CHR, 3 by Institut d'Estudis Catalans

Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona

Contents

Number 3

Foreword

Josep Guitart

The origin of the earliest Roman cities in Catalonia: An examination from the field of archaeology

Flocel Sabaté

The Catalonia of the 10th-12th centuries and the historiographic definition of feudalism

Lola Badia

“Volent escriure a vostra consolació e plaer”: Metge, Corella and other 14th and 15th Century masters of Catalan prose

Agustí Alcoberro

The War of the Spanish Succession in the Catalan-speaking Lands

Teresa Abelló

Anarchism in the Catalan-speaking countries: Between syndicalism and propaganda (1868-1931)

Francesc Miralles

103

About Catalan Surrealism

115

Sixth centennial of Francesc Eiximenis

119

Session at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans on the civic-political dimension of the oeuvre of historian Jaume Vicens Vives

131

Historical publications of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC) during 2009

141

Catalan Version

Catalan Historical Review Number 3 / 2010

2010

Albert Balcells

2010

Catalan Historical Review

Institvt

d’Estvdis Catalans

Barcelona • Catalonia

Catalan Historical Review

Catalan Historical Review Number 3 / 2010

Free online access via http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/

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Aims and scope The Catalan Historical Review, the international journal of the History and Archeology Section of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC), aims to enable the current state of knowledge about the history of the Catalan-speaking lands − Catalonia, the Valencian Country, the Balearic Islands, and other lands related to them − to be known throughout the world. It will achieve this by publishing articles of synthesis dealing with ongoing research into major topics of political, social, economic, legal, literary and artistic history of all periods, from the most ancient to the most recent, on the basis of bibliography published in recent years. Copyright Submission of a manuscript to the Catalan Historical Review implies: that the work described has not been published before, including publication on the World Wide Web (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis); that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; that all co-authors have agreed to its publication. The corresponding author signs for and accepts responsibility for releasing this material and will act on behalf of any and all co-authors regarding the editorial review and publication processes. If an article is accepted for publication in the Catalan Historical Review, the authors (or other copyright holder) must transfer to the journal the copyright, which covers the —non-exclusive— right to reproduce and distribute the article, including reprints, translations, photographic reproductions, microform, electronic form (off line, online) or any other reproductions of a similar nature. Nevertheless, all articles in the Catalan Historical Review will be available on the internet to any reader at no cost. The journal allows users to freely download, copy, print, distribute, search, and link to the full text of any article, provided the authorship and source of the published article is cited. The copyright owner’s consent does not include copying for new works, or resale. In such cases, the specific written permission of the Catalan Historical Review must first be obtained. This work is subject, unless the contrary is indicated in the text, the photographs or in other illustrations, to an Attribution − Non Commercial −

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Catalan Historical Review Institut d’Estudis Catalans Carrer del Carme, 47 E-08001 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU Tel. +34 932701620 Fax: +34 932701180 E-mail: cathistorical@iec.cat Cancellations must be received by 30 September to take effect at the end of the same year. Change of address: allow six weeks for all changes to become effective. All communications should include both old and new addresses (with postal codes) and should be accompanied by a mailing label from a recent issue. Electronic edition An electronic edition of this journal is available at <http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/>

Fragment of The Siege of Barcelona, 1714 Jacint Rigaud (inv. et sculp), 1659-1743 Engraving, 23 x 43 cm Historic Archive of the City of Barcelona, inv. no. 4783 Printed in Catalonia

INDEXED IN LATINDEX · INTERNATIONAL MEDIEVAL BIBLIOGRAPHY · DOAJ · DICE (CSIC-ANECA) · ISOC · e-REVISTAS · DIALNET · RACO

Catalan Historical Review Number 3 / 2010

Institvt d’Estvdis Catalans

Barcelona • Catalonia

Catalan Historical Review Free online access via http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/ Visit our blog:

http://blocs.iec.cat/chrbloc/

Catalan Historical Review Institut d’Estudis Catalans Carrer del Carme, 47 E-08001 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU Tel. +34 932701629 Fax: +34 932701180 E-mail: cathistorical@iec.cat

Subscription information ISSN print edition: 2013-407X ISSN electronic edition: 2013-4088

Editorial Office Alfons Tiñena, Journal Manager Josep M. Palau, Assistant

Editorial support Mary Black, Catalan-English translation. Cover illustration

1 issue will appear in 2010. The annual subscription fee (including handling charges) is 40.00 € (VAT not included). Subscription orders should be sent to: Catalan Historical Review Institut d’Estudis Catalans Carrer del Carme, 47 E-08001 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU Tel. +34 932701620 Fax: +34 932701180 E-mail: cathistorical@iec.cat Cancellations must be received by 30 September to take effect at the end of the same year. Change of address: allow six weeks for all changes to become effective. All communications should include both old and new addresses (with postal codes) and should be accompanied by a mailing label from a recent issue. Electronic edition An electronic edition of this journal is available at <http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/>

Fragment of The Siege of Barcelona, 1714 Jacint Rigaud (inv. et sculp), 1659-1743 Engraving, 23 x 43 cm Historic Archive of the City of Barcelona, inv. no. 4783 Printed in Catalonia

Catalan Historical Review Number 3 / 2010

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF* Albert Balcells, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

ASSOCIATE EDITORS* Manuel Ardit, Universitat de València Francesc Fontbona, Biblioteca de Catalunya Josep Guitart, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Josep Massot, Institut d’Estudis Catalans Tomàs de Montagut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

ADVISORY BOARD* Géza Alföldy, Universität Heidelberg Josep Amengual, Universidad de Deusto Xavier Barral, Université de Rennes Thomas N. Bisson, Harvard University Dolors Bramon, Institut d’Estudis Catalans Joan-Ferran Cabestany, Institut d’Estudis Catalans Pere Casanelles, Societat Catalana d’Estudis Hebràics Jordi Castellanos, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Efrem Compte, Institut d’Estudis Catalans Dominique de Courcelles, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Miquel Crusafont, Societat Catalana d’Estudis Numismàtics Núria de Dalmasses, Universitat de Barcelona Eulàlia Duran, Institut d’Estudis Catalans Romà Escalas, Museu de la Música de Barcelona

Francesca Español, Amics de l’Art Romànic Gregori (Francesc) Estrada, Institut d’Estudis Catalans Georges Fabre, Université de Pau Gaspar Feliu, Universitat de Barcelona M.Teresa Ferrer, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Barcelona Paul Freedman, Yale University Josep M. Font i Rius, Institut d’Estudis Catalans Joaquim Garriga, Universitat de Girona Joaquim Garrigosa, Societat Catalana de Musicologia Carme Gràcia, Universitat de València Miquel Gros, Societat Catalana d’Estudis Litúrgics Christian Guilleré, Université de Savoie Enric Guinot, Universitat de València Albert G. Hauf, Institut d’Estudis Catalans Jocelyn N. Hillgarth, University of Toronto Nikolas Jaspert, Ruhr-Universität Bochum Manuel Jorba, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Simon Keay, University of Southampton Giovanni Lilliu, Università di Cagliari Gabriel Llompart, Institut d’Estudis Catalans Henry de Lumley, Musée National d’Histoire Naturelle de Paris Tomàs Martínez, Universitat Jaume I Joan Mas, Universitat de les Illes Balears

Marc Mayer, Universitat de Barcelona Concepció Mir, Universitat de Lleida Joaquim Molas, Institut d’Estudis Catalans Anscari Manuel Mundó, Institut d’Estudis Catalans Olimpio Musso, Università di Firenze Alexandre Olivar, Institut d’Estudis Catalans Antoni Pladevall, Institut d’Estudis Catalans Olivier Poisson, Université de Paris Paul Preston, London School of Economics and Political Science Antoni Riera, Universitat de Barcelona Santiago Riera, Universitat de Barcelona Manuel Riu, Institut d’Estudis Catalans Josep Maria Salrach, Universitat Pompeu Fabra Joan Sanmartí, Universitat de Barcelona Eva Serra, Universitat de Barcelona Antoni Simon, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Jaume Sobrequés, Societat Catalana d’Estudis Històrics Narcís Soler, Universitat de Girona Robert B. Tate, University of Nottingham Eliseu Trenc, Université de Reims Jürgen Untermann, Institut d’Estudis Catalans Joan Vernet, Institut d’Estudis Catalans Jill R. Webster, University of Toronto Michel Zimmermann, Université de Versailles-Saint-Quentin-enYvelines

* Members of the History and Archeology Section and Presidents of its Affiliated Societies of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans

Institvt d’Estvdis Catalans Barcelona • Catalonia

Catalan Historical Review Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona

Contents

Number 3

Albert Balcells

Foreword

Josep Guitart

The origin of the earliest Roman cities in Catalonia: An examination from the field of archaeology

Flocel Sabaté

The Catalonia of the 10th-12th centuries and the historiographic definition of feudalism

Lola Badia

“Volent escriure a vostra consolació e plaer”: Metge, Corella and other 14th and 15th Century masters of Catalan prose

Agustí Alcoberro

The War of the Spanish Succession in the Catalan-speaking Lands

Teresa Abelló

Anarchism in the Catalan-speaking countries: Between syndicalism and propaganda (1868-1931)

Francesc Miralles

103

About Catalan Surrealism

115

Sixth centennial of Francesc Eiximenis

119

Session at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans on the civic-political dimension of the oeuvre of historian Jaume Vicens Vives

131

Historical publications of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC) during 2009

141

Catalan Version

Institvt d’Estvdis Catalans Barcelona • Catalonia

2010

CATALAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 3: 7-8 (2010) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona ISSN: 2013-407X http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/

Foreword

Just like the first two issues of our journal, this third one is devoted to offering assessments of state-of-the-art knowledge on the overarching issues in the history of the Catalan-speaking lands. Catalan is a Romance language derived from Latin, and this indicates that Rome’s domination of the territory exerted an important and lasting influence through its cities, either new or restructured. For this reason, the first article in this issue examines the earliest Roman cities in what is today Catalonia, covering most of the Conventus Tarraconensis, and it shares the archaeological knowledge available as of today. In a forthcoming issue, there will be an article to complement this one devoted to the same topic but covering the territory that is today the region of Valencia. Just like in other European countries, the origins of Catalonia today can be found in the feudalism of the 10th to 11th centuries. Thus, the second article in this issue is devoted to this important subject. The author examines the debates on the concept of feudalism and its application in mediaeval Catalonia, where the feudal institutions had their own autochthonous roots, albeit ones which bore some similarities to the feudalism in other European countries. This is a very broad topic that with many different aspects that shall be examined in articles to appear in future issues of the Catalan Historical Review. We devoted an article in the first issue to the figure of Raymond Lully. Continuing in this vein, here we offer a study on the prosists writing in Catalan from the 14th and 15th centuries. At that time, the vernacular was reaching an early state of maturity before other European nations, even though at the dawn of what is now called the humanistic Renaissance, Latin not only continued to enjoy prestige as an international language of culture but was also gaining a new impetus with better knowledge of the ancient classics. From the oeuvre of Bernat Metge to the chivalric novels, this period witnessed a sweeping spread of Catalan prose that had been launched by the great chronicles from the 13th and 14th centuries. The Catalan political institutions which structured society and showed a great deal of autonomy in the Principality of Catalonia and the kingdoms of Valencia, Mallorca and Aragon were abolished after the Catalan defeat by the absolutism of the first King of the House of Bourbon, Philip V, a French monarch, after a bloody war. The conflict took place between 1705 and 1714 as part of the Europe-wide conflagration: the War of the Spanish Succession. There is a raft of literature on this war on the Iberian Peninsula, and on its origins, development and consequences. In this issue, we are offering a comprehensive overview written by one of the experts on the topic, as

all the other articles in this issue are. The Principality of Catalonia and the kingdoms of Valencia and Mallorca were converted into Spanish provinces stripped of their own institutions due to the force of weapons, not to the will of their inhabitants. With regard to art history, there is no doubt that Surrealism ushered in a number of great Catalan figures, and that the works by artists who adhered to this movement are among the most famous in the world. For this reason, the subject of Surrealism earned a survey in this issue, although it is not limited to the persona and oeuvre of Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró, but includes other valuable artists. Anarchism played an important role in the political and social history of Catalonia and Valencia – and to a lesser extent the Balearic Islands – in the 19th and 20th centuries, more than in other Latin countries. For this reason, this issue offers a summary of the extensive literature that research into this topic has generated, so extensive that it has been divided into two parts. The first part, which appears in this issue, covers the last third of the 19th century until the change in Spain’s political regime in 1931. The second article slated to appear in a later issue will cover from the 1930s until the Civil War, when the influence of the anarchists, in their diverse strands, reached its peak with the revolution unleashed in 1936 over the failed coup d’état on the 19th of July. The cover of this issue reproduces a fragment from an historical engraving depicting the French-Spanish troops’ final assault on the wall of Barcelona in September 1714 through the breaches in the wall on the northeast part of the city’s fortified perimeter. This work is by Jacint RigauRos (1659-1743), the famous chamber painter and portraitist of Louis XIV. The artist, known to the French as Hyacinthe Rigaud, was a Catalan from Perpignan. The monarch commissioned him to draw the successive phases of the siege of Barcelona as an example – among other possible ones – of the military technique used to lay siege to and assault a fortified city. Every engraving comes with a completely aseptic explanation in French at the base, and the title of this one is “The Assault on the Main Body of the Square”. We wish to express our appreciation for the numerous papers we have received from recipients and readers of this journal. Each printed issue is sent to 400 national, university and academic libraries all over the world. We also wish to note that our journal has been included in the bibliographic database DICE (Dissemination and Editorial Quality of Spanish Humanities, Social Sciences and Legal Journals), the outcome of a cooperation agreement between the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)

8 Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010

and the National Quality Assessment and Accreditation Agency (ANECA), the entity that uses it as an editorial quality reference in its faculty assessment processes. This journal is also indexed in such important bibliographic databases as RACO, the Catalan database containing more than 274 journals; the University of Rioja’s DIALNET, which has 5,685 journals indexed; FECYT (Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology), with 2,480 journals; DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), managed by the University of Lund (Sweden), which contains 5,149 journals; and LATINDEX (National University of Mexico), which contains more than 18,000 journals. On the electronic version, there have been more than 7,500 downloads of our articles in PDF format. This

is a highly satisfactory figure for a new scientific journal that examines a small geographic area without a state of its own, although the area is historiographically rich and accomplished and encompasses a time span of over two millennia. Finally, we wanted to inform readers that the Catalan Historical Review is the first journal put out by the Ins titut d’Estudis Catalans that has a blog as a channel of communication with its international readers, and its own page on Facebook, where everyone who wishes is encouraged to participate. Albert Balcells Editor-in-chief

CATALAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 3: 9-30 (2010) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.1000.01.37 · ISSN: 2013-407X http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/

The origin of the earliest Roman cities in Catalonia: An examination from the perspective of archaeology* Josep Guitart**

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Received 15 July 2009 · Accepted 20 October 2009

Abstract In recent decades, the progress in archaeology applied to knowledge of the Roman cities in the Catalan-speaking lands has begun to furnish a new perspective on the question of the origins of these cities. In this article, which focuses on Catalonia, and in the one planned for the next issue focusing on Valencia, we shall examine this topic, which also provides valuable information on the Romans’ earliest presence here. With just a handful of exceptions, the majority of Roman cities documented in Catalonia were newly founded by the Romans. With them, a network of new cities was built that had a profound influence on the process of Romanisation that had gotten underway during the Second Punic War and culminated at the end of the Republican period with the founding of Barcino, the predecessor of today’s Barcelona. The archaeological information provided by the cities of Tarraco, Baetulo, Iluro, Iesso, Aeso, Gerunda and Roman Emporiae, among others, furnishes fragmentary yet highly significant information that enables us to fine-tune the chronologies of their starting dates and the characteristics of their earliest development with regard to the historical context of the time, which unquestionably marked the first steps in their formation as cities. The early years of the 1st century AD were particularly dynamic in terms of this urbanising activity, which was most likely not just inspired but also planned by the Roman authorities. The new cities, with their regular layouts in rigorously orthogonal grids and their fortified premises, brought to Catalonia the urban models that the Romans had developed during their years of expansion around the Italian peninsula. Along with the construction of the roadway network, they would lay the foundations for the structure of the country, which would mark the entire Roman period and largely remain in place in the subsequent centuries and even until today.

Key words: Romanisation, Roman Republican period, ancient topography, Roman urban planning, Hispania Citerior, Tarraco, Emporiae, Baetulo, Iluro, Iesso Knowledge regarding the origins of the earliest Roman cities in the Catalan-speaking lands has made major strides in recent decades thanks to the information provided by developments in the archaeology applied at the sites, which potentially serve as the most important source of information for enriching this knowledge, in addition to being a valuable legacy from our cultural heritage.*** A little over 30 years now, in 1978, Miquel Tarradell devoted a study to the Roman cities in the Catalan-speaking lands which served as the groundwork for the speech he delivered upon his investiture in the Royal Academy of Belles-Lettres of Barcelona.1 Through his sweeping mas-

* This paper has received funding from the Ministry of Science and Innovation, through fundamental research project reference HAR2009-10752. ** Contact address: Josep Guitart. Department of Ancient and Mediaeval Studies. Faculty of Philosophy and Letters. Autonomous University of Barcelona. University Campus. E-08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Catalonia, EU. Tel: +34 935813316. E-mail: josep.guitart@uab.cat

tery of the archaeological knowledge available at that time, he offered a brilliant synthesis, remarking on the importance of studying the ancient world for our history if we wish to understand the structure of the country. The overview that Tarradell provided enabled him to make numerous reflections in which he linked the issue of the Roman period to the historical process as a whole. In his desire to provide a global view of the subject matter, he stressed a variety of considerations, such as the territorially balanced distribution of the urban network forged during the Roman period and the patterns of its evolution until it linked up with the shape of the country in the mediaeval period. However, he placed the most emphasis on the issue of the origins of those cities and their role in transforming the pre-Roman world of the Iberian civilisation and its eventual remnants within the context of Romanisation. He tried to discern the continuities and the meaning of the newly founded cities, and he formulated fascinating working hypotheses, always with the caution of a scholar who is aware of the shortcomings of

10 Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010

Figure 1. Map of Catalonia with the location of the main cities in the Roman period: Aeso (Isona), Ilerda (Lleida), Dertosa (Tortosa), Iesso (Guissona), Sigarra (Els Prats de Rei), Tarraco (Tarragona), Egara (Terrassa), Barcino (Barcelona), Baetulo (Badalona), Iluro (Mataró), Blandae (Blanes), Emporiae (Empúries), Gerunda (Girona), Auso (Vic), Aquis Voconis (Caldes de Malavella), Aquae Caldae (Caldes de Montbui) and Iulia Lybica (Llíva).

the documentation available. “Studies on cities, based primarily on archaeological documents,” he used to say, “are the outcome of many years and teams. Supporting or refuting aspects we have mentioned now entails years and years of work.”2 The three decades that have elapsed since then have been fruitful for archaeology, which has exponentially developed as Catalonia recovered the institutions and the social and political awareness of the value of its archaeological heritage, and as mechanisms were implemented that should enable them to be safeguarded and studied. However, it is true, and we should acknowledge it, that despite the headway made, the archaeological information available to us is still quite fragmentary, and that the answers to many of the deductions we would like to draw from it must still be founded on evidence that is not always quite as solid as we would like for our conclusions to be. We should not forget that the majority of sites containing the main bulk of the archaeological documentation on those cities from the Roman period lie underneath the most important, dense and dynamic cities today. This partly explains why the majority of archaeological interventions that have been conducted in recent years have not been planned following scientific criteria to resolve previously identified interpretative issues. Rather they have been planned instead based on the needs of preventative archaeology, which first tries to combine today’s urban dynamics with the preservation of its archaeological heritage, and which often has to do so with actions that are too closely determined by day-today affairs. In any event, the result is clear. The abundant new doc-

Josep Guitart

umentation provided by this intense archaeological activity provides us with a fresh glimpse into the process of how these earliest Roman cities were founded, as well as typological and chronological details that enable us to insert them much more clearly into these lands’ process of Romanisation. Likewise, an interest in the subject within the general context of classical archaeology has led to a multiplication in the number of interpretative and reflective studies. It has produced extensive literature and recent collections as significant as the ones published in the volume on Valencia and the earliest cities in Hispania,3 which also includes seminal articles on certain Roman cities in Italy, and the even more recent publication devoted to the earliest Roman cities in “Hispania Tarraconensis”.4 For this reason, we believe that now is a good time to revisit this subject, spotlighting the issue of the origins of these cities and showing how the progress in archaeology, which Tarradell himself with his erudition contributed so much to modernizing, enables us to pinpoint and now considerably enrich that scene. The proliferation of information and the complexity of the documentation counsel us to focus this first article on the earliest Roman cities in Catalonia, although our aim is to complement it with another article focusing on the Roman cities in Valencia in the next issue of this publication (Fig. 1). A first statement worth making is that the Roman cities that we are documenting in Catalonia are, with just a handful of exceptions, newly built cities that had a profound impact on the process of Romanisation which had gotten underway in the years of the Second Punic War. This city-building culminated when Caesar bestowed colonial law on Tarraco and when the colony of Barcino (Barcelona) was founded during Augustus’ reign. In Catalonia, this process led to a new urban habitat structure and the abandonment of the majority of pre-Roman Iberian settlements that had existed when this process got underway in the late 3rd century BC. Back at the start of his military presence in Hispania, Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio had set up a small garrison in Tarraco (Tarragona) after the first battle with the Carthaginian army in 218 BC, at the beginning of the Punic War. The site chosen was the upper part of a seaside hill that visually dominated the bay, which was to serve as his port near the outlet of the Francolí River. Titus Livius tells us how in the following year, 217 BC, the Romans and their allies glimpsed from afar (procul visa) the reinforcement fleet commanded by Publius Cornelius Scipio with thirty war vessels and many transport ships heaped with supplies, which disembarked in that bay (portum Tarraconis, wrote Livius).5 That first establishment soon became a fortress and a major base of operations, and the Romans never lost control of it during the war, not even at the most critical point, in 211 BC, when the two Scipio brothers lost their lives in combat in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula.

The origin of the earliest Roman cities in Catalonia: An examination from the perspective of archaeology

Tarraco, which Pliny the elder described years later as Scipionum opus, became one of the most important strongholds after the war and played a prominent role in the consolidation and expansion of the Romans in Hispania. We have very little information on its characteristics in those early years; however, archaeology shows that construction on the first fortification in Tarraco with its imposing stone walls must have begun quite soon, and that the wall with its defence towers was already completed by the early 2nd century BC. In the shelter of this powerful military complex, there emerged over the course of the 2nd century BC what we can regard as the first Roman city in Catalonia. It was the outcome of a process whose details are difficult to pinpoint, but there is no doubt that towards the 1st century BC the city was already a fait accompli. Here we should mention that since the late 1970s, archaeology has been providing information that proves the presence of a pre-Roman Iberian settlement on the lower part of Tarragona, between the southwest end of the coastal hill and the bay next to the river.6 However, it should also be said that this part of the site has been studied very little and not very systematically, and that the information we have on this settlement is still quite sketchy today. We can only document remains scattered about at different points; some are the remnants of architectural structures that have been interpreted as dwellings, but they have not been excavated enough to properly define them.7 The materials that have been found furnish evidence as far back as the 6th century BC, and the remains from the 5th and 4th centuries BC are extremely eloquent. The information from the 3rd century BC is more uneven; however, it seems that we can deduce continuity and therefore that the first Roman establishment had been located next to this pre-existing habitat. Ascertaining the role that this indigenous nucleus played in the development of the Roman city is still quite difficult today due to the flimsiness and sketchiness of the information we have at our disposal, and this, obviously, renders the interpretation quite open-ended. It should be said that the implications of this issue have been extremely interesting for both scholars of Roman archaeology and proto-historians, and they have generated a variety of interpretations which touch on aspects of interest related to the issue we are concerned with here. The Iberian archaeologists in particular have tended to conclude that it is a rather large-sized Iberian oppidum (fortified settlement) which might have played a highly prominent geopolitical role in Cessetania and all the Iberian settlements in Catalonia.8 There is no doubt that the derivations resulting from the development of these hypotheses are stimulating and have been useful for sketching a tentative interpretative model of the last phases of the Iberian world on the Catalan coast; however, this model must be proven and debated from the perspective of Roman archaeology as well. Meantime, however, it also seems appropriate to call for caution with regard to the

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 11

Tarragona site until archaeology has provided further documentation, as for the time being there is a clear disproportion between the territorial importance attributed to this site and the archaeological remains that we have. Furthermore, Tarraco’s geopolitical importance in the Late Roman Republic may have influenced the historical assessment of the Iberian nucleus that predated it.9 What is more, the proposal to identify this nucleus as the Cesse on Late Roman Republican coins is only one possible hypothesis; however, it does not necessarily result from a strict interpretation of the textual sources.10 Besides Tarraco, which we shall discuss later in its evolution during the Late Roman Republic, we have no evidence of any other urban colonisation initiative in what is today Catalonia in the entire 2nd century BC. The Roman Republic used the Tarraco fortress to ensure its political and military domination of the country during the first century of its presence, most likely with the corresponding deployment of garrisons located at strategic points as well. In order to find the two closest Roman cities founded in those years, we have to head south to Valentia (Valencia), founded in 138 BC, and north to Narbo Martius (Narbonne), founded in 118 BC. Both are quite exceptional with regard to the patterns of Roman action at that time in the faraway western lands, but they are valuable as symptoms of the changing trends that would develop soon afterward. Today we know that this change took place in the early years of the 1st century BC. But in neither the literary sources nor in epigraphs, nor in any other of the textual sources that remain, is there any reference to prove it. Only the archaeology conducted in Catalonia in recent decades has enabled us to deduce that in around 100 BC there was a change in the Romans’ ways and means of settling the land. The archaeological proof that the coastal cities of Iluro (Mataró), Baetulo (Badalona) and Roman Emporiae, as well as the inland cities of Iesso (Guissona) and Aeso (Isona), were newly built cities founded around that time has demonstrated that by then, a new model of Roman city created in Italy during the previous centuries was being forcefully implemented in these lands. These advances in archaeology enable us to rescue from the shadows of oblivion an important time in the history of our country when its urban network began to take shape, a network that has lasted until today. However, this progress is not bereft of uncertainties and methodological problems still awaiting resolution. Let us briefly survey to what extent archaeology has provided us with crucial information for interpreting the origins and initial phases of some of these cities. By doing so, we shall reveal how this poses new questions in our eagerness to adjust their interpretation. We will see how the efforts to get archaeology to pinpoint the initial dates of these cities as accurately as possible are particularly significant, because, as always, the timeline is the crux for being able to connect archaeology with history.

12 Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010

Let us begin at Iluro, on the coast of Laietania. In recent years, the subsoil of the old quarter of the city of Mataró has yielded new vestiges that have enabled us to make major inroads in our knowledge of both its urban reality and the archaeological context of its surroundings when it was founded. Archaeology shows us a city located on a slight hill around 400 metres from the current coastline and arranged based on a regular rectangular-shaped urban scheme oriented southeast to northwest, with a 21-degree deviation from the magnetic north. Despite the scant vestiges that would help us to ascertain its size, it has been realistically hypothesised at around 310 metres by 230 metres, and this would lead to a maximum area of a little over seven hectares.11 Its urban structure was organised based on an orthogonal division into insulae through a module measuring one actus (120 feet) wide. One of the resulting streets has been thoroughly documented at several points along its extension thanks to preventative excavations; this street has been interpreted as the city’s cardo maximus or main artery (running north-south). At the point where the excavation has enabled us to determine its width, it was nine

Josep Guitart

metres. Its pavement was made of compacted clayey soil, and it had pavements on both sides measuring 1.7-1.8 metres wide. Several stretches of sewer have also been documented, along with the remains of a monumental fountain that occupied the centre of the street on one of the stretches excavated.12 This street’s width of nine metres was probably the result of a rectification of the initial plan, which most likely called for a more modest width that was later broadened at the expense of the contiguous insulae. With regard to the decumani (streets running eastwest), the remains are much less explicit, and consequently the model of the length of the insulae is difficult to accurately determine. The interpretations published have proposed the scheme of square insulae, but archaeology has to corroborate this in the future. With regard to the layout of urban space, the environs of what is today the basilica of Santa Maria have been pinpointed as the possible site of the city forum, and on the southeast corner of this area remains of baths have been found dating from the imperial period, which were most likely built in the area set aside for this purpose back in the initial plans.13

Figure 2. Urban planning layout of the Roman town of Iluro (Mataró). Inside the black box are the sites that we have been able to date from the early years of the 1st century BC (from Garcia et al., op. cit., note 14, p. 42).

The origin of the earliest Roman cities in Catalonia: An examination from the perspective of archaeology

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 13

Figure 3. General layout with the baths from the 2nd century BC and the other structures documented at Ca l’Arnau (Cabrera de Mar) (from Garcia et al., op. cit., note 14, p. 34).

We can posit the founding of this city in the first half of the 1st century BC without any qualms. In fact, the stratigraphic dates that are clearly supported by sewers and other constructions reveal that the city’s urbanisation was quite advanced by the middle of this century. However, when we ask archaeology for a more precise date for the founding of the city itself, the conclusion is a bit thornier and open to divergent interpretations owing to the scarcity of archaeological documents that shed light on the older phases. Nonetheless, several preventative excavations performed in recent years have enabled us to detect stratigraphic structures and contexts that clearly date from the early years of the 1st century BC and that are unquestionably the earliest remnants of occupation of this site.14 These finds confirm the opinion that Iluro was a newly built city dating from the early years of the century. However, as is logical, at first it must have been somewhat structurally precarious and only later took shape until becoming fully consolidated by mid-century. Another interpretation, which states that these vestiges from the early 1st century BC should be considered the remains of a small agricultural or commercial settlement and therefore a non-urban predecessor of the subsequent city, does not seem convincing to me (Fig. 2).15 The recent important archaeological finds in the valley of Cabrera de Mar, at the foot of one of the most important indigenous settlements in the region of Laietania which dates back to the 6th century BC – the Burriac oppidum – are highly illustrative of the context in which this newly built city emerged. The excavations that got underway in 1997 at the Ca l’Arnau site, next to what is today the town of Cabrera, have revealed the remains of a

settlement with a complex structure that unquestionably dates from the second half of the 2nd century BC, although its origins might date back to the first half of the same century. The settlement lasted until the early years of the 1st century BC.16 Among the structures documented at this site, the most prominent are the very well-conserved remains of baths almost 300 square metres large. Their layout reproduces the model of Roman baths from the Late Republican period that has been so amply documented in both Italy and Hispania. This model had the three essential areas: the apodyterium (dressing room), the tepidarium (warm bath) and the caldarium (hot bath), the latter equipped with an oven to heat the water and with a hypocaust used solely for the pavement of the alveus (bathtub). The remains of spindle-shaped tubuli recovered in the excavation of the caldarium and the tepidarium enable us to reconstruct the vaults that must have covered these areas. Because of both its timeline, which might date back to the mid-2nd century BC, and its model and building technique, which are clearly Italian, and the presence of construction materials (tegulae and imbrices, or tiles) that might come from the area around the Gulf of Naples, this building is notably unique. Furthermore, it seems to be located in the middle of the constructions around it: just a bit further to the south of these baths an area measuring around 600 square metres has been documented with rooms laid out in a radial pattern around the area occupied by the baths (Fig. 3). Around 100 metres further south, in the site called Can Benet next to what is today the Cabrera de Mar sports facilities, new remains have been discovered, including seven opus signinum mosaics

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decorated with mainly white and a few black tesselae featuring lush geometric decorations. These finds have not yet been either studied or published, but apparently they may date from the same period as the previous ones, and they probably come from a residential area that must have been part of the same complex.18 This fascinating site is still waiting to be thoroughly excavated, but its interpretation as a settlement with direct Roman affiliation does not seem off the mark; it was probably a seat of military, political and administrative power and a point for controlling the entire region. Its location at the foot of the Burriac oppidum speaks to us about complicity and collaboration between Roman powers and the indigenous society, an attitude that was surely common in this zone since the years of the Second Punic War.19 The timeline of this site’s abandonment in the early years of the 1st century BC strongly suggests that it dovetailed with the founding of the city of Iluro. The archaeological problems, as yet unresolved, involved in attempting to fine-tune the timeline of this coincidence does not enable us to posit this date with as much authority as we

would like. However, it is quite likely that the new urban centre of Iluro, established following the parameters and models common to Roman cities, replaced this previous settlement and was built on the seaside 4.5 kilometres further northeast to become the hub of the Roman presence in this part of the region of Laietania. Years later, in his description of Hispani Citerior, Pliny described Iluro as the oppidum civium Romanorum, that is, literally as a fortified city of Roman citizens.20 We could also wonder how the indigenous element participated in this newly founded city, but the answer is not facile.21 The Burriac oppidum seems to have thrived, showing signs of vitality until the mid-1st century BC, despite the fact that we have to admit that we still know very little and only have highly fragmentary knowledge of the archaeology of this great settlement, counter to what might be assumed based on its fame and strong presence in our bibliography in the past 100 years.22 Likewise, the small size of the new city of Iluro rather suggests the image of a fortified town in which the main contingent was Roman or Italian, although this in no way excludes the presence of a local population.23

Figure 4. General layout of the archaeological remains documented in the Roman city of Baetulo (Badalona), with the interpretative hypothesis of its urban layout.

Let us now focus on another of these new cities: Baetulo, another oppidum civium Romanorum according to Pliny24 also located on the Laietania coast 20 kilometres south of Iluro, under what is today the city of Badalona. Archaeology has enabled us to put forth a fairly approximate hypothesis of what must have been the fundamental scheme of the city, which had a walled, rectangular area measuring around 413 by 261 metres, that is, an area around eleven hectares large (Fig. 4). There are quite a few archaeological remains documented in some areas of the city, despite the superimposition of today’s populous city. They vaguely indicate that both the constructions and the roadways were laid out in an orthogonal fashion, forming a grid nine by seven insulae large with the crosswise roads running parallel to the coastline. The city, located very close to the sea, rose up on the side on a slight elevation with a gentle slope facing southeast but an abrupt drop-off at the start of the beach. This topography determined the structure of the oppidum, which was naturally divided into a lower part with no possibility of directly connecting with the beach, and an upper part built on this slope. The forum, located in the centre, must have been in the upper part near this drop-off, probably seeking a dramatic effect and taking on the role of articulating the different zones in the city. The upper part appears to be a residential area where most of the houses documented to date are located. In contrast, the lower part seems to have been set aside for more communal purposes: bath buildings located on the far southeast of the premises, just like in Iluro, several tabernae (shops) and the remains of other buildings which should probably be interpreted as markets or warehouses have all been documented. The coastal

The origin of the earliest Roman cities in Catalonia: An examination from the perspective of archaeology

roadway (Via Augusta in imperial times) passed by this part of the city and entered through the gateway near the eastern corner of the walled premises. This roadway was probably the heart of the city’s commercial and craft activities.25 One notable archaeological element in Baetulo is the remains of its walled premises which were built in the early days of the city. Part of its northeast facade was unearthed by the excavation performed between 1934 and 1936: 24 metres of wall, a tower and a gateway leading into the city which, because of its construction layout, we can deduce used to be framed by a semicircular arch.26 The base of this fortification was built using Lugli’s second modality of polygonal masonry27 except for the gateway, where the fourth modality was used with trapezoidal blocks. In 1956, part of the southeast facade of the fortification, the side facing the beach, was also excavated, in which 23 metres of wall and two semicircular towers were uncovered. The construction conserved up to 3.2 metres of height, 2.25 metres of which were the foundations. Here the building technique is quite different, as opus caementicium was used, clad with polygonal masonry on the exposed parts. This technique was adopted because this stretch of the wall lay over sandy land which required a deep, solid foundation. That is, the Roman builders skilfully adapted their techniques to the lay of the land where they were to build.28 The initial image of the city, then, would have been characterised by these elements: the wall protecting and delimiting it, the urban planning that organised it and marked the pattern of its future development, and probably also a temple located in the place set aside for the forum, which presided over the entire complex. However, for the first few decades after it was founded, we have scarce information that would enable us to document the other components of the city, such as domestic architecture, public buildings and infrastructures. We should bear in mind that the first installations must have been quite austere, even temporary, and that only later were they gradually consolidated. However, archaeology does not yet enable us to precisely state the timeline of the different phases in this evolution. The fact that the details of these oldest phases in Baetulo are still largely unpublished despite the extensive exca vations that have been conducted might be due to the characteristics of the topography on which the city was built, which required a major levelling effort in order to carve out terraces as its structures consolidated. As a result, possible sediments that might have shed light on the initial stages were upset, hindering us from precisely pinpointing the time it was founded with any certainty. However, it also helps to explain the discoveries of residual materials from the early 1st century BC at archaeological levels from later dates. Thus, although the oldest archaeological strata documented so far in rigorous stratigraphic excavations may be dated from around 80 or

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 15

70 BC, they contain some ceramic remains which date back to at least the first decade of the century.29 For all of these reasons, and with reservations grounded upon the frailty of the kind of documentation we have at our disposal, it is also possible to uphold the proposed founding date of Baetulo as the start of the 1st century BC. In any case, in the mid-1st century BC, the city’s urban development was clearly consolidated. That was when the baths were built at the back of the city’s lower terrace, which was most likely prepared and systematised at the same time. They are a splendid, very well-conserved example of public baths. They measured around 350 square metres all told, with a layout and building technique that rigorously adopted the architectural and functional model established and documented in the cities of Italy during the last century of the Roman Republic.30 The characteristics of the wall, the remains of the baths, which can be visited today in the basement of the Badalona Museum, and the remains of the houses with atriums documented in the upper part of the city, are elements that confirm our perception of Baetulo as a truly Roman city. Here, too, just as in Iluro, the traditional interpretation that viewed the new city as a mere resettlement for the indigenous population does not seem very convincing, and we continue to believe that it is more accurate to interpret it as a newly founded city to initially settle a new population of Roman-Italian extraction. The new city was not far from the site of the Iberian settlement of Mas Boscà, located on a hill that is one of the highest elevations in the coastal mountain range, perched 2.4 kilometres from the sea. The archaeology at this settlement documents a gradual abandonment that started in the mid-2nd century BC and culminated in the last quarter of the same century.31 It dovetailed and must unquestionably be associated with the appearance of small rural settlements located a certain distance from the coast at the foot of the first hills in this range. Nor in this case can archaeology very explicitly illustrate the relationship between the indigenous element and the founders of the new city; however, we can assume that the integration must have been quick and peaceful. The recent discovery of two Iberian funeral stelae bearing names that are clearly indigenous in the archaeological excavations performed in the Roman city, which must certainly date from the first half of the 1st century BC, stands as eloquent proof that quite probably reflects one aspect of this process of integration.32 The recent discovery of the Can Tacó site in the Vallès Oriental province between the towns of Montmeló and Montornès del Vallès, which is currently being excavated, even further reinforces this stance. It is a site of representation and likely residence as well: 2,200 square metres built in a clearly Roman style at some time in the second half of the 2nd century BC, ensconced on a hill located at the point formed by the Besòs River from the confluence of the Mogent and the Congost Rivers, a strategic cross-

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Josep Guitart

Figure 5. View of the Can Tacó site (Montornès del Vallès) dating from the 2nd century BC, currently in the process of excavation.

roads. The main part of the building was a quadrangular body measuring 750 square metres, and the entire complex was surrounded by a perimeter wall with an entrance gateway flanked by a tower. Inside, in addition to this main body, there was also an open area, several service areas that might have housed a small garrison, and a large cistern built with the most advanced Roman technology of the day (Fig. 5). The excavation has yielded important remains of the mural decorations of the rooms in the main part, rendered quite painstakingly following the canons of the early Pompeian style. This is an exceptional find on the Iberian Peninsula, where documented examples of this decorative style are extremely few and far between, although they have been found in Italy and especially in Pompeii, where they were used to decorate luxurious houses in the 2nd century BC. This element makes Can Tacó a settlement whose uniqueness is on par with that of Ca l’Arnau in Cabrera de Mar, at the foot of Burriac, which we discussed above. Just like the Ca l’Arnau settlement, the one in Can Tacó seems to also have been abandoned in the early years of the 1st century BC, that is, at the same time that the cities of Baetulo and Iluro were springing up along the Laietanian coast.33 The excavations of Can Tacó in the Vallès Oriental and

Ca l’Arnau-Can Benet in the Maresme must be continued and concluded; however, all evidence leads us to believe that both sites will also yield proof of a phase prior to the founding of these cities. During this purported earlier phase, Roman power was exerted and represented from these exceptional settlements, which lost their purpose and were abandoned when the two new oppida were founded. Let us now head to inland Catalonia, to Iesso, the city of the iessonienses, classified by Pliny as among the populi latinorum of the conventus tarraconensis.34 The location of this city has been clearly verified by both archaeology and the epigraphy in the site of what is today Guissona, in the county of La Segarra, 15 kilometres north of Cervera and a little more than 100 kilometres from the coast. Despite the fact that our archaeological knowledge of this city is still much less mature than the two coastal cities described above, the excavations conducted in recent years have enabled us to make major headway in conclusions with regard to its urban characteristics and its timeline. The archaeological topography of the city has gradually been defined, and the information available, though still scant, is sufficient to suggest a tentative interpretive

The origin of the earliest Roman cities in Catalonia: An examination from the perspective of archaeology

Figure 6. Iesso (Guissona): Interpretative scheme of the wall and the urban layout of the city drawn up from the information available on its archaeological topography, and superimposed on the layout of the town of Guissona today.

hypothesis about the general features of its urban layout. The northern boundary of the urban perimeter has been established with confidence thanks to the fact that part of the wall was uncovered through the excavation. For the western and southern boundaries, an analysis of aerial photographs and plot maps combined with the information provided by the archaeological remains documented have enabled us to sketch a proposed layout, as it seems

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 17

clear that the wall’s ancient layout has been partially fossilised in some partitions of modern estates. Thus, despite the fact that the eastern boundary is still largely undefined today, it seems that we can deduce that the city had an irregular polygonal perimeter and a total area of almost 18 hectares.35 With regard to its urban structure, all the vestiges indicate that the city had a regular layout based on a grid of streets and insulae. The construction remains that archaeologists have been documenting in the entire site almost always show the same orientation, very close to the cardinal points with a slight deviation to the west with respect to the magnetic north. This is the same orientation found in the segments of streets that have been unearthed to date. We are familiar with several stretches of the north-south artery, which must have been the city’s cardo maximus leading to the northern gateway of the walled premises. Based on the size of the grid, we have evidence of the remains of another street, a cardo minor, in the northern zone of the city, which runs one actus long (35.48 metres). It lies to the west of what might have been the cardo maximus and thus sheds light on the possible width of the insulae. In the same area, there is evidence of the vestiges of two more streets, two decumani, which indicate that the length of the insulae was 1.3 actus. By combining this information with the possible perimeter, a hypothetical general schema was proposed that

Figure 7. Overall view of the Archaeology Park of Guissona in the process of excavation, with the remains of the north wall, the public baths and numerous houses and streets from the Roman city of Iesso (Guissona).

18 Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010

would have defined the city’s urban development.36 The subsequent archaeological studies, both the preventative excavations at different points in the city and the more extensive digs that have been conducted in the northern zone, have generally confirmed the validity of this hypothesis (Fig. 6). It is precisely on the northern end of the city where we have the most archaeological finds. In this sector, an archaeology park almost two hectares large was set up in 1999. This has made it possible to embark on detailed archaeological analyses in this part of the site, and it will make it feasible to open the remains that have already been excavated to the public (Fig. 7). One of the urban elements from the ancient city present in this zone is the remains of a long stretch of the northern facade of the wall. Its presence was detected during the probe campaign carried out in 1984, and even back then an initial archaeological assessment of it was rendered.37 Extensive excavation has gotten underway recently, which has already uncovered around 40 metres of wall, in addition to the northern gateway to the city and a powerful defence tower that flanked this gateway. The thickness of the wall fluctuates between 3.5 and 3.8 metres; its base is solid and built with large stones that were only slightly smoothed and laid out without any lime mortar. Two walls were erected over this base; where they are still conserved they show a building technique that involves the fourth modality of polygonal masonry with extremely elongated rectangular ashlars that are slightly dressed, some of which are more than 2.5 metres long. Between the two walls is a compact filling made of small irregularly-shaped stones and soil. The gateway of the wall, of which only the base remains, must have had a semicircular arch around 3.8 metres wide. The tower that flanked the gateway measured around 8.5 metres wide and jutted out 5.75 metres. It was built using the same technique as the wall, and its walls measure 1.8 metres thick. This excavation has also shown the 4.5-metre wide street or intervallum that ran behind the wall and separated it from the first buildings of the city.38 In addition to the wall, archaeologists have begun to also document other elements of great interest in the northern zone of the city, such as the remains of several modest houses in a neighbourhood built during the first half of the 1st century BC; the remains of a large domus (house) built later in the imperial period by tearing down some of these older houses; and the vestiges of public baths which, despite the fact that they are still being excavated, we can see were remodelled and enlarged in the mid-1st century BC and had a first phase that might be coeval with the baths in Baetulo. With regard to the genesis of this city, we believe we can confidently state that it was founded as a new city in the latter years of the 2nd century BC or in the early 1st century BC. In addition to regional strategic reasons, the existence of a bountifully flowing spring that was enclosed within the walled premises must have been a key factor in

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the choice of site.39 Next to this fountain, in the Late Bronze Age and ancient Iberian periods, and surely since the 7th century BC, there must have been a tiny but somewhat extensive settlement. It most likely resembled the settlement in Els Vilars (Arbeca, Les Garrigues), which has been extensively excavated in recent years and today is a wonderful example of a plains settlement from those remote periods in the proto-history of the lands of Lleida.40 With regard to the proto-historic settlement in Guissona, archaeology has documented it only partly, but enough to state that it developed over several centuries yet was abandoned at the height of the Iberian period in around the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. There must have been a population contraction in the early 4th century BC, just like in other points around the country, when people tended to enclose themselves on high ground, which was easier to defend. The Puig Castellar Iberian settlement in Talteüll, located six kilometres northeast of Guissona on a hill next to the Llobregós River within the township of Biosca, was quite probably the point where the inhabitants of this zone concentrated at the peak of the Iberian period. On the land of what is today Guissona, the fountain might still have been frequented between the 4th and 2nd centuries BC, and there might have been some shack or small, modest home, but not an Iberian settlement per se. The city of Iesso was founded in the

Figure 8. Sample of amphorae found inside the graves that can be dated from the start of the city of Iesso (Guissona).

The origin of the earliest Roman cities in Catalonia: An examination from the perspective of archaeology

same place where that Late Bronze Age and ancient Iberian settlement had been built, but at a point in time three centuries later when nothing visible remained of the former settlement, neither its vestiges nor most likely any recollection of it. In order to pinpoint the date when the Roman city was founded, we have valuable clues provided by archaeological activity in recent years. Based on both its building technique and the stratigraphic observations conducted so far, the wall might be initially dated at around 100 BC. We also have remains of the aforementioned neighbourhood of modest houses, which have been accurately dated as originating at the start of the second quarter of the 1st century BC. However, we have also proven that the building made use of the remains of other buildings, which evidences an early phase prior to this one.41 However, more importantly we have the archaeological material found within the three circular pits measuring almost 2.5 metres in diameter and more than a metre deep, excavated in the natural soil and located above the remains of that same residential neighbourhood around 25 metres from the wall. These pits unquestionably hark back to the earliest days that zone was occupied, and they might be related to a ritual-style activity conducted in the early days of this new city. They contain the remains of at least 44 amphorae hailing from the Italian peninsula. Based on their shapes and material, these amphorae can be divided into four clearly distinct groups. Three of them correspond to the Dressel 1A shape, while the most numerous group – containing at least 22 specimens – most certainly comes from the Campagna region. The fourth group is made up of at least 11 shards of amphorae from Brindisi, the ancient Brundisium, on the Adriatic coast. On the neck of one of the Dressel 1A amphorae there is a titulus pictus with a consular date of 121 BC (Fig. 8).42 Both the amphorae and the fine imported ceramic, scant yet present at the site, are chronologically quite homogeneous materials, which places the activity that we can relate to the filler found in the pits at sometime prior to 95/90 BC. The aforementioned consular date, which unquestionably indicated the year in which the wine that the amphora originally contained was harvested, gives us a terminus post quem that we can even further reduce in years if we subtract a period for the probable ageing of the wine. Such an important set of products from the Italian peninsula at an inland location like Iesso at such an early date suggests that some unit of the Roman army, with its corresponding provisions, took part in the founding of the city, meaning that these archaeological deposits confirm a date quite close to around 100 BC.43 If we add Emporiae and Aeso to these three cities, we will have the best documented examples of the urbanising efforts being conducted in Catalonia at that time. In fact, Roman Emporiae provides us with the most emblematic example of the urban layout used, as it is the one we know the best.

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 19

The Greek city of Emporion, allied with Rome in the war against Hannibal, had been the bridgehead where Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio disembarked in the summer of 218 BC at the helm of two legions. It also served as the initial base from which Romans began their strategy of damaging the rearguard of the Carthaginian army on the Iberian Peninsula.44 After the war was over and during the 2nd century BC, Greek Emporion experienced a period of considerable prosperity which archaeology has documented particularly based on the public works built over the course of that century. The city expanded to the south, where a new wall was built that not only monumentalised the entrance to the city with an extraordinarily prestigious construction but also enabled the sanctuaries that had presided over the southwest side of the walled premises since the 5th century BC to be expanded. Another noteworthy endeavour was the remodelling of the agora and the construction of a large stoa used for commercial and civic activities; this building opened onto the agora through a large colonnaded walkway which ran along the 52 metres of the facade.45 This series of major urban development actions which seem to have been conducted after the second half of the 2nd century BC went a long way to promoting the modernisation of the old Neapolis. The continuity and flourishing of the Greek settlement of Emporion is a good example of how in this early period the Romans generally must not have meddled with the existing centres and organisations, despite their military dominance of the zone. The newly built Roman city was set up next to the Neapolis over the hill that rises up slightly west of the Greek settlement, and it encompassed the small settlement dating from the early 2nd century BC, which has been interpreted as a possible military praesidium set up during Cato’s campaign or shortly thereafter. The new city was developed inside a walled area with an extremely elongated rectangular perimeter measuring 700 by 300 metres, although the shape was not totally regular as the southern side is slightly slanted. The wall, which has also been accurately dated from around 100 BC thanks to the study of materials provided by the stratigraphy attached to it,46 encircled an area almost 21 hectares large that was arranged in a rigorously orthogonal grid that made elongated insulae measuring around two by one actus (70.96 by 35.48 metres), a size often used in newly founded Roman colonies. In contrast, we should also point to the presence of a highly atypical element in the city’s archaeological topography: a wall running east to west that divided the premises into two parts of unequal sizes: the southern part (around 14 hectares) and the northern part (around 7 hectares). At some point in the city’s evolution, this wall was torn down, at least partly, and new buildings were constructed over its remains. This has been interpreted in several different ways. First, shortly after it was discovered under Roman house number one, it was deemed the

20 Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010

Josep Guitart

Figure 9. Interpreted layouts of some of the Roman cities in Catalonia on the same scale: 1. Iluro (Mataró); 2. Baetulo (Badalona); 3. Roman settlement of Emporiae; 4. Iesso (Guissona); 5. Barcino (Barcelona); 6. Tarraco (Tarragona).

northern boundary of the original city, which would later have been enlarged by extending the rectangle northward. Another interpretation based on the testimony of Titus Livius,47 which is difficult to interpret, states that the

founding nucleus was a double city, and points to the hypothesis of a split settlement of Romans (in the south) and indigenous peoples (in the north) separated by this transversal wall.48 We must wait for further archaeologi-

The origin of the earliest Roman cities in Catalonia: An examination from the perspective of archaeology

cal study and inquiry into the issue of the date of this wall before drawing a definitive conclusion. The nerve centre of the city was the forum, a quadrangular public square that occupied an area of two insulae. It was presided over by a temple, most likely devoted to the Capitoline Triad, aligned with the axis of the forum and over part of an area also two insulae large. It seems that from the start there had been a row of tabernae open to the forum in front of the temple but on the other side of the square. Between the square and the temple was a crosswise street running east to west, which must have been the city’s main decumanus. The cardo maximus dovetailed with the line of the temple and the forum, and it directly connected with the southern gateway of the walls. The location of the forum in the middle of the southern part of the city also fits in well with the traditional location of these areas within coeval Roman urban planning, and it even further proves the major significance of this crosswise wall, regardless of how it is ultimately interpreted.49 The most recent excavations in the forum of Emporiae have provided fascinating details. First, the forum was monumentalised not in the early days of the new city but quite a few years later, probably in the time of Augustus. Secondly, part of the area set aside for serving as the forum in the urban planning scheme that must have regulated the city at the time it was founded was also used as a grain warehouse for much of the 1st century BC. Evidence for this is the numerous large silos (holding two the four tonnes of grain each) excavated on the eastern and especially western sides of the forum, where the basilica, curia and one of the wings of the cryptoporticus that marked the boundary of the temple’s temenos, the sacred ground around it, were later built. We should probably interpret this central space in the city as serving both purposes, a forum and public grain warehouse administered by the city, during those years in the 1st century BC.50 Yet we are left with the uncertainty of knowing whether in these early years, as is logical to assume, there was already an early temple in the same site where later the one that left remains we can still see today was built. Likewise, the excavation that got underway in 2000 on insula 30 has revealed the remains of public baths built in the 1st century AD, which quite probably replaced an earlier bathhouse that might date from the Republican and Augustinian period, similar to the ones we have seen in the other cities described.51 In Isona, a town at the foothills of the Pyrenees, the studies underway confirm the vast archaeological interest and potential of the oppidum of Aeso. To date, they have enabled us to identify and study a stretch of the wall 60 metres long, which we have been able to precisely date from the turn of the 2nd to 1st centuries BC. Furthermore, because of the characteristics of its build, we can deduce a certain similarity with the walled premises of Iesso.52 The aesonenses are mentioned by Pliny on the list of stipendiary towns,53 and based on the epigraphy we can

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 21

deduce that by the 2nd century AD Aeso had achieved the category of municipality.54 Attempting to interpret all of this archaeological information and determine its relationship with the corresponding historical context is complex and can admit multiple points of view and many nuances. In order to stay within the necessarily limited space of this article, we shall return to our main theme, some of the interpretative reflections that I posited a few years ago, and contrast them with the new information now available and with the diverse observations that have taken shape with the inroads on the research. First of all, we must consider the possibility that all these cities founded ex novo were part of the same programme designed to make a decisive contribution to organising a large territory through the creation of new urban centres with their corresponding fortifications.55 The chronological details provided by archaeology, though not yet totally conclusive as we have seen, do not contradict but rather tend to confirm the coevality of their founding dates. If we focus on the characteristics of the urban topography of these cities, the affinities among the three located on the coast, Emporiae, Iluro and Baetulo, become clear: regular urban planning that develops a rigorously orthogonal grid and a walled area with a rectangular perimeter that reproduces the most typical model of Roman colony of the day, despite their more modest sizes. Some clear typological differences between the coastal cities and the other two located inland, Iesso and Aeso, also emerge. The insulae and streets of the latter are also laid out on a regular orthogonal pattern, but their walled premises are irregularly shaped, unlike the rectangular perimeter so characteristic of the other three. Furthermore, the dimensions of Iesso, which might be as large as eight hectares, stand in stark contrast to the much more modest size of Baetulo and Iluro (Fig. 9). It seems logical to assume that if there had been a single programme to found new cities, the differences between the coastal and inland cities would reflect the conception and functions that each city was attributed when founded. We have compared these differences with the twofold model for new cities that Rome used in its colonisation of central Italy until the early decades of the 2nd century BC.56 This model distinguished between the coloniae maritimae of Roman cities, founded on the coast of both the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic Seas, and the coloniae latinae scattered about the entire land. This is merely a comparison of urban typologies, as our cities on the coast never reached the legal category of coloniae civium Romanorum, nor were the inland cities Latin colonies. Examined carefully, things could surely not have been otherwise given both the place where they were founded and the sociopolitical atmosphere of the Roman Republic in early 1st century BC. The comparison would be valid and fruitful

22 Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010

Josep Guitart

Figure 10. Tarraco (Tarragona): Interpreted layouts of the remains of a possible Capitoline temple and its immediate environs (from Macias et al., Planimetria... op. cit. plate 10).

only if formulated from a functional standpoint: the territory and the political and military situation in which the programme must have been applied were quite different to the atmosphere in which that ancient model emerged. However, adaptation to the needs and peculiarities of the setting in which they acted must have led to the adoption of some similar solutions. Furthermore, we cannot discard the possibility that the memory of the old model still survived. It seems clear that our small cities of Iluro and Baetulo, as well as Roman Emporiae, were basically built to fortify the coast. They were situated over the roadway that followed the coastline, and their strategic value was surely enhanced by the significant influence that military initiative probably had in their founding. This would justify their small sizes, as their first inhabitants were most likely a rather small group of Roman citizens who went to live

there as a result of the historical circumstances that led this programme of newly founded cities to be put into practice. With regard to Iesso, and probably Aeso as well, they appear to be cities founded with other purposes in mind. With their walls, they contributed to strategically strengthen the country, but their functions undoubtedly also included introducing structure to the territory by settling not just a greater or lesser number of Roman, Latin or Italian citizens but also the elites of the indigenous peoples living the area, in an effort to thus articulate a political community that, based in the new urban nucleus, would potentially encompass a much larger region and its inhabitants. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that this kind of newly founded city should cover larger ground, that its area would not form a small rectangular perimeter and, in short, that it would bear some formal

The origin of the earliest Roman cities in Catalonia: An examination from the perspective of archaeology

similarity to the ancient Latin colonies that had initially served similar purposes. We should recall that, as mentioned above, the iessonienses appeared on Pliny’s lists of the towns that enjoyed the privileges of Latin law, unlike the three coastal cities, which Pliny himself described as oppida civium Romanorum. To pinpoint the moment in history when this programme to found cities might have been generated, we have already examined the chronological inaccuracies that archaeology leaves open-ended. However, if our hypothesis that we can pinpoint it in the early years of the 1st century BC is confirmed, which, as we have seen, is a rather clearly established date for some of our cities, this programme might have dovetailed with the period after the victory of General and Consul Gaius Marius over the Cimbrians and Teutons as part of the demobilisation of his legions. This took place between 100 and 98 BC, after the laws approved by the Senate, proposed by Appuleius Saturninus, entered into effect, not without triggering deep-seated tensions in Rome during the sixth consulate of Marius in 100 BC. The Cimbrians’ incursion into Hispania Citerior had revealed the province’s strategic weakness. This would explain why it was precisely after this painful warring episode when a programme to found new cities was designed. This programme would probably have also served to settle veterans of the demobilised army and to fortify and articulate a territory which, like Transalpine Gaul, had been excessively vulnerable to incursions by these Nordic peoples. The geographic location of Iesso and Aeso at the southern foot of the Pyrenees near the thoroughfares that enabled this mountain range to be crossed with some ease is certainly yet another indicator that it was precisely to the north where the potential danger that these fortifications protected against was located. Despite the fact that these hypotheses enable us to connect the archaeological evidence with specific historical facts, we must also acknowledge that at this interpretative level we still have very few absolute certainties that cover all our needs for accuracy. Only future studies will enable us to prove, or partly or totally rectify, the conclusions to which the evidence available today leads us. It is true, for example, as pointed out recently, that assuming a colonisation programme in a provincial setting with no direct reference to it in the ancient textual sources entails an undeniable difficulty.57 However, we should bear in mind first the scarcity of references to these lands at that time in the textual sources still preserved, and secondly the fact that it would not be a programme promulgated by the Senate to found cities with colonial status, rather establishments created by the military authority (cum imperio) at a specific point in time which would take years to earn official legal status. Fortunately, despite this paucity in the ancient literary sources and epigraphic sources referring to these decades, archaeological activity continues to yield new finds that

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 23

enable us to enrich the documentation and help our interpretations mature. We can return to Tarragona to prove this and to simultaneously finish what we mentioned at the beginning of this article about Tarraco during the Late Republican period. The latest excavations in the forum in the Tarraco colony have documented the remains of a large threecelled temple (its podium is 29.79 metres wide). Building it entailed tearing down a previous building, four contiguous rooms of which are conserved paved with opus signinum, some of them tiled, which were enclosed inside the foundations of the temple. It all falls within a complex stratigraphic and construction sequence which, despite the difficulties in interpreting it, has enabled its excavators to advance a tentative date for the construction of the temple in the late 2nd century BC. It has been interpreted as a possible Capitoline temple devoted to the maximum Roman deities, which must have presided over the public space in Tarraco from then on (Fig. 10).58 This significant find is added to and smoothly dovetails with the proposed interpretations put forth since 1999 which have enabled us to make headway in understanding the urban configuration of the city in the Late Roman Republic. In the second half of the 2nd century BC, the construction of the second walled area in Tarraco considerably expanded what had been the first fortification on the uppermost part of the hill. The new wall made use of part of the old one, it adapted to the lay of the land occupying the entire slope of the hill as far as the cliffs that looked out over the port, and it used the slopes in the land as elements to reinforce the fortification. The southwest corner of this wall encompassed the eastern end of the zone where pre-Roman Iberian remains have been documented. Studies of some of the archaeological elements documented in several preventative excavations conducted on the lower part of this new walled-in area have enabled us to propose a restitution of the possible urban development planning model based on a roadway network with insulae that would reflect a size two actus long by one actus wide. The orientation of this urban layout would have marked the orientation and perhaps the location of the subsequent monumental architecture, such as the basilica, the theatre and the circus. The implementation of this urban plan has been dated at around 100 BC as well based on the stratigraphic dates of diverse remains that can be chronologically situated at this point in time, including several important infrastructures, such as the main drain collector which ran around the middle of the hill.59 The even more recent development and publication of the archaeological planimetry of Tarraco, which has compiled and depicted all the information available at suitable scales, has generally enabled us to corroborate these conclusions, although it was necessary to introduce nuances, corrections and new observations. For example, the belief that the urbanisation performed in around 100 BC using

24 Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010

Josep Guitart

Figure 11. Tarraco (Tarragona): Layout with remains from the Late Republican period with an interpretation of the urban layout of the southern part of the walled premises (from Macias et al., Planimetria... op. cit. p. 27).

this scheme was only conducted on the southern part of the walled premises, south of today’s Rambla Nova, is quite provocative. In the area located between Rambla Nova and the upper part, a regular urban planning model would not have been applied until a later date, perhaps in the second half of the 1st century BC. However, this does not mean that before then it was a construction-free zone, as archaeology has documented Late Republican structures that seem to predate the urban remodelling of this

zone.60 Likewise, it seems quite plausible to link the construction of the possible Capitoline temple and the implementation of the first urban development plan, which might have also called for the construction of a public space, a forum, across from the temple (Fig. 11).61 We shall not comment extensively on these important deductions made by the teams of archaeologists working in Tarragona today, many aspects of which will no doubt have to be adjusted and fine-tuned, especially the time-

The origin of the earliest Roman cities in Catalonia: An examination from the perspective of archaeology

line. Rather, we shall only mention that in around 100 BC, the archaeological vestiges were gradually joined by signs of change and urbanising activity in Catalonia. Now we could add Tarragona to the other cities on the coast, in this case not as an ex novo city yet without discarding the fact that the new urban planning indicates a permanent settlement of Romans and Italians, like in Emporiae and probably the other newly founded cities on the coast. The coincidence with Emporiae in the size of the insulae might also be meaningful. Furthermore, in Tarraco, the evidence of a religious initiative, one so symbolic as the construction of a Capitoline temple, if this description is confirmed, would leave few doubts as to the new residents’ Roman affiliation, and for us it would further solidify our interpretation of the other cities on the Catalan coastline examined above. However, it should be said that precisely this aspect of the composition of these settlements and the responsibility for their initiative is precisely where the interpretations fluctuate in the most divergent positions. This divergence has been skilfully formulated recently by S. Keay in revisiting an old discussion from our historiography, when he points out that while the fortifications in Iesso, Baetulo and Iluro are clearly Roman in appearance, it is more difficult to discern who was truly behind their construction, whether it was the Romans, the indigenous communities under the supervision of Roman engineers or the indigenous communities on their own initiative.62 It is obvious that the question starts with the assumption that we cannot expect a single, indisputable answer that would close the subject. In our line of interpretation, Baetulo and Iluro, just like the Roman city of Emporiae and this new urban planning scheme in Tarraco, would have been Roman initiatives for settling mainly immigrants from the Italian peninsula. However, this does not rule out possible participation by the Iberian communities in the area, nor agreements and accommodations between the new residents and these communities and their elites, who had also been allied with the Romans since before the Punic War. We would see Iesso, as we have mentioned above, as a Roman initiative with major participation by the indigenous peoples, with a strategic purpose and as a means to articulate policy. However, there is another possible response, one with quite a few proponents as well, which deems it fairly likely that the Romans were only indirectly involved in the initiative to create these new cities with fortifications by fostering the initiatives, but that the leaders of the indigenous communities must have been the true driving forces and the ones who actually created the new settlements. A more radical interpretation views these cities as purely indigenous endeavours, in response and adaptation to the new geopolitical circumstances. In both assumptions, the architectural and urban planning models that these indigenous initiatives used would have been the nearby centres of Emporiae and Tarraco, whose Roman affiliation would not, in theory, be questioned.

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 25

It seems clear that underlying these interpretative divergences, the prior perception of several questions that the ancient textual sources, because of their scantiness, leave open weighs heavily, especially for these most ancient periods. The first issue is the assessment of the volume and timeframe of immigrants from the Italian peninsula that willingly settled permanently in these lands of Hispania, regardless of whether they were Romans, Latins or Italians, and army veterans or not. The sources are clear when they document these migrations in the second half of the 1st century BC; however, for the preceding decades, they are much sketchier and less explicit. The criterion applied on this point when trying to link and explain all the archaeological documentation available will most certainly affect the result.63 Secondly, another weighty consideration is the perception of the role that one thinks should be granted to the indigenous communities and their elites in all sorts of major changes taking place during these decades. Unquestionably here, too, choosing to minimise or maximise this role, sometimes even instinctually, leads to widely divergent results. Let us merely say that we should avoid generalisations. Every place and time in history had its own dynamics and specific conditioning factors, and consequently they each generated their own pace of integration. On the other hand, migrations and indigenous initiative are not necessarily two antithetical factors of change; rather they are probably often interlinked and mutually spurred each other. One example of this diversification can be seen in the rich panorama of new urban settlements from the period between the Numantine War and the time of Sertorius, which archaeologists are currently documenting in the area in the mid-Ebro River valley. The archaeological studies being conducted in sites like the ones in La Caridad (Caminreal, Teruel), La Corona (Fuentes de Ebro, Zaragoza), La Cabañeta (El Burgo de Ebro, Zaragoza) and Segeda II (Zaragoza) are beginning to yield another fascinating sample of this diversity of models, with examples that show the power of indigenous and other initiatives that enable us to spotlight the role of exogenous elements. One extremely telling case is the establishment in La Cabañeta, where an epigraphic inscription, exceptional for its day and age, reveals to us how groups of Italian immigrants, in this case apparently members of a conventus civium Romanorum, must have played a key role.64 Returning to Catalonia and the recent developments in archaeology, we can also examine the origins of Girona, the ancient Gerunda, for which we now have an interpretation based on the important excavations of the Iberian oppidum in Sant Julià de Ramis. This settlement not only lasted until the early decades of the 1st century BC, rather it was even enlarged and large-scale public works were undertaken there in around 100 BC. At that time, new walls were built and the entrance was modified in order to improve the defensive effectiveness of the fortification. Shortly thereafter, following the Italian models, a large

26 Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010

temple was built occupying the centre of the oppidum. However, despite this vital building campaign, the settlement was suddenly abandoned with no indications of violence somewhere around 80/70 BC, at the same time when archaeology begins to document the first evidence of occupation of the site of the city of Gerunda. We could interpret this new archaeological information as meaning that in around 100 BC, when the foundations of the new coastal cities of Emporiae, Iluro and Baetulo might have been being laid, Rome must have chosen to situate the oppidum of Sant Julià de Ramis as a point to keep watch over the strategic thoroughfares that followed the Ter River valley there. However, several years later, this might have been rectified by founding Gerunda, whose position was even better poised to exercise the same role of direct control of the roadways and the plain.65 The classification that Pliny provides us of the gerundenses as peoples who enjoyed Latin law just provides consistency to this interpretation of close collaboration between Romans and indigenous peoples at this time when the future Girona was founded. To these first Roman cities in Catalonia we may well have to add several others because of their origins, including Ilerda (Lleida), Dertosa (Tortosa) or Blandae (Blanes), although the sketchiness of the archaeological documentation requires us to leave this determination pending for now. With regard to Ilerda, despite the lack of definitive archaeological proof, we can apparently continue to logically assume that the Iberian oppidum of Iltirta would have been located on the hill of Lleida’s Seu Vella cathedral. No doubt is cast on this interpretation; even though the first archaeological levels documented up to now are dated at around the late 2nd century BC, there are more ancient materials present found on the surface or residually at lower strata. The Roman city, which in the time of Augustus was documented on the coins as municipium Ilerda, must have been the outcome of the evolution and transformation of the ancient pre-Roman settlement through a process of continuity and expansion down the hillside to the river. The form and timeframe of this process still need to be pinpointed, but the archaeologists in the archaeology department of La Paeria, who have efficiently tracked the day-to-day developments of preventative archaeology in Lleida in recent years, point to diverse clues that enable us to assume a hypothetical re-founding of the city on the lower part during the first third of the 1st century BC with direct Roman intervention. This would provide a significant forerunner for the city’s subsequent legal evolution.66 Before closing this article, I must make a virtually obligatory reference to the origins of the city of Barcino (Barcelona). Founded in the late 1st century BC, in around 10 BC, as part of the political and administrative reorganisation of the provinces of Hispania undertaken during the time of Augustus, it pretty much culminated the urban structuring of the territory of what is today Catalonia. It was founded with the privileges of a coloniae

Josep Guitart

civium Romanorum, and as such it sought the official title of Colonia Iulia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino, the second one in Catalonia after Tarraco had been granted the category of colony during the reign of Caesar. The early Barcino was a newly built city with a walledin area and a regular urban layout which has readily identifiable parallels in the other colonies founded during Augustus’ rule. However, despite this, Barcino is a highly peculiar Augustine colony, as its size was far below the usual size of the majority of its counterparts, which further contrasts with the size and monumentality of its public buildings. This has led us to interpret, along the same lines followed in this article, that the newly founded city must have also reflected the purpose of using the colonial legal framework to administratively regulate the numerous Romans already living in the more ancient cities founded in Laeitania years earlier, rather than the desire to establish a sizeable group of new colonists. Barcino must have been designed especially to serve as the religious, political and administrative centre of a colony whose territory would most likely encompass the pre-existing urban nuclei of Iluro and Baetulo.67

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[8]

M. Tarradell i Mateu. Les ciutats romanes dels Països Catalans. Barcelona 1978. Idem, p. 48. J. L. Jiménez Salvador and A. Ribera i Lacomba (coord.). Valencia y las primeras ciudades romanas de Hispania. Valencia 2002, p. 382. L. Abad Casal, S. Keay and S. Ramallo (ed.). Early Roman Towns in Hispania Tarraconensis. Journal of Roman Archaeology, Supplementary Series, no. 62. Portsmouth, Rhode Island 2006, p. 237. Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita, 22, 22. M. Adserias, L. Burés, M. T. Miró and E. Ramon. “L’assentament pre-romà de Tarragona”. Revista d’Arqueologia de Ponent, no. 3, Lleida 1993, pp. 177-227; M. Adserias, L. Burés, M. T. Miró and E. Ramon. “L’assentament pre-romà i el seu paper dins de l’evolució de la ciutat de ‘Tarraco’”. In: La ciutat en el món romà. Actes del XIVè Congrés Internacional de Arqueologia Clàssica (Tarragona, 1993). Vol. 2. Tarragona 1994, pp. 15-17. J. M. Macias Solé, I. Fiz Fernández, L. Piñol Masgoret, M. T. Miró i Alaix and J. Guitart i Duran (dir.). Planimetria arqueològica de Tàrraco. Tarragona 2007, p. 25 and Fig. 16. D. Asensio, J. Morer, A. Rigo and J. Sanmartí. “Les formes d’organització social i econòmica a la Cossetània ibèrica: noves dades sobre l’evolució i tipologia dels assentaments entre els segles vii-i aC”. In: Territori polític i territori rural durant l’Edat del Ferro a la Mediterrània occidental. Monografies d’Ullastret, 2. Girona 2001, pp. 253-

The origin of the earliest Roman cities in Catalonia: An examination from the perspective of archaeology

[9] [10] [11]

[12] [13] [14]

[15]

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[18]

[19]

271; P. Otiña and J. Ruiz de Arbulo: “De Cesse a Tárraco. Evidencias y reflexiones sobre la Tarragona ibérica y el proceso de romanización”. Empúries, no. 52, 2002, pp. 107-135. See this assumption taken to its extreme in Ruiz de Arbulo’s “Iberian interpretation” of the formation of the city of Tarraco, which is nonetheless quite provocative in many respects: J. Ruiz de Arbulo. “Scipionum opus and something more: An Iberian reading of the provincial capital (2nd – 1st century B.C.)”. In: Abad et al. (2006). Early Roman Towns..., pp. 33-44. J. M. Macias et al. (2007). Planimetria..., p. 25. G. Alföldy. Tarraco. Fòrum. Temes d’història i d’arqueologia tarragonines, no. 8, Tarragona 1991, pp. 23-24. J. A. Cerdà, J. Garcia, C. Martí, J. Pera, J. Pujol and V. Revilla. El Cardo Maximus de la ciutat romana d’Iluro (Hispania Tarraconensis). Laietania, no. 10, Mataró 1997, vol. 3. Ibid, p. 253 and forward. J. Pera. “Aportació de l’excavació de Can Xammar al coneixement de l’urbanisme d’aquest sector d’Iluro”. Laietania, no. 7, Mataró 1992, pp. 5-34. J. Garcia, A. Martín and X. Cela. “Nuevas aportaciones sobre la romanización en el territorio de Iluro (Hispania Tarraconensis)”. Empúries, no. 52, 2000, pp. 41-54. See too J. F. Clariana i Roig. “Ilturo-Iluro en el context de la Roma Republicana”. In: J. M. Modolell. D’Ilturo a Iluro, de Cabrera de Mar a Mataró. Dades sobre el naixement i el desplaçament d’una ciutat romana. Cabrera de Mar 2009, pp. 7-53. O. Olesti i Vila. “Integració i transformació de les comunitats ibèriques del Maresme durant el s. ii-i aC: un model de romanització per a la Catalunya litoral i prelitoral”. Empúries, no. 52, 2000, pp. 7277. J. Garcia, A. Martín and X. Cela. “Nuevas aportaciones...” (2000), pp. 33-37. See too: A. Martín, “El conjunt arqueològic de Ca l’Arnau (Cabrera de Mar, Maresme). Un assentament romanorepublicà”. Tribuna d’Arqueologia, 1998-1999, Barcelona 2002, pp. 211-228. A. Martín. “Las termas republicanas de Cabrera de Mar (Maresme, Barcelona)”. In: C. Fernández Ochoa and V. García Entero. Termas romanas en el occidente del Imperio. 2nd International Archaeological Colloquium in Gijón 2000, pp. 157162. A brief report on this discovery can be found in: J. Bonamusa i Roura. “Els mosaics de la domus de Can Benet (Cabrera de Mar. El Maresme)”. In: J. M. Modolell. D’Ilturo a Iluro, de Cabrera de Mar a Mataró. Dades sobre el naixement i el desplaçament d’una ciutat romana. Cabrera de Mar 2009, pp. 5569. J. Guitart i Duran. “Ibers versus romans? Arque-

[20] [21]

[22]

[23]

[24] [25]

[26] [27] [28]

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 27

ologia de l’origen de les ciutats romanes a Catalunya i al País Valencià”. In: Homenatge als nostres pobles i a la seua gent. Primer cicle de conferències al sud del País Valencià. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona 2004, pp. 77-96. Pliny. Naturalis Historia, iii, 4, 22. J. Pujol and J. Garcia. “El poblament ibèric dispers al Maresme central: l’exemple de Can Bada (Mataró) i el procés de romanització des de l’inici de la colonització agrícola fins al naixement d’Iluro”. Laietania, no. 9, Mataró 1994, pp. 87-129. See D. Zamora Moreno. “L’oppidum de Burriac. Centre del poder polític de la Laietania ibèrica”. Laietania. Estudis d’Arqueologia Ibèrica, no. 17 (2006-2007), Mataró 2007. The coins found at the Ca l’Arnau-Can Mateu site have also sparked interesting reflections on the Ilduro mint. The archaeologist in charge of the excavation has already pointed to several pieces of evidence that lead him to posit the possibility that there was a coin mint near the Ca l’Arnau baths: A. Martín (2002). “El conjunt arqueològic...”, p. 226. A recent study on the coins found at the site: C. Martí Garcia. “Las monedas del yacimiento romano-republicano de Ca l’Arnau-Can Mateu (Cabrera de Mar, Barcelona)”. In: Moneta qua scripta. La moneda como soporte de la escritura. Actas del III encuentro penínsular de numismática antigua. Osuna (Seville), February-March 2003. Anejos del Archivo Español de Arquelogía, no. xxxiii. Seville 2004, pp. 355-365; and another study on the coins from the Ilduro mint: C. Martí Garcia. “La seca ‘ibèrica’ d’Ilturo: historiografia i dades recents. Altres qüestions sobre numismàtica ibèrica del nord-est peninsular”. Laietania. Estudis d’Arqueologia Ibèrica, no. 18, Mataró 2008, pp. 3776, have led the author to revisit that hypothesis and point out that probably the first four issuances from the Ilduro mint must have been minted in the Ca l’Arnau-Can Mateu settlement, yet the fifth and last issuance must have already been minted in the new Roman city of Iluro. Pliny. Naturalis Historia, iii, 4, 22. J. Guitart, P. Padrós and A. Fonolla, “Aproximació a l’esquema urbanístic fundacional de la ciutat romana de Baetulo (Badalona)”. In: La ciutat en el món romà, Actes del XIV Congrés Internacional de Arqueologia Clàssica. Vol. 2. Tarragona 1994, pp. 188-191. J. de C. Serra Ràfols. “Excavaciones en Baetulo (Badalona) y descubrimiento de la puerta N.E. de la ciudad”. Ampurias, no. 1, 1939, pp. 268-289. G. Lugli. La tecnica edilizia romana. Bardi, Rome 1957. J. Guitart i Duran. Baetulo. Topografía arqueológica, urbanismo e historia. Badalona 1976, pp. 40-59.

28 Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010

[29] M. C. Jiménez i Fernández. Baetulo. La ceràmica de vernís negre, una contribució a l’estudi de la romanització de la Laietània. Museu de Badalona, Badalona 2002. [30] See Guitart (1976). Baetulo..., pp. 49-59. See also: J. Guitart and P. Padrós. “Baetulo, cronología y significación de sus monumentos”. In: Stadtbild und Ideologie. Die Monumentalisierung hispanischer Städte zwischen Republik und Kaiserzeit. Munich 1990, pp. 169-172. [31] D. Zamora i Moreno. Les ceràmiques de vernís negre del poblat ibèric del turó d’en Boscà. Aproximació a la interpretació històrico-arqueològica del poblat. Arqueoanoia Edicions, Igualada 1996, pp. 156-172. [32] M. Comas, P. Padrós and J. Velaza. “Dos nuevas estelas ibéricas de Badalona”. Palaeohispanica, no. 1, Zaragoza 2001, pp. 291-299. [33] An early report on the site in M. Mercado, E. Rodrigo, M. Flórez, J. M. Palet and J. Guitart. “El catellum de Can Tacó/Turó d’en Roina (Montmeló-Montornès del Vallès, Vallès Oriental) i el seu entorn territorial”. Tribuna d’Arqueologia, 2007, Barcelona 2008, pp. 195-211. The latest excavation campaign conducted at this site hints that construction of the building may well date from shortly after the fall of Numantia in 133 BC. [34] Pliny. Naturalis Historia, iii, 4, 23. [35] See J. Pera i Isern. La romanització a la Catalunya interior: Estudi històrico-arqueològic de Iesso i Sigarra i el seu territori. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra 1993. (Doctoral thesis, microfiche edition from 1994.) See also: J. Guitart and J. Pera. “En torno a la urbanización romana en el interior de la actual Cataluña. La arqueología de Iesso (Guissona, Lérida)”. In: Trabalhos de Antropologia e Etnologia, vol. xxxv-1. Actas del 1º Congresso de Arqueologia Peninsular (Porto, 1993). Oporto 1995, pp. 339-354. [36] J. Guitart i Duran and J. Pera i Isern. “La ciutat romana de Iesso (Guissona, la Segarra)”. In: La ciutat en el món romà, Actes del XIV Congrés internacional d’Arqueologia Clàssica. Vol. 2. Tarragona 1994, pp. 186-188. [37] I. Garcés, N. Molist and J. M. Solias. “Les excavacions d’urgència a Iesso (Guissona, la Segarra)”. In: Excavacions arqueològiques d’urgència a les comarques de Lleida. Barcelona 1989, pp. 108124. See also: I. Garcés, N. Molist and J. M. Solias. “Aportacions al coneixement de la topografia urbana de Iesso (Guissona, la Segarra)”. In: M. Mayer, J. M. Nolla and J. Pardo. De les estructures indígenes a l’organització provincial romana de la Hispània Citerior. Barcelona 1998, pp. 229243. [38] J. Guitart, J. Pera and J. Ros. “Arqueologia a l’antiga ciutat romana de Iesso (Guissona, Lleida)”.

Josep Guitart

[39]

[40]

[41] [42]

[43]

[44] [45]

[46] [47] [48] [49]

[50]

In: Primer Simposi Patrimoni i Turisme Cultural: Arqueologia viva de les ciutats de l’antiguitat. Lleida, 4th, 5th and 6th of October 2001. Barcelona 2004, pp. 174-180. J. Guitart i Duran. “L’utilisation de l’eau en Catalogne romaine: le cas de Iesso (Guissona)”. In: Énergie hydraulique et machines élévatrices d’eau dans l’Antiquité. Collection du Centre Jean Berard, no. 27, Naples 2007, pp. 33-49. Grup d’Investigació Prehistòrica (Prehistoric Research Group, University of Lleida). “Arqueologia virtual: la fortaleza ibérica de Arbeca (siglos viii-vii aC)”. In: Primer Simposi Patrimoni i Turisme Cultural: Arqueologia viva de les ciutats de l’antiguitat. Lleida, 4th, 5th and 6th of October 2001. Barcelona 2004, pp. 213-233. J. Guitart, J. Pera and J. Ros. “Arqueologia a l’antiga ciutat romana...” (2004), pp. 153-192. See also: I. Garcés et al. (1989), “Les excavacions...”. I. G. Cormack et al. “Lost writing uncovered by laser two-photon fluorescence provides a terminus post quem for Roman colonization of Hispania Citerior”. Journal of Archaeological Science, no. 34, 2007, pp. 1594-1600. J. Guitart, J. Pera and C. Carreras. “La presència del vi itàlic a les fundacions urbanes del principi del segle i aC a l’interior de Catalunya: l’exemple de Iesso”. In: El vi a l’antiguitat. Economia, producció i comerç al Mediterrani occidental. Actes del 2n Col·loqui Internacional d’Arqueologia Romana. Badalona 1999, pp. 39-65. Titus Livius. Ab urbe condita, 21, 60. R. Marcet and E. Sanmartí. Empúries. Barcelona 1989, pp. 67-119. See also: X. Aquilué, P. Castanyer, M. Santos and J. Tremoleda. “Greek Emporion and its relationship to Roman Republican Empúries”. In: Abad et al. (2006), Early Roman Towns..., pp. 21-24. E. Sanmartí. La cerámica campaniense de Emporion i Rhode. Monografies emporitanes, no. 4. Barcelona 1978. Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita, 34, 9. X. Aquilué et al. (2006). “Greek Emporion...”, pp. 24-29. See: X. Aquilué, R. Mar, J. M. Nolla, J. Ruiz de Arbulo and E. Sanmartí. El fòrum romà d’Empúries (excavacions de l’any 1982). Monografies Emporitanes, no. 6. Barcelona 1984; R. Marcet and E. Sanmartí. Empúries. Diputació de Barcelona. Barcelona 1989, pp. 121-165; R. Mar and J. Ruiz de Arbulo. Ampurias romana, Historia, Arquitectura y Arqueología. Ausa, Sabadell 1993. X. Aquilué, P. Castanyer, M. Santos and J. Tremoleda. “El campo de silos del área central de la ciudad romana de Empúries”. Romula, no. 1, 2002, pp. 9-31.

The origin of the earliest Roman cities in Catalonia: An examination from the perspective of archaeology

[51] X. Aquilué et al. (2006). “Greek Emporion...”, p. 29-30. [52] X. Payà, F. Puig and T. Reyes. “Primeres datacions dels nivells fundacionals d’Aeso”. Revista d’Arqueologia de Ponent, no. 4, Lleida 1994, pp. 151-172. See too: PRAMA. “Aeso: noves dades sobre la romanització al Pallars Jussà. Actuació arqueològica a Isona 1987‑1988”. In: 8è Col·loqui Internacional d’Arqueologia de Puigcerdà: La romanització del Pirineu. Puigcerdà 1990, pp. 111118. [53] Pliny Naturalis Historia, iii, 4, 23. [54] G. Fabre, M. Mayer and I. Roda. Inscriptions romaines de Catalogne. II. Lérida. Paris 1985, pp. 4995. [55] J. Guitart, “Un programa de fundacions urbanes a la Hispània Citerior del principi del segle i a.C”. In: La ciutat en el món romà. Actes del XIV Congrés Internacional d’Arqueologia Clàssica (Tarragona, 1993). Tarragona 1994, pp. 205-213. Other authors reached the same parallel conclusion that behind this urbanising activity there must have been a precise, coordinated Roman policy, for example: F. Pina Polo. “¿Existió una política romana de urbanización en el nordeste de la península ibérica?”. Habis, no. 24, Seville 1993, pp. 77-94. [56] J. Guitart (1994). “Un programa de fundacions...”, pp. 206-207. [57] S. Keay. “Early Roman towns of Tarraconensis: A discussion”. In: Abad et al. (2006), Early Roman Towns..., p. 224. [58] J. Ruiz de Arbulo, D. Vivó and R. Mar. “El capitolio de Tarraco. Identificación y primeras observaciones”. In: D. Vaquerizo and J. F. Murillo (ed.), El concepto de lo provincial en el mundo antiguo. Homenaje a Pilar León. Cordoba 2006, pp. 391-418. [59] J. M. Macias Solé. “L’urbanisme de Tàrraco a partir de les excavacions de l’entorn del fòrum de la ciutat”. In: Tàrraco 99. Arqueologia d’una capital provincial romana. Documents d’arqueologia clàssica, 3. Tarragona 2000, pp. 83-106. See also: J. M. Macias Solé and J. A. Remolà Vallverdú: “Topografía y evolución urbana”. In: X. Dupré. Tarragona. Colonia Iulia Urbs Triumphalis Tarraco. Las capitales provinciales de Hispania, 3. Rome 2004, pp. 27-40. [60] Macias et al. (2007). Planimetria..., pp. 25-34. [61] Ruiz de Arbulo et al. (2006). “El capitolio...”. See also: Macias et al. (2007). Planimetria..., Fig. 17. [62] S. Keay (2006). “Early Roman...”, p. 225. [63] A brief general sketch about the presence of emigrants from Italy in the provinces in: N. Purcell. “Romans in the Roman World”. In: K. Galinsky (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus. Cambridge 2005, pp. 85-105. [64] A. Ferreruela, J. F. Mesa, J. A. Mínguez and M. Navarro. “Una inscripción republicana de la sede

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 29

de una posible corporación en La Cabañeta (El Burgo de Ebro, Zaragoza)”. Archivo Español de Arqueología, no. 76, 2003, pp. 217-230; A. Ferreruela Gonzalvo and J. A. Mínguez Morales. “La Cabañeta (El Burgo de Ebro, Zaragoza)”. In: Jiménez et al. (2002). Valencia..., pp. 205-214. See too: J. D. Vicente, P. Punter, C. Escriche and A. I. Herce. “La Caridad (Caminreal, Teruel)”. In: M. Beltrán Lloris (ed.). La casa urbana hispano romana. Zaragoza 1991, pp. 81-129; F. Burillo Mozota. “Segeda and Rome: the historical development of a Celtiberian city-state”. In: Abad et al. (2006). Early Roman Towns..., pp. 159-171. For these important sites in the Ebro River valley, there are hopes that archaeology can pinpoint their characteristics, which will undoubtedly better illustrate the complexity of these processes. [65] J. M. Nolla i Brufau. “The integration of NE Iberian communities and consolidation of the urban phenomenon”. In: Abad et al. (2006). Early Roman Towns..., pp. 69-108; J. Burch, J. M. Nolla, L. Palahí, J. Sagrera, M. Sureda and D. Vivó. “La fundació de Gerunda. Dades noves sobre un procés complex de reorganització d’un territory”. Empúries, no. 52, 2000, pp. 11-28; J. Burch, J. M. Nolla, L. Palahí, J. Sagrera, M. Sureda and D. Vivó. Excavacions arqueològiques a la muntanya de Sant Julià de Ramis. 1. El sector de l’antiga església parroquial. Sant Julià de Ramis 2001. [66] X. Payà, I. Gil, A. Loriente, A. Lafuente and M. Morán. “Evolució espacial i cronològica de l’antiga ciutat d’Ilerda”. Revista d’Arqueologia de Ponent, no. 6, Lleida 1996, pp. 119-149; X. Payà, I. Gil, A. Loriente, M. Molist and M. Morán. “La ciutat romana d’Ilerda. Darreres aportacions al seu coneixement (Lleida, Segrià)”. In: Actes de les Jornades de’Arqueologia i Paleontologia 2000. Comarques de Lleida (Lleida, 2000), Barcelona 2003, pp. 279-311. See also: A. Pérez Almoguera: “Sobre las fundaciones republicanas en Hispania. El caso de Ilerda”. In: La ciutat en el mon romà, Actes del XIV Congrés Internacional d’Arqueologia Clàssica (Tarragona, 1993). Vol. II. Tarragona 1994, pp. 325-327. [67] J. O. Granados. “La primera fortificación de la Colonia Barcino”. In: Papers in Iberian Archaeology. British Archaeological Reports. International Series, no. 193. Oxford 1984, pp. 267-319; J. Guitart. “Quelques réflexions sur les caractéristiques de l’enceinte augustéenne de Barcino (Barcelone)”. In: Les enceintes augustéennes dans l’Occident Romain. Nimes 1987; J. O. Granados. “La colònia Barcino, origen i estructura d’una colònia augusta”. In: Història urbana del Pla de Barcelona. Vol. 2. Barcelona 1990; J. Sobrequés i Callicó. Història de Barcelona. La ciutat antiga. Vol. I. Barcelona 1991; J. Beltrán de Heredia (ed.). De Barcino a Barcinona (siglos i-vii). Barcelona 2001.

30 Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010

Josep Guitart

About the Author Josep Guitart (Badalona, 1946) is a full professor of Archaeology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, a scholarly member of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans and a member of the Sant Jordi Royal Fine Arts Academy. He was the first director of the Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology, founded in Tarragona in 2002, and he has supervised and participated in numerous excavations at sites dating from the Roman period both on the Iberian Peninsula and in Italy. His recent avenues of research include classical archaeology, the archaeology of the city and the territory of ancient Rome and Roman Hispania.

CATALAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 3: 31-53 (2010) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.1000.01.38 · ISSN: 2013-407X http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/

The Catalonia of the 10th to 12th centuries and the historiographic definition of feudalism Flocel Sabaté*

Universitat de Lleida Received 13 September 2009 · Accepted 20 November 2009

Abstract The historiographic evolution of the concept of feudalism, from its formulation in the 17th century until today, has affected Catalonia differently. In the last quarter of the 20th century, it reached a prominent position as a paradigm of the mutationist model. The numerous sources still conserved, coupled with the enrichment of interpretative perspectives, facilitate a revision. However, it should be undertaken cautiously in light of the pitfalls of the documentation itself and the hermeneutic difficulties. Nonetheless, revision is a challenge that cannot be neglected given that the events that took place in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula between the 10th and 12th centuries heavily conditioned the subsequent history.

Key words: feudalism, historiography, institutions, Late Middle Ages Introduction1* The fit between the heuristic and the hermeneutic, the indispensable underpinning of any historical research, has grappled with a specific challenge when clarifying what happened in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula between the 10th and 12th centuries. For several decades at the end of the 20th century, the Catalan scenario was enmeshed in a historiographic controversy, not so much because it was discussing Catalonia but because the country became the paradigm of one of the ways of explaining feudalism, precisely when the stances were most at odds with each other. Now we can regard this stage as over because we have been able to interpret what happened in the counties in the northeast Iberian Peninsula very precisely thanks to the divulgation and study of the extensive documentary resources conserved along with a properly contextualised analysis. The time seems to have come when we can talk about it with a long enough perspective to ensure the necessary contextualisation. However, at least three lines crisscross, demanding particular caution when studying this episode even today. First of all, we need a proper overall interpretation of the coeval events, with their respective traits, in the rest of Europe, which have themselves been subject to quite a bit

* Contact address: Flocel Sabaté. Departament d’Història. Universitat de Lleida. Plaça Víctor Siurana, 1. E-25003 Lleida, Catalonia, EU. Tel. +34973703152. Fax: +34973702141. E-mail: flocel@historia.udl.cat

of historiographic controversy, as Jean-Louis Paul claimed: “on ne sait plus si la féodalité a existé, si elle finit avec l’Ancien Régime comme l’ont supposé les traditions républicaine et marxiste, ou vers le xiiie siècle comme a pu l’affirmer une exégèse juridiste de coutumes magis trales”.2 When these words were written in 1997, the reflection could not avoid being affected by the debates on our capacity to grasp history and its orientation, which occupied the turn of the 21st century.3 In the quest for new historiographic pathways, different avenues of revision questioned the capacity for objectivity in understanding the past,4 thus accentuating the suspicion, in the subject of study concerning us now, that the ideological framework might have affected our understanding of the late mediaeval sources, especially filling many of its silences by tending to construct a historiographic edifice sometimes overly indebted to the preceding interpretative design. Secondly, this is crossed with the particular way in which the lands that later came to be known as Catalonia were unified. The counts settled in their domains especially after AD 877 and ceased participating in the political evolution of Aquitaine and the warring episodes to the north linked to the dynastic conflict and the incapacity for joint government that enmeshed the Carolingian unity in seigneurial and territorial fragmentation. The counties in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula gradually drifted towards autonomy, to such an extent that each count became the repository of supreme authority, as proclaimed by Count Hugo I of Empúries in 1019: “potes-

32 Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010

tatem quam reges ibi pridem habuerint, iste Hugo comes ibi habebat”.5 However, the memory of these times was affected by later projections. Certainly, in the Late Middle Ages, the House of Barcelona worked to consolidate its pre-eminence over all Catalonia, abetted by the royal title attained in the 12th century and by Romanist arguments. Yet it was burdened by the scant jurisdictional and tax base,6 the reason it sought to demonstrate the pairing “comitatum Barchinone cum Cathalonia universa” from the start.7 In 1353, Peter the Ceremonious ordered a search for the document that stated “the donation done to the first count of Barcelona of said county and the name of the king of France who gave it, and whether he were king or emperor and the conditions contained in said donation”.8 The argument, fed by the postures of estates that sought greater participation in the modern Spanish monar chy,9 based on 17th century French annexionist pretensions10 or on the 19th century zeal to recover identity,11 has confused the historiography. This has then repeatedly fallen into the trap of believing the purported initial grouping around the House of Barcelona,12 either seen in its common origin13 –a count of Barcelona exalted as the “Marquis of the Spanish March”–14 or by imagining it as the main player in an 11th-century feudal cohesion that would elevate the House of Barcelona over the entire land.15 Based on this presumption, it has been easy to condition interpretations of feudalism as a kind of phenomenon that would conclude a sudden change by achieving new social, territorial and national cohesion that would place all Catalonia under the leadership of its capital, Barcelona. Thirdly, the documentary wealth of Catalonia, which is totally unique because of its bounty,16 leads us to consider the reasons for its high output. Indeed, the mark of the classical world, the Visigothic tradition and the influence of the Church may have fostered more writing than in other coeval lands,17 while also dictating a series of cautionary measures about how this abundant documentation should be handled. This may be not only because the writing itself does not spring from a desire to leave a faithful testimony of the events but also from specific quotidian purposes, generally fragmentary or partial, at times spurious and often self-serving,18 and further because of the weight and perfection of the countless forgeries. Certainly the prime value of writing when justifying rights and properties to endorse dwindling domains, possessions and belongings motivated forgeries often rendered by men of the Church, who also controlled knowledge and law. As society diversified, the painstaking perfection of the techniques of forgery attained by numerous mediaeval communities, such as the monasteries in Alaó, Gerri and Lavaix or the cathedral of Huesca,19 was joined by similar strategies in all kinds of documentary typologies,20 and even in projections on the mediaeval roots based on the most disparate interests in modern centuries.21 The fear of forgery was clearly present throughout the entire Middle Ages;22 the proper remedy is grounded on the

Flocel Sabaté

birth of the science of diplomacy,23 and from an early date historiography has warned about its inherent perils.24 However, historians have not infrequently fallen into the traps, either because they are very well contrived25 or perhaps because the scope of the risk of forgeries has not been properly calculated. Thus, nonexistent geographies and anachronistic scenarios have been accepted, jeapordi sing deductions about the evolution of society. This is coupled with the checkered history of how the documentation has been conserved, plagued by grave episodes of utter destruction, fragmentation and dispersion in recent centuries, particularly throughout the 19th century and until 1939.26 The documentation that has survived until today is perilously partial, which is why studying it demands caution when attempting to project or extrapolate from it, especially in territorial, chronological or social terms. The very conservation of the documents has even fostered other difficulties in studying them, linked to their preservation and accessibility for researchers. The improvements in conservation, cataloguing and consultation in most Catalan archives over the last two decades of the 20th century27 does not do away with the obligation to continue condemning the vast gaps which still plague conservation and hinder consultation, especially in certain private and Church archives. However, there is no doubt that there has been a vast improvement, coupled with the enormous efforts to publish the sources, which has risen exponentially in recent decades.28 This set of documentation raises the need for caution when assessing the information it supplies, which must be duly weighed with the territorial gaps and the social omissions that have not reached us. At the same time, all the documentation divulged in recent years vastly expands the ability to absorb information and make comparisons that can help the historian. It must be accepted that the heuristic must be analysed as a duty for generations who today enjoy facilities that were unheard of for past historians, who nonetheless tackled the challenge of providing responses to the unanswered questions about this period. In any event, it is important to specify and contextua lise what happened during this period in the counties in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula because the legacy that derives from these events includes the establishment of rights, duties, ties and taxes, a diverse and stable demarcation of the territorial dominions and a model of values and societal organisation. All of this would go on to condition the evolution in later centuries because it both was rooted in this earlier stage and projected arguments on which the discourse of power was sustained.

