[193] Guillem Ramon [II] seneschal received grants of lordship in the cities of Tortosa and Lleida as a result of his contributions to the conquest of New Catalonia. But the grants were limited because Ramon Berenguer IV decided to divide comital authority in Tortosa and Lleida, reserving certain rights for himself. The count wanted to maximize the authority of the house of Barcelona, and at the same time limit the power of independent barons in New Catalonia, by directing Christian resettlement and regulating Muslim and Jewish residency himself.  In consequence, lords found their authority restricted even more than they had expected. This led to conflict with the count: first the Genoese sold back their portion of the Tortosa lordship in 1153 and then, a short time later, Guillem Ramon [II] Seneschal complained to a comital curia about restrictions on his lordship. But the die was cast; and neither the compromise obtained by Guillem Ramon nor later modifications made by the count's son Alfons in the lordship structure of Tortosa and Lleida altered the political balance that Ramon Berenguer IV had established on the frontier.

Judging from the quantity of documents that bear his subscription, Guillem Ramon Seneschal's primary concern in the years immediately following the capture of Tortosa was the supervision [194]  of Christian resettlement there. Regardless of Ramon Berenguer's criticism that the seneschal had not personally assured the guard of the Suda, his presence in the region is amply documented during the period 1149-1154, when he and the count granted property in the city and its surroundings. Grants had been made in anticipation of the city's fall, too, including an almunia (garden) in Aldea to Bernat de Bell-lloc, houses and land in Tortosa to the Aragonese Pedro Guillermo, and an alfòndec (marketplace) exempt from the usual customs charges to the "people" of Narbonne.⁽¹⁾ Perhaps because of the fiscal considerations involved, the charter ceding the alfòndec recorded the consent of Guillem Ramon Seneschal and others with a financial interest in the lordship of Tortosa.

The bulk of the donation charters, however, were made after December 1148. These grants by Ramon Berenguer generally transferred houses and land in Tortosa to settlers who agreed to remain as inhabitants of the city.⁽²⁾ The unencumbered (allodial) lands could be freely disposed of, though some charters prohibited alienations to knights and "saints" (that is, ecclesiastical institutions).⁽³⁾ Many of the documents specified that the honors granted had belonged to some particular Saracen or other, who presumably had fled or perished in the conquest.⁽⁴⁾ Other donations by the count, such as grants to Guillem de Sentmenat and Guillem de Copons, established or expanded the honors of nobles from Old Catalonia in the new region.⁽⁵⁾ In all these cases, Guillem Ramon Seneschal's subscription figured prominently on the charter.

The repopulation effort had produced approximately 106 Christian hearths by 1163.⁽⁶⁾ Their inhabitants paid fiscal dues, although the settlement charters had granted certain privileges and [195] exemptions.⁽⁷⁾ The taxes allowed by the count included leudes (market dues or customs), the questa (a portion of harvests), placiti (payments made for justice), and some other levies. Guillem Ramon received his share of these dues deriving from lordship, protection, and the ban, and could impose no more.⁽⁸⁾

Guillem Ramon Seneschal appeared in the comital court in the mid 1150s as a result of disputes with Ramon Berenguer over their respective rights and duties in Tortosa.⁽⁹⁾ Though the count's donation to Guillem Ramon in 1147 had not mentioned dividing the lordship of Tortosa into parts, a partition had in fact been made. Any doubt remaining about this after 1149 was eliminated when Ramon Berenguer's court of barons ruled that Guillem Ramon had no right to share in the proceeds of a particular placitum because the plea had been heard in the Genoese sector. But other areas of Tortosa had been left as common land by the charter of division, and it was presumed that here the parties with lordship rights would profit according to their shares. This reasoning led the Great Seneschal to claim a portion of the profits from a mill that he said Ramon Berenguer had constructed in common lands. The court of barons decided that Guillem Ramon could share in the revenues from the mill, but only if he would contribute to its expenses.

Nothing, however, was so damaging to Guillem Ramon's financial interests in Tortosa as the decision by the court that he was entitled only to a one-third portion of the count's share in lordship, not to one-third of the total revenues from Tortosa. By excluding the third part granted to the Genoese and the fifth accorded to the Templars, which Ramon Berenguer argued were separate from the comital portion, Guillem Ramon's share was reduced to a mere 16 percent (see Chart 3).

Certain attributes of authority could not be fractioned into shares, for example, the responsibility for the contingent of knights and foot-soldiers stationed at the Suda, which Guillem Ramon did not share with the Genoese even though the citadel had been partitioned by the charter of June 1149. In the count's absence, the [197] commander of these forces no doubt was Guillem Ramon Seneschal. But the degree of his control became an issue when he complained that the count had not given him the stacamenta (a form of surety or bail) of these knights and foot-soldiers, and in this way had infringed upon his lordship. Ramon Berenguer replied that he had given the seneschal no lordship in his (the count's) familia and that he recognized none. The court of barons declared that no monetary guarantees for appearance or execution of sentence were required because a mutual responsibility existed in this group as in other "families."⁽¹⁰⁾ If someone "of the family" had a case with a citizen of Tortosa, however, he should give guarantees to Guillem Ramon and proceed with the matter in court. This difference between Guillem Ramon and Ramon Berenguer indicates that the count wished to minimize his seneschal's authority in Tortosa.

Ramon Berenguer sought to monopolize authority in Tortosa by insisting, for one thing, that certain aspects of lordship pertained exclusively to him. Thus he claimed the entire amount of a fine levied on the men of Tortosa for breaking the peace and truce with the Saracens. Guillem Ramon asked the count's curia for a share in these proceeds, but the barons found in favor of Ramon Berenguer. Similarly, the administration of Muslim affairs was exclusively reserved for the count. Ramon Berenguer had granted a specific charter to this segment of the population, and he clearly expected the other secular lords of Tortosa to keep their distance. The seneschal further complained that Ramon Berenguer had not shared the proceeds of a questa levied on both Saracens and Jews. The count maintained that the sum was a loan and would be repaid. The court of barons decided that if the money was borrowed as stated and repaid by the count, Guillem Ramon should receive no part of it. If, however, it was not repaid at the time stipulated, it should be considered a tax, no matter what name it was given, and should be shared with Guillem Ramon.

