oriented in much the same way as James himself aspired to greater territories for Aragon. The combination of religious and commercial factors, linked with the cultural effects they had, helped men use to advantage the unique circumstances afforded by the Reconquest and set the stage for new endeavors. Similarly when the discoveries of the fifteenth century led to a shift away from the Mediterranean toward the Atlantic, Catalan literature reflected that change. It declined and virtually disappeared, under the impetus of a unified, Castilianized Spain. The Portuguese discoveries inspired the same kind of literary and historical genius that James I's victories had acquired for Aragon. But when those accomplishments ceased, so did the literature show a corresponding decline.
[92] The events that seem important in the rise of Catalan literature might well be interpreted differently. But I believe that it was the period of conquest, combined with the optimism it engendered in Catalonia, that really led to the creation of an intellectual movement. The fact that James was able to avail himself of the newly created religious orders, and the religious revival that accompanied them, is a tribute to his ability to give a materialistic endeavor a spiritual meaning. There is nothing unique in this, since all medieval kings possessed a talent for making the most of the forces at their disposal. Portugal, and to a lesser extent Castile, later benefited from the Reform movements and from the papal and Spanish Inquisitions that enabled them to make use of religious faith for political ends.
Catalonia enjoyed a privileged geographical position in the newly developing urban society of the thirteenth century, which helped foster the growth of a distinctive culture. Upland Aragon proper was territorially without access to the Mediterranean; and its center, Zaragoza, lacked the vibrant society that trade between the peninsula and the Italian republics brought to Barcelona. Catalan, not Aragonese, then became the predominant literary language of the realms of Aragon, stimulated by the activities that gave life to its most important center. With the accession of the Catholic monarchs in 1469, Castilian replaced Catalan as the literary vehicle for all those within the confines of a unified Spain. The conquests that had promoted Arago-Catalan hegemony in the Mediterranean were over, as the eyes of Europe had turned to the New World, with the Atlantic as its focal point. In the same way, once the New World lost its prime attraction for Spain and Portugal and once Portugal lost its independence, a period of decline in Portuguese literature followed. In both Portugal and the realms of Aragon, the political circumstances led to a feeling of hopelessness, which was soon reflected in the cultural sphere. In the nineteenth century a similar feeling of despair was felt after the loss of the colonies in 1898. For literature to flourish, it would seem that a number of factors must be present: support of the ruling government, [93] both spiritually and in a more tangible form through financial aid; a vibrant center with a progressive commercial policy; and an external impetus. The impetus may come in a variety of ways. In the thirteenth century it consisted of the conquests of James I, the creation of the Mendicant orders, the rise of the universities, the codification of law, and the general air of progress and optimism. Most such elements disappeared when the Crown of Aragon merged with that of Castile and thus lost its identity. They emerged again in the nineteenth century with Pi i Margall's Federal Republic, which provided many of those characteristics I regard as essential for the creation of great literary works: a consciousness of "national" identity; the rise of an urban economy; and a new "religion," as evidenced then in the social movements of anarchism, socialism, and communism.
Reflecting on the progress of thirteenth-century culture, one is forced to conclude that James I and Alfonso X were born at a time when the culture of the Western world was developing at an increasing rate. That they were able to take advantage of these historical circumstances was largely due to their own vision. This essay has skimmed the surface of the literary achievements of the age, but similar advances were made in art, architecture, medicine, and law. It would not be an exaggeration to say that James I ranked equal in greatness to his neighbors Alfonso X of Castile, St. Louis of France, and Edward I of England; yet his very real achievements paled alongside the discovery of the New World. In a sense, James presented a microcosm of the medieval world within his own territories -- a vision of unity, consolidation, and strength, with the Christian faith as motif and unifying factor. The words of Muntaner are pertinent: James "loved and feared God above all things, and he who loves God loves justice, truth and mercy; with all of these he was well-endowed." Muntaner adds that as the world continues this wise and well-loved man shall be known as "the good King James of Aragon," (57) that his deeds will go down to posterity and his [94] dynasty will continue to honor God and his people throughout the realms of the Crown of Aragon.
Unfortunately for Aragon, fate decreed otherwise. Although the deeds
of James are remembered, his dynasty merged with that of Castile in 1469.
It was to be four centuries before the spirit of Catalan nationalism recaptured
some of the inspiration that made the Crown of Aragon one of the most cultured
realms of the later Middle Ages. The new nationalism would have been quite
incomprehensible to James, however, and in any case it came at a time when
the values and aspirations of men were directed toward a largely secular
society. The Industrial Revolution had created problems unknown to medieval
man -- especially the urban poverty resulting from lack of regard for the
individual, which characterized the large factory enterprises, and a feeling
of despair and hopelessness in which the concepts of "justice, truth, and
mercy," as James I knew and understood them, were virtually extinct.
