Textos B – serie

First critical edition of Spanish pastoral romance of the Golden Age.This volume is the first critical edition of Montemayor's Los siete libros de la Diana, the first Spanish pastoral romance, using eight of the earliest editions extant. The base text used is Zaragoza 1560, without the errors noted in the collatio, and therefore the closest to the archetype; variants, notes and corrections based on the stemma are presented in footnotes. An introductory chapter discusses the problem of the date of the first composition and publication of the work. Reproductions of the title-pages of the editions used, preliminary poems, additions to the text (except that of Abindarráez) and water-marks form an appendix. JULIAN ARRIBAS is Professor of Spanish at Presbyterian College, Clinton, South Carolina.

Verse translations of selected works by Ausiàs March, the great fifteenth-century Valencian poet.The Valencian Ausiàs March [1400-1459] was one of the greatest poets writing in Europe in the fifteenth century. His work is characterized by a powerful and unique voice and by the constant innovation that allowed him not only todevelop traditional genres, but to compose poems that virtually created genres of their own. This selection includes poems on love, a cycle of six compositions on grief, a long poem on God and predestination, others of praise andvilification, or on philosophical themes. While March has previously been translated into English prose, this anthology offers translations that, more than an aid to understanding the medieval Catalan, aspire to be poems that can be enjoyed in English without constant reference to the original. The translator has worked for several decades on Ausiàs March, and has produced a critical edition and two anthologies, as well as prose translations.ROBERT ARCHER holds the Cervantes Chair of Spanish at King's College London.Published in association with Editorial Barcino

Ramon Muntaner's account of the bloody adventures of the Almogaver army under Roger of Flor in the eastern Mediterranean in the early fourteenth century, one of the most spellbinding narratives of medieval European literature.Before its definitive fall into Turkish hands, the Byzantine Empire was the target of adventurers of many nations. Outstanding among these groups was the Almogaver army led by Roger of Flor, composed of mercenaries hardened in thewar between the Catalan and Angevin dynasties for domination of Sicily. The Catalan presence in Constantinople aroused suspicion among the Greek nobility who assassinated Roger of Flor and tried to exterminate his men. The devastating reaction of those who escaped the slaughter led to Catalan control of broad swathes of the Empire, including Athens. Ramon Muntaner, one of the ringleaders of the expedition, recounted the adventures of the Almogaver army inthe eastern Mediterranean in the fascinating section of his Chronicle translated here. The preface is by N. D. Hillgarth. Dr. Robert D. Hughes is a translator and researcher with particular expertise in the fields of fine art, the history of ideas and Catalan culture. Published in association with Editorial Barcino

A selection from the works of the Catalan Franciscan, Francesc Eiximenis.Francesc Eiximenis is an outstanding figure in the ranks of the mendicant orders who, in the late Middle Ages, strove to educate the lower echelons of society. Born in Gerona, around 1330, probably to a comfortable middle-class family, Eiximenis entered the Franciscan order at a very early age, studied in Oxford, and probably also in Paris, and obtained the degree of master of theology in Toulouse. Later he combined teaching with the composing of his works. Among these stands out the monumental and widely known Lo Crestià (The Christian), in which Eiximenis aimed to include all contemporary university knowledge, adapted for a lay public whose basic level of instruction was far below that of clerics. The same didactic purpose is seen in the Libro de los ángeles (Book of the Angels), the Libro de las mujeres (Book of the Women) and the Vita Christi. Eiximenis, by then bishop of Elna, died in 1409.Among the many themes that recur in his extensive literary production, this anthology concentrates on his ideas on the transmission of knowledge, on education and on culture. The introduction and selection of texts is by David Guixeras and Xavier Renedo.ROBERT D. HUGHES is a translator and researcher with particular expertise in the fields of fine art, the history of ideas and Catalan culture. Published in association with Editorial Barcino

The oldest Catalan cookery book.The Book of Sent Soví, composed around the middle of the fourteenth century, is the oldest surviving culinary text in Catalan. It is anonymous and, like the majority of medieval cookery books, is the product of a complex process of transmission, with multiple manuscript copies and readers who have left their mark on it. The contents are eminently practical. Successive cooks have recorded their own methods of preparing the dishes and recipes included, blending several culinary traditions in a single work. Sent Soví is also a reliable source of information on the cookery of the territories of the Crown of Aragon before the revolution caused by the arrival of products from the Americas.This edition includes both an English translation, by Robin Vogelzang, and the original Catalan version. It has been the editor's aim to clarify the difficult passages in the book - sometimes corrupted because of the complex manuscript tradition - so that it can be understood as easily as possible by its twenty-first-century readers. JOAN SANTANACH lectures on medieval literature at the University of Barcelona.Published in association with Editorial Barcino.

