Diego Catalán

Who was Diego Catalán?

Diego Catalán was a Spanish philologist. He was the grandson of famed philologist, Ramón Menéndez Pidal. Catalán died of heart disease on April 9, 2008, at the age of 83.

Catalán was the son of Miguel Catalán Sanudo and Jimena Menéndez Pidal, and therefore the grandson of philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal. Catalán was primarily a medievalist, he chaired the Ramón Menéndez Pidal Foundation which aims to continue Pidal's work, especially in the field of Hispanic Ballads, editing and study of texts and the history of the Spanish language. He coordinated a large project, the pan Hispanic ballads, which aimed to collect and preserve texts.

Catalán was the owner of The Ballads Archive which covers materials and work of philological and historical research. The archive is held by the Ramón Menéndez Pidal Foundation and includes works from the late nineteenth century to the present day. It is available to scholars for research purposes. The archive was considered part of the "National Treasure" and, as such, was protected at the headquarters of the League of Nations in Geneva during the Spanish Civil War.