What are we talking about? The historiographic pathway Tracing a historiographic pathway is essential for addressing the feudal world, because the research has repeatedly gotten stuck on the definition of both the object

The Catalonia of the 10th to 12th centuries and the historiographic definition of feudalism

and subject of study, and the contributions have often been weighed down by the specific interpretative baggage. Historiographically speaking, to find the point of departure there is no need to hark back now to the schema of the three hierarchical functions of the Indo-European ideology proposed by Dumézil – priests, warriors and commoners –29 rather than to the three forms of government proclaimed by Aristotle – βασιλείαν, άριστοκρατίαν, πολιτείαν–30 which, the Late Mediaeval political and social thought assumed31 through Thomist realism.32 This was spread by means of authors like Francesc Eiximenis,33 who supported a municipal power that took over representation of the estates, equating them with the country and conditioning the power of the sovereign.34 In his utopian Oceana35 dating from 1656, James Harrington started with a similar scheme centring power on land tenure and the balance of government necessarily agreed to between the sovereign and the official estates, perceiving a specific balance in this mediaeval model in which he includes the Iberian Peninsula: “If the Few or a Nobility, or a Nobility with the Clergy be Landlords, or overbalance the People to the like proposition, it makes the ‘Gothic’ balance and the Empire is mix’d Monarchy, and that of ‘Spain’, ‘Poland’ and late of ‘Oceana’”.36 Thus, rural property ownership and the rights that came with it, guaranteeing the estates enough power to be able to impose conditions on the Sovereign, shaped a model of government that was ideologically sanctioned by the Church. It was a system that emerged in the Middle Ages, with a birth date that dovetails with the development of personal ties and the establishment of the realms that conditioned access to lands owned by others, fiefs. As Henry Spelman published in 1626, in England the date was 1066, given that it was a model imported by the Norman conquerors – “feudorum servitutes in Britanniam nostram primus invexit Guilielmus senior conquestor” –37 who thus established a social and political framework that would remain stable, at least until parliament broke with the monarchy by executing Charles I in 1649. The reasoning is framed within the kind of historiography from that century which regarded the past with admiration, inquired into its institutions and, when analysing how they were intertwined with society, conceptualised feudalism within a rising interest in studying the Middle Ages. John Burrow precisely summarises the historiographic moment with the terms “Antiquarism, Legal History and the Discovery of Feuda lism”.38 Not only has the legal reflection on the contents of the feudal rights and responsibilities inherited from the Middle Ages been brought into the juridical reflection, but Spelman’s very reasoning can be assumed to be an interpretation of history as a kind of tripartite sequence around feudalism, as interpreted by Pocock in 1957 when he noted for the first time in “English history the division into pre-feudal, feudal and post-feudal periods which has ever since characterized it”.39 It should come as no surprise that shortly afterwards, in 1959, Robert Boutruche refers to the same 17th century work as the

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 33

Figure 1. Liber Feudorum Maior (Archive of the Crown of Aragon)

first systematisation of feudalism as a social and political structure.40 By defining the legal framework that interlinks society, feudalism can be identified with it. Feudalism was inherently an order based on pacts, as lauded by the Count of Boulainvilliers in 1727.41 However, Montesquieu added that “les lois féodales [...] ont fait des biens et des maux infinis”, poking fun at the fact that “qui ont laissé des droits quand on a cédé le domaine; qui, en donnant à plusieurs personnes divers genres de seigneurie sur la même chose ou sur les mêmes personnes, ont diminué le poids de la seigneurie entière; qui ont posé diverses limites dans des empires trop étendus; qui ont produit la règle avec une inclinaison à l’anarchie, et l’anarchie avec une ten dance à l’ordre et à l’harmonie.” It is clear, then, that if enlightened reason was to illuminate the new society, feudalism had to disappear, even though this might be difficult given its deep roots in the social fabric.42 In the ideal world that was to come, feudal ties had no place, like the servitude that Voltaire struggled against.43 Yet he also strove in favour of the values of tolerance and experience and attitudes towards agriculture and trade that are interpreted as being contrary to feudalism.44 In fact, the political system had to be changed because the “gouvernement féodal” was characterised, in Rousseau’s words, by being a “système absurde s’il en fût jamais, contraire aux principes du droit naturel et à toute bonne politie”.45 The discussions on coeval peasant rights and tensions

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combine and lead to the fact that the “feudal regime has been among the central questions” in the French Revolution,46 equating feudalism with seigneurial rights47 while also simultaneously fostering a specific definition of the feudal regime by the bourgeoisie that spearheaded the French Revolution.48 The culmination, after the upheaval in the spring and summer of 179349 with the National Assembly’s suppression of the entire feudal regime on the 11th of August, revealed what was meant to be conceptua lised under this expression: the personal servitude that hindered individuals from becoming landowners, inheri ting or freely marrying without paying taxes; the exclusive rights to hunting grounds or dovecotes; seigneurial justice, symbolised by the gallows; the contributions from diverse perpetual tenures, censuses and portions of harvests; the inalienability of revenues; the tithe paid to the Church; pecuniary and tax privileges, either personal, corporate or territorial; limitations by reason of estate; the sale of public offices; and the Church’s recognition as an estate linked in fiscal and executive terms to Rome.50 What really changed behind the words enables us to question the intentions of those who held the power and headed the revolution,51 but in any event, it is clear that the goal was to label a period in time, the one that they supposedly set out to overcome.52 With Karl Marx, equating feudalism and an entire society became the profile of a stage in humanity’s development: by organising history along the lines of the systems used to extract revenue according to a materialistic conception, feudalism was a phase in human history somewhere between slavery and the bourgeoisie. Although the European Middle Ages were a period of darkness,53 they were not as bad as what would follow them. The latter period collided with socialism precisely because the radicalisation between the bourgeoisie and proletariat stemmed from breaking “all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations” common to the Middle Ages, which was characterised by “the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervour, of chi valrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism”.54 Thus, despite its rejection of the period, the reasoning does not deviate much from the positive assessments of a kind of feudalism that would carry the values of faith, loyalty, generosity, bravery and tenacity, as accepted throughout the entire 19th century, based on either Romantic recreation or Dilthey’s historicist formulation.55 However, while Walter Scott champions the chivalry of Ivanhoe, he also criticises the lords ensconced in “feudal tyranny”.56 The Ancien Regime, feudalism and the nobility are blended together as the arbitrariness of yesteryear, which contrasts with the regime of liberties and progress promoted by the bourgeoisie who led the 19th century. It is a dichotomy that wrought major damage on mediaeval historiography, which has too long related feudalism with rural immobilist oppression and has even painted the development of the communal movement as a conscientious urban revolt in an effort to achieve the liberties denied by the feudal lords.57 Scholars studying the roots of

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Catalonia in the period spanning the 19th and 20th centuries share this dual perception of feudalism: “the feudal organisation and the Benedictine monastic structure” would improve the “sorry state of anarchy” suffered at that time.58 Thus, “feudalism was a necessary social phenomenon, one of the transitory forms of civilisation”, although, as Torras i Bages added, it required rectifications of its “deformities” that were mainly derived from the tough tone “of the aristocratic spirit which a warring time naturally engenders”.59 Aulèstia tried to ensure that these negative aspects did not mar the entire period: “it is erroneous to believe that in the centuries that witnessed the birth of feudalism, which we have gotten used to viewing through a false prism, stagnation and ignorance utterly prevailed, and that lords and vassals were like two powers in constant confrontation”. Delving further into this line of reasoning, he highlighted the socially positive consequences of the interaction and contact fostered by the feudal system – “the lords were in constant contact with the commoners, the vassals could see their lords up close and there was thus an exchange of habits and customs, of ideas and interests” – as well as the mutual guarantees of economic and social survival: “feudalism came to respond to the status of production at that time, ensuring the livelihood of the commoners, who would often have been the victims of economic fluctuations if left to their own devices”.60 One could demur that these words were influenced by the author’s ideological background,61 although at the same time other historians with a similar social stance, such as Chia and Hinojosa, accentuated the oppressive nature of feudalism, as it generated an unequal system that was generally harmful for the peasants, who were burdened by their lords with onerous conditions. For this reason, the emergence of feudalism was simultaneously the trigger of a specific and grave “agrarian question”62 which, aggravated by the evolution of the Late Middle Ages, led to the uprisings at the end of the Middle Ages,63 which were intense enough to call greater attention than the origins of feudalism itself, as was accepted at least during the half-century that separated Fidel Fita’s works64 from those of Elies Serra i Ràfols.65 In fact, the glorification of the role of the Church and urban society in the coeval visions of mediaeval Catalonia in turn mars the image of everything related to the nobili ty, including feudalism. Thus, the bulk of the nobility was held responsible for the fact that the 11th century was plagued by “diverse revolts motivated by the tyranny and taxation of the feudal lords”, who were opposed by both the vassals, the victims of their abuse, and the counts, whose duty it was to defend the legal system, as Bori i Fontestà showed.66 The nobility’s ignorance and oppression could only be overcome in three ways. The first was the idealised vision of the Church, which would limit their excesses with measures like peace and truce, which emerged, in the words of Torras i Bages, from “the democratic spirit of the Gospel”,67 even though the triumph of feudalism, as heralded by Valls i Taberner and Soldevila,

The Catalonia of the 10th to 12th centuries and the historiographic definition of feudalism

would impose a contrast between figures like the Bishops Oliba, Saint Ermengol, Saint Ot and Saint Oleguer and the majority, who, “together with the character of large feudal landowners, many of them, imbued with the spirit of the new regime, acted like secular lords”.68 At the same time, this was helped by contact with a more cultivated society, that of Occitania: “the marriages of almost all the sovereigns from the March to princesses from beyond the Pyrenees would bring refinement to the feudal customs”.69 And the correction would particularly come from municipal pressure, thus highlighting the opposition between the nobility and the bourgeoisie. Although he acknowledges that “feudalism in Catalonia did not come with the horrors of other countries”, Font i Sagué describes this opposed duality: “within the system of feudal jurisdiction there lived slave generations, like the serfs subjected to the legal hurdles, called ‘mals usos’ (abuses), as they were more favourable to the lord than the vassal. Yet free republics also blossomed here. The ‘cartes de po blació’ (town charters) granted to some major towns, especially the ones falling within the territories that had recently been conquered, largely served to counterbalance the preponderance of the feudal system.” The Church and the counts would thus become the referents that enabled the escalation in noble aggression to be halted, and both of them would provide the legislative checks and balances: the constitutions of peace and truce, approved at the Vic assembly in 1033, and the Usatges of Barcelona, which dated from around 1068 under the rule of Ramon Berenguer I, thus further consolidating his pre-eminence.70 Despite the important palliative that these deeds entailed, the permanent halt to the feudal gloom ultimately had to come from the bourgeoisie’s ability to impose a new model of society, which did not take place until the 13th century. This is what Font i Sagué also states when he assessed the fact that during this century “public immorality continued; virtue only shone in the artisan and craftsman classes which, having their trade and industry assured, enabled the same livelihood to be passed on from fathers to sons”.71 The schoolbooks from the Republican period compiled and disseminated these opinions: feudalism “was a forced regime in which the feudal lords exploited the vassals and serfs in a burdensome way”.72 The si tuation could only be fully overcome when the alliance between the counts and the bourgeoisie was imposed on the feudal lords: “life in the villages and cities grew more robust and gradually became democratic. The counts had a vested interest in this, and they granted them franchises in order to weaken feudal power.”73 The feudal structure would be articulated under Caro lingian rule; for this reason, Antoni de Bofarull spotlights the milieu of Wilfred the Hairy, “close to the military part under a feudal organisation”.74 This feudal order, which instilled a precise structure on which society could be defined, was fettered, then, by specific institutions, such as feudal-vassal relations, as stressed by Max Weber in accordance with the coeval historiography.75 Certainly, if

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the institutional bond defines feudalism, we must discern between it and the lordships, as noted by the powerful Germanic historiography from the second half of the 19th century,76 which dovetailed with the disquisition proffered by prestigious authors like Fustel de Coulanges in French historiography by separating land ownership from the feudalism identified with institutional articulation.77 In 1893, Charles Mortet admitted that even though he preferred to understand feudalism “au point de vue de la sociologie générale” and therefore applied a global vision of society to it “que pénètre le corps entier jusque’à ses parties les plus profondes et réagit sur toutes ses fonctions vitales”, the word gradually became limited to referring to “l’ensemble des institutions publiques et privées”.78 This is the approach that dominated Western historiography until the last third of the 20th century – albeit with notorious exceptions, especially in the English-speaking world – thanks to the dissemination of French works, like the renowned manual by Ganshof, which has been cons tantly translated and reissued since 1944.79 Since 1959, it cannot fail to be paired conceptually with Boutruche’s voluminous tome,80 as both envisage an early Carolingian feudalism that reached its institutional peak, in the guise of classic feudalism, between the 10th and 13th centuries. Despite adhering to such a specific formulation as the institutional realm, feudalism marked the entire historical period. In 1946, when Joseph Calmette published his view from the decline of the Roman Empire until the 13th century, he explicitly titled it Le monde féodal.81 If everything hinged on an institutional formulation, we can easily grasp that this would have both a chronological and physical point of departure. The discrepancy between Montesquieu, who regarded feudalism as a European particularity –an “événement une fois dans le monde et qui n’arrivera peu-être jamais [...], que l’on vit paraître en un moment dans toute l’Europe, sans qu’elles tinsset à celle que l’on avait jusques alors connues” –82 and Voltaire, who saw it as an extremely ancient form that was present under different administrations in three-fourths of the hemisphere,83 is centred by Georg von Below on the RomanGermanic world.84 Thus, given that the feudal-vassal profile furnishes the definition, we could perceive an exemplary epicentre of feudalism between the Seine and the Rhine, from which it would radiate out towards the North Sea and the Loire. From there on, feudalism would be duly exported and adapted to each place, as claimed in numerous books on mediaeval history: “vassalage penetrated European society from top to bottom, spreading in diverse guises from France to England, Germany, Italy, Spain and even Palestine”, always duly exported.85 This approach found fertile ground on the Iberian Peninsula thanks to 19th century authors, primarily Herculano,86 and those such as Hinojosa, who worked in the early 20th century under the Germanic influence, precisely taking into account the institutional and social reality of the mediaeval Catalan countryside.87 The institutional definition would be staunchly defended by Claudio

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Figure 2. Allegiance. Liber Feudorum Maior (Archive of the Crown of Aragon)

Sánchez-Albornoz, who promoted it in a truly axiomatic way to present a Castile under a seigneurial regime without feudalism,88 as emblematically elaborated upon by his disciple Hilda Grassoti.89 In Sánchez-Albornoz’s opinion, the footprint of the Middle Ages indelibly marked Spain and fully explains the entire later history, “from the early decades of the 8th century until the closing hours of the Spanish Civil War”,90 linking a particular history based on the dearth of the two cornerstones which, in contrast, were indeed present in other European countries: “Spain did not have either feudalism or a bourgeoisie. This undeniable reality entails numerous complex problems and is projected onto diverse horizons”.91 Incidentally, this reasoning highlighted the original singularity of Catalonia: the offspring of Charlemagne, it witnessed a feudal dissemination that spread to the rest of Spain only much more secondarily, with the consequent institutional differentiation,92 justifying points of departure that uphold different identities. Thus, “Catalonia receives a Frankish character, which lasted like all birthrights” in the words of Carles Cardó when, just after the Spanish Civil War he sought to discern the traits that had defined the regions of

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the Iberian Peninsula, and for this same reason, hindered its permanent cohesion, with all the serious secular consequences this entails.93 Jaume Vicens i Vives, influenced by Toynbee,94 was convinced that he was able to detect the essence of the Catalan identity, in which he viewed pactism as a basic, crucial cornerstone. Naturally, pactism comes from the sound feudal approach: “the profound sense of our mediaeval society lay precisely in pactism, that is, in the conception that a pact with the sovereign should regulate all collective human and political organisation: this fact has an inevitable feudal forerunner; seeing feudalism as tying people to people, not people to the land”.95 Beyond the specific example of Catalonia, Vicens i Vives himself viewed feudalism as “a comprehensive organisation of society and the economy”,96 evincing a global view that included the whole. Back in 1911, American historian Henry Osborn Taylor accepted the institutional basis of feudalism as a “principle of mutual truth between lord and vassal”, yet at the same time he emphasised that in fact, “the feudal system was founded on relations and sentiments”, stressing the values of the feudal chevalier.97 In a different way, when invoking the values of feudalism in the years between the two World Wars, European authors, especially those from Italian and Germanic culture such as Malynski,98 Evola,99 Franz100 and Brunner,101 virtually laud it by appreciating its organic nature and individuality as a veritable alternative to the ills that they ima gined in the rationalism and egalitarianism of Western democracy.102 The same vision of the whole, albeit from a different angle, coevally led to a contrary position by British authors like Coulton, in pointing out the social inequality and condition of the peasantry – “it is patently absurd to speak of the medieval peasant as leading a life of Arcadian simplicity”. However, he did acknowledge that the generic proposition of the feudal system did lead to progress towards the collectivisation of society: “this is characteristic of the half-way stage between wild indivi dualism and modern collectivism which we call the Feudal System”.103 Meanwhile, the rise of Marxism as an ideological beacon in the communist states conditioned thinking in Eastern European countries, where it was often repeated that “feudalism is a particular social and economic formation that is based on the feudal mode of production”. Based on that, with a mechanistic scheme as summarised by Udaltzva and Gutnova, they perceived “the predominance of the agrarian, natural economy; the preponderan ce of large land ownership based on the exploitation of the peasants who personally depended on the landowners or were bound to the lands they worked”. This situation that would trigger “the formation of the main classes in feudal society”, and as a corollary, “the appearance of the feudal hierarchy, of law, of the state as well as the ideology and culture”. It was “a universal formation that developed spontaneously”, which “the majority of peoples in the world have experienced”.104

The Catalonia of the 10th to 12th centuries and the historiographic definition of feudalism

In view of the both institutional and epicentric pers pective, materialism can serve as the point of departure in the predominantly agrarian production model and work towards an overall understanding of society by gradually bringing in the consequences for the people. This was the challenge that was met in the West, from different vantage points, between the end of World War II and the penultimate decade of the 20th century, with authors like Harvey,105 Dobb,106 Dyer,107 Kula,108 Vilar109 and Bonnassie. The latter offers us the appropriate definition: “a social regime that was based on the often brutal confiscation of the profits (the surplus) of peasant labour which guaranteed their redistribution within the dominant class through a more or less complex system of networks of dependency (vassalage) and rewards (fiefs)”.110 The reconciliation between materialism and the urban world, which the diverse authors from East Germany examined,111 culminated with Rodney Hilton, who explained a kind of feudalism that included both the rural and urban facets.112 He agreed with what Yves Barel said when he posited not just a chronological similarity but also that the very urban revolution can be explained by the process of feudalisation.113 Back in 1939, Marc Bloch had pointed to the two pillars of revision and approximation: understanding the seigneurial and feudal regime as two complementary subsystems of a whole and distinguishing between two quite different points in time, with the boundary in the year 1000.114 In the early decades of the 20th century, French authors such as Boudet, Perrin, Abenas and Déléage further examined this perspective.115 In Catalonia, Ramon d’Abadal captured the intensity of the changes that took place during this period, reflected in 1948 when he wrote a biography of Abbot Oliba: “it was at the shift in millennium, at the dawning of the 11th century, when a new society, a new world began to germinate, which would become the mediaeval world [...]. Between the two worlds there was an age of deep-seated moral and economic crisis.”116 Georges Duby pursued the two lines set down by Bloch and stressed the changes that took place around the millennium, even defining them in 1953 as a mutation.117 As he would elaborate upon in later years, these changes had to be viewed from a global perspective that went beyond the merely economicist framework, because “a social formation is constructed on a double carcass, on the material foundation of productive relations and on the ideal sub-structures that constitute the values systems and mental representations”.118 Assuming these positions with the challenge of hitting upon the solution that would enable us to grant a more prominent role to the social reality, the young French historians in the 1960s shifted their attention towards the Mediterranean, which until then had been considered suitable for kinds of feudalism which, on their shores, were labelled as marginal and imperfect. Their studies, which culminated in the 1970s, actually opened up a new paradigm that totally overhauled the perspectives, as

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demonstrated by the conclusions reached by Pierre Toubert in Lazio,119 Pierre Bonnassie in Catalonia120 and JeanPierre Poly in Provence.121 Their respective studies of these nearby areas reached similar conclusions that were both striking and novel: they all saw a sudden feudalisation, chronologically situated within a few decades in the 11th century, in which a basic, accelerated Hegelian scheme took place, where an initial stage, which would such extend important features of classical society as slavery, would act as a thesis that collided with its antithesis, thus giving rather abrupt rise to a synthesis, the synonym of feudal stability which was characterised by the patrimonialisation of public power, the surge in personal ties, the prominence of the aristocratic military caste and the establishment of seigneurial rights as an integral part of the barons’ local power over the peasants, combined with the freedoms achieved by the cities. Thus, a new paradigm emerged for interpreting this period, its reasons and its consequences, as historiographically framed122 and synthesised by Jean-Pierre Poly and Éric Bournazel in 1980 with their explicit work La mutation féodale. X-XIIe siècles.123 What actually occurred was a veritable historiographic mutation. From then on, it was difficult to continue to explain feudalism on the sole basis of its institutions, which, as Fossier said in 1982, was still rather surprising because after all, everything was based on a tally of the obligations and rites of less than one percent of the population. Nor does it make sense to take epicentric and centrifugal visions: the very evolution of society drove feudalism and, as Fossier also indicated, paradoxically “it can be seen increasingly clearly that feudalism between the Loire and the Rhine was nothing more than an idea, and that precisely the southern regions was where it was best illustrated”.124 A new chronological vector also gained ground, far from the fall of the Roman Empire and the Carolingian stabilisation. And all of this was achieved through a painstaking methodological overhaul based on a materialistic method capable of avoiding the traditional dogmatisms and gaining, with a great deal of rigour, new conceptual realms for Hegelian hermeneutics and Marxist thinking. At the same moment, the attempts to posit feudalism as a phenomenon that was present around the world were spurring criticism of ethnocentrism and the transfer of European concepts,125 if not sheer discredit126 and the accusation of a loss of meaning of the concept of feudalism.127 Precisely from another perspective, and in view of the different approaches to the phenomenon in mediaeval Europe, Elizabeth Brown concluded that the interpretative difficulty may revolve around the very historiographic pathway, which has created an object of study based on different and contradictory definitions and contents, with which it has generated a historiographic fallacy that is far from the reality and has thus turned historians into the dependent victims of the tyranny of a historiographic construction.128 This opinion actually draws from

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the lines of revision that have been singularising important sectors in the United States and Canada since the 1960s. This has been fairly evident since 1964 in the work of Ambroise Raftis,129 the leader of the so-called Toronto School,130 who has addressed the study of the mediaeval peasantry from different vantage points finding almost no room for seigniorial pressures or peasant resistance, and has easily reached the positive tones used by Alan Macfarlane in 1978.131 When witnessing the exercise of violence, the focal point of the research does not even hone in on the social costs, rather on the anthropological interpretation of the political implications. This can be seen when Andrew Lewis, Geofrey Koziol and Barbara Rosenwein132 focus most of their attention on the nobility or their relationship with the Church, which enables them to discuss their mutual coexistence, hardly without having to mention the peasants, as Weinberger does in his Provençal observatory.133 In Europe, as well, Alain Guerreau pursues another vantage point when trying to centre a rational scheme on the functioning and evolution of feudal Europe around four lines, namely the relationship of dominance, artificial family ties with their concomitant arrangements, the ecosystem and the position of the Church, all analysed by drawing on updated perspectives and with the aid of such related sciences as anthropology.134 However, the historiographic debate was taken up again in 1989 by Guy Bois when he embedded the mutationist explanation into the heart of Burgundy, formulating a general theory by studying the specific case of Lounard, which explains the sudden change imposed by the violence of the lords in the penultimate decade of the 10th century, triggering an economic, social and political change in just 30 or 40 years.135 Thus, Guy Bois elevates the changes in AD 1000 to the point of revamping the concept of materialistic revo lution posited by Marx, by situating the prime function that used to be attributed to the fall of the Roman Empire in that historical juncture. Yet at the same time, he advances towards overcoming the initial tripartite scheme136 by embedding the mutation in AD 1000 in a vision of humanity that would concatenate the sudden, revolutionary change in a cyclical way.137 The suddenness inherent in this explanation rectifies the modulation that the Marxist approaches had adopted; although they dated the major shift in the 3rd century crisis,138 they had made headway in understanding that the change was not sudden, but rather the outcome of a progression that lasted centuries,139 thus explaining it as a succession of transitions, as Perry Anderson had explicitly posited.140 The sudden change around AD 1000 fully fitted within the vision that Bonnassie had emphasised in 1983 in the case of Catalonia. Even though he had provided no new heuristic underpinnings, he accentuated his own position by underscoring the violent, sudden nature of the change, which would destroy the state of liberty in which the peasants lived after having overcome the phase of slavery: “ce qui frappe le plus, c’est la rapidité et la violence des trans-

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formations qui ont affecté la société catalane au xie siècle. Le régime féodal, qui ailleurs a parfois mis un siècle à s’imposer, l’a emporté ici en l’espace d’une génération, en vingt ou trente ans (entre 1030/1040 et 1060)”.141 Despite the novelty of the claims for such a swift global change and the contribution of innovative interpretations of the role played by the people and institutions that spearheaded these events, the general conclusions do not so much lead to a rupture in the historiographic pathway as reveal the capacity to fit the axial explanations assumed since the 19th century into a materialistic format with a rigid Hegelian structure, given that the course of events continued to point to a society that by the mid-11th century had suffered from the tensions triggered by the nobility, generated a regime that was oppressive to the peasants, articulated a new model of relationship based on feudalvassal ties and given rise to a balance of power that revolved around the Count of Barcelona, thus achieving a state of stability that was clearly articulated in the drawing up of the tiny initial core of the Usatges of Barcelona. The acceptance and dissemination of this explanation had to do with the quality of the research, with an ideological context that was highly receptive to the methodological and interpretative underpinning used,142 and with the fact that it had staunch proponents.143 Thus, acceptance of the model spread. Although unverified, this gradually took up the media space inasmuch as it was used by other historians as the foundation.144 With this dissemination, Catalonia became one of the new paradigms of feudalism, gaining prominence abroad. Until then, feudal Catalonia had had only a limited presence, usually stressing its differences from the rest of the Iberian Peninsula through the fact that it took part in feudalism, albeit to a lesser degree than inland France.145 Shortly thereafter, as the last third of the 20th century got underway, the divulgation of authors like Vilar and Burns in the English-speaking world had begun to focus attention towards Catalonia as well.146 Bonnassie’s explanation took shape as a very tight, well-argued model, which is why it was so easily exported. The author himself spread a shared vision from the Rhone to Galicia,147 and the features observed in Catalonia influenced the studies conducted in the rest of the peninsula. The upshot was highly identical visions, as in the explanation proffered by Ernesto Pastor Díaz de Garayo on Castile,148 and even more so by Juan José Larrea on Navarre.149 The critiques question whether the analysis has done much more than align the historical facts in order to copy the model tested a quarter of a century early in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula,150 thus exemplifying a study in which the prior method and model can actually strangle the interpretative power: “having reached the end of the work, one is left with the feeling that the conclusions drawn on some points are more the outcome of the systematic application of a model of historical interpretation that is accepted as absolute truth than a critical reflection on the sources used”.151 More re-

The Catalonia of the 10th to 12th centuries and the historiographic definition of feudalism

cently, Bonnassie’s model has been explicitly tested on the area of Castile-Leon by Carlos Astarita, who accepts some aspects of it but not others, like the sudden nature of the social change.152 At the same time, many mediaevalists in the United States had focused on such aspects as textual critique, anthropological concerns and specific philosophical contributions.153 This is the suitable framework for an examination of the social reality in the Middle Ages, including its tensions, through explanations that are distant from the class struggles between lords and peasants, as shown by Tebrake, Wunderli and especially Justice.154 These approaches were not closely followed in Catalonia in the 1980s, where they were succeeded by popular expressions based on Bonnassie’s model, disseminated with summaries that are almost denuded of any nuances: “In the late Middle Ages (9th to 10th centuries), the peasants were the owners of their lands. It was not until the transformations in the 11th century, at the time when the lords of the castles usurped the counts’ authority, that the situation changed. Without the count’s protection, the peasants were defenceless before the lords, who used all manner of violence to seize the lands.”155 The full acceptance of these ideas, the statement that the epicentre of grasping feudalism had shifted to southern Europe and the assumption that Catalonia had become the new paradigm of the matter fostered a vindictive dissemination. One book often used in the late 20th century to guide many primary and secondary school teachers was quite clear: “in the absence of strong royal power, the nobility was able to freely exploit their lands, gradually (starting in 1033 in Catalonia, according to the experts) shaping a new socio-political system called ‘feudalism’. Thus, to the advantage of some and disadvantage of others, one of the first processes of early feudalisation in Europe took place in Catalonia and especially on the borderlands of the March (for obvious reasons of a lack of control). If we Catalans were French, we would say that we invented feudalism.”156 Curiously, while at school the scant contents on the Middle Ages stressed these explanations, the world of research was pointing in other directions. First, occasional studies gradually contributed rectifications to the model. To begin with, Manuel Riu highlighted the changes that took place not so much in the 11th century as in the two previous centuries, emphasising the importance of encastellation, with its undeniable social consequences.157 In turn, Ruiz-Doménec accentuated the perspectives yielded by kinship analysis,158 convinced that “the strength of family lineages and feudalism are exactly the same: they are two coincident, not concurrent, systems”. This stance enabled him to reframe the explanation of social violence: “we are convinced that the majority of the tensions noted inside Barcelona society over those two centuries were actually disputes over the law of kinship selection or moral conflicts caused by the character that marital exchange took on”.159 It is worth noting that this structuralist formulation opens up new perspectives while also adding

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 39

new rigidities that the documentary evidence would rectify.160 In a different vein, a more in-depth examination of 12th century violence by Garí161 and Bisson162 revealed that aggressiveness was not the occasional result of a sudden mutation, but rather encroached into the ensuing century, that is, that the processes of privatisation, patrimonialisation and manorialisation lasted longer: we can no longer talk about a sudden revolution. In any event, as Bisson notes, we should label it a “quasi-revolutionary transformation of power”.163 The core of this revolution lay in the oppression of the peasantry and its swift evolution, which quickly went through the three stages that Josep Maria Salrach condensed into a title: “slavery, freedom, servitude”.164 However, the studies on the status of the peasantry before feudalisation offered a major rectification of this position, as put forth explicitly by Gaspar Feliu:165 “not everyone was a slave, few savoured full freedom, the new domination which was not servitude for everyone, came with landowning rights”.166 Paul Freedman also nuances the peasantry’s supposed phase of full freedom prior to feudalisation,167 and he particularly stresses the lack of a sudden change and the absence of servitude until the 12th century, extending it now to the 13th century,168 meaning that he could explicitly refute the mutationist proposal: “the peasants were not fully autonomous before 1020, nor had they been enslaved in 1060, nor even in 1160”.169 This is a conclusion that Lluís To also adheres to after analysing the process of the spread of serfdom to northeast Catalonia, the result not of the 11th, but the 12th century.170 At the same time, the supposed legal peak achieved in the mid-11th century with the formulation of the first core of the Usatges becomes impossible to uphold after the studies by Gouron171 and especially Iglesia,172 which characterise this compilation of laws by supplementation of the old Visigothic law, the reception of Roman law and the emergence of the 12th century sovereign. On the other hand, the development of studies focusing on various counties, especially the ones open to the frontier, have revealed their importance in the entire social evolution between the 10th and 12th centuries,173 as well as the full capacity and evolution of the different countships.174 This has meant situating the political unification of the northeast of the peninsula around the House of Barcelona in the 12th century,175 precisely when the concatenation of the different factors of cohesion led to a unitary perception of Catalonia.176 Thus, the paradox was that while the popular accounts continued to repeat the model formulated a quarter of a century earlier, every study of specific factors provided ele ments that spurred an in-depth revision. It is understan dable that by 1989 Manuel Riu warned that “Catalan feudalism is quite far from having been thoroughly studied”.177 In 1996, Paul Freedman underscored the uniqueness of the Catalan version of history within the context of international historiography: “Outside Catalonia, the archaeo-Marxist theory of a change in the means

40 Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010

of production situated around AD 1000 does not have many followers”.178 However, in 1997, when taking stock of the most recent studies, Antoni Riera stated the explanatory change in the country’s inland regions in the scientific fields: “today the hypothesis of the French historian – still upheld by Josep Maria Salrach and, with less conviction, Lluís To – is suffering the onslaughts of other alternative, more gradual visions”.179 In fact, the revisions of the explanations on the evolution of Catalonia agreed with the revision that the mutationist model underwent in other countries, especially France, where a questioning of the method used and a comparison of the conclusions justified Dominique Barthélemy’s verdict that “la notion d’une crise sociale génératrice de la ‘société féodale’ doit disparaître”.180 The shadow of deadlock looms. The different avenues for interpreting feudalism were shown to be useless and, more importantly, contrasting, and they gave rise, as Paulino Iradiel warned in 1984, to “a cloud of controversial definitions and pointless terminological discussions”.181 Curiously, one of the terms most often used with feudalism is “cloud of concepts”, as Giusseppe Sergi did in 1993.182 Perhaps the best course of action would be to avoid the term. Barbara H. Rosenwein observed that the leading authors do not try to reconstruct supposed models like feudalism, rather they attempt to resolve specific points within the research: “le problème n’a plus guère d’intérêt aujourd’hui, alors que les historiens les plus en pointe en ce domaine tentent de comprendre les époques non plus par leurs rapports à des modèles réifiés de l’Antiquité ou du féodalisme, mais comme des moments spécifiques”.183 More strikingly, in 1994 Susan Reynolds published a comprehensive study to warn about the legal devices that have led researchers to fall into the morass of taking feudalism for granted to the point of noticing not what the period actually was but what respective historians have wanted to see, precisely pitting contradictory definitions against each other under a single name.184 As Hyams explained, this approach would mean “the end of feudalism”.185 Bonnassie reacted by refuting the claims of the “médiévistes que je qualifierais d’‘antiféodalistes’ ou de ‘féodophobes’”.186 However, what we need is what Paulino Iradiel called for back in 1991: “a rehabilitation of feudalism”.187 The only way to accomplish this historiographic rehabilitation is by focusing on a kind of research that is extremely attentive to the source, with more concern for ascertaining the facts than for labelling them. It is also recommendable for the research to be capable of absorbing and including diverse perspectives of analysis with care and rigour, such as the perspectives supplied by law188 or other social sciences. There is no question that the inclusion of new anthropological, cultural or juridical perspectives has clearly enriched the global vision, as can be seen in authors such as Milson, Geary and Palmer.189 Along the same lines, Cheyette, extending the reasoning from his studies on Narbonne, can see the globality of juridical and political mat-

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ters and mentality, which is quite clear when speaking about a “culture of fidelity”.190 Meanwhile, Stephen White had already stressed how the elements can fit in with and complement each other without having to posit any rupture: private covenants became a clear example of a new development that did not challenge but complemented the previous public order.191 The attention on social pro blems, whose epicentre lies in the late mediaeval peasantry in authors such as Richard Hoffman, Lawrence Poos and Teófilo Ruiz,192 is concentrated on the Catalan peasantry under feudalism thanks to Thomas N. Bisson, as graphically summarised in the title of his work, Tormented Voices, further developed in the sub-title: Power, Crisis and Humanity in Rural Catalonia.193 Bisson fits the peasants’ grievances within the framework of power and moves towards a cultural understanding of the deeds by capturing coeval values, “the culture of honour and shame”. The formal ties with which the covenants that defined the period tended to be established referred to the combination of power, order and the written word, as Adam Kosto noted when revisiting the issue of feudalism in Catalonia.194 In fact, the notion and innovation of law remained in the countships throughout the 11th century, which facilitated the regulation of the craving for property and the resolution of disputes, as demonstrated by Jeffrey A. Bowman.195 The fit of the most recent studies and the ease with which the sources can be consulted facilitate our understanding of what happened in the Catalan countships between 10th and 12th centuries,196 revealing the gradual nature of the changes. One can agree with the conclusions reached by José Ángel García de Cortázar in noting a concatenation of alterations in Castile and Leon from the 7th century until the stabilisation in the 12th century.197 Recently, Thomas N. Bisson has stressed the entrenchment of feudalism in the 12th century, matching it with the struggle to define sovereign power within the coeval context in Europe.198 This thus becomes a proposition which in turn complements the vision of this century so often disseminated based on its urban199 and cultural200 profile. Unexpectedly, in 2008 a work by Eugene Mendonsa201 was published that once again upheld a sudden change in the society of the countships in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula between the years 1020 and 1060. Based on “an anthropological view”, the author spotlighted the case of Catalonia as an example of “the fabrication of domination” based on control of the economic and political mechanisms, combining “power, property (or profit) and prestige”. Mendonsa revisits all the elements of the mutationist explanation of Catalonia – the sudden change, the oppression of the lords (“reign of terror”), the Hegelian scheme with the pre-feudal order at odds with its antithesis (“a lack of universally accepted law”) and the ultimate seizure of power by the countship of Barcelona – and he elevates as paradigmatic “the case of how the Count of Barcelona did this after the breakdown of the state, the ‘seigneurie banale’ (1020-1060) or the ‘times of troubles’

The Catalonia of the 10th to 12th centuries and the historiographic definition of feudalism

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 41

Explanatory axes of the evolution of the countships in the northeast Iberian Peninsula between the 10th and 12th centuries

was weak and to hinder him from leading them into war with the outside. There is no need to see this event as a political crisis, and even less as a class struggle. Let us not get carried away.”208 As mentioned above, the structuralist perspective behind this statement leads to new rigidities that often succumb to documentary proof,209 but at least it opens up a host of different interpretative possibilities which nonetheless have to be evaluated in accor dance with the documentation. The notable rise in publications of sources makes study easier, and one could conclude that just like in this case, the documents available do not always lead to the deductions made by Bonnassie.210 Precisely in 1996, Paul Freedman called for a re-interpretation of the documents on which the French author based his thesis, because we surely agree now that “this documentation does not serve to demonstrate the onset of serfdom”: “to me they do not seem to be transactions in which people are sold as property, as slaves, but sales or arrangements of productive land, land with te nants who farm it, just as today one can sell an urban plot of land with tenants who pay the rent. Perhaps there is a certain mindset in the documents, a tendency to associate peasants with plots of land, but there is no indication of personal servitude.”211 Therefore, the first lessons to be deduced are very simple and elementary in the profession, and refer to the hierar chisation between method and documentation, to the fit between the two necessary underpinnings, heuristic and

The global visions are proven in the resolution of the doubts posed by the documentation, which is a veritable testimony to the past even though it might sometimes be a bit diffuse. Thus, for example, according to the mutationist interpretation, the counts scrupulously respected the legal order (thesis) while the nobles interposed abusive taxes under often violent pressure, such as toltes and forces (arbitrary taxation or demands on the vassals) (antithesis). However, when we more closely examine the documentation, an identical demand by both sides becomes clear back in the early 11th century.203 One could deduce that they all shared the same mindset and that they therefore evolved together according to their respective interests.204 This interpretation might appear logical, but it is incompatible with the interpretative approach adopted, so when faced with this paradox, Salrach deduces that this behaviour among the counts springs from the fact that “there is an exception to every rule”.205 This answer is obviously reminiscent of Procust’s bed, the same one that Rosenwein reproached in Bois in 1991, by viewing that if reality does not fit with theory, it must be stretched or removed, just like the legs of the man occupying Procust’s bed.206 One of the landmarks in the violence perpetrated by the nobility was the revolt of the young Mir Geribert against the Count of Barcelona, in an assault on the count’s palace.207 However, in 1985 Enrique Ruiz-Doménec drew conclusions much simpler than the deeds: “the adolescents were agitating because the count

Figure 3. Rural life. Capital of the Monastry of Santa Maria de l’Estany (Bages)

is a classic case”. In Mendonsa’s work, what particularly merits attention is the function granted to the role of the written document in strengthening power and establishing a system to exploit the peasantry, “because elites in Catalonia used writing as a tool of oppression”, even though he did not elaborate on this idea enough. At the same time, also worth highlighting is the author’s desire to fit the deeds within a broad avenue of reflection on “the fabrication of domination” in social behaviour, placing the case of Catalan feudalism in the context “of domination to the entire span of human history from the Palaeolithic to the present”. However, in the end what matters is the importance of chronological rigour and the basic dependency on documentary research. These are two facets missing in this work, which leads to inappropriate pairings in the former and the dependency on certain authors in the latter. Despite the obvious effort to include and use a farreaching, up-to-date range of bibliographic sources, the author does not rely on his own consultation of the documentation and leaves his critical capacity linked to certain authors who have preceded him, which in the end discredits the entire work.202

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hermeneutic. We are not far from the revisions that were repeated in recent years. In 2000, Randall Collins questioned the obsession found in much of 20th century historiography with obtaining globalising interpretative mo dels,212 and in 2002 Matt Perry was amazed at the forcefulness with which certain materialist schemas had affected the endeavours of many historians from the previous century.213 Along the same lines, in 1997 GarcíaGuijarro lamented the fact that an accentuation of the historiographic perspectives developed during the 20th century had excessively criticised the positivist legacy beyond its evident context-dependency.214 There is no doubt that, as Artola said, one is not a historian only by virtue of having visited the archive and explained what one has read in a modern language, rather one becomes a historian by knowing how to interpret the information.215 However, cases like the one we are examining in this article beckon us to fine-tune the gradation required and the need to place documentation that is as stripped-down as possible before the method, so that the set of interpretative tools does not end up excessively devouring it. At the same time, we must also acknowledge the valour of all the preceding authors who have dared to grapple with the major questions using the scarce tools at their disposal; however, this requires the ensuing generations to not be led astray by alien ideas, rather to use all the tools and capacities at their disposal to conduct a constant revision according to the advances in documentary knowledge, facilities for consulting and studying this documentation, and also the lessons that can be gleaned from the historiographic detours. If the challenge, then, is to resume the documentary analysis in order to analyse what happened in the counties in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula between the 10th and 12th centuries, we can also wonder what label it should be given. Should we keep talking about feudalism, as historiography has done from such different and even contradictory viewpoints? Or should we surrender to the evidence that there was no society that used this definition before the 18th century? Given the preceding historiographic debate, can a new, objective approach be attained, or will we draw too close to the disenchantment, encystations or sectoralisation with which the controversy on this subject seems to have been damaged in recent years?216 And in any event, to what extent is Catalonia a paradigm of a global approach and to what extent does it show significant features of its own, ranging from the importance of the frontier to the difficulties of political cohesion? A detailed examination of the documentation reveals the incorporation of the term “fief”, specific institutional and documentary practices and a framework of artificial ties beginning in the 11th century, thus altering the forms of interaction and determining the development of certain values. These values would be instilled into the nobility, but so would literary and religious expression, as well as the ideological framework with which the Church moved and heavily affected society’s values. In coherence with this entire reality, we can use a common, traditional

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term like feudalism, but its content must be adjusted to the main axes on which the documentation is founded. More than anything, this entails examining its interpretive vectors. First of all, we must note the point of departure on the process of seigneurisation and encastellation that filled the 9th and even more, the 10th centuries. Precisely when the monasteries and bishoprics looked after their own interests by ensuring that the respective patrimonial base was strengthened through different strategies that played with donations and judicial instruments, the leading fami lies of viscounts and vicars were striving to bolster their own family lineages and sources of income. The patrimonialisation of the post, which was public before then, and the revenues earned by both exercising it and projecting it into the frontier areas217 ensured the rise of and proximity to the power of the counts. The counties were just consolidating their own autonomous capacity with both mutual collaborations218 and tensions in drawing up the boundaries of the demarcations, with the major clash between the landowners of Cerdagne and Carcassone over Rasez,219 which was echoed in the dispute between the counts of the Cerdagne and Barcelona over the boundaries of the counties of Berga and Manresa.220 All of this fell within a framework of boundary rivalries coherent with the need to establish the outer limits of the counties.221 More importantly, the counts had to work with the clergy and the barons to articulate and structure the hierarchy of the milieu of power. They granted public goods and rights, conferring immunities on religious centres222 and places with their own rights, either on the frontier – such as the cession of Freixe in 954 by the count to the viscount of Barcelona –223 or inland – such as the cessions of Olzinelles and Polinyà.224 The cessions did not stave off the major tensions that would break out in the second half of the 10th century, as the counts clashed with the barons who aimed to retain the revenues they earned from private property. The episodes – which are historiographically obfuscated by the spotlight on the ensuing century – led to the serious uprising in Besalú which cost the count his life in 957,225 the dispute against the Counts of Cerdagne over the properties that the viscounts of Conflent finally managed to retain in 959226 and the accusations of treason by the Count of Ribagorça against those who seized assets from him in 964.227 This dynamic consolidated a social stratum of lords and territorial domains subjected, in the many different senses of the word and with all their rights, to private owners. Coherently, the counts generally addressed themselves to the “vicecomites et seniores”, as the Count of Barcelona did in 986.228 In this context, the boundary castle, heading its district, became the basis of the division of the land into districts, both inland and on the frontier,229 thus shaping the relationship between the lords, the tenants of the land and the people living inside the limits of each castle’s domains.230 Secondly, we must recognise the crucial importance of the frontier. The borderlands were initially an unstruc-

The Catalonia of the 10th to 12th centuries and the historiographic definition of feudalism

tured region and therefore open to spontaneous occupation, such as freeholdings, which would be disputed by the later implantation of castles and their domains.231 However, the existence of these cases cannot be extrapolated to define the borderlands as a place where the peasan try found land and freedom until they were assaulted by the nobility, as has been repeated in the historiography under the influence of the “mythe de la paysannerie pionnière”.232 The frontier was particularly the object of projection of the family lineages by the viscounts and vicars and the Church hierarchy in the 10th century, as the entire frontier area was articulated through the linkage of the boundary castles.233 The frontier became attractive more through the rights that occupation itself generated than for the pillage inherent in it.234 In the 11th century, the frontier was swallowed up by becoming a paradigm of the feudal space, and the territory was articulated by the inextricable concatenation of boundary castles, and their subdivisions into quadres and the even smaller subdivisions of termes that allowed for full control of the people inside and the strengthening of ties, rights and perennial earnings,235 which would be extended with secular consequences, especially through the corresponding pyramidal structure of castellans erected in each castle’s domain.236 These earnings justified the bellicose expansion into Islamic lands, which facilitated the exemplarily feudal armed structure that culminated with the capture of Lleida and Tortosa in the mid-12th century.237 This closure of the frontier was related to the onset of a new phase of internal violence at the end of the century, because the barons especially needed money and grain to flaunt the level that they felt entitled to.238 Thirdly, we must grasp the significance and limitations of violence. Far from the generic aggressiveness of the lords against their peasant underlings, the majority of attacks were waged against lordships with whom they had a motive for dispute. When the violence was waged within one’s own jurisdiction, it tended to try to prevent freeholdings which, as such, blocked the lord’s ability to levy taxes. This is why the peasantry often suffered from aggressions by the lords against intermediate landholders, often men of the cloth, as paradigmatically occurred in Igualada in the dispute between the Òdena family, as lords of the place, and the monastery of Sant Cugat del Vallès, which claimed the land as a freeholding.239 Far from being an antithesis for promoting a specific reaction, violence became part and parcel of the system, primarily affecting the peasants for a number of reasons: in the 11th century over the clashes between lords; in the shift from the 11th to 12th centuries primarily over the disputes about direct rule and freeholdings; in the mid12th century over the skirmishes between lords and castellans over the rights claimed by the latter; and towards the end of the century over the predations of aristocrats who wanted to maintain their ability to flaunt their status, even though they were unable to earn revenues from the frontier, which was now closed. In a peasantry that was

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gradually drawing the relationship between tenure, inheritance and land closer together240 in the turn of the 12th to 13th centuries, this context extended the personal ties to the land in order to guarantee production for the lord and protection for the peasant.241 We must also further nuance the purported ties between violence and fiscal pressures. Globally, we can perceive no sudden switch in tax rises, rather a progression in taxes and concentration of freeholdings. However, the specific casuistic is quite diverse, including numerous cases of a drop in the taxes levied in the second half of the 11th century. Generally speaking, an agreement was reached about the farming of the land, either initially or later after acts of intimidation. Thus, with this, the land was taxed. The majority of peasants worked these lands under ground rent, in both the interior and on the frontier, which facilitated the dual-rule systems which could be defined under emphyteutic formulas in the 12th century. Fourth, we must properly situate the notions of law and justice. The judicial system evolved from the initial count system to the lords, with much of it exercised by the clergy, especially in conflicts over property. It ended up serving the lords clearly starting in the last quarter of the 11th century, when trial by ordeal ceased to be the supposed guarantee claimed by the accused party and was instead revealed as a weapon of intimidation demanded by the judge against the plaintiff, who often gave in out of terror, such as when the cathedral of Urgell demanded the tasca (a tithe consisting of 1/11 of the harvest)242 from Tuixén in 1081 or when the lord and the castellans claimed compensation for baiulia in Taradell in 1100.243 This forced the legal arguments but did not mean that people lived without rights: throughout the century, the Lex rooted in Visigothic law not only justified the rulings but also permeated all aspects of daily life, as is perfectly clear by its constant invocation until the early 12th century. The Usatges did not come about ceremoniously and suddenly to sanction a new era, but were more a sum of the usualia with which the judges adapted the Visigothic legislation to the new circumstances, that is, complementing and extending it. Starting from the early 12th century, this was aided by the penetration of Roman law, which was gradual, swift and without ruptures.244 The legislative endorsement would be achieved that aimed to justify both the pre-eminence of the sovereign and the rights of the feudal lords and the pressures of urban collectives, a step towards the proper juridical conceptualisation for the new framework of balances of power, of social relations and of access to the same units of revenue and jurisdiction to differing degrees. This would culminate when society integrated the disquisitions between direct and perpetual tenures and between mero et mixto imperi into its daily life. Fifth, we must understand the contents of the mores and values generated and accepted by society. We have to undramatise the system of personal ties and view it as the political and territorial structure adapted to the new social reality towards which all the social sectors were heading,

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each with its respective interests. The Church played a crucial role here: having clearly benefitted from the previous process of encastellation and signeurialisation, it became a pioneer in using the formulations of feudal links and relationships; its rights and revenues benefitted from a veritable clericalisation of justice; it protected itself using mechanisms like sanctuary and peace and truce of God, which simultaneously enhanced its social clout; it embraced Gregorian reform as a means of strengthening the Church’s power; it bolstered its physical presence with a wave of newly created parishes; and it provided the discourses on social and political legitimacy and from this stance accentuated its influence over the population, conditioning its consciences, modulating its world view and imposing a model of family based on monogamous, indissoluble and exogamous marriage. This was the framework for strengthening family lineages,245 which generated specific forms of solidarity and were attentive to a pa trimony through which they move towards agnatic primogeniture.246 A family lineage requires memory,247 with all its corollaries of evocation, gestuality and commemoration,248 and it was the Church that helped to develop the suitable stories and safeguard the places of memory where the respective pantheons could be kept. By accepting feudalism as a value system, we can grasp that it permeated all the social strata and became embedded in the different forms of communication, including religious, artistic and literary expressions. Finally, we must perceive that all roads lead to the 12th century, not because this century brought a stagnation in this evolution but because it fostered the feudal and urban stimuli, a far cry from the lack of communication imagi ned by the historiography for so long.249 The derivations of the extension of Roman law in the different realms, the strategies of pre-eminence of the Count of Barcelona, who had held the royal title since 1162, and the openness to stimuli coming from diverse geographic horizons came together to shape the complexity of the society that entered the Late Middle Ages.

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[3]

[4]

[5] [6]

[7]

Notes and Bibliography [1]

[2]

This article is part of the research project: “Identity, Memory and Ideology in the Middle Ages” (HAR2009-08598; Ministry of Science and Innovation, government of Spain). It benefitted from my stint as guest professor at Yale University during academic year 2008-2009; it recognises the State University of New York for my stay in New York in the summer of 2009; and it gratefully acknowledges the facilities offered by the New York Public Library to study its collections. Jean-Louis Paul. L’automne de la Féodalité. Essai sur la formation du monde étatique-marchand (xiexve siècle). Ressouvenances, Coeuvres 1997, back cover.

[8]

[9]

Among others, the following are recommneded: Gerard Noiriel. Sobre la crisis de la historia. Ediciones Cátedra, Universitat de València, Madrid 1997; Dominick LaCapra. History in Transit. Experience, Identity, Critical Theory. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, London 2004; Peter Charles Hoffer. The Historian’s Paradox. The Study of History in Our Time. New York University Press, New York-London 2008; Gordon S. Wood, The purpose of the past. Reflexions on the uses of history. The Penguin Press, New York 2008. Here Richard J. Evans’ words are in order: “So when Patrick Joyce tells us that social history is dead, and Elizabeth Deeds Ermarth declares that time is a fictional construct, and Roland Barthes announces that all the world’s a text, and Frank Ankersmit swears that we can never know anything at all about the past so we might as well confine ourselves to studying other historians, and Keith Jenkins proclaims that all history is just naked ideology designed to get historians power and money in big university institutions run by the bourgeoisie, I will look humbly at the past and say, despite them all: It really happened, and we really can, if we are very scrupulous and careful and self-critical, find out how it did and reach some tenable conclusions about what it all meant” (Richard J. Evans. In Defense of History. W. W. Norton & Company, New York-London 2000, p. 220). Pere de Marca. Marca Hispanica sive limes hispanicus. Franciscum Muguet, Paris 1688 (facsimile: Base, Barcelona 1998, col. 1014). Flocel Sabaté. “Corona de Aragón”. In: Alfredo Alvar Ezquerra, Flocel Sabaté, Eloísa Ramírez Vaquero and Pedro A. Porras Arboledas. Historia de España. La época medieval: administración y gobierno. Istmo, Tres Cantos (Madrid) 2003, pp. 297-344. Pròsper de Bofarull. Procesos de las antiguas cortes y parlamentos de Cataluña, Aragón y Valencia (Colección de documentos inéditos del Archivo General de la Corona de Aragón, viii). Establecimiento Tipográfico y Litográfico de José Eusebio Monfort, Barcelona 1851, p. 114; Ambrosio Huici. Colección diplomática de Jaime I el Conquistador. Renovación Tipográfica, Valencia 1922, vol. III-1, p. 51. “..la donació feta al primer comte de Barcelona del dit comptat e del nom del rey de França qui li donà, ne si era rey ho emperador e de les condicions en la dita donació contengudes”. Antoni Rubió i Lluch. Documents per a la història de la cultura catalana medieval. Vol. I. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona 1908 (facsimile: Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona 2000), p. 165. Antoni Simon i Tarrés. Els orígens ideològics de la revolució catalana de 1640. Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 1999, pp. 29-230.

The Catalonia of the 10th to 12th centuries and the historiographic definition of feudalism

[10] Jesús Villanueva. Política y discurso histórico en la España del siglo xvii. Las polémicas sobre los orígenes medievales de Cataluña. Publicaciones de la Universidad de Alicante, Alicante 2004, pp. 109187. [11] Agustí Colomines. “Tradición y modernidad en la cultura del catalanismo”. Historia Social, no. 40, Alzira 2001, pp. 97-114. [12] Flocel Sabaté. “El nacimiento de Cataluña. Mito y realidad”. In: Fundamentos medievales de los particularismos hispánicos. IX Congreso de Estudios Medievales (León, 2003). Fundación Sánchez Albornoz, Ávila 2005, pp. 265-276. [13] Joseph Calmette. La question des Pyrénées et la Marche d’Espagne au Moyen-Âge. J. B. Janin, Paris 1947, pp. 24-25. [14] Ferran Soldevila. Història de Catalunya. Vol. I. Alpha, Barcelona 1934, pp. 28-31. [15] The count of Barcelona Ramon Berenguer I can be imagined as the “real creator of the principality of Catalonia as a true feudal state” (César González. “La multiplicación de los reinos (1035-1079)”. In: Vicente Ángel Álvarez Palenzuela (dir.). Historia de España de la Edad Media. Ariel, Madrid 2002, p. 264). [16] Ramon d’Abadal. Catalunya carolíngia. Els diplomes carolingis a Catalunya. Institució Patxot de Catalunya, Ginebra 1926-1950, p. iv; Pierre Bonnassie, Catalunya mil anys enrera (segles x-xi). Vol. I. Edicions 62, Barcelona 1979, p. 17. [17] Michel Zimmermann. Écrire et lire en Catalogne (ixe-xiie siècle). Vol. I. Casa de Velázquez, Madrid 2003, pp. 9-22. [18] Miquel Barceló. “Los límites de la información documental escrita”. In: Idem. Arqueología medieval en las afueras del ‘medievalismo’. Crítica, Barcelona 1988, pp. 73-87. [19] Ramon d’Abadal. “Els preceptes carolingis per al Pallars (segle ix)”. Boletín de la Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona, no. 26, Barcelona 1954-1956, pp. 30-42; Antonio Duran, “Actas del Concilio de Jaca”. In: Signos. Arte y cultura en el Alto Aragón Medieval. Government of Aragón, Provincial Council of Huesca, Jaca-Huesca 1993, p. 284. [20] Ángel Canellas. “Lo falso en el campo de la diplomática. Documentos falsos y adulterados de Sancho Ramírez, rey de Aragón y Navarra (10621094)”. In: Falsos y falsificaciones de documentos diplomáticos en la Edad Media. Comisión Internacional de Diplomática, Zaragoza 1991, pp. 29-36; Ettore Cals. “Il falso nel documento privato fra xii e xiii secolo”. In: Atti della Società Ligure de Storia Patria, no. 29/2, Genoa 1989, pp. 215-277. [21] Flocel Sabaté. L’expansió territorial de Catalunya (Segles ix-xii): conquesta o repoblació? Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida, Lleida 1996, pp. 19-21.

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[22] Pilar Ostos and María Luisa Pardo. “La teoría de la falsedad documental en la Corona de Castilla”. In: Falsos y falsificaciones de documentos diplomáticos en la Edad Media. Comisión Internacional de Diplomática, Zaragoza 1991, p. 174; Maria Teresa Ferrer. “Irregularitats i falsificacions notarials”. In: Actes del I Congrés d’Història del Notariat Català (Barcelona, 1993). Fundació Noguera, Barcelona 1994, p. 474. [23] José Manuel Ruiz Asencio. “Los orígenes de la Diplomática y la Paleografía como ciencia: Mabillon y el ‘Nouveau Traité’”. In: III Jornadas de la Sociedad Española de Ciencias y Técnicas Historiográficas (Murcia, 21-23 June 2005). Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia, Murcia 2005, pp. 15-34. [24] Lucien Barrau-Dihigo, “Étude sur les actes des rois asturiens (710-910)”. Revue Historique, no. xlvi, Paris 1919, pp. 1-192. [25] With respect to documents from Urgell from the 11th century and earlier, Trenchs and Conde concluded that “in some cases it is impossible, even today, to know which documents are false or inserted” (Josep Trenchs and Rafael Conde. “La escribaníacancellería de los Condes de Urgel (siglo IX-1414)”. In: Folia Munichensia. Institución Fernando el Católico, Zaragoza 1985, p. 17). [26] Flocel Sabaté. “Les guerres du xix siècle, la ‘desamortización’ et la sorte des archives catalanes”. In Internacional Conference on Revolution and Archives (Moscow, April, 2006), at press. [27] Flocel Sabaté and Ramon Alberch. “Archivist’s training in Catalonia”. Insar. Information Summary on Archives, no. 3, Brussells 1997, pp. 8-9. [28] Flocel Sabaté. La feudalización de la sociedad catalana. Editorial Universidad de Granada, Granada 2007, pp. 21-24. [29] Georges Dumézil. Mito y epopeya. I. La ideología de las tres funciones en las epopeyas de los pueblos indoeuropeos. Seix Barral, Barcelona 1977. [30] Aristotle. Política. Centro de Estudios Constitucionales, Madrid 1983, p. 167. [31] Ángel López-Amo. “El pensamiento político de Eximeniç en su tratado de ‘Regiment de princeps’”. Anuario de Historia del Derecho Español, no. xvii, Madrid 1946, p. 119. [32] Maurice de Wulf. The System of Thomas Aquinas. Dover Publications, New York 1959, pp. 8-45. [33] Francesc Eiximenis. Dotzè del Crestià, ch. clvi (Francesc Eiximenis. Dotzè llibre del Crestià. Vol. I.1. Universitat de Girona, Diputació de Girona, Girona 2005, pp. 337-339). [34] Flocel Sabaté. “Municipio y monarquía en la Cataluña bajomedieval”. Anales de la Universidad de Alicante. Historia Medieval, n.º 13, Alicante 2000-2002, pp. 255-282. [35] José Eduardo Reis. Do espíritu da utopia: lugares

46 Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010

[36] [37] [38] [39]

[40] [41]

[42]

[43]

[44] [45] [46]

[47] [48]

[49] [50]

utópicos e eutópicos, tempos proféticos nas culturas literárias portuguesa e inglesa. Fundação Calaouste Gulbekian, Lisbon 2007, p. 322. James Harrington. “The Commonwealth of Oceana”. In: Idem. The Oceana and Others Works. A. Millar, London 1747, p. 203. Henrico Spelmanno. Glossarium Archaiologiocum. Excudebat Tho. Braddyll, London 1687, p. 218. John Burrow. A History of Histories. Vintage Books, New York 2009, pp. 283-301. J. G. A. Pocock. The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law: A Study in English Historical Throught in the Seventeenth Century. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1957, p. 95. Robert Boutruche. Seigneurie et féodalité. Vol. I. Éditions Montaigne, Paris 1968, pp. 12-13. “La Féodalité, qui a la convention pour principe, et pour sceau la foi réciproque des Parties, oblige les Rois à notre égard, comme il nous oblige envers eux” (M. Le Comte de Bouinvilliers. Histoire de l’ancien gouvernement de la France avec xix lettres historiques sur les parlements ou états généraux. Vol. I. Compagnie des libraires associés, The Hague-Amsterdam 1727, pp. 156-157). “C’est un beau spectacle que celui des lois féodales. Un chêne antique s’élève; l’oeil en voit de loin les feuillages; il approche, il en voit la tige; mais il n’en aperçoit point les raciones: il faut percer la terre pour les trouver” (Montesquieu, De l’esprit des lois, book xxx, ch. 1; www.classiques.uqac.ca/classiques Montesquieu/de_esprit_des_lois/partie_6/de_esprit_des_lois_6.html). Voltaire. “Extrait d’un mémoire pour l’entière abolition de la servitude en France”. In: Oeuvres complètes de Voltaire, ed. by Louis Moland. Vol. 29. Garnier, Paris 1885, pp. 403-406. Voltaire. Cándido y otros cuentos. Alianza Editorial, Madrid 1982, p. 58. Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Du contrat social. Aubier Montaigne, Paris 1943, p. 58. John Markoff. The Abolition of Feudalism: Peasants, Lords and Legislators in the French Revolution. The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, 1996, p. 10. Alfred Cobban. The Social Interpretation of the French Revolution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1964, pp. 34-35. John Markoff. The Abolition of Feudalism: Peasants, Lords and Legislators in the French Revolution. The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, 1996, pp. 10 and 516-559. Adolphe Thiers. Historia de la Revolución Francesa. Petronio, Barcelona 1973, pp. 520-600. Philippe Sagnac and Pierre Caron (ed.). Les comités des droits féodaux et de législation et l’abolition du régime seigneurial (1789-1793). Imprimerie Nationale, Paris 1907.

Flocel Sabaté

[51] John Markoff. The Abolition of Feudalism: Peasants, Lords and Legislators in the French Revolution. The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, 1996, pp. 561-611 [52] Michel Péronnet. Vocabulario básico de la Re volución Francesa. Crítica, Barcelona 1985, pp. 154157. [53] Karl Marx. El capital. Vol. I. Veintiuno de España Editores, Madrid 1983, p. 94. [54] Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. Penguin Books, London 2002, p. 222. [55] Wilhelm Dilthey. El mundo histórico. Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico 1978, p. 314. [56] Walter Scott. Ivanhoe. Ticknor and Fields, Boston 1868, p. 36. [57] The mediaeval urban movement has been interpreted somehow with a revolutionary bent, either against the lords or against higher bourgeois echecons, depending on the historians’ milieu: “les historiens de la ‘commune’ au xiie siècle, voire encore au xxe, restaient imbus du climat révolutionnaire des insurrections parisiennes de 1830 et 1848, préludes à la Commune de Paris de 1871” (Raymonde Foreville, “Du Domesday book à la grande charte: guindes, franchises et chartes urbaines”. In: Les origines des libertés urbaines. Actes du XVI Congrès des Historiens Médiévistes de l’Enseignement Supérieur (Rouen, 7-8 June 1985). Publications de l’Université de Rouen, Rouen 1990, p. 163). [58] Josep Puig i Cadafalch, Antoni de Falguera and Josep Goday. L’arquitectura romànica a Catalunya. Vol. I. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona 1909 (facsimile: Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona 2001), p. 397. [59] Josep Torras i Bages. La tradició catalana. Selecta, Barcelona 1966 (publication, 1892), pp. 140-141. [60] Antoni Aulèstia. Història de Catalunya. Vol. I. Imprenta La Renaixensa, Barcelona 1887, pp. 171172. [61] Jaume Sobrequés noted that “the vast ingenuity of this historiographic conception of Aulèstia is a clear exponent of the conservative thinking of a large swath of the Catalan bourgeoisie at the end of the century” (Jaume Sobrequés. “Les històries generals de Catalunya en el període històric de la Renaixença i el Romanticisme (segle xx)”. In: La historiografia catalana. Balanç i perspectives. Cercle d’Estudis Històrics i Socials, Girona 1990, p. 30). [62] Eduardo de Hinojosa. “La servidumbre en Cataluña durante la edad media”; “Origen y vicisitudes de la pagesía de remensa en Cataluña”; “El régimen señorial y la cuestión agraria en Cataluña”. In: Idem. Obras. Ministerio de Justicia-CSIC, Madrid 19481955, vol. i, pp. 217-229; ii, pp. 11-33, 35 and 326. [63] Julián de Chía. Bandos y bandoleros en Gerona.

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[64] [65] [66] [67] [68]

[69] [70]

[71] [72] [73] [74] [75] [76] [77] [78] [79] [80] [81] [82]

Apuntes desde el siglo xiv hasta mediados del xvii. Vol. I. Imprenta de Ponciano Torres, Girona 1888, p. 13. Fidel Fita. “Lo Papa Benet XIII y los pagesos de remensa”. La Renaixensa, no. ii (Barcelona 1875), pp. 11-16, 81-85 and 122-130. Elies Serra Ràfols. Fernando el Católico y los payeses de remensa. Tipografia Mariana, Lleida 1925. Antoni Bori i Fontestà. Historia de Cataluña. Imprenta de Henrich y compañía, Barcelona 1898, p. 67. Josep Torras i Bages. La tradició catalana. Selecta, Barcelona 1966 (publication, 1892), p. 140. Ferran Valls i Taberner and Ferran Soldevila. Història de Catalunya. Vol. I, Publicacions de l’Editorial Pedagògica Associació Pedagògica de l’Ensenyança Catalana, Barcelona 1922, p. 152. M. Serra i Roca. Història general de Catalunya. Miguel Seguí, Barcelona 1920 (facsimile: Òptima, Barcelona 1999), p. 89. Fidel Fita. “Cortes y Usajes de Barcelona en 1064. Textos inéditos”. Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, no. xvi-xvii, Barcelona 1890, pp. 389393; Ferran Valls i Taberner. “El problema de la formació dels Usatges de Barcelona”. In: Estudis d’Història Jurídica Catalana. La Revista, Barcelona 1929 (facsimile: Universidad de Málaga, Málaga 1989), pp. 57-69. Norbert Font i Sagué. Història de Catalunya. Imprenta i Editorial Altés, Barcelona 1933 (First edition, 1899), pp. 60 and 79. Ramon Torroja. Història de Catalunya per a nois i noies. Imprenta Elzevira y librería Cami, Barcelona 1933, p. 37. Damià Ricart. Història de Catalunya. Miquel A. Salvatella, editor, Barcelona 1935, p. 48. Antoni de Bofarull. Historia crítica (civil y eclesiástica) de Cataluña. Juan Aleu y Fugarull editor, Barcelona 1876, p. 187. Max Weber. Economía y sociedad. Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico 1979, pp. 204-213. Georg Ludwig von Maurer. Geschichte der Fronhöfe der Bauernhöfe und der Hofverfassung in Deutschland. Enke, Erlangen, 1862-1864. 4 vol. Numa-Denis Fustel de Coulanges. Histoire des institutions politiques de l’ancienne France. Librairie Hachette, Paris 1877, p. 464. Charles Mortet. Féodalité. Sociologie générale. Histoire des institutions françaises. H. Lamirault et Cie éditeurs, Paris 1893, pp. 7-8. François Louis Ganshof. Qu’est-ce que la féodalité? Lebègue, Brussells 1944. Robert Boutruche. Seigneurie et féodalité. Vol. I. Aubier, Paris 1959. Joseph Calmette. Le monde féodal. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris 1946. Montesquieu. De l’esprit des lois, book xxx, ch. 1

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<www.classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/Montesquieu/ de_esprit_des_lois/partie_6/de_esprit_des_lois_6. html>. [83] Voltaire. Essai sur les moeurs, chapter xxxxiii <http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/Voltaire/essai_moeurs_esprits_nations/essai_moeurs.html>. [84] Georg von Below. Territorium und Stadt. Oldenburg, Munich 1923. [85] Luis Suárez. Manual de Historia Universal. Edad Media. Espasa Calpe, Madrid 1980, p. 199. [86] Alexandro Herculano. Apotamentos para a História dos Bens da Coroa e dos Forais (18431844), opúsculos. Vol. IV. Viuda Bertrand, Lisbon 1882, pp. 189-294. [87] Eduardo Hinojosa. “El régimen señorial y la cuestión agraria en Cataluña durante la Edad Media”. In: Idem. Obras. Vol. II. Ministerio de Justicia-CSIC, Madrid 1955, p. 42. [88] Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz. En torno a los orígenes del feudalismo. Editorial Universitaria de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires 1979. 3 vol. [89] Hilda Grassotti. Las instituciones feudo-vasalláticas en León y Castilla. Centro Italiano di Studio sull’alto Medioevo, Spoleto 1969, 2 vol. [90] Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz. “Otra vez Guadalete y Covadonga”. Cuadernos de Historia de España, no. I-2, Buenos Aires 1944, p. 11. [91] Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz. España, un enigma histórico. Vol. II. Editorial Sudamericana, Buenos Aires 1956, p. 7. [92] Luis García de Valdeavellano. El feudalismo hispánico. Crítica, Barcelona 1985, p. 85. [93] Carles Cardó. Les dues tradicions. Història espiri tual de les Espanyes. Claret, Barcelona 1977, p. 25. [94] Paul H. Freedman. “Un historiador que sabía dónde quería ir... (La obra de Jaume Vicens Vives en su contexto biográfico). El legado de Vicens”. In: Jaume Vicens Vives. Juan II de Aragón (13981479): monarquía y revolución en la España del siglo xv. Urgoiti editores, Pamplona 2003, p. lxvi. [95] Jaume Vicens Vives. Notícia de Catalunya. Destino, Barcelona 1982, p. 109. [96] Jaume Vicens Vives. Historia económica de España, Vicens-Vives, Barcelona 1987, p. 91. [97] Henry Osborn Taylor. The Medieval Mind: A History of the Development of Thought and Emotion in the Middle Ages. Vol. I. McMillan and Co., London 1927, pp. 538-539. [98] Emmanuel Malynski. Fedeltà feudale dignità humana. Edizione di Ar, Padua 1976. [99] Julius Evola. Simboli della tradizione occidentale. Arktos Edizioni, Carmagnola 1977. [100] Günther Franz. Der deutsche Bauernkrieg. Aktenband Nachdr, Munich-Berlin 1933. [101] Otto Brunner. Land und Herrschaft: Grundfragen der territorialen Verfassungsgeschichte Südostdeutschlands im Mittelalter. Veröffentlichungen des In-

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stituts für Geschichtsforschung und Archivwissenschaft in Wien, Baden-bei-Wien, 1939. [102] Marco Revelli. “Il Medioevo della Destra: pluralità di immagini strumentali”. Quaderni Medievali, no. 16, Bari 1983, pp. 109-135. [103] George Gordon Coulton. The Medieval Village. Dover Publications Inc., New York 1989, pp. 378379. [104] Z. V. Udaltzova and E. V. Gutnova. “La transición del esclavismo al feudalism”. In: La génesis del feudalismo en los países de Europa. Akal, Madrid 1981, p. 195. [105] Paul D. Harvey. A Medieval Oxfordshire Village: Chusma 1240-1400. Oxford Univeristy Press, Oxford 1965. [106] Maurice Dobb. Studies in the Development of Capitalism. Routledge, London 1946. [107] Christopher Dyer. Lords and Peasants in a Chan ging Society: Estates of the Bishopric of Worcester, 680-1540. Hardcover, Cambridge 1980. [108] Witold Kula. Teoría económica del sistema feudal. Siglo XXI, Madrid 1974. [109] Charles Parain, Pierre Vilar et al. El feudalismo. Sarpe, Madrid 1985. [110] Pierre Bonnassie. Vocabulario básico de la historia medieval. Crítica, Barcelona 1983, p. 95. [111] Ludolf Kuchenbuch and Bernd Michael (dir.). Feudalismus. Materialien zur Theorie und Geschichte. Illstein, Frankfurt 1977. [112] Rodney Hilton. Les ciutats medievals. L’Avenç, Societat Catalana d’Estudis Històrics, Barcelona 1989. [113] Yves Barel. La ciudad medieval. Sistema social Sistema urbano. Instituto de Estudios de Administración Local, Madrid 1981, pp. 11-18. [114] Marc Bloch. La société féodale. Éditions Albin Michel, Paris 1994, pp. 99-114. [115] Marcellin Boudet. Cartulaire du prieuré de SaintFlour. Collection de documents inédits publiés par ordre de S.A.S. le prince Albert Ier, prince souverain de Monaco. Monaco 1910; Charles Edmon Perrin. Recherches sur la seigneurie rurale en Lorraine, d’après els plus anciens censiers (ixe-xiie siècles). Vol. l. Les Belles Lettres. Paris 1935 (Publications de la Faculté de Lettres de l’Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg 1935); Roger Aubenas. ‘Les châteaux forts des xe et xie siècles. Contribution à l’étude des origines de la féodalité”. Revue historique du droit français et étranger, no. xv, Paris 1937, pp. 548-586. [116] Ramon d’Abadal. L’abat Oliba, bisbe de Vic, i la seva època. Urgoti editores, Pamplona 2003, p. 180. [117] Georges Duby, Guerreros y campesinos. Desarrollo inicial de la economía europea (500-1200). Siglo Veintiuno de Editores, Madrid, 1985; Idem. Los tres órdenes o lo imaginaro del feudalismo. Argot, Barcelona 1983.

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[118] Georges Duby. “Prólogo”. In: José Enrique RuizDoménec. La memoria de los feudales. Argot, Barcelona 1984, p. 5. [119] Pierre Toubert. Les structures du Latium Medieval. Le Latium méridional et la Sabine du ixe siècle à la fin du xiie siècle. École Française de Rome, Rome 1973, 2 vol. [120] Pierre Bonnassie. La Catalogne du milieu du xe à la fin du xie siècle. Association des Publications de l’Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail. Toulouse 1976. 2 vol. [121] Jean-Pierre Poly. La Provence et la société féodale: 879-1166, contribution à l’étude des structures dites féodales dans le Midi. Bordas, Paris 1976. [122] The claims of southern European feudalism were spotlighted at a famous encounter held in Rome in 1978: Structures féodales et féodalisme dans l’Occident méditerranéen. École Française de Rome, Rome 1980. [123] Jean-Pierre Poly and Éric Bournazel. El cambio feudal (siglos x al xii). Labor, Barcelona 1983. [124] Robert Fossier. La infancia de Europa. Vol. I. Labor, Barcelona 1984, p. 307. [125] Dominique Perrot and Roy Preiswerk. Ethnocentrisme et Histoire. L’Afrique, l’Amérique indienne et l’Asie dans les manuels occidentaux. Anthropos, Paris 1975, pp. 234-285. [126] Maurice Godelier. “La notion de ‘mode de production asiatique’ et les schémas marxistes d’évolution des societies”. In: Sur le “mode de production asiatique”. Éditions Sociales, Paris 1974, pp. 55-56. [127] Gianni Sofri. O modo do produçao asiático. História de una controversia marxista. Paz e Terra, Rio de Janeiro 1977, p. 144. [128] Elizabeth A. R. Brown. “The Tyranny of a Construct: Feudalism and Historians of Medieval Europe”. American Historical Review, no. 79, Washington 1974, pp. 1063-1088. [129] J. Ambrose Raftis. Tenure and Mobility: Studies in the Social History of the Medieval English Village. Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, Toronto 1964. [130] Paul Freedman. “Seigneurie et paysannerie au Moyen Âge. Un retrait de l’historiographie américaine”. Histoire et Socétés Rurales, no. 14, Angers 2000, pp. 155-159. [131] Alan Macfarlane. The Origins of English Individualism: Family, Property and Social Transition. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1978. [132] Andrew Lewis. Royal Succession in Capetian France: Studies on Familial Order and the State. Harvard Historical Studies, Cambridge Mass., 1981; Geoffrey Koziol, Begging Pardon and Favor: Ritual and Political Order in Early Medieval France. Cornell University Press, Ithaca 1992; Barbara Rosenwein. Negotiating Space: Power, Restraint

The Catalonia of the 10th to 12th centuries and the historiographic definition of feudalism

and Privileges of Inmunity in Early Medieval Europe. Cornell University Press, Ithaca 1999. [133] Stephen Weibenber. “Tours judiciaires, justice et responsabilité sociale dans la Provence médiévale: ixe-xie sièce”. Revue Historique, no. CCLXVII/2, Paris 1982, pp. 273-288. [134] Alain Guererau. El feudalismo. Un horizonte teórico. Crítica, Barcelona 1984, pp. 199-241. [135] Guy Bois. La revolución del año mil. Lounard, aldea del Mâconnais, de la Antigüedad al feudalismo. Crítica, Barcelona 1991. [136] In this sense, it is a necessary rectification given the fact that, as Jean-Louis Paul comments: “la théorie de la succession des modes de production –esclava ge antique, servage médiéval, salariat industriel– est inapplicable comme description d’‘étapes’ chro nologiques” (Jean-Louis Paul, L’automne de la Féodalité. Essai sur la formation du monde étatique-marchand (xie-xve siècle). Ressouvenances, Coeuvres 1997, p. 67). [137] Guy Bois. La grande dépression médiévale xive et xve siècles. Le précèdent d’une crise systémique. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris 2000, pp. 177-211. [138] E. M. Staernan. “La caída del régimen esclavista”. In: La transición del esclavismo al feudalismo. Akal, Madrid 1981, pp. 102-103. [139] Charles Parain. “Evolución del sistema feudal europeo”. In: Charles Parain, Pierre Vilar et al. El feudalismo. Sarpe, Madrid 1985, p. 33. [140] Perry Anderson. Transiciones de la Antigüedad al feudalismo. Siglo Veintiuno de España Editores, Barcelona 1984. [141] Pierre Bonnassie. “Sur la formation du féodalisme catalan et sa première expansion (jusqu’à 1150 environ)”. Estudi General, no. 5-6, Girona 1985-1986, p. 12. [142] Antoni Riera. “Taula rodona. El temps i l’espai del feudalisme a Catalunya”. El temps i l’espai del feudalisme. VI Curs d’estiu Comtat d’Urgell (Balaguer, July, 2001). Pagès, Lleida 2002, p 562. [143] Worth noting is Josep Maria Salrach: although in the early 1970s he started with an acceptance of Boutruche’s institutionalist approaches – “it is a positive definition of feudalism” (Josep María Salrach. “Régimen señorial y feudalismo en la Alta Edad Media”. Anuario de Estudios Medievales, no. 7, Barcelona 1970-1971, p. 791) – he shifted to accepting Bonnassie’s explanations (Josep Maria Salrach. Història dels Països Catalans. Dels orígens a 1714. Edhasa, Barcelona 1982, pp. 330-361), developed them in his extensive research, promoted them in numerous books with a high readership and entered the 21st century even defending the same formulations and metaphors that Bonnassie had used (Josep Maria Salrach. “¿Qué diferenciaba a los campesinos del siglo ix de los del siglo xii

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en Catalunya?” In: Señores, siervos, vasallos en la Alta Edad Media. XXVIII Semana de Estudios Medievales. Estella, 16-20 July 2001. Gobierno de Navarra, Pamplona 2002, p. 362). [144] Still in 2001, Pere Ortí began his well-founded research on the origins of bovatge (a direct tax on livestock and tangible goods at the start of a reign) in the 12th and 13th centuries, taking for granted that the feudal pacts established in the mid-11th century enable him to state that: “between 1060 and 1070, all of Christian Catalonia was joined for the first time under the authority of the counts of Barcelona and were the vassals of nobody” (Pere Ortí, “La primera articulación del estado feudal en Cataluña a través de un impuesto: el bovaje (ss. xiixiii)”. Hispania, no. LXI/3-209, Madrid 2001, p. 973). [145] For example, a common manual like the one by Previté-Orton limits itself to saying that “social and constitutional conditions in the Christian States of Spain during the process of the Reconquest varied according to the state, but as a whole were more advanced and, save in Catalonia, less feudalized in jurisdiction than was their neighbour France” (Charles William Previté-Orton, The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. II. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1952, p. 832). [146] Flocel Sabaté. “Entrevista. Paul Freedman”. Avui, 20th September 2008, Culture Supplement, p. 11. [147] Pierre Bonnassie. “Du Rhône à la Galice: genèse et modalités du régime feudal”. In: Structures féodales et féodalisme dans l’Occident méditerranéen (xexiiie siècles). Bilan et perspectives de recherches (Rome, 10-13th October 1978). École Française de Rome, Rome 1980, pp. 17-56. [148] Ernesto Pastor Díaz de Garayo. Castilla en el tránsito de la Antigüedad al Feudalismo. Poblamiento, poder político y estructura social del Arlanza al Duero (siglos vii-xii). Junta de Castilla y León, Valladolid 1996. [149] Juan José Larrea. La Navarre du ixe au xiie siècle. DeBoeck, Paris-Brussels 1998. [150] Carlos Reglero. “Reseñas: Pastor Díaz de Garayo, Ernesto, ‘Castilla en el tránsito de la Antigüedad al Feudalismo. Poblamiento, poder político y estructura social del Arlanza al Duero (siglos vii-xii)’”. Edad Media. Revista de Historia, no. 1, Valladolid 1998, p. 256; Eduardo Manzano. “Recensiones: Pastor Díaz de Garayo, Ernesto, ‘Castilla el tránsito de la Antigüedad al Feudalismo. Poblamiento, poder político y estructura social del Arlanza al Duero (siglos vii-xii)’”. Hispania, no. LIX/2-202, Madrid 1999, p. 730. [151] Miguel Larrañaga “Recensiones. Larrea, Juan José: ‘La Navarre du ive au xiie siècle. Peuplement et société’”. Hispania, no. LXI/1-207, Madrid, 2001, p. 404. [152] “This perspective draws closer to the thesis of feu-

50 Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010

dal mutation by granting priority to political power as the means of forming the lordships, yet it departs from this thesis by stating that no sudden, regiona lly synchronic change took place through the ‘ex nihilo’ violent imposition of new customs” (Carlos Astarita. “Prácticas del conde y formación del feudalismo. Siglos viii al xi”. Anales de la Universidad de Alicante. Historia Medieval (Revista de Historia Medieval), no. 14, Alicante 2003-2006, p. 21). [153] David Aers. “Rewriting the Middel Ages: Some Suggestions”. Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, no. 18, Los Angeles 1988, pp. 221-240; Alain Liu. “The Power of Formalism: The New Historicism”. ELH, no. 56, Baltimore 1989, pp. 721771; Marina S. Brownlee, Kevin Brownlee and Stephen G. Nichols (dir.). The New Medievalism. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore-London 1991. [154] William Tebrake. A Plague of Insurrection: Popular Politics and Peasant Revolt in Flanders, 13231328. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia 1993; Richard M. Wunderli. Peasant Fires: The Drummer of Niklashausen. The Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1992; Steven Justice, Writing and Rebellion, England, 1381. University of California Press, Berkeley 1994. [155] Andreu Varela and Joan Ramon Varela. Pagesos i remences. El món rural medieval. Barcanova, Barcelona 1993, p. 31. [156] Xavier Hernández. Ensenyar Història de Catalunya. Graó, Barcelona 1990, p. 117. [157] Manuel Riu. “Hipòtesis entorn dels orígens del feudalisme a Catalunya”. Quaderns d’Estudis Medievals, no. II/4-1, Barcelona 1981; Idem. “El paper dels ‘castra’ en la redistribució de l’hàbitat al comtat d’Osona”. Ausa, no. X/102-104, Vic 1982, pp. 195208; Idem. “A propósito del feudalismo todavía”. In: Estudios en homenaje a Don Claudio Sánchez Albornoz en sus 90 años. Vol. II. Instituto de Historia de España, Buenos Aires 1983, pp. 65-82. [158] José Enrique Ruiz-Doménec. “La primera estructura feudal (Consideraciones sobre la producción, el poder y el parentesco en Cataluña durante el siglo xi)”. Quaderni Catanensi di studio Classici e Medievali, no. IV/8, Catania 1982, pp. 301-368. [159] José Enrique Ruiz-Doménec. L’estructura feudal. Sistemas de parentiu i teoria de l’aliança en la societat catalana (c. 980 - c. 1220). Edicions del Mall, Barcelona 1985, pp. 91-93 and 25. [160] Flocel Sabaté, “Història medieval”. In: Història de Piera. Pagès, Lleida 1999, pp. 132-136. [161] Blanca Garí, “Las ‘querimoniae’ feudales en la docu mentación catalana del siglo xii (1131-1178)”. Medievalia, no. 5, Bellaterra 1984, pp. 7-49. [162] Thomas N. Bisson. “The Crisis of the Catalonian Franchises (1150-1200)”. Estudi General, no. 5-6, Girona 1985-1986, pp. 153-172.

Flocel Sabaté

[163] Thomas N. Bisson. “The ‘Feudal Revolution’”. Past&Present, no. 142, Oxford 1994, p. 42. [164] Josep Maria Salrach. “Esclavitud, llibertat, servitud. L’evolució del camp català”. L’Avenç, no. 93, Barcelona 1986, pp. 36-45. [165] Gaspar Feliu. “Els antecedents de la remença i els mals usos”. Quaderns de la Selva, no. 13, Santa Coloma de Farners 2001, pp. 209-228. [166] Gaspar Feliu. “La pagesia catalana abans de la feudalizació”. Anuario de Estudios Medievales, no. 26, Barcelona 1996, p. 40. [167] Paul Freedman. “Senyors i pagesos al camp feudal”. In: Flocel Sabaté and Joan Farré (ed.). Els grans espais baronials a l’edat mitjana. Desenvolupament socioeconòmic (Balaguer, July 1996). Pagès, Lleida 2002, p. 15. [168] Paul Freedman. Els orígens de la servitud pagesa a la Catalunya medieval. Eumo, Vic 1993. [169] Paul Freedman. “La servidumbre catalana y el problema de la revolución feudal”. Hispania, no. LVI/2-193, Madrid 1996, p. 435. [170] Lluís To. “Le mas catalan du xiie s.: genèse et évolution d’une structure d’encadrement et d’asserviment de la paysannerie”. Cahiers de civilisation médiévale, no. xxvi, Poitiers 1993, pp. 162-177; Idem. “Els remences i el desenvolupament de les viles catalanes a l’entorn de 1200”. In: Louis Assier Andrieu and Raymond Sala (ed.). La Ciutat i els Poders. Actes del Col·loqui del 8è Centenari de la Carta de Poblament (23/25 October 1997). Institut Català de Recerques en Ciències Socials, Perpignan 2000, pp. 133-156. [171] André Gouron. “Sur la compilation des Usages de Barcelone au douzième siècle”. El dret comú i Catalunya. Actes del VIII Simposi Internacional (Barcelona, 29-30 May 1998). Fundació Noguera, Barcelona 1999, pp. 219-232. [172] Limited space means that of his extensive, meticulous oeuvre on the Usatges, in this article we shall only cite the following: Aquilino Iglesia, “De Usatici quomodo inventi fuerunt”. Initium, no. 6, Barcelona 2001, pp. 25-212. [173] Flocel Sabaté. L’expansió territorial de Catalunya: conquesta o repoblació? Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida, Lleida 1996. [174] Flocel Sabaté. “Organització administrativa i territorial del comtat d’Urgell”. In: El Comtat d’Urgell. Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida, Institut d’Estudis Ilerdencs, Lleida 1995, pp. 17-70. [175] Michel Zimmerman. “Des pays catalans à la Catalogne: genèse d’une representation”. In: Philippe Sénac (cur.), Histoire et archéologie des terres catalanes au Moyen Âge. Presses Universitaires de Perpignan, Perpignan 1995, pp. 71-86. [176] Flocel Sabaté. El territori de la Catalunya medieval. Fundació Salvador Vives Casajuana, Barcelona 1997, pp. 267-281.

The Catalonia of the 10th to 12th centuries and the historiographic definition of feudalism

[177] Manuel Riu. “El feudalismo en Cataluña”. In: En torno al feudalismo hispánico. Vol. I. Congreso de Estudios Medievales. Fundación Sánchez Albornoz, Ávila 1989, p. 375. [178] Paul Freedman. “Senyors i pagesos al camp feudal”. In: Els grans espais baronials a l’edat mitjana. Desenvolupament socioeconòmic. I Curs d’Estiu Comtat d’Urgell (Balaguer, July 1996). de Pagès, Lleida 2002, p. 16. [179] Antoni Riera. “La historia medieval en Cataluña (1990-1995). Un balance breve de las últimas investigaciones”. Anuario de Estudios Medievales, no. 27, Barcelona 1997, p. 517. [180] Dominique Barthélemy. La mutation de l’an mil a-t-elle eu lieu? Servage et chevalerie dans la France des xe et xie siècles. Librairie Arthème Fayard, Paris 1997, p. 24. [181] Paulino Iradiel. “Feudalismo agrario y artesanado corporativo”. Studia Historica. Historia Medieval, no. ii, Salamanca 1984, p. 62. [182] Giussepep Sergi. “Feudalismo senza ‘sistema’”. Prometeo. Revista trimestrale di scienze e storia, no. 10, Milan 1993, p. 61; Idem. La idea de Edad Media. Crítica, Barcelona 2001, p. 57. [183] Barbara H. Rosenwein. “Le lit de Procuste de Guy Bois”. Médiévales. Langues, textes, histoire, no. 21, Paris, autumn 1991, p. 16. [184] Susan Reynolds. Fiefs and Vassals: The Medieval Evidence Reinterpreted. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1994. [185] Paul R. Hyams. “The End of Feudalism?” Journal of Interdisciplinary History, no. 27:4, Cambridge 1996, pp. 655-662. [186] Pierre Bonnassie. “Introduction”. In: Pierre Bonnassie (ed.). Fiefs et féodalités dans l’Europe méridionale (Italie, France du Midi, Péninsule Ibérique) du xe au xiiie siècle. CNRS, Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail, Toulouse 2002, p. 8. [187] Paulino Iradiel. Las claves del feudalismo. Planeta, Barcelona 1991, p. 110. [188] Paul Ourliac. “La féodalité et son histoire”. Revue d’histoire du droit français et étranger, no. 73, Paris 1995, pp. 1-21. [189] Stroud F. C. Milson. The Legal Framework of En glish Feudalism. Cambridge Universty Press, Cambridge 1976; Robert C. Palmer, “The Feudal Framework of English Law”. Michigan Law Review, no. 79, Ann Arbor 1981, pp. 1130-1164; Patrick Geary, “Moral Obligations and Peer Presure: Conflict Resolution in the Medieval Aristocracy”. In: Claude Duhamel-Amado and Guy Lubrichon (ed.). Georges Duby. L’Écriture de l’histoire. De Boeck, Brussels 1996, pp. 217-222. [190] Fredric L. Cheyette. Ermengard of Narbonne and the World of the Troubadours. Cornell Univeristy Press, Ithaca-London 2001, pp. 187-247. [191] Stephen White. “’Pactum... Legem vincit et Amor

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Judicium’. The Settlement of Disputes by Compromises in 11th Century France”. The American Journal of Legal History, no. 22, Philadelphia 1979, pp. 281-308; Idem. “Inheritances and Legal Arguments in Western France, 1050-1150”. Tradition, no. xliii, New York 1987, pp. 55-102. [192] Richard C. Hoffmann. “Outsiders by Birth and Blood: Racist Ideologies and Realities Around the Periphery of Medieval European Culture”. Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History, no. 6, Durham 1983, pp. 14-21; Lawrence C. Poos. A Rural Society after the Black Death: Essex 1350-1525. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1991; Teófilo Ruiz. Crisis and Continuity: Land and Town in Late Medieval Castile. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia 1994. [193] Thomas N. Bisson. Tormented Voices: Power, Crisis and Humanity in Rural Catalonia 1140-1200. Harvard University Press, Cambridge-London 1998. [194] Adam J. Kosto. Making Agreements in Medieval Catalonia: Power, Order and the Written Word, 10001200, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2001. [195] Jeffrey A. Bowman. Shifting Landmarks: Property, Proof, and Dispute in Catalonia around the Year 1000. Cornell University, Ithaca 2004. [196] Flocel Sabaté. La feudalización de la sociedad catalana. Editorial Universidad de Granada, Granada, 2007. [197] José Ángel García de Cortázar. “Societat medieval i organització de l’espai. El cas de Castella del segle viii al xii”. Butlletí de la Societat Catalana d’Estudis Històrics, no. viii, Barcelona 1997; Idem. “Estructuras sociales y relaciones de poder en León y Castilla en los siglos viii a xiii: la formación de una sociedad feudal”. In: Il feudalísimo nell’alto Medioevo. XLVII Settimana di Studio del Centro Italiano di Studi sull’Alto Medioevo (Spoleto, 1999). Il Centro, Spoleto 2000, pp. 497-563. [198] Thomas N. Bisson. The Crisis of the Twelfth Century: Power, Lordschip, and the Origins of European Government. Princeton University Press, Princeton 2009. [199] Henri Pirenne. Las ciudades de la edad media. Alianza Editorial, Madrid 1992, pp. 139-152. [200] Christophe Brooke. The Twelfth Century Renaissance. Harcourt Brace & World, New York 1970. [201] Eugene L. Mendonsa. The Scripting of Domination in Medieval Catalonia: An Anthropological View. Carolina Academic Press, Durham 2008. [202] In the preface to the book, Mendonsa confesses that “I started writing parts of this in 1980 but life interceded and I am just now finishing it up in 2007”, and actually, although he reads, synthesises and explicitly cites important recent contributions by authors like Bisson, Freedman and Kosto, among others, the backbone of the work seems to be more an-

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chored in the thinking of 1980 than in the thinking of 2007. [203] ACA, Chancellery, parchments of Ramon Berenguer I, no date, 34 (ed.: Gaspar Feliu and Josep Maria Salrach (ed.). Els pergamins de l’Arxiu Comtal de Barcelona de Ramon Borrell a Ramon Borrell I. Vol. III. Fundació Noguera, Barcelona 1999, p. 1485), among others. [204] Flocel Sabaté. La feudalización de la sociedad catalana. Editorial Universidad de Granada, Granada 2007, p. 136. [205] Josep M. Salrach. “Agressions senyorials i resistències pageses en el procés de feudalització (s. ix-xii)”. In: Revoltes populars contra el poder de l’estat. Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura, Barcelona, 1992, p. 18. [206] Barbara H. Rosenwein, “Le lit de Procuste de Guy Bois”. Médiévales. Langues, textes, histoire, no. 21, Paris, autumn 1991, pp. 11-16. [207] Pierre Bonnassie. La Catalogne du milieu du xe à la fin du xie siècle. Vol. I. Association des Publi cations de l’Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail, Toulouse 1976, pp. 625-644. [208] José Enrique Ruiz-Doménec. L’estructura feudal. Sistema de parentiu i teoria de l’aliança en la societat catalana (c. 980 – c. 1220). Edicions del Mall, Barcelona 1985, p. 75. [209] Flocel Sabaté. “Història medieval”. In: Història de Piera. Pagès editors, Lleida 1999, pp. 132-136. [210] Gaspar Feliu and Josep Maria Salrach (dir.). Els pergamins de l’Arxiu Comtal de Barcelona de Ramon Borrell II a Ramon Berenguer I. Vol. II. Fundació Noguera, Barcelona 1999, pp. 667-693. [211] Paul Freedman. “Senyors i pagesos al camp feudal”. In: Flocel Sabaté and Joan Farré (ed.). Els grans espais baronials a l’edat mitjana. Desenvolupament socioeconòmic (Balaguer, July 1996). Pagès editors, Lleida 2002, p. 19. [212] Randall Collins. Macrohistory. Stanford University Press, Stanford 2000. [213] Matt Perry. Marxism and History. Palgrave Macmillan, London 2002. [214] Luis García-Guijarro. “El positivismo alemán y la edad media: la construcción de un paradigma histórico e historiográfico”. Aragón en la Edad Media, no. xiv-xv, Zaragoza 1999, pp. 641-652. [215] Miguel Artola. “La construcción de la Historia”, Márgenes, no. 1, November-December 1991, p. 55. [216] Flocel Sabaté. “El temps i l’espai del feudalisme”. El temps i l’espai del feudalisme. VI Curs d’estiu comtat d’Urgell (Balaguer, July 2001). Pagès editors, Lleida 2004, p. 71. [217] Flocel Sabaté. Estructura socio-econòmica de l’Anoia (segles x-xiii). Acta Historica et Archaeologica Mediaevalia, no. 13, Barcelona 1992, pp. 176-187. [218] Michel Zimmerman. “Naissance d’une principauté: Barcelone et les autres comtés catanans aux alen-

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tours de l’an Mil”. In: Catalunya i França Meridional a l’entorn de l’any mil. Actes del Col·loqui Internacional Hug Capet (Barcelona, July 1987). Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura, Barcelona 1991, pp. 130-131. [219] André Bonnery. “El marc històric. El Capcir”. In: Antoni Pladevall (dir.). Catalunya romànica. Vol. XXV. Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalana, Barcelona 1996, pp. 213-124. [220] Albert Benet. El procés d’independència de Catalunya (897-989). Institut d’Arqueologia, Història i Ciències Naturals, Sallent 1988, pp. 2027 and 29-40. [221] Josep Camprubí. “Los ‘castra’ fronterizos de la parte occidental del condado Berguedá (Barcelona) en los años centrales del siglo x: el reflejo de las rivalidades condoles”. In: Amador Rubial (coord.). Actas del III Congreso de Castellología Ibérica (Guadalajara, 28th October - 1st November 2005). Asociación Española de Amigos de los Castillos, Diputación Provincial de Palencia, Madrid 2005, pp. 83-92. [222] Antoni Pladevall. “L’organització de l’Església a la Catalunya carolíngia”. In: Catalunya a l’època carolíngia. Art i cultura abans del romànic (segles ix i x). Patronat del Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona 1999, p. 58. [223] Antoni Bach. Col·lecció diplomàtica del monestir de Santa Maria de Solsona: el Penedès i altres llocs del comtat de Barcelona (segles x-xv). Department de Cultura, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona 1987, p. 45. [224] Josep Rius. Cartulario de ‘Sant Cugat’ del Vallés. Vol. I. CSIC, Barcelona 1945, p. 285; Jesús Alturo. L’arxiu antic de Santa Anna de Barcelona del 942 al 1200 (Aproximació històrico-lingüística). Vol. II. Fundació Noguera, Barcelona 1985, p. 14. [225] Josep Maria Salrach. “El Comte Guifré de Besalú i la revolta de 957. Contribució a l’estudi de la noblesa catalana en el segle x”. II Assemblea d’Estudis sobre el comtat de Besalú. Actes. Amigos de Besalú y su Condado, Olot 1973, pp. 3-36. [226] Cebrià Baraut. “Els documents dels segles ix i x conservats a l’Arxiu Capitular de la Seu d’Urgell”. Urgellia, vol. II, La Seu d’Urgell 1979, pp. 97-98. [227] Ramon d’Abadal. Catalunya carolíngia. Els comtats de Pallars i Ribagorça. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona 1955, p. 385. [228] Josep Maria Font Rius. Cartas de población y franquicia de Cataluña. CSIC, Madrid-Barcelona 1969, vol. I.1, p. 18. [229] Manuel Riu. “El paper dels ‘castra’ en la redistribució de l’hàbitat al comtat d’Osona.” Ausa, X/102-104, Vic 1982, pp. 401-409; Flocel Sabaté. “Anoia. Marc historic”. In: Antoni Pladevall (dir.). Catalunya romànica. Vol. XIX. Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalana, Barcelona 1992, pp. 308-319; Josep Camprubí.

