Historians of institutions are fond of categorization and, despite the inherent difficulties in placing discrete organizations into fixed molds, the effort is a necessary one. For only by abstracting elements common to a series of movements can we discern the underlying themes that shape society. For the Order of Merced, the tradition among its historians has been to number it, up until the clericalization of the mastership in 1317, among the military orders; with the demise of lay leadership, it has then been included among the mendicant orders. Francisco Zumel, the sixteenth-century chronicler of the Mercedarian past, maintained that the Order in its origin contained elements of both a military and a mendicant character. The coincidence of its foundation with that of the Franciscan and Dominican orders suggests, Zumel asserted, a common mendicant milieu; the supposed aristocratic and military lineage of Pere Nolasc, the founder, on the other hand, suggests affinities with the military orders.⁽¹⁾ No clear definition of Merced's position among the ranks of religious orders was forthcoming until 1690, when Pope Alexander VIII at last declared it to be a mendicant order.⁽²⁾ By the seventeenth century, however, there was general agreement among Mercedarians that their thirteenth-century antecedents belonged to the military wing of the Church. The title of Manuel Ribera's important collection of early Mercedarian documents, itself published in 1726, designates the Order as "the Royal and Military Order of Our Lady of Mercy." In this collection, furthermore, Ribera took pains to trace the aristocratic lineages of Nolasc's early disciples, Bernat de Corbera and Guillem de Bas, by way of demonstrating the essentially military character of the early Order.⁽³⁾ The twentieth-century Mercedarian Faustino Gazulla has aptly summarized the arguments for this position. The Mercedarian Order, Gazulla writes, by reason of the laic character of its first members, the nature of its religious observance, and the manner of its governance was at first a military order. Gazulla cites the military-like titles of its leaders, its possession of castles, the reputed presence of Mercedarians on reconquest campaigns, the use [42] of the royal insignia, and the testimony of the kings of Catalonia-Aragon to buttress this conclusion.⁽⁴⁾ He concludes that it was only with the clericalization of the Order in the early fourteenth century and the departure of the lay knights for the newly formed Order of Montesa that Merced lost its military character and acquired that of the mendicant orders.⁽⁵⁾

    This military designation for the primitive Order, however hallowed it has become by usage, is spurious. Its continued maintenance only serves to obscure Merced's proper place among thirteenth-century religious movements. Admittedly, religious development in this era was fluid; many new orders and varieties of orders were coming into existence. The consequent variations and shadings, imitations and divergences blur the historian's fine distinctions. Common problems and situations, plus the decree of the Fourth Lateran Council that required all new orders to adopt generalized and thus standardized versions of either the Benedictine or the Augustinian Rule, naturally brought about some uniformity of custom among even very dissimilar organizations. That the Order of Captives should therefore be classified as military or mendicant solely on the basis of certain shared customs is presumptuous. To the contrary, activity, not usages, seems to be a more realistic criterion of classification. The lack of evidence that Mercedarians bore arms or actually fought Muslims must cast doubt upon its alleged military character; that it had no interest in evangelization, surely the major thrust of the mendicant movement, denies this category to Merced as well. That its real work was the collection of alms for the support of a caritative work, namely the ransoming of captives suggests its placement instead among the caritative orders.

    The customs, structures, and religious observances of the Brothers of Ransom are themselves not particularly unique, but generally imitate the usages of hospitaller and military orders. This is hardly surprising, since Merced developed toward the end of the great caritative expansion, and consequently it had the experience of its antecedents upon which to draw. Circumstances of geography and mission, however, gave to Merced's particular borrowings their own distinctive character. The principal historical sources for Mercedarian usages are the thirteenth-century papal bulls addressed to the Order, the Constitutions of 1272, and various charters that reveal the activities of the master, the chapters general, and individual Mercedarians. The principal papal bulls -- issued in 1245, 1263, 1268, and 1291 -- have already been cited as key sources for tracing the Order's patrimonial [43] development.⁽⁶⁾ They also contain the standardized rendition of the Augustinian Rule that the papacy had conferred upon the Order. As was typical of Augustinian orders, the Order of Merced had to codify a set of constitutions appropriate to its own particular activities; these Constitutions were promulgated in 1272, at the beginning of the mastership of Brother Pere d'Amer.⁽⁷⁾ Knowledge of customs that predate this document must be inferred from other sources.

    Any analysis of the structure and government of the Order of Captives begins with the mastership, although the founder, Pere Nolasc, never used that particular title. The designation as "Pere Nolasc, minister of the order of mercv of Santa Eulàlia of Barcelona and of captives" in a document of 1243 seems to have been his most common identification.⁽⁸⁾ His successor, Guillem de Bas, continued to use "minister" into the early 1250s, but the title of "master" was slowly gaining ascendency. The latter was always the preference of the papacy, which employed it exclusively in all its Mercedarian correspondence dating back to 1235.⁽⁹⁾ Both titles, however, were normal contemporary usage for one who was at the head of a hospitaller community, the very position occupied by both Brothers Pere and Guillem as the superior of the Hospital of Santa Eulàlia of Barcelona.⁽¹⁰⁾ The first distinctively Mercedarian use of the magisterial title is not found before a charter of August 6, 1245,⁽¹¹⁾ and although 'minister" and "maior" will appear as late as 1251,⁽¹²⁾ "master" was thereafter the exclusive designation for the Order's head. It is possible that the transition in use from "minister" to "master" corresponds to the emergence of the mastership as an office separate from and superior to the mere headship of Santa Eulàlia of Barcelona.⁽¹³⁾

    Until 1317, the master was a layman, although neither the Rule nor the Constitutions appear to have required that this be so. The master was elected by a chapter general of the Order's local superiors, or commanders, and perhaps with representatives of the other brothers present as well. No term of office is anywhere specified, but the usual tenure was undoubtedly for life. Of the early masters, Pere Nolasc, Guillem de Bas (second term), and Pere d'Amer all died in office; Guillem de Bas (first term), Guillem de Mont, Bernat de Sanromà, and Arnau d'Amer either resigned or were removed. Uncertainties must remain about these early elections, since none are documented before 1301, when the double election of Arnau d'Amer and Pere Formiga (and then Ramon Albert) produced the earliest extant records.⁽¹⁴⁾ At issue in 1301 was seemingly the prior's prerogative in summoning an electoral conclave, a point he seems to have won by [44] 1317, when that assembly was convened jointly by the prior and the definitors of the chapter.⁽¹⁵⁾ As for the composition of the electoral body, the only firm evidence dates from 1317, when twenty-four of the fifty-four known electors were commanders; the remainder were presumably brothers without office. This seems to mirror the composition of the general chapter, as it was established in the 1272 Constitutions, which called upon each commander in attendance to bring with him another brother of his house.⁽¹⁶⁾

    A description of the master's particular activities can only be inferred from the extant record of his deeds. Examining, for example, the nineteen charters, dated from 1230 to 1245, that record the acts of Pere Nolasc, we discover that the first master was the ordinary corporate representative of his Order in contracts negotiated with outsiders. Thus, twelve of the charters confer various gifts upon Nolasc as representative of the Order;⁽¹⁷⁾ in three others, Brother Pere rented or purchased land on its behalf;⁽¹⁸⁾ in two, he established a confraternal relationship with a donor;⁽¹⁹⁾ in another, he acknowledged a debt owed the Order;⁽²⁰⁾ and in the last, the founder certified the payment of a ransom.⁽²¹⁾ Dozens of similar examples can be adduced showing Nolasc's successors doing much the same: accepting properties, signing leases, receiving confraters and new recruits, and purchasing lands. While lesser figures could also perform these same duties, some importance was placed upon the master's cachet, especially in matters of significance. Thus, for example, papal and royal correspondence with Merced was routinely addressed to the master.⁽²²⁾

