The Making of Catalan Linguistic Identity in Medieval and Early Modern Times

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

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2. Introduction

   • Vicente Lledó-Guillem

   Pages 1-24

3. The Political Use of the Occitan Language by the Catalan-Aragonese Monarchy

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 25-25

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   2. The Rise of Catalan as a Royal Language: Bernat Desclot’s Account of the Battle of Castellammare in Response to Bernat d’Auriac’s sirventés

      • Vicente Lledó-Guillem

      Pages 27-44

   3. The Politics of the Linguistic Discontinuity of Occitan Versus the Continuity of Catalan: The Sermó by Ramon Muntaner

      • Vicente Lledó-Guillem

      Pages 45-71

   4. Catalan and Occitan Versus Aragonese: The Poetic Ceremony Following the Coronation of Alfonso the Benign in Muntaner’s Crònica

      • Vicente Lledó-Guillem

      Pages 73-105

4. The Interpretation of the Catalan-Occitan Relationship in the Construction of the Spanish Empire

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 107-107

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   2. The Historical (Dis)Continuity of the Catalan Language and the Linguistic Creation of the Spanish Empire: Ausiàs March in the Early Modern Period

      • Vicente Lledó-Guillem

      Pages 109-167

   3. A Unitary Catalan-Occitan Language in the Early Modern Period: The Exaltation of Apitxat Valencian

      • Vicente Lledó-Guillem

      Pages 169-210

   4. Conclusion

      • Vicente Lledó-Guillem

      Pages 211-222

5. Back Matter

   Pages 223-250

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The historical relationship between the Catalan and Occitan languages had a definitive impact on the linguistic identity of the powerful Crown of Aragon and the emergent Spanish Empire. Drawing upon a wealth of historical documents, linguistic treatises and literary texts, this book offers fresh insights into the political and cultural forces that shaped national identities in the Iberian Peninsula and, consequently, neighboring areas of the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. The innovative textual approach taken in these pages exposes the multifaceted ways in which the boundaries between the region’s most prestigious languages were contested, and demonstrates how linguistic identities were linked to ongoing struggles for political power. As the analysis reveals, the ideological construction of Occitan would play a crucial role in the construction of a unified Catalan, and Catalan would, in turn, give rise to a fervent debate around ‘Spanish’ language that has endured through the present day. This book will appeal to students and scholars of historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, Hispanic linguistics, Catalan language and linguistics, anthropological linguistics, Early Modern literature and culture, and the history of the Mediterranean.

• Linguistic historiography
• Linguistic anthropology
• Catalan
• Occitan
• Sicilian Vespers
• Spanish Empire
• Ausiàs March
• Bernat Desclot, Crònica
• Gaspar Escolano, Década primera
• Philology
• Crown of Aragon
• Early Modern linguistics
• Medieval linguistics
• Ramon Muntaner
• Nationalism
• linguistic nationalism
• Aragonese
• Catalan-Aragonese monarchy

“I find Lledó-Guillem‘s monograph to be brilliant, innovative, and groundbreaking. … this book is a must-have to both students and scholars in Medieval and Early Modern political, cultural, and intellectual history, European studies, Romance languages, historical sociolinguistics, and linguistic anthropology. It is a work that will be referenced and cited for years to come.” (Josef Fioretta, Scripta, Issue 11, June, 2018)

• Romance Languages and Literature, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, USA

  Vicente Lledó-Guillem

Vicente Lledó-Guillem is Professor of Spanish and Catalan at Hofstra University, New York. His primary field of research is the political, ideological, and cultural history of the Spanish and Catalan languages. He is the author of Literatura o imperio: la construcción de las lenguas castellana y catalana en la España renacentista (2008).

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