Le plus vaillant dans la terre,
Est demeuré à fine force
Qui estoit tant prudent en guerre
On ne pourroit son bruit exquerre
Tant estoit vaillant et hardi
Or le convient il mectre en terre.[66]
[66] Documents inédits sur l’histoire de France, première série, Paris, 1862; p. 342.
Martorell did well to name him as one of the greatest knights of that period.
Sir Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, also was a great warrior. He rendered distinguished services to the English nation in the struggle with France. He was made Duke of Exeter in 1416, and in the same year appointed Lieutenant of Normandy. He died at Greenwich in 1427.
Thus we see that Martorell has reproduced the latter part of the Guy of Warwick story, but has given it a setting in the fifteenth century. It has been changed considerably, and the historical personage, Richard de Beauchamp, has had some influence in giving form to this reproduction. The career of this great knight reveals that the exploits of Tirant at the English court were not the result of a vivid imagination, but, on the contrary, were based in great part on knightly customs and practices of the times. Martorell is a realist; when he describes anything, it is usually based on something that he had observed directly, or something that he had read or heard related which impressed him as having really occurred. It is true that occasionally we find the narration of some incredible incidents in his work, but it is hardly probable that he expected us to believe them. It is owing to the realistic temperament of the author that the different enterprises of Tirant are based on historical events. He had a remarkable talent for selecting interesting elements, and joining them so as to produce an artistic whole. It was evidently not his purpose to make any part of his work an accurate narration of some historical event. He distorts facts or makes use of them under conditions different from those under which they originally happened. Heroic deeds that called forth his admiration, and historical incidents that were interesting to him and of such a nature that he could utilize them in the work that he had undertaken, furnished him with an abundance of material for his book of chivalry. Tirant lo Blanch is indeed a composite work, made up of elements gathered here and there, logically connected and fashioned into a consistent whole which impresses the reader with a feeling of reality, because it is based, in the main, on actual experiences and happenings in life.