Acceso fidedigno y comprensivo a las 3.451 páginas de los siete tomos impresos de la correspondencia de los Jesuitas españoles.La exactitud y la precisión de las noticias recogidas por los Jesuitas en estas cartas han sido elogiadas por historiadores de la talla de Gregorio Marañón y Pascual de Gayangos. Hace 16 años Crosby compiló este Indice parasu propia utilidad al anotar una serie de 28 cartas desconocidas de Quevedo, redactadas en la cárcel. Como se trata de un período importantísimo en la historia de Europa, y puede ser de gran utilidad a otros investigadores, Crosby decidió publicarlo para ofrecerles acceso a las 3.451 páginas de los siete tomos impresos de la correspondencia de los Jesuitas españoles a través de un índice fidedigno y completo. El Indice onomástico, toponímicoráfico abarca el texto completo de los siete tomos y todo el extenso aparato crítico de su editor, Pascual de Gayangos. La Bibliografía identifica y cuando es posible localiza ejemplares de los 560 documentos impresos ymanuscritos citados por Gayangos y los Jesuitas. Todas las fichas de personas importantes llevan notas extensas sobre sus carreras.JAMES O. CROSBY es profesor emérito en la Florida International University.

A medieval Catalan verse fantasy by Bernat Metge, the most important Catalan writer of the fourteenth century,Written around 1381 by Bernat Metge, the most important Catalan writer of the fourteenth century, the Llibre de Fortuna i Prudència is a fantasy in verse, drawing on learned sources, principally The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius.Early one morning, Bernat, the protagonist and narrator, decides to alleviate his sorrows by strolling around the harbour of Barcelona. He meets an old man, apparently a beggar, who tricks him into getting into a boat which, despite the absence of sails and oars, conveys him to an island where the goddess Fortuna appears to him. In a heated discussion, Bernat blames her for all his misfortunes. His next meeting is with Prudenciawho is accompanied by seven maidens representing the liberal arts. Prudencia is able to lessen his despair, and exhorts him to trust in providence and renounce material possessions. When she considers him cured, she and the maidens send him sailing back to Barcelona, where he quickly goes home to avoid gossiping townsfolk.Published in association with Editorial Barcino, Barcelona. DAVID BARNETT, whose doctorate is from Queen Mary, University of London, continues to be involved in research on medieval Catalan literature.

This 5 volume set represents the first complete English translation of one of the major chronicles of medieval Europe, by 'the father of Portuguese historiography'Covering the reigns of Pedro I, Fernando I and João I up to the signing of the 1411 treaty with Castile which confirmed the survival of the Portuguese kingdom, the chronicles provide a wealth of detail on late fourteenth-century politics, diplomacy, warfare and economic matters, courtly society, queenship and noble women, as well as more mundane concerns such as food, health and the purchasing power of a fluctuating currency. Lopes had a keen eye for detail and a perspective especially attuned to the common people, and his chronicles provide an invaluable source for the history of Western Europe in the later Middle Ages. The first four volumes are accompanied by introductions and bibliographies setting the translations in context, and the fifth volume contains a general bibliography and a comprehensive general index encompassing all of the chronicles.

The Vita Christi, written by the abbess Isabel de Villena, is the only literary work in Catalan to bear the signature of a woman during the Middle Ages. It represents a fascinating re-evaluation of the role women played inthe life of Jesus Christ.The Life of Christ (Vita Christi), written by the abbess Isabel de Villena, is the only literary work to have been preserved in Catalan and to bear the signature of a woman during the Middle Ages. It was composed to provide spiritual direction for the nuns within the community of Poor Clares which Sor (i.e. Sister) Isabel oversaw at the Convent of the Holy Trinity in Valencia.The work was only able to emerge from obscurity by accident. In 1497 Queen Isabel of Castile, the wife of Ferdinand of Catalonia-Aragon, who had heard news of the book's existence, asked Sor Isabel's successor for a copy. The new Abbess, Sor Aldonça, responded by bringing the work to press.Queen Isabel's interest in Sor Isabel's book was understandable. The former abbess had been the daughter of the refined and restless Marquess of Villena, and was herself educated at Court, a milieu with which she maintained very positive relations throughout her life. As an abbess, what's more, she carried out important reforms at the convent and became a valued and respected figure within the dynamic cultural world of the Valencia of her day.Isabelde Villena's Vita Christi has often been interpreted as a response, delivered from the serenity of the cloister, to the misogyny and satire against the female gender emanating from certain books written at that time. Sor Isabel's work is a re-evaluation of the role women played in the life of Jesus Christ, a role at variance with the subsidiary one ascribed to them by the majority of commentators.Published in association with Editorial Barcino, Barcelona.

Renaissance dialogues from C16th Catalonia, in which three speakers elegantly discuss politics, society and the Church.Dialogue is one of the Classical genres reclaimed by the Renaissance, which turns it into a hallmark of the period. In the Catalan-speaking world nearly forty dialogues were written in the course of the Renaissance. Despuig's Dialogues, written in 1557, stand out from the rest by the extent to which they incorporate the most innovative aspects of the genre: the dramatisation of Renaissance multiple perspectives and the consistency of the fictional plot that provides a structure for the ideas.The Dialogues offer a critical review of a host of issues that were topical at the time. The three speakers in the work - Livio, the knight from Tortosa; Fabio, the gentleman from Tortosa; and Don Pedro, the knight from Valencia - elegantly exchange their subtly contrasting views regarding politics, society and the Church as they stroll through the streets of the city Tortosa and sail along the Ebro.The main features of the dialogue, which typify the revival of the genre in the Renaissance, lie in the way it expresses differing opinions, creates multiple perspectives and constructs a consistent plot that imitates a spontaneous conversation whilst providing a structure for the speakers' reflections. Both the ways in which it articulates the discussion and the specific ideas that it allocates to its speakers make Despuig's Dialogues a text thatexemplifies the Renaissance in Catalonia. Published in association with Editorial Barcino, Barcelona.

