Pere de Queralt

Pere de Queralt (died 1408) was a Catalan nobleman, diplomat, and poet; "una destacada figura del seu temps" (a distinguished figure of his age). [Martín de Riquer (1964), "Història de la Literatura Catalana", vol. 1 (Barcelona: Edicions Ariel), 612.] He was the nephew of Guerau de Queralt, husband of Clemença de Perellós, and lord of Santa Coloma. He is not to be confused with the knight Pere de Queralt of the thirteenth century, who reportedly fought a lion and won: an act commemorated in a carved vault keystone in the church of Santa Maria de Bell-lloc in Santa Coloma. [Riquer, 612 n1, credits the conflation of the two to Manuel Milà i Fontanals, "Poetas catalanes del siglo XIV", III, 330–31.]

In 1389 Pere was one of the barons that revolted against John I at Calasanç after having signed the sentence against Carroça de Vilaragut. [According to Núria Silleras-Fernández (2004), "Widowhood and Deception: Ambiguities of Queenship in Late Medieval Crown of Aragon", "Shell Games: Studies in Scams, Frauds, and Deceits (1300–1650)", edd. Margaret Reeves, Richard Raiswell, Mark Crane (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies), 204 note 56, Carroça, daughter of Joan de Vilaragut, from the Kingdom of Valencia, was a lady-in-waiting at the court of John I's queen, Violant de Bar. She was married to but separated from Juan Ximénez de Urrea, a powerful man in the Kingdom of Aragon. Accused of having an affair with Francesc de Pau, the king's chamberlain, Carroça was expelled from the royal household by a "cortes" held at Monzón in 1388. Carroça has also been accused of an affair with the king, but this is doubtful, considering her closeness to the queen.] Pere joined the rebels in order to advance his stepmother and sister-in-law Lionor de Perellós, who was raised to Carroça's former position.

In 1392 Pere participated in an expedition to Sicily. He became a councillor and chamberlain of the king. In 1397 he went on a diplomatic mission to Rome to participate in negotiations to resolve the Western Schism. There he probably first encountered Italian literature. In July that same year the king received a petition for aid from some Christian captives held at Tunis. When Pere returned to Valencia from Rome in January 1398 he was immediately sent, with one galley, to Tunis to negotiate their freedom. This he successfully did by promising to restore some sacred Muslim objects taken during the sack of Torreblanco. [María Dolores López Pérez (1980), "Las relaciones diplomáticas y comerciales entre la Corona de Aragón y los Estados norteafricanos durante la Baja Edad Media", "Anuario de estudios medievales", 20, 162. According to María Teresa Ferrer i Mallol (1985), "La redemció de captius a la Corona catalanoaragonesa (segle XIV)", "Anuario de estudios medievales", 15, 250, Pere may have also offered the release of certain captive Muslims.] In 1398 he actively supported the Crusade waged by Martin of Aragon against the Berbers in Africa. In April 1399 he was again ambassador to Tunis and again in 1402–3. [At the end of his final mission, the island of Djerba was recognised as a possession of the King of Sicily in return for a military alliance with Tunis against any possible enemies of hers (López Pérez, 164).] This last embassy resulted in a peace treaty, but the rescue of only a few select captives. Pere died in 1408.

Pere left behind a sizable collection of books, which were catalogued by his widow. [This inventory has been published in Catalan in 1885 by J. Segura in "Aplech de documents curiosos e inédits fahents per a la historia de las costums de Catalunya", "Jochs Florals de Barcelona", 179–181.] The record indicates that Pere owned several Old French books: a "Lancelot", a "Roman de la Rose", three chansonniers, a "Tristan", and a "Remey d'amor", probably a translation of Ovid's "Remedia amoris". [Lluís Cifuentes (1999), "Vernacularization as an Intellectual and Social Bridge: The Catalan Translations of Teodorico's "Chirurgia" and of Arnau de Vilanova's "Regimen Sanitatis", "Early Science and Medicine", 4:2, 139, see table II.] As a poet himself, Pere was also interested in works of grammar and language. His library included the "Razos de trobar" of Raimon Vidal de Bezaudun and the "Libre de concordances" (or "Diccionari de rims") of Jaume March II.

Pere as poet has left us only one piece, "Sens pus tardar me ve de vos partir" (or "Ses pus tardar me ve de vós partir"). The language of the poem is unique, consisting of a Catalan base which has accrued a patina of Occitanisms. [Riquer, 614, identifies it as Catalan on the basis of certain rhymes known to be considered invalid in Old Occitan.] The poem is a harsh and violent "maldit-comiat", in which Pere accuses his lady of having three lovers in a single day. [Robert Archer (1991), "Tradition, Genre, Ethics and Politics in Ausiàs March's "maldit", "Bulletin of Hispanic Studies", 68:3 (July), 372.] When Pere takes leave of his lady, he does so with a metaphor of the "rabasta". He will not sing for his lady any more "cançó, dansa ni lai", since she has turned such things into a "rabasta", the part of saddle that wraps around a horse's posterior between its tail and its buttocks. The reference suggests that Pere composed songs previously, and in the French tradition, though none survive. "Sens pus tardar me ve de vos partir" is written in an Italian style (though not an Italian tone). Pere seems to have been inspired by the sonnet "Benedetto sia'l giorno e'l mese e l'anno" by Petrarch. [Despite the fact that Petrarch was drawing on Peire Vidal for inspiration, Pere's choice of word appears to have relied on Petrarch. Diction also excludes the hypothesis that Pere was borrowing from Giacomino da Verona's "Babilonia infernale" (Riquer, 615–15).] Pere is one of the first Italianate writers of Catalonia, yet his style cannot be called Petrarchan because of its brazen tone; rather it is a parody of Petrarch. [Vicent Martines (1997), "El Tirant poliglota" (Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat: ISBN 8 47826 863 4.), 4.3.3, pp. 40–41.]

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External links

* [http://www.rialc.unina.it/141.1.htm Sens pus tardar me ve de vos partir] , edited by Martín de Riquer, "Miscelánea de poesía medieval catalana", "BRABLB", 26 (1954–56), pp. 151–185, at p. 157.