Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo

Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo (; – 1505) was a Castilian author who arranged the modern version of the chivalric romance Amadís de Gaula, originally written in three books in the 14th century by an unknown author. Montalvo incorporated a fourth book in the original series, and followed it with a sequel, Las sergas de Esplandián. It is the sequel that Montalvo is most often noted for, mainly because within the book he coined the word California.

Montalvo is known to have been referred to by several other names, including Garci Ordóñez de Montalvo, García Gutiérrez de Montalvo and García de Montalvo el Viejo. In 1482 he was part of a contingent sent from Medina del Campo to guard Alhama in the Province of Granada, which had recently been captured from the Moors.

Las Sergas de Esplandián Montalvo spent many years translating and recasting the Amadis of Gaul novels and appending a fourth book of his own. In the sequel Montalvo described a mythical Island of California as being west of the Indies:

quote|Know, that on the right hand of the Indies there is an island called California very close to the side of the Terrestrial Paradise; and it is peopled by black women, without any man among them, for they live in the manner of Amazons.

Many more authors contributed sequels to the saga after Montalvo, including Feliciano de Silva, Ruiz Paes de Ribera, and Juan Diaz.