[106] The Guadalaviar and the Júcar rise less than twelve miles apart in the Sierra de Albarracin, the former in the province of Teruel, the latter in the northernmost part of the province of Cuenca. The course of the Júcar, winding through the mountains of Cuenca and Valencia, is more than one and three-quarters times that of the river of Valencia (532 to 297 kilometers) and its watershed is nearly four times greater (22,000 to 6,191 square kilometers). The greater watershed area and the higher rate of precipitation in its upper basin than those of the Guadalaviar contribute to a substantially higher volume of water. ⁽¹⁾

It is hardly more than forty kilometers from Antella on the Júcar to the southern boundary of the Valencian huerta at the Gully of Catarroja (see Map 2); so it is no mystery that the Júcar's waters should have captured the interest of the irrigators of Valencia. (In later times the Royal Canal of Alcira was extended right up to the Gully.) The propsect of augmenting the waters of the Guadalaviar with those of the Júcar appears first to have commanded the serious attention of the town fathers of Valencia during the drought of the mid-1370's. In October 1374 the jurates, together with some "eminent persons" and hydraulic experts, suggested to the council that it would be possible to take water from the Júcar near Tous (to the north of Antella, where the Escalona joins the Júcar) and make it flow through a canal to the Guadalaviar. With this water the Valencians could "irrigate many districts which are not now irrigated and could give increase to the water of this river and of that presently available to the city and the huerta, especially in times of

By February 1376 the survey had been made by a commission including eight levelers -- four from Valencia, two from Barcelona, and two from Manresa. They reported to the council that:

They had leveled and measured the whole project and the places for the diversion dam and the planned canal, beginning near and above the castle of Tous on the floor or plain of the said river [the Júcar], and continuing through the valley of Tous up to the diversion dam of the Royal Canal [of Alcira] which draws water from the said river and irrigates the districts of the cities of Játiva and Alcira.

And from there they continued on through mountains and gullies and plains, always with their sights and levels, ⁽⁴⁾ and also taking into account the course and dimensions of the Royal Canal for as long as it extends. And they found according to the said levels and measures that digging the proposed canal near and above the castle of Tous it could come and bring water from the Júcar River, passing near the places of Antella, Rasalany, Alcúdia, Benimodo de Carlet, Alginet, Espioca, Picassent, Alcásser, and Torrent, and flow into the Guadalaviar River above Manises, but below the diversion dam of the Moncada Canal.

[109] And all this work, according to the computation of the said masters and other experts, having given ample consideration, as indeed they ought, could cost from thirty-five to forty thousand pounds. ⁽⁵⁾

Nothing came of all this planning, apparently because the grant sought from King Peter IV (who ruled from 1336 to 1387) was not forthcoming. When the project is next heard of the jurates were dealing with Peter's successor, John I (ruled 1387-1395).⁽⁷⁾ The new negotiation, in 1393, was a success, and in November the king granted the city the right to take water from the Júcar at Tous and conduct it to the Guadalaviar for irrigation purposes, so long as owners of the land in the route of the proposed canal were reimbursed for their losses in confiscated property. ⁽⁸⁾

The next round of activity took place in the early years of the fifteenth century, again under drought conditions. ⁽⁹⁾ In May 1400 the jurates directed a letter to Hugh, bishop of Valencia, explaining that, at the urging of some men who had decided to bring a canal from the Júcar to the Guadalaviar at their expense, they now asked the Bishop to assign to the canal the firstfruits he received from crops in the districts to be served by the new canal. ⁽¹⁰⁾ Interest was still high in July, when the council noted that because of frequent droughts and lack of water a great portion of the crops was lost; grain had to be supplied from "other parts," since the mills of the city could not function. As a result the council resolved to continue in the [110] attempt to divert Júcar water to the Guadalaviar and decided that a meeting of all those interested in the project, that is, not just the city officials but also lay and ecclesiastical lords who would have land on the proposed canal, be convened as soon as possible. ⁽¹¹⁾

