Lorenç Mallol

Who is Lorenç Mallol?

Lorenç Mallol was a Catalan poet of the fourteenth century, the first Petrarchan of his country and one of the last troubadours. His two surviving pieces are composed in Old Occitan. His first name is also spelled Laurenç in modern Occitan and Llorenç in modern Catalan.

Lorenç presented a certain vers figurat, Sobre·l pus alt de tots los cims d'un arbre, to the Consistori del Gay Saber in Toulouse, a mystic allegory of Jesus Christ, who is the auzelet tot blanch, and the Jews, who are a corps mot vils. The arbre signifies la vera crotz. The poem has two tornadas, one to Mon Ric Thesaur, a senhal for the Virgin Mary and another to the seven lords of the consistori del Gay Sauber. It is Enrich de Villena, a lord of the Consistori de Barcelona, who informs us that this was not that consistori but the one of Toulouse, since the piece was written before the foundation in Barcelona. The Marian reference is very typical for the Consistori of Toulouse and this poem is usually classed as a religious sirventes. It is unknown if it won a prize at the joc florals or even when it was composed.