La edición que aquí se presenta se basa en el estudio cuidadoso de los dos únicos ejemplares que quedan del impreso de 1514. Va acompañada de una introducción novedosa, de numerosas notas a pie de página, imprescindibles hoyla comprensión del texto, de un importante glosario y de una bibliografía al día.This edition is based on a careful comparison of the two only surviving texts of the 1514 printed edition.

The first major work of literature written in Catalan and arguably the first European novel.The Romance of Evast and Blaquerna is a novel in which Ramon Llull rebelled against secular literature of chivalry and the court in general, which was so successful in his time. Written around 1283, it tells the fictional biography of Blaquerna, a virtuous young man who aspires to be a hermit, not a knight, but who on encountering the disorder of the world is obliged to remain in it. In his reform efforts, Blaquerna passes through several estates before being elected Holy Father in Rome, allowing him to intervene in all Christendom and work decidedly in favor of the conversion of infidels. With everyone on the path to salvation, he may eventually retire and devote himself tothe contemplative life. In this new situation, Blaquerna wrote the Book of the Lover and the Beloved, one of the top works of mystical literature of all time. Published in association with Editorial Barcino.Ramon Llull (1232-1316) was a mystic, missionary, philosopher and author of narrative and poetry. He is credited with writing the first major work of Catalan literature.Robert D. Hughes is a specialist in medieval Catalan literature and a widely published translator.

An unforgettable introduction to the medieval world and its culture for the modern reader.Published in association with Editorial Barcino.Ramon Llull wrote the Doctrina pueril between 1274 and 1276 to provide minimum knowledge to those people---children, but also adults---who did not have the opportunity to acquire a sufficient doctrinal and intellectual education. In the late thirteenth century this meant stressing the basics of Christian doctrine and also accessing some aspects of general culture. The most important part of the Doctrina is dedicated to the catechism (articlesof faith, commandments, sacraments, vices and virtues, and so on.). Especially interesting, however, are the more general sections, encyclopedic in nature, on issues such as the three monotheistic religions of the Mediterranean,the lessons that could be studied in the medieval universities, and other medical and scientific subjects. Published in association with Editorial Barcino.Ramon Llull (1232-1316) was a mystic, missionary, philosopher, and author of narrative and poetry. He is credited with writing the first major work of Catalan literature.John Dagenais is a senior professor of Medieval literature and specialist in Hispano-Latin manuscript culture at the University of California, Los Angeles.

In autumn 1397, Viscount Ramon de Perellós left the papal palace in Avignon to travel to St Patrick's Purgatory, famous throughout Europe as a gateway to the next world. There, he spent twenty-four hours in an underground cavern, where he claimed to have travelled through the nine fields of Purgatory, accompanied by demons, before entering the Earthly Paradise and catching a glimpse of Heaven.

Combining a rich depiction of historical customs with genuine admiration for the Muslim legacy of Andalucia, El ferí de Benastepar is a previously unknown novel by Spanish writer José Miguel Hué y Camacho (1803-1841) that relates the doomed romance between Castilian lady Elvira de Castro and the eponymous ferí de Benastepar, Abenamet, a morisco chief.This book provides an annotated edition of El ferí de Benastepar, based on the two surviving manuscripts of the novel. The introduction provides an up-to-date biographical and critical assessment of Hué y Camacho and contextualises El ferí de Benastepar both as a product of Romantic orientalism - a 'local' orientalism directed by Andalusian writers towards the past of their own lands - and as part of the Romantic revival of the early modern 'Moorish novel' that took place in the first half of the nineteenth century, both in Spain and abroad. Notes provide clarification on lexical issues well as on the medieval and early modern sources of the novel.El ferí de Benastepar es una novela histórica inédita del escritor español José Miguel Hué y Camacho (1803-1841). El texto combina una rica descripción de usos y costumbres con una admiración genuina por el legado musulmán de Andalucía. La novela relata el malhadado romance entre la dama castellana Elvira de Soto y el caudillo morisco Abenamet -el "ferí" de Benastepar-, con la primera Rebelión de las Alpujarras (1499-1501) como telón de fondo. Este libro ofrece una edición anotada de El feri de Benastepar, basada en los dos manuscritos que se conservan de la novela. La introducción ofrece una valoración biográfica y crítica actualizada de Hué y Camacho, y contextualiza la novela tanto como producto del orientalismo romántico -un orientalismo "local" dirigido por los escritores andaluces hacia el pasado de sus propias tierras- como en el marco de la recuperación romántica de la "novela morisca" en la primera mitad del siglo XIX, tanto en España como en el extranjero. Las notas aportan aclaraciones sobre cuestiones léxicas y sobre las fuentes medievales y modernas del texto.