The evidence suggests that neither Guillem Ramon nor Ramon Berenguer was completely satisfied with the conduct of the [198] other in the affairs of Tortosa in the period 1149-1154.⁽¹¹⁾ Guillem Ramon complained, for instance, that his share in the amostalafia (levies on Muslim commercial activities), which had been ceded by Ramon Berenguer to a citizen of Tortosa, was too small. The count replied that because the grant covered more than just the city of Tortosa, Guillem Ramon's share had been pro-rated. The seneschal also complained that when he had disputed the count's acquisition of the Genoese part of the city, Ramon Berenguer had seized some of his honors. The court ruled that Ramon Berenguer should release these, that the situation should revert to the status quo at the time when Ramon Berenguer had acquired the Genoese portion, and that thenceforth governing should proceed according to charter provisions.

The court of barons also heard Ramon Berenguer complain that Guillem Ramon had levied new taxes in the city, specifically the ioves traginis (drayage services), and that he had received chickens from Saracens at certain times of the year. The count further asserted that the seneschal had required Saracens to pilot boats down the river and upstream as far as Lleida. Guillem Ramon stated that he had not introduced anything new but had merely taken advantage of customs prevalent when the Saracens had held the Suda -- specifically those pertaining to fowl, firewood, and certain other matters. To this the count responded that Guillem Ramon should not innovate at all, whether the customs in question had been practiced before by the Saracens or not.

The charges and countercharges that Guillem Ramon Seneschal and Ramon Berenguer traded before the curia of Barcelona show two clearly different conceptions of the prerogatives of a feudal baron in New Catalonia. The controversies of the 1150s prove that Guillem Ramon acted at Tortosa in much the same way as he and other magnates operated in Old Catalonia: to maximize profits from lordships and to discourage interference from above in the exercise of their authority. Ramon Berenguer may have tolerated this in Old Catalonia, but he would brook no resistance to his principles in New Catalonia. There he had established a new order in which he was sovereign above all, and in which the limits of [199] authority were defined by written contract to a far greater degree than elsewhere in Catalonia. By virtue of one or more of these agreements, Guillem Ramon had been awarded a role in the lordship of Tortosa -- not as an independent lord bound only to Ramon Berenguer through a promise of service and fidelity, but simply as the executor of authority given him by the count.

The confrontation in court may not have changed the opinions of the protagonists, but it cleared the air and resolved outstanding disputes. One consequence was that Ramon Berenguer began to devote much less attention to the management of affairs in Tortosa, leaving this instead to the care of his seneschal. Even more important, Ramon Berenguer apparently acceded to Guillem Ramon's claim of the Genoese third of the city's lordship. Although there is no direct evidence of a new comital grant, it is almost inconceivable that one was not made, considering the known shares of other lords in Tortosa and bearing in mind that the identification of Ramon de Montcada [I] with Tortosa was, if anything, greater than that of his father (see Chart 3).

The Tortosa lordship of Ramon [I] and his son Ramon {II] de Montcada remained circumscribed by Alfons I's continued use of fiscal resources in the city and by his reservation of some political rights there. Royal prerogative justified some of this, as when the count-king reserved ecclesiastical rights in Tortosa to himself because "they pertain to the royal majesty."⁽¹²⁾ At the dedication of the new cathedral of Tortosa in 1177, Alfons confirmed the endowment and diocesan boundaries of the church. Ramon de Montcada's subscription appeared in the charter that recorded the event, but only as a signatory to an act of the count-king.⁽¹³⁾ Similarly, Alfons stipulated in 1172 that Ramon could do anything he liked with land given him in Tortosa except build baths there, presumably because this was a monopoly of the count-kings.⁽¹⁴⁾ Thirty [200] years later Pere I granted a charter of exemption from taxes to the men of the churches, monasteries, and religious houses in the bishopric of Tortosa.⁽¹⁵⁾ Thus the count-king still exercised royal prerogatives, even after his predecessor had traded away the share of lordship first reserved for the house of Barcelona by Ramon Berenguer IV.⁽¹⁶⁾

The Templars at Tortosa had not initially received rights of lordship there.⁽¹⁷⁾ However, they became in effect co-lords of Tortosa with Ramon de Montcada [I] in 1182 when Alfons granted them his share of the city in return for half of the revenues they would collect there.⁽¹⁸⁾ The donation, which provided that a Templar bailiff would collect the count-king's revenues, is one example of the transition from direct to indirect fiscal administration under Alfons. But it also provided an entry for the Templars into the lordship of the city, which from 1182 they effectively shared with the Montcadas.⁽¹⁹⁾ Only royal prerogative and rights to half of the incomes raised by the Templars, or one-eighth of the total, were left to the crown after 1182. These rights were transmitted by Alfons's will to his widow, Queen Sança, and Pere I later granted them to Guillem de Cervera. That donation, made in 1208, gave the baron the castle and city of Tortosa "with full lordship...just as Alfons had held it."⁽²⁰⁾ It was, no doubt, the latter provision that was challenged by the Templars in 1210 when they won from Pere I a confirmation of the donation of 1182 and an order that Guillem de Cervera do homage to the Templars for his rights in Tortosa.⁽²¹⁾