The Catalonia of the 10th to 12th centuries and the historiographic definition of feudalism

Conquesta i estructuració territorial del Berguedà (s. ix-xi). La formació del comtat. Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida, Lleida 2006, pp. 99-126. [230] Flocel Sabaté. “La tenencia de castillos en la Cataluña medieval”. In: José Vicente Cabezuelo (ed.). Alcaidías y fortalezas en la España medieval. Marfil, Alcoi 2006, pp. 70-76. [231] Flocel Sabaté. “L’Anoia durant l’època romànica (segles x-xiii)”. Miscellanea Aqualatensia, no. vii, Igualada 1995, p. 419. [232] Josep Torró. Jérusalem ou Valence: la première colonie d’Occident”. Annales. Histoire Sciences Sociales, no. 55, Paris 2000, pp. 994-995. [233] Flocel Sabaté. L’expansió territorial de Catalunya (Segles IX-XII): Conquesta o repoblació? Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida, Lleida 1996, pp. 68-86. [234] Flocel Sabaté. “Frontera peninsular e identidad (siglos ix-xii)”. In: Las Cinco villas aragonesas en la Europa de los siglos xii y xiii. De la frontera natural a las fronteras políticas y socioeconómicas (foralidad y municipalidad). Institución Fernando el Católico, Zaragoza 2007, pp. 76-94. [235] Flocel Sabaté. “La castralització de l’espai en l’estructuració d’un territori conquerit (Urgell, Pla d’Urgell, Garrigues i Segrià)”. Urtx, no. 11, Tàrrega 1998, pp. 9-16. [236] Flocel Sabaté. “Les castlanies i la comissió de 1328”. In: Estudios sobre renta, fiscalidad y finanzas en la Cataluña bajomedieval. CSIC, Barcelona 1993, pp. 177-241. [237] Antoni Virgili. ‘Ad detrimentum Yspanie’. La conquesta de Turtusa i la formació de la societat feudal (1148-1200). Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Universitat de València, Valencia 2001; Flocel Sabaté. Història de Lleida. Alta edad mitjana. Pagès, Lleida 2003. [238] Pere Benito. “Els ‘clamores’ de Sant Cugat contra el fill del Gran Senescal i altres episodis de terrorisme nobiliari (1161-1162)”. Anuario de Estudios Medievales, no. 30, Barcelona 2000, pp. 851-886. [239] Flocel Sabaté. La gent dels castells. Montcalet Selectes, Igualada 1999, p. 37.

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[240] Pere Benito. “La formació de la gran tinença pagesa i la gènesi del mas com a estructura senyorial (segles xii-xiii)”. In: Maria Teresa Ferrer, Josefina Mutgé and Manuel Riu (dir.), El mas català durant l’edat mitjana i la moderna (segles ix-xviii). CSIC, Barcelona 2001, pp. 107-108. [241] Paul Freedman. Els orígens de la servitud pagesa a la Catalunya medieval. Eumo, Vic 1993, pp. 113125. [242] Cebrià Baraut. “Els documents, dels anys 10761092, de l’Arxiu Capitular de la Seu d’Urgell”. Urgellia, no. vii, La Seu d’Urgell 1984-1985, p. 76. [243] Albert Benet, Històries insòlites. Parcir Selectes, Manresa 1992, p. 109. [244] Aquilino Iglesia. “El cartulario de Sant Cugat del Vallés: del ‘Liber Iudicorum’ al ‘Corpus Iuris Civilis’”. In: Joaquín Cerdá y Ruíz-Funes and Pablo Salvador Coderch (ed.). I Seminario de Historia del Derecho y Derecho Privado. Nuevas técnicas de investigación. Universidad Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra 1985, p. 164. [245] Recent historiography frames the changes in the 11th and 12th centuries by combining and evolving continuities taken from the preceding centuries (Constance Brittain Bouchard. Those of My Blood: Constructing Noble Families in Medieval France. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia 2001). [246] Lluís To. Família i hereu a la Catalunya nord-oriental (segles x-xii), Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 1997, pp. 217-245. [247] Memory, as one of the three powers of the human being - “intellectus, ratio et memoria” (Yale Beinecke Library, ms. 189, f. 11r) - is consciously extended to be anchored in the bond and solidarity of one’s own specific family lineage (Flocel Sabaté. Identity, Memory and History, available shortly). [248] José Enrique Ruiz-Doménec. La memoria de los feudales. Argot, Barcelona 1984. [249] Flocel Sabaté. “Las tierras nuevas en los condados del nordeste peninsular (siglos x-xii)”. Studia Historica. Historia Medieval, no. 23, Salamanca 2005, pp. 152-157.

About the Author Flocel Sabaté is a Professor of Mediaeval History at the University of Lleida, where he leads the Consolidated Mediaeval Studies Research Group: Space, Power and Culture, the Centre for the Valorisation and Promotion of the Cultural Heritage and the Institute for Research into Identity and Society. He has served as visiting professor at the Université Paris-I, the Université de Poitiers, the Università della Tuscia, Yale University, the Universidad de Autónoma de México and the École Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines in Lyon. His most prominent publications include: L’expansió territorial de Catalunya (Segles IX-XII) (Lleida, 1996), El territori de la Catalunya medieval (Barcelona, 1997), El sometent a la Catalunya medieval (Barcelona, 2007), La feudalización de la sociedad catalana (Granada, 2007) and The Death Penalty in Late Medieval Catalonia (available shortly).

CATALAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 3: 55-68 (2010) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.1000.01.39 · ISSN: 2013-407X http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/

“Volent escriure a vostra consolació e plaer”: Metge, Corella and other 14th and 15th century masters of Catalan prose Lola Badia*

Universitat de Barcelona Received 6 May 2009 · Accepted 20 July 2009

Abstract This article examines literary prose from the leading 14th and 15th century authors who turned care for their style into the centrepiece of their efforts as writers at a time when Catalan scripta had reached maturity, after having become consolidated in the latter part of the 13th century. Bernat Metge and Joan Roís de Corella are the most masterful of these writers, both of them trained in imitating Petrarch, the classics (Ovid, Cicero, Virgil and Seneca) and especially in Boccaccio’s writing in the vernacular. We shall also examine the contributions from Antoni Casals, the anonymous author of Curial e Güelfa, Joanot Martorell, Felip de Malla and Francesc Alegre.

Key words: artful prose, reception of Boccaccio and Petrarch, imitation of the classics, rhetoric, history of Catalan lit-

erature

Catalan literary prose appeared in the late 13th century in such extensive volumes as Desclot’s Crònica (Chronicle) and the early works in the vernacular tongue by Ramon Llull: the Llibre de contemplació en Déu (Book of Contemplation on God), the Llibre d’Evast e Blaquerna (Book of Evast and Blanquerna) and Fèlix or the Llibre de Meravelles (Book of Wonders). In the ensuing century, they were joined by other historical texts, such as Muntaner’s Crònica (Chronicle) and the ones written on the orders of Peter the Ceremonious, as well as several translations of narrative and educational works and the prolific output of friar Francesc Eiximenis, author of Lo crestià, an encyclopaedia for the education of lay persons, the Llibre de les dones (Book of Women), the Llibre dels angels (Book of Angels) and the Vida de Crist (Life of Christ). Therefore, at the turn from the 14th to 15th centuries, Catalan had a powerful textual support that not only covered the genres of the literary culture of the day, mainly coming from France and Occitania, but also was present in the realm of science and technology.2*In this article, we shall examine some of the authors who at that time, marked by the maturity of the Catalan literary scripta, made attention to style the core of their trade as writers, men trained as both lawyers and clerics and religious men who elevated Catalan to the level of the most elaborate Romance model of * Contact address: Lola Badia. Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Departament de Filologia Catalana, Universitat de Barcelona. Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes 585. E-08007 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU. Tel.: +34 934035612. Fax: +34 934035698. E-mail: lola.badia@ub.edu <http://www.narpan.net>

the day, that of Giovanni Boccaccio, the instigator of the complex period of Latinising structure who invented artful prose in the vernacular tongue and popular literature with a high rhetorical and intellectual content.3 The fact that the model was Boccaccio, whose The Elegy of Lady Fiammetta, Corbaccio and Decameron were translated into Catalan, does not mean that there was not also a direct stimulus from Cicero, Sallustius, Livy and the moral Seneca, authors who were also the subject of translations and adaptations. The cultivators of artful mediaeval Catalan prose learned how to write by mimicking the Italian masters, Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio, and the Latin classics. The familiarity with poets like Virgil, Ovid, Statius, Lucan and the Seneca of the Tragedies, the subject of translation and compendiums or of small collections of opinions, enriched the set of rhetorical resources in the Catalan language.4 In the Catalan writings we are concerned with in this article, which are somewhere between interpolated translation, creative gloss and newly-minted texts, attention to style is indissociable from the choice of historical and moral subjects with classical roots, subjects that earned their prestige precisely through texts such as Dante’s Comedy, Petrarch’s epistles and Africa and Boccaccio’s works of fiction and scholarly compilations. The spread of this kind of text began under the reign of Peter the Ceremonious (1337-1386) but did not reach its full expression until the times of John I and Yolande de Bar (13871396), who came from the French royal house, which was highly sensitive to Italian cultural innovations. The recep-

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tion of the classics via Petrarch and Boccaccio was expanded during the reign of Martin I (1396-1410) and consolidated in the 15th century with the Italian policy of Alphonse the Magnanimous (1416-1458), who was King of Naples as of 1442. The profile of friar Antoni Canals (ca. 1352-1419) is representative of the introduction of the new Italian and classical products to the cultured elites; he was a Dominican who was a professor of theology at the University of Valencia, who was linked to the Inquisition and had dealings with the royalty. Apart from devout works such as Scala de contemplació (Ladder of Contemplation) and Tractat de confessió (Treatise on Confession), written for the purpose of educating laymen eager to edify themselves, Canals also translated a brief excerpt from Petrarch’s Africa into Catalan, entitled Escipió i Aníbal (Scipio and Hannibal), Valerius Maximus’ Fets i dits memorables (Memorable Doings and Sayings) and Seneca’s De providentia (On Providence). Canals believed that a carefully chosen subject matter based on safe doctrinal positions should guide the readings of the nobility and bourgeoisie, fleeing from the morally pernicious fables of Lancelot and Tristan, from the Reynard the fox’s escapades and especially from Ovid’s erotic writings.5 Canals’ Catalan prose fits within the structure of his Latin models in their syntax and lexis because translation for moral and educational purposes was where one learnt to construct artful prose in the vernacular. This is partly the case of Bernat Metge (1346-1413), the best Catalan stylist of all times, the creator of a porous, rich, cultivated prose yet one devoid of hyperbolic excesses. Metge was also the author of texts that were as brief and pleasant to read as they were incisive and intelligent.6 Metge, a Barcelona notary educated in the court of Peter the Ceremonious and Eleanor of Sicily, was the personal secretary to King John I and Queen Yolande de Bar between 1387 and 1396, and starting in 1402 he likewise served Martin I until his death in 1410. The royal letters that Metge wrote in Catalan, Latin and Aragonese are remarkable for their quality, yet his masterpiece is Lo somni (The Dream, 1399). This work contains a dialogue with a narrative framework divided into four books, in which the writer’s alter ego, who also bears his name, talks with three deceased personages: King John I of Aragon, who was recently deceased, and the ghosts of the poet Orpheus and the soothsayer Tiresias, who accompanies the deceased man in the hereafter, reminding him of his sins, which are an excessive love for the hunt, music and the divining arts. Poc temps ha passat que estant en la presó, no per demèrits que mos perseguidors e envejosos sabessen contra mi (segons que despuis clarament a llur vergonya s’és demostrat), mas per sola iniquitat que m’havien, o per ventura per algun secret juí de Déu, un divendres, entorn mija nit, estudiant en la cambra on jo havia acostumat estar, la qual és testimoni de les mies cogita-

Lola Badia

cions, me vénc fort gran desig de dormir, e llevant-me en peus passegé un poc per la dita cambra; mas sobtat de molta son, covenc-me gitar sobre lo llit, e sobtosament, sens despullar, adormí’m, no pas en la forma acostumada, mas en aquella que malalts o famejants solen dormir.7 The first book of Lo somni deals with the immortality of the soul. The character Bernat poses some serious “Epicurean”-style doubts8 which end up being resolved through the very presence of the deceased monarch and the authority of philosophical arguments with Platonic and Christian roots extracted from quality sources (Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations, The Dialogues of Saint Gregory the Great, Cassiodorus’ On the Soul, some of Petrarch’s letters and his Secretum, among others). Here Metge, at the start of the process of persuading a sceptical Bernat of the survival of the human soul after death, combines his sources to produce a conversational exchange brimming with originality and boasting judiciously calculated naturalness. The main character’s interlocutor is King John: –Digues –respòs ell–: abans que vinguesses en lo món, què eres? –Ço que seré aprés la mort –diguí jo. –E què seràs? –No res. –Doncs, no res eres abans que fosses engenrat? –Així ho crec –diguí jo. –E per què ho creus? –Per tal com cascun jorn veig que la dona, per l’ajustament de l’hom, se fa prenys, e d’abans no ho era; e puis pareix alguna creatura, la qual de no ésser ve a ésser. –Hoc, mas –dix ell– ço que tu has vist en altres no ho has vist en tu mateix. Emperò, digues-me si et recorda què eres abans que fosses engenrat. –A mi –diguí jo– no em recorda ni són cert què era, car no ho viu; mas ben crec que no era res, car hom són així com los altres e cové que seguesca llurs petjades. –Doncs –dix ell–, tu creus ço que no has vist.9 The second book debates timely issues related to Bernat’s imprisonment, which was due, he claims, to the malevolence of his political enemies, and to the fate of the king’s soul after death. Thanks to his faith in the Immaculate Conception of Mary, he hopes to enter paradise when the schism in the Church is resolved. The first-person story of the lives of Orpheus and Tiresias is a lovely exercise in prose imitating its classical counterpart which is enriched in the third and fourth books by an adaptation of Boccaccio’s Corbaccio, placed in the mouth of the Theban soothsayer, who sets out to release Bernat from his affection for the female gender, according to Antoni Canals’ views on love. Here is Or-

“Volent escriure a vostra consolació e plaer”: Metge, Corella and other 14th and 15th century masters of Catalan prose

pheus’ prayer to the infernal judges to achieve the restitution of his wife Eurydice, who died from a viper’s fang: Si a la vostra gran potència no expon en la manera que deig ço per què m’ha covengut venir ací, suplic que em sia perdonat, car fora són de mon seny per lo sobtós e inopinat infortuni que sobre lo meu dolorós cap és caigut. No són vengut ací per mirar les tenebres infernals, a les quals necessàriament tota cosa mortal ha a davallar, ne a encadenar lo coll de Cèrber, així com alguns han fet; sola causa de la mia venguda és ma muller, la qual, estant en la flor del seu jovent, una serpent ha morta ab son verí. Assajat he, mas no he pogut, que pacientment ho soferís: l’amor d’aquella m’ha vençut. Si la fama antiga és vera, tots sóts estats amorosos així com jo; plàcia-us, doncs, que la dita muller mia vullats a mi restituir. Totes coses vos són degudes; o tard o breu ací devem generalment venir; a perir ha tot lo món: aquesta és la nostra darrera casa. Vosaltres posseïts los perpetuals regnes de l’humanal llinatge. Quan la dita muller mia serà a vellesa pervenguda, aitambé serà vostra: solament la us deman a mon ús. No em donets repulsa, car si ho féts, sapiats que no me’n tornaré, e llavors alegrarets-vos de la mort d’ambdosos.10 Orpheus then explains the status of mythological beings within the Christian universe, seeing them, in accordance with the 12th century commentators and Dante in his Divine Comedy, as figures symbolising human behaviour with an educational dimension.11 Metge has a precise control over the different registers, adapting them to the different subjects he examines, from the philosophical solemnity of the first book to the manneristic lightness when he allows himself a point-by-point rebuttal of the misogynistic repertoire that Boccaccio had compiled based on ancient and mediaeval sources. Not only do all the threads remain perfectly linked, rather the character of Bernat allows himself ironies, driven home by the voice of the narrator who underscores the laughter of the interlocutors. The very nature of the dialogue structure enhances the contrast between clashing opinions, and Metge is a master at taking advantage of this dialectal instrument in fiction to conduct the reader towards myriad interpretations induced by their own prejudices. In effect, Lo somni can be understood as a palinody of a heretic discredited by the “sect of Epicurus” who, warned by the apparition of King John, puts his visionary experience into writing in a consolatory work in an effort to rectify his wayward peers. Yet it can also be interpreted as the nightmare of a layman alienated from his faith and an enemy of the Church’s sexual mores who is required to accept against his will the official truth on the survival of the soul after death with the consequence of eternal life in damnation or glory.12 If we examine the literal text, Bernat retracts his incredulity and accepts the enduring life of the soul (with some vacillations), but he refuses to give up women in general, although he has to admit that his amo-

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 57

rous relations do not make him an example of virtue. Lo somni achieves a literary fullness that is reminiscent of Geoffrey Chaucer, another great 14th century writer who worked based on the classics filtered through the lenses of Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio. In the course of his reply to Tiresias about the vices of women, Bernat denies that it is wrong to enjoy dances and songs because [...] natural cosa és prendre delit en música, e especialment que sia mesclada ab retòrica e poesia, que concorren sovent en les danses e cançons dictades per bons trobadors. Poc s’adeliten los hòmens en oir semblants coses, les quals deurien saber per fugir ociositat e per poder dir bé lo concebiment de sa pensa. Mas delitense molt en oir trufadors, escarnidors, ralladors, mals parlers, cridadors, avoloradors, jutjadors e mijancers de bacalleries e viltats.13 Rhetoric and poetry are two cultural, aesthetic and moral assets which, according to a doctrine by Petrarch set forth by Boccaccio in the 14th book of the Genealogia deorum, are the cornerstone of the spiritual elevation of cultivated, wise men who are capable of filling their idle time with exercises consisting of such a subtle, committed endeavour as “dir bé lo concebiment de sa pensa” [saying what they think artfully]. The majority of men prefer the crass vulgarity of crude entertainment. Yet whoever has literary awareness also has moral awareness, regardless of whether they are male or female. The commitment to the humanities of the lead character of Lo somni finds its parallel in a brief literary work by Metge, who is also the author of the Llibre de Fortuna i Prudència (Book of Fortune and Prudence) in paired eight-syllable lines, of the Sermó (Sermon) and of Medicina (Medicine), minor satirical works also written in verse, of Ovidi enamorat (Ovid in Love), a translation excerpted from the pseudo-Ovidian Latin poem De vetula, of Petrarch’s version of Griselidis (1387) and of the start of an Apologia, which is presented as a dialogue without verba dicendi. The Llibre de Fortuna i Prudència, explicitly dated by the author from 1381, is a consolatory text that imitates Guillem de Torroella’s La faula (The Fable, 1374), a fantastical narration written by a Majorcan squire in which the main character is kidnapped by a magical whale off the coast of Sóller and led asea to an enchanted isle where King Arthur and the sorceress Morgan le Fey live.14 The pretext behind the abduction of the main character is to make him the bearer of a disenchanted message about the decline of the knighthood. The mythical king of the great 13th century prose narrative, translated into Catalan and well known within the Crown of Aragon, converses in French with Torroella, who responds in turn in Occitan, about the “Breton hope” based on the story from the French 13th century novel Mort Artu and painfully shows his disappointment in the decline in values from the standpoint of a strong, just, Christian monarch. In his

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unique retelling, Metge replaces the whale from Sóller with a boat with neither sails nor oars, and the enchanted isle from the Mediterranean Arthurian folklore with the Isle of Fortune described by Alan of Lille in his Anticlaudianu. Instead of Morgan le Fey and Arthur, Bernat finds there a capricious, arbitrary goddess who insults him and assaults him, leading him to believe that she is the mistress of his misfortune, presented with borrowings from the Elegia by Arrigo da Settimello, another 12th century Latin writer like Alan of Lille. The arrival of Prudence with her seven Liberal Arts releases the main character from his distress through a doctrinal dialogue during which Bernat learns that fortune is not an omnipotent goddess rather a vain fantasy, and that cultivating virtue is the sole key to man’s destiny. Bernat receives a consolation constructed on sources that hark back to several works written in the vernacular, to the Roman de la Rose and to Dante’s Comedy.15 It is revealing that twenty years before Lo somni, Metge would devise a consolatory work, replacing the chivalric sources of his model with 12th century Latin writers that were accessible for a man with legal and courtly training, and with a tentative first step towards the new Romantic literature with its lofty intellectual ambitions, as is the case of Jean de Meung and Dante. There is surprising thematic continuity between Llibre de Fortuna i Prudència and Lo somni, in the sense that in the latter the doctrine on fortune is already considered resolved and the discussion on man’s destiny opens up to more committed themes with Platonic philosophical echoes, such as the immortality of the soul. Yet contrariwise, the stylistic change could hardly be more striking. The lyrical Occitan verse and the brief Catalan narrative give way to the mature, precise prose of someone who has made a perfectly conscious cultural choice, probably stimulated by access to Petrarchesque materials on the immortal nature of the soul which fell into Metge’s hands during the journey he took to the papal city of Avignon in 1395 as the ambassador of the King of Aragon.16 Avignon had been Petrarch’s residence, and in Metge’s day it was still a prime hub of cultural exchanges between the upper clergy of Italy and France, with an intense circulation of manuscripts and ideas. However, Lo somni is not Metge’s first foray into artful prose. In 1387 he had translated the last tale in the Decameron based on the Latin version that Petrarch had written to ennoble the vernacular work of his friend Boccaccio in the language of erudition. The Story of Walter and Griselda was preceded by an epistle to a lady from Barcelona high society which exalts the virtues of marital fidelity and proclaims Metge’s affection for Petrarch. It should be noted that, despite the fact that his model of prose follows that of Boccaccio, who wrote in a Romance language, Metge never mentions him, while he wholeheartedly engages in this declaration of Petrarchism. Latin literature was highly prestigious among cultivated circles in the closing decades of the 14th century, and for this reason Metge does not say that when he translated the Griselidis

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he bore in mind both Petrarch’s version and Boccaccio’s original.17 The brief fragment of Metge’s Apologia (just one page) is a failed attempt of enormous literary interest. Besides stating that he will follow the conversational model of Plato’s Timaeus, Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations and Petrarch’s De remediis, the character Bernat visits his neighbour Ramon to entrust his house to him during his imminent absence prompted by an outbreak of the plague. There is no documentary proof, but it is likely that the Apologia is a trial run prior to Lo somni, a work, though written in dialogue, which some explanations in prose that feed an articulated narrative fiction which makes it stand apart from the pure model of Platonic dialogue and brings it into closer alignment with the tastes of the Court audience to which it was targeted. Indeed, there is proof that one of the first readers of Lo somni was King Martin; however, the history of the manuscript tradition teaches us that Metge’s 15th century masterpiece was read by people from very different sectors of society and that it was copied alongside religious works and tales of apparitions, an unequivocal sign that some readers considered it an edifying text.18 In contrast, the opinion expressed by Ferran Valentí diverges substantially. Valentí was a Majorcan merchant from the first half of the 15th century who had studied Latin in Florence with Leonardo Bruni. He mentions Metge in the prologue to his version of Cicero’s Paradox. In the justification of his translation of the classical legacy, Valentí embarks on a sweeping survey of its precedents, which is actually the first draft of a history of Catalan literature until 1450. The prominent position he assigns to Metge comes from his skill in translation, because Valentí claims that Lo somni makes the Tusculan Disputations and Boccaccio speak in Catalan.19 The prestige of Bernat Metge’s Lo somni reaches as far as Joanot Martorell’s Tirant lo Blanc, which includes it among its manifold sources that critics have been capable of discerning in his writing.20 The decline in the quality and quantity of Catalan literary output in the 16th and 17th centuries respected the memory of very few mediaeval works, Lo somni not among them, as it slept the sleep of the just until the 19th century, when the leading figures in the Renaixença, or Catalan Renaissance, once again revealed an interest in the Catalan Middle Ages. The 1889 editions of the text published in Paris and Barcelona, based on two manuscripts conserved in situ, were like the rebirth of the phoenix. Metge’s magnificent prose coupled with his subtlety and his skill in handling the classical and Italian sources fascinated scholars. Antoni Rubió i Lluch assigned him a prominent role in the history of Catalan belles-lettres, bestowing upon Metge the title of humanist in the broad sense of a cultivator of the classics, of a lover of belles-lettres and secular moral philosophy. In a historical reconstruction with nationalistic inspirations, the precocity of the humanism attributed to Metge transformed him into a patriotic symbol that dif-

“Volent escriure a vostra consolació e plaer”: Metge, Corella and other 14th and 15th century masters of Catalan prose

fered greatly from the classicist militancy of the Noucentista intellectuals from the early 20th century. For this reason, when the patron Francesc Cambó founded the great collection of translations of works by Greek and Latin authors in Catalan that is still active today, he chose to call it by Bernat Metge’s name, following the French model of the Guillaume Budé collection. In turn, when Josep Maria de Casacuberta started the collection of mediaeval Catalan classics in the “Els Nostres Clàssics” (Our Classics) series with the Barcino publishing house (which had also reached the 21st century), he wanted to launch it with an edition that would place Lo somni in the hands of all Catalans so that they could be edified by reading one of the most valuable assets within their own tradition. Bernat Metge’s humanism, equivocal in its polysemy, is a historiographic category that responds to an ideology of the beginning of the XXth Century and that should be borne in mind when properly reading a given critical bibliography.21 In accordance with the international conventions, as Jordi Rubió i Balaguer pointed out over 50 years ago, it is worthwhile to reserve the term ‘humanism’ to refer to the activity of some Catalan scholars and intellectuals who expressed themselves in Latin in the 15th century

Figure 1. Dedicatory of the edition of the Life of the Glorious St. Anna by Joan Roís de Corella (Valencia, 1485?)

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and who, since they did not use the Catalan language, have traditionally not been properly studied or valued. They include Joan Margarit, Jeroni Pau, Pere Joan Ferrer, Joan Serra and many other philologists, historians and poets who have been recently exhumed and who deserve examination in another article in this journal.22 At the polar opposite to Bernat Metge’s success after the first few decades of the 20th century, another great Catalan mediaeval prosaist, Joan Roís de Corella (14351497), inspired by the classics and by Boccaccio, was not fully appreciated by the founders of the Catalan critical tradition, and even in 1964 Martí de Riquer had to defend him in his Història de la literatura (History of Literature) from the accusations of poor taste that had been hurled at it.23 If Bernat Metge had wrongly been seen as a standardbearer of classical studies and a promoter of the updating of modern times, the Baroque prose of Joan Roís de Corella was also unfairly associated with the “decline” of Catalan letters in the 16th century and thereafter, another historiographic category that sprang from the ideology of the time which is currently marginalised in the critical bibliography. The 1973 popular edition of Corella’s profane works put this author’s great rhetorical prose within the reach of the average reader.24 The full restoration of Corella’s literary merits in the 1990s was linked to the revitalisation in studies on the biography of Joanot Martorell (1410-1465) and the rhetorical underpinnings of his Tirant lo Blanc conducted on the occasion of the fifth centennial of the publication of the first edition of this work (Valencia, 1490).25 It has been demonstrated that Tirant, one of the handful of mediaeval Catalan works that was remembered beyond the 16th century because it was translated into Spanish in 1511 and Cervantes cited it with praise in his Quixote, wholly and repeatedly presents passages excerpted from Corella’s profane prose.26 An understanding of the purpose of these borrowings from Corella in Tirant has furnished a more comprehensive image of the intended style of Joanot Martorell, a member of the Valencian petty bourgeoisie at the service of King Alphonse the Magnanimous (1416-1458) and of Charles of Viana, the heir to King John II who never rose to the throne.27 Tirant is a chivalrous novel written between 1460 and 1464, subjected to a classicising writing style as is the anonymous Curial e Güelfa, which was probably written in around the 1440s.28 Joan Roís de Corella, who maintained literary correspondence with Charles of Viana and was highly esteemed in the Aragonese royal courts in the mid-15th century, became Joanot Martorell’s teacher of artful prose.29 The rhetorical overabundance of Corella’s prose, which imitates the most hyperbolic resources of the styles of Boccaccio, Ovid and Seneca in his Tragedies, was fashionable in the Aragonese courts in the mid-15th century, and yet it was deeply disliked among the Catalan literary critics in the early 20th century, for whom the Catalan language was naturally austere and fled from the Baroque

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style, which was viewed as an influence from Spanish. Now that this prejudice has been overcome with the aid of documents that have allowed us to sketch a biographical profile of Corella,30 we should explore the poetics of an author who was highly esteemed in his day and who wrote in a style which tends to be called “Valencian prose”.31 Some of the most characteristic features of Valencian prose are the vast richness in its uses of the gerund and the conjugated present participle; amplification, or the presence of periphrasis, especially of verbs, redundancies and combinations of adjectives, nouns, verbs and adverbs; litotes, that is, negative instead of affirmative constructions; and hyperbaton, or an alternation in the natural order of discourse, especially by systematically placing the verb at the end of the sentence. Here is a sample of this: Per la celsitud transcendent de la senyora de les ciències, sacra Teologia, davallant, ab delitós estudi, en los florits e verds camps d’afable poesia, llevant les àncores de pereós oci, lleixats los prats de reposat silenci, estendré les càndides veles, ab plaent exercici, en les baixes antenes de vulgar poesia. A la tempestuosa mar de Venus la proa de ma escriptura endreçant, descriuré naufragis d’aquells qui, en ella follament navegant, dolorosa e miserable fi prenen. Mas, perquè el meu despoblat entendre, a descriure ensems e trobar, per nova invenció, no basta, sols recitaré un parlament que, pocs dies

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passats, entre alguns hòmens d’estat esdevenc; los noms dels quals recitant l’alt e gentil estil de tan ben raonades proses, seria a la sua ínclita fama haver enveja e a verdadera amistat girar les espatles.32 This preface to the Parlament en casa de Berenguer Mercader (Discussion in the House of Berenguer Mercader) establishes a rigorous hierarchy of the intellectual disciplines. Theology is the highest science, in touch with the revealed truth; “affable poetry” is the literary fiction of the Latin models, especially Ovid in his Metamorphosis and his Heroides; and the “lowly antennae of vulgar poetry” refers to Boccaccio and Corella’s imitative prose in Romance languages. Joan Roís de Corella, who was a master of theology and man of the Church, is given the licence to speak about love, that is, about the “tempestuous sea of Venus”, to reveal its perils, namely the “shipwrecks” of those who practise it insensibly, “sailing foolishly through its waters”. The literary exercise, then, consists of using artful prose for dissuasive purposes to breathe life into examples of star-crossed or even criminal loves. Making use of false modesty, Corella also claims that he is not trying to invent anything new, rather he only aims to painstakingly reproduce already known stories. They include five Ovidian myths (Cephalus and Procris, Orpheus, Scylla, Pasiphaë, Prognes and Philomela) that he re-creates as a “chronicler”, after having heard them told for collective pleasure and consolation by a group of historically docu-

Figure 2. Thumbnail of the Leges Palatinae of the the royal court of the Kingdom of Majorca, manuscript in 1337 (Royal Library of Brussels)

“Volent escriure a vostra consolació e plaer”: Metge, Corella and other 14th and 15th century masters of Catalan prose

mented prominent Valencians gathered together to spend an evening in the home of Berenguer Mercader. The artful rhetoric rescues Ovid’s erotic literature from the condemnation expressed by the Dominican Antoni Canals, partly justifying Bernat Metge’s reluctance to allow the misogynistic invectives from Corbaccio reported by Tiresias in Lo somni. Both Metge and Corella take pleasure in the tale of Orpheus’ life, the man who, thanks to the “celsitud transcendent” [transcendent loftiness] of his poetry, managed to briefly rescue his dead wife from the underworld. The art of “saying what they think artfully” and the significant power of the ancient myths are the core purpose of literature. As the second son of a family from Valencia’s petty nobility, Joan Roís de Corella studied theology, and in his adulthood he became famous as a holy preacher. His works include the lives of the saints, Marian poetry and translations of pious works: the Psalms and the four volumes of the Carthusian Ludolph of Saxony’s Life of Christ. Corella is the first important Catalan author to disseminate works in the vernacular during his lifetime through the printing press: the first book printed in Catalan, the Trobes en llaor de la Verge Maria (Poems in Praise of the Virgin Mary, 1474), contains one of his compositions and his Cartoixà (Carthusian) has reached us today in incunabula. Corella’s profane works include amorous poems focusing on the subject of disappointment (La sepultura [The Burial], Balada de la garsa i de l’esmerla [Ballad of the Magpie and the Merlin], poems to Caldesa), works about circumstances with remarkable formal skill (Sepultura de mossèn Francí Aguilar [Burial of Sir Francí Aguilar]) and remakes of mythological subjects such as the ones mentioned above. His only narrative “invention” or original output is the Tragèdia de Caldesa (Tragedy of Caldesa), which can be dated from 1458, a highly dramatic, firstperson rendering of amorous betrayal by a beloved young lady with promiscuous habits. Martorell turned it into a private play in chapter 283 of Tirant.33 Given the fact that Tirant was finished in 1464, all of its borrowings from Corella must date from before then, which confirms that the profane poetry and mythological prose are works from this author’s youth, probably written during his grammar studies before he went on to study theology. The mediaeval scholarly tradition always taught Latin through readings of the classics, and the repertoire available in Valencia in the mid-15th century must have been rich enough to stimulate the desire to imitate the style. The religious studies then refined the purpose of moral emulation of the licentious contents in Ovid, Seneca and Virgil. Another work from Corella’s youth is his bilingual epistolary exchange with Charles of Viana, who died in 1461 and whose titles included Duke of Gandia, Corella’s hometown. Charles of Viana translated Aristotle’s Ethics into Spanish, but the subject of his debate with Corella is a question of love in the chivalric tradition, to wit: in an ex-

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treme situation in which two ladies must be saved from a certain death, who would a sincere lover choose: the one he loves in vain or the one who is hopelessly in love with him? Discussing a dilemma like this one, and carefully arguing the psychological and moral implications of the decisions, perfectly illustrates Corella’s tastes and those of his courtly audience: extreme sentimentalism, a tragic vision of amorous relations, fatalism linked to the passion of love, invincible pessimism. The elaborate prose of his mythological tales convey this conflict and this anxiety, which are also present in Ausiàs March’s lyricism (1400-1459), with its Baroque adjectives which implacably herald catastrophes and the systematic use of hyperbole and hypallage.34 After the five myths in the Parlament en casa de Berenguer Mercader, Corella wrote Lamentacions de Mirra, Narcís i Tisbe (Lamentations of Myrrha, Narcissus and Thisbe), set in the author’s descent into a private inferno where enamoured couples display their misfortunes. The amorous repertoire is rounded out by the Història de Biblis que s’enamorà de Cauno (Story of Byblis who Fell in Love with Caunus) and Leandre i Hero (Leander and Hero), a narrative retelling from the Heroides that exchanges the two main characters from Ovid’s work. Just as in Tragèdia de Caldesa, in it Corella alternates prose with decasyllabic lines which he uses to emblematically frame the most dramatic moments or to construct emotional epitaphs. Here, we can see how love drives Leander to his

Figure 3. John I. Thumbnail in a capital letter of the Privilegis de la Vall de Crist (National Library of Catalonia)

62 Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010

end, drowned when he tries to swim the strait separating him from his beloved: I, estant de peus en la banyada arena, dreçant los ulls a la llum que, encesa en la torre d’Hero, lo seu cor encenia, tornà altra vegada llançar lo cos a la mar fonda, dient amb veu per amor esforçada: –Lo foc que veig encès alt en la torre, crema dins mi la por de la mar fonda: o pendré port en la illa de Cestos, o beuré prest de la mort lo trist càlzer; i ab vostres mans donant‑me sepultura, vós, per qui muir, tancar‑me heu dins la tomba, llavant lo cos, de llàgremes ab l’aigua. No us espanteu besar ma boca freda. O escura ceguedat d’aquells qui desordenadament amen! E ab quin ànimo, ab quina sol·licitud e diligència treballen ensems l’ànima ab la vida perdre! O animosa por d’aquells qui, recelant, temen los perills de viciós morir e viure, e, ab invincible e discret ànimo, per lo regne del cel la vida abandonen!35 Corella’s other mythological works belong to the Trojan series and are yet another example of the extraordinary success in the 14th and 15th centuries of the Històries troianes (Trojan Stories), which Guido delle Colonne, widely admired by Boccaccio, Martorell and the anonymous author of Curial e Güelfa, wrote in Latin in the 13th century by compiling French narrative sources from the 12th century.36 In accordance with this tradition, which includes the Argonauts’ journey among the forerunners of the conflict in Troy, Corella produced a remake of the story of Jasó i Medea (Jason and Medea) told from the vantage point of the heroine, who condemns Jason’s betrayal and the little faith that men have in general using words learnt in texts by Ovid and Seneca. The Juí de Paris (Judgement of Paris), which develops one of the most famous classical episodes in the Middle Ages, is presented as a collective work in which the poet Joan Escrivà recounts the myth of how the three goddesses with their charms appeared before the young shepherd from Ida. Corella added to this a moral exegesis or tropology, common to the clerical culture of a theology master. The brief Lletra d’Aquil·les a Políxena37 (Letter from Achilles to Polyxena) was inspired by Històries troianes and by the epistolary style of Seneca to once again explore a tragic sentimental motif, and the Raonament de Telamó i Ulisses (Reasoning of Telamon and Ulysses) re-elaborates the verses that Ovid devoted to the debate on Achilles’ weapons in the Metamorphosis. Corella’s most successful mythological prose was the Plany dolorós de la reina Hècuba (Dolorous Complaint of Queen Hecuba), inspired by Seneca’s Trojans, by Guido’s compendium on Troy and by the Metamorphosis.38 Hecuba is conferred the dignity of a mater dolorosa after the horror of the

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deaths of her children, husband and grandson, victims of the fury of the implacable Greek victors. Exclamations, invocations and apostrophes intertwine with cries for the reader’s attention so that they get involved in the tragic events: O cosa raonable, si la gravitat d’aquelles dolors que les altres totes passa, ab esparç e apartat llenguatge als oïns se parlava, e veus llagrimants, doloroses, nostra mísera destrucció representassen, trasportant los oïnts entrestits en la presència de nostra gran pèrdua: no consentissen sinó ab gemecs, tristor, sospirs e sanglots ésser oïdes! Aquestes son dolors de mare i estèril reina, e cativa d’aquells que, ella mirant, en la sua pròpia ciutat han donat cruel e dolorosa mort a sos fills, tolent a Príam en un dia ensems la vida e los regnes! O invariables, inics e implacables fats, qui la varietat dels actes humans infal· liblement ordenau! Per què forçau la mia trista ànima ésser present a fatigat cors per dies e treballs, així dèbil, envellit e caigut que, deixant-me de tan dolorós viure, altre no serà en color e magrea, sinó tal com era com falç nom de viu tenia? Vixca, doncs, Hècuba puix la mort sola de misèria la pot traure. O mare, semblant a ovella que fecunda has parit los fills per ser trossejats, partits en diverses parts, rossegats a l’entorn de la tua ciutat, com arades fent solcs de gran profunditat en la sangonosa terra! O febrida espasa d’Aquil·les, gasta e oscada sovint tallant real carn en lo meu miserable ventre criada, i així mussa e envellida en trossejar los ossos e carn dels fills, que envides ha pogut tallar lo dèbil coll del pare! Fir sens tarda, esquinça e talla les nostres carns femenils e molles per què les animes prestament fugen d’habitació derruïda; que sens comparació més cruel te mostres cessant de ferir en nosaltres, que matant aquells per la mort dels quals en tant extrem avorrim la miserable vida. O defunct e no sobrat ni vençut, fill meu Hèctor, oges dels profundes inferns la mia dolorosa veu, digna de moure los cruels infernats deus a misericòrdia! O, si la ous, per què venir tardes? Qui pot resistir a la tua animosa força? Encara en los escurs regnes Aquil·les te contrasta? Deixa lo cors en lo sepulcre: devore’l la insaciable terra. Vine, desijada, lleugera ombra, que sola tu bastes vençre los covards grecs que, de tu viu fugint, de tes victòries son romasos; porta Tròiol en ta companyia, que ensems principi feu a la honor e fi a la vida.39 Corella displays his very finest by combining two favourite themes from his repertoire: the repulsion for violence, which leads him to even reject the chivalric values so esteemed by his contemporary authors, and mercy for the vanquished, especially misfortunate women who, like Caldesa or the evil Medea herself, deserve understanding and commiseration. The pleasure and consolation that readers find in Plany d’Hècuba couple sentimental expansiveness with a Christian-inspired pacifist stance.

“Volent escriure a vostra consolació e plaer”: Metge, Corella and other 14th and 15th century masters of Catalan prose

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Figure 4. Autograph of Bernat Metge. Perpignan, 31st January 1396 (National Library of Catalonia)

This is not the place to embark on a thorough inventory of all the mediaeval Catalan writers who practised artful prose or Valencian prose, especially the ones who dealt with theological or devout topics, because this would require another article; they include Pero Martines, Sister Isabel de Villena and many others. However, we should spotlight the figure of the Barcelona Canon Felip de Malla (1370-1431), the author of an ascetic and allegorical treatise written with a high degree of rhetorical discernment and peppered with classical references translated into Catalan: the Memorial del pecador remut (Memoir of the Redeemed Sinner). Malla, trained at the universities of Lleida and Paris, was a theologian and a political man who was highly active during the change in dynasty (1410-1412) and in the reigns of Ferdinand I and Alphonse the Magnanimous. He stood out among the representatives of the Crown of Aragon and the Council of Constance, and his library was one of the richest in classical authors in the Barcelona of his day. Felip de Malla, who delivered the speeches at the Gaia Ciència festival in 1413, believed that poetry and artful prose should be devoted to theological, moral and political subjects, so his affection for Latin letters departs from the didactic line of Antoni Canals as well as from the Boccaccian poetry of Metge and Corella. In contrast, we cannot ignore Francesc Alegre, who in addition to being a translator of Latin works also cultivated classically inspired fiction.41 His status as a citizen of Barcelona has enabled us to identify him as the figure who served as the Consul to Palermo starting in 1482 and who died between 1504 and 1511. We can thus distinguish him from his father, the merchant by the same name who lived between 1433 and 1495 and had commercial interests in Sicily and links to the court of King John II.42 The writer Francesc Alegre frequented the school of Iacopo della Mirabella, a Greek teacher in Pal-

ermo who had been in contact with Charles de Viana. His versions of Leonardo Bruni’s Primera guerra púnica (First Punic War), dating from 1472, no doubt derive from this connection with a humanistic circle and from Ovid’s Metamorphosis. This version has the added value of glosses taken from Boccaccio’s Genealogia deorum, and it is conserved in an incunabulum dating from 1494, published in Barcelona by Pere Miquel and dedicated to Joanna the Mad of Aragon. The translation of Alegre’s Metamorphosis was rediscovered by 19th century scholars, who published excerpts with admiring comments on the quality of the prose. In the prologue, Alegre defends the full version of classical texts over the excerpts and summaries of his predecessors in the enterprise, as well as the function of explanatory glosses, both evemerist or historical and naturalistic. Here is a sample of the maturity and professionalism of Alegre’s style as he adapts the last few verses of book XV from the Latin poem into prose: Iamque opus exegi, quod nec Iovis ira nec ignis nec poterit ferrum nec edax abolere vetustas. cum volet, illa dies, quae nil nisi corporis huius ius habet, incerti spatium mihi finiat aevi: parte tamen meliore mei super alta perennis astra ferar, nomenque erit indelebile nostrum, quaque patet domitis Romana potentia terris, ore legar populi, perque omnia saecula fama, siquid habent veri vatum praesagia, vivam. Conclusió de la obra present Ja és venguda a la fi desijada la mia present obra, la qual no poran destruhir lo ferro ne lo foc, ni l’antiguitat devoradora no la porà consumar. Quant vendrà aquell dia esperat ab espant, no tenint algun dret si no sobre lo cors, fenesca a son plaer l’espai de ma vida, que ab la

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Figure 5. Stamp of Maria de Luna, wife of Martin I.

millor part de mi serà portat sobre lo cel lo meu nom indelible e seré llegit per boca dels pobles en totes les províncies sotmeses al poder dels romans, vivint en tots los segles eternalment ma fama, si res de veritat ha en lo dir dels poetes.43 The Faula de les amors de Neptuno i Diana (Fable on the Loves of Neptune and Diana) is an exercise in creative imitation of Ovid and Boccaccio which explains a transformation attributed to the poet Claudianus, presumably

Figure 6. Martin I. Thumbnail of the Privilegis de la Vall de Crist (National Library of Catalonia)

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translated into Catalan, but that corresponds to no known model. Contemporary personalities are allegorically concealed behind the names of the ancient gods, perhaps a merchant (Neptune) and perhaps a nun (Diana), the characters in misfortunate loves marked by dishonesty. Diana’s transformation into stone from Venus’ ire is taken verbatim from several verses from the Metamorfosis. It would be improper to end this brief survey of 14th and 15th century artful prose in Catalan without exposing the writers’ vacillations and doubts about imitating the Italian and classical writers. Beyond the cliché of the translator’s false modesty and the inferiority of the vernacular language compared to Latin, which are present in the prologues of many of the romantic versions of classical works, there is a hint of insecurity that views the use of certain literary motifs and rhetorical amplification deployed in its fullness as a challenge that is difficult to overcome. However, we notice that underlying the doubts and vacillations is a strong confidence in the legitimacy of artful literature in the vernacular language, especially if it comes with a moralising pretext, as we have seen in the works of Antoni Canals and Ferran Valentí.44 The anonymous author of Curial e Güelfa, about whom we unfortunately lack any documentation, expresses it with utter accuracy.45 Because of his level of cultivation, we know that he was a courtier in the Aragonese Courts in the mid-15th century. His chivalric novel upholds military and courtly values and faithfulness in love, with a clear militancy against the renunciation of the honest pleasures set forth by Tiresias in Lo somni. His prose is contained and wise, closer to Metge’s balance and intelligence than to Corella’s exuberance. The anonymous author, who cites Dantes’ Comedy several times, uses declarations from Petrarch and repeatedly re-elaborates suggestions from Boccaccio’s Filocolo,46 believes that it is illicit to invoke the muses in the prologue of a work like his, which contains poetic elements but is a far cry from the Aeneid and the Comedy, which fully belong to what he calls the “reverenda lletradura” (revered literature). E si serà lícit a mi usar de ço que los altres qui escriviren usaren o han usat, ço és, invocar les Muses, certes jo crec que no. Abans entenc que seria cosa supèrflua, car elles no apareixerien ne es mostrarien a mi per molt que jo les apellàs en subsidi e favor mia, car no han cura sinó d’hòmens de gran ciència e aquells segueixen, encara que no sien demanades, e mi e mos pars així com ignorants han en estrany avorriment; per ço que jo, així en aquesta obra com en totes les coses que parle, són imitador de les míseres e garrules filles de Píerus, enemigues capitals d’aquelles nou egrègies sorel×les habitadores de mont Parnàs. D’altra part, que elles se tenen per menyspreades si són meses en obres ínfimes e baixes, car no solen seguir sinó los molt alts e sublimes estils, escrits per solemnes e molt grans poetes e oradors.47

“Volent escriure a vostra consolació e plaer”: Metge, Corella and other 14th and 15th century masters of Catalan prose

However, in the course of the vision of the main character’s dreams in the temple of Apollo, we discover that a Christian knight like Curial, outstanding in wielding weapons and educated in the noble arts of music, poetry and oratory, deserves such high consideration as that of the main characters of the great tales by Homer and Virgil. The anonymous author does not dare invoke the muses, but Calliope, in the dream, chooses Curial to serve as a judge in a high profile literary trial. The knight is obviously awed by this: Oh, egrègia senyora! E quals fades me fadaren que jo tanta honor reebés, que nou germanes, filles del major dels déus mortals, venguessen a mi e visitassen aquest sepulcre d’ignorància? Cert és a mi que vosaltres fes companyia a Homer, Virgili, Horaci, Ovidi e a Lucà e a molts altres, los quals, per no ésser llong, lleixaré de recitar. Mes a mi, quina raó havets haüda de venir? Jo no són home de ciència, ne meresquí ne meresc per donzelles de tanta excel×lència ésser visitat. Lleixats Aristòtil e Plató e venits a mi?48 The answer to Curial’s question is quite simple and highly representative of the literary consciousness of the 15th century Catalan prosists, who discovered an indisputably fine “disposition” for literature in the excellence of their writings: –No et meravells d’açò –dix Cal·líope–, car nosaltres totstemps seguim aquells que ens volen, e encara que estigam de present ab tu, no ens partim dels altres, ans totstemps estam ab ells e per virtut de Déu som fetes tals, que en tot lloc que ens volem som. E per ventura a vegades acompanyam, totes o alguna o algunes de nós, alguns hòmens que ells no s’ho cuiden, e els ajudam a fer e dir ço que fan e dien, a uns més, a altres menys, segons la disposició que en ells trobam.49

[3] [4]

[5] [6]

[7]

Notes and Bibliography [1] [2]

“Wanting to write for your consolation and pleasure”. Martí de Riquer. Història de la literatura catalane. Ariel, Barcelona 1964, vol. i, pp. 197-352 and 429501; vol. ii, pp. 133-196. Ramon Muntaner. The Catalan Expedition to the East: from the “Chronicle” of Ramon Muntaner, edited by Jocelin N. Hillarth and Robert Hughes. Barcino, Tamesis, Barcelona, Woodbridge 2006. Albert Hauf. D’Eiximenis a Sor Isabel de Villena. Aportació a l’estudi de la nostra cultura medieval. Barcelona, Institut de Filologia Valenciana, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Valencia 1990. Francesc Eiximenis. An Anthology, edited by Xavier Renedo, David Guixeras and Robert Hughes. Barcino, Tamesis, Barcelona, Woodbridge 2008. Lluís Cifuentes. La ciència en

[8]

[9]

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català a l’Edat Mitjana i al Renaixement. Universitat de Barcelona, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca 2006. Francesco Bruni. Boccaccio. L’invenzione della letteratura mezzana. Il Mulino, Bologna 1990. Curt Wittlin. De la traducció literal a la creació literaria. Institut de Filologia Valenciana, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Valencia, Barcelona 1995. Josep Pujol. “Traducciones y cambio cultural entre los siglos xiii y xv”, in Historia de la Traducción en España, edited by Francisco Lafarga and Luis Pegenaute. Ambos Mundos, Salamanca 2004, pp. 623-650. See the website “Translat” at <http://www.narpan.net/index.php/recerca/translat-db> (retrieved: 25th of April 2009). Martí de Riquer. Història…, op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 433-458. Martí de Riquer. Obras de Bernat Metge. Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona 1959. Bernat Metge. Lo somni, edited by Stefano M. Cingolani. Barcino, Barcelona 2006. The Dream of Bernat Metge, edited by Richard Vernier. Aldershot, Ashgate 2002. Bernat Metge. Il sogno, edited by Lola Badia and Giorgio Faggin. Edizioni dell’Orso, Turin. Bernat Metge. El sueño, edited by Jorge Carrión. DVD, Barcino, Barcelona 2006. Bernat Metge. Lo somni, edited by Lola Badia. Quaderns Crema, Barcelona 1999, p. 53. Translator’s note (TN): “Not too long ago, when I was in prison, through no faults that my envious persecutors could condemn – as was clearly demonstrated later by their shame – rather solely out of jealousy or some secret design of God, one Friday at around midday when I was studying in my chamber, which is the witness to my reflections, I became sleepy and I got up to walk around the room a little, but I so wanted to sleep that I lay down on the bed without taking off my clothes and fell asleep, not in the usual way but in the way that the ill and hungry tend to sleep.” Xavier Renedo. “L’heretge epicuri a Lo somni de Bernat Metge”, in Intel·lectuals i escriptors a la baixa edat mitjana, edited by Lola Badia and Albert Soler. Curial, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 1994, pp. 109-127. Bernat Metge. Lo somni, op. cit., pp. 56-57. TN: “‘Tell me:’ he responds, ‘before you came into the world, what were you?’ ‘What I will be after death,’ I said. ‘And what will you be?’ ‘Nothing’. ‘So you were nothing before you were engendered?’ ‘That is what I believe,’ I said. ‘And why do you believe that?’ ‘Because every day after having coupled with a man, women become pregnant when they were not before and then a child is born, which moves from non-being to being.’ ‘But that which you have seen in others, you have not seen in yourself. Tell

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[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

me whether you recall what you were before you were engendered.’ “I don’t recall anything, because I am the same as the others and I should follow in their footsteps.’ ‘Fine,’ he says, ‘you believe in what you haven’t seen.’” Idem, p. 110. TN: “If I do not set forth as I should the reason why I have come, I ask you to pardon me for the great misfortune I have suffered. I have not come here to look at the infernal depths, to which every mortal must arrive, nor to enchain Cerberus’s neck, as some have done before me. The only reason for my coming is my wife, who has died from a serpent when she was in the prime of her life. I have tried to bear it patiently, but I have not succeeded. My love for her has vanquished me. Everyone has loved like me. Accept, then, that my wife be brought back to me. Everyone must die, and this is our last home. You possess perpetual kingdoms of the human species. When my wife reaches old age, she shall also be yours, but until then let me have her. Do not deny me, because if you do, I will not leave and then you will rejoice in the death of both of us.” Francesc J. Gómez. “L’ofici del poeta segons Orfeu: una clau hermenèutica per Lo somni de Metge?”, in Literatura i cultura a la Corona d’Aragó (s. xiii-xv), edited by Lola Badia, Miriam Cabré and Sadurní Martí. Curial, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 2002, pp. 63-85. Roger Friedlein. “Mitologia antiga i forma dialògica en Lo somni de Bernat Metge (1398)”, in ‘Vestigia fabularum’: la mitologia antiga a les literatures catalana i castellana entre l’edat mitjana i l’edat moderna, edited by Roger Friedlein and Sebastian Neumaster. Curial, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 2004, pp. 67-93. Josep Maria Ruiz Simon. “Lo somni de Bernat Metge: el malson filosòfic d’un epicure”, in Literatura i cultura..., op. cit., pp. 25-62. Lluís Cabré. “De nou sobre Metge, Laelius i el Somnium Scipionis”, in Literatura i cultura..., op. cit., pp. 49-62. Bernat Metge. Lo somni, op. cit., pp. 173. TN: “It is natural to enjoy music, and especially if it is accompanied by rhetoric and poetry, as in the dances and songs of the fine troubadours. Men should not have to renounce such things and know precisely how they should think. Instead, they like to listen to gossips and slanderers as they mock others and recount vile deeds.” Guillem de Torroella. La faula, edited by Pere Bohigas and Jaume Vidal Alcover. Tàrraco, Tarragona 1984. Lola Badia. Tres contes meravellosos del segle xiv. Quaderns Crema, Barcelona 2002, pp. 5989. Lluís Cabré. “Comentaris sobre Bernat Metge i la seva primera consolació: el Llibre de Fortuna e Prudència”, in Intel·lectuals i escriptors..., op. cit., pp. 95-107. Bernat Metge. Llibre de Fortuna e

Lola Badia

[16] [17]

[18] [19] [20]

[21] [22]

[23] [24]

[25] [26]

[27]

[28] [29]

[30]

Prudència, edited by Lluís Cabré. Barcino Barcelona (at press). Jaume Torró. “Bernat Metge i Avinyó”, in Literatura i cultura..., op. cit., pp. 99-111. Giuseppe Tavani. “La Griselidis de Petrarca i la Griselda de Bernat Metge”, in Per una història de la cultura catalana medieval. Curial, Barcelona 1996, pp. 158-171. Lola Badia. De Bernat Metge a Joan Roís de Corella. Quaderns Crema, Barcelona 1988, pp. 62-65. Lola Badia. “La legitimació del discurs literari en vulgar segons Ferran Valentí”, in Intel·lectuals i escriptors..., op. cit., p. 174. Josep Pujol. La memòria literària de Joanot Martorell. Models i escriptura en el Tirant lo Blanc. Curial, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 2002. Lola Badia. De Bernat Metge..., op. cit., pp. 13-38. Mariàngela Vilallonga. La literatura llatina a Catalunya al segle xv. Curial, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 1993. See the website “Studia_humanitatis”: <http://www.udg.edu/tabid/11894/ Default.aspx/Eiximenis/html_eiximenis/Studia_humanitatis.htm> (retrieved: 25th of April 2009). Martí de Riquer. Història…, op. cit., vol. iii, pp. 254-320. Lola Badia. De Bernat Metge..., op. cit., pp. 145-180. Joan Roís de Corella. Obres completes, vol. i, Obra profana, edited by Jordi Carbonell. Tres i Quatre, Valencia 1973. In the past it was necessary to refer to the outstanding bibliophile edition: Joan Roís de Corell. Obres, edited by Ramon Miquel i Planas. Biblioteca Catalana, Barcelona 1913. Actes del Symposion ‘Tirant lo Blanc’ (Barcelona 1990). Quaderns Crema, Barcelona 1993. Josep Pujol. La memòria..., op. cit. For a comprehensive annotation of the borrowings from Corella, see: Joanot Martorell. Tirant lo Blanch (Valencia 1490) and Tirante el Blanco (Valladolid 1511), 2 vol., edited by Albert Hauf and Vicent Escartín. Tirant lo Blanch, Valencia 2004. See also Jaume Torró. “La doble autoría de Tirant lo Blanc o un colofón y la estilística”. Revista de Erudición y Crítica (Madrid, Castalia), no. 1 (2006), pp. 75-82. Jesús Villalmanzo. Joanot Martorell. Biografía ilustrada y diplomatario. Valencia Town Hall, Valencia 1995. Jaume Torró. “Joanot Martorell, escrivà de ració”. L’Avenç, no. 273 (October 2002), pp. 12-18. See the last few paragraphs of the article. Jaume Torró. “Una cort a Barcelona per a la literatura del segle xv”. Revista de Catalunya (June 2001), pp. 97-123. Stefano M. Cingolani. Joan Roís de Corella. La importància de dir-se honest. Tres i Quatre, Valencia 1998. Jaume Chiner. “Aportació a la biografia de Joan

“Volent escriure a vostra consolació e plaer”: Metge, Corella and other 14th and 15th century masters of Catalan prose

[31] [32]

[33]

[34]

[35]

[36]

[37]

Roís de Corella”. Caplletra, no. 15 (1993), pp. 4961. Josep Maria Nadal and Modest Prat. Història de la llengua catalana. Edicions 62, Barcelona 1996, vol. ii, pp. 472-512. Josep Lluís Martos. Les proses mitològiques de Joan Roís de Corella. Institut Interuniversitari de Filologia Valenciana, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Valencia, Barcelona 2001, p. 237. TN: “Through the transcendent loftiness of the lady of the sciences, sacred Theology, I have descended upon verdant, blossoming fields of affable poetry and I have left the meadows of restful silence to hoist with pleasant exertion the white sails against the lowly antennae of vulgar poetry. I aim the prow of my writing towards the tempestuous sea of Venus and I shall describe shipwrecks of those who have come to a miserable end. Yet since I know nothing else, I shall only recite utterances that I have heard recently from some men, whose names, when reciting such well-reasoned prose, inspire envy because of their fame.” Xavier Renedo. “Turpia feminarum incesta lascivarum. El joc teatral al cap. 283 del Tirant lo Blanc”, in Formes teatrals de la tradició medieval. Proceedings of the 7th Colloquium of the Société Internationale pour l’Étude du Théâtre Médiéval (Girona 1992), edited by Francesc Massip. Institut del Teatre, Barcelona 1996, pp. 209-216. Josep Lluís Martos. Fonts i seqüència cronològica de les proses mitològiques de Joan Roís de Corella. Universidad de Alicante, Department of Catalan Language and Literature, Alicante 2001. Josep Lluís Martos. Les proses mitològiques..., op. cit., pp. 162-163. TN: “And as he shifted his eyes from the beach to the light that lit up Hero’s tower, his heart caught fire, he once again threw his body into the deep sea, saying with a voice driven by love: ‘The fire that I see ablaze in the tower burns my fear of the deep sea: either I will reach the island of Cestos or I will drink from the chalice of death; and when I am buried with your hands, you, for whom I die, must close me in the tomb, cleansing my body with your tears. Do not be afraid to kiss my cold mouth.’ O dark blindness, that of those who love heedlessly! And how diligently you work until losing the soul with life! O courageous fear of those who cower at the dangers of the vile life and with a discreet, invincible soul abandon life for the kingdom of heaven.” Guido delle Colonne. Les històries troianes, edited by Ramon Miquel i Planas. Biblioteca Catalana, Barcelona 1916. Joan M. Perujo Melgar. “Difusió de motius de la llegenda de Troia: traducció i reinterpretació”, in ‘Vestigia fabularum...’, op. cit., pp. 13-30. Annamaria Annicchiarico. Varianti corelliane e ‘plagi’ del Tirant: ‘Achille e Polissena’. Schena, Fasano di Brindisi 1996.

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[38] Lola Badia. “El Plany dolorós de la reina Hècuba de Joan Roís de Corella. Restauracions i contextos”, in Homenatge Joan Fuster, edited by Antoni Ferrrando and Albert Hauf. Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 1991, vol. iii, pp. 195-223. [39] Josep Lluís Martos. Les proses mitològiques..., op. cit., pp. 142-144. TN.: “Oh reasonable thing if the gravity of those agonies for our great loss consent to nothing more than moans and sobs! These are the woes of a mother and sterile queen, captive in her own city by those who have killed her children and have taken the life of Priam and the kingdoms the same day! Oh implacable fates that infallibly order human acts. Why have you obligated me to witness all of this with my body now aged? Live, then, Hecuba, as only death can remove you from your misery. Oh mother resembling a sheep that has born her offspring just for them to be dismembered and dragged around your city like ploughs carving furrows in the bloody land. Oh weak sword of Achilles, spent carving royal flesh raised in my womb, and thus dulled and aged from chopping the bone and flesh of the children, only then has it slashed the feeble neck of the father! Do not delay, carve and cut our soft female flesh so the souls can quickly escape from the ruined room. You shall reveal yourself to be more cruel if you do not harm us than murdering those whose death make us despair of life. Oh Hector, my son, dead but not vanquished, listen to my dolorous voice from the infernal depths, worthy of earning the mercy of the cruel infernal gods! If you hear it, why do you delay in coming? Leave your body in the grave and let the insatiable earth devour it. Come, ethereal and desired shadow, only you can vanquish the Greek cowards who flee from you when recalling your victories; bring Troilus by your side who gave in principle to the honour and end of life.” [40] Martí de Riquer. Història..., op. cit., vol. iii, pp. 387-425. Evangelista Vilanova. Història de la teologia cristiana. Faculty of Theology, Herder, Barcelona 1984, vol. i, pp. 684-686. Josep Pujol. “Psallite sapienter: la gaia ciència en els sermons de Felip de Malla de 1413 (Study and editing)”, Cultura Neolatina, no. 56 (1996), pp. 177-250. [41] Martí de Riquer. Història..., op. cit., vol. iii, pp. 249-253. [42] Jaume Torró. “Officium poetae est fingere: Francesc Alegre i la Faula de Neptuno i Diana”, in Intel·lectuals i escriptors..., op. cit., pp. 221-241. [43] Francesc Alegre. Transformacions. Pere Miquel, Barcelona 1494, r[6]r. TN: “Conclusion of the present work. I have reached the end of this work, which neither iron nor fire nor time may destroy. When the day comes that we fearfully await and I have no more right over my body, may my life end while my indelible name will be taken to heaven

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[44] [45]

[46]

[47]

and will be linked to this name in all the provinces subjected to the power of the Romans. My fame will live eternally if what the poets say is true.” See Lola Badia. “La legitimació...”, op. cit. Martí de Riquer. Història..., op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 602630. Pere Bohigas. “Curial e Güelfa”, in Aportació a l’estudi de la literatura catalana. Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 1982, pp. 277294. Lola Badia. “De la reverenda letradura en el Curial e Güelfa”, in De Bernat Metge..., op. cit., pp. 121-144. Jaume Torró. “El manuscrit, els pròlegs i el Filocolo”, in Encontres sobre el “Curial e Güelfa”. Aspectes lingüístics i culturals. Castalia Madrid (at press). Lola Badia and Jaume Torró. “Curial entre Tristán y Orlando”, in Actas Segundo Congreso de la Semyr (San Milllán de la Cogolla 2008) (at press). Curial e Güelfa. Barcino, Barcelona 1930-1933, vol. iii, pp. 12. TN: “I believe that it would not be licit of me to invoke the muses as others do. To the contrary, I believe that it would be superfluous because they would not show themselves unless I invoked them in my own favour, as they only help men of great learning and pursue them even though not beckoned, while they ignore me and my peers. For this reason, in this work, as in everything I write, I

Lola Badia

am an imitator of the miserly and chattering daughters of Pieride, enemies of those nine sisters that inhabit Mount Parnassus. They consider themselves deprecated if they are placed in fleeting, lowly works, as they do not tend to follow anything but the lofty, sublime styles used by the great poets and orators.” [48] Ibid, p. 78. TN: “Oh, egregious lady! What fairies could predict that when you received such an honour, nine sisters, daughters of the greatest of the mortal gods, would come to see me and visit this grave of ignorance? It is proper that you keep Homer, Virgin, Horace, Ovid, Lucan and many others too long to cite company. But what reason might you have to come see me? I am not a learned man nor am I worthy of a visit by such excellent maidens. You leave Aristotle and Plato to come to me?” [49] Ibid, p. 79. TN: “‘Do not wonder about that,’ said Calliope, ‘because we will always follow those that we love and, even though we may be with you, we will not abandon the others because through God’s will we can be everywhere we want to be at once. And sometimes we accompany men who do not realize it and we help them to do and say what they do and say, some more and others less, according to the disposition we find in them.’”

About the Author With a degree in Hispanic Language and Literature from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (1973), Lola Badia earned her doctorate in Romance Languages and Literatures in 1977 under the supervision of de Martí de Riquer. In 1983 she was appointed professor of Catalan literature. She has taught ancient Catalan literature at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the Universitat de Girona and the Universitat de Barcelona. She has coordinated a research seminar in the Department of Catalan Language and Literature at the University of Barcelona since academic year 1987-1988. She is the head of the Consolidated Research Group on Mediaeval Catalan Literature and Culture, which has repeatedly been funded by the Generalitat de Catalunya, and she has directed and continues to direct research projects for the Spanish Ministry of Education, currently CODITECAM II. She has mainly published on the troubadour tradition, the literary culture of the 14th and 15th century Catalan writers, Raymond Llull’s vernacular works and the mediaeval scientific heritage in the vernacular. For an extended CV, <http://www.narpan.net/>. She directs the CDRL, Ramon Llull Research Centre, at the Universitat de Barcelona and coordinates the Ramon Llull Database, devised by Anthony Bonner, in conjunction with Albert Soler <http://orbita.bib.ub.es/llull/>.

CATALAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 3: 69-86 (2010) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.1000.01.40 · ISSN: 2013-407X http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/

The War of the Spanish Succession in the Catalan-speaking Lands Agustí Alcoberro*

Universitat de Barcelona Museu d’Història de Catalunya Received 30 June 2009 · Accepted 20 September 2009

Abstract The War of the Spanish Succession affected the entire continent of Europe directly or indirectly. Within the Spanish monarchy, most of the states in the Crown of Aragon sided with Archduke Charles of Austria (Charles III), while Crown of Castile lent its support to Duke Philip of Anjou (Philip V). After the Treaty of Utrecht, Catalonia prolonged its resistance for 14 more months under a republican government. At the end of the war, the victors imposed repression, exile and the end to the Catalan constitutions.

Key words: War of the Spanish Succession, Austriacism, pactism, absolutism, history of Catalonia, 18th century The history of the Catalan-speaking lands (and the Kingdom of Aragon) singles out the end of the War of the Spanish Succession as a true turning point. Prior to the war, the kingdoms within the Crown of Aragon had developed their own legislation and political life. This process was not halted with either the merger of the crowns which dynastically linked Aragon and Castile in the late 15th century or the formation of the composite Habsburg monarchy. Quite the contrary, throughout the 16th and 17th centuries the different states within the Crown of Aragon underwent institutional development characterised by the extension of social and territorial representation and an increase in the competences and fiscal resources of their representative or parliamentary institutions. In parallel, especially starting in the last few decades of the 16th century, these institutions forged their own legal-political discourse, a process that was particularly intense in Catalonia. However, this tendency suddenly ground to a halt with Catalonia’s defeat in the War of the Spanish Succession. The new Bourbon order, cemented with the Nueva Planta decrees, led to the imposition of a newly-minted absolutist regime. In this article, we shall analyse the Catalan-speaking lands’ involvement in the Spanish War of Succession, focusing especially on the factors that led to their engagement in war and the consequences brought about by their defeat.*

* Contact address: Agustí Alcoberro. Departament d’Història Moderna. Facultat de Filosofia i de Geografia i Història. Carrer Montalegre 6, E-08001 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU. Tel. +34934037956. E-mail: alcoberro@ub.edu

The Crown of Aragon and the Spanish monarchy: An historical perspective The merger of the crowns, sealed with the marriage of Ferdinand II of Catalonia and Aragon to Isabel I of Castile in 1469, preserved the political and institutional sovereignty of the kingdoms. Only foreign affairs (diplomacy and/or warfare) came to depend on the higher instance, which the other Courts labelled the Spanish or Catholic monarchy. As several authors have pointed out, the merger of the crowns followed the Catalan-Aragonese model of confederation, as opposed to the Castilian version, which pursued a more standardising, assimilating model.1 This was coupled with the essentially pactist Catalan-Aragonese political model, in contrast to the fundamentally authoritarian model of the Castilian government. Thus, the constitutional regime deployed successively in Catalonia until 1714 included such guarantees as the full legislative and fiscal sovereignty of the General Court or Parliament; judicial sovereignty expressed through the Audiencia (or Tribunal) of Catalonia; and the existence of an arbitrating institution, the Tribunal de Contrafaccions or Constitutional Tribunal, whose composition was equally divided between the king and the local institutions “of the land”. This tribunal resolved institutional conflicts, claims against actions by the authorities deemed unconstitutional and other similar grievances. These institutions and the legal practices derived from them were grounded on a longstanding juridical-political literature which had yielded fully consolidated political values, the most important of which were the characterisation of sovereignty as a pact between the king and “the land” (pactism); the supremacy of the law, to which govern-

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ments, rulers and even the monarchy itself had to submit; and as a rather original feature of the country, control over the revenues and expenditures of the state taxation authority by the representative institutions of the branches or institutions (and notably by the General Deputation, or Generalitat de Catalunya).2 Only a full awareness of the Generalitat’s political and fiscal power enables us to grasp the key role played by this institution in the revolutionary events of 1640, 1705 and 1713. For its part, the Kingdom of Aragon initially had even broader leeway in its political sovereignty. This fact was driven home by the celebrated formula with which the Aragonese Court pledged loyalty to the monarch: the Aragonese branches or institutions stated that that “we are worth as much as you are, and together more than you”, before recognising the monarch as “our king and lord”. However, the Aragonese foral regime was substantially amended by the Court of 1592, called by Philip II after his troops had put down the revolt of the kingdom. Likewise, despite the fact that the Kingdom of Valencia had a foral political system rooted in pactism, the monarch’s competences there were always quite extensive. Even clearer is the case of the Kingdom of Majorca, the only kingdom that did not have its own general Court. The monarch’s more sweeping influence in Valencia and Majorca had a clear cause: unlike Aragon and Catalonia, which were constituent kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon, Valencia and Majorca were consecutive and therefore conquered kingdoms. This determined their legal status, as it did in the Kingdom of Sardinia, the other state linked to the Crown of Aragon in the modern age. However, the leeway of the representative institutions in Catalonia was substantially curtailed after the Catalan Revolt or Reapers’ War (1640-1659).3 With the Spanish troops permanently occupying Barcelona (1652), Philip IV reserved several important competences for himself. Two in particular deserve mention: control of the lists of “insaculats” or people electable by lottery from the Generalitat and the Consell de Cent (Council of One Hundred, or municipal government), and military control of the city (walls, the fortress on Montjuïc, etc.). Only with an awareness of how the land was militarily and politically controlled is it possible to grasp the country’s institutions’ lack of response to the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees between Philip IV and Louis XIV (1659). As is wellknown, this treaty meant the division of Catalonia and the annexation of its northern part (the counties of Roussillon and the French Cerdagne) to the Kingdom of France.

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doms. The consecutive pacts signed with other European states to divide the Spanish monarchy were accompanied by an increasingly direct and vast influence in the Madrid Court, as well as warring episodes in which France demonstrated its military superiority, such as the Nine Years’ War (1689-1697). In this dispute, France’s troops occupied Catalonia once again, while its armada took over the Mediterranean coast and bombarded strategic locations such as Alicante.4 Outside the Francophile party in the Madrid Court, public opinion in the different Spanish kingdoms could not welcome the choice of a French candidate as their sovereign with open arms. And yet, this is what can be deduced from Charles II’s will. It should be borne in mind that the hostility between the Spanish monarchy and France had been constant throughout the previous two centuries. And the same could be said of the rivalry between the Austrians and the Bourbons, and two dynasties that vied for European hegemony throughout the entire 17th century. To some extent, after Westphalia (1648), the ascent of one of Louis XIV’s direct descendants onto the Spanish throne cemented the definitive victory of both France and the Bourbons in that drawn-out conflict.

International war and internal revolt During the Reign of Charles II (1665-1700), France deployed an extremely active military and diplomatic policy aimed at influencing the succession in the Spanish king-

Figure 1. Minutes of the General Court held in Barcelona between 12th October 1701 and 14th January 1702 chaired by King Philip IV and V of Spain in Catalonia. (National Library of Catalonia)

The War of the Spanish Succession in the Catalan-speaking Lands

Thus, the first few steps of the exceedingly young Philip of Anjou’s reign as Philip V of Spain inspired respect but not enthusiasm. This was homogeneous, widespread conduct in all the kingdoms, and in Catalonia as well, where as is known the new king called the General Court (1701), swore his oath to the constitutions and granted major economic and political concessions.5 A reflection on the period from 1700 to 1705 is particularly interesting. Those years witnessed a leap from more or less widespread yet disorganised and demobilised antiFrench sentiment to the formation of a true Austriacist party which advocated the downfall of the monarch and his replacement with Archduke Charles of Austria, whose Spanish followers called him Charles III. This leap, it should be recalled, took place under the most clandestine of circumstances. The Austriacist literature, both from the early days and the body produced in exile after defeat, stresses the internal causes of this change in attitude. Castilian Austriacism, little known even today, underscored the fact that the change in dynasty represented the submission of what used to be a major power to France. Therefore, the enthronement of Philip V would signal the nadir of Spanish decline. The argument also had an economic facet, as the Spanish pro-Austrian propaganda recalled French companies’ monopolistic dominance in the Spanish-American trade, especially in the slave trade, after the enthronement of Philip V. The reduction of the old monarchy to the status of colony that these writings state would be driven home by the replacement of the former Castilian ruling class by French civil servants and courtiers. All of these arguments are already present in the manifesto signed in Lisbon in 1702 by the Admiral of Castile, Juan Tomás Enríquez de Cabrera, the first prominent figure from Spain who chose exile and direct confrontation with the Bourbons. It can be recovered almost literally in the political speech Teatro de desdichas (Theatre of Misfortunes) published in the Milanese exile in 1716.6 Catalan Austriacism, which was capable of generating its own discourse continuously throughout the entire war, also stressed the internal causes of the rupture. This discourse was particularly developed by Narcís Feliu de la Penya, an early Austriacist who was imprisoned by the Bourbon police in 1704. In 1709, he published the Anales de Cataluña (Annals of Catalonia), which can be regarded as the official history of Catalonia under the Archduke. The author devotes much of the third volume to describing the process of how relations between the Catalans and Philip V deteriorated. In fact, the chapters in this work explain how the events after the death of Charles II met with the ire of the Bourbon authorities in 1714, who then ordered the mass destruction.7 However Feliu, and with him Catalan Austriacism, developed their own line of argumentation. The goal was to describe the litany of complaints, abuses, unconstitutional deeds and similar grievances that had characterised the behaviour of Philip V and his ministers during the year

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prior to the 1705 uprising. More or less implicitly, the litany of disloyal acts committed by the monarch would have invalidated the oath of loyalty that Catalonia had sworn to the General Court in 1701 and thus legitimised the rupture. This argument, incidentally, invalidated the accusations of rebellion that the Bourbon propaganda incessantly repeated. A careful reading of the text by Feliu, not only a firsthand witness of the events but also an active participant in them, shows, at least until 1704, a kind of sporadic conflict not unlike the ones that the institutions “of the land” and the royal viceroys had experienced in the previous reigns.8 It is true that from the start there were reasons for tension between the Crown and the representative institutions, and most notably with the Council of One Hundred and the military (a corporation made up of the nobility and citizens headquartered in Barcelona). However, it is also true that the dynamics of both sides took place in the shadow of a dynastic dispute that had not yet taken on an explicit form. We must examine the extremely meagre clandestine political texts from that early period in order to ascertain that the dynamic that led the Catalan-speaking lands – and all the Spanish kingdoms – to war took place in an international context.9 Here, too, however, there is another source that is particularly revealing, namely Francesc de Castellví’s Narraciones históricas (Historical Narrations). The author, a knight born in Montblanc (Conca de Barberà), one of the areas where Bourbon repression was extreme, was one of the earliest Austriacists; he participated in Barcelona’s last resistance and lived in a semicovert fashion in the first post-war period. In 1726, one year after the Peace of Vienna, which would lead to reciprocal amnesty for the followers of both Philip V and Charles III (then Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor), Castellví sought exile in the capital of the empire. There he spent the rest of his life – over 30 years until his death in 1757 – writing his monumental history of the war.10 Castellví wrote from exile and defeat, without either the urgency or the dissimulations of one who feels like an active stakeholder in the conflict. Furthermore, he did so with an unequivocal desire for objectivity and with outstanding intellectual honesty, which makes his work exceptionally relevant. From this vantage point, without mincing his words Castellví describes the steps in the construction and spread of the Austriacist party, particularly in Catalonia, as well as its link to the allied states from the very outset. What is more, the author from Montblanc allows himself to mention Feliu’s Annals on several occasions, separating out what he reveals from what he conceals. This exercise in intellectual honesty goes so far as to shed light on certain attitudes present in the initial Bourbon repression, which reflected the growing dimensions of the Austriacist threat. The allied powers’ key role in shaping the Austriacist rise is also a crucial factor in two important political texts published in 1734-1736 in the context of a new interna-

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tional conflict (the War of the Polish Succession), which seemed to breathe new life into the claims for a fair solution for the “case of the Catalans”. These works are Via fora als adormits (roughly, A Call to Action for the People), a lengthy political leaflet that was published in two versions, Catalan and French; and Record de l’Aliança fet al sereníssim Jordi, augusto rei de la Gran Bretaña (Remembrance of the Alliance made with the Most Serene Highness George, August King of Great Britain), which was printed in a bilingual Catalan and Latin edition. The main gist of both texts was to blame the allied states, especially England, for the Catalan uprising and to demand that they satisfy the debt incurred with Catalonia as part of the foreseeable new peace treaties.11 In short, the external explanation of the War of the Spanish Succession as a civil war underscores the origins and international dimension of the conflict at the outset. It is a fairly well-known historical sequence, although not always sufficiently valued by romantic Catalan and Spanish historiographies: the formation of the Great Alliance of The Hague (1701); the declaration of war in the Bourbon states of Spain and France (1702); the proclamation of Archduke Charles as King of Spain under the name of Charles III in Vienna (1703); the Alliance’s entry into Savoy and Portugal that same year; and Charles III’s arrival in Lisbon and the onset of the peninsular hostilities (1704). Every single one of these events was accompanied by allied victories and non-defeats on the continent’s battlefields, and they triggered the fairly widespread impression that the Austriacist cause was ultimately destined to prevail. It was in this climate of expectation, and ultimately of euphoria, that the Austriacist party gestated and grew. The international dimension in the first rumblings of civil war is driven home by the most probable etymological origin of the word botifler, a highly derogatory term used in all the Catalan-speaking lands quite early on (it is documented as far back as 1702), which Charles’ followers used to call Bourbon supporters. According to Castellví, yet also according to the Valencian botiflers Isidre Planes and Josep Vicent Ortí i Major,12 the word is a parodical or comical twist on the surname of Marshal Boufflers, who led the French army in several battles in 1702 and 1703. Since its outcome was uncertain, whoever spread news favourable to the Bourbons was called a botifler, just as those who did the same in favour of the allies were known as imperials. As is known, that word loomed over Philip V’s followers during the war and throughout the lengthy post-war period. In fact, it is still a pejorative concept often used in Catalan political jargon today to refer to Catalans propounding submission to Spanish centralism. If we recapitulate the above, we will realise that the Catalan-speaking lands’ involvement in the War of the Spanish Succession had deep-seated internal causes, yet it would have also been impossible without the outbreak of international war. The Catalans could not look favoura-

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bly upon a dynasty that had consolidated its power on the basis of political uniformism and absolutism, even less so when they had just witnessed, recently in historical terms, the northern Catalan-speaking counties’ process of violent assimilation, as well as the disasters of the recent military occupations in the Principality, as Southern Catalonia was called. In this context, the sympathies of the Catalan ruling core inevitably had to seek other horizons: either the composite monarchy of the German Hapsburgs, who guaranteed, in acceptable enough terms for the day and age, respect for the diverse historical and identity realities; or the parliamentary and economically open models of England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands. However, the war would not have broken out in Catalonia without the existence of its first international episodes, or without the conviction among a large swath of the ruling class that victory was possible. From this twofold perspective, then, the case of the Catalans was perfectly comparable to that of other nations or collectives who had historical grievances with the state structure under which they fell or to which they were subjugated. They include the Scottish Jacobites, who were against the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the 1707 Act of Union but were ultimately aided by France; the Hungarian malcontents opposed to the rising Germanisation of the land, yet also financed from Paris; and the French Protestant camisards, reduced to Catholic uniformism with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes decreed by Louis XIV, yet who nonetheless enjoyed the political and fiscal support and supervision of the English Whigs.13 In any event, Austriacism grew as a clandestine political option in all the Spanish kingdoms thanks to the twofold stimulus of internal structural conflicts and external pressure. In Castile, it quite likely managed to encompass much broader middle-class and aristocratic swaths of society than those who ended up supporting it explicitly. In Valencia, it spread among the peasants, who had recently been defeated in the uprising known as the Segona Germania (Second Brotherhood); yet it also received much more obvious support among the bourgeoisie of Valencia and other cities in the kingdom than what had been thought up to a few decades ago.14 In some cities, such as Alcoy, the war paralleled local feuds between families who were vying for hegemony.15 The commercial interests of an Anglophile bourgeoisie also explain the choice in favour of the allies by Cartagena, in the Kingdom of Murcia, the area that was the most explicitly favourable to the allies within the Crown of Castile. Also at this point we are more familiar with the circumstances in the Principality. In Catalonia, the Austracist party grew and even achieved clear social hegemony over a threefold foundation.16 First, Austriacism rose in strength among the military leaders who organised the popular resistance to the French invasions along the Vic-Ripoll axis in the second half of the 17th century.

The War of the Spanish Succession in the Catalan-speaking Lands

They included petty nobles and landowners who became the leaders of their local communities and led the irregular corps of riflemen, musketeers and militiamen. In fact, they were the vigatans, a blanket term to describe the entire anti-Bourbon resistance in Catalonia. This group maintained close ties to the German Prince George of Hessen-Darmstadt, the hero of the Catalan resistance against the French troops during the Nine Years’ War and the last viceroy of Charles II who was later sent into exile by Philip V; he played a crucial role in the formation of the Great Alliance of The Hague. The vigatans were, in fact, the armed wing of the Austriacist party in Catalonia. However, the hardcore of Catalan Austriacism was made up of Barcelona’s commercial bourgeoisie. In the sphere of what Narcís Feliu de la Penya defined using the metaphor of the Fénix de Cataluña (Phoenix of Catalonia),17 diverse merchant and industrial sectors drew up a model of economic development that aspired to turn Catalonia into “the Holland of the Mediterranean”. This bourgeoisie, which was open to the new times, spread its influence over the entire land through urban networks, and in the context of war created a host of commercial enterprises for export, such as the Companyia Nova de Gibraltar.18 The new urban ruling class also generated new realms of cultural production, such as the Acadèmia dels Desconfiats (Academy of the Doubters),19 and collectives that were engaged in the new political dynamics, especially clear today in the realm of notaries.20 In that context, the University of Barcelona became a key enclave in the subversive dynamic, which encompassed both students and professors. The third leg on which anti-Bourbon resistance was propped up was the lower clergy, especially the mendicant religious orders. This group, which was highly popular among the people, played a pivotal role in the events of 1705 and of 1713-1714. In its best-known guise, Catalan Austricism constructed a political discourse grounded on the defence of pactism and the constitutions. It granted a crucial role to the institutions “of the land”, usually with regard to both their competences and their rising social and territorial representativeness. In its more radical formulations, Catalan Austricism fell within republicanism, viewed as a current that placed the common good as a supreme value over strictly dynastic considerations.21 In turn, Castilian Austriacism, which has yet to be studied in depth, developed a discourse grounded on upholding a monarchy “moderated” by the laws of the country and the intermediary role of the nobility and the Church.22 A pacted monarchy in Catalonia and a “moderated” monarchy in Castile both contrasted to the absolute monarchy put into place by the first Bourbon. In both movements, opposition to France and all that it meant in political and economic terms was also a core argument. As we can see, then, in neither case did the War of the Spanish Succession have an exclusively dynastic meaning on the peninsula.

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From the failed disembarkation to the successful disembarkation (1704-1705) Along with the social and ideological characterisation of Austriacism, we should also bear in mind its generational composition. Generally speaking, until at least 1704, those committed to the anti-Bourbon opposition were young adults who lacked a significant presence in the country’s governing institutions. This became crystal clear with the allied disembarkation in Barcelona on the 28th of May of the same year. It is quite clear that this enterprise had the support of a conspiracy inside the city. Yet it is also evident that when the time came, it was a feeble and immature undertaking. The institutions “of the land”, namely the Generalitat and the Council of One Hundred, were placed at the service of the Duke of Velasco, the viceroy of Catalonia for Philip V. And the Coronela, or urban militia, played a key role in the defence of the city. The allied troops were forced to leave post-haste. However, it should be noted that several hundred members of the conspiracy took advantage of that juncture to leave Barcelona and embark on the fleet that would conquer Gibraltar weeks later. This first group of Catalan exiles travelled to Lisbon, yet smaller numbers of them also went to Gibraltar, Genoa (a neutral republic and by definition a den of spies from both sides) and even Vienna. The presence of a significant number of exiles expanded the resistance’s international contacts, as well as the network through which allied correspondence could arrive. In any event, the failed disembarkation and the conviction that there was an internal conspiracy triggered heavy repression in both Barcelona and Catalonia as a whole. On this point, it is interesting to contrast the sources from Catalonia and from the Court. To wit, according to Narcís Feliu de la Penya, it is clear that the repression spearheaded by the viceroy Duke of Velasco was unprecedented in both its scope and the means it used. To the contrary, the Madrid sources tended to accuse Velasco of being too soft and incapable of handling the uprising. In reality, both perceptions are based on one true point. In a complementary fashion, they indicate the qualitative leap in the clash between Catalonia and Philip V. This leap was characterised by the shift from traditional, sporadic and more or less corporate conflicts to new and more widely subversive behaviours, and especially by the massive use of certain public expressions of contempt for the order in power, such as the use of yellow bows, which became an emblem of Austriacism. The tide in favour of Charles III gradually came to conquer realms of expression and interaction, and in parallel, the so-called botiflers began to experience the strange sensation of being in the minority. However not even under those circumstances did the most brazen Austriacists believe that any kind of popular revolt to oust the Bourbon would be possible. Quite the contrary, Austriacism, which was largely a by-product of

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the international war as we have seen, needed the allies more than ever. And by the end of 1704, this need was now mutual. The Great Alliance had been sustaining a war against the two Bourbon crowns for two long years in the name of a dynastic dispute that had not given rise to major armed ex-

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pressions in the country where, in theory, the grievance was supposed to be resolved. The activation of the Portuguese front with Charles III’s arrival in Lisbon had ended in utter failure. And the allies’ indisputable naval hegemony on the Iberian coasts had only secured Gibraltar, which became like a presidium with its back turned on

Figure 2. Map of the War of the Spanish Succession, 1702-1706 (from Catalunya i la Guerra de Successió. Museu d’Història de Catalunya, Barcelona 2007).

The War of the Spanish Succession in the Catalan-speaking Lands

the hinterland. The allied failure in Spanish lands contrasted with the victorious dynamic of its troops on all other fronts. All of these factors together can explain the overlap between the internal resistance and the allied states, the utmost expression of which was the signing of the Pact of Genoa on the 20th of June 1705. This pact, which committed England and the Catalan vigatans, expressed both sides’ long-term desire to reach an agreement. First, the ambassadors who signed on behalf of the internal resistance shared their condition as exiles since 1704. Barcelona native Antoni de Peguera, then only 23 years old, had

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been one of the founders of the Acadèmia dels Desconfiats. Domènec Perera, a lawyer, was a highly esteemed figure on the Vic plain. In turn, Queen Anne’s plenipotentiary ambassador was Mitforde Crowe, a merchant who had done business in Catalonia, manufacturing and exporting liquor. Thus, he fulfilled a twofold condition: he was familiar with the country and was well-known by much of the ruling class. As if all this were not enough to inspire trust inside Catalonia, the pact guaranteed allied military support for a possible uprising. And, perhaps even more importantly for winning over Catalan public opinion, it guaranteed

Figure 3. Map of the War of the Spanish Succession, 1706-1715 (from Catalunya i la Guerra de Successió. Museu d’Història de Catalunya, Barcelona 2007).

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England’s commitment to uphold Catalonia’s constitutions, regardless of the outcome of the dispute. The crucial importance of the pact was confirmed by immediate events. On the 20th of June, the vigatans won the Congost from the Bourbon troops and wrested control of the county of Osona along the course of the Besòs River, one of the main supply routes to Barcelona. One month later, on the 22nd of August, a large allied fleet disembarked before the city. One of its passengers was Archduke Charles of Austria, Charles III. Throughout the month and a half long siege, the resistance played a key role both at the gateways of Barcelona and in spreading the uprising around the country. However, at this point we cannot accept Narcís Feliu de la Penya’s account word for word, as it has an undeniably agitating tone, as proven by Josep M. Torras.23 The allied success in Barcelona was accompanied by the triumph of the “maulets”, or Valencian Austriacists, in an operation that was most likely only designed as a military distraction: on the 10th of August, just a few days before the disembarkation in Barcelona, the allied fleet had disembarked a small contingent fleet of men off the coast of Altea, in the southern portion of the Kingdom of Valencia. It was commanded by the imperial officer Joan Baptista Basset i Ramos.24 Originally hailing from Valencia, Basset had forged his military career in the imperial army, where he stood out as an artilleryman, and he had accompanied the Prince of Hessen-Darmstadt in the negotiating process that led to the signing of the treaty of the Great Alliance. Endowed with a heavily populist character, Basset won the support of the town of Dénia and afterwards a large number of Valencian peasants, whom he promised release from their feudal servitude. With an essentially improvised army of the people, Basset won the backing of the Catalan troops under General Rafael Nebot, who had initially been charged with putting him down. However, his swift entry into the city of Valencia on the 16th of December also confirmed the scope of the conspiratorial circles inside the city. Just like in Barcelona, much of the Valencian bourgeoisie had already taken sides with the Archduke’s cause, including such major figures as Josep Vicent Torres Eiximeno, the secretary of the Municipal Council. It is more difficult to ascertain the extent of the conspiracy within the nobility and the ecclesiastical hierarchy. The Count of Cardona, Josep Folch de Cardona i Erill, stood out for his defence of Charles III from the very start. However, his was a rather exceptional case. Cardona belonged to a side branch of the family line, and his ascent was inextricably linked to the Court of the Habsburgs, first in Madrid and later in Vienna. The stance in favour of Philip V was more frequent at first, although much of the Valencian nobility ended up shifting to back the Archduke’s cause during the second allied offensive on Madrid in 1710, including such prominent figures as Joan Basili de Castellví i Coloma, the Count of Cervelló, and the Archbishop of Valencia, Antoni Folch de Cardona.

