[31] The basic unit of Valencian irrigation society was the community of irrigators, the commons (comu or comuna) of those irrigating from a single main canal. The sum of all the regadiu holdings irrigated by a single canal system constituted the rech, or service area, of that canal. In the highly developed huertas one man's land might be bounded by canals belonging to two different systems. But he could draw water from only one system and be a member of only one irrigation community (for that particular parcel), to which he had to pay certain dues and perform certain services and by whose regulations he was governed in irrigating. ⁽¹⁾

The concept of having rights in a particular canal is illustrated by the accusation of one irrigator in Castellón against another: "He irrigated by the canal [in] which he had no right" -- a formula complementary to another typical complaint: "He irrigated in a place where he had no right." ⁽²⁾ These two rights, the right to irrigate a parcel and the right to do so from a specific canal and no other, were necessarily interdependent. Only when the course of a canal was changed could a parcel change rechs. ⁽³⁾

In the case of communally owned and administered canals, such as the eight main canals of the huerta of Valencia, the service area was the prime administrative and jurisdictional unit in irrigation matters, taking precedence over the village jurisdictions through which the canals passed. Although village lines often determined the constituencies of members of the governing body of the communes, the administrative districts were most [32] typically natural subdivisions of the canal system itself, such as branch channels.

Many towns throughout the kingdom, in contrast to Valencia, irrigated from a single main canal, the cequia major; these canals, as in Castellón, Burriana, and Orihuela, were owned and administered by the town. In such instances the town assumed the role and carried out the same functions as did the autonomous communities of the Valencian huerta: the rech lost its jurisdictional discreteness and became subordinate to the municipal jurisdiction. ⁽⁴⁾
 

The self-governing irrigation communes of the medieval Valencian huerta were those of the four upper canals of Moncada, Quart (including the Benacher and Faitanar branches), Tormos, and Mislata and the four lower canals of Mestalla, Favara, Na Rovella, and Rascanya ⁽⁵⁾ (see Map 1). All persons having land in the service area of the canal were members of the commons.⁽⁶⁾ At a general meeting held in the cloister of the monastery of St. Francis in Valencia on May 29, 1435, eighty-four men of Benacher and Faitanar gathered to draw up and approve regulations; they were described as "landowners and those having lands and possessions which are irrigated by the waters flowing through the canals of Benacher and Faitanar, originating in the Guadalaviar River." ⁽⁷⁾ Present at such meetings were not only owners of cultivated lands, but also millers and other industrial water users who were considered as equal hereters of the canal and members of its commons. ⁽⁸⁾ In the parlance of general meetings of the fifteenth century the phrase "millers and landowners" ⁽⁹⁾ meant all water users.

Meetings were held at traditional places of assembly, usually ecclesiastical buildings. In the fifteenth century both the commons of Benacher-Faitanar and that of Na Rovella met in the Franciscan monastery of the city of Valencia. ⁽¹⁰⁾ The commons [33] of Rascanya met at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity in the1420'S and 1430's. ⁽¹¹⁾

Such meetings were held under license from the king's governor ⁽¹²⁾ at fixed intervals, for the purpose of electing officers:

In the huerta of the city of Valencia there is a canal among the others called Tormos, the water of which continually serves to irrigate certain quarters of the said huerta . . . and each year at a certain time the landholders and those having lands there meet together and elect certain persons necessary for the administration of the waters of the said canal. They are accustomed to elect deputies, a treasurer, a cequier or administrator of the canal, and a collector, giving to each certain duties. . . ⁽¹³⁾

Meetings sometimes failed because of low attendance. Not always did fourscore irrigators turn out, as at the meeting of Benacher and Faitanar mentioned above. In November 1430, at the instigation of some residents of Quart, a general meeting was called in the name of the governor and, accordingly, public notice (that is, a cry, or crida) was given along the canals of Quart, Benacher, and Faitanar. "With a public cry the irrigators [34] . . .were convoked in order to gather at the monastery of the Franciscan brothers, there where the said canals are accustomed to meet for many necessary acts." The meeting was a distinct failure, however, because only eight or ten irrigators showed up in addition to those who had called the meeting in the first place; ⁽¹⁷⁾ so another meeting was called and held in the same place on December 3. This one was a success, and a reconnaissance of needed works on canals and dams was authorized. The record of the second meeting states that, among others residing on the canals in question, the important magnates were present (the Commander of Torrent, the Mayoral of Quart, and the lords of Alaquás and Manises ⁽¹⁸⁾); this suggests that the first meeting's lack of success was not due to poor attendance per se, but rather to the absence of those whose interest and support was necessary for the successful outcome of any important project.

The primary business of the commons as a whole was to enact regulations for the distribution of water and maintenance of the canal system and then to elect the executive and administrative officers to whom authority for the day-to-day running of the canal's normal affairs was delegated. Ordinances such as the Capitols (Chapters) of Benacher and Faitanar (1435) established the duties of the cequier and his assistants, set fines for various misdemeanors, and stipulated obligations of the hereters regarding observance of turns, maintenance of the canal, and contribution of dues.

The offices of the Tormos Canal, cited above, were standard. The "deputies" (diputats, elets, or sindichs) formed a kind of governing council and were selected by varying criteria. The most usual form of representation, especially on the longer canals, was by village. Thus the administration of the Moncada Canal has traditionally been entrusted to twelve syndics, one each elected from Paterna, Burjassot, Moncada, Alfara, Vinalesa, Meliana, Foios, Albalat dels Sorells, Massamagrell, Museros, Puig, and Puçol. ⁽¹⁹⁾

[35]Sometimes class as well as geographical interests were represented. In 1414 two syndics of the Moncada Canal, one representing the "knights and townsmen" (cavaliers e ciutadans), the other representing the peasantry (pagessia) requested a general meeting of the commons. ⁽²⁰⁾ The status of these representatives and their actual functions are not clearly delineated in the documents. The syndic or deputy functioned primarily as spokesman for a particular group within the commons and sometimes as representative of the whole commons (as when petitioning the town council or pleading before the governor's court). The medieval syndics of the Moncada community apparently did not possess the administrative authority which in modern times came to be concentrated in their hands. ⁽²¹⁾ (The present-day syndic who sits on the Tribunal of Waters is not the same as the medieval syndic. He is, rather, the medieval cequier; the change of name occurred gradually and became standardized in the nineteenth century.)

The powers of the deputies were quite indefinite and their position within the commons often unstable, as indicated by challenges to their power. In 1446 Gilabert Canoguera, "one of the deputies of the canal and commons of Favara [said] that some hereters of the said canal had attempted to take power along with the said Gilabert, on behalf of [all] the commons, in order to carry out certain acts and elections in the said commune of Favara, among others [that of] electing and creating other deputies and syndics." ⁽²²⁾ Deputies did not go unchallenged when they attempted to extend their constituency arbitrarily.

The chief irrigation officers of the kingdom were the sobrecequiers (or çabacequies) and cequiers. The sobrecequier was a municipal officer; a cequier usually had jurisdiction over just one canal. ⁽²³⁾ The sobrecequier was the typical official in towns where irrigation was municipally controlled, as in Orihuela and Burnana. The title was not uniformly applied, however, for in Castellón the municipal irrigation officer was called, simply, cequier.

The canals of the Valencian huerta were administered by a cequier delegated by each community of irrigators at the general [36] meeting. Huerta-wide jurisdiction in irrigation matters was exercised by the town executive officers, the jurates. ⁽²⁴⁾ The distinction between the role of the huerta cequiers, who were officials of the autonomous communes, and the jurates quasobrecequier is revealed in litigation between the canals of Favara and Mislata in 1404:

According to the fueros and privileges of the kingdom each canal of the district of the city has its cequier, and he has jurisdiction and decides the questions which arise between hereter and hereter of [each] canal. [He is also in charge of] cleaning the said canal and doing other things pertaining to it.

[But, on the other hand] all the canals of the district of the city ought to have a çabacequies who [ought to have jurisdiction] over the waters and canals of the whole district of the city; and these are the jurates [of the] city. . . . ⁽²⁵⁾

There is some evidence that a huerta-wide jurisdiction did survive in a single office, with authority delegated by the jurates, as late as the fifteenth century. But the office seems to have been ad hoc rather than permanent, and dictated by extraordinary circumstances. The jurates addressed a letter in July 1415 to "the honorable Berenguer Rochafort, cequier of the waters of Valencia," who appears to have been in charge of turn arrangements with the upstream villages known as the Pueblos Castillos.⁽²⁷⁾ The jurates often appointed cequiers or ex-cequiers of individual huerta canals to serve as their representatives in particular irrigation affairs. Rochafort was most likely a temporary appointee with specific enforcement duties upstream during a time of crisis.

The duties of cequiers, whether municipal or community, [37] were described in general terms in the fueros. ⁽²⁸⁾ They had to see "that no one dare steal water, nor disturb the canals, nor cut off the water of any canal, nor divert it through another, nor break down the main canals or branches." Once a year they were to clean the main canals from head to tail, remove vegetation from them, and not return the water to the canals until the cleaning had been accomplished in the prescribed manner. They were entrusted with the maintenance of divisors and bridges and had to repair the diversion dam whenever it was breached. (In the latter eventuality the cequier had ten days in which to act if the break occurred in winter, eight if in summer.) If a hereter failed to clean his prescribed section on the day assigned by the cequier, the latter could undertake the work himself and charge the delinquent double the expense. The cequier could impose a fine of five sous for flooding the road and sixty for stealing water. He could furthermore impose these fines either with a hearing or summarily, as he saw fit, and could use force to execute them.⁽²⁹⁾ Besides his enforcement activities (described in Chapter III), the cequier oversaw the normal distribution of water. He watched the diversion dam and controlled the amount of water diverted from the river into the canal. ⁽³⁰⁾ He had broad discretionary powers in the setting of turns among the hereters and as a result was frequently involved in disputes with them.

