3-098-946 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Ausiàs March reading his verses to the Prince of Viana, 1884. Ausías March, son of the Catalan poet Pere March, was born in Gandía around 1397 (although some accounts claim he was born in Beniarjó). As a young man, he participated in the expeditions of King Alfonso V the Magnanimous throughout the Mediterranean. He was Lord of Beniarjó, Pardines, and Vernissa, and Chief Falconer to Alfonso V the Magnanimous. He was knighted in 1419. During this time, he maintained a close personal and literary relationship with Prince Carlos de Viana, heir to the throne of Navarre. From the age of twenty-seven, he never left his homeland; first in Gandía and later in Valencia, where he led a very eventful and somewhat chaotic life. In 1437, at the age of forty, he married Isabel Martorell, sister of Joanot Martorell, author of Tirant lo Blanc. Two years later, Isabel died, and Ausias March married Joana Escorna, who died in 1443. Although he had no legitimate children from his marriages, he is known to have had mistresses and four illegitimate children. Ausias March died on March 3, 1459, in Valencia. He was buried in Valencia Cathedral, where his tombstone can still be seen near the Porta de la Almoina.