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A Medieval Catalan Noble Family: the Montcadas, 1000-1230 John C. Shideler

For my mother and in memory of my father

Preface
[i ! The history of a single Catalan noble family as a topic for scholarly investigation may appear curiously anachronistic in a time when historians often attempt to explain in broad terms the history of entire social classes in certain regions at a given time. And this work would be anachronistic if it followed in the steps of the many chroniclers, apologists, and biographers who recount in annalistic form the deeds of their heroes. Instead, it seeks to integrate the specific with the general, thus contributing to a deeper understanding of the Catalan nobility of the high Middle Ages. The Montcada family earned an honored place in the history of Catalonia, pain, and the Mediterranean during the more than seven centuries in which it flourished. In the high Middle Ages its members were lords of Montcada and archdeacons of the ee of !arcelona. These individuals were succeeded by Montcada lords, seneschals, and churchmen in Catalonia, viscounts in !"arn, a #ueen in the kingdom of Aragon, and, in the late Middle Ages and the $enaissance, distinguished barons in the royal courts of pain, in ecclesiastical office, and in letters. uch was the reputation of the lineage that Cervantes% hero included it among those considered the most venerable of pain. &hen asked by the traveler 'ivaldo about the (lineage, race, and family( of )on *uixote%s lady, the knight replied+ he is not of the ancient Curtii, Caii or cipios of $ome, nor of the modern Colonnas and -rsinis, nor the Moncadas and $e#uesenes of Catalonia, nor yet the $ebellas and 'illanovas of 'alencia, of the .alafoxes, /u0as, $ocabertis, Correlas, 1unas, Alagones, 2rreas, 3o0es and 4urreas of Aragon, of the Cerdas, Manri#ues, Mendo0as and 4u0mans of Castile, nor of the Alencastres, .allas and Meneses of .ortugal, but of 5l Toboso of 1a Mancha, a lineage which, though modern, may yet give noble birth to the most illustrious families of future ages.678 This passage not only provides evidence for the status of the Montcada family in the early seventeenth century, it also suggests [ ! criteria for 9udging (nobility( in the golden age of pain. Anti#uity of status was clearly important. It could be exploited by families like those cited by *uixote, whose members could trace their descent from illustrious lineages of bygone eras :: a fact that made the knight%s aspirations for the family of his lover all the more pathetic. till, the humor operates partly because Cervantes% audience, though aware of the odds against reali0ation of the knight%s dreams, knew full well that the origins of many exalted families lay in a period subse#uent to the beginnings of their country%s national history.

This is not the place to analy0e the origins of the legend of -tger Catal; and the nine famous barons from whom, according to many $enaissance:era historians, sprang the principal noble families of Catalonia.6<8 uffice it to say that the legend of these figures, including a baron named )apifer de Montcada, reassured members of the noble class that their forebears had always en9oyed a privileged place in society. The story honored their descent and 9ustified the status still accorded it by society. It is therefore not surprising that in the absence of a known early history of the Montcada family, authors of the late Middle Ages and $enaissance invented one. .ortions of it survived to confuse historians for many centuries to come. -f all the writings in the early modern period aimed at satisfying the aristocracy%s need for a sense of its past, the one that perhaps contributed most to integrate fiction with historical knowledge of the Montcada family%s origins was called (4enealog=a y sucesi;n de las familias del lina9e de Moncada desde su principio del a>o ?@A hasta el a>o de 7B<C.( The work baldly asserted not only that )apifer de Montcada had arrived in Catalonia with -tger Catal; in the early eighth century, but also that he was descended from a lineage of dukes of !avaria.6@8 The anonymous author then [ i! supplied the names of generations of purported descendants up to the eleventh century. Dere was (history( tailor:made for the aspirations of its audience six centuries later. In spite of the criticism that credible seventeenth: century historians could apply to the work, the social climate favored its premises and ensured its survival. !y the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, however, advances in critical thought had made possible a more accurate history. 4aspar IbE>e0 de egovia, mar#u"s de Mond"9ar, produced the (Distoria de la casa de Moncada( probably in the early eighteenth century.6A8 Mond"9ar rightly dismissed as fabulous the purported origins of )apifer de Montcada and cast his net wide in search for bona fide historical evidence. Dis #uest led to the formulation of a new theory for the early history of the Montcada family that came close to unraveling the mystery of its origins. The importance of the mar#u"s de Mond"9ar%s work lies not in his theories concerning the Montcada family ancestry, but in his reali0ation that two lineages, not a single one, were involved+ the Montcadas and the family of dapifers, or seneschals, of !arcelona. This conclusion contradicted the (facts( accepted by )ean Fuan 1uis de Moncada in his treatment of the early history of his own lineage. It also countered the oft:repeated statement that the family%s first historical member was named )apifer de Montcada, or at least that members of the Montcada family had held the seneschalcy in the eleventh century or before.6G8 Mond"9ar%s achievement in separating the eleventh:century history of the seneschals from that of the Montcadas was ignored by the next wave of scholars to investigate the family%s history. The first ma9or modern treatment came in 7HHB, when Antonio $ubi; y 1luch prepared a biographical sketch in con9unction with 4uillem $amon de Montcada's election to the 4aleria de Catalans Il.lustres. In his work $ubi; y 1luch simply relied on the testimony [ ii! of the anonymous biographer,6B8 and no one is known to have ob9ected that the (4reat eneschal( did not descend from the family whose name he bore.6?8 At the end of the century, Fos" !alan y Fovany stated that the title (dapifer( was used by the eldest sons of the Montcada lineage.6H8 A short time later Foa#u=m Miret y ans also addressed the #uestion, but only cursorily because his focus was the Montcadas as viscounts of !"arn. After presenting Mond"9ar%s argument, Miret y ans adopted the ma9ority view, establishing a point of departure for subse#uent scholarship.6I8 The adherents of the ma9ority view based their conclusions upon a long line of historical tradition, upon coincidence in personal name patterns, and upon the assumed reason for the twelfth:century divorce of !eatriu de Montcada and 4uillem $amon eneschal. The ma9ority interpretation was elaborated with care by antiago obre#u"s 'idal.67C8 It has been further refined by the contributors of the Montcada