1. Torres Bages, La tradició catalana (Barcelona 1924), p. 164. On the urban society from which the friars came, and with whom they interacted, see L. K. Little, Religious Poverty and the Profit Economy in Medieval Europe (Ithaca, N.Y. 1978), chap. 12, "Urban Religious Life," including lay literacy (p. 199).
2. Muntaner, Crónica, chap. 7.
3. Consider, for example, the expulsion of the Jews and the Moors from the Iberian Peninsula, the Avignon papacy, the Spanish Inquisition, the dynastic troubles that led to a unified Spain, periods of loss of independence for Portugal, and the breakdown of the medieval concept of society -- all of which were to follow the successes of the thirteenth century.
4. The Franciscans were given papal approval in 1209; see John Moorman, A History of the Franciscan Order from its Origins to the Year 1517 (Oxford 1968), chap. 2. The Dominicans received approval in 1215; see W. A. Hinnebusch, The History of the Dominican Order: Origins and Growth to 1500 (New York 1965), vol. 1, chap. 2. The Mercedarians and Trinitarians played an important role in the redemption of captives. The Carmelites, despite the fact that their rule dates from 1209, were slower in getting established but were firmly entrenched in Aragon by 1300. See my "The Early Carmelites in the Crown of Aragon," Carmelas (Rome, in press), and "The Rule of St. Albert," Carmelus (forthcoming). In wills of the period numerous religious societies appear as beneficiaries, among them charitable organizations connected with local hospitals, such as the Cloquer hospital in Vich. See at Vich the Arxiu Episcopal: Cúria fumada, Llibre de testaments, vol. 1 (1240-52), vol. 2 (1241-75); and the study of Immaculada Ollich i Castanyer, "Les entitats eclesiàstiques d'Ausona al segle XIII a través de les donacions testamentàries," Ausa 8 (1974-79), pp. 90-101.
5. In the first part of Libre del crestià, XII, chap. 40, Examenis mentions the following places of study: Paris (for theology), Oxford and Cambridge, Toulouse (for theology), Bologna, Perusa in Avignon (obviously an error for Perugia, whose university was founded in 1307), Montpellier, Lérida, and Salamanca (for canon and civil law). See his Primera part del Dotzè del crestià, ed. Lambert Palman (Valencia 1484). Men like Examenis attended the universities at Paris, Oxford, and Cologne. See Pedro Sanahuja, Historia de la seráfica provincia de Cataluña (Barcelona 1959), chaps. 23 and 24. In the documents I have examined for the Franciscan house at Gerona, one friar appears to be of English origin; for Barcelona there are references to a number of friars whose names suggest that they came from other places. There is no evidence, however, to suggest that a significant number of English, French, or German friars found their way into the realms of Aragon where cultural centers were less well established in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
6. See Sanahuja, La seráfica provincia. I have found additional information in notarial and cathedral archives throughout the Crown of Aragon.
7. See my "Unlocking Lost Archives: Medieval Catalan Franciscan Communities," CHR 66 (1980), pp. 538-39. In 1391 Francesc Examenis, in his Libre del crestià, XII, chap. 470, states that it is contrary to the Christian faith to force the Jews to convert to Christianity.
8. Webster, "Catalan Franciscan Communities," pp. 538-39.
10. See Sanahuja, La seráfica provincia, chap. 12, pp. 116-17.
11. For a general discussion of this see Moorman, Franciscan Order, chap. 16 (3), pp. 184-85, and chap. 28 (6) pp. 367-68.
12. In many early Franciscan documents the epithet "Fra" is used, though it is likely that during the latter part of the Middle Ages these "procuradors econòmics" belonged to the Third Order of St. Francis. More recently the financial administration passed to laymen, but today it is frequently carried out by members of the order of Friars Minor. See Moorman, Franciscan Order, p. 186, for the interpretation of poverty in the thirteenth century.
13. The most famous of such friars were St. Louis of France and Fra Pere of Aragon, both of whom lived during the period under review. The latter entered the religious life about the same time as Francesc Examenis and must have been, for a time at least, a contemporary of his in the Barcelona house. See J. M. Pou i Martí, Visionarios, beguinos y fraticelos catalanes (siglos XII1-XV) (Vich 1930), chap. 10.