The daily activities of the irrigation community were necessarily directed by someone who knew the topography, regulations, and local traditions intimately. Custom thus decreed that cequiers of huerta canals had to be cultivators -- llauradors -- themselves, and members of the commons of the canal. ⁽³¹⁾ This meant that the cequiers were sometimes inclined to sacrifice administrative efficiency to the natural sympathy of one irrigator for the problems of all, as in their reluctance to enforce the penalties against road flooding. They suffered too from other failings common to llauradors of the huerta. In a dispute between several villages on the Favara Canal, the complaint was raised that "the cequier of Favara and his inspectors ... are peasants and gross men and don't know how to read." ⁽³²⁾ Thus the cequier's capacity to decide the point in question was held in doubt. A [38] privilege of James II was designed to overcome just this difficulty by stipulating that a cequier might appoint, ex officio, a jurist to help him in his decisions. ⁽³³⁾

The method of electing cequiers differed from community to community. The usual methods were election from a slate or competitive bidding to see who could get the job done at the least expense. A syndic of the Tormos Canal described the latter method: "When anyone is made cequier of Tormos or of another canal of the said city of Valencia, it is customary that the said canal be bid for publicly before the commons of its hereters who are gathered together . . . and he who gets the canal . . .at the lowest price, administers the said canal according to its regulations . . . and is held to observe and comply with the regulations of the canal." ⁽³⁴⁾ The cequier of Tormos, in this case Jacme de la Torre, served for three years. ⁽³⁵⁾ The assigning of the office of the cequier was referred to as the sale (venda) or lease (arrendament) of the canal. ⁽³⁶⁾ The total bid -- in the bidder's estimation, the amount necessary for the administration of the canal during the stipulated term -- would then be divided into units according to the cafizates of land in the service area. This pro rata sum was the cequiatge rate or the rate of assessment that each hereter had to pay as his share of the upkeep of the canal system. ⁽³⁷⁾

The cequier was assisted in his duties by a variety of subordinate officials: lieutenants, inspectors, guards, and water-dividers. These terms had great fluidity, and the same man might have been called by various titles depending on the particular task he was executing at the time. The cequier himself was sometimes called partidor de les aygues, and Jacme Marti, cequier of Mislata in 1430, was also called açuter, indicating the importance attributed to maintenance of the dam (açut). ⁽³⁸⁾ No matter what the title, all the assistants performed administrative and police tasks as delegates of the cequier.

The cequier usually had a lieutenant who was empowered to act in his stead when circumstances required. In the case of the Rascanya Canal, the lieutenant was elected by the commons. ⁽³⁹⁾ It may have been that in other communities the office was [39]appointive, or only nominally elective. The cequier tended to have as his chief assistant a man whom he knew intimately, even a member of his family. In 1413 Gil Roiç of Castellblanch was lieutenant to the cequier of Moncada, Johan Roiç of Castellblanch -- either his father or his brother. ⁽⁴⁰⁾ The council of Castellón de la Plana proposed in 1472 that the cequier, J. Marti, have two aides (moços) one of whom ought to be "a familiar of the cequier." ⁽⁴¹⁾ Whether "familiar" here connotes a dependent or servant or only a close acquaintance, the cequier's principal aides were close associates who enjoyed his full confidence.

In the thirteenth century the term çabacequies or çabacequier was a synonym of sobrecequier. But in the fifteenth-century huerta the çabacequier was commonly an officer subordinate to the cequier. ⁽⁴²⁾ Jurisdiction over the canals of Benacher and Faitanar was exercised by a cequier and çabacequiers; and a fifteenth-century document relates that "the cequiers and çabacequiers of the Moncada Canal have responsibility . . . for administering and guarding the waters and of notifying the chief cequier of the misdemeanors which they find." ⁽⁴³⁾ It appears from these references that there was considerable flexibility in the appointment of the cequier's subordinates and no standard disposition of offices.

In the 1435 ordinances of Benacher and Faitanar there is no mention of çabacequiers, although it is specified that the cequier may have a lieutenant and shall be aided by inspectors, guards, and water-dividers. Guardians and partidors are synonyms in this text, although a document of 1413 for the same canal indicates a special jurisdiction, the guardiatge de la aygua, filled by two men who were to guard the canals of Benacher and Quart from Alaquàs to Manises, day and night, so that no one would steal water. ⁽⁴⁴⁾ In any case the two titles stress the administrative and police functions of the same office: as partidor the official divided the water, diverting it to specified channels in the normal course of the turn, as guardian he prevented the unlawful diversion of water by anyone else. ⁽⁴⁵⁾

The Benacher-Faitanar ordinances make it clear that partidors had local jurisdiction and did not officiate along the entire [40] length of the canal. There was to be one divider for the upstream irrigators and one for the downstream; the partidors were the officials who actually saw to the proper execution of the order of turns. ⁽⁴⁶⁾ An earlier compilation of the ordinances further stipulated that the canal turn-out called Palmar (located at the point where Benacher and Faitanar met) must have as partidor one of its own hereters. ⁽⁴⁷⁾ In this way authority was subdivided and subdelegated until a local man was held responsible (to the cequier) for seeing that the water of his branch canal was apportioned according to the regulations of the community and to the rights of the individual irrigators. The partidor had to be present at a specific place of diversion (divisor or turn-out) during the turn and was responsible for diverting the water into the proper channels at the appointed times. Jacme Ilari, of Patraix, "divider of the water" of the Mislata Canal, testified in a dispute of 1414 that on a night in question, at the first hour of the morning, "he divided the water and gave it to Jacme Fuster" by placing a check in the canal. ⁽⁴⁸⁾

Each irrigation community also had two or more inspectors (veedors), officials typical of medieval Valencian corporations, ⁽⁴⁹⁾ who assisted the cequier in a variety of tasks but were not subordinate to him. Rather, their purpose was to represent the rights of the commons. Frequently the cequier counseled with the inspectors before rendering a decision, ⁽⁵⁰⁾ and thus the inspectors provided an added guarantee for the observance of customary practice and for the probity of the cequier. And finally, the communities had financial officers, such as the collector of the cequiatge and the treasurer (clavari). ⁽⁵¹⁾

Valencian cequiers did not and were not allowed to succeed themselves in office; there is no evidence that any tried to make the office a career. But subordinate officials often had lengthy tenures: Nadal Tarrega held the office of collector of the cequiatge of the Tormos commons for more than ten years in the second quarter of the fifteenth century. ⁽⁵²⁾ Likewise, the çabacequiers who assisted the cequier of Moncada in their places of residence served for long terms. Guillem Cabot, llaurador of Puçol, stated in 1438 that "for thirty years up to the present [41] year . . . [he had been] çavacequier [sic] on the Moncada Canal"; and Johan Aparici, of Rafelbunyol, testified that he had served in the same capacity for sixteen years. ⁽⁵³⁾ Only in canals under municipal control does there seem to have been a tendency to make the more important posts into standing offices. In the Valencian huerta, where the basis of authority was the consensus of all the irrigators, every hereter could be cequier.
 

Administrative procedure on municipally controlled canals can be described in greater detail because more records have survived. In towns where its administration was a subdivision of municipal administration, irrigation is alluded to frequently in the series of general municipal records, notably the minutes of the council. The council of Castellón took special precautions to ensure that irrigation records were kept. In 1405 it ordered Johan d'Arenys, the cequier, to enter in his book the ordinances and judicial decisions which it lacked and "with which the cequier guides himself in order to do justice and equality to the people according to the said decisions and ordinances of the canal [the cequia major of Castellón]." ⁽⁵⁴⁾ Similarly, on August 5, 1414, the council ordered that all documents pertaining to the disputes (largely concerned with water matters) between Castellón and the other towns of La Plana -- Burriana, Almassora, and Villarreal -- be put into "un memorial o libre." ⁽⁵⁵⁾

The council of Castellón made repeated attempts to bring order into the registers of the cequiatge owed by the irrigators. On July 12, 1416, it ordered that a book be drawn up "of all those who hold lands in the regadiu of the cequia major, in order that from now on the cequiatge be clear." A public cry was ordered stipulating that the hereters had to bring their certificates of ownership (cedules) to the jurates and the scribe of the council. ⁽⁵⁶⁾

The councillors continued to discuss the "book of the cequiatge" ⁽⁵⁷⁾ until, in 1432, they complained to the jurates that the book was "confused and unclear" and had many omissions, to the detriment of the town. ⁽⁵⁸⁾ In addition, the cequier [42] kept a record of the fines which he and his assistants imposed ⁽⁵⁹⁾ and an account of the yearly cleaning of the canal. ⁽⁶⁰⁾

Doubtless the autonomous communes of the Valencian huerta also kept records. All of them now have archives with documents extending back several centuries, and their regulations often indicate elaborate bookkeeping procedures. ⁽⁶¹⁾ Nonetheless, records comparable to those of Castellón have not survived from the medieval period, probably because the irrigation communities lacked the archival facilities available to medieval municipalities.

When towns built new canals, the municipal authorities established their jurisdiction in clear terms. In a dispute between Valencia and Alcira over the right to draw water from the Júcar through the Canal of the Siphon (Cequia del Canó), Alcira asserted that the water of this new channel was only to irrigate lands within its bounds. When the new work had been completed, Jacme Garcia, syndic of Alcira, personally supervised measurement of the channel's width and depth along its entire course; then, seeing that all of the canal was within Alcira's municipal limits, he performed a symbolic act to establish the town's jurisdiction.

And in token of the proclamation of a new work and in order to verify the possession of the town of Alcira . . .he took three stones in his hand and threw them into the new canal, and throwing them -- one on this side, one on the other -- in the presence of me, the notary, and of the below-signed witnesses . . . he said: "I, here announcing a new work in your presence, throw these three stones, one after another, in order to preserve the possession of the said town and its citizens, in and by that form, manner, and condition which suits best, according to the fuero and good reason." ⁽⁶²⁾

The actual administration of municipal canals such as the [43] cequia major of Castellón differed little from that of the communal canals of the huerta of Valencia. The cequier had the same duties; the town council filled the role of both deputies and plenary meetings of the commons alike. The council was a readily accessible forum for irrigation matters; indeed, it probably heard too many minor complaints which in an autonomous community would have been handled at a lower level.

The traditional date for election of the cequier of Castellón was December 26. For example, on that day in 1385, on the jurates' recommendation (they and the justiciar customarily elected the best man for the job), the council agreed to ask Berthomeu del Mas to serve. ⁽⁶³⁾ But by the latter part of the fifteenth century the method of election had changed. On December 26, 1472, a slate of six men was submitted and the nominee chosen by lot -- by the common procedure of drawing wax balls, redolins, out of a vessel. The man selected, Jacme Marti, took the oath of office on December 27. ⁽⁶⁴⁾ He then petitioned the council that "he have an aide [moço] for the canal, that is Nadal Galent . . . and that it please the council to give him the salary of an assistant." ⁽⁶⁵⁾ The council provided that the cequier have two assistants, Galent and some "familiar" of the cequier. Galent was serving as moço as early as 1472 and still played a vital role in the system in 1487. In that year (see Table 6) he initiated action in 214 of 492 (43.5 percent) of the fines entered in the cequier's book, while the cequier himself was responsible for only 28 accusations (1.2 percent). At least in policing the canal, the moço was the effective officer at this time.

In other towns of the kingdom where irrigation was administered directly by the jurates and council, a cequier or sobrecequier functioned much as did the Castellón official. In Elche the sobrecequier was elected yearly by the council at the same time as other town officials; similarly, the jurates of Orihuela chose a townsman as sobrecequier to patrol the canals, divide the water, and hear irrigation cases. ⁽⁶⁶⁾

Where the towns controlled irrigation administration the council functioned as a general forum for irrigation matters. Municipal control did not necessarily reduce the voice of the [44] irrigators in governing their own affairs; however, the potentiality for abuse was greater. Jurates in particular had the power to subvert the system in order to obtain more water for themselves. In 1625 the Bishop of Orihuela discovered in the course of a pastoral visitation that the water of the town reservoir was unevenly distributed among the landowners because of collusion of the powerful with the jurates and the sobrecequier and the fact that "each one strives to take advantage of his office during the year he is jurate in order to irrigate his field." As a result, the normal turn of three weeks was extended by some ten to twenty days. ⁽⁶⁷⁾ In the Valencian huerta, decentralization of authority among the autonomous communities virtually prevented any meddling by town officials whether they were water users or not. Indeed, there is no evidence that any such meddling took place during the medieval centuries. Within the communities a powerful individual might seek to thwart the will of the commons or cequier, but the success of such a maneuver depended purely on the resources of the individual and could have no institutional support.
 

The area known in the Middle Ages as the Marjals of the city of Valencia was the region to the south and east of the city bounded by a line running from Russafa to Alfafar on the west, ⁽⁶⁸⁾ the Gully of Catarroja and the Albufera on the south, and the sea to the east, and on the north by the river from the Punta d'En Silvestre to the sea. It therefore included the lower portion of the Rovella and Quart systems. The city, although it did not intervene directly in the internal administration of the huerta canals, did in the course of the fifteenth century undertake a sustained effort in irrigation administration in the Marjals. In attempting to administer the canals of the Marjals (for whose improvement and reclamation it had spent vast amounts of money), the city demonstrated the problems arising from a situation [45]  in which irrigators do not have full control over the selection of their administrative officials.

As part of the agreement drawn up in 1386 between the city and the Cathedral chapter concerning improvement of the irrigation network of the Marjals, the city was responsible for naming a cequier with authority over all the canals of the Marjals. The cequier was to serve for a two- or three-year term and was to be assisted by two inspectors ⁽⁶⁹⁾ with whose counsel he would have full jurisdiction over canals and branch canals, drainage ditches, bridges, and their hereters, "just as, by fuero and privilege, each cequier [that is, of the huerta canals] has over his canal and its hereters." In spite of the fact that the city appointed the cequier, a way was left open for his recall by the hereters of the Marjals. "If anyone should feel himself aggrieved by a judgment or act of the cequier . . . let him recur to the [civil] justiciar and the jurates [of Valencia] and to no one else," the agreement stipulated. ⁽⁷⁰⁾

The post was hard to fill. In 1433 the jurates provided that, since at the present time there was no cequier in the Marjals, Johan Marroma, subsyndic of the city and syndic of the Marjals, ought to take charge of removing the vegetation from the Marjals canals. In addition, he was empowered to collect the cequiatge from the hereters. ⁽⁷¹⁾ On June 30, 1435, the council authorized the election of a cequier, and on November 5 the same Johan Marroma was named to the post. ⁽⁷²⁾ Several years later, on February 10, 1439, Marti de Mariana, a furrier (pellicer) and citizen of Valencia, was elected cequier of the Marjals. ⁽⁷³⁾ Mariana continued in office, on and off, until at least 1470. From the time of his appointment until 1442, he carried out his duties in the Marjals and was also in charge of works on the canals and drainage ditches of the spring of the port of Valencia (Font del Grau). ⁽⁷⁴⁾

On May 8, 1442, the first hint of Mariana's difficulties with the irrigators is revealed. One of the jurates told the council that Mariana, "because of his office, had been denounced by some hereters who had brought suit against him when the queen was [46] in the city, for which reason he had incurred many expenses in defending himself." Mariana sought some remuneration from the city. ⁽⁷⁵⁾ In spite of his difficulties he was at work in the port in autumn 1442 and spring of the following year. ⁽⁷⁶⁾

In November 1445, Johan Marroma, syndic of the city, and not Mariana, was in charge of keeping the New Canal of the Marjals in repair, ⁽⁷⁷⁾ and the council's action in August 1447 makes it clear that the office had been vacated. The jurates, "mindful that in the Marjals of the city there was no cequier nor any guard," recommended that Marti de Mariana be appointed as "cequier and guard of the Marjals, with the salary and regulations pleasing to the jurates." ⁽⁷⁸⁾ Back on the job, Mariana worked on the Font del Grau in the autumn, received his salary of 15 pounds (300 sous) for one year's tenure as cequier, and worked steadily and without incident both in the Marjals and the port until January l452. ⁽⁷⁹⁾ At that time complaints were again raised against him: "Continually there have been infinite complaints from the hereters of the Marjals owing to the great . . . blunders (senrahons) which he [Mariana] frequently made, in such a way that they can in no way put up with him any longer."⁽⁸⁰⁾ So On March 1, Mariana was paid 50 pounds for cleaning the cequia maior of the Marjals, but on May 15 the council acted on the issues raised in January and removed him from office. ⁽⁸¹⁾ The same day Bernat Mojoli, llaurador and resident of Russafa, was named in his place.

Mojoli continued in office until October 1454 (indicating a three-year term, in accordance with the original statute), at which time he was removed -- "without infamy," however -- and replaced by Marti de Mariana again. ⁽⁸²⁾ Mojoli returned to office on October 8, 1460, only to cede once more to Mariana just six days later. ⁽⁸³⁾ What then happened is not clear: Mariana worked in 1461; ⁽⁸⁴⁾ Mojoli returned in 1463; ⁽⁸⁵⁾ but in September 1465, one Johan Alonso was elected administrator of the Cequia del Riu, in the Marjals. Moreover Alonso was elected by the deputies of all the hereters of the canal. ⁽⁸⁶⁾ This incident clearly represents a step toward the "regularization" of canal administration in the Marjals, whereby a rech jurisdiction along the [47] lines of those of the canals of the huerta proper was carved out of the general, municipally-controlled administration of the Marjals. Mojoli was still cequier at the time of his death in February 1466, whereupon Mariana again regained the office. ⁽⁸⁷⁾ The last reference I have to the veteran cequier is from May 19, 1470, on which day the city paid him 100 sous to replace his horse, which had died in the Marjals, "whither he was going to exercise the office of cequier." ⁽⁸⁸⁾

Throughout the Middle Ages the Marjals were a demographically and economically unstable area. It was difficult to get people to settle there; the dangers from disease were great and the battle with nature to reclaim the swamps was constant. This instability was reflected in the administrative history recounted above. The city had financed the reclamation of the area in the 1390's and continued supporting it financially throughout the fifteenth century (see Chapter IV); it was reasonable that the city should want to exercise some control. On the other hand, there is no doubt it would have gladly surrendered control to the hereters themselves (as in the case of the Cequia del Riu) if settlement had been dense enough to ensure that the community itself would be able to keep the irrigation system in repair. The principal reason for the city's presence in the Marjals was to care for those stretches of canals -- and there were many -- that had no frontalers responsible for their maintenance. The need for municipal control in the Marjals, in other words, was a function of the low population density.

The faults of running the Marjals from the Cambra Secreta of the council were many. First, the cequier came to be considered a municipal irrigation officer, and his energies were diverted to other areas, such as the Grau, far from the scene of his original charge. This development was in part responsible for the second weakness of the arrangement: lack of communication with the hereters, which appeared to undermine Marti de Mariana's authority and for a while at least made his tenure impossible. Why did he keep returning? Probably because he was willing to make a career of what must have been a most undesirable job and because, after his years of service, no one [48] could be found with comparable knowledge of the area and its problems.
 

Constant vigilance in maintenance (condret) and repair (adobs) of canals and dams was a vital necessity. Especially near the tails of canals, where the land bordered on and had been reclaimed from marjals, there was danger of the land regressing to its former swampy condition if the channels were not kept clear. ⁽⁸⁹⁾

In arrangements elaborated for canal maintenance, a balance was struck between the responsibilities of the cequier (or of the town) on the one hand and those of the individual irrigators on the other. The usual formula was that the hereters were collectively responsible for cleaning and maintaining the branch canals, while the cequier directed the cleaning of the main canal. The overall arrangements and the assurance that hereters carried out their duties were within the cequier's purview. Canal cleaning was his task par excellence. In a dispute over a mill on the Favara Canal in 1426, the miller asked testily that the cequier stay away from his turn-out and concentrate on cleaning the canal, because "that is the job of a cequier!" ⁽⁹⁰⁾

The customary time for cleaning canals was during the month of April, that is, before the spring crops were planted: "It is the custom in the present city of Valencia and among the cequiers of all its canals that each year in the month of April . . . they shut off the water and order the cleaning of all the canals, and during the rest of the year it is not customary to clean main canals."⁽⁹¹⁾ The Benacher-Faitanar ordinances stipulated that when the cleaning was done and before the water was let back into the canal the cequier was to show the cleaned canals to the syndic, deputies, and inspectors. The job had to be completed in a week's time, and if it was not the cequier was barred from receiving any of that year's cequiatge -- that is, he would have to finish the job out of his own pocket. ⁽⁹²⁾ Generally the cleaning lasted for one week, ⁽⁹³⁾ work continuing on holidays if need be; ⁽⁹⁴⁾[49] if more than a week was required the furor raised was great. ⁽⁹⁵⁾ The council of Elche took note in June 1525 that the canals and branch canals of the town were "right poorly cleaned": only five men had come each day to work and ten days had passed without the job being finished. The council decreed that lazy workers (peons flachs) were to be docked. ⁽⁹⁶⁾

The most important tasks of canal maintenance were clearing away vegetation from the sides of the canal (erbejament) and scouring the channel (escurament), that is, digging out the silt (tarquim) and mud (fanch). The erbejament was done with scythes (dalls) and sickles (corbelles), ⁽⁹⁷⁾ and sometimes the growth was burned away. ⁽⁹⁸⁾ These implements, along with the tools for digging, were usually rented; the sotsobrer of Valencia expended 7 sous 6 diners in 1390 for rental of three scythes and two sickles for nine days of cutting on the banks of the En Fluvia Canal in the Marjals. ⁽⁹⁹⁾

Diggers, called palers because they worked with the pala (shovel), ⁽¹⁰⁰⁾ were aided by glevers, who carried away the lumps of earth in rush baskets (cabaçets). ⁽¹⁰¹⁾ Holes in the channel were plugged with a mortar of quicklime, gravel, and sand; ⁽¹⁰²⁾ stakes were inserted in the banks of the canal to hold back vegetation and support the sides; ⁽¹⁰³⁾ and, finally, the silt which had been heaped on the banks was leveled down. ⁽¹⁰⁴⁾ The workers were guided in their digging by esparto cords with which they checked the width of the canal. ⁽¹⁰⁵⁾

On the Marjals project of 1390-1392 palers were paid 3s. daily, glevers 2s. 6d., and young boys (fadrins) 2s. for doing odd jobs. The erbejadors who cut the undergrowth while standing on land were paid 2 sous each, but "reapers who were standing in the water" received 2s. 6d. ⁽¹⁰⁶⁾ It is possible to formulate some idea of the cost of cleaning an entire canal because estimates were sometimes quoted per unit of length (in this case, the braa, or ell, measuring about 2 meters). In 1449 the Cequia Morisca in the Marjais had been measured as 503 ells long and the cleaning cost estimated at ten diners per ell, which amounts to 5,030 diners, or 20 pounds 19 sous 2 diners. ⁽¹⁰⁷⁾ This figure can be compared with expenditures in the cleaning of the same canal in [50] July 1390, when more than 50 men worked for 4 days for total wages of 27 pounds 1 sou 6 diners. ⁽¹⁰⁸⁾ Assuming that the canal was the same length in 1390 as when it was measured in 1449 and taking into account that wages were higher in the latter year than in the former, ⁽¹⁰⁹⁾ the estimate given the jurates in 1449 must have been based on the assumption that the work could be completed with fewer man-days. This would be logical if the canal were in reasonably good condition, bearing in mind that the work of 1390 was more an overhauling than a simple annual cleaning.

Thus far work on main canals directed by the cequier or by municipal authorities has been considered. But on secondary channels the irrigator himself was responsible for maintaining the stretch of canal on which his property fronted (hence the term frontaler). At the same time as the city made plans for its share of the work in the Marjais, the sotsobrer moved to inform the frontalers of their obligations: "I gave to En Artus, the town crier, [the sum of 13s. 6d.] for himself and his companions, that is trumpeters and drummers, for a cry which he made throughout the city . . . that everyone who fronts with the canal called En Fluvia within fifteen days must have cleaned his front on the said canal, making clear that they who dare not do so will pay double." ⁽¹¹⁰⁾ One of the cequier's duties was to see that the hereters cleaned the canals for which they were responsible. If the landowner was recalcitrant, the usual formula was for the cequier to hire men to do the work and charge the owner double the fee.

The responsibility of millers was somewhat different: they were required to clean not only the stretch of canal in front of their mills, but the canal up to the first diversion of water below the mill. In a dispute of 1444 a miller declared that not he, but the frontalers, were responsible for cleaning a certain length of canal near his mill. In the course of the litigation many witnesses, including several millers from the Favara and Mislata canals, gave testimony, and all agreed that the miller was wrong and that millers must clean up to the first diversion downstream. Pere Roger, a miller of Valencia, testified that in the twelve years [51] he had owned his mill he had cleaned the canal only up to the first divisor, "and this he had seen practiced in several mills of the district and huerta of Valencia: that they cleaned only below the mill up to the first canal check or the first divisor." ⁽¹¹¹⁾

In the Marjals, too, it was the duty of the frontalers to maintain the secondary canals, but in many places there were stretches of canal with no frontalers. In these cases the city had to appropriate funds for the task. ⁽¹¹²⁾ Even in the huerta communities there were lengths of canal the responsibility for the cleaning of which was argued by the cequier and the frontalers. A dispute of 1414 involved the technical point of what constituted a main canal. If the section in question was main (mare), then the cequier had to clean it; if not, the frontalers were responsible. After an investigation the governor declared that Rascanya, the canal in question, was main up to the divisors of Alboraia and Almenara, whereas the cequier had claimed some of this section to be a branch deriving from the main canal. ⁽¹¹³⁾

1. If a man belonged to two communities by virtue of holding land in the rech of each, he could hold office in only one. See Ordinances of the Favara Canal (1701), chap. vi: "Hereter de Rovella no tinga ofici en la comuna" (Reglamentos y ordenanzas de las principales acequias del Reino de Valencia, in Jaubert de Passa, Canales de niego de Cataluña y reino de Valencia, 2 vols. [Valencia, 1844]. II, 182. The eighteenth-century ordinances of all the huerta canals are reproduced in Jaubert de Passa, ibid. Those of Moncada are in vol. I, pp. 158-379, the rest are in vol. II in a separately paginated section entitled Reglamentos y ordenanzas.) For a medieval example, Bernat Frexa, cequier and subsyndic of the Benacher Canal in 1430 (ARV, Gobernación, 2242, 14th hand, fol. ,13), was involved in a dispute the year before by virtue of his right to irrigate from a certain ditch (fila) of the Mislata system (ARV, Gobernación, 2239, 13th hand, fols. 19r-20v, Oct. 21, 1429).

2. Castellón Fine-Book (1486) (see Chap. III, n. 7, below), May 16, Apr. 17, Sept. 28. "Regave per la ciquia que no tenie anpriu; regave per loch hon no tenie anpriu, regave per la cequia que no ha regadiu."

3. Galceran Bou stated in 1492 that he was the owner of a rice mill "situated on the canal once of [the] Mislata [system] and now of Favara" ("situat e constituit en la cequia ohm de Mislata e hara de Favara"); Jaubert de Passa, Reglamentos y ordenanzas, p. 235, Aug. 22. 1492.

4. See Costa, Colectivismo agrario, p. 538, on relation of canal and town jurisdictions. The autonomous irrigation community of Valencia strongly resembles the irrigation society (subak) of Bali, which is wholly separate from hamlet organization (Clifford Geertz, "Form and Variation in Balinese Village Structure," American Anthropologist, 6, [1959], 995).