    In his negotiations with others, however, the master was not always a free agent; his authority had a collegial dimension. So Master Guillem de Bas, for example, accepted in 1254 Domingo of Teruel as a confrater with the assent of the commander and brothers of Valencia,⁽²³⁾ and Master Pere d'Amer issued a lease at Burriana with the consent of the prior and of the commander of Puig.⁽²⁴⁾ Pere Nolasc himself accepted the important donation of Arguines in 1245 with the assent of Brother Guillem de Sant Julià; this contract was reconfirmed several months later by the new master, along with fourteen other brothers.⁽²⁵⁾ Guillem de Bas in 1267 assigned the commandery of Játiva to his predecessor with the approval of his own chaplain and of four colleagues, who were perhaps the definitors of the chapter.⁽²⁶⁾ The collegial character of magisterial power appears to have been reinforced by the 1272 Constitutions, which placed the master's jurisdiction over property and discipline under the scrutiny of the chapter, its definitors, and the prior. Chapter 45, for example, specifically forbade the master to alienate any property except to raise [45] money for ransoms, and this only with the approval of the prior and the definitors. The rigor of this ban in 1272, in fact, suggests that such alienations had been a problem. That the first recorded act of Pere d'Amer's magistracy was the payment of a large fine suggests a motive behind the new prohibition. This involved, as we have seen, 1,800s. that was handed over to the Monastery of Sant Miquel de Cruïlles as compensation for illicit alienations from the domain that Merced had leased from that monastery in Perpignan in 1266.⁽²⁷⁾ The act of settlement tells us that between 1266 and 1272 the Mercedarian superiors there, Master Guillem de Bas himself and Brother Berenguer de Bas, had sold off nine of the thirty-one parcels comprising the property. Now, as the result of an arbitration agreement signed on March 4., 1271, Merced had to pay Sant Miquel for these lost rights.⁽²⁸⁾ Consequently, it seems probable that Brother Pere, faced with the payment of such a large indemnity, resolved to provide in his Constitutions, published only fourteen months later, a remedy against a reoccurrence.

    The master's powers of appointment and removal, once presumably absolute, also were restricted in the 1272 Constitutions. At the root of the new insistence that the concurrence of the prior and definitors be obtained for all nominations to office is the apparent nepotism practiced during the magistracy of Guillem de Bas. During his two terms we find, for example, Brother Pere de Bas holding the commanderies of Barcelona and Majorca, and Brother Berenguer de Bas those of Valencia, Gerona, and Perpignan. The latter was the probable perpetrator of the costly alienations at Perpignan, and it is unlikely that he would have acted so without the knowledge and consent of his presumed kinsman and superior, Brother Guillem.⁽²⁹⁾ To limit nepotism, the 1272 regulations specified that a master could only appoint commanders with the approval of the prior and definitors; in choosing candidates for this office, the master is warned against any favoritism based upon "earthly consideration" or, negatively, arising out of "anger or ill will." Instead, he is ordered to consider in appointments only the Order's profit and the well-being of captives.⁽³⁰⁾ Once commanders had been so appointed, they could not be removed from office by the master except in cases of serious scandal. It is reassuring to note that Master Pere, after legislating against nepotism, refrained from its temptations. While there were at least three of his presumed kinsmen in the Order (Arnau, Guillem, and Joan), only Guillem is known to have held office during Brother Pere's term, and this briefly.⁽³¹⁾

    Despite the chapter's powers of review, the master still directly [46] supervised commanders and their administration of the Order's property. In 1267, for example, Master Guillem made the commander of Játiva responsible to him for the expenses of the house, the state of its income-producing lands, and the behavior of the local brethren.⁽³²⁾ The master's most pressing duty, in fact, was to secure the regular and complete remission of revenue from each of the commanderies to the central alms fund and its accounting at the annual chapter.⁽³³⁾ Other revenue collections, such as those derived from alms collections, also came under magisterial control. The master appointed and licensed the Order's alms collectors and supervisors of its confraternities and assigned them their territories, or bailiwicks.⁽³⁴⁾ When collectors encountered obstacles, such as the resistance of local clergy, they would appeal to the master for assistance.⁽³⁵⁾

    The master was itinerant, and he appears regularly in the documents of widely scattered houses, confirming purchases here, leasing land there. But of all the Mercedarian domains, the master came to be most closely associated with that of Játiva. The earliest sign of this affiliation was Master Guillem's conferral of this commandery upon his immediate predecessor in 1267. One wonders whether Brother Bernat de Sanromà's price for a graceful retirement was the provision of an adequate income. In any case, after Bernat's death, control over the commandery, with its property in Játiva and Gandía, passed into the hands of Master Pere d'Amer. As we know from a 1307 reconfirmation of the master's rights here, its income would henceforth be used to defray the expenses of the mastership.⁽³⁶⁾ Other orders, like that of Santiago, similarly endowed their leaders.⁽³⁷⁾ Játiva continued to have its own commander, but he appears to have had diminished authority. Brother Marc de Vilabella, for example, who held the post for most of Brother Pere's mastership, was frequently identified in charters not as a commander but as the master's lieutenant; the master, furthermore, is a principal in every extant charter from Játiva between 1255 and 1300.⁽³⁸⁾ As a consequence of its economic importance for his office, the master was understandably in frequent residence here and supervised the details of its administration more closely than he did other commanderies.

    In addition to being the administrator of Merced's temporalities, the master was also a religious superior. This required him to undertake, personally or by proxy, a yearly visitation of all houses to inspect their spiritual and temporal well-being.⁽³⁹⁾ Thus, in April 1302, Brother Arnau d'Amer, despite the unsettled nature of his own [47] election, was granted permission by Boniface VIII to make such a circuit to punish the unchecked excesses of certain of the brethren.⁽⁴⁰⁾ In April 1311, Jaume II gave Master Arnau Rossinyol a safe-conduct for his proposed visitation. A year earlier, this same master sent his predecessor, now the commander of Arguines, on a circuit of Aragon and Navarre.⁽⁴¹⁾ In making these visitations, the master was usually accompanied by his chaplain, who would presumably hear the brethren's confessions. The first known chaplain is that of Master Guillem de Bas, one Sanç de Bailó, who appears first in charters of 1268 and 1269; a description of the office itself is given in the Constitutions.⁽⁴²⁾ The chaplain's proximity to the master seems to have assured his future advancement within the Mercedarian hierarchy, since several are known to have been subsequently promoted to important commanderies. Master Pere d'Amer, for example, named Brother Pere d'Alòs, who had been his chaplain in 1293 and 1294, as vicar and commander of Puig in 1298; Master Arnau d'Amer's chaplain in 1303, Joan Alarch, was commander of Elche by 1308; Master Arnau Rossinyol's chaplain in 1314, Garcia Batalla, appears in documents of 1317 as commander of Huesca.⁽⁴³⁾

    While the maintenance of discipline may have been the uncontested privilege of the founder and his immediate successors, by 1272 it was the collective responsibility of the master, prior, and definitors. These were jointly to mete out punishments at the annual chapter, but the master alone retained the power to pardon errant brothers.⁽⁴⁴⁾ Likewise, new members or novices were to swear their allegiance to the master alone.⁽⁴⁵⁾

    The master of Merced in the beginning was, therefore the head or minister of the Hospital of Santa Eulàlia, a post that only became completely distinct from the mastership in the 1250s, as his new responsibilities and the acquisition of other hospitals made the older title obsolete. On a day-to-day basis, the master functioned as the Order's principal representative to royal and ecclesiastical authority and to its friends and donors. He also oversaw commanders in their administration of their domains through an audit of their accounts at the chapter and through his periodic visitations of their commanderies. A document of 1311 aptly summarizes the master's temporal responsilities:

Let all the temporal goods of the Order, those that have beenacquired or will be acquired, whether they be gifts, revenues or [48] incomes of churches or chapels, alms, rents, offerings or lamp fees, from whomever they are paid, be under the care and administration of the said master and let them be held, acquired and collected for him by the commanders.⁽⁴⁶⁾

    The prior in laic orders was the cleric charged with the supervision of those members in holy orders. In military orders, for example, he led the corps of chaplains who administered to the spiritual needs of the lay brethren. The Rule of St. James placed all clerics under the jurisdiction of two priors, who themselves were charged with the establishment of churches, the instruction of the sons of lay knights, the administration of the sacraments, and the offering of divine services.⁽⁴⁷⁾ This need for chaplains was also felt in caritative orders, given their own generally lay membership. The Hospital of St. Mary in Sassia at Rome, for example, was required by Pope Innocent III to maintain four clerics to serve the spiritual needs of its members and inmates.⁽⁴⁸⁾

