Andreu Febrer i Callís (1370×1374 – 1437×1444) was a

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

soldier, courtier and poet.

Life

Andreu was born at

Vic Vic (; es, Vic or Pancracio Celdrán (2004). Diccionario de topónimos españoles y sus gentilicios (5ª edición). Madrid: Espasa Calpe. p. 843. ISBN 978-84-670-3054-9. «Vic o Vich (viquense, vigitano, vigatán, ausense, ausetano, ausonense): ...

between 1370 and 1374 to a family of artisans.Raquel Parera Somolinos
''La versió d'Andreu Febrer de la Commedia de Dante: biografia del traductor, estudi del manuscrit, anàlisi de la traducció i edició dels cants I–XX de l'Inferno''
PhD diss., Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2018. The biography is found at pp. 19–50. His father, Andreu Febrer, was born at Vic in 1352. His mother was Francisca Callís, probably a granddaughter of Barchinona Calis. Her family was associated with the estate of . Through their mothers, Andreu and the jurist Jaume Callís were second cousins."Andreu Febrer i Callís"
''

Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana The ''Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana'' (in English: the ''Great Catalan Encyclopedia'') is a Catalan-language encyclopedia, started in fascicles, and published in 1968 by . The soul of the work was written by Max Cahner, and the first director was ...

'' (Barcelona: Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana). Andreu is first attested in the service of King

John I of Aragon John I (27 December 1350 – 19 May 1396), called by posterity the Hunter or the Lover of Elegance, but the Abandoned in his lifetime, was the King of Aragon from 1387 until his death. Biography John was the eldest son of Peter IV and his third ...

in 1393. After John's death, he served his widow, Queen

Yolanda Yolanda may refer to: * Yolanda (name), a given name derived from the Greek ''Iolanthe'' Places * Yolanda, California * Yolanda Shrine, monument located at Barangay Anibong, Tacloban, Leyte Film * ''Yolanda'' (film), a 1924 film starring ...

, for a time.Anna Alberni, "Guillaume de Machaut at the Court of Aragon, 1380–1430," ''Digital Philology: A Journal of Medieval Cultures'' 7.2 (2018): 173–190. In 1398, he was a scribe in the court of King

Martin the Humane Martin the Humane (29 July 1356 – 31 May 1410), also called the Elder and the Ecclesiastic, was King of Aragon, Valencia, Sardinia and Corsica and Count of Barcelona from 1396 and King of Sicily from 1409 (as Martin II). He failed to secure ...

. In 1398, he took part in the king's crusade in Barbary. He later served

Martin I of Sicily Martin I of Sicily (c. 1374/1376 – 25 July 1409), called "The Younger", was King of Sicily from his marriage to Queen Maria in 1390 until his death. Martin's father was the future King Martin I of Aragon, and his grandparents were King Peter ...

as a chamberlain and served in the process against the rebel . In 1418,

Alfonso the Magnanimous Alfonso the Magnanimous (139627 June 1458) was King of Aragon and King of Sicily (as Alfonso V) and the ruler of the Crown of Aragon from 1416 and King of Naples (as Alfonso I) from 1442 until his death. He was involved with struggles to the t ...

appointed him castellan of

Castello Ursino Castello Ursino ( scn, Casteddu Ursinu, lit=Bear Castle), also known as Castello Svevo di Catania, is a castle in Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. It was built in the 13th century as a royal castle of the Kingdom of Sicily, and is mostly known fo ...

in Sicily. In 1419, he made him an ''algutzir'' (bailiff).Marco Boni
"Febrer, Andreu"
''

Enciclopedia Dantesca The ''Enciclopedia Dantesca'', published 1970–1975 by the Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, in six volumes, under the general editorship of Umberto Bosco, is considered the reference book in Italian language about the life and works of Dante ...

'' (1970). In 1420, he took part in the invasion of Sardinia and Corsica. He subsequently served Alfonso as a diplomat. Between 1429 and 1437, Andreu was in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. In 1437, he left for

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

at the head of a company of 100 crossbowmen. A document of 1444 shows that by then he was dead. At the time of his death, he held the rank of knight.

Work

Andreu wrote lyric poetry in

. All of his lyric works seem to have been written before 1400. Fifteen poems ascribed to him are found in the

Cançoner Vega-Aguiló The Cançoner Vega-Aguiló (, ) is a chansonnier predominantly carrying Catalan and Occitan pieces, but also some Castilian and Middle French Middle French (french: moyen français) is a historical division of the French language that covers t ...