14. There are a number of wills in the Barcelona cathedral archives to substantiate this. See Carme Battle i Gallart and Montserrat Casas i Nadal, "La caritat privada i les institucions benèfiques de Barcelona (segle XIII)," in La pobreza y la asistencia a los pobres en la Cataluña medieval, ed. Manuel Riu (Barcelona 1980), pp. 117-90.
15. See Sanahuja, La seráfica provincia, chap. 30.
16. Revista de estudios franciscanos 1 (1907), p. 279, gives James I's will dated in 1232 and, on p. 356, his will of 1241.
17. Ferran Soldevila, Història de Catalunya (Barcelona 1963), p. 257. We read that the troubadours waged a patriotic "war of poetry" in favor of James I and against the French (1226). Not long after this, the king's love of women began to cause difficulties (pp. 262-63).
18. Riquer, Literatura catalana, vol. 1, pp. 125-93, describes the activities of the Catalan troubadours and the encouragement they received at court during the reigns of James I, Peter III, and James II of Aragon.
20. Biblioteca de Catalunya, Francesc Examenis, Ms. 357, "Crestià III," chap. 946, 957. He also refers to another troubadour, Capellà de Bolqueres, in chaps. 946 (not 944 as in Riquer, vol. 1, p. 510), 950, and 957; and in chap. 950 he gives an example of his coplas.See Riquer, Literatura catalana, vol. 1, 510ff.
21. Riquer, Literatura catalana, vol. 1, p. 126.
22. Ibid., pp. 173-74. Joaquim Pla Cargol in Gerona histórica (Gerona 1962), p. 74 attributes to him the honor of having first called the Catalan language "catalanesc."
23. An outstanding example is St. Anthony, who entered the Augustinian order in Coimbra; attracted by the poverty and simplicity of the Friars Minor, he transferred to them in 1220. See Moorman, Franciscan Order, pp. 65-66.
24. See Gabriel Alomar, Mallorca (Barcelona 1976), for a discussion of the effects of the conquest of Majorca on the inhabitants and on municipal organization.
25. Riquer, Literatura catalana, vol. 1, p. 207.
26. Archivo Histórico Nacional, Madrid, under Palma de Mallorca, carpeta 75, doc. 21, 6 September 1231, refers to the gift of a mansum by Assalit de Gudal on behalf of King James I, one of the witnesses to the document being Ramon Llull. This was probably the father of the great poet by the same name.
27. Riquer, Literatura catalana, vol. 1, p. 207.
28. Antoni Rubió i Lluch, Documents per l'història de la cultura catalana migeval (Barcelona 1918), vol. 1, pp. 4-5, gives a document of 16 November 1276, in which Pope John XXI approves and confirms the building of the college at Miramar. See also Riquer, Literatura catalana, vol. 1, p. 219, and Kamon Llull, Blanquerna in his Obres essentials, 2 vols. (Barcelona 1957-60), vol. 1, p. 230.
29. Llull, Blanquerna, chap. 80.
30. For this and a discussion of Llull's conversion, and his proposal to enter the order of Friars Minor, see Riquer, Literatura catalana, vol. 1, p. 222. Four interesting documents concerning Llull's studies at Paris are to be found in the Archivo Diocesano, Barcelona, Reg. Com. 45, f. 2C and 2D, dated 21-26 April 1313; the second of these attests to Llull's continued interest in the Franciscan order.
31. Men like Bernardim Ribeiro in the first part of the sixteenth century appear to have been familiar with Llull's work, especially L'Amic e l'amat, which we know was translated into Latin in the fourteenth century and Castilian early in the sixteenth century. See Joan Pons i Marquès in preface to Llull, Obres, vol. 1, pp. 119ff. See also on Llull's life and bibliography, J. N. Hillgarth, Ramon Lull and Lullism in Fourteenth-Century France (Oxford 1971), especially chap. 1.
32. Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo, Historia de los heterodoxos españoles, 8 vols. (Santander 1946-48), vol. 2, pp. 247-92; vol. 7, pp. 232-322. Vilanova was influenced by the English Franciscan Roger Bacon, and by the Arabic treatises of Rasis, Avicenna, Averroës, and others. He was regarded as the best doctor of the thirteenth century, and acted as physician to three popes, to Peter the Great and James II of Aragon, and to Frederick of Sicily. See Riquer, Literatura catalana, vol. 1, p. 355. Examenis describes him as "fort assenyalat" (Crestià XII, chap. 135) and cites an example of his medical prowess, in which he cured a child in Gerona who had a withered arm. Ignoring medical tradition, he ordered a clean linen sleeve to be placed on the arm each day (Crestià XII, chap. 882), which suggests that many so-called diseases may have been attributable to poor hygiene. (The only copy of part 2,chap. 467 to the end, of the Crestià XII is Ms. 167 in Valencia's Archivo de la Catedral).
