Under the protection of her sovereigns Cata lonia produced poetry, history, moral philosophy and scientific works superior to any other lit erature in Spain at this time; and she may be said to have led the way for the brilliant Span ish drama which followed. Among the other very notable patrons of literature was Pedro III of Aragon, known as "the great," himself no mean poet and a noted writer on scientific subjects.
Catalan literature attained its highest devel opment in the 14th and 15th centuries. During this period two names, Ramon Llull and Ausias March, stand prominently forth. Llull, who was born in 1235, was a voluminous writer of great talent who had a powerful influence upon the literature of his age. He seems to have cov ered almost every field of literary endeavor and to have done well nearly everything he at tempted. He was a noted orator, naturalist, musician, mathematician, scientist, philologist, jurist, theologian and poet. His works cover almost the whole field of human knowledge. His hymns to the Virgin are sincere, tender and sweet. Devotion,. love of country and the triumphs of religion are his chief themes, as they were those of most of the Catalan writers of his day. Between Llull and March (who died in 1460) there is a long list of Catalan writers who have remained unknown to the outside world simply because they unfortu nately wrote in a language which was destined through the fortune of conquest to be looked upon as a dialect. These include Ramon Vidal whose dreta maniera de (The Art of Poetry) had a powerful influence upon the most notable Catalan poets who followed him; Pedro de Aragon, Ramon de Muntaner, an ex cellent didactic poet, chronicler and historian; Bernat des Clos, a learned writer and historian of note who took for his special theme the counts of Barcelona and Pedro III. Muntaner writes as a soldier of what he saw during his long life, "so as not to lose the memory of those wonderful feats with which the Catalans and the Aragonese astonished the world." His work is extensive, varied, regular i and me thodical; and he writes with authority, in his capacity of chancellor to the eastern expedi tion of the army under Roger de Flor. His work bristles with customs, characters, battles, sieges, speeches and conversations of leaders and warriors; descriptions of cities, districts and people, all presented in an original and sim ple, direct manner that makes camps and cam paigns stand forth in relief. No such history had been written before in Spain. Among the
other writers of this period were Llorens Mayol, Luis de Villarrasa, Arnaldo March, En Dalman Rocaberti, Juan Ruiz de Corclia, An dreu Faber, Jordi de Sent Jordi, Jaume March and Mossen Vallmayna, all of whom have left important literary remains. Faber translated the 'Divina Commedia> in 1428, Sent Jordi wrote excellent sonnets, and Vallmayna, a poet of note, was an authority on troubadour poetry.
Alfonso V so stirred up the literary en thusiasm of his people that it became the fash ion among his nobles to patronize literature. Leonardo des Sors, Jaume de Aulesia and Jaume Roig, Lord Francesch Farrer and Lord Torrellas were all writers immensely popular in their day; and Marco is specially worthy of note as a dramatist whose plays appeared to ward the close of the 14th century and prob ably, through their popularity, helped to inspire the noted Spanish drama which followed short ly afterward.
The Golden Between this latter period and that of the rise of Catalan as a lit erary language is a short and very active period which began about the middle of the 15th cen tury and ended with its close. The bright pecu liar light of this, the height of Catalan literary activity, was Auseas March, the greatest and most original of the Catalan poets. He was a follower of Petrarch; but no servile imitator. Filled with the troubadour spirit, he wrote ten der love songs, moral didatic poems and senti mental sonets full of true feeling and simplicity of diction. 'Cants d'amor' and 'Cants de Mort) are his best and most original poems. He was very popular during the 16th century when his works passed through several editions and were translated into Spanish (1539). With him Catalan begins to die as a national litera ture, as Catalan individuality soon merged it self into that of the United Spanish kingdom under Ferdinand and Isabel the Catholic. Yet Jaume Roig, who survived March 18 years, helped to keep alive Catalan traditions in his (Libre de Consells' of which many editions were published. A caustic satire on women by Roig is a brilliant and trustworthy picture of Valencian life and habits in the latter half of the 15th century. It is especially valuable from a historical point of view. Contrary to the popular belief, native poetry was not dead in the Catalan country; for as dialect literature it was alive at the beginning of the 18th century. But from 1714 it lay practically dormant for over a hundred years.