Felip de Malla
Encyclopedia
Felip de Malla (1370 – 12 July 1431) was a Catalan
prelate
, theologian, scholastic
, orator, classical scholar
, and poet
. He was a confidante
of the kings Martin the Humane, Ferdinand of Antequera
, and Alfonso the Magnanimous
. He was the seventeenth President of the Generalitat de Catalunya
from 1425 to 1428.
Born in Barcelona
and educated in literature
and philosophy
at the University of Lleida
, Felip eventually earned a master's of theology
from the University of Paris
. He later took holy orders
. Renowned for his oratory and his classical prose, among the ancients which he can be shown to have read are Pindar
, Alcaeus, Horace
, Catullus
, and Serenus Sammonicus
. A high percentage of his own manuscript
s survive. Between 1419 and 1424 he penned his most important work, Memorial del peccador reemut, an ascetic treatise on Christianity, Judaism, and paganism. This manuscript now resides in the Biblioteca de Catalunya (MS. 465). Two incunabula of the Memorial del peccador reemut exist: the first was published in 1483 and the second in 1495 by Joan Rosenbach at the Abbey of Montserrat.
In 1408 Felip was appointed conseller e promotor dels negocis de la cort ("counsellor and business promoter of the court") by Martin. He maintained this position under Ferdinand and Alfonso. Felip participated in the negotiations leading up to the Compromise of Caspe
, putting his support decisively behind Ferdinand of Antequera and exerting effective influence on his part. Felip also played a role in the resolution of the Western Schism
through his work at the Council of Constance
and his efforst against the following of Benedict XIII, his former patron. In the election to choose a pope, Felip received six votes at Constance.
In February 1413, the Consistori de Barcelona
held a poetry competition at the Palau Reial Major
. Both the opening speech () and the closing one were given by Felip de Malla, one of the maintainers (mantenidors) of the Consistori. Both speeches were transcribed (and presumably delivered) in a Catalan liberally seasoned with classical and ecclesiastical Latin, as befitted Felip's education and reputation. Not surprisingly from a master of theology, it is intensely religious:
In light of the fact that Ferdinand was involved in a war with the James II, Count of Urgell, Felip, whose duty it is as maintainer to give the contestants a theme, asked for short, sharp verses about war, namely, a sirventes
.
In 1423 Felip was the dean
of the diocese of Huesca
and then almoner
of Elne. In 1424 he was elevated to the position of archdeacon
of the see of Barcelona, which post he held until his death. In 1425 he was made president of the Generalitat. In that capacity he had to fight the distance between the king and the nobility, growing wider since the Corts de Barcelona of 1421. During his term Felip had deal with the introduction of Castilians
into government offices, the lack of concern showed by King Alfonso for his Spanish territories, the preoccupation of the king with the conquest of Naples
, and the attempt by Alfonso to create a fief for his younger brother Peter at Cervera
. In 1428 Catalonia was ravaged by the plague, and an earthquake struck on 2 February. This earthquake was one of only several that struck Catalonia (especially Roussillon
) during the years 1427–28. The duty of informing the king, who was then in Valencia
, fell to Felip, whose letter and description of the event survives. Felip left office later that year. He died on 12 July 1431 in Barcelona.
Catalan people
The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...
prelate
Prelate
A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin prælatus, the past participle of præferre, which means "carry before", "be set above or over" or "prefer"; hence, a prelate is one set over others.-Related...
, theologian, scholastic
Scholasticism
Scholasticism is a method of critical thought which dominated teaching by the academics of medieval universities in Europe from about 1100–1500, and a program of employing that method in articulating and defending orthodoxy in an increasingly pluralistic context...
, orator, classical scholar
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
, and poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
. He was a confidante
Confidante
A confidante is a type of sofa, originally characterized by a triangular seat at each end, so that people could sit at either end of the sofa and be close to the person sitting in the middle...
of the kings Martin the Humane, Ferdinand of Antequera
Ferdinand I of Aragon
Ferdinand I called of Antequera and also the Just or the Honest) was king of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca, Sardinia and Corsica and king of Sicily, duke of Athens and Neopatria, and count of Barcelona, Roussillon and Cerdanya...
, and Alfonso the Magnanimous
Alfonso V of Aragon
Alfonso the Magnanimous KG was the King of Aragon , Valencia , Majorca, Sardinia and Corsica , and Sicily and Count of Barcelona from 1416 and King of Naples from 1442 until his death...
. He was the seventeenth President of the Generalitat de Catalunya
Generalitat de Catalunya
The Generalitat of Catalonia is the institution under which the autonomous community of Catalonia is politically organised. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Government of Catalonia....
from 1425 to 1428.
Born in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
and educated in literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
at the University of Lleida
University of Lleida
The University of Lleida is a university based in Lleida , Spain. It was the first university in Catalonia and the whole Crown of Aragon...
, Felip eventually earned a master's of theology
Master of Theology
A Master of Theology is an advanced theological research degree offered by universities, divinity schools, and seminaries.-North America:In North America, the Master of Theology is considered by the Association of Theological Schools to be the minimum educational credential for teaching...
from the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
. He later took holy orders
Holy Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
. Renowned for his oratory and his classical prose, among the ancients which he can be shown to have read are Pindar
Pindar
Pindar , was an Ancient Greek lyric poet. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian described him as "by far the greatest of the nine lyric poets, in virtue of his inspired magnificence, the beauty of his thoughts and figures, the rich...