If Guillem de Cervera's entry on the scene was viewed by the Templars as a threat to their prerogatives, Ramon de Montcada [201] [II] does not appear to have shared this view. He had established a close alliance with Guillem and as early as 1206 had elected him executor of the will he made prior to a campaign with Pere in Provence.⁽²²⁾ This relationship continued when Guillem assumed his new role as Pere I's agent in Tortosa. In 1209 Ramon and Guillem jointly made a donation "on our [Ramon's] account and that of the lord king" of the islands of Lezem and Moled to the Saracens of Miravet.⁽²³⁾ Both were signatories to Pere's exemption from exactions for churchmen in Tortosa, and both issued confirmations of the purchase of houses in Tortosa by Bishop Ponç.⁽²⁴⁾ When Ramon enfeoffed the castle of Lumeners in 1210, he did so with Guillem's advice and consent.⁽²⁵⁾ Guillem was identified in 1228 as "lieutenant of the lord king of Tortosa" in a grant to the Jews of the city, made by Ramon and the Templars, of the castle of Baneres.⁽²⁶⁾ Guillem de Cervera's rights thus appear to have been parallel to those of Ramon de Montcada and in competition only with those of the Templars in the city. But Guillem's rights do not seem to have survived him. From the time of his death to the end of the thirteenth century, the lordship of the city appears to have been divided equally between the Montcadas and the Templars.⁽²⁷⁾

Though the Montcadas' lordship rights in Tortosa predated those of the Templars, the Templars on several occasions in the thirteenth century tried to increase their authority at the expense of their co-lords.⁽²⁸⁾ Disputes between the two powers had their roots in Alfons's donation and in subsequent confirmations that accorded "the whole city of Tortosa" to the Templars, without specifically reserving rights for the Montcadas. That their rights had indeed been reserved, however, is apparent from a study of administrative documents in Tortosa that show nearly equal jurisdiction until the death of Ramon de Montcada [II]. Still, there is evidence that Templar officials early in the thirteenth century regarded [202] their authority as higher than that of the Montcadas. In a document dated to the first quarter of the century, Ramon de Montcada [II] was asked by the Templar official Ponç Marescal to preside over a claim he wished to bring against the Hospitallers in Tortosa, and Ramon did so. At one point, over the protests of the master of the Hospitallers, Ponç

turned toward lord Ramon de Montcada -- who was present there -- and said to him with his own words, saying, "lord Ramon de Montcada, you hold Tortosa from [pro] the brothers of the Temple, and therefore I command you by that donation which I have over you that you compel the master and brothers of the Hospital to do justice to us under you concerning the above [quarrels]."⁽²⁹⁾

Lordship in Tortosa was fragmented on the one hand, and on the other it was limited by provisions of the resettlement charters that followed Ramon Berenguer IV's reconquest. The beneficiaries of these charters were the inhabitants of Tortosa, present and future. They received, in addition to exemption from transit taxes, a special role in the administration of justice, a function traditionally reserved for lords. As a result, Ramon de Montcada and after 1182 the Templars were both obliged to cooperate with a group of leading citizens -- the prohoms -- when handling certain cases. An early example of the participation of prohoms in settling legal questions came in 1171, when Ramon de Montcada presided with the curia and prohoms of Tortosa at a liquidation of property for debts.⁽³⁰⁾ In a case between two citizens heard in 1195, the count's decision was handed down by a group consisting of the Templar commander in Tortosa, the vicar of Tortosa -- an official appointed by the Montcadas -- six prohoms, and one brother of the Temple.⁽³¹⁾ In [203] other instances the lords of the city called on the prohoms when expertise in local affairs was needed. This would explain the prohoms' participation in a hearing of 1187 that defined the limits of land owned by Bishop Ponç at Bitem, a matter that did not in fact pertain to the citizens' court.⁽³²⁾

The prohoms of Tortosa had from the start been granted the right to settle disputes amiably among citizens and, if this arbitration failed, to join the lords' court in deciding such cases. By the end of the twelfth century, however; they were attempting to extend the jurisdiction of their court and to broaden their involvement in it. But their position that all cases should be decided there was rejected by arbiters "who declared that disputes between inhabitants of Tortosa should be heard in the city court, but that suits between the Templars or the Montcadas and citizens should be brought before judges appointed by the lords of Tortosa."⁽³³⁾ In fact, two cases were distinguished: disputes between the lordship and citizens would be heard by special judges, and claims among citizens would be adjudicated in a court of prohoms and lords. Though the prohoms argued that this decree gave them the right to elect the special judges, their claim was denied by the lords.⁽³⁴⁾ Bolstered by their success, the lords of Tortosa compounded the citizens' defeat during the first quarter of the thirteenth century by moving the court sessions from the city to the Suda. This move so displeased the citizens that they presented a convincing case to Jaume I in 1228, and he granted them relief from both the location of judicial proceedings and the manner of selecting special judges.⁽³⁵⁾ But their victory was temporary (Jaume's decision was [204] largely reversed by the Sentence of Flix in 1241⁽³⁶⁾) because it came during a period when the lordship of Tortosa was held firmly by the Templars and Ramon de Montcada [II].

In spite of such intermittent limitations on their power; the Montcadas were concerned with all facets of administrative policy that affected the political or economic equilibrium of the region. One area of particular interest to them was the regulation of minority groups in Tortosa, including a substantial number of Muslims who had remained in the region under a charter granted by Ramon Berenguer IV. The importance of this population to the local economy can be seen in an act of 1174, by which Alfons commuted the opera (a tax substituted for labor services) due from the Saracen community to an annual payment of 400 masmodines. This charter established a mechanism for indexing the amount owed to the growth in population, but it also provided that if the population of the aljema were to decline, "quod absit" (heaven forbid!), the tax would be lowered accordingly.⁽³⁷⁾

The Muslim community of Tortosa was treated by Ramon Berenguer as a homogenous group under his special protection. He allowed it to retain its traditional ways and to be regulated by a zalmedina and an alcaid, who were to be named by the lords of the city. The affairs of the Muslim community were dealt with internally, with little interference from the city's Christian authorities. There were exceptions, however; such as when Alfons heard complaints from it of coercion and extortion from bailiffs and others. He responded by ordering that "no man, whether major or minor, rich or poor," should be forced to hire a juggler or singer when celebrating a marriage. In this act, witnessed by Ramon de Montcada, Alfons also forbade the zalmedina and the alcaid to violate one another's jurisdiction, and he forbade all bailiffs, Christian, Jewish, or Muslim, to take actions that would encroach upon the two offices.⁽³⁸⁾ Because the Muslim leaders held office at the pleasure of the lords of Tortosa and had pledged allegiance to them, these matters were of concern to the Montcadas and, after 1182, other lords [205] in the city. Thus Guillem de Bonastre, a former scribe and now Queen Sança's representative in Tortosa,⁽³⁹⁾ in 1207 appointed the alcaid "by authority of the domina queen with the assent and will of Ramon de Montcada."⁽⁴⁰⁾ In the same month Ramon de Montcada appointed the zalmedina, though no reference was made to the queen's representative.⁽⁴¹⁾ Ten years later; the Templars joined Ramon de Montcada in appointing a new Saracen alcaid.⁽⁴²⁾