33. L'Antidotaire Nicolas, ed. P. Dorveaux (Paris 1896). Examenis repeats many of the remedies mentioned by both Arnau de Vilanova and L'Antidotaire. He refers specifically to Vilanova's treatise De conservation inventute et retardanda senectute, written as a letter to the king of Naples in 1310. This shows the influence of Roger Bacon. On Vilanova's career, contributions, and bibliography see now Michael McVaugh, "Arnald of Villanova,"Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 16 vols. (New York 1970ff.), vol. 1, pp. 289-91, and McVaugh's edition of Vilanova's Opera medica omnia (Granada 1975ff..).
34. John Shideler, in his A Medieval Catalan Noble Family: The Montcadas, 1000-1230 (Berkeley 1984), warns that some unreliable information is contained in the chronicles. But for cultural events as records of contemporary participants, and for a general appreciation of the age, they provide valuable background to the more specific legal documents preserved by notaries and the royal archives.
35. In the PCG see chaps. 629 and 807 for examples of this. Santiago is said to have inspired the Cid and given him indication of victory in battle.
36. Llibre dels feyts, chap. 389. Cf. Webster,"Catalan Franciscan Communities," p. 538.
37. Mario Martins, Estados da historia medieval (Braga 1956), chap. 36.
38. Riquer, Literatura catalana, vol. 1, pp. 398ff., for a discussion of James I's authorship. See also above, chap, 1, n. 4 and text.
39. See R. B. Donovan, Liturgical Drama (Toronto 1958)
40. See Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Reliquias de la poesía épica española (Madrid 1951).
41. Keller, Alfonso X, el Sabio, preface. See also now A. G. Elliott, "The Historian as Artist: Manipulation of History in the Chronicle of Desclot," Viator 14 (1983), pp. 195-209; and the Islamic structure in James's Llibre in "The King's Autobiography: The Islamic Connection," in Burns, Muslims, Christians, and Jews, pp. 285-88. Jerry Craddock traces the Alfonsine legend in the chronicle of the Conde de Barcelos, "Dynasty in Dispute: Alfonso X el Sabio and the Succession to the Throne of Castile and León in History and Legend," Viator, forthcoming.
42. See Riquer, Literatura catalana, vol. 2, pp. 602ff.
43. See Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo, Orígenes de la novela, 4 vols. (Madrid 1962), vol. 1, chap. 4.
45. It was these excesses that Cervantes criticized in his Don Quixote, bk. 1, chap. 6.
46. See Riquer, Literatura catalana, vol. 2, chap. 8.
47. The most complete discussion of his works is Riquer, Literatura catalana. On the spelling "Examenis," see my "Notes biogràfiques" in the next note.
48. I have discussed these in my "Nuevas aportaciones a los estudios examenianos," Archivo ibero-americano 39 (1979), nos. 155-56, pp. 434-38, and in my "Notes biogràfiques sobre Fra Francesc Examenis, franciscà gironí," Miscellania Aramón i Serra, 2 vols. (Barcelona 1980), vol. 2, pp. 597-602. Cf. Also the Webster entries in David J. Viera, Bibliografía anotada de la vida i obra de Francesc Eiximenis (1340?-1409?) (Barcelona 1980), pp. 54, 126-27, 131.
49. See n. 16 above. Ambròs de Saldes, O.M.Cap., "La orden franciscana y la casa real de Aragón," Revista de estudios franciscanos 5 (1910), pp. 157-65; and Sanahuja, La seráfica provincia, chaps. 10ff.
50. Riquer, Literatura catalana, vol. 2, chap. 9.
51. See Chronique catalane de Pere IV, ed. Amédée Pagès (Paris 1941), pp. 14, 53-56, 264. Bernat Boades, Libre de feyts d'armes de Catalunya, 4 vols. (Barcelona 1948), vol. 4, pp. 139-40. Muntaner, Crònica, chaps. 174, 185, 291. My Per Déu o diners, nearing completion, discusses the whole question of burial practices and conflicts between the Mendicants and the parish priests.
52. Webster, "Catalan Franciscan Communities," p. 539.
53. Riquer, Literatura catalana, vol. 2, p. 358. Among these new ideas were fashions that Examenis deplores as immoral; see my La societal catalana al segle XIV (Barcelona 1967, 2d ed. 1980).
54. Riquer, Literatura catalana, vol. 2, pp. 433ff.
56. Currently enjoying a vogue in its first English translation, Tirant lo Blanc, trans. D. H. Rosenthal (New York 1984).