Apparently no meeting was held that year, for nothing more is heard about the Júcar project until July 1401. On July 23 the jurates wrote to Bishop Hugh that, in order to avoid enmity and discord, a meeting (parlement) of all the interested parties would be held on August 5 at the monastery of Santa Maria del Carmen. ⁽¹²⁾ Three days later the Bishop received a new letter changing the date of the meeting to August 8 and the place to Torres Torres. The same letter was sent to a roster of magnates with interest in the new canal. Included were Berenguer March, master of the Order of Montesa; the Episcopal chapter of Valencia; Olfo of Proxida, lord of Alcàsser; the Mayoral of Quart; the Abbot of St. Bernard, a Cistercian monastery in the huerta, north of Valencia city; Eximen Perez, lord of Beniparrell; Mossen Otto, lord of Chiva; the Commander of Torrent; and Felip Boyl, lord of Manises. ⁽¹³⁾

The results of the meeting were probably inconclusive, since some of the magnates did not bother to appear or send delegates. The jurates wrote to the Abbot of Valldigna on August 18 reminding him that in a letter addressed to him at his village of Almussafes he had been invited to the August 8 meeting at Torres Torres. Many of those who, like him, would have possessions in the irrigation district of the new canal, had appeared, but the abbot had not. They bade him appear himself or send a representative to the Cortes of the kingdom, to be held in Segorbe on September 1; there, together with the syndics of the city, they would discuss the project with the King. The same letter was sent to the Abbot of St. Bernard; to Ramoneta of Riusech, lady of Ribarroja; ⁽¹⁴⁾ to Na Çabata, lady of Benifaió; and to the lords of Carlet, Manises, Alaquàs, Antella, and Alginet. ⁽¹⁵⁾

The project seems to have been abandoned again for the [111] time being, although several years later, in 1404 and 1406, the city was involved in several minor plans for diverting Júcar water into the districts of the city. ⁽¹⁶⁾ The major project -- that terminating the Plain of Quart -- was next discussed in 1415 when yet another report was commissioned by the Valencian council. ⁽¹⁷⁾

One Thursday in September 1500, in front of the Apostles' Gate of the Cathedral of Valencia -- customarily the time and place for irrigation business -- the jurates of the city paid one hundred sous for "a map on which will be painted the water which will be conducted not only from Castellón but also from the region of the River Júcar." ⁽¹⁸⁾ Interest had not disappeared in the intervening years, and indeed, in 1529, another full-scale effort was made to get the project under way. In April the jurates and council engaged Andreu Puig, a mason (obrer de vila), to survey the route along which "he says that a canal of water was taken of old from the river Júcar which came to the Plain of Quart" (the meaning seems to be that Puig knew of the fourteenth-century survey and offered to repeat it). ⁽¹⁹⁾ For his efforts Puig was offered fifty ducats plus fifty cafizates of land irrigable from the new canal. The work was carried out, and Puig's report was made to the council on December 11. ⁽²⁰⁾

Puig's report, entitled "Memorial of the level whereby the water of the Júcar can come to Valencia without a diversion dam and without subterranean canalization," ⁽²¹⁾ begins by recalling the act of the jurates on April 16 when Puig was commissioned to investigate how this water might come from the Júcar "to the cequia [sic] of Quart." Puig found that the level of the river at Tous was 117 palms higher than the level at the head of the Royal Canal and stated that water could best be taken at the foot of the castle of Tous "whether with a large diversion dam or a small one [that is, the water did not have to be raised] and it is the best place in all the river." The course he recommended passed through Antella, Alberic, Rasalany, Alcúdia de Carlet, Algemesí, Alginet, Benifaió, Almussafes, Sollana, Espioca, Picassent, Alcásser, Silla, Beniparrell, Albal, Catarroja, Benetússer, [112] Paiporta, Picanya, and Torrent -- largely the route taken, that is to say, by the extension of the Royal Canal financed by the Duke of Hijar in the eighteenth century. ⁽²²⁾

The projected canal would terminate 146 palms above St. Onofre of Quart, where it would enter the Guadalaviar. The canal would have a capacity of 350 filas of water, of which 150 would suffice for all the above-mentioned places, leaving 200 for Valencia. ⁽²³⁾ "The Plain of Quart," Puig's report continues, "could be completely irrigated in this manner: The water [would be] taken from Pedralba where the Plain of Quart was customarily irrigated of old ⁽²⁴⁾ and the water with which the said plain is to be irrigated must be taken from the river of Valencia in this manner, that is that the four canals -- Benacher, Favara, Mislata and Rovella -- could be diverted to the Plain of Quart." ⁽²⁵⁾ Since the capacity of these four canals, according to Puig's estimate, was only 114 filas and the new canal would have 200, there would be 86 filas left for the Plain of Quart or for other canals of the huerta.