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The change in sympathies might be put down to a twofold impetus from abroad. First, it is clear that in 1705 Basset’s anti-feudal discourse somewhat alienated some of the nobility that might initially have been leaning towards Charles III’s cause. Secondly, the abolition of the Furs de València (the laws of the Kingdom of Valencia) and the imposition of the laws of Castile in the kingdom in 1707, along with the extremely harsh repression exercised by the Bourbon troops, ended up conducting these sectors towards the Austriacist cause. The remaining territories in the Crown of Aragon, including the Kingdom of Aragon and the islands of Majorca, Ibiza and Sardinia, gradually proclaimed their support for the Archduke as the allied armies announced their presence. Therefore, we should understand that in all these realms the Austriacist cause earned widespread sympathy, but in none of them was it powerful enough to devolve into subversion. The only exception to this dynamic was Minorca. However, the unilateral proclamation of Charles as king in 1706 was put down by the January 1707 Bourbon occupation, which shortly thereafter abolished the island’s privileges. Minorca was won back by allied troops in late September 1708. The active or passive Austriacism of the kingdoms in the Crown of Aragon contrasts with the clearly predominant support for Philip among the people of Castile. This stance became particularly clear during the two allied occupations of Madrid in 1706 and 1710. Although on both occasions the Bourbon authorities imprisoned aristocrats and bishops who had been accused of collaborating with Charles III, the Austracists’ capacity for mobilisation was quite flimsy and Philip V’s cause even won support as a result of these deeds. This reality unquestionably contrasts with Castilian Austriacism’s early and major presence in powerful nuclei until then. The key to this paradox may be found once again in the arguments used by the propagandists. As M. Teresa Pérez Picazo has pointed out, the Castilian Bourbon texts heightened their xenophobic discourse at these junctures, painting the allied army as a conglomerate made up of Protestants and enemies of Spain. In this overall context, Catalanophobia took on particular pride of place, especially in the texts addressed to the common people.25 In fact, this discourse was anything but new. It was even predicted by the Admiral of Castile in Lisbon when talk began of a probable allied disembarkation in Barcelona. The chroniclers on both sides dovetail on this point. The Sardinian pro-Philip historian Vicenç Bacallar, Marquis of San Felipe, puts the following words into the Admiral’s mouth: “el golpe mortal para la España era atacar la Andalucía, porque nunca obedecería Castilla a rey que entrase por Aragón, porque ésta era la cabeza de la Monarquía”.26 And Francesc de Castellví himself confirmed the sense of the Admiral’s statement: “Que, dirigiéndose las armas a Cataluña, esto haría más pertinaces las Castillas, que juzgarían presumía la Corona de Aragón darles ley; [...] que si el rey entraba por Andalucía a ocupar Madrid se

The War of the Spanish Succession in the Catalan-speaking Lands

mantendría en el reino, y que si se intentaba por las partes de Aragón y Valencia no permanecería en España”.27

Charles III, King of the Catalans: Politics and war The international war also became a civil war on the 7th of November 1705, the date of Charles III’s triumphal entry into Barcelona. Two young foreign princes set up their parallel courts in Madrid and Barcelona, with a government structure made up of councils and secretaries that tended to be carbon copies of each other.28 Just like his ancestor and rival, Charles called the General Court of Catalonia and proved himself particularly generous with it. Not only did he repeat some of the main economic concessions (direct trade with America, the duty-free port of Barcelona) and political concessions (such as the creation of the Constitutional Tribunal) granted by the first Spanish Bourbon, he also added new ones, including the abolition of royal control over the ballot voting of the Generalitat and the Council of One Hundred, which de facto erased the last major repressive consequence of the 1640 revolution. Along the same lines, worth highlighting is the legalisation of the Conferència dels Tres Comuns (Conference of the Three Commons), which encompassed these two institutions and the military wing. This association of institutions had been explicitly banned by Philip V, and it would come to play a pivotal role in the last defence of Barcelona during the siege of 1713-1714. All of this was joined by a deliberate policy of promoting local Austriacism in society through ennoblements, concessions to honourable citizens, titles and civilian and military appointments. Therefore, we could say that in the spring of 1706, once Barcelona overcame the first Bourbon siege, the Austriacist party consolidated its victory in the spheres of the military, ideas and individuals. However, the day-to-day operation of the new regime was anything but smooth. The tensions between the Crown and the institutions “of the land” reappeared quickly and became especially palpable starting in late 1707, when the war definitively reached Catalonia with the Bourbon occupation of Lleida. In that context, the Court managed to generate projects with an authoritarian or absolutist bent. In any event, it is impossible to draw conclusions about how Charles’ court would have evolved had the conflict ended differently. In this sense, we should bear in mind that the government of Barcelona was permanently affected by the war, which conferred on it an ongoing temporary status. This status of exceptionalness was experienced on a twofold level. First, Barcelona not only remained the capital of the Principality, rather it also suddenly became the capital of a parallel court, where the entire architecture of the councils characteristic of the Spanish Habsburgs was set up in a more or less improvised or imperfect way. Su-

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perimposed on them were two secretaries of state: the one held by Catalan notary Ramon de Vilana-Perles (who had become the Marquis of Rialb) with competences around the entire peninsula, and the one for Italy, entrusted to Navarra native Juan Antonio Romeo, Marquis of Erendazu. Thus, it is worth stressing that theoretically these bodies governed lands that had never been in Charles’ hands, or were so during an exceptionally brief period of time. This meant a clear drain on the treasury and therefore political and military dependency on the allied states. This exceptionalness was also caused by the vicissitudes of the war. Unlike both Bourbon crowns, which had territorial continuity and clear leadership by French officialdom, the allied army on the peninsula was always a heterogeneous amalgam. Out of the entire set of diverse forces – imperial, British, Dutch, Portuguese and even Spanish troops recruited by Charles III – the British presence became pivotal, among other reasons because they were the only ones who had a large enough armada to move troops. And the British military campaigns were marked by the need to convince a public opinion that was internally highly divided. This quite likely explains the obsession with entering Madrid – that is, with garnering favourable headlines in the sympathetic English propaganda - which guided the operations of 1706 and 1710, and ultimately made them fail. Despite all of these factors, during the period from 1705 to 1713, Barcelona experienced the social and symbolic mirage of being a royal court, a circumstance that we would have to go back more than two centuries to find again. Ambassadors and representatives of all the allied and neutral states flocked to Barcelona, along with merchants from all over the world, the traditional nobility from Spain and Italy and the new nobility ensconced by the new monarch. The city also welcomed prominent artists whose arrival had immediate repercussions in the realms of architecture, theatre and music.29 Likewise, it also launched ambitious trade projects that sought overseas markets, such as the aforementioned Companyia Nova de Gibraltar, founded in 1709.30 And at all scales, one can sense a certain process of fusion between the new arrivals and the locals which would continue in the ensuing years in the Viennese exile. However, the military dynamic on the Iberian Peninsula always fared poorly. The first offensive on Madrid ended up with the allied defeat in the Battle of Almansa (1707). This had vast political repercussions, as it meant the relegation of the war to Catalonia and the publication of the decree abolishing the laws of the kingdoms of Aragon and Valencia. The most prominent Austriacists in these two kingdoms had to take refuge in Barcelona, while the new Bourbon authorities embarked on massive repression characterised by collective punishment, mass executions and the burning of what were considered rebel strongholds. In the end, Charles III’s rule in Valencia had not even lasted a year and a half – several months longer than in Aragon.

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the republican period However, Charles III lost the war not on the Iberian front but in international diplomacy. As is well known, on the 11th of April 1713 the Treaty of Utrecht was signed, putting an end to the international war. Almost one month earlier, on the 19th of March, his wife Elizabeth Christina had set sail from Barcelona to the empire in the company of some of the most conspicuous members of the court. Article 13 of the treaty recognised the efforts of Queen Anne of England to guarantee that the constitutions of Catalonia were upheld (although it did not explicitly mention the Pact of Genoa signed with the Catalans in 1705). However, the Queen was satisfied with Philip V’s pledge to guarantee the Catalans the “privileges held by the inhabitants of both Castiles, who of all the peoples of Spain are the ones that love the Catholic King the best”. It goes without saying that this text endorsed, albeit with an undeniable measure of cynicism, the desire of the first Spanish Bourbon to abolish the constitutions of Catalonia.31 The withdrawal of allied troops was accompanied by the parallel advance of the army of the two crowns. This practice, agreed upon by the top military authorities in the Convention of Hospitalet (22nd of June), had only three exceptions: the garrisons at the forts of Castellciutat and Cardona, governed respectively by Generals Josep Moragues and Manuel Desvalls, and especially Barcelona. In the capital of Catalonia, the chief councillor was in charge, on behalf of the city, of the fortress on Montjuïc and the Drassanes shipyards, where the allied army’s munitions and war materiel were kept. This latter act, which was clearly groundbreaking, would mark the subsequent events.32 Indeed, while General Starhemberg, the last viceroy of Catalonia, completed the withdrawal of the imperial troops, the General Deputation called the Junta General de Braços de Catalunya, in agreement with the two other commons. This institution, which was also known then as the Parliament of Catalonia, had even greater social and territorial representation than the General Court, from which it differed by the absence of the monarch. In fact, the Junta General had only been called on one other occasion, in 1641, a juncture also characterised by rupture and war. The Junta was officially constituted on the 30th of June 1713, and it was organised into separate meetings of the wings or branches. The debate was extremely heated in the military and royal branches, as the ecclesiastic branch chose not to take part in the voting. The terms that were discussed were surrender or resistance. To support the former, such obvious arguments were wielded as the inevitability of defeat and the need to avoid bloodshed and the ruin of the country. The second option appealed to the pride and history of the fatherland, to the irreversibility of the loss of the constitutions and even to the possibility that the international situation might change in the

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forthcoming months. Based on this argumentation, resistance became a tactic dictated by political prudence, at least in the early stages. Thanks to Francesc de Castellví, we still have the speeches delivered in the military branch, all of them rhetorically effective and boasting undeniable political eloquence.33 Everything leads us to believe that the majority of those attending the Junta de Braços advocated surrender. A preliminary text along these lines was drawn up on behalf of the equitable representation of all three branches. However, on the 9th of July the General Deputation publicised the Junta’s agreement to resist. This came as a great surprise not only to the European chancelleries, beginning with the imperial chancellery, but also to a broad swath of Catalan public opinion. It was the outcome of a variety of factors: the ecclesiastic branch’s decision not to take part in the voting, probably convinced of its outcome in favour of surrender; the steadfast preference for resistance in the royal branch, made up of cities, towns and free places; and the presence of a highly vociferous, albeit probably minority, core of members of the military branch also leaning towards resistance, which forced a second vote after the cities and villages had chosen this option. We should also add the pressure from Barcelona’s lower echelons, which repeatedly, and even violently, threatened the sectors in favour of surrender, and which probably managed to ensure some nobles in favour of this option were absent from the city before the second and decisive vote in their branch. Conversely, also worth noting is Starhemberg’s pressure on the wealthy sectors of society to accept what had been agreed to in Utrecht. The army of the two crowns, commanded by the Duke of Pòpuli, encircled the city and ordered it to surrender on the 25th of July 1713. The forces were clearly illmatched. At the peak of the siege, the Bourbon troops managed to gather 100,000 men in Catalonia, half of whom were stationed around the city. In contrast, the defensive forces were paltrier: around 2,000 professional soldiers led by General Antoni de Villarroel in Barcelona. There might have been slightly more mountain riflemen scattered around the country, which were joined by the garrisons in Castellciutat and Cardona, and around 5,000 civilians, locals and refugees which made up Barcelona’s Coronela or urban militia, led by its chief councillor (Rafael Casanova, starting in November 1713). However, the city successfully resisted the first few months of the siege, even though it did not manage to spread this resistance to the land as a whole. The winter of 1714, however, witnessed the spread of the revolt of the Quinzenades, named after the new tax introduced by the Bourbon authorities at the time.34 The repression of this movement was fierce, and it ended with a vast number of burned, devastated towns and massive, indiscriminate killings. Starting on the 22nd of May 1714, the Bourbon battery achieved positions that enabled them to launch the bombardments of Barcelona. The siege picked up momentum on the 6th of July, almost one year after it start-

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Figure 4 a,b,c. The Siege of Barcelona, 1714. Engravings by Jacint Rigaud (Historic Archive of the City of Barcelona)

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ed, as the Duke of Berwick and numerous French troops joined it. And as the history books all state, Barcelona fell on the 11th of September. It is not our objective here to provide a detailed list of the military events that took place throughout those 14 months,35 nor to examine their terrible influence on the civilian population, which is amply discussed by Francesc de Castellví. However, we would like to offer several reflections on the governance of the resistance during that period, a subject that we have analysed more extensively.36 The government of a kingless country inevitably took on a republican form. It was structured by means of collegial organisations with a certain degree of organisational complexity yet, as we have seen, which already had a longstanding tradition and numerous complicities. Thus, when the Junta General de Braços suspended its functions on the 16th of July 1713, it appointed a collegial board consisting of 36 members, 12 per branch, charged with leading the resistance on behalf of the official bodies. Worth pointing out is the executive, not merely consultative, nature of this board. Thus, even though the deputies of the General Deputation continued to have a protocolbased presence within the institutions, the real power was harnessed through this extensive board. Likewise, the Conference of the Three Commons, made up of the Deputation, the Council of One Hundred and the military wing, took charge of effectively governing the resistance. One of its first measures was to notify the viceroy of Majorca, Joan Antoni de Rubí i de Boixadors, Marquis of Rubí, of the decision to put up resistance. It also notified the Catalan ambassadors in the old allied courts who had been appointed by the Commons in the preceding months. Throughout the siege, the ambassadors received instructions to seek a negotiated solution to the conflict; the speculations included the possibility of forming a “free republic” made up of Catalonia, Majorca and Ibiza under a British protectorate. On the 26th of February 1714, the 36-member board was replaced by a 24-member board made up exclusively of members of the Council of One Hundred. As had already happened in the Reapers’ War, the enemy troops’ occupation of almost the entire country had left the General Deputation without revenue and with scant political representativeness. Just like then, the Council of One Hundred seized leadership of the last resistance. Yet it is worth pointing out that the Conference of the Three Commons continued to make all the important political decisions in a collegial fashion. However, the government formed in July 1713 showed a special interest in maintaining the legality of a political system which was surmounted by a monarch, Charles III, on whose behalf the resistance had been proclaimed. In the absence of a viceroy in the wake of Starhemberg’s evacuation, the top representative of the monarch in the Principality was the spokesman for the general governance, Pere de Sentmenat-Torrelles, who stood in for the viceroy by performing his functions. The same can be

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said of the Audiencia or Tribunal of Catalonia, which was largely decimated due to the departure of some of its members to Mataró, a town under Bourbon control. From Vienna, Charles played his hand, too. A key figure in this was the notary Joan Francesc de Verneda, the brother-in-law of Ramon de Vilana-Perles, who by then had been appointed the Secretary of State and Secretary of the Universal Office of the Council of Spain, with its headquarters in the capital of the empire. Verneda, who had left Catalonia in the entourage accompanying the empress Elisabeth Cristina in March 1713, returned to Barcelona on the 2nd of October of that same year. Thereafter, he played the role of agent or official ambassador of the emperor-king in Barcelona. Through the viceroy of Majorca, Verneda kept the Council of Spain, and especially his brother-in-law Vilana-Perles, abreast of the course of events in Barcelona, and he received specific orders of action from them. The military rule of Barcelona was entrusted to a restricted commission, called the Junta Secreta (Secret Board), which was made up of representatives of the Three Commons, the government spokesmen and Verneda himself. The board met with the general governor, Antoni de Villarroel, who, at least since Verneda’s arrival, felt appointed by his king, Charles III. Throughout the siege, the resistance organised sweeping political propaganda. The most significant discourse along these lines was the Despertador de Catalunya (which can be roughly translated as Catalonia’s Wake-up Call). This text, published in Barcelona in November 1713, was translated into Italian shortly thereafter and printed in Naples. Unlike the propaganda from 1705 to 1706, which was more clearly dynastic in tone, the texts from the last siege of Barcelona stress republican values like the freedom of the homeland and the supremacy of the common good and the general interest. Likewise, it refuted the Bourbon propaganda, which painted the constitutions of Catalonia as a set of archaic rights aimed exclusively at the privileged sectors. In contrast to this vision, texts like the Despertador highlighted the vast number of rights – fiscal, juridical and many other kinds – that common Catalans enjoyed thanks to the legal system, which was in danger of extinction at that time.37 Also worth highlighting is the publication of the Gaseta de Barcelona (Gazette of Barcelona) in the city, which released 42 issues between July 1713 and August 1714.38 The purpose of this publication was to boost the morale of the besieged citizens and to counter the Bourbon propaganda. The defence of the country soon took on guises of popular Catholic fervour as well, which gradually slipped towards millenarianism throughout the months of the siege. The daily expressions of mass religiosity were spearheaded by members of the ordinary urban clergy, who some prominent leaders of the resistance derogatorily referred to as “holy men”. Some forms of popular devotion were halfway between civil and Catholic discours-

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es. The worship of Our Lady of Freedom was particularly popular and gave rise to several highly celebrated verses.

The repression and the Nueva Planta decrees In Catalonia, the rout of 1715 only bears comparison with that of 1939. Everything points to the fact that the figures on retaliation, executions and exiles are somewhat interchangeable in proportion to the population in both years. Furthermore, in both cases, the qualitative consequences of the repression were even more pronounced, as it particularly affected the sectors which, from a diverse social reality and throughout the entire land, had led a project for the country and for the future. Beyond the decapitation of the leading class, the defeat on both dates also led to the end of Catalonia’s own legal-political organisation and the imposition of the model of state against which it had fought. The regime that was set up in Catalonia in the months after the 11th of September has been described as military terrorism by several authors, starting with Salvador Sanpere i Miquel. In fact this model, characterised by indiscriminate action and the utter impunity of army officials, had two immediate precedents. The first, as we mentioned above, was in Valencia, especially after the Battle of Almansa, and it led to the burning of numerous villages. The second took place in the Principality during the first few months of 1714, triggered by the revolt against the Quinzenades taxes. In both cases, the army resorted to similar practices: indiscriminate collective punishment, mass executions of the resistance, military coercion, requisitions, the imprisonment of local authorities and surcharges on neighbouring towns in the event of unpaid taxes, in short, the abusive, ongoing practice of the pedagogy of state terror. However, the spread of military terrorism over the entire land was in no way the outcome of spontaneous or autonomous actions on the part of the army leaders. Quite the contrary, it was part of a meticulous plan which singled out and punished its victims at all times. Thus, the military and political leaders of Barcelona’s resistance during the 1713-1714 siege were arrested and sent to Alicante, where they were distributed among the presidiums in Hondarribia, Pamplona and La Coruña. The majority were not released until 1725. Likewise, the officers and soldiers were either imprisoned closer to home, such as in Tortosa or Peníscola, or allowed to return to their towns and homes under the condition that they had to report to the Bourbon authorities periodically.39 Furthermore, several dozen churchmen were removed to lands under the jurisdiction of the emperor, especially in Italy or the Pontifical States. The same fate befell hundreds of refugees from other Spanish kingdoms who had remained in Catalonia during the siege. This measure was even applied to those who took refuge in Mataró, which

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was under Bourbon domination, awaiting Philip V’s pardon. The policy of repression encompassed all spheres. The assets of the Austriacists were seized by the royal administration. All the titles, posts and honours granted during the reign of Charles III were rescinded. This policy of erasing the historical memory become a primary objective which entailed the destruction of the symbols of both the distant and recent past, the total or partial prohibition of works published during the time of Charles III and rigid censorship of the chronicles from his day, which even prevented texts clearly in support of Philip V and hostile to his rivals from being disseminated in the Spanish monarchy. The decrees banning weapons were applied across the board. In the majority of cities and towns in Catalonia, the army came to permanently occupy the most emblematic and largest buildings. In Lleida, for example, it took over the Seu Vella, or old cathedral. In Barcelona, in addition to occupying Montjuïc, the city walls, the Drassanes shipyards, former convents like Sant Agustí and public buildings like the university on La Rambla dels Estudis, it also ordered the military Ciutadella (citadel) built, a work that, as Albert Garcia Espuche has pointed out, required more than 1,200 homes to be destroyed, that is, one-fifth of the homes in the entire city.40 All the universities were shuttered. In their place, a single university was created in Cervera, a town with Bourbon leanings, which was placed under the supervision of the Company of Jesus. The Catalan language was gradually proscribed in all public realms, following the guideline expressed in an instruction to the magistrates in 1717: “may the effect be achieved without citizens noticing it”. The Nueva Planta decree of Catalonia, dated the 16th of January 1716, was the last link in a chain of decrees that affected all the kingdoms within the Crown of Aragon. As discussed above, the first decree abolishing the furs (fueros in Spanish) or laws was published in 1707, targeted at the kingdoms of Valencia and Aragon.41 In 1711, a new decree was issued for this latter kingdom, the former having been rescinded during the allied offensive of 1710. The penultimate decree was published in the Kingdom of Majorca in 1715. As Joan Mercader i Riba has pointed out,42 the text applied to Catalonia was the most elaborate and mature. The decree abolished all the representative institutions, both local and national. In their place, it proclaimed the absolute power of the monarch, who exercised this power through three parallel hierarchical lines, organised from top to bottom. First, the Captain General became the prime authority in the Principality in the military and political sphere, although its main function over the century was to command the plethora of military forces stationed in Catalonia. Secondly, the Royal Tribunal, made up of two civilian tribunals and one criminal tribunal with a total of 16 judges, became the supreme tribunal and the political government of the Principality. The institution’s

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confiscation of the House of the Deputies, or the Palace of the Generalitat, symbolises its rise to power. The Tribunal was the only institution where the Catalan botiflers had a strong showing. Even though it was formally subordinate to the Captain General, its natural president, it had greater institutional continuity and a great deal of political clout, as it controlled the network of magistrates and mayors who were in charge of public order in the local sphere. Finally, the Superintendency was charged with collecting the army’s and administration’s taxes and payments; it was organised throughout the territory by sub-delegations. In a pyramidal system, all the political authorities in Catalonia, even the local ones, had to be directly appointed by the king or, in the case of lower-level authorities, by the Royal Tribunal. The new political organisation was complemented by the new system of taxation. The Superintendency took care of all the ordinary taxes formerly paid to the monarchy as well as the taxes of the Generalitat and the Council of One Hundred. As mentioned above, it also kept the assets seized from the Austriacists. It further created new indirect taxes and generated a new direct tax, the land register tax, published on the 9th of December 1715 and enforced starting in the following year. From the start, the contributions to the land registry tax, along with other ancillary taxes, hovered at around one million pesos per year, which multiplied the value of the services voted in the last two convocations of the General Court of Catalonia 7.3 times.43 Its enforcement in a country that was financially ruined by the impact of wars was particularly burdensome and turned it into a de facto punishment for war. On the other hand, despite the fact that it was apparently equitable, several miscalculations in conception out of haste, coupled with the violence with which it was enforced, contributed to aggravating its consequences. In many cases, it was only possible to enforce this tax by military confiscations and other repressive measures. In cases of default, surcharges on neighbouring towns were also common. For all of these reasons, the new tax won the popular epithet of “catastrophic”. However, despite the spectacular rise in fiscal pressure, the military presence was so imposing throughout the century that the taxes paid by Catalonia did not even cover the state’s expenses. Thus, in 1729 the Crown’s total revenues in Catalonia only accounted for 58.49% of the expenses of the occupying army and 49.8% of the monarchy’s total expenses in the Principality. In short, despite the fact that the Nueva Planta decrees were theoretically supposed to lead to the spread of Castilian laws and institutions in Catalonia – in line with the commitment Philip V made in Utrecht – in reality what it introduced was essentially new. Thus, the concentration of power in the hands of the Captain General, the militarisation of the post of magistrate, the very existence of the Superintendency and the tax model were a radically absolutist trial run which was only possible due to the condition of Catalonia as a vanquished land. When the monar-

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chy tried to introduce the land registry tax in the Crown of Castile starting in 1745, it was met with widespread opposition which required it to delay and ultimately table the project.

Exile and “persistent Austriacism” One of the most important consequences of the War of the Spanish Succession was exile.44 The censuses drawn up after 1714 enable us to estimate the total number of exiles at between 25,000 and 30,000 people. The exiles included people from all social strata and all the peninsular kingdoms, although the Catalans were the most prominent group. In fact, the exiles left in several different waves. The first was triggered by the July 1713 evacuation, when the majority of politicians and court nobles left Barcelona, as did a vast number of officers and soldiers with their families. Once in Italy, they set up three cavalry and two infantry regiments. The second major wave was a direct consequence of the 1714 defeat. The Cardona garrison left in an orderly fashion, as the capitulation of the fortress stipulated the occupants’ right to be able to leave the country. It was joined by the groups that had been banished by the Bourbon authorities, namely ecclesiasts and natives of other kingdoms living in Catalonia during the siege. However, the largest group to go into exile, and the one that lasted the longest, was covert: the thousands of Catalans who left the country in contravention of the law because their lives were endangered. This number was also enlarged by the Bourbon occupations of Majorca (1715) and Sardinia (1717) and the demobilisation of Carrasquet’s soldiers after the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1720). The Peace of Vienna (1725), which formally ended the war, stipulated reciprocal amnesty, whereupon the majority of officers who had been imprisoned since 1714 chose to go into exile. The exiles mainly settled in the Kingdom of Naples and the state of Milan. However, the nobility and the upperechelon functionaries ended up in Vienna. There in the capital of the empire they formed the Councils of Spain and Flanders, charged with governing the lands granted to the emperor in the Treaty of Utrecht. The majority of their councillors were exiles. Likewise, as Ernest Lluch reminds us,45 German historiography stresses the influence in the imperial milieu exerted by the so-called “Spanish party”, also made up of exiles and former members of the Court of Barcelona. In turn, many of the exiled ecclesiasts gathered in Rome. Those who lived in the emperor’s lands were generally given pensions or incomes in accordance with their previous social status. Until well into the 1740s, the exiles everywhere retained their identity traits and their own spheres of sociability. In Vienna, the exiles frequented the Benedictine monastery of Montserrat (the Schwartzspanier, or Black Spaniards) and the convent of the Barefooted Trinitarians

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(White Spaniards). The latter was finished in 1727, and its crypt still preserves the tombs of some of the most illustrious exiles. The Hospital of the Spaniards was also created, which Castellví claimed tended to 2,427 patients between 1718 and 1732. Its church, still operating today, was dedicated to Our Lady of Mercy. The five Spanish regiments and a company of volunteers participated actively in the Ottoman-Venetian War (1714-1718). In that conflict, the warring campaigns of 1716 and 1717 led to the occupations of Temesvar and Belgrade, respectively, which were ratified by the Treaty of Passarowitz (1718). The Count of Alcaudete, Antonio de Portugal y Toledo, was in command of the attacking forces when both sites surrender and was consequently given the keys to the gateways of the walls, which in the ensuing years he sent to the Monastery of Guadalupe (Extremadura) along with two silver figures. Likewise, at that time Valencia native Vicent Díaz de Sarralde wrote an epic composition which he published in Naples.46 Major works of history and political thinking were written in exile. The most prominent figures include Francesc de Castellví, the author of the best Catalan chronicle of the war, which we have cited profusely; Antoni de Bastero, who published La Crusca Provenzale (Provençal Tuscan, 1724) in Rome, a study that upheld the influence of the Catalan and Provençal troubadours in the roots of the Trecento; Josep Plantí, author of several historical works and a project to create a new city for the exiles; Juan Amor de Soria, who drew up several extremely important political texts; and jurists Domènec Aguirre and Francesc Solanes, among others.47 Despite the ban on correspondence for lengthy periods of time, the exiles kept in political contact with the core of the resistance inside the country. The relationship was more intense during the large-scale international conflicts, which the exiles regarded as a platform for once again placing the “case of the Catalans” on the table. These circumstances arose during the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718-1720) and the ensuing Congress of Cambrai, and on the occasion of the War of the Polish Succession (1733-1735). As mentioned above, during this latter conflict, which ended with the Bourbon occupation of Naples and Sicily, two extremely important political works were published in exile: Via fora als adormits and Record de l’Aliança fet al sereníssim Jordi, augusto rei de la Gran Bretanya.48 However, the Bourbon occupation of the southern Italian kingdoms had dire consequences for the exiles. The Council of Spain was closed, the pensions ceased to be paid and the empire agreed to move the group of pensioners to lands in the Banat of Tenesvar, which at the time was undergoing active colonisation. Thus, around 800 exiles were concentrated in what today is Zrenjanin (Vojvodina, Serbia), where they founded New Barcelona (1735-1738). The experiment ended in utter failure and an extremely high mortality rate. In the subsequent years, the survivors returned to Buda and Vienna.49

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By the end of the 1740s, the exiles were clearly beginning to disperse. This dispersion was compounded by the return to peninsular lands in some cases, and by deaths and dissolution into the host societies through mixed marriages in others. In Catalonia, there were several groups which opposed the Bourbon occupation until the 1730s, obviously in a covert fashion. The guerrillas regained strength during the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718-1720), which this time pitted the old allies and France against Philip V. In the summer of 1719, the guerrilla Pere Joan Barceló (“Carrasquet”), armed with French money and weapons, led a revolt in the southern counties of the Principality. Other leaders around Catalonia followed his example, as Enrique Giménez has pointed out.50 Likewise, in the Pyrenean villages occupied by the French troops, the regime prior to the Nueva Planta was reinstated. However, the end of the war, and especially the signing of the Peace of Vienna (1725), marked the consolidation of the Bourbon regime inside Catalonia. Even as late as 1735, there was a minor reprise of the guerrilla actions dovetailing with the new international war. However, from that year on, Austriacism ceased to be a viable dynastic alternative. What remained, coined “persistent Austriacism” by Ernest Lluch,51 was merely nostalgia for the lost constitutions. This spirit permeated the different initiatives aimed at bringing back the institutions which were launched under the new legal system, such as the Memorial de Greuges (Record of Grievances) submitted to the Bourbon King Charles III in 1760 by representatives of the cities of Zaragoza, Valencia, Barcelona and Palma. The nostalgia for the former regime in the Nueva Planta was still present during the Peninsular War (18081814) and in the early stages of the Liberal Revolution. Eighteenth century Catalonia experienced a climate of ongoing political occupation, as Lluís Roura has pointed out.52 However, the brutality with which the pedagogy of repression was exercised gradually combined with the development of mechanisms of integration or adaptation to the new regime. This process had gotten underway during the 1719 crisis and was even more evident among certain swaths of the leading classes and what we could call the “people of order”.53

Notes and references [1]

[2] [3]

See, among others: John H. Elliott. Imperial Spain, 1469-1716. Edward Arnold Publishers, London 1963; Helmut G. Koenigsberger. The Practice of Empire. Cornell University Press, Ithaca 1969. Víctor Ferro. El Dret Públic català. Les institucions a Catalunya fins al Decret de Nova Planta. Eumo, Vic 1987. Josep Sanabre, La acción de Francia en Cataluña en la pugna por la hegemonía de Europa (1640-

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1659). RABL, Barcelona 1956; John H. Elliott. The Revolt of Catalans. A Study in the Decline of Spain (1598-1640). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1963; Eva Serra (ed.). La revolució catalana de 1640. Crítica, Barcelona 1991; Antoni Simon. Els orígens ideològics de la revolució catalana de 1640. PAM, Barcelona 1999; Xavier Torres. La guerra dels Segadors. Eumo, Pagès, Vic, Lleida 2006; Xavier Torres. Naciones sin nacionalismo: Cataluña en la Monarquía Hispánica, siglos xvi-xvii. Universitat de València, Valencia 2008; Antoni Simon. Pau Claris, líder d’una classe revolucionària. PAM, Barcelona 2008. [4] Antonio Espino. Cataluña durante el reinado de Carlos II. Política y guerra en la frontera catalana, 1679-1697. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra 1997. [5] A systematic comparison between the results of the General Courts of 1701 and 1705 can be found in: Joaquim Albareda. “Estudi introductori”, in Constitucions, capítols i actes de cort: anys 1701-1702 i 1705-1706. Base, Barcelona 2004. [6] About the Admiral of Castile, see María Luz González Mezquita. Oposición y disidencia en la Guerra de Sucesión Española. El Almirante de Castilla. Junta de Castilla y León, Valladolid 2007. His 1702 manifest was published by M. Teresa Pérez Picazo. La publicística española en la Guerra de Sucesión. CSIC, Madrid 1966, vol. ii, pp. 201-220. See also Agustí Alcoberro. ‘“Monarquia moderada” i “llibertat de la pàtria”. Notes sobre el pensament polític de l’autriacisme castellà a l’exili’. Pedralbes. Revista d’Història Moderna, no. 27 (2007), pp. 173-196. [7] Narcís Feliu de la Penya. Anales de Cataluña. Barcelona, 1709, 3 vols. (facsimile ed.: Base, Barcelona 1999. Introductory study by Jaume Sobrequés). Regarding the formation of the Austriacist party in Catalonia, see Joaquim Albareda. Els catalans i Felip V. De la conspiració a la revolta (1700-1705). Vicens Vives, Barcelona 1993. [8] Eva Serra. “Una alternativa nacional sota l’aparença de conflicte dinàstic”, in L’aposta catalana a la Guerra de Successió (1705-1707). Museu d’Història de Catalunya, Barcelona 2007, pp. 509518. [9] Agustí Alcoberro. “Catalunya davant l’escenari europeu a la Guerra de Successió”, in L’aposta catalana..., op. cit., pp. 35-46. [10] Francesc de Castellví. Narraciones históricas, edited by J. M. Mundet and J. M. Alsina, Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada y Erasmo Pércopo, Madrid 1997-2002, 4 v. [11] Ernest Lluch (ed.). Escrits polítics del segle xviii, vol. iii, Via fora als adormits. IUJVV, Eumo, Vic 2005; Josep M. Torras i Ribé (ed.). Escrits polítics

Agustí Alcoberro

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15] [16]

[17]

[18] [19]

[20] [21]

del segle xviii, vol. ii, Documents de la Catalunya sotmesa. IUJVV, Eumo, Vic 1996. Francesc de Castellví. Narraciones..., op. cit., vol. i, p. 420. Vicent Josep Escartí (ed.). El “Diario (1700-1715)” de Josep Vicent Ortí i Major. Estudi i edició. Bancaixa, Valencia 2007, p. 286. Jean-Pierre Amalric. “La elección de un bando: hugonotes y jacobitas en la Guerra de Sucesión de España”. Manuscrits. Revista d’Història Moderna, no. 19 (2001), pp. 59-79. Carme Pérez Aparicio. Canvi dinàstic i Guerra de Successió. La fi del Regne de València. Tres i Quatre, València 2008, 2 vol.; Joaquim E. López Camps. “La invasió austriacista del Regne de València (1701-1705)”. Afers. Fulls de Recerca i Pensament, no. 52 (2005), pp. 521-540. Josep Lluís Santonja. La desfeta d’Alcoi. Alcoy Town Hall, Alcoy 2008. Joaquim Albareda. Els catalans..., op. cit. See also Joaquim Albareda. Catalunya en un conflicte europeu. Felip V i la pèrdua de les llibertats catalanes (1700-1714). Generalitat de Catalunya, Edicions 62, Barcelona 2001; Joaquim Albareda. La Guerra de Succesión en España (1700-1714). Crítica, Barcelona, 2010. About Narcís Feliu de la Penya and his milieu, see Pere Molas. Comerç i estructura social a Catalunya i València als segles xvii i xviii. Curial, Barcelona 1977. See also: Henry Kamen. “El Fénix catalán: la obra renovadora de Narciso Feliu de la Peña”. Estudis (València), no. i (1973), pp. 185-203; Benet Oliva. La generació de Feliu de la Penya. Burgesia mercantil i Guerra de Successió entre el Maresme i Barcelona. Universitat de Lleida, Lleida 2001. About the link between the bourgeoisie of Barcelona and the Austriacist cause, one study of particular interest is Albert Garcia Espuche. “El món de John Kies i Arnold de Jager: economia i política”, in Barcelona entre dues guerres. Economia i vida quotidiana (1652-1714). Eumo, Vic 2004, pp. 261-365. About the overall economic context, see Pierre Vilar. Catalunya dins l’Espanya moderna. Edicions 62, Barcelona 1964-1968, 4 v. Pierre Vilar (ed.). Le “Manual de la Companyia Nova” de Gibraltar, 1709-1723. SEVPEN, Paris 1962. Mireia Campabadal. La Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona en el segle xviii. L’interès per la història, la llengua i la literatura catalanes. RABL, PAM, Barcelona 2006. Albert Garcia Espuche. Barcelona..., op. cit. Joaquim Albareda (ed.). Escrits polítics del segle xviii, vol. i, Despertador de Catalunya i altres textos. IUJVV, Eumo, Vic 1996; Ernest Lluch. L’alternativa catalana (1700-1714-1740). Ramon de Vilana Perlas i Juan Amor de Soria: teoria i acció austriacistes. Eumo, Vic 2000; Juan Amor de

The War of the Spanish Succession in the Catalan-speaking Lands

[22] [23] [24]

[25] [26]

[27]

[28]

[29]

Soria. Aragonesismo austriacista (1734-1742), editing and introductory study by Ernest Lluch, Institución Fernando el Católico, Zaragoza 2000; Rosa M. Alabrús. Felip V i l’opinió dels Catalans. Pagès, Lleida 2001; José M. Iñurritegui. “Las virtudes y el jurista: el ‘Emperador Político’ de Francisco Solanes y el amor a la patria”. Pedralbes. Revista d’Història Moderna, no. 24 (2004), pp. 285-310; Antoni Simon. Construccions polítiques i identitats nacionals. Catalunya i els orígens de l’estat modern espanyol. PAM, Barcelona 2005; Angela De Benedictis. “Guerra, tirannide e resistenza negli scritti politici catalani”, in L’aposta catalana..., op. cit., pp. 65-71. Agustí Alcoberro. “’Monarquia moderada’...”, op. cit. Josep M. Torras i Ribé. La Guerra de Successió i els setges de Barcelona (1697-1714). Rafael Dalmau, Barcelona 1999. Carme Pérez Aparicio. Canvi dinàstic..., op. cit. Joaquim E. López Camps. “La invasió...”, op. cit.; José Luis Cervera Torrejón. Basset: mite i realitat de l’heroi valencià. Eliseu Climent, València 2003. M. Teresa Pérez Picazo. La publicística..., op. cit., vol. i, pp. 166-168. Vicenç Bacallar i Sanna. Comentarios de la guerra de España e historia de su rey Felipe V, el Animoso, edited by Carlos Seco Serrano, Atlas, Madrid 1957, p. 94. The text reads: “The mortal blow for Spain was attacking Andalusia, because Castile would never obey a king that entered through Aragon, because that was the head of the monarchy”. Francesc de Castellví. Narraciones..., op. cit., vol. i, p. 510. The text reads: “That, leading the weapons to Catalonia, this would make the Castiles more obstinate, as they deemed that the Crown of Aragon was authorised to bestow law upon them; [...] that if the king entered through Andalusia to occupy Madrid he would remain in the kingdom, and that if he tried this through parts of Aragon and Valencia he would not remain in Spain.” About Charles III’s court in Barcelona, see particularly Pere Voltes Bou. Barcelona durante el gobierno del Archiduque Carlos de Austria (1705-1714). Institut Municipal d’Història, Barcelona 19631970, 3 v. See also: Virginia León Sanz. Entre Austrias y Borbones. El Archiduque Carlos y la Monarquía de España (1700-1714). Sigilo, Madrid 1993; Virginia León Sanz. Carlos VI. El emperador que no pudo ser rey de España. Aguilar, Madrid 2003. Roger Alier. L’òpera a Barcelona. Els orígens, desenvolupament i consolidació de l’òpera com a espectacle teatral a la Barcelona del segle xviii. Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona 1983; Deanna Lenzi and Jadranka Bentini (ed.). I Bibiena: una

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 85

[30] [31]

[32]

[33]

[34] [35]

[36]

[37] [38]

[39]

famiglia europea. Marsilio, Venice 2000; Danièle Lipp. Musik am Hofe Karls III in Barcelona. Vienna 2005 (unpublished Bachelor’s thesis); Andrea Sommer-Mathis. “Entre Nápoles, Barcelona y Viena. Nuevos documentos sobre la circulación de músicos a principios del siglo xviii”, Artigrama, no. 12 (1996-1997), pp. 45-77. Pierre Vilar (ed.). Le “Manual”…, op. cit. Regarding this issue, see a joint perspective in: Joaquim Albareda. El “cas dels catalans”. La conducta dels aliats arran de la Guerra de Successió (1705-1742). Fundació Noguera, Barcelona 2005. Along with the literature mentioned, the following should be highlighted regarding the 1713-1714 siege of Barcelona: Mateu Bruguera. Historia del memorable sitio y bloqueo de Barcelona. Barcelona 1871-1872, 2 v.; Salvador Sanpere i Miquel. Fin de la Nación Catalana. L’Avenç, Barcelona 1905 (facsimile edition: Base, Barcelona 2005, introductory study by Joaquim Albareda); Santiago Albertí. L’Onze de Setembre. Albertí, Barcelona 1964 (2nd ed., 2006); Josep M. Torras i Ribé. Felip V contra Catalunya. Testimonis d’una repressió sistemàtica (1713-1715). Rafael Dalmau, Barcelona 2005. Francesc de Castellví. Narraciones..., op. cit., vol. iii, pp. 784-810; Joaquim Albareda (ed.). Escrits polítics..., op. cit. The minutes of the Junta have been published by Eva Serra (coord.). La Junta General de Braços de 1713. L’ambaixada Dalmases i altra documentació (1713-1714). Parliament of Catalonia, Department of Justice, Barcelona 2008. Josep M. Torras i Ribé. Felip V..., op. cit., pp. 77109. Regarding this matter, see particularly F. Xavier Hernàndez and Francesc Riart. Els exèrcits de Catalunya (1713-1714). Uniformes, equipaments, organització. Rafael Dalmau, Barcelona 2007. Agustí Alcoberro. “La Junta General de Braços i el govern de la Catalunya resistent”, in Agustí Alcoberro (dir.). Catalunya durant la Guerra de Successió. Ara Llibres, Barcelona 2006, vol. ii, p. 59. See also Eduard Martí. La Conferència dels Tres Comuns (1697-1714). Una institució decisiva en la política catalana. Fundació Ernest Lluch, Pagès, Lleida 2008. Joaquim Albareda (ed.). Escrits polítics..., op. cit. Mireia Campabadal (ed.). Diario del sitio y defensa de Barcelona, introductory study by Agustí Alcoberro and Xevi Camprubí, Tres i Quatre, Valencia 2009. Josep M. Torras i Ribé. Felip V..., op. cit., pp. 157-345; Antoni Muñoz and Josep Catà. Repressió borbònica i resistència catalana (1714-1736). Muñoz Catà, Madrid 2005; Enrique Giménez. “‘Contener con más autoridad y fuerza’. La repressió de l’austriacisme als territoris de la Corona d’Aragó”, in Joaquim Albareda (ed.). Del patri-

86 Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010

[40]

[41] [42]

[43]

[44] [45]

otisme al catalanisme. Eumo, Vic 2001, pp. 221238. Albert Garcia Espuche. “Memòria d’una ciutat, memòria d’uns ciutadans”, in Joaquim Albareda and Albert Garcia Espuche. 11 de setembre de 1714. Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona 2005, pp. 97-171; Albert Garcia Espuche. La Ciutat del Born. Economia i vida quotidiana a Barcelona (segles xiv a xviii). Ajuntament de Barcelona, Barcelona, 2009. Enrique Giménez López. Gobernar con una misma ley. Sobre la Nueva Planta borbónica en Valencia. Universitat d’Alacant, Alicante 1999. Joan Mercader Riba. Felip V i Catalunya. Edicions 62, Barcelona 1968; Josep M. Gay Escoda. “La gènesi del decret de Nova Planta de Catalunya. Edició de la consulta original del ‘Consejo de Castilla’ de 13 de juny de 1715”. Revista Jurídica de Catalunya, no. 81 (1982), pp. 7-41 and 263-348; Josep M. Gay Escoda. El corregidor a Catalunya. Marcial Pons, Madrid 1997; Josep M. Torras i Ribé. Els municipis catalans de l’Antic Règim (1453-1808). Curial, Barcelona 1983. Agustí Alcoberro. “El Cadastre de Catalunya (1713-1845): de la imposició a la fossilització”. Pedralbes. Revista d’Història Moderna, no. 25 (2005), pp. 231-258. Agustí Alcoberro. L’exili austriacista (17131747). Fundació Noguera, Barcelona 2002, 2 v. Ernest Lluch. L’alternativa..., op. cit.

Agustí Alcoberro

[46] Agustí Alcoberro. “Presència i ecos de l’exili austriacista hispànic a la Tercera Guerra Turca. L’Epopeia panegírica de Vicent Díaz de Serralde (Nàpols, 1718)”. Aguaits. Revista d’Investigació i Assaig, no. 24-25 (2007), pp. 73-96. [47] Agustí Alcoberro. “Conseqüències de la Guerra de Successió en el patrimoni artísitc i cultural: repressió interior i continuïtat a l’exili”, in Immaculada Socias (ed.). Conflictes bèl·lics, espoliacions, col·leccions. Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona 2009, pp. 13 – 30. [48] See note 11. Agustí Alcoberro. “Exili interior i exili exterior: una correspondència austriacista inèdita (1721-1724)”. Estudis Històrics i Documents dels Arxius de Protocols, no. xxi (2003), pp. 321360. [49] Agustí Alcoberro. “L’exili austriacista i la Nova Barcelona del Banat de Temesvar: teoria i pràctica”. Boletín de la Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona, no. xlviii (2001-2002), pp. 93-112. [50] Enrique Giménez López. “Conflicto armado con Francia y guerrilla austracista en Cataluña (17191720)”. Hispània, no. lxv/2, 220 (2005), pp. 543-600. [51] Ernest Lluch. L’alternativa catalana..., op. cit. [52] Lluis Roura. Subjecció i revolta en el segle de la Nova Planta. Eumo, Vic 2006. [53] Agustí Alcoberro. “Crisi i consolidació de la Nova Planta borbònica (1719-1725)”, in Joaquim Albareda (ed.). Una relació difícil. Catalunya i l’Espanya moderna. Base, Barcelona 2007, pp. 233-259.

Biographical note Agustí Alcoberro (1958) holds a doctorate in modern history, is a professor at the University of Barcelona and the director of the History Museum of Catalonia. He has published studies on humanism and the Renaissance, including the critical edition of the Cròniques d’Espanya (Chronicles of Spain) by Pere Miquel Carbonell (1997). He has recently specialised in the War of the Spanish Succession and the post-war period. He is the author of L’exili austriacista (1713-1747) (2002). He curated the exhibition “Catalunya i la Guerra de Successió” (Catalonia and the War of the Spanish Succession) at the History Museum of Catalonia (2007).

CATALAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 3: 87-102 (2010) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.1000.01.41 · ISSN: 2013-407X http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/

Anarchism in the Catalan-speaking countries: Between syndicalism and propaganda (1868-1931) Teresa Abelló*

Universitat de Barcelona Received 18 May 2009 · Accepted 20 July 2009

Abstract This text surveys the course of the anarchist movement in the Catalan-speaking lands from their introduction as part of the Democratic Revolution of September 1868 until the fall of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship. Anarchism was spread by workers to defend worker societarianism and had a trajectory within the ranks of federal republicanism. This characteristic gave it connotations that would remain with it forever: a relationship with republicanism and the primacy of the syndicalist over the anarchist content. It penetrated workers’ societies and ended up becoming the most powerful hub of anarcho-syndicalism in the world. In a twofold history, both highly pragmatic union sectors and more radical thinkers without a societarian tradition survived. In parallel, convinced of the value of education and knowledge, the anarchists struggled to imbue themselves with knowledge, and they developed their own culture which defined them as a group.

Key words: anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism, anarchist culture, violence and terrorism, labour movement Anarchism is one of the most singular features of recent social history which was politically and socially unique in the history of the Catalan-speaking lands, or the Països Catalans, even though this term was never accepted by the anarchists. Ever since it was introduced in Spain, anarchism took root in different ways in the different regions around the Iberian Peninsula, and precisely the Catalan-speaking lands were the prime backdrop for its actions (along with Andalusia and Aragon in the 20th century, and the consistent presence of highly active chapters in Madrid, Asturias and Galicia) and the home to more than half of its members. The widespread acceptance of anarchism in the Catalan-speaking lands meant that the majority of its members, historians, actions and publishers were located there.* As a socio-political phenomenon, anarchism has given rise to a profuse, longstanding historiography, which is not always present in today’s academic debates and often does not reflect the uniqueness of Catalan anarchism, which is usually presented as undifferentiated from Spanish anarchism.1 The rupture entailed by the Civil War and the lengthy Franco dictatorship profoundly marked the history of Spain. From the standpoint of professional research, many issues, such as the one being examined in this article, were interdicted during the first * Contact address: Teresa Abelló. Departament d’Història Contemporània, Facultat de Geografia i Història, Universitat de Barcelona. Carrer Montalegre, 6-8. E-08001 Barcelona. Tel.: +34 934037792. Fax: +34 934037800. E-mail: teresaabello@ub.edu

few decades of the dictatorship, and when they were addressed it was from officialdom and with the intention of clearly pointing to the responsibility of the anarchists – and along with them, the pro-Catalan separatists and communists – in the drama of the Civil War. In contrast, and with the opposite goal, during the same period the anarchist ranks in exile generated a sweeping literature – with the understanding that it should be individualised on its republican and communist sides – of testimonies and analyses, all of which aimed to be exculpatory. Their goals were to leave proof of anarchism’s view of its actions during the Civil War, to justify its own faith and to dogmatically define its beliefs.2 At the same time, from a completely different professional and political milieu, Hispanists like Gerald Brenan3 took an interest in Spanish anarchism – especially its Andalusian guise, whose behaviours they erroneously extrapolated to the rest of Spain. This camp was attracted by the more primitive elements of “spontaneous rebellion” and “millenarianism” that were frequent in the Mediterranean but had nothing to do with the anarchism that developed in the Catalanspeaking lands. A more professional historiography of the labour movement in general and anarchism in particular, and one that is committed to anti-Francoism, started to develop in the late years of the Franco dictatorship. This historiography, which is the outcome of university research, has continued until this day and clearly differentiates between militant discourse and historical analysis. In this sense, the earliest studies, which are still valid today, examined anarcho-syndicalism with the ex-

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plicit goal of laying the foundations for the history of the labour movement. In terms of publishing, studies on anarchism constantly appeared until the mid-1990s, after which they underwent a clear decline. The preferred subjects were the formation and development of anarcho-syndicalism with its regional peculiarities, rural mobilisations, international relations, the libertarian press and culture, and especially aspects related to the Civil War.4

The emergence of anarchism Anarchism started to be propagated in the Catalan-speaking lands after the 1868 revolution, which put an end to Isabel II’s reign, and its history is closely linked to that of the industrial labour movement. The new political regime created a climate favourable to political and union liberties that fostered the development of workers’ associations, which had been quite limited until then. The outbreak of anarchism took place at this time through the relationship that the International Workers’ Association (IWA) forged with the workers’ associations. The founding of the IWA in London in 1864 had triggered a qualitative leap in the European labour movement by proposing

Figure 1. Explosion of Gran Teatre del Liceu de Barcelona in the cover of the newspaper Le Petit Journal, 1893.

Teresa Abelló

local labour organisations in addition to the progressive and democratic parties, and by giving their social claims an international dimension. When it received word of the political revolt in Spain, the IWA committee headquartered in Geneva sent a message to Spanish workers inspired by Bakunin himself. That resulted in a trip to Spain by the First International member and former fighter with Garibaldi’s Thousand, Giuseppe Fanelli, who encouraged the creation of IWA chapters in Madrid and Barcelona. Fanelli arrived in Barcelona in late October, and he participated in a propaganda tour through Tarragona, Tortosa and Valencia with a group of republicans. From there, Fanelli went on to Madrid, where he set up an IWA chapter. Shortly thereafter he returned to Barcelona; on the 2nd of May 1869 he met with a group of workers in the home of painter Josep Lluís Pellicer and together they set up an IWA chapter. However, the contacts that Fanelli had forged were with the Alliance of the Socialist Democracy, Bakunin’s sector of the IWA. The workers of Barcelona had already heard of the International prior to Fanelli’s arrival: in 1867 they had sent a message of adhesion to the 2nd Congress of the International held in Lausanne, and the ensuing year a Barcelona worker participated in the International held in Brussels. However, in reality, as mentioned above, word truly began to spread when Italian Giuseppe Fanelli was sent to Spain on an anarchist propaganda tour. The labour movement, which became the first recipient of anarchism, had a strong federal republican tradition and practised a kind of reformist societarianism from which it was difficult to distance itself. The neophyte Bakuninists who became its first leaders, such as Rafael Farga Pellicer, were prominent members of the Federal Party and did not split off from federal republicanism until October 1869, after widespread disappointment at the failure of the federal republican uprising that took place in September and October of that same year in which the working class of Catalonia and Valencia participated. From then on, the leaders of the Barcelona unions began to mistrust the political route as a way of improving their social plight, and the climate became more receptive to the spread of apolitical postulates. Prominent figures in the introduction of anarchism include the aforementioned typographer Rafael Farga Pellicer and physician Gaspar Sentiñón. Both met Bakunin in September 1869 in their journey to Basel to attend the congress of the International. Bakunin’s influence must have been decisive in reaffirming their distance from republicanism. An epistolary relationship was started, and writings by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Bakunin immediately began to be published in the newspaper La Federación insisting on the need for the International to be independent from any political party, a principle that had already been accepted by the neophyte Spanish Bakuninists. Historically, workers’ associations assimilated the republican militancy and the first socialist ideas without too

Anarchism in the Catalan-speaking countries: Between syndicalism and propaganda (1868-1931)

many ruptures, which resulted in a complex amalgam rooted in egalitarianism and federalism. This explains a specifically industrial labour movement’s peculiar adhesion to anarchism. Anarchism was introduced by the Bakuninists, but other thinkers also influenced it, including William Godwin and especially Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who became famous thanks to the translation of his works by the prominent federal republican leader Francesc Pi i Margall,5 who introduced elements of his own thinking as well. The first anarchists insisted on acknowledging that they arrived at anarchism after having gone through Pi i Margall’s federalism. These origins should be borne in mind when seeking an explanation for anarchism’s influence on the labour movement in the 19th century and the first third of the 20th century. Anarchism, which combined millenarian dreams and rationalist elements, had a natural realm of action in a somewhat underdeveloped society with nuclei of incipient industrial growth. This generic fact should be coupled with a factor repeated pointed out by Josep Termes: the combination of anti-statism, as a reflection of general opposition to the state, and federalism, as a reaction to a centralist state.6

Anarchism and workers’ unions: The Spanish Regional Federation of the IWA In June 1870, Barcelona’s Centre Federal de Societats Obreres7 (Federal Centre of Labour Unions) hosted the first labour movement conference in Spain. There, the Spanish Regional Federation (abbreviated FRE) of the IWA was set up and decided to introduce anarchism into the unions. Ninety delegates from around Spain with a variety of leanings attended the conference, but the majority were from the Catalan-speaking lands (74 from Catalonia, 50 from Barcelona, three from Valencia and two from Majorca). The Bakuninists were in the minority, but they controlled important realms such as the Barcelona newspaper La Federación and El Obrero from Palma de Majorca. They forged a pact with the unionists, which was the key to displacing other currents and reinforcing the anarchist influence within the unions. Unionism was accepted, which drove the organisation of trade unions in the federal sense. On the political front, instead of totally renouncing political action, the anarchists accepted the apoliticism of the unions, a pact formula that was maintained in the future. With this, they rejected the unions’ subordination to any political party while at the same time tolerating individual political activity. With the assimilation of Bakuninism, the Catalan labour movement underwent a sudden transformation and embarked on a route that it would largely follow until the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. The FRE grew quickly, and the anarchists consolidated their predominance in subsequent congresses. Twothirds of the International members were in Catalonia, and the remainder were scattered around Andalusia and

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Figure 2. An Orsini bomb. The Spanish anarchist Santiago Salvador threw two Orsini bombs into the crowd at Gran Teatre del Liceu de Barcelona. Only one of the bombs detonated, but it killed 22 people and injured 35.

Valencia, specifically in the southern part of this latter region around the town of Alcoy. The Local Federation of Alcoy soon became one of the most important in Spain, the second after Barcelona, the reason the Federal Commission, the top ruling body of the FRE, left Barcelona and moved to this town in 1873. With regard to the Balearic Islands, anarchism was introduced in Majorca under the influence of, and imitating, the Barcelona anarchists and the newspaper La Federación. According to figures provided by Pere Gabriel, on Majorca the anarchist unionists never reached more than 2,000 members, and the labour movement’s dependence on republicanism irreversibly kept it apart from anarchism, which it only survived sporadically. Anarchism had a more prominent presence on Minorca, but the Minorcan unions were quite weak.8 Generally speaking, the labour movement did not develop on the Balearic Islands until after World War I, when anarchosyndicalism gained ground as the ideal conditions for advocating a more revolutionary model of unionism arose among the working class population (job instability, tensions, etc.). The years of the IWA was a time of vast social upheaval, and the FRE was changed by both internal and external causes that weakened it. After the failure of the Paris Commune (1871), numerous refugees arrived in Barcelona and the FRE was the victim of the widespread repression unleashed by this influx. Likewise, as a result of the rupture within the IWA that had taken place in The Hague (1872), in which the anarchists were expelled by the Marxists, the FRE disbanded. However, in Spain, the situation was the opposite: the Bakuninists, who were strong in Barcelona, expelled the Madrid group, which was the chapter in Spain the most open to Marx’s thesis. On another front, the political changes that led to the proclamation of the Spanish First Republic affected the FRE, which had intensely participated in the brief repub-

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lican experience of 18739 and the first anarchist insurrection. The moderate internationalists, who had a strong showing in Catalonia, supported the new regime, but the more radical factions displayed a combative attitude. The FRE leadership had temporarily moved to Alcoy and was in the hands of the anarchist insurrectionists. Dovetailing with a cantonalist federal uprising, it transformed a general strike that had broken out in the town into an insurrectional uprising against the state which was somewhat reminiscent of the Paris Commune. The failure of the Alcoy insurrection determined the future of anarchism in the middle term: it led the FRE underground until 1881, and the Marxists, who had been expelled from the FRE the year before, seized on it to criticise anarchism’s incapacity and erroneous tactics in its leadership of the labour movement.10 As for Valencia, anarchism only survived in small, isolated cells. Initially, the Bakuninists had found their place, but underground operations and fragmentation led their influence to decline in the late 19th century. This disorganisation ran in favour of the socialists, and the anarchists’ isolation did not begin to lift until the early years of the 20th century, when Valencian labour groups11 joined the reorganising efforts influenced by French syndicalism, which meant the Solidaritat Obrera (Workers’ Solidarity) movement driven by labour unions in Barcelona (August 1907).

Underground operations and reorganisation In the waning years of the 1870s, anarchism was losing ground among labour organisations because of its underground nature and the radicalism that had characterised the FRE in recent years. Being underground certainly aided the endeavours of insurrectionist anarchist groups, which had controlled the movement for years upholding the pathway of insurrection and individual retaliation. They acted in small, highly radical cells. In the realm of doctrine, they never went beyond nihilism; in the realm of unionism, their activity was null. Dovetailing with the wave of terrorist attacks in Russia, the German Empire and Italy, the first frustrated attacks against King Alphonse XII were waged in 1878. The more unionist-leaning sectors tried to revitalise the movement as soon as the regime displayed a certain degree of political tolerance. With regard to anarchism, in the early 1880s the Catalan unionist sector, which was against insurrectionism and nihilism and in favour of public union action, decided to revive the initiative and spearheaded a new federation. The anarcho-syndicalists, under the same leaders who had introduced anarchism –Rafael Farga Pellicer, Josep Llunas, Antoni Pellicer Paraire, et al. – disbanded the FRE’s Federal Commission, which had been gradually disintegrating for years from a mix of ideological and organisational pressures, swallowed by both anarchist terrorism and political re-

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pression. In 1881 they set up a new organisation, the Federación de Trabajadores de la Región Española (Federation of Workers of the Spanish Region, abbreviated FTRE). The new organisation had an approach similar to that of the former FRE, and it encompassed a wide range of ideological options, always under the overarching principle of apoliticism. The FTRE grew quickly. At first it was led by the Barcelona unionist core, but the Catalans could not win back their hegemonic role of the past. In the early 1880s, most militant anarchists were in Andalusia, and in 1882 the federations clashed with the leadership. The tensions between unionists in favour of collectivist anarchism and those who upheld underground operations and insurrection, identified with the anarcho-communists and opposed any organisational formula, led the FTRE to dissolve in 1888. As a result of these circumstances, in the closing decades of the 19th century anarchism splintered off into two different ideological positions: collectivist anarchism, inspired by Bakunin, and anarchist communism, propagated by Kropotkin and spread by Malatesta. Both believed in a classless, stateless society, but they diverged in the organisation and the way of achieving it. The collectivist anarchists identified with the anarcho-syndicalists: they relied on the syndicalist struggle to both achieve improved working conditions and trigger a revolution in the middle or long term.12 They wanted unions that aspired to create a classless society, in which ownership would be in the hand of worker collectives. This was the predominant strain in Catalonia, in fact an extremist form of unionism. The anarchist communist trend, which was strong in Andalusia and had prominent followers in Catalonia, embraced a much more individualistic and radical tradition: it was opposed to unionism (seen as excessively legalistic and not very useful for achieving the ultimate goal of social uprising) and advocated a structure based on small chapters, not trade union chapters but chapters based on ideological affinity whose mission was not the concerns of unions but constant ideological propaganda and the systematic struggle against the factors of the social order, without rejecting direct action and violent propaganda.13 This stance was in harmony with the line that European anarchism, largely separated from the unions since it had been expelled from the IWA, upheld and had just ratified in the semi-clandestine congress held in London in 1881. The leadership of the FTRE, headed by the aforementioned Catalan anarchists, was harshly attacked by the anarchist communists and even reached personal confrontations. The attempts to make peace were in vain, and the organisation began to gradually disintegrate in 1884. The anarcho-syndicalist groups also weakened due to ideological and organisational tensions, devoured by the dynamic of individual terrorism and the subsequent police repression. In this period of disbandment, anarchism on the Iberian Peninsula struggled to avoid becoming ostracised by forcing itself both to participate in the interna-

Anarchism in the Catalan-speaking countries: Between syndicalism and propaganda (1868-1931)

tional worker forums starting with the formation of the Second International, despite the fact that it was systematically expelled, and by keeping up ties with international anarchist groups.14 However, we can only grasp the anarchist participation in the worker protests and in the first May Day events within this context. Yet in Catalonia, the first May Days in 1890, 1891, 1892 and 1893 prompted serious disturbances in the public law and order, which resulted in failures in the labour movement. The resulting disappointment and frustration conducted anarchism towards direct action and “propaganda by deeds”.

Theoretical reflection Anarchism developed an intense intellectual activity that cannot be disassociated from the far-reaching republican cultural movement in the late 19th century, deployed through a variety of institutions (casinos, athenaeums, etc.) and in alignment with ideological movements like free thinking and the Free Masons. Theoretical reflection heavily penetrated the anarchist ranks. The anarchist positions in the waning years of the 19th century were discussed by an entire generation of theoreticians, including Fernando Tarrida del Mármol, Joan Montseny (Federico Urales), Teresa Mañé (Soledad Gustavo), Leopold Bonafulla, Pere Esteve, Anselmo Lorenzo, José

Figure 3. Anselmo Lorenzo (1841-1914). Sometimes called “the grandfather of Spanish anarchism”, he was one of the original Spanish anarchists and highly active within the movement from his meeting with Giuseppe Fanelli in 1868 until his death in 1914.

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López Montenegro, Teobaldo Nieva and others. Although they did not supply anarchism with an ideology of its own, they did help to create a peculiar, important anarchist culture that went beyond the strictly labour movement circles and influenced intellectual movements such as the one that emerged around the Modernist magazine L’Avenç. The press was a major driving force in the theoretical debate between collective anarchists and communist anarchists. Most of the publications appeared in Barcelona. Almost all of them were published in Spanish, although their frequency and duration were quite varied. Some were aligned with the collective anarchist trend, such as El Productor in Barcelona, the most important syndicalist newspaper until the advent of Solidaridad Obrera in the 20th century, and El Chornaler (1883) in Valencia. The Primer Certamen Socialista15 (First Socialist Gathering) was held in Reus in July 1885, and it featured contributions by the thinkers regarded as the intellectuals of this movement (Josep Llunas, Ricardo Mella, et al.). The communist anarchists, in turn, published the biweeklies La Justicia Humana, Tierra, Libertad and others, and disseminated translations of the works of Kropotkin, Jean Grave and Errico Malatesta. This ideological strain dominated the Segon Certamen Socialista (Second Socialist Gathering) held in Barcelona in November 1889.16 However, the spiral of terrorism and repression in the late 19th century put an end to the brilliant blossoming of the anarchist press. The theoretical polemic between communist anarchists and collective anarchists triggered the emergence of an eclectic group that defined itself as upholding “anarchy without adjectives”, which refused to discuss the agenda and structure of future society prior to any action or organisation. There was an intellectual sector in this milieu devoid of tactical positions which included Fernando Tarrida del Mármol, Pere Esteve, Federico Urales, Teresa Mañé, et al., who facilitated contacts between anarchist unions and “anarchised” young Barcelona intellectuals, such as Pere Coromines, Pompeu Gener and Jaume Brossa, who were also defenders of a Catalan culture in the nationalistic sense. This is one of the most singular traits of Catalan anarchism. We have already seen how the first generation of anarchists (Rafael Farga Pellicer, Josep Llunas, et al.) had worked to shape popular Catalan nationalism. They were the same union leaders who upheld moderate unionism and were related to the field of typography and the graphic arts. They went from federal militancy to become anarcho-unionist leaders and then representatives of the union intellectualism of the day. They contributed to publications that upheld progressive Catalan nationalism and at the same time were the driving force behind outstanding unionist-anarchist publications such as La Tramontana (the only one written in Catalan) and the aforementioned Acracia and El Productor. In the 1890s, there was yet another convergence between the neophyte ideologues of anarchism and young

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Catalan nationalist intellectuals which lasted until the end of World War I, with the exception of the period of the Montjuïc Trial. In this phase, the ones who acted as a nexus between both currents were no longer the former federals seduced by Bakuninism but young students, the offspring of middle-class families attracted by anarchism and seduced by a more Nietzschean than Bakuninist ideology which allowed them to be rebels and modern and to act – intellectually speaking – against a society that they rejected. This sector’s attempt to get in touch with the more active nuclei within the working class followed the rationale of modernity and freedom of expression, yet also the conviction that Catalan nationalism was unfeasible if it turned its back on the new industrial society.

Propaganda by deeds Parallel to this intellectual activity, there emerged a sort of terrorism revolving around individual action, which was mixed with the activism imposed by the communist anarchist movement. Its proponents promoted organising into clandestine groups and preached “propaganda by deeds”, convinced that peaceful propaganda would be unable to arouse the masses to social revolution. This phenomenon was related to the terrorist references of French anarchism and Russian populism with their practice of nihilistic methods. “Propaganda by deeds’ was the outcome of a lengthy theoretical debate about the need to affirm anarchist principles through revolutionary actions. Ultimately, the use of violence as a revolutionary tactic was debated at the international anarchists’ meeting in London in 1881,17 dovetailing with the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. The phenomenon of terrorism, which had gestated the collective feeling of frustration in a veiled way, arose from each group and/or individual’s interpretation of the resolutions from the London Congress and from the importance they attached to the use of dynamite as a revolutionary tool. The Russian nihilists’ methods exerted a considerable influence. Terrorism, concealed under the subtle name of “propaganda by deeds”, had reared its head back in the early 1880s in Europe, which was disturbed during the 1890s by the deadly explosions of terrorist attacks, the tragic expression of anarchist individualism. These attacks had become more widespread in the 1800s. In Barcelona they began around the same time; initially they were just firecrackers set off at the doorways of textile factories in Barcelona and its surroundings; they left no victims in their wake and the authors of the deeds were not identified. However, they became especially virulent starting in 1892, and the organised labour movement was able to do nothing to stanch this tide. Syndicalist publications like El Productor and La Tramontana repeatedly condemned the violence that was besieging Barcelona at the time. It was the age of the Ravachol bombs in France, of the insur-

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rectional uprisings of the fasci in southern Italy, and of August Vaillant’s bombs against the Chamber of Deputies in France. After the failures of the May Days, disorganised communist anarchism kept gaining momentum, which believed very little in the virtues of unionism and the advantages of mass action and instead wanted spectacular actions that would kill off bourgeois society. The terrorist actions conducted outside the unions set anarchism apart from the working masses and strengthened the governments, which approved exceptional laws against anarchism virtually all over Europe. In 1892, the prominent Italian anarchist Errico Malatesta, a proponent of communist anarchism and insurrectionism, visited Spain on a propaganda tour and contributed to making anarchism veer off towards individual forms at a time when large numbers of French and Italian individualists upholding this tactic were living in Barcelona as refugees (one of them, Paolo Schicchi, who had published Pensiero e dinamite in Italy, published El Porvenir anarquista [The Anarchist Future] in Barcelona in 1891). The anti-terrorist protests in Llunas i Pujals’ La Tramontana and in El Productor were futile. Llunas had to close La Tramontana in 1893 and cease actions. Bonafulla, in turn, abandoned ship and emigrated to the United States in 1892. A state of siege was declared in Catalonia in June 1892. A constant string of bombs was planted. On the 24th of September 1892, Paulí Pallàs, an anarchist worker emboldened by Kropotkin’s La conquesta del pa (The Conquest of Bread), attacked the Captaincy General in Barcelona. Thus began a spiral of violence that continued with the launch of two Orsini bombs at Barcelona’s Liceu opera house during a performance (November 1983), an act of vengeance for Pallàs’ execution. This was the bloodiest attack ever waged in Barcelona: it resulted in 22 deaths, dozens of injuries and Dantesque scenes of panic. It was followed by an attack against the religious order housed on Barcelona’s Canvis Nous street on Corpus Christi, which resulted in 12 dead (June 1896). This string of attacks culminated with the assassination of the head of government, Antonio Cánovas del Castillo (August 1897), and with Ramon Sempau’s attack against Lieutenant Porta and a lower officer, considered responsible for the torture inflicted on those who had been imprisoned in Montjuïc castle. The government used the attack on Canvis Nous Street to embark on a repressive operation against anarchism, and, while at it, against the organised labour movement in Catalonia. Hundreds of people were accused of being terrorists or of inducing terrorism. Constitutional guarantees were suspended, and the repression encompassed anarchist leaders, syndicalists, unionists, republican writers and politicians, anti-clerics, free thinkers and rationalist teachers. Enemies and apologists of terrorism were arrested indiscriminately, and worker centres, newspapers and the like were shuttered by the government. More

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Figure 4. Front page of Solidaridad Obrera, the newspaper published by the Catalonian/Balearic regional section of the anarchist trade union Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT).

than 400 people were held in the castle-fortress on Montjuïc and tortured as they awaited trial. Afterward a mock trial was held, known as the Montjuïc Trial, and thus began a sweeping legal campaign against anarchism, which had been repeatedly called for by the conservative sectors ever since the attacks had started. The ruling handed down at the trial was harsh: five death penalties, five prison sentences and dozens of people absolved but forced to go into exile. The police spoke about an anarchist conspiracy, and they always regarded the anarchists as a menace to the forces of law and order. Despite all this, the authorship of the attack was never clearly established.18 The trial was immediately the target of public criticism: the torture and legal irregularities triggered protests from international opinion. The campaign was spearheaded by the condemnations issued by Fernando Tarrida del Mármol, an anarchist sympathiser who had been imprisoned for the attack and published terrifying stories about the torture inflicted in Montjuïc castle and the illegal trial proceedings.19 Terrorism had been revealed to be inhumane and futile, and after Montjuïc it prompted many workers’ disenchantment with Internationalism and put an end to the relationship established in the realm of culture between Modernist intellectuals, frightened away by radicalism, and anarchist unionism. Terrorist actions conducted outside the unions distanced anarchism from the working masses and led many governments around Europe to approve exceptional laws against terrorism. The bombings resumed in Barcelona between 1903 and 1909, but this latter stage was a lucrative form of terrorism that helped to maintain the control and repression over the anarchists. Joan Rull became the clearest example of this unfounded, profit-driven form of terrorism. Rull, who had been in touch with anarchist groups in Barcelona, used bombs as a way of extorting police officers and manufacturers, which were then presented as and mixed up with anarchist terrorism even though it had nothing to do with the earlier period.20

A cultural world of its own Anarchism established a cultural world of its own. Just like the rest of the labour movement, it trusted in the emancipating power of education, and training became the prime element in its strategy and its socio-political project. Half of the population was illiterate in around 1900, and the figure still stood at 21% in Catalonia even as late as 1930. The priority on education stimulated the creation of a cultural fabric in which athenaeums and a wide variety of institutions took part with the goal of educating the people from a secular, rationalist perspective. This effort was especially noteworthy in Spain, with its endemically deficient education for the poorer classes that was controlled by the Catholic Church. The concern for secular, egalitarian, mixed education was a constant fixture. The best-known example is Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia’s Modern School,21 which was linked to anarchist and secular milieus. It was a hotbed of anarchist propagandists, but despite having become the best-known referent, it was neither the most interesting educational project nor did it have the most anarchist content. The gestation and formation of this culture took place parallel to the theoretical shaping of anarchism within the context of an eclectic culture permeated by republicanism, social romanticism, millenarianism, free thinking, pacifism, Naturism and similar strains of thought. The anarchist movement, which was open to diverse alternative cultural currents and had intrinsic difficulties squaring with all sorts of dogmatisms, generated a pluralistic, sociologically extremely broad cultural sphere, which was made visible in its ideological discourse, theatre and literature.22 The press became the means of disseminating anarchist thinking and conveying the libertarian socio-cultural posture. In the last two decades of the 19th century, a vast number of sociological journals appeared (Acracia, Ciencia Social and Natura in Barcelona). In Valencia, a series of Nietzschean-style journals appeared (El Corsario, Juventud, Vida) in the first decade of the 20th century,

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Figure 5. Joan Montseny i Carret (1864-1942). He was a Catalan anarchist writer. In Madrid, under the pseudonym Federico Urales, he started publishing the newspaper La Revista Blanca in 1898. The newspaper was shut down in 1905.

and in Madrid La Revista Blanca was published, promoted by Catalan anarchists who were living there in exile. In addition to anarchists themselves, other prominent writers also contributed to these journals, including Pere Coromines, Jaume Brossa, Miguel de Unamuno, Pío Baroja and Ramón Gómez de la Serna, all of them young literati and intellectuals who at the start of their literary careers adopted Nietzschean attitudes to a greater or lesser extent and occasionally dabbled in anarchism. In its two stages of circulation (the second in Barcelona from 1923 and 1936), La Revista Blanca was the most polished anarchist cultural product. It was the outcome of the intellectual and business efforts of the Catalan anarchists Joan Montseny (who signed his articles under the pseudonym of Federico Urales) and Teresa Mañé (who did so using the pseudonym of Soledad Gustavo). The name of the publication was a tribute to France’s Revue Blanche, which had publicised the condemnations issuing from the anarchists imprisoned in Montjuïc in 1894. The last few decades of the 19th century witnessed the outpouring of an extensive literary output that aimed to express a holistic concept of the universe and the fate of

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mankind, one that was optimistic and guided by each group’s beliefs. Diverse ideological currents were imposed: the ideas and myths of the French Revolution, rationalism, English positivism, Darwinism, pacifism, Büchner’s materialism, free thinking, Hegel’s idealism, diverse elements from the socialist tradition, Nietzsche’s thinking and a radical position on the destruction of the traditional bourgeois and Catholic morals. More infrequently it also supported Esperanto, Naturism and neoMalthusianism. The foundation of these latter elements lay, just like in France, in the spread of trends that took place within anarchism starting in the last few decades of the 19th century, in the quest for new revolutionary pathways after the failure of syndicalism as it had been conceived until them. These groups wanted to find the formula to achieve the revolution in schools, Esperanto, science, birth control, Naturism and anti-militarism. However all of these trends, which were excessively inward-looking, often ended up losing their revolutionary content. The ones with the greatest resonance in Catalonia and that sparked the most social interest were Naturism and neo-Malthusianism. The publication Natura, issued in Barcelona (19031905), was the clearest proponent of anarchist Naturism from the early 20th century. Likewise, in Valencia there was a longstanding vegetarian, Naturist movement revolving around the journal Helios (1916-1939). Neo-Malthusianism, closely tied to Darwinism, was spread, as seen in the dissemination of theories that sprang up in France and made the social revolution dependent upon the improvement of the species – meaning the working class – both intellectually and physically. It upheld the fact that if workers had fewer children, they could feed and educate them in better conditions, thus avoiding avoid illness and congenital defects and improving the intellectual level of the proletarian. Neo-Malthusianism was linked to the anarchist interest in education, now through the efforts of French pedagogue Paul Robin, and through scientificism, which could be seen in the dissemination of contraceptives. This theory was adopted by some groups and individuals, yet it was also harshly criticised within the anarchist movement. Its philosophy was explained in the magazine ¡Salud y Fuerza! published in Barcelona (1904), and later in Generación Consciente from Alcoy (1923) and in Estudios from Valencia (1924). The latter was closely associated with eugenics, and both of them were largely marginalised by the vein of anarchism more closely linked to the labour movement.23 Beyond the press, the cultural expressions of anarchism found a outlet in theatre and to some extent in popular literature. “Social theatre” was created, a way of inculcating values and stimulating certain social claims. There were publications with an anarchist bent devoted almost exclusively to the theatre, such as Teatro Social, the newsletter of the Companyia Lliure de Declamació troupe published in Barcelona starting in 1896.

Anarchism in the Catalan-speaking countries: Between syndicalism and propaganda (1868-1931)

Novels were another means of cultural dissemination. Generally speaking, the works depicted an idyllic rural life far from industrial society and spoke with a certain degree of candour about an idealised world and chimerical characters, both redeemed and redeemers. There were signal publishing houses that targeted the working class readership, such as Maucci, Sempere and La Revista Blanca (which also published the magazine of the same name). The La Revista Blanca publishing group was the most influential. By imitating the French models, it combined the publication of magazines and literary and militant newspapers (La Revista Blanca, Tierra y Libertad, El Luchador) with collections of stories such as “La Novela Ideal” (which issued around 600 titles), “La Novela Libre” and “El Mundo al Día”. It was a combination of ideology and commercial acumen which very successfully spread a sentimental, teary-eyed sort of novel among the anarchist working class and strove to include elements of social and female emancipation with the purpose of divulging anarchist ideological principles in an educational way. Their

Figure 6. Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia (1859-1909) was a Catalan freethinker and anarchist. He opened the Escola Moderna (The Modern School) to teach middle-class children radical social values. Following the declaration of martial law in 1909 during the Tragic Week, he was arrested and executed without trial by firing squad at Montjuïc Fortress in Barcelona.

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dissemination was far more popular among the working class than any other product with a more cultivated tone.

The Confederació Nacional del Treball (National Confederation of Labour, CNT) Starting in the early 1900s, once the terrorist stage had come to an end, anarchism evolved permanently towards anarcho-syndicalism. In the wake of the wave of strikes in the early 1900s, there were varied organisational and political responses among the workers that strengthened the societarian movement. In Catalonia, the influence within the labour movement was still predominantly anarchist. In Valencia, on the other hand, anarchism had spread especially in the countryside, while the factory workers were mainly inclined towards socialism. This division remained in place until the Confederació Nacional del Treball (National Confederation of Labour, or CNT) was founded. On the Balearic Islands, the labour movement was heavily influenced by the socialists and the republicanism of the Unió Republicana (Republican Union). Anarchism only exerted significant influence in the Federació d’Obrers (Labour Federation) on Minorca. During this period, anarchism was making international efforts to find a niche that, without contradicting anarchist principles, would ensure the development of the revolution once it had taken place. In 1907, an Anarchist International was created in Amsterdam, which ended up being totally inoperative and vanished with the outbreak of war in 1914, as did so many other international organisations. In this context, and in the climate of constant growth in the working class population, in 1907 the Catalan worker groups took a major step in the process of modernisation, which was not immune to influence from French revolutionary syndicalism, by founding the group Solidaritat Obrera (Workers’ Solidarity) in Barcelona. It was heavily influenced by the anarchists. In October of that same year, the group promoted a publication by the same name, Solidaridad Obrera, which later became the organ and symbol of the CNT.24 This organisation was indeed the embryo of the CNT, which was officially founded in Barcelona in November 1910 with the goal of spreading all over Spain. The CNT was founded around a new generation of militants and took shape as anarcho-syndicalist since the union experience in the years of acute political crisis in the regime and major structural changes in the working class population. It was the outcome not of theoretical reflections or doctrinal influences but of the success of the labour movement, with its longstanding tradition of the trade brotherhoods, which managed to articulate the working class. The reorganisation revolved around basic labour sectors. In the subsequent years, two different strains were high visible within the CNT: the propagandists, who wanted to give the new central union organisa-

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tion an ideology and a doctrine, and the syndicalist ranks, the union men.25 Within the CNT, very few propagandists were union men, and many of the debates and splitoffs that took place in the future were driven by the propagandists who dragged out the union men. The CNT advocated direct action and gained strength from unions’ traditional apoliticism. With them, anarcho-syndicalism took on its definitive shape and served as the conduit of Spanish anarchism until the advent of the Second Republic. The start of the CNT was largely clandestine. In reality, it remained in a phase of contention until after the International Anarchist Peace Congress (El Ferrol, 1915). The great confederal onslaught started during World War I, in parallel to the overall expansion of the union movement in the Catalan-speaking lands. This resulted from workers’ indispensable needs for unitary action and structure, which translated into significant development in the trade federations and unions in general. In the subsequent years, the labour groups gained ground, especially in Catalonia, and spread quickly towards Valencia26 and the Balearic Islands. In the CNT’s formative years, anarchist milieus were quite diverse. A mix of sectors coexisted alongside one another: more doctrinal and theoretical anarchists, other culturally affiliated propagandists, ideologically sympathetic groups which sought worker and social emancipation through pathways different to the one pursued by revolutionary syndicalism, and a sector of young union leaders who wanted to ensure the ties between anarchism and the new unions that they wanted to set up outside the trade federations. Within this context, the leadership of the labour movement shifted into the hands of new leaders. The predominance of typographers in the leadership ceased, and they were replaced by a broader range of trades. This reorganisation was accompanied by an injection of new blood, with the addition of new, young members who were much more activist than discursive, and more speakers at rallies than journalists or authors of doctrinal leaflets (Salvador Seguí, Martí Barrera, Camil Piñón, Sebastià Clarà, Joan Peiró, Joan Viadiu, Ángel Pestaña, etc.). It was a generation of revolutionaries who, though officially apolitical, were profoundly politicised.

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Catalonia in 1918 at a congress held in the working class neighbourhood of Sants (Barcelona) in June of that same year. There, the CRT27 of Catalonia adopted a new organisational model that ended up being imposed on the entire CNT. The reorganisation enabled the CNT to take a major step forward in solidifying its position as the absolute representative of workers and the sole interlocutor with management. The Sants Congress agreed to preferably exercise direct action and reaffirmed the apoliticism and the anarcho-syndicalist content of the CNT. The most important agreement was the adoption of a new form of organisation that broke with the Catalan labour movement’s tradition of association by trade. The organisational underpinning of the CNT became sole unions of industries, local in scope, made up of different sections corresponding to the different trades, as opposed to national trade federations. This centralisation of the labour movement vastly multiplied its strength and its leverage to negotiate and struggle in labour conflicts. The CRT, organised into a regional committee made up of the local and countywide federations, began to operate with organisational regularity given that it thus put an end to the prior ambiguity and inexactness with regard to affiliations and fees. This was the first confederal congress after the reconstitution of 1915. It featured a new generation of syndicalists who replaced both the purist anarchists and those who had guided the CNT in its early years. The new secretary general of the CRT in Catalonia was one of them, Salvador Seguí, who became the most representative man of the CNT until he was murdered in 1923, right in the midst of pistolerisme (the use of thugs to intimidate active unionists). As the CRT took on the leadership of the labour movement, the worker mobilisations became radicalised, driv-

A new organisational model: Sole unions Catalonia, and specifically Barcelona, became the heart of the CNT. This region’s numerical strength had no comparison: in 1915 it had 15,000 members: by 1918 it had almost 74,000; and by December 1919, when the CNT held a congress in Madrid with representatives from all over the country, the Catalan regional chapter claimed to have 427,000 affiliated workers (of a total of 714,000 who were represented). The figures speak for themselves. A qualitative leap of this magnitude can be explained by the reorganisational effort driven by the CNT in

Figure 7. Salvador Seguí (1886-1923) at center, with Salvador Quemades (left) and Ángel Pestaña (right). Salvador Seguí, known as El noi del sucre (The sugar boy), was a Catalan anarcho-syndicalist in the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT). He was assassinated by gunshot in Barcelona at the hands of gunmen working for the Catalan employers’ organisation under protection of Catalonia’s Civil Governor, Martínez Anido.

Anarchism in the Catalan-speaking countries: Between syndicalism and propaganda (1868-1931)

en by a process of social protests that had been on the rise since 1916 which was against the intransigence of management, strengthened by the phantom of Bolshevism. The year 1919 marked the peak, the test of strength between the CNT and management: the strike at the Barcelona Traction Light and Power Co., known as La Canadenca in reference to the origin of the company, Canada. It was the mother company of a series of branches that produced and distributed electricity and ran electrical railways and tram lines, including the ones in Barcelona. With the strike, Barcelona was left without electricity and its public services and industrial activity ground to a halt. The conflict went unresolved for five months.28 What was initially a huge success for the anarchist unions ended up with negative political and social repercussions for both workers and the CNT itself; it had indeed shown its strength, and management responded by showing its more radical, fractious side. It imposed a hard line and constantly threatened a union lockout. This intransigence fostered the climate of violence that engendered pistolerisme and the rise of action groups among the anarchosyndicalist ranks. That year, 1919, was a watershed in the history of the CNT. The anarchist groups, allured by its strength, had decided to join the CNT. That was when it began to grow in Valencia, parallel to its growth all around Spain, particularly in Andalusia, and powerful chapters were created in Gijón, Bilbao, Vigo and Madrid. The CNT faced the statewide congress, which became decisive for its future (La Comèdia Congress, Madrid, 1919), under these conditions. The La Canadenca strike had brought internal conflicts within the CNT in Catalonia to the surface. The more intransigent anarchists criticised the actions of the CNT leaders for their moderation, and they blamed them for the strength that management had acquired. Their strength facilitated the triumph of the more radical elements in Madrid, and the congress developed the theory of libertarian communism. However, it decided to tentatively adhere to the Third International, from which it ultimately withdrew in 1922 in order to join the IWA,29 when the anarcho-syndicalists once again wrested control of the CNT. In fact, anarchism entered into a highly conflictive period revolving around a struggle for control of the CNT, which would determine the complexity of the ensuing years.30

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come down hard with measures such as the suspension of constitutional guarantees, the closure of unions and the imprisonment of unionists, and the Confederació Patronal Espanyola (Spanish Management Confederation) threatened the government to paralyse industry as a whole, first in Catalonia and later in Spain, by declaring a general lockout if it did not remedy the situation. The government dug in its heels: on the 5th of January 1920 constitutional guarantees were suspended in Barcelona, the unions were closed and prominent CNT members were arrested. That was when the Free Unions began to act. They were organisations based on moderate worker groups that positioned themselves as the enemy of the sole unions and aimed to put a halt to the coercion to join them. They were painted as a group that responded to the CNT with violence, and they made themselves available to the military and governing authority, financed by management, to act against the CNT. Violence was nothing new in Spain. It had always been a factor in political struggles coexisting alongside peaceful, civic demonstrations. In the early decades of the 20th century, this trend was accentuated and extremist groups of all stripes systematically used aggression to impose their will. Since the founding of the sole unions, the CNT had begun to pressure workers to join their respective unions. Under these circumstances, the conflicts among the CNT members of the sole union and workers from other unions or against membership were ongoing: the CNT wanted to force union membership and the payment of fees, and the result was threats, coercion and aggression among workers.

Pistolerisme31 After the hardship and the failure of the strike movement in 1919, management imposed a line of action characterised by harshness. This situation fostered the climate of violence that would engender pistolerisme and the rise of action groups among the anarcho-syndicalist ranks. In the subsequent years, the labour conflict only grew and radicalised, and between 1920 and 1922 it became particularly bloody. The business leaders demanded that the government

Figure 8. Angel Pestaña (1886-1937) was a Spanish anarcho-syndicalist and later syndicalist leader in Barcelona.

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It appeared as the continuation of labour actions that were regarded as insufficient, and the revolutionary ideal served to provide coverage for a kind of violence verging on the criminal. According to CNT leader Ángel Pestaña, anti-management terrorism emerged in 1916 perpetrated by groups of young, action-oriented anarchists who, in view of the management conflicts, showed their willingness to eliminate whichever factory managers the labour organisation fingered. They did this altruistically, initially moved by idealism. The immediate consequence was that the owners gave them what they wanted. However, later several syndicalist leaders used them, paying them for their services rendered. In response, management began to recruit paid men to act against the CNT: mercenaries, former CNT members belonging to the action groups, members of the Free Unions, etc. The first syndicalist to fall was murdered in 1919. In short, there were two clashing organisations, largely as a result of the challenge to management that the La Canadenca strike had entailed: the CNT and the Management Federation. Both wanted to monopolise representation of their respective sectors, and both required the other to surrender unconditionally. Intransigence thus turned into violence. In November 1920, around 100 CNT leaders from Barcelona were imprisoned in La Mola castle in Mahon (Minorca), and they remained there until April 1922. In this climate of tension, a constant round of social attacks were committed by armed gangs serving management, by groups serving the unions that opposed the CNT and by members of the CNT itself. It would be erroneous to establish an equivalency between anarchism and pistolerisme, but the two did become entangled. In the CNT, the situation had gotten out hand. It was confronted with a reaction of the same characteristics led by the management hardliners with the connivance of the government authorities. The union leaders recognised that the escalation in attacks was harmful for the organisation, but they did not know how to, or were unable to, stop them, and despite their efforts radical action groups always emerged that were willing to respond virulently. The CNT found itself trapped in a vicious circle: the instability of the unions and the lack of management recognition deprived the organisation of the continuity and institutional personality needed for it to free itself from terrorism. Ultimately, this represented a turning point in the CRT that brought the entire CNT with it. The violence was manifold and extremely bloody; between 1919 and 1923 the streets of Barcelona were dominated by guns. In this dirty war, the victims included Francesc Layret, a lawyer who defended the unionists, and Salvador Seguí, the most well-rounded and popular leader of the CNT in Catalonia. The response from the anarcho-syndicalists was also spectacular: in Valencia they murdered the Count of Salvatierra, the former governor of Barcelona, Eduardo Dato from the same head of government, and Cardinal Segura, the archbishop of Zaragoza. According to the figures provided by Albert

Teresa Abelló

Balcells, between 1918 and 1923, 951 people died in Barcelona alone (143 from management and 201 CNT unionists). Proportionally, more management leaders died in the early years, while more unionists in the latter years.32 The terrorism disappeared with the dictatorship. The anarchist men of action who began to act in Barcelona included figures who would become prominent during the Primo de Rivera dictatorship and the Republic, including Joan Garcia Oliver, Francisco Ascaso and Buenaventura Durruti, all of them having come to Barcelona from other parts of Catalonia and regions in Spain. They and other activists were members of the most important anarchist action group in those years, Los Solidarios (Solidarity). They argued that they had assembled into a group in order to defend the CNT from present and future attacks, and they developed another kind of violence, verging on common delinquency: robberies to make up for the union fees that the CNT was deprived of because of illegalisation and police controls. Ángel Pestaña and Joan Peiró were radically opposed to this avenue of action, and they agreed to refuse to let the Confederation help anyone accused of robbery and terrorist acts. Yet their efforts were in vain, and similar groups kept gaining ground, becoming exponents of anarchism. With regard to the region of Valencia, the situation in Barcelona was reproduced on a smaller scale in Alicante, a traditional stronghold of anarchism. There, theoretical debate was more prominent in a climate of little violence. In the late 1920s, a weekly appeared, El Comunista Libertario (The Libertarian Communist), whose goal was to clarify the differences between state communism, which had been imposed in Russia, and libertarian communism, which was socioeconomically grounded. It criticised the anarcho-syndicalist leaders, especially Catalan leader Salvador Seguí, for being overly moderate. The group Espartaco even accused the CNT’s leaders of collaborating with politicians and management. In short, this is an interesting critical reflection by anarchist groups on what they believe had been the CNT’s policy in the recent years: the predominance of the labour struggle, criticised for being economically driven and oftentimes pragmatic, over the ideological struggle. It stressed reviving specifically anarchist groups and the need to hold a state-wide anarchist congress in order to prevent syndicalism from sidetracking anarchism. The repression and disorganisation that worked in favour of the action groups were catastrophic for the CNT, which saw its membership dwindle to one-third of what it had before pistolerisme got underway.

The dictatorship and the organisation of the anarchist groups In September 1923, General Primo de Rivera led a coup d’état, backed by the monarchy and broad swaths of the country’s leading sectors. No one fought to defend an im-

Anarchism in the Catalan-speaking countries: Between syndicalism and propaganda (1868-1931)

potent, discredited parliamentarianism, and everyone accepted a dictatorship that painted itself as a transitory regime that should last only as long as needed to regenerate the political institutions. That was a fallacy, but many sectors interpreted it in this way. At first, the dictatorship did not illegalise the CNT, but it did place all kinds of hurdles and controls to limit labour action. In Barcelona, the CNT itself decided to shift to covert operations three weeks after the coup d’état. The decision was taken at the behest of the anarchists in order to avoid the police controls, which sought the individuals gathering union fees, accusing them of being swindlers. This deed marked the start of a period of heated internal controversy. Some unions opposed the local Barcelona federation’s decision, and a crisis broke out between anarchists and syndicalists. The situation became even more serious after the murder of the executioner of Barcelona the following year, when the government ordered that CNT leaders be arrested, its storefronts closed and the anarcho-syndicalist press suspended. Two isolated points became referents in CNT activity: the newspapers Acción Social Obrera, published in the Catalonian town of Sant Feliu de Guíxols, and ¡Despertad! from Vigo. Surprisingly, there was greater tolerance for philosophical journals, and the aforementioned La Revista Blanca reappeared in the midst of the dictatorship, which over all those years had a large readership and renewed influence. The CNT had to go back underground, unable to re-emerge until the Second Republic was proclaimed. The political situation forced many members into exile, most of whom went to France and Argentina. From these contacts with the exiles, two avenues of action emerged that were put into practice simultaneously: the propagation of violent acts to bring down the regime, and the concern with providing anarchists in Spain with an organisation within the new regime. With regard to the former, from France the Grup dels Trenta (Group of Thirty, with prominent figures like Buenaventura Durruti and Francisco Ascaso) and the Comitè de Relacions Anarquistes (Committee of Anarchist Relations) organised a frustrated attack against the barracks at Barcelona’s Drassanes shipyard. Later, the Federación de Grupos Anarquistas de Lengua Española (Federation of SpanishSpeaking Anarchist Groups) in France drew closer to the Catalan insurrectionists who prepared a symbolic attempted invasion to bring down the dictatorship from the mountain town of Prats de Molló, also to no avail. Organisationally, the formation of joint committees with participation by both management and workers, accepted by the socialists, triggered an internal division among the syndicalists in the CNT. Leader Ángel Pestaña and a minority sector expressed their willingness to accept these committees in exchange for the legalisation of the CNT. Another sector, led by Joan Peiró, was against them. In practice, in the midst of the dictatorship the CNT had launched a covert union reorganisation, parallel to the union system’s adaptation to the dictatorship. This

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decision was crucial in explaining the CNT’s quick recovery once it regained its legal status. The theories of Diego Abad de Santillán, an emigrant to Argentina, and Manuel Buenacasa became popular during the years of covert operations. Since 1925, both had advocated the creation of an explicitly anarchist union movement. The most syndicalist sector (Pestaña, Peiró, etc.) remained faithful to the old anarcho-syndicalist principles of the CNT. They got the former to accept the reality of the unions but were unable to prevent them from struggling to give them a more anarchist bent through a parallel organisation, the Federación Anarquista Ibérica (Iberian Anarchist Federation, or FAI). The FAI was set up covertly in Saler (Valencia) in July 1927 by the Federación de Grupos Anarquistas de España (Federation of Anarchist Groups of Spain) and the União Anarquista Portuguesa (Portuguese Anarchist Union). It was the result of the efforts by theoreticians like Abad de Santillán and Buenacasa to shape an explicitly anarchist labour movement, and the outcome of the initiative of the Second Congress of the Federation of Spanish-Speaking Anarchist Groups (Marseille, May 1926). It encompassed a broad range of trends, ranging from activists in terrorism and common criminality to idealists concerned with keeping the anarchist purism of the CNT. It set out to ensure the anarchist component of the Confederation by joint participation in key committees such as Pro-Prisoners and Confederal Defence, and to steer it away from any cooperation with the republicans, even though it did end up collaborating with them occasionally. It wanted to find a fit with all the groups on the Iberian Peninsula, but some, like La Revista Blanca or Los Treinta, and Nosotros, did not join it until well into the Republic, even though the former was quite similar and the latter was virtually a replica of it. La Revista Blanca advocated distancing itself from the unions in order to prevent it from being contaminated with reformism, and Los Treinta (the successor to Los Solidarios) and Nosotros refused to accept any kind of organisational discipline and ended up imposing a revolutionary, insurrectionist attitude.

The fall of the dictatorship The year 1930 marked a pivotal point for the traditional apoliticism of Spanish anarcho-syndicalism. The year began with the fall of dictator Primo de Rivera and with the new government’s first steps to restore the democratic regime that had governed prior to the military coup. Under these circumstances, the CNT felt the need to get involved in the sweeping political movement that would end up leading to the Second Republic. Contacts with republican politicians were forged, and the Confederation expressed its support for backing a regime change that would allow the legal, ongoing development of the CNT, which entailed an indeterminate rapprochement with republicans, seen occasionally during the Republic.

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The CNT’s resurgence was quick. During the Second Republic, it was the labour force that experienced the highest growth (more than 80,000 members), but relations with the republicans became more and more conflictive as the anarchist groups opposed to the anarchosyndicalist leadership gained increasing influence within the Confederation. After displacing them from the organs of management and expression, they developed an intense movement of protest and insurrection. The complexity and heterogeneity of anarchism once again led to a series of clashes and internal crises from which the FAI would emerge as the definitive winner. It ended up controlling the newspaper Solidaridad Obrera and the Confederation’s most influential means. The clash with the anarcho-syndicalist sector that had spearheaded the reorganisation of the CNT led the so-called Trentistes (Group of Thirty) to split off. From then on, the CNT, now called the CNT-FAI, maintained a permanently insurrectionist attitude targeted at proclaiming libertarian communism, and was enmeshed in constant clashes with the republican government. In the interplay of prevalent trends in the region of Valencia, there was tension between a kind of anarchosyndicalism that leaned towards unionism, which would lead to the acceptance of Trentisme as defended by the Group of Thirty and of the unions opposed to the FAI that emerged during the Second Republic, and a more philosophical and cultural anarchism with pretensions of purity and orthodoxy. 33

Teresa Abelló

[6] [7]

[8] [9]

[10]

[11] [12]

Notes and Bibliography [1]

[2]

[3] [4]

[5]

Xavier Díez. “La historiografia anarquista als Països Catalans. Una llarga tradició entre el desconeixement i la vitalitat”. Afers, no. 59 (2008), pp. 155-170. Reflection on the anarchist historiography emerging from the members themselves and on its subsequent treatment by the historiography. Susanna Tavera. “La historia del anarquismo español: una encrucijada interpretativa nueva”. Ayer, no. 45 (2002), pp. 13-37. Analysis of the gestation of anarchist historiography and the different interpretative currents. The work by Gerald Brenan. The Spanish Labyrinth (1943), which is still being reissued today in Great Britain, is a paradigmatic example of this. Survey of the historiography on anarchism published between 1968 and 1988 in: Pere Gabriel, Eulàlia Vega and Julià Casanova. “Anarquismo y sindicalismo” (dossier), Historia Social, no. 1 (1988), pp. 45-76. A more exhaustive examination: Salvador Gurucharri. Bibliografía del anarquismo español, 1869-1975. La Rosa de Foc, Barcelona 2004. Jordi Casassas and Albert Ghanime. Homenatge a

[13]

[14] [15]

Francesc Pi i Margall, 1824-1901: Intel·lectual i politic federal. Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona 2001. Josep Termes. Federalismo, anarcosindicalismo y catalanismo. Anagrama, Barcelona 1976. The Federal Centre of Labour Unions was an organisation set up in 1869 that encompassed the local labour organisations. It published the newspaper La Federación. Similar centres were set up in Valencia and Palma de Majorca. Pere Gabriel. El moviment obrer a Mallorca. Curial, Barcelona 1973, pp. 120-134. The First Republic was proclaimed in February 1873. It was brief: in January 1874 a coup d’état by General Pavía put an end to it. The republican experience coincided internationally with an accentuation in the conservative reaction against internationalism, illustrated by Thiers’ replacement by MacMahon in the Presidency of the French Republic. Josep Termes. Anarquismo y sindicalismo en España. La Primera Internacional (1864-1881). Ariel, Barcelona 1972. This is still the most comprehensive study on syndicalism and anarchism during the period of the First International. Francisco Moreno Sáez. El anarquismo en Alicante. Instituto de Estudios Juan Gil-Albert, Alicante 1986. The collectivist anarchists advocated that the workers’ unions in each town be put in charge of production in their sector. The union would be in charge of ownership of the corresponding branch of production. They upheld collective ownership of the goods and means of production, controlled by the unions. Each individual would produce as much as they wanted or were able to, and would earn a salary in accordance with the work they had done. The anarchist communists rejected unions, which they regarded as overly moderate and bureaucratic; they instead supported a highly lax structure based on small groups with ideological affinities which were to carry out the struggle and propaganda actions against the factors in the social order, with direct action and without dismissing violent actions as means of propaganda. They upheld the common ownership of goods and means of production in a society in which each person would produce according to their will and would be paid according to their needs. The development of both currents of thought is analysed by Jordi Piqué. Anarcocol·lectivisme i Anarco-comunisme. Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 1989. Teresa Abelló. Les relacions internacionals de l’anarquisme català (1881-1914). Edicions 62, Barcelona 1987. Manuel Morales. “Cultura e ideología en el Primer

Anarchism in the Catalan-speaking countries: Between syndicalism and propaganda (1868-1931)

[16]

[17] [18]

[19] [20]

[21] [22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

Certamen Socialista”, in Bert Hofmann, Pere Joan and Manfred Tietz (ed.). El anarquismo español y sus tradiciones culturales. Vervuert, Iberoamericana, Madrid 1995, pp. 273-280. There is a compilation of the host of anarchist periodical publications in Francisco Madrid. La premsa anarquista y anarcosindicalista en España, desde la I Internacional hasta la Guerra Civil. Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona 1991. Teresa Abelló. Les relacions internacionals..., op. cit., pp. 21-42. A list and description of the attacks can be found in: Rafael Núñez Florencio. El terrorismo anarquista. 1888-1909. Siglo XXI, Madrid 1983. See also: Amàlia Pradas. L’anarquisme i les lluites socials a Barcelona 1918-1923: la repressió obrera i la violencia. Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 2003. Teresa Abelló. “El Proceso de Montjuïc. La condena internacional al régimen de la Restauración”. Historia Social, no. 14 (1992), pp. 47-60. An explanation of this period can be found in Antoni Dalmau. El cas Rull: viure el terror a la ciutat de les bombes, 1901-1908. Columna, Barcelona 2007. Francesc Poble. Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia i el periòdic ‘La Huelga General’. Afers, Catarroja 2004. Lily Litvak. Musa libertaria: arte, literatura y vida cultural del anarquismo español, 1880-1913. Fundación de Estudios Libertarios Anselmo Lorenzo, Madrid 2001. Francisco J. Navarro. “El paraíso de la razón”. La revista “Estudios” (1928-1937) y el mundo cultural anarquista. Institució Alfons el Magnànim, Valencia 1977. Susana Tavera. Solidaridad Obrera. El fer-se i desfer-se d’un diari anarcosindicalista: 1915-1939. Provincial Council of Barcelona, College of Journalists, Barcelona 1992. These characteristics are analysed by Susanna Tavera in “Revolucionarios, publicistas y bohemios: los periodistas anarquistas (1918-1936)”, in Bert Hofmann, Pere Joan, and Manfred Tietz (ed.). El anarquismo español..., op. cit., pp. 377-392. Also in Pere Gabriel. “Propagandistas confederales entre el sindicato y el anarquismo. La construcción barcelonesa de la CNT en Cataluña, Aragón,

[26]

[27] [28]

[29]

[30]

[31]

[32]

[33]

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País Valenciano y Baleares”. Ayer, no. 45 (2002), pp. 105-146. An overview can be found in Javier Paniagua and José A. Piqueras. Trabajadores sin revolución. La clase obrera valenciana, 1868-1936. Institució Alfons el Magnànim, Valencia 1986. Confederació Regional del Treball (Regional Labour Confederation), that is, the regional section of the CNT in Catalonia. Soledad Bengoechea. Organització patronal i conflictivitat social a Catalunya. Tradició i corporativisme entre finals de segle i la Dictadura de Primo de Rivera. Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrrat, Barcelona 1994. By the same author: El locaut de Barcelona (1919-1920). Curial, Barcelona 1998. The International Workers Association (Berlin, December 1922 – January 1923), set up by the unions that were hostile to all political action, reclaiming the name of the First International. The CNT was the most powerful central union in the new IWA. It was joined by the Unione Sindicale Italiana, la Federación Obrera Regional Argentina (FORA) and Portugal’s CGT. Albert Balcells. El sindicalismo en Barcelona: 1916-1923. Nova Terra, Barcelona 1965. A vision of Spain as a whole can be found in Antonio Bar. La CNT en los años rojos: del sindicalismo revolucionario al anarcosindicalismo, 1910-1926. Akal, Madrid 1981. A phenomenon in Spain between 1919 and 1923, especially in Barcelona. It entailed an armed clash between gangs banked by management and the unions aimed at eliminating the enemy. It left hundreds of victims in its wake. Albert Balcells. El pistolerisme. Barcelona, 19171923. Pòrtic, Barcelona 2009, pp. 56 and 80. This is the most recent and comprehensive study of pistolerisme. Information on anarchism in the Catalan-speaking lands can be found in two encyclopaedic works: Maria Teresa Martínez de Sas and Pelai Pagès (eds.). Diccionari biogràfic del moviment obrer als Països Catalans. Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 2000, and Diego Iñiguez. Enciclopedia histórica del anarquismo español. Asociación Isaac Puente, Vitòria 2008.

About the Author Teresa Abelló holds a doctorate in contemporary history from the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) and is a full professor in the Department of Contemporary History in the Faculty of Geography and History at the same university. She is a member of the Research and Analysis Group on Today’s World at the UB’s Centre for International Historical Studies. Her research has focused on issues related to Catalan anarchism and nationalism, about which she has published numerous articles in the journals Afers, L’Avenç, Historia Social, Spagna Contemporanea and others. She is the co-author of

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Teresa Abelló

books such as Les relacions internacionals de l’anarquisme català (1881-1914), Barcelona, Edicions 62, 1987; El movimiento obrero en España, ss. xix/xx, Barcelona, Hipòtesi, 1997; and El procés estatutari del 1932, Barcelona, Publicacions del Parlament de Catalunya, 2007. She has also edited the books Catalunya triomfant (ss. xviii-xix): Temps de rebel·lia i autogovern, Barcelona, Edicions 62, 2006, and Catalunya oprimida. De Felip V a Franco (ss. xviii-xx), Barcelona, Edicions 62, 2006. She has contributed to several collective books on 20th century Catalonia.

CATALAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 3: 103-114 (2010) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.1000.01.42 · ISSN: 2013-407X http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/

About Catalan Surrealism Francesc Miralles* Art historian

Received 24 March 2010 · Accepted 15 April 2010

Abstract Catalan Surrealism has local roots, although it also has an international dimension. Even though doubts have been cast as to whether some Surrealistic artists fully fit within the theoretical definition of Surrealism, the history of this artistic trend could not be written without Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró, who extend beyond its boundaries. However, it is not fitting to limit ourselves to these two artists, the most famous ones; rather we must also consider other artists like Leandre Cristòfol, Esteban Francés and others discussed in this article.

Key words: Surrealism, artistic avant-gardes, contemporary painting, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró

A great deal has been written about Surrealism: about the personalities in the famous group that founded the movement, about its creators, theoreticians and prominent members, and about some of the newer members who played a decisive role in consolidating the movement. A great deal has been written about Surrealistic poetry, about the revolution that the poets pushed for and about the social policy they professed and promoted. A great deal has been written about Surrealistic film, about the places where the Surrealists met and frequented in their Parisian gatherings... There is no doubt that Surrealism is the cultural movement of the 20th century that has been written about the most. Yet despite this plethora of literature, which even raises the anecdotal features of the personalities to the status of doctrinaire examples, and their proclamations of messianic doctrine, despite all of this, Surrealism is a movement that is difficult to define, and little is known about it beyond the French group and a handful of prominent names. Thus, when the large-scale exhibitions started to be held at Barcelona’s Palau de la Virreina in 1981, I suggested a show on Catalan Surrealism. One of the heads of the Culture Council at the Barcelona Town Hall answered by asking me if I was thinking about painting the works myself. Until then, there was no overall image-concept that a Catalan version of Surrealism or enough Surrealist Catalan artists might exist. In this country, only Dalí was ever mentioned in association with that trend.* Not much had been written about Catalan Surrealism

* Contact address: Francesc Miralles. Carrer Hurtado, 35. E-08022. Barcelona, Catalonia, EU. Tel: +34934340564. E-mail: mika77kimi@yahoo.es

until the early 1980s. However, I think that three different artefacts related to this movement are worth spotlighting: a magazine, a book and an exhibition with its corresponding catalogue. The magazine was a special issue of the first Cobalto,1 which assembled a very diverse set of articles, including comparisons between modern Surrealism and the Surrealism that was seen in images from the ancient world; mediaeval Surrealism; the Surrealism in Moore and Àngel Ferrant; other general and theoretical considerations; an analysis about Chagall; and logically, studies of Miró and Dalí. But no other Catalans were analysed. The book Surrealismo2 was published the following year, 1949. It was written by A. Cirici Pellicer as part of the Poliedro collection, which became a crucial collection for shedding light on contemporary artistic currents immediately after the Spanish Civil War. Cirici – with sound documentation and with the characteristic errors in that documentation – analysed Surrealism decade by decade after surveying its antecedents. What we are interested in now is whether he mentioned the Catalan Surrealists and if so how. Obviously, he opens the section on this country with Joan Miró: he stresses Miró’s anti-optical stance as well as his automatism free from expressive subjection. He also exalts the collages that create a poetic myth and states that Miró travelled much further along the pathways of Surrealism than where Max Ernst had arrived, and that for this reason André Breton had stated that he might be the most Surrealistic of all.3 The book continues by examining Salvador Dalí, and it does so on three occasions. In the 1920s, he mentions Dalí when talking about Surrealistic film by stating that when

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Dalí arrived in Paris in 1928 he astonished the world by premiering Un Chien Andalou with Luis Buñuel. This film contained three historic scenes: the ants that emerge from a cut in the palm of a woman’s hand, the eye slit by the razor and the pianos heaped with rotting donkeys. He once again mentioned this influential film in the 1930s when discussing Dalí’s monumental paintings – like The Great Masturbator. He claims that Dalí ended up improvising the Surrealistic object in conjunction with Gala, and that he created an entirely new doctrine with The Visible Woman. Cirici also states that randomness and ambiguity in his images led him to the highest heights. In the 1940s, he points to Dalí as a conquerer of America, eclipsing Breton, Éluard and Peret. He stresses that there Dalí worked as a fashion illustrator, the creator of the Venus Pavilion at the New York Universal Exposition and the brilliant stage designer for numerous ballets. However, before that he devotes an entire paragraph to the Barcelona-based group Adlan, spotlighting Jaume Sans, Ramon Marinel·lo and Eudald Serra, and he hints at some of their passions, such as the circus, fair objects and traditional Mallorcan whistles. It is important that even though he only briefly mentions this group, Cirici does so to prove the existence of other local Catalan surrealists who created art in the shadows of the two international Paris-based artists, Miró and Dalí. It is de rigueur to analyse the show and exhibition catalogue for “Surrealismo en España” (Surrealism in Spain)

Figure 1. Desnudo (Nude, 1926). Oil on canvas by Joan Miró (18931983). 92 ´ 73.6 cm. Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Francesc Miralles

put on by the Galeria Multitud in Madrid in 1875 as part of that brief yet comforting series that revived movements that had almost been forgotten. These shows served to consolidate Francisco Calvo Serraller and Ángel González García. This show on Surrealism was extremely interesting for two reasons. First, in the introduction to the catalogue it stated that the importance of the movement was the creation of a Surrealist consciousness, which led the group’s tenets to survive after the disappearance of the historic core of founders, and secondly because despite everything, there was still a deep obscurity surrounding the importance and development of the movement in Spain. This introduction provides new elements of analysis, such as the fact that contrary to traditional claims, Surrealism extends beyond the personages who created, formed and dissolved the historic group, opening up the possibility that artists from one or two generations later could also be regarded as Surrealists. Furthermore, another new analytical concept was also introduced: geography. The goal was to establish general coordinates over the entire area, beyond the names of the most prominent artists from the historical movement. This approach led the authors to draw up a list of ten Catalan artists who could be chronologically divided into two groups: those who worked before 1939 and those who worked after that date. The former included not only the ubiquitous Miró and Dalí but also Leandre Cristòfol, Joan Massanet, Àngel Planells and Àngels Santos, while the latter included Modest Cuixart, Joan Ponç, August Puig and Antoni Tàpies. This introductory text posits certain claims that will be eternally debated when speaking about Surrealism, such as its start or roots in the literary, poetic realm. Thus, in the Catalan approach, “[...] poets like J. V. Foix, Sebastià Gasch, Salvat Papasseit and others initially prevailed.” And the most fascinating question of all is whether or not we can truly speak about Spanish Surrealism, about Catalan Surrealism. On the one hand, Spanish poetry was far removed from French poetry, and even further away from the poetry and literature of the Surrealist writers. On the other hand, starting in 1929, official Surrealism became deeply popular because of the celebrated clashes and dissensions. All of this posed a major obstacle to forging connections and influences between the French and Spanish personages and groups. Lucía García de Carpi, one of the persistent researchers into the subject of Spanish Surrealism – especially its poetic facet – offers this lucid analysis: “After the studies conducted in recent years, we can no longer question Spain’s existence in the Surrealistic literary and artistic output. However, we should note how, having barely overcome this unconscious controversy, the way is now being paved in Spanish historiography for the fallacy of an autochthonous Spanish Surrealism that was totally detached from the French movement. Thus, with no coher-

About Catalan Surrealism

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Figure 2. Un món (One World, 1929). Oil on canvas by Àngels Santos (Portbou, 1911). 290 ´ 310 cm. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid.

ence whatsoever, we have gone from denying any expression of Surrealism in Spain to justifying its existence based on a telluric determinism or an unproven predisposition in the collective psyche.”5 And the researcher ends by stating that, just as in all the avant-garde trends that were cultivated in Spain before the Civil War, Surrealism drew from European tenets and impulses. Therefore, we must posit the existence of a Spanish Surrealism, as well as a Catalan Surrealism, even though the events in Catalonia took place slightly differently, as two of the most important artists in worldwide Surrealism – perhaps the two most important – are Catalan. It is obvious that I am referring once again to Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí. In his essay Surrealism and Painting – which is ultimately more essay than history because of his partisan, biased analysis – André Breton actually claims that Joan Miró might be the most Surrealistic of all.6 Despite this claim, Breton himself questioned whether the Catalan

artist was a good example of a Surrealistic painter, and even the theoreticians and historians who study his oeuvre are not quite sure how to classify it and into what category to pigeonhole it. In order to claim Miró as one of his own, Breton wanted to bring him into the fold of automatism: “With a thousand problems that did not concern him on any level, despite the fact that the human spirit is full of them, Joan Miró only has one wish, that of completely abandoning himself to the act of painting, and just painting (which for him means limiting himself to a single discipline, painting, in which we are confident he has all the means at his disposal), to the pure automatism which I have always highlighted, but whose values and deep-seated reasons, I am afraid, he has very succinctly verified.”7 This sentence is very enlightening as to how Joan Miró acted and how Breton perceived that Miró acted. First, Breton states that the problems of Surrealism do not concern Miró, even though he further states that they are

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problems of the human spirit. Later, he stresses that Miró has all the resources at his disposal to paint, but that it is the only discipline in which he has these resources. In a very subtle, French way, Breton makes it crystal clear that Joan Miró is not concerned with theory, with Surrealistic ideology, a feature that he portrays as a personal limitation. Breton feels that Miró is, that is, he wants to feel that Miró is, a Surrealist given the pictorial strength of his work. For these reasons, Joan Miró’s categorisation within Surrealism has always run into more misgivings than reluctance. I think that Rosa Maria Malet has conducted the most accurate, objective analysis of Miró’s position with regard to the Surrealistic group and movement in her brief essay, “Joan Miró: el Surrealisme entre l’afinitat i la divergència” (Joan Miro: Surrealism between Affinity and Divergence).8 Malet makes a comprehensive survey of Joan Miró’s evolution: of his discomfort and disagreement with what he experienced in the Barcelona art scene in his youth, given that in addition to the enormous weight of academic painting as the future, there were designs to instigate a return to Mediterranean essences in Catalonia, with Noucentisme; and of how after he moved to Paris in early 1921 into a studio on Rue Blomet, next to a studio that André Masson had nearby, he became immersed in another world. This chance encounter conditioned him absolutely and forever, as Masson introduced him into his circle of poet friends, who represented the avant-garde of the time, including Tristan Tzara, Michael Leiris, Pierre Reverdy and Georges Limbour. These are the avant-gardes who would join Breton when he assembled the Surrealist group. Joan Miró was connected to the new group, the most decisive group in 20th century art, and unquestionably the most revolutionary, by sheer happenstance. Having reached this point, Malet confesses that numerous questions arise about Miró’s ties to Surrealism: is his work the outcome of automatism or is it conditioned by the artist’s dreams? What exactly about Surrealism interested Miró? Miró’s profound ties to the land meant that even when he is not realistic his work emerges from or is rooted in nature. “Joan Miró never stops taking reality as the point of departure in his works, but instead of reproducing it in the spirit of detail, he lets it invade his spirit, take ground in his feelings, and these feelings and the impact of his personal experiences are what dictate the form to him. The results are more unprecedented works where freedom gives free rein to the imagination and to suggestion.”9 Personal experiences, imagination and suggestions... but Malet never mentions automatism or dreams. How can we speak about automatism if there are several preparatory drawings that the artist patiently drafted for every painting? How can we posit a connection to the world of dreams if his structure is always grounded on the natural, external world? And Rosa Maria Malet answers these questions by saying: “There is no doubt, the facts

Francesc Miralles

prove it, that indeed there was a Surrealistic period within Miró’s career; what is no less certain is that this stage was totally unconventional compared to orthodox Surrealism.”10 It is also true that Miró used collage and placed a premium on the object, but the way he treated and presented them was always a far cry from the Surrealistic canons. However, Joan Miró would not have developed his oeuvre as he did without the existence of Surrealism and without his friendship with the members of the original group. Anywhere in the world, when we say “Surrealism” Salvador Dalí comes to mind first. We should recall that Dalí himself proclaimed on numerous occasions: “I am Surrealism”.11 However, this recognition and popular presence were in no way linked to the interpretations and analyses of historians and analysts. I summarised this bibliographic complexity as follows: “[...] defining a personality for ourselves, focusing on the neat, unquestionably malevolent image that he brings back from the shadows, which his own Surrealistic colleagues, the intellectual left, the repetitive criticism and rancid Catalanism had created around him. Both, for very different reasons and interests, have wanted to create an image of Salvador Dalí that is totally distorted: the former, an image that is relativist, by limiting the importance of his work – that is, of the creative output itself – and the latter, by discrediting the artist himself. Both had a strong ally: his eccentric behaviour, the artist’s unusual reactions, which could be painted as those of a true madman. In the opinion of the former camp, Dalí did not follow the dictates of the left, while the latter viewed his ideas as fascist; almost all of them claimed that his creativity was exhausted long ago, while to others he was not ‘one of us’. And for those who accepted many of these interpretations, his life was ‘excessive’. In his exhaustive study, Llongueras states: “A life can never be ‘excessive’ – as Gibson or his editors put it; perhaps it might be richer or more intense – such as in the case of Salvador Dalí – than that of other people not touched by the stroke of genius.”12 There is no doubt that Salvador Dalí was one of the greatest Surrealist artists, even though many years are still needed, perhaps two or three decades, for the Dalian world to be measured without so many prejudices. We need enough distance in order to examine his person and his oeuvre without such overbearing factors conditioning our analysis. I would now like to analyse the article “Esquema de Salvador Dalí” (Schema of Salvador Dalí) written by J. A. Gaya Nuño, which was published in the aforementioned issue of Cobalto devoted to Surrealism. His analysis comes before the ideological and partisan burden that would come later. Gaya Nuño, an exiled republican in Barcelona in the 1940s, always thoroughly documented his claims and revealed utter freedom of criteria, complete independence from fashions and analytical trends. In his brief essay, he mentions three points regarding Dalí: the persona, the technique and the subject matter of his works.

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Figure 3. El crim Perfecte (The Perfect Murder, 1931). Oil on by Àngel Planells (1901-1989). 41 ´ 41 cm. Salvador Molins Collection, Barcelona.

It is clear that he holds no affection for the persona. Over the course of the article, we can read numerous declarations like these: “Very rarely would such an abnormal kind of creator have arisen in the world of the fine arts”; “Dalí is flagrantly abnormal; he is an insane adorer of the foul and rotten as determinants of beauty, with which he does nothing other than bravely proclaim a facet, aesthetic or paraesthetic, common to many but inconfessable for all”; “In the Catalan artist, the exhibitionistic fury, the preoccupation with sex, the attraction towards obscene and scatological phenomena will amply replace the moralistic preoccupation of Hieronymus Bosch as a source of monstrosity. Once, Dalí’s friends and wife actually came to wonder whether he might be a coprophage.”13 I could fill four or five full pages with the always malevolent and twisted statements by the historian known for his incisively disparaging language. This was Gaya Nuño’s opinion of Dalí’s persona. The analyst takes pains to demonstrate that with regard to technique, Dalí was a step backward compared to Pi-

casso or Braque: compared to the collage and heteroclitic techniques of the Cubists, Dalí used the time-worn techniques of minute brushstrokes which “can only be seen in half a dozen of the best museums in the world”. However, this statement, which might seem like praise at first, was actually a veiled disparagement: in the article, we can find sentences like these: “[...] a boy with a revolutionary bent under which unspeakably conservative moulds are concealed”. And at another point he reproaches his academicism; he levels the accusation that Raphael and Vermeer of Delft were his gods, and he states that Dalí was stuck in pre-Raphaelism – “the most glibly cunning of the painting schools that existed in a wonderfully advanced country”. He claims that he looked backward instead of forward like Picasso. And he reproaches the fact that Dalí set his sights on modest, local artists like Modest Urgell and Marià Fortuny, who “had seduced him through some technical ingeniousness”. He accuses Dalí of celebrating Gaudí escessively – Modernism (Art Nouveau) had not yet been reassessed, nor had its leader: “[...] the Catalan

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who leaves the strongest imprint on our artist is Gaudí, the ancient architect of the Sagrada Família. Gaudí, not bereft of genius yet overly endowed with shocking amounts of a roilingy bad taste with his pseudo-Gothic arborescences, with his camouflages and thingamajigs, Gaudí must have impressed the avid, poorly educated Dalí, one of whose aesthetic tenets consists of ‘hating simplicity in all its forms’.” Even more sincerely, he proclaims the fecundity of bad taste, symbolising it, and quite rightly so, with the names of Gaudí, Boecklin and Wagner. Hence, the extraordinary consequences of the fact that as a child Dalí was taken to Parque Güell one afternoon.”14 I have given plenty of space to these comments because they are quite indicative of what was to come: Dalí would basically be analysed for his behaviour more than for his oeuvre. Even when talking about his triumph in America, Gaya Nuño compares him to Xavier Cugat, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. It is true that the critic actually says that El momento sublime (The Sublime Moment) – that telephone earpiece hanging over a pair of fried eggs – is the best still life in the 20th century; it is true that he places Dalí in the so very Spanish line of demons, the demonic world, ensconcing him alongside Goya and Solana; it is true that shortly before this essay he had included Dalí as the latest link in Spanish painting along with El Greco, Velázquez, Goya and Picasso.15 However it is also true that this art historian opened the doors to the analysis of Dalí’s collateral deeds as part of his true contribution – regardless of whether Dalí’s work is liked or not. It is curious that a historian like Gaya Nuño, who was always so thoroughly documented, did not analyse the theories that Dalí brought to Surrealism, which were perhaps more profound and radical from the artistic standpoint than the ones that emerged from inside the movement. He forgets Dalí the theoretician of Surrealism, which justifies most of his creative output. He talks about Vida secreta (Secret Life),16 but he fails to mention the theory of the “paranoid-critical” which Dalí set forth in his book La femme visible (1930) and was enthusiastically welcomed by Breton, while it also signalled a landmark in the Surrealist movement. Gaya Nuño glorifies the depiction of dreamlike scenes that Dalí renders with precise, meticulous technique, stressing the presence of the landscape in Portlligat. Nor does Gaya Nuño talk about the importance of Surrealist objects, whose creation led to the practice of the happening, an artistic action which Dalí helped to found. He does not even highlight, as José Pierre does, the erotic facet that infuses the movement. The French historian states: “[...]Salvador Dalí’s greatest contribution to Surrealism lay in his systematic exaltation of eroticism, that is, of his own wholly erotic personality. This inspired him in numerous paintings of vast importance, like El gran masturbador (The Great Masturbator) from 1929 – which is obviously a symbolic portrait – and the 1931 Persistencia de la memoria (Persistence of Memory), whose famous ‘melting clocks’, in my opinion, actually say that mastur-

Francesc Miralles

bation is an effective magical means to counter death.”17 In other words, as soon as Dalí and his work begin to be analysed from the historiographic perspective, we can find that a vein arises that is unlike the way the oeuvre of other artists has been studied. If I stress the fact that Gaya Nuño did not speak about Dalí’s theoretical writings, it is because of the importance attached to them at the time, and also to highlight the prominent role that theory played in Surrealism, as we have seen. We could almost claim that Surrealism is a theory or position spearheaded by the literati which branched out and entered many other disciplines and conducts. For this reason, the three basic catalogues of the three most important exhibitions on the movement held in Spain take pains to stress that there was a body of literature here, too. The exhibition catalogue of the Galeria Multitud in Madrid (1975) – the most coherent show and catalogue on Surrealism in Spain to date – mentions that literature is one of the backbones of the movement: from automatic writing to the manifestos, along with their creators and promoters, who were poets and writers. As a result, an effort is made to fuse Spanish Surrealism with the young future Generation of ’27 and Catalan Surrealism with J. V. Foix and Salvat-Papasseit. It underscores the fact that the only Spanish magazine that could be called Surrealistic was the Gazeta del Arte, founded in 1932 when Breton spent a few months in Tenerife. That is, even though the Madrid-based Revista de Occidente almost immediately translated Breton’s manifesto, there was no real Surrealist literature in Spain; there were no theoreticians of the new movement.18 The exhibition catalogue for “Surrealisme a Catalunya 1924-1936”, held in Barcelona at the Centre d’Art Santa Mònica (1988), includes an article that focuses on the role of magazines in the Surrealist movement in Catalonia. Isabel Coll performs a meticulous survey of the magazines Terramar, Monitor and L’Amic de les Arts and spotlights everything that might have a connection with Surrealism. From Terramar she mentions an article by Pérez Jorba in which the word “Surrealism” appears, perhaps for the first time or one of the first times here in Catalonia. From Monitor, she highlights the articles by M. A. Cassanyes, which encouraged a rupture with the traditional trends that dominated everything: “I prefer not to speak about our avant-garde art, which we could say is non-existent.” Says Isabel Coll: “From the magazine Monitor, Cassanyes’ personality led to a revival of admiration for the symbolic world, which stands out for its perseverance in the quest for a liberating trend that impelled the spirit to find a formula that followed the dictates of thought, rejecting the tenets set by the old schools in the past.” Even though there were subsequent efforts to establish that Symbolism was its underpinning, the most immediate forerunner of Surrealism, the truth is that none these articles was either ideological or analytical regarding the new French trends; rather they celebrated the rupture with the past, they en-

About Catalan Surrealism

couraged a shift toward the avant-garde without clearly specifying what the new pathways and new movements should be. In Catalonia, L’Amic de les Arts is a mythical magazine regarded as a bastion of the avant-garde during the years it was published – 31 issues between 1926 and 1929. It was a stronghold of the avant-garde because it was where Salvador Dalí began to write, venturing into certain themes that hinted at his theories; it is where Sebastià Gasch wrote what, at that time, was a benchmark of modernity; it is where J. V. Foix published his poems and texts with a Surrealistic bent; it is where Lluís Montanyà and M. A. Cassanyes expounded on Surrealism, even though they did not touch on either its conceptual considerations or behavioural processes. In fact, Isabel Coll closes her article with this statement: “All of these magazines [Terramar, Mirador, L’Amic de les Arts] appear as faithful mirrors of the ideal shared by their publishers, who indefatigably boosted the most cutting-edge currents. With this spirit, they were not complacent just to examine the problem from a distance, rather they fully entered the fray and, by taking an active role in it the magazines turned into peerless testimony of a prodigious effort of will, intelligence and integrity that enabled them to forge new pathways in our avant-garde art. Their endeavour can be regarded as exceptionally val-

Figure 4. De l’aire a l’aire (From Air to Air, 1933). Sculpture in metal by Leandre Cristòfol (1908-1998). 48 cm high. Lleida Town Hall.

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uable, and it can be counted among the most renowned literary efforts of our century.”19 If this opinion has a downside, it is its excessive optimism. The reality is that one cannot talk about authentically Surrealist magazines in either Catalonia or Spain. I think that this is an important, or even more accurately a decisive, consideration for truly grasping both Catalan and Spanish Surrealism. Let us examine, for example, the Catalan Anti-Art Manifesto of 1928, better known as the Manifest Groc (Yellow Manifesto), which was signed by Salvador Dalí, Lluís Montanyà and Sebastià Gasch. It was drawn up with great pains, as Montanyà and Gasch – as the latter recounted later – were too fearful to dare to rectify many of the statements written by Dalí, who was just donning his provocative posture at that time. In fact, the “manifesto” was neither programmatic nor did it have anything to do with Surrealism. In reality, it was an attack on the Catalan culture of the day, which was mired in tradition: the culture of the Orfeó Català, of Noucentisme, of the fame of Bernat Metge.20 It was an exaltation of the modern spirit, of modern life – of the cinema, jazz, beauty pageants and huge transatlantic ocean liners. It is true that this so-called “manifesto” aroused a great deal of ruckus in Catalonia, logically, and in Spain, but in essence it was actually a major tantrum of youth. Deep down, it had nothing to do with ideology. Therefore, despite numerous efforts to prove the contrary, in Catalonia there were neither Surrealistic magazines nor even theoreticians of Surrealism. This is a fact of prime importance which leads us to deny the existence of a true Catalan Surrealism and only leaves us with the possibility of a certain kind of Surrealism in Catalonia. So it should come as no surprise that in none of the scant shows held in our country to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of the first Surrealistic manifesto was a Catalan version of Surrealism presented; instead, the geographic scope of the show was always stated: “El Surrealisme a Catalunya 1925-1975” (Surrealism in Catalonia, 1925-1975) at the Galeria Dau al Set in Barcelona; “1924-36. Surrealisme històric a Catalunya” (1924-36: Historic Surrealism in Catalonia) at the Galeria Bonanova, also in Barcelona; and “Pintors surrealistes de l’Empordà” (Surrealistic Painters of the Ampurdan) at the Museu de l’Empordà in Figueres. However, although the titles of the shows were somewhat restrained, the texts included in the catalogues or that the authors themselves wrote about the shows were bolder. Rafael Santos Torroella claimed: “[...] counter to what has been written at times, Surrealism in Catalonia has been – and somehow still is – quite valid, surely much more so than any other avant-garde trend”. He questioned people who believed that “[...] speaking about a Catalan Surrealism, then, is perhaps inaccurate, incorrect and abusive.” He also opposed the claims that Spanish Surrealism was basically poetic.21 However, apart from this he does little to examine its generic and defining features. He said that Surrealism in Catalonia included Miró

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Francesc Miralles

Figure 5. Premonició de la guerra civil (Premonition of Civil War, 1936). Oil on canvas by Salvador Dalí (1904-1989). 100 ´ 99 cm. Philadelphia Museum of Art.

and Dalí, two of the most important Surrealist artists, and he provided information on some of the other lesserknown artists who might fall within the scope of Surrealism. In the catalogue for the exhibition held at Barcelona’s Galeria Bonanova, Alexandre Cirici also stressed the importance of these two artists: “If we think about the artistic vein of Surrealism, which is associated with automatic creation unfettered by reason, we shall see that the figure of Joan Miró occupies an undeniably prominent role. If we think about the other vein, which conveyed dreamlike or subconscious contents through conventional visual renderings, then we must acknowledge the prominent

role played by Dalí.” Cirici found the roots of the Catalan Surrealists in Modernisme (Art Nouveau), as he believed that the most prominent movement in the late 19th century was actually a rebellion against academicism, a prologue to Surrealism – a Surrealism avant la lettre – and that Gaudí was a forerunner of the Surrealist movement. With this interpretation, he reinforced Catalonia’s importance in international Surrealism.22 The exhibition of Surrealists from the Ampurdan brought two new considerations to the subject: Santos Torroella claimed that there was no doubt that the Tramuntana23 wind was tantamount to Surrealism, and that in consequence Catalan Surrealism was from the Am-

About Catalan Surrealism

purdan or had its Surrealistic artistic roots there; and Jordi Gimferrer claimed that the cradle of Iberian Surrealism was the Ampurdan. 24 In Història de l’art català, I recapitulated the three exhibitions commemorating the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Surrealist manifesto and the publication of several articles about it: “If nothing else, the 50th anniversary of Surrealism served to reveal our lack of knowledge about one of the cultural movements in which we Catalans have imposed our values internationally”.25 As future art historians write their doctoral theses and a new generation of young exhibition curators have sought unusual subjects or unearthed ones that have been scarcely studied, the literature, that is, our knowledge of the artists who were somehow associated with Surrealism, has filled out. By 2010, at least one book or catalogue from an extensive exhibition has been written about almost all the Catalan artists who spent some stage in their careers either closely or loosely tied to Surrealism. Still, an overall assessment of what these contributions meant has not been conducted. Stock was taken to some extent in 1988 when Josep Miquel Garcia, Fina Duran and Conxita Oliver presented the show “Surrealisme a Catalunya, 1924-1936”, mentioned above. It was a unique exhibition: I think that its prime value lay in drawing attention to the subject it spotlighted, acknowledging that indeed we can talk about Surrealism here in Catalonia. However, in more than one respect the show was disconcerting, chiefly in the catalogue, that is, more in the theoretical aspects than in the works exhibited. The catalogue contains an excellent article on Miró, but none on Dalí. It is true that in addition to the images of the works displayed in the exhibition, the first two pictures in the catalogue are devoted to Dalí: the former reproduces the image from the cover of issue eight of the magazine Minotaure, and the second solemnly features the utterance “Le surréalisme c’est moi”, which, like a legal affidavit, confirms that Dalí made this statement on the 22nd of March 1988 at Torre Galatea before Antoni Pitxot and Josep Miquel Garcia. This was a unique take on the matter, since after Dalí made this provocative – and quite probably truthful – statement in the early 1930s, he repeated it dozens, even hundreds of times.26 I think that this singular way of introducing the catalogue – singular yet ambiguous – does not explain the fact that Dalí is one of the most prominent – I believe the most prominent – member of the international Surrealist group. To me, there is no justification for failing to include an article on Dalí in the catalogue as the author of theories and doctrines that deeply expanded the earliest automatic bent of the movement. On the other hand, an entire article is devoted to the – almost non-existent – oeuvre of Àngel Ferrant in his Catalan stage, and Leandre Cristòfol is placed on par with Viola and Lamolla. There is no mention of post-war Surrealism, which over time consolidated a notable current of its own here by connecting principally with Miró – the intellectual left of the day was manifestly anti-Dalí.

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It does highlight the efforts of Adlan. Adlan (Amics de l’Art Nou, or Friends of the New Art) was a group established in Barcelona in late 1932. The first article of its bylaws states its intentions clearly: “The purpose of Adlan is to protect and develop art in any of its manifestations”. Neither its bylaws nor its subsequent manifesto contain any programmatic instructions. I summarised the group’s intentions and actions by saying that Adlan “[...] signalled early awareness of avant-garde art and was the first time that a group was set up here in Catalonia with coherent goals aimed at defending new art: in its dissemination”.27 Therefore, it may seem strange that Adlan is mentioned whenever we speak about Surrealism in Catalonia. This is due to the fact that among its many notable activities – from the Picasso exhibition, the first held in Barcelona since 1912, to the outstanding Winter 1934 issue of the magazine D’ací i d’allà, devoted to 20th century art – Adlan promoted the exhibition “Logicofobista” which opened in early May 1936 at Barcelona’s Llibreria Catalonia bookshop. Corredor-Matheos claimed that all the members of Adlan were tinged by Surrealism, but he also added that the degree of influence from the new movement was diverse and that this interest was also manifested in many different ways.28 They were all influenced by Surrealism, that is, by the footprint of Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí. But of the two artists, Dalí prevailed, perhaps because his approaches were known to be closer to official Surrealism, that is, to André Breton. The exhibition “Logicofobista” opened on the 5th of May 1936 at the Llibreria Catalònia, which back in the 1930s sponsored major art shows. It was organised by M. A. Cassanyes, an art theoretician, about whose thinking Arnau Puig performs a subtle analysis. Cassanyes chose to promote Surrealism: “Surrealism seemed to him the nearest material at hand he could use as the underpinning of a philosophy that would provide him with a radical sense of life and sense of the world. This philosophy was imbued with a romantic spirit – in clear opposition to the aseptic, “natural” formalism of classicism – and I would even venture to claim that it contained the phenomenological essences of Husserl’s philosophy.”29 Despite being self-taught and having somewhat fragmented thinking, Cassanyes was one of the few people in our country – perhaps the only one – who attempted to devise a theory that would promote or support the most avant-garde art. “Logicofobia” (logicophobia) and “logicofobisme” (logicophobism) were words – concepts – that Cassanyes coined which meant a phobia of logic, and which he rhetorically justified in the exhibition catalogue. The opening, just like all Adlan events, was a socially brilliant, snobbish event. Cassanyes had envisioned an international show featuring Miró and Dalí, perhaps Picasso and others. But he was not able to draw in so many artists. Instead, the participants included Artur Carbonell, Leandre Cristòfol, Àngel Ferrant, Esteban Francés, A. Gamboa-Rothwoss, A. G. Lamolla, Ramon Marinel·lo,

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Joan Massanet, Maruja Mallo, Àngel Planells, Jaume Sans, Nadia Sakolova, Remedios Varo and Joan Ismael. This show was particularly significant: it was the first time that a thematic show had been held on Surrealism with the goal of providing a sweeping overview of the movement. It was also the first time that an effort had been made to assemble a coherent group around a new trend. It was the first time that the artists working in Lleida – who were somewhat cohesive among themselves – and those who hailed from and worked in the Ampurdan were brought together. They were joined by artists from Barcelona and a few from abroad. For the first time, there was a certain theory – the one from Paris, the one established by M. A. Cassanyes – that supported the artists’ work. This positive step, which copied the one taken by Adlan itself one year earlier when presenting the three sculptors Ramon Marinel·lo, Jaume Sans and Eudald Serra, did not yield the expected results: just a few weeks later the Spanish Civil War broke out. With war came the exile, either temporary or permanent, of the majority of these artists. More importantly, many of these creators extricated themselves from the Surrealistic schemes. In other words, for most of them Surrealism was a longer or shorter, a more or less intense stepping stone in their careers. Viewed with a certain perspective, this “logicofobista” show and its close proximity to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War were extremely important to Catalan Surrealism. I believe that the war was a highly negative factor, very specifically for how Surrealism fared in Catalonia: the “logicofobista” exhibition and the dynamism of the Adlan group and its leaders foreshadowed a heavy impetus for the movement – it should be borne in mind that Joan Prats was one of the prime leaders of the group, and a close friend of Joan Miró as well. And the small circle of artists who could be included in the group, or at least in the Surrealist trend, was gradually gaining momentum and expanding. The theory was increasingly structured, and the circle of artists was becoming more famous. The war radically cut short the trajectory that was beginning to take shape. There is no doubt that what the war affected the most was the Catalan Surrealist movement. In reality, Catalan Surrealism could not be. Both the catalogues of all these shows I have mentioned up to now and the handful of sweeping studies that have been performed – histories of contemporary Spanish or Catalan art – cite very few artists, and if they do only those who were closer at hand. This is not the appropriate place to make a list that can be deemed more or less exhaustive, nor to leave a complete record. However, I would like to discuss several names a bit more extensively and highlight two events. Àngel Planells tends to be at the top of any list of Catalan Surrealists. This is due to the fact that he was the closest to Dalí in the 1920s and the one who appropriated his initial aesthetic the most. Nowadays, his personality is being promoted by his foundation in Blanes.

Francesc Miralles

Joan Massanet – Massanet de l’Escala (Massanet from L’Escala), as Santos Torroella liked to call him – is perhaps the least consolidated or famous of them all, as his professional work as a pharmacist always kept him away from the art scene, although he very closely tracked the art movements developing in Europe. Esteban Francés is perhaps the Catalan Surrealist painter most often listed internationally. In Barcelona he hooked up with Óscar Domínguez and Paul Éluard; in his exile in France he forged contacts with the Surrealist group, of which he was a member; in Mexico and the United States, where he moved when World War II broke out, he had close relationships with the classic Surrealists who had also fled to America in exile. Perhaps because of her connections with several personalities in the group that founded Surrealism in both Paris and Mexico, Remedios Varo might be the most storied artist of the Catalan Surrealists – except, of course, for the big three. However, in Mexico her oeuvre veered towards a symbolist illusionism. Curiously, Remedios Varo is the only picture of a Surrealist artist reproduced – full-page – in the ground-breaking, disconcerting catalogue Surrealisme a Catalunya 1924-1936, a publication that goes on to barely mention her. Perhaps she appeared because she was pretty, or out of feminist claims. I would like to state for the record that these four artists were Surrealists or painted within the canons of Surrealism during a stage in their life, as did Àngels Santos. Yet I mention Santos here, singling her out in one of the two points I wanted to stress before closing these meanderings. Ángeles Santos is a disconcerting case within the Catalan literature. On the one hand, she is the artist that is the subject of the greatest number of rigorous studies. However, what is disconcerting is her oeuvre: one can say – as Lucía García de Carpi already has – that she is the Surrealist with a single painting, Un món (One World). She was barely involved with Surrealism, yet she left us one of the most influential paintings from this movement. In his document studying the painter, Vinyet Panyella writes this about the work: “Ángeles Santos painted the portrait of the world envisioned as a fragment of the universe, dreamt up via twofold intuition: construction and dream. And she brings in everything that she had seen, intuited or observed until then. She transplanted in her painting the sense of the spiritual life as she had learnt it in her parochial school in Seville – the universe, Heaven, Hell, souls – and the tangible world she knew: cities and houses, people’s lives, trains, beaches, rivers, cemeteries. Un món defies mere description because the painting is the depiction of a metaphysical universe in which the Earth and the spirits are integrated as if in a cosmic geography.”30 Another fact that I regard as anomalous is the scant attention paid to Leandre Cristòfol. When the Catalan artists included in the Surrealist movement are listed, Cristòfol is just another name among many, if he is not indeed entirely neglected. And this is not fitting because his oeuvre

About Catalan Surrealism

is among the most solid, far-reaching and creative in our country – with the exception of Miró and Dalí. I cannot understand how in 1988, in the Surrealist exhibition shown at Barcelona’s Centre d’Art Santa Mònica, Cristòfol could be treated the same as Viola and Lamolla, his colleagues from Lleida. And this is even more disturbing in that one of the organisers of the exhibition, who also wrote the article discussing Lleida, was Josep Miquel Garcia, one of the sculptor’s leading analysts. In contrast, when she speaks about La experimentación tridimensional en el surrealismo español (Three-Dimensional Experimentation in Spanish Surrealism), Josefina Alix Trueba does give Cristòfol due recognition.31 And Arnau Puig summarises it this way: “Though not bereft of sarcastic irony, Leandre Cristòfol still maintains a ravishing pleasure for everything around him, and from the detritus of this world he makes jewels of exquisite sensations for him and for others”.32 All of this discusses historical Surrealism, that is, its life before the war. But in Catalonia many artists have persisted in this current. Thus, the early days of Dau al Set shows that the contact with Joan Miró bore its first fruit, even though the majority of painters from the group ultimately chose other languages. In some recent exhibitions on Surrealism, several more recent names have been tentatively included, yet without providing any overview of the whole. And owing to its breadth, the recent show “Il·luminacions. Catalunya visionària” (Illuminations: Visionary Catalonia) did not fully explore the subject. There is no doubt that a sweeping study of Catalan art would be a study of Surrealistic art from the second half of the 20th century.

Notes and Bibliography [1] [2] [3] [4]

[5]

[6] [7] [8]

[9]

Cobalto, vol. ii, first portfolio. Barcelona 1948. A. Cirici Pellicer. El surrealismo. Ediciones Omega, Barcelona 1949. A. Cirici Pellicer. Op. cit., p. 35. Ángel González García, Francisco Calvo Serraller. “Cuando en 1919 volvieron del frente...”, in the catalogue Surrealismo en España. Galeria Multitud, Madrid 1975, p. 18. Lucía García de Carpi. “La respuesta española”. In the catalogue El surrealismo en España. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, October 1994, p. 25. André Breton. Le Surrealisme et la peinture. Gallimard, Paris 1965 (2nd edition), p. 37. André Breton. Op. cit., pp. 36-37. Rosa Maria Malet. “Joan Miró: el Surrealisme entre l’afinitat i la divergència”, in the catalogue Surrealisme a Catalunya 1924-1936. De L’Amic de les Arts al logicofobisme. Centre d’Art Santa Mònica, Barcelona, May 1988, pp. 17-23. Rosa Maria Malet. Op. cit., p. 20.

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 113

[10] Rosa Maria Malet. Op. cit., p. 20. [11] There are numerous versions as to when and how Dalí claimed that he was Surrealism for the first time: whether it was when the orthodox, intransigent Surrealist group decided to expel him from its historic core; whether it was when a few days after visiting Sigmund Freud, a journalist asked him what Surrealism was; whether it was... It is better just to cultivate the legend about everything surrounding Dalí. What does seem clear is that he issued the proclamation in the early 1930s. [12] Francesc Miralles: “Adiós... especial amigo...”. In Lluís Llongueras. Tot Dalí. Vida i obra del personatge més genial i espectacular del segle xx, Pòrtic, Barcelona 2003, p. 14. [13] J. A. Gaya Nuño. “Esquema de Salvador Dalí”. Cobalto. See op. cit. in note 1, pp. 35 and 38. [14] J. A. Gaya Nuño. Op. cit., p. 37. [15] “Surrealism had found mentors and creators abroad, but it was also a Spaniard who extracted from Surrealism the most artistic and real, less monstrous. Once Surrealism had been accepted as a school, there is no doubt that it owed Dalí its greatest artistic integration.” “Picasso, Dalí and Miró continue their efforts, and we can still hope for new conquests and innovations from their aesthetic pursuits. With them, Spanish painting has achieved an admiration from abroad which has not been fashionable since Goya’s work began to be valued.” J. A. Gaya Nuño. Historia del arte español. Editorial Plus Ultra, Madrid, pp. 433-434. [16] As the author does throughout the essay, he deals with Vida Secreta (Secret Life) using the same tone found throughout the entire text: hovering between capricious praise and radical disdain. “This document of shameless egolatry, though narrated with a certain clarity, leaves floating in the realm of the imprecise the bare principals of this diabolical, seductive story that the imposition of Dalian art has been. Therefore, this schema [referring to his article] was needed because in Vida Secreta, which is paranoid proof of Dalí’s paranoid activity, what should be the most clearly explained is cleverly hidden behind the display of puerilities – what is not told is the juiciest. At the same time, in this unique book, alongside outrageously ingenious subtleties and transcendental revelations, tendentious claims are made, more than one of which is absurd.” J. A. Gaya Nuño. Op. cit., p. 36. [17] José Pierre. “La contribución española a la revolución surrealista”. In the catalogue El surrealismo en España. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, October 1994, pp. 59-60. [18] Ángel González García, Francisco Calvo Serraller. Op. cit., p. 16 and forward. [19] Isabel Coll. “El Surrealisme a través de tres revistes d’avantguarda: Terramar, Mirador i L’Amic de les

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[20]

[21]

[22] [23]

Arts””. In the catalogue Surrealisme a Catalunya 1924-1936. Op. cit., pp. 27-31. As defined by Eugeni d’Ors, Noucentisme was a cultural movement that also touched on politics which started in 1860 and lasted until 1923, although it somewhat persisted until 1936. It was characterised by a focus on classicism and Mediterraneanism. Order, serenity, modernity and civility were its main values. R. Santos Torroella. “Algunes notes entorn a una exposició de ‘El Surrealisme a Catalunya’”. In the exhibition catalogue. Dau al Set, Barcelona 1975. R. Santos Torroella. “El Surrealisme a Catalunya”. El Noticiero Universal, Barcelona, 3rd, 11th and 18th of November 1975. Alexandre Cirici. Catalunya i el Surrealisme. Catàleg de la mostra Bonanova Galeria d’Art. Barcelona 1975. Santos Torroella. Del Surrealisme a l’Empordà. Catàleg de l’exposició. Museu de l’Empordà, Figueres 1977. Jordi Gimferrer. “Del Noucentisme al Surrealisme, Salvador Dalí”. Revista de Banyoles, no. 550 (1979).

Francesc Miralles

[24] The Tramuntana is a violent wind that blows down from the north and mainly buffets the Ampurdan, the region in northeast Catalonia. [25] Francesc Miralles. “Entorn del Surrealisme” [sub-chapter]. In: ”L’època de les avantguardes, 1917-1970”. Història de l’art català, vol. viii. Edicions 62, Barcelona 1983, p. 94. [26] See note 11. [27] Francesc Miralles. Adlan [sub-chapter]. See note 23, p. 138. [28] Josep Corredor-Matheos. “Adlan i el Surrealisme”. In the catalogue Surrealisme a Catalunya. Op. cit., pp. 49-52. [29] Arnau Puig. “El Logicofobisme i l’exposició logicofobista”. In the catalogue Surrealisme a Catalunya. Op. cit., pp. 51-55. [30] Vinyet Panyella. Ángeles Santos, I. Viladot, Barcelona 1992, pp. 40 and 42. [31] Josefina Alix Trueba. “La experimentación tridimensional en el surrealismo español”. In the catalogue El surrealismo en España. Op. cit., pp. 110 and forward. [32] Arnau Puig. See note 27.

About the Author Francesc Miralles (Tarragona, 1940) is an art critic and historian of Catalan art. Educated at the University of Barcelona, he worked as a professor for many years. He was the director of Barcelona’s Escola Massana. For many years, he was the art critic of the weekly Destino and the newspaper La Vanguardia, among other publications. He was the editor-inchief of the prominent art history magazine Estudios Pro-Arte. He coordinated Història de l’art català published by Edicions 62 (six editions from 1982 to 2007) and wrote the volume covering the 20th century. He has published numerous books, especially monographs on artists of today (Pla-Narbona, Gerard Sala, Elena Paredes, Daniel Argimon, Josep S. Jassans and others), but his main contributions are the monograph Anglada-Camarasa (1981), written in conjunction with Francesc Fontbona, which contains the catalogue raisonné of the artist’s painting; the monographic catalogue on the drawings by Anglada (2006); the most extensive monograph existing on the ceramicist Llorens Artigas (1992) as well as the catalogue of his oeuvre; and a set of monographs on Joaquim Mir, a stage-by-stage study of this painter which has turned Miralles into the leading expert on Mir. Based on this expertise, he was appointed curator of the retrospective on this artist held at Barcelona’s Caixafòrum in 2009. He has also published monographs on Oleguer Junyent (1994) and Pere Pruna (1998), as well as Memòria dels somnis: Salvador Dalí (2000), written in conjunction with Arnau Puig.

CATALAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 3: 115-118 (2010) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona ISSN: 2013-407X http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/

Sixth centennial of Francesc Eiximenis

To commemorate the six-hundredth anniversary of the death of the writer Francesc Eiximenis (Girona 1340Perpignan 1409), the Institut d’Estudis Catalans held a series of nine lectures and a round table on the 16th and 17th of December 2009 on the historical context and oeuvre of this Girona-born Franciscan. Eiximenis graduated and earned his licencia docendi in theology from the University of Toulouse in 1374. He lived in the city of Valencia between 1383 and 1408, where he wrote the bulk of his works, which were very famous in his day and translated into numerous languages. He participated in the 1408 Council of Perpignan in the midst of the Western Schism, called there by Aragonese Pope Benedict XIII, whom Eiximenis supported. The pope had previously been the bishop of Perpignan-Elne. Three of the leading Eiximenis experts – Curt Wittlin, Albert Hauf and Xavier Renedo – took part in this lecture series. Eiximenis’ oeuvre is a testimony to the linguistic, cultural and political unity of what we call today the Catalanspeaking lands back in the 14th century. Friar Eiximenis studied in Cologne, Paris and Oxford in the 1360s. When he returned, the Estudi General in Lleida offered him a professorship in Theology, which he was unable to accept as he lacked a teaching degree. With a grant from King Peter the Ceremonious and the protection of the Duke of Anjou and the Count of Armagnac, he graduated in Toulouse. He wrote the first volume of his encyclopaedic masterpiece Lo Crestià in Barcelona and delivered the funeral speech for Peter the Ceremonious. However, the death of his protector did not weaken his ties to the royal house, as he served as the confessor to King John I and Queen Maria de Luna, the wife of King Martin the Humane. In Valencia, he served as an advisor to the juries governing the city and effectively intervened in putting a peaceful end to the bloody attacks on the city’s Jewish quarter in 1391. His First book of Lo Crestià and El regiment de la cosa pública (Rule of the Commonweal) were available in the council chamber of the municipal government of Valencia. In that period, he also wrote two other books that were widely translated, the Llibre dels àngels (Book of Angels) and Llibre de les dones (Book of Women), along with Vida de Jesucrist (Life of Jesus Christ). The Llibre de les dones is a fascinating document on the histo-

ry of the female condition, despite its clerical misogyny. He begins by talking about unmarried maidens, continues with married women and widows, and ends with nuns, never sparing in his criticisms of each group’s customs. There is clear proof that his oeuvre was widely disseminated, such as the 60 or so manuscripts of the Llibre dels àngels still conserved, as well as the notable number of

Figure 1. Frontispiece of the Regiment de la cosa pública (Rule of the Commonweal), published by Francesc Eiximenis. Printing by Cristòfol Cofman, Valencia 1499. Jurors Valencia and the guardian angel of the United mark the entrance to the city through the Serranos towers. A sample of the late fifteenth century, the civic pride of the late medieval Valencia.

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editions and translations of his works in the late 15th century and first half of the 16th century. As Antoni Riera Melis, the organiser of the lecture series, said, Francesc Eiximenis’ oeuvre is still extremely important today for both philologists and historians. For the former, it is prime testimony of the educated and vernacular language in the second half of the 14th century. Likewise, historians find in his work a vivid, detailed reflection of his coeval society, an indispensable source for analysing not only the economic, social and political structures of that century but also the customs, mindset, religiosity, phobias and philias of his contemporaries. While Eiximenis’ work cannot be understood outside its context, it is simultaneously necessary for grasping this very context. Flocel Sabaté from the University of Lleida spoke about the political structures of the Catalan-Aragonese Crown between 1333 and 1410. The catastrophic vision of the second half of the 14th century which has prevailed until quite recently is now in the midst of a revision in light of the creativity, vitality and institutional consolidation that took place in this period. The role of international trade, which was crucial in the economy of the time, is revelatory today. The peasantry was increasingly detached from the bourgeois investors, while the cities, governed by an oligarchy, as in Valencia, were trying to dominate the rural world and overcome the jurisdictional fragmentation that hindered claims. Eiximenis justified the role that the large cities were taking on, as they set limits on royal power while also opposing the sale of the king’s jurisdictions, brought to this extreme by the crown’s financial penury at a time of incessant wars and demographic contraction. Eiximenis theorised sovereignty as being of community origin within the pactist framework of a limited monarchy characteristic of the Catalan-Aragonese Crown, in which the bourgeois reinforced the parliamentary power of the Courts. He was also witness to the other classes’ opposition to the urban patricians, who monopolised power and distributed jobs unequally. As the son of a merchant, he not only praised the role of this branch, rather he also provided rules for a fair municipal government. In any event, Eiximenis’ utopian and apocalyptic vision of the last reign of “popular justice” was limited by his disdain for the peasantry, which comprised the vast majority of the population. This was coupled with his rejection of Jews and homosexuals and the start of the criminalisation of poverty, as he distinguished between poor people who were worthy of charity and the lumpen, who should be expelled from the city. Enric Guinot from the University of Valencia spoke about this city in the second half of the 14th century. Despite the scourge of the Black Plague and the impoverishment of the peasantry, the city was growing, demonstrating its ability to reconstruct itself as a centre of exports and re-exports at the end of the century. Valencia gradually amassed lands from outside its boundaries in the guise of urban lordships. This economic and political de-

Sixth centennial of Francesc Eiximenis

velopment took place despite problems like internal social conflicts, with a rise in internecine fighting, and despite the marginalisation of the Mudejars, the Muslims who remained under the Crown, who were the target of mistrust as potential allies of the Saracen attacks being waged from North Africa, and the hostility towards the Jews, the victims of an uncontrolled popular uprising in 1391 which led to their forced conversion. Maria Teresa Ferrer, a researcher at the Spanish National Research Council and President of the History-Archaeology Department of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans, spoke extensively and in depth about the CatalanAragonese Crown’s ventures abroad at a time of virtually incessant wars with Genoa and the domain of Sardinia, and its battles with the Crown of Castile, with devastating attacks by its king that would put Peter the Ceremonious on the defensive and deplete his coffers. The CatalanAragonese Crown would overcome this asphyxiation thanks to the Castilian civil war. The positive end note of Peter the Ceremonious’ and Martin the Humane’s foreign policy was the return of the kingdoms of Mallorca and Sicily. Catalan foreign policy was linked to the AngloFrench Hundred Years’ War and affected by the Western Schism, with the diversity of papal authorities. Xavier Renedo from the University of Girona and the Francesc Eiximenis Institute devoted his lecture to analysing Lo Crestià using a great deal of documentation and numerous textual citations. This is a monumental work that is not yet fully published, including its twelfth book. Eiximenis was a reader of prophetic literature, which was quite popular in his day, although it was viewed mistrustfully by the Church hierarchy. However, Eiximenis considered the time of the prophets as over and presented himself as the “pious glosser of the ancient prophets” from the Bible. Yet he updated the legacy, even to the extent of making it a political work, because the public authorities had to be alerted to the perils of the future. The examples he offers when talking about sins and virtues make Eiximenis a keen observer of the society of his day and a definer of the city, not just the ideal city but the real one as well – and herein lies the interest of his work for the history of urban development – as well as military technique, education and the mutual aid brotherhoods. Eiximenis justifies the uprising against the prince who does not uphold the laws agreed upon and prophecies the end of the monarchies, but the king forced him to rectify this after the pogroms of 1391; the most notable rectification can be found in the Llibre dels àngels. This book is full of political references, with angelic intervention as the mediator. Eiximenis had said that power comes from the people, but it turns out that God is the one who guarantees the princes’ rectification through angelic messages, thus forestalling a revolt by their subjects. Xavier Renedo has just edited the Eiximenis book Art de predicació al poble (The Art of Preaching to the People) in Eumo Editorial publishing house’s collection of pedagogical texts. Salvador Giner, a sociologist from the University of

Sixth centennial of Francesc Eiximenis

Barcelona and President of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans, spoke about the origins of republicanism in the book El regiment de la cosa pública (Rule of the Commonweal). He lamented the unjustified failure to mention Eiximenis’ work in the historiography on the mediaeval origins of republican thinking prior to Machiavelli. Giner stressed this Franciscan scholar’s contribution to this current of democratic political philosophy, republicanism. Eiximenis based good governance on the sovereignty of the agreedupon laws and justifies it with its utility for the good of the community. He extols the need for civic and secular, socially conscious and fraternal virtue, he defends the hegemony of the “mà mitjana” – the urban middle class – and he applauds human freedom, which is not only compatible with each group’s privileges and with difference, but is respectful of it as long as others’ rights are not violated. Eiximenis’ pragmatism is a far cry from abstract constitutionalism, which came much later. Giner stressed the influence of the Franciscan teachers at Oxford University on Eiximenis’ thinking. The text is brimming with reproofs against the parasitic sluggishness of the ruling class, and it exalts toil, despite the author’s commiseration with paupers who are not to blame for their penury. Despite his appeals to divinity, Eiximenis is a harbinger of secular, lay political argumentation. His bourgeois disdain of the peasantry lay in his aversion towards the feudal world. However, he does not spare criticisms of the speculative, acquisitive merchant class. It goes without saying that Eiximenis’ republicanism, which preferred the “insaculació” of public posts – lotteries to choose the magistrates at the voting place – is compatible with the justification of the monarch as the ultimate arbiter and moderator of society as a whole. Josep Hernando, a professor at the University of Barcelona and a mediaevalist, delivered a lecture on Francesc Eiximenis’s Tractat d’usura (Treatise on Usury). This work, conserved in manuscript 42 of the monastery of Sant Cugat del Vallès, was unpublished until the 1980s, and only the first 13 chapters of it remain, which Eiximenis wrote between 1374 and 1383. The definition of usurer, provided in plentiful detail, enables the interest in the lending practised by the bourgeois lenders to be legitimised. The importance of labour is clear for more accurately understanding the Catalan mediaeval monetary system and the different kinds of loans made back then. There is a relationship between this treatise and the chapter on avarice in Third book of Lo Crestià. Albert Hauf, a professor at the University of Valencia and member of the IEC, spoke about Vita Christi (Life of Christ), which falls within the genre of meditation books with examples from the life of Jesus Christ. It was written in Catalan, not in Latin as was common for this kind of work. This was at the request of its patron, Pere d’Artès, so that the work could reach a wider audience. Today it is a little-known book, although it was highly prized in its day, translated into several languages and read by the ruling classes. Proof of this is the translation by Hernando de

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Talavera in Granada in 1496, and the translation of the manuscript into French by Joan of Valois in around 1461. Curt Wittlin, a corresponding member of the Institute of Catalan Studies, spoke about the Psalterium, a book for popes, kings and bishops, which has a Catalan-language version from 1406 by a translator. Its origin can be found in the prayers that Eiximenis had been writing for the queen, the pope and theology students. They serve as a complement to his Vita Christi. Wittlin wonders where the author learned his classical Latin. It was at the Bible Vulgate of Saint Jerome, because no ancient Latin authors can be found in his library. Eiximenis manipulates and interprets his sources, not limiting himself to citing them verbatim, and he even goes so far as inventing sources and examples. He does not merely repeat authorities, and in this sense he is an original in the orthodox tradition. Within this repressed prophetic nature, Eiximenis asks God why he allows for poor rulers while the best ones are kept from power. The answer could be none other: they are a punishment for our sins. Eiximenis was aware that clergymen lived on the tithes paid by the subordinate classes. Wittlin illustrated his talk with numerous texts. Jaume de Puig, a member of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans, offered a detailed list of the manuscripts of each of Eiximenis’ masterpieces with their precise locations. He praised the catalogue that Massó i Torrents presented many years ago, but warned that we are still at the start of the discovery process, so the centennial itself might yield new finds. He also reported that a new catalogue is being readied for publication, a continuation of Massó’s. The multiplication of manuscripts and their dissemination around Europe proves that Eiximenis was a prized author outside the Catalan-Aragonese Crown. His legacy has been the victim of its very vastness, which has enormously hindered a complete, indexed publication. Jaume de Puig also analysed the translations of Eiximenis’ works into Flemish, Spanish and French. A number of conclusions were drawn at the round table held at the end of the event, with Antoni Riera Melis, Albert Hauf and Salvador Giner as the speakers. Eiximenis has been underused as a source for mediaeval historians because of the very extent of his oeuvre, which, as it lacks a complete, indexed edition, is cumbersome to use. Yet it is indispensable for the history of religiosity and morality, as well as for the history of political thinking and the mindset of a turbulent, tragic period, yet one that was brimming with creativity sparked by the upheaval. Eiximenis justified the changes and was soon widely read and cited. Eiximenis’ oeuvre is also extremely useful for the history of food and urbanity in the way of eating, an art that was brought over from Italy. He relates social rank with food and even sketches a kind of gastronomic patriotism. His work is also crucial for understanding everyday life. His writings vividly complete the notaries’ mute inventories which lack any sort of explanation of their contents. The organisers of this event are aware that it was missing a talk on the Llibre de les dones, but they

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hope to have a complementary article on it before all the lectures are published. Long before the Inquisition put an end to the translation of the Bible into the vernacular by eliminating the Valencian Bible, printed in Catalan in 1478, Eiximenis upheld making the scriptures accessible to simple folk in their mother tongue. Eiximenis is also an essential source for folklore and legends. In short, publishing his entire oeuvre with an index for consultation is a necessary undertaking. This report would not be complete without mentioning the international congress on Eiximenis that was held at the University of Girona between the 12th and 14th of November 2009. The talks were the following: Jaume de Puig, “Sobre els manuscrits de les traduccions en francès del Llibre dels angels” (On the manuscripts of the French translations of the Llibre dels angels); Paolo Evangelisti, “Moneta, sovranità, res publica in William of Pagula, Nicola Oresme, Francesc Eiximenis”; Albert Hauf, “Noves reflexions sobre la Vita Christi d’Eiximenis” (New reflections on Eiximenis’ Vita Christi); Robert E. Lerner, “The authorship of De Triplici Statu Mundi”; Xavier Renedo, “Francesc Eiximenis i el pactisme” (Francesc Eiximenis and pactism); Damien Ruiz, “L’ordre Franciscain, Francesc Eiximenis et le schisme d’Occident” (The Franciscan order, Francesc Eiximenis and the Western Schism); Francesco Santi, “Francesc Eiximenis e la scrittura mistica europea tra xiv e xv secolo” (Francesc Eiximenis and European mystical writing in the 14th and 15th centuries); and Curt Wittlin, “Eiximenis: Entenc a romançar e expondre... segons que em serà vejares que sia... pus profitós”. The following papers were presented at the conference: Gemma Avenoza, “El manuscrito de la Universidad de Oviedo del Libro de las donas, traducción castellana del Llibre de les dones de Francesc Eiximenis” (The University of Oviedo’s manuscript of the Libro de las donas: Spanish translation of Francesc Eiximenis’ Llibre de les dones);

Sixth centennial of Francesc Eiximenis

Montserrat Batllori, “Ordre de mots i estructura informativa a la llengua de Francesc Eiximenis” (Word order and informative structure of the language of Francesc Eiximenis); Míriam Cabré, “Francesc Eiximenis i Cerverí de Girona” (Francesc Eiximenis and Cerverí de Girona); Carme Clausell, “Tradició textual de l’Scala Dei” (Textual tradition of the Scala Dei); Antonio Contreras, “En nostre temps present: consideracions sobre l’art de la guerra segons Francesc Eiximenis” (En nostre temps present: Considerations on the art of war according to Francesc Eiximenis); Carme Cortès, “La justícia com a fonament de la cosa pública” (Justice as the cornerstone of the commonweal); Immaculada Fàbregas, “Algunes anotacions paremiològiques referents a Lo llibre de les dones” (Paremiological notations on the Llibre de les dones); Josep Antoni Iglésias, “Eiximenis i les inscripcions” (Eiximenis and inscriptions); Eva Izquierdo, “Tradició catalana del Llibre de les dones” (Catalan tradition of the Llibre de les dones); Sadurní Martí, “Amb el diable al cos: somnis i temptacions al Segon del Crestià” (With the devil in the body: Dreams and temptations in the Second book of Lo Crestià); Marco Pedretti, “Francesc Eiximenis, el bateig forçat dels jueus i els avalots del 1391” (Francesc Eiximenis, the forcible baptism of the Jews and the uproar of 1391); Jordi Redondo, “La sofística a l’obra de Francesc Eiximenis” (Sophistry in the oeuvre of Francesc Eiximenis); Jaume Torró, “Eiximenis i Joan I” (Eiximenis and John I); Enric Tremps, “Captius i servicials en la ciutat d’Eiximenis” (Captives and servants in Eiximenis’ city); and Jaume Riera i Sans, “Eiximenis i Martí I” (Eiximenis and Martin I). The scientific committee was made up of Stefano Alperti (Università Roma-La Sapienza), Lola Badia (Universitat de Barcelona), Pedro M. Cátedra (Universitat de Salamanca), Francesc M. Gimeno Blay (Universitat de València) and Gian Luca Potestà (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore).

CATALAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 3: 119-129 (2010) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona ISSN: 2013-407X http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/

Session at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans on the civic-political dimension of the oeuvre of historian Jaume Vicens Vives

The oeuvre of Jaume Vicens Vives On the 18th of February 2010, the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC) contributed to the celebrations of Jaume Vicens Vives Year, the year that marks the centennial of this historian’s birth, with an academic session entitled “Vicens Vives, Beyond the Historian” which examined his civic and political dimension. Vicens was elected a member of the History-Archaeology Department of the IEC in 1958, just after he had published Industrials i polítics del segle xix (Industrialists and Politicians of the 19th Century) in the collection he oversaw, “Biografies Catalanes” (Catalan Biographies) published by Editorial Teide, a publishing house he had founded with his brother-in-law, Frederic Rahola. With that book, he ushered in the contemporary history of Catalonia at university level. Jaume Vicens Vives was born in Girona in 1910. After his father died, he had to work while studying until he earned a scholarship. At the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Barcelona, he was a disciple of Antonio de la Torre (Cordoba 1878 - Madrid 1966), who familiarised him with the work on the documents from the Archive of the Crown of Aragon and with the subject of the reign of the Catholic Kings. Antonio de la Torre was against the regime at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 1933. The Spanish Civil War caught him in an anti-republican zone, and in 1940 he moved to Madrid, where he came to direct the Spanish National Research Council, the successor of the Junta de Ampliación de Estudios e Investigaciones Científicas. From there he protected Vicens in his race for a university professorship. Vicens Vives was appointed professor in charge of the programme at the University of Barcelona in 1933, and he earned his doctorate in February 1936 with a thesis on Ferdinand II the Catholic and the city of Barcelona. Earlier, he had been enmeshed in a controversy with Antoni Rovira i Virgili during which he declared his revisionist position with regard to the Catalan national historiography. Vicens upheld the role of the monarch as a moderator of the internal struggles in the late 15th century and as a moderniser and rationaliser before the Generalitat de Catalunya and Barcelona’s Consell de Cent, the institu-

tions that limited the king’s power and played a major role in the Catalan Civil War between 1462 and 1472. Vicens called earlier Catalan historiography romantic, that is, hackneyed and full of prejudices. Not even the work by Ferran Soldevila, a fellow professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, was exempt from his criticisms. Soldevila was extremely prestigious because he had just published his Història de Catalunya (History of Catalonia) (1934-1935). Vicens Vives was expelled from the University of Barcelona after the Civil War, along with many of his colleagues. In 1942, he founded the Editorial Teide publishing house, which modernised scholarly textbooks and later buttressed his historiographic projects. He adopted the fascist rhetoric of the early Franco regime and the ideology of the victors of the war with works like España. Geo política del Estado y del Imperio (Spain: Geopolitics of the State and the Empire) (1940). After eight years of ostracism from the university and several failed attempts, in 1947 he landed a professorship of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Zaragoza. The following year, once again through a competition, he was appointed Chair of the same programme at the University of Barcelona. He had published his first post-war research book, Historia de los remensas (History of the Serfs) back in 1945, which examined the struggle and partial emancipation of the peasants attached to the land in the northern half of Catalonia in the 15th century. Once settled in Barcelona, he sought contacts with the Institut d’Estudis Catalans, which was operating in a semicovert fashion due to the policy of identity genocide which the Franco dictatorship had unleashed on Catalonia. In 1950, he attended the 9th International Congress of Historical Studies in Paris. It was the first one after World War II, and it signalled the start of the world hegemony of the Annales School. Vicens got in contact with Fernand Braudel at the same time that he adopted Charles Morazé’s qualitativism. He also attempted to combine geohistory, Arnold Toynbee’s historical morphologies and the generations method. However, Vicens’ orientation was never Marxist. In Barcelona, he founded the Centro de Estudios Históricos Internacionales in 1949, which was officially

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Session at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans on the civic-political dimension of the oeuvre of historian Jaume Vicens Vives

recognised in 1955. This centre published two innovative journals: Estudios de Historia Moderna (1951-1959) and Índice Histórico Español (1953), a critical bibliographic publication that still exists today. The first editorial council of Índice Histórico Español was a team of Vicens’ closest colleagues: Jordi Nadal, Emili Giralt, Joan Reglà, Joan Mercader, Ramon Gubern, Jordi Rubió i Lois, Manuel Riu, David Romano, Eduard Ripoll and Josep Pérez Ballestar. Through these two journals, he promoted a revamping of Spanish and Catalan history, which he regarded – particularly the former – as overly ideological and dependent on philosophical and political essay, as he indicated in his work Aproximación a la Historia de España (1952). There is an English version of this essay by Joan Connelly Ulman, Approaches of the History of Spain, published in 1967 and 1970 by the University of California Press. In order to explain the collective psychology of the Catalans and sketch the origins of the 1936 Civil War, he wrote the essay Notícia de Catalunya (Report on Catalonia) (1954). This was a brief yet hugely successful tome despite the sometimes elliptical style imposed by the censors and by the fact that the trauma of the Spanish Civil War was still so recent. In the second edition, released in 1960, he took into account criticisms and observations, to the satisfaction of the Catalan cultural resistance, which believed that he had appropriated it. The same publisher of the Catalan version also published it in Spanish as Noticia de Cataluña in 1954, 1962 and 1971. Back in 1954, the publication of the article “Coyuntura económica y reformismo burgués” (Economic Juncture and Bourgeois Reformism) signals that Vicens had begun to study the 19th century. In 1954, Vicens was appointed professor of Economic History of Spain in the new Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Barcelona. He wrote notes on the subject in 1956, and with the aid of his helper Jordi Nadal, in 1959 these notes became the acclaimed Manual de historia económica de España. An English version of this was published by Princeton University Press: An Economic History of Spain (1969). His publishing house supervised and published two large collective enterprises: the eleven volumes of “Bio grafies Catalanes” (Catalan Biographies) (1955-1959), a veritable newly wrought history of Catalonia, and the five volumes of Historia social y económica de España y América (Social and Economic History of Spain and America) (1957-1959). As part of “Biografies Catalanes”, Vicens personally wrote the volume that examines the 15th century (Els Trastàmares) and the one that examines the 19th century, which was totally new: Industrials i polítics del segle xix (Industrialists and Politicians of the 19th Century ) (1958). This latter work was soon translated into Spanish and published in 1961 by Opus Dei’s publishing house on the initiative of Florentino Pérez Embid in agreement with Vicens, in the collection supervised by Rafael Calvo Serer entitled Cataluña en el siglo xix (Catalonia in the 19th Century). Vicens Vives’ pre-

mature death at the age of 50 prevented him from writing the twelfth volume of the collection, which would have covered the 20th century and had been announced with the title Homes del nostre temps (Men of Our Times). While in the previous volume, Montserrat Llorens had overseen the part devoted to the biographies of representative figures from the 19th century, those of the 20th century were going to be overseen by writer Josep Pla, a friend of Vicens’. Vicens was a mediaevalist specialising in the 15th century who later delved into the contemporary history of Catalonia, economic history and statistical quantification, which were total novelties in the field of history in Catalonia and Spain in his day. While Vicens the mediaevalist had explained the 15th century Catalan decline without palliatives and with harsh judgements on the ruling classes of those centuries, Vicens the contemporary historian praised Catalonia’s recovery in the 19th century and used the industrial captain as a model, while he also offered a “total history” model: demographic, economic, social, political and cultural. Against all odds, his readers’ ancestors had turned Catalonia into a modern country and had launched the Renaixença. This movement converted the vernacular language, Catalan, which had been expelled from public use since the 18th century, into a modern literary language. Vicens ended his book with praise of the generation of 1901, the one that launched the progress of political Catalanism, which had revived the ambition and responsibility for governing. This was the example he shared with the young future business leaders in the Club Comodín, later the Economy Circle, so they would overcome the fears inherited from the Civil War, adopt a hopeful outlook and open up to a prosperous, liberal Europe that was just beginning to unify. This proactive message contrasted with the determinism that Vicens used to explain other periods in history, and just like his Notícia de Catalunya, it contradicted the depoliticisation and scientificism that he espoused in his work as a historian. In 1959, Vicens visited Washington for the meeting of the Historical Bibliographic Council of the United States Library of Congress. He submitted reports to the Spanish authorities and was given 100,000 pesetas in government funding for the CEHI to attend. At the same time, he forged close relations with the abbot of Montserrat, Aureli M. Escarré, who was beginning to challenge the Franco regime, and embarked on a relationship with the President of the Generalitat de Catalunya in exile, Josep Tarradellas, through Josep Pla and with the endorsement of Frederic Rahola, Vicens’ brother-in-law and partner and Tarradellas’ former associate. Vicens Vives died at the age of 50 at a time of change which he himself was assimilating. Apart from his indisputable merits, he also displayed major contradictions which reflected those of a very specific moment in time quite different to today. For this reason, his legacy has yielded extraordinarily divergent appropriations.

Session at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans on the civic-political dimension of the oeuvre of historian Jaume Vicens Vives

Proof of his prestige outside his country can be found in the fact that Pierre Vilar, Raymond Carr, John Elliott, Alberto Boscolo and many other European historians have acknowledged and admired him. Vicens is the only Spanish historian with his own entry in the Dictionnaire des Sciences Historiques, supervised by André Burguière. In contrast, there is no article devoted to Vicens Vives in the Enciclopedia de historia de España (Encyclopaedia of the History of Spain). The speakers at the session at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans devoted to Vicens Vives were three historians who are deeply familiar with the subject. The first was Enric Pujol, professor in the Department of Modern and Contemporary History at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the author of a book which is the first history of Catalan historiography from the late 19th century until 1970: Història i reconstrucció nacional. La historiografia catalana a l’època de Ferran Soldevila (History and National Reconstruction: Catalan Historiography in the Age of Ferran Soldevila). One chapter of this book is entitled “Llums i ombres de Jaume Vicens Vives” (Lights and Shadows of Jaume Vicens Vives). Enric Pujol spoke about Vicens as a scholar and intellectual. Antoni Simon, professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and full member of the IEC, is the co-coordinator with Enric Pujol and Jordi Casassas of the Diccionari d’historiografia catalana (Dictionary of Catalan Historiography) (2003). He is particularly knowledgeable

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on the subject as the co-editor of the two volumes of the Epistolari de Jaume Vicens (Letters of Jaume Vicens), which were issued in 1994 and 1998. Antoni Simon analysed Vicens’ relations with the context of Spain. Finally, Jaume Sobrequés, professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and president of the Societat Catalana d’Estudis Històrics, is the author of the book Història d’una amistat. Epistolari de Jaume Vicens Vives i Santiago Sobrequés i Vidal (History of a Friendship: Letters between Jaume Vicens Vives and Santiago Sobrequés i Vidal), the latter being the speaker’s father. Jaume Sobrequés spoke about other facets of Vicens’ public persona, including his role as an editor and his relations with politicians. The first summary we are presenting is the one of the lecture by Enric Pujol.

The scholar and his ideological evolution: A portrait of maturity Vicens’ position as a scholar in the two most important scholarly organisations of his day, the Acadèmia de Bones Lletres, which he joined in 1956, and the Institut d’Estudis Catalans, which he joined in 1958, not only signalled Vicens Vives’ arrival as a professional, rather it also dovetailed with the development of his mature form of thinking, which evolved a great deal over the course of his life-

Figure 1. Vicens Vives at the congress on the history of the Crown of Aragon, in Càller, in December 1957. At his side, sitting, Ferran Soldevila. Behind, Emili Giralt and Jordi Nadal.

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Session at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans on the civic-political dimension of the oeuvre of historian Jaume Vicens Vives

time because of the historic upheavals he lived through and his desire to influence the political discourse of his day. Landing a university professorship (first in 1947 at the University of Zaragoza, and the next year – once again through civil service testing – at the University of Barcelona) helped to lay the groundwork for his recognition as a scholar. He replaced his master Antonio de la Torre at Barcelona’s Acadèmia de Bones Lletres at a time when its president was historian Ramon d’Abadal, who also had ties with the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC), regarded at that time as the hotbed of anti-Franco cultural resistance. Vicens’ interest in joining both academic institutions went beyond professional recognition. Especially in the case of the IEC, he sought to forge contacts with sectors of the democratic opposition so they would help him in his plan to update and modernise Spain so that Catalonia would be given some degree of political autonomy. However, it should be said that Vicens’ initial contacts with the IEC initially triggered a great deal of reluctance, as before the end of World War II he had been attuned to the thinking of the Franco regime. Despite the mistrust, back at the start of the 1950s there were very palpable signs of open cooperation. For example, Vicens’ machinations were crucial in landing the Institute a place on the Spanish Historical Sciences Committee when this organisation was founded in 1951. And he also most likely exerted an influence so that the IEC could be represented on the organising committee of the history congresses of the Crown of Aragon, of which he was one of the most prominent promoters. The Vicens of the 1950s, then, was already committed to Catalan cultural (and national) revival, yet he also had certain complicities with the regime. It was a very interesting position at that time, as the important sectors of anti-Franco cultural resistance, realising that the allied triumph in World War II had not led to the defeat of the dictatorship and that the Franco regime was going to last many years, also sought a kind of pragmatic politics in which they could achieve specific conquests. This policy, which Joan Samsó has described as “possibilisme digne” (worthy pragmatism), is precisely what facilitated the Catalan cultural revival of the time. Furthermore, in the case of Vicens, his position as professor at the University of Barcelona opened up the possibility for a partnership between the university and the Institut d’Estudis Catalans, which back then was seeking alliances with the other cultural entities in Barcelona in the quest for the recognition that had been lost with Franco’s victory. The Institute knew that if it did not earn the benevolence of the leading academic institutions, it would come upon yet another stumbling block in its pitiable and uncertain (and, ultimately, futile) progress towards legalisation and public financing. When analysing Vicens’ mature thinking, which took shape over the course of the 1950s, a comparison between the two published editions of his most famous book,

Notícia de Catalunya (one in 1954 and the other in 1960), can be enlightening, as the significant changes between both editions enable us to trace the evolution in his thinking in detail. The changes made to the second edition were qualitatively and quantitatively very important. Quantitatively, suffice it to say that of the 226 pages in the second edition, around 80 were totally new (which accounted for almost 40% of the text). So what were the additions and changes from the first edition? First, there was a set of changes that basically affected the historical summary which the work unquestionably contained and which, because of the time that had elapsed and Vicens’ own historiographic reflection, required more extensive elaboration or more carefully weighed judgement. This might be the case of the elements he added from his historical synthesis of the 19th century, Industrials i polítics (1958). But another set of changes clearly reflected what we could call the more political part of the book, a public elucidation of a regenerative programme that he outlines quite explicitly at times. Thus, in his criticism of prior Catalan historiography, which he disparagingly labelled romantic, he berated historians (and by extension, all political pro-Catalanists) for their disdainful attitude towards the state and their systematic criticism “without attempting to publicly infiltrate their places of command”. Therefore, he was in fact attempting to do this: to effect this “infiltration”. And in order to do it, he sought allies both among the democratic opposition and within the regime itself, where he had the help of prominent figures like Florentino Pérez Embid and Rafael Calvo Serer. This is the root of the fuzziness of his political proposal. He had to convince highly divergent political sectors and gather them around his leadership. It should thus come as no surprise that his friend and associate, Josep Pla, wrote about him that “no one knew if he belonged to Opus Dei, if he was a capitalist or if he was simply an ambitious being”. What was totally clear was the segment of society that had to spearhead this process of change and modernisation: the most dynamic sectors in Catalan business. These sectors had to resume the policy conducted by their predecessors in the early 20th century (the famous generation of 1901 as defined by Vicens himself). Young Barcelona business leaders were to play a particularly important role. In order to train and guide them, he organised groups that over time came to play a decisive role in shaping a new business class (the Club Comodín and later the Economy Circle), and he guided the main core of his historiographic output towards this goal (especially with works like Industrials i polítics, and with the Notícia de Catalunya as well). In fact, in this aim to set his modernising plans into motion, he managed to assemble a group of people who were to operate as what we would call today a “pressure group” based on a hard core of individuals whom he fully trusted. The writer Josep Pla was one of them. Josep Tarradellas (then President of the Generalitat in exile) was charged with the contribution on the confederation and political organisation, Manuel Ortínez was

Session at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans on the civic-political dimension of the oeuvre of historian Jaume Vicens Vives

supposed to contribute to the sections on the industrial bourgeoisie, Vicens was occupied with ecclesiastic interests and Joan Sardà with economic issues. The changes made to the second edition of Notícia de Catalunya reveal that even the “mature” Vicens’ ideological and political formulation was in constant mutation. It is a project that was never finished. His death in 1960, at the age of 50, right at the peak of his life and intellect, makes this even clearer. We do not know how he would have evolved in view of the vast changes in the 1960s and how he would have positioned himself in the process of the decline of the Franco regime. However, having established that his thinking was in constant metamorphosis according to each political situation, we have to conclude that there are fundamental points in his political proposition that are permanent and that we must now examine from a critical perspective. Obviously, there are others that are still fully valid. The latter are more often recalled and are constantly used. To illustrate with an example, we could first mention the very slogan of the work: getting to know ourselves. And all the others: the idea of Catalonia as a corridor and as a product of cross-breeding, the shaping of the national personality during the Middle Ages instead of earlier, the importance of overcoming a history focused solely on the major events (in order not to neglect the continuity of the collective social life), the peasant origins of the Catalans and the close relationship between country and city today, Catalonia as a model of feudalism, the importance of the struggle of the serfs, the aptitude for work, capitalisation and industrialisation despite limited natural resources, the importance of mediaeval and modern institutional development (the foundation of its own political tradition, pactism), the need to compare our historical development with Europe’s, the defence of immigration, and more. Most of the points outlined are accepted, to varying degrees depending on the point, by a very significant majority of historians and intellectuals. However, there are other also prominent ones that are viewed critically today, especially because this criticism of Vicens’ mature oeuvre has not been very common. The image of Vicens as a precursor of autonomy was quite prevalent in the 1980s; it is a posthumous construct with a very clear political intent. However, the facet that has been debated the most in recent years was his historiographic project. Many historians (Josep Termes, Albert Balcells, Eva Serra, Antoni Simon and others) have made substantial contributions to historiographically go beyond what we could call the “Vicensian paradigm”. In contrast, this has yet to be done with his most explicitly political and ideological proposals. Here and now I shall only mention a handful of points that I personally believe we should revise. First of all, we should question the purported neutrality, enveloped in supposed scientificism, of his overall precepts, as today the link between his proposals (even the historiographic ones) and a given politics and ideology has become clear, just as with all intellectuals and historians in the past and in the future. We should not make

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such a specific rupture (as he did) with the previous cultural and political tradition (especially with historiography, but also with the rest of earlier intellectuality). Precisely now more than ever, we should study and recover this for the current generations, obviously from a critical yet also respectful perspective (as we do with Vicens’ contributions which are regarded as “classics” today). Another idea that should be refuted is the impossibility or unfeasibility of a sovereign or independent political approach, which he categorically denies, even as a longterm objective. And finally, we must clearly state whether we truly believe that the dialectic that regulates the evolution and historical reality of Catalonia can be explained by the contrast between seny (sense) and rauxa (impulse), as he claims in his book. In its day, this was one of the most hotly criticised extremes (which led him to rewrite the corresponding chapter in the second edition of Notícia de Catalunya), and today the psychological explanations of the personality of entire peoples are thoroughly derided for their lack of rigour. Believing in a dialectic between sense and impulse would distract us from finding constant features with greater historical solidity, even more so when others of his coeval historians have found several that are particularly valid today. One example is the dilemma pointed out by Ferran Soldevila in his Història de Catalunya (History of Catalonia) on modern and contemporary Catalan history: “Catalonia debating itself on the dilemma: either separating from Spain or leading Spain”. Beyond the criticisms that can be levelled at him, Vicens remains an indisputably benchmark figure in a decisive decade (the 1950s), who in the ensuing two or three decades would be taken as a standard-bearer and symbol of modernisation in the liquidation of the Franco regime and the recovery of self-government. And naturally, he still remains a classic (“anti-canonical”, according to the terminology proposed by Harold Bloom) in 20th century Catalan historiography, on par with the other classic from that century: Ferran Soldevila. The merger of leitmotivs from the oeuvre of these two 20th century intellectual figures gives us the template that I think we should follow in today’s generations: “Getting to know ourselves in order to make Catalonia a normal people”. The second summary we are presenting is from the lecture by Antoni Simon i Tarrés.

The historian and his school in the context of Spain During the 1940s and 1950s, Jaume Vicens Vives worked in historiography, publishing, culture and politics in way we could call feverish. His epistolary relationship with historians and personalities of all kinds clearly reflects this. During those years, the Catalan historian consciously wanted to play the role of bridge and communication link between Catalan and Spanish historiographies, and

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between them and the most cutting-edge trends in the field of the history in the Western world. This contribution to the conference on Vicens aims to more deeply examine the part of this enterprise that absorbed Vicens’ efforts in the two decades prior to his death. We shall attempt to reconstruct the origins and different facets of Vicens’ ties and interests with the Spanish historiography of the 1940s and 1950s, with the desire to seek both their logic and the contradictions prompted by relations that, we should recall, took place in a highly polarised context: the Spanish university system in the post-war years. I would first like to put forth two general considerations. The first alludes to the approach used in my analysis. I understand that we cannot study Vicens’ relationship with Spanish historiography from a solely “intellectual” vantage point. I believe that it is impossible to understand the logic and historiographic dimension of a personality so closely tied to the universities as Vicens was without examining issues related to the complex play of academic power, especially regarding access to university professorships and the financing of institutional projects and research. On the other hand, in a figure that was so strong yet so eclectic and pragmatic, it is also important to analyse his personal relationships, which were extraordinarily broad and diverse in terms of their ideological and historiographic affiliation. The second consideration that I wanted to examine refers to the main theme of this talk, Vicens’ relationship with the leading historians and intellectuals in the religious institution Opus Dei. Apart from Vicens’ initial impetus from his former teacher in Barcelona, Antonio de la Torre, and the support that he earned from the influential Cayetano Alcázar, Vicens’ main academic and political ties in Spain during those decades included people linked to the religious institution founded in 1928 by José María Escrivá de Balaguer. Even though Vicens maintained friendly relations with other historians like Felipe Ruiz Martín, Jesús Pabón and José María Lacarra, he unquestionably forged deeper academic alliances and relationships with people from Opus Dei, a fact which has not always been sufficiently explained. Even though Vicens interacted with other members of Opus Dei or people with close ties to the institution, the main web of contacts and interests between the Catalan historian and the followers of this religious institution came through three young history professors: Vicente Rodríguez Casado, Rafael Calvo Serer and Florentino Pérez Embid. As is well known, in the immediate postwar years, Vicens was purged, separated from the university and for political and administrative reasons was required to withdraw from the civil service tests for a university professorship that he had prepared for and started in October 1940. Even though Antonio de la Torre and Cayetano Alcázar were the prime engineers behind Vicens’ return to the university, the Catalan historian also had the support of individuals from Opus Dei. Rodríguez

Casado was appointed to the tribunal which awarded Vicens the post of Professor of Modern and Contemporary History in Zaragoza in February 1947. He was also a member of the tribunal which just one year later, in February 1948, granted Vicens the same post in Barcelona. I think it is worth pointing out that this move was possible because Vicente Palacio Atard, then affiliated with Opus Dei and who had won the post in Barcelona the year before, was moving to Valladolid. Unquestionably, in those years the Opus Dei people supported Vicens’ interests and activities; however, his position within the Spanish university system was weak, and this alliance was not always effective. In fact, Vicens’ interests were always relegated to secondary status compared to those of Opus Dei, which was particularly demonstrated throughout the Catalan historian’s disciples’ long and arduous process of consolidation within academia. There were several reasons behind Vicens’ proximity to this emerging group of Escrivá de Balaguer followers. There were unquestionably “utilitarian” reasons, as Vicens sought Opus Dei’s support in order to rejoin the University of Barcelona after being purged after Franco’s victory in 1939. He also sought their alliance in order to ensure that his disciples would land some of the hotly disputed civil service competitions to enter the university system or the Spanish National Research Council. Likewise, given the major role Opus Dei members would play in the Dirección General d’Información (censorship) at that time, Vicens approached them so that his books and articles, as well as those of his publishing house and friends like Josep Pla, would overcome the censorship obstacles. However, along with these professional reasons, there were other more personal and ideological ones: these Opus Dei historians were a motivated young group (they were young professors who were barely 30 years old when Vicens rejoined the university in 1947), and even though their focus might have been different to Vicens’ they shared the idea that Spanish historiography needed to be brought up to date. What is more, on a personal level Vicens had close friendships with some of them, including Florentino Pérez Embid. And, as is well known, Vicens would first fall in with this intellectual group led by Calvo Serer in the controversy that these fanatical, anti-liberal Catholic sectors were engaged in between 1948 and 1953 with Laín Entralgo and Antonio Tovar’s Falangistas about the so-called “Spanish problem”, even though later Vicens wanted to serve as a bridge between the two clashing sides. Vicens’ earliest contact with Opus Dei took place in around 1943 through Florentino Pérez Embid. On a trip that Vicens took to Seville, he forged an academic and personal relationship with Pérez Embid that was far deeper and closer than his relationship with Rodríguez Casado and Calvo Serer. The cordiality and even confidentiality of the correspondence between both historians makes this clear. Vicens often contacted his friend Floro for a variety of questions related to his disciples’ civil service tests, the financing of publications, overcoming the obstacles of

Session at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans on the civic-political dimension of the oeuvre of historian Jaume Vicens Vives

censorship and his attempts to publish a journal in Catalan. During the 1950s, Florentino Pérez Embid often travelled to Barcelona, and Vicens organised a number of academic talks for him at the university and the Athenaeum. He also participated in the meetings that the Catalan historian hosted at his Barcelona home on Santaló Street. It is also easy to find Vicens’ laudatory references to Pérez Embid in the briefs and informative articles that he published, especially in the journal Destino. Pérez Embid played a key role as middleman between Calvo Serer, Rodríguez Casado and Vicens, as he collaborated and had extremely close relationships with all three. Floro was unquestionably Vicens’ most trusted ally in government circles in Madrid, and the one whom Vicens let in on the political doings in Catalonia. In his letters to that Opus Dei member, who after being Director General of Information became the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Arriba, Vicens expressed his opposition to Catalan separatism, but he censured the anti-Catalan and ultranationalistic Spanish attitudes of the Falangistas like Demetrio Ramos, who was then adjunct professor at the University of Barcelona and thwarted Vicens’ efforts to bring Catalonia and Castile closer together. Still, as Vicens approached the end of his life, we can glimpse in his correspondence with his friend Floro an increasing disenchantment with this means of Castilian-Catalan rapprochement that he defended. However, in all of Vicens’ personal and academic relationships with Opus Dei members, it is not easy to make out the ones where he was operating more tactically and the ones grounded more on true friendship or historiographic affinity. Just like in other facets of his professional and university career, in these relations with Spanish historiography Vicens reveals himself to have had a large dose of pragmatism and utilitarianism, which he combined on a political and ideological level with further doses of ambition, permeability and sometimes ingenuity, as Josep Pla and Albert Manent once noted. Vicens was convinced that the historiographic, cultural and therefore political reform of Catalonia and Spain after the collapse of the Three-Year War – as the Civil War from 1936-1939 was often called – could only take place through the sum of diverse people and forces, even if they were at odds with each other. For this reason, it should come as no surprise that he worked with and befriended those young nationalist-Catholics and anti-liberals from Opus Dei while also retaining strong ties and exerting a heavy influence with Catalan holdouts like Jordi Pujol, Josep Benet and Albert Manent. Finally, we are presenting the summary of the lecture by Jaume Sobrequés.

The publisher and his output Jaume Sobrequés mentioned that Vicens Vives’ more political activities took place between 1950 and 1960. How-

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ever, he never supported any clandestine political party, nor did he commit himself to the anti-Franco opposition, even though he did gradually draw closer to the Catalan cultural resistance, as indicated by the interest he expressed along with his brother-in-law, Frederic Rahola, in promoting Catalan language classes held in small groups at different sites around Catalonia. Vicens’ European political referents were the Christian Democrats. His contacts with figures operating within the Franco regime apparatus were with people who were favourable to minimal decentralisation and tentative regionalism. However, his attempt to serve as a bridge between Barcelona and Madrid yielded no tangible results. He did not secure permission to publish a monthly journal in Catalan. The Editorial Teide publishing house, founded by Vicens and his brother-in-law, Frederic Rahola, soon after the war ended, was much more than a business venture. Envisioned back in 1942 (in March of that year, Vicens wrote: “Now I’m focusing on a publishing business.”) as a way of supplementing the meagre wages he earned from teaching, it soon became one of the core driving forces behind first-rate scientific initiatives. Some of the historiographic productions spearheaded by Vicens would not have been possible without Teide. Neither Estudios de Historia Moderna (Studies of Modern History) nor Índice Histórico Español (Spanish Historical Index) nor Historia social y económica de España y América (Social and Economic History of Spain and America) would have been published without Teide, nor would the revamped history of Catalonia that he supervised under the title of “Biografies Catalanes” (Catalan Biographies). Teide provided Vicens with the infrastructure he needed to engage in activities that universities were totally unable to sustain during the Franco regime. Teide became, then, a kind of university department where Vicens worked with his colleagues and disciples, and from which he could share his teachings. On the other hand, it should be borne in mind that Vicens did not join the University of Barcelona until 1948 and that several important publishing initiatives, such as the revamping of the middle school teaching manuals, predated his university years. Middle school teaching manuals Even though Teide’s true revolution lay in its baccalaureate texts, the first two books published by the new company were targeted at primary school. They were a course on the history of Spain and another on geography. They were signed only by Teide, but they were authored by Santiago Sobrequés – that was the first Teide book – and Vicens himself, respectively. After that, these two authors cooperated quite intensely on writing history and geography books for baccalaureate, an enterprise they continued until Vicens’ death. Together they authored nine books until 1960. Sobrequés wrote four by himself, and Vicens six more which appeared only with his name. These books were pioneers in modernising textbooks

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in Spain. They did not always pass the dictatorship’s censors, and they often had to be extremely diplomatic in the chapters on the Second Republic, the Civil War and the Franco regime. These books were also a major source of income for Vicens and contributed to bringing Teide the solidity it needed to finance other scientific projects. The Centro de Estudios Históricos Internacionales In 1949, soon after he arrived in Barcelona, Vicens decided to create the Centro de Estudios Históricos Internacionales. As the first article in its bylaws stated, it was part of the Department of Modern and Contemporary World History at the University of Barcelona. Its goal was to study the historical problems related to the economy, culture and diplomacy “of countries” – it did not specify which countries. These goals were achieved through scientific gatherings, research into the documentary and bibliography sources on international history, publications of scholarly studies, information dissemination through courses and lectures, and exchanges with similar centres operating in other countries. With regard to Spain, in a letter addressed to Rafael Calvo Serer, head of CSCI, on the 27th of November 1949, on the economic resources that Vicens was trying to secure, Vicens proposed assigning the research into Spain as follows: “After thinking about it at length, I have decided to create the Centro de Estudios Históricos Internacionales at the University of Barcelona. My purpose is to provide the city with a centre that would complement the current mechanism of the resurgence of modern Spanish history.” Vicens went even further. He proposed a kind of assignment of historical studies all over Spain: “Madrid, general theory, synthesis, reflections, 18th and 19th centuries; Valladolid-Simancas: Spanish empire (16th - 17th centuries); Seville-Indies: Spain’s project in the Americas; Barcelona: Mediterranean and Pyrenean relations”. However, Vicens’ rationalist dream did not come to fruition, and everyone ended up doing what they pleased. The solidity of Vicens’ CEHI has enabled it to survive until today. Estudios de Historia Moderna The CEHI’s first endeavour, driven with the support of the Jerónimo Zurita Institute, part of the Spanish National Research Council, was to create the journal Estudios de Historia Moderna in 1951. Its goal was to “fill the gaps in the edifice of research wherever they may appear”. In the introduction to the first volume, Vicens stated that in Barcelona, “studies in modern history are so lacking that a herculean effort is needed to organise and outline their future structure”. Vicens’ statement of intentions was specified in a Decalogue that was to serve as the conceptual and methodological guidelines for contributors to Estudios. It went as follows: “1. We fundamentally believe that History is Life [...]. 2. We believe that history has taken place in a geo-

graphical setting [...]. 3. We believe that man “is” in history [...]. 4. We believe in the principle of social articulation [...]. 5. We believe that History is an important factor in the struggle to distribute moral and material wealth [...]. 6. We believe that History must define the successive mindsets of the past. 7. We believe that each generation in history has its own mindset. 8. We believe that we must accept the consequences of historical deeds [...]; the historian tries not to emend historical events but to understand them in their entirety. 9. We believe in the efficiency of the statistical method for establishing historical certainty. 10. We feel at home in our Western civilisation, whose highest purpose we believe is to establish the historical truth for freedom of research and presentation.” The writers in the first volume were Joan Mercader i Riba, Joan Reglà i Campistol and Pere Voltes i Bou. Five issues of Estudios appeared during Vicens’ lifetime. The sixth, which was prepared by its founder, was published shortly after his death, which effectively put an end to Estudios. No one had the strength and willpower to continue forward with the project. Índice Histórico Español (Spanish Historical Index) An important new product of the CEHI was the appearance of the Índice Histórico Español. Bibliografía Histórica de España e Hispanoamérica (Spanish Historical Index: Historical Bibliography of Spain and Hispanic America) in 1953-1954, an important compilation of critical essays on the historiographic output in Spain. The Índice was co-published by Editorial Teide, which was in charge of commercialising it. The work, which still survives today, was the outcome of initiatives that emerged from the History Seminar that Vicens orchestrated. Along with Estudios, it brought together the joint work of young historians and Vicens’ disciples and associates linked to the University of Barcelona, as well as colleagues scattered all around Spain. The reception of the work abroad was outstanding, as can be seen in the compilation of comments published in the Índice itself. The credits for the first book stated who was behind that monumental work. In addition to Vicens’ overall supervision, David Romano was the editorial secretary, and the writers included Emili Giralt i Raventós, Ramon Gubern i Domènech, Joan Mercader i Riba, Jordi Nadal i Oller, Jordi Pérez i Ballestar, Joan Reglà i Campostol, Eduard Ripoll i Perelló and Manuel Riu i Riu. The impressive list of contributors – the people who wrote the entries – illustrates both Vicens’ extraordinary ability to get scholars onboard and the respect that the work earned, even among people whose way of thinking different greatly to that of Vicens. The “Biografies Catalanes” (Catalan Biographies) Without neglecting Vicens’ other initiatives, the supervision of a true general history of Catalonia, which appeared under the name of “Biografies Catalanes” (Catalan Biographies), was the publishing and research project led

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Figure 2. The panel of experts at the academic session at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC). Left to right: Enric Pujol, professor in the Department of Modern and Contemporary History at the Autonomous University of Barcelona; Albert Balcells, full member of the IEC and director of the IEC’s archive; Salvador Giner, president of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans; Jaume Sobrequés, professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and president of the Societat Catalana d’Estudis Històrics; and Antoni Simon, professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and full member of the IEC.

by Vicens into which he poured the most effort and enthusiasm, and also the one about which he felt the proudest. Proof of this is the letter he sent to Santiago Sobrequés on the 18th of December 1952: “When you come we’ll talk about another publishing affair related to Catalan historiography. You’ll be licking your chops!” A few days later, Vicens revealed the mystery: “The fact that you didn’t come,” he wrote to Sobrequés on the 22nd of January 1953, “really tore me apart. We have so much to talk about, including [...] your contributing to Catalan biographies – the mysterious affair I wrote to you about.” In supervising this project in the second half of the 1950s, Vicens was once again able to convince the crème de la crème of Catalan historiography to write the volumes of the “Biographies” that spanned from the prehistoric roots of what would later become Catalonia until the 19th century. Who were these authors? Just citing a few names should suffice to endorse the validity of this innovative work spearheaded by Vicens: Miquel Tarradell, Ramon d’Abadal, Santiago Sobrequés i Vidal, Enric Bagué, Ferran Soldevila, Joan Reglà, Joan Mercader, Rafael Tasis, Joan F. Cabestany, J. E. Martínez Ferrando and Vicens himself.

Tarradell’s books on ancient times, Abadal’s on the historical origins of Catalonia, Sobrequés i Vidal’s on the Catalan countships and the barons of Catalonia, Reglà’s on the Austrias, Mercader’s on the 18th century and Vicens’ on the 15th and 19th centuries are crucial milestones in contemporary Catalan historiography. The countless reissues of the “Biografies” are clear proof that in many cases they have stolidly withstood the passage of time. La Historia social y económica de España y América (Social and Economic History of Spain and America) The most significant historiographic expression of Vicens’ rupture with the old ways in which the vast majority of Spanish historians operated was his supervision of the Historia social y económica de España y América (Social and Economic History of Spain and America), published by Teide between 1957 and 1959. In the five volumes, all featuring lovely illustrations and a typography that was as revolutionary as the contents, Vicens compiled not only the chapters and volumes that he personally wrote, but also the work of his closest disciples and associates. It was the first time that a synthesis – be-

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hind which, however, there was a great deal of research – had introduced and then placed a premium on analysis of economic and social factors and collective mindsets when trying to capture the historical processes of change over the centuries in their entirety. What is more, in the Historia social – and this was particularly relevant for Catalonia – the Iberian Peninsula’s past was presented as a whole for the first time. The nation-states from the Middle Ages and modern period, such as Catalonia and the Crown of Aragon, occupied the place they deserved as such and were no longer silenced. It is important to mention the role of writers of the volumes in this work: I. Lluís Pericot, Miquel Tarradell, Jesús Garcia Tolsà, Jaume Vicens i Vives (Feudalism), Josep M. Font i Rius and Enric Bagué. II. Santiago Sobrequés i Vidal. III. Joan Reglá. IV. A. Domínguez Ortiz and Joan Mercader i Riba. V. Jordi Nadal Oller, Rosa Ortega and Jaume Vicens i Vives. The chapters on American history were written by M. Ballesteros Gaibrois, G. Céspedes del Castillo and Mario Hernández Sánchez-Barba. For all of these reasons, the Historia social, directed, planned and partly written by Vicens, is one of the most important landmarks in contemporary Spanish historiography. Other productions and publications promoted at Teide From Teide’s start, and this might have been the first project produced by the publishing house, Vicens spearheaded the publication of empty maps of the five continents targeted at secondary schools. They managed to become quite popular and were one of the publisher’s most profitable products. This interest in cartography gave rise to the creation of URBS, Instituto Cartográfico Latino, in 1947, which published one of the most widely used atlases in secondary schools in Spain. The map was by Vicens and Santiago Sobrequés: Atlas de geografía general (Atlas of General Geography) (Barcelona, Teide, 1950). Two years earlier, Vicens had published his Atlas de geografía económica (Atlas of Economic Geography), a truly pioneering work in terms of both its content and its typographic presentation. In its early years, the URBS, a Teide imprint, was owned as follows: Teide, 51% (50,000 pesetas); Josep M. Costa i Cels, the Teide executive highly esteemed by Vicens, 29% (29,000 pesetas); and Santiago Sobrequés i Vidal, 20% (20,000 pesetas). The company was dissolved on the 28th of February 1961, a few months after Vicens’ death. With combined commercial interests and the desire to issue a solvent publishing venture, Vicens commissioned two tourism guides, one about the city of Barcelona and another about his birthplace, Girona, and the Costa Brava. The proof that he wanted these two guides to be high quality can be seen by the fact that he assigned two eminent intellectuals of the day to write them. The Barcelona guide, which was called Barcelona pas a pas (Barcelona Step by

Step), was published in 1952 and written by Alexandre Cirici i Pellicer. After several re-editions, the book proved to be highly profitable for the publisher. The guide on the Costa Brava y Gerona, which appeared in 1953, was written by Sobrequés i Vidal and issued in Spanish, French, English and German. It was one of the best books of its kind in Europe at the time. Vicens was very directly involved in it. On the 18th of December 1952, he wrote to the author of the guide’s text: “We went to the Costa Brava and spent three days there making sketches, notes and photographs, and despite the heavy wind, we got a lot accomplished [...]. We would like the guide to come out in March, in time for the start of the season.” The Teide and Sobrequés i Vidal guide was exceptionally successful and had a long life. A last unfulfilled project: The Llibre de les Institucions (Book of Institutions) The last major scientific project by Vicens-Teide, which like so many others ended up being personally assigned to Sobrequés i Vidal, was a book about the Catalan institutions, which was to be published – Vicens’ death prevented it – with one of these titles: Societat, govern i cultura als Països Catalans (Society, Government and Culture in the Catalan-Speaking Lands), Llibre de les Institucions dels Països Catalans (Book of Institutions of the CatalanSpeaking Lands) or Història de la societat, el govern i la cultura a Catalunya, València i Mallorca (History of the Society, Government and Culture of Catalonia, Valencia and Mallorca). The book was to be written by Sobrequés i Vidal, with Josep Fontana i Lázaro, Josep M. Font i Rius, Joaquim de Camps i Arboix and Joan Ruiz i Calonja as occasional contributors. Sobrequés was to write 750 pages; Font i Rius, 100; Camps i Arboix, 100; and Ruiz i Calonja, 150. Fontana’s participation in the project was never fully fleshed out. The purpose of the work, according to what Vicens himself wrote, was to “present a historical overview of the institutions of Catalonia, Roussillon, Valencia and Mallorca in their obvious connection with those of Aragon, Castile, Sardinia, Sicily and Naples, and later those of the Spanish monarchy. By ‘institution’ we mean the form attained by a body or collective in the evolution of the society, government, law, economy and culture. The genesis, peak, decline and end of the institution must be described using the latest historical information. The narration, which must be plain and understandable, should not omit any important chronological fact so it may be an ideal reference book.” With regard to the tone of the book, the project states, “It should not be overly apologetic. It should convince more through the weight of the Catalan institutional deeds than through the romantic flourishes of the language.” It was one of the first times, back in the 1950s, that someone posed the idea of presenting the historical reality of the Catalan-speaking lands in a single work of this scope. In this respect, too, Vicens was a pioneer. It is

Session at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans on the civic-political dimension of the oeuvre of historian Jaume Vicens Vives

something that no one talked about again until I explained this Vicens project for the first time in 2000. He himself prepared the index to the book. Of this book, 35 pages from the summary of the history of Catalonia have remained unpublished. The letter dated the 29th of March 1960 from Sobrequés to Vicens asking whether the book should run up to the union with Castile, the Nueva Planta degree or the Second Republic with the

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Charter of Self-Government was never answered. This was a ground-breaking project that was tragically cut short by the death of its visionary. These are not the only scientific, academic and educational productions pioneered by Jaume Vicens i Vives in the short span of time from 1940 to 1960, but they are the most important ones and the ones that enable us to truly grasp the magnitude of his work.

CATALAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 3: 131-140 (2010) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona ISSN: 2013-407X http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/

Historical publications of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans during 2009 Publicacions de temàtica històrica editades durant l’any 2009 per l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans

Published by the History and Archeology Section and its Affiliated Societies Publicats per la Secció Històrico-Arqueològica i les seves societats filials

Historical publications of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans during 2009 Books Llibres Barcino I: marques i terrisseries d’àmfores al pla de Barcelona. Edició a cura de Cèsar Carreras Monfort i Josep Guitart i Duran. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica, Barcelona 2009. – 175 p. : il. I. Guitart i Duran, Josep «Pròleg»; II. Carreras Monfort, Cèsar «Preliminars: l’estudi del territori de la colònia i les primeres terrisseries»; III. Carreras Monfort, Cèsar «Les marques d’àmfores produïdes als tallers de Barcino»; IV. Berni Mi llet, Piero ; Carreras Monfort, Cèsar «Ceràmiques d’àmfores importades o d’altres àrees de la Tarraconense»; V. Casas Blasi, Joan «Una Terrisseria del pla de Barcelona: l’excavació del carrer de la Princesa número 21»; VI. Aguelo Mas, Jordi ; Huertas Arroyo, Josefa «Una Terrisseria epigràfica: el solar del mercat de Santa Caterina de Barcelona en el moment altimperial romà»; VII. Martínez Ferreras, Verònica «Problemàtica de l’estudi arqueomètric: marques i àmfores del mercat de Santa Caterina a partir de l’estudi arqueomètric»; VIII. Beltran de Heredia Bercero, Julia «Premses vineres i instal·lacions vinícoles a Barcino»; IX. Palet i Martínez, Josep Maria ; Riera i Mora, Santiago «Modelació antròpica del paisatge i activitats agropecuàries en el territori de la colònia de Barcino: aproximació des de l’arqueomorfologia i la palinologia»; X. Olesti i Vila, Oriol «Propietat i riquesa en l’ager barcinonensis». Tractats i negociacions diplomàtiques de Catalunya i de la Corona catalanoaragonesa a l’edat mitjana. Volum: 1.1. Tractats i negociacions diplomàtiques amb Occitània, França i els estats italians, 1067-1213. Direcció: M. Teresa Ferrer i Mallol, Manuel Riu i Riu ; estudis de Pere Benito i Monclús i M. Teresa Ferrer i Mallol ; corpus documental a cura de Pere Benito i Monclús, Pilar Sendra i Beltran i Carles Vela i Aulesa ; amb la col·laboració de Rafael Ginebra i Molins, Roberto Pili i Esther Redondo García. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Sec-

ció Històrico-Arqueològica, Barcelona 2009. (Memòries de la Secció Històrico-Arqueològica ; 83) – 503 p. El costumari del monestir de Sant Cugat del Vallès. Estudi introductori i transcripció a cura d’Efrem E. Compte ; prefaci d’Anscari M. Mundó; curador Tomàs de Montagut. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Secció Històrico-Arqueològica, Barcelona 2009. (Memòries de la Secció Històrico-Arqueològica ; 82). – 433 p. Almirall, Valentí. Obra completa. Volum 1: 1867-1879 / edició, introducció i notes a cura de Josep M. Figueres. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Secció HistòricoArqueològica, Barcelona 2009. (Monografies de la Secció Històrico-Arqueològica; 11). – 1063 p. Bonastre i Bertran, Francesc. Música, litúrgia i societat a la Barcelona del primer terç del segle XIX: estudi de les consuetes de la capella de música de la catedral de Barcelona (1818-1821, 1826-1830). Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Societat Catalana d’Estudis Litúrgics, Barcelona 2009. (Biblioteca Litúrgica Catalana ; 5). – 419 p. Crusafont i Sabater, Miquel. Catàleg general de la moneda catalana : Països Catalans i Corona Catalano-Aragonesa (s. V aC – s. XX dC). Amb la col· laboració de L. Villaronga i Garriga en les il· lustracions de la part de Món Antic i d’Eduard Domingo en l’apartat de recull i en les llegendes de les monedes àrabs. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Societat Catalana d’Estudis Numismàtics, Barcelona 2009. – 863 p. : il. Mas i Vives, Joan. El Nacionalisme artístic de Joan Alcover. Discurs de recepció de Joan Mas i Vives com a membre numerari de la Secció Històrico-Arqueo lògica, llegit el dia 17 de desembre de 2009. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Secció Històrico-Arqueològica, Barcelona 2009. – 64 p. Molas i Batllori, Joaquim. Miquel dels Sants Oliver i

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Tolrà: semblança biogràfica : conferència pronunciada davant el Ple per Joaquim Molas i Batllori el dia 9 de juny de 1997. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Secció Històrico-Arqueològica, Barcelona 2009. (Semblances biogràfiques; 50). – 11 p. Soldevila, Ferran. Entre la dictadura i la revolució: cròniques polítiques per a Ginebra i Liverpool: 1925-1947 / selecció i introducció d’Albert Balcells i Enric Pujol. Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 2009. – 296 p. Vinyoles i Vidal, Teresa. Presència activa de les dones als castells. Lliçó inaugural del curs 2009-2010 a càrrec de Teresa Vinyoles i Vidal, professora titular de la Universitat de Barcelona, pronunciada el dia 16 de novembre de 2009. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Amics de l’Art Romànic, Barcelona 2009. – 20 p. Journals Revistes Butlletí de la Societat Catalana d’Estudis Històrics. Volum 18. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Societat Catalana d’Estudis Històrics, Barcelona 2009. – 250 p. I. Alcoberro i Pericay, Agustí «Una visió de la Guerra de Successió des de l’exili: el Teatro de desdichas (Milà, 1716)»; II. Espadaler, Anton Maria «Els almogàvers: les cares d’un mite»; III. Deyá Bauzá, Miguel José «Manufactura i Antic Règim: una visió de llarga durada del cas mallorquí»; IV. Grau Pujol, Josep Maria ; Puig Tàrrech, Roser «Immigració estrangera a Catalunya des d’una perspectiva local: Reus, segles XVI-XX»; V. Figueres i Artigues, Josep M. «Les publicacions periòdiques a Catalunya en el moment del Diari Català (1879-1881): cens i estudi estadístic. II. Premsa barcelonina»; VI. Gonzàlez i Vilalta, Arnau «La representació parlamentària catalana a les Corts republicanes (1931-1939): del catalanisme hegemònic i pragmàtic a la vinculació amb la política espanyola»; VII. Domingo Magaña, Javier Ángel «Els capitells tardoromans i altmedievals a Catalunya (segles IV-VIII dC)»; VIII. Serra i Sellarés, Francesc «Sant Benet de Bages a l’època montserratina (segles XVI-XIX)»; IX. Prat Sabartés, Marc «Fabricants, comerciants i banquers. Les estructures comercials de la indústria cotonera catalana en el mercat espanyol (1840-1936)»; X. Gómez Inglada, Margarida «Associacionisme i cultura. El Prat de Llobregat, 1910-1960»; XI. Recensions; XII. Notícies de llibres. Miscel·lània litúrgica catalana. Volum 17. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Societat Catalana d’Estudis Litúrgics, Barcelona 2009. – 299 p. : il.

Historical publications of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans during 2009

I. Sureda i Jubany, Marc «Gabriel Roura i Güibas (1932-2008): in memoriam»; II. Smyth, Matthieu «Notes sur quelques éléments distinctifs de l’ordo baptismal d’après les sources gallicanes»; III. Pagès i Paretas, Montserrat «Sobre el trasllat de relíquies de Sant Cugat a Alsàcia i a Sant Denís, a prop de París, en època carolíngia»; IV. Gros i Pujol, Miquel dels Sants «Fragments d’un antifonari de l’ofici diví de Besiers (Tarragona, Arx. Hist. Arxid., Frag. 19/1)»; V. Sureda i Jubany, Marc ; Gros i Pujol, Miquel dels Sants «El Sacramentari de Sant Feliu de Girona (Girona, Museu Diocesà, ms. 46)»; VI. Altés i Aguiló, Francesc Xavier «La Institució de la festa de Sant Carlemany a la seu de Girona i els textos hagiogràfics del seu ofici litúrgic»; VII. Vilamala i Salvans, Jordi «Consueta y nota de diferents cosas de la Catedral de Vic, de l’any 1662 (Vic, Arx. Episcopal, Pietat, 12)» Tamid. Volum 6. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Societat Catalana d’Estudis Hebraics, Barcelona 2009. – 247 p. I. «Eduard Feliu i Mabres (1938-2009)»; II. Alexander, Philip S. «L’aprenentatge de l’hebreu vers la fi del segle II dC»; III. Casanovas i Miró, Jordi «Un nou element epigràfic hebraic descobert a Castelló d’Empúries»; IV. Llobet i Portella, Josep Maria «Una elecció de secretaris de l’aljama de jueus de Cervera en 1485»; V. Feliu i Mabres, Eduard «Les traduccions hebrees del Regiment de sanitat d’Arnau de Vilanova»; VI. Salleras Clarió, Joaquim «L’aljama de jueus de Fraga»; VII. Feliu i Mabres, Eduard «Bialik o el clam profètic»; VIII. «English abstracts»

Historical publications of the other Sections of the Ins titut d’Estudis Catalans Publicacions de la resta de l’Institut de temàtica històrica Journals Revistes Actes d’Història de la Ciència i de la Tècnica. Volum 2 (1) Nova època. Consell de redacció: Josep Batlló Ortiz (curador), Pasqual Bernat López (curador), Jordi Ferran Boleda, Pere Grapí Vilumara, María Rosa Massa Esteve, Carles Puig-Pla, Alfons Zarzoso Orellana; Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Societat Catalana d’Història de la Ciència i de la Tècnica, Barcelona 2009. – 510 p. : il. I. «Presentació»; II. Baig i Aleu, Marià «Les ob servacions astronòmiques i meteorològiques de Domènec Badia (Alí Bei) en el seu viatge per terres d’Àfrica i d’Àsia»; III. Barca Salom, Francesc X. «Ezequiel Calbet i la mesura de l’eclipsi de 1842»; IV. Bernat i López, Pascual «Josep Pratdesaba i

Historical publications of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans during 2009

Portabella, un record en el quarantè aniversari de la seva mort»; V. Cadefau Surroca, Trinidad ; Ca talà i Poch, Maria Assumpció «Plutó»; VI. Carreras Seguí, Paz «Sèrie de pluja de Maó del 1864 al 1932 gràcies a Joaquim Carreras i Maurici Hernández»; VII. Casals i Guiu, Josep M. «Un català a l’origen dels grans observatoris de Xile: Federico Rutllant Alsina»; VIII. Casas, Ricard «Els asteroides de Josep Comas Solà»; IX. Català i Poch, Maria Assumpció ; Cadefau Surroca, Trinidad «L’ensenyança de l’astronomia a l’Escola Normal de Mestres de Barcelona a principis del segle XX»; X. Chifré i Petit, Eduard Josep «L’astronomia i la meteorologia vistes pel cinema»; XI. Dorce, Carlos «Les Lleis de Kepler en un tractat astronòmic espanyol del segle XVIII: el Compendio mathematico de Tomàs Vicenç Tosca (1715)»; XII. Jiménez, Anna ; Ginebra, Rafel «Els processos de bruixes com a font per a la meteorologia històrica: dades meteorològiques als processos de l’Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal de Vic»; XIII. Jufre Garcia, Xavier «L’Astrari de Giovanni di Dondi (1380)»; XIV. Massa Esteve, M. Rosa «Una aproximació a l’obra d’Aristarc de Samos (ca. 310 aC-230 aC)»; XV. Mazon Bueso, Jordi «Meteoròlegs amb cara i ulls: exposició de meteoròlegs catalans de tots els temps»; XVI. Moreno, Manuel ; Miró, Joan «Josep Estalella i Josep Comas: de Girona a Tità»; XVII. Nieto i Galan, Agustí «L’astronomia popular al segle XIX: de François Arago a Camille Flammarion»; XVIII. Oliver, Josep M. «Josep Comas Solà, va veure l’atmosfera de Tità?»; XIX. Puig-Pla, Carles «L’esfera copernicana de l’abat Joan de Safont (1789-1847)»; XX. Roca i Rosell, Antoni «L’Observatori de l’Ebre, una institució singular»; XXI. Ruiz Castell, Pedro «Els eclipsis totals de Sol: un punt d’inflexió en el desenvolupament de l’astronomia i l’astrofísica a l’Espanya de principis del segle XX»; XXII. Sucarrats i Riera, Raimon «Un exemple de l’ús de la meteorologia per difondre l’activitat científica: les memòries d’Agustí Yàñez i Girona per a l’Acadèmia de Ciències de Barcelona a mitjan segle XIX»; XXIII. Zaragoza Domènech, Carme ; Fernández Novell, Josep M. «Velocitat dels coets i elements químics de les estrelles: física i química o astronomia a secundària?»; XXIV. Barca Salom, Francesc X. «Materials per a una història del fred»; XXV. Cadefau Surroca, Trinidad ; Català i Poch, Maria Assumpció «Canvis en el concepte de sistema solar»; XXVI. Camós i Cabeceran, Agustí «Els grans científics en català a l’ensenyament secundari»; XXVII. Chifré i Petit, Eduard Josep «La lluita per la llibertat i la justícia a través del cinema»; XXVIII. Cortijo Pérez, Celsa «Projecte Salters Horners Advanced Physics: adaptació històrica de l’electromagnetisme»; XXIX. Marques, Magda Isabel Gonçalves Feliciano «Integração de Tópcios

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de História das Ciências no Ensino: Estudo de Caso: Energia no Ensino Básico»; XXX. González Urbaneja, Pedro Miguel «Historia de la matemàtica y dimensión cultural de las matemáticas»; XXXI. Grapí i Vilumara, Pere «Història de la ciència: ensenyament i les tecnologies de la informació i la comunicació»; XXXII. Guedj, Muriel ; Laube, Sylvain «Ressources historiques pour l’enseignement: une étude de cas portnat sur la matérialité de l’air»; XXXIII. Guedj, Muriel ; Laube, Sylvain ; Savaton, Pierre «Sur l’usage d’outils didactiques à caractère historique pour l’enseignement des sciences»; XXXIV. Guevara i Casanova, Iolanda ; Massa Esteve, M. Rosa «La història de les matemàtiques dins dels nous currículums de secundària»; XXXV. Heering, Peter «The role of historical experiments in science teacher training: experiencies and perspectives»; XXXVI. Lauginie, Pierre «Peser la terre, peser les mondes de la “balance àpeser les mondes” de Cavendish (1798) aux repetitions didactiques a l’université»; XXXV. Muñoz Bello, Rosa «Autores y traductores de libros de texto de química en España, 1788-1845»; XXXVI. Núñez i Espallargas, Josep Maria ; Servat i Susagne, Jordi «Estructura i context en una col·lecció de problemes de geometria del segle XVI: les “demandas” de Juan Pérez de Moya»; XXXVII. Romero Vallhonesta, M. Fàtima; Puig-Pla, Carles; Massa Esteve, M. Rosa; Guevara i Casanova, Iolanda «La trigonometria en els inicis de la matemàtica xinesa: algunes idees per treballar a l’aula»; XXXVIII. De Vittori, M. Thomas «Philosophie des mathematiques et formation des professeurs stagiaires»; XXXIX. Tomàs i Reig, M. Rosa «El laboratori de física i química de l’Institut “Joan Brudieu” de la Seu d’Urgell: una perspectiva històrica»; XL. Valentines Álvarez, Jaume «Estris del segle XXI per a instruments del XIX: la cultura material de la ciència de la universitat a la secundària»; XLI. Zaragoza Domènech, Carme ; Fernández Novell, Josep M. «Reconstrucció de la taula periòdica dels elements»; XLII. Zúñiga Carmona, José Omar «Efecto de los libros de texto en la imagen que brinda la enseñanza sobre el desarrollo de la ciencia»; XLIII. Calvó i Monreal, Francesc Xavier «Escriure la història de la bio logia molecular catalana: l’ús de les entrevistes, els articles científics i les cartes»; XLIV. Cobo Gómez, Jesús V. «Juan Bautista Juanini (1636-1691) i Joan d’Alòs i Serradora (1617-1695)»; XLIV. Martínez Vidal, Àlvar «Entre el centre i la perifèria científica: Santiago Ramón y Cajal i el catalanisme mèdic» Arxiu de Textos Catalans Antics. Volum 28. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Facultat de Teologia de Catalunya, Barcelona 2009. – 999 p. I. Perarnau i Espelt, Josep «Beguins de Vilafran-

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ca del Penedès davant el tribunal d’Inquisició (1345-1346): de captaires a banquers?»; II. Mensa i Valls, Jaume «Les obres espirituals d’Arnau de Vilanova i la “Revelació de sent Ciril” (Oraculum angelicum Cyrilli)»; III. Marquès i Planagumà, Josep Maria ; Puig i Oliver, Jaume de ; Serrat i Torrent, Albert «Regest del protocol del notari de la cúria diocesana de Girona Pere Capmany (anys 1313-1367)»; IV. Puig i Oliver, Jaume de «Catàleg dels manuscrits de les obres de Francesc Eiximenis, O.F.M., conservats en biblioteques públiques : Primera part: Obres originals en català/1»; V. Perarnau i Espelt, Josep «Troballa d’un full amb text llatí d’un capítol del Llibre de contemplació, de Llull per a la Moguntina?»; VI. Perarnau i Espelt, Josep «Sobre l’estada d’Arnau de Vilanova a París, 1299-1300: les dues dates dels textos»; VII. Perarnau i Espelt, Josep «El rei Joan I dóna força legal a les còpies del dictamen de la Comissió Ermengol sobre el llibre de Ramon Llull, [Arbre] de filosofia d’amor (Barcelona, Arxiu Reial (ACA), Canc. r. 1892, f. 217v)»; VIII. Perarnau i Espelt, Josep «Estudiants catalans de drets en les Tabulae repetitionum et disputationum Universitatis Bononiensis»; IX. Hernando i Delgado, Josep «Heretgies “bohemites” als comtats de Rosselló i Cerdanya (any 1434)»; X. Planes i Albets, Ramon «Les Ordinacions de Prats i Sansor sobre bestiar, pastures i artigues (La Cerdanya, 1768)»; XI. Puig i Oliver, Jaume de «Butlletí bibliogràfic: La col·lecció Sant Feliu, dirigida per Josep M. Marquès, arxiver diocesà de Girona»; XII. «Recensions»; XIII. «Notícies bibliogràfiques»; XIV. «Crònica»; XV. Puig i Oliver, Jaume de «Ambigüitats i paradoxes sibiudianes: discurs de recepció com a membre de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans»; XVI. Perarnau i Espelt, Josep «Lliçó en l’acte de doctorat honoris causa: Universitat de Barcelona, 28 d’abril de 2009»; XVII. «Taula de fons manuscrits i d’antropònims»; XVIII. «Obres enviades a la direcció» Educació i Història: Revista d’Història de l’Educació. Volum 13 (gener-juny 2009). Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Societat d’Història de l’Educació dels Països de Llengua Catalana, Barcelona 2009. – 192 p. I. Soler i Mata, Joan «L’Itinerari formatiu i professional de Jesús Sanz Poch (1897-1936): renovació pedagògica i compromís polític a Catalunya durant el primer terç del segle XX = The training and professional itinerary of Jesus Sanz Poch (18971936): educational renewal and political commitment to Catalonia during the first half of the twentieth century»; II. Colom i Cañellas, Antoni J. «Lectura del primer llibre de lectura de la pedagogia catalana: aproximació a la Doctrina Pueril = Interpretation of the first reading primer in catalan pe-

Historical publications of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans during 2009

dagogy: an approach to Doctrina Pueril»; III. Tarabini, Aina «El paper del Banc Mundial en educació: la història d’una creixent hegemonia = The World Bank’s role in education: the history of a progressive hegemony»; IV. Muriá, Jose M. «México y su historia centralizada = Mexico and its centralized history»; V. Brás, José Gregório Viegas ; Gonçalves, Maria Neves Leal «As disposições interiorizadas nas sociedades de Instrução Militar Preparatória = The resolutions deeply rooted in individuals within societies of preparatory military instruction»; VI. Cortada i Hortalà, Carles «L’ensenyament a la Universitat Lliure de Girona (1870-1874) = The education in the Free University of Girona (1870-1874)»; VII. Torroja i Valls, Ramon ; Marquès i Sureda, Salomó «El Mestre Ramon Torroja i Valls: carta des de la presó = Teacher Ramon Torroja i Valls: a letter from jail»; VIII. Sureda i Garcia, Bernat «History of Education & Children’s Literature (HECL), un ambiciós projecte de divulgació científica»; IX. Marquès i Sureda, Salomó «Crònica de les activitats de l’any 2008 de la Societat d’Història de l’Educació dels Països de Llengua Catalana filial de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans»; X. «Informació sobre els autors dels articles = Information about the authors of the articles» Educació i Història: Revista d’Història de l’Educació. Volum 14 (juliol-desembre 2009). Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Societat d’Història de l’Educació dels Països de Llengua Catalana, Barcelona 2009. – 236 p. I. Santolaria i Sierra, Félix Francisco «En el centenari de la creació de les Juntes de Protecció de la Infància (1908-2008) = Centenary celebration of the creation of the Child Protection Boards (Juntas de Protección a la Infancia) 1908-2008»; II. Sánchez-Valverde Visus, Carlos «La Junta de Protecció de la Infància de Barcelona, 1908-1985: algunes claus del seu naixement, funcionament institucional i recorregut històric = The Junta de Protecció de la Infància de Barcelona, 1908-1985: Key factors in its constitution, functioning and history»; III. Ruiz Rodrigo, Cándido «La Junta de Protecció de Menors de València durant el primer terç de segle XX = The Child Protection Board in Valencia during the first third of the 20th century»; IV. Santolaria i Sierra, Félix Francisco «La Junta de Protecció de la Infància de Barcelona : la primera etapa (1908-1909) = The Childhood Protection Council in Barcelona : Its first Stage (1908-1909)»; V. Martins, Ernesto Candeias «Autonomia e gestão democrática das escolas portuguesas no contexto da descentralização = Autnomy and democratic management of Portuguese schools in the context of educational de-centralisation»; VI. Motilla Salas, Xavier «Escoltisme, lleure i educació a Me-

Historical publications of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans during 2009

norca (1913-1936) = Scouting, leisure and education in Menorca (1913-1936)»; VII. Peregrina, Angélica «La adopción de las estampas jaliscienses en el imaginario nacional mexicano mediante la educación = The adoption of the Jalisco symbols in the mexican national imaginary through the education»; VIII. Rincón i Verdera, Joan Carles «José Luís López-Aranguren: l’eticitat de l’Estat com a fonament de l’educació per a la participació ciutadana = José Luís López-Aranguren: The ethics of the State like foundation of the education for the civil participation»; IX. Comas Rubí, Francesca ; Miró Montoliu, Maria Isabel «El testimoni de Rosa Roig, un exemple de renovació pedagògica a les Escoles Normals del primer terç de segle XX = The Testimonial of Rosa Roig: An Example of Educational Renewal in Teacher Training Schools in the Early 20th Century» Llengua & Literatura: revista anual de la Societat Catalana de Llengua i Literatura. Volum 20. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Societat Catalana de Llengua i Literatura, Barcelona 2009. – 526 p. I. Martos, Josep Lluís «Sotmissió amorosa: uns poemes mal editats de Joan Roís de Corella»; II. Climent, Josep Daniel «La participació dels valencians en el Primer Congrés Internacional de la Llengua Catalana»; III. Bermúdez Ramiro, Jesús «Les traduccions poètiques d’Horaci de Joaquim Garcia Girona: ritme i versificació»; IV. Mas López, Jordi «Del vers a la prosa: Amour et Paysage i Les quatre estacions de Josep Maria Junoy»; V. Gómez i Inglada, Pere «L’origen de la revolució catalanista de J. V. Foix: La premsa nacional: quatre articles polítics per a un moment clau de la història de Catalunya»; VI. Brucart, Josep M. ; Gallego, Ángel J. «L’estudi formal de la subordinació i l’estatus de les subordinades adverbials»; VII. Peytaví Deixona, Joan «Algunes reflexions sobre el català septentrional o rossellonès en un final d’etapa dialectal»; VIII. Bosch i Rodoreda, Andreu «Els treballs d’onomàstica i lexicogràfics de Caria: un model de recerca: Rafael Caria in memoriam (1941-2008)»; IX. Wittlin, Curt J. «Francesc Eiximenis i la Bíblia: qüestions pràctiques sobre edició i indexació d’al·lusions i citacions»; X. Vall Solaz, Xavier «Una narració oblidada de Josep Yxart: Un cas»; XI. Romeu i Figueras, Josep «Jaume Agelet i Garriga i Josep Romeu: una amistat poètica»; XII. Saragossà i Alba, Abelard «Els sis conceptes bàsics de la fonètica en quatre diccionaris (DGLC, DCVB, GDLC i DIEC)»; XIII. «Ressenyes i notes crítiques»; XIV. Bover i Font, August «Rafael Caria (1941-2008), la lluita per un futur alguerès»; XV. Forcadell, Josep ; Perujo, Joan M. «Míkel de Epalza Ferrer, un llegat generós a la cultura en llen-

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gua catalana»; XVI. Pinyol i Torrents, Ramon «Pere Farrés i Arderiu (1948-2008): una pregona vocació docent i investigadora»; XVII. Vilallonga, Mariàngela «Joan Bastardas i Parera»; XVIII. Ripoll Perelló, Maribel «La càtedra Ramon Llull»; XIX. Farré i Vilalta, Imma «IV Jornada sobre literatura i ensenyament, Aula Màrius Torres»; XX. Alegre i Urgell, Montserrat ; Bover i Font, August «Berlín 2007: «Visions catalanes»: II Simposi Internacional de Catalanística»; XXI. Àlvarez, Joana ; Ferrer, Montserrat ; Prat, Oriol ; Ortega, Neus «El seminari de literatura i cultura de l’edat mitjana i de l’edat moderna del departament de Filologia Catalana de la Universitat de Barcelona: curs 2007-2008»; XXII. Roca, Rafael «L’Illa que posa color al temps: les IV Jornades d’Intercanvi Cultural (Eivissa, 10-12 d’octubre de 2008)»; XXIII. Marrugat Domènech, Jordi «Tendències de la literatura catalana actual: cicle de conferències: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (2007-2008)»; XXIV. Sales, Mònica ; Samper Prunera, Emili «IV Trobada del Grup d’Estudis Etnopoètics: IX Simposi d’Etnopoètica de l’Arxiu de Tradicions»; XXV. Samper Prunera, Emili «III Curs de Cultura Popular: ‘El rei Jaume I en l’imaginari popular i en la literatura’»; XXVI. Castanyer i Teixidor, Laia «‘L’etimologia: part de la lingüística o ciència autònoma?’ de Jordi Bruguera»; XXVII. Rabella i Ribas, Joan Anton «La Societat Catalana de Llengua i Literatura (2008)» Revista de dret històric català. Volum 7. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Societat Catalana d’Estudis Jurídics, Barcelona 2009. – 248 p. I. «Presentació»; II. Palou i Miquel, Hug «Pons i Guri: el discurs del mètode»; III. Domènech Mo ner, Joan «Glossa sobre Josep Maria Pons i Guri»; IV. Rubirola i Torrent, Miquel «Nomenament de Josep Maria Pons i Guri arxiver emèrit i fill predilecte d’Arenys de Mar»; V. Palou i Miquel, Hug «Bibliografia de Josep Maria Pons i Guri»; VI. Arrieta Alberdi, Jon «Catalunya entre els segles XVII i XVIII: reflexions sobre un canvi»; VII. Albareda i Salvador, Joaquim «La represa del constitucionalisme (1701-1706)»; VIII. Serra i Puig, Eva «El debat de la vicerègia (1700-1701): baralla judicialista o conflicte polític?»; IX. Berchmans Vallet de Goytisolo, Juan «El dret romà a Catalunya després del Decret de Nova Planta»; X. Peláez Albendea, Manuel J. «El dret inalienable a la llengua pròpia: alguns aspectes jurídics i polítics de la persecució del català: de l’edicte de Lluís XIV (1702) a la Llei Deixonne (1951), sense oblidar-nos de les dictadures espanyoles (1923-1930 i 19391975)»; XI. Gil i Salvador, Xavier «La formació de la societat de veïns de la muntanya de Llessui»; XII. Gómez Rojo, María Encarnación «Regulació

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jurídica dels jocs d’atzar dins la normativa històrica catalanoaragonesa»; XIII. Zambrana Moral, Patricia «La insolvència i el concurs de creditors en el dret històric català»; XIV. Salomón Sancho, Lourdes «La digitalització com a nova eina per als estudis historicojurídics»; XV. Ricart i Martí, Encarnació «Jurisdicción y arbitraje en derecho romano, d’Antonio Fernández de Buján»; XVI. Serrano Daura, Josep «Els Magistrats de la Reial Audiència de Catalunya a la segona meitat del segle XVII, de Miquel Àngel Martínez i Rodríguez»; XVII. Serrano Daura, Josep «El Liber Iudeorum número 90 de l’Aleixar (1344-1348), de Teresa Aleixandre i Segura»; XVIII. Serrano Daura, Josep «El Cartulari de Xestalgar: memòria escrita d’un senyoriu valencià, de Manuel Pastor i Madalena»; XIX. Serrano Daura, Josep «Llibre de privilegis de la vila i el terme de Terrassa (1228-1652), de Teresa Cardellach i Giménez, Pere Puig i Ustrell, Vicenç Ruiz i Gómez i Joan Soler i Jiménez»; XX. Serrano Daura, Josep «Recull d’estudis d’història jurídica catalana, de Josep Maria Pons i Guri»; XXI. Serrano Daura, Josep «El matrimoni infantil a Catalunya i Europa, de Santiago Llobet Masachs»; XXII. Serrano Daura, Josep «Comprar, vendre i pagar al rei: els impostos indirectes al Regne de Mallorca, S. XIV-XV, de Pau Cateura (ed.)»; XXIII. Serrano Daura, Josep «Diplomatari del monestir de Santa Maria de Santes Creus (975-1225), de Joan Papell i Tardiu»; XXIV. Serrano Daura, Josep «Catàleg de pergamins del fons de l’Ajuntament de Girona (1144-1862), de l’Arxiu Municipal de Girona»; XXV. Serrano Daura, Josep «Lletres reials a la ciutat de Girona (1517-1713), de M. Josepa Arnall i Juan i Anna Gironella i Delgà»; XXVI. Serrano Daura, Josep «Diplomatari de l’Arxiu Capitular de la Catedral de Barcelona: segle XI, de Josep Baucells i Reig, Àngel Fàbrega i Grau, Manuel Riu i Riu, Josep Hernado i Delgado i Carme Batlle i Gallart»; XXVII. Serrano Daura, Josep «Les cases de templers i hospitalers a Catalunya: aplec de noves i documents històrics, de Joaquim Miret i Sans (a cura del Doctor Josep Maria Sans i Travé)»; XXVIII. Serrano Daura, Josep «Les Costums de Miravet, de Ferran Valls Taberner»; XXIX. Estrada-Rius, Albert «Els tresors monetaris medievals: estudi, legislació i protecció»; XXX. Peláez Albendea, Manuel J. «Congrés Els drets històrics i l’Espanya viable»; XXXI. Subirats i Mulet, Vicenç «IX Jornada d’Estudis Locals de la vila de Bot» Books Llibres 1907: el paper de l’IEC en la història de l’art i en la restauració de monuments medievals a Catalunya i Europa. Commemoració del centenari de l’Institut

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d’Estudis Catalans / Raquel Lacuesta Contreras (coord.). Servei de Patrimoni Arquitectònic Local. Diputació de Barcelona, Barcelona 2009. I. Ferrer i Mallol, Maria Teresa «Record dels primers temps de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans amb motiu del centenari»; II. Sobrequés i Callicó, Jaume «El marc històric del canvi de segle»; III. Poisson, Olivier «La “carrera francesa” de Josep Puig i Cadafalch»; IV. Esteban Chapapría, Julián «El Centro de Estudios Históricos y el Institut d’Estudis Catalans»; V. Lacuesta Contreras, Raquel «La tasca de coneixement y restauración del patrimoni monumental català feta pel Servei de Catalogació y Conservació de Monuments sota l’empenta de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans»; VI. Matas i Blanxart, M. Teresa «El Centre d’Art Romànic Català (ARCAT): una investigació suggerida per la tasca feta, ara fa cent anys, per Josep Puig i Cadafalch»; VII. Onofrio, Mario d’ «Émile Bertaux et les monuments franco-normands de l’Italie méridionale»; VIII. Barral i Altet, Xavier «Un exemple d’historiografia europea en el canvi de segle: un brodat de Bayeux»; IX. López Mullor, Albert ; Caixal Mata, Àlvar «El monestir de Sant Llorenç. Guardiola de Berguedà. Hipòtesi general d’evolució històrica»; X. González Moreno-Navarro, Antoni «El monestir de Sant Llorenç. Guardiola de Berguedà. Criteris del projecte de restauració» Les ciències experimentals i la tecnologia a les terres de parla catalana al segle XX. Volum 1: Ciències i Tecnologia / Josep Enric Llebot, Joan Girbau, Xavier Roselló, Joan Antoni Solans, Manuel Ribas Piera, Lluís Jofre i Francesc Serra (curadors). Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Publicacions generals, Barcelona 2009. – 147 p. I. Porta Casanellas, Jaume «Pròleg»; II. Jou, David «De l’Observatori Fabra al projecte Sincrotó: realitats i projectes de la física a Catalunya»; III. Font Cierco, Josep «L’impacte de la química en el desenvolupament industrial a Catalunya durant el segle XX»; IV. Castellet, Manuel «Les matemàtiques, motor del món»; V. Roselló, Xavier «La mobilitat a Catalunya. Presentació»; VI. Alegre i Valls, Lluís «Projeccions de mobilitat del Pla Director de Mobilitat de la Regió Metropolitana de Barcelona»; VII. Busquets, Joan «Quina planificació urbanística per als nous sistemes urbans?»; VIII. Glavany, Jean «L’ordenació dels sistemes urbans a França: la mancomunitat d’aglomeració (communauté d’agglomération)»; IX. Jofre, Lluís ; Serra Mestres, Francesc «Les tecnologies de la informació i les comunicacions a Catalunya. Presentació»; X. Elías, Antoni «Les tecnologies de la informació i les comunicacions a Catalunya. Una visió històrica al llarg del segle XX»; XI. Valverde, Llorenç «In-

Historical publications of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans during 2009

ternet i societat: una visió crítica»; XII. Valero, Mateo «Recerca i supercomputació al segle XXI» Les ciències experimentals i la tecnologia a les terres de parla catalana al segle XX. Volum 2: Ciències Biològiques / Lluís Garcia i Sevilla, Josep Carreras, Jacint Corbella, Antoni Roca Rosell i Oriol Casassas (curadors). Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Publicacions generals, Barcelona 2009. – 206 p. Trobades i retrobaments de la psicologia i l’Institut: I. Garcia i Sevilla, Lluís «Panoràmica del tema»; II. Roca i Balasch, Josep «L’inici de la psicologia científica i l’Institut: Ramon Turró»; III. Renom i Pinsach, Jordi «Allò que s’estronca amb la clausura política de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans»; IV. Salvador i Beltran, Francesc «La psicologia catalana d’avançada al marge d’un Institut clausurat: la psicologia cibernètica de Santiago Montserrat i Esteve» August Pi i Sunyer i el primer laboratori de fisiologia: V. Pi i Sunyer, Xavier «L’obra de Jaume Pi-Sunyer i Bayo» Exili i emigració científica: de Francesc Duran Reynals a Joan Oró: VI. Roca Rosell, Antoni «Francesc Duran Reynals i els seus col·laboradors als Estats Units»; VII. Zarzoso, Alfons «Tot refent la professió: l’exili mèdic català»; VIII. Montserrat, Josep M. «Josep Cuatrecasas. La botànica tropical»; IX. Isern, Jordi «Joan Oró, un precursor de l’astrobiologia» De Leandre Cervera a Josep Alsina i Bofill, l’exili interior: X. Casassas, Oriol «El truncament i els camins truncats»; XI. Santacana, Carles «Els murs de l’exili interior»; XII. Camarasa, Josep Maria «Les institucions: el retrobament»; XIII. Asensi, Francesc «La indispensable perseverança»; XIV. Casassas, Oriol «A tall d’epíleg» Commemoració del Centenari del Primer Congrés Internacional de la Llengua Catalana (1906) / Francesc Vallverdú (curador). Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Publicacions generals, Barcelona 2009. – 169 p. I. Vallverdú i Canes, Francesc «Pròleg: La commemoració d’un gran esdeveniment»; II. Moll i Marquès, Aina «Mossèn Alcover, de la Lletra de convit als preparatius del Congrés de 1906»; III. Solà i Cortassa, Joan «Pompeu Fabra abans i després del Congrés de 1906»; IV. Badia i Margarit, Antoni M. «Els romanistes abans i després del Congrés de 1906»; V. Pitarch i Almela, Vicent «El Congrés de 1906, un horitzó per al valencianisme»; VI. Miralles i Solà, Carles «Els escriptors i el Congrés de 1906»; VII. Segarra i Neira, Mila «Envers la planificació del corpus»; VIII. Martí i Castell, Joan «Envers la planificació de l’estatus» Deu testimonis del segle XX, deu lliçons per al segle XXI. Curs d’alts estudis sobre cultura, política i societat /

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Ricard Torrents (curador). Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Publicacions generals, Barcelona 2009. – 307 p. I. Giner i de San Julián, Salvador «La consciència racional del país. A propòsit dels deu testimonis del segle XX»; II. Torrents, Ricard «Introducció a un curs sobre un possible cànon de pensadors catalans del segle XX»; III. Puig i Salellas, Josep M. «Enric Prat de la Riba (1870-1917). La nacionalitat catalana (1906). El procés de recuperació institucional»; IV. Lluís Font, Pere «Joan Maragall (1860-1911). La ciutat del perdó i altres escrits (1909). La cons ciència civil»; V. Casasús i Guri, Josep M. «Contraponència»; VI. Ramírez Sarrió, Dídac «Eugeni d’Ors (1881-1954). Glosari (1906-1920). La construcció d’una cultura»; VII. Fullat i Genís, Octavi «Contraponència»; VIII. Cots, Jordi «Alexandre Galí (1886-1969). Per la llengua i per l’escola (1931). L’aposta per l’educació»; IX. González-Agápito, Josep «Contraponència»; X. Triadú, Joan «Carles Riba (1893-1959). Elegies de Bierville (1943). Humanisme contra barbàrie»; XI. Torrents, Ricard «Contraponència»; XII. Terricabras, Josep M. «Josep Ferrater Móra (1912-1991). Les formes de la vida catalana (1944-1960). Identitats»; XIII. Amengual, Gabriel «Contraponència»; XIV. VilàValentí, Joan «Jaume Vicens Vives (1910-1960). Notícia de Catalunya (1960). La diversitat temàtica de l’obra de Vicens Vives»; XV. Puig i Bastard, Pere «Contraponència»; XVI. Roca, Encarna «Maria Aurèlia Capmany (1918-1991). La dona a Catalunya: consciència i situació (1966). La lluita per la igualtat». XVII. Solé, Carlota «Contraponència»; XVIII. Colom i Cañellas, Antoni J. «Francesc de B. Moll (1903-1991). Els altres quaranta anys (1975). La unitat de la llengua»; XIX. Mira, Joan Francesc «Joan Fuster (1922-1992). Un país sense política (1976). La mirada crítica». XX. Moragas, Miquel de «Contraponència»; XXI. «Annex I»; XXII. «Annex II». El Diari «La Vida» (La Habana 1900-1913) / a cura de Joan Miralles i Monserrat i Honorat Jaume i Font; pròleg de Núria Gregori; amb la col·laboració de Jorge Domingo, Perfecto Quadrado i Rafael Viñas. Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 2009. – 1195 p. Discursos de les festes anuals i de les inauguracions de curs (1914-2006) / La recopilació dels discursos i la introducció han estat a cura d’Albert Balcells, membre de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Barcelona 2009. – 909 p. I. Balcells i González, Albert «Introducció»; II. Rubió i Lluch, Antoni «L’Institut d’Estudis Catalans: discurs llegit el 28 de maig de 1914 en la I Festa Anual de l’Institut»; III. Ors i Rovira, Eugeni d’ «Discurs: llegit el 30 d’abril de 1916 en la II Festa

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Anual de l’Instiut»; IV. Ors i Rovira, Eugeni d’ «Discurs: llegit el 29 d’abril de 1917 en la III Festa Anual de l’Instiut»; V. Bofill i Pichot, Josep Maria «Contribució a la crònica de la història natural a Catalunya: discurs llegit el 28 d’abril de 1918 en la IV Festa Anual de l’Institut»; VI. Nicolau d’Olwer, Lluís «L’Esperit català de la Crònica d’en Ramon Muntaner: discurs llegit el 28 d’abril de 1918 en la IV Festa Anual de l’Institut»; VII. Ors i Rovira, Eugeni d’ «Discurs: llegit el 28 d’abril de 1918 en la IV Festa Anual de l’Institut»; VIII. Ruy ra i Oms, Joaquim «L’Educació de la inventiva: discurs llegit el 4 de maig de 1921 en la V Festa Anual de l’Institut»; IX. Bofill i Mates, Jaume «El nostre verb social: discurs llegit el 4 de maig de 1922 en la VI Festa Anual de l’Institut»; X. Martorell i Trabal, Francesc «Alguns aspectes de la vida íntima d’Alfons el Magnànim: discurs llegit el 3 de maig de 1923 en la VII Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XI. Serra i Húnter, Jaume «Naturalesa i voluntat: discurs llegit el 31 de maig de 1931 en la VIII Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XII. Riba i Bracons, Carles «Els poetes i la llengua comuna: discurs llegit el 15 de maig de 1932 en al IX Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XIII. Fontserè i Riba, Eduard «D’on venim i on anem en l’estudi de l’atmosfera: discurs llegit el 30 d’abril de 1933 en la X Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XIV. López i Picó, Josep M. «Filòlegs i poetes: discurs llegit el 24 d’abril de 1934 en la XI Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XV. Carner i Puig-Oriol, Josep «Universalitat i cultura: discurs llegit el 29 d’abril de 1935 en la XII Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XVI. Valls i Taberner, Ferran «Jaume Marquilles considerat com a historiador: discurs llegit el 20 de maig de 1936 en la XIII Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XVII. Riba i Bracons, Carles «Centenari de Jacint Verdaguer: discurs llegit el 23 d’abril de 1944 en la XIV Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XVIII. Carreras i Artau, Joaquim «Una intervenció d’Arnau de Vilanova en les controvèrsies teològiques amb els jueus: discurs llegit el 23 d’abril de 1945 en la XV Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XIX. Sagarra de Castellarnau, Josep M. de «L’actualitat de Dant : discurs pronunciat el 27 d’abril de 1946 en la XVI Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XX. Anglès i Pàmies, Higini «El cant popular i la dansa religiosa a Montserrat al segle XIV: discurs llegit el 1947 en la XVII Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XXI. Bataller i Calatayud, Josep Ramon «Els Corrents subterranis a Catalunya: discurs llegit el 1948 en la XVIII Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XXII. Duran i Sanpere, Agustí «Els torneigs de la Confraria de Sant Jordi: discurs llegit el 1949 en la XIX Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XXIII. Abadal i de Vinyals, Ramon d’ «Dos retaules de la vida carolíngia a Catalunya: discurs llegit el 1950 en la XX Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XXIV. Bohigas i Balaguer, Pere «Entorn

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del plagi i del suggeriment: discurs llegit el 10 de maig de 1951 en la XXI Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XXV. Cervera i Astor, Leandre «Letamendisme i unitat psicosomàtica: discurs llegit el 1952 en la XXII Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XXVI. Font i Quer, Pius «Història de dos botànics catalans: discurs llegit el 1953 en la XXIII Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XXVII. Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís «La guerra i els elements essencials del combat a la Catalunya medieval : discurs llegit el 1954 en la XXIV Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XXVIII. Esteve i Subirana, Antoni «Els medicaments d’abans i de després del 1900: discurs llegit el 1955 en la XXV Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XXIX. Serra i Ràfols, Josep de Calassanç «Comerç i camins a la Catalunya primitiva: discurs llegit el 15 de maig de 1956 en la XXVI Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XXX. Riba i Bracons, Carles «Discurs llegit en la commemoració del cinquantenari de l’Institut: discurs llegit el 30 de desembre de 1957 en la Festa Anual de l’Institut celebrada a casa dels senyors Bonet-Garí»; XXXI. Bosch i Gimpera, Pere «De la Catalunya primitiva a la Catalunya medieval: discurs que havia d’ésser llegit el 1959 a la Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XXXII. Nicolau d’Olwer, Lluís «Joan Maragall: discurs llegit el 27 d’abril de 1961 en la sessió plenària de l’Institut i datat a Mèxic el 21 de març del mateix any»; XXXIII. Soldevila i Zubiburu, Ferran «Josep de Villarroya i la Crònica de Jaume I: discurs llegit el 15 de maig de 1964 en la sessió plenària de l’Institut»; XXXIV. Domingo i Sanjuán, Pere «El Neocolonialisme derivat de l’avenç científic: discurs llegit en la sessió inaugural del curs 1967-1968»; XXXV. Coll i Alentorn, Miquel «Dos humanistes italians en la nostra historiografia: discurs llegit el 7 de maig de 1971 en la Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XXXVI. Mundó i Marcet, Anscari Manuel «Estat actual dels estudis sobre paleografia: discurs llegit el 29 d’abril de 1975 en la Festa Anual de l’Institut»; XXXVII. Ras i Oliva, Enric «Catalunya i la tecnologia com a fet cultural: adequació de l’ensenyament tecnològic universitari: discurs llegit el 4 de novembre de 1982 en la sessió inaugural del curs 1982-1983»; XXXVIII. Carbonell i de Ballester, Jordi «El català com a llengua de cultura moderna: discurs llegit el 21 de novembre de 1983 en la sessió inaugural del curs 1983-1984»; XXXIX. Laporte i Salas, Josep «Població i salut a Catalunya: discurs llegit el 17 d’octubre de 1985 en la sessió inaugural del curs 19851986»; XL. Badia i Margarit, Antoni M. «Coherència i arbitrarietat de la substitució lin güística dins la Crònica de Jaume I: discurs llegit el 14 d’octubre de 1987 en la sessió inaugural del curs 1987-1988»; XLI. Gasòliba i Böhm, Carles A. «Catalunya en la perspectiva de la integració a la CEE el 1992: discurs llegit el 10 d’octubre de 1988

Historical publications of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans during 2009

en la sessió inaugural del curs 1988-1989»; XLII. Puig Salellas, Josep M. «La Situació jurídica de la llengua catalana, avui: discurs llegit el 5 d’octubre de 1989 en la sessió inaugural del curs 19891990»; XLIII. Casassas i Simó, Lluís «La Ciutat metropolitana i la unitat de Catalunya: discurs llegit el 16 d’octubre de 1990 en la sessió inaugural del curs 1990-1991»; XLIV. Duran i Grau, Eulàlia «Sobre la mitificació dels orígens històrics nacionals catalans: discurs llegit el 15 d’octubre de 1991 en la sessió inaugural del curs 1991-1992»; XLV. Alegret i Sanromà, Salvador «Sobre senyals, sensors i altres aspectes de l’anàlisi química: discurs llegit el 14 d’octubre de 1992 en la sessió inaugural del curs 1992-1993»; XLVI. Martí i Castell, Joan «El Primer Congrés Internacional de la Llengua Catalana: significació sociolingüística: discurs llegit el 14 d’octubre de 1993 en la sessió inaugural del curs 1993-1994»; XLVII. Bellés i Ros, Xavier «Sobre paradisos perduts i espècies extingides: la crisi de la biodiversitat: discurs llegit el 13 d’octubre de 1994 en la sessió inaugural del curs 1994-1995»; XLVIII. Pagès Fita, Jaume «La formació universitària dels tècnics a Catalunya: discurs llegit el 19 d’octubre de 1995 en la sessió inaugural del curs 1995-1996»; XLIX. Moran i Ocerinjauregui, Josep «Consideracions sobre l’onomàstica: discurs llegit el 16 de setembre de 1996 en la sessió inaugural del curs 1996-1997»; L. Estruch i Gibert, Joan «La Sociologia com a perspectiva: discurs llegit el 22 de setembre de 1997 en la sessió inaugural del curs 1997-1998»; LI. Mayer i Olivé, Marc «L’art de la falsificació: Falsae inscriptiones a l’epigrafia romana de Catalunya: discurs llegit el 21 de setembre de 1998 en la sessió inaugural del curs 1998-1999»; LII. Garcia Sevi lla, Lluís «Conformitat social i identitat lingüística: discurs llegit el 20 de setembre de 1999 en la sessió inaugural del curs 1999-2000»; LIII. Barceló i Cullerés, Damià «Contaminació orgànica i efectes estrogènics en les aigües residuals: discurs llegit el 20 de setembre de 2000 en la sessió inaugural del curs 2000-2001»; LIV. Cabré i Fabré, Jaume «Llegia però no movia els llavis (notes sobre la lectura literària): discurs llegit el 19 de setembre de 2001 en la sessió inaugural del curs 2001-2002»; LV. Guinot i Rodríguez, Enric «Sobre prenoms i cognoms: l’antroponímia medieval, eina d’anàlisi històrica: discurs llegit el 26 de setembre de 2002 en la sessió inaugural del curs 2002-2003»; LVI. Peretó i Magraner, Juli «Què és la vida i com podem fabricar-la: discurs llegit el 22 de setembre de 2003 en la sessió inaugural del curs 2003-2004»; LVII. Mira i Casterà, Joan Francesc «Nosaltres i els italians: discurs llegit el 27 de setembre de 2004 en la sessió inaugural del curs 2004-2005»; LVIII. Roca i Fabregat, Pere «Antoni Gaudí i el disseny

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estructural: la síntesi de la geometria i de la resistència: discurs llegit el 26 de setembre de 2005 en la sessió inaugural del curs 2005-2006»; LIX. Massagué i Solé, Joan «Oncologia a principis del segle XXI: conferència inaugural del Centenari de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans al Palau de la Música Catalana, Barcelona, 16 d’octubre de 2006» Miquel Carreras Costajussà i la filosofia catalana d’entreguerres (1918-1939) / coordinació i edició a cura de Pompeu Casanovas. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Societat Catalana de Filosofia, Barcelona 2009. – 334 p. : il. I. Casanovas i Romeu, Pompeu «Introducció»; II. Abrams, D. Sam «Filosofia i literatura a Catalunya entre la Dictadura i la Segona República»; III. Mora, Antoni «Criterion: una revista de filosofia catòlica i catalana»; IV. Casanovas i Romeu, Pompeu «Política i filosofia en Cristòfor de Domènec (19141927)»; V. Cachón Cadenas, Manuel Jesús «Josep Xirau i Palau: apunts sobre la seva vida i obra»; VI. Serra Labrado, Xavier «La filosofia al País Valencià entre el 1919 i el 1939»; VII. Casanovas i Romeu, Pompeu ; Monserrat i Molas, Josep «Universitat i filosofia en el temps de Miquel Carreras»; VIII. «Fotografies»; IX. Martín i Berbois, Josep Lluís «Cultura i política a Sabadell en el primer terç del segle XX (1906-1936)»; X. Casanovas, Àngels «L’entorn familiar i les relacions personals de Miquel Carreras»; XI. Domènech i Domènech, Salvador «Miquel Carreras i l’Institut-Escola Manuel Bartolomé Cossío»; XII. Deu Baigual, Esteve «Miquel Carreras i Costajussà, historiador»; XIII. Comasòlivas i Font, Joan ; Torruella i Llopart, Jordi «Miquel Carreras i Costajussà, arxiver»; XIV. Trujillo Reyes, Àlex «Miquel Carreras i Costajussà, advocat»; XV. Casanovas, Àngels «Cronologia i bibliografia de Miquel Carreras i Costajussà»; XVI. «Bibliografia»; XVII. «Índex onomàstic»; XVIII. «Dades dels autors» Oriol de Bolòs i Capdevila : sessió en memòria : Sala Prat de la Riba 11 de març de 2008. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Secció de Ciències Biològiques. Reial Acadèmia de Ciències i Arts de Barcelona, Barcelona 2009. (Semblances biogràfiques; 49). – 59 p. I. Durfort i Coll, Mercè «Oriol de Bolòs i les institucions acadèmiques de Catalunya»; II. Montserrat, Josep Maria «El doctor Oriol de Bolòs i l’Institut Botànic de Barcelona»; III. Vigo i Bonada, Josep «Oriol de Bolòs i la Flora dels Països Catalans»; IV. Masalles i Saumell, Ramon Maria «Oriol de Bolòs i la fitocenologia»; V. Llimona i Pagès, Xavier «Oriol de Bolòs i la criptogàmia»; VI. Terradas i Serra, Jaume «Oriol de Bolòs i els Monegres»; VII. Foguet i Ambrós, Rafael «In memoriam Oriol de Bolòs i Capdevila (1924-2007)»; VIII.

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Vallverdú i Canes, Francesc «Una faceta poc coneguda d’Oriol de Bolòs» Els Països Catalans i Europa durant els darrers cent anys / Albert Balcells (coordinador). Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Publicacions generals, Barcelona 2009. – 388 p. I. Balcells i González, Albert «Pròleg»; II. Boira i Maiques, Josep Vicent «El reflex de l’evolució industrial i agrícola en l’evolució del comerç amb Europa»; III. Cabana i Vancells, Francesc «Del proteccionisme a la internacionalització»; IV. Roca, Francesc «Les transformacions de la societat catalana de la primera a la segona globalització»; V. Costa-Pau, Manuel «La potència turística dels Països Catalans (o una particular indústria turística)»; VI. Pujol, Enric «Exilis i migracions contemporànies»; VII. Fontbona, Francesc «Les influències europees en les arts plàstiques catalanes i la projecció dels artistes de parla catalana a la resta d’Europa»; VIII. Castellanos, Jordi «Les influències europees en la literatura catalana i la seva projecció a la resta d’Europa»; IX. Escalas, Romà «Les influències recíproques pel que fa a la música culta i la popular moderna»; X. Foguet i Boreu, Francesc «El teatre i el cinema: influències i projecció exterior (19072007); XI. Montaner, Josep Maria «Catalunya i Europa: influències mútues en el camp de l’arquitectura»; XII. Casassas Ymbert, Jordi «Els intel· lectuals i la dinàmica cultural catalana del noucents»; XIII. Griera i Llonch, Maria M. «Religió, pluralisme i laïcitat als Països Catalans i a Europa. La influència europea»; XIV. Montserrat Molas, Josep «Els corrents filosòfics europeus als països de parla catalana i la projecció dels seus pensadors a Europa»; XV. Pujol, Enric «Historiografia: influèn cies europees»; XVI. Pagès i Blanch, Pelai «Ideals polítics europeus als països de parla catalana i imatges positives i negatives de les experiències històriques d’aquests a l’Europa del segle XX»; XVII. Santacana, Carles «La dimensió europea de la política catalana al llarg del segle XX»; XVIII. Guibernau i Berdun, Montserrat «Els diversos corrents del catalanisme en relació amb l’europeisme al llarg del segle XX»; XIX. «Taula rodona: Balanç de la incorporació dels països de parla catalana a la Unió Europea»; XX. «Taula rodona: L’acció política catalana a Europa: mitjans, aspectes i balanç»; XXI. «Taula rodona: La nacionalitat i la cultura catalanes a l’Europa futura». Perspectiva musical de Catalunya des de la Revista Musical Catalana (1904-2008) / A cura de Romà Esca-

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las i Llimona. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona 2009. – 275 p. : il. I. Giner i de San Julián, Salvador «Presentació»; II. Comellas i Colldeforns, Jaume «Revista Musical Catalana: dues èpoques, dos conceptes de contingut»; III. Cortès i Mir, Francesc «Música coral a Catalunya: a la recerca d’ideals»; IV. Dolcet i Rodríguez, Josep «El piano i la seva presència a Catalunya des de la Revista Musical Catalana»; V. Escalas i Llimona, Romà «El patrimoni organològic a Catalunya»; VI. Ferrer i Puig, Biel ; Vilar i Herms, Ramon «Aportacions etnomusicològiques des de la Revista Musical Catalana»; VII. Garrigosa i Massana, Joaquim «Música i religió»; VIII. Mangado i Artigas, Josep M. «El món guitarrístic a Barcelona (1908-2008)»; IX. Rifé i Santaló, Jordi «El patrimoni musical: les obres i el seu estudi musicològic»; X. Romaní i Turullols, Albert «Els estils d’interpretació històrica a Barcelona i Catalunya»; XI. Taverna-Bech, Francesc «Entre les avantguardes d’un centenari, amb un llarg entreacte»; XII. Aviñoa Pérez, Xosé «Acollida a Catalunya de les influències internacionals» Aymerich i Bernal, Isidre. El Paper moneda, els bons i els vals a la Segarra durant la Guerra Civil (19361939). Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Publicacions vinculades, Barcelona 2009. – 79 p. : il. Corbella i Corbella, Jacint. L’Institut de Fisiologia de Barcelona (1920-1939). Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Secció de Ciències Biològiques, Barcelona 2009. – 242 p. : il. Cortiñas Rovira, Sergi. Història de la divulgació científica. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Secció de Ciències i Tecnologia, Barcelona 2009. – 198 p. Fontbona, Francesc. Catalunya i les Ciències, grup escultòric de Josep Llimona per a l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Publicacions generals, Barcelona 2009. – 16 p. : il. Monés i Pujol-Busquets, Jordi. El pensament escolar a Catalunya, 1760-1845. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Societat Catalana de Pedagogia, Barcelona 2009. – 119 p. Vallseca, Gabriel de; Pujades i Bataller, Ramon J. La Carta de Gabriel de Vallseca de 1439 / [Estudi i edició:] Ramon J. Pujades i Bataller. Lumenartis. Govern de les Illes Balears. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Biblioteca de Catalunya, Barcelona 2009. – 358 p. : il.

Catalan Historical Review Number 3 / 2010

Catalan Version

Institvt d’Estvdis Catalans Barcelona • Catalonia

Catalan Historical Review Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona

Sumari

Número 3

2010

Albert Balcells

145

Introducció

Josep Guitart

147

L’origen de les primeres ciutats romanes de Catalunya. Una aproximació des de l’arqueologia

Flocel Sabaté

163

La Catalunya dels segles x-xii i la definició historiogràfica del feudalisme

Lola Badia

185

«Volent escriure a vostra consolació e plaer»: Metge, Corella i altres mestres de la prosa catalana dels segles xiv i xv

Agustí Alcoberro

197

La Guerra de Successió espanyola als Països Catalans

Teresa Abelló

213

L’anarquisme als països de parla catalana: entre el sindicalisme i la propaganda (1868-1931)

Francesc Miralles

227

Entorn del Surrealisme català

237

Sisè centenari de Francesc Eiximenis

241

Sessió a l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans sobre la dimensió civicopolítica de l’obra de l’historiador Jaume Vicens Vives

CATALAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 3: 145-146 (2010) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona ISSN: 2013-407X http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/

Introducció

Com els dos primers números de la nostra revista, aquest tercer està dedicat a oferir balanços de l’estat dels coneixements sobre grans temes de la història dels Països Catalans. La llengua catalana és un idioma romànic, derivat del llatí, i això indica que la dominació romana tingué damunt el territori una influència decisiva i perdurable que s’exercí des de les ciutats noves o reestructurades. Per això el primer article d’aquest número tracta de les primeres ciutats romanes al territori de l’actual Catalunya, és a dir, al de la major part del Conventus Tarraconensis, i ofereix el coneixement arqueològic que en tenim. En un número proper, com a complement del que aquí es publica, hi haurà un article dedicat al mateix tema al territori de l’actual País Valencià. Com a altres països europeus, els orígens de la Catalunya d’avui cal cercar-los en els segles x i xi i en el feudalisme. Per això el segon dels articles d’aquest número està dedicat a aquest tema crucial. L’autor s’endinsa en els debats sobre el concepte de feudalisme i la seva aplicació a la Catalunya medieval, en la qual les institucions feudals tingueren unes arrels autòctones, tot i que similars a altres d’europees. Aquesta és una temàtica molt ampla que ofereix aspectes diferents que seran tractats en articles de números posteriors de Catalan Historical Review. Al primer número, vàrem dedicar un article a la figura de Ramon Llull. Continuant aquesta temàtica, oferim aquí un estudi sobre els prosistes en llengua catalana dels segles xiv i xv, un moment en què la llengua vernacla estava arribant, abans que en d’altres nacions europees, a un primer estadi de maduresa, encara que el llatí, a l’albada del que es denomina Renaixement humanista, no sols continuava tenint el prestigi de llengua culta internacional, sinó que prenia una nova embranzida amb un millor coneixement dels clàssics antics. Des de l’obra de Bernat Metge fins a les novel·les de cavalleries, hi hagué tot un desplegament de la prosa catalana, que les gran cròniques dels segles xiii i xiv havien iniciat. Les institucions polítiques catalanes que estructuraven la societat i manifestaven un grau important d’autonomia al Principat de Catalunya i als regnes de València, de Mallorca i d’Aragó van ser abolides després de la derrota catalana per l’absolutisme del primer rei de la casa de Borbó, Felip V, un monarca de nacionalitat francesa, després d’una cruenta guerra. El conflicte tingué lloc entre el 1705 i el 1714 com una part d’una conflagració de dimensions europees: la Guerra de Successió espanyola. Existeix sobre aquesta guerra a la península Ibèrica, sobre els seus orígens, desenvolupament i conseqüències, una abundant bibliografia, de la qual s’ofereix aquí un balanç complet, escrit per un dels especialistes en el tema, igual que en el

cas dels altres articles d’aquest número. En qualsevol cas, la conversió del Principat de Catalunya i dels regnes de València i Mallorca en províncies espanyoles, sense institucions pròpies, fou deguda a la força de les armes i no a la voluntat dels seus habitants. Pel que fa a la història de l’art, no hi ha dubte que el surrealisme ha comptat amb grans figures catalanes i les obres dels artistes adscrits a aquest corrent figuren entre les que més relleu internacional han tingut. Per això, el tema mereix en aquest número una visió de síntesi que no es limita a la figura i l’obra de Salvador Dalí i Joan Miró, sinó que considera altres artistes valuosos. En la història política i social de Catalunya i del País Valencià –i menys en la de les Illes Balears–, l’anarquisme ha jugat un paper important en els segles xix i xx, més que a d’altres països llatins. Per això aquí s’ofereix una síntesi de l’amplíssima bibliografia que ha generat l’estudi d’aquest tema, tan extensa que s’ha dividit en dues parts, una que comprèn el darrer terç del segle xix fins al canvi de règim polític a Espanya el 1931, que és l’article que apareix en aquest número, i una altra que apareixerà en un número posterior i que abastarà els anys trenta i arribarà fins al final de la Guerra Civil, durant la qual la influència dels anarquistes, en les seves diverses tendències, arribà al seu moment culminant amb la revolució desencadenada el 1936 arran del fracàs del cop d’estat del 19 de juliol. A la coberta es reprodueix un fragment d’un gravat històric que correspon a l’assalt final a la muralla de Barcelona, el setembre de 1714, per les tropes francoespanyoles per les bretxes obertes al mur per la part nord-est del pe rímetre fortificat de la ciutat. És obra de Jacint RigauRos (1659-1743), el famós pintor de cambra i retratista de Lluís XIV. L’artista, conegut pels francesos com a Hyacinthe Rigaud, era català de Perpinyà. El monarca li encarregà dibuixar les fases successives del setge de Barcelona com un exemple –entre altres de possibles– de la tècnica militar per assetjar i assaltar una ciutat fortificada. Cada gravat té una explicació al peu en francès completament asèptica i el títol d’aquest en concret és: «L’assalt al cos de la plaça». Volem agrair les nombroses comunicacions que hem rebut dels receptors i lectors de la revista. Cada número imprès en paper és enviat a quatre-centes biblioteques nacionals, universitàries i acadèmiques de tot el món. També volem destacar que la nostra revista ha estat incorporada a la base de dades bibliogràfica DICE (Difusión y Calidad Editorial de las Revistas Españolas de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales y Jurídicas), la qual és el resultat d’un conveni de col·laboració entre el Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) i la Agencia Nacio-

146 Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010

nal de Evaluación de la Calidad y Acreditación (ANECA), entitat que la utilitza com a referència de qualitat editorial en els seus processos d’avaluació de professorat. A més, també la podem trobar indexada a bases de dades bibliogràfique s tan importants com RACO, la base catalana que conté mes de 274 revistes; DIALNET, de la Universitat de la Rioja, que té indexades 5.685 revistes; FECYT (Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología), amb 2.480 revistes; DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), gestionada per la Universitat de Lund (Suè cia), amb 5.149, i LATINDEX (Universidad Nacional de México), amb més de 18.000. Pel que fa a la versió electrònica, cal remarcar que el nombre de descàrregues dels nostres articles en format PDF supera ja les 7.500. Es trac-

ta d’una xifra molt satisfactòria per a una revista científica de nova creació, referida a un àmbit geogràfic de dimen sions modestes i sense estat propi, si bé amb una historiografia rica i acreditada que abasta un espai de temps de més dos mil·lennis. Finalment, volem informar als lectors que Catalan Historical Review és la primera revista de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans que compta amb un bloc, com a canal de comunicació amb els seus lectors de l’àmbit internacional, i amb un espai propi a la xarxa social Facebook, on es convida a participar qui vulgui. Albert Balcells Editor

CATALAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 3: 147-162 (2010) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.1000.01.43 · ISSN: 2013-407X http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/

L’origen de les primeres ciutats romanes de Catalunya. Una aproximació des de l’arqueologia* Josep Guitart i Duran**

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Rebut 15 juliol 2009 · Acceptat 20 octubre 2009

Resum En els darrers decennis, els progressos de l’arqueologia aplicada al coneixement de les ciutats romanes del Països Catalans han començat a proporcionar una nova percepció sobre la qüestió dels orígens d’aquestes ciutats. En aquest article dedicat a Catalunya, i en el previst per al proper número referit al País Valencià, centrarem l’atenció en aquesta temàtica, que a la vegada proporciona valuoses precisions respecte als primers temps de la presència dels romans en aquestes terres. La majoria de les ciutats romanes documentades a Catalunya són, amb molt escasses excepcions, fundacions de nova planta. Amb elles es va constituir una xarxa de noves ciutats, que va tenir una incidència profunda en el procés de romanització que s’havia iniciat en els anys de la Segona Guerra Púnica i que va culminar al final de l’època romanorepublicana amb la fundació de Barcino. La informació arqueològica proporcionada per les ciutats de Tàrraco, Baetulo, Iluro, Iesso, Aeso, Gerunda i l’Empúries romana entre d’altres ens donen dades, encara fragmentàries però ja molt significatives, que ens permeten afinar les cronologies dels seus moments inicials i les característiques del seu primer desenvolupament en relació amb el context històric de l’època, que sens dubte va marcar els primers passos de la seva conformació urbana. Els primers anys del segle i aC se’ns presenten especialment dinàmics pel que fa a aquesta activitat urbanitzadora, que molt probablement va ser no només inspirada, sinó també planificada, per l’autoritat romana. Les noves ciutats, amb el seu urbanisme regular, que desenvolupa retícules rigorosament ortogonals, i amb els seus recintes fortificats, van implantar aquí els models de ciutat que els romans havien desenvolupat durant els anys de la seva expansió per la península Itàlica, i juntament amb la construcció de la xarxa viària posaren les bases de l’estructura del país, que marcaria ja tota l’època romana, i que en bona part es va mantenir en els segles posteriors fins avui.

Paraules clau: romanització, època romanorepublicana, topografia antiga, urbanisme romà, Hispània Citerior, Tàrraco, Emporiae, Baetulo, Iluro, Iesso

El coneixement dels orígens de les primeres ciutats romanes dels Països Catalans ha fet progressos importants a les darreres dècades, gràcies a les dades proporcionades pel desenvolupament de l’arqueologia aplicada als jaciments que constitueixen potencialment la base informativa més important per a enriquir aquest coneixement, a més de ser un valuós llegat del nostre patrimoni cultural.*** Ara fa poc més de trenta anys, el 1978, Miquel Tarradell dedicava un treball a les ciutats romanes dels Països Catalans, que va ser la base del seu discurs d’ingrés a la Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona,1 en el qual, * Vegeu les figures citades en aquest article en la versió en anglès d’aquest mateix número. Aquest article s’ha beneficiat del finançament del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, mitjançant el projecte d’investigació fonamental, de referència HAR2009-10752. ** Adreça de contacte: Josep Guitart i Duran. Departament de Ciències de l’Antiguitat i de l’Edat Mitjana. Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Campus Universitari. 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Catalonia, EU. Tel: +34 935813316. E-mail: josep.guitart@uab.cat

mitjançant el seu domini magistral dels coneixements arqueològics disponibles en aquell moment, traçava una síntesi brillant, tot remarcant la importància que a la nostra història té l’estudi de l’època antiga si volem entendre l’estructura del país. La panoràmica general que aportava Tarradell li permetia nombroses reflexions en la línia de vincular la problemàtica del període romà al procés històric general. En la seva voluntat de visió global del tema, posava en relleu diversos aspectes, per exemple la distribució territorialment equilibrada de la xarxa urbana forjada durant l’època romana i les pautes de la seva evolució fins a enllaçar amb la configuració del país a l’època medieval. Però l’èmfasi més important el posava ja en la qüestió dels orígens d’aquelles ciutats i en el seu paper en relació amb la transformació del món preromà de la civilització ibèrica i les seves eventuals perduracions dins el marc de la romanització. Intentava esbrinar les continuïtats i també el sentit de les noves fundacions urbanes i formulava estimulants hipòtesis de treball, sempre des de

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la prudència de qui coneixia molt bé les mancances de la documentació disponible. «Les investigacions sobre ciutats, basades sobretot en documents arqueològics», deia, «són obra de molts anys i d’equips diversos. Consolidar o desmentir aspectes que ara hem apuntat vol dir feina de molts anys.»2 Les tres dècades transcorregudes des d’aleshores han estat fructíferes per a l’arqueologia, que s’ha desenvolupat de manera exponencial a mesura que recuperàvem les institucions i la consciència social i política del valor del nostre patrimoni arqueològic i s’implementaven els mecanismes que n’havien de permetre la salvaguarda i l’estudi. És cert, i cal reconèixer-ho, que, malgrat els avenços fets, la informació arqueològica de què disposem continua essent molt fragmentària i que, per a moltes de les deduccions que volem extreure, les respostes han de basar-se encara en indicis que no sempre proporcionen tota la solidesa que voldríem per a les nostres conclusions. No hem d’oblidar que la majoria dels jaciments que contenen el gruix bàsic de la documentació arqueològica sobre aquelles ciutats d’època romana els tenim al dessota de les més importants, denses i dinàmiques ciutats actuals. Això explica en part que la majoria de les intervencions arqueològiques que s’hi han portat a terme als darrers anys no hagin estat programades amb criteris científics per resoldre qüestions interpretatives prèviament identificades, sinó a partir de les necessitats d’una arqueologia preventiva que intenta en primer lloc compaginar la dinàmica actual de la ciutat amb la preservació del seu patrimoni arqueològic, i sovint ho ha de fer amb actuacions massa lligades al dia a dia. En qualsevol cas, el resultat és palès. La nova i abundant documentació proporcionada per aquesta intensa activitat arqueològica permet aconseguir una mirada renovada sobre el procés de naixement d’aquelles primeres ciutats romanes i dóna precisions tipològiques i cronològiques que permeten inserir-les de manera molt més nítida en el procés de romanització d’aquestes terres. D’altra banda, l’interès del tema dins el marc general de l’arqueologia clàssica ha fet que es multipliquessin també els treballs interpretatius i de reflexió conjunta i ha produït una abundant bibliografia i alguns reculls recents tan significatius com els editats en el volum sobre València i les primeres ciutats d’Hispània,3 que inclou també alguns articles de referència sobre determinades ciutats romanes d’Itàlia, i en l’encara més recent dedicat a les primeres ciutats romanes a la «Hispania Tarraconensis».4 Per això hem considerat adient reprendre aquí aquest tema, centrant-lo en la qüestió dels orígens i mostrant com els progressos de l’arqueologia, la qual tant va contribuir a modernitzar el mateix Tarradell amb el seu mestratge, permeten precisar i enriquir ara considerablement aquell panorama. L’abundància de dades i la complexitat de la documentació ens aconsella centrar aquest primer article en les primeres ciutats romanes de Catalunya, amb la voluntat de complementar-lo amb un altre de dedicat a les ciutats romanes del País Valencià en el proper número d’aquesta mateixa publicació (fig. 1, p. 10).

Josep Guitart i Duran

Una primera constatació que cal remarcar és que les ciutats romanes que documentem a Catalunya són, amb molt escasses excepcions, fundacions de nova planta, que van tenir una incidència profunda en el procés de romanització que s’havia iniciat en els anys de la Segona Guerra Púnica i que respecte al fet urbà podem considerar que va culminar amb l’assoliment del dret colonial per part de Tàrraco amb Cèsar i la fundació de la colònia de Bàrcino (Barcelona), ja a l’època d’August. Un procés que, pel que fa a Catalunya, va comportar una nova estructura de l’hàbitat urbà i l’abandonament de la majoria dels assentaments ibèrics preromans existents en el moment inicial d’aquell procés a la darreria del segle iii aC. Gneu Corneli Escipió, ja des dels primers moments de la seva presència militar a Hispània, havia establert una petita guarnició a Tàrraco (Tarragona) després de la primera batalla amb l’exèrcit cartaginès el 218 aC, en els moments inicials de la guerra púnica. El lloc escollit va ser la part alta d’un turó arran de mar que dominava visualment la badia que havia de ser la seva àrea portuària al costat de la desembocadura del riu Francolí. Tit Livi (Titus Livius, en llatí) ens explica com l’any següent, el 217 aC, els romans i els seus aliats van albirar des de lluny (procul visa) la flota de reforç comandada per Publi Corneli Escipió amb trenta naus de guerra i molts vaixells de transport amb nombroses provisions, que va desembarcar en aquella badia (portum Tarraconis, escriu Livi).5 Aquell primer establiment aviat es va convertir en una fortalesa i en una important base d’operacions, de la qual els romans no perdrien en cap moment el control durant la guerra, ni en el moment més crític, el 211 aC, quan els dos germans Escipions van perdre la vida combatent al sud de la península Ibèrica. Tàrraco, que Plini el Vell qualificaria anys després d’Scipionum opus, després del conflicte bèl·lic es va consolidar com una de les places fortes més importants i va tenir un paper considerable en la consolidació i expansió dels romans a Hispània. Tenim poca informació sobre les seves característiques en aquells primers moments, però l’arqueologia mostra que la primera fortificació de Tàrraco amb la seva imponent aparença ciclòpia es devia començar a construir molt aviat, i que la muralla amb les seves torres de defensa estaven ja completades al principi del segle ii aC. A redós d’aquest potent recinte militar sorgirà en el curs del segle ii aC el que podem considerar la primera ciutat romana de Catalunya. Serà fruit d’un procés que es fa difícil de precisar en els detalls, però no hi ha dubte que cap al segle i aC la ciutat ja era una realitat acomplida. Aquí cal assenyalar que, des del final dels anys setanta, l’arqueologia ha anat aportant dades que proven la presència d’un assentament ibèric preromà a la part baixa de Tarragona, entre l’extrem sud-oest del turó costaner i la badia al costat del riu.6 Però cal dir també que aquesta part del jaciment s’ha treballat molt poc i de manera poc sistemàtica, i que la informació que tenim d’aquell assenta-

L’origen de les primeres ciutats romanes de Catalunya. Una aproximació des de l’arqueologia

ment és encara avui molt precària. Només podem documentar restes inconnexes en diversos punts; algunes són restes d’estructures arquitectòniques interpretades com a espais de residència, però no tenim l’amplitud d’excavació necessària per a definir-les adequadament.7 Els materials apareguts ens donen evidències des del segle vi aC i les restes dels segles v i iv aC són ben eloqüents. Per al segle iii aC, les dades són més desiguals, però sembla que cal deduir-ne la continuïtat i, per tant, que el primer establiment romà s’hauria situat al costat d’aquest hàbitat preexistent. Esbrinar el paper que va tenir aquest nucli indígena en el desenvolupament de la ciutat romana és encara avui molt problemàtic, per la feblesa i la precarietat de les dades de què disposem, i deixa lògicament la qüestió interpretativa molt oberta. Cal dir que les implicacions d’aquest tema han interessat abundosament tant els estudiosos de l’arqueologia romana com els protohistoriadors, i han generat interpretacions diverses, que toquen aspectes d’interès, també respecte a la qüestió que ens ocupa. S’ha tendit, sobretot per part dels arqueòlegs iberistes, a donar per fet que es tracta d’un oppidum ibèric de notable envergadura, al qual s’atribuiria un paper geopolític molt rellevant respecte a la Cossetània i al conjunt dels pobles ibèrics de Catalunya.8 No hi ha dubte que les derivacions que resulten del desenvolupament d’aquestes hipòtesis són estimulants i han estat útils per a traçar un primer model interpretatiu de les darreres fases del món ibèric de la costa catalana, model que caldrà contrastar i debatre també des de la perspectiva de l’arqueologia romana. Mentrestant, però, em sembla encertada la crida a la prudència feta respecte al jaciment tarragoní fins que l’arqueologia no ens el documenti millor, en el sentit que potser se n’ha sobrevalorat la importància, ja que de moment hi ha una clara desproporció entre el pes territorial que se li atribueix i les evidències arqueològiques que en tenim, i és possible que el pes geopolític de la Tàrraco tardorepublicana hagi influït en la valoració històrica del nucli ibèric precedent.9 A més, la proposta d’identificar aquest nucli amb la Cesse de les monedes tardorepublicanes només és una hipòtesi possible, que d’altra banda no es deriva necessàriament d’una lectura estricta de les fonts textuals.10 A part de Tàrraco, a la qual tornarem després per referir-nos a la seva evolució tardorepublicana, per a tot el segle ii aC no tenim constància de cap altra iniciativa de colonització urbana en el territori de l’actual Catalunya. Des de la fortalesa de Tàrraco, i segurament amb el corresponent desplegament de guarnicions situades en posicions estratègiques, la República romana assegurava el domini polític i militar del país durant el primer segle de la seva presència. Per trobar les dues fundacions urbanes romanes més pròximes portades a terme en aquells anys, hem d’arribar pel sud fins a Valentia (València), fundada el 138 aC, i pel nord fins a Narbo Martius (Narbona), del 118 aC. Ambdues són bastant excepcionals respecte a les pautes de l’actuació romana en aquesta època a les llunyanes terres

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d’Occident, però tenen un valor de símptoma del canvi de tendència que no trigaria a produir-se. Avui sabem que aquest canvi va tenir lloc a partir dels primers anys del segle i aC. Però ni a les fonts literàries, ni a l’epigrafia, ni a cap altra de les fonts textuals que ens han arribat no hi ha cap referència que ens en deixi constància. Només l’arqueologia desenvolupada a Catalunya als darrers decennis ha permès deduir que entorn del 100 aC es va donar un canvi de tarannà i d’actuació dels romans pel que fa a la seva implantació al territori. La constatació arqueològica que les ciutats costaneres d’Iluro (Mataró), Baetulo (Badalona) i l’Empúries romana, i de les ciutats de Iesso (Guissona) i Aeso (Isona) a l’interior del país, van ser ciutats de nova planta fundades en aquests moments ha posat de manifest que va ser aleshores quan la implantació del model de ciutat romana creat a Itàlia durant els segles anteriors va tenir un desplegament decisiu en aquests territoris. Aquests avenços de l’arqueologia permeten rescatar de les tenebres de l’oblit una part important de la història del nostre país en el moment en què es començava a estructurar la seva xarxa urbana, que ha arribat fins avui. Però aquests progressos no estan exempts d’incerteses ni de problemes metodològics pendents encara de resoldre. Repassarem breument per a algunes d’aquestes ciutats fins a quin punt l’arqueologia ens proporciona dades clau per a interpretar-ne els orígens i les fases inicials, i evidenciarem com ens obre noves preguntes en el nostre afany d’ajustar la seva interpretació. Notarem com són d’especial ment significatius els esforços per a aconseguir que l’arqueologia ens precisi al més afinadament possible les dates inicials d’aquestes ciutats, ja que, com sempre, la cronologia és el cavall de batalla fonamental per a poder connectar l’arqueologia amb la història. Començarem per Iluro, a la costa de la Laietània. El subsòl del nucli antic de l’actual ciutat de Mataró ha proporcionat als darrers anys nous vestigis que han permès un avenç important en el coneixement tant de la seva realitat urbana com del context arqueològic del seu entorn en els moments fundacionals. L’arqueologia ens mostra una ciutat situada sobre una petita elevació a uns quatre-cents metres de la línia actual de costa i establerta a partir d’un esquema urbanístic regular de planta rectangular, orientat de sud-est a nordoest amb una desviació de vint-i-un graus respecte al nord magnètic. Les seves dimensions, malgrat els escassos vestigis per a fixar-ne els límits, s’han hipotetitzat amb molta versemblança al voltant dels 310 metres per 230 metres, i ens indiquen una superfície màxima de poc més de set hectàrees.11 La seva estructura urbana estava organitzada a partir d’una divisió ortogonal en insules mitjançant un mòdul d’un actus (120 peus) d’amplada. Un dels carrers resultants ha estat ben documentat en diversos punts del traçat gràcies a les excavacions preventives, i ha estat interpretat com el cardo màxim de la ciutat: en el punt on l’excavació

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ha permès constatar la seva amplada, és de nou metres; el seu paviment era de terra argilenca compactada i tenia voreres a ambdós costats d’1,70/1,80 metres d’amplada. S’han documentat també diversos trams de la claveguera i restes d’una font monumental que ocupava el centre del carrer en un dels trams excavats.12 Probablement l’amplada de nou metres d’aquest carrer fou el resultat d’una rectificació de l’esquema inicial, que segurament preveia una amplitud més modesta que devia augmentar a costa de les insules contigües. Respecte als decumani, les restes conservades són molt menys explícites i consegüentment el mòdul de longitud de les insules és difícil de precisar. A les interpretacions publicades s’ha proposat l’esquema d’insula quadrada, però caldrà encara que l’arqueologia ens ho corrobori en el futur. Pel que fa a la distribució dels espais urbans, s’ha assenyalat l’entorn de l’actual basílica de Santa Maria com el lloc on es podia ubicar el fòrum de la ciutat, i a l’angle sud-est del recinte hi trobem les restes d’unes termes d’època imperial, que probablement es van construir a la zona reservada per a aquests usos ja a l’esquema inicial.13 La cronologia inicial d’aquesta ciutat, podem situar-la sense cap dubte a la primera meitat del segle i aC. De fet, les datacions estratigràfiques ben constatades per algunes clavegueres i altres construccions ens mostren per a mitjan d’aquesta centúria la seva urbanització ja molt ben implantada. Tanmateix, quan demanem a l’arqueologia una precisió més ajustada per a la data del fet fundacional pròpiament dit, la conclusió és una mica més problemàtica i permet interpretacions divergents a causa de l’escassetat de documents arqueològics que ens il·lustrin les fases més antigues. Malgrat tot, unes excavacions preventives fetes els darrers anys han permès detectar algunes estructures i contextos estratigràfics que es daten bé als primers anys del segle i aC i que constitueixen sens dubte els primers vestigis d’ocupació del jaciment.14 Aquestes troballes ens confirmen en l’opinió que Iluro com a ciutat de nova planta pot tenir el seu origen en els moments inicials de la centúria, encara que, com és lògic, en un primer moment hi devia haver una certa precarietat constructiva que després aniria prenent forma progressivament per assolir a mitjan segle la plena consolidació. No em sembla convincent la interpretació que també s’ha formulat, en el sentit que aquests vestigis datats a l’inici del segle i aC haurien de considerar-se restes d’un petit assentament agrícola o comercial i, per tant, un precedent no urbà de la ciutat posterior (fig. 2, p. 12).15 Molt il·lustratives del context en què va sorgir aquesta ciutat de nova planta són les importants troballes arqueològiques recents a la vall de Cabrera de Mar, al peu d’un dels poblats indígenes més importants de la regió laietana, els orígens del qual es remunten al segle vi aC: l’oppidum de Burriac. Les excavacions efectuades a partir del 1997 al jaciment de Ca l’Arnau, al costat del poble actual de Cabrera, han posat al descobert restes d’un assentament d’estructura complexa que es data sens dubte a la

Josep Guitart i Duran

segona meitat del segle ii aC, encara que el seu moment inicial podria potser remuntar-se a la primera meitat d’aquest segle, i que va perdurar fins als primers anys del segle i aC.16 Entre les construccions documentades en aquest jaciment, destaquen les restes molt ben conservades d’unes termes de prop de tres-cents metres quadrats en planta que reprodueixen el model de termes romanes tardorepublicanes ben constatat a Itàlia i també a Hispània, amb els tres àmbits essencials: l’apoditeri, el tepidari i el caldari, aquest darrer equipat amb el forn corresponent per a escalfar l’aigua i amb un sistema d’hipocaust utilitzat únicament per al paviment de l’alveus. Les restes de tubuli en forma de fus recuperades a l’excavació del caldari i del tepidari permeten la reconstrucció de les voltes que devien cobrir aquests àmbits. Tant per la seva cronologia, que podria remuntar-se a mitjan segle ii aC, com pel model i la tècnica constructiva —que són clarament itàlics—, com per la presència de materials de construcció (tègules i imbrices) possiblement procedents de la zona del golf de Nàpols, aquest edifici adquireix una singularitat notable. A més, sembla que se situa en una posició central respecte a les construccions del seu entorn: a poca distància al sud d’aquestes termes s’ha documentat una àrea d’uns siscents metres quadrats amb habitacions disposades radialment respecte a l’espai que ocupen les termes (fig. 3, p. 13).17 Posteriorment, a un centenar de metres més al sud, a l’indret anomenat Can Benet, al costat de l’actual poliesportiu de Cabrera de Mar, s’hi han descobert noves restes, entre les quals set mosaics d’opus signinum decorats amb tessel·les blanques i alguna de negra que tracen una profusa decoració geomètrica. Aquestes troballes no han estat encara estudiades ni publicades, però sembla que cal datar-les al mateix moment que les anteriors i probablement ens documenten un espai de residència que formaria part del mateix conjunt.18 Aquest interessant jaciment està pendent de ser excavat en extensió, però no sembla desencaminada la seva interpretació com un assentament de filiació directament romana, probablement un centre de poder militar, polític i administratiu, i punt de control del territori, la situació del qual al peu de l’oppidum de Burriac ens parlaria de la connivència i la col·laboració del poder romà amb la socie tat indígena, una actitud segurament pròpia d’aquesta zona des dels anys de la Segona Guerra Púnica.19 La cronologia de l’abandonament d’aquest jaciment als primers anys del segle i aC suggereix amb força la seva coincidència amb la fundació de la ciutat d’Iluro. Els problemes arqueològics, encara no resolts, per a afinar la cronologia d’aquesta coincidència no permeten afirmar-ho amb tota la rotunditat que voldríem, però sembla molt versemblant que el nou centre urbà d’Iluro, establert ja amb els paràmetres i els models propis d’una ciutat romana, substituís aquest assentament anterior i se situés al costat del mar 4,5 quilòmetres més al nord-est, per convertir-se en el punt central de la presència romana en

L’origen de les primeres ciutats romanes de Catalunya. Una aproximació des de l’arqueologia

aquesta part de la regió laietana. Anys després, Plini, en la seva descripció de la Hispània Citerior, qualificarà Iluro d’oppidum civium Romanorum, és a dir, literalment, una ciutat fortificada de ciutadans romans.20 Ens podem preguntar també quina va ser la participació de l’element indígena en aquella nova fundació, però la resposta no és fàcil.21 L’oppidum de Burriac sembla que va continuar encara amb mostres de vitalitat fins a mitjan segle i aC, malgrat que hem d’admetre que coneixem encara molt poc i de manera molt fragmentària l’arqueologia d’aquest gran poblat, en contra del que podria fer pensar la seva fama i la seva copiosa presència a la nostra bibliografia dels darrers cent anys.22 D’altra banda, les dimensions reduïdes de la nova ciutat d’Iluro suggereixen més aviat la imatge d’una ciutat plaça forta en la qual l’element fonamental fos el romà o itàlic, encara que això no exclogués en absolut la presència de població autòctona.23 Centrem-nos ara en una altra d’aquestes noves ciutats: Baetulo, també un oppidum civium Romanorum segons Plini24 i situat a la mateixa costa laietana, vint quilòmetres al sud d’Iluro, sota la Badalona actual. L’arqueologia ha permès establir una hipòtesi bastant aproximada del que degué ser l’esquema fundacional de la ciutat, que presenta un recinte emmurallat de planta rectangular que fa uns 413 per 261 metres, és a dir, una superfície propera a les onze hectàrees (fig. 4, p. 14). Les restes arqueològiques documentades en algunes zones de la ciutat són bastant nombroses malgrat la superposició de la populosa ciutat actual i indiquen de forma diàfana que tant les construccions com la xarxa de carrers tenien una disposició ortogonal que dibuixava una quadrícula de nou per set insules, amb els eixos transversals paral·lels a la línia de la costa. La ciutat, molt propera al mar, s’aixecava sobre el vessant d’una petita elevació de pendent molt suau en direcció sud-est, però amb un desnivell brusc sobre l’inici de la platja. Aquesta topografia va condicionar l’estructura de l’oppidum, que quedava dividit naturalment en una part baixa sense solució de continuïtat amb la platja i una part alta sobre l’esmentat vessant. El fòrum, en posició central, degué situar-se a la zona alta, a prop d’aquell desnivell, buscant probablement un efecte escenogràfic i assumint el paper d’articular les diverses zones de la ciutat. La part alta es perfila com una zona residencial on tenim la majoria de les cases documentades. La part baixa, en canvi, sembla destinada a usos més comunitaris: s’hi documenten dos edificis termals situats, com a Iluro, a l’extrem sud-est del recinte, diverses tabernae i restes d’altres edificis que probablement han d’interpretar-se com a mercats o magatzems. Per aquesta part de la ciutat passava la via litoral (via Augusta a l’època imperial), que entrava per la porta propera a l’angle est del recinte emmurallat. Probablement aquesta via va centrar l’activitat comercial i artesanal de la ciutat.25 Un element arqueològic notable de Baetulo són les restes del seu recinte emmurallat, la construcció del qual es

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 151

data en els moments inicials de la ciutat. Una part del seu llenç nord-est fou descoberta per l’excavació portada a terme entre els anys 1934 i 1936: vint-i-quatre metres de muralla, una torre i una porta d’entrada a la ciutat que, per la seva disposició constructiva, hem de deduir que estava emmarcada per un arc de mig punt.26 El basament d’aquesta part de la fortificació es va construir amb tècnica d’obra poligonal de la segona modalitat de Lugli,27 excepte la part corresponent al portal, on es va utilitzar la quarta modalitat amb blocs trapezoïdals. El 1956 es va excavar també una part del llenç sud-est de la fortificació, el que donava cap a la platja, on es van descobrir vint-i-tres metres de muralla i dues torres semicirculars. La construcció conservava fins a 3,20 metres d’alçària, 2,25 metres dels quals corresponien als fonaments. Aquí la tècnica constructiva és ben diferent, ja que es va utilitzar l’opus caementicium amb revestiment d’obra poligonal a la part vista. Aquesta tècnica fou adoptada perquè en aquest tram la muralla s’assentava sobre un terreny sorrenc que requeria un fonament profund i sòlid. És a dir, els constructors romans s’adaptaren mestrívolament amb la seva tècnica a les condicions del terreny en el qual es disposaven a construir.28 La imatge inicial de la ciutat quedaria, doncs, caracteritzada per aquests elements: la muralla que la protegia i la delimitava, la planificació urbanística que l’organitzava i que marcava la pauta del seu desenvolupament futur, i probablement també un temple situat a l’espai destinat al fòrum, que presidiria el conjunt. Tanmateix per als primers decennis de la nova fundació tenim poques dades que permetin documentar els altres components urbans: arquitectura domèstica, edificis públics, infraestructures... Cal tenir en compte que les primeres instal·lacions degueren ser molt austeres, fins i tot precàries, i que només en un segon moment es van anar consolidant progressivament, però l’arqueologia no ens permet encara establir amb precisió la cronologia de les diverses fases d’aquesta evolució. El fet que a Baetulo el detall d’aquestes fases més antigues quedi encara molt inèdit malgrat les excavacions en extensió que s’hi han portat a terme pot ser degut a les característiques de la topografia sobre la qual es va aixecar la ciutat, que va comportar la realització de desmunts importants per a crear terrasses a mesura que les seves estructures s’anaven consolidant, i en conseqüència es van remoure eventuals sediments que ens haurien il·lustrat sobre les fases inicials. Això entorpeix la tasca d’establir amb tota la precisió i la seguretat que desitjaríem la cronologia del moment fundacional. Però al mateix temps ajuda a explicar la troballa de materials residuals dels primers anys del segle i aC als nivells arqueològics de cronologia posterior. Així, els estrats arqueològics més antics documentats fins avui en excavacions estratigràfiques rigoroses, malgrat que cal datar-los ja a la dècada dels anys 80/70 del segle i aC, contenen algunes restes ceràmiques la cronologia de les quals es remunta almenys a la primera dècada del segle.29

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Per tot això, i amb les reserves degudes a la fragilitat del tipus de documentació de què disposem, és possible mantenir també la proposta del moment fundacional de Baetulo ben a l’inici del segle i aC. En qualsevol cas, a mitjan segle i aC, el desenvolupament urbà de la ciutat ja estava ben consolidat. Va ser aleshores quan es van construir les termes que es van encaixar al fons de la terrassa inferior de la ciutat, que segurament s’adequà i se sistematitzà en aquest mateix moment. Són un exemple esplèndid i molt ben conservat de termes públiques, d’uns tres-cents cinquanta metres quadrats de superfície total, amb un esquema distributiu i una tècnica constructiva que va adoptar rigorosament el model arquitectònic i funcional establert i documentat a les ciutats d’Itàlia al darrer segle de la República romana.30 Tant les característiques de la muralla com les restes d’aquest edifici termal visitable avui al subsòl del museu de Badalona, com les restes de les cases d’atri documentades a la part alta de la ciutat, són elements que ens confirmen en la percepció de Baetulo com una ciutat pròpiament romana. També aquí, com a Iluro, la interpretació tradicional que ha vist en la nova ciutat un mer reassentament de la població indígena em sembla poc convincent i continuem considerant més adequat interpretar-la com una fundació per a assentar inicialment una nova població d’origen romanoitàlic. La nova ciutat no era lluny de l’emplaçament del poblat ibèric de Mas Boscà, ubicat sobre un turó que constitueix una de les primeres elevacions de la serralada litoral, situada a 2,4 quilòmetres del mar. L’arqueologia documenta per a aquest poblat un abandonament progressiu iniciat a mitjan segle ii aC, que va culminar al darrer quart d’aquest mateix segle31 i que coincideix i sens dubte s’ha de relacionar amb l’aparició de petits assentaments rurals situats a una certa distància de la costa, al peu dels primers turons d’aquella serralada. Tampoc aquí l’arqueologia no és gaire explícita per a il· lustrar la relació de l’element indígena amb els fundadors de la nova ciutat, però podem presumir que la integració degué ser ràpida i pacífica. La troballa recent a les excavacions de la ciutat romana de dues esteles funeràries ibèriques, que segurament cal datar a la primera meitat del segle i aC, amb noms de personatges d’indubtable filiació indígena, constitueix un indici eloqüent que reflecteix molt probablement un aspecte d’aquest procés d’integració.32 La recent descoberta al jaciment de Can Tacó actualment en curs d’excavació al Vallès Oriental, als municipis de Montmeló i de Montornès del Vallès, ens referma encara més en aquesta apreciació. Es tracta d’un lloc de representació i segurament també de residència: una gran construcció de 2.200 metres quadrats en planta, edificada amb factura clarament romana en un moment de la segona meitat del segle ii aC, encastellada sobre un turó situat al punt on es forma el riu Besòs per la confluència del Mogent i el Congost, un punt estratègic d’encreuament de

Josep Guitart i Duran

camins. La part principal de l’edifici era un cos quadrangular de 750 metres quadrats, i tot el conjunt estava rodejat d’un mur perimetral amb una porta d’entrada flanquejada per una torre. A l’interior, a més de l’esmentat cos principal, també hi ha un espai obert, diverses estances de servei que podrien haver allotjat una petita guarnició, i una gran cisterna construïda amb la més avançada tècnica romana de l’època (fig. 5, p. 16). L’excavació ha proporcionat restes notables de la decoració mural de les habitacions de la part principal, realitzada molt acuradament seguint els cànons del primer estil pompeià. Una troballa ben excepcional a la península Ibèrica, on són molt escassos els exemplars documentats d’aquest estil decoratiu, que sí que trobem a Itàlia i sobretot a Pompeia, utilitzat en la decoració de les luxoses cases del segle ii aC. Aquest element ens converteix Can Tacó en un assentament d’una singularitat paral·lela a la de Ca l’Arnau de Cabrera de Mar, al peu de Burriac, que hem comentat abans. Com el de Ca l’Arnau, l’assentament de Can Tacó sembla que també es va abandonar als primers anys del segle i aC, és a dir, al mateix moment que sorgien les ciutats de la costa laietana Baetulo i Iluro.33 Caldrà prosseguir i concloure l’excavació de Can Tacó al Vallès Oriental i de Ca l’Arnau-Can Benet al Maresme, però tot fa pensar que ambdós jaciments ens documenten una fase anterior al naixement d’aquestes ciutats, en la qual el poder romà s’exerceix i es representa des d’aquests assentaments tan excepcionals, però que van quedar sense funció i es van abandonar en el moment de fundar aquells dos nous oppida. Anem ara a l’interior de Catalunya, a Iesso, la ciutat dels iessonienses, classificats per Plini entre els populi latinorum del conventus tarraconensis.34 La situació d’aquesta ciutat queda ben acreditada per l’arqueologia i també per l’epigrafia en el lloc on avui tenim el poble de Guissona, a la comarca de la Segarra, quinze quilòmetres al nord de Cervera i a poc més d’un centenar de quilòmetres de la costa. Malgrat que el coneixement arqueològic d’aquesta ciutat està encara menys madur que a les dues ciutats costaneres descrites, els treballs d’excavació dels darrers anys han permès ja avançar significativament en algunes conclusions respecte a les seves característiques urbanes i a la seva cronologia. La topografia arqueològica de la ciutat ha anat definint-se gradualment i les dades disponibles, malgrat que encara són minses, són suficients per a plantejar una primera hipòtesi interpretativa de les línies generals de la seva disposició urbanística. El límit nord del perímetre urbà s’ha pogut establir amb seguretat gràcies a la localització i l’excavació d’una part de la muralla. Per als límits occidental i meridional, l’anàlisi de la fotografia aèria i dels plànols parcel·laris, combinada amb la informació proporcionada per les restes arqueològiques documentades, ha permès esbossar una proposta de traçat, ja que sembla evident que el recorregut de la muralla antiga ha

L’origen de les primeres ciutats romanes de Catalunya. Una aproximació des de l’arqueologia

quedat en part fossilitzat en algunes particions de les finques actuals. Així, i malgrat que el límit oriental queda per ara més indefinit, sembla que es pot deduir que la ciutat tenia un perímetre de planta poligonal irregular i una superfície total propera a les divuit hectàrees.35 Pel que fa a l’estructura urbana, tots els vestigis apunten que la ciutat tenia una ordenació regular a partir d’una retícula de carrers i insules. Les restes constructives que l’arqueologia ha anat documentant a tot el jaciment marquen quasi sempre la mateixa orientació, molt propera als punts cardinals, amb una lleugera desviació a l’oest respecte al nord magnètic. És la mateixa orientació que presenten els segments de carrers descoberts fins ara. Coneixem algun tram de l’eix nord-sud, el que degué ser el cardo màxim de la ciutat, que desembocava a la porta nord del recinte emmurallat. Per a la modulació de la retícula, tenim constància a la zona nord de la ciutat de les restes d’un altre carrer, un cardo minor, que discorre a un actus de distància (35,48 metres), a occident del possible cardo màxim, i que ens dóna, per tant, l’amplada de les insules. A la mateixa zona tenim notícia també de vestigis de dos carrers més, dos decumani, que indiquen una longitud per a les insules d’1,3 actus. Combinant aquestes dades amb el possible perímetre, es va proposar una hipòtesi de l’esquema general que hauria regulat el pla urbanístic de la ciutat.36 Els treballs arqueològics posteriors, tant les excavacions preventives en diversos punts de la ciutat com les excavacions més extensives que s’han pogut portar a terme a la zona nord, van confirmant en línies generals la validesa d’aquella hipòtesi (fig. 6, p. 17). És precisament a l’extrem nord de la ciutat on tenim més novetats arqueològiques. En aquest sector, s’hi ha constituït, des del 1999, un parc arqueològic de dimen sions properes a les dues hectàrees que ha permès iniciar l’anàlisi arqueològica detallada d’aquesta part del jaciment i que farà possible obrir les restes ja excavades a la visita pública (fig. 7, p. 17). Un dels elements urbans de la ciutat antiga presents en aquesta zona són les restes d’un llarg tram del llenç nord de la muralla. La seva presència va ser detectada durant la campanya de sondeigs efectuada el 1984, i ja aleshores se’n va poder fer una primera valoració arqueològica.37 Recentment se n’ha iniciat l’excavació en extensió, que ja ha posat al descobert uns quaranta metres del traçat, a més de la porta nord de la ciutat i d’una potent torre de defensa que flanquejava aquesta porta. La muralla té una amplada que oscil·la entre els 3,50 i els 3,80 metres; la seva base és massissa i construïda amb pedres de grans dimensions només lleugerament desbastades i disposades en sec sense morter de calç. Sobre aquesta base es disposaven els dos paraments, que allà on s’han conservat en alçada presenten una tècnica constructiva d’obra poligonal de la quarta modalitat, amb carreus rectangulars molt allargats i amb un lleuger encoixinat, alguns dels quals sobrepassen els 2,50 metres de longitud. Entre els dos paraments hi ha un farciment compacte de petites pedres irregulars i terra.

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La porta de la muralla, de la qual es conserva només la base, devia ser d’arc de mig punt amb una amplada de 3,80 metres. La torre que flanquejava la porta té unes dimensions de 8,50 metres d’amplada i 5,75 metres d’avançada, va ser construïda amb la mateixa tècnica que la muralla i l’amplada dels seus murs és d’1,80 metres. Aquesta excavació ha mostrat també el carrer o intervallum, de 4,50 metres d’ample, que discorria darrere de la muralla i la separava de les primeres edificacions de la ciutat.38 A més de la muralla, l’arqueologia ha començat també a documentar en aquesta zona nord de la ciutat altres elements de gran interès, com les restes de diverses cases modestes que formaven un barri construït a la primera meitat del segle i aC; les restes d’una gran domus edificada ja a l’època imperial enderrocant una part d’aquestes cases més antigues, o els vestigis d’unes termes públiques que, malgrat que estan encara en curs d’excavació, ja hem vist que van ser remodelades i ampliades a mitjan segle i aC i que van tenir una primera fase que podria ser contemporània de les termes de Baetulo. Respecte a la gènesi d’aquesta ciutat, sembla que podem afirmar amb prou seguretat que el seu origen fou una fundació de nova planta portada a terme als darrers anys del segle ii aC o a l’inici del segle i aC. En l’elecció del lloc, a més de raons estratègiques d’àmbit regional, hi degué pesar decisivament l’existència d’una font de cabal abundant que va quedar englobada dins el recinte emmurallat.39 Al costat d’aquesta font, hi havia hagut en els períodes del bronze final i de l’ibèric antic, segurament ja des del segle vii aC, un poblat petit però d’una certa envergadura, segurament semblant al poblat dels Vilars (Arbeca, les Garrigues), que ha estat excavat en extensió aquests darrers anys i que avui mostra un magnífic exemple de poblat de plana d’aquells reculats períodes de la protohistòria de les terres de Lleida.40 Pel que fa a aquell poblat protohistòric de Guissona, l’arqueologia l’ha documentat només molt parcialment, però suficient per a poder afirmar que es va desenvolupar durant uns segles, però que en el període de l’ibèric ple, als segles iv i iii aC, es va abandonar. Probablement al principi del segle iv aC, de la mateixa manera que en altres punts del país, es va produir un fenomen de concentració del poblament que a més va tendir a encastellar-se en llocs alts i més fàcils de defensar. El poblat ibèric de Puig Castellar de Talteüll, situat sis quilometres al nord-est de Guissona sobre un turó al costat del riu Llobregós, al terme municipal de Biosca, fou molt probablement el punt on es va concentrar l’hàbitat d’aquesta zona durant l’ibèric ple. En el solar de l’actual Guissona, al voltant de la font, potser hi va haver encara entre el segle iv i el segle ii aC alguna freqüentació, alguna cabana o algun petit hàbitat de molt poca envergadura, però no un poblat ibèric pròpiament dit. La ciutat de Iesso es va fundar al mateix lloc on s’havia aixecat aquell poblat del bronze final i de l’ibèric antic, però en un moment, tres segles més tard, en què no quedava res visible de l’antic assentament, ni els seus vestigis ni segurament el seu record.

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Per a precisar la data en què es va fundar la ciutat romana, disposem de valuoses indicacions proporcionades per l’activitat arqueològica dels darrers anys. La muralla, tant per la seva tècnica constructiva com per les observacions estratigràfiques fetes fins avui, apunta cap a una cronologia inicial entorn del 100 aC. Tenim també les restes de l’esmentat barri de cases modestes, el moment inicial del qual està ben datat al començament del segon quart del segle i aC, però hem comprovat també que ja es va edificar amortitzant restes constructives que testimonien una primera fase anterior a aquesta cronologia.41 Però, sobretot, disposem del material arqueològic trobat dins de tres fosses circulars de quasi 2,50 metres de diàmetre i més d’un metre de profunditat, excavades al terreny natural i ubicades sota les restes d’aquell mateix barri de cases, a uns vint-i-cinc metres de distància de la muralla. Aquestes fosses corresponen sens dubte al primer moment d’ocupació de la zona i podrien estar relacionades amb una activitat de tipus ritual coincidint amb els primers moments de la nova ciutat. Contenien les restes de com a mínim quaranta-quatre àmfores procedents de la península Itàlica. Àmfores que per les seves formes i pastes es poden dividir en quatre grups ben diferenciats, tres dels quals corresponen a la forma Dressel 1A, i el més nombrós –almenys vint-i-dos exemplars– procedeix amb seguretat de la regió de la Campània. El quart grup és format per almenys onze exemplars d’àmfores de Bríndisi, l’antiga Brundisium, sobre la costa adriàtica. A la part del coll d’una de les àmfores de forma Dressel 1A hi ha un titulus pictus amb una data consular del 121 aC (fig. 8, p. 18).42 Tant les àmfores com la ceràmica fina d’importació, escassa però present en el conjunt, constitueixen un lot de materials cronològicament molt homogeni que situa l’activitat que hem de relacionar amb el rebliment de les fosses en un moment anterior al 95/90 aC. L’esmentada data consular, que sens dubte indicava l’any de la collita del vi originari que contenia l’àmfora, ens dóna un terminus post quem que encara podríem rebaixar alguns anys si descomptem un període per al probable envelliment del vi. La presència d’un lot tan important de productes procedents de la península Itàlica en un punt de l’interior com és Iesso i en una data tan primerenca suggereix la presència d’alguna unitat de l’exèrcit romà, amb el seu corresponent avituallament, intervenint en la fundació de la ciutat, per a la qual aquests dipòsits arqueològics ens confirmen una data molt ajustada entorn del 100 aC.43 Si a aquestes tres ciutats hi afegim Emporiae i Aeso, tindrem els exemples més ben documentats a Catalunya de l’activitat urbanitzadora desplegada en aquells moments. De fet, l’Empúries romana ens proporciona l’exemple més emblemàtic pel que fa a l’esquema urbanístic utilitzat, ja que és el que coneixem millor. La ciutat grega d’Emporion, aliada amb Roma en la guerra contra Anníbal, havia estat el cap de pont on va desembarcar Gneu Corneli Escipió l’estiu del 218 aC al

Josep Guitart i Duran

capdavant de dues legions, i la base inicial a partir de la qual va començar l’estratègia romana d’hostilitzar la rereguarda de l’exèrcit cartaginès a la península Ibèrica.44 Acabada la guerra i durant el segle ii aC, l’Empúries grega va viure una fase de prosperitat considerable que l’arqueologia documenta sobretot mitjançant l’obra pública feta en el transcurs d’aquest segle. La ciutat es va ampliar cap al sud, on es va construir una nova muralla que, a més de monumentalitzar l’entrada de la ciutat amb una extraordinària construcció de prestigi, va permetre l’ampliació dels santuaris que des del segle v aC presidien el costat sud-oest del recinte emmurallat. Una altra actuació notable va ser la remodelació de l’àgora i la construcció d’una gran estoa, dedicada a activitats comercials i cíviques, un edifici obert a l’àgora mitjançant una llarga columnata que cobria els cinquanta-dos metres de la façana.45 Aquest conjunt de decidides actuacions urbanístiques que sembla que es va portar a terme a partir de mitjan segle ii aC va potenciar considerablement la modernització de la vella Neàpolis. Aquesta continuïtat i el desenvolupament brillant de l’establiment grec d’Empúries són un bon exponent per a exemplificar l’ambient marcat pel tarannà de deixar fer que degué presidir a Catalunya les relacions de l’autoritat romana amb els centres i les organitzacions preexistents durant el primer segle d’incorporació de fet a la República romana. La ciutat romana, de nova planta, es va establir al costat de la Neàpolis sobre el turó que s’aixeca a molt poca distància a ponent d’aquesta, i va englobar el petit establiment de principi de segle ii aC que ha estat interpretat com un possible praesidium militar, implantat durant la campanya de Cató o poc després. La nova ciutat es va desenvolupar a l’interior d’un recinte emmurallat de perímetre rectangular molt allargat de set-cents per tres-cents metres, tot i que no totalment regular, ja que el costat sud està lleugerament esbiaixat. La muralla, ben datada també entorn del 100 aC gràcies a l’estudi dels materials proporcionats per l’estratigrafia que s’hi adossava,46 encerclava una superfície propera a les vint-i-una hectàrees i estava organitzada mitjançant una retícula rigorosament ortogonal que conformava illes allargades de dimensions properes a dos actus per un (70,96 per 35,48 metres), una modulació emprada sovint en les fundacions colonials romanes. En canvi, cal remarcar la presència d’un element molt atípic de la topografia arqueològica de la ciutat: una muralla en direcció est-oest que dividia el recinte en dues parts d’extensió desigual: la meridional (d’unes catorze hectàrees) i la septentrional (d’unes set hectàrees). En un moment determinat de l’evolució de la ciutat, aquest mur va ser enderrocat, almenys en part, i les seves restes foren cobertes per noves edificacions. Aquest fet ha tingut diverses interpretacions. Primerament, poc després de la seva descoberta sota la casa romana número 1, se’l va considerar el límit nord del moment inicial de la ciutat, la qual després s’hauria ampliat allargant el rectangle cap al

L’origen de les primeres ciutats romanes de Catalunya. Una aproximació des de l’arqueologia

nord. Una altra interpretació, basada en el testimoni difícil d’interpretar de Tit Livi,47 considera que el nucli fundacional fou una ciutat doble i apunta la hipòtesi d’un assentament diferenciat de romans (al sud) i indígenes (al nord), separats per aquest mur transversal.48 Caldrà esperar que s’aprofundeixi en l’estudi arqueològic i en la problemàtica cronològica d’aquest element abans d’arribar a una conclusió definitiva. El centre neuràlgic de la ciutat se situava al fòrum, una plaça pública quadrangular que ocupava la superfície de dues illes i estava presidida per un temple, dedicat segurament a la tríada capitolina, situat en posició axial respecte al fòrum i sobre l’espai corresponent a part de dues altres illes. Davant del temple, però a l’altre costat de la plaça, sembla que ja des del primer moment s’hi va disposar una renglera de tabernae obertes cap al fòrum. Entre la plaça i el temple tenim un carrer transversal en direcció est-oest, que devia ser el decumanus màxim de la ciutat. El cardo màxim coincidia amb l’eix del temple i del fòrum i el comunicava directament amb la porta sud de la muralla. L’emplaçament del fòrum en posició central respecte a la part meridional de la ciutat també concorda molt bé amb la situació típica d’aquests espais en la urbanística romana contemporània, i encara evidencia més la significació rellevant d’aquella muralla transversal sigui quina sigui la interpretació que calgui donar-li.49 Les excavacions més recents fetes al fòrum d’Empúries han aportat algunes precisions interessants. Primer, que la monumentalització del fòrum no es va portar a terme als primers moments de la nova ciutat, sinó bastants anys després, probablement ja a l’època d’August. Després, que una part de l’espai destinat a fer les funcions de fòrum en l’esquema urbanístic que degué ordenar la ciutat des del moment de la seva fundació es va fer servir també, durant bona part del segle i aC, com a magatzem de gra. Així ho testimonien les nombroses sitges de gran capacitat (de dues a quatre tones de gra cadascuna) excavades als costats occidental i sobretot oriental del fòrum, on més tard es van construir la basílica, la cúria i una de les ales del criptopòrtic que marcava el límit del temenos del temple. Molt probablement cal interpretar que aquell espai central de la ciutat va fer durant aquells anys del segle i aC les dues funcions, de fòrum i de magatzem públic del gra que la ciutat administrava.50 Ens queda la incertesa de saber si en aquests primers anys hi havia ja, com semblaria lògic suposar, un primer temple en el mateix lloc on més tard es va aixecar el que ens ha deixat les restes que encara podem veure. D’altra banda, l’excavació iniciada a partir del 2000 a l’insula 30 ha posat al descobert les restes d’unes termes públiques construïdes al segle i dC, però que molt probablement van substituir un edifici termal anterior que cal datar a l’època republicana i augustiana, com els exemplars que hem vist a les altres ciutats descrites.51 A Isona, al Prepirineu, els treballs iniciats confirmen el gran interès i les potencialitats arqueològiques de l’oppidum d’Aeso. De moment, han permès identificar i estudiar

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un tram de seixanta metres de longitud de la muralla, que s’ha pogut datar amb precisió en el moment de pas del segle ii al segle i aC, i a més, per les característiques de la seva factura, se’n pot deduir una certa similitud amb el recinte emmurallat de Iesso.52 Els aesonenses són mencionats per Plini a la llista dels pobles estipendiaris,53 i de l’epigrafia es dedueix que al segle ii dC havia assolit la categoria de municipi.54 La interpretació de tota aquesta informació arqueològica i de la seva relació amb el context històric corresponent és complexa i permet diversos punts de vista i moltes matisacions. Per cenyir-nos a l’espai necessàriament limitat d’aquest article, podem reprendre com a fil conductor algunes reflexions interpretatives formulades per mi mateix fa uns quants anys i contrastar-les amb les noves dades ara disponibles i amb les observacions diverses que amb l’avenç de la recerca s’han anat concretant. En primer lloc, cal plantejar la possibilitat que totes aquestes ciutats fundades ex novo formessin part d’un mateix programa dissenyat per a contribuir decisivament a estructurar un ampli territori a partir de la creació de nous centres urbans amb la seva corresponent fortificació.55 Les precisions cronològiques proporcionades per l’arqueologia, sense ser encara, com hem vist, totalment concloents, no desmenteixen, sinó que més aviat tendeixen a confirmar, la contemporaneïtat dels seus moments inicials. Si ens centrem en les característiques de la topografia urbanística de les nostres ciutats, les afinitats entre les tres situades a la costa, Emporiae, Iluro i Baetulo, són evidents: urbanisme regular que desenvolupa una retícula rigorosament ortogonal i recinte emmurallat de perímetre rectangular que reprodueix el model més típic de les colònies romanes de l’època, tot i que de dimensions més modestes. Apareixen també amb claredat algunes diferències tipològiques entre les ciutats de la costa i les altres dues situades a l’interior del país, Iesso i Aeso. Aquestes també tenen una disposició regular i ortogonal de les seves insules i carrers, però els seus recintes emmurallats presenten una planta en forma de polígon irregular ben diferent del perímetre rectangular tan característic de les altres tres. A més, les dimensions de Iesso, que podria arribar a les divuit hectàrees, contrasten especialment amb les dimensions bastant més reduïdes de Baetulo i Iluro (fig. 9, p. 20). Sembla lògic pensar que, si ens trobem davant d’un mateix programa de fundacions urbanes, les diferències entre les ciutats de la costa i les de l’interior correspondrien a la concepció i a les funcions que en el moment inicial s’atribuirien a cadascuna. Hem comparat aquesta diferenciació amb el doble model de fundació urbana que Roma va utilitzar en la seva colonització de la Itàlia central fins a les primeres dècades del segle ii aC,56 amb la distinció entre les coloniae maritimae de ciutadans romans, fundades tant a la costa de la

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mar Tirrena com després a l’Adriàtica, i les coloniae latinae repartides per tot el territori. Aquesta és només una comparació de tipologia urbanística, ja que ni les nostres ciutats de la costa van tenir mai la categoria jurídica de coloniae civium Romanorum ni les de l’interior foren colònies llatines. Ben mirat, segurament no podia ser de cap altra manera tant pel lloc on s’establiren com per l’ambient sociopolític de la República romana en aquells anys del principi del segle i aC. La comparació pot ser vàlida i fructífera només formulada en clau funcional: el territori i la situació política i militar en què el programa es devia aplicar eren ben diferents de l’ambient en què havia sorgit aquell model antic, però l’adaptació a les necessitats i les peculiaritats del marc en què s’actuava devia portar a adoptar algunes solucions semblants; a més, tampoc no podem descartar que el record del vell model encara hi fos present. Sembla clar que les nostres petites ciutats d’Iluro i Baetulo, però també de l’Empúries romana, venien bàsicament a fortificar la costa, se situaven sobre la via que seguia el litoral, i segurament el seu valor estratègic era remarcat pel probable pes significatiu que la iniciativa militar devia tenir en la seva fundació. Això justificaria les seves dimensions reduïdes, ja que probablement els seus primers habitants eren un grup no gaire nombrós de ciutadans romans instal·lats en aquestes terres com a conseqüència de la conjuntura històrica que va portar a posar en pràctica aquest programa de fundacions. Respecte a Iesso, i probablement també a Aeso, ens apareixen com a fundacions amb un paper diferent: contribuïen també amb les seves muralles a un enfortiment estratègic del país, però entre les seves funcions es buscava segurament introduir una determinada estructuració del territori, assentant, a més d’alguns ciutadans romans, llatins o itàlics més o menys nombrosos, les elits dels pobles indígenes de la zona, procurant articular així una comunitat política que des del nou nucli urbà englobés potencialment un territori ampli i els seus habitants. No és d’estranyar, doncs, que aquest tipus de fundació urbana comportés una superfície més extensa, que el seu recinte no conformés un perímetre rectangular i que, en definitiva, tingués alguna similitud formal amb les antigues colònies llatines que havien assumit inicialment unes fun cions semblants. Recordem que els iessonienses figuren, com ja hem dit, a les llistes de Plini entre els pobles que gaudien dels privilegis del dret llatí, a diferència de les tres ciutats de la costa, que el mateix Plini qualifica d’oppida civium Romanorum. Per establir el moment històric en què es podria haver generat aquest programa de fundacions urbanes, ja hem desgranat les imprecisions cronològiques que l’arqueologia encara deixa obertes. Però si es confirmés la nostra hipòtesi que hem de situar-lo als primers anys del segle i aC, que tal com hem vist és una cronologia bastant ferma per a alguna de les nostres ciutats, aquest programa podria coincidir amb la conjuntura subsegüent a la victòria del general i cònsol Gai Mari sobre els cimbres i els teutons,

Josep Guitart i Duran

dins el marc de la desmobilització de les seves legions, que va tenir lloc entre el 100 i el 98 aC, després de l’entrada en vigor de les lleis aprovades pel Senat a proposta d’Apuleu Saturní, no sense provocar profundes tensions a Roma durant el sisè consolat de Mari el 100 aC. La incursió dels cimbres a la Hispània Citerior havia posat de manifest la debilitat estratègica de la província i explicaria que fos aleshores, precisament després d’aquest dolorós episodi bèl·lic, quan es va dissenyar un programa de fundació de noves ciutats que probablement serviria també per a assentar veterans de l’exèrcit desmobilitzat i per a fortificar i articular un territori que, com la Gàl·lia Transalpina, havia resultat excessivament vulnerable a les incursions d’aquells pobles nòrdics. La situació geogràfica de Iesso i Aeso al peu del vessant sud dels Pirineus i a prop de les vies de pas que permetien franquejar amb una certa comoditat aquesta serralada és segurament també un indicador que era precisament al nord on se situava el perill potencial del qual calia protegir-se mitjançant aquestes fortificacions urbanes. Malgrat que aquestes hipòtesis ens permeten connectar les evidències arqueològiques amb fets històrics concrets, hem d’acceptar que a aquest nivell interpretatiu tenim encara poques certeses absolutes que responguin a totes les nostres demandes de precisió, i només les recerques futures permetran contrastar, o rectificar en tot o en part, les aproximacions a què ens porten els indicis avui dispo nibles. És cert, per exemple, tal com s’ha apuntat recentment, que suposar un programa de colonització en un context provincial sense tenir-ne cap referència directa a les fonts textuals antigues comporta una dificultat innegable.57 Cal tenir en compte, però, d’una banda, l’escassetat de referències a aquests territoris que tenim per a aquells anys a les fonts textuals conservades, i, d’altra banda, que no es tractaria pas d’un programa del Senat de fundació de ciutats amb un estatut colonial, sinó d’establiments creats per l’autoritat militar (cum imperio) en una conjuntura concreta, i que trigarien anys a tenir un estatus jurídic oficial. Afortunadament, malgrat aquesta migradesa de les fonts literàries antigues i de les fonts epigràfiques referides a aquestes dècades, l’activitat arqueològica continua aportant noves troballes que permeten anar enriquint la documentació i que fan madurar les nostres interpretacions. Podem tornar a Tarragona per constatar-ho i a la vegada per completar el que dèiem al principi d’aquest article sobre la Tàrraco tardorepublicana. Les darreres excavacions al fòrum de la colònia de Tàrraco han documentat les restes d’un gran temple de tres cel·les (el seu pòdium té una amplada de 29,79 metres). La seva construcció va comportar l’enderrocament d’un edifici anterior, del qual s’han conservat restes de quatre habitacions contigües pavimentades amb opus signinum, alguns tessel·lats, que van quedar englobades en els fonaments del temple. Tot plegat està inserit en una complexa seqüència estratigràfica i

L’origen de les primeres ciutats romanes de Catalunya. Una aproximació des de l’arqueologia

constructiva que, malgrat les dificultats de lectura, ha permès als seus excavadors avançar una cronologia per al moment de la construcció del temple als darrers anys del segle ii aC. Aquest temple s’ha interpretat com un possible capitoli dedicat a les màximes divinitats romanes, que haurien presidit des d’aleshores aquest espai públic de Tàrraco (fig. 10, p. 22).58 Aquesta significativa troballa s’afegeix i encaixa bé amb les propostes d’interpretació que des del 1999 han permès avançar en la comprensió de la configuració de l’urbanisme tardorepublicà de la ciutat. A la segona meitat del segle ii aC, la construcció del segon recinte emmurallat de Tàrraco va ampliar considerablement el que havia estat la primera fortificació a la part més alta del turó. La nova muralla va aprofitar en part l’antiga, es va adaptar a la topografia del terreny, ocupant tota la vessant del turó fins als penya-segats que donaven ja sobre el port, i va utilitzar els desnivells topogràfics com a elements de reforç de la fortificació. Aquest recinte englobava en el seu angle sudoest l’extrem oriental de la zona on s’han documentat restes ibèriques preromanes. L’estudi d’alguns elements arqueològics documentats en diverses excavacions preventives portades a terme a la part baixa d’aquest nou recinte emmurallat ha permès proposar una restitució del possible model de planificació de la seva ordenació urbanística a partir d’una xarxa viària amb insules que respondrien a una modulació de dos actus de llargada per un actus d’amplada. L’orientació d’aquest pla urbanístic hauria marcat l’orientació i potser la ubicació de l’arquitectura monumental posterior, com la basílica, el teatre o el circ. Per a la posada en pràctica d’aquest pla urbanístic, es proposa també una data entorn del 100 aC, a partir de datacions estratigràfiques de diverses restes que cal situar cronològicament en aquest moment, entre les quals alguna infraestructura important, com un col·lector principal de drenatge que circulava per la part central del turó.59 L’encara més recent elaboració i publicació de la planimetria arqueològica de Tàrraco, que ha recopilat i representat a escales adequades totes les informacions disponibles, ha permès corroborar en línies generals aquestes conclusions, encara que introduint-hi matisos, correc cions i noves observacions. Ben suggerent, per exemple, resulta la consideració que la urbanització feta entorn del 100 aC i a partir d’aquell esquema s’hauria portat a terme només a la part meridional del recinte emmurallat, al sud de l’actual Rambla Nova. A la zona situada entre la Rambla Nova i la part alta no s’hi hauria aplicat un model urbanístic regular fins a un moment més avançat, possiblement ja a la segona meitat del segle i aC, sense que això vulgui dir que abans d’aquest moment fos una zona lliure de construccions, ja que l’arqueologia hi ha documentat estructures tardorepublicanes que semblen ser anteriors a la remodelació urbanística de la zona.60 D’altra banda, resulta força versemblant relacionar la construcció del possible temple capitolí i la implantació d’aquella primera ordenació urbanística, que podria preveure també la

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 157

constitució d’un espai públic, un fòrum, davant del temple (fig. 11, p. 24).61 No ens estendrem aquí comentant aquestes importants deduccions dels equips d’arqueòlegs que treballen avui l’arqueologia tarragonina, que sens dubte hauran d’ajustar i afinar encara diversos aspectes, sobretot els cronològics. Remarquem només com els vestigis arqueològics van sumant entorn de l’any 100 aC signes de canvi i d’activitat urbanitzadora a Catalunya. Ara a Tarragona, que podríem sumar a les altres ciutats de la costa, en aquest cas no com una ciutat ex novo, però sense descartar que la nova ordenació urbanística ens indiqui també un assentament permanent de romans i itàlics, com a Empúries i probablement a les altres fundacions de la costa. La coincidència amb Empúries en la modulació emprada a les insules podria ser també significativa. A més, a Tàrraco, l’evidència d’una iniciativa religiosa i tan simbòlica com seria la construcció d’un temple capitolí si es confirmés aquesta adscripció deixaria pocs dubtes sobre la filiació romana dels nouvinguts, i per a nosaltres donaria més solidesa a la interpretació que fem de les altres ciutats de la costa catalana esmentades. Però cal dir que és precisament aquest aspecte de la composició d’aquests assentaments i de la responsabilitat de la seva iniciativa el punt en el qual les interpretacions fluctuen en posicions més divergents. Aquesta divergència ha estat ben formulada recentment per S. Keay en ferse ressò d’una vella discussió de la nostra historiografia, quan assenyala que mentre que les fortificacions de Iesso, Baetulo i Iluro són pel seu aspecte clarament romanes, es fa més difícil saber qui va ser realment el responsable de la seva construcció, si els romans, les comunitats indígenes sota la direcció d’enginyers romans, o les comunitats indígenes per iniciativa pròpia.62 És obvi que la pregunta ja pressuposa que no es pot esperar una resposta única i indiscutible que tanqui el tema. En la nostra línia interpretativa, Baetulo i Iluro, igual que la ciutat romana d’Empúries i aquell nou pla urbanístic de Tàrraco, haurien estat iniciativa dels romans, per a assentar-hi bàsicament immigrants de la península Itàlica, sense que això menystingui la participació que eventualment poguessin tenir-hi les comunitats ibèriques de la zona ni els acords i les acomodacions entre els nouvinguts i aquestes comunitats i les seves elits, d’altra banda aliades dels romans des dels temps anteriors a la guerra púnica. Iesso, tal com hem assenyalat, la veuríem com una iniciativa romana, amb important participació indígena, amb una finalitat estratègica i també d’articulació política. Hi ha, però, una altra resposta possible, també amb bastants seguidors, que consideraria com a força probable que en la iniciativa de creació d’aquestes noves ciutats amb les seves fortificacions els romans hi estarien implicats només indirectament, fomentant la iniciativa, però que haurien estat els líders de les comunitats indígenes els seus veritables impulsors i els qui haurien portat a terme la tasca real de crear els nous assentaments. Una interpretació més radical els veuria com una iniciativa exclusiva-

158 Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010

ment indígena, com a resposta i adaptació a les noves situacions geopolítiques. En tots dos supòsits, els models arquitectònics i urbanístics que emprarien aquestes iniciatives indígenes haurien estat els centres propers d’Empúries i Tàrraco, la filiació romana dels quals en principi no es posaria en dubte. Sembla clar que en el rerefons d’aquestes divergències interpretatives hi pesa la percepció prèvia sobre algunes qüestions que les fonts textuals antigues, per la seva migradesa, deixen obertes sobretot per a aquestes fases més antigues. En primer lloc, l’avaluació de la quantitat i la concreció dels temps de la immigració procedent de la península italiana assentada amb voluntat de permanència en aquestes terres d’Hispània, es tracti de romans, llatins o itàlics i de veterans de l’exèrcit o no. Les fonts són clares quan documenten aquestes migracions a la segona meitat del segle i aC; en canvi, per a les dècades anteriors, són molt més escasses i menys explícites. El criteri que hom apliqui en aquest punt quan s’intenti lligar i explicar el conjunt de la documentació arqueològica disponible condicionarà certament el resultat.63 En segon lloc, hi pesa també la percepció sobre el paper que hom cregui que s’ha d’atorgar a les comunitats indígenes i a les seves elits en els canvis importants de tota mena que van tenir lloc en aquelles dècades. Sens dubte també aquí, decantar-se, a vegades fins i tot instintivament, per minimitzar o maximitzar aquest paper porta a resultats ben diversos. Diguem només que cal evitar generalitzacions. Cada territori i cada conjuntura històrica va tenir les seves pròpies dinàmiques i els seus condicionants específics, i consegüentment va generar el seu propi ritme d’integració. D’altra banda, migracions i iniciativa indígena no són necessàriament dos factors de canvi antitètics, sinó que probablement sovint es van entrellaçar i es van potenciar mútuament. Un exemple d’aquesta diversificació, el podem veure en el ric panorama de nous assentaments urbans del període entre la guerra numantina i l’època de Sertori, que l’arqueologia està documentant a la zona de la vall mitjana de l’Ebre. Amb els treballs arqueològics portats a terme en jaciments com els de La Caridad (Caminreal, Terol), La Corona (Fuentes de Ebro, Saragossa), La Cabañeta (El Burgo de Ebro, Saragossa) o Segeda II (Saragossa), comencem a tenir una altra mostra interessant d’aquesta diversificació de models, amb exemples que evidencien la potència de la iniciativa indígena i d’altres que ens permeten posar l’accent en el paper d’elements exògens. Un cas ben significatiu és el de l’establiment de La Cabañeta, en el qual una inscripció epigràfica, excepcional per a l’època, ens revela com grups d’immigrants itàlics, en aquest cas sembla que integrats en un conventus civium Romanorum, degueren tenir-hi un paper important.64 Tornant a Catalunya i als avenços recents de l’arqueologia, ens podem referir també als orígens de Girona, l’antiga Gerunda, per a la qual disposem ara de la interpretació feta arran de les importants excavacions a l’oppidum ibèric de Sant Julià de Ramis. Aquest assentament no sols

Josep Guitart i Duran

va perdurar fins a les primeres dècades del segle i aC, sinó que es va ampliar i s’hi van fer obres públiques d’envergadura entorn del 100 aC. En aquest moment es van construir noves muralles i es va modificar l’accés per tal de millorar l’eficàcia defensiva de la fortificació. Poc després es va edificar, seguint els models itàlics, un gran temple que ocupà la part central de l’oppidum. Però, malgrat aquesta vitalitat constructiva, l’assentament va ser abandonat tot d’una sense indicis de violència en una data que se situa cap als anys 80/70 aC, en el mateix moment en què l’arqueologia sembla que comença a documentar els primers indicis d’ocupació al jaciment de la ciutat de Gerunda. Amb aquestes noves dades arqueològiques, podríem interpretar que en aquells anys entorn del 100 aC, quan possiblement s’estaven posant les bases de les noves ciutats costaneres d’Empúries, Iluro i Baetulo, Roma devia optar per l’emplaçament de l’oppidum de Sant Julià de Ramis com a punt de control de les estratègiques vies que seguien la vall del Ter en aquest punt. Uns anys després, però, probablement hauria rectificat amb la fundació de Gerunda, que des de la seva posició complia encara millor la mateixa funció de control directe de les vies i també de la plana.65 La classificació que ens dóna Plini dels gerundenses entre els pobles que gaudien del dret llatí acaba de donar consistència a aquesta interpretació d’íntima col· laboració de romans i indígenes en aquest moment del naixement de la futura Girona. A aquestes primeres ciutats romanes de Catalunya, és possible que se n’hi hagin d’afegir, pels seus orígens, algunes altres, com Ilerda (Lleida), Dertosa (Tortosa) o Blandae (Blanes), encara que la precarietat de la documentació arqueològica obliga de moment a deixar-ho en suspens. Pel que fa a Ilerda, sembla que, malgrat la manca d’evidències arqueològiques definitives, podem continuar suposant amb tota lògica que l’oppidum ibèric d’Iltirta estaria emplaçat al turó de la Seu Vella de Lleida. Aquesta interpretació no es posa en dubte, encara que els primers nivells arqueològics documentats fins avui es datin cap a finals del segle ii aC, ja que hi ha presència de materials més antics trobats a la superfície o presents residualment en estrats posteriors. La ciutat romana, que a l’època d’August es documenta a les monedes com a municipium Ilerda, degué ser el fruit de l’evolució i la transformació de l’antic assentament preromà, mitjançant un procés de continuïtat i expansió pel vessant del turó fins al riu. La forma i els temps d’aquest procés caldrà acabar-los de precisar, però els arqueòlegs de la secció d’arqueologia de la Paeria, que han seguit amb eficiència els darrers anys el dia a dia de l’arqueologia preventiva a Lleida, assenyalen diversos indicis que els permeten suposar una hipotètica refundació de la ciutat a la part baixa durant el primer terç del segle i aC, en la qual podríem veure la intervenció directa romana, que donaria uns antecedents ben significatius i en consonància amb l’evolució jurídica posterior de la ciutat.66 Abans de tancar aquest article cal fer una referència, gairebé obligada, a l’origen de la ciutat de Bàrcino (Barce-

L’origen de les primeres ciutats romanes de Catalunya. Una aproximació des de l’arqueologia

lona). Fundada al final del segle i aC, entorn del 10 aC, dins el marc de la reorganització política i administrativa de les províncies d’Hispània portada a terme a l’època d’August, culminava pràcticament l’estructuració urbana del territori de l’actual Catalunya. Va néixer amb els privilegis propis de les coloniae civium Romanorum i com a tal va prendre la titulació oficial de Colonia Iulia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino, la segona a Catalunya després que a l’època de Cèsar s’hagués atorgat la categoria colonial a Tàrraco. La Bàrcino inicial va ser una ciutat de nova planta amb un recinte emmurallat i una planificació urbanística regular que té paral·lels ben identificables en les altres colònies fundades a l’època d’August. Però, malgrat tot, Bàrcino és una colònia augustiana molt peculiar, ja que la seva extensió està molt per sota del que era normal a la majoria, i això contrasta, a més, amb la grandària i amb la monumentalitat dels seus edificis públics. Això ens ha permès interpretar, en la mateixa línia seguida en aquest article, que la nova fundació devia respondre més a la finalitat de regular administrativament, mitjançant el marc jurídic colonial, els nombrosos ciutadans romans ja establerts des de feia anys en aquelles fundacions més antigues de la Laietània, que no pas a la voluntat d’establir un grup considerable de nous colons. Bàrcino es devia concebre sobretot per a desenvolupar-hi les funcions de centre reli giós, polític i administratiu pròpies d’una colònia, el territori de la qual englobaria probablement els nuclis urbans preexistents d’Iluro i Baetulo.67

Notes i referències [1] [2] [3] [4]

[5] [6]

[7]

M. Tarradell i Mateu. Les ciutats romanes dels Països Catalans. Barcelona 1978. Ídem, p. 48. J. L. Jiménez Salvador i A. Ribera i Lacomba (coord.). Valencia y las primeras ciudades romanas de Hispania. València 2002. 382 p. L. Abad Casal, S. Keay i S. Ramallo (ed.). Early Roman Towns in Hispania Tarraconensis. Journal of Roman Archaeology, Supplementary Series, núm. 62. Portsmouth, Rodhe Island 2006. 237 p. Tit Livi, Ab urbe condita, 22, 22. M. Adserias, L. Burés, M. T. Miró i E. Ramon. «L’assentament pre-romà de Tarragona». Revista d’Arqueologia de Ponent, núm. 3, Lleida 1993, p. 177-227; M. Adserias, L. Burés, M. T. Miró i E. Ramon. «L’assentament pre-romà i el seu paper dins de l’evolució de la ciutat de “Tarraco”». A: La ciutat en el món romà. Actes del XIVè Congrés Internacional de Arqueologia Clàssica (Tarragona, 1993). Vol. 2. Tarragona 1994, p. 15-17. J. M. Macias Solé, I. Fiz Fernández, L. Piñol Masgoret, M. T. Miró i Alaix i J. Guitart i Duran (dir.). Planimetria arqueològica de Tàrraco. Tarragona 2007, p. 25 i fig. 16.

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[8]

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[12] [13] [14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

D. Asensio, J. Morer, A. Rigo i J. Sanmartí. «Les formes d’organització social i econòmica a la Cossetània ibèrica: noves dades sobre l’evolució i tipologia dels assentaments entre els segles vii-i aC». A: Territori polític i territori rural durant l’Edat del Ferro a la Mediterrània occidental. Monografies d’Ullastret, 2. Girona 2001, p. 253-271; P. Otiña i J. Ruiz de Arbulo: «De Cesse a Tárraco. Evidencias y reflexiones sobre la Tarragona ibérica y el proceso de romanización». Empúries, núm. 52, 2002, p. 107-135. Vegeu també aquest supòsit portat a l’extrem a la «lectura ibèrica» de Ruiz de Arbulo de la formació de la ciutat de Tàrraco, d’altra banda ben suggerent en diversos aspectes: J. Ruiz de Arbulo. «Scipionum opus and something more: an Iberian reading of the provincial capital (2nd-1st c. B.C.)». A: Abad et al. (2006). Early Roman Towns..., p. 33-44. J. M. Macias et al. (2007). Planimetria..., p. 25. G. Alföldy. Tarraco. Fòrum. Temes d’història i d’arqueologia tarragonines, núm. 8, Tarragona 1991, p. 23-24. J. A. Cerdà, J. Garcia, C. Martí, J. Pera, J. Pujol i V. Revilla. El Cardo Maximus de la ciutat romana d’Iluro (Hispania Tarraconensis). Laietania, núm. 10, Mataró 1997. 3 v. Ídem, p. 253 i s. J. Pera. «Aportació de l’excavació de Can Xammar al coneixement de l’urbanisme d’aquest sector d’Iluro». Laietania, núm. 7, Mataró 1992, p. 5-34. J. Garcia, A. Martín i X. Cela. «Nuevas aportaciones sobre la romanización en el territorio de Iluro (Hispania Tarraconensis)». Empúries, núm. 52, 2000, p. 41-54. Vegeu també J. F. Clariana i Roig. «Ilturo-Iluro en el context de la Roma Republicana». A: J. M. Modolell. D’Ilturo a Iluro, de Cabrera de Mar a Mataró. Dades sobre el naixement i el desplaçament d’una ciutat romana. Cabrera de Mar 2009, p. 7-53. O. Olesti i Vila. «Integració i transformació de les comunitats ibèriques del Maresme durant el s. ii-i aC: un model de romanització per a la Catalunya litoral i prelitoral». Empúries, núm. 52, 2000, p. 7277. J. Garcia, A. Martín i X. Cela. «Nuevas aportaciones...» (2000), p. 33-37. Vegeu també: A. Martín, «El conjunt arqueològic de Ca l’Arnau (Cabrera de Mar, Maresme). Un assentament romanorepublicà». Tribuna d’Arqueologia, 1998-1999, Barcelona 2002, p. 211-228. A. Martín. «Las termas republicanas de Cabrera de Mar (Maresme, Barcelona)». A: C. Fernández Ochoa i V. García Entero. Termas romanas en el occidente del Imperio. II Coloquio Internacional de Arqueología en Gijón 2000, p. 157-162. Una breu notícia d’aquesta troballa, la tenim a: J. Bonamusa i Roura. «Els mosaics de la domus de

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[19]

[20] [21]

[22]

[23]

[24] [25]

[26]

Can Benet (Cabrera de Mar. El Maresme)». A: Modolell (2009). D’Ilturo a Iluro..., p. 55-69. J. Guitart i Duran. «Ibers versus romans? Arqueologia de l’origen de les ciutats romanes a Catalunya i al País Valencià». A: Homenatge als nostres pobles i a la seua gent. Primer cicle de conferències al sud del País Valencià. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona 2004, p. 77-96. Plini. Naturalis Historia, iii, 4, 22. J. Pujol i J. Garcia. «El poblament ibèric dispers al Maresme central: l’exemple de Can Bada (Mataró) i el procés de romanització des de l’inici de la colonització agrícola fins al naixement d’Iluro». Laietania, núm. 9, Mataró 1994, p. 87-129. Vegeu D. Zamora Moreno. «L’oppidum de Burriac. Centre del poder polític de la Laietania ibèrica». Laietania. Estudis d’Arqueologia Ibèrica, núm. 17 (2006-2007), Mataró 2007. Les troballes numismàtiques fetes al jaciment de Ca l’Arnau-Can Mateu han portat també a interessants reflexions sobre la seca d’Ilduro. L’arqueòleg responsable de l’excavació assenyalava ja diverses evidències que el portaven a apuntar la possibilitat que a prop de les termes de Ca l’Arnau hi hagués hagut un taller monetari: A. Martín (2002). «El conjunt arqueològic...», p. 226. Un estudi recent sobre les monedes trobades en el conjunt del jaciment: C. Martí Garcia. «Las monedas del yacimiento romano-republicano de Ca l’Arnau-Can Mateu (Cabrera de Mar, Barcelona)». A: Moneta qua scripta. La moneda como soporte de la escritura. Actas del III encuentro penínsular de numismática antigua. Osuna (Sevilla), febrero-marzo 2003. Anejos del Archivo Español de Arquelogía, núm. xxxiii. Sevilla 2004, p. 355-365; i un altre estudi sobre les monedes de la seca d’Ilduro: C. Martí Garcia. «La seca “ibèrica” d’Ilturo: historiografia i dades recents. Altres qüestions sobre numismàtica ibèrica del nord-est penínsular». Laietania. Estudis d’Arqueologia Ibèrica, núm. 18, Mataró 2008, p. 37-76, han portat l’autor a reprendre aquella hipòtesi i a assenyalar que probablement les quatre primeres emissions de la seca d’Ilduro s’haurien encunyat a l’assentament de Ca l’Arnau-Can Mateu, i en canvi la cinquena i darrera emissió s’hauria encunyat ja a la nova ciutat romana d’Iluro. Plini. Naturalis Historia, iii, 4, 22. J. Guitart, P. Padrós i A. Fonolla, «Aproximació a l’esquema urbanístic fundacional de la ciutat romana de Baetulo (Badalona)». A: La ciutat en el món romà, Actes del XIV Congrés Internacional de Arqueologia Clàssica. Vol. 2. Tarragona 1994, p. 188-191. J. de C. Serra Ràfols. «Excavaciones en Baetulo (Badalona) y descubrimiento de la puerta N. E. de la ciudad». Ampurias, núm. 1, 1939, p. 268289.

Josep Guitart i Duran

[27] G. Lugli. La tecnica edilizia romana. Bardi, Roma 1957. [28] J. Guitart i Duran. Baetulo. Topografía arqueológica, urbanismo e historia. Badalona 1976, p. 40-59. [29] M. C. Jiménez i Fernández. Baetulo. La ceràmica de vernís negre, una contribució a l’estudi de la romanització de la Laietània. Museu de Badalona, Badalona 2002. [30] Vegeu Guitart (1976). Baetulo..., p. 49-59. També: J. Guitart i P. Padrós. «Baetulo, cronología y significación de sus monumentos». A: Stadtbild und Ideologie. Die Monumentalisierung hispanischer Städte zwischen Republik und Kaiserzeit. Munic 1990, p. 169-172. [31] D. Zamora i Moreno. Les ceràmiques de vernís negre del poblat ibèric del turó d’en Boscà. Aproximació a la interpretació històrico-arqueològica del poblat. Arqueoanoia Edicions, Igualada 1996, p. 156-172. [32] M. Comas, P. Padrós i J. Velaza. «Dos nuevas estelas ibéricas de Badalona». Palaeohispanica, núm. 1, Saragossa 2001, p. 291-299. [33] Una primera notícia del jaciment a M. Mercado, E. Rodrigo, M. Flórez, J. M. Palet i J. Guitart. «El catellum de Can Tacó/Turó d’en Roina (Montmeló-Montornès del Vallès, Vallès Oriental) i el seu entorn teritorial». Tribuna d’Arqueologia, 2007, Barcelona 2008, p. 195-211. La darrera campanya d’excavació portada a terme en aquest jaciment apunta que possiblement la construcció de l’edifici caldrà datar-la poc després de la caiguda de Numantia el 133 aC. [34] Plini. Naturalis Historia, iii, 4, 23. [35] Vegeu J. Pera i Isern. La romanització a la Catalunya interior: Estudi històrico-arqueològic de Iesso i Sigarra i el seu territori. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra 1993. (Tesi doctoral, edició en microfitxa del 1994.) També: J. Guitart i J. Pera. «En torno a la urbanización romana en el interior de la actual Cataluña. La arqueología de Iesso (Guissona, Lérida)». A: Trabalhos de Antropologia e Etnologia, vol. xxxv-1. Actas del 1º Congresso de Arqueologia Peninsular (Porto, 1993). Porto 1995, p. 339-354. [36] J. Guitart i Duran i J. Pera i Isern. «La ciutat romana de Iesso (Guissona, la Segarra)». A: La ciutat en el món romà..., p. 186-188. [37] I. Garcés, N. Molist i J. M. Solias. «Les excavacions d’urgència a Iesso (Guissona, la Segarra)». A: Excavacions arqueològiques d’urgència a les comarques de Lleida. Barcelona 1989, p. 108-124. També: I. Garcés, N. Molist i J. M. Solias. «Aportacions al coneixement de la topografia urbana de Iesso (Guissona, la Segarra)». A: M. Mayer, J. M. Nolla i J. Pardo. De les estructures indígenes a l’organització provincial romana de la Hispània Citerior. Barcelona 1998, p. 229-243.

L’origen de les primeres ciutats romanes de Catalunya. Una aproximació des de l’arqueologia

[38] J. Guitart, J. Pera i J. Ros. «Arqueologia a l’antiga ciutat romana de Iesso (Guissona, Lleida)». A: Primer Simposi Patrimoni i Turisme Cultural: Arqueologia viva de les ciutats de l’antiguitat. Lleida, 4, 5 i 6 d’octubre de 2001. Barcelona 2004, p. 174-180. [39] J. Guitart i Duran. «L’utilisation de l’eau en Catalogne romaine: le cas de Iesso (Guissona)». A: Énergie hydraulique et machines élévatrices d’eau dans l’Antiquité. Collection du Centre Jean Berard, núm. 27, Nàpols 2007, p. 33-49. [40] Grup d’Investigació Prehistòrica (UdL). «Arqueología virtual: la fortaleza ibérica de Arbeca (siglos viii-vii aC)». A: Primer Simposi Patrimoni i Turisme Cultural: Arqueologia viva de les ciutats de l’antiguitat. Lleida, 4, 5 i 6 d’octubre de 2001. Barcelona 2004, p. 213-233. [41] J. Guitart, J. Pera i J. Ros. «Arqueologia a l’antiga ciutat romana...» (2004), p. 153-192. Vegeu també: I. Garcés et al. (1989), «Les excavacions...». [42] I. G. Cormack et al. «Lost writing uncovered by laser two-photon fluorescence provides a terminus post quem for Roman colonization of Hispania Citerior». Journal of Archaeological Science, núm. 34, 2007, p. 1594-1600. [43] J. Guitart, J. Pera i C. Carreras. «La presència del vi itàlic a les fundacions urbanes del principi del segle i aC a l’interior de Catalunya: l’exemple de Iesso». A: El vi a l’antiguitat. Economia, producció i comerç al Mediterrani occidental. Actes del 2n Col· loqui Internacional d’Arqueologia Romana. Badalona 1999, p. 39-65. [44] Tit Livi. Ab urbe condita, 21, 60. [45] R. Marcet i E. Sanmartí. Empúries. Barcelona 1989, p. 67-119. Vegeu també: X. Aquilué, P. Castanyer, M. Santos i J. Tremoleda. «Greek Emporion and its relationship to Roman Republican Empúries”. A: Abad et al. (2006), Early Roman Towns..., p. 21-24. [46] E. Sanmartí. La cerámica campaniense de Emporion i Rhode. Monografies Emporitanes, núm. 4. Barcelona 1978. [47] Tit Livi, Ab urbe condita, 34, 9. [48] X. Aquilué et al. (2006). «Greek Emporion...», p. 24-29. [49] Vegeu: X. Aquilué, R. Mar, J. M. Nolla, J. Ruiz de Arbulo i E. Sanmartí. El fòrum romà d’Empúries (excavacions de l’any 1982). Monografies Emporitanes, núm. 6. Barcelona 1984; R. Marcet i E. Sanmartí. Empúries. Diputació de Barcelona. Barcelona 1989, p. 121-165; R. Mar i J. Ruiz de Arbulo. Ampurias romana, Historia, Arquitectura y Arqueología. Ausa, Sabadell 1993. [50] X. Aquilué, P. Castanyer, M. Santos i J. Tremoleda. «El campo de silos del área central de la ciudad romana de Empúries». Romula, núm. 1, 2002, p. 9-31.

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[51] X. Aquilué et al. (2006). «Greek Emporion...», p. 29-30. [52] X. Payà, F. Puig i T. Reyes. «Primeres datacions dels nivells fundacionals d’Aeso». Revista d’Arqueologia de Ponent, núm. 4, Lleida 1994, p. 151-172. Vegeu també: PRAMA. «Aeso: noves dades sobre la romanització al Pallars Jussà. Actuació arqueològica a Isona 1987‑1988». A: 8è Col·loqui Internacional d’Arqueologia de Puigcerdà: La romanització del Pirineu. Puigcerdà 1990, p. 111-118. [53] Plini Naturalis Historia, iii, 4, 23. [54] G. Fabre, M. Mayer i I. Roda. Inscriptions romaines de Catalogne. II. Lérida. París 1985, p. 49-95. [55] J. Guitart, «Un programa de fundacions urbanes a la Hispània Citerior del principi del segle i aC». A: La ciutat en el món romà..., p. 205-213. Altres autors arribaven paral·lelament a la conclusió que darrere aquesta activitat urbanitzadora devia haver-hi una política romana precisa i coordinada; per exemple: F. Pina Polo. «¿Existió una política romana de urbanización en el nordeste de la península ibérica?». Habis, núm. 24, Sevilla 1993, p. 7794. [56] J. Guitart (1994). «Un programa de fundacions...», p. 206-207. [57] S. Keay. «Early Roman towns of Tarraconensis: a discussion». A: Abad et al. (2006), Early Roman Towns..., p. 224. [58] J. Ruiz de Arbulo, D. Vivó i R. Mar. «El capitolio de Tarraco. Identificación y primeras observaciones». A: D. Vaquerizo i J. F. Murillo (ed.), El concepto de lo provincial en el mundo antiguo. Homenaje a Pilar León. Còrdova 2006, p. 391-418. [59] J. M. Macias Solé. «L’urbanisme de Tàrraco a partir de les excavacions de l’entorn del fòrum de la ciutat». A: Tàrraco 99. Arqueologia d’una capital provincial romana. Documents d’arqueologia clàssica, 3. Tarragona 2000, p. 83-106. També: J. M. Macias Solé i J. A. Remolà Vallverdú: «Topografía y evolución urbana». A: X. Dupré. Tarragona. Colonia Iulia Urbs Triumphalis Tarraco. Las capitales provinciales de Hispania, 3. Roma 2004, p. 27-40. [60] Macias et al. (2007). Planimetria..., p. 25-34. [61] Ruiz de Arbulo et al. (2006). «El capitolio...». Vegeu també: Macias et al. (2007). Planimetria..., fig. 17. [62] S. Keay (2006). «Early Roman...», p. 225. [63] Una breu pinzellada general sobre la presència d’emigrants d’Itàlia a les províncies a N. Purcell. «Romans in the Roman World». A: K. Galinsky (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus. Cambridge 2005, p. 85-105. [64] A. Ferreruela, J. F. Mesa, J. A. Mínguez i M. Navarro. «Una inscripción republicana de la sede de una posible corporación en La Cabañeta (El Burgo de Ebro, Zaragoza)». Archivo Español de Arqueología, núm. 76, 2003, p. 217-230; A. Ferreruela

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Gonzalvo i J. A. Mínguez Morales. «La Cabañeta (El Burgo de Ebro, Zaragoza)». A: Jiménez et al. (2002). Valencia..., p. 205-214. Vegeu també: J. D. Vicente, P. Punter, C. Escriche i A. I. Herce. «La Caridad (Caminreal, Teruel)». A: M. Beltrán Lloris (ed.). La casa urbana hispanoromana. Saragossa 1991, p. 81-129; F. Burillo Mozota. «Segeda and Rome: the historical development of a Celtiberian city-state». A: Abad et al. (2006). Early Roman Towns..., p. 159-171. Esperem amb gran interès que també per a aquests importants jaciments de la vall de l’Ebre l’arqueologia vagi precisant les seves característiques, que sens dubte ens podran il· lustrar millor la complexitat d’aquests processos. [65] J. M. Nolla i Brufau. «The integration of NE Iberian communities and consolidation of the urban phenomen». A: Abad et al. (2006). Early Roman Towns..., p. 69-108; J. Burch, J. M. Nolla, L. Palahí, J. Sagrera, M. Sureda i D. Vivó. «La fundació de Gerunda. Dades noves sobre un procés complex de reorganització d’un territori». Empúries, núm. 52, 2000, p. 11-28; J. Burch, J. M. Nolla, L. Palahí, J. Sagrera, M. Sureda i D. Vivó. Excavacions arqueològiques a la muntanya de Sant Julià de Ramis. 1. El sector de l’antiga església parroquial. Sant Julià de Ramis 2001.

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[66] X. Payà, I. Gil, A. Loriente, A. Lafuente i M. Morán. «Evolució espacial i cronològica de l’antiga ciutat d’Ilerda». Revista d’Arqueologia de Ponent, núm. 6, Lleida 1996, p. 119-149; X. Payà, I. Gil, A. Loriente, M. Molist i M. Morán. «La ciutat romana d’Ilerda. Darreres aportacions al seu coneixement (Lleida, Segrià)». A: Actes de les Jornades d’Arqueologia i Paleontologia 2000. Comarques de Lleida (Lleida, 2000), Barcelona 2003, p. 279-311. Vegeu també: A. Pérez Almoguera: «Sobre las fundaciones republicanas en Hispania. El caso de Ilerda». A: La ciutat en el mon romà..., p. 325-327. [67] J. O. Granados. «La primera fortificación de la Colonia Barcino». A: Papers in Iberian Archaeology. British Archaeological Reports. International Series, núm. 193. Oxford 1984, p. 267-319; J. Guitart. «Quelques réflexions sur les caractéristiques de l’enceinte augustéenne de Barcino (Barcelone)». A: Les enceintes augustéennes dans l’Occident Romain. Nimes 1987; J. O. Granados. «La colònia Barcino, origen i estructura d’una colònia augusta». A: Història urbana del Pla de Barcelona. Vol. 2. Barcelona 1990; J. Sobrequés i Callicó. Història de Barcelona. La ciutat antiga. Vol. I. Barcelona 1991; J. Beltrán de Heredia (ed.). De Barcino a Barcinona (siglos i-vii). Barcelona 2001.

Nota biogràfica Josep Guitart i Duran (Badalona, 1946) és catedràtic d’Arqueologia de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, acadèmic numerari de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans i membre de la Reial Acadèmia de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi. Ha estat el primer director de l’Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica, fundat a Tarragona el 2002, i ha dirigit i col·laborat en diverses excavacions en jaciments d’època romana a la península Ibèrica i a Itàlia. Les línies de recerca en què ha treballat als darrers anys comprenen l’arqueologia clàssica, l’arqueologia de la ciutat i el territori a l’antiguitat romana i la Hispània romana.

CATALAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 3: 163-184 (2010) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.1000.01.44 · ISSN: 2013-407X http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/

La Catalunya dels segles x-xii i la definició historiogràfica del feudalisme Flocel Sabaté i Curull* Universitat de Lleida

Resum L’evolució historiogràfica del concepte de feudalisme, des de la seva formulació al segle xvii fins als nostres dies, ha afectat de manera diferent Catalunya i ha arribat, al darrer quart del segle xx, a una posició estel·lar com a paradigma del model mutacionista. Les nombroses fonts conservades i l’enriquiment de perspectives interpretatives en facilita una revisió, la qual ha de ser prudent davant els paranys de la mateixa documentació i les dificultats hermenèutiques. Tanmateix la revisió és un repte que no es pot negligir, atès que els fets esdevinguts al nord-est peninsular entre els segles x i xii condicionen fortament el recorregut històric posterior.

Paraules clau: feudalisme, historiografia, institucions, alta edat mitjana Introducció1* L’encaix entre heurística i hermenèutica, base imprescindible de qualsevol recerca històrica, ha viscut un repte específic en l’aclariment de què va succeir al nord-est de la península Ibèrica entre els segles x i xii. Durant unes dècades, a la sortida del segle xx, l’escenari català es va situar enmig d’una polèmica historiogràfica, no tant perquè es discutís entorn de Catalunya, sinó perquè Catalunya esdevenia paradigma d’una de les maneres d’explicar el feudalisme just quan les postures es mostraven més confrontades. A hores d’ara podem donar per tancada aquesta etapa, perquè la mateixa interpretació del que va succeir als comtats del nord-est peninsular s’ha pogut precisar gràcies a la divulgació i l’estudi de l’enorme potencial documental conservat i a la seva anàlisi degudament contextualitzada. Sembla arribat el moment de poder parlar-ne amb la perspectiva d’una distància adient, tot procurant la deguda contextualització. Tanmateix tres línies, si més no, s’entrecreuen per exigir, encara ara, una especial prudència en l’estudi d’aquest episodi. En primer lloc, hi cal l’adient interpretació global d’uns fets coetàniament viscuts, amb els respectius trets, a la resta d’Europa i que han estat objecte de prou controvèrsia historiogràfica perquè Jean-Louis Paul afirmés que «on ne sait plus si la féodalité a existé, si elle finit avec l’Ancien Régime comme l’ont supposé les traditions ré-

* Adreça de contacte: Flocel Sabaté i Curull. Departament d’Història. Universitat de Lleida. Plaça Víctor Siurana, 1. 25003 Lleida, Catalonia, EU. Tel. +34973703152. Fax: +34973702141. E-mail: flocel@historia.udl.cat

publicaine et marxiste, ou vers le xiiie siècle comme a pu l’affirmer une exégèse juridiste de coutumes magistrales.»2 Quan s’escriuen aquests mots, el 1997, la reflexió no pot menys que veure’s afectada pels debats entorn de la capacitat d’aprehensió de la història i la seva orientació que ocupen el pas del segle xx al xxi.3 A la recerca de nous viaranys historiogràfics, des de diferents vies de revisió es qüestionarà la capacitat d’objectivitat en la comprensió del passat,4 accentuant així la sospita, en l’objecte d’estudi que ara ens ocupa, que el marc ideològic hagi pogut condicionar la comprensió de les fonts altmedievals, sobretot en omplir molts dels seus silencis tot decantant-los vers la construcció d’un edifici historiogràfic a voltes massa deutor del disseny interpretatiu previ. En segon lloc, s’hi entrecreua la particular via de cohesió de les terres que passaran a ser conegudes com a Catalunya. Els comtes se centraren en els seus dominis sobretot a partir del 877, i deixaren de participar en l’evolució política d’Aquitània i en els episodis bèl·lics septentrionals lligats al conflicte dinàstic i a la incapacitat de govern conjunt que esmicola la unitat carolíngia enmig dels afermaments senyorials i la fragmentació territorial. Els comtats del nord-est peninsular es veuen abocats a una progressiva autonomia, fins al punt de convertir cada titular en dipositari de l’autoritat suprema, com proclama el comte Hug I d’Empúries el 1019: «potestatem quam reges ibi pridem habuerint, iste Hugo comes ibi habebat.»5 El record d’aquests moments estarà, però, afectat per projeccions posteriors. Certament, el casal de Barcelona a la baixa edat mitjana malda per consolidar una preeminència sobre el conjunt català afavorida pel títol reial aconseguit al segle xii i pels arguments romanistes, però llastada per

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l’escassa base jurisdiccional i exactiva,6 raó per la qual pretén demostrar des de l’origen l’aparellament «comitatum Barchinone cum Cathalonia universa»:7 Pere el Cerimoniós, el 1353, ordena buscar el document on consti «la donació feta al primer comte de Barcelona del dit comptat e del nom del rey de França qui li donà, ne si era rey ho emperador e de les condicions en la dita donació contengudes.»8 L’argument, alimentat des dels plantejaments estamentals que cerquen una major participació en la monarquia hispànica moderna,9 des de les pretensions annexionistes franceses del segle xvii10 o des dels afanys de recuperació identitària del segle xix,11 ha confós la historiografia, que ha caigut reiteradament en el parany de la pretesa inicial cohesió entorn del casal de Barcelona,12 ja sigui vist en l’origen comú13 –rere un comte de Barcelona erigit en «marquès de la Marca Hispànica»–14 o en imaginar-lo protagonista d’una cohesió feudal al segle xi que enlairaria el casal de Barcelona sobre el conjunt del territori.15 Des d’aquesta presumpció, ha estat fàcil condicionar interpretacions del feudalisme a manera de fenomen que conclouria un sobtat canvi en assolir una nova cohesió social, territorial i nacional que arrauliria el conjunt català sota la capitalitat dirigent de Barcelona. En tercer lloc, la riquesa documental de Catalunya, ben singular pel seu elevat volum,16 porta a considerar les raons de la seva elevada producció, en tant que la petja clàssica, la tradició visigoda i la influència eclesiàstica pogueren propiciar una redacció superior a la viscuda coetàniament en altres contrades,17 alhora que també imposa una sèrie de prudències en la gestió del gruix documental. No sols perquè la seva mateixa redacció no obeeix a la voluntat de deixar un testimoni fidedigne dels fets sinó a finalitats concretes de la quotidianitat, en general fragmentàries o parcials, a voltes espúries i sovint interessades,18 sinó pel pes i la perfecció assolida per les nombroses falsificacions. Certament, el valor cabdal de l’escriptura en la justificació dels drets i propietats per a avalar dominacions, possessions i pertinences ben reculades incentiva unes falsificacions sovint materialitzades pels homes de l’Església, que també controla el saber i el dret. A l’acurada perfecció en la tècnica de la falsificació assolida per nombroses comunitats altmedievals, com els cenobis d’Alaó, Gerri i Lavaix o la catedral d’Osca,19 s’hi afegiran, així que la societat es vagi diversificant, estratègies similars en tota mena de tipologies documentals20 i, encara, projeccions sobre les arrels medievals des dels més diversos interessos en els segles moderns.21 El temor a la falsificació és ben present al llarg de tota l’edat mitjana;22 la cura adient és a la base del naixement de la ciència diplomàtica23 i des de ben aviat la historiografia n’ha advertit dels perills inherents.24 Tanmateix no poques vegades els historiadors han caigut, recentment, en els paranys, sigui perquè estan molt ben ordits,25 sigui perquè no s’han calculat de manera adient les dimensions del perill falsari. S’han acceptat així com a verídiques geografies inexistents i escenaris anacrònics, comprometent les deduc cions efectuades sobre l’evolució social.

Flocel Sabaté i Curull

S’hi afegeix l’atzarosa història de la conservació de la documentació, atrapada per seriosos episodis de destrucció, fragmentació i dispersió de fons a partir dels segles moderns, i especialment al llarg del segle xix i fins al 1939.26 La documentació que ha sobreviscut fins als nostres dies és atzarosament parcial, raó per la qual el seu estudi requereix prudència en la seva projecció o extrapolació, ja sigui a nivell territorial, cronològic o social. La mateixa conservació documental ha propiciat, encara, altres dificultats en el seu estudi, lligades a la seva conservació i a l’accessibilitat per als investigadors. La millora en la conservació, catalogació i consulta experimentada en gran part dels arxius catalans a les dues darreres dècades del segle xx27 no estalvia el deure de continuar denunciant les greus mancances que a hores d’ara encara malmeten la conservació i dificulten la consulta, especialment en determinats arxius privats i eclesiàstics, però no hi ha dubte que constitueix una gran millora, la qual s’afegeix a la importantíssima tasca d’edició de fonts, exponencialment publicades a les darreres dècades.28 Aquest gruix documental incrementa l’exigència de prudència en la valoració de les dades aportades, que han de ser degudament ponderades amb els buits territorials i les mancances so cials que no ens han arribat. Alhora, tot el gruix documental divulgat als darrers anys augmenta enormement la capacitat d’absorció d’informació i d’establiment de comparatives amb què ajudar l’historiador. L’assumpció de l’anàlisi heurística s’imposa així com un deure per part de les generacions que, d’aquesta manera, gaudeixen d’unes facilitats inexistents entre els historiadors precedents, els quals, malgrat tot, assumiren el repte d’aportar respostes a les preguntes obertes sobre aquest període. En qualsevol cas, és important precisar i contextualitzar què va succeir durant aquest període als comtats del nord-est de la península Ibèrica, perquè en deriva un llegat divers, en el qual destaca l’assentament de drets, deures, vinculacions i exaccions, un divers i ben estable perfilament de dominis territorials i un model de valors i articulació social. Tot plegat condicionarà l’evolució dels segles posteriors, tant perquè aquests hi tindran les seves arrels com perquè hi projectaran argumentacions amb què sustentar els discursos del poder.

De què parlem? El curs historiogràfic Resseguir el curs historiogràfic esdevé bàsic en abordar la feudalitat, perquè reiteradament la investigació s’ha encallat entorn de la definició tant de l’objecte com del subjecte d’estudi i sovint les aportacions han anat donant voltes al bagatge interpretatiu específic. Historiogràficament, per a cercar un punt de partença, no cal remetre’s ara a l’esquema de les tres funcions jerarquitzades de la ideologia indoeuropea proposat per Dumézil –sagrat, força i fecunditat–,29 sinó a les tres formes de govern que proclama Aristòstil –βασιλείαν, άριστοκρατίαν, πολιτείαν–30 i que, de la mà del realisme tomista,31 assumeix el pensament

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polític i social baixmedieval32 i és ben popularitzat per autors com Francesc Eiximenis,33 que dóna suport a un poder municipal que acapara la representació dels estaments, tot identificant-los amb el país i condicionant el poder del sobirà.34 El 1656, James Harrington, a la seva utòpica Oceana,35 parteix d’un esquema similar per a centrar el poder en la tinença de la propietat i en l’equilibri del govern obligadament paccionat entre el sobirà i els estaments, percebent un balanç específic d’aquest model medieval, en el qual inclou la península Ibèrica: «If the Few or a Nobility, or a Nobility with the Clergy be Landlords, or overbalance the People to the like proposition, it makes the “Gothic” balance and the Empire is mix’d Monarchy, and that of “Spain”, “Poland” and late of “Oceana”.»36 Així, la propietat rural i els drets que hi radiquen, tot garantint als estaments una força amb la qual poder imposar condicions al poder sobirà, perfilen un model de govern ideològicament sancionat per l’Església. És un sistema sorgit a l’edat mitjana, amb una data de naixement que coincideix amb el desenvolupament dels vincles personals i l’establiment de les càrregues que condicionen l’accés a les terres tingudes per altri, els feus: segons publica Henry Spelman el 1626, a Anglaterra seria el 1066, atès que es tractaria d’un model important per als conqueridors normands –«feudorum servitutes in Britanniam nostram primus invexit Guilielmus senior conquestor»–,37 que d’aquesta manera establirien un marc social i polític que restaria estabilitzat, si més no fins que el parlament trenca amb la monarquia en ajusticiar Carles I el 1649. El raonament s’emmarca en la historiografia que, en aquesta centúria, esguarda amb admiració el passat, n’indaga les institucions i, en analitzar com aquestes entrelliguen la societat, va conceptualitzant la feudalitat, dins d’un creixent interès per estudiar l’edat mitjana. John Burrow sintetitza, precisament, el moment historiogràfic amb els termes «Antiquarism, Legal History and the Discovery of Feudalism».38 No sols s’ha incorporat la reflexió jurídica sobre els continguts dels drets i deures feudals heretats de l’edat mitjana, sinó que el mateix raonament de Spelman pot assumir-se com una interpretació de la història a manera de seqüència tripartida entorn del feudalisme, tal com ho interpreta Pocock el 1957 en apreciar, per primera vegada, «on English history the division into pre-feudal, feudal and post-feudal periods which has ever since characterized it.»39 No és d’estranyar que poc després, el 1959, Robert Boutruche es refereix a la mateixa obra del segle xvii com a primera sistematització del feudalisme com una estructura social i política.40 La feudalitat, en definir el marc jurídic que entrelliga la societat, s’hi pot identificar. Serà, com és propi del feudalisme, un ordre basat en el pacte, tal com ho lloa el comte de Boulainvilliers el 1727.41 Tanmateix Montesquieu afegirà que «les lois féodales [...] ont fait des biens et des maux infinis», tot ironitzant «qui ont laissé des droits quand on a cédé le domaine; qui, en donnant à plusieurs personnes divers genres de seigneurie sur la même chose ou sur les mêmes personnes, ont diminué le poids de la

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seigneurie entière; qui ont posé diverses limites dans des empires trop étendus; qui ont produit la règle avec une inclinaison à l’anarchie, et l’anarchie avec une tendance à l’ordre et à l’harmonie.» És clar, doncs, que si la Raó il· lustrada ha d’il·luminar una nova societat, el feudalisme ha de desaparèixer, tot i que costarà, atès el seu arrelament en el conjunt social.42 Al món ideal al qual cal obrir pas, no hi caben vincles feudals, com la servitud que combat Voltaire,43 que també malda per uns valors de tolerància i experiència i unes actituds laborals entorn de l’agricultura i el comerç que s’interpreten com a contraris al feudalisme.44 De fet, cal canviar el sistema polític, perquè el «gouvernement féodal» es caracteritza, amb paraules de Rousseau, per ser un «système absurde s’il en fût jamais, contraire aux principes du droit naturel et à toute bonne politie.»45 Les discussions de drets i les tensions camperoles coetànies s’hi sumen i van fent que «feudal regime have been among the central questions» de la Revolució Francesa,46 identificant feudalisme amb drets senyorials,47 però també propiciant alhora una específica definició de règim feudal per part de la burgesia que capitanejarà la Revolució Francesa.48 La culminació, després de l’efervescència de la primavera i l’estiu del 1793,49 amb la supressió, l’onze d’agost, per part de l’Assemblea Nacional, de tot el règim feudal fa visible què es vol conceptualitzar sota aquesta expressió: la servitud personal que impedeix ser propietari, heretar o casar-se lliurement i sense pagar taxes; els drets exclusius de cacera o de colomers; la justícia senyorial, simbolitzada amb les forques; les aportacions de diversos drets útils, censos i porcions de collita; la inalienabilitat de les rendes; el delme aportat a l’Església; els privilegis pecuniaris i exactius, ja siguin de caire personal, corporatiu o territorial; les limitacions per raó d’estament; la venda d’oficis públics; el reconeixement de l’Església com a poder estamental i vinculat físcalment i executivament a Roma.50 Allò que realment canvia rere els mots permet qüestionar les intencions dels qui detenen el poder i orienten la revolució,51 però en qualsevol cas és clar que s’ha volgut etiquetar una època, la que pretesament es pretén superar.52 La identificació entre el feudalisme i tota una societat esdevé, amb Karl Marx, el perfilament d’una etapa en el recorregut de la humanitat: estructurant la història d’acord amb els sistemes d’extracció de renda segons una concepció materialista, el feudalisme és una fase del recorregut de la humanitat, entre l’esclavista i la burgesa. Tot i la inherent tenebrositat de l’edat mitjana europea,53 aquesta no és pas la pitjor etapa, sinó la següent, que esclatarà vers el socialisme precisament perquè la radicalització entre burgesos i proletaris parteix de trencar «all feudal, patriarchal, idillyc relations» pròpies de la mateixa edat mitjana, caracteritzada per «the most heavenly ecsasies of religious fervour, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism.»54 Així, tot i el rebuig al període, el raonament no desentona gaire de les valoracions positives d’un feudalisme que seria portador dels valors

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de la fe, la fidelitat, la generositat, la valentia i la tenacitat, tal com s’accepta al llarg de tot el segle xix, ja sigui des de la recreació romàntica o des de la formulació historicista de Dilthey.55 Tanmateix, alhora que Walter Scott exhibeix la cavallerositat feudal d’Ivanhoe, també critica els senyors instal· lats en la «feudal tyranny».56 Antic règim, feudalisme i noblesa es mesclen com l’arbitrarietat de l’antigor que es contraposa amb el règim de llibertats i progrés que promou la burgesia que condueix el segle xix. És una dicotomia que llastarà enormement la historiografia medieval, que durant massa temps ha relacionat la feudalitat amb l’opressió immobilista rural i fins i tot ha exposat el desenvolupament del moviment comunal com una conscient revolta urbana en lluita per aconseguir les llibertats negades per part dels senyors feudals.57 Els estudiosos de les arrels de Catalunya, en el pas del segle xix al xx, participen de la percepció dual de la feudalitat: «l’organisació feudal y la monacal de Sant Benet» millorarien l’«estat tristíssim d’anarquia» patit en aquells moments.58 Així, «el feudalisme fou un fet social necessari, una de les formes transitòries de la civilització», tot i que, com afegeix Torras i Bages, requereix correccions per a les «deformitats» que comporta, derivades, sobretot, del to ferreny «de l’esperit aristocràtic que, naturalment, engendra una època guerrera.»59 Aulèstia pretén que aquests aspectes negatius no enterboleixen tota l’època: «és un error creure que en aquells sigles que foren los del naixement del feudalisme y que’ns hem acostumat a veure darrera d’un prisma fals, dominés en absolut lo quietisme y la ignorància, y fossen los senyors y’ls vassalls com dos potències en lluyta constant.» Aprofundint el raonament, recalca les conseqüències socialment positives de la relació i el contacte propiciat pel sistema feudal –«que’ls grans estiguessin en continuo contacte ab los humils, que’ls vassalls veguessin d’aprop a sos senyors y que’s realisés així una competració d’hàbits y costums, d’ideas y d’interessos»–, així com les garanties mútues de supervivència econòmica i social: «lo feudalisme vingué a respondre al estat de la producció en aquellas èpocas, assegurant la vida de las classes populars, que abandonadas a si mateixas haurian sigut molt sovint víctimas de las oscillacions económicas.»60 Es pot valorar que aquestes paraules estan influenciades pel context ideològic de l’autor,61 tot i que, coetàniament, altres historiadors d’una posició social similar, com Chia o Hinojosa, accentuen el caràcter opressor del feudalisme, en generar un sistema desigual força lesiu per als camperols, gravats amb condicions vexatòries per part dels seus senyors. Per això, el sorgiment del feudalisme és, alhora, l’origen d’una específica i greu «qüestió agrària»62 que, agreujada per l’evolució baixmedieval, menaria als esclats de finals de l’edat mitjana,63 de prou intensitat per a reclamar major atenció que no pas els mateixos orígens de la feudalitat, tal com es va assumint, com a mínim, durant el mig segle que separa les obres de Fidel Fita64 i d’Elies Serra i Ràfols.65 De fet, l’exaltació del paper de l’Església i de la societat urbana en les coetànies visions de la Catalunya medieval

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porta, de retruc, a damnar la imatge de tot allò relacionat amb la noblesa, com el feudalisme. Així, el pes nobiliari seria responsable del fet que el segle xi es veiés afectat per «diverses revoltes motivades per la tirania i les exaccions dels senyors feudals», els quals tindrien en contra tant els vassalls, víctimes dels seus abusos, com els comtes, que tenen el deure de defensar la legalitat, com divulga Bori i Fontestà.66 La superació de la incultura i de l’opressió pròpies dels nobles sols pot arribar per tres vies. En primer lloc, la idealitzada visió de l’Església, que limitaria els excessos amb mesures com la pau i treva, sorgida, en paraules de Torras i Bages, de «l’esperit democràtic de l’Evangeli»,67 tot i que el triomf del feudalisme imposarà, segons advertiran Valls i Taberner i Soldevila, un contrast entre figures com els bisbes Oliba, sant Ermengol, sant Ot i sant Oleguer respecte de la majoria, els quals, tenint «a l’ensems el caràcter de grans propietaris feudals, bastants d’ells, imbuïts de l’esperit del nou règim, actuaven talment com els senyors laics.»68 Alhora, hi ajuda el contacte amb una societat més culta com és l’occitana: «el casament de quasi tots els sobirans de la Marca amb princeses filles d’enllà dels Pirineus aportà el refinament dels costums feudals.»69 I sobretot, la correcció arribaria amb la pressió municipal, insistint així en l’oposició entre noblesa i burgesia. Font i Sagué, tot i reconèixer que «a Catalunya no existí el feudalisme amb els horrors d’altres països», descriu aquesta oposada dualitat: «dintre el sistema de la jurisdicció feudal hi visqueren generacions esclaves, com els “pagesos de remença” subjectes a les traves legals, dites “mals usos” per ésser més favorables al senyor que al vassall, però també hi floriren repúbliques lliures. Les “cartes de població” donades a algunes importants poblacions, especialment a les pertanyents als territoris novament conquistats, serviren en gran manera per a contrarestar la preponderància feudal.» Església i comtes esdevenen, doncs, el referent que permet aturar l’escalada de l’agressió nobiliària, i ambdós aportarien els topalls legislatius: les constitucions de pau i treva, aprovades en l’assemblea de Vic del 1033, i els Usatges de Barcelona, que se situen al 1068, sota Ramon Berenguer I, que d’aquesta manera afermaria la seva preeminència.70 Tot i el pal·liatiu cabdal que suposen aquestes fites, el fre definitiu a les penombres feudals haurà de procedir de la capacitat burgesa per imposar un nou model de societat, cosa que no tindrà lloc fins al segle xiii. És el que divulga també Font i Sagué en valorar que durant aquest segle «segueix la immoralitat pública; la virtut brilla tan sols en les classes d’artesans i menestrals que, tenint assegurat el comerç i la indústria, permeten de continuar de pares a fills el mateix gènere de vida.»71 Els manuals escolars de l’època republicana recullen i difonen aquests parers: el feu dalisme «és un règim de força en virtut del qual els senyors feudals exploten els vassalls i els serfs d’una manera aclaparadora»;72 la situació sols serà plenament superada quan l’aliança entre comtes i burgesos s’imposi als nobles feudals: «la vida a les viles i ciutats s’enrobustí i de mica en mica anà democratitzant-se. Els comtes hi tingueren inte-

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rès, i els concedien franqueses per tal d’anar afeblint el poder feudal.»73 L’estructura feudal s’articularia sota el domini carolingi; per això, Antoni de Bofarull exposa l’entorn de Guifré el Pilós, «tocant a la part militar, sota una organització feudal.»74 Aquest ordre feudal que infon una estructura precisa a partir de la qual es pot definir la societat es trava, doncs, mitjançant unes institucions específiques, com són les relacions feudovassallàtiques, segons el que recalca Max Weber d’acord amb la historiografia coetània.75 Certament, si el vincle institucional defineix el feudalisme, caldrà discernir entre aquest i el senyoriu, tal com a la segona meitat del segle xix ja remarca la potent historiografia germànica,76 que ve a coincidir amb la disquisició que a la historiografia francesa estableixen prestigiosos autors com Fustel de Coulanges en separar el règim de la terra i el feudalisme identificat amb l’articulació institucional.77 Charles Mortet reconeix, el 1893, que encara que ell prefereix entendre la feudalitat «au point de vue de la sociologie générale» i, per tant, hi aplica una visió global sobre la societat, «que pénètre le corps entier jusque’à ses parties les plus profondes et réagit sur toutes ses fonctions vitales», el mot es va cenyint a «l’ensemble des institutions publiques et privées.»78 És el plantejament que s’imposa a la historiografia occidental fins a entrar en el darrer terç del segle xx, amb excepcions notòries sobretot en l’àmbit anglosaxó, gràcies a la difusió d’obres franceses com el celebèrrim manual de Ganshof, constantment traduït i reeditat des del 1944,79 que conceptualment des del 1959 no pot deixar d’aparellar-se amb el voluminós treball de Boutruche,80 ja que ambdós valoren un primer feudalisme carolingi que assoliria la seva plenitud institucional, a manera de feudalisme clàssic, entre els segles x i xiii. Tot i cenyir-se a una formulació tan concreta com la institucional, la feudalitat marca tot el període històric: quan el 1946 Joseph Calmette publica la seva visió de la caiguda des de l’Imperi romà fins al segle xiii, la titula explícitament Le monde féodal.81 Si tot depèn d’una formulació institucional, es pot entendre amb facilitat que aquesta tindrà un punt de partença tant cronològic com físic. La discrepància entre Montesquieu, que considerava el feudalisme una particularitat europea –un «événement une fois dans le monde et qui n’arrivera peu-être jamais [...], que l’on vit paraître en un moment dans toute l’Europe, sans qu’elles tinsset à celle que l’on avait jusques alors connues»–,82 i Voltaire, que el veia com una forma molt antiga, present, sota diferents administracions, a tres quartes parts de l’hemisferi,83 és centrada per Georg von Below en el món romanogermànic.84 Així, atès que el perfil feudovassallàtic en dóna la definició, es pot percebre un epicentre modèlic del feudalisme, entre el Sena i el Rin, des d’on s’irradiaria vers la mar del Nord i el Loira. A partir d’aquí, el feudalisme seria degudament exportat i adaptat a cada indret, tal com recollien nombrosos manuals d’història medieval: «el vassallatge penetra de dalt a baix la societat europea, estenent-se amb formes diverses de França a Anglaterra,

