Lorenç Mallol (, older spelling ''Lorenz''; fl. 1350) 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 ...

poet of the fourteenth century, the first

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 w ...

an of his country and one of the last

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 ...

s. His two surviving pieces are composed in

Old Occitan Old Occitan ( oc, occitan ancian, label=Occitan language, Modern Occitan, ca, occità antic), also called Old Provençal, was the earliest form of the Occitano-Romance languages, as attested in writings dating from the eighth through the fourteen ...

. His first name is also spelled Laurenç () in modern Occitan and Llorenç () in modern Catalan. Lorenç presented a certain ''vers figurat'' ( figured verse), ''Sobre·l pus alt de tots los cims d'un arbre'', to the

Consistori del Gay Saber The Consistori del Gay Saber (; "Consistory of the Gay Science") was a poetic academy founded at Toulouse in 1323 to revive and perpetuate the lyric poetry of the troubadours. Also known as the Acadèmia dels Jòcs Florals or Académie des Jeux ...

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

, a mystic allegory of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

(''Ihus lo salvaire''), who is the ''auzel(l)et tot blanch'' (little all-white bird), and the

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, who are a ''corps mot vils'' (most vile corpse). The ''arbre'' (tree) signifies ''la vera crotz'' (the true cross). The poem has two ''

tornadas In Old Occitan literature, a ''tornada'' (, ; "turned, twisted") refers to a final, shorter stanza (or ''cobla'') that appears in lyric poetry and serves a variety of purposes within several poetic forms. The word ''tornada'' derives from the Old ...

'', one to ''Mon Ric(h) Thesaur'' (my rich treasure), a ''senhal'' (code name) for the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

and another to the seven lords (''senyor set'') of the ''consistori del Gay Sauber''. It is Enrich de Villena, a lord of the

Consistori de Barcelona The Consistori (de la Gaya Sciència) de Barcelona (, ; "Academy of the Gay Science of Barcelona") was a literary academy founded in Barcelona by John the Hunter, King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona, in 1393 in imitation of the Consistori del Gay ...

, who informs us that this was not that consistori but the one of Toulouse, since the piece was written before the foundation in Barcelona (1393). The Marian reference is very typical for the Consistori of Toulouse and this poem is usually classed as a religious ''

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 ...

''. It is unknown if it won a prize at the ''joc florals'' or even when it was composed. More useful for garnering an understanding of Catalan and Occitan literature of the period, is Lorenç' '' escondig'' (''escondit''), which cannot be connected to the Consistori or its competitions. ''Moltes de vetz, dompna, ·m suy presentatz'', as it begins, describes how certain jealous men (''lauzengiers'') told his lady that Lorenç was bragging that she loved him, a discourteous violation of the secrecy of love. Lorenç denies the charge in a way clearly inspired by Petrarch's fifteenth ''

canzone Literally "song" in Italian, a ''canzone'' (, plural: ''canzoni''; cognate with English ''to chant'') is an Italian or Provençal song or ballad. It is also used to describe a type of lyric which resembles a madrigal. Sometimes a composition w ...

'', which begins ''S'i'l dissi mai'' ("If I ever said that"). This line, translated into Occitan, is how the main (14 of 17) stanzas of Lorenç' 132-line poem begin: ''Si·u diguí may''. The poet then describes the horrible fate which would await him for so treacherous a betrayal. The ''tornada'' employs the same ''senhal'', ''Mon Rich Thesaur'', as the religious poem, this time for an anonymous lady presumably not the Virgin. From another direction Lorenç seems influenced by

Bertran de Born Bertran de Born (; 1140s – by 1215) was a baron from the Limousin in France, and one of the major Occitan troubadours of the 12th-13th century. He composed love songs (cansos) but was better known for his political songs (sirventes). He wa ...

, who wrote the only ''escondig'' attributable to a troubadour.Henry John Chaytor (1933),
A History of Aragon and Catalonia
' (London: Methuen Publishing), 271. In Lorenç,

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

Petrarchism and reactionary troubadourism are combined. Despite this, Lorenç is not avant garde. His poetry is not of especial literary quality, nor is his imitation of Petrarch the beginning of a trend. He did not borrow from Petrarch any of the latter's superior poetic innovations. Rather, he so happens to be one of the few Catalans of his time to find in Petrarch and the Italians things worth copying and fitting into their troubadouresque structures.

Works available online

Incipitario de Llorenç Mallol
includes edited texts of the original language for both of his extant poems.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lorenc Mallol People from Catalonia 14th-century Spanish troubadours Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown