[133] Clearly defined wet and dry seasons lend a characteristic rhythm to the Mediterranean year. The most striking change in the climatic cycle is an autumn break, which brings the dry season to an end. The percentage of rain days rises from the middle of August on, with cyclonic penetration into the northern Mediterranean in about mid-September. ⁽¹⁾ The Valencian region is characterized by a single maximum rainfall ⁽²⁾ occurring usually in September but sometimes in October or November (see Appendix 5a). Valencia averages 56 rain days per year, compared to 72 for Barcelona, to the north, and only 42 for Cartagena, to the south. ⁽³⁾

The transition to dry summer weather is more gradual than is the autumn break. The probability of rain continues close to the winter maximum until March and then lessens until the beginning of the dry season, usually in the latter half of June. ⁽⁴⁾ In an average year about seventy percent of total precipitation occurs between September and February, whereas July and August receive less than five percent of the total. There is extreme irregularity in monthly distribution of rainfall from year to year; and years with above- and below-average rainfall tend to cluster. ⁽⁵⁾ The dry season proper includes the second half of June and July, August, and the first part of September -- months with uniformly high temperatures, fairly predictable from year to year (see Appendix 5b).

The opening weeks of the dry season were particularly difficult for the Valencian farmer because in June the fields in stubble from the winter wheat harvest had to be prepared for the summer sowing. Rain was so important at sowing time that the Valencians gave traditional names to the two or three rain-[133]storms that typically fell during this period. Around the octave of Corpus Christi (nine and a half weeks after Easter) rain often fell with such force that it dissolved and carried downstream the red earth of the Guadalaviar's headwater regions, turning the water red. The river water at this time (early to mid-June) was called the Blood of Picanya (la sang de Picanya), after a huerta village which celebrated a festival of the Blood of Christ. The day of St. Peter, June 29, was associated in the popular mind with hailstorms, called St. Peter's Hail (les pedres de Sant Pere). Finally, driving rains (occurring in mid-July, around the feast of Saints Justa and Rufina, the potters) produced red water identified as the Blood of the Holy Plate-makers (la sang de les Santes Escudelleres). ⁽⁶⁾

Seasonal distribution of drought (defined by Alice Foster as a period of two months or longer with a total rainfall of less than one inch) also varies widely in the Valencian region. Of sixty-nine droughts occurring between 1866 and 1926, thirty fell wholly within the period from June 1 through August 31; an additional seven began in the summer and lasted into September; and the rest were scattered throughout the remaining months. ⁽⁷⁾ The unequal distribution of rainfall, both monthly and yearly, is reflected in the water table and in the river regimes. The rivers of the kingdom of Valencia have a meager flow of 0.5 to 41 litres per square kilometer, with a late spring maximum and a secondary maximum in the autumn; moreover, the flows of the Mijares, Turia, and Júcar are complicated by karstic phenomena, making them all the more irregular. Floods, notorious in these rivers, tend to occur in February with minor ones in the late fall. ⁽⁸⁾
 

The fourteenth century and the first half of the fifteenth were marked in Europe by severe climatic disturbances in the form of catastrophic floods and droughts. The climate of the fourteenth century was "peculiarly continental." That is, western Europe, which usually feels the mitigating effects of the Atlantic (its [134] "oceanic climate"), in that terrible century suffered the freezing winters and wet summers characteristic of central Europe. ⁽⁹⁾ In Valencia these disturbances took the form of frequent droughts, often lasting more than a year, and of fairly frequent floods and torrential rains, quite a few of which occurred in close conjunction with droughts.

Appendix 6 unites all the documentary evidence of droughts and floods in medieval Valencia known to me, up to the mid-fifteenth century. The drought data are based largely on municipal documents, which are only sporadic before the second quarter of the fourteenth century. Furthermore, most of these references occur in documents relating to specific problems of water use, such as irrigation, milling, and related hydraulic matters. Another type of reference, alluding to public prayers or rogatory processions for rain, does not occur in significant numbers until the 1440's and increases in frequency thereafter; these calls for public prayer soon became highly stylized (for example, identically worded letters to a stock list of religious houses beseeching the monks or nuns to pray for rain), and therefore I have preferred to end my tabulation of droughts in 1450. To have continued, recording a rapidly mounting percentage of procession references among all drought references, would have been to present material of different, and lesser, significance. ⁽¹⁰⁾ The word "drought" is used in this study not to describe objectively a climatic phenomenon, but to indicate shortage of water relative to the demand for it. Greatest reliance is placed, therefore, on citations alluding directly to demand.

The total number of drought and flood references contained in Appendix 6 is much too small to be statistically significant. But the distribution by months seems, grosso modo, to follow a pattern similar to the modern one described above. October is high in flood citations; May, July, and August are highest and September is lowest in drought.

As in modern times, droughts afflicted the medieval huerta in clusters of years, striking some decades severely and others not at all. Heavy rain tended to occur in apposition to drought. Thus, both drought and flooding is recorded in 1321; drought in 1351, [135] 1352, 1355; and flooding in 1356 and 1358. The first two decades of the fifteenth century were extremely harsh, with drought recorded m 1400, 1401, 1403, 1406, and 1412-1415 and heavy rains in 1403, 1406, 1410, 1413, 1415, and 1417. The lack of recorded climatic disturbances in the 1380's and 1390's seems to indicate that these were fortunate times. On the other hand, this picture is primarily a function of the state of demand for water, not of the hydrological conditions themselves. Periods of less recorded demand may well have been arid; but no droughts would have been reported if there had been, for example, a decline in population and concurrent shrinking of the irrigated area.

The profiles of the two best-documented droughts in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries illustrate the irregularity of the Valencian climate. The drought of 1374-1376 (Figure 4) is first cited in May 1374; it intensified during the summer and was mentioned again in October, typically a month of heavy rains, when the city fathers were moved to initiate a search for new water sources. References in October, February, and March indicate difficulties at the time of sowing and the period of greatest growth of winter cereals. Diversion projects attest concern for the seriousness of the situation. This dry spell lasted at least until July 1376, when arrangements for turns on the river were made.

The drought of 1412-1415 (Figure 5) also began in October and increased in severity through the spring until it reached a critical peak in July. Heavy rains in October apparently did not relieve the pressure, for another reference occurs in November. This particular series of dry years was evidently brought to an end by consistent, heavy rains in September and October of 1415.

Extended drought thrust the huerta into a state of acute tension. As the pressure for water increased, so did the activities of the town fathers as they sought to ease the crisis with a variety of measures, legal, political, and technological. We have already examined some of the political and legal arrangements through which the city of Valencia attempted to assert the economic [136]  primacy of her huerta and its priority of right to the water of the river. So also did the city, usually spurred to action by drought, take the lead in exploring the entire region in an attempt to locate new sources of water for the huerta's benefit.

[137] Here a specific drought is examined in detail in order to illustrate the interplay of the city's interests, as well as the quickening pace of developments as the drought progressed. After four dry years at the beginning of the fifteenth century, ⁽¹¹⁾ a largely drought-free period followed until the autumn of 1412, when water in the river was said to be low. ⁽¹²⁾ This drought lasted throughout 1413 and recurred in the summers of 1414 and 1415. The summer of 1413 was apparently the most severe of the three (see Figure 5); document citations began in mid-April and continued with increasing frequency throughout the summer and into the fall. The developments will be followed here day by day, insofar as possible; the documents speak for themselves.

April 19. The jurates of the city wrote to the cequier of Moncada that "great necessity constrains us, not only because of scarcity and lack of water but also because of diminution of flour for the provision of the city, the more so because, owing to the imminent visit of the king, we must make plans for having a great abundance of flour." The jurates accordingly asked the cequier to let them have Moncada's water on the following day and throughout the night, assuring the cequier that no prejudice to the rights and privileges of the Moncada Canal was intended. ⁽¹³⁾ It should be stressed that the lack of flour did not signify crop failure: comparatively little bread grain was grown in the huerta, and grain for the city's needs was largely imported. The problem was that when water was short the mills of the huerta were often unable to function. Municipal documents indicate that the city was very dependent on water mills (hand and animal mills are never mentioned), but this may reflect a bias of the sources. Millers and bakers -- the former especially were men of considerable power -- would naturally tend to make their voices heard in the council and would be among those pressing most strongly for enforcement of river turns.

May 2. The syndic of the canals of Benacher, Faitanar, and Quart requested the Lieutenant Governor to send a letter to all officials and nobles between Alaquàs and Manises ordering them to submit to the jurisdiction of the two canal guards Marti Darmelles and Miquel Ametler. ⁽¹⁴⁾
 
[138] May 5. The jurates of Valencia dispatched a letter to Garcia de Montagut, the alcayt of Ribarroja, to Mossen Pere de Moncada, lord of Vilamarxant, and to the officials of La Pobla, stating that bearers had been sent with the city's wheat to be milled in the mills of the above-mentioned places so that the city would have an abundance of flour. ⁽¹⁵⁾

May 25. The subsyndic of the city of Valencia reported that a new canal, taking water illegally from the Guadalaviar, was being constructed in the Valley of Chelva. He asked the governor to send officials to destroy these works and order the men of Chelva not to place any impediments in the gullies and springs flowing into the river. ⁽¹⁶⁾

May 30. The lieutenant governor issued a crida to the effect that work had begun on a new canal in the Valley of Chelva, taking water that usually ran into the Guadalaviar, which river "flows to the canals which irrigate the entire huerta" of Valencia. He ordered the Lord of Chelva not to undertake any more work on this canal for any reason, under penalty of ten thousand florins.⁽¹⁷⁾

June 3. The subsyndic reported to the council of Valencia that he had carried out the orders of the jurates in seeking an injunction from the governor against the Lord of Chelva, who had been attempting to build a new canal, to the mortal danger of the city -- the more so "in this time of great drought and penury of water." ⁽¹⁸⁾

June 6. The Valencia jurates wrote to the officials of Ribarroja, Benaguasil, and Vilamarxant that they were sending their representative Pere Colomines, "well-informed of our intent"; they begged the officials to "give him faith and belief, especially concerning that which he tells them pertaining to the said matter of the water, and to obey him by works, until the matter is finished." ⁽¹⁹⁾ What the "said matter of the water" was is nowhere specified, but it must have concerned the rotation arrangements between the Pueblos Castillos and the huerta.

June l0. The council decreed that the jurates and the city's lawyers should review the report of the leveler Garcia Mezquita[139] about bringing water from the Júcar at the diversion dam of Antella. ⁽²⁰⁾

June 14. The jurates of Valencia, extending their concern beyond the huerta proper (the area between Puig and Puçol and the Morvedre irrigation district), wrote to officials of the town of Segorbe about certain innovations in the diversion of the water of their river that had given rise to "depopulation and destruction of the places of Altura, Les Alcubles, and even the monastery of the Valley of Christ," whose residents were citizens of Valencia "in certain cases." The jurates had sent their agent, Pere Colomines, to gather information on the scene personally. ⁽²¹⁾

June 16. Segorbe replied to Valencia that in fact Altura and the monastery had been able to irrigate, whereas several small districts of Segorbe (Castajo, La Loma, and Lagunas) had not irrigated at all and their grain and grapevines had been lost. ⁽²²⁾

June 23. The council of Valencia ordered the jurates to make a study of the water that could be diverted from Santa Cruz de Moya to the Guadalaviar and of diversion dams necessitated in the river by such an eventuality. ⁽²³⁾ On the same day the jurates wrote to the prior of the monastery of St. Jerome, near Puçol, stating that they needed the services of "that brother of yours who knows how to level and conduct water, wherefore we beg you to send him to us so that he might be here with us tomorrow, before lunch." ⁽²⁴⁾

July 4. The subsyndic of Valencia asked the Governor or his Lieutenant to go up the river within the kingdom of Valencia and, in those places "where new diversion dams and new, or widened, canals" have been made, to destroy such works and see that the water flowed to the huerta. ⁽²⁵⁾

July 13. The jurates of Valencia wrote to the jurates of Paterna that they were sending three bakers to mill grain at the mill of Paterna, since the city was short of four. ⁽²⁶⁾

July 14. The jurates of Valencia wrote to the officials of Benaguasil and Vilamarxant that they were sending the subsyndic to talk of "pressing affairs." ⁽²⁷⁾ Another letter, to the Lady of Manises, spoke again of the great need for flour especially among [140] the city's bakers, for making bread and bread dough "on which a great part of the people of the city live." The jurates asked her to grant the use of a millstone to all the bakers of Valencia who might come to her mill. ⁽²⁸⁾ The flour shortage was so severe that the jurates also wrote to the officials of Alcira. They had heard that the intakes of the Júcar's diversion dams were empty so that Alcira's mills were also stilled. The Valencians asked the Alcira officials to find a way to get their mills working again, in which case Valencian grain could be sent there by beast to be milled. As the Júcar's capacity was greater than that of the Guadalaviar, the Valencians hoped that the level, though low, could be raised artificially and that Alcira's mills could supply flour to "the great multitude of people ⁽²⁹⁾ who, by divine grace, inhabit the city." ⁽³⁰⁾

July 24. The jurates wrote to Jacme Serra, a fellow jurate who was out of the city: "We are worried lest you do not come, for the pressure here which we suffer owing to lack of flour due to shortage of water is great. And as you are not here, they will make us ransom [that is, pay dearly for] [the grain] whether milled or not; for this reason we pray you try to be here sometime this week, ordering and decreeing, so that . . . you might have communion and participation in our anxiety and pressure and so that we might be able to defend ourselves from riots or give some remedy and alleviation to the people." ⁽³¹⁾

July 26. The council of Valencia again considered diverting water from Santa Cruz de Moya and empowered the jurates to negotiate and terminate the matter once and for all in the best interests of the city. Money from the General Fund was allotted to this end. ⁽³²⁾

July 28. The Valencia jurates wrote to the bailiff of the Barony of Oliva, reminding him of their present anxiety about the flour shortage and stating that they had heard that there was abundance of water in the barony "and many mills milling." They asked the barony to supply them with as much flour weekly as it could. ⁽³³⁾ At the same time another letter was written to the Lady of Manises, again asking her to cooperate with the bakers of the city. ⁽³⁴⁾

July 31. The council considered appointment of a commission [141] to investigate bringing water of the Júcar to the Guadalaviar through a siphon at Alcira. ⁽³⁵⁾
 

The first phase of the summer's drought crisis was marked, first, by anxiety over the increasingly short supply of flour due to the inactivity of the huerta's mills, and second, by a variety of plans for augmenting the water supply. In August the anxiety of the jurates proved well founded, as tension erupted into violence and the city had to impose a solution by force.

August 16. On this Wednesday the jurates asked Johan Scriva, the lieutenant governor, to accompany them upstream to La Pobla, Ribarroja, and Vilamarxant so that the city could have all the water of the river freely on the days authorized by royal privilege. ⁽³⁶⁾

August 17. On Thursday morning Scriva, Bernat Gili, subsyndic of the city, and two jurates, Jacme de Celma and Johan Valleriola, were present in La Pobla; Scriva ordered La Pobla's officials not to take water from the river, but to leave the almenares open during Valencia's turn under penalty of a thousand florins, payable to the king's coffers. That same evening the two porters of the governor's court, Alfonso de Teraçona and Johan Coltell, reported that they had gone to Benaguasil and had ordered the lieutenant alami and the elders not to hinder the passage of water to Valencia. They then proceeded to the almenara called Jofari, where they found the two cequiers of the Benaguasil Canal and a Moor armed with a lance and dagger. The porters ordered the almenara opened under penalty of 1,000 florins and, when the cequiers refused to comply, opened it themselves. They then ordered the cequiers not to divert the water into their own canal, under penalty now of 2,000 florins; but the cequiers and others closed the almenara again forcibly. After two more turns, with the fine standing at 4,000 florins, the cequiers still noncompliant, and the planks of the control gate floating in the river, the porters departed for the almenara called La Fenosa in La Pobla, where the same scene was repeated with the same cequiers. The porters then came to the almenara of the canal of Vilamarxant, which they opened in the presence of its lord, [142] Pere de Moncada, who notwithstanding the Governor's order, commanded a Moor (who was cequier) to close the almenara. The orders volleyed back and forth until the fine again stood at 4,000 florins. Moncada said he would not comply but would instead defend his possessions. The porters proceeded to Ribarroja and opened its five almenares; the alcayt there, too, refused compliance. ⁽³⁷⁾