An even more detailed analysis of the possibilities of irrigating previously dry lands with Júcar water was presented to the council in 1604-1605 by a commission of experts including Jerome Negret, who later served with the commission of Melchor Sisternes, which analyzed the irrigation potentialities of the entire Guadalaviar. ⁽²⁶⁾

The historian Gaspar Escolano wrote in 1611 that a new canal was being planned, a canal "which has been discussed since the conquest without ever beginning it." In his opinion it would be "a work so fruitful that even Sicily herself might envy us." ⁽²⁷⁾ After tracing the history of the plans for the canal (the episodes of 1365 and 1401 related above), stating that Pope Benedict XIII of Luna had even conceded the benefits of a crusade to those who would help, but to no avail, Escolano continued that in his time the plan had again shown signs of life, "owing to the zeal of a son [of Valencia] named Fonte." It could be, the historian ventured, "that the birth of these so much desired waters might be owing to this Fonte, or fount," ⁽²⁸⁾ The object of Escolano's pun was Antonio Pablo Font, whose efforts in the king's court [113] were hailed in a pamphlet by a polemicist of the same surname, Joan Font. ⁽²⁹⁾ Joan Font's reasoning was primarily economic; he argued that the huerta was then three leagues long by one and one-half across, or four and one-half leagues square in area, but that with the water provided by the new canal the area could be enlarged tenfold to forty leagues. The subsequent economic boom would affect Valencia in two ways: by vast increase of production and, more important, by driving down the price of grain in Valencia, which was the highest in Spain "and even in all Europe." ⁽³⁰⁾ In spite of Font's plea the project again came to nought, altogether interest was never lost completely.⁽³¹⁾

Residents of the capital were not the only citizens of the kingdom who coveted the waters of the Júcar. To the south, both Elche and Alicante entertained hopes of augmenting their own seriously limited water supplies (see Map 3).

Elche's first interest in the Júcar was recorded in a series of negotiations in 1420 with the mountain towns of Sax, Villena, and Chinchilla, which lay in the path of the proposed diversion. The council of Elche had sent two agents to Villena and Chinchilla to see if they would permit levelers to enter their territory and to ask if they would share the cost of the survey. The first negotiation was inconclusive, and so another messenger, Jacme Sanchez, of Lorca, was sent in May. On July 14 new letters were sent to Villena and Sax, and their replies were entered in the minutes of the council for July 30. ⁽³²⁾

The officials of Villena had discussed the matter but were unable to determine "exactly where it [the water diversion canal] might be able to come." Sax promised its help, but in general terms only.

More letters were written in August, ⁽³³⁾ but disappointing replies from Villena and Chinchilla in September seem to have put an end to the scheme. Villena replied that Elche could send all the levelers and men it pleased into the territory, and they would be given "favor and aid," but that "at the present we cannot contribute or give anything owing to the many doubts which

Chinchilla, on the other hand, wrote that it would be much pleased if Júcar water could in any way be made to flow through the town, but that at present the townspeople would be unable to act until they had addressed petitions to the King (Chinchilla was part of the kingdom of Castile) seeking license for such action.

Nothing more was heard of this Júcar project until 1528, when the council of Elche ordered Mossen Johan Vaca to undertake any procedures necessary for studying, leveling, or diverting "not only the water of the Júcar River and that of the Segura but the waters of Molinello and of the springs and swamps of Villena and of the Sierra de Crevillente" -- and, indeed, of any other source of water which might be made to flow to Elche. A commission was sent to Villena at the same time. ⁽³⁵⁾

In the midst of a dire drought in 1668 the council called upon the architect Francisco Verde to solve the water problem. ⁽³⁶⁾ Verde suggested that in view of the difficulties involved in bringing water from the Júcar a more modest interim measure ought to be undertaken. The town was in danger of depopulation because of severity of the drought, so Verde proposed an immediate solution: a canal twelve palms wide from the mill of Sax to the spring of Las Virtudes, crossing the lake in between. This canal would be useful when the Júcar Canal was eventually finished and in the meantime would collect the water of the swamps, springs, and drainage channels of Villena and would, in addition, drain the lake of surplus rainwater. The project was begun in 1669 by six groups of ten workers each.

