Francesc Eiximenis and Saint Vincent Ferrer
Francesc Eiximenis
Life
He was born in Girona into a bourgeois family. He made many trips and studied in many European universities. He had a very extensive body of work that was translated into many languages. He joined the Franciscan Order.
Work
He wrote an encyclopedic work called “Lo Crestià” (“The Christian”), a treatise of 12 books, of which only a few are preserved. *Regiment de la cosa pública* is a political treatise in which he explains his vision of politics, and how people should govern cities. This work was dedicated to the city of Valencia. *Llibre de les dones* (“Women’s Book”) speaks of the vices of women, ridiculing them; it has a misogynistic tone.
Objective
The objective of Eiximenis’ religious instruction was for the common people, who were in danger, to follow the patterns of a society in crisis, a theocentric society that jeopardized Christian dogma. Therefore, he needed to write books that were simple and pleasant.
Resources
He intersperses narratives in his books with a series of elements to make reading more entertaining: short stories, examples, dialogue, and a specific writing style.
Style
His style is plain and clear. He avoids creating prose with rhetorical resources or elements that are difficult to understand; his character is direct and ironic. His books have a strong base of argumentation to persuade the reader. We can say that Francesc Eiximenis was an observer of the society of his time from a religious point of view, and from a Catholic-Christian perspective, he portrays moral vices and bad customs with irony. His work was mainly directed to the commercial bourgeoisie, and he criticizes women and farmers, as he believed them to be uncultivated and brutal people.
Royal Chancery
It was a bureaucratic organ composing all the official administration of the Catalan-Aragonese crown. The officials wrote with linguistic uniformity.
Saint Vincent Ferrer
Life
Born in Valencia in 1350, throughout his life he achieved universal fame with his sermons, preached in a way to turn people away from vices and sins, and to teach Christian morality. He was a great traveler and visited countries like Spain, France, Switzerland, and Italy. He was a master in theology and counselor of kings. Saint Vincent Ferrer is a very important figure for two reasons: He has an important literary work and was politically important. From a political standpoint, he was involved in two events of the period: the Western Schism and the Compromise of Caspe.
He participated in the division of the Catholic Church into two popes, and also in the Compromise of Caspe, choosing the candidate Ferdinand II of the Spanish dynasty Trastámara, who became king of the Catalan-Aragonese Crown.
Work
Saint Vincent Ferrer’s work consists of his sermons, most of them written in Catalan, which were listened to with enthusiasm, not only by Catalans, but also by others (Spanish, Italian, and Provençal people), which proves his cunning and the rhetorical effectiveness of his posturing. The sermons were copied by some people called reportadors, who always accompanied him. Only 280 remain, and 52 were sermons preached in Valencia.
Structure of a Sermon
(Oral argumentative text -> to convince the receiver) (Illiterate people -> purpose: to teach Christian morality). Saint Vincent Ferrer structured his sermons based on a treatise called *Ars Praedicandi* by Eiximenis. According to that book, Saint Vincent divided the sermon into three parts: introduction, conclusion, and moral issue.
- Introduction: He explained a story from the Bible and prayed a Hail Mary.
- The Issue: He discussed the subject, derived from a previous result.
- Conclusion: Moral of the previous issue.
Language and Style of Sermons
He uses a colloquial and simple language. He uses a series of linguistic resources: diminutives, disparaging expressions, phrases, gestures, and onomatopoeia (with his eyes, mouth, hands, etc.).