Medieval Catalan Literature: Poetry and Prose
Doctrinal Doctrine
During the Middle Ages, the Church was intensely devoted to educating all social sectors and applied itself with great interest to Christianizing the feudal ruling class. This intention was manifested in the doctrinal preaching of clerics before a listening audience. Theater also became a good resource to capture the attention of believers: the first sections of religious ceremonies were in Latin, later representing complex dramas characterized by the use of Catalan and elaborate staging. Doctrinal literature, in general, expressed the necessary resources, Christian ideas, and advocacy.
Troubadour Poetry: Poetry Essays
Troubadour poetry was encouraged and welcomed in the feudal courts, both large and small, during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It was poetry produced in Provence or Occitan, a language understood as a tool used for poetic creation. Occitan was not a contrived language but rather formed from various dialects. Catalan literature was marked by this Occitan influence to the point that lyrical poetry from the twelfth to the early fifteenth centuries was expressed in Occitan. Thus, during the twelfth century, an important literary era developed in Catalan thanks to Ramon Llull; Occitan troubadour poetry illuminated much of this literature, and we can locate its effects on the trajectory of European medieval lyric poetry and later times.
Poetry of Courtly Love
Troubadour poetry was expressed through a developed amorous code that poets used in their compositions and would later be called courtly love. This was a new conception of love and a way to civilize the attitudes of individuals within the court, practicing what was generally called cortesia. Courtly love and the poetry that illustrates it are a reflection of feudal society.
Poetry of the Troubadours
The troubadours were the poets of courtly love, although this term was also used to designate the creators of poetry in Latin. The troubadour wrote the words and melody of the work. It was poetry of an aristocratic character, always close to the world of the feudal courts, but it had a great social impact as court jesters interpreted troubadour compositions in the court. Until then, cultural superiority and monopoly were held by the clergy, who expressed themselves in Latin. Now, a new path began toward a system of secular and vernacular values. It was a major change with major consequences for the future.
The Four Great Catalan Chronicles
These are the chronicles of James I, Bernard Desclot, Ramon Muntaner, and Peter IV of Aragon, all written between the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. They are not only magnificent documents that inform us about the reigns of a series of Catalan kings of the Middle Ages but also excellent examples of the literary possibilities of Catalan prose after the great contribution of Ramon Llull.
Royal Chronicles:
- King James I the Conqueror (13th century)
- King Peter IV of Aragon (between 1383 and 1387)
Chronicles of Bernat Desclot and Ramon Muntaner:
In the more literary field, we emphasize the importance of the chronicles of Bernat Desclot (between 1283 and 1288) and Ramon Muntaner (started on May 15, 1325).
Forms of Troubadour Poetry
This poetry has a great formal elaboration that requires mastery of the art of composing verse to achieve a high level in the genre of poetic song, which has been considered the vehicle for importing troubadour love poetry. In the amorous context, we also include the genres of the alba (expression of sadness at the parting of lovers at the start of the day, after having spent the night together) and the pastorela (the meeting and dialogue between a knight and a shepherdess whom he tries to seduce).
Ausiàs March (1400-1459)
Ausiàs March (Valencia 1400-1459) was linked to a family of former public servants who rose to the nobility in 1360. James March, his grandfather, was a poet whose work influenced his nephew, as seen in his three allegorical poems on the theme of love and a brief lyrical production. Ausiàs March’s father, Pere March, was the author of three compositions of several new rhyming poems and lyrics, with a moral and sententious character. He was influenced by his father, as he was changing the old ways of doing things. Nothing is known of the author’s true beginnings, but as part of the normal military and religious training of a future gentleman, he should have acquired some knowledge of grammar, history, natural philosophy, and morals. Between 1420 and 1421, he participated in the service of Alfonso V of Aragon. This link gave Ausiàs the opportunity to interact with some of the most brilliant poets of his time: Jordi de Sant Jordi, Andreu Febrer, or Lluís Vilarrasa. By now, he should have started his literary activity. His first composition that can be dated is poem 13, which refers to a historical event that occurred between 1426 and 1427.
After leaving military activity, he was reduced to matters pertaining to a feudal lord. One of the first to imitate March’s poetry was perhaps Lluís Vilarrasa. And very probably before that, March’s verses were often cited in the literary correspondence between Pedro de Urrea and the Catalan poet Pere Torroella (one of March’s most prominent imitators). Ausiàs March had become a literary canon and an authority on love, the poet who best expressed the extreme sentimentality characteristic of fifteenth-century literature. None of his imitators ever reached his moral or expressive level. In the 16th century, his work was printed five times and translated into various languages. Increasingly distant from the cultural reality of Catalan literature, his poetry would serve to fertilize Spanish Renaissance poetry. Ausiàs March’s work has come down to us through thirteen manuscript songbooks from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and five editions between 1539 and 1560. He is attributed with 128 poems, in which love songs dominate, with five or seven stanzas of eight lines followed by a refrain, although there are also shorter ones.