    Neither the introduction of the first clerics into Merced nor their organization under a prior can be dated with any precision, but such was probably happening by at least the 1250s. The first Mercedarian to carry the title of prior was Brother Arnau de Gascó, who in 1255 was identified as the prior of Valencia and in 1256 as the prior of Puig.⁽⁴⁹⁾ Whether this individual had any general spiritual authority or was merely the resident priest at these houses is unclear. The next priest to carry the title, Brother Ponç, however, was clearly the prior of the entire Order. First known as a priest at Gerona in 1254, Brother Ponç appears in documents of 1260 and 1266 with the title of prior, his term of office coinciding with the mastership of Bernat de Sanromà.⁽⁵⁰⁾ By January 2, 1267, when the latter had lost his office to Guillem de Bas, Brother Ponç was just another member of the Valencian community.⁽⁵¹⁾ Thus, from approximately 1260 onward, the office was continuous. Brother Ramon de Prats, the master's [49] chaplain in 1267, was prior in 1269.⁽⁵²⁾ Brother Guillem d'Isona seems to have held the office during Pere d'Amer's entire mastership.⁽⁵³⁾  Arnau d'Amer's prior was Brother Pere Garcia, the laic master's strong supporter in the disputed election of 130l.⁽⁵⁴⁾ Brother Ramon Albert was appointed prior by the pope in 1308 and served in this capacity until his own election as master in 1317.⁽⁵⁵⁾

    Two characteristics of the thirteenth-century priorate are striking -- its late appearance and its close association with the mastership. The late, and then only gradual, recruitment of clerical Mercedarians is the likely explanation for the former. Acknowledging the difficulties of ascertaining the religious status of early Mercedarians, one can nevertheless identify only a scattering of clerics before 1260. A deacon named Guillem is mentioned in a charter of 1243, along with Ramon de Prats, the future prior.⁽⁵⁶⁾ Pere Arnau, identified as a priest in 1251, was a Mercedarian as early as 1242.⁽⁵⁷⁾ While the first church, that at Puig, was acquired in 1240, no priest is known to have been in residence here before 1256; in the earlier years a secular substitute must have been employed.⁽⁵⁸⁾ Ramon de Morell's grant of 1245 required that a priest be maintained in his new church at Arguines, but again provision was made for a secular substitute.⁽⁵⁹⁾ The continued acquisition of churches, however, is an indication that priests were beginning to join the Order, or, on the other hand, this served as an inducement for them to do so. In 1245, there were Mercedarian churches or chapels at Valencia, Puig, Prats, and Sarrión; the papal bull of 1263 lists ten others.⁽⁶⁰⁾  The growth of the Mercedarian clergy undoubtedly paralleled that of its churches, such that by 1255 or 1260 their organization under a prior was deemed to be expedient.

    The thirteenth-century prior was, by all accounts, the appointee and confidant of the master and, while there is no direct evidence, it is probable that the priorate developed from the office of the master's chaplain. As seen above, the terms of the known priors coincided with those of the masters under whom they served; before Brother Guillem d'Isona, furthermore, no prior was associated with a particular house. Brother Guillem, however, was obviously an important figure in his own right. Before his selection as prior in 1271, he had been since 1267 commander of the large community at Puig, a post that he seems to have again occupied brlefly around 1281.⁽⁶¹⁾ Virtually none of his activities are then known until he surfaces as the prior of Barcelona in 1296, a position that he may actually have attained as early as 1291.⁽⁶²⁾ While not the wealthiest commandery, Barcelona, as the Order's oldest house, was certainly prestigious, and its [50] conferral upon the prior could only add to the importance of his office. It is certainly doubtful that the prior and his clergy, without possessing this Barcelona base, could have won the ensuing struggle with the laics for control of the Order.

    While the early fourteenth-century priors, as we have seen, would successfully challenge the lay master for supremacy, their thirteenth-century predecessors appear to have been the masters' willing associates. The Constitutions of 1272 allotted various functions to the prior. With the master and definitors, he oversaw discipline, audited the Order's finances, and appointed commanders.⁽⁶³⁾ Like the master, but in his own right, he made regular visitations of houses.⁽⁶⁴⁾ As head of the clergy, his permission was required for the ordination of any brother. Finally, he promulgated sentences of excommunication against Merced's enemies as well as against rebellious brothers.⁽⁶⁵⁾

    Before 1301, there is no evidence to suggest that, in carrying out these functions, the prior came into conflict with the master. Undercurrents of tension, however, must have already begun to build, because, with the death of Pere d'Amer in 1301, a rebellion that we have described earlier was led by the prior against a majority of the lay and clerical commanders. The ostensible cause was the convocation in September 1301 of a general chapter without the prior's expressed consent. Brother Guillem d'Isona, in refusing to acknowledge the validity of this electoral assembly, contended that such a convocation was contrary to the Constitutions and prejudicial to the prerogatives of his office.⁽⁶⁶⁾ While he died shortly after making this stand, clerical supporters at his own commanderv of Barcelona refused to accept the subsequent election of the new lay master, Brother Arnau d'Amer; instead, they gave their allegiance first to Brother Pere Formiga, and after his death to Brother Ramon Albert.⁽⁶⁷⁾

    The conflict that ensued lasted until the election of a clerical master in 13l7. In the interim, the prior assumed leadership of the clerical faction. The Barcelona house, since the 1290s the prior's domain, led the rebellion against laic control. When in 1308 the papacy resolved the double election of 1301, the clerical pretender to the mastership was appointed prior, with expanded powers over all spiritual affairs within the Order. This augmentation of the prior's position, however, was only temporary and was occasioned solely by the continued cleric-laic rivalry. Once the mastership itself had fallen under clerical control, the prior's position seemingly resumed its thirteenth-century subordination to the master. It is noteworthy that after 1317 [51]the new clerical master would name as prior Brother Domènec Otger who himself had been a longtime supporter of the Albertine candidacy.⁽⁶⁸⁾

    The commander, after the master and the prior, was next in importance in Merced's hierarchy. While the titles of preceptor, majoral, and lieutenant were used in the thirteenth century to designate heads of Mercedarian houses, that of commander predominated. At the Order's beginning, commanders were Pere Nolasc's representatives in the various regions of Merced's activities and not per se the heads of houses or patrimonies. Thus, a document of 1243 speaks of the founder's lieutenants for Majorca, Tortosa, Barcelona, Gerona, and Valencia.⁽⁶⁹⁾ But as the Order grew and came to have several settlements within a general area, commanders then came to be appointed to supervise particular groupings of property. In the kingdom of Valencia, for example, separate commanderies came to be established at the capital, Puig, and at Játiva and Arguines. In more sparsely settled provinces, however, commanders retained their regional jurisdiction. The preceptor of Gerona, for example, always had authority in the entire diocese of Gerona.⁽⁷⁰⁾ Likewise the Mercedarian commander in Navarre, in 1302 Brother Juan de Sangüesa, had responsibility for the Order's affairs in the entire diocese of Pamplona.⁽⁷¹⁾ The kingdom of Aragon had a comendador mayor in 1252, according to a charter that records his purchase of properties in Sarrión from the Templars of Villel.⁽⁷²⁾ Sarrión had possessed its own Mercedarian commander in 1242, when Jaume I conferred various properties upon the Order there, but Merced's subsequent expansion into the wider kingdom of Aragon, relative to its still-sparse membership, probably caused this commander to be thus given a wider jurisdiction.⁽⁷³⁾ By 1300, in provinces with multiple commanderies there was a movement toward an embryonic provincial structure, this seen in the appointment of one commander as a kind of general supervisor for the region. A general commander for the Valencian kingdom, for example, surfaces in 1303 .⁽⁷⁴⁾ A few Mercedarian commanders by 1300, then, held a territorial jurisdiction, but the authority of most was confined to a relatively compact group of estates and properties.

    The title given to the Order's local superior, commander or preceptor (the latter used at Perpignan, Gerona, and occasionally Barcelona), was commonly used by both caritative and military orders in the thirteenth century, and thus lacks the exclusively military connotation given it by some.⁽⁷⁵⁾ Recent studies, for example, have shown that commander was the preferred designation for the heads of [52] thirteenth-century hospitals at Aix-en-Provence; both preceptor and commander were in use at Narbonne.⁽⁷⁶⁾ Minister, the title first used by Pere Nolasc, was typical for hospitaller leaders at Toulouse, but in Valencia commander was employed by the superiors of the hospitals operated by the Orders of Roncesvalles and St. Lazarus.⁽⁷⁷⁾ The Mercedarian adoption of the title, consequently, merely conforms to contemporary caritative custom.