entry in the recently published Gran enciclopedia de Catalunya.6778 As a genealogical solution, it seems to accommodate well:known facts concerning the seneschals and Montcada family members in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries. !ut tested as a theory on data accumulated through a systematic investigation of charters in many Catalonian archives, it raises substantial problems, which have led to my conclusion that it must be discarded. It is replaced herein by a new genealogy constructed from documentary evidence. The documentation upon which this book is based consists almost exclusively of notarial acts that must inform us, in the virtual absence of narrative accounts, not only of deeds and events, but also of motives for them and of their conse#uences.67<8 3ortunately, [ iii! parchments and cartularies recording castle enfeoffments, oaths of fidelity, feudal alliances, sales and purchases of property, accounts of 9ustice, pious donations, and testaments abound in the civil and ecclesiastical archives of Catalonia. I have exploited this wealth by examining, one by one, documents in most archival series which might yield references to the activities of the Montcadas or the early seneschals. This involved consulting approximately fifteen thousand pieces in twelve archives in Catalonia and Madrid, these in turn provided a total of about twelve hundred documents that directly involve family members or refer to them. 3rom these sources the history of the Montcadas has been written. This book could not have been written without the generous assistance and cooperation of many archivists, institutions and individuals. I am most grateful for help from the Archive of the Crown of Aragon, the cathedral and diocesan archives of !arcelona, 'ic, Tortosa, 4irona, and 2rgell, the 1ibrary of Catalonia, the municipal archive of Tortosa, the /ational Distorical Archive in Madrid, and the departmental archives of the .yr"n"es:Atlanti#ues and the .yr"n"es:-rientales. 3or financial support I thank the 4raduate )ivision of the 2niversity of California at !erkeley, the trustees of the Mabelle Mc1eod 1ewis Memorial 3und, the /ational cience 3oundation, and the Centre /ational de la $echerche cientifi#ue. To the many professors and friends who encouraged me in this work I extend my warmest gratitude, especially to professors Doward Jaminsky, who started me off in medieval history, and Thomas /. !isson, who completed my training and made this work possible. I wish to thank the editors at the 2niversity of California .ress for their assistance. Any contorted sentences that remain are entirely my responsibility. My thanks go also to Adrienne 5. Morgan, who drew the maps in this volume, and Feannie Coffey at 4on0aga 2niversity who cheerfully typed the manuscript. 3inally, I am indebted to my parents for their support and encouragement, and to my wife, -livia, for her unflagging patience and comprehension. /otes for .reface 7. Don Quixote, trans. F. M. Cohen 61ondon, 7IGA8, pp. 7CC:C7. <. According to this legend, the 4ermanic warrior -tger Catal; and his nine companions are said to have crossed the .yrenees in the first half of the eighth century to combat the Moors. &hen -tger Catal; died, his leadership role passed to ()apifer de Montcada,( the founder in Catalonia of the Montcada line of barons, and ancestor of the comital lineages of 5mpKries and 2rgell. ee Antonio $ubi; y 1iuch, D. Guillermo Ramn de Moncada: Gran senescal de Catalua 6!arcelona, 7HHB8, p. B, and 3ernando 'alls Taberner, (5l sentit alemany de la ilegenda d%-tger Catal;,( in Gesammelte Aufst e ur !ultur"esc#ic#te $paniens% 7st ser. 67I@C8, <+@I?:II. @. $ubi; y 1luch, D. Guillermo Ramn, p. 77. The manuscript history was cited again in 7IC7:C< by Miret y ans in (Casa,( p. GC, who noted that it was conserved at the $eal Academia de !uenas 1etras de !arcelona. It could not be found there in 7I?? and may now be lost. A. Manuscript copies of this unpublished work exist at the !iblioteca de Catalunya 6M <CCB8 and in

the $eal Academia de Distoria, Madrid 6Colecci;n ala0ar y Castr;n, !. 77:7<8. G. )ean Fuan 1uis de Moncada, &piscopolo"io de 'ic#, !iblioteca hist;rica de la di;cesis de 'ich, vol. 7 6'ic, 7HI78, p. @II. B. $ubi; y 1luch, D. Guillermo Ramn, pp. 7B:7?. ?. Antonio de !ofarull y de !rocE, in his (istoria cr)tica *ci+il y eclesi,stica- de Catalua 67H?B8, had recogni0ed that the family of seneschals did not use the name Montcada until after 4uillem $amon%s marriage to !eatriu, but he did not conclude from this fact that two distinct lineages were involved. ee $ubi; y 1luch, D. Guillermo Ramn, p. 7@ 6and !ofarull, (istoria cr)tica,<+AA<8. H. Fos" !alan y Fovany, .r)"enes #istricos de Catalua 6 ant Cugat del 'allLs, 7IBA8, p. AB@. I. (Casa,( pp. AI:G7. 7C. antiago obre#u"s 'idal, &ls /arons de Catalunya, @rd ed. 6!arcelona, 7I?C8, pp. GH:GI. 77. 'olume 7C 6!arcelona, 7I??8, p. <<<. 7<. The chronicle of Faume I, 5l Con#ueridor, is sketchy in detail for all but the last decade of the period treated here. The only important twelfth:century narrative, the Gesta comitum 0aarcinonensium, adds nothing to our knowledge of the Montcada family history.