"The owner of the house was Mr. Berenguer Mercader (born in 1471 and died in 1512) son of the notary Joan Mercader y Gomis was from a family that settled in Valencia after the Repartiment, coming from Great Britain. He was also lord of the baronies of Buñol and Cheste . Mercader was a waiter to Alfonso the Magnanimous and his ambassador in Castile, advisor to the child Juan (future Juan II) when he was lieutenant general of Valencia and governor general of Valencia on several occasions, he was part of royal embassies, from Naples , in Milan and in Florence at court, among others.
History
As an older man, the mayor general of Valencia would gather in his house a literary gathering, almost family-like, reflected in the Parliament at the house of Berenguer Mercader by Joan Roís de Corella, from which we can read the following fragment:
parliament or collation that takes place in the house of Berenguer mercader between some statesmen of the city of Valencia, who ordered the following historical poems, that is, everyone sings it in their elegant style for the transcendent celsitude of the lady of the sciences, sacred Theology, descending, with delightful study, in the flowery and green fields of affable poetry, lifting the anchors of perilous leisure, leaving the meadows of restful silence, I will spread the white sails, with pleasant exercise, in the low antennae of vulgar poetry. In the stormy sea of ??Venus straightening the bow of my writing, I will describe shipwrecks of those who, in her folly sailing, painful and miserable end they take. But, because my depopulated understanding, to describe together and find, by new invention, is not enough, I will only recite a parliament that, a few days passed, among some statesmen I become; whose names reciting the high and gentle style of such well-reasoned prose, it would be to their implicit fame to have envy and true friendship to turn their shoulders.
Furthermore, we can also obtain information by using one of the Dialogues of Joan Lluís Vives , which talks about the walk he takes with friends on Caballeros Street, near the current Generalitat building .
CENTELLES.- Let's go for a walk: I have an incredible desire to revisit my native city, which I haven't seen for so long. BORJA.- Let's take the mules to walk more comfortably and with more dignity.
CENTELLES.- A gentleman who is not worth a snap of the fingers. BORJA.- I too, if you want me to be frank, would wave my hand for the lordship you speak of, and I don't know why we should want to give it to our people.
CABANILLES.-You are right: there are three of us, and in the narrow streets, with the crowd we would be separated from each other, and for this reason we would have to interrupt our conversation, or one of us would not understand many things.
BORJA.- It's fine, I agree: let's go on foot. We enter through this alley to Plaça dels Penyaroja. CENTELLES.- Very well, and from there, along Calle dels Manyans to Calle dels Pastissers and the market, or Plaça de les Fruites.
BORJA.- Why not "from the Cabbage"
CENTELLES.- It's all one, who is a lover of cabbages, calls them "from the Cabbage"; who of the fruit, "of the Fruits". What a big square! What a distribution of merchants and display of things to sell! What a fragrance of fruits! What variety, beauty and neatness! It is impossible to imagine gardens similar to that square, and how much care our mayors and their dependents take so that the buyer is not deceived! The one you see on his mule, isn't Honorat Joan?
CABANILLES.- I don't think so. One of my minions, who has lately spoken to him, has left him retiring to his library. If he had known that we were here, I have no doubt that he would have preferred our pleasantries to his serious studies.
BORJA.- Well, he just explained those rules.
CENTELLES.- We run away from that crowd and through Plaça de la Mare de Déu de la Mercè we go to Carrer del Fumeral and Carrer de Sant Agustí, where there is less traffic. CABANILLES.- It is not appropriate to move so far away from the body of the city. Let's go up Carrer de la Bosseria towards El Tossal and from there to Carrer dels Cavallers, where we will see your palace of the Centelles, whose walls must still mourn the heroic Count of Oliva.
BORJA.- Or, having already mourned his loss, they are happy that a distinguished young man like you has inherited such an illustrious old man.
SPARKS. - How happy I am to see the court, and the four courts, that of the governor of the city, which seems to be the property of the Cabanilles: the civil, the criminal and the one for three hundred sous! What buildings! What a city!
Vives and March, J. dialogues ?Pages (193-196)
Another text that talks about Caballeros Street is a stanza from "Alenar" by Maria del Mar Bonet , a fragment from "Los secretas de Meissen" by Jo sep Palomero that describes the structure of the palaces on the street and a passage from Es el amor que mover el cielo y las estrellas by Antònia Carré Pons that recreates the atmosphere that must have floated in the gathering.
Description
As mentioned above, the house of Berenguer Mercader is located on this street. This house is of Gothic origin (late 14th or early 15th century), although its current appearance reflects the reforms carried out in the 18th century. The only visible façade can be seen on Caballeros Street, its entrance is through a large lintelled door that leads to a central courtyard. This courtyard is defined by arches and at the end of it there is a garden. It is the only palace on this street that has a garden inside. The upper floors can be accessed by a Gothic staircase that rises from the central courtyard. Above the lintel of the doorway is the Mercader family coat of arms . The coat of arms that presides over the main door is defined in a gules (red) field, three well-ordered gold frames and a gold border with the motto ni res li fall "Nothing is missing".
Today it has been renamed the Palacio de los Mercader and is the headquarters of the Union of Agricultural Cooperatives of Valencia."
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