    The duties of Mercedarian commanders reflect the full range of the Order's activities, from alms collection to patrimonial management and ransoming. The fullest statement of their responsibilities is contained in the charge given to the commander of Játiva in 1267.⁽⁷⁸⁾ Foremost is the administration of the house and its domain; this included the collection of rents and other incomes belonging to the Order. Extant charters amply illustrate this function in showing commanders negotiating leases, supervising their transfer from tenant to tenant, and collecting rents. Even when leases were issued in the master's name, as was the case whenever the latter happened to be present,⁽⁷⁹⁾ the commander remained responsible for their enforcement.⁽⁸⁰⁾ If rent, for example, should ever fall into arrears, the commander would have to see to the tenement's repossession.⁽⁸¹⁾ Similarly, the transfer of a holding due to the death or retirement of a tenant required the commander's assent; so also did subleases.⁽⁸²⁾

    In addition to his responsibility to ensure that property was profitably retired, the commander had to see to its good maintenance and improvement. Consequently, leases frequently specified that certain improvements were to be made by the tenant.⁽⁸³⁾ Commanders also had to defend water and other rights pertaining to their lands against the encroachments of neighbors. The commander of Elche, for example, complained to Jaume II in 1312 that irrigation water was illegally being withheld from his tenants.'⁽⁸⁴⁾ Similar efforts to protect pasturage rights at Algar in 1307 and tax exemptions at Rafalaceyt in 1281 are recorded.⁽⁸⁵⁾ Commanders also sought to win new privileges for their commanderies; thus, in 1290 the commander of Barcelona, Arnau de Llobrets, successfully petitioned Alfons II for an exemption from regalian taxes on property at Molins del Rei, upriver from Barcelona.⁽⁸⁶⁾

    Commanders were, in addition, charged with preserving the integrity, peace, and privacy of the brothers' residence. At one extreme, this involved defense against physical incursion. Thus, after one Pere Verneda in 1315 had invaded the Tortosa house and attacked Brother [53] Guillem Rovira there, the commander called upon King Jaume II to arrest and punish the offender.⁽⁸⁷⁾ On a more mundane level, local superiors tried to maintain a modicum of peace and privacy for the brethren. Consequently, agreements with neighbors concerning the construction and maintenance of common walls and fences are numerous.⁽⁸⁸⁾ In another matter, the preceptor of Perpignan in 1276 negotiated with his neighbors concerning the house's ready access to water.⁽⁸⁹⁾ A lease of 1267 at Valencia required the prospective tenant to construct at his own expense a wall between his holding and the adjacent Mercedarian garden lest anyone be able to observe the brethren's activitics.⁽⁹⁰⁾

    After administration of the domain, the second general function of commanders was the collection of alms, legacies, and gifts; this in turn often involved the conferral of the Order's spiritual benefits upon confraters and other benefactors. Besides patrimonial income, offerings from the faithful were an important source of revenue, and commanders would naturally encourage such gifts. There is little indication, however, that commanders personally begged alms. The Constitutions, royal charters, and papal bulls concur that the task of preaching and begging fell to special collectors who might or might not be Mercedarians.⁽⁹¹⁾ Here the responsibility of commanders seems to have been the collection of the proceeds from such campaigns and their secure forwarding to the chapter general.⁽⁹²⁾ In any case, the only known gifts received by commanders were those given to their houses or churches directly by donors. These ran the gamut from small testamentary bequests to rental incomes and gifts of property. The most notable of these were the gifts of confraters, whose generosity conferred upon them and their families a special standing in both the local house and the entire Order.⁽⁹³⁾

    Commanders were also responsible for defending the Order against suits. This duty, for example, was specifically listed in the mandates given to the commanders of Játiva (1267) and Gerona (1275).⁽⁹⁴⁾ An example of the type of suit that a commander might face is seen in the case of a confrater named Bonifaci. Shortly before his death, this resident of Valencia had taken the habit and bequeathed to the Order a substantial sum for his future burial in the cemetery of Santa Maria del Puig.⁽⁹⁵⁾ Subsequently, however, Bonifaci's pastor, the rector of Sant Martí in Valencia, sued the prior of Puig, Brother Arnau, for custody of the corpses of this Mercedarian confrater and his two sons, along with the approximately 2,000s. that had been given the Order. Brother Arnau was forced to argue his case, [54] unfortunately without success, before Guillem de Romaní, an official of the local bishop.⁽⁹⁶⁾ In another case, when Domingo of Teruel became affiliated in 1254, he endowed a chantry at Puig with the gift of a suburban Valencian garden plot.⁽⁹⁷⁾ After his death, however, the late confrater's relatives sued for the garden's return, forcing the Order to lay the matter before the king.⁽⁹⁸⁾ Not all lawsuits, however, involved bequests. In 1279, the commander of Arguines had to negotiate a boundary dispute with a neighbor, Beltran de Bellpuig.⁽⁹⁹⁾ At Barcelona, lengthy litigation arose concerning the Order's infringement upon the jurisdiction and rights of the local parish of Sant Just.⁽¹⁰⁰⁾ At Tarragona, Franciscans sued when Mercedarians constructed a chapel that the friars believed was too close to their own church.⁽¹⁰¹⁾

    In addition to the proprietal duties, the commander served as the religious superior of the house. This position implied, first of all, his ability to admit individuals as full members or else as confraters. Charters of profession, documenting such entries, date from 1234, when Pere Nolasc's lieutenant for Majorca received Domènec d'Olit as a brother.⁽¹⁰²⁾ In his commission as commander of Játiva in 1267, Brother Bernat de Sanromà was permitted to receive up to two new brothers per year.⁽¹⁰³⁾ This right of commanders remained intact until 1304, when for the first time such receptions required the prior consent of the master.⁽¹⁰⁴⁾

    Turning to matters of discipline, the Constitutions gave commanders the right to authorize travel, arrest fugitives from the Order, and punish according to stated norms the crimes of violence, drunkenness, and gambling.⁽¹⁰⁵⁾ By 1272, however, the commander had lost the power to absolve major crimes like theft and apostasy. In placing these matters in the hands of the chapter general, the Constitutions cited certain recent scandals that were presumably the result of imprudent or hasty pardons bestowed upon malefactors by certain local superiors. ⁽¹⁰⁶⁾ So here, as also in matters of finance, the commander's independence was subordinated, in the name of discipline and honesty, to the jurisdiction of a central authority.⁽¹⁰⁷⁾

    Commanders also assisted captives. Several charters show, for example, that local superiors, even when they were not themselves ransomers, paid out money to be used for ransoms. Thus, in 1265 Bernat Porter of Majorca acknowledged that Brother Peere de Rocha, then commander of Gerona, had given him fifty besants for the ransoming of various captives from Ceuta.⁽¹⁰⁸⁾ At Tarragona, the local commander more than once lent his resources to those of the secular clergy in subsidizing redemptions.⁽¹⁰⁹⁾

    [55] Commanders were thus collectively the most important officials in the Order, for they supervised its material wealth, directly superintended the work of the brethren, collected and solicited gifts, and disbursed these to captives. In recognition of this power, the Constitutions of 1272 prudently required for their nomination to office the consensus of the master, prior, and definitors, and admonished that their selection be based on ablilty, and not personal favor.⁽¹¹⁰⁾ It is clear, however, that these norms were an attempt to correct a situation that at times had strayed from the ideal. Commanders, for example, typically held their posts for longer than the one-year term of appointment, but then the Constitutions did not bar their renomination. Despite lacunae in the records, it is possible to make these observations about the appointment of commanders and their tenure in office. With few exceptions, commanderies did rotate among several incumbents, although the same individual could be reappointed to the same house on two or more occasions. Thus the commandery of Gerona, between 1243 and 1293, had sixteen known preceptors, with Berenguer de Bas holding the office three different times; both Arnau d'Hostoles and Pere de Llauró did so twice.⁽¹¹¹⁾ At Perpignan between l256 and 1299 ten different terms are recorded, two of these held by Berenguer de Bas. At Puig, there are ten known incumbencies between 1253 and 1302, but Guillem de Castellfollit held five of these, indicating great stability here during the mastership of Pere d'Amer. At the latter's own commandery of Játiva, only Brother Marc is listed as commander for the entire Amerian regime.⁽¹¹²⁾ Stability is also characteristic of Barcelona, where Bernat de Corbera ruled from 1242 to 1259, Arnau de Llobrets from 1276 to 1290, and Guillem d'Isona from ca. 1292 to 1301.

