Ausiàs March (Catalan and ; 1400March 3, 1459) was a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

Valencian Valencian () or Valencian language () is the official, historical and traditional name used in the Valencian Community (Spain), and unofficially in the El Carche comarca in Murcia (Spain), to refer to the Romance language also known as Catal ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

and

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

from

Gandia Gandia ( es, Gandía) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, eastern Spain on the Mediterranean. Gandia is located on the Costa del Azahar (or ''Costa dels Tarongers''), south of Valencia and north of Alicante. Vehicles can acc ...

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

. He is considered one of the most important poets of the "Golden Century" (''Segle d'or'') of Catalan/Valencian literature.

Biography

Not much is known of March's life. He was born in approximately 1400 to a Valencian noble family. His father, Pere March, was himself a poet and served at the court of the younger brother of King Alfonso IV, Peter. His uncle, Jaume March II, was also a poet. March was one of the two children of Pere's second wife, Lionor of Ripoll; he had a younger sister, Peirona. In 1413, the still-young March became head of his family—part of the Valencian petty nobility—upon the death of his father. From a very young age he took part in the expeditions that King Alfons el Magnànim carried out in the Mediterranean. After returning from these expeditions in 1427, he settled in

. After his return, he would never again leave the region where he was born. March was twice married: first to Isabel Martorell (sister of the writer

Joanot Martorell Joanot Martorell (; c. 1410 – 1465) was a Valencian knight and writer, best known for authoring the novel '' Tirant lo Blanch'', written in Valencian and published at Valencia in 1490. This novel is often regarded as one of the peaks of the ...

), and later to Joana Escorna. In 1450, he moved from Gandia to

. It was there that he died on March 3, 1459. While March himself was buried in his family's chapel at the

Valencia Cathedral Valencia Cathedral, at greater length the Metropolitan Cathedral–Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady of Valencia ( es, Iglesia Catedral-Basílica Metropolitana de la Asunción de Nuestra Señora de Valencia, ca-valencia, Església Cated ...

, his two wives and family are buried in the

Monastery of Sant Jeroni de Cotalba The Monastery of Sant Jeroni de Cotalba (; es, San Jerónimo de Cotalba, "Saint Jerome of Cotalba") is a monastic building of Valencian Gothic, Mudéjar, Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical styles constructed between the 14th and 18t ...

. Five illegitimate children but no legitimate heirs have been attributed to him.

Poetry

Inheriting an easy fortune from his father, Pere March—the treasurer to the

Duke of Gandia Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...

—and enjoying the powerful patronage of Charles of Viana, prince of Aragon, March was able to devote himself to poetical composition. He was an undisguised follower of

Petrarch Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited ...

, carrying the imitation to such a point that he addressed his ''Cants d'amor'' (love songs) to a lady whom he professed to have seen first in church on Good Friday. So far as the difference of language allows, he reproduced the rhythmical cadences of his model, but this should be qualified as the medieval tradition of ''locus communis'' requested this following. This is something Petrarch himself did and it need not to be stressed. March is a very original and idiosyncratic poet. In the ''Cants de mort'' (death hymns) he touches a note of brooding sentiment peculiar to himself. It can be said that he developed Petrarch's rhetoric and used it for more inner psychological meditations, as other major poets like Camões and

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

would. March was one of the first poets to use the local vernacular,

, instead 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 ''trobairi ...

language, Occitan. His poems are marked by obscurity, a sometimes monotonous morbidity, and a conflicting battle between desire and morality, achieved at its apex in the great ''Cant Spiritual''. He was fully entitled to the supremacy which he enjoyed among his contemporaries, and the success of his innovation no doubt encouraged Boscán to introduce the Italian metres into Castilian. His verses were transmitted in manuscript tradition until its first print edition in Valencian in 1543, but they had already become known through the Spanish translation in 1539. March's poetry has been set to music by Raimon, Joan Brudieu and other composers.Four settings by Brudieu: Fantasiant, Amor a mi descobre. Si fos Amor substança rahonable. Lir entre carts, lo meu voler se tempra. Plena de seny, donau-me una crosta. on CD accompanying book, Magraner, Charles. ''Fantasiant, Música y poesía para Ausiàs March'' CDM 0927, Valencia 2009

Gallery

File:Ausiàs March, sala de personatges il·lustres del palau del marqués de Dosaigües 02.JPG, Portrait at the Palace of the Marqués de Dosaigües, Valencia File:Estàtua d'Ausiàs March, biblioteca municipal central de València.JPG, Statue of March at the Central Municipal Library of Valencia File:Estàtua d'Ausiàs March a Gandia.JPG, Monument in Gandia File:A Ausiàs March.JPG, Monument on the premises of a secondary school in Barcelona

Notes

References

External links