August 19. On Saturday the Valencia council met to consider events of the past two days. Action had originally been taken so that the residents of Valencia would not have to continue paying for their milling with "undue ransoms and extortions" and so that crops of the huerta would not perish. The prevailing conditions were the cause of "great murmuring, conflict, and rebelliousness in the city and huerta." ⁽³⁸⁾ The council then heard the reports of the jurates and porters and, in view of the "great incivility and violence" of the officials of Vilamarxant, Benaguasil, and La Pobla, decided upon the following measures to secure the city's right to the water: the criminal justiciar and the jurates would proceed personally to the places in question with armed men -- both mounted and on foot -- to "remove the impediment" to free flow of water. Salaries of 5 sous daily were authorized for 100 horsemen and 3 sous for 1,000 footsoldiers, including archers and lancers; beasts were provided for carrying picks, other tools, and artillery necessary for destroying any obstacle found in the river. The salary authorization was for three days. The town crier was to call throughout the city and huerta for volunteers to assemble in the Plaça de les Corts to receive wages in advance from the justiciars and jurates. By Saturday evening a public table had been set up in the Plaça, in front of the house of Bernat Boix, where salaries were paid to the volunteers. At the same time it came to the attention of the town fathers that Pere de Moncada and Anthoni de Castellet, the lords of Vilamarxant, were in the city; accordingly they were seized by the two justiciars and imprisoned "high in the Chamber of the Arms of the City," along with several of their vassals. In addition, some men of Benaguasil and many of their beasts were thrown into the common prison. ⁽³⁹⁾ At this juncture, letters patent from King [143] Ferdinand were presented by the representatives of Count Frederick of Luna (lord of La Pobla and Benaguasil) and of Moncada and Castellet, lending royal authority to their positions of defiance to the city. ⁽⁴⁰⁾ The council listened to the letters and concluded that the petitioners had willfully misled the king, claiming rights which they did not have. ⁽⁴¹⁾ The day ended with an agreement on the part of the Count of Luna and the two lords of Vilamarxant to submit the entire question to a general council of Valencian officials on the morrow.

August 20. On Sunday morning more men were signed up to fight. The general council decided that the salaries of archers and horsemen had been set too low and raised that of the archers to 4 sous daily and that of the horsemen to 5 sous 6 diners. The next order of business was to hear written statements from the lords of Vilamarxant and the Count of Luna, who claimed in effect that even the water stipulated for Valencia in the four-day turn was aygua de gracia. The lords begged the city not to send armed men, assured the Valencians that no violence would be done, and suggested that two cequiers be sent instead to oversee implementation of the prescribed turn. The justiciars, jurates, council, and syndic of Valencia all concurred in rejecting the allegations contained in the dispositions, affirming that the city indeed had right to the water by virtue of fueros and privileges. All three lords then swore, through their procurators, to respect the decision of the general council and placed their vassals in the hands of the city as surety. The justiciars and one jurate went to where the nobles were imprisoned and received their oath. ⁽⁴²⁾ That same Sunday the jurates and council dispatched a letter to the King. First, general arguments were repeated: the crops were dying and, more important, there was not enough water to mill the wheat. Then the events of the past few days were described. It is interesting that the city did not deem it necessary to cite the privilege of James II; the letter was merely to inform the King, not to defend the city's actions or justify its position. After congratulations to the King for his progress in the siege of Balaguer, ⁽⁴³⁾ and the usual compliments, the letter ended. ⁽⁴⁴⁾

August 21. On Monday Pere Colomines was sent upstream. [144] He went first to Benaguasil, where he opened the almenares "in such a way that all the water flowed in the river." ⁽⁴⁵⁾

August 22. The following day, Tuesday, Colomines proceeded to Vilamarxant and Ribarroja, opened the almenares, and ordered the officials not to touch them. Meanwhile in the city, Pere de Moncada was brought down from his confinement to make a statement to the council. He unburdened himself of "many good and apt words of excuse" and declared that as a son of the city he was willing and ready to obey her; he wished only that the sinister things which were said of him not be believed and other bad reports not be attributed to him. Having spoken his piece, the nobleman was returned to his cell. The council then resolved to free both him and Castellet, as well as the Moors who had been imprisoned with their beasts in the common jail. It was agreed that the other recalcitrant officials mentioned in the porters' report should be arrested by the justiciars and placed in the common jail. ⁽⁴⁶⁾