Alicante's interest in the Júcar dated from the early seventeenth century. At the city's behest the possibilities of a diversion were studied in 1628 by Francisco Serrano and Juan Gil, who concluded that the entire project would cost 700,000 pounds, of which Alicante would have to put up only 150,000, the rest to be divided among the other beneficiaries. The council decided to proceed with the plans, but at this juncture the city of [116] Valencia brought suit against Alicante before the Real Audiencia on the grounds that, by the privilege of John I, Valencia had the right to use this water for the Plain of Quart. In 1640 the case was still in the courts. ⁽³⁷⁾ The project was to have benefited both Alicante and Elche.

Alicante's patently serious intent to go ahead with the diversion plans became the immediate impulse to the Fonts' campaign to convince the Valencians of the importance of this project. Joan Font accused Alicante and Elche of attempting to take Júcar water, which was in fact the property of the city of Valencia, its cathedral chapter, and the lords of the plains of Quart, Liria, and Morvedre. The serious intent of the two southern towns was not doubted: the machinations of Alicante and Elche were well known in Valencia, "and their having syndics in Madrid, begging His Majesty to be able to divert the water, proves it." ⁽³⁸⁾
 

Two other potential water sources were of interest to the medieval Valencians. One was the Cabriel, a tributary of the Júcar,⁽³⁹⁾ from which the city had a privilege (from King Henry of Castile) authorizing diversion of water to the Guadalaviar. ⁽⁴⁰⁾ In May 1372 a commission of jurates and experts was ordered to proceed "to the place where the Cabriel could be diverted" toward Valencia and to estimate the cost of such a diversion. ⁽⁴¹⁾ The other region of interest was the headwaters of the Guadalaviar. The city's interest in the lake of Tortajada in 1457 has already been noted. ⁽⁴²⁾ To the south of Ademuz "near the place of Santa Cruz [de Moya] there was a lake of spring water, which with some expense could be diverted to this river of Guadalaviar," the council of Valencia noted in 1376. ⁽⁴³⁾ Interest in Santa Cruz was revived during the drought years of 1413 and 1415. In the former the council ordered the jurates to proceed to Santa Cruz and, while investigating the water situation there, to deal with the village of Moya about the one hundred measures (caffis) of grain which they asked in return for the water. ⁽⁴⁴⁾ In [117] May 1415 the jurates met in the monastery of the Valley of Christ, near Puçol, to discuss the matter further.⁽⁴⁵⁾
 

Three elements that nearly all of these plans and deliberations had in common were, first, that the town councils assumed the overall direction of the projects; second, that drought spurred new ideas about water diversion and revived interest in old ones; and third, that almost none of the proposals ever came to fruition. Both geographical and political factors underlay failure of the large water projects. To administer water even greater cooperation is needed than for other economic and political plans; what happens in one place in a river system necessarily affects other places, often at great distances away. The physical discontinuity of the cultivated areas of the kingdom made regional coordination difficult ⁽⁴⁶⁾ -- coordination which in any case was also thwarted by the typically medieval fragmentation of jurisdictions and interests.

Nevertheless, the failure of grandiose projects should not lead to the underestimation of the extensive development achieved in the medieval huertas under the auspices of urban and autonomous corporate bodies. There is nothing to suggest that the guildlike structure of the autonomous communes or the fragmentation of jurisdictions among regional powers was not compatible with the practice of hydraulic agriculture. For example, the typically feudal concept that obligations of service attach to the soil when transferred to the irrigation community or town provided a socially built-in assurance of canal maintenance that obviated the need for a hydraulic corvée. ⁽⁴⁷⁾ On balance, the society of the transplanted Catalan townsmen had little trouble adapting itself to the requirements of hydraulic agriculture.

1. Martínez Aloy, Provincia de Valencia, pp 57-63 (Turia), 63-74 (Júcar); Marco Baidal, El Turia, p. 405, Foster, Geographic Structure, pp. 43-44.

2. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 16, fol. 225v (Oct. 2, 1374): "de ques ponen regar moltes partides que ara nos reguen e poria dar creximent a laygua daquest riu e daqui present a la ciutat e a la orta, maiorment a temps de seccades segons es lo present temps e alcuns altres ia passats."

