Born in Barcelona in 1914, Martín de Riquer, Count of Casa Dávalos, is emeritus professor of History of Romance Literatures at the University of Barcelona. He has been a member of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language since 1965, and he is also their academic official for History. Since beginning his long teaching career in 1942, he has been vice-chancellor at the University of Barcelona (1965-1966) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (1970-1976), senator by royal appointment to the Constitutional Parliament of 1977, and chairperson of the Romance Literatures section of the Spanish Council for Scientific Research. Moreover, he is the president of the Royal Academy of Good Letters of Barcelona, as well as the president of honor and founder of the Roncesvals Society, dedicated to the study of legendary romances.

Considered to be among the most distinguished philologists, critics, and historians of Castilian and Catalan literatures, in addition to being a respected scholar of Provençal and French literatures, he is the author of studies on the influence of Ausiàs March and Boscán and has published such works as "Cervantes y El Quijote", "Introducción a la lectura de El Quijote", "El Quijote de Avellaneda", "Historia de la literatura catalana", "Estudios sobre el Amadís de Gaula", and a "Historia de la Literatura universal", in collaboration with José María Valverde.

With honorary doctorates from the universities of Rome and Lieja, he has received the March Award of Catalonia (1962), the Michel Montaigne from the FVS Foundation of Hamburg (1988), the Menéndez Pelayo International Award (1990), and the National Essay Award (1991) for his work "Aproximació al Tirant lo Blanc".