[131] The overriding problem of a frontier diocese was to stabilize its economic base. Everything else depended upon this. The Gothic façade of a parish church, the brightly costumed procession in the streets or field, the strong chant of clerics, or the sounding of the bells -- all the many externals which were helping to wrest Valencia to the semblance of a Christian society -- reposed in turn upon an economic foundation. This was equally true of the extensive system of charity and social work. In Valencia the economic base involved three problems: firmly to move the king from promises to action; shrewdly to administer, invest, or convert current holdings; and especially to define the tithes and enforce their collection.

These prime objectives were pursued simultaneously with lesser campaigns. Accords must be negotiated concerning church properties held by the king, nobles, other bishops, and religious communities. A division of revenues must be arranged between bishop and chapter, among chapter dignitaries, and between diocese and parish. There were problems of constructing and elaborately furnishing a cathedral, housing the dignitaries and canons with their staffs, transporting, storing, and marketing the tithe produce, and so on.

All this was to be done in such a manner as to support the largest number of clerics possible, on a scale decently comparable to that of other dioceses. There was a clerical dignity to maintain; in those somewhat barbarous times, this could best be managed in conjunction with a certain outward show. Only under special circumstances, and for special types like the Mendicants, could the stark appearances of apostolic poverty serve. The majesty of God grew vague where splendor dimmed. Thus, in Valencia the bishop of Segorbe-Albarracín became a figure of fun, "scorned" by Valencians because he had to live in a small room just off the church. A proverb grew common: "the bishop of Albarracín -- two mules and a nag."⁽¹⁾

Besides this obligation of splendor, the bishop of Valencia had to provide for the usual legal, educational, charitable, and other functions of a diocese. And the expense of litigation alone must have been a frightful waste. The Valencian church had a sort of reverse Midas touch, transforming any difficult situation into a ferocious legal quarrel, a fair number of [132] which had to be settled at Rome. However, the rest of Europe was resounding enthusiastically with like quarrels.

It is not correct to say, as do historians of the stature of Chabás and Sanchís Sivera, that money from abroad and especially from Languedoc was used to establish the diocese of Valencia. Funds did come south from Languedoc.⁽²⁾ Chabás is surprised that no trace of them remains; a closer look at the documentary context dispels the mystery. The money was required for the continuation of the crusade. To collect it in Languedoc for this purpose was normal enough; to have asked it for diocesan endowment was neither normal nor necessary. Endowing the new diocese was the duty of the crown of Aragon.

The King's Default and Compromise

King James was obliged by tradition, and especially by the promise made at the parliament of Monzón and drawn into an official document at Lérida (1236), to finance the diocese "first and before everything" during the most costly initial stages of its organizational development. The king's strict laws against buying or inheriting or receiving property made direct crown support even more imperative. Still engaged in the expensive latter stages of the conquest more to the south, however, the king was unable to do more than a bare minimum. There was the expected formal endowing of the church with mosques and mosque properties in a document at Valencia in 1238.⁽³⁾ But in April 1239, when Pope Gregory IX was arranging for a decision as to which metropolitan was to receive jurisdiction over Valencia, he closed his letter with a strong admonition to King James on the matter of endowing the new church:

We seriously exhort our beloved son in Christ, the king of Aragon, according to the wisdom given him by God, that he should devoutly meditate on how everything put aside for the praise and glory of the divine name is amassed as treasure in heaven; [and that he should] assign to the future bishop, and to the cathedral and other churches of the city, a fitting endowment...⁽⁴⁾

A few days later the king turned over buildings in front of the cathedral, in lieu of the other 5,000 besants, the transaction taking the form of a sale to the bishop.⁽⁹⁾ Judging from this equivalence of value, the previous 5,000 besants could hardly have purchased any grand estates. Among these buildings were fourteen "houses or lodgings, which are crown property." They were intended for the chapter, "for your personal residences." A special privilege was supplied to permit their purchase.⁽¹⁰⁾ If the houses constituted the bulk of the purchase, this would imply a sales value of 350 besants or over 1,000 solidi apiece. Each building probably included a small farm or garden outside the city walls.⁽¹¹⁾

James was soon to be accused of having packed the early chapter with favorites, and by this means craftily to have insured himself against having to sign a stricter compromise.⁽¹²⁾ In his favor should be counted a number of privileges, tax exemptions, and smaller gifts over the years such as the houses in Murviedro or the park at Játiva.⁽¹³⁾ The wrangling only increased, and the case had to be brought to Rome. In 1274, in a lengthy and irritable charter, James made a final settlement.⁽¹⁴⁾ These documents and several others -- especially one in 1249 -- are more valuable for the allied problem of the king's share in the tithe.⁽¹⁵⁾

Before plunging into detailed documentation, a crown record which throws a good deal of light on the end result of the many negotiations should be described. Drawn on May 28, 1285, almost fifty years from the day when the Moslems surrendered the capital city, it lists the contributions expected from the various ecclesiastics of King Peter's realms, to help resist an invasion from France. The bishop must give 60,000 solidi; the dean 30,000; the archdeacon of Murviedro 15,000; the archdeacons of Valencia and Játiva and the precentor 10,000 each. The rectors of two of the city churches, those of St. Andrew and St. Martin, are assessed 2,000 each -- though probably not in their capacity as rectors. "The other rectors of the episcopate and diocese" seem to give 2,000 solidi as a combined contribution. But "all the canons of the church of Valencia each" must pay 2,000. [134] In the Tortosa diocese area of Valencia, the abbot of Benifasá is put down for 10,000, and the rector of Morella for 5,000.

The general impression, especially after comparing the Valencia list with those of other dioceses, is of a fairly well-endowed cathedral and a diocese relatively poorer but adequately provided for.⁽¹⁶⁾ Earlier lists (1279-1280) for the crusade tax also indicate that the finances of the cathedral and its personnel were sound, and that the diocese was reasonably supported. The diocese prospered despite the difficulties which assailed it. Forty years after the final settlement of the diocesan endowment by King James I, his grandson James II could report to Rome that the Valencia diocese was "wealthy," as was the diocese of Tortosa, and that each would "remain wealthy" even if it were to suffer serious amputations of territory to form an extra diocese.⁽¹⁷⁾

Properties and Estates

The archives of the cathedral are cluttered with contracts of purchase, sale, and exchange, and with a supporting documentation of homages, promises, and previous bills of grant. This activity, along with the acceptance of legacies and gifts, sometimes ran counter to Valencian law. As early as 1240 statutes forbade the Valencian church to inherit or acquire land. This would have reduced the diocesan economic base largely to gifts originating from the king's largesse; with so many other claims upon his resources, this was bound to prove inadequate. The diocese consequently opposed the onerous limitation.

King James had not been able to impose such a limitation upon the more established older dioceses, though he had tried. His failure was underlined in 1235, when an ecclesiastical parliament in his realms decreed the liceity of alienating or willing one's property to churches anywhere in Aragon or Catalonia.⁽¹⁸⁾ Valencia seemed to offer the king a better chance for success in his restrictive policy. Yet, as early as June 1240, Valencian church authorities could speak about their properties "throughout the whole diocese, and outside it."⁽¹⁹⁾ Only five years later, King James found it wise to ratify all illicit acquisitions by the Valencia church to date; he sternly forbade them for the future. The next year (1246) he had to content himself with ruling that such lands were unprivileged and must therefore pay their proper taxes.

In 1251 he reconfirmed this position; clerical and baronial property must not increase. From time to time he permitted exceptions to segments of the Valencian church. In 1266 he allowed the cathedral chapter to purchase or inherit land. In granting this boon the king added a clause allowing simple exchanges with holders of crown land, but he insisted that the properties exchanged be of truly equal value.⁽²⁰⁾ Finally, at the general revision of Valencian law in 1271 the whole royal position collapsed. Admitting defeat, [135] James put no barrier to the church's acquiring land and retaining it with tax privileges.

In a land market so swiftly moving as that of Valencia, it is impossible to fix a clear picture of diocesan holdings for any given time. Nor is it easy to decide which items were purchased, which were obtained by barter or by gift, which pertained perhaps to a mosque, or which specify substitutes for lands promised but never given by the king. A few odd documents in the cathedral records may conceivably have been deposited for safekeeping and may have no reference to church lands.⁽²¹⁾ And, when one is about to total up the royal donations to the Dominican nuns at Alcira (to take a handy example), one finds that the bishop of Valencia has already appropriated them in great part, alienating them for his own needs.⁽²²⁾ But some sense can be wrested from the disordered documentation.

Some fifty records of sale and purchase exist in the cathedral archives, for the first fifteen years after the conquest, ranging from sizable hamlets to a few houses or scattered plots of land. When compared with other sources, a few of these prove to have become in time church property: the rural area of Puzol, for instance, or the city property of John of Silla. Did all these records represent gifts or sales to the church? They do not appear in the elaborate fifteenth-century codex, the Book of Legal Documents,⁽²³⁾ where a multitude of similar small transactions are recorded. However, the codex seems to be concerned rather with exchanges of land, rental contracts, infeudations, and the like; perhaps simple buying and selling, especially of smaller lands, required less care or less permanent care than would important properties or those with a mixed history. Or the book may be limited largely to revenues applied to the support of the cathedral and its personnel; the diocesan archives, had they survived, might have given fuller information on other charters.

That there must have been serious buying of land may be deduced from the fact that the Valencian church was assigned substantial sums of money for this purpose, with the royal provision to do so despite the laws of the realm.⁽²⁴⁾ In many cases the church does not seem to have been successful in claiming her Moslem inheritance. Recognizing the difficulties and aware that several contracts may belong to a single piece of property, some generalizations may be attempted from what are probably incomplete records.

The items are most often on a modest scale, such as a field,⁽²⁵⁾ or houses -- sometimes with land attached,⁽²⁶⁾ a farm or odd bits of land,⁽²⁷⁾ or rents.⁽²⁸⁾ Some castles intrude in one document.⁽²⁹⁾ A countryside with its central hamlet appears in two cases.⁽³⁰⁾ Occasionally the land is defined: the park of the father of King Zaiyân,⁽³¹⁾ another park,⁽³²⁾ a corral,⁽³³⁾ two jovates, or eight, or six, or four.⁽³⁴⁾ Once the rents are specified as a shop.⁽³⁵⁾ In short, the records deal with numerous houses and small holdings, and a few larger pieces of land, besides the towns of Benimaclet and of Puzol.⁽³⁶⁾

[136] One notes an expected preoccupation with the area around the cathedral, perhaps with an eye to its subsequent rebuilding. There are documents dealing with the houses of John Anglés on the cathedral plaza;⁽³⁷⁾ the expensive shops and buildings hard by the cathedral (bought from the king and queen);⁽³⁸⁾ houses purchased from Giles of Hungary and his wife Milia near the cathedral;⁽³⁹⁾ the acquisition of "a part of our buildings, namely two arcades, to extend your buildings";⁽⁴⁰⁾ those "houses in Valencia city in the parish of St. Mary, of the see of Valencia," for which a 1258 secular contract exists in the cathedral archives;⁽⁴¹⁾ the houses of John of Lasceyles, acquired by exchange (1242);⁽⁴²⁾ and lesser items. Some of the buildings in this area also came by gift.⁽⁴³⁾ Since a remarkable number of properties lie "before" the cathedral, one assumes they must be on various sides, "fronting" the cathedral or being close to it. Some documents probably deal with the same object as previous grants, perhaps by way of copy or of confirmation. In a general confirmation of 1242, the king "concedes, delivers, and sells to you our venerable and beloved Bishop Ferrer...forever as your own free and frank alod, all our shops and buildings located in Valencia city before St. Mary's cathedral."⁽⁴⁴⁾

Few of the properties recorded are very far from the city of Valencia. Supplementary grants given directly by the king include a special farm beside the king's park,⁽⁴⁵⁾ an important park in Játiva,⁽⁴⁶⁾ houses in Liria,⁽⁴⁷⁾ shops near the cathedral,⁽⁴⁸⁾ two jovates of land in Mislata, houses in Valencia,⁽⁴⁹⁾ a large group of houses fronting on St. Mary's church in Játiva,⁽⁵⁰⁾ the town of Puzol,⁽⁵¹⁾ the town of Bolulla,⁽⁵²⁾ houses and barbican in Murviedro,⁽⁵³⁾ the village of Losa del Obispo,⁽⁵⁴⁾ the castles of Gorga, Carrícola, and (after some wrangling) Chulilla.⁽⁵⁵⁾

Storage properties were bought in Gandía, Alcira, Onteniente, and Cocentaina: "buildings for your project of granaries and cellars."⁽⁵⁶⁾ The township of Albal, near Torrente, was purchased by the chapter in 1244 from its lord, Giles of Atrosillo, for 2,200 Alphonsine gold pieces. The village of Albuixech near Valencia was granted to the Dominican Berengar of Castellbisbal on September 17, 1238, apparently in his official capacity as bishop-elect of Valencia; whether it subsequently reverted to the crown, or was sold by the chapter, is unknown.⁽⁵⁷⁾ Near the end of this century the town of Benaduf and its neighbor Villar del Arzobispo passed from the family of Lion to the diocese; the bishop issued a settlement charter here in 1313.⁽⁵⁸⁾

The small scale of many of the purchases should not be surprising. This was an infant diocese whose expectations of property lay in the leisurely future. There has been question, so far, only of the documentation for common funds. Properties seem also to have been assigned directly to individuals, as a stipend for life; these would have been cared for by the individual, accounting to no one.⁽⁵⁹⁾ The bishop might have had estates specifically episcopal whose records would have been contained in the diocesan archives. [137] The cathedral archives are more concerned with the communal fund, half of which went to the chapter, half to the bishop.⁽⁶⁰⁾ But familiarity with the documentation both at the cathedral and elsewhere leaves one with the impression that the bulk of diocesan holdings of all kinds is known. And the papal concession of tithes to the bishop, rather than to the parish, tends to confirm the suspicion that episcopal income from estates was relatively small.

There are no detailed records for such revenues as synodal fees, episcopal or archdiaconal procurations, quadragesimals, see-dues (cathedraticum), hospitality (cena), fines from the various law-courts, and so on, though some of these appear occasionally. For example, Simon Pérez of Arenós signed an agreement in 1260 giving the episcopal procurations to the pastors of Andilla and of the Mijares River churches; in compensation the bishop received 200 solidi yearly. This is a considerable sum from one fee in one area.⁽⁶¹⁾ But the overwhelming share of episcopal, as well as capitular, revenue derived from the "temporals" just described and the tithes. The capitular mensa or share had to furnish the prebends, the "portions" thereof belonging to the cathedral personnel for subsistence, and the daily "distributions" -- the latter being a complex of variable fees and foods awarded to insure constant attendance at choir, Mass, and chapter meeting. The rental surplus was commonly divided semi-annually among the canons and others. Benefices and chantries, multiplying in Valencia as elsewhere, were a separate revenue; some idea can be gained of their value only insofar as they enter into the total income of the individual Valencian cleric.

One class of documents from the cathedral archives reveals a lively business of renting and of exchanging properties. In 1240 a mosque in the Barcelona section of the city of Valencia, near the Boatella gate, was exchanged for the houses of the queen's porter Raymond Seguí.⁽⁶²⁾ A farm was given to Peter Ruiz in return for a vineyard.⁽⁶³⁾ The knight John Lasceyles, who had received some houses close to the cathedral in 1238,⁽⁶⁴⁾ exchanged them with the bishop and chapter for a mosque and a cemetery "near the burnt tower" in Roteros.⁽⁶⁵⁾ The bishop left these houses wholly in the hands of the chapter, in return for their rights in another cemetery.⁽⁶⁶⁾ In 1241 the diocese acquired a building from Bernard of Huerta in the quarter of the men of Lérida at Valencia city, giving him in return as a free alod a surplus mosque and houses "on the street of the bridge."⁽⁶⁷⁾

The stronghold and township of Puzol first belonged to the knight Assalit of Gudal in 1238;⁽⁶⁸⁾ he gave a charter of settlement four years later,⁽⁶⁹⁾ but almost immediately sold the whole thing (now worth 18,000 Jaca solidi) to King James.⁽⁷⁰⁾ The king promptly divided it equally among the Order of Roncesvalles, the bishop, and the chapter.⁽⁷¹⁾ The chapter in turn, sensibly realizing that "what is held in common is usually neglected by many," sold its rights to the bishop for the duration of his life at an annual 430 solidi.⁽⁷²⁾[138] In 1240 six jovates of land were granted in Senqueir and Benisanó to a certain Peregrin;⁽⁷³⁾ Peregrin sold them to the notary of the king Bernard of Soler (1244); as a canon of the cathedral, Bernard must have given or exchanged them to the church.⁽⁷⁴⁾ The dates on the documents are not always a positive indication of when the church came into possession, however; this is especially true of last wills and of original deeds preserved as part of the property's legal history.

Rental Income

Small properties were most profitably managed by renting them out.⁽⁷⁵⁾ The rents seem inconsiderable and at times a formality. But custom probably dictated that, in addition, a definite share of the tenant's profits be given to the owner, as was the case in mass colonization projects in Valencia at this time. And even a city property rented at a small fee seems to have involved an extramural patch of productive farm land. Again, "house" often conceals an industry or shop with profits. Equally important is the consideration that a low rent can conceal a capital improvement; this is stipulated several times in both ecclesiastical and nonecclesiastical documents in Valencia, and was a not uncommon device even in a well developed foreign diocese like Lincoln in England.⁽⁷⁶⁾

Thus, the rental of a mosque at Fortaleny in the diocese of Valencia in 1256 involved not only the small service of a pound of pepper yearly, and probably a share of profits, but required as well that the tenant "effect works and improvements worth ten solidi of Valencia" yearly.⁽⁷⁷⁾ A rental document for a mosque at Játiva in 1273 stipulated an annual sum "for improving the said mosque"; it set the interesting condition: "and it is not permitted to you to sublet to anyone the said mosque at a greater rental than has been said."⁽⁷⁸⁾ Such clauses had been common also in Languedocian rental and enfeoffment contracts toward the end of the previous century. A piece of land of Andarella was sold to William Ratera forever, for two gold pieces yearly, but only if he "keeps it well cultivated and settled," and improves it.

Another mosque, adapted to secular use, was rented out in 1265 at only eight solidi yearly; but it carried an obligation to put in 120 solidi worth of improvements during the first two years, 60 solidi in each year.⁽⁷⁹⁾ The main mosque of Lombar rented for a pound of wax yearly, but with a proviso that, within two years, 30 solidi be expended for "works and improvements."⁽⁸⁰⁾ A mosque site, or perhaps its patio or a square hard by (platea mezquite), at Alcoy in 1273 was rented to a neighboring property-holder named John Escuder, for two pounds of wax every Christmas, plus the obligation that he "construct there one roofed building" within the year.⁽⁸¹⁾ Similarly, the precentor Peter Michael arranged to have the cleric Arnold [139] Pellicer build a shop on the diocesan land he rented just outside the Boatella gate. Tenant Arnold was to pay 2-1/4 gold Alphonsine morabatins a year for his shop, plus the ground rental already coming in. The high rent is understandable since this was a market area.⁽⁸²⁾

The process of renting out the properties began slowly. There was a Christian population in the town of Puzol, so that the bishop enjoyed a good sum simply from the secular third of the tithe he collected as owner. Besides, each residence had to give him as rent five solidi of Jaca every year, two chickens, and a seventh of all the produce -- to be reckoned by number or by measure, according to its nature. The renters had to provide cartage to deliver all this.⁽⁸³⁾ In September 1240 the bishop and chapter rented to Peter of Balaguer "a certain mosque we have in the street of St. John at the Boatella gate," for which he was to pay "for rent each year on the feast of St. Mary in September six pennies of Jaca, and besides that rent no other rent or usage are you to pay for it."⁽⁸⁴⁾ This mosque was soon destroyed, for it reappears as a long and narrow piece of ground being leased again in 1270.⁽⁸⁵⁾ A nearby oratory of the Moors -- it does not seem to be the same mosque -- was sold to Arnold Bertrand in order to connect two flanking properties of his brother William Bertrand; the rent was a pound of good wax each Christmas. He recognized bishop and chapter as his "lords or over-men."⁽⁸⁶⁾

In 1243 a man and wife from Barcelona rented a Moorish "cemetery which we [the bishop and chapter] have in Andarella."⁽⁸⁷⁾ There was a condition attached: "provided that you and your successors maintain it well-managed and settled, and improve and not deteriorate it."⁽⁸⁸⁾ This cemetery seems to have reverted to the church, for one was rented to William Ratera, notary and bailiff of the king, in 1249 for a yearly piece of gold.⁽⁸⁹⁾ He in turn sold it within the year to a Tarazona man.⁽⁹⁰⁾ In 1240 a mosque was rented, or perhaps given outright, to a benefactor of the Valencian church, the wife of Ponce of Soler who may be a relative of the canon; it included an adjoining cemetery and houses, and was situated just outside the city on the path to the Dominican church.⁽⁹¹⁾ Within the Moslem quarter itself, at least one mosque was held by the bishop and chapter; it was rented to a Christian in 1277, with all its appurtenances, for one gold piece yearly.⁽⁹²⁾ In 1265 the cathedral authorities rented out perpetually "some animal pens [which] in Moslem times used to be a mosque, [and] which are in the city of Valencia in the parish of St. Lawrence."⁽⁹³⁾ The rent was eight solidi a year.

A Valencian notary in 1244 put down ten years rent -- three gold mazmodins a year -- for a piece of land in Roteros on the Mislata road.⁽⁹⁴⁾ The same year, a mosque and its houses in the Barcelona sector of Valencia city were rented to a man and his wife. This may be a different mosque from that given in 1240 to the queen's porter in exchange for houses; or was it the same mosque, reclaimed for some reason?⁽⁹⁵⁾ Yet another mosque, it would seem, [140] was rented in this Barcelona part of the city, to G. of Lousach and his wife Benegunda; only two-thirds of it was actually rented, for which 100 solidi were paid to the bishop and chapter.⁽⁹⁶⁾ The pastor of St. Martin's held the Moor cemetery near the Boatella gate at perpetual rent for over fifteen years,⁽⁹⁷⁾ finally selling his right to the cathedral chanter Peter Michael.⁽⁹⁸⁾ The municipal authorities tried to seize this property in 1266, on the pretext that it had held less than twelve Moslem graves and therefore was not included in the king's endowment of the diocese. The pastor won his case, so the cemetery must have been small. By 1271 this property, which lay along the city wall and was distinct from the parish cemetery, had come to be called "fossarium beati Martini."⁽⁹⁹⁾

Shortly after the conquest of Valencia city, the crown had built an inn or hospice on a Moslem cemetery in the suburb of Roteros.⁽¹⁰⁰⁾ One A. Bertrand rented "a cemetery outside the Boatella" gate in 1248.⁽¹⁰¹⁾ In the same year the sacristan of the cathedral and the prior of St. Vincent, as administrators, rented to Peter of Copons a field in Campanar which had been donated by laymen.⁽¹⁰²⁾ Two mosques were rented out in 1250, one of them in the town of Játiva to the knight Arnold of Sant Celoni for two gold pieces yearly.⁽¹⁰³⁾ In 1251 a mosque was rented in the Valencia suburb of La Xarea,⁽¹⁰⁴⁾ as well as a field apparently belonging to the mosque which had become the church of St. Michael in Játiva.⁽¹⁰⁵⁾ In 1252 some houses near the cathedral were rented to Mary for a silver besant every Christmas.⁽¹⁰⁶⁾

Also in 1252 church authorities rented a Moslem cemetery near the city wall of Murviedro to Lucy, the widow of William of Agramunt.⁽¹⁰⁷⁾ That same year three mosques were let, one with adjoining buildings in Murviedro at eight solidi a year,⁽¹⁰⁸⁾ one in Játiva,⁽¹⁰⁹⁾ and one at St. Andrew's parish in Valencia which went to the pastor John of Campol and his sister.⁽¹¹⁰⁾ The rentals of 1254 include a cemetery and a "destroyed mosque" in Poliñá del Júcar,⁽¹¹¹⁾ a field near Játiva,⁽¹¹²⁾ and a Moor cemetery near Castellón.⁽¹¹³⁾ The Franciscans were still renting their Játiva mosque from the chapter as late as 1252, when they lost possession of it.⁽¹¹⁴⁾ The tenant Constantine shows up quite suddenly as holding at rent houses as well as a field which had formerly been a Moslem cemetery in Roteros.⁽¹¹⁵⁾ In 1242 a property in Almazora, given by the king, was being rented from the church by Bernard Rochet.⁽¹¹⁶⁾

These can be considered as only illustrative transactions, since a number of them were single stages in a multiple transfer, or are known almost in passing. Many other examples might be added. Thus, in 1255 there was a mosque rented to Bernard Reig in Murviedro,⁽¹¹⁷⁾ another in Játiva to John Pérez at a pound of wax yearly,⁽¹¹⁸⁾ another -- with a smaller mosque added for a hundred pence -- to Giles of Fraga in Liria,⁽¹¹⁹⁾ and another again at four solidi yearly to A. Roquet which had previously been rented to John of Palau,⁽¹²⁰⁾ A number of times the diocese cleared away a mosque to prepare a [141] building site; this resulted in plots of ground like that in St. Bartholomew's  parish (1256), another in St. Lawrence's (1265), and a third in St. John's (1270).⁽¹²¹⁾ The Valencia city mosque of Bonet Fuster rented in 1260 for a pound of wax at Easter along with the task of making improvements.⁽¹²²⁾ A plot of ground which was formerly a mosque was rented in 1256 in the city to B. of Camarasa.⁽¹²³⁾ Other mosques were sold at Fortaleny,⁽¹²⁴⁾ at Carpesa,⁽¹²⁵⁾ at Nada near Corbera (1260),⁽¹²⁶⁾ and so on.

Seven fanecates of cemetery land were sold at Alcoy, with the obligation of improvements and a rental of half a pound of wax yearly.⁽¹²⁷⁾ To the rector William of Coil at Espioca were sold "three pieces of land" from former cemeteries there, at a rent of two solidi yearly on St. Michael's day (1279).⁽¹²⁸⁾ Other mosques appear in various documents as boundary markers, but nothing is known of their owners or fate.⁽¹²⁹⁾ Many others had become parish churches. Some of the mosques may have been quite solid and comfortable buildings for, when the Moors surrendered Almenara, they lodged King James in what was "formerly a mosque."⁽¹³⁰⁾

A special office existed for the rental of mosques and Moslem cemeteries -- particularly the latter, to which may have been added other pieces of land, perhaps former mosque properties. For a long time, at least from 1250 to 1280, the canon Bernard of Vilar held this office; Bernard, who was also pastor of the cathedral parish of St. Peter, acts in the name of the bishop or the chapter, or of both. A different name intrudes in the negotiations very rarely, and then usually as procurator for Bernard.

Thus, the canon Raymond of Grau acted as his procurator from 1260 to 1263, though Bernard remained independently active. The canon Dominic Matthew turns up as procurator briefly in 1273. As early as 1256 such a procuratorship had been exercised by Bernard Ferrer, who was also vicar:

Let all know: that I, Bernard Ferrer, vicar of the altar of St. Mary of the see of Valencia, and procurator for Bernard of Vilar canon of Valencia, for the use and convenience of the lord bishop and the chapter of Valencia, with written contract do establish to you, Raymond of Almenara and your heirs forever, for renting and improving, a cemetery which is in Alcoy.⁽¹³¹⁾

No conclusion as to diocesan revenues can be drawn from the large salary implied; but as cemetery manager Bernard is obviously holding a responsible post. The same office appears quite clearly in a late document (1341), when its holder describes himself in a rental contract:

[142]Let all know that I Raymond Ferrer, canon of Valencia, [am] administrator and governor of the rents of the mosques and cemeteries formerly belonging to the Saracens in the whole diocese of Valencia, and of the [revenues] coming from them. [I have been] specially delegated by the [bishop]...and by the honorable chapter of his church, as may be seen by a public document drawn up on April 13, 1341.⁽¹³³⁾

Though enough full information to project a developing pattern is lacking, there are ample indications of the direction events were taking. There was a certain amount of buying, mostly in the environs of Valencia and mostly of small properties yielding small rents. This was supplemented by the rental of mosques and their supporting lands, a task carried on by delegates from the chapter and by procurators throughout the diocese. The job, although a large one, would have been rendered easier by the circumstance of the properties being advantageously located. This activity, as revealed in the surviving records, would have been heavier in the early period, tapering off thereafter.

Collection Areas

To supervise the collecting and auditing of capitular revenues, and more easily to distribute them among the canons, Bishop Arnold had established twelve' priorates (prepositurae) in his chapter as early as 1247.⁽¹³⁵⁾ These priorates offer some clue as to the geographical location of capitular properties and their relative value, so they deserve a brief notice. Each priorate was worth 800 solidi a year. Each included the tithes on wheat, wine, animals, and vegetables, together with large fines and legacies. The regions of Alcira, Corbera, Sumacárcel, and all holdings in the diocese below the Júcar River were divided into three priorates, collectively valued at 2,400 solidi. Another six priorates collectively valued at 4,800 solidi included the Valencian huerta, the parish of Foyos, the Albufera lagoon, and sea-fishing along the coast. Three final priorates, at a total value of 2,400 solidi, included all other areas above the Júcar. Almost fifty places are named in this particular section; the spellings provide a challenging exercise in identification.⁽¹³⁶⁾

The first three priorates were put under the charge of the archdeacon Master Martin. Three more went to the precentor [Peter] Dominic. One each went to the sacristan Arnold, to Bertrand of Teruel, and to Berengar of Boxadós. And the last three described above went to Bernard of Soler, Berengar of Boxadós, and the precentor again. The charges were to be held [143]for a period of four years; they covered all capitular income in the diocese. Each prior could sublet his priorate to one or more tax farmers, for a year at a time. From these figures it appears that the huerta of Valencia brought almost a fourth of the total capitular income; the same would be true of the episcopal income. The huerta was understood to be the area immediately around the city, since in this document it excludes such places as Picasent, Alcácer, Espioca, and Puig. It also appears that three-fourths of the income came from the region above the Júcar River. It is not clear whether rentals are included; their collection seems to have been an independent function, probably not subordinated to the priors.

The project proved abortive. The next bishop, Andrew, completely revised it. His revised priorates were in operation by 1259.⁽¹³⁷⁾ At first there had been only six of the collectors, three in the Valencian huerta and three for the region below the Júcar River.⁽¹³⁸⁾ But the acquisition of more extensive properties soon made necessary the full twelve. They were named after the months, and their jurisdictions indicate the localities of high or low revenue. Thus, the collectors named after February, March, and April drew most of the revenues below the Júcar. Above this river the collectors of May, June, and July had the generality of income, except for Cullera and for what must have been the richest area of revenue. The latter was a tight arc of territory around Valencia city, based on the sea, and running in from Puzol and Puig to Museros, Foyos, Moncada, Burjasot, Paterna, Manises, Torrente, and back to the sea. This area was cared for by the remaining six months together. The priorates were to account for all the revenues belonging to the chapter, including the tithes and even the besants which the knights of Calatrava and Santiago paid.⁽¹³⁹⁾ If after six years these revenues had increased, the surplus was to be applied to increase the fees of the canons, or their number, or else the number of cathedral assistants.

The region below the Júcar must have been the most unproductive. The three priorates in charge are not even mentioned in the crusade-tax lists for 1279; the lists for 1280 simply give a token tithe of five solidi as received "from Bertrand for the three priorates," in the section below the Júcar River.⁽¹⁴⁰⁾ The other wide collectorate, that above the river, is included in the nine given in the 1279 list, and in the ten⁽¹⁴¹⁾ given for 1280. For the region around Valencia all the priorates are expressly mentioned in 1279 except August, which is included among those listed according to their holders. These five yield the highest income, tithed at 265, 249, 261, 282, and 291 solidi; the other four yield respectively 218, 366, 159, and 156 solidi.

This is as much as can be learned from the tithe lists; but even this must allow for a margin of error due to agricultural fortune of the current year, or to underpaying or overpaying the crusade tax in a given year. Where comparison is possible, between the payments of 1279 and 1280, Andrew (July) gave 218 and 293; the sacristan 156 and 208; Benedict 366 and 278; and [144] Ralph 159 and 184. It may be conjectured, then, that the revenues were richest in the immediate vicinity of the capital, fair in the remainder of the upper part of the diocese, and very poor below the Júcar River. It is difficult to say what part, if any, the individual canons played in the actual process of collecting.

The capitular income was much higher than these sums indicate, since other choice revenues had been reserved to dignities and lesser officers. A crusade tithe of about 4,700 solidi was paid by the combined posts and chaplaincies of the cathedral in 1280; in the same year the bishop paid 2,750 and for his unpaid tax of 1279 another 2,750. When increased from tithe to original income, this amounts to a cathedral revenue of at least 75,000 solidi per annum. This was well over a quarter of the revenues actually falling under the crusade tax, since the total crusade tax of about 20,000 solidi means a minimum of 200,000 solidi diocesan income, including bishop, chapter, parish, and all. Almost a third of this 75,000 may have come from diocesan tithes.⁽¹⁴²⁾ The figures represent a minimum, since the tax may have been considerably below the strict 10 percent. It did not fall necessarily upon all income, and some sources may actually be omitted;⁽¹⁴³⁾ it represents also the gross income without, for example, the share of the tithe farmer himself. There is no way of knowing what the ecclesiastical income in the diocese would total if one could add in the monastic lands, the hospitals and charities, the military and other Orders, and all the small or exempt incomes.

A document has recently come to light, indicating something of the scattered nature of diocesan properties in Valencia, and perhaps something of their value. In December 1273, King James ordered a cautionary seizure of Valencian episcopal and capitular properties and revenues. Located in eleven regions, these were assigned to eleven respective bailiffs, alcaids, or justiciars of those regions to seize: Valencia-Liria, Murviedro, Biar, Castell, Castalla, Cocentaina, Alcoy, Jijona, Denia, Tárbena, and Valle de Gallinera with Alcalá (near Pego). Each was to make a list, and to guard these properties and revenues until further notice. General though it is, the document is valuable in its suggestion that diocesan resources in the poorer area below the Júcar were widely scattered, and therefore individually small.⁽¹⁴⁴⁾

The Diocesan Tithes

The greatest single revenue, and the solid base of diocesan growth in Valencia, was the first fruits (for the parish) and the tithe (for the diocese).⁽¹⁴⁵⁾ This was especially true for the earlier years when property acquisition was restricted. An examination of this tithe system is not only essential to understanding the Valencia diocese, but instructive in connection with general tax methods, kinds of crops, social and socio-religious tensions, and the intertwined structure of politics, religion, and economics. It [145] also furnishes an exciting glimpse of the vigor and pace of the frontier economy.

The tithe was an income tax of 10 percent or less, enforceable at law. It fell especially upon agriculture, livestock, oil, wine, fish, game, mills, ovens, and personal income. Under the latter form, through the tithe upon the income of the crown and of the barons, most human activities, even those of Moslems or slaves, contributed in some measure. Transient or wintering flocks were affected. Thus the diocese, in selling the tithes of Almonacid and Benaguacil to Roderick Díaz in 1268, retained the tithe on "animals from outside."⁽¹⁴⁶⁾ Similarly, the Paterna and Manises first fruits (which fell upon the same objects as the tithe) were levied in 1263 on "alien" or "transient" flocks.⁽¹⁴⁷⁾ The Catalan canonist Raymond of Penyafort even solemnly pondered the question of tithing a prostitute's earnings; he concluded for the affirmative, lest tax immunity and consequently approval seem to be conferred upon vice.⁽¹⁴⁸⁾

The documents give little information about the tithing of industry, commerce, or mines; Penyafort includes them all as subject to tithe.⁽¹⁴⁹⁾ Bishop Andrew and his successors in Valencia did collect a tithe even upon the tributes and fees paid to the crown from the Moslem quarters of the cities and countryside, and therefore upon commercial and industrial profit indirectly to a small extent. This information is revealed only after the bishop's death and quite by chance, though one might also infer it from the endowment charter of James I in 1241; thus, there may have been wider applications of the tithe than the run of records reveals.⁽¹⁵⁰⁾

Again, industry and commerce would have paid something indirectly through a personal tithe like the following: "it should be remembered that the said tithe ought to be imposed not only on the [civil] tenths, but upon everything which you receive from Saracens of that region in any proper or customary fashion."⁽¹⁵¹⁾ Sea fisheries and butcheries, and probably every industry in Valencia, paid as well a direct tithe. In the Tortosa segment such industries as mines and fishing explicitly came under the tithe.⁽¹⁵²⁾

Throughout Christendom there was a common distinction made between "greater" and "lesser" tithes. The former affected the main source of revenue, usually wheat and wine; the latter touched accessory revenues, and might be subdivided into "green" tithes (on produce and such) and "blood" tithes (on animal increase, wool, and the like). One finds no mention of the distinction in Valencian documents.⁽¹⁵³⁾

In principle, the tithes in Valencia were paid by every Christian, including king, baron, and cleric.⁽¹⁵⁴⁾ There would be exemptions, of course, such as the basic rectory property and certain monastic holdings;⁽¹⁵⁵⁾ but even the hospital of St. William in Valencia city had to pay the tithe on its revenue properties except for one farm. Priests in the diocese were to admonish their parishioners to pay the tithe and first fruits properly.⁽¹⁵⁶⁾ If a Christian sold [146] his land to a Jew in Valencia, that land carried the tithe obligation with it; otherwise non-Christians were legally free.⁽¹⁵⁷⁾ There were rare exceptions to this, as with the Moors at Villarreal in 1280,⁽¹⁵⁸⁾ or the attempt by the bishop's bailiff to force the Jews to pay in the Murviedro settlement.⁽¹⁵⁹⁾ More often, the Moslem refused to pay the tithe on lands acquired from Christians. The bishop and chapter of Valencia complained of this strongly; eventually in 1314 church authorities received the active support of the crown on their side. As general rule transferred revenue was tithed twice, as original income and as transferred share; this made it more expensive to have Christian than Moslem tenants.

The kingdom of Valencia was a new one, with a number of different custom-laws and social pressures transplanted to it, so that one might expect to find a spirited quarrel concerning the tithes. And, since the king, many religious, and nobles claimed two-thirds or a half or at least a third of this revenue by right of conquest or foundation, all three would participate actively in the quarrel. The complete tithe ought to have gone to the church, if ancient Visigothic precedent had not been swept away by abuse and feudal chaos an immemorially long time ago; a tripartite division would then have assigned a third of it apiece to the bishop, the clergy, and the material upkeep of the churches. In thirteenth-century Valencia, the church retained at best only two-thirds of the tithe. In the diocese of Valencia, the two-thirds went directly to the diocese rather than to the parish, by special permission (1245) of Pope Innocent IV.⁽¹⁶⁰⁾ This diocesan share was split into two categories. The tithes of the area about Puzol, together with those of specified areas close to the city of Valencia and just below it, were to be divided equally between bishop and chapter for their respective expenses. Throughout the remainder of the diocese, the larger part by far, only a third of the common share went to the chapter.⁽¹⁶¹⁾

The Furs were explicit on the details of payment; but as in many medieval affairs, violence lurked below the legalities.⁽¹⁶²⁾ This law was actually a treaty of peace, an arbitration imposed by King James after the contention became unmanageable. A dilemma inherent in the tithe system was that, while it insured independence for the spiritual power, it could easily arouse opposition as the impersonal institution imposed its demands. This opposition had to be countered with severity by a church grown dependent on the tithe, thus raising more opposition. Worse, a good amount of the money the church fought for had to be transferred to some secular power.

Thus, the ecclesiastical authorities had to keep a sharp eye out for the "fraud and trickery" anticipated by some of the tithe agreements. And as early as 1247 one finds a hint of future trouble in the document organizing the collection; collectors are not to be held responsible for the full amount where "violently or in any manner whatsoever revenues are carried off or withheld."⁽¹⁶³⁾ In cases of nonpayment, it was sometimes provided that bishop [147] and chapter could seize and put at pawn the Moslems and livestock until satisfaction was given. Some people in the kingdom of Valencia refused to pay the tithe; others maliciously threw aside the church's portion so that animals would be sure to devour it or neighbors bear it away. The more sophisticated -- and the urban centers were the strong right arm of the opposition -- sought out illogicalities and apparent injustices in the system and opened a delaying action in the courts. The question of olives and vines, which required a different working system than did other crops, and the condition of the soil (unbroken, or already in cultivation when acquired) occasioned loud complaints. A prededuction of salaries and wages was strenuously fought for.⁽¹⁶⁴⁾ Left to themselves, even those who paid the tithe peacefully could not be counted upon to give full measure.

In Valencia there was no evidence of opposition to the tithe as such by the body of the people, but rather a demand for reform. Indeed the extent and seriousness of opposition to the tithe in medieval Europe has been the subject of no little exaggeration.⁽¹⁶⁵⁾ Nor must it be thought that these rural Christian areas in pioneer Valencia offered dazzling sums to the collector. But the churchmen apparently felt that a clear stand should be taken, against the day when settlers would come in numbers; meanwhile, they had begun their campaign to insist on the tithes from Christian personal income derived from the Moslems. This mentality is seen when the diocese early infeuded to the king the fief of one-third the tithe of Alcira, with the proviso that the full tithe will be taken on all revenues received from Saracens there until such time as the place is populated by Christians.

