Consistori de Barcelona

The Consistori (de la Gaya Sciència) de Barcelona (Catalan: [kunsisˈtɔɾi ðə βəɾsəˈlonə], Occitan: [kunsisˈtɔɾi ðe βaɾseˈlunɔ]; "Academy of the Gay Science of Barcelona") was a literary academy founded in Barcelona by John the Hunter, King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona, in 1393 in imitation of the Consistori del Gay Saber founded in Toulouse in 1323. The poetry produced by and for the Consistori was heavily influenced by the troubadours.^[1] The Consistori's chief purpose was to promote "correct" styles and themes and discourage vices (vicis) by awarding prizes in competition to poets who adhered to the "rules" of poetic composition. The names of few poets laureate have come down to us and despite some excellent descriptions of the Consistori's activities, associated persons and poems are obscure.

^ Lo gay saber has been referred to as a "troubadour revival" (Robert Archer, "Tradition, Genre, Ethics and Politics in Ausiàs March's maldit," Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 68:3 (1991:July), p. 376) or even a "Provençal renaissance" (to be distinguished from the 19th-century renaissance of Joseph Roumanille and Frédéric Mistral).

[1] Lo gay saber has been referred to as a "troubadour revival" (Robert Archer, "Tradition, Genre, Ethics and Politics in Ausiàs March's maldit," Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 68:3 (1991:July), p. 376) or even a "Provençal renaissance" (to be distinguished from the 19th-century renaissance of Joseph Roumanille and Frédéric Mistral).

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