3. Ibid., 17, fol. 20 (Oct. 3, 1374): "E jassia que en la dita ciutat hagues de bons maestres de la dita art de geometria e de livell, empero vraisembiant lo dit fet mus e pus madurament pora esser vist. . .per major nombre de maestres que per menor, per aquesta rao concordantment proveuren e tenguen per be quels dits jurats haien aquells mes e meliors maestres de la dita art axi re la dita ciutat com daltres persones que haure puxen, e per ço tremeren missatger o missatgers. . .en altres parts per cercar e haure e menar alts dits maestres."

4. "Livells axi d'entreguart com de pas" The entreguart was an alidade; the livell de pas (Castilian, nivel de tranco) was a larger version of the masons' common A-shaped level. See Glick, "Levels and Levelers," p. 172.

5. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 17, fols. 38v--39r (Feb. 11, 1376):

[The masters and levelers] havien regonegut e fet regonexer e livellar e mesurar tot aquest fet a lost lochs del açut e de la cequia faedor e faedora començant prop e sobre lo dit castell de Thous en lo sol o pla del dit riu, e continuan per la vayll de Thous tro al aut de la cequia del rey ques pren del dit riu e rega en los termes de la ciutat de Xativa e de la vila d'Aigezira. E daily anant continuan per muntanyes e per barranches e per plans tota vegada ab livells axi dentreguart com de pas per hoc encara ab la via e mesura de la dita cequia dei rey aytant com durava. E trobaren segons los dits livells e mesures que la dita faedora cequia prenent aquella prop e sobre lo dit castell de Thous venia o venir ponia e traure e menar aygua del dit riu de Xuquar, passan sobre los lochs d'Anteiia, de Raçalany, de la Alcudia, de Benimodol [sic] de Carlet, de Alginet, d'Espioca, de Picasen, d'Aicacer, de Torrent, e engravar en lo dit niu de Godalaviar sobre lo loch de Manises, empero dejus laçut de Moncada. E que tota aquesta obra segons taxacio dels dits maestres e altres persones expertes a lor arbitracio ampliament segons dehien feta poria costar de trent e cinch en quaranta mila libras.

6. Ibid., fols. 40v-41r (Feb. 12, 1376).

7. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 20, fol. 71v (Apr. 2. 1393): "Item quels honrats jurats de la dita ciutat tracten ab lo senyor rey que sia haud del privilegi que la ciutat dei riu de Xuquer puxa traure daygua una gran cequia capdal per menar e metre aquella a la orta e al riu daquella."

8. The text of the privilege dated Tortosa, Nov. 15, 1393, is reproduced in Branchat, Tratado de derechos, III, 209-210, and in A. Guillén, El Tribunal de Aguas de Valencia (Valencia, 1920), pp. 109-110.

9. See Appendix 6, Table A, nos. 23-27.

10. AMV. Cartas Misivas, 6, fols. 361v--362r (May 26, 1400) This request recalls the arrangements made between city and bishop regarding improvement of the Marjals in 1386.

11. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 22, fol. 120v (July 24, 1400). This text is printed in Guillén, El Tribunal de Aguas, pp. 112--113.

12. AMV, Cartas Misivas, 2, n.p. (July 23, 1401).

13. AMV, Cartas Misivas, 7, n.p. (July 26, 1401). The text, and complete list of magnates, can be found in Guillén, El Tribunal de Aguas, pp. 110-111. Gaspar Escolano states that the reason for the meeting in Torres Torres was that King Martin was there at the time (Décadas de la historia de la insigne e coronada ciudad y reino de Valencia, 2 vol, [Valencia, 1878], I, 434).

14. Part of Ramoneta's interest might have been that such a project would have reduced the city's pressure on the Pueblos Castillos, of which Ribarroja was one.

15. AMV, Cartas Misivas, 7, np. (Aug. 18, 1401).

16. AMV, Cartas Misivas, 8, n p. (Oct. 14, 1404). See Chap. IV, n. 8. Another plan to "bring water of the Royal Canal in the district of Alcira to the Guadalaviar" was discussed, and another investigatory commission appointed, in October 1406; AMV, Manuals de Consell, 23, fol. 92V (Oct. 25, 1406).

17. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 26, fol 70v (Sept 23, 1415).

18. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 50, fol. 200r (Sept. 3, 1500): "cent sous per una carta en la qual sera pintada laygua que sera a portar axi de Castello e encara de lo part del riu de Xuquer"

19. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 63, n.p. (Apr. 16, 1529): "[The officials of the city] prometen Andreu Puig, obren de vila, que mostrat lo cami per lo qual diu antiguament se prenia una sequia de aygua del riu de Juquer que venia fins al pla de quart ac ab tot effecte y essent effectuada la sequia a consell de aquell a regantse lo dit pla de quart li prometen de ferio franch de sixanta cafficades de reg de la dita sequia e noresmenys li prometen donar cinquanta ducats per los treballs e endustria que haura sostengut en la dita sequia."

20. Ibid. (Dec. 11, 1529). I have relied on the text as reproduced in Guillén, El Tribunal de Aguas, pp. 113-115. The project is also referred to in AMV, Manuals de Consell, 63, for Nov. 19 and Dec. 9, 1529.

21. Guillén, El Tribunal de Aguas, p. 113: "Memorial del livell per hon pot venir laigua de Xuquer fins a Valencia sens assut y sen, mina."

22. See Rafael Tasso Yzquierdo, Algunos datos sobre la historia, descripción y actuación de la Acequia Real del Júcar, 2nd ed. (Valencia, 1964), p. 23. This is the same route suggested in the privilege of King Martin, Jan. 16, 1404 (Branchat, Tratado, III, 201).

23. Guillén, El Tribunal de Aguas, p. 114. How this fila was calculated is not revealed; probably it was based on the passage of water through a fixed orifice, but at any rate it was only to give a rough idea.

24. He may have had in mind the ruins later described by Jaldero and Valls David (see Chap. IX).

25. Guillén, El Tribunal de Aguas, pp. 114--115: "Lo pla de quart se pot tot regar de aquesta manera, prenent laygua de pedralba per hon se acostumaua de regar lo pla de quart antigament y laygua ab la qual se ha de regar lo dit pia de quart se ha de pendre del rin de Valencia de aquesta manera, ço es que les quatre cequies, bennager fauara mizlata e roueila, se poden girar al dit pla de quart."

26. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 131, n.p. Text in Guillén, El Tribunal de Aguas, pp. 115-121. On Negret see Borrull, Tratado, p. l0.

27. Escolano, Décadas, I, 434.

28. Ibid.: "En nuestros dias, por el celo de un su hijo llamado Fonte, ha vuelto a rebullir, y ha estado tan adelante con su magestad del Rey nuestro señor, que podria ser que el nacimiento de tan deseadas aguas, se debiese a este Fonte, o Fuente." I have been unable to trace the reference to Benedict XIII.

29. Joan Font, Discurso breve con que se prueva la possibilidad de sacar agua del Rio Xucar, para los llanos de Quart, Liria, Morvie dro, y otros (Valencia, 1628). Both 1627 and 1628 were drought years. See D. Alvaro y D. Diego de Vich, Dietario valenciano (1619-1632) (Valencia, 1921), pp. 78-79, 246, and Mosén Juan Porcar, Coses evengudes en la ciutat y regne de Valencia (1589-1629) 2 vols. (Madrid, 1934), II, 266.

30. Font, Discurso breve, p. 6.

31. See, for example, Miguel Angel Gilbao y Castro, Impulsos a la execución del bien común de España en discurso breve sobre el riego que se ha de sacar del rio Xucar (Valencia, 1652), and (Domingo de Usenda), Relación de la visura hecha por el capitan de cavallos. . .Domingo de Usenda y Mansfield para sacar agua de los nos Júcar y Gabriel y regar con ella los llanos de Cuarte (Valencia, 1658).

32. Archivo Municipal de Elche, Actas de Consell, May 27, July 14, July 30, 1420.

33. Ibid., Aug 14, 1420: a letter to Chinchilla seeking a safe-conduct for levelers and another letter to the leveler of Játiva.

34. Ibid., Sept 1, 1420:

vos respondemos . . . que vuestros vezinos e los lluilladores de la agua entren e vayan e passen e lliuellen nuestro termino seguramente en lo que toque a nos que todos seran bien agogidos et los sena dado fauor e ajuda segun se pertanesce, pero en razon de la costa sabed que de presente nos non podemos contribuir ni dar cosa alguna por muchas dubdas que tenemos que la dicha agua non podra venir aca pero si la dicha agua sallir podia e seyendo puesca en tales terminos que la espirencia de los omes conosciesen que podrian venir a effecto a la sajon faremos e pagaremos sueldo por libra lo que razonable fuere de faser.

