Tirant lo Blanch

Tirant lo Blanch

Final page of 1490 edition
Author	Joanot Martorell Martí Joan de Galba
Original title	Tirant lo Blanch
Country	Kingdom of Valencia
Language	Valencian
Genre	Chivalric romance
Set in	Europe, north Africa, Middle East, 15th century AD
Publisher	Martí Joan de Galba
Publication date	1490
Dewey Decimal	849.9
Original text	at Catalan

Tirant lo Blanch (Valencian pronunciation: [tiˈɾand lo ˈblaŋk], modern orthography: Tirant lo Blanc) is a chivalric romance written by the Valencian knight Joanot Martorell, finished posthumously by his friend Martí Joan de Galba and published in the city of Valencia in 1490 as an incunabulum edition. The title means "Tirant the White" and is the name of the main character in the romance. It is one of the best known medieval works of literature in Valencian and played an important role in the evolution of the Western novel through its influence on the author Miguel de Cervantes.

Its spelling in Modern Valencian is Tirant lo Blanc, but it is also referred to by its original spelling Tirant lo Blanch, where the h is silent.

Tirant lo Blanch is one of the most important books written in Valencian. Written by Joanot Martorell in the 15th century, the Tirant is an unusual chivalric novel in its naturalistic and satirical character, which also appears to have a strong autobiographic component. It tells the feats and adventures of Knight Tirant lo Blanc from Brittany. At times, it parallels the life and adventures of Roger de Flor, main leader of the mercenary Company of Almogàvers, which fought in Asia Minor and Greece, both for and against the Emperor of Byzantium. This historical resemblance is evident in the description of events occurring around Constantinople and the defeat of Sultan Mehmed II "the conqueror". While Roger de Flor's almogàvers had the upper hand in the region, the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 was a huge shock to Europeans, marking an end to the Byzantine Empire that Martorell's contemporaries wished to change.