Tirant lo Blanch; a study of its authorship, principal sources and historical settingVaeth, Joseph Anthony
History
Tirant lo Blanch; a study of its authorship, principal sources and historical setting
Vaeth, Joseph Anthony
Martorell, Joanot, -1468. Tirant lo Blanch
In the preceding part, wherein was made a comparative study of three
important sources of _Tirant to Blanch_, we have had occasion to
mention the real historical facts that form, in a more or less general
way, the basis of Tirant’s career while in the service of the Emperor
of Constantinople. Let us now transfer our researches to the field of
history and try to determine what historical events underlie the hero’s
various undertakings. Let us, moreover, examine all the features of
_Tirant lo Blanch_ that give any indication of historical influence, in
order that we may attain a better understanding of the author’s method
in composing this work. The first question that confronts us is: What
historical basis is to be found in the William of Warwick episode?
The hero of the English romance of _Guy of Warwick_ is more or less
a legendary personage. John Rous, a learned scholar and writer who
lived between 1411 and 1491, in his writings concerning the legendary
history of Warwickshire, names Guy as the second of the Saxon Earls of
Warwick. We cannot cite any authentic historical facts about him. The
story probably represents an old Saxon legend, perhaps in the form of
a ballad, which in the course of time became a romance in French, and
this was later translated into English. In the two fourteenth-century
versions to which we have referred in Part III of this work, Aethelstan
is represented as the King of England. This fixes the supposed time
of Guy’s career as prior to 940, which marks the end of Aethelstan’s
reign. The latter annexed Danish Northumbria, and, in 937, won the
great battle of Brunanburh over the Danes, Scots, and Strathclyde
Britons. This fact shows that there are at least some traces of
authentic history in the romance, for in _Guy of Warwick_ we read of an
invasion of the Danes.
In _Tirant lo Blanch_, no dates are mentioned so that if we wish to
establish the period in which the events described took place, we shall
have to depend on the historical characters that are named, and the
incidents, occurrences, and events that are narrated. The data that we
may gather for this purpose probably will throw light on other matters
in which we are interested.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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