35. Ibid., Apr. 23, 1528. On Feb. 14, 1531, the council agreed to pay the expenses of Juliá Rosell, "master of bringing water," who was to divert two and one-half filas more of water from the springs of Creviliente than the amount already coming from them.

36. Ibarra y Ruiz, Riego de Elche, pp. 2 1--24. Verde was also responsible for works on the main canal of Elche and was the author of a short treatise on its physical characteristics (ibid., pp. 163-177).

37. Rafael Viravens y Pastor, Crónica de la muy ilustre y siempre fiel ciudad de Alicante (Alicante, 1876), p. 232, Vicente Bendicho, Crónica de la muy ilustre, noble y leal ciudad de Alicante [1640] (Alicante, 1876). p. 232. "En 1628 reanudáronse trabajos preparatorios iniciados en 1558, para traer un brazal del Júcar a estas comarcas y las de Elche, pero el proyecto no pasó adelante por haberse opuesto el Sóndico de Valencia, originándose un pleito, actualmente en litis pendencia." This is doubtless the matter referred to in a letter from the King to the jurates and syndic of Valencia in 1632 with regard to a dispute with Alicante, "en querer sacar agua de la acequia" (AMV, Cartas Reales, 9, fol. 144r, Aug 7, 1632).

38. Font, Discurso breve, p. 1. Alicante was still interested in the Júcar as late as the nineteenth century, and Valencians still felt obliged to oppose such a move See Documentos para con ocerse y juzgarse las inconveniencias de distraer aguas del Rio Júcar hacia la Provincia de Alicante según el proyecto de D. Juan Bautista Peyronet: memoria sobre el proyecto del Canal del Rio Júcar (Valencia, 1860); Antonio Sancho and Sebastian Monleon, Dictamen facultativo sobre el proyecto formado per D. Juan Bautista Peyronet para canalizar el Rio Júcar y poder fertilizar la Provincia de Alicante (Valencia,1860); Apuntes breves y sencillos en impugnación de la larga memoria de Don Juan Bautista Peyronet sobre su proyectado canal del Júcar para la Provincia de Alicante (Valencia, 1860).

39. The Cabniel rises in the province of Teruel, flows south to Requena, and joins the Júcar at Cofrentes.

40. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 16, fols 62v--63r (Feb. 20. 1372). The privilege was said to be "en lo archiu de la sala de la dita ciutat."

41. Ibid., fol. 81r (May 15, 1372).

42. See Chap. III, nn. 31-32.

43. AMV. Manuals de Consell, 17, fol. 47v (Mar. 26, 1376). The Cabriel is also mentioned.

44. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 25, fol. 237 (June 23, 1413): "Encara comana lo dit concell als dits honorables jurats que facen veure a regonexer la sima de la aygua de Santa Cruç ques din ques pot girar al riu de Godalaviar e fer hi ço que sia obs. E aximateix sobre los açuts ques pertenen esser fets en lo dit riu contra forma de privilegi e ques torne a rao: hoc encara sobre los cent caffis de forment que demana la vila de Moya a subvencio sua per sos diners, e ells datan loch a la dita aygua de la dita sima."

45. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 26, fol. 13r (May 8, 1415). The matter is also discussed, together with the Júcar project, in ibid., fol. 27v (May 28, 1415).

46. On the physical discontinuity of the cultivated zones, see Brunhes, L'Irrigation, p. 55, and Julián San Valero Aparisi, "El campesino valenciano y su obra," in Notas sobre la antiguedad de la agricultura y el regadío en tierras valencianas (Valencia, 1964), pp 76-77. San Valero, commenting on Wittfogel's theory, asserts that the fragmented nature of the Valencian countryside inhibited the development of an institutional revolution (i.e., one leading to a true hydraulic society) completing the agricultural revolution which produced the intensively irrigated huertas. The huertas are the work of towns, not of states.

47. The mutual compatability of feudal service tenure and the ecological requirements of irrigation agriculture is suggested by E. R Leach, "Hydraulic Society in Ceylon," Past and Present, no. 15 (April 1959). 17.