Francesc Vicent Garcia () i Ferrandis was an early modern Catalan poet known by the pseudonym of the ''Vallfogona Rector''. He was born in

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

in 1579Although his father was born in

Tortosa Tortosa (, ) is the capital of the '' comarca'' of Baix Ebre, in Catalonia, Spain. Tortosa is located at above sea level, by the Ebro river, protected on its northern side by the mountains of the Cardó Massif, of which Buinaca, one of the hi ...

, in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

. and died in Vallfogona de Riucorb (

Conca de Barberà Conca de Barberà () is a comarca (county) in the region of Camp de Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. Its total area is , and its capital is Montblanc. At its creation in 1936, it contained 23 municipalities, but in 1990, several of these were amal ...

) in 1623. In 1605 he was ordained in

Vic Vic, vic or VIC may refer to: People and fictional characters * Vic (name), a list of people, fictional characters and mascots with the given name * V.I.C. (rapper) (born 1987), stage name of an American rapper Places * Vic, Spain, a town and ...

Early life

Vicent Garcia completed his religious studies in Barcelona. In Vic, where he was ordained, he was the secretary to Bishop Francis Robust. In 1607, Garcia was appointed to the Vallfogona Riucorb rectory, where he remained until 1621. This spell at Vallfogona was followed by appointment to the post of secretary of the Bishop of

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

, Peter Moncada. A year after taking up this post, Garcia obtained a doctorate in theology from the College of St. George and St. Matthias in

. Vallfogona Riucorb died on September 2, 1623. Barcelona was a central place in Garcia's life. It was a city he visited frequently. In Barcelona, Garcia moved in the literary circle that met Bishop Juan de Moncada in his palace.

Legacy

He cultivated an artful and elegant verse in sonnets and

décima A décima is a ten-line stanza of poetry. The most popular form is called décima espinela after Vicente Espinel (1550–1624), a Spanish writer, poet, and musician from the Spanish Golden Age who used it extensively throughout his compositions. T ...

form, and also wrote violent

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

and obscene or

grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German, as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

compositions. His style was imitated by many Catalan authors of the 18th century, a phenomenon known as "vallfogonisme." In 1703 a portion of his work was published. The 1770 edition was banned by the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...

. In 1988 Albert Rossich included some of his poems in an anthology of erotic and pornographic Catalan poetry from the 17th century.

Rumors

Vicent Garcia was subject to numerous rumors. One of them was that he visited Madrid in 1622 at the request of King Philip IV. Another baseless belief was that he had a friendship with

Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist who was a key figure in the Spanish Golden Age (1492–1659) of Spanish Baroque literature, Baroque literature. In the literature of ...

. Perhaps the most absurd was the story of his alleged poisoning by

courtiers. His literary stature, however, was unquestionable. He is widely accepted as the first great Catalan writer. His works were seminal, creating a literary school that lasted well into the nineteenth century.

Style

Garcia's poetry resembled that of Spanish contemporary poets, especially in terms of the formality and theme. His use of language was particularly unique. He had a predilection for an elegant form of language, and his writings were always laced with irony and literary subjects. It was this characteristic in his work that drew comparisons with Quevedo. Some of Garcia best-known poems are ''A Lady in A beautiful Black Hair'', ''Epitaph On the Grave Of a Heavy Drinker'', and the sonnet ''Time''. As the titles suggest, Garcia was a versatile poet, writing on diverse topics. He was also a playwright, and wrote a play, ''Comedy in Santa Barbara'', to mark the occasion of the inauguration of the chapel of Santa Barbara Vallfogona in 1617.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Francesc Vicent Garcia, Francesc Vicent Garcia, Francesc Vicent 17th-century Spanish writers 1579 births 1623 deaths Catalan-language poets