    There is still too little known about the frequency of their rotation or the characters of these Mercedarian commanders to determine more than general patterns of appointment. Presumably, both politics and talent played their usual roles. It is instructive to note that certain clans tended to dominate important commanderies, especially in periods of crisis. Thus, the de Bas clan, at various times between 1242 and 1317, held the commands of Valencia, Gerona, Perpignan, Majorca, Murcia, Barcelona, Castellón de Ampurias, and Vich.⁽¹¹³⁾ When Guillem de Bas returned to the mastership in 1267, Pere de Bas became the commander at Barcelona and Berenguer de Bas at Perpignan. The Amers held posts at Majorca, Puig, Sarrión, and Arguines in addition to two successive masterships.⁽¹¹⁴⁾ Various members of the Hostoles clan, between 1254 and 1317, [56] appeared as commanders of Gerona, Valencia, Tarragona, Puig, San Pedro de los Griegos, Perpignan, and Huesca.⁽¹¹⁵⁾ As an early ally of Arnau d'Amer, the penultimate lay master, Berenguer d'Hostoles was the logical choice of the laics in their unsuccessful attempt to retain control of the mastership in 1317. Bernat de Tonyà was commander of Tarragona between 1244 and 1264; Pere de Tonyà held the same position from 1296 to 1303. These combinations of offices, seemingly held through successive generations, gave to these families an influence over Mercedarian affairs that can only be surmised.

    More difficult to document than family connections are less formal political alliances made among members. It is surely no coincidence, for example, that virtually all of Brother Ramon Albert's closest supporters in the 1317 election were soon after installed in important offices. Thus, Brother Ramon de Cogombre, without position in 1317, was by 1320 the preceptor of Perpignan.⁽¹¹⁶⁾ Domènec Otger, Brother Ramon's partisan since at least 1307, moved from the command of Tarragona to become, in succession, commander of Játiva, elector of the new province of Valencia, and finally the prior and commander of Barcelona.⁽¹¹⁷⁾ Two other allies came to hold commanderies at Majorca, Tarragona, and Arguines; in fact, only one of the new master's former aides failed, at least to our knowledge, to gain important office, but even he was translated in 1319 from Barcelona to the more affluent community of Puig.⁽¹¹⁸⁾ Brother Ramon's ability so to reward his friends and the stable tenures enjoyed by commanders during the Amerian years indicate that the master, despite constitutional limitations, retained considerable ability to influence the appointment of commanders and thus, presumably, to develop for himself a network of supporters. Master Ramon Albert certainly acted decisively after his own election to eliminate lay commanders who might challenge the permanence of the new clerical regime. In 1320, for example, only seven of the thirty-two commanders present at the chapter of Lérida were laics. While a powerful figure like Berenguer d'Hostoles could not be denied his important commandery of Gerona, the other laics held only minor posts.⁽¹¹⁹⁾

    With regard to tenure of office, we find that few commanders held lifetime terms, and these were only due to special dispensations. One, Bernat de Sanromà, a former master, was given Játiva for life, but he was probably already old and in fact served there for only five years.⁽¹²⁰⁾ Another example is Nicolau d'Avinent. He was the vicar of the parish at Puig as early as December 13, 1308, and then became commander of the house before November 13, 1313; between then and [57] 1317, perhaps for reasons of magisterial politics, his title changes to perpetual vicar.⁽¹²¹⁾ Similarly, Domingo de Villanova, vicar and commander at Monflorite in 1310, was its perpetual vicar in 1315.⁽¹²²⁾ That Brother Nicolau's successor at Puig, Vicenç Riera, did not bear the title of perpetual vicar demonstrates that such grants were extraordinary and inhered in the man, not the office.⁽¹²³⁾

    The major officers of the Order -- the master, the prior, and the commanders -- met once yearly in a general chapter. The date for this conclave was fixed by the Constitutions on the feast of the Holy Cross, or May 3. The site was chosen by the master, and all commanders, each accompanied by a brother of his house, were mandated to attend.⁽¹²⁴⁾ Evidence for only eight of the thirteenth-century chapters, however, exists. The first known conclave took place in Barcelona during June 1245, probably to elect Pere Nolasc's successor. Others were held at Barcelona (May 7, 1251), Valencia (May 5, 1269), Barcelona (May 1, 1272), Lérida (May 5,1275, and May 4,1291), Puig (May 4, 1296), and Tarragona (May 3, 1298).⁽¹²⁵⁾ Since the surviving acta are dated from Mav 1 to May 7, the constitutional norm seems to have been followed, except when special circumstances required a different meeting time. Thus, Guillem de Bas was elected at a June chapter, Arnau d'Amer in September, and Ramon Albert in July. In 1308, when the papally appointed master, Arnau Rossinyol, could not present a valid bull of appointment, the chapter met in December to provide for an interim government.⁽¹²⁶⁾

    Evidence suggests that meetings, presumably due to the distances involved and the hardship of travel, were rarely well attended. Thus, while the subscription list for the 1245 meeting that convened to elect the second master contains fifteen names, when the Order possessed approximately that many houses, a 1251 subscription list bears only thirteen names. In 1269, when over three dozen Mercedarian communities existed, only twelve brothers witnessed a donative charter, which was presumably executed at the chapter, and of these only four were explicitly identified as being commanders.⁽¹²⁷⁾ Arnau d'Amer's chapter at Calatayud in 1303 was attended by his chaplain and sixteen commanders, nine from Aragon itself, but only four from Catalonia and three from Valencia. No Occitan or Castilian superior was present.⁽¹²⁸⁾ The chapter of Puig in December 1308 was attended by the five Valencian and nine Aragonese commanders, but only three from Catalonia.⁽¹²⁹⁾ From this it seems clear that chapters were normally attended by the master, the prior, the commanders of nearby houses, and a few other commanders of more distant houses [58] who for reasons of business were willing to undertake the journey. Only the chapter of 1317, held in the midst of an acrimonious conflict over the mastership, seems to have produced the sort of general attendance envisioned by the Constitutions. Lay attendance at this meeting is unknown, but two documents emanating from Ramon Albert's party were signed respectively by fifty-one and fifty-four clerical members.⁽¹³⁰⁾

    Some functions of the annual chapter have already been discussed: the collection and auditing of revenues, the assignment of commands, and the disciplining of malefactors. In these matters, the master and prior were assisted, not by the chapter as a whole, but by four definitors chosen to represent the chapter. These, according to the 1272 Constitutions, were to be chosen by the master and the assembly, two from among the laics and two from the clerics.⁽¹³¹⁾ Contrary to the custom of the mendicant orders, where the institution of definitors was meant to provide greater representation to the brethren-at-large, those so selected in the Mercedarian Order tended to be commanders, and often powerful ones. Thus the definitors selected in the 1303 chapter were the commanders of Olivar, Agramunt, and Gerona, along with the master's chaplain.⁽¹³²⁾ In 1307, the definitors were the commanders of Calatayud, Teruel, Gerona, and Tarragona, and these included one representative each from the de Bas and Hostoles clans.⁽¹³³⁾ The extraordinary chapter of 1308 chose only two definitors as the Order's interim governors: the commanders of Teruel and Gerona.⁽¹³⁴⁾ Two of the 1311 definitors are otherwise unknown, but the others were Pere de Bas, the commander of Tarragona and the former commander of Gerona, and the former master and then commander of Arguines, Arnau d'Amer.⁽¹³⁵⁾ Consequently it is apparent that definitors were usually important personages and, as such, their collective will could not easily be overridden. This the prior learned in 1301 when he attempted to block their convocation of an electoral chapter.