The capital city was the seat of the disturbances. Both her bishop and the strongest civilian group were there. Her delegates and arbitrations were the ones more often recorded. The situation was nevertheless general and well organized. King James reported that the issue had united "the high nobles, knights, burghers, and other inhabitants."⁽¹⁶⁶⁾ Prominent among the communes which sent representatives to the talks preceding the agreement of 1268 were -- besides Valencia -- Játiva, Murviedro, Alcira, Liria, Denia, and Gandía.⁽¹⁶⁷⁾

In Valencia the farm tithes were paid usually in kind, and at the moment of harvesting.⁽¹⁶⁸⁾ This precluded fraud in the quantity to be assessed. A crown order forbade the removal of crops to storage until the tithe had been taken.⁽¹⁶⁹⁾ The bailiff of bishop and chapter, and the bailiff of the king (officials sometimes called decimarit and primiciarii)⁽¹⁷⁰⁾ were to be notified so that they could be on the spot to make the assessment and collection, even where a tithe-owning lord was concerned.⁽¹⁷¹⁾ For collecting the tithes, the kingdom of Valencia or at least its crown land was divided into "rectorates" or "titheships."⁽¹⁷²⁾

Under the general responsibility of the canons who held the office of collectors or priors,⁽¹⁷³⁾ but under the immediate superintendence of the [148] bailiffs or tax farmers, the tithe portion was gathered into diocesan granaries and wine cellars. The diocese commissioned suitable buildings for this purpose at Valencia, Gandía, Albal, Alcira, Onteniente, Játiva, Murviedro, and Cocentaina. This disposition suggests a strategic scattering of such posts throughout the diocese. Though ordered in mid-1242, however, many of these storage buildings had not been completed even by 1260, much to the bishop's distress.⁽¹⁷⁴⁾ This confirms the impression given by royal exemptions and privileges for the marketing of the tithes: that most of the collection was usually converted by sales into money. This process took time; consequently quantities of diocesan tithe stores, including wheat and wine, were available to help feed King James's army in 1276, and thus help defend the frontier.⁽¹⁷⁵⁾

1. Viage literario, III, 63 quoting witnesses; and see documents 6 and 7 from Gregory IX in the appendix.

2. Claude de Vic and Joseph Vaissète, Histoire générale de Languedoc, 18 vols. (Toulouse, 1872-1893), VI, 712; V, 1,789, no. 416, Dec. 19, 1239. Chabás, Episcopologio valentino, pp. 368-369; Sanchís Sivera, Diócesis valentina, II, 86.

3. Documents in Chapter IV, notes 43, 44.

4. Arch. Vat., Reg. Vat. 19 (Gregory IX), fols. 102v-103. The Latin text is easily available in Auvray, Registres, III, no. 4,815; and in Diócesis valentina, II, 195-197.

5. Arch. Cath., leg. 32, no. 3, perg. 2,303 (Nov. 9, 1241). See too Aureum opus, doc. 12, fol. 4r, v; Collectio conciliorum Hispaniae, V, 189-190. There is another original of the endowment in Arch. Cath. Huesca (9-12-209, perg.); probably the canonist bishop there, Vidal, was adviser to the crown on this business.

6. Sanchís Sivera thinks the arrangement had been informally agreed upon as early as sometime before October 1241 (Diócesis valentina, II, 434); but his only reason for this is an undated minute of the agreement giving Ferrer as "elect," a circumstance useless in assigning a date here (see discussion of the latter point below, in Chapter XIV).

7. Arch. Cath., perg. 589 (Nov. 2, 1241): "damus licentiam vobis F[errer]...et tuo capitulo quod ex illis decem mil[l]ibus besanciorum argenti quos vobis damus pro dotacione ecclesie valentine possitis emere domos ortos possessiones hereditates Castra villas seu alcherias in toto termino civitatis et Regni valencie a Richis hominibus militibus personis Religiosis et secularibus, non obstante constitucione civitatis que prohibet possessiones vel alique de supradictis ad ecclesiam non transferre."

8. Arch. Crown, James I, perg. 896 (Dec. 20, 1242). Was this given in properties, and expressed in money of account? See the houses and shops given (or perhaps bought and here confirmed?) to the bishop in 1241 ("pretio V millium bisantiorum" [Repartimiento, p. 286]).

9. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,308 (Dec. 23, 1242); cf. Itinerari, p. 155.

10. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,312 (Nov. 2, 1241). After repeating the general privilege of perg. 589 it includes a further document allowing purchase of fourteen "domos sive hospicia que sunt de realencho ad habitaciones vestras proprias non obstante quia in foro valentino continetur quod nulli liceat vendere domos vel aliquas possessiones clericis vel personis religiosis." Cf. notes 38, 44; also Chapter II, notes 70, 100.

11. See Chapter II, note 69 and text; and below, pp. 302-303.

12. Arch. Crown, James I, perg. 2,144. Colección diplomática, doc. 999 (Mar. 1, 1273 or 1274).

13. "Quasdam domos in Muroveteri" frank and free, bordering on the town wall, in Arch. Cath., perg. 2,443 (May 1, 1256); "quoddam farraginale ante Realum nostrum" in Valencia frank and free, in perg. 2,304 (Sept. 29, 1242); a park in Játiva where a treaty had been signed between the king and the Moors, in perg. 5,973 (Mar. 30, 1249) and perg. 2,305 (same date).

14. Document cited in note 12.

15. See Chapter IX, section 3, "The King's Share."

16. Arch. Crown, Peter III, Reg. Canc. 56, fols. 108-110, esp. 108r, v (May 22, 1285): "aliis rectoribus Episcopatus et diocesis, ii millia," "universis Canonicis Ecclesie valencie quilibet, ii millia." There are two individual assessments of 5,000 and 2,000 each. The bishop of Lérida is to pay 40,000; the bishop of Vich 10,000; the Tarragona metropolitan 100,000; his prior (dean, provost) 50,000; three of his archdeacons respectively 2,000, 4,000, and 8,000; his Official 6,000; the abbots of Holy Crosses and Poblet 20,000 and 40,000. Some dioceses have long lists; the Lérida church has many individuals with high assessments. There is of course the difficulty of deciding how much revenue a given individual received from extra-diocesan sources, such as plural benefices elsewhere.

17. Documenta selecta, doc. 318 (Nov. 22, 1317): "opulenta," "manebit opulenta." Allowance must be made for the king's optimism since he is pleading for an extra diocese; besides, the plea was not granted. It seems safe to conclude that substantial prosperity and stability had been achieved. Still, by 1257 great expenditures had put the diocese deeply in debt (cf. below, Chapter XIV, note 30).

18. Cortes de los antiguos reinos de Aragón y de Valencia y principado de Cataluña, 26 vols. in 27 (Madrid, 1896-1922), I, 126, no. 18.

19. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,309 (June 23, 1240).

20. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,379 (Dec. 11, 1266). The privilege carried with it a statement of exemption of such properties from services and regalian taxes. Cf. Chapter I, note 30 with citations to Furs and Aureum opus. Branchát, Derechos y regalías de Valencia (ill, 427 ff., docs. 1-5, 8), reproduces some of the legal property restrictions of James I, including taxation of land left to the church, compulsory sale of such land within a month, use of rents for anniversary Masses if property remains in secular hands, and so on.

21. See Rosalind Hill, "Bishop Sutton [of Lincoln] and His Archives: A Study in the Keeping of Records in the Thirteenth Century," JEH, II (1951), 45; this was safer than the parish chest.

22. Documenta selecta, doc. 118 (Mar. 4, 1306). The document is a late one but is used here to illustrate a pitfall; the revenues it refers to are those given by James I "pro dote et sustentatione." The Repartimiento offers a few notes, but nothing solid; thus in 1240 (p. 318) a man has bought a shop from Master Martin the archdeacon. These Alcira nuns are discussed below in Chapter XII, section 7, "Other Nuns."

23. Arch. Cath., codex 162, Liber instrumentorum. It opens with a colorful miniature of James in full armor, kneeling before the Virgin and offering her a small church, representing the church of Valencia.

24. Document cited in note 5.

25. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,609 (Jan. 4, 1241); perg. 2,902 (Dec. 26, 1242); perg. 4,613 (June 7, 1245); perg. 5,970 (June 29, 1246); other examples are preserved here.

26. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,601 (April 26, 1238); perg. 5,956 (April 28, 1238); perg. 4,602 (June 11, 1238); perg. 2,329 (July 23, 1238); perg. 1,305 (Aug. 20, 1238); perg. 1,202 (Sept. 30, 1238); perg. 1,803 (Nov. 18, 1238); perg. 2,326 (same date); perg. 1,824 (Jan. 27, 1239); perg. 4,606 (Oct. 6, 1240); perg. 4,607 (same date); perg. 1,805 (Nov. 13, 1240); perg. 1,522 (June 22, 1243); perg. 1,211 (Dec. 15, 1245); perg. 1,810 (Mar. 26, 1249); perg. 5,976 (Aug. 1, 1252); etc.

27. Arch. Cath., pergs. 5,957 and 5,958 (April 13, 1239); perg. 1,083 (July 5, 1240); perg. 1,804 (July 18, 1240); perg. 4,808 (Sept. 18, 1241); perg. 5,561 (Sept.13, 1242); perg. 1,807 (Dec. 19, 1244); perg. 4,618 (Feb. 26, 1248); perg. 1,813 (Aug. 9, 1250); perg. 4,621 (Oct. 8, 1250); perg. 4,623 (April 22, 1251); perg. 4,626 (Nov. l0, 1252); perg. 4,627 (June 13, 1253); etc.

28. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,604 (July 2, 1240); perg. 1,203 (Dec. 13, 1239); perg. 5,561 (Sept. 13, 1242); perg. 4,611 (Oct. 13, 1242); and other instances here.

29. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,903 (June 16, 1244).

30. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,371 (Jan. 24, 1238), with perg. 2,333 (Aug. 18, 1242); perg. 653 (July 1, 1238).

31. Arch. Cath., pergs. 5,957 and 5,958 (April 13, 1239); this is a pleasure garden in Beniferri near Valencia city, "et fuit de Mudef patre de Çahen."

32. Arch. Cath., perg. 5,956 (April 28, 1238): two parks (raal).

33. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,626 (Nov. l0, 1252): "quendam corrallum nostrum in valencia in parochia sancti bartholomei."

34. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,803 (Nov. 18, 1238); perg. 5,957 (April 13, 1239); perg. 1,804 (July 18, 1240); perg. 1,813 (Aug. 9, 1250).

35. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,203 (Dec. 13, 1239).

36. Arch. Cath., perg. 653 (July 1, 1238), Benimaclet; perg. 2,371 (Jan. 24, 1238), Puzol.

37. Arch. Cath., perg. 5,976 (Aug. 1, 1252). Anglés means "English(man)," though the word here may have some other derivation such as a connection with the town of La Cellera de Anglés near Gerona; see C. Pujol y Camps and P. Alsius y Torrent, Nomenclátor geográfico-histórico de la provincia de Gerona desde la más remota antigüedad hasta el siglo xv (Gerona, 1883), p. 12.

