PART IV
THE HISTORICAL BASES UPON WHICH TIRANT'S SPHERES OF OPERATION ARE FOUNDED
CHAPTER I
THE WILLIAM OF WARWICK EPISODE
In the preceding part, wherein was made a comparative
study of three important sources of Tirant to Blanch,
we have had occasion to mention the real historical facts
that form, in a more or less general way, the basis of
Tirant's career while in the service of the Emperor of
Constantinople. Let us now transfer our researches to the
field of history and try to determine what historical
events underlie the hero's various undertakings. Let us,
moreover, examine all the features of Tirant lo Blanch
that give any indication of historical influence, in order
that we may attain a better understanding of the author's
method in composing this work. The first question that
confronts us is: What historical basis is to be found in
the William of Warwick episode?
The hero of the English romance of Guy of Warwick is more or less a legendary personage. John Rous, a learned scholar and writer who lived between 1411 and 1491, in his writings concerning the legendary history of Warwickshire, names Guy as the second of the Saxon Earls of Warwick. We cannot cite any authentic historical facts about him. The story probably represents an old Saxon legend, perhaps in the form of a ballad, which in the course of time became a romance in French, and this was later translated into English. In the two