, Alcaeus, Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
, Catullus
Catullus
Gaius Valerius Catullus was a Latin poet of the Republican period. His surviving works are still read widely, and continue to influence poetry and other forms of art.-Biography:...
, and Serenus Sammonicus
Serenus Sammonicus
Quintus Sammonicus Serenus was a Roman savant, tutor to Geta and Caracalla who became fatally involved in politics, and an author of a didactic medical poem, Liber Medicinalis , probably incomplete in the form in which we have it, as well as many lost works...
. A high percentage of his own manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
s survive. Between 1419 and 1424 he penned his most important work, Memorial del peccador reemut, an ascetic treatise on Christianity, Judaism, and paganism. This manuscript now resides in the Biblioteca de Catalunya (MS. 465). Two incunabula of the Memorial del peccador reemut exist: the first was published in 1483 and the second in 1495 by Joan Rosenbach at the Abbey of Montserrat.
In 1408 Felip was appointed conseller e promotor dels negocis de la cort ("counsellor and business promoter of the court") by Martin. He maintained this position under Ferdinand and Alfonso. Felip participated in the negotiations leading up to the Compromise of Caspe
Compromise of Caspe
The Compromise of Caspe made in 1412 was an act and resolution of parliamentary representatives on behalf of the Kingdoms of Aragon and Valencia and the County of Barcelona, to resolve the interregnum commenced by the death of King Martin I of Aragon in 1410 without a legitimate heir, in Caspe.The...
, putting his support decisively behind Ferdinand of Antequera and exerting effective influence on his part. Felip also played a role in the resolution of the Western Schism
Western Schism
The Western Schism or Papal Schism was a split within the Catholic Church from 1378 to 1417. Two men simultaneously claimed to be the true pope. Driven by politics rather than any theological disagreement, the schism was ended by the Council of Constance . The simultaneous claims to the papal chair...
through his work at the Council of Constance
Council of Constance
The Council of Constance is the 15th ecumenical council recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, held from 1414 to 1418. The council ended the Three-Popes Controversy, by deposing or accepting the resignation of the remaining Papal claimants and electing Pope Martin V.The Council also condemned and...
and his efforst against the following of Benedict XIII, his former patron. In the election to choose a pope, Felip received six votes at Constance.
In February 1413, the Consistori de Barcelona
Consistori de Barcelona
The Consistori de Barcelona was a literary academy founded in Barcelona by John the Hunter, King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona, in 1393 in imitation of the Consistori del Gay Saber founded at Toulouse seventy years earlier . The poetry produced by and for the Consistori was heavily influenced...
held a poetry competition at the Palau Reial Major
Palau Reial Major
The Palau Reial Major is a complex of historic buildings in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was a residence of the counts of Barcelona and, later, of the Kings of Aragon. It is composed of three distinct edifices:...
. Both the opening speech () and the closing one were given by Felip de Malla, one of the maintainers (mantenidors) of the Consistori. Both speeches were transcribed (and presumably delivered) in a Catalan liberally seasoned with classical and ecclesiastical Latin, as befitted Felip's education and reputation. Not surprisingly from a master of theology, it is intensely religious:
|
|
In light of the fact that Ferdinand was involved in a war with the James II, Count of Urgell, Felip, whose duty it is as maintainer to give the contestants a theme, asked for short, sharp verses about war, namely, a sirventes
Sirventes
The sirventes or serventes is a genre of Occitan lyric poetry used by the troubadours. In early Catalan it became a sirventesch and was imported into that language in the fourteenth century, where it developed into a unique didactic/moralistic type...
.
In 1423 Felip was the dean
Dean (religion)
A dean, in a church context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church.-Anglican Communion:...
of the diocese of Huesca
Diocese of Huesca
The Diocese of Huesca is located in north-eastern Spain, in the province of Huesca, part of the autonomous community of Aragón...
and then almoner
Almoner
An almoner is a chaplain or church officer who originally was in charge of distributing cash to the deserving poor.Historically, almoners were Christian religious functionaries whose duty was to distribute alms to the poor. Monasteries were required to spend one tenth of their income in charity to...
of Elne. In 1424 he was elevated to the position of archdeacon
Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...
of the see of Barcelona, which post he held until his death. In 1425 he was made president of the Generalitat. In that capacity he had to fight the distance between the king and the nobility, growing wider since the Corts de Barcelona of 1421. During his term Felip had deal with the introduction of Castilians
Kingdom of Castile
Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...
into government offices, the lack of concern showed by King Alfonso for his Spanish territories, the preoccupation of the king with the conquest of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
, and the attempt by Alfonso to create a fief for his younger brother Peter at Cervera
Cervera
Cervera is the capital of the comarca of Segarra, in the province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. The title Compte de Cervera is a courtesy title, formerly part of the Crown of Aragon, that has been revived for Felipe, Prince of Asturias....
. In 1428 Catalonia was ravaged by the plague, and an earthquake struck on 2 February. This earthquake was one of only several that struck Catalonia (especially Roussillon
Roussillon
Roussillon is one of the historical counties of the former Principality of Catalonia, corresponding roughly to the present-day southern French département of Pyrénées-Orientales...
) during the years 1427–28. The duty of informing the king, who was then in Valencia
Valencia (province)
Valencia or València is a province of Spain, in the central part of the Valencian Community.It is bordered by the provinces of Alicante, Albacete, Cuenca, Teruel, Castellón, and the Mediterranean Sea...
, fell to Felip, whose letter and description of the event survives. Felip left office later that year. He died on 12 July 1431 in Barcelona.