Another minority that commanded the attention of Tortosa's lords was the Jews. The Jews of the city were prosperous,⁽⁴³⁾ perhaps in spite of regulations imposed on them during Muslim rule. Apparently the Muslims had feared that some of the Jewish community would abuse them after the fall of the city, and they had asked for a condition in their surrender agreement with Ramon Berenguer that would bar Jews from buying captured Moors.⁽⁴⁴⁾ In any case, the legal status of the Jews was quickly regularized by Ramon Berenguer's special charter granting them a section of the town and the right to live according to Jewish customs of Barcelona.⁽⁴⁵⁾ Their usefulness to city authorities was indicated by Alfons's grant, with Ramon de Montcada [I]'s consent, of a license for them to lend money to either the count-king or the lord of Montcada.⁽⁴⁶⁾

A much more unusual grant was made in 1228, when Ramon de Montcada [II] and the Templar preceptor in Tortosa, "mindful of the devotion and fidelity which the Jews now residing in Tortosa and their predecessors have had toward us and our predecessors," gave "the castle of Baneres" (next to the Suda) to a group of twenty-five Jews and their posterity.⁽⁴⁷⁾ The group received the whole of the castle and its houses "to be held freely in fidelity" from Ramon de Montcada, who promised not to exercise force [206] against them and to keep others from doing so. The group obtained permission to send their grape harvest through the gates of the Suda and to operate an oven and maintain a synagogue on the premises. They received special protection from Ramon de Montcada and the Templars and a promise that the lords would have the king confirm the charter.⁽⁴⁸⁾ The motive for this donation is not expressed in the charter, but it may be related to financial services rendered by the Jewish community to the lords in accordance with terms of the lending privilege granted by Alfons I in 1182.

The Montcadas' activities in New Catalonia were not limited to seconding the acts of the count-kings. Indeed, there is some evidence that the authority of Ramon [I] and Ramon [II] increased in Tortosa during the last decade of the twelfth century and the early years of the thirteenth. Though Alfons and his successors intervened in Tortosa, the count-kings did not usually direct the affairs of lordship there as Ramon Berenguer IV had. They continued to formulate general policy in such matters as Muslim or Jewish community affairs, but they left much discretionary authority to the lords. This was especially true after 1182, when Alfons's donation to the Templars of his share of the lordship reduced the intensity of royal involvement in the city

In addition to their role in the political destiny of Tortosa, the Montcadas were important participants in the economic life of the city and territory. They controlled large amounts of arable land that was either enfeoffed to knights or let directly to peasants. The castle district of Horta, in a mountain valley northeast of Tortosa, was an example of a grant made to knights. Guillem Ramon [II] and Ramon de Montcada [I] ceded Horta to Pere de Subirats in 1167 with half of its revenues, that is, "justice, questas, forcias, and inventiones (right to seize strayed property)." Guillem Ramon further allowed Pere to collect all stacamenta except when he was there to receive them himself. Guillem Ramon also ceded the stabilimenta, whether Pere collected them in his company or independently. [207] Finally, Guillem Ramon gave Pere a villa on condition that it not be given to anyone except the person destined to receive the castle.⁽⁴⁹⁾

The largest number of property grants went to cultivators from land that no doubt had been attached to the lordship of Tortosa soon after the reconquest. In these situations, Guillem Ramon and his descendants struck the best deal possible for themselves, imposing rents that varied from one-eleventh to one-half of the harvest. In 1167 Guillem Ramon, Ramon de Montcada, and Ot gave Pere de Vall a garden and a piece of land in Borgacenia for half the harvest. They agreed to furnish half of the seed and not to levy forcias or mals usos. For other land that he cultivated, Pere owed only the tasca. The result of this transaction was that Pere had additional land to work but at a diminished rate of return.⁽⁵⁰⁾ But such profitable rents could not be imposed everywhere. In 1186 Ramon de Montcada obtained only the tasca for a piece of uncultivated land at Montaneres in the district of Bitem.⁽⁵¹⁾ Later, the grant of a field in the district of Tortosa by Ramon de Montcada, his wife Ramona, and his son Ramon brought the lords the promise of a fifth of the yield.⁽⁵²⁾

Other grants were less specific, and they seem to reflect a desire by the lords of Tortosa to extend agriculture as rapidly as possible. Thus in 1176 the count-king Alfons and Ramon de Montcada together donated a garden in Pempe and a field in Arenys to Ramon de Centelles with the understanding that Ramon could do anything he wished with the property, "always according to the usages of Tortosa, save in all things our fidelity and that of our successors in perpetuity"⁽⁵³⁾ Eight years later; Ramon de Montcada and Ramona ceded a manse in Borgacenia to the same Ramon de Centelles, noting that he was authorized to work the field as much as he could on its southern boundary.⁽⁵⁴⁾

Grants of this kind did not alienate property from the Montcada honor; they merely supplied the land with cultivators. Fields, [208] gardens, and vineyards thus appeared in the documents as lands of Guillem Ramon or Ramon de Montcada even though they were worked by local inhabitants.⁽⁵⁵⁾ And Montcada management extended beyond ceding these lands to settlers and awaiting a share of the returns. In 1184 Ramon de Montcada, in an exchange of parcels with Ramon de Xerta that suggests a consolidation of property, obtained a field that had a boundary in common with land in his honor.⁽⁵⁶⁾ Because any mention of bailiffs of the kind found in Old Catalonia is rare in the documents, except in the city of Tortosa, how the Montcadas administered this patrimony is not clear. But such agents must have existed to collect rents for their lords.⁽⁵⁷⁾

Whatever administrative techniques were employed may have changed somewhat in the early thirteenth century, if a charter of 1213 is typical. In it Ramon de Montcada [II] gave two "places," Cardó and Sallent, to Oller Fuster for him to work. This donation allowed the recipient to exercise banal lordship, but with two-thirds of the revenues in most cases earmarked for the Montcadas.⁽⁵⁸⁾ The document may indicate a movement toward "indirect" administration similar to the rent-farming that was beginning to occur in Guillem de Montcada's domains during this period.

