Page:Tirant lo Blanch; a study of its authorship, principal sources and historical setting (IA cu31924026512263).pdf/181

 romance, Guy of Warwick, has left strong and indisputable traces in this part of the work. The conquest of Barbary is based on the experiences of the kings of Aragon with the Saracens of northwestern Africa, but, in making use of these historical elements, Martorell absolutely disregards their chronological order. According to these historical data, Tirant's military career begins in the middle of the fifteenth century and ends incongruously in the early years of the fourteenth. The hero is made up of elements taken from Guy of Warwick, Richard of Beauchamp, Roger de Flor, Saint Louis, Peter the Second of Aragon and others. It is clear that Martorell had no intention of singing the praises of Roger de Flor or of any other historical personage. In fact it seems that he attempts to disguise and conceal the historical elements. If he had adhered to these elements too closely, he would by that very act have deprived himself of the liberty of proceeding with his composition as he pleased.

Martorell had probably no other purpose in view than that of writing a romance of chivalry in which the hero was to conform in the main to his notion of what constituted a great military leader. He was of a practical bent and he desired to present to us a lifelike hero, one whose exploits should be within the bounds of possibility. All material that was given place in his work seems to be based on what he himself directly observed or what he had read or heard related. No wild flights of the imagination are attempted. Occasionally passages are met with relating incredible occurrences, but these are not of his own invention. Within this work may be found religious and philosophical discourses; speeches and disputations among members of the imperial councils; formal debates among members of the imperial family; documents and papers drawn up by notaries; formal challenges and replies to these; dramatic lamentations;