The White Knight: Tirant Lo Blanc | Page 3

Alonso in his excellent study.(1) Miguel de Cervantes,
writing from the 17th century, affirms: "as far as style is concerned, this
is the best book in the world."(2) If this is so, why has the novel all but

disappeared from view?
Some place the blame on the language of the original: Catalan, whose
literature is not widely read in the original tongue. Others say it is the
fault of the erotic scenes ~~ too shameful for the polite society of
earlier times. To my mind, a heavily contributing factor is its rhetoric.
As Joseph Vaeth says: "Within this work may be found religious and
philosophical discourses, speeches and disputations...; formal debates...;
documents and papers...; formal challenges and replies...; dramatic
lamentations; long and fervent prayers; and allusions to classical Latin
authors, to biblical characters and to figures prominent in medieval
literature." He goes on to say that if the novelist had omitted many of
these elements, "his book would in that case have been reduced to
approximately one-fourth of its present size, but quite probably it
would now be considered a masterpiece of narration and dialogue."(3)
Such has been the aim of this translation: The story line has been
slightly abridged, but the most dramatic change is that most of the
rhetoric has been eliminated. If the reader's literary palate is tickled by
this version, and if he would like to read the entire manuscript in
English, he is referred to the version by David Rosenthal or to the even
more complete translation by Ray La Fontaine.(4)
Who was the author of this spicy, brutally realistic novel of kings and
knights of the fifteenth century? We know that Joanot Martorell, son of
the king's chamberlain, Francesc Martorell, was born in Valencia in
about 1413. He lived in England during the years 1438 and 1439, and
also traveled to Naples. Death came to him in 1468. During his life he
wrote several letters of combat, and he began to write his novel Tirant
lo Blanc in about 1460. Whether or not he actually finished the book is
still a matter of debate, for it was not published during his lifetime.
Another writer, Marti Joan de Galba, adds his name as a second author,
and says that he wrote the last one-fourth of the book. But he died six
months before it was published, and his contribution, if any, is
questionable.
And what was the success of this novel? Only 715 copies were printed
on its initial run in 1490, and apparently all were sold. A second edition
did not appear until 1497. An abridged translation into Spanish was
finally produced in 1511, and no further Spanish editions appeared
until the 20th century.(5) It was translated into Italian in the 16th

century, into French in the 17th century, and finally into English late in
the 20th century.
Of interest is the fact that soon after the appearance of Tirant lo Blanc,
and throughout the 16th century, Spain was flooded with novels of
chivalry. But these were of quite a different nature. Although the major
characters are also knights highly instilled with the code of chivalry,
they become involved in fantastic adventures filled with dragons,
enchanters, and the like, following the lead of the French romances that
were translated into Spanish beginning in the 13th century. These
Spanish novels of chivalry were produced in such great numbers and
read so widely that no less than Spain's great mystic, Saint Teresa of
Avila, was for a time a voracious reader of them.
While Tirant lo Blanc had no literary followers until Cervantes more
than one hundred years later, it does have the honor of being "the
earliest existing romance of chivalry printed in the Peninsula."(6) This
being so, from where did Joanot Martorell receive his inspiration?
Although Professor Henry Thomas notes that "the tracing of
sources...(may be only) one degree higher than the hunting of cats,"(7)
we feel impelled to relate some of the more important discoveries of
literary scholarship. The first section of the book is in imitation of an
English romance, "Guy of Warwick", in which England fights off a
Danish invasion. When Tirant lo Blanc appears for the first time, asleep
on his horse, and stumbles upon the hermit who explains at great length
the order of chivalry, the entire section (which this present translation
omits) is taken from Ramon Lull's Libre del Orde d'Cauayleria.(8)
Tirant himself may be an amalgamation of several historical figures:
Roger de Flor, Richard Beauchamp, Louis IX, Peter II of Aragon, Joan
Hunyadi lo Blanch of Hungary, etc. Tirant's adventures in Africa
closely parallel many people, events and place names from Ramon
Muntaner's Chronica.(9)
More important than any of these "sources", however, is this question:
What did Martorell do with the material that came to him from books,
from