    In the most general sense, definitors served as a check against abuse of power by the master or prior. Their power was thus more passive than active, supervisory and consultative rather than executive or legislative. The Constitutions gave them a role in assessing penalties against accused brethren, witnessing their punishment, selecting commanders, and approving property transactions.⁽¹³⁶⁾

    The chapter as a whole, as a guarantor of the Order's performance, was frequently called upon to ratify contractual obligations made by the master or a commander. So the conclave of  l245 ratified a [59] confraternal contract with Ramon de Morell, and that of 1251 sanctioned the agreement made between Master Guillem de Bas and Lady Sibília of Tortosa.⁽¹³⁷⁾ Pere Barberà, to ensure the fulfillment of the confraternal contract that he had negotiated with the commander of Puig, required in 1272 that it be confirmed at the next meeting of the chapter.⁽¹³⁸⁾

    Chapters were also for discussion of day-to-day problems of administration and management. That royal charters responding to Mercedarian complaints about property infringement were frequently dated in late May is an indication that grievances were first raised and discussed at the chapter.⁽¹³⁹⁾ Undoubtedly the most important item of business was the year's ransoming campaign. Here the appropriate alms monies were assembled and presumably allocated. While the Constitutions are silent on this point, it seems reasonable to assume that on this occasion the two ransomers who would travel to the land of the Moors should be selected. One extant letter in which Jaume II requested from the king of Granada a safe-conduct for these ransomers is dated May 15, 1300, or barely two weeks after the presumed conclusion of the year's chapter.⁽¹⁴⁰⁾

    The Mercedarian hierarchy like the Order itself, did not remain static during the thirteenth century. Its beginnings are found in the somewhat informal leadership of Pere Nolasc, whose authority was more personal than institutional. Merced's first regional leaders, perhaps directly recruited and initiated by the founder himself, were aptly called lieutenants. Nolasc's death and the Order's own rapid growth during the 1240s and 1250s demanded that more formal arrangements for government be made. The creation of commanderies, the development of the priorate, and the promulgation of the Amerian Constitutions were all the result of an effort to replace the founder's direct guidance with a new institutional framework and discipline. This undertaking, however, as evidenced by the removal or resignation of three successive masters and by the charges of corruption and disloyalty levelled by Master Pere d'Amer, was not easy and the remedies not always successful. Yet, no thirteenth-century religious order achieved the perfection of institutional harmony. Consequently, Merced, with all of its problems of government, is a good example of the ways in which new religious orders attempted to cope with the phenomena of growth, wealth, and success.

1. Zumel, De initio, 16-17; De vitis, 29.

2. I. Barbaglia, "Ordini Mendicanti," DIP, 5: 1186.

3. Ribera, Centuria primera, 188-89.

4. Gazulla, Merced, 133-46.

5. Gazulla, in fact, argues that a mendicant order must of its nature be clerical: ibid. See also A. Rubio, "Mercedari," DIP, 5: 1221.

6. See above, chapter 2, n. 23.

7. ACA, Monacales, Códice varia II, 44r-53r. Subsequent references to the Constitutions will be only by reference to individual capitula. For the text of the 1272 Constitutions, see Appendix B.

8. ACA, Monacales, 2679:43rv. Other titles ( majoral, rector, preceptor, and procurator) were also employed by, Nolasc, particularly before the Order's formal institution in 1235.

9. Bullarium de Mercede, 2.

10. For example, J. H. Mundy, in his study of the hospitals of Toulouse, found in the early thirteenth century the title of "minister" to be the most common designation for the head of a hospital (see his "Charity in Toulouse," 239). It was also the proper title for the general superior and local rector of houses belonging to the hospitaller-redemptionist Order of the Holy Trinity: PL, 214: 45. On the other hand, the head of the Hospitallers of St. John in Narbonne in 1191 was called the master: Caille, Hôpitaux à Narbonne, 166. The same title was used to designate the head of the Hospitaller Order of St. Anthony, and that of the Holy Spirit: I. Ruffino, "Canonici Regolari di Sant'Agostino di Sant'Antonio," DIP, 2:137; PL, 215:378. At Marseilles, the head of the Hospital of the Holy Spirit in the thirteenth century was called first "procurator" and later "commander": Paul Amargier, "La situation hospitalière à Marseille," in Vicaire, Assistance et charité, 243. At Aix-en-Provence, preceptor, commander, rector, hospitaller, and minister all appear: Noël Coulet, "Hôpitaux et oeuvres d'assistance dans le diocèsc et la ville d'Aix-en-Provence, XIII^e-mi XIV^e siècle," ibid., 228.

11. ACA, Monacales, 2676: 188rv.

12. Ibid., 2676: 530rv; 2679: 47r.

13. Brother Bernat de Corbera, insofar as we can know, was superior of the Barcelona house from at least as early as 1242 until at least 1259. For the first ten to twelve years of his tenure, however, he was denied the title of commander and instead given that of lieutenant. In 1259, however, when the use of "master" was already firmly established, Brother Bernat had assumed the title of commander. See documents of August 19, 1243 (ACA, Monacales, 2679:,43rv); October 20, 1255 (ibid., A Rollo 1, ORM, no. 3); and June 19, 1259 (Gazulla, Merced, facsimile facing 318).

14. ACA, Monacales, 2676:294rv; 2679:64v.

15. Ibid., 2679:73r-74v.

16. Constitutions, cap. 2.

17. The gifts consisted of a small sum of money given in 1230 (ACA, Monacales, 2679:37r; ACB, DC (d), 124-6, cap. 46), lands in Castellón (ACA, Monacales, 2676:117r), others in Barcelona (ibid., 390rv), and in Majorca (AHN, Clero, carp. 121, no. 5), and in Valencia (ACA, Jaume 1, Reg. Canc., 5: 55v), and in Perpignan (ibid., Monacales, 2676: 56rv), and in Portell (Costa y Bafarrull, Memorias de Solsona, 2: 653, no. 24), and in rural Valencia (ACA, Monacales, 2663:2), and in Gerona (ibid., 2676:381v).

18. There were leases at Gerona (ACA, Monacales, 2676:14rv) and at Perpignan (ibid., 390v-391r); a purchase was negotiated on Majorca (ibid., 2679:40r).

19. ACA, Monacales, 2679:43rv; 2676:143rv.

20. Ibid., 2676: 144r.

21. Ibid., 117v.

22. The three privileges that Jaume I conceded to Merced in the 1250s were all addressed to Master Guillem de Bas: ACA, Monacales, 2676: 530rv; AHN, Clero, carp. 3193, no. 8; Ribera, Centuria primera, I72.

23. ACA, Monacales, 2676:23r-24r.

24. AHN, Clero, carp. 3193, no. 17.

25. ARV, caj. 17, no.7.

26. ACA, Monacales, A Rollo 1, ORM, no. 23.

27. See above, chapter 2, n. 89.

28. ACA, Monacales, 2676:64v-69v. In another incident eearly in Brother Pere's mastership, we learn from a letter of John XXI to the archbishop of Tarragona, dated in 1276, that several Mercedarians, past and present, had alienated properties that belonged to the Tarragona house. These were given either as lifetime or permanent gifts to various seculars and ecclesiastics. The archbishop is now told to revoke these grants and return the properties to the Order: Bullarium de Mercede, 22. A similar letter was also sent to the bishop of Gerona: ibid., 23-24. Only three months before Brother Pere's ban, Pere de Llauró, commander of Majorca, sold off on his own authority 15s. worth of land for the needs of his house: Diplomatari de Mallorca, 1: 321-22, no. 91.

29. Master Guillem was at Perpignan with Brother Berenguer on December 2,1268: ACA, Monacales, 2676:55rv.

30. Constitutions, caps. 6, 45.

31. Brother Guillem d'Amer commanded Arguines in May 1295 or 1296:ACA, Jaume II, Reg. Canc., 340: 160r.

32. ACA, Monacales, A Rollo 1, ORM, no. 23.

33. Constitutions, caps. 2, 3, 4-5.

34. Ibid., caps. 13, 20.

35. Master Pere d'Amer, for example, requested in 1296 that Jaume II petition the king of Granada for the release of two captured Mercedarian ransomers: ACA, Jaume II, Reg. Canc., 104:103r.

36. Here the chapter conceded to Brother Arnau d'Amer for his lifetime the houses of Játiva and Gandía and their revenue, to be used for his expenses, just as it was done in the days of Pere d'Amer: Ribera, Centuria primera, 130-31.

37. The masters of Santiago, for example, had as their personal domain lands at Benamejí, Mérida, Montáchez, and Uclés: The Rule of the Spanish Military Order of St. James, 1170 -1493, ed. and trans. Enrique Gallego Blanco (Leiden, 1971), 49.

