''Tirant lo Blanch'' ( ; modern spelling: ''Tirant lo Blanc'') is a

chivalric romance As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalric ...

written by the

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 ...

knight

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 ...

, finished posthumously by his friend

Martí Joan de Galba Martí Joan de Galba (; died 1490) was once considered to be the co-author of the famous Valencian epic ''Tirant lo Blanch'', which he worked on after the death of his friend, Joanot Martorell. But the nature of his contributions have been called in ...

and published in the city of

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 ...

in 1490 as an incunabulum edition. The title means "Tirant the White" and is the name of the romance's main character who saves the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

. It is one of the best known

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 a ...

works of literature in

. It is considered a masterpiece in the

Valencian literature Catalan literature is the name conventionally used to refer to literature written in the Catalan language. The focus of this article is not just the literature of Catalonia, but literature written in Catalan from anywhere, so that it includes writ ...

and in the literature in

Catalan language Catalan (; autonym: , ), known in the Valencian Community and Carche as '' Valencian'' (autonym: ), is a Western Romance language. It is the official language of Andorra, and an official language of three autonomous communities in eastern ...

as a whole, and it played an important role in the evolution of the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

through its influence on the author

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best kno ...

. The book has been noted for its use of many Valencian proverbs.

Plot

''Tirant lo Blanch'' tells the story of a knight Tirant from

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

who has a series of adventures across Europe in his quest. He joins in knightly competitions in England and France until the Emperor of the

asks him to help in the war against the

Ottoman Turks The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

, Islamic invaders threatening

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

, the capital and seat of the Empire. Tirant accepts and is made Megaduke of the Byzantine Empire and the captain of an army. He defeats the invaders and saves the Empire from destruction. Afterwards, he fights the Turks in many regions of the eastern Mediterranean and

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

, but he dies just before he can marry the pretty heiress of the Byzantine Empire.

Themes

Compared to books of the same time period, it lacks the bucolic, platonic, and contemplative love commonly portrayed in the

chivalric Chivalry, or the chivalric code, is an informal and varying code of conduct developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It was associated with the medieval Christian institution of knighthood; knights' and gentlemen's behaviours were governed ...

heroes. Instead the main character is full of life and sensuous love, sarcasm, and human feelings. The work is filled with down to earth descriptions of daily life, prosaic and even bitter in nature.

Influence

''Tirant lo Blanch'' is one of the most important books written in Valencian. Written by

in the 15th century, the ''Tirant'' is an unusual chivalric novel in its naturalistic and satirical character, which also appears to have a strong autobiographic component. It tells the feats and adventures of Knight Tirant lo Blanc from

. At times, it parallels the life and adventures of Roger de Flor, main leader of the mercenary Company of Almogàvers, which fought in Asia Minor and Greece, both for and against the Emperor of Byzantium. This historical resemblance is evident in the description of events occurring around

and the defeat of

Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it c ...

Mehmed II Mehmed II ( ota, محمد ثانى, translit=Meḥmed-i s̱ānī; tr, II. Mehmed, ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror ( ota, ابو الفتح, Ebū'l-fetḥ, lit=the Father of Conquest, links=no; tr, Fâtih Su ...

"the conqueror". While Roger de Flor's almogàvers had the upper hand in the region, the

Fall of Constantinople The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city fell on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 53-day siege which had begun o ...

in 1453 was a huge shock to Christian Europe, marking an end to the Byzantine Empire that Martorell's contemporaries wished to change. In writing his novel, Martorell perhaps rewrote history to fit what he wanted it to be - which in a way makes it a precursor of the present-day genre of

alternate history Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, alte ...

. The Spanish text of ''

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of West ...

'' states, in Chapter 6 of Part I, that because of certain characteristics of ''Tirant'' – characters with unlikely or funny names such as Kirieleison de Montalbán, the presence of a merry widow, the fact that in the book knights eat, sleep, and die in their beds having made a will, and the title can be understood as "Tirant the Blank", lacking a major victory to put on his shield – the book is quite different from the typical

. These aspects make the book exceptional, and made Cervantes state that "por su estilo", which can be translated "because of its style" but more likely means "in its own way", the book is "a treasure of enjoyment and a gold mine of recreation" ("un tesoro de contento y una mina de pasatiempos"), the "best book in the world." It is an (unintentionally) funny book, and Cervantes liked funny books, believed the world needed more of them, and wrote his own in ''Don Quixote''. Cervantes saw this 100-year-old book as the crown jewel of his library.

Translations and adaptations

Translations

The book has been translated into several languages including French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Finnish, German, Dutch, Swedish and Chinese. Modern translations of the book into English include ''Tirant lo Blanc'', translated by

David H. Rosenthal David H. Rosenthal (1945–1992) was an American author, poet, editor, and translator. He wrote mostly on the history of jazz music and was also an important translator of Catalan literature. Among his translations was the first English render ...

(1983, 1996) and ''Tirant lo Blanc: The Complete Translation (Catalan Studies, Vol 1)'', translated by Ray La Fontaine (1994). There's also an adaptation in modern CatalanJoanot Martorell, translation by Màrius Serra. https://www.llibres.cat/products/482338-tirant-lo-blanc.html

Film adaptation

The plot of the 2006 film adaptation is based on the later part of the adventures of Tirant and events leading to his involvement in Constantinople and afterwards.

Notes and references

External links

Full text in a slightly revised orthography version, in Catalan

(full text in a web page, in Catalan) edited and translated into English by Robert S. Rudder

* ttp://ca.wikisource.org/wiki/Tirant_lo_Blanc ''Tirant lo Blanc'', Wikisourcebr>In the opinion of some experts Tirant is different from similar works see "Origenes de la novela..." By Marcelino Mendendez y Pelayo, Adolfo Bonilla y San Martin El ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha By Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Tirant Lo Blanch: A Study of Its Authorship, Principal Sources and historical setting" by Joseph A. Vaeth (1918)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tirant Lo Blanch 1490 books Alternate history novels Novels set in the Byzantine Empire Catalan-language novels Chivalry Fictional knights Incunabula Medieval Catalan literature Romance (genre) Spanish novels adapted into films Valencian literature