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 PART III

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TIRANT LO BLANCH AND THE SOURCES: GUY OF WARWICK, LIFE OF ROGER DE FLOR IN MUNTANER'S CHRONICA, AND LULL'S LIBRE DEL ORDE D'CAUAYLERIA.

CHAPTER I

WILLIAM OF WARWICK STANDS FOR THE MATURE GUY OF WARWICK

Towards the end of his book, the author of ''Tirant lo Blanch'' annexed to the life of his hero, with extensive modifications however, the latter part of the career of the famous Catalan hero, Roger de Flor, whose life from childhood to death is related in Muntaner's Chronica. It is not so strange, then, that those who have read Tirant lo Blanch and are acquainted with the life of Roger de Flor should designate Martorell's work as a kind of historical novel.

In his excellent Estudio crítico de Tirant lo Blanch, Givanel Mas exclaims:

Cuán acertado estuvo Amador de los Ríos al indicar que la principal fuente del libro de caballerías catalán, fueron las proezas de aquel caudillo [Roger de Flor] cuyas hazañas llenan bastantes páginas de la Crónica de Muntaner.

In Denk's Geschichte der altcatalanischen Litteratur we read the following statement:

Jeder Kenner der catalanischen Geschichte sieht in Tirant nichts als die novellistisch behandelte Gestalt des kühnen Abenteurers Roger