38. Surveying twenty-one charters between 1248 and 1298 that deal with the commandery of Játiva, we find the master's name is contained in nineteen of these, including all but one of those dated after 1255. For Brother Marc, see ACA, Monacales, 2679:270r.

39. See the Constitutions, cap. 35.

40. Bullarium de Mercede, 34.

41. ACA, Monacales, 2663: 52; 2679: 68v.

42. Ibid., A Rollo 1, ORM, no. 25; 2676:55rv; Constitutions, cap. 10.

43. For Pere d'Alòs, see Millan, Pedro de Amer, 46; ACA, Monacales, 2663:215; 2679: 61r. For Joan Alarch, see ibid., 3194: 8; 2679: 66v-67r. For Garcia Batalla, see ibid., 2663:205; 2679: 73r-74v.

44. Constitutions, caps. 3, 4, 26.

45. Ibid., cap. 5. In a typical charter of profession, Berenguer Pic, entering at Játiva on October 15, 1298, offered his body and soul to Master Pere d'Amer and to the Order: ACA, Monacales, 2679: 160r.

46. ACA, Monacales, 2676: 309r.

47. Rule of St. James, 118-19, cap. 40.

48. See the bull of June 19, 1204, that united the Hospital of St. Mary at Rome with that of the Holy Spirit at Montpellier: PL, 215: 377.

49. See the charters of March 16,1255 (ACA, Monacales, 2663: 206), April 2, 1255 (ibid., 2676: 25v- 26r), and December 9, 1256 (ibid., 2676:123r- 124v).

50. Brother Ponç bears the title of prior in documents of September 23, 1260 (ACA, Monacales, 2676: 110r- 111v) and June 1266: ibid., 107r-108v. His term was evidently not continuous, however, for Arnau de Campolobo was prior in a document of May 1263: ibid., 2663:203.

51. Ibid., 226r.

52. Ibid., A Rollo 1, ORM, nos. 23, 25.

53. He is first listed as prior on March 4, 1271 (ACA, Monacales, 2676:64v-69v),and for the last time on September 29,1301 (ibid., 2679:64r).

54. Documents of May and June 1307 report him as being the prior: BC, Arxiu, no. 1009; Ribera, Centuria primera, 130-31.

55. For his appointment by Pope Clement V, see Bullarium de Mercede, 35 - 37.

56. ACA, Monacales, 2679:43rv.

57. Ibid., 2676:214r-215v, 514rv.

58. In 1256, Brother Arnau de Gascó is reported as being the prior of Puig: ACA, Monacales, 2676: 123r-124v.

59. ARV, caj. 17, no. 7.

60. These were at Montpellier, Barcelona, Seville, near Solsona, Córdoba, Olivar, Arguines, Játiva, Tortosa, and Saragossa.

61. Brother Guillem was commander of Puig on August 1, 1267 (ACA, Monacales, A Rollo 1, ORM, no. 23), May 5,1269 (ibid., 2676:271v), and July 2, 1271, after he had already become prior (ibid., 2676:131r-132v). By October 8, 1272, he had been replaced as commander of Puig by Guillem de Castellfollit (ibid., 2676:260r-262v). Brother Guillem d'Isona resurfaces as commander of Puig on July 10, 1282 (Millan, Pedro Amer, 43).

62. He is definitely in charge of Barcelona on October 9, 1296 (ACA, Monacales, 2679: 60v), but appears there without the title of commander as early as December 3, 1292 (ibid.). The last known citation for his predecessor at Barcelona, Arnau de Llobrets, was on March 15, 1290 (ibid., 2702, perg. 2). The prior's last appearance at Barcelona was on September 29, 1301 (ibid., 2679: 64r).

63. Constitutions, caps. 3, 6, 45.

64. Ibid., cap. 35.

65. Ibid., caps. 3, 11.

66. ACA, Monacales, 2676:294rv. While no known Mercedarian legislation gave the prior this right of summons, it was the prerogative of the prior of the Order of Santiago to convene electors for the selection of a new master: Rule of St. James, 120, cap. 43.

67. See chapter 2, nn. 149, 150, 154.; ACA, Monacales, 2679:64v.

68. Brother Domènec is identified as the prior of Barcelona on May 8, 1326: ACA, Monacales, 2676: 191r.

69. Ibid., 43rv. Another document on June 8, 1245, identifies Brother Bertran as lieutenant in the diocese of Urgel: Costa y Bafarull, Memorias de Solsona, 2:653. In 1248, a Brother Ramon is the lieutenant of Denia: ACA, Monacales, 2676:444rv.

70. For example, Arnau d'Hostoles on May 8,1254, was commander in the bishopric of Gerona, as was Berenguer de Bas on October 31, 1256: ACA, Monacales, A Rollo 1, ORM, nos. 11, 18. At the chapter at Lérida on May 5, 1275, the master constituted Pere de Llauró as "procurator of our house of Gerona and of the bishopric of Gerona . . . , who has free general administration in all business of the Order in this bishopric": ACA, Monacales, 2679: 57r.

71. ACA, Jaume II, Reg. Canc., 124:189v-190v.

72. ACA, Monacales, 2676:270v-271r.

73. Ibid., 2663: 117.

74. The first known commander for the entire diocese of Valencia was Brother Pere de Gamisans, who as such attended the chapter of 1303: AHN, Clero, carp. 3194, no. 8. Brother Berenguer de Queralt held that office in 1308 and probably until his arrest in 1313: ACA, Monacales, 2679:66v-67r; 2663:60, 61. In 1317, Vicenç Riera, a past supporter of Ramon Albert, held the office: ibid., 2679:71v-72V.

75. See above, n. 10.

76. Pourrière, Hôpitaux d'Aix-en-Provence, 89; Caille, Hôpitaux à Narbonne, 152-66.

77. Mundy, "Charity in Toulouse," 239; Burns, Crusader Kingdom, 1:241-42, 2:488; Jugnot, "Aubrac et Roncevaux," in Vicaire, Assistance et charité, 325.

78. ACA, Monacales, A Rollo 1, ORM, no. 23.

79. Thus, for example, a lease on a workshop and some land in Perpignan was granted to Bernat de Brandini on December 17, 1268, by both the master and his commander, while two months later, on October 7, the commander acting alone issued another similar lease to Bernat de Rochabruna: ACA, Monacales, 2676:33v-37r, 54v-55r.

80. Thus, on August 2, 1313, Bernat de Sords gave the commander of Gerona, Guillem de Banis, a rent in wheat and coin to pay for five years' rent: ACA, Monacales, 2676: 187v.

81. On May 5, 1253, the widow of Pere de Morer of Majorca admitted her failure to pay the census on those houses that were originally retired by her husband from Joan de Llaés, the first Mercedarian commander. After several extentions, she now returned the property to the Order: Gazulla, Merced, 360, n. 189.

82. So, on February 25, 1272, Brother Bernat de Sanromà confirmed the sale, by a shoemaker of Gandía to his neighbors of houses that were held under Mercedarian lordship: ACA, Monacales, 2676:230r-231r. The commander of Majorca, Berenguer Ferrer, on December 7, 1277, approved the sublease of some houses by Ramon May, even though the rent paid by the new tenant was less than Ramon was obliged to pay the Order: AHN, Clero, carp. 121, no. 9. There is precedent for a commander repurchasing property from a tenant; this was done at Tarragona in 1282 and at Barcelona in 1255: ACA, Monacales, 2676:253r; A Rollo 1, ORM, no. 13.

83. Typical is a lease of 1279 in which the tenant was required to make improvements worth 37s. 6d. within two years to a house rented in Perpignan: ACA, Monacales, 2676:72rv. Bernat Serramiga in 1322 was required to construct an irrigation or drainage ditch on property he rented in Valencia City: ibid., 240v-241r.

84. ACA, Monacales, 2663:53. A similar complaint was made by the master to Jaume II in 1306 on behalf of tenants at Sagunto: ibid., 39.

85. ACA, Monacales, 2663:41; Jaume II, Reg. Canc., 46:66r.

86. ACA, Alfons II, Reg. Canc., 83:48v.

87. ACA, Monacales, 2663:66-67.

88. See agreements of February 14, 1257, at Gerona (ACA, Monacales, 2676:157rv); August 12, 1269, at Gerona (ibid., 159r); April 4., 1265, at Gerona (BC, Arxiu, no. 1613); and October 20, 1254, at Barcelona (ACA, Monacales, 2679: 49v).

