Joanot Martorell

Catalan novelist, born in Valencia, E Spain. He wrote the bulk of Tirant lo Blanch, the most important of the libros de caballería in Catalan. He lived for some time at the Portuguese court, and probably also for a while at the English court while appealing to the king for support in his quarrel with Joan de Montpalau over Martorell's sister Damiata. His other sister married the Catalan poet Ausias March.

Joanot Martorell (1413–1468) was the Valencian author of the novel Tirant lo Blanch, which is written in Valencian, which Martorell calls "the Valencian vernacular" ("vulgar llengua valenciana"). First published in Valencia in 1490, it was re-pressed in Barcelona in 1497, and some consider it the first modern novel in Europe. Miguel de Cervantes in the book burning scene of Don Quixote considers it the best knight novel.