Book of singular importance for being the first literary work printed in Spain which was issued from the printing presses of Valencia in the year 1474.
In Western Europe of the time, Valencia was a large Mediterranean commercial capital, comparable to Marseille, Naples and Genova. Valencia was therefore the first commercial power in the Crown of Aragon.
In this period, in strong contrast with the depressed economic phase in the West of Europe during the second half of the XV century, the book Obres en lahors de la Verge Maria was printed in Valencia.
This work was printed due to the fact that the viceroy Lluis Despuig, in order to honour the Virgin, called a poetry competition whose obligatory theme was to praise the Virgin Mary. The person in charge of organizing the competition was the poet mossén Bernat Fenollar, a person linked to all literary circles existing in the city. The poems had to consist of five stanzas, with dedicatory refrain. But the troubadours (poets who did not write in Latin were not called poets) were free in as far as the style and language.
We have 1 facsimile edition of the manuscript "Obres o trobes en laors de la Verge Maria": Obres o trobes en laors de la Verge Maria facsimile edition, published by Vicent Garcia Editores, 1979
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