38. Arch. Cath., pergs., 2,306 and 2,307 (Aug. 18, 1242); are these part of, or supplementary to, the houses bought from the king before (see note 10 and text)?

39. These were next to the cemetery of the cathedral (Arch. Cath., perg. 5,962 [Mar. 5, 1240]). "Sit notum cunctis quod Ego Egidius d'Ungaria et Milia uxor mea consulte...vendimus...irrevocabiliter vobis Magistro Dominico precentori sedis valencie et A. Picherio sacriste eiusdem sedis et Bertrando de Turolio et Iohanni de Montisono canonicis eiusdem sedis et toto capitulo dicte sedis...illas domos nostras...iuxta ecclesiam maiorem sedis valencie ante Cimiterium eiusdem sedis."

40. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,340 (Dec. 19, 1266): "ad augmentationem domorum vestrarum videlicet quandam partem illarum domorum nostrarum scilicet duas archatas" -- from a local couple.

41. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,573 (Mar. 28, 1258): "de domibus que sunt in Civitate valencie in parrochia sancte Marie Sedis valencie."

42. See notes 64-65.

43. Arch. Cath., perg. 5,012 (Nov. 4, 1256): houses willed by a deceased canon, Bertrand of Teruel, which face the cathedral.

44. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,089 (Aug. 18, 1242): "concedimus, tradimus et vendimus vobis Venerabili et dilecto nostro [episcopo] F[errer]...imperpetuum per proprium liberum et franchum alodium omnia statica atque domos nostras sitas in civitate Valencie ante sedem Sancte Marie."

45. Repartimiento, p. 284: "F. episcopus Valentie: ferraginale ante reallum suum et affrontat partim in suo reallo"; a ferraginale seems to have been a field or farm with soil suitable only to certain crops. Items such as these may be personal grants; the distinction could be made, as one sees in the dispute between James and the see of Barcelona over a Valencian estate, which the king insisted had been only a personal gift to the deceased bishop.

46. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,305 (Mar. 30, 1249); perg. 5,973 (same). Repartimiento, pp. 463-464: "Fr. A. episcopo Valentie et...successoribus...per hereditatem propriam francham et liberam ilium realium in termino Xative...in quo primam composicionem fecimus cum alcaydo et sarracenis Xative de castro et villa de Xativa."

47. Repartimiento, p. 418: "Fr. A. episcopo Valentie: domos in Liria que fuerunt de Aceyt Abalfachin...franche."

48. Documents cited in notes 37-38: " statica atque domos nostras sitas in civitate Valencie ante sedem sancte Marie." Repartimiento, p. 286: "F. episcopus Valentie: Statica ante sedem Sancte Marie que confrontantur in via et domibus Sancii...et includit domunculas secundum clausuram ibi factam muri nostri..." See also Arch. Cath., perg. 1,089 (Oct. 18, 1242) and perg. 2,308 (Dec. 23, 1242).

49. Arch. Cath., Liber instrumentorum, fol. 37, given at the siege (Mislata, Valencia properties).

50. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,809 (Feb. 21, 1248): "noverint universi quod nos Jacobus...damus vobis venerabili et dilecto nostro A. dei gratia Episcopo Valencie...imperpetuum domos in Xativa ante Ecclesiam maiorem sancte Marie sicut circumdantur viis publicis."

51. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,090 (Nov. 15, 1243); and see note 36.

52. Nomenclátor de Valencia, p. 154; it is near Callosa de Ensarriá, and is not the Bufila (or Boylla or Bulla) near Bétera which was held by Calatrava from 1237.

53. Arch. Cath., Liber instrumentorum, fol. 139 (an. 1262); also perg. 2,443 (May 1, 1256).

54. Nomenclátor de Valencia, p. 274 (1271).

55. Colección diplomática, doc. 989 (Feb. 26, 1274). Carricola had belonged to the king's mistress, the Lady Berenguela. Chulilla had been attached to the office of dean at the cathedral; when transferred to the bishop by James II, the knight William of Rexach claimed and seized it; James I forced him to restore it to the diocese in 1294. Is the gift of Bolulla a variant of Chulilla? Did James give a separate castle of Garig, or is Carrícola somehow identified with it? The Arch. Crown codex, Liber patrimonii regni Valentiae (fol. 84v), speaks simply of Chulilla and Gargio. It is variously given also as Girig, Garg, Garchi, and Garxio. One must distinguish it from both Gorga and Gorgo (Nomenclátor de Valencia, pp. 242, 248-249). Perhaps it should be identified with Gata de Gorgos; the Garg of several crown documents is located near there, on the river, near Jalón. Cf. also below, Chapter IX, note 62.

56. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,314 (Aug. 24, 1242), a royal permit to buy properties for this purpose: "noverint universi quod nos Jacobus...damus licentiam et plenum posse ac etiam concedimus...quod possitis emere et sine alicuius impedimento domos in Candia Algezira Ontanye et Cocentania ad opus granariorum vestrorum et Cellariorum." The chapter is to hold them, frank and free.

57. Nomenclátor de Valencia, pp. 44 (Albal), 30 (Albuixech).

58. Ibid., p. 95.

59. A case of this kind seems to be the cathedral benefice founded by James I in 1246 (see Chapter VII, note 95); the rents of eighteen shops are to be collected directly for life by the chaplain and his successors, not even the lieutenant or bailiffs of the king intervening.

60. Such a fund is studied carefully in K. Major, "The Finances of the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln from the Twelfth to the Fourteenth Century: A Preliminary Survey," JEH, V (1954), 149-167. Some useful remarks on the properties and financial problems of the contemporary bishops of Vich in Catalonia may be found in the Diplomatari de Sant Bernat Calvó, pp. xl-xli.

61. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,473 (Aug. 29, 1260). The procuration substitute is to be deducted from the cathedral's share of the tithe as set by this agreement, before that share is divided between bishop and chapter.

62. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,330 (Mar. 4, 1240). He was a member of the queen's household and had received the houses in 1238 along with a farm here and two jovates of land in Mislata; cf. perg. 2,329 (July 23, 1238). "Sit notum cunctis quod nos F. dei gracia Episcopus Valencie...excambiamus vobis predicto Raymundo Seguino et vestnis in penpetuum illam Mezchitam quam habemus in civitate Valentie in partita hominum Barchinonensium iuxta portam Boatelle Civitatis."

63. Arch. Cath., perg. 1083 (July 5, 1240): "tradimus et transferimus irrevocabiliter sine retentu quem ibi non facimus," in free alod.

64. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,326 (Nov. 18, 1238). See Itinerari, p. 136 and n., and also p. 112 where he appears with relatives. The name is also written de les Celles, and in the document de ciliis (lit., eyebrows).

65. Arch. Cath., pergs. 2,327 and 2,328 (May 15, 1242), both in Colección diplomática, docs. 1,044-1,045.

66. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,337 (Mar. 15, 1244). The original is misdated as the ides of March "MCC Quarto"; Bishop Ferrer was involved in the first transaction, Bishop Arnold in this one. The exchange involved "totum ius...quod nos habemus et habere debemus in illo cimitenio quod dicitur de Roteros[?]."

67. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,331 (April 5, 1241): "per liberum et franchum alodium il[l]am mezchitam quam habemus in civitate Valencie in Carrania pontis et domos dicte mezquite." An alfondicum or inn on Lérida square in the city was taken in exchange. The family of Orta or Huerta or Duerta were of knightly rank; but similar names were not uncommon here and perhaps his name was simply Bernard of Orts.

68. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,371 (Jan. 24, 1238).

69. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,333 (Aug. 18, 1242).

70. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,334 (Nov. 9, 1243).

71. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,090 (Nov. 15, 1243); see perg. 2,336 (Oct. 16, 1243). This included all residents and revenues, woods, vines, countryside, etc., "cum fortitudine et domibus."

72. Arch. Cath., legajo XXXV, no. 9 (Oct. 1, 1255): "attendentes quod id quod communiter possidetur a plunibus negligi consuevit." See also perg. 1,323 (July 21, 1252).

73. Arch. Cath., perg. 7,804 (July 18, 1240).

74. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,807 (Dec. 19, 1244).

75. Major, "Finances of Lincoln," p. 151.

76. Ibid., pp. 161-162.

77. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,526 (May 3, 1256): "faciatis ibidem opus et melioramentum quod valeat et costet decem solidi regalium." Some of the mosques in the diocese, though originally used as revenue properties, were to be available to later generations for use as churches. One sees such a mosque at Huesca in Aragon in 1250; it had been leased but was now being converted into a church; the priest had to renovate and adapt it at his own expense (Arco, "Famoso jurisperito," pp. 516-517, doc. 8).

78. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,713 (April 13, 1275): "in melioramento dicte Meschite et non liceat vobis concedere alicui dictam meschitam sub maiori censu quam dictum est." Cf. Mundy, Toulouse, pp. 61, 272.

79. Document given in note 89 (1249): "teneatis eum bene cultum et populatum" (Andarella); document in note 93 (1265) for the second mosque.

80. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,624 (Dec. 31, 1251): "sit omnibus notum quod ego Bernardus de Vilano canonicus valentinus nomine Capituli valentini et Raymundus de belestar clenicus nomine domini valentini episcopi...stabilimus ad censum sive damus vobis Raymundo de Savasona...et vestris imperpetuum quamdam mezquitam maiorem quam sedes valentina habet...in alcania de Lomber in termino de calp"; "opera et melioramenta."

81. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,567 (Dec. 20, 1273): "construatis ibi unam domum cohopertam"; also given as a "solarem."

82. Arch. Cath., e.g. perg. 4,652 (Mar. 5, 1270): "ego Petrus Michael precentor stabilio...ad operatorium construendum et edificandum vobis Arnaldo Pellipario capellano et vestris imperpetuum quoddam pati [sic] terre prout vobis assignatum est...extra portam boatelle civitatis Valencie." This cleric's name may be Pellicer, Latinized. Rather than being indicative of a family trade, it suggests that he was a member of the knightly Catalan family of that name. He also rented a shop in Alcira from the crown (1258).

83. Settlement charter cited in note 69: "Septimam mensuram et numerum," "paria gallinarum," etc.

84. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,605 (Sept. 9, 1240): "quandam Mezquitam quam habemus in vico Sancti Iohannis de Bouatella"; "singulis annis in festo sancte Marie Septembris pro censu sex denarios Iaccensium et preter istum censum nullum alium censum vel usaticum inde faciatis."

85. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,653 (Mar. 28, 1270). Given in Chapter IV, note: 57.

86. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,670 (Oct. 1, 1242): "tibi Arnaldo bertrandi...quoddam oratonium in suburbio civitatis Valencie"; "de cera bona"; "dominos vel seniores."

87. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,521 (June 21, 1243): "sit omnibus notum quod nos fnater Arnaldus mis[eraci]one divina Episcopus.. . et Totum valentinum capitulum...stabilimus ad censum sive damus vobis Guillelmo...et uxori vestre...et vestris imperpetuum quoddam fosarium quod habemus in Andarialla." (See note 79 and text.)

88. Ibid.: "ita quod vos et successores vestri teneatis eum bene cultum et populatum, et melioretis et non peioretis."

89. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,811 (Aug. 27, 1249): "quoddam fosarium quod habemus in Andariella...et cum arboribus cuiuslibet generis que ibi sunt aut erunt, aquis cequiis adrigendum." He was a notary public of Valencia in 1245, and bailiff of the mountains of Prades and Ciurana for Prince Peter and (from 1263) for King James; in 1266 he bought the castle and town of Montornés (Itinerari, pp. 171, 340, 389). The rent was one Josephine mazmodin.

90. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,863 (Mar. 1, 1250).

91. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,308 (Oct. 21, 1240): "attendentes devotionem et legalitatem" she displayed toward the church of Valencia; it includes "Mesquitam cum cimiterio eidem pertinenti cum casalibus sibi contiguis."

92. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,872 (June 1, 1277): "sit omnibus notum quod ego Bernandus de Vilano...nomine ecclesie valentine dono et stabilio...quandam mesquitam in morena Valencie quam Sarraceni eiusdem morerie tenere solebant." The rent was a Josephine mazmodin.

93. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,912 (May 5, 1265): "quedam corrallia [que] in tempore Sarracenorum consueverunt esse mezquita que est in Civitate Valencie in parrochia sancti Laurentii."

94. Arch. Cath., perg. 5,969 (Jan. 2, 1244); one Josephine gold piece was to go to each of three canons named.

95. Arch. Cath. Val., perg. 6,946 (Aug. 12, 1244): "de quadam Mezquita cum domibus que se tenent [sic] cum ea domo quam dominus Episcopus et capitulum habeant in Valencia in porcione barchinonensi." The original document follows: "sit notum omnibus quod Ego Bertrandus de Turolio canonicus sedis valencie per me et meos dono et stabilio vobis Iohanni de Gerunda et uxori vestre Astruge perpetuo quandam meschitam cum domibus que se tenent que omnia tenentur per dominum Episcopum valencie et capitulum eiusdem loci in Valencia in porcione barchinonensi."

96. The document is given no date in its published form except that it belongs to the reign of James I (Roca Traver, "Vida mudéjar," p. 134 and n.); it may therefore be the previous mosque, resold.

97. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,210 (April 30, 1244): "sit notum cunctis quod nos Magister Mantinus archidiachonus...et totum capitulum valentine Sedis.stabilimus ad censum vobis Guillelmo Ferranii Capellano ecclesie sancti Martini et vestris ... imperpetuum totum illud fossarium nostrum Sarracenicum quod valli Civitatis valencie ante fontem superioris pontis porte Civitatis Valencie contiguatur."

98. Arch. Cath., perg. 7,343 (Feb. 5, 1270): "ego Guillelmus Fernarii rector ecclesie Sancti Martini Valencie...trado titulo pure et perfecte vendicionis vobis Petro Michaelis precentoni valentino...quoddam fossarium antiquum Sarracenorum quod habeo et teneo in bouatella valencie sub dominio capituli valentini ad censum unius bisancii fmi argenti." It was twenty-three "bracias regales" in length.

99. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,348 (May 5, 1271). The cemetery would also seem to be distinct (cf. the dates) from the Moslem property below in note 101.

100. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,324 (Feb. 25, 1245); at this date the king had it; "que loca tenebas ad censum pro Episcopo Valencie"; "in qua platea et domibus et orto fuit quondam fossarium Sanracenicum."

101. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,617 (Feb. 9, 1248); "unum fossarium extra porta[m] de buatella."

102. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,808 (May 18, 1248). This might be the Cistercian monk of Santes Creus (see doc. of 1252, Itinerari, p. 218n.); there are others of this name, however, including a P. Copons in the Repartimiento.

103. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,523 (Feb. 11, 1250) and perg. 2,864 (Sept. 22, 1250): "stabilimus tibi Arnaldo de Sancto Celidonio...quandam mesquitam intus villam Xative" for two Josephine mazmodins. He is in the Repartimiento.

104. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,622 (Mar. 18, 1251): "unam meschitam in exerea Valencie" to William and his wife.

105. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,865 (Nov. 12, 1251).

106. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,356 (Sept. 20, 1252).

107. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,355 (Aug. 29, 1252).

108. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,625 (April 16, 1252): "stabilimus vobis Bernardo Alamayn et vestris imperpetuum ad meliorandum et in aliquo non deteriorandum quandam Meschitam in Muro veteri que confrontatur cum muro ville et in via publica...," with all appurtenances.

109. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,713 (April 13, 1252): "stabilio vobis Arnaldo Guillermo de Morlans...quandam meschitam in Xativa quam tenent fratres minores que afrontatur cum alfundico Regis...et in Carraria stricta et in tendis vestris."

110. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,214 (April 18, 1252).

111. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,524 (April 7, 1254): "nomine Ecclesie valentine dono vobis Raymundo Dolmalla[?]...quoddam fossarium usque ad fanecatum et plus et unam mezquitam destructam contiguam eo dicto fossario in alcaria de Poligna que est in termino de Corbena." This may have been a ruined or partly dismantled mosque, but it was more probably a site where a mosque once stood.

112. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,710 (Mar. 20, 1254): "unum fossarium quod est in Ravallo de benicabra de Xativa."

113. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,628 (April 22, 1254): "stabilio vobis Berengario darbeta comoranti in castello...unum fossaium in termino de Castello in alcaria que vocatur Ereco [Creco?]...ita quod laboretis et custodiatis eum bene ad consuetudinem boni laboratoris...et detis mihi annuatim...pro censu Duos solidos regalium Valencie et post obitum meum capitulo Valencie."

114. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,773 (April 13, 1252).

115. This is the same property seen in note 100, its revenues having been transferred to Constantine by the king.

116. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,338 (June 17, 1242).

117. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,635 (Dec. 13, 1255): "stabilimus vobis Bernardo reg et vestris imperpetuum ad censum et meliorandum quamdam mezquitam que est intus villam Muniveteris et affrontatur in muro," and adjoining the houses of Na Catalina.

118. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,357 (Aug. 20, 1255): "in illa Mezchita quam vos consuevistis tenere in Xativa pro nobis et capitulo valentino," bordering on the renter's houses. Does the wording imply that unrented mosques were cared for by local agents; or is this simply a new lease, showing that undocumented leases for such mosques may have been numerous in the previous decades? Only the bishop signs here, and the phrasing suggests that only his share is being alienated.

119. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,364 (Dec. 4, 1255): "stabilimus vobis Egidio de Fraga et vestris imperpetuum ad censum et meliorandum quamdam mezquitam que est in ravallo de Liria"; "aliam mezquitam parvulam in qua est ficulnea et est in ralaya [?] Lirie et affrontatur ex una parte..."; the latter rented at only a hundred pence yearly.

120. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,525 (Feb. 18, 1255): "iliam mezquitam quam habemus et habere debemus in muroveteri et eam tenere consuevit pro nobis Iohannes de palacio...cum parietibus, ianuis, fenestris, suppositis introitibus et exitibus et omnibus iuribus et pertinenciis suis a celo in abissum vobis et vestris perpetuo damus et stabilimus ad censum." In case of nonpayment (at each Christmas) it could be recovered.

121. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,636 (April 9, 1256); perg. 2,912 (May 5, 1265); perg. 4,653 (Mar. 28, 1270).

122. Document in Chapter IV, note 55; see this chapter for more Valencia city mosques.

123. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,636 (April 9, 1256): "quemdam locum sive solum terre que tempore Sarracenorum consuevit esse mesquita quod est in parrochia Sancti Bartholomei prope domos vestras." See also Chapter IV, note 56 and text.

124. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,526 (May 3, 1256): "stabilio ad censum vobis Petro de rovax...unam mezquitam que est in Alcaria de Fortaleney cum turre que in dicta mezquita est...cum parietibus, ianuis, fenestnis, tectis..."

125. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,643 (Nov. 17, 1258): "nos Frater Andreas dei gratia valentinus episcopus et Bernandus de Vilano canonicus eiusdem sedis nomine capituli valentini per nos et successores nostros damus et stabilimus vobis Raimundo Mata et...uxori vestre et vestris imperpetuum quandam mesquitam nostram quam habemus et habere debemus in alcharia de carpesa termino civitatis valentie."

126. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,527 (April 9, 1260): to one Martin, "unum fossarium sarracenicum in alqueria de Nacla termini de Corbera quod esse arbitror unius fanachate terre."

127. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,638 (Sept. 18, 1256); perg. 4,657 (Dec. 20, 1273 or 1274).

128. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,595 (June 16, 1279): "concedo ad censum perpetuo et meliorandum vobis Guillelmo de Colle presbitero rectori ecclesie de Spiocha, tres petias terre in dicto loco de Spiocha in quibus fuerunt fossaria tempore Sarracenorum quas extimo [aestimo] tenere in sum[m]a usque ad novem fanechatas terre." The name may be written Coll or Descol; there were several knightly families of the name.

129. For example, in the Valencian part of the Tortosa diocese: "Colección de cartas pueblas," no. V (for Cabanes, an. 1243), BSCC, II (1921), 183-185; and ibid., VI (Benlioch, an. 1250), pp. 297-300, where the land "vadit ad mesquitas dominicature nostre." Arch. Crown, James I, perg. 2,077 (mid-1277) mentions a property near the Templars' gate of the city, "sicut affrontat in mezquita que ibi est et in via publica."

130. Llibre dels feyts, ch. 246. For Moslems, certain open places could also be considered mosques.

131. Arch. Cath., perg. 4,638 (Sept. 18, 1256): "sit omnibus notum, Quod Ego Bernardus Ferren capellanus altaris sancte Marie sedis valentine et procurator Bernardi de Vilano canonici Valencie cum carta ad utilitatem et commodum domini Episcopi et capituli Valencie stabilio ad censum et ad bene meliorandum vobis Raymundo dalmenar et vestris imperpetuum unum fossarium quod est in Alcoy..."