.Giuseppe Tavani, "Sulla versificazione di Andreu Febrer: Le strutture ritmiche," ''Iberoromania'' 9 (1979): 12–22. These are a ''

sirventes The ''sirventes'' or ''serventes'' (), sometimes translated as "service song", was a genre of Old Occitan lyric poetry practiced by the troubadours. The name comes from ''sirvent'' ('serviceman'), from whose perspective the song is allegedly wr ...

'', a

Crusade song A Crusade song ( oc, canso de crozada, ca, cançó de croada, german: Kreuzlied) is any vernacular lyric poem about the Crusades. Crusade songs were popular in the High Middle Ages: 106 survive in Occitan, forty in Old French, thirty in Middle H ...

about the 1398 expedition, two praise poems addressed to the ladies of the court of the and the queen of Sicily (probably

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

) and eleven love poems addressed to an unidentified ''Na Beatriu'' ('Lady Beatrice'). He refers to Beatriu under the ' ''Loindan' Amor'' and ''Passabeutats''. He imitates the style of the

troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairit ...

Arnaut Daniel Arnaut Daniel (; fl. 1180–1200) was an Occitan troubadour of the 12th century, praised by Dante as "the best smith" (''miglior fabbro'') and called a "grand master of love" (''gran maestro d'amore'') by Petrarch. In the 20th century he was lau ...

Jaufre Rudel Jaufre Rudel (Jaufré in modern Occitan) was the Prince of Blaye (''Princes de Blaia'') and a troubadour of the early- to mid-12th century, who probably died during the Second Crusade, in or after 1147. He is noted for developing the theme of "lo ...

and

Cerverí de Girona Cerverí de Girona (; fl. 1259 – 1285) was a Catalan troubadour born Guillem de Cervera in Girona. He was the most prolific troubadour, leaving behind some 114 lyric poems among other works, including an ''ensenhamen'' of proverbs for his s ...

and his Catalan is somewhat artificial and archaizing, full of Occitanisms. Despite his close connections with Italy, the French influence on his poetry (e.g.,

Guillaume Machaut Guillaume de Machaut (, ; also Machau and Machault; – April 1377) was a French composer and poet who was the central figure of the style in late medieval music. His dominance of the genre is such that modern musicologists use his death to ...

) is greater than the Italian.Joan Triadú, "Introduction", in Joan Gili (ed.)
''Anthology of Catalan Lyric Poetry''
(Oxford: The Dolphin Book Co., 1953), pp. xli, xlvi. The greatest Italian influence on Andreu was

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

. He and his younger contemporary were the Catalan poets most influenced by Dante. In 1429 in Barcelona, Andreu translated Dante's ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...

'' into Catalan. He maintained the ''

terza rima ''Terza rima'' (, also , ; ) is a rhyming verse form, in which the poem, or each poem-section, consists of tercets (three line stanzas) with an interlocking three-line rhyme scheme: The last word of the second line in one tercet provides the rhy ...

''. His was the first verse translation to appear,

Enrique de Villena Enrique de Villena (1384–1434), also known as and , was a Spanish nobleman, writer, theologian and poet. He was also the last legitimate member of the House of Barcelona, the former royal house of Aragon. When political power was denied to ...

's prose translation into

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

having been published in 1428.Marta Marfany, "Poetic Tradition and the Voice of the Translator: The First Verse Translations of Dante's ''Commedia''," ''Enthymema'' 19 (2017): 5–16. Andreu's translation was praised by the Marqués de Santillana, who had commissioned Villena. Andreu dedicated his work to Alfonso the Magnanimous. It is preserved in a single manuscript of the late 15th century formerly owned by the Conde-Duque de Olivares, now El Escorial, L.II.18.

Editions

Martí de Riquer Martí is a Catalan name and may refer to: People Surname *Cristóbal Martí (born 1903), Spanish footballer *David Martí (born 1971), Spanish Oscar winner for best makeup * Enriqueta Martí (1868–1913), Spanish "witch" * Farabundo Martí (1893 ...

, ed. ''Poesies''. Barcelona: Barcino, 1951. *Raquel Parera, ed. ''La versió d'Andreu Febrer de la Commedia de Dante: estudi del manuscrit i edició de l'Infern, I–XI''. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres, 2006.

References

{{reflist

External links

Incipitario di Andreu Febrer
People from Vic 1370s births 15th-century deaths 15th-century poets Medieval Catalan-language writers Italian–Catalan translators