Page:Tirant lo Blanch; a study of its authorship, principal sources and historical setting (IA cu31924026512263).pdf/167



que aquesta lettra S La primera, sanctedat; sauiesa; sapiencia; senyoria; e moltes altres coses que per S principien."

Martorell may have invented this story, but we are inclined to believe that he had heard or read an explanation of the kind. Perhaps the story was current at the time. Ashmole, too, had his curiosity aroused by the letters on the collars, and remembers that he had read or heard that there was once an organization called the "Society of Saint Simplicius" and that the members of that society used to wear collars with SS on them, and these letters stood for Saint Simplicius. This saint suffered martyrdom under Diocletian about 287

All that Martorell has to say about the rules, ceremonies, initiation, ladies of honor and their vows, reveals that he knew a great deal about the Order. Where did he obtain his information? Was it through reading or through hearsay? In some respects his account resembles that of an eye-witness, yet in giving the names of members of the Order, Martorell was obliged to invent some, for the reason that he did not have enough English names at his command. Some of the names are purely Catalan, and this fact indicates that the account was not written in England, nor in Portugal, but very probably in Valencia; another argument in favor of the contention that Tirant lo Blanch was written originally in Catalan, and not in Portuguese.

science; seigniory; and many other things that begin with S. Tirant lo Blanch, chaps. xcvi and xcvii.]
 * [Footnote: letter S. The first thing it stands for is sanctity; then sapience;