132. Rationes decimarum, I, 259 and 264: "item pro portione Vilanii et censu fossariorum."

133. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,652 (April 13, 1341): "noverint universi quod ego Raimundus ferrarii Canonicus Valencie administrator et gubernator censualium meçquitarum et fossariorum que olim fuerunt Sarracenorum totius diocesis valentine et iurium pervenientium ex eisdem per reverendum patrem et dompnum Episcopum et Ecclesie honorabile capitulum specialiter deputatus prout patet per quoddam publicum instrumentum confectum in Idus Aprilis..."

134. Repartimiento de Sevilla, I, 532.

135. Sanchís Sivera publishes the document in his "Arnaldo de Peralta," pp. 47-48 (July 22, 1247).

136. Ibid. Retaining the forms as read by Sanchís Sivera, these are: Albalat, Baleta, Sagart, Torres, Tovares, Serra, Nichera, Maruride, Puçol, Lullen, Podium Sancte Marie cum parochia sua, Paterna, Maniçes, Benalcuacir, Liria, Cullela, Rocharoya, Villamerchant, Chest, Curia Terris, Toux, Entramnes, Agues, Terrabona, Madçona, Pedralia, Monserat, Vallis de Alhala, alcherye omnes P. de Montagut, alcherye omnes de Galaubia, alcherye omnes de S. Ferrandi, Buynol, Amacasta, Cataroya, Albaida, Captuli, Torrent, Montroy, Alcacer, spreta, pictacen, alcherye omnes de Almuçafres, Sallaria, Parilmas, Tubar, Cullera. "Galaubia," who also appears as a landowner ("un tal Galaubia") in the Nomenclátor de Valencia (p. 279), is really Guillem Olabia, holder of Llornbay, Catadau[ro], and other lands in the Valle de Alcalá. This is the "Galabia" of Huici and Miret y Sans (Itinerari, p. 797) and of Tountoulon (Jaime I, II, 493). Peter of Montagut held the regions of Alfarp and Canlet there. "Baleta" seems to be Valletes -- i.e. Valle de Segó; and so on.

137. Arch. Cath., leg. 661, fasc. 1, fol. 1.

138. Ibid., fols. 1, 2.

139. Ibid., fol. 1: "redditibus, exitibus, proventibus, et obventionibus, ac aliis omnibus." All Santiago and Calatrava income was included in the 2400 solidi total collected by the three final priorates for the non-huerta area above the Júcar.

140. Rationes decimarum, I, 265.

141. One of these may have had all three priorates below the Júcar with Bertrand as vicar. This would account for the total of thirteen in the 1280 list; or is Pontilianus, with a mere seven solidi, an addition north of the Júcar? Other fragments of information on these prionates turn up in the records. For example, in 1284 those of February, June, September, and December were surrendered and then reassigned; in 1285 Arnold of Riusech received the February priorate formerly held by the archdeacon of Valencia William of Alaric.

142. See Chapter IX, pp. 160, 171.

143. Thus Mansilla believes that the daily distributions, a considerable sum when considered in total, were exempted (Iglesia castellano-leonesa, p. 209).

144. Ferran Soldevila, Pere el Gran, III, 460-461, doc. 36, Dec. 10, 1273; cf. p. 333.

145. Cf. Chapter IV, ad finem. There is a most useful collection of late copies of documents dealing with the Valencia kingdom tithes and first fruits in the Bibl. Univ. Val, manuscript collection: codex 145, Bulas, reales ordenes, y concordias sobre diezmos. The early development of the tithe is covered by Paul Viard, Histoire de la dîme ecclésiastique principalement en France jusqu'au décret de Gratien (Dijon, 1909); more pertinent to our own era is his Histoire de la dîme ecclésiastique dans le royaume de France au xiie et xiiie siècles, 1150-1313 (Paris, 1912). Giles Constable furnishes much background information and bibliography on tithes in general, up through the twelfth century, while pursuing his special theme in Monastic Tithes from their Origins to the Twelfth Century (Cambridge, 1964), especially ch. 1. An excellent introduction to the tithe in the Spanish kingdoms is the small but well documented study by Jesús San Martín, El diezmo eclesiástico en España hasta el siglo xii (Palencia [for Gregorian University, Rome], 1940). See also G. Lepointe, "Dîme," "Dîmier," "Décimateur," DDC, IV, cols. 1,231-1,244, 1,059. Moorman has an instructive chapter on the contemporary English situation (Church Life, ch. 9); see also Boyd, Tithes and Parishes in Medieval Italy, passim. On the Valencian tithe see my "A Mediaeval Income Tax: the Tithe in the Thirteenth-Century Kingdom of Valencia," Speculum, XLI (1966), 438-452.

146. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,430 (Sept. 12, 1268): "animalium extraneorum."

147. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,431 (Jan. 19, 1263): "extraneonum," "cabañarum." They go to the local rector.

148. Summa, lib. I, tit. XV, no. 4. Some medieval pirates are said to have tithed to available hermits, to appease their consciences.

149. Ibid., discussion "de decimis, primitiis et oblationibus"; the tithe is taken from "balneis, fullonicis, argentaniis, metallariis, lapidicinis; item de negotiis, et artificiis, et ceteris bonis."

150. Arch. Crown, Peter III, Reg. Canc. 48, fol. 176 (Nov. 8, 1280): "sicut tempore fratris Andree quondam episcopi Valentini...dari fuerat consuetum episcopo et capitulo"; an order by the king to his collectors to pay this to bishop and chapter.

151. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,341 (Feb. 7, 1241): "et sciendum est quod decima predicta debet deduci non tantum de decima [i.e. the secular tribute] set de omnibus quae vos haberetis a Sarracenis illius castri aliquo iusto vel consueto modo."

152. Endowment of diocese, "Colección de cartas pueblas," no. LVII, p. 387. Cf. Moorman, Church Life, p. 119.

153. Other divisions included personal and property; the latter were "old" or, if from lands uncultivated from time immemorial but recently put into cultivation, "new." Is there a reflection of greater and lesser tithes in contemporary Vich, where the income from the "decima que dicitur usualiter temra[e] minor" was to be applied to church furnishings; or was this an idiomatic name for first fruits? (See Diplomatari de Sant Bernat Calvó, doc. 37, June 5, 1234).

154. Arch. Cath., perg. 1,304 (June 1, 1240).

155. Clerical benefices and personal properties were tithable, though the pastor's primitive glebe was exempt; other exemptions included the bishop, leper hospitals, and some monastic groups (on distinctions in the clerical and monastic exemptions, see Penyafort, Summa, lib. I, tit. XV, no. 1).

156. Collectio concillorum Hispaniae, V, 199 (an. 1258), Valencia diocese.

157. Aureum opus, doc. 12, fol. 4r, v (Nov. 2, 1247).

158. Arch. Crown, Peter III, Reg. Canc. 48, fol. 20v (May 13, 1280).

159. Arch. Crown, Peter III, Reg. Canc. 47, fol. 98 (June 27, 1279).

160. See Chapter IV, note 115. In 1142 the tithes in frontier Daroca ("in estremo Sarracenorum") were assigned by the king's settlement charter, half to the bishop and chapter (but only "de pane, et vino, et agnis, et non de aliis"), the rest to the local clergy (T. Muñoz y Romero, Colección de fueros municipales y cartas pueblas de los reinos de Castilla, León, corona de Aragón y Navarra coordinada y anotada [Madrid, 1847], pp. 534-543).

161. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,309 (June 23, 1240): "de toto vero alio episcopatu habeat Capitulum terciam partem omnium decimarum...et Episcopus duas partes." This document is published in full by Sanchís Sivera but incorrectly analyzed (Diócesis valentina, II, 421-422). Expenses of the bishop would include the support of the archdeacons of Valencia and Játiva in their functions: respectively a tenth and an eleventh of the bishop's share of the tithe in the anchdeaconry (ibid.).

162. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,360 (April 27, 1268); also see Furs, lib. IV, rub. XXIV, c. I; Colección diplomática, doc. 947; and Aureum opus, doc. 22 (an. 1268).

163. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,341 (Feb. 7, 1241): "fraude et dolo." Doc. of 1247 cited in note 135: "violenter aut quocunque modo redditus...aufferrentur seu deneganentur."

164. In England too contemporaries struggled for a prededuction of wages and expenses (Moorman, Church Life, p. 124).

165. See the evidence and interpretation of Giles Constable, suggesting the rarity of opposition at least for the eleventh and twelfth centuries: "Resistance to Tithes in the Middle Ages," JEH, XIII (1962), 172-185. On resistance in France see Viard, Dîme au xiie et xiiie siècles, pp. 72 ff.

166. Furs, lib. IV, rub. XXIV, c. I: "els rich homens, cavaliers, ciutadans, e altres habitadors."

167. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,360; also Colección diplomática, doc. 947 (April 27, 1268).

168. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,320 (Mar. 28, 1254); at least for such important crops as grapes or grain.

169. Arch. Crown, Peter III, Reg. Canc. 40, fol. 155 (Sept. 1, 1278), an instruction by the king on tithe gathering for the Valencia kingdom; "super mandatum quod vobis fecimus super decimis et primiciis dandis nobis et Ecclesie...quod deinceps [etc.]." Arch. Cath., perg. 2,321 (same date). See also Furs, lib. IV, rub. XXIV, c. 8: "statuimus quod non obstante poene lx solidorum quod nullus posset decimare vel primitiare absque delmario nostro, et episcopi Valentiae."

170. Arch. Crown, ibid.: "decimarius...primiciarius."

171. Arch. Cath., perg. 2,341 (Feb. 7, 1241) where it is stipulated that the bishop's bailiff will transfer the lord's third of the tithe to him, after the collection.

172. This may have been a late development. It can be seen in a 1364 document about collecting the tithe in the "rectoria loci Castilionis termini Xative," and in a 1357 collection of the Alboraya-Almácera regions commonly called the "decimarium de Alboraya," bordered by the respective decimaria of Rambla, Carpesa and Foyos (Arch. Crown, Liber patrimonii regni Valentiae, fols. 31v, 102v).

173. The names of these men can be found in the lists of the Rationes decimarum for 1279 and 1280, in Appendix III, below. A number of documents showing them at work may be seen in the cathedral archives (e.g., the settlement of some revenues in perg. 1,106 [Sept. 15, 1272]).

174. Constitutiones sive ordinationes, fols. 69-70: nothing had been built at Valencia, Albal, Gandía, or Játiva. See also fol. 67v, and Arch. Cath., perg. 1,314.

175. Arch. Crown, James I, perg. 2,289 (July 23, 1276): "item mandamus restitui Episcopo et Ecclesie Valencie bladum totum et vinum et alia victualia que accepimus nobis ab eis."