89. ACA, Monacales, 2676:71r-72r.

90. Ibid., 441r-442v.

91. Constitutions, cap. 13; Bullarium de Mercede, 5-6. Jaume II on May 28, 1306, ordered his officials to arrest those impersonating Mercedarian collectors: ACA, Monacales, 2663:40.

92. Constitutions, cap. 13.

93. See the charters of Pere Barberà at Puig of October 8, 1271 (ACA, Monacales, 2676:260r); of Pere de Gerona of March 1, 1265 (ibid., A Rollo 1, ORM, no. 21); and of Bernat Vidal at Castellón de Ampurias of February 2, 1294 (ibid., 2676:520r).

94. Ibid., A Rollo 1, ORM, no. 23; 2679:57r.

95. Ibid., 2679:51v

96. Ibid., 2676:123r-124v.

97. AHN, Clero, carp. 3193, no. 7.

98. The case was heard in 1297, when Jaume II appointed a judge to hear it; the outcome is unknown: ACA, Jaume II, Reg. Canc., 106: 124v-125r.

99. Millan, Pedro de Amer, 41.

100. Settlements of this suit are recorded in 1300 and 1307: ACA, Monacales, 2679: 62r-63v, 67rv.

101. For a summary of the issues in this suit, see Gregory X's bull of August 13, 1274.: Bullarium de Mercede, 20 - 21.

102. ACA, Monacales, 2679:38r.

103. Ibid., A Rollo 1, ORM, no. 23.

104. Ibid., Códice varia II, 53v.

105. Constitutions, caps. 9, 26, 27.

106. Ibid., cap. 39.

107. During the schism of 1301-1308, when the laic master Arnau d'Amer had little real authority in Catalonia, he granted unusually broad powers to the preceptor of Gerona, Pere de Bas, to act as his procurator there and in the Occitan, with power to appoint and remove commanders and to imprison apostates. This grant, however, clearly grew out of an extraordinary situation: ACA, Monacales, 2679:63v-64r.

108. Ibid., 2676: 9v.

109. See the charters of September 26, 1244, and of January 21, 1255: ACA, Monacales, 2676:136rv.

110. Constitutions, cap. 6.

111. The preceptors of Gerona, with their known dates of office, are: Guillem de Bas (1243), Ramon de Santa Pelàgia (1250), Arnau d'Hostoles (1254), Berenguer de Bas (1256-1258), Pere Robí (1265), Arnau d'Hostoles (1265), Pere de Rocha (1265), Ademar (1269), Marc de Vilabella (1271-1272), Pere de Rocha (1272), Pere de Llauró (1275), Berenguer de Bas (1276), Ramon d'Hostoles (1279), Pere de Llauró (1289), Berenguer de Bas (1293), Pere de Bas (1303), Guillem de Banis (1306), Pere de Bas (1307-1308), Guillem de Banis (1309-1313), Joan Capdevila (1313), Berenguer d'Hostoles (1317-1325).

112. He appears as commander of Játiva on November 13, 1279 (Millan, Pedro de Amer, 41), and August 11, 1293 (ACA, Monacales, 2676: 236rv).

113. Bernat de Bas in 1317 was commander of Murcia; Berenguer de Bas commanded Valencia (1254), Gerona (1256-1258), Perpignan (1268-1270), Gerona (1276), Perpignan (1279), and Gerona (1293). Guillem de Bas, in addition to holding the mastership twice, 1245 to ca. 1259 and 1267 to 1270, was also commander of Gerona (1243) and of Perpignan (1263-1266). Pere de Bas was commander of Majorca (1259-1267), Barcelona (1269), Castellón de Ampurias (1294), Gerona (1303-1308), Tarragona (1310), and Vich (1317).

114. Arnau d'Amer, master from 1301 to 1307, was commander of Arguines (1308-1310); Guillem d'Amer commanded Arguines (1295 or 1296); Joan d'Amer was commander of Majorca (1253); Pere d'Amer, master from 1271 to 1301, had been commander of Puig (1263) and Sarrión (1267); another Pere d'Amer commanded Daroca (1308-13'7).

115. Arnau d'Hostoles was commander of Gerona (1254, 1265). Berenguer d'Hostoles was commander of Valencia (1303), Tarragona (1307), Valencia (1310), Puig (1311), and Gerona (1317-1325). Bernat d'Hostoles held the commandery of San Pedro de los Griegos (1317). Ramon d'Hostoles was commander of Gerona (1279) and of Huesca (1303).

116. ACA, Monacales, 2679: 71r; 2676: 334r-336r.

117. Domènec's career began at Perpignan (1281) and Játiva (1298). In 1307 he was a procurator of Ramon Albert; by 1317 he had become the commander of Tarragona, and in 1324. that of Majorca. In 1326, he is the prior of Barcelona and thus the second-ranking official in the Order.

118. Another procurator, Arnau Cucons, who had been preceptor of Perpignan in 1310, became commander of Majorca in 1323 and commander of Tarragona in 1326. The fourth procurator, Martí Sanç, commander of Arguines in 1317, continued there until 1325; in 1324 he was named as the alternate to the elector of the province of Valencia.

119. Other commanderies were those of San Pedro de los Griegos, Olivar, and Daroca: ACA, Monacales, 2676:334r-336r.

120. His last appearance as commander of Játiva was on February 25, 1272: ACA, Monacales, 2676:230r-231r.

121. Ibid., 2679:66v-67r, 71v-72v; AHN, Clero, carp. 3194, no. 11.

122. ACA, Monacales, 2676:308rv; AHN, Clero, carp. 3194, no. 13.

123. ACA, Monacales, 2676:240v-241r.

124. Constitutions, cap. 2.

125. ARV, caj. 17, no.7; AHN, Clero, carp. 2900, no. 16; ACA, Monacales, 2676:271v; the Constitutions, promulgation; ACA, Monacales, 2679:57r; 2676: 290v, 292v.

126. ACA, Monacales, 2679:66v-67r.

127. Ibid., A Rollo 1, ORM, no. 25.

128. AHN, Clero, carp. 3194., no. 8.

129. ACA, Monacales, 2679:66v-67r.

130. Ibid., 71v-72v, 73r-74v.

131. Constitutions, cap. 3.

132. AHN, Clero, carp. 3194, no. 8. Definitors originated in the eleventh and twelfth centuries among monastic movements as a reaction to Cluniac centralism. Among Cistercians, a group of up to twenty-five definitors prepared for the annual chapter. Among Dominicans, definitors alternated with provincials as representatives to the general chapter, but provincial chapters, like the Mercedarian chapter, used the four definitors to expedite business. In the Franciscan Order, definitors were nonvoting members of the general chapter and assistants to the provincial at provincial chapters. The military orders had no definitors, although Cîteaux's affiliate, the Order of Calatrava, used two commanders to assist the master in punishment of errant brothers. Like Merced, the hospitaller Order of Roncesvalles chose at its chapter four definitors to assist the prior. On the subject of definitors, see W. B. Ryan, "Definitor, Religious," NCE, 4:20; M. Mayer, "Definitore," DIP, 3:404-8; Hinnebusch, Dominican Order, 1: 177, 186; John Moorman, A History of theFranciscan Order from Its Origins to Year 1517 (Oxford, 1968), 106-7; Jugnot, "Aubrac et Roncevaux," in Vicaire, Assistance et charité, 325; Louis J. Lekai, The Cistercians: Ideals and Reality (Kent, Ohio, 1977), 70 - 71.

133. Ribera, Centuria primera, 130-31.

134. ACA, Monacales, 2679:66v-67r.

135. Ibid., 2682:98r.

136. Constitutions, caps. 3, 4, 6, 45 .

137. ARV, caj. 17, no. 7; AHN, Clero, carp. 2900, no. 16.

138. ACA, Monacales, 2676:260r-262r.

139. See examples of May 25, 1290 (ACA, Alfons II, Reg. Canc., 83:48v); May, 28, 1295 (ibid., Jaume II, Reg. Canc., 340:160r); May 15, 1300 (ibid., 117:87rv); June 5, 1302 (ibid., 124:189v-190r); and May 28, 1306 (ACA, Monacales, 2663:40).

140. ACA, Jaume II, Reg. Canc., 117:87rv.