DEFENDING THE LANGUAGE OF THE PEASANTS IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY VALENCIA: JAUME GASSULL’S LA BRAMA DELS LLAURADORS

Abstract

This study describes the linguistic and political significance of Jaume Gassull’s poem La brama dels llauradors written between 1475 and 1490 and published in Valencia in 1561. I argue that the defense of the language of the Valencian peasants in this poem is important for three reasons: first, it opposes the trend of linguistic prescriptivism of the Catalan language that had started in the second half of the fifteenth century after the Cancelleria reial in Barcelona had lost its linguistic authority. La brama opposes a linguistic prescriptivism carried out by authors such as Bernat Fenollar (1438-1516) that was based on a particular interpretation of the system of government known as pactisme. This interpretation undervalued the linguistic, social, and political role of the peasants, artisans, and artists. Second, La brama questions the description of the peasants carried out by Francesc Eiximenis (ca. 1327-ca. 1409) and demonstrates that by defending their own language the peasants could redefine the concept of pactisme so that every member of society could be represented. Finally, the defense of the language of the peasants underscored the historical continuity of the Catalan language, which had fallen into question at the time that the poem was published.