Joan Roís de Corella, la seua vida i el seu entorn: noves dades per a la història de la cultura en la València del segle xv

Abstract

This article offers a full updating of the biographical records of the writer Joan Roís de Corella (1435-1497) and his family: his great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, siblings and children. All data are presented in a systematic way, generation by generation, and a new vision of the writer himself is offered. In its documentary section, 432 documents are transcribed or summarised, dating from 1373 to 1516. A broad range of new archival data is presented; other previously known data are corrected or improved.

Some examples: Joan Roís de Corella had four children: Magdalena (born 1459), Maria, Joan and Estefania, the latter two by Isabel Martínez de Vera. Joan Roís de Corella was widely known and respected amongst the citizens of Valencia; he was frequently sought out for positions of trust, such as being the executor of wills. New documents testify to the long period over which Corella preached, and details are given of this, particularly his preaching activities in his last years. Further data are given on his relationship with the Borja family. Magdalena Roís de Corella, his daughter, was married to another writer, son of the notary Pero Pérez: Miquel Pérez –who, therefore, turns out to be Corella’s son-in-law. Miquel Pérez’s library had more than 75 books, among which several new Italian titles stand out. New documentation is given of business transactions by Isabel Martínez de Vera regarding copies of Joan Roís de Corella’s translation of the Vita Christi by Ludolph of Saxony. The date on which jurats of the city of Valencia licensed Joan Roís de Corella, the writer’s son, to print a “Passis” is also modified. Finally, an exact localization is given for the respective houses in which Joan Roís de Corella, Dalfina Roís de Corella and Isabel Martínez de Vera and her children lived.

In a significant part of this documentation, new information is provided which affects our knowledge of other important characters in fifteenth-century Valencia, such as Bernat Fenollar, Joan Escrivà, Berenguer Mercader, Jaume Roig, Lluís de Castellví, Guillem Ramon de Vila-rasa and Elionor Flors de Vallterra.