Martí de Riquer i Morera

Martí de Riquer i Morera (Catalan pronunciation: [mərˈti ðə riˈke j muˈɾeɾə], Spanish: Martín de Riquer y Morera) (born 3 May 1914), 8th Count of Casa Dávalos and Grandee of Spain, PhD, is a Spanish Catalan Romance linguist, a recognised international authority in the field. His writing career began in 1934 and continues to the present day.

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Early life

De Riquer was born in Barcelona in 1914, the grandson of Alexandre de Riquer i Ynglada, from whom he inherited the noble title Count of Casa Dávalos at a young age in 1920. He fought in the Spanish Civil War for the Nationalist side, in the tercio of Monserrat and later the propaganda service under Dionisio Ridruejo's direction.

In 1977 he was appointed a senator in the Cortes Constituyentes by the Spanish king Juan Carlos I. He was also appointed chief of the Romance literature section of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC, "Superior Council of Scientific Investigations").

Scholarship and recognition

De Riquer has been a member of the Real Academia Española since 1965, president of the Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona, and corresponding member of numerous foreign institutions. He is the emeritus chair of Literaturas Románicas (Romance Literature) at the University of Barcelona, which he held from 1950 to 1984. He was viceroy of the university in 1965–6 and viceroy of the Autonomous University of Barcelona from 1970 to 1976. He is the founder and honorary president of the Sociedad Roncesvals, dedicated to the study of the chanson de geste and cantar de gesta.

Among the Romance languages Riquer has studied are Occitan, French, Spanish, and Catalan. Specifically, he has written important and influential works on Don Quixote, the chansons de geste, the medieval novel (notably Amadis de Gaula), the troubadours, courtly love, the history of Catalan literature, and the social phenomenon of the knight errant. He has studied the influence of Ausiàs March, Juan Boscan, and the work of Miguel de Cervantes. Perhaps his most ambitious work was Historia de la Literatura Universal ("History of Universal Literature"), in collaboration José María Valverde. He and his disciple Albert Hauf are the most prominent living authorities on courtly love in Spain.

De Riquer was the recipient of a many honours later in life. In 1962 he received the Premio March de Cataluña, in 1990 he received the fourth Premio Internacional Menéndez Pelayo, in 1991 he received the Premio Nacional de Ensayo from the Ministry of Culture for his monograph Aproximació al Tirant lo Blanc, in 1997 he received the Premio Príncipe de Asturias de Ciencias Sociales, in 1999 he received the Premi Lletra d'Or for Quinze generacions d'una família catalana, and in 2000 he received the Premio Nacional de las Letras Españolas. In 2005 he was made a Grandee by King Juan Carlos I.[1] He received Doctor honoris causa degrees (honorary doctor) from the University of Rome and the University of Liège.

Published works

His own

Edited works

Notes

  1. ^ "Otras disposiciones" (in Spanish) (PDF). Boletín Oficial del Estado. 23 April 2005. http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2005/04/23/pdfs/A13960-13960.pdf. Retrieved 14 August 2010. 

References

External links

Spanish nobility
Preceded by
Alexandre de Riquer		 Count of Casa Dávalos
13 November 1920 – present		 Incumbent