One of the results of Ramon Berenguer's policy in Tortosa was that bishops there did not become strong political figures, but remained very much under the count's protection and subject to his political leadership. This did not change under the joint lordship of Ramon de Montcada and the Templars. Continued limitations on the church's lordship prerogatives are shown in a sale of houses by an inhabitant of Tortosa to the church in 1178. This act, which [209] was subscribed by Ramon de Montcada, guaranteed title to the property "against all men and women except for the lordship of the city of Tortosa."⁽⁵⁹⁾

The privileged status of the lords was recognized by Pere I in his settlement in 1199 of controversies between the men of Tortosa and the bishop. In that act he decreed how the tenths were to be calculated and on what products, but he excluded from the order the Templars, the Hospitallers, Ramon de Montcada, and himself.⁽⁶⁰⁾ The church in Tortosa remained, in the end, under the lords' patronage, and it was in his capacity as patron that Guillem Ramon Seneschal made grants to the see in the early 1160s. These included rights in Granadella given for the benefit of his soul and a donation of a tenth of his revenues in Tortosa except for fees from the administration of justice and questas.⁽⁶¹⁾ This was about the limit of Montcada generosity to the cathedral of Santa Maria, which, in terms of donations received, trailed far behind the newly founded Cistercian monastery of Santes Creus.

From its earliest stirrings in Catalonia, the community of Cistercian monks that ultimately established itself along the river Gaià in the Camp de Tarragona drew a large measure of material support from Guillem Ramon Seneschal and his sons. It is not surprising that later historians, given the legend of Guillem Ramon "de Montcada," attributed the seneschal's generosity to a feeling of repentance for his notorious crime.⁽⁶²⁾ In truth, the foundation of Santes Creus was probably linked to a general drive by Count Ramon Berenguer IV to regain one of the last remaining frontier areas in Catalonia. This effort had begun in earnest with the grant of the castle of Barberà to the Templars in 1134 and had progressed with the military conquests of Tortosa and Lleida in 1148 and 1149. By 1150, then, Ramon Berenguer and his court were ready to sponsor the resettlement of this back country, a task they gave to white monks from France. A process set in motion in 1150 or 1151 through the count's contact with Abbot Sanç of the monastery [210] of Fontfroide resulted in the establishment of the community of Poblet, near Espluga de Francolí, by 1153.⁽⁶³⁾

Guillem Ramon Seneschal's own initiative probably followed soon after the example of Ramon Berenguer IV. In December 1150 the Great Seneschal and his sons, Guillem, Ramon, and Berenguer de Montcada, donated property in the district of Cerdanyola del Vallès to Abbot Guillem of Grandselve for the construction of a Cistercian abbey.⁽⁶⁴⁾ Two years later; in a donation that attests to the arrival of a party of monks at Cerdanyola, the seneschal promised to supply grants of money, grain, and wine from his Vallès territories near Montcada until the community became self-sufficient.⁽⁶⁵⁾ Their initial establishment was probably never intended to be permanent, for by summer 1153, when Ramon Berenguer granted the monks the cave of Ancosa near Igualada,⁽⁶⁶⁾ the community had already moved to a new site from which it derived its name for the time, Santa Maria de Valldaura.⁽⁶⁷⁾ But this location, too, was only temporary, and the community moved to Santes Creus in the 1160s.⁽⁶⁸⁾ It was supported in these early years by frequent donations from Guillem Ramon Seneschal and his men, especially of lands and incomes in the territory of Tortosa.⁽⁶⁹⁾

In later years the Cistercian abbey continued to share economic and spiritual ties with the Montcada family, whose members almost invariably chose the site as a final resting place.⁽⁷⁰⁾ The community may even have provided a temporary refuge for Guillem Ramon de Montcada, whose first recorded act after his murder of the archbishop of Tarragona was an exchange of property with the abbot of Santes Creus.⁽⁷¹⁾ But Santes Creus seemed to provide the greatest services to the descendants of the Great Seneschal in the area of credit. Three years after the date of Guillem Ramon's will, Ramon de Montcada gave the monastery an honor in the district [211] of Tarragona to settle a 500-morabetin debt still outstanding from his father.⁽⁷²⁾

In 1190 Ramon de Montcada [I] was still making good the Great Seneschal's bequests. These included money left for works, which was probably used for constructing the new abbey church.⁽⁷³⁾ The practice of deferring donations could be viewed as a form of credit, and as such it served again during Ramon de Montcada [II]'s career; when he finally assigned revenues from his lordship at Palmera (Lleida) in 1202 to fulfill a grant from the will of his father, Ramon de Montcada [I].⁽⁷⁴⁾ The monastery also appears to have lent money directly -- for example, the 500 masmodines that Ramon de Montcada [II] recognized he owed the community in 1208.⁽⁷⁵⁾

Not only did the monastery lend, it also purchased property rights held by Ramon de Montcada [I] and his son Ramon de Montcada [II] in Lleida. This occurred in 1179, when Ramon [I] sold a warehouse ("cellarium") for 235 morabetins, and in 1204, when Ramon [II] alienated an annual rent of 51.5 sols in Palmera for a one-time payment of 1,000 sols.⁽⁷⁶⁾Two years later; Ramon donated to the monastery the lands of four peasants with their rents (worth 35 sols per year), along with other rights in Palmera, "for the health of his soul." In return, the monastery gave him 4,650 sols.⁽⁷⁷⁾ Though this transaction looks more like a sale than a donation, other grants more closely resembling donations were recorded in 1184, 1189, and 1194.⁽⁷⁸⁾ In 1189 Ramon de Centelles and his wife Valencia also made a donation to the abbey for the health of their souls "and that of lord Ramon de Montcada."⁽⁷⁹⁾

Beyond economic and spiritual links, the Montcadas' sponsorship of the monastery and their lordship in Tortosa and Lleida gave them a natural role as protectors and mediators in the region. This brought them into positions as counselors in disputes and judicial sentences regarding both Santes Creus and its sister Cistercian [212] monastery of Poblet as well.⁽⁸⁰⁾ In this way Santes Creus became without doubt the preferred ecclesiastical establishment of the Montcadas, succeeding to the role given the monasteries of Santa Maria d'Amer and Santa Maria de l'Estany by the ancestors of Guillem Ramon [II] and Beatriu de Montcada.

The structure of lordship that emerged in Lleida during the years following its reconquest resembled in many ways that at Tortosa: divided authority, a major role in the city's administration retained by Ramon Berenguer IV, and Guillem Ramon Seneschal's participation. Though it has been suggested that Guillem Ramon was castlà for the count of Barcelona while Guillem de Cervera acted in that role for the count of Urgell,⁽⁸¹⁾ the evidence in the Barcelona and Tortosa archives points to a more complex arrangement of authority. Whether Guillem Ramon played only a peripheral role in the lordship of Lleida or whether his authority there was equal to that at Tortosa cannot be determined from the documentation consulted for this study; further; comparison is difficult because the sources differ in nature from those studied for Tortosa. The cartularies of the cathedral chapter in Tortosa provide abundant evidence for the Great Seneschal's activity there, whereas readily available documentation on Lleida comes mainly from Santes Creus and the Templars and has a decidedly rural orientation. Still, there are documents concerning the city outside Lleida, and they suggest that it, like Tortosa, was divided into honors held by magnates who had a share of the lordship of the city and its district.

The lordship of Lleida was at least partly in Ramon de Montcada's hands by 1179. In January, Alfons I gave Guillem de Cervera lordship and dominion in the city "just as he [Guillem] has it and holds it from Ramon de Montcada"; he also gave Guillem one-sixth of all the revenues from the city and district, "that is, in all those things, in which the maiores castlani of the city receive their [213] share," as a fief.⁽⁸²⁾ Though the identification of Ramon de Montcada as a "major castlà" can only be inferred from this reference, it is clear that he held rights to part of the castle that dominated the city as at Tortosa. In addition, Ramon held plots of land in and around the city, many of which ended up in the hands of clerics during the latter twelfth and early thirteenth centuries.

The See of Barcelona was represented in Lleida by Bernat de Caldes, a notary of Alfons I.⁽⁸³⁾ In a donation of 1177 Bernat was listed as "chaplain" to Guillem de Cervera, who along with Ramon de Montcada had given him some city property to develop. One such donation by Ramon de Montcada shows that construction progressed in the area between Ramon's tower and miraculum (a remnant of ancient Roman architecture, as in Barcelona?) and Bernat's houses. Ramon authorized Bernat to do with the property as he pleased, with the sole proviso that the new houses should not exceed (in height?) other houses recently constructed by Bernat.⁽⁸⁴⁾ Lleida was also attractive in the same period to the monastery of Santes Creus, which purchased a warehouse near the city from Ramon de Montcada for 235 morabetins.⁽⁸⁵⁾ These are typical references found in the documents concerning Ramon de Montcada. They suggest that the lords of Lleida welcomed the contribution of the church and churchmen to urban development.

The Montcadas also controlled a wedge of land called Palmera in the countryside northwest of the city This honor, which had been theirs since the lifetime of Guillem Ramon Seneschal, was from an early date closely supervised by Ramon de Montcada [I], who took a personal interest in its management. In order to prevent the loss or alienation of the property, Ramon in 1171 redeemed the pledge that a man named Estrader had made of land in this honor to two other men.⁽⁸⁶⁾ In 1175, vines in the honor were sold by Pere de Torfreda and his wife to Pere Calvet and his [214] spouse, "save the rights of Ramon de Montcada."⁽⁸⁷⁾ Ramon had therefore been associated with the lordship of Lleida before his father's death, and his authority there was well known to those whose income came from the land.

There is other evidence of personal attention to this element of the patrimony in Ramon's donation, in 1186, of three vines to Pere Hug. The latter agreed to work them faithfully and to give his lord half of the fruits, to be delivered to Ramon's press in Palmera. Pere Hug also promised to provide a watchman for Ramon de Montcada's houses there, and he was authorized to establish a guard for the vines and waterways. He had further authority to irrigate the vineyards and divide the water in the canal for the benefit of Ramon de Montcada and his neighbors. Both Pere Hug's exemption from participating in cavalcades and military campaigns, granted to him by Ramon in this document, and his role as community administrator for irrigation indicate that he was a leading member of the peasant community⁽⁸⁸⁾ His ability to deal directly with a lord of the stature of Ramon de Montcada is noteworthy, too, for it suggests that the administration of Montcada rights in Palmera was closely watched by Ramon and his agents.

