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
Guy was led back into the town of Winchester in a great triumphal
procession. King Aethelstan wished to reward him, but the pilgrim
would accept nothing. The king asked him to reveal his name. The
stranger replied that if he would accompany him out of the city, his
wish should be granted. Aethelstan went with him and was amazed when he
found out that the pilgrim was none other than Guy of Warwick. He asked
him to remain with him, but the request was denied. Both weeping, they
kissed each other and parted. Guy, in his pilgrim garb, went to the
city of Warwick, where he presented himself before his wife, Felice,
who gave him food without recognizing him. She asked him to come every
day, and he should always receive food and drink from her; but he
never returned. Going instead to visit a certain hermit, he found that
the latter had died during his absence. Guy then decided to pass the
remainder of his days in the deserted hermitage. One night an angel
appeared to him and announced that on the morning of the eighteenth day
he should exchange this world for heaven. When the period had almost
expired he sent a messenger to Felice with the ring that she had given
him when he set out on his pilgrimage. Recognizing the ring, she fell
unconscious. After recovering, she immediately went to him. Guy kissed
her tenderly and then passed away. A few days later Felice was buried
at his side.
This part of the English romance was utilized by Martorell to form
the foundation of the William of Warwick episode. He made changes
and additions to suit his purpose, following the general plan, but
inventing the details. The simple ring he describes as a complicated
double ring; the Danish invasion as an incursion of the Moors; and the
angel that appeared to the king as the Virgin and the Child. When the
Danish champion is defeated, the Danes withdraw from England; but when
the Moorish king is vanquished, the Moors do not leave the kingdom as
they had agreed to do. Consequently a campaign to exterminate the
Moors results, and William of Warwick becomes the commander of the
English forces.
But all of the episode is not based on _Guy of Warwick_. We have
seen in the beginning of the analysis that, after the Moors had been
annihilated, William again returned to a hermitage. Up to this point
Martorell followed his model rather faithfully, but thereafter he
abandoned it. However, he continued the episode, drawing his material
from a different source. In order to point out to the reader what parts
of the episode are not based on the English romance, and at the same
time to give a concrete example of the method followed by Martorell in
the composition of his work, we shall note the procedure of the author
in the continuation of this episode.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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