Tirant lo Blanc

Tirant lo Blanch (Valencian: [tiˈɾand lo ˈblaŋ(k)]; modern spelling: Tirant lo Blanc), in English Tirant the White, is a chivalric romance written by the Valencian knight Joanot Martorell, finished posthumously by his friend Martí Joan de Galba and published in the city of Valencia in 1490 as an incunabulum edition. The title means "Tirant the White" and is the name of the romance's main character who saves the Byzantine Empire. The book is considered a masterpiece of Valencian literature and, more generally, of Catalan literature, and it is one of the best known medieval works of literature in the Valencian language (also known as Catalan), notable for its use of many Catalan proverbs. It played an important role in the evolution of the Western novel through its influence on the author Miguel de Cervantes and has been called a precursor to the present-day genre of uchronia or alternate history.