The later management of this inheritance at Palmera by Ramon de Montcada [I]'s son Ramon [II] shows a markedly different approach. In February 1196 Ramon de Montcada [II] pledged to Esteve de Soria all his incomes from upper and lower Palmera for 7,000 sols of Jaca, to be repaid by the following Christmas. These moneys would come from "all incomes and revenues of bread and wine and rents in deniers and whatever comes from lordship, by fief or from any other reason, including that arising by chance."⁽⁸⁹⁾ Three years later, Ramon granted to the same Esteve the rights that three men held in vineyards at Palmera in exchange for an annual payment of 90 sois of Jaca. Esteve was to have no other lord or patron but Ramon and could not alienate the property to knights or ecclesiastical establishments. In the case of other alienations, Ramon reserved the option to reacquire full rights himself within ten days of a proposed transaction.⁽⁹⁰⁾ This grant of 1199 established Esteve as a rent-farmer in Palmera -- but only temporarily, for the [215] following year Ramon de Montcada sold all these lands and his presses in Palmera to Esteve for a lump sum of 1,500 sols of Jaca.⁽⁹¹⁾

There is reason to believe that these were not isolated transactions, but that they were in fact part of a trend toward Ramon's divestment of the direct management of lordship rights in Lleida and perhaps Tortosa. Ramon achieved the same effect in his subsequent dealings at Palmera with the monastery of Santes Creus -- which within the space of two years (1204-1206) had come to exercise rights that had once belonged to the lords of Montcada. With the Templars, too, Ramon reached an agreement in 1202 that ended nearly forty years of cooperative administration of a millway at Lleida.⁽⁹²⁾ In that agreement Ramon received 100 morabetins for his rights there and renounced any claim to a higher price if the mills proved to be worth more, in which case the difference would count as a donation "for the remission of his sins."⁽⁹³⁾

In spite of these alienations, the name of Ramon de Montcada remained attached to the honor of Palmera. A "tower of Montcada" had been built there by the early years of the thirteenth century.⁽⁹⁴⁾ From this castle he and his agents no doubt exercised the power to command that was delegated to them by the king. But they derived little from rents and harvest shares, which in these years passed to individuals like Esteve de Soria and institutions like Santes Creus and the Templars.⁽⁹⁵⁾ This "tower of Montcada" was later controlled by Ramon's younger brother; Guillem Ramon [III] Seneschal, who through his marriage to Constança d'Aragó became in the early thirteenth century a major territorial lord in western Catalonia.

1. ACT Cart. 8, 160v-61r:101; ACT Cart. 6, 50v-51r:138. The Narbonne donation document is described by Ventura in Alfons el Cast, p. 77 and fl. 78 (p. 101).

2. For example, LlB 58-59:52.

3. For example, ABC 4565, caja 1; ACT Cart. 2, 3:53r-v:2.

4. This was true of donations to the Aragonese Pedro Guillermo (cited in n. 1 above), and in ACT Cart. 2, 3:70v-71r:17; ACT Cart. 6, 87v-88r:221, also 58r:158 and ACA Cart. Tortosa, 70v:229.

5. LlB 50:42; ACA Cart. Tortosa, 70v:229; DI 4:217-18:79.

6. This was, at least, the number of men who on 25 Apr. 1163 swore as residents of Tortosa to be faithful to Alfons I (ACA Alfons I:6).

7. The settlement charter of 1149 exempted the residents of Tortosa from customs, tolls, and royal forcias (CPFC 1:121-24:75).

8. LFM 1:487-89:464.

9. Ibid., also 1:490-92:465.

10. This expression appears for the first time in Ramon Berenguer IV's countship. In contrast to the mennada or household of Ramon Berenguer I, the term suggests paternal authority over the entire Catalan nobility -- characterized here as an extended lineage under the count's direction.

11. Nor, for that matter, were the Genoese content with their participation in the lordship. It is clear from the charter of sale that it was the Genoese who wanted out of the agreement. See DI 4:212-16:78.

12. ACT Cart. 6, 3v-5v:5.

13. ACA Alfons I:132.

14. ACA Alfons I:132.

15. ACT Cart. 3, 103r-04v. The charter, which also confirmed ecclesiastical privileges and rights, was subscribed by Ramon de Montcada [II] and his brother Guillem Ramon [III] Seneschal.

16. In a concession of property from 1188, Ramon de Montcada agreed to defend the land against all but the potestas terre (ACA Cart. Tortosa [f° illegible]:35).

17. Forey, Templars, p. 25.

18. LFM 1:492-95:466.

19. If it is assumed that the Genoese third eventually went to Guillem Ramon Seneschal, then the donation of Alfons's share to the Templars would have left each party with about half the city's lordship.

20. ACA Pere I:308.

21. ACA Arm. 4:1.

22. AHN SS Creus, carpeta 2771, n. 10.

23. ACA Cart. Tortosa, 70r:227.

24. ACT Cart. 3, 103r-4v; ACT Cart. 2, 3:62r-v:11; 3:62v-63r:12.

25. AMT Comú 3:13.

26. ACA Jaume I:349.

27. Late thirteenth-century documents refer only to the Templars and Montcadas as lords of the city. See, e.g., ACA Arm. 4:81, 85.

28. Bayerri, Historia, 7:97.

29. ACA Cart. Tortosa, 47r-v:145 (my emphasis).

30. ACT Cart. 2, 3:55v-57v:6.

31. ACA Arm. 4:46. On the vicar of Tortosa, see Forey, Templars, pp. 190, 242 n. 5.

32. ACT Cart. 2, 4:97r-98r:14. The charter was subscribed by Templar commanders from Miravet and Tortosa and by Ramon de Montcada.

33. Forey, Templars, p. 193, citing a decision of Pere I in 1198 published by B. Oliver in Historia del derecho en Cataluña, Mallorca y Valencia: Código de las costumbres de Tortosa (Madrid, 1876-81), 2:55-56.

34. Jesús Massip Fonollosa, in a paper entitled "En el VII centenari de la mort de Jaume I," presented on the occasion of the Festes Majors of Tortosa (1976).

35. Ibid. In his decision of 30 Apr. 1228 in a case between the city and the Templars "and other lords of Tortosa" [AMT Privilegis 3:9], Jaume declared that "la Suda no es lloc idoni ni segur, incomode per als litigants i en maxim detriment i perill per la ciutat...atenent també l'escandol del poble i el tumult...i considerant que fa setenta anys i mes en la ciutat, tant la incriminació com la firma de dret es reben en lloc idoni i honest...declarem que el lloc vulgarment dit Curia din de la cuitat, baix, es adecuat tant per rebre la firma de dret el veguer com per donar sentències judicials" (trans. J. Massip).