August 24. Now that the disobedience had been quelled and the malefactors punished, the city could institute the turn with the Pueblos Castillos in the fashion prescribed in the privilege of James II. On Thursday, the jurates ordered Pere Colomines to proceed to Ribarroja, Vilamarxant, Benaguasil, and La Pobla and "to take the water on the four days which belong to the city." Colomines accordingly went first to La Pobla and commanded the justiciars and jurates to comply. He proceeded to Benaguasil and Vilamarxant, and, on Friday morning, to Ribarroja, encountering no resistance. Colomines did not return to make his report until Monday, August 28, which would have been the first of Valencia's four days in the turn. ⁽⁴⁷⁾

Drought conditions prevailed throughout 1415, and lack of water for milling continued to he the biggest problem. ⁽⁴⁸⁾ Tensions were much eased, however, with the normalization of relations between the huerta and the Pueblos Castillos. In the summer of 1415 turn arrangements were negotiated peacefully. ⁽⁴⁹⁾

The drought crisis of 1413 was resolved by the city's imposition of a solution. The town fathers, acting without outside support [145] (and, in fact, in opposition to the King's will) successfully defended the proposition that the huerta of Valencia had priority in use of the water of the Guadalaviar. The city's ability to put an army quickly into the field and to force impotent nobles to back down demonstrates the balance of power in the fifteenth-century kingdom. The city was in full ascendancy, and its power over the nobles of the Pueblos Castillos was complete. The king was a remote figure; his governor issued at the city's pleasure edicts apparently at odds with the king's own privileges. The affair of 1413 presaged in many aspects the war of the Germanías of the next century (1519-1521). Both episodes were characterized by the opposition of the urban middle class -- artisans and yeoman cultivators -- to the landed aristocracy and their Muslim tenants. Both, indirectly at least, were movements of resistance to the crown. The outcome of the Germanías, however, was just the opposite of that of the earlier struggle. The victory of the nobles over the urban brotherhoods altered the balance of power, diminished the autonomy of the city of Valencia and the kingdom alike, and brought the king's viceroy to a position of dominance.

1. For Mediterranean weather, and that of Valencia in particular, see Houston, Western Mediterranean World, pp 10--36; Paul Kunow, El clima de Valencia y Baleares (Valencia, 1967); Casas Torres, Huerta de Valencia, pp. 26-34; Fontavella, Huerta de Gandia, pp. 38-41.

2. Houston, Western Mediterranean World, pp. 23-24.

3. Ibid., p. 710.

4. Ibid., pp. 27--30. Houston points out that June rainfall and temperature data must be interpreted carefully because the dry season usually begins after the middle of the month.

5. Foster, Geographic Structure, pp. 38-41; see also Gustaf Utterstrorn, "Climate Fluctuations and Population Problems in Early Modern Economic History," Scandinavian Economic History Review, 3 (1955), 40-41.

6. Vicente Giner Boira, "La sang de les Santes Escudelleres," Las Provincias (Valencia), July 20, 1965. For the process of rubefaction see Bunting, Geography of Soil, p180

7. Foster, Geographic Structure, pp. 41-42.

8. Ibid., pp. 43-44; Houston, Western Mediterranean World, pp. 33-35

9. Ellsworth Huntington and S S. Visher, Climatic Changes (New Haven, 1922), chap. vi.

10. Emmanuel LeRoy Ladurie ("Histoire et climat," Annales, 14 [1959], 33) rejects the anecdotal method in historical climatology in favor of more accurate data such as dates of harvests, growth periods, and similar evidence Nevertheless, prayers for rain can at least give a rough graphic indication of concern, useful when other data are lacking. For this method see Emilio Giralt, "En torno al precio del trigo en Barcelona durante el siglo XVI," Hispania, 18 (1958), 48-49. Most years in sixteenth-century Barcelona had 65 days or more when such prayers were recorded.

11. See Appendix 6, Table A, nos. 23--29.

12. See ibid., no. 31.

13. AMV, Cartas Misivas, 11, fol. 207r: "Gran necessitat nos constrem axi de fretura e distret daygues com de minua de farines per proviso de la ciutat maiorment car per lo present adveniment del senyor rey es obs siam provists en dar loch e manera de haure hi gran copia de farines On vos pregam . . . vos plaria dar o lexar nos laygua de la cequia de muncada dema en tota la nit seguent sots condicio e retencio que sens per ço no us sia feyt prejuhi als privilegis e libertats de la dita cequia."

14. ARV, Gobernación, 2202, 11th hand, fol, 1r.

15. AMV, Cartas Misivas, 11, fols. 210-211r: "Honrat senyor: Per habundar aquesta ciutat de farines de les quals hauem per la poquea de laygua del riu trametem los portadors de la present als molins daquexes parts per molre forment propi daquesta ciutat per que us pregam affectuosament que continent farats donar loch e manera de molre en los vostres molins lo forment quey sera portat per tal que sens triga puxam haure habundament de farines e non façam enuig als hereters de laygua del riu."

16. ARV, Gobernación, 2202, 12th hand, fol. 30r.

17. ARV, Gobernación, 2203, 28th hand, fol. 17r.

18. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 25, fol. 196r.

19. AMV, Cartas Misivas, 11, fol. 233r: "Sobre lo fet de les aygues trametem a vosaltres en Pere Colomines veguer nostre be informat de nostra intencio; pregam vos que lo donets fe e creenca sobre tot co que us dira toquant lo dit fet de les aygues e complirho per obra ab acabament e sera cosa de quens farets gran plaer."

20. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 25, fol. 202r.

21. The jurates' letter to Segorbe is not extant; its contents are reiterated in Segorbe's reply on June 16 (AMV, Protocolos de Jaime Dezpia, 25, loose sheet): "Rebuda havem vostra letra entre altres moltes coses continent que novellament vos seria stat a entendre que nosaltres donaven obra a algunes novitats sobre la particio de les aygues no seruants la forma antigada e usitada en temps passat, en tant que donavem obra a la despoblacio e destruccio dels lochs de Altura e de les Alcubles e encara del monastir de Vall de Crist qui son vostres ciutadans e vassalls en certs casos."

22. Ibid. The letter goes on to discuss relations between the cequiers of Altura and Segorbe and whether Valencia has any jurisdiction in the matter.

23. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 25, fol. 237r.

24. AMV, Cartas Misivas, 12, fol, gv: "Mossen lo prior: de gran necessitat e cuyta hauem obs aquest vostre frare qui senten de livellar e traure aygues, on vos pregam affectuosament quel nos trametats de fet en tal manera que dema ans de dinar sia ai ab nosaltres."

25. ARV, Gobernación, 2202. 16th hand, fol. 28r: "alguns acuts e cequies noves sien estades comencades a fer e fetes en les ribes del Riu de Godalaviar e . . . ampliats los açuts e cequies contra forma antiga e en gran dampnatge e prejuhi de la dita ciutat . . . per tal cas laygua del dit riu per alla no puxa venir librement e integra a la dita ciutat e orta daquella." (This is contrary to fueros and privileges, notably that of James II, Aug. 1, 1318)

26. AMV, Cartas Misivas, 12, fol. 14v: "Nosaltres hauem ordenat que tres deenes dels flaquers daquesta ciutat, de les quals es cap en Guillem Feltrer, flaquer, vaien a molre a vostre moli per ço que la dita ciutat sia de farines ahondada de les quals per lo gran destret que es daygues en lo nostre riu hauem fretura."

