Luys d'Averçó
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Luys d'Averçó or Luis de Aversó (''c''.1350–1412x15) 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 ...
politician,
naval A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...
, and
man of letters An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...
. His ''
magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...
'', the ''Torcimany'', is one of the most important
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, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
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 Spa ...
grammars to modern historians. His name is spelled Lluís d'Averçó or d'Aversó in modern orthography. Averçó was born to a family of naval
shipowner A ship-owner is the owner of a merchant vessel (commercial ship) and is involved in the shipping industry. In the commercial sense of the term, a shipowner is someone who equips and exploits a ship, usually for delivering cargo at a certain frei ...
s 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 the middle of the fourteenth century. He continued in the family business and profited from it financially all his life. He appears to be well-trained in
law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
, for he participated in the municipal government of Barcelona throughout his life, being a
councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...
(''conseller'') in 1395 and again in 1403. During the
interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one monarch and the next (coming from Latin '' ...
of 1410–12 he was charged by the
Parliament of Catalonia The Parliament of Catalonia ( ca, Parlament de Catalunya, ; es, Parlamento de Cataluña; oc, Parlament de Catalonha) is the unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. The Parliament is currently made up of 135 mem ...
with arbitrating some disputes amongst the citizens of
Lleida Lleida (, ; Spanish: Lérida ) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It is also the capital city of the Segrià comarca, as ...
. He later represented Barcelona on a diplomatic mission to
Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...
. His diverse interests economic, literary, military, and political brought him favour with the monarchs
John I John I may refer to: People * John I (bishop of Jerusalem) * John Chrysostom (349 – c. 407), Patriarch of Constantinople * John of Antioch (died 441) * Pope John I, Pope from 523 to 526 * John I (exarch) (died 615), Exarch of Ravenna * John I o ...
("the Lover of Elegance") and
Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...
("the Humane"). No poems by Averçó survive, though his reputation in the poetic world of his time is undeniable. He and
Jaume March II Jaume March (1334/1335–1410) was a Valencian language poet. Brother of Pere March and uncle of Arnau March and the renowned Ausiàs March, Jaume's family had been lawyers and officers of the court of the king of Aragon. Born in Valencia, Spain, ...
persuaded John I to inaugurate the ''
jocs florals Floral Games were any of a series of historically related poetry contests with floral prizes. In Occitan, their original language, and Catalan they are known as ''Jocs florals'' (; modern Occitan: ''Jòcs florals'' , or ''floraus'' ). In French the ...
'' at Barcelona and establish a Consistori de la Gaya Sciènça there. On 20 February 1393 John named Jaume and Averçó the first judges of the Consistori's contests (''jocs''). On 12 August 1399 their position was reaffirmed by king Martin. Averçó's poetic reputation is further established by his ''Torcimany'', which contain a wealth of information for composing poetry in Catalan. ''Torcimany'' survives in a single
autograph An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. ''Webster's Third New Inter ...
in the library of the
Escorial El Escorial, or the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial ( es, Monasterio y Sitio de El Escorial en Madrid), or Monasterio del Escorial (), is a historical residence of the King of Spain located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, up ...
. Its diffusion was almost null, its influence equally so, and its citation nonexistent. Not even Jaume March's ''Libre de concordances'', which served the same purpose—a dictionary of rhymes (''diccionari de rimes'')—as the appendix of Averçó's ''Torcimany'', shows any evidence of cross-fertilisation or influence. The two poets, who knew each other personally, wrote two similar but independent works. ''Torcimany'' cannot be confidently dated beyond the final third of the century. It is divided into three sections, the first on the basic concepts of grammar, the second (''del trobar'', "on composition") on the genres (''dictats'') of poetry, and the third on more difficult aspects of grammar and
rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...
, such as ''compàs'' (
rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...
). ''Torcimany'' is not too different from the ''Compendi'' of
Joan de Castellnou Joan de Castellnou (; fl. 1341–1355) was a troubadour of the Consistori del Gay Saber active in Toulouse. He left behind five or six ''cansos'', three '' vers'', a ''dansa'', a '' conselh'', and a ''sirventes''. His most famous works are no ...
or the '' Flors del gay saber'' of
Guilhem Molinier Guilhem Molinier or Moulinier ( 1330–50) was a medieval Occitan poet from Toulouse. His most notable work is ''Leys d'amors'' ("Laws of Love"), a treatise on rhetoric and grammar that achieved great notoriety and, beyond the Occitan, influenced ...
. The dictionary of rhymes with which it ends, however, is unique to it; and Averçó does not appear to have had access to the ''Donatz proensals'' of
Uc Faidit Uc de Saint Circ (San Sir) or Hugues (Hugh) de Saint Circq (floruit, fl. 1217–1253Aubrey, ''The Music of the Troubadours'', 22–23.) was a troubadour from Quercy. Uc is perhaps most significant to modern historians as the probable author ...
. He appears to have compiled his dictionary from memory and probably for this reason he includes words that would be difficult to employ in the type of verse he seeks to enable. Generally his words have Catalan endings, but a good portion are clearly
Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language Occitan (; o ...
, the language of the
troubadours 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 ...
. A few on top of that are Castilian or Aragonese, which he clarifies with their Catalan equivalents. These Castilianisms are also unnecessary for Catalan poetry, but Averçó was fixed upon extending his rhymary.Riquer, 562, explains the odd choices Averçó made for his dictionary. Among the Castilianisms he notes ''padre, madre, pulga, risa, esquina, perro, lomo, libra, rota, escutxa, serrà, lutxa'', and ''etxà''. Some of these are given Catalanised spellings (i.e. ''ch''→''tx'').


Notes


External links


''Torcimany'', vol. I, 1956
in Biblioteca, Corpus Literari Digital, Aula Màrius Torres.

with edited original-language texts of five poetic examples from ''Torcimany'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Averco, Luys D 1410s deaths Writers from Catalonia Medieval Catalan-language writers Politicians from Catalonia Year of birth unknown 14th-century Catalan people 15th-century Catalan people