36. Ibid. In his decision of 30 Apr. 1228 in a case between the city and the Templars "and other lords of Tortosa" [AMT Privilegis 3:9], Jaume declared that "la Suda no es lloc idoni ni segur, incomode per als litigants i en maxim detriment i perill per la ciutat...atenent també l'escandol del poble i el tumult...i considerant que fa setenta anys i mes en la ciutat, tant la incriminació com la firma de dret es reben en lloc idoni i honest...declarem que el lloc vulgarment dit Curia din de la cuitat, baix, es adecuat tant per rebre la firma de dret el veguer com per donar sentències judicials" (trans. J. Massip).

37. ACA Alfons I:153.

38. ACA Alfons I:299.

39. Guillem de Bonastre had received land in Tortosa as early as 1178 (ACB Lib. ant. I:372v:1062 [Mas II: 288-89: 2016]), but his authority there apparently did not outlive the queen, who died in Nov. 1208.

40. ACA Pere I:257.

41. ACA Pere I:258.

42. ACA Jaume I:43.

43. See Bayerri, Historia, 7:49-50.

44. DI 4:130-35:56.

45. CPFC 1:126-28:76.

46. ACA Cart. Tortosa, 86v:275.

47. The charter describes this castle, which no longer stands, as extending from the Suda toward Remolins, the northern suburb of Tortosa where traces of early Jewish settlement are still evident.

48. ACA Jaurne I:349. No royal confirmation is known to have been made. This document, to my knowledge, remains unpublished. It is mentioned neither by Francisco de Bofarull y Sans in "Jaime I y los judios," in Congrés d'història de la Corona d'Aragó: Barcelona, 1909 (Barcelona, 1913), 2:819-943, nor by Jean Regné, "Catalogue des actes de Jaime I^er, Pedro III et Alfonso III, rois d'Aragon, concernant les juifs, 1213-1291," in Revue des études juives, 60 (1910), nor by Yitzhak F. Baer, Die Juden im christlichen Spanien (Berlin, 1929).

49. ACA Cart. Gardeny, 72r-v:183.

50. ACA Cart. Tortosa (f° illegible):44.

51. AMT Castellania i Templers:45.

52. ACA Cart. Tortosa (f° illegible):35.

53. ACA Cart. Tortosa, 73v-74r:240.

54. ACA Cart. Tortosa, (f° illegible):53

55. For example, ACT Cart. 2, 4:84v-85r:1.

56. ACA Alfons I:371.

57. Bailiffs are cited in the Montcada documentation of Lleida during this period: e.g., Ramon, bailiff, is cited in documents of 1191 (LlB 345-46:347), 1199 (AHN SS Creus, carpeta 2767, n. 12), and 1204 (AHN SS Creus, carpeta 2770, n. 16).

58. ACA Pere I:450.

59. ACT Cart. 2, 3:53v-54r:3.

60. ACT Cart. 6, 8r-v:13.

61. ACT Cart. 6, 2v-3r:3bis, 6r:7.

62. Villanueva, in VL 20:334-35, mentioned this tradition, which he then refuted.

63. Agustí Altisent, Historia de Poblet (Abadia de Poblet, 1974), pp. 27-30.

64. LlB 56:49.

65. VL 20:237-38:23.

66. LlB 63-64:56.

67. On the name, see LlB, pp. xl-xli.

68. Ibid., pp. xlii-xliii.

69. Three such donations date from 1156 (LlB 71-72:65, 73-74:68, 74-75:69) and another from 1158 (LlB 82-83:79).

70. Guillem Ramon [II] was buried at Santes Creus, as were his son Ramon de Montcada [I], his grandson Ramon de Montcada [II], and his great-grandson Guillem de Montcada [III]. Another grandson, Guillem Ramon de Montcada [I], probably would have been buried there if he had died in Catalonia.

71. LlB 380-81:379.

72. LlB 191-92:191.

73. LlB 340-41:341. The church was built from 1174 to 1225 (VL 20:110).

74. AHN SS Creus, carpeta 2769, n. 9.

75. AHN SS Creus, carpeta 2773, n. 1.

76. AHN SS Creus, carpeta 2770, n. 16.

77. AHN SS Creus, carpeta 2771, n. 15.

78. LlB 266:267, 332:331, 335:334 and 380-81:379.

79. LlB 335:334.

80. LlB 224-25:227 (1179); CP 23:47 (1185), 218-19:356 (1185).

81. Josep Lladonosa, Història de Lleida, vol. 1 (Tàrrega, 1972), pp. 127-29.

82. LFM I:198-200:188.

83. On the career of Bernat and his more famous brother Ramon, see Thomas N. Bisson, "Ramon de Caldes, c. 1135-c. 1200: Dean of Barcelona and King's Minister," in Law, Church and Society: Essays in Honor of Stephan Kuttnen, ed. Kenneth Pennington and Robert Somerville (Philadelphia, 1977), pp. 281-92.

84. ACB Lib. ant. 1:180v:478 [Mas 11:302:2047].

85. LlB 215-16:219.

86. LlB 153:153.

87. LlB 189:188.

88. LlB 280-81:283.

89. LlB 385:384.

90. AHN SS Creus, carpeta 2767,n. 12.

91. AHN SS Creus, carpeta 2768, n. 2.

92. The agreement between the Templars and Guillem Ramon Seneschal dated from 1163 (ACA Arm. 11:2142).

93. ACA Arm. 11:1967.

94. Attested four times from 1207 to 1228 (e.g., ACA Arm. 11:771, 858).

95. In addition to the rights associated with castle lordship, profits must be included that resulted from cavalcades or that accrued "by chance" (these are almost impossible to quantify but must have been considerable). Also significant were certain ravages and injuries, responsibility for which Ramon acknowledged in his will. These were to be made good from his revenues in the castle district of Tortosa, which probably generated the most revenues of any of his domains (AHN SS Creus, carpeta 2785, n. 15).