«Vostre cos és de verí replet»: caràcter i gènesi del maldit català

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to propound a hypothesis concerning the genesis and development of the genre maldit in medieval Catalan poetry (14th and 15th centuries), considering the rhetorical and grammatical treatises, the genre assignment of rubrics and its practice. The maldit is a type of moral, satirical form, which aims to attack through satire a specific person or group. In their definitions, the treatises place maldit and the literary concept of satire under the scope of sirventès. Also, they point out a difference between general and particular maldit or maldit especial. This hypothesis argues that the term maldit especial refers to satirical poems about both male and female individuals, based on this definitions but also on genre rubrics and literary ressemblance with other genres, such as the cantigas d’escarnho e de mal dizer. - Keywords Medieval Catalan Poetry; Literary Genres; Maldit; Sirventes; Rhetorical and Grammatical Treatises.