5. By virtue of the fueros (rubric XVI, no. 35), all canals were considered the common property of the irrigators except for the Moncada Canal ("the Royal Canal which goes to Puçol," in the fueros description), which was reserved for the king. By a privilege of May 9, 1268, however, James I gave this canal also to its irrigators (Branchat, Tratado de derechos, III, 300-302). The distinction between lower and upper canals of the huerta is made in a document of Aug. 21, 1313 (AMV, Manuals de Consell, 1, fols. 91r-93r).

6. In more recent times there was a land test for eligibility for commons membership (the nineteenth-century ordinances of the Tormos Canal, e.g., required that a proprietor own either 2 fanecates of land or a mill in order to vote in the general meeting; Reglamentos y ordenanzas, p. 72). I know of no such test in medieval times.

7. "Hereditari e hauentes hereditates e possessiones que rigantur ex aquis decurrentibus per cequias de Beneger [sic] et Faytanar productis ex riuo de Guadalaviar. . ." (Benacher-Faitanar Ordinances, 1435).

8. One important distinction between cultivators and millers, however, was that millers were not allowed to serve as officers of the commons. See chap. lxiv of the Ordinances of Moncada, from Sept. 21 1553: "That no miller might be acequiero, and if by chance they should elect one, let him then be removed" (Jaubert de Passa, Canales de riego, I, 192). Compare ordinances of Favara; Reglamentos y ordenanzas, p. 182.

9. "Lo sindich cequier moliners e hereters de la dita cequia de rascanya se ajustaren per tenir consell" (ARV, Gobernación, 2228, 14th hand, fol. 19r, Sept. 16, 1422).

10. The meeting of Benacher and Faitanar in 1435 to draw up regulations (see above, Chap. I, n. 28 and II, n. 7) was held "in quadam claustra rnonasterii beati Francisci." The commons of Rovella met on Apr. 5, 1496, "in the small cloister of the monastery and convent of the Blessed Saint Francis of the said city of Valencia" (Archivo de la Acequia de Robella, legajo 1, no. 1). The Franciscan monastery was just outside the city walls, at the point of their southeast salient, on the road to Russafa; see Burns, Crusader Kingdom, p. 200.

11. Monestir de la Santa Trinitat; see the parlement or ajust of June 22, 1437 (ARV, Gobernación, 2260, 8th hand, fol. 16). A general meeting of the Rascanya commons on Apr. 17, 1607, was held "en lo porche de la iglesia y hospital de Sent Llaser" on the Morvedre road outside the walls of the city, next to the monastery of St. Julian ("Acte de ajust general de la cequia y comuna de Rascanya del any 1607." ARV. Varias). See Burns, Crusader Kingdom, pp. 241-242, for these buildings.

12. "De licencia nobilis gubernatoris regni valencie" (Benacher-Faitanar Ordinances, 1435). The governor was the chief royal officer of the kingdom, the medieval antecedent of the viceroy.

13. ARV, Gobernación, 2249, 3rd hand, fol. 36r (Apr. 24, 1433): "Diu. . .que en la orta de la ciutat de Valencia ha una sequia entre les altres appellada vuigarment de tormos la aygua de la qual continuament serueix a regar certs quarters de la dita orta en aquella partida situats, e cascun any en cert temps los ereters e tinents teres [sic] en la dita partida se ajusten e fan eleccio de certes persones necesaries per al regiment de les aygues de la dita cequia; fan e costumen fer eleccio de deputats, clavan, e cequier o regidor de la cequia, e colector, donant a cascun de aquells cert carech e regiment". In the nineteenth century Tormos met only every third year, on Oct. 28 (Reglamentos y ordenanzas, p. 71).

14. ARV, Gobernación, 2262, 1st hand, fol. 40r (Mar. 8, 1438). The meeting was held Nov. 21, 1436.

15. ARV, Gobernación, 2272, 3rd hand, fol. 34r (Oct. 5, 1446). Because of "a certain work, begun by the hereters of Rovella," of an undescribed nature, the river was breaking down the channel of Favara. The cost of the repairs was estimated at 2,000 florins. The meeting was needed to provide for the "indempnitat e necessitat e negocis de la dita cequia."

16. The consent of the hereters was a common theme, and those accused of making an "innovation" in the system inevitably claimed that they had such consent. A certain Johan Moya, accused of building a conduit over the canal of Na Axera (Rasacanya system) in contravention of the rights of some irrigators, was said by a friendly witness to have "caused the said conduit to be made with the will and consent of the hereters, as is well-known" ("la dita canal feu fer lo dit en Moya segons fama de voluntat e consentiment deis hereters"); ARV, Gobernación, 2211 9th hand, fol. 8r, Apr. 16, 1415.

17. ARV, Gobernación, 2242, ,4th hand, fol. 13, in which the crida is reproduced. Reasons for low attendance must have varied (e.g., fear of extra expenses, general satisfaction with the distribution arrangements, recognition that improvement or change would be difficult because of entrenched internal opposition or insuperable physical obstacles). Compare James Hudson, Irrigation Water Use in the Utah Valley, Utah (Chicago: Department of Geography, University of Chicago, 1962), p 119. An aspect of the medieval ajust still discernible is the choice of Sunday as meeting day. The annual meeting (in 2 sessions) of the Community of Irrigators of the Rovella Canal in 1966 took place on Sundays Apr. 10 and 24 it was held on the premises of the Real Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País rather than at a monastery, and the crida was effected by newspaper (Las Provincias, Apr. 2, 1966).

18. ARV, Gobernación, 2242, 14th hand, fol. 41 (Dec. 12, 1430).

19. Jaubert de Passa, Canales de riego, I, 148. In the seventeenth century Rascanya chose 4 elets, representing four sectors of its service area, and another who represented the mill owners; they also elected a syndic and a cequier (see n. 11 above).

20. ARV, Gobernación, 2209, 27th hand, fol. 47r (Nov. 28, 1414).

21. In the nineteenth century the Acequiero Real was named by the 12 syndics (Jaubent de Passa, Canales de riego, I, 149).

22. ARV, Gobernación, 2272, 3rd hand, fol. 28n (Sept. 27, 1446).

23. Fori antiqui valentiae, p. 279: "Savacequie vadant super aquas et cequias totius termini Valentie. . ." (indicating that the çabacequier had huerta-wide jurisdiction).

24. The jurates' role as sobrecequier of the huerta is discussed in Chapter VI.

25. ARV, Gobernación, 2188, 15th hand of 1404, np. (loose sheets after fol. 48). Brackets indicate lacunae or illegible words: "Segons fur e privilegis del regne cascuna cequia del terme de la ciutat haie [ . . . ] son cequier e aquel! conex e determena les questions que son de hereter e hereter de [cascuna] cequia e a mundar la dita cequia e fer altres coses tocants aquella cequia [e . . . ] totes les cequies del terme de la ciutat han e deuen haure çabacequies los quals deuen [anar] sobre les aygues e cequies e tot lo tenme de la ciutat e aquests son los jurats [de la] ciutat." Some of the wording is taken from the fuero, rubric De cequiers; see n. 23 above. The governor, the document continues, is sobrecequier of "canals of nobles and knights which are outside of the district of the city," and over the Moncada Canal he shares this power with the royal bailiff. Compare the petition addressed to the King in 1510 (Fori regni valentiae, fol 91r): "com per furs e privilegis del dit vostre regne de Valencia, la conexença, de les cequies e aygues del riu de Guadalaviar pertanga als jurats de la dita ciutat, excepto [sic] la ciquia real appellada de Moncada"

26. Fori regni valentiae, fol. 248r (1283): "Item concedimus quod supercequiarius de su officio in perpetuum sit eiectus, et unusquisque ex cequianiis itatur, et utiposit secundum quod enat antiqitus consuetum."

27. AMV, Cartas Misivas, fol. 11r (July ~5, 1415). Another letter to Rochafort (Cartas Misivas, 12, fol. 151v [June 19, 1414] also concerned arrangements with the Pueblos Castillos.) José Martínez Aloy (Provincia de Valencia [Barcelona, n.d.], 297) states, on the basis of a privilege of James II in 1326 (Aureum opus [Valencia, 1515] privilege 156), that "in 1326 there was still an ancient jurisdiction of acequiero of the city of Valencia" "questionum cequiarum ciuitatis Valentiae et termini sui et aquarum ejusdem expectat ad cequiarum ciuitatis eiusdem: qui eas audire et decidere debet cum consilio provisorum ad ipsas cequias deputatorum").

28. Fori regni valentiae, fols, 247v-248r.

29. "Pen la força ab la cort o sens la cort."

30. See privilege of Peter I. Dec 1. 1283 (Aureum opus, fol. 33, chap. xxii): "We decree .. under the penalty of sixty sous that the cequiers of Moncada and Favara or others not divert so much water through their canals to the prejudice of the hereters."

31. This was true, although probably less so, of sobrecequiers, where the daily operations would be handled by the cequiers of the individual canals. An ordinance of 1276 stated that the sobrecequier of Onihuela "had to be a man well acquainted with the ways of the huerta." "El sobrecequiero ha de ser un ome bien sabidor de las cosas de la huerta," quoted in Etienne Carpentier, Les réglements et les tribunaux des eaux dans les provinces du sud-est de l'Espagne (Paris, 1912), p. 90. On June 25, 1295, Fernando IV decreed that the council of Orihuela should elect each year as sobrecequier "a knight or prominent man" ("un cauallero o un home bueno de vuestro lugar"), which indicates a different principle from that of the llauradoncequier; Vicente Martínez Morellá, Cartas de los reyes de Castilla a Onihuela, 1265--1295 (Alicante, 1954), p. 83 In Alicante, where the sobrecequier was a municipal officer of high status (equal in rank to the treasurer), Antoni Martinez, holder of the office for 1492, was nevertheless a llaurador; Martínez Morellá, Privilegios y provisiones de Fernando el Católico a Alicante, (Alicante, 1951), pp. 28-30. 34.

32. ARV. Gobernación, 2189, 1st fasc., fol. 42r (Sept. 18, 1404): "lo dit cequier de Favara e sos veedors . . son homens pagesos e grossos e no saben legir."

33. Ibid., fol. 42v: "[by the privilege of James II, Barcelona, May 30, 1309] lo cequier de prima voluntate vel ex officio pot e deu pendre en assessor un jurista ab consell."

34. ARV, Gobernación, 2308, 8th hand, fol. 9v (May 6, 1463)

Item diu que quant algu es fet cequier de Tormos e de altra cequia de la dita huerta de Valencia es acostumat que la dita cequia se subasta publicament davant lo comu dels hereters de aquella qui son ajustats o la maior part de aquells e per lo corredor publich se subasta publicament ab los capitols de la cequia e lo qui trau la cequia ha [i.e., a] millor mercat e per menor preu aquell . . . trau la dita cequia ab lo camrech dels capitols de aquella e segons los dits capitols aquell qui trau la dita cequia es fet cequier de la dita cequia e es tengut de tenin seruan e complir los capitols de la dita cequia.

35. Ibid. 2nd hand, fol. 30v (Mar. 22, 1463).

36. ARV, Gobernación, 2255, 25th hand, fol 39r (July 6, 1435): "en lorenç lobregat, cequier e o arrendador de la aygua de la cequia de chiluella."

37. In the fourteenth- and fifteenth-century documents I have examined, cequiatge is always a maintenance charge assessed by the community on its members, or by a town on irrigators, for the upkeep of the canal. Robert I. Burns, in "Irrigation Taxes in Early Mudéjar Valencia," Speculum, 44 (1969), 560--567, suggests that in the thirteenth century, directly after the Reconquest, cequiatge may have been considered a regalian tax collected by kings and lords as a rent. He assumes that the term alfarda -- known to have been an irrigation tax in the Ebro Valley but whose meaning in Valencian usage is not at all unequivocal -- was the equivalent of cequiatge. If Burns is correct, he describes a transitional phase during which lords who knew little about irrigation appropriated the maintenance charge for themselves. It is in the nature of things that very soon the charge would have to be returned to the irrigators unless the canals were to deteriorate. This perhaps explains what happened in the case of the Moncada Canal system of Valencia and why James I only held it for 30 years (see above, n. 5)

38. ARV, Gobernación, 2241, 9th hand, fol. 34t (Aug. 11, 1430): "En Jacme Marti de Paterna, laurador, cequier, e açuter . . . de la cequia de Mizlata."

39. ARV, Governación, 2260, 8th hand, fol. 16r (June 22, 1437). Johan Dano was elected lieutenant of Jacme Gil, cequier, and charged with the direction of cleaning a certain section of the canal.

40. ARV, Gobernación, 2201, 8th hand, fol. 3r (Mar. 30, 1413).

41. AMC, Libres de Consell, n.p. (Dec. 16, 1472): "e hun altre que sie familiar del dit cequier."

42. For the etymology of çabacequies, see Chap. XII, n. 16, below.

43. (Benacher--Faitanar) ARV, Gobernación, 2253, 6th hand, fol. 39v (Apr. 29, 1435). (Moncada) ARV, Gobernación, 2277, 7th hand, fol. 36 (May 17, 1449): "los cequiers e çabacequiers de la dita cequia de muncada hagen carrech e sien sollicits de regir e guardar les aygues e de notificar los fraus que troben al cequier maior." In modern times the Acequiero Real has been aided by two "lieutenants called cavacequias [sic]" and three guards (Jaubert de Passa, Canales de riego, I, 152).

44. ARV, Gobernación, 2202, 11th hand, fol, 1r (May 2, 1413).

45. Anthoni Prats, a llaurador of Valencia, was partidor e guarda of Benacher-Faitanar in 1435 (ARV, Gobernación, 2255, 25th hand, fol. 36r). In 1441 he became cequier (ibid., 2267, 11th hand, fol. 25r).

46. Benacher-Faitanar Ordinances, 1435: "Item que lo dit cequier haja a donar cascun any homens convenients per guardians e partidors de la dita aygua de les dites cequies, un per los sobirans e altre per los jusans, cascu de son terme aconeguda del dit comu. . . . Item que los dits partidors e guardians de les dites cequies sien tenguts de manifestar als dits cequier e senyor de la heretat al qual sera leuada laygua lo dia que lo sera atorgada qui lay haura leuada dins V. dies."

47. ARV, Protocolos, 2864, n.p. (April 1421).

48. ARV, Gobernación, 2208, 19th hand, fol. 11r (Aug. 1, 1414): "en hora prima ell parti de la aygua e dona aquella an Jacme Fuster."

49. The veedor was a typical guild official; each guild had 2. Pedro Diaz Cassou (La huerta de Murcia [Madrid, 1887], p. 220) recognized the similarity between guild and irrigation community organization.

50. ARV, Gobernación, 2211, 8th hand, fol. 48r (May 25, 1415): Jacme Gisbert, cequier of Favara, decided with the advice of his inspectors ("ab consell de sos veedors") against the miller, Anthoni Reverdit, in a dispute concerning the latter's responsibilities in maintaining his canal frontage Also ARV, Gobernación, 2267, 11th hand, fol. 26r (Aug. 6, 1441): a dispute between 2 irrigators of Chirivella was decided by Anthoni Prats, cequier of Benacher-Faitanar, "with the counsel of Pere Colomer and Pere Garcia, cultivators, and inspectors of the said canals" ("lauradors vehedors de les dites cequies").

51. See ARV, Gobernación, 2249, 3rd hand, fol. 36r (Apr. 24, 1433). At the annual meeting of the commons of the Tormos Canal the hereters decided upon the quantity of money "necessary to sustain and clean and repair the said canal and its diversion dam," and "by common will" they imposed on each hereter a tax per cafizate of land. The collector was elected at this meeting to collect the amount agreed upon from each hereter and to give an accounting of his receipts to the commons and/or the deputies and the cequier. In this particular case Nadal Tarrega had been elected collector and for four years had collected the cequiatge, which had been set at 1 sou 2 diners per cafizate. He had been told to collect from 257 jovates of land known to be irrigated at the time of his election; but in the process of collection he had found that in reality there were 25 jovates and 4 caflzates of irrigated land in excess of the original figure, the receipts of which he had kept for himself. Compare ARV, Gobernación, 2236, fol. 42r (Jan. 31, 1426). Bernat Sala, treasurer of the commons of Benacher-Faitanar, had collected money for the purpose of cleaning and repairs of these canals; 2 men were ordered appointed to hear his accounts.

52. ARV, Gobernación, 2251, 24th hand, fol 29r (Apr. 24, 1433). Bernat Sablit of Valencia testified that he had owned an alqueria in Campanar for the past 11 or 12 years, during which time he had known no other collector than Tarrega. Pere Rog (fol. 32r), who said that he remembered back 45 or 50 years, also stated that Tarrega had been collector for 11 years.

53. ARV, Gobernación, 2262, 7th hand, fol. 14v (July 28, 1438): "En Guillem Cabot laurador habitador en lo loch de puçol. E dix que de xxx anys ença en lany present exclusive ell ts. es stat sabacequier de la cequia de muncada." Compare Aparici's testimony, fol. 16r.

54. AMC, Libres de Consell, 14, Mar. 14, 1405: "Item lo dit honrat consell a suplicacio del honrat en johan darenys cequier maior de la dita vila volch e comana al dit cequier que façe registrar ço que fall de les ordenacions e sentencies del seu libre ab les quals lo cequier se reig e deu regir per fer justicia e egualment a les gens segons les dites sentencies e ordenacions de la dita cequia."

55. AMC, Libres de Consell, 20, Aug 5, 1414. A discussion at the same meeting regarding a dispute with Alamassora precipitated this order.

56. AMC, Libres de Consell, 22, July 12, 1416:

Libre de les terres del regadiu de la cequia maior. Lo dit honrat consell per be profit e utilitat de la cosa publica ordena volch e mana que libre sia ordenat e fet de tots aquells que tenen terres en lo regadiu de la cequia maior per ço que daci anant lo cequiatge sie ciar car daci a enrere lo dit cequiatge es estat molt torbat e quey sie fet libre nou quels jurats fan fer crida que tot hom que haie terres en lo regadiu de la cequia maior dins certs dies per aquells dits jurats declaradors porten lurs cedules als dits honrats jurats e scriva del conseil de tots los bens quen tinguen en lo regadiu de la dita cequia maior sots certa pena per aquells ordonadora e imposadora als contrafahents e quen sie fet libre per la manera ques pertany.

57. See AMC, Libres de Consell, meetings of Oct. 30, 1416, July 2, July 16, Dec. 8, 1419.

58. AMC, Libres de Consell, 32, Jan 7, 1432: "Lo libre del cequiatge. Item lo honorable consell comana als honorables jurats que sobre lo fet del libre del cequiatge lo qual sta molt torbat e enfrasquat e es gran dan de la vila com hic haia moltes faltes"

59. See Chap. III, n. 7.

60. AMC, "Compadoras de en Pere Bosch de la administracio de scurar la sequia maior en lany 1578."

61. See, for example, the ordinances of the Mislata Canal (1751), chaps. x-xiii (Reglamentos y ordenanzas, pp. 40-42); chap iv (pp. 36--37) provides for a scribe (sindico escribano) and for archives.

