page_title: History of Valencia
section_title: Golden Age of Valencia
hierarchical_section_title: History of Valencia / Golden Age of Valencia
caption_attribution_description: Saló Columnari de la Llotja de la Seda (València). Hall of Columns in the Silk Exchange (Lonja de la Seda) of Valencia
context_page_description: The history of Valencia, one of the oldest cities in Spain, begins over 2100 years ago with its founding as a Roman colony under the name "Valentia Edetanorum" on the site of a former Iberian town, by the river Turia in the province of Edetania.
context_section_description: The 15th century was a time of economic expansion, known as the Valencian Golden Age, in which culture and the arts flourished. Concurrent population growth made Valencia the most populous city in the Crown of Aragon. Local industry, led by textile production, reached a great development, and a financial institution, the Taula de Canvi, was created to support municipal banking operations; Valencian bankers lent funds to Queen Isabella I of Castile for Columbus's voyage in 1492. At the end of the century the Silk Exchange (Llotja de la Seda) building was erected as the city became a commercial emporium that attracted merchants from all over Europe.
  This boom was reflected in the growth of artistic and cultural pursuits. Some of the most emblematic buildings of the city were built during this period, including the Serranos Towers (1392), the Lonja (1482), the Miguelete and the Chapel of the Kings of the Convent of Santo Domingo. In painting and sculpture, Flemish and Italian trends influenced Valencian artists such as Lluís Dalmau, Peris Gonçal and Damià Forment. Literature flourished with the patronage of the court of Alfonso the Magnanimous, supporting authors like Ausiàs March, Roiç de Corella, and Isabel de Villena. By 1460 Joanot Martorell wrote Tirant lo Blanch, an innovative novel of chivalry that influenced many later writers, from Cervantes to Shakespeare. Ausiàs March was one of the first poets to use the everyday language Valencian, instead of the troubadour language, Occitan. Also around this time, between 1499 and 1502, the University of Valencia was founded under the parsimonious name of  Estudio General ("studium generale", place of general studies).
  Valencia was one of the most influential cities on the Mediterranean in the 15th and 16th centuries. The first printing press in the Iberian Peninsula was located in Valencia and Lambert Palmart and his associates began to print in 1473. This was due to the manager of the Valencian factory of the Great Trading Company of Ravensburg in Swabia. The second printed Bible in a Romance language, the Valencian Bible attributed to Bonifaci Ferrer, was printed in Valencia circa 1478.
caption: Hall of Columns in the Silk Exchange (Lonja de la Seda)
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