27. Ibid., fol. 15v.

28. Ibid., fol. 16r: "Per la gran fretura de aygues que segons sab vostra noblea hauem en nostre riu some estats en gran necessitat de farines, maiorment es aquesta necessitat en los flaquers daquesta ciutat del pa o pastor dels quals viu gran part del poble de la ciutat dessus dita, per que affectuosament pregam vostra savia noblea que placia a aquella donar a tots nostres flaquers los quals divertiran a vostre moli una mola qui don prest espatxament de farines als dits flaquers"

29. The population of Valencia in 1418 was 8,000 hearths; see Chap. VI, n. 53.

30. AMV, Cartas Misivas, 12, fol. 16r:

Sabut hauem com per ordinacio vostra son estades exemplades les goles dels açuts del vostre riu de que e per la pocha aygua de aquell los molins no poden molre ne lavorar axi com seria obs. E com segons creem sabets nosaltres siam constituits en gran penuria de aygues, bat ne sia ihu xst, en tant que no podem hauer farina don se puxa proveir tanta multitut de poble lo qual per gracia divinal habita en la ciutat ne puxam bastar a proveir los qui ostegan per lo senyor rey a Bunyol per fretura de farina. Per ço vostra bona amistat pregam affectuosament . . . que us placia sens tot vostre prejuhi almenys defferint al temps present e a nosaltres per la justant necessitat proveir que les dites goles se puxen en tal manera artar . . . que si puxa molre molt forment del qual . . . entenem trametre a coli de besties en aquexa part.

31. Ibid., fol. 23v: "Si us ne venits som encapats car açi es molta la pressura que passam per fretura de farines per penuria daygua. E com no siats aqui nos faran rescatarla, molra o no molran [sic], per que us pregam que aimenys la present setmana acurets aqui provehint, ordenant e disponent, axi com aquell qui havets comunio o participi de nostra congoxa e pressura en manera ques puxam deffendre de brogit o dar qualque remey e mitigacio a les gents."

32. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 25, fol. 248v.

33. AMV, Cartas Misivas. 12. fol. 24v: "Al molt honrat en ffrancesch çavall, batle de la baronia de oliva e de rebollet."

34. Ibid., fols. 24v-25r.

35. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 25, fols. 252r-253r.

36. Ibid., fol. 258v.

37. Ibid., fols. 258v-260r.

38. Ibid., fol. 258v: "per esguard de la gran fretura e steleritat [sic] e destret que de present eren daygues en lo riu de guadaiaviar per ço car no podien haure aygues per obs de molre lurs blats de que los vehins e habitadors de la dita ciutat per molre ab rescats e extorcions indebites hoc encara los havents terres vinyes e possessions no podents haure aygues perdessen llurs esplets en notori dan llur e de la cosa publica de la dita ciutat e orta daquella don havia gran rumor querela e brogit en la dita ciutat e orta."

39. Ibid., fols. 260r-261r.

40. The text of the letters is in ibid., fol. 261r--261v. The Count of Luna's is dated July 12, 1413, Pere de Moncada's May 26, 1413. Both are in Latin and both set fines for incurring the royal wrath by disturbing rights of the 3 villages to water from the river. Obviously the Pueblos Castillos had planned their resistance carefully for several months.

41. Ibid., fol. 261v: "E com segons la tenor e narracio de aquelles [the letters], aquelles sien vistes surrepticies e tache veritate impetrades e acaptades donants los acaptants entendre al senyor rey que son en possessio de ço que allys conte co que cessa esser ver pariant ab humil subieccio del dit senyor, per tal que haud acord farien co que fossen tenguts fer."

42. Ibid., fols. 262r--266r; Jacme Serra is listed as present at this meeting.

43. The King had besieged the rebellious Count of Urgel, who had invaded Aragón with promises of help from the English (Chaytor, A History of Aragon, p. 208).

44. AMV, Cartas Misivas, 12, fols. 35v-37r.

45. AMV, Manuals de Consell, 25, fols. 266v-267r.

46. Ibid., fols. 267r-268r.

47. Ibid., fols. 268r-269r. The same practice is followed now, except that the decision to implement the tanda is taken by the acequieros rather than the jurates. The acequieros decide on Thursday whether or not a turn is necessary; if so, they inform the Pueblos Castillos that the turn is in effect, and the city's first day therefore falls on Monday.

48. Some flooding had occurred in October 1413, paradoxically having the same effect on the mills as the drought: the rush of water in the river broke the diversion dams and no water was reaching the mills (AMV, Cartas Misivas, 12, fol. 62v. Oct. 14. 1413). By the end of November "penury of water" had returned (ibid., fol. 83r, Nov. 22, 1413).

49. See Chap. VI, n.10.