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Alemanya, Itàlia, Espanya i fins i tot Palestina», sempre degudament exportat.85 El plantejament troba el terreny adobat a la Península per part d’autors del segle xix com, sobretot, Herculano86 i per part dels qui treballen al començament del xx sota la influència germànica, com és el cas d’Hinojosa, precisament atent a la realitat institucional i social del camp medieval català.87 La definició institucional serà abrivadament defensada per Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz, que la promou a manera de veritable axioma per a presentar una Castella sota un règim senyorial sense feudalisme,88 com emblemàticament desenvolupa la seva deixeble Hilda Grassoti.89 Per a Sánchez-Albornoz, la petja de l’edat mitjana marca indeleblement Espanya i explica absolutament tot el recorregut posterior, «des de les primeres dècades del segle viii fins a les últimes hores de la contesa civil espanyola»,90 encadenant una història particular a partir de la carència de les dues bases que, en canvi, sí que són presents en altres països europeus: «Espanya no tingué feudalisme ni burgesia. Aquesta innegable realitat implica diversos complexos problemes i es projecta per horitzons diversos.»91 De retruc, aquest raonament remarcava la singularitat original de Catalunya: filla de Carlemany, conegué una irradiació feudal que sols molt més secundària ment arribarà a la resta de Castella, amb la consegüent diferència institucional,92 justificant uns punts de partida identitaris diferents. Així, «Catalunya rep un caràcter franc, perdurable com tots els rebuts de naixença», en paraules escrites per Carles Cardó quan, just acabada de patir la Guerra Civil espanyola, cerca els trets que han singularitzat els territoris peninsulars i, per això mateix, han impossibilitat la seva definitiva cohesió, amb totes les greus conseqüències seculars.93 Jaume Vicens i Vives, influenciat per Toynbee,94 està convençut de poder detectar l’essència de la identitat catalana, en la qual veu un puntal bàsic i cabdal en el pactisme, que, naturalment, parteix del bon plantejament feudal: «el sentit pregon de la nostra societat medieval rau exactament en el pactisme, o sigui en la concepció que el pacte amb la sobirania ha de regular tota l’ordenació humana i política de la col·lectivitat: aquest fet té una indefugible ascendència feudal; del ver feudalisme que ajuntava les persones a les persones, no les persones a la terra.»95 El mateix Vicens i Vives, més enllà de la concreció catalana, entén el feudalisme com «una organització total de la societat i de l’economia»,96 evidenciant una globalitat que incorpora el marc vital en el seu conjunt. Ja el 1911, des d’Amèrica, Henry Osborn Taylor assumia el plantejament institucional del feudalisme com a «principle of mutual truth between lord and vassal», però alhora insistia en el fet que, pròpiament, «the feudal system was founded on relations and sentiments», tot recalcant els valors propis del cavaller feudal.97 De manera diferent, bé que invocant els valors del feudalisme, a l’Europa d’entreguerres autors sobretot de cultura italiana i alemanya, com Malynski,98 Evola,99 Franz100 o Brunner,101 gairebé el lloaran en apreciar la seva organicitat i individualitat com a

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veritable alternativa als mals que imaginaven en el racionalisme i l’igualitarisme de la democràcia occidental.102 La mateixa visió de conjunt, bé que des d’un altre angle, mena coetàniament autors britànics com Coulton a una posició contrària, en apreciar la desigualtat social i la condició de la pagesia –«it is patently absurd to speak of the medieval peasant as leading a life of Arcadian simplicity»–, tot i apreciar, però, que el plantejament genèric del sistema feudal comporta el progrés vers la col·lectivització de la societat: «this is characteristic of the half-way stage between wild individualism and modern collectivism which we call the Feudal System.»103 Mentrestant, l’assumpció del marxisme com a guia ideo lògica dels estats comunistes va condicionant el raonament als països de l’Europa oriental, on es repetirà que «el feudalisme és una formació social i econòmica particular que té per base el mode de producció feudal.» A partir d’aquí, amb un esquema mecanicista, com resumeixen Udaltzva i Gutnova, es percep «el predomini de l’economia agrària i natural; la preponderància de la gran propietat basada en l’explotació dels camperols que depenien personalment dels propietaris o que estaven subjectes a la terra que conreaven», conjunt que desencadenarà «la formació de les principals classes de la societat feudal» i, com a corol·lari, «l’aparició de la jerarquia feudal, del dret, de l’Estat així com de la ideologia i de la cultura.» Es tracta d’«una formació universal que es va desenvolupar espontàniament» i que «la majoria dels pobles del globus han conegut.»104 Davant la perspectiva institucional i epicèntrica, el materialisme pot situar el punt de partença en el mode de producció agrari predominant i avançar vers una comprensió social global en anar incorporant les conseqüències que se’n deriven per a la població. És el repte que a Occident assumeixen, des de vessants diferents, entre el final de la Segona Guerra Mundial i la penúltima dècada del segle xx, autors com Harvey,105 Dobb,106 Dyer,107 Kula,108 Vilar109 o Bonnassie, que ens ofereix la definició adient: «un règim social que es basava en la confiscació, sovint brutal, dels beneficis (de l’excedent) del treball camperol i que garantia, mitjançant un sistema més o menys complex de xarxes de dependència (vassallatge) i de gratificacions (feus), la seva redistribució dins de la classe dominant.»110 La reconciliació entre el materialisme i el món urbà, sobre la qual aniran avançant diversos autors de l’Alemanya oriental,111 culmina amb Rodney Hilton, que pot explicar un feudalisme que participa tant del vessant rural com de l’urbà.112 Ve a concordar amb el que dirà Yves Barel, que entén no sols un veïnatge cronològic, sinó que la mateixa evolució urbana es pot explicar des del procés de feudalització.113 Marc Bloch ja havia apuntat, el 1939, els dos eixos de revisió i aproximació: entendre el règim senyorial i el feudal com dos subsistemes complementaris d’un conjunt i apreciar dos moments, ben diferents, amb la frontissa a l’any mil,114 tot aprofundint, en aquest aspecte, en autors francesos de les primeres dècades del segle xx, com Bou-

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det, Perrin, Abenas o Déléage.115 A Catalunya, Ramon d’Abadal copsa la intensitat dels canvis esdevinguts en aquesta època i ho reflecteix, el 1948, en biografiar l’abat Oliba: «és en trencar el mil·lenni, a les albors del segle xi, quan comença a germinar una nova societat, un nou món, que serà el món medieval [...]. Entre un món i l’altre món s’intercala una època de profunda crisi moral i econòmica.»116 Georges Duby avança en les dues línies apuntades per Bloch i ressalta els canvis entorn del mil·lenni fins a definir-los, el 1953, com una mutation,117 la qual, com anirà desenvolupant en els anys successius, s’ha d’entendre des d’una perspectiva global que supera el mer marc economicista, perquè «una formació social es construeix sobre una doble carcassa, sobre el fonament material de les relacions de producció i sobre les subestructures ideals que constitueixen els sistemes de valors i les representa cions mentals.»118 Assumint aquests plantejaments, amb el repte d’encertar el desllorigador que permetés atorgar un major protagonisme a la realitat social, per part de joves historiadors francesos als anys seixanta del segle xx l’atenció es va desplaçant cap als espais mediterranis, fins aleshores considerats adients per a uns feudalismes que a la seva perifèria eren titllats de marginals i imperfectes. Les seves recerques, en culminar als anys setanta, obriren en realitat un nou paradigma que renovava completament les perspectives, tal com anaven demostrant les conclusions assolides per Pierre Toubert al Laci,119 Pierre Bonnassie a Catalunya120 i Jean-Pierre Poly a Provença.121 Les respectives recerques sobre espais propers arriben a contundents i renovadores conclusions similars: tots ells aprecien una feudalització sobtada, cronològicament situada en tan sols unes dècades del segle xi, en la qual es produiria un esquema hegelià bàsic i accelerat, on un estadi inicial, que allarga importants trets de la societat clàssica, com l’esclavisme, actua com a tesi que col·lidirà amb la seva antítesi, donant lloc així, força abruptament, a una síntesi, sinònim d’estabilitat feudal, caracteritzada per la patrimonialització del poder públic, l’increment de les vinculacions personals, el protagonisme del grup aristocràtic militar i l’assentament dels drets senyorials com a part integrant del poder local dels barons damunt dels pagesos, combinant-se amb les llibertats assolides per les ciutats. Sorgeix així un nou paradigma amb què interpretar aquest període, les seves raons i les seves conseqüències, tal com es reivindica historiogràficament122 i com Jean-Pierre Poly i Éric Bournazel sintetitzen el 1980 amb l’explícita obra La mutation féodale. X-XIIe siècles.123 Sobretot es viu una veritable mutació historiogràfica: des d’ara serà difícil tractar de continuar explicant el feudalisme a partir sols de les institucions, cosa que, com dirà Fossier el 1982, no deixava de ser una mica xocant perquè tot es basaria, al cap i a la fi, en el recompte de les obliga cions i els ritus de menys d’un u per cent de la població. Tampoc no té sentit pretendre visions epicèntriques i centrífugues: la pròpia evolució de la societat mena a la feudalitat i, com també indica Fossier, paradoxalment

La Catalunya dels segles x-xii i la definició historiogràfica del feudalisme

«cada vegada es veu més clarament que el feudalisme entre el Loira i el Rin no és res més que una idea, i que precisament és a les zones meridionals on se’l veu millor.»124 També s’aferma un nou vector cronològic, allunyat de la caiguda de l’Imperi romà i de l’estabilització carolíngia. I tot això s’assoleix mitjançant una acurada renovació metodològica, basada en un mètode materialista capaç de defugir els dogmatismes tradicionals i de guanyar, amb gran rigor, nous espais conceptuals per a l’hermenèutica hegeliana i el pensament marxista. Coetàniament, la pretensió d’encertar un feudalisme present arreu del món estava propiciant crítiques d’etnocentrisme i de transferència de conceptes europeus,125 si no directament el descrèdit126 i l’acusació de pèrdua de sentit del concepte feudal.127 Precisament, des d’una altra perspectiva, i ateses les diferents aproximacions al fenomen a l’Europa medieval, Elizabeth Brown conclou que la dificultat interpretativa pot centrar-se en el mateix recorregut historiogràfic, que ha creat l’objecte d’estudi a partir de definicions i continguts diferents i contradictoris, amb la qual cosa ha generat una fal·làcia historiogràfica que allunya de la realitat i ha convertit així els historiadors en víctimes dependents de la tirania d’una construcció historiogràfica.128 Aquest parer participa, en realitat, de les vies de renovació que, des dels anys seixanta, estan singularitzant importants sectors dels Estats Units i el Canadà. És prou evident, des del 1964, en l’obra d’Ambroise Raftis,129 al capdavant de l’anomenada escola de Toronto,130 la qual, des de diferents perspectives, va abordant l’estudi de la pagesia medieval sense gairebé trobar espai per a la pressió senyorial o la resistència pagesa, i arriba amb facilitat als tons positius amb què en parla Alan Macfarlane el 1978.131 Fins i tot, en apreciar l’exercici violent, el centre de la recerca no se situa en el cost social, sinó en la interpretació antropològica de les implicacions polítiques. Així s’aprecia quan Andrew Lewis, Geoffrey Koziol o Barbara Rosenwein132 desenvolupen una atenció preferent vers la noblesa o la relació entre aquesta i l’Església, cosa que permet parlar de les convinences sense a penes haver de referir-se als camperols, com fa Weinberger des del seu observatori provençal.133 També a Europa, Alain Guerreau enceta una altra focalització en tractar de centrar un esquema racional del funcionament i l’evolució de l’Europa feudal a partir de quatre eixos: la relació de domini, els parentius artificials amb els seus ordenaments, l’ecosistema i la posició de l’Església, tot plegat analitzat amb la participació de perspectives renovades i amb l’ajut de ciències properes com l’antropologia.134 Tanmateix el debat historiogràfic l’acapararà Guy Bois el 1989 en incrustar l’explicació mutacionista al cor de la Borgonya, formulant la teoria general a partir de l’estudi del cas concret de Lounard, en el qual s’explica el canvi sobtat imposat per la violència dels cavallers de la penúltima dècada del segle x, concatenant un canvi econòmic, social i polític en només trenta o quaranta anys.135 Guy Bois eleva, doncs, els canvis de l’any mil al punt de renovar el concepte de revolució ma-

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terialista formulat per Marx, en situar-hi la funció capital que abans s’havia atribuït a la caiguda de l’Imperi romà; però alhora avança vers la superació de l’esquema tripartit inicial136 i la mutació de l’any mil s’incrusta en una visió de la humanitat que concatenaria l’alteració sobtada i revolucionària de manera cíclica.137 El caràcter sobtat inherent a l’explicació corregeix la modulació que havien adoptat els plantejaments marxistes, que, tot i situar el gran tomb en la crisi del segle iii,138 havien avançat en la comprensió que el canvi no seria sobtat, sinó fruit d’una progressió que ocuparia segles,139 exposant-lo així com una successió de transicions, tal com explícitament havia difós Perry Anderson.140 El canvi sobtat al voltant de l’any mil concordava plenament amb la visió que havia recalcat Bonnassie el 1983 en el cas català. Tot i no haver aportat cap nova fonamentació heurística, accentuava el seu propi plantejament subratllant el caràcter violent i sobtat del canvi, que destruiria l’estadi de llibertat en què vivien els pagesos després d’haver superat la fase de l’esclavisme: «ce qui frappe le plus, c’est la rapidité et la violence des transformations qui ont affecté la société catalane au xie siècle. Le régime féodal, qui ailleurs a parfois mis un siècle à s’imposer, l’a emporté ici en l’espace d’une génération, en vingt ou trente ans (entre 1030/1040 et 1060).»141 Tot i la novetat que suposa la reivindicació d’un canvi global tan accelerat i l’aportació d’innovacions interpretatives en el paper jugat pels personatges i les institucions que protagonitzaren aquells fets, les conclusions generals no menen tant a una ruptura en el recorregut historiogràfic com a palesar la capacitat d’encabir, en un format materialista de rígida estructura hegeliana, les explicacions axials assumides des del segle xix, atès que el curs dels fets continua abocant a una societat que a mitjan segle xi hauria patit les tensions provocades pels nobles, hauria generat un règim opressiu sobre la pagesia, hauria articulat un nou model de relació basat en els lligams feudovassallàtics i hauria donat lloc a un equilibri de poder entorn del comte de Barcelona, assolint així un estadi d’estabilitat prou palès en l’elaboració del petit nucli inicial dels Usatges de Barcelona. L’acceptació i la difusió d’aquesta explicació té a veure amb la qualitat de la recerca, amb un context ideològic altament receptiu a la base metodològica i interpretativa emprada142 i amb el fet de comptar amb decidits difusors.143 S’estén així una acceptació del model, que va acaparant l’espai mediàtic a mesura que, sense contrastació, és emprat com a base per altres historiadors.144 Amb aquesta difusió, Catalunya s’està erigint en un dels nous paradigmes de la feudalitat, i guanya visibilitat a l’exterior. Fins aleshores, la Catalunya feudal sols gaudia d’una limitada presència, en tot cas ressaltant la diferència respecte de la resta de la Península pel fet de participar de la feudalització, encara que sigui un grau inferior a l’existent a l’interior de França;145 i feia ben poc, just en endegar-se el darrer terç del segle xx, que la divulgació d’autors com Vilar i Burns en el món anglosaxó havia començat a accentuar l’atenció vers l’espai català.146

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L’explicació de Bonnassie es configura com un model molt ben travat i argumentat, raó per la qual és fàcilment exportable. El mateix autor difon una visió conjunta des del Roine fins a Galícia147 i els trets apreciats a Catalunya influiran en les recerques efectuades a la resta de la Península. Fins i tot s’obtindran visions molt idèntiques, com en l’explicació elaborada per Ernesto Pastor Díaz de Garayo sobre Castella148 i, encara més, per Juan José Larrea sobre Navarra.149 Precisament, la crítica qüestionarà si l’anàlisi en realitat ha fet poc més que arrenglerar els fets històrics per mimetitzar el model assajat un quart de segle abans al nord-est de la península Ibèrica,150 exemplificant així una recerca en què el mètode i el model previ potser poden arribar a ofegar la capacitat interpretativa: «arribats al final de l’obra, a un li resta la sensació que les conclusions assolides en algun punt són més fruit de l’aplicació sistemàtica d’un model d’interpretació històrica que s’accepta com a veritat absoluta que d’una reflexió crítica sobre les fonts utilitzades.»151 Més recentment, el model de Bonnassie ha estat explícitament assajat sobre l’espai castellanolleonès per Carlos Astarita, que n’accepta alguns aspectes però no pas d’altres, com el caràcter sobtat del canvi social.152 Coetàniament, als Estats Units, una notable part del medievalisme s’havia centrat en aspectes com la crítica textual, les preocupacions antropològiques i unes específiques aportacions filosòfiques.153 És el marc adient per a un apropament a la realitat social medieval, incloses les seves tensions, mitjançant explicacions completament alienes a la confrontació de classe entre senyors i camperols, com mostren Tebrake, Wunderli o sobretot Justice.154 Són plantejaments poc seguits a la Catalunya de la penúltima dècada del segle xx, on se succeeixen les expressions divulgatives basades en el model de Bonnassie, difoses sota resums que, en la seva concisió, es mostren ben descarnats: «A l’alta edat mitjana (segles ix-x), els pagesos eren propietaris de les seves terres. No va ser fins a les transformacions del segle xi, en el moment en què els senyors dels castells van usurpar l’autoritat comtal, que la situació va canviar. Sense la protecció del comte, els pagesos van restar indefensos a mans dels senyors, els quals van utilitzar tota mena de violència per quedar-se amb les terres.»155 La plena acceptació d’aquests plantejaments, la constatació que l’epicentre de la comprensió del feudalisme s’havia traslladat al sud europeu i l’assumpció que Catalunya esdevenia un nou paradigma sobre la qüestió, en facilitava una difusió reivindicativa. Una obra força seguida en les orientacions de molts mestres de primària i professors de secundària a la sortida del segle xx era ben clara: «en absència del poder reial fort, la noblesa va poder explotar lliurement els seus territoris configurant-se a poc a poc (a Catalunya a partir del 1033 segons els experts) un nou sistema sociopolític: el «feudalisme». Així, doncs, per sort d’uns i desgràcia dels altres, a Catalunya i sobretot a la Marca fronterera (per raons òbvies de descontrol) va sorgir un dels primers processos de feudalització precoç d’Europa. Si els catalans fóssim francesos, diríem que vam inventar el feudalisme.»156

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Curiosament, mentre a l’escola els escassos continguts sobre l’edat mitjana recalcaven aquestes explicacions, el món de la investigació apuntava vers altres direccions. Certament, les recerques puntuals anaven concatenant correccions al model. D’antuvi, Manuel Riu va posar en relleu els canvis esdevinguts no tant al segle xi com a les dues centúries precedents, ressaltant la importància de la castralització amb les seves innegables conseqüències socials.157 Per la seva part, Ruiz-Doménec va accentuar les perspectives des de l’anàlisi del parentiu,158 convençut que «la força del llinatge i el feudalisme són exactament una mateixa cosa: són dos sistemes coincidents no concurrents», posició que li permetia reconduir l’explicació sobre la violència social: «estem convençuts que moltes tensions observades a l’interior de la societat barcelonina durant aquests dos segles són en la seva majoria desajustos de la llei de selecció del parentiu o conflictes morals a causa del caràcter que adquireix l’intercanvi matrimo nial.»159 Val a dir que aquesta formulació estructuralista obre alhora noves perspectives, però que aporta noves rigideses que l’anàlisi documental corregirà.160 De manera diferent, l’aprofundiment sobre la violència al segle xii, per part de Garí161 i Bisson,162 posà en evidència que l’agressivitat no fou un fet puntual fruit d’una mutació sobtada, sinó que s’endinsa en la centúria següent, és a dir, que els processos de privatitzacíó, patrimonialització i senyorialització s’allarguen conològicament: ja no es pot parlar de revolució sobtada; en tot cas, com comenta Bisson, caldrà deixar-ho en «quasi-revolutionary transformation of power».163 Aquesta revolució tindria com a punt central l’opressió sobre la pagesia i la seva ràpida evolució, que passaria amb rapidesa pels tres estadis que Josep Maria Salrach compendiava en un títol: «esclavitud, llibertat, servitud».164 Tanmateix les recerques sobre l’estadi de la pagesia abans de la feudalització imposaven un greu correctiu a aquest plantejament, com explícitament contestava Gaspar Feliu:165 «no tothom era esclau, pocs van assaborir la plena llibertat, la nova denominació, que no per a tots era servitud, ja que anava acompanyada de drets de propietat.»166 Paul Freedman també matisà la pretesa fase de plena llibertat de la pagesia prèvia a la feudalització167 i, sobretot, posà en relleu la manca del canvi sobtat i l’absència de la servitud fins al segle xii, estenentse ja al xiii,168 per la qual cosa pot rebatre explícitament la proposta mutacionista: «els pagesos no eren del tot autònoms abans del 1020, ni tampoc havien estat asservits el 1060, ni tan sols el 1160.»169 És una conclusió que també subscriu Lluís To després d’analitzar el procés d’extensió de la remença al nord-est català, fruit no pas del segle xi, sinó del xii.170 Alhora, la pretesa culminació jurídica assolida a mitjan segle xi amb la formulació del primer nucli dels Usatges esdevé insostenible després de les recerques de Gouron171 i, sobretot, d’Iglesia,172 que encaixen la compilació en el complement de la vella llei visigoda, la recepció romanista i l’emergència del sobirà al segle xii. D’altra banda, el desenvolupament de recerques centrades en diverses unitats comtals, especialment les obertes a la fron-

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tera, ha evidenciat la seva importància en tota l’evolució social entre els segles x i xii,173 així com la plena capacitat i evolució dels diferents comtats,174 i ha obligat a situar la unificació política del nord-est peninsular entorn del casal de Barcelona al segle xii,175 just quan la concatenació dels diversos factors de cohesió mena a una percepció unitària de Catalunya.176 La paradoxa, doncs, era que, mentre que la divulgació continuava repetint el model formulat un quart de segle abans, cada recerca sobre aspectes concrets aportava elements de revisió en profunditat. És comprensible que ja el 1989 Manuel Riu advertís que «el feudalisme català és força lluny d’haver estat ben estudiat.»177 El 1996, Paul Freed man subratllava la singularitat de la divulgació catalana en el context historiogràfic internacional: «Fora de Catalunya, la teoria arqueomarxista d’un canvi de mode de producció situat a l’any 1000 no té gaires seguidors.»178 Tanmateix el 1997, en exposar el balanç de les recerques més recents, Antoni Riera constatava el canvi explicatiu a l’interior del país en els àmbits científics: «la hipòtesi de l’historiador francès –defensada encara per Josep Maria Salrach i, amb menys convenciment, per Lluís To– sofreix actualment l’embat d’altres visions alternatives, més gradualistes.»179 De fet, les revisions de les explicacions sobre l’evolució a l’espai català concordaven amb la revisió de què era objecte el model mutacionista en altres països, especialment a França, on el qüestionament del mètode emprat i el contrast de les conclusions justificaven que Dominique Barthélemy conclogués que «la notion d’une crise sociale génératrice de la «société féodale» doit disparaître.»180 L’ombra de l’atzucac apareix. Les diferents línies conductores per a interpretar la feudalitat es van demostrant inhàbils i, sobretot, contraposades, i donen lloc, com ja advertia Paulino Iradiel el 1984, a «una nebulosa de definicions polèmiques i d’ocioses discussions terminològiques.»181 Curiosament, un dels termes que més s’atorguen al feudalisme és el de «nebulosa de conceptes», com fa Giusseppe Sergi el 1993.182 Potser el millor serà defugir el terme. Barbara H. Rosenwein observarà que els principals autors no tracten de reconstruir pretesos models com el feudal, sinó de resoldre punts concrets de la recerca: «le problème n’a plus guère d’intérêt aujourd’hui, alors que les historiens les plus en pointe en ce domaine tentent de comprendre les époques non plus par leurs rapports à des modèles réifiés de l’Antiquité ou du féodalisme, mais comme des moments spécifiques.»183 De manera més contundent, el 1994 Susan Reynolds publica un complet treball per advertir respecte dels muntatges jurídics que han facilitat que els investigadors hagin caigut en el parany d’assumir el feudalisme fins al punt d’apreciar, no el que fou aquell període, sinó el que els respectius historiadors hi han volgut veure, precisament contraposant, rere un mateix nom, definicions contradictòries.184 Com explicitava Hyams, el plantejament comportaria «the end of feudalism».185 Bonnassie reaccionarà convocant a rebatre els plantejaments dels «médiévistes que je qualifierais

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d’“anti-féodalistes” ou de “féodophobes”.»186 Tanmateix la tasca a realitzar seria la que ja reclamava Paulino Iradiel el 1991: «una rehabilitació del feudalisme».187 I l’única manera d’aconseguir aquesta rehabilitació historiogràfica és centrant-se en una recerca molt atenta a la font, amb més preocupació per esbrinar els fets que no pas per etiquetar-los. També és recomanable que la recerca sigui capaç d’absorbir i incorporar amb cura i rigor les diverses perspectives d’anàlisi, com serien les vies procedents del dret188 o d’altres ciències socials. Certament, la incorporació de noves perspectives antropològiques, culturals o jurídiques ha enriquit clarament la visió global, com es pot apreciar, entre d’altres, en autors com Milson, Geary o Palmer.189 En la mateixa línia, Cheyette, estenent el raonament des de les seves recerques sobre Narbona, pot apreciar la globalitat jurídica, política i de mentalitat, prou clara en parlar d’una «culture of fidelity»,190 i Stephen White ja havia insistit en com els elements poden anar encaixant i complementant-se sense haver de recórrer a cap ruptura: les convinences privades esdevindrien un clar exemple de novetat que no combat sinó que complementa l’ordre públic previ.191 L’atenció centrada en els problemes socials, que té l’epicentre en la pagesia de finals de l’edat mitjana en autors com Richard Hoffman, Lawrence Poos o Teófilo Ruiz,192 se centra en la pagesia catalana sota la feudalitat gràcies a Thomas N. Bisson, de manera prou expressiva, com resumeix el títol de la seva obra Tormented voices, i com especifica el subtítol: «Power, crisis and humanity in rural Catalonia».193 Bisson encaixa les queixes camperoles dins el marc del poder i avança en una comprensió cultural dels fets, en copsar els valors coetanis, «the culture of honor and shame». Els lligams formals amb què se solen establir les convinences que defineixen el període remeten a la combinació de poder, ordre i paraula escrita, com ha pogut apreciar Adam Kosto en reprendre el tema sobre el cas català.194 De fet, la noció i la invocació del dret es van mantenir als comtats al llarg del segle xi, cosa que va facilitar la regulació de les apetències sobre propietats i l’arranjament de disputes, com ha mostrat Jeffrey A. Bowman.195 L’encaix de les darreres recerques i la facilitat per a la consulta de fonts faciliten la comprensió del que va succeir als comtats catalans entre els segles x i xii,196 tot constatant el caràcter gradual dels canvis. Hom ve a coincidir amb les conclusions assolides per José Ángel García de Cortázar en apreciar, a Lleó i Castella, una concatenació d’alteracions des del segle vii fins a l’estabilització al xii.197 Recentment, Thomas N. Bisson ha insistit en l’afermament de la feudalitat al segle xii, tot encaixant-la en la pugna pel perfilament del poder sobirà dins del coetani context europeu.198 Esdevé així una proposta que a la vegada complementa la visió d’aquesta centúria, tantes vegades difosa des del seu seu perfil urbà199 i cultural.200 De manera inesperada, el 2008 s’ha publicat l’obra d’Eugene Mendonsa201 que reivindica de nou el canvi sobtat de la societat dels comtats del nord-est peninsular en-

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tre els anys 1020 i 1060, basant-se en «an antropological view» que permet a l’autor exposar el cas català com un exemple de «the fabrication of domination», la qual es basaria en el control dels mecanismes econòmics i polítics tot combinant «power, property (or profit) and prestige». Mendonsa reprèn tots els elements de l’explicació mutacionista sobre Catalunya –el canvi sobtat, l’opressió senyorial («reign of terror»), l’esquema hegelià amb l’ordre prefeudal combatut per l’antítesi («a lack of universally accepted law») i l’afermament final del poder per part del comte de Barcelona– i l’erigeix en paradigma: «the case of how the Count of Barcelona did this after the breakdown of the state, the “seigneurie banale” (1020-1060) or the “times of troubles” is a classic case.» En l’aportació de Mendonsa és de ressaltar especialment la funció atorgada al document escrit en l’afermament del poder i en l’assentament d’un sistema d’explotació de la pagesia, «because elites in Catalonia used writing as a tool of oppression», tot i que no desenvolupa prou aquesta aportació. Alhora, també és de destacar la voluntat d’inserir els fets en una ampla línia reflexiva sobre «the fabrication of domination» en el comportament social, plantejant el cas de la feudalitat catalana en el context «on domination to the entire span of human history from the Paleolithic to the present.» Tanmateix al cap i a la fi es posa en relleu la importància del rigor cronològic i la dependència bàsica en la recerca documental. Són dos vessants que manquen en la present obra, cosa que provoca en el primer cas mescles inapropiades i, en el segon, la dependència vers determinats autors. Tot i l’evident esforç per incorporar i emprar un ample i recent ventall bibliogràfic, l’autor no depèn de la pròpia consulta documental i manté la seva capacitat crítica vinculada a uns determinats autors que l’han precedit, cosa que al final desvirtua tota l’obra.202

Eixos explicatius de l’evolució dels comtats del nord-est peninsular entre els segles x i xii Les visions globals es contrasten en la resolució dels dubtes plantejats per la documentació, que se’ns presenta com a veritable testimoni del passat, encara que a voltes sigui a manera de petja difusa. Així, per exemple, segons la interpretació mutacionista, els comtes respectaven escrupolosament l’ordre legal (tesi) i els nobles interposaven exaccions abusives sota pressions sovint violentes, com les toltes i les forces (antítesi). Tanmateix quan hom s’acosta a la documentació es fa evident, ja als inicis del segle xi, una demanda idèntica per part dels uns i dels altres.203 Hom podria deduir que tots participen de la mateixa mentalitat i que, per tant, evolucionen conjuntament d’acord amb els respectius interessos,204 interpretació que pot semblar lògica, però que és incompatible amb el fil interpretatiu emprat, per la qual cosa, davant de la paradoxa, Salrach dedueix que aquest comportament entre els comtes respon al fet que «tota llei té la seva excepció».205

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La resposta recorda, evidentment, el llit de Procust, el mateix que Rosenwein retreia a Bois el 1991, en entendre que, si la realitat no s’ajusta a la teoria, cal estirar-la o escapçar-la, com les cames dels qui ocupaven el llit de Procust.206 Un dels eixos centrals de la violència nobiliària seria la revolta del jove Mir Geribert contra el comte de Barcelona, que inclouria un assalt al palau comtal,207 per bé que el 1985 Enrique Ruiz-Doménec va treure conclusions molt més simples dels mateixos fets: «els adolescents s’agiten perquè el comte és feble i no els mena a la guerra exterior. No cal veure-hi, en aquest esdeveniment, una crisi política, i menys encara una lluita de classes. No traguem les coses de polleguera.»208 Com hem comentat, la perspectiva estructuralista que alimenta aquesta frase portarà a noves rigideses que moltes vegades sucumbiran al contrast documental,209 però si més no obre una pluralitat de possibilitats interpretatives que, en tot cas, han de ser avaluades d’acord amb la documentació. El notable increment d’edicions de fonts en facilita l’estudi, i es pot concloure que, com en aquest mateix cas, els documents aportats no sempre menen a les deduccions efectuades per Bonnassie.210 Precisament, ja el 1996 Paul Freedman reclamava una relectura dels documents amb què l’autor francès va basar la seva tesi, perquè segurament ara acceptarem que «aquesta documentació no serveix per a demostrar el començament de la pagesia de remença»: «a mi no em sembla que siguin transaccions de vendes de persones com a propietat, com a esclaus, però sí vendes o ordenacions de terreny productives, terrenys amb tinents que cultiven, de la mateixa manera que avui es pot vendre una propietat urbana amb tinents que paguin el lloguer. Hi ha potser una certa mentalitat en els documents, una tendència a associar pagesos amb trossos de terra, però cap indicació de servitud personal.»211 Per tant, les primeres lliçons a deduir són molt simples i elementals en l’ofici i remeten a la jerarquització entre mètode i documentació, a l’encaix entre les dues bases imprescindibles, l’heurística i l’hermenèutica. No som pas lluny de revisions que es van repetint als darrers anys. El 2000, Randall Collins es qüestionava l’obsessió de gran part de la historiografia del segle xx per a obtenir models interpretatius globalitzadors,212 i el 2002 Matt Perry s’estranyava de la contundència amb què determinats esquemes materialistes havien condicionat el treball de molts historiadors del segle precedent.213 En la mateixa línia, el 1997, García-Guijarro lamentava que l’accentuació de les perspectives historiogràfiques desenvolupades durant el segle xx havia criticat en excés el llegat positivista, més enllà de les evidents dependències d’aquest vers el seu context.214 No hi ha dubte que, com deia Artola, hom no és pròpiament historiador per anar a l’arxiu i explicar en un llenguatge modern el que hi ha llegit, sinó per saber interpretar-ho,215 però casos com el present conviden a afinar la gradació requerida i la necessitat d’avantposar al mètode una documentació tan despullada com sigui possible, a fi que l’einam interpretatiu no acabi fagocitant en excés. Alhora, també cal reconèixer la valentia de tots els

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autors precedents que han gosat afrontar les grans preguntes amb les escasses eines de la seva època, cosa, però, que exigeix a les generacions següents no deixar-se dur per idees alienes, sinó emprar totes les eines i les capacitats per a aplicar una permanent revisió d’acord amb l’avenç en el coneixement documental, en l’aconseguiment de facilitats en la seva consulta i estudi i, també, en les lliçons emanades de les marrades historiogràfiques. Si el repte és, doncs, reprendre l’anàlisi documental per analitzar què va succeir als comtats del nord-est peninsular entre el segle x i el xii, ens podem també preguntar quina etiqueta caldrà posar-hi. Continuem parlant de feudalisme, tal com la historiografia ha fet des de definicions tan diferents i àdhuc contradictòries? O ens rendim a l’evidència que no hi ha cap societat que empri aquesta definició abans del segle xviii? Atès el debat historiogràfic precedent, es pot assolir un nou plantejament objectiu o estarà massa a prop el desencís, l’enquistament o la sectorització amb què fa uns anys semblava veure’s danyada la controvèrsia sobre el tema?216 I, en qualsevol cas, fins a quin grau el cas català esdevé paradigma d’un plantejament global i fins a quin altre mostra significatius trets propis, començant per la importància de la frontera i continuant per les dificultats de cohesió política? Una visió detallada de la documentació posa en evidència la incorporació, de manera ben primerenca al segle xi, del terme feu, d’unes pràctiques institucionals i documentals específiques i d’un marc de vincles artificials, tot alterant les formes de relació i condicionant el desenvolupament d’uns valors determinats. N’esdevé impregnada la noblesa, però també l’expressió literària i religiosa així com el marc ideològic amb què l’Església es mou i incideix, amb contundència, en els valors de la societat. En coherència amb tota aquesta realitat, podem emprar un terme comú i tradicional com és el de feudalisme, però cal ajustar-ne el contingut als eixos axials que en forneix la documentació. Això comporta, sobretot, atendre els seus vectors interpretatius. En primer lloc, apreciar el punt de partida en el procés de senyorització i castralització que ocupa el segle ix i, encara més, el x. Just quan monestirs i episcopats vetllen, ben interessadament, per afermar la respectiva base patrimonial mitjançant diferents estratègies que juguen amb les donacions i els instruments judicials, les grans famílies vescomtals i vicarials també malden per afermar els respectius llinatges i bases rendístiques. La patrimonialització de l’ofici, fins aleshores públic, i les rendes obtingudes tant en el seu exercici com en la projecció a la franja fronterera217 garanteixen la puixança i la proximitat al poder comtal. Els comtes estaven tot just consolidant la pròpia capacitat autònoma, tot evidenciant col·laboracions mútues,218 però també tensions en el perfilament de les delimitacions demarcacionals, amb la greu topada entre els titulars de Cerdanya i Carcassona pel Rasès,219 que ressona en la tibantor entre el comte cerdà i el barcelonès en els límits dels comtats de Berga i Manresa,220 tot plegat dins el marc de rivalitats limítrofes coherents amb la necessitat

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d’afermar l’espai comtal.221 Amb més transcendència, els comtes han de contemporitzar amb eclesiàstics i barons a fi d’articular i jerarquitzar el propi entorn de poder. Cedeixen béns i drets d’origen públic, atorgant immunitats a centres religiosos222 i cedint indrets amb tots els seus drets, ja sigui a la frontera –la cessió de Freixe el 954 per part del comte al vescomte de Barcelona–223 o a l’interior –com les cessions d’Olzinelles i Polinyà–.224 Les cessions no eviten les fortes tensions que esclaten a la segona meitat del segle x, amb els comtes enfrontats amb barons que pretenen retenir com a béns privats les rendes de què gaudeixen. Els episodis –historiogràficament ofuscats en posar la focalitat en la centúria següent– concatenen la greu revolta a Besalú que costa la vida al comte el 957,225 la disputa contra els comtes de Cerdanya pels béns que finalment aconsegueixen retenir els vescomtes de Conflent el 959226 i les acusacions de traïció del comte de Ribagorça contra aquells a qui segresta els béns el 964.227 Aquesta dinàmica aferma un estrat social de senyors i uns dominis territorials sotmesos, en els diversos sentits i amb tots els seus drets, a possessors particulars. Coherentment, els comtes s’adrecen, genèricament, a «vicecomites et seniores», com fa el titular de Barcelona el 986.228 En aquest context, el castell termenat va esdevenint la base districtual del territori, tant a l’interior com a la frontera,229 perfilant la relació entre els senyors, els tinents castrals i la població situada dins el terme de cada castell.230 En segon lloc, valorar el pes cabdal de la frontera. La franja fronterera és inicialment una terra desestructurada i, per tant, oberta a ocupacions espontànies dotades d’una condició aloera que més endavant pot ser discutida per posteriors ocupacions castrals.231 Tanmateix l’existència d’aquests casos no pot ser extrapolada fins a definir l’espai fronterer com l’indret on la pagesia trobava terra i llibertat fins a ser assaltada per uns agressius nobles, com ha anat repetint una historiografia afectada pel «mythe de la paysannerie pionnière».232 Sobretot la frontera fou l’objecte de la projecció dels llinatges vescomtals i vicarials i de la jerarquia eclesiàstica al segle x, en articular tota la franja fronterera mitjançant la concatenació de castells termenats.233 La frontera esdevé atractiva, molt més que pel pillatge inherent, pels drets que genera la mateixa ocupació.234 Al segle xi, la frontera és engolida per esdevenir paradigma de l’espai feudal, i el territori s’articula mitjançant la concatenació inextricable de castells termenats, quadres i termes que permeten un ple control de la població encabida i l’afermament de vincles, drets i guanys perennes,235 que s’allargassaran amb conseqüències seculars, sobretot a través dels corresponents càrrecs de castlans endegats per a cada unitat castral.236 Aquests guanys justifiquen l’expansió bèl·lica sobre territori islàmic, que facilita l’articulació armada modèlicament feudal culminada amb les preses de Lleida i Tortosa a mitjan segle xii.237 Aquest tancament de frontera està en relació amb l’esclat d’una nova fase de violència al seu interior a la sortida de la centúria, perquè els barons necessiten sobretot diners i gra amb què ostentar el nivell que els pertoca.238

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En tercer lloc, copsar la significació de la violència i els seus límits. Lluny de la genèrica agressivitat de senyors contra súbdits camperols, la majoria dels atacs s’exerceixen contra membres de senyories amb els quals es té un motiu de disputa. Quan la violència s’exerceix dins de la pròpia jurisdicció, sol pretendre evitar possessions aloeres que, per aquesta condició, barrin la capacitat exactiva senyorial, raó per la qual la pagesia molt sovint pateix agressions de senyors contra possessors intermedis, sovint eclesiàstics, tal com paradigmàticament es vivia a Igualada arran de la disputa entre els Òdena, com a senyors de l’indret, i el monestir de Sant Cugat del Vallès, que en reivindicava el domini aloer.239 La violència, lluny de ser una antítesi per a promoure una reacció concreta, s’instal·la en el sistema i en forma part, repercutint sobre els camperols per diverses raons: al segle xi, arran dels enfrontaments entre senyors; en el pas de l’xi al xii, sobretot per les disputes entorn del domini directe i la condició aloera; a mitjan segle xii, per les baralles entre senyors i castlans pels drets pretesos per aquests, i a la darreria de la centúria, per les depredacions imposades per aristòcrates que volen mantenir una capacitat d’ostentació tot i no poder obtenir guanys de la frontera, ja closa. En una pagesia que anava estretint la relació entre tinença, herència i terra,240 aquest context estén, en el pas del segle xii al xiii, el lligam personal a la terra, a manera de garantia de producció per al senyor i de protecció per a la pagesia.241 També cal matisar el pretès vincle entre violència i pressió exactiva. Globalment, no es percep una ruptura sobtada vers l’increment exactiu, sinó una progressió de les exaccions i una concentració de la propietat aloera. En concret, però, la casuística és molt diversa, incloent nombrosos casos de disminució de la càrrega exactiva a la segona meitat del segle xi. En general, el pacte ha orientat l’establiment agrari, ja sigui inicial o precedit per exercicis intimidatoris. D’aquesta manera, es grava una terra de la qual el pagès gaudeix majoritàriament sota cens, tant a l’interior com a la frontera, cosa que facilita els sistemes de doble domini que al segle xii es podran definir sota fórmules emfitèutiques. En quart lloc, situar adientment les nocions de dret i justícia. El sistema judicial evoluciona de la inicial matriu comtal vers mans senyorials, amb l’exercici en gran part en mans de clergues, emprat sobretot en conflictes de propietats i acabat al servei del domini senyorial, clarament a partir del darrer quart del segle xi, quan les ordalies deixen de ser pretesa garantia reclamada per l’acusat i es mostren com una arma intimidatòria exigida pel jutge contra el demandat, el qual sovint cedeix terroritzat, com s’esdevé quan la seu urgellesa exigeix la tasca a Tuixén el 1081242 o quan a Taradell el 1100 el senyor reclama prestacions per batllia.243 Això va comportar forçar els arguments jurídics, però no pas viure sense dret: al llarg de tota la centúria, la Lex d’origen visigot no sols justifica les sentències, sinó que impregna tots els aspectes de la quotidianitat, com no en deixa dubte la seva contínua invocació fins a l’inici del segle xii. Els Usatges no arriben de

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forma solemne i rupturista per a sancionar una nova època, sinó com una suma d’usualia amb què els jutges adapten la legislació visigoda a les noves problemàtiques, és a dir, la complementen i la perllonguen. Des dels inicis del segle xii hi ajuda la penetració del dret romà, de forma progressiva, ràpida i sense ruptures.244 S’assolirà l’aval legislatiu amb què pretendre justificar tant la preeminència del sobirà com els drets dels senyors feudals i les pressions de les col·lectivitats urbanes, avançant vers la conceptualització jurídica adient al nou marc d’equilibris de poder, de relacions socials i d’accés sota diferents graus a unes mateixes unitats de rendes i jurisdicció, tal com es culminarà quan la societat integri en la seva quotidianitat les disquisicions entre domini útil i directe i entre mer i mixt imperi. En cinquè lloc, apreciar els continguts de les formes i els valors generats i assumits per la societat. Cal desdramatitzar el sistema de vinculacions personals i apreciar-lo com l’estructura política i territorial adaptada a la nova realitat social, vers la qual menen tots els sectors socials, cadascun rere els respectius interessos. L’Església hi juga un paper cabdal: altament beneficiada pel procés previ de castralització i senyorialització, esdevé pionera a emprar les fórmules de vinculació i de relació feudal; els seus drets i rendes es beneficien d’una veritable clericalització de la justícia; es protegeix amb mecanismes com les sagreres i la pau i treva de Déu que alhora n’incrementen la incidència social; incorpora la reforma gregoriana com a via d’enfortiment del poder episcopal; augmenta la presència física amb una onada parroquialitzadora; aporta els discursos de legitimitat social i política, i des d’aquesta posició accentua la influència sobre la població, condicionant les consciències, modulant la cosmovisió i imposant un model de família basat en la unió monògama, indissoluble i exògama. Aquest és el marc d’afermament dels llinatges,245 que generen formes específiques de solidaritat i resten atents a un patrimoni pel qual s’avança vers la primogenitura agnàtica.246 El llinatge requereix memòria,247 amb tots els seus corol·laris d’evocació, gestualitat i commemoració,248 i precisament l’Església col·laborarà en l’elaboració dels relats adients i en la custòdia dels llocs de memòria on acollir els respectius panteons. Assumint el feudalisme com un sistema de valors, es podrà entendre que traspassi tots els estrats socials i que s’insereixi en les diferents formes de comunicació, incloses les expressions religioses, artístiques i literàries. Finalment, cal percebre que totes les línies condueixen al segle xii. No perquè aquesta centúria comporti l’estagnació de l’evolució, sinó perquè congeniarà els estímuls feudals i urbans, ben lluny de la incomunicació llargament imaginada per la historiografia.249 Les derivacions de l’extensió del dret romà en els diferents àmbits, les estratègies de preeminència del comte de Barcelona, que des del 1162 pot ostentar la titulació reial, i l’obertura als estímuls procedents dels diversos horitzons geogràfics s’hi sumen per a perfilar la complexitat de la societat que s’endinsarà en els segles baixmedievals.

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Aquest article s’integra dins del projecte de recerca «Identidad, memoria e ideología en la Edad Media» (HAR2009-08598; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. Gobierno de España); s’ha beneficiat de la condició de professor invitat a la Yale University de què he gaudit durant el curs 2008-2009; reconeix a la University of the State of New York per l’estada a Nova York de què he gaudit l’estiu de 2009, i ha d’agrair les facilitats ofertes per la Public Library of New York en l’estudi dels seus fons. Jean-Louis Paul. L’automne de la Féodalité. Essai sur la formation du monde étatique-marchand (xiexve siècle). Ressouvenances, Coeuvres 1997, contraportada. Entre altres, són recomanables: Gerard Noiriel. Sobre la crisis de la historia. Ediciones Cátedra, Universitat de València, Madrid 1997; Dominick LaCapra. History in Transit. Experience, Identity, Critical Theory. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, Londres 2004; Peter Charles Hoffer. The Historian’s Paradox. The Study of History in Our Time. New York University Press, Nova York-Londres 2008; Gordon S. Wood. The purpose of the past. Reflexions on the uses of history. The Penguin Press, Nova York 2008. Aquí escauen els mots de Richard J. Evans: «So when Patrick Joyce tells us that social history is dead, and Elizabeth Deeds Ermarth declares that time is a fictional construct, and Roland Barthes announces that all the world’s a text, and Frank Ankersmit swears that we can never know anything at all about the past so we might as well confine ourselves to studying other historians, and Keith Jenkins proclaims that all history is just naked ideology designed to get historians power and money in big university institutions run by the bourgeoisie, I will look humbly at the past and say, despite them all: It really happened, and we really can, if we are very scrupulous and careful and self-critical, find out how it did and reach some tenable conclusions about what it all meant» (Richard J. Evans. In defense of history. W. W. Norton & Company, Nova York-Londres 2000, p. 220). Pere de Marca. Marca Hispanica sive limes hispanicus. Franciscum Muguet, París 1688 (facsímil: Base, Barcelona 1998, col. 1014). Flocel Sabaté. «Corona de Aragón». A: Alfredo Alvar Ezquerra, Flocel Sabaté, Eloísa Ramírez Vaquero i Pedro A. Porras Arboledas. Historia de España. La época medieval: administración y gobierno. Istmo, Tres Cantos (Madrid) 2003, p. 297-344. Pròsper de Bofarull. Procesos de las antiguas cortes y parlamentos de Cataluña, Aragón y Valencia (Colección de documentos inéditos del Archivo General de la Corona de Aragón, viii). Establecimien-

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[159] José Enrique Ruiz-Doménec. L’estructura feudal. Sistemes de parentiu i teoria de l’aliança en la societat catalana (c. 980 - c. 1220). Edicions del Mall, Barcelona 1985, p. 91-93 i 25. [160] Flocel Sabaté, “Història medieval”. A: Història de Piera. Pagès, Lleida 1999, p. 132-136. [161] Blanca Garí, «Las “querimoniae” feudales en la documentación catalana del siglo xii (1131-1178)». Medievalia, núm. 5, Bellaterra 1984, p. 7-49. [162] Thomas N. Bisson. «The Crisis of the Catalonian franchises (1150-1200)». Estudi General, núm. 5-6, Girona 1985-1986, p. 153-172. [163] Thomas N. Bisson. «The «feudal revolution»». Past&Present, núm. 142, Oxford 1994, p. 42. [164] Josep Maria Salrach. «Esclavitud, llibertat, servitud. L’evolució del camp català». L’Avenç, núm. 93, Barcelona 1986, p. 36-45. [165] Gaspar Feliu. «Els antecedents de la remença i els mals usos». Quaderns de la Selva, núm. 13, Santa Coloma de Farners 2001, p. 209-228. [166] Gaspar Feliu. «La pagesia catalana abans de la feudalizació». Anuario de Estudios Medievales, núm. 36, Barcelona 1996, p. 40. [167] Paul Freedman. «Senyors i pagesos al camp feudal». A: Flocel Sabaté i Joan Farré (ed.). Els grans espais baronials a l’edat mitjana. Desenvolupament socioeconòmic (Balaguer, juliol de 1996). Pagès, Lleida 2002, p. 15. [168] Paul Freedman. Els orígens de la servitud pagesa a la Catalunya medieval. Eumo, Vic 1993. [169] Paul Freedman. «La servidumbre catalana y el problema de la revolución feudal». Hispania, núm. LVI/2-193, Madrid 1996, p. 435. [170] Lluís To. «Le mas catalan du xiie s.: genèse et évolution d’une structure d’encadrement et d’asserviment de la paysannerie». Cahiers de civilisation médiévale, núm. xxvi, Poitiers 1993, p. 162-177; Íd. «Els remences i el desenvolupament de les viles catalanes a l’entorn de 1200». A: Louis Assier An drieu i Raymond Sala (ed.). La Ciutat i els Poders. Actes del Col·loqui del 8è Centenari de la Carta de Poblament (23/25 d’octubre de 1997). Institut Català de Recerques en Ciències Socials, Perpinyà 2000, p. 133-156. [171] André Gouron. «Sur la compilation des Usages de Barcelone au douzième siècle». El dret comú i Catalunya. Actes del VIII Simposi Internacional (Barcelona, 29-30 de maig de 1998). Fundació Noguera, Barcelona 1999, p. 219-232. [172] La limitació d’espai imposa que, de la seva extensa i minuciosa obra sobre els Usatges, sols pugui citar ara: Aquilino Iglesia, «De Usatici quomodo inventi fuerunt». Initium, núm. 6, Barcelona 2001, p. 25-212. [173] Flocel Sabaté. L’expansió territorial de Catalunya: conquesta o repoblació? Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida, Lleida 1996.

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[174] Flocel Sabaté. «Organització administrativa i territorial del comtat d’Urgell». A: El Comtat d’Urgell. Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida, Institut d’Estudis Ilerdencs, Lleida 1995, p. 17-70. [175] Michel Zimmerman. «Des pays catalans à la Catalogne: genèse d’une représentation». A: Philippe Sénac (cur.), Histoire et archéologie des terres catalanes au Moyen Âge. Presses Universitaires de Perpignan, Perpinyà 1995, p. 71-86. [176] Flocel Sabaté. El territori de la Catalunya medieval. Fundació Salvador Vives Casajuana, Barcelona 1997, p. 267-281. [177] Manuel Riu. «El feudalismo en Cataluña». A: En torno al feudalismo hispánico. Vol. I. Congreso de Estudios Medievales. Fundación Sánchez Albornoz, Àvila 1989, p. 375. [178] Paul Freedman. «Senyors i pagesos al camp feudal». A: Els grans espais baronials a l’edat mitjana. Desenvolupament socioeconòmic. I Curs d’Estiu Comtat d’Urgell (Balaguer, juliol 1996). Pagès, Lleida 2002, p. 16. [179] Antoni Riera. «La historia medieval en Cataluña (1990-1995). Un balance breve de las últimas investigaciones». Anuario de Estudios Medievales, núm. 27, Barcelona 1997, p. 517. [180] Dominique Barthélemy. La mutation de l’an mil a-t-elle eu lieu? Servage et chevalerie dans la France des xe et xie siècles. Librairie Arthème Fayard, París 1997, p. 24. [181] Paulino Iradiel. «Feudalismo agrario y artesanado corporativo». Studia Historica. Historia Medieval, núm. ii, Salamanca 1984, p. 62. [182] Giussepep Sergi. «Feudalismo senza “sistema”». Prometeo. Revista trimestrale di scienze e storia, núm. 10, Milà 1993, p. 61; Íd. La idea de Edad Media. Crítica, Barcelona 2001, p. 57. [183] Barbara H. Rosenwein. «Le lit de Procuste de Guy Bois». Médiévales. Langues, textes, histoire, núm. 21, París, tardor de 1991, p. 16. [184] Susan Reynolds. Fiefs and Vassals: The Medieval Evidence Reinterpreted. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1994. [185] Paul R. Hyams. «The end of feudalism?». Journal of Interdisciplinary History, núm. 27:4, Cambridge 1996, p. 655-662. [186] Pierre Bonnassie. «Introduction». A: Pierre Bonnassie (ed.). Fiefs et féodalités dans l’Europe méridionale (Italie, France du Midi, Péninsule Ibérique) du xe au xiiie siècle. CNRS, Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail, Tolosa de Llenguadoc 2002, p. 8. [187] Paulino Iradiel. Las claves del feudalismo. Planeta, Barcelona 1991, p. 110. [188] Paul Ourliac. «La féodalité et son histoire». Revue d’histoire du droit français et étranger, núm. 73, París 1995, p. 1-21. [189] Stroud F. C. Milson. The Legal Framework of England Feudalism. Cambridge Universty Press,

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Cambridge 1976; Robert C. Palmer, «The Feudal Framework of England Law». Michigan Law Re view, núm. 79, Ann Arbor 1981, p. 1130-1164; Patrick Geary, «Moral obligations and Peer Presure. Conflict Resolution in the medieval Aristocraty». A: Claude Duhamel-Amado i Guy Lubrichon (ed.). Georges Duby. L’Écriture de l’histoire. De Boeck, Brussel·les 1996, p. 217-222. [190] Fredric L. Cheyette. Ermengard of Narbonne and the World of the Troubadours. Cornell Univeristy Press, Ithaca-Londres 2001, p. 187- 247. [191] Stephen White. «“Pactum... Legem vincit et Amor Judicium”. The Settelement of Disputes by Compromise in 11th Century France». The American Journal of Legal History, núm. 22, Filadèlfia 1979, p. 281-308; Íd. «Inheritances and legal arguments in Western France, 1050-1150». Traditio, núm. xliii, Nova York 1987, p. 55-102. [192] Richard C. Hoffmann. «Outsiders by Birth and Blood: Racist Ideologies and Realities Around the Periphery of Medieval European Culture». Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History, núm. 6, Durham 1983, p. 14-21; Lawrence C. Poos. A rural society alter the Black Death: Essex 1350-1525. Cam bridge University Press, Cambridge 1991; Teófilo Ruiz. Crisis and Continuity. Land and Town in Late Medieval Castile. University of Pennsylvania Press, Filadèlfia 1994. [193] Thomas N. Bisson. Tormented voices. Power, Crisis and Humanity in rural Catalonia 1140-1200. Harvard University Press, Cambridge-Londres 1998. [194] Adam J. Kosto. Making Agreements in Medieval Catalonia. Power, Order and the Writen Word, 1000-1200, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2001. [195] Jeffrey A. Bowman. Shifting Landmarks. Property, proof, and dispute in Catalonia around the year 1000. Cornell University, Ithaca 2004. [196] Flocel Sabaté. La feudalización de la sociedad catalana. Editorial Universidad de Granada, Granada, 2007. [197] José Ángel García de Cortázar. «Societat medieval i organització de l’espai. El cas de Castella del segle viii al xii». Butlletí de la Societat Catalana d’Estudis Històrics, núm. viii, Barcelona 1997; Íd. «Estructuras sociales y relaciones de poder en León y Castilla en los siglos viii a xiii: la formación de una sociedad feudal». A: Il feudalísimo nell’alto Medioevo. XLVII Settimana di Studio del Centro Italiano di Studi sull’Alto Medioevo (Spoleto, 1999). Il Centro, Spoleto 2000, p. 497-563. [198] Thomas N. Bisson. The crisis of the twelfth century. Power, Lordschip, and the Origens of European Government. Princeton University Press, Princeton 2009. [199] Henri Pirenne. Las ciudades de la edad media. Alianza Editorial, Madrid 1992, p. 139-152.

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[200] Christophe Brooke. The twelfth century Renaissance. Harcourt Brace & World, Nova York 1970. [201] Eugene L. Mendonsa. The scripting of domination in medieval Catalonia. A anthropological view. Carolina Academic Press, Durham 2008. [202] Mendonsa, al prefaci de l’obra, confessa que «I started writing parts of this in 1980 but life interceded and I am just now finishing it up in 2007», i realment, tot i llegir, sintetitzar i citar explícitament destacades aportacions recents d’autors com Bisson, Freedman o Kosto, entre d’altres, l’obra, en la seva articulació axial, sembla més ancorada en el pensament del 1980 que no pas en el del 2007. [203] ACA, Cancelleria, pergamins de Ramon Berenguer I, sense data, 34 (Gaspar Feliu i Josep Maria Salrach (ed.). Els pergamins de l’Arxiu Comtal de Barcelona de Ramon Borrell a Ramon Berenguer I. Vol. III. Fundació Noguera, Barcelona 1999, p. 1485), entre altres. [204] Flocel Sabaté. La feudalización de la sociedad catalana. Editorial Universidad de Granada, Granada 2007, p. 136. [205] Josep M. Salrach. «Agressions senyorials i resistències pageses en el procés de feudalització (s. ixxii)». A: Revoltes populars contra el poder de l’estat. Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona 1992, p. 18. [206] Barbara H. Rosenwein, «Le lit de Procuste de Guy Bois». Médiévales. Langues, textes, histoire, núm. 21, París, tardor del 1991, p. 11-16. [207] Pierre Bonnassie. La Catalogne du milieu du xe à la fin du xie siècle. Vol. I. Association des Publications de l’Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail, Tolosa de Llenguadoc 1976, p. 625-644. [208] José Enrique Ruiz-Doménec. L’estructura feudal. Sistema de parentiu i teoria de l’aliança en la societat catalana (c. 980 – c. 1220). Edicions del Mall, Barcelona 1985, p. 75. [209] Flocel Sabaté. «Història medieval». A: Història de Piera. Pagès, Lleida 1999, p. 132-136. [210] Gaspar Feliu i Josep Maria Salrach (dir.). Els pergamins de l’Arxiu Comtal de Barcelona de Ramon Borrell II a Ramon Berenguer I. Vol. II. Fundació Noguera, Barcelona 1999, p. 667-693. [211] Paul Freedman. «Senyors i pagesos al camp feudal». A: Flocel Sabaté i Joan Farré (ed.). Els grans espais baronials a l’edat mitjana. Desenvolupament socioeconòmic (Balaguer, 1996). Pagès, Lleida 2002, p. 19. [212] Randall Collins. Macrohistory. Stanford University Press, Stanford 2000. [213] Matt Perry. Marxism and History. Palgrave Macmillan, Londres 2002. [214] Luis García-Guijarro. «El positivismo alemán y la edad media: la construcción de un paradigma histórico e historiográfico». Aragón en la Edad Media, núm. xiv-xv, Saragossa 1999, p. 641-652.

La Catalunya dels segles x-xii i la definició historiogràfica del feudalisme

[215] Miguel Artola. «La construcción de la Historia», Márgenes, núm. 1, novembre-desembre 1991, p. 55. [216] Flocel Sabaté. «El temps i l’espai del feudalisme». El temps i l’espai del feudalisme. VI Curs d’estiu comtat d’Urgell (Balaguer, juliol, 2001). Pagès, Lleida 2004, p. 71. [217] Flocel Sabaté. «Estructura socio-econòmica de l’Anoia (segles x-xiii)». Acta Historica et Archaeologica Mediaevalia, núm. 13, Barcelona 1992, p. 176-187. [218] Michel Zimmerman. «Naissance d’une principauté: Barcelone et les autres comtés catanans aux alentours de l’an Mil». A: Catalunya i França Meridional a l’entorn de l’any mil. Actes del Col·loqui Internacional Hug Capet (Barcelona, juliol 1987). Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura, Barcelona 1991, p. 130-131. [219] André Bonnery. «El marc històric. El Capcir». A: Antoni Pladevall (dir.). Catalunya romànica. Vol. XXV. Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalana, Barcelona 1996, p. 213-124. [220] Albert Benet. El procés d’independència de Catalunya (897-989). Institut d’Arqueologia, Història i Ciències Naturals, Sallent 1988, p. 20-27 i 29-40. [221] Josep Camprubí. «Los “castra” fronterizos de la parte occidental del condado de Berguedá (Barcelona) en los años centrales del siglo x: el reflejo de las rivalidades condales». A: Amador Rubial (coord.). Actas del III Congreso de Castellología Ibérica (Guadalajara, 28 de octubre-1 de noviembre de 2005). Asociación Española de Amigos de los Castillos, Diputación Provincial de Palencia, Madrid 2005, p. 83-92. [222] Antoni Pladevall. «L’organització de l’Església a la Catalunya carolíngia». A: Catalunya a l’època carolíngia. Art i cultura abans del romànic (segles ix i x). Patronat del Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona 1999, p. 58. [223] Antoni Bach. Col·lecció diplomàtica del monestir de Santa Maria de Solsona: el Penedès i altres llocs del comtat de Barcelona (segles x-xv). Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura, Barcelona 1987, p. 45. [224] Josep Rius. Cartulario de «Sant Cugat» del Vallés. Vol. I. CSIC, Barcelona 1945, p. 285; Jesús Alturo. L’arxiu antic de Santa Anna de Barcelona del 942 al 1200 (Aproximació històrico-lingüística). Vol. II. Fundació Noguera, Barcelona 1985, p. 14. [225] Josep Maria Salrach. «El comte Guifré de Besalú i la revolta de 957. Contribució a l’estudi de la noblesa catalana en el segle x». II Assemblea d’Estudis sobre el comtat de Besalú. Actes. Amigos de Besalú y su Condado, Olot 1973, p. 3-36. [226] Cebrià Baraut. «Els documents dels segles ix i x conservats a l’Arxiu Capitular de la Seu d’Urgell». Urgellia, vol. II, la Seu d’Urgell 1979, p. 97-98. [227] Ramon d’Abadal. Catalunya carolíngia. Els comtats de Pallars i Ribagorça. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona 1955, p. 385.

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[228] Josep Maria Font Rius. Cartas de población y franquicia de Cataluña. CSIC, Madrid-Barcelona 1969, vol. I.1, p. 18. [229] Manuel Riu. «El paper dels “castra” en la redistribució de l’hàbitat al comtat d’Osona. Ausa, X/102104, Vic 1982, p. 401-409; Flocel Sabaté. «Anoia. Marc històric». A: Antoni Pladevall (dir.). Catalunya romànica. Vol. XIX. Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalana, Barcelona 1992, p. 308-319; Josep Camprubí. Conquesta i estructuració territorial del Berguedà (s. ix-xi). La formació del comtat. Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida, Lleida 2006, p. 99-126. [230] Flocel Sabaté. «La tenencia de castillos en la Cataluña medieval». A: José Vicente Cabezuelo (ed.). Alcaidías y fortalezas en la España medieval. Marfil, Alcoi 2006, p. 70-76. [231] Flocel Sabaté. «L’Anoia durant l’època romànica (segles x-xiii)». Miscellanea Aqualatensia, núm. vii, Igualada 1995, p. 419. [232] Josep Torró. «Jérusalem ou Valence: la première colonie d’Occident». Annales. Histoire Sciences Sociales, núm. 55, París 2000, p. 994-995. [233] Flocel Sabaté. L’expansió territorial de Catalunya (Segles IX-XII): Conquesta o repoblació? Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida, Lleida 1996, p. 68-86. [234] Flocel Sabaté. «Frontera peninsular e identidad (siglos ix-xii)». A: Las Cinco Villas aragonesas en la Europa de los siglos xii y xiii. De la frontera natural a las fronteras políticas y socioeconómicas (foralidad y municipalidad). Institución Fernando el Católico, Saragossa 2007, p. 76-94. [235] Flocel Sabaté. «La castralització de l’espai en l’estructuració d’un territori conquerit (Urgell, Pla d’Urgell, Garrigues i Segrià)». Urtx, núm. 11, Tàrrega 1998, p. 9-16. [236] Flocel Sabaté. «Les castlanies i la comissió de 1328». A: Estudios sobre renta, fiscalidad y finanzas en la Cataluña bajomedieval. CSIC, Barcelona 1993, p. 177-241. [237] Antoni Virgili. «Ad detrimentum Yspanie». La conquesta de Turtusa i la formació de la societat feudal (1148-1200). Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Universitat de València, València 2001; Flocel Sabaté. Història de Lleida. Alta edat mitjana. Pagès, Lleida 2003. [238] Pere Benito. «Els “clamores” de Sant Cugat contra el fill del Gran Senescal i altres episodis de terrorisme nobiliari (1161-1162)». Anuario de Estudios Medievales, núm. 30, Barcelona 2000, p. 851-886. [239] Flocel Sabaté. La gent dels castells. Montcalet Selectes, Igualada 1999, p. 37. [240] Pere Benito. «La formació de la gran tinença pagesa i la gènesi del mas com a estructura senyorial (segles xii-xiii)». A: Maria Teresa Ferrer, Josefina Mutgé i Manuel Riu (dir.) El mas català durant l’edat mitjana i la moderna (segles ix-xviii). CSIC, Barcelona 2001, p. 107-108.

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[241] Paul Freedman. Els orígens de la servitud pagesa a la Catalunya medieval. Eumo, Vic 1993, p. 113125. [242] Cebrià Baraut. «Els documents, dels anys 10761092, de l’Arxiu Capitular de la Seu d’Urgell». Urgellia, núm. vii, la Seu d’Urgell 1984-1985, p. 76. [243] Albert Benet, Històries insòlites. Parcir Selectes, Manresa 1992, p. 109. [244] Aquilino Iglesia. «El cartulario de Sant Cugat del Vallés: del «Liber Iudicorum» al «Corpus Iuris Civilis»». A: Joaquín Cerdá y Ruíz-Funes i Pablo Salvador Coderch (ed.). I Seminario de Historia del Derecho y Derecho Privado. Nuevas técnicas de investigación. Universidad Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra 1985, p. 164. [245] La historiografia recent emmarca els canvis dels segles xi i xii combinant i evolucionant continuïtats manllevades dels segles precedents (Constance

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Brittain Bouchard. Those of My Blood. Constructing Noble Families in Medieval France. University of Pennsylvania Press, Filadèlfia 2001). [246] Lluís To. Família i hereu a la Catalunya nord-oriental (segles x-xii), Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 1997, p. 217-245. [247] Ben conscientment, la memòria, com una de les tres potències de l’ésser humà –«intellectus, ratio et memoria» (Yale Beinecke Library, ms. 189, f. 11r)–, s’allargassa per afermar-lo en el vincle i la solidaritat del propi llinatge específic (Flocel Sabaté. Identity, Memory and History, en premsa). [248] José Enrique Ruiz-Doménec. La memoria de los feudales. Argot, Barcelona 1984. [249] Flocel Sabaté. «Las tierras nuevas en los condados del nordeste peninsular (siglos x-xii)». Studia Historica. Historia Medieval, núm. 23, Salamanca 2005, p. 152-157.

Nota biogràfica Catedràtic d’Història Medieval de la Universitat de Lleida, on dirigeix el Grup de Recerca Consolidat en Estudis Medievals: Espai, Poder i Cultura, el Centre de Valorització i Dinamització del Patrimoni Cultural i l’Institut de Recerca Identitat i Societats. Ha estat professor invitat a les Universitats París-I, Poitiers, Tuscia, Yale, Autónoma de Mèxic i a l’École Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines (Lió). Entre les seves obres destaquen: L’expansió territorial de Catalunya (Segles IX-XII) (Lleida, 1996), El territori de la Catalunya medieval (Barcelona, 1997), El sometent a la Catalunya medieval (Barcelona, 2007), La feudalización de la sociedad catalana (Granada, 2007) i The Death Penalty in late medieval Catalonia (en premsa).

CATALAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 3: 185-195 (2010) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.1000.01.45 · ISSN: 2013-407X http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/

«Volent escriure a vostra consolació e plaer»: Metge, Corella i altres mestres de la prosa catalana dels segles xiv i xv Lola Badia i Pàmies*

Universitat de Barcelona Rebut 6 maig 2009 · Acceptat 20 juliol 2009

Resum Aquest article tracta de la prosa literària dels principals autors dels segles xiv i xv que van fer de la cura de l’estil el centre del seu ofici d’escriptors, en un moment de maduresa de l’scripta catalana, que s’havia consolidat ja a la darreria del segle xiii. Bernat Metge i Joan Roís de Corella són els principals mestres, formats en la imitació de Petrarca, dels clàssics (Ovidi, Ciceró, Virgili, Sèneca) i, sobretot, de l’escriptura en llengua vulgar de Boccaccio. També s’hi valoren les aportacions d’Antoni Canals, l’Anònim del Curial e Güelfa, Joanot Martorell, Felip de Malla i Francesc Alegre.

Paraules clau: prosa d’art, recepció de Boccaccio i Petrarca, imitació dels clàssics, retòrica, història de la literatura

catalana

La prosa literària catalana apareix a finals del segle xiii en volums tan extensos com la Crònica de Desclot i les primeres obres en vulgar de Ramon Llull:*el Llibre de contemplació en Déu, el Llibre d’Evast e Blaquerna i el Fèlix o Llibre de Meravelles. Durant el segle següent s’hi afegeixen altres textos historiogràfics, com la Crònica de Muntaner o les que es van redactar per ordre de Pere el Cerimoniós, diverses traduccions d’obres narratives i didàctiques i la vasta producció de fra Francesc Eiximenis, autor de Lo crestià, una enciclopèdia per a la formació dels laics, del Llibre de les dones, del Llibre dels àngels i de la Vida de Crist. Al tombant del xiv al xv el català compta, doncs, amb un suport textual potent, que no solament cobreix els gèneres propis de la cultura literària del moment, majoritàriament de procedència francesa i occitana, sinó que també és present en el sector de la ciència i de la tècnica.1 En aquest article tractarem d’alguns autors que en aquell moment de maduresa de la scripta literària catalana van fer de la cura de l’estil el centre del seu ofici d’escriptors, homes tant de formació notarial i curialesca com religiosa, que van elevar el català al nivell del model romànic més elaborat del moment, el de Giovanni Boccaccio, l’introductor del període complex d’estructura llatinitzant, que va inventar la prosa d’art en vulgar i la literatura de consum d’alta volada * Adreça de contacte: Lola Badia i Pàmies. Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Departament de Filologia Catalana, Universitat de Barcelona. Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes 585. E-08007 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU. Tel.: +34 934035612. Fax: +34 934035698. E-mail: lola.badia@ub.edu <http://www.narpan.net>

retòrica i intel·lectual.2 Que el model sigui Boccaccio, de qui es van traduir al català la Fiammetta, el Corbaccio i el Decameró, no vol dir que no hi fos també present l’estímul directe de Ciceró, Sal·lusti, Livi o el Sèneca moral, autors que també van ser objecte d’anostraments i adaptacions. Els conreadors de la bella prosa catalana medieval van aprendre a escriure emmirallant-se en els mestres italians, Dant, Petrarca i Boccaccio, i en els clàssics llatins. El tracte preferent amb poetes com Virgili, Ovidi, Estaci, Lucà i el Sèneca de les Tragèdies, objecte de traduccions i epítoms o de reduïdes col·leccions de sentències, va enriquir el fons dels recursos retòrics de la llengua catalana.3 En els escrits catalans que ens interessen, a mig camí entre la traducció interpolada, la glossa creativa i la redacció de cap i de nou, la cura de l’estil és indissociable de la tria de temes històrics i morals d’origen clàssic; temes prestigiats a través precisament de textos com la Comèdia de Dant, les epístoles i l’Àfrica de Petrarca o les obres de ficció i les compilacions erudites de Boccaccio. La difusió d’aquesta mena de textos s’inicia al temps de Pere el Cerimoniós (1337-1386), però no es manifesta plenament fins al temps de Joan I i de Violant de Bar (1387-1396), que pertanyia a la casa reial de França, molt sensible a les innovacions culturals italianes. La recepció dels clàssics via Petrarca i Boccaccio s’amplia durant el regnat de Martí I (1396-1410) i es consolida al segle xv amb la política italiana d’Alfons el Magnànim (1416-1458), que va ser rei de Nàpols des del 1442. És representatiu de la introducció dels nous productes italians i clàssics entre les elits cultes el perfil de fra Antoni

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Canals (c. 1352-1419), un dominic que va ser catedràtic de teologia a la Universitat de València, que va estar vinculat a la Inquisició i que va tenir tractes amb la reialesa. A banda d’obres devotes com la Scala de contemplació i el Tractat de confessió, Canals va traduir al català, amb finalitats educatives dels laics encuriosits per la cultura, un breu extracte de l’Àfrica de Petrarca, titulat Escipió i Aníbal, els Fets i dits memorables de Valeri Màxim i el De providentia de Sèneca. Canals considerava que una tria temàtica controlada des de posicions doctrinals segures calia que guiés les lectures dels nobles i dels burgesos, allunyant-los de les faules moralment pernicioses de Lançalot i de Tristany, dels enganys de la guineu al Roman de Renard i, sobretot, dels escrits eròtics d’Ovidi.4 La prosa catalana de Canals s’adequa a l’estructura dels seus models llatins en la sintaxi i en el lèxic, perquè la traducció amb finalitats morals i didàctiques és l’escola en la qual s’aprèn a construir la prosa d’art en vulgar. Aquest és, en part, el cas de Bernat Metge (1346-1413), el millor estilista català de tots els temps, creador d’una prosa dúctil, rica i culta, però sense excessos hiperbòlics, i autor d’unes obres tan breus i agradables de llegir com incisives i intel·ligents.5 Metge, un notari barceloní educat a la cort de Pere el Cerimoniós i Elionor de Sicília, va ser el secretari personal del reis Joan I i Violant de Bar entre 1387 i 1396 i, a partir de 1402, també de Martí I fins a la seva mort (1410). Les cartes reials redactades per Metge en català, llatí i aragonès són d’una qualitat remarcable, però la seva obra mestra és Lo somni (1399). Es tracta d’un diàleg amb marc narratiu dividit en quatre llibres, on un àlter ego de l’escriptor, que es diu com ell, dialoga amb tres apareguts: el rei Joan I d’Aragó, mort recentment, i els fantasmes del poeta Orfeu i l’endeví Tirèsies, que acompanyen el difunt en el més enllà, tot recordant-li els seus pecats, que són l’amor excessiu per la cacera, la música i les arts endevinatòries. «Poc temps ha passat que estant en la presó, no per demèrits que mos perseguidors e envejosos sabessen contra mi (segons que despuis clarament a llur vergonya s’és demostrat), mas per sola iniquitat que m’havien, o per ventura per algun secret juí de Déu, un divendres, entorn mija nit, estudiant en la cambra on jo havia acostumat estar, la qual és testimoni de les mies cogitacions, me vénc fort gran desig de dormir, e llevant-me en peus passegé un poc per la dita cambra; mas sobtat de molta son, covenc-me gitar sobre lo llit, e sobtosament, sens despullar, adormí’m, no pas en la forma acostumada, mas en aquella que malalts o famejants solen dormir.»6 El primer llibre de Lo somni tracta de la immortalitat de l’ànima, a propòsit de la qual el personatge Bernat planteja alguns seriosos dubtes de caràcter «epicuri»,7 que queden resolts per la presència mateixa del monarca traspassat i per l’autoritat d’arguments filosòfics d’arrel platònica i cristiana, extrets de fonts de qualitat (les Tusculanes de

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Ciceró, els Diàlegs de sant Gregori el Gran, el De anima de Cassiodor, el Secretum i algunes cartes de Petrarca, entre d’altres). Heus ací com Metge, a l’inici del procés de persuasió d’un Bernat del tot escèptic en relació amb la pervivència de l’esperit humà després de la mort, combina les seves fonts per produir un intercanvi dialògic ple de frescor, d’una naturalitat sàviament calculada. L’interlocutor és el rei Joan: «–Digues –respòs ell–: abans que vinguesses en lo món, què eres? –Ço que seré aprés la mort –diguí jo. –E què seràs? –No res. –Doncs, no res eres abans que fosses engenrat? –Així ho crec –diguí jo. –E per què ho creus? –Per tal com cascun jorn veig que la dona, per l’ajustament de l’hom, se fa prenys, e d’abans no ho era; e puis pareix alguna creatura, la qual de no ésser ve a ésser. –Hoc, mas –dix ell– ço que tu has vist en altres no ho has vist en tu mateix. Emperò, digues-me si et recorda què eres abans que fosses engenrat. –A mi –diguí jo– no em recorda ni són cert què era, car no ho viu; mas ben crec que no era res, car hom són així com los altres e cové que seguesca llurs petjades. –Doncs –dix ell–, tu creus ço que no has vist.»8 El llibre segon debat qüestions d’actualitat, relacionades amb l’empresonament de Bernat, degut, segons que diu, a la malvolença dels seus enemics polítics, i amb el destí ultraterrenal de l’ànima del rei, que, gràcies a la seva fe en la immaculada concepció de Maria, espera entrar al paradís quan es resolgui el cisma de l’Església. El relat en primera persona de les vides d’Orfeu i de Tirèsies és un bell exercici de prosa imitativa clàssica que als llibres tercer i quart s’enriqueix amb una extensa adaptació del Corbaccio de Boccaccio, posada en boca de l’endeví tebà, disposat a allunyar Bernat de la seva afecció al gènere femení, d’acord amb les prevencions d’Antoni Canals sobre l’amor. Heus ací la pregària d’Orfeu davant dels jutges infernals per obtenir la restitució de la seva esposa Eurídice, morta per la fiblada d’un escurçó: «Si a la vostra gran potència no expon en la manera que deig ço per què m’ha covengut venir ací, suplic que em sia perdonat, car fora són de mon seny per lo sobtós e inopinat infortuni que sobre lo meu dolorós cap és caigut. No són vengut ací per mirar les tenebres infernals, a les quals necessàriament tota cosa mortal ha a davallar, ne a encadenar lo coll de Cèrber, així com alguns han fet; sola causa de la mia venguda és ma muller, la qual, estant en la flor del seu jovent, una serpent ha morta ab son verí. Assajat he, mas no he pogut, que pacientment ho soferís: l’amor d’aquella m’ha vençut.

«Volent escriure a vostra consolació e plaer»: Metge, Corella i altres mestres de la prosa catalana dels segles xiv i xv

Si la fama antiga és vera, tots sóts estats amorosos així com jo; plàcia-us, doncs, que la dita muller mia vullats a mi restituir. Totes coses vos són degudes; o tard o breu ací devem generalment venir; a perir ha tot lo món: aquesta és la nostra darrera casa. Vosaltres pos seïts los perpetuals regnes de l’humanal llinatge. Quan la dita muller mia serà a vellesa pervenguda, aitambé serà vostra: solament la us deman a mon ús. No em donets repulsa, car si ho féts, sapiats que no me’n tornaré, e llavors alegrarets-vos de la mort d’ambdosos.»9 Tot passant, Orfeu explica quin és l’estatus dels éssers mitològics dintre de l’univers cristià, que se’ls mira, d’acord amb els exegetes del segle xii i amb Dant a la Comèdia, com a figures simbòliques del comportament humà amb una dimensió didàctica.10 Metge controla amb precisió els diversos registres adequant-los als diferents temes que proposa, des de la solemnitat filosòfica del primer llibre a la plasenteria costumista, quan es permet de rebatre punt per punt el repertori misogin que Boccaccio havia compilat a base de fonts antigues i medievals. No únicament tots els caps queden perfectament lligats, sinó que el personatge Bernat es permet algunes ironies, reblades per la veu del narrador que subratlla la rialla dels interlocutors. La forma dialògica propicia per naturalesa pròpia el contrast entre opinions enfrontades i Metge és un mestre aprofitant des de la ficció aquest instrument dialèctic per a conduir el lector cap a lectures diverses induï des pels seus propis prejudicis. Lo somni pot ser entès, en efecte, com la palinòdia d’un heretge descregut de la «secta d’Epicur», que, avisat per l’aparició del rei Joan, posa per escrit la seva experiència visionària en una obra consolatòria per a la correcció dels seus companys en l’error. Però també es pot llegir com el malson d’un laic, distan ciat de la fe i enemic de la moral sexual de l’Església, que es veu obligat a acceptar a contracor la veritat oficial a propòsit de la pervivència de l’ànima després de la mort, amb la conseqüència d’una vida eterna en la pena o en la glòria.11 Atenint-nos a la literalitat, Bernat es retracta de la seva incredulitat i accepta la vida perdurable de l’ànima (amb alguna vacil·lació), però es nega a renegar de les dones en general, tot i que ha d’admetre que la seva amistançada no és un model de virtuts. Lo somni assoleix una plenitud literària que fa pensar en Geoffrey Chaucer, un altre gran escriptor del segle xiv que treballava a partir dels clàssics, filtrats per la lliçó de Dant, Petrarca i Boccaccio. En el curs de la rèplica a Tirèsies a propòsit dels vicis de les dones, Bernat nega que sigui mal fet gaudir de les danses i de les cançons, perquè «[...] natural cosa és prendre delit en música, e especialment que sia mesclada ab retòrica e poesia, que concorren sovent en les danses e cançons dictades per bons trobadors. Poc s’adeliten los hòmens en oir semblants coses, les quals deurien saber per fugir ociositat e per poder dir bé lo concebiment de sa pensa. Mas deliten-se molt en oir trufadors, escarnidors, ralladors,

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mals parlers, cridadors, avoloradors, jutjadors e mijancers de bacalleries e viltats.»12 La retòrica i la poesia són dos valors culturals, estètics i morals que, d’acord amb una doctrina cara a Petrarca i exposada per Boccaccio al llibre xiv de la Genealogia deorum, són a la base de l’elevació espiritual dels homes cultivats i savis, capaços d’ocupar els seus ocis amb exercicis consistents en una feina tan subtil i compromesa com la de «dir bé lo concebiment de sa pensa» [dir bé allò que pensen]. La majoria dels homes prefereix la vulgaritat cridanera dels entreteniments bròfecs. Qui té consciència literària té consciència moral, independentment del fet que sigui mascle o femella. El compromís del protagonista de Lo somni amb les belles lletres troba un paral·lel en la breu obra literària de Metge, que és autor del Llibre de Fortuna i Prudència (1381), en octosíl·labs apariats, del Sermó i de la Medicina, obres satíriques menors també en vers, de l’Ovidi enamorat, una traducció extreta del poema llatí pseudoovidià De vetula, de la versió de la Griselidis de Petrarca (1387) i de l’inici d’una Apologia, que es presenta com un diàleg sense verba dicendi. El Llibre de Fortuna i Prudència, datat explícitament per l’autor, és un text consolatori que imita La faula de Guillem de Torroella (1374), una narració fantàstica escrita per un escuder mallorquí, en què el protagonista és raptat per una balena màgica de la platja de Sóller i conduït mar enllà a l’illa Encantada, residència del rei Artús i de la fada Morgana.13 L’abducció del protagonista té com a pretext fer-lo portador d’un missatge desencisat a propòsit de la decadència de la cavalleria. El mític rei de la gran narrativa en prosa del segle xiii, traduïda al català i ben coneguda a la Corona d’Aragó, dialoga en francès amb Torroella, que s’expressa en occità, sobre l’«esperança bretona» a partir del relat de la novel·la francesa del segle xiii la Mort Artu i mostra dolorosament el seu desengany per la decadència dels valors, des de la perspectiva d’un monarca fort, just i cristià. A la seva singular refosa, Metge canvia la balena de Sóller per una barca sense veles ni rems i l’illa Encantada del folklore artúric mediterrani per l’illa de Fortuna descrita per Alà de Lilla al seu Anticlaudianus. En lloc de Morgana i Artús, Bernat hi troba una deessa capriciosa i arbitrària, que l’insulta i l’agredeix fent-li creure que és la mestressa de la seva dissort, presentada amb préstecs de l’Elegia d’Arrigo da Settimello, un altre escriptor llatí del segle xii com Alà de Lilla. L’arribada de Prudència amb les set Arts Liberals allibera el protagonista del seu destret a través d’un diàleg doctrinal en el curs del qual Bernat aprèn que la fortuna no és cap deessa omnipotent, sinó només una fantasia vana, i que el cultiu de la virtut és l’única clau del destí de l’home. Bernat rep una consolació bastida a partir de fonts que remeten, entre d’altres obres escrites en vulgar, al Roman de la Rose i a la Comèdia dantesca.14 És revelador que, vint anys abans de Lo somni, Metge construís una obra consolatòria, bescanviant les fonts cavalleresques del seu model

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per escriptors llatins del xii, a l’abast d’un home de formació jurídica i curial, i amb un primer pas cap a la nova literatura romànica d’alta ambició intel·lectual, com és el cas de Jean de Meung i de Dant. Entre el Llibre de Fortuna i Prudència i Lo somni hi ha una sorprenent continuïtat temàtica, en el sentit que al segon ja es dóna per debatuda la doctrina referent a la fortuna i la discussió sobre el destí de l’home s’obre a temes més compromesos i de ressons filosòfics platònics, com és el de la immortalitat de l’ànima. Per contra, el canvi estilístic no podria ser més cridaner. El vers occità de la lírica i de la narrativa breu catalana dóna pas a la prosa madura i precisa d’algú que ha operat una tria cultural perfectament conscient, probablement estimulada per l’accés a materials petrarquescos sobre la natura immortal de l’ànima, que van arribar a les mans de Metge durant el viatge que va dur a terme a la ciutat papal d’Avinyó el 1395 en qualitat d’ambaixador del rei d’Aragó.15 Avinyó havia estat la residència de Petrarca i als temps de Metge continuava essent un centre fonamental d’intercanvis culturals entre l’alt clergat d’Itàlia i de França, amb una intensa circulació de manuscrits i d’idees. Però Lo somni no és el primer assaig de prosa d’art de Metge. El 1387 havia traduït el darrer conte del Decameró a partir de la versió llatina que Petrarca n’havia fet per a enaltir des de la llengua del saber l’obra en vulgar de l’amic Boccaccio. La Història de Valter i Griselda va precedida d’una epístola a una dama de la bona societat barcelonina, que exalta els valors de la fidelitat conjugal i proclama l’afecció de Metge a Petrarca. Cal notar que, malgrat que el seu model de prosa sigui el de Boccaccio, que escrivia en una llengua romànica, Metge no l’esmenta mai, mentre que es complau en aquesta declaració de petrarquisme. Era alt el prestigi de la literatura en llatí entre els cercles cultivats de les darreres dècades del xiv, per això Metge no ens diu que quan tradueix la Griselidis té presents tant la versió de Petrarca com l’original de Boccaccio.16 El breu fragment de l’Apologia de Metge (tot just una pàgina) és una temptativa fallida de gran interès literari. A banda d’anunciar que seguirà el model dialògic del Timeu de Plató, les Tusculanes de Ciceró i el De remediis de Petrarca, el personatge Bernat visita el seu veí Ramon per encomanar-li la casa durant l’absència imminent ocasionada per un brot de pesta. No n’hi ha proves documentals, però és probable que l’Apologia sigui una provatura anterior a Lo somni, una obra que, tot i ser dialogada, inclou acotacions extenses que alimenten una ficció narrativa articulada, que l’aparta del model pur del diàleg platònic tot fent-la més del gust del públic cortesà a qui anava dirigida. Ens consta, en efecte, que un dels primers lectors de Lo somni va ser el rei Martí, però la història de la tradició manuscrita ens ensenya que l’obra mestra de Metge al segle xv va ser llegida per persones d’estaments molt diversos i que va ser copiada al costat d’obres devotes i de relats d’apareguts, senyal inequívoca que per a alguns lectors era un text edificant.17

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Molt diferent és, en canvi, el judici que expressa Ferran Valentí, un mercader mallorquí de la primera meitat del xv, que havia estudiat llatí a Florència amb Leonardo Bruni, quan esmenta Metge en el pròleg a la seva versió dels Paradoxa de Ciceró. En la justificació de la seva tasca d’anostrador del llegat clàssic, Valentí fa un ampli panorama dels precedents, que en realitat és el primer esbós d’una història de la literatura catalana fins a 1450. El lloc destacat que assigna a Metge depèn de la seva destresa en la traducció, perquè Lo somni, diu Valentí, fa parlar en català les Tusculanes i Boccaccio.18 El prestigi de Lo somni de Bernat Metge arriba fins al Tirant lo Blanc de Joanot Martorell, que l’inclou entre les moltes fonts que la crítica ha sabut destriar en la seva escriptura.19 El col·lapse de la qualitat i de la quantitat de la producció literària en català dels segles xvi al xviii va respectar la memòria de molt poques obres medievals, entre les quals no s’hi compta Lo somni, que va dormir el son dels justos fins al segle xix, quan els prohoms de la Renaixença van tornar a desvetllar l’interès per l’edat mitjana catalana. Les edicions del text a París i a Barcelona de l’any 1889, a partir de dos manuscrits diferents conservats in situ, van ser com el renéixer de l’au fènix. La magnífica prosa de Metge, la seva subtilesa i la destresa en el maneig de les fonts clàssiques i italianes van fascinar els estudiosos. Antoni Rubió i Lluch li va assignar un paper decisiu a la història de les lletres catalanes atribuint-li el títol d’humanista, no pas en l’accepció d’erudit i renovador de l’ús de la llengua llatina, sinó en el sentit ampli de cultivador dels clàssics, d’amant de les belles lletres i de filòsof moral laic. En una reconstrucció històrica d’inspiració nacionalista, la precocitat de l’humanisme atribuït a Metge el va transformar en un símbol patriòtic que esqueia molt a la militància classicista dels intel·lectuals noucentistes dels primers anys del segle xx. Per això, quan el mecenes Francesc Cambó va fundar la gran col·lecció de traduccions al català d’obres d’autors grecs i llatins que s’ha mantingut activa fins als nostres dies, va triar el nom de Bernat Metge per a designar-la seguint el model francès de la col· lecció Guillaume Budé. Per la seva banda, quan Josep Maria de Casacuberta va iniciar la col·lecció de clàssics catalans medievals de la sèrie «Els Nostres Clàssics» a l’editorial Barcino (que també ha arribat al segle xxi), va voler-la inaugurar amb una edició que posés Lo somni a les mans de tots els catalans perquè es formessin en la lectura d’un dels millors valors de la tradició pròpia. L’humanisme de Bernat Metge, equívoc en la seva polisèmia, és una categoria historiogràfica que respon a una ideologia d’època i que convé tenir present per a llegir correctament una determinada bibliografia crítica.20 D’acord amb les convencions internacionals i com va assenyalar Jordi Rubió i Balaguer fa més de cinquanta anys, resulta operatiu reservar el terme humanisme per a designar l’activitat d’alguns erudits i intel·lectuals catalans que s’expressaven en llatí al segle xv i que, pel fet de no usar la llengua catalana, tradicionalment no han estat prou estudiats ni justa-

«Volent escriure a vostra consolació e plaer»: Metge, Corella i altres mestres de la prosa catalana dels segles xiv i xv

ment valorats, com Joan Margarit, Jeroni Pau, Pere Joan Ferrer, Joan Serra i molts altres filòlegs, historiadors i poetes que s’han anat exhumant darrerament i de qui convindrà tractar en un altre article d’aquesta revista.21 A l’extrem oposat de l’èxit de Bernat Metge a partir dels primers decennis del segle xx, l’altre gran prosista català medieval d’inspiració boccaccesca i clàssica, Joan Roís de Corella (1435-1497), no va ser gens apreciat pels fundadors de la tradició crítica catalana i fins i tot Martí de Riquer el 1964 va haver-lo de rescatar a la seva Història de la literatura de les acusacions de mal gust de què havia estat objecte.22 Si Bernat Metge havia estat vist abusivament com un abanderat dels estudis clàssics i un promotor de la renovació dels temps moderns, la prosa barroca de Joan Roís de Corella s’associava, també de forma injusta, a la «decadència» de les lletres catalanes del segle xvi i següents, una altra categoria historiogràfica que respon a una ideologia d’època, actualment marginada de la biblio grafia crítica. L’edició divulgativa de les obres profanes de Corella de 1973 va posar a l’abast del lector mitjà la gran prosa retòrica del nostre autor.23 La restauració completa dels mèrits literaris de Corella ha arribat a la dècada dels noranta del segle xx i va lligada a la renovació dels estudis sobre la biografia de Joanot Martorell (1410-1465) i el rerefons retòric del seu Tirant lo Blanc, duta a terme en ocasió de la celebració del cinquè centenari de la publicació de l’edició prínceps de l’obra (València, 1490).24 Ha estat demostrat que el Tirant, una de les poquíssimes obres catalanes medievals que va ser recordada més enllà del segle xvi perquè va ser traduït al castellà el 1511 i Cervantes el cita elogiosament al Quixot, presenta de cap a cap i de forma insistent passatges extrets de les proses profanes de Corella.25 Comprendre la funció dels préstecs de Corella al Tirant ha permès de donar una imatge més completa de la voluntat d’estil de Joanot Martorell, un membre de la baixa noblesa valenciana al servei del rei Alfons el Magnànim (1416-1458) i de Carles de Via na, l’hereu del rei Joan II que no va arribar a regnar.26 El Tirant és una novel·la cavalleresca, escrita entre 1460 i 1464, sotmesa a una escriptura classicitzant, com també ho és l’anònim Curial e Güelfa, probablement escrit entorn dels anys quaranta del segle xv.27 Joan Roís de Corella, que va mantenir una correspondència literària amb Carles de Viana i va ser altament apreciat a les corts reials aragoneses de mitjan segle xv, es va transformar en el mestre de Joanot Martorell pel que fa a la bella prosa d’art.28 La superabundància retòrica de la prosa de Corella, que imita els recursos més hiperbòlics de l’estil de Boccaccio, d’Ovidi i del Sèneca de les Tragèdies, estava de moda a les corts aragoneses de mitjan segle xv i, en canvi, disgustava profundament els crítics literaris catalans de principis del segle xx, per als quals la llengua catalana era naturalment austera i repel·lia l’estil barroc, entès com una influència castellanitzant. Superat aquest prejudici amb el suport de les aportacions documentals que han permès de perfilar la biografia de Corella,29 convé explorar la poètica d’un au-

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tor molt apreciat als seus dies, que escriu en un estil que se sol anomenar «valenciana prosa».30 Alguns dels trets més característics de la valenciana prosa són la gran riquesa d’usos del gerundi i del participi de present concertat; l’amplificatio, és a dir, l’abundància de perífrasis, sobretot verbals, de redundàncies i de combinacions d’adjectius, substantius, verbs i adverbis; la lítote, és a dir, les construccions negatives en lloc d’afirmatives, i l’hipèrbaton, o alteració de l’ordre natural del discurs, especialment la col·locació sistemàtica del verb a final de la frase. Heus-ne ací una mostra: Per la celsitud transcendent de la senyora de les ciències, sacra Teologia, davallant, ab delitós estudi, en los florits e verds camps d’afable poesia, llevant les àncores de pereós oci, lleixats los prats de reposat silenci, estendré les càndides veles, ab plaent exercici, en les baixes antenes de vulgar poesia. A la tempestuosa mar de Venus la proa de ma escriptura endreçant, descriuré naufragis d’aquells qui, en ella follament navegant, dolorosa e miserable fi prenen. Mas, perquè el meu despoblat entendre, a descriure ensems e trobar, per nova invenció, no basta, sols recitaré un parlament que, pocs dies passats, entre alguns hòmens d’estat esdevenc; los noms dels quals recitant l’alt e gentil estil de tan ben raonades proses, seria a la sua ínclita fama haver enveja e a verdadera amistat girar les espatles.31 Aquest exordi del Parlament en casa de Berenguer Mercader estableix una jerarquització rigorosa de les disciplines intel·lectuals. La teologia és la ciència superior, en contacte amb la veritat revelada; l’«afable poesia» és la ficció literària dels models llatins, sobretot l’Ovidi de les Metamorfosis i de les Heroides, i les «baixes antenes de vulgar poesia» designen la prosa imitativa en llengua romànica de Boccaccio i de Corella. Joan Roís de Corella, que era mestre en teologia i home d’Església, es concedia la llicència de parlar de l’amor, és a dir, de la «tempestuosa mar de Venus», per mostrar-ne els perills, és a dir, els «naufragis» dels qui el practiquen insensatament, «en ella follament navegant». L’exercici literari consisteix, doncs, a donar vida a través de la bella prosa a uns exemples d’amors contrariats, o fins delictius, amb finalitat dissuasiva. Fent ús de la falsa modèstia, Corella també afirma que no pretén d’inventar res de nou, sinó de reproduir amb cura de la forma històries ja sabudes. Es tracta de cinc mites ovi dians (Cèfal i Procris, Orfeu, Sil·la, Pasífae, Progne i Filomela) que ell recrea, en funció de «cronista», després d’haver-los sentit explicar, per a plaer i consolació col· lectius, per un grup de prohoms valencians històricament documentats, reunits per passar una vetllada al domicili de Berenguer Mercader. La bona retòrica rescata la literatura eròtica ovidiana de la condemna expressada pel dominic Antoni Canals, donant en part la raó a la reticència de Bernat Metge a admetre les invectives misògines del Corbaccio, reportades per Tirèsies a Lo somni. Tant Metge com Corella es complauen en el relat de la vida d’Orfeu,