62. ARV, Gobernación, 2190, 38th hand, fol. 3r (Dec. 18, 1404):

E en senyal de la dita nunciacio de novella obra e per comprovar la possessio de la dita vila de Algezira e universitat de aquella pres en les sues mans tres pedres e tira aquelles en la dita cequia nova e tirant e gitant aquelles la una daça laltre dalla en presencia de mi dit notari e dels testimonis deius scrits e tirant e gitant les dites pedres per la fet deuant specificada dix: Yo giti aci en aquesta obra en presencia de vosaltres nunciant novella obra aquestes tres pedres una pres latre e per conservar la possessio de la dita vila e universitat de aquella en e per aquella forma manera e condicio que mills puxa valer segons fur e bona raho.

The Cequia del Canó (or Canyo), Canal of the Siphon, was described as "an aqueduct or canal which flows from the River Júcar and passes through a subterranean conduit [i.e., a siphon] which is beneath the river" ("el ayguaduyt o cequia qui es passa del riu de xuquar e passa per lo cano subterraneu que es davall lo riu"); ARV, Gobernación, 2190, 37th hand, fol. 26v.

63. AMC, Libres de Consell, 7, Dec. 26, 1385, see also elections of same series, same date, for 1379 (Berenguer Serra), 1382 (Guillem Company), 1384 (Bernat CavalIer), 1386 (Bernat Andreu), 1391 (Guillem Miquel), etc.

64. AMC, Libres de Consell, for the cited dates.

65. Throughout the fifteenth century the moços received a yearly salary of 60s (AMC, Libres de Consell, Jan. 18, 1414, A. Codina and P. Belloch, guards; May 31, 1473, Johan Pelega and Johan Sales, guards).

66. Pedro Ibarra y Ruiz, Estudio acerca de la institución del riego de Elche (Madrid, 1914), p. 98; Martínez Morellá, Cartas de los reyes de Castilla a Orihuela pp. 58-60 (privilege of Alfonso X. May 14. 1275). Note that although the cequier of Castellón had only minor functionaries below him, the sobrecequier of Orihuela had jurisdiction over acequieros of individual canals. Thus Alfonso X's charge to the sobrecequier Pedro Zapatero, was: "E mando que ande e cate sobre las acequias e las açarbes. E sobre los acequieros que vos y pusieredes e sobre todas las otras cosas que pertenecen en endreçar las eguas de Orihuela e de su termino." In an earlier privilege (Apr. 28, 1272) Alfonso had authorized the officials of Murcia to appoint two zequieros, one for the Christians, another for the Muslims (whose settlement was apparently concentrated on certain canals); Diaz Cassou, La huerta de Murcia, pp. 158--160.

67. Archivo de la Corona de Aragón, Consejo de Aragón. leg. 615, Memorial de los regantes de Orihuela (Sept. ,6, 1625). I am indebted to James Casey for bringing this document to my attention.

68. Archivo de la Catedral de Valencia, Notals de Bonanat Monar, Libro 3518, fol. 1672r (1386): "una gran partida deius los lochs de Roçafa e d'Alfofar e daltres fos e sia tornada marjalença e erma." Also AMV, Manuals de Consell, 32, 2nd bk , fol. 197r (Apr. 22, 1444): "los almarjals que son davall los lochs de Ruçaffa e Alfafar."

69. The veedors were originally chosen by the municipal officers in the same manner as the cequier. By 1439, however, the veedors were llauradors who were apparently elected by the hereters of the Marjals (AMy, Manuals de Consell, 32, 1st bk., fol. 61v, Apr. 20, 1439).

70. ACV, Notals de Bonanat Monar, Libro 3518, fol 168v:

Item quels justicia civil jurats e consell de la dita ciutat perpetualment a bienni o a trienni o a aquells anys que mills los sera vist eligen e meten cequier e administrador e tenidor en condret de les dites cequies, braçals, escorredors, ponts, e pontons, e dos promens veedors e consellers a aquell lo qual ab consell dels dits veedors haia plena jurisdiccio e poder de e sobre les dites cequies, braals, escorredors, ponts, e pontons, e hereters daquelles e aquells, segons per fur e privilegis cascun cequier ha sobre sa cequia e hereters daquella. E si alcu de juhi o acte del dit cequier e administrador se sentra [sic] agreujat quey puxa recorrer als dits justicia e jurats e no a altri.

71. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 30, fol. 61r (May 11, 1433), also fols. 88r. 181.

72. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 31, fol. 47r (Nov. 5, 1435). The disposition of June 30 is cited in ibid., 32, primer libre, fol. 45v, and 37, 9th bk., fol. 32v.

73. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 32, primer libre, fol. 45V (Feb. 10, 1439). Mariana (or Meriana) held 7 cafizates of fields and vineyards within the limits of the Marjals. In 1442 he was involved in litigation with the deputies of the Favara Canal over a drainage canal (escorredor) bordering his land, one end of which joined the rech of Favara. the other end the "water of Melilla" (a place near Russaf a, mentioned in the Repartimiento of Valencia as Malilla).

74. Activities of Mariana 1439-May 5, 1441: Mar 5, 1439 -- annual 100 £ allotted by the council for cleaning the canals of the Marjais ordered paid to Mariana (AMV, Manuals de Consell, 32, primer libre, fols. 48v- 49r); May 27, 1439 -- additional funds paid him for treballs del scurament (ibid., fol. 65r); Dec. 24. 1439 -- Mariana ordered to clean the Cequia del Grau, as well as the basin where the oaken boat for the galleys is anchored ("e les basses en ques cou la fusta de carrasca per a les galees;" ibid., fol. 132v); May 5, 1441 -- he rendered account of expenses on New Canal of the Marjals (ibid., fol. 248r).

75. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 32, segon libre, fol. 53v: "en Marti de Mariana, cequier de les marjals . . . era stat segons ell dehia per rahon del dit ofici denunciat per alguns hereters los quals li havien fet proces essent en la dita ciutat la senyora reyna per la qual rabo havia fet moltes despeses en defendres."

76. Oct. 4, 1442, and Apr 12, 1443 (AMV, Manuals de Consell, 32, segon libre, fols. 82r, 123r).

77. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 33, fol. 152r (Nov. 20, 1445).

78. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 34, fol. 22v (Aug. 25, 1447): "Attenents que en les marjals de la dita ciutat noy havia cequier ne guarda alguna."

79. Activities of Mariana Aug. 26, 1447--Oct. 8, 1451: Aug. 26, Oct 19, Nov. 27, 1447-- Marti worked on cleaning the Grau canals (AMV, Manuals de Consell, 34, fols. 23v, 32v, 35r) the fact that he began work the day following his appointment suggests great urgency in his hiring; Nov. 27, 1447 -- he received his salary (ibid., fol. 43v): May 11, 1448 -- salary paid (ibid., fol. 90r); May 30, 1448 -- he directed cleaning of the cequia de la traversa of the Canal of Castelló d'En Arrufat (ibid., fol. 102v); Dec. 20, 1448 -- salary paid (ibid., fol. 148); Feb. 15, 1449-- he was in charge of cleaning the city's share of the Cequia del Cavalier in the Marjals (ibid., fol. ,68v); May 26, 1449--work on the Font del Grau and the New Canal (ibid., fols. 192r, 239v--240r); Dec. 16, 1449 -- salary paid (ibid., fol. 252r), Jan. 14, 1450 -- his work on the Grau has led to the ruin of a neighboring field (ibid., fol. 265r); Feb. 19, 1450-- jurates authorize payment to Mariana of 59s. 6d. for cleaning the New Canal, a job which took 5 days (ibid., fol. 271v); May 8, 1451 -- Mariana directs cleaning of the Cequia Morisca (ibid., 35, 5th bk., fol. 87r); Sept. 2, Sept. 6, Oct. 8, 1451 -- work on the New Canal continues (ibid., fols. 136r, 136v, 142).

80. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 35, 5th bk., fol. 166v (Jan. 28, 1452):

"continuament ne havien infinides clamors dels hereters de les dites marjals de les grans . . senrahons quels fahia molt sovint en tal forma que nol podien comportar en alguna manera."

81. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 35, 5th bk., fols. 162r, 182r: "[The jurates have] remogut e revocat an marti de mariana del offici de cequier de les almarjals e de qualsevol altra administracio que tinga de la ciutat en qualsevol manera." On May 27 he was given that part of his salary due him up to the day of his dismissal ("tro al dia que fon revocat") (ibid., fols. 187v-188r).

82. Activities of Mojoli, July 20, 1452--Oct. 25, 1454: July 20, 1452 -- cleaning canals below that of Castelló in the Marjals (AMV, Manuals de Consell, 35, 5th bk., fol. 221r); Aug. 14, 1452 -- cleaning canals on the road to the Grau (ibid., fol. 277r); Sept. 9, 1452 -- cleaning the Cequia Morisca and the Cequia del Cavalier (ibid., fol. 232v); Aug. 25, 1453 and Jan. 16, 1454 -- more cleaning in the Marjals (ibid., 6th bk., fols. 27r, 62v); Oct. 25, 1454-- Mojoli removed from office, sens infamia (ibid., fol. 151r). Activities of Mariana, Nov. 20, 1454--Feb. 15, 1459: Nov. 20, 1454, and March 27, 1455 -- work in the Marjals (ibid., fols. 153v, 186v); Sept. 2, 1457 -- he undertakes a trip to Tortosa on city business (ibid., 36, 8th bk., fol. 22r); Feb. 15, 1459 -- work at Grau (ibid., fol. 154v).

83. Oct. 8 and 14, 1460 (AMy, Manuals de Consell, 37, 9th bk., fols. 31v, 32v).

84. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 37, 9th bk., fol. 53V (Jan. 29, 1461): work on the New Canal.

85. Ibid., 10th bk., fol. 102v (Dec. 17, 1463).

86. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 38, 11th bk., fol. 31v (Sept. 30, 1465):

Crida de les marjals. Ara oiats que us fan saber los molts honorables justicia e jurats de la ciutat de Valencia que tots e qualsevol hereters de les marjals scorrents en la cequia appellada del riu o de mossen perot mercader e benifet nes pren haure que per dimarts primer vinent o en aquella setmana si en davant en johan alfonso elet en administrador e regidor per los diputats de les marjals de la dita cequia e los qui treballar hi volran en erbejar e scurar en la dita cequia lo sera pres en compte de la taixa quels es stada feta o fahedora e si treballar noy volran seran logats homens per a les dites coses a despesa dels dits hereters.

87. Ibid., fol. 54r (Feb. 11, 1466).

88. Ibid., 12th bk., fol. 117v (May 19, 1470): "que an marti de mariana cequier de les marjals sien donats e pagats . . . cent sous . . . per ohs de comprar hun roci [to replace] hun altre roci que casualment li es stat mort en les dites marjals anant a aquelles per exercir lo dit offici de cequier."

89. A frequent theme in the documents; see AMC, Libres de Consell, 34, Jan. 15, 1436: the escorredors of the town were so badly cleaned that the swamps were filling with water and giving rise to disease. Alfonso X of Castile. in a privilege to the city of Murcia, ordered that each year the jurates were to select two men "to clean the major drainage channels of the huerta so that it might not turn into a swamp" ("que fagan alimpiar loz azarbes mayores de la huerta porque no se faga armarial [sic]); Diaz Cassou, La huerta de Murcia, pp. 158--160, privilege of Apr. 28, 1272.

90. ARV, Gobernación, 2236, 2nd hand, fol. 21r (Feb. 20, 1426): "[The miller, Anthoni de Teses, asked the governor] que manets al dit cequier e veedors qui nos entrametre en les dites barbacanals com no sia de son hofici ne jurediccio ans . . . que manets al dit cequier que faça scurar la cequia com sia tota engranada e reblida, e aço es hofici de cequier."

91. ARV, Gobernación, 2292, 14th hand, fols. 1r, 2r (Aug. 29, 1458):

"Costuma ... es en la present ciutat de Valencia e entre los cequiers de totes les cequies de aquella que cascun any en lo mes de abril . . . tollen les aygues e fan fer scurament de totes les cequies e dins lany no es costum scurar les cequies maestres."

92. Benacher-Faitanar Ordinances, 1435: "Item que lo dit cequier per cascuna vegada que scurara les dites cequies ans que torn laygua sia tengut mostrar lo dit scurament als dits sindich diputats e vehedor e tornar la dita aygua dins VII dies e si contrafara que no pusca rebre res del dit cequiatge en aquell any."

93. AMC, Libres de Consell, 20, Apr. 7, 1415: "Item a la proposicio de la scura de la cequia maior de la dita vila feta per los . . . jurats feta acorda lo honorable consell que dimarts primer vinent en viii dies fos feta e que tallasen laygua per scurar aquella."

94. ARV, Gobernación, 2247, 20th hand, fol. 25V (Aug. 13, 1432). Johan Mercader, owner of a mill on the Mislata Canal, testified that a feast day had fallen during the previous April's cleaning but that he had cleaned on the holiday anyway because of the great need.

95. AMC, Libres de Consell, 35, July 12, 1436. The man who had contracted to clean the cequia maior of Castellón had not done so, either in April or in May, and it was growing so late in the season as to cause harm to the town,

96. Ibarra y Ruiz, Riego de Elche, p. 189.

97. AMV, Libros de Sotsobreria de Muros, 2, fol. 26r (Feb. 14, 1390): "A erbejar ab dalls e corbelles la cequia den fluvia." For a drawing of a dall, see Alcover, Diccionani, IV, l0; of a corbella, ibid., III, 520.

98. AMV, Libros de Sotsobreria de Muros, 2, fol. 25V (Feb. 9, 1390). Two men were paid 2s. each to "throw fire around the canal" ("gitar foch entorn la cequia"); ibid., fol. 31v (Mar. 22, 1390); 5 men were paid to "burn and scythe stubble on the banks of the canal" ("cremar e esdallar romagueres en les ores de la dita cequia").

99. Ibid., fol. 27r (Mar. 5, 1390): "loguer iii dalls de ix dies per al erbejar e ii corbelles les dites dies per avinença."

100. For a drawing of a pala, an instrument with an iron head and a wooden handle, see Alcover, Diccionari, VIII, 120, esp. no. 4 (pala de cavar). For reference to pales de ferre, see AMC, Libres de Consell, 35, June 17, 1436. A variety of hoes was also used, notably the lego (lligó, llegó) and the exada (aixada), see AMV, Libros de Sotsobreria de Muros, 2, fol. 26r (Feb. 11. 1390): "dos exades stretes e dos legons." For drawings, see Alcover, Diccionari, VII, 21 (lego) and I, 353-354 (exada). The diggers also used a kind of fork (forca de paler); one is listed in an inventory of 1348 (AMV, Notals de Domingo Juan, sig. L, 1. June 30); see Alcover, Diccionari, V, 972.

101. Archivo Municipal de Elche, Actas de Consell, May 22, 1444, the clavari was to purchase cabaçets and other items needed for the cleaning of the cequia major. See also, AMV, Libros de Sotsobreria de Muros. 2, fol. 25V (Feb. 8, 1390): "una dotzena de corbaos de espart."

102. AMV, Libros de Sotsobreria de Muros, 2, fol. 40r (Apr. 15, 1390):

"tira calç reble e arena a la cequia nova den fluvia per tancar los forats que son fort grans en la dita cequia."

103. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 34 fol. 123r (Aug. 30, 1448). The cequia maior of the Marjals was to be cleared of vegetation, scoured, and staked in a certain way ("erbejar scurar e stacar en certa forma"). See ibid., fol. 139v (Oct. 19, 1448): Miquel Assensi was paid for the "old and new stakes ('staques noves e velles') which he had placed in the New Canal."

104. AMV, Libros de Sotsobreria de Muros, 2, fol. 36r (Apr. 7, 1390): "abaxar lo tarquim veil de la obra de la cequia per o quel altre tarquim si adonas." Folio 36v: "abaxar lo tarquim yell de la ora de la cequia nova." Folio 49v: "aplanar lo tarquim" The silt was used to repair nearby roads: adobar lo cami, ço es a tirar lo tarquim de la cequia" (ibid., fol. 42r).

105. Ibid., fol. 31v (Mar. 22, 1390): "miga dotzena de cabaços despart e fils despart per a tenir senyals a la amplia de la cequia." Ibid., fol. 33r: "iiii cordes despart per asenyalar la cequia."

106. Ibid., fol. 83v (Aug. 18, 1390): "segadors qui stant en la aygua."

107. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 34, fol. 170r (Mar. 6, 1449). On Dec. 4, 1458, the jurates offered to pay only 6d. per ell for the cleaning of the Cequia deis Codonyers, also in the Marjals (ibid., 36, fol. 128v).

108. AMV, Libros de Sotsobreria de Muros. 2, fols. 73r-74v.

109. Earl J. Hamilton, Money, Prices and Wages in Valencia, Aragon and Navarre, 1351--1500 (Cambridge, Mass., 1936), pp. 64-78.

110. AMV, Libros de Sotsobreria de Muros, 2, fol. 25V (Feb. 8, 1390): "Item aquest dia mateix doni an Artus trompeta de la ciutat per si e sos companyons ço es trompadors e taballers per una crida que feu per la ciutat xvi dies ja passats que tot horn que affrontats ab la cequia appellada den Fluvia dins xv dies hagues escurat son front de la dita cequia certillicant aquells que no osarien que pagarien la dobla."

111. ARV, Gobernación, 2271, 6th hand, fols. 14r--21V, and 10th hand, fols. 18r--21V (Mar. 7, 1444): "e axi ho ha vist pratiquar en alguns molins del terme e orta de Valencia que scuraven tansolament devall moli fins a la primera parada o fins al primer partidor." Compare ARV, Gobernación, 2211, 8th hand, fol. 48r.

112. AMV, Manuals de Consell, (20, fol. 134V (Nov. 7, 1393). There were innumerable legal tangles over whether the city or the hereters were responsible for cleaning certain sections. On one occasion a commission of jurates and lawyers had to go to the traversa of the En Fluvia Canal to ascertain who was responsible (ibid., 23, fol. 231v, Aug. 13, 1407).

113. ARV, Gobernación, 2208, 12th hand, fol. 35 (June 5, 1414). The distinction was that up to the two divisors the water "was not divided by the commons" ("no sia partida per germania") and therefore was still part of the main canal, no matter what the physical contour may have been.