Manuel Milà i Fontanals (May 4, 1818 - July 16, 1884), Spanish scholar, born at Vilafranca del Penedès , near Barcelona, was educated first at Barcelona, and afterwards at the university of Cervera .

In 1845 he became professor of literature at the university of Barcelona, and held this post till his death at Vilafranca del Penedès on the i6th of July 1884. The type of the scholarly recluse, Milà i Fontanals was almost unknown outside the walls of the university till 1859, when he was appointed president of the jocs florals at Barcelona.

On the publication of his treatise, De Los trovadores en España (1866), his merits became more generally recognized, and his monograph, De la poesía heróico-popular castellana (1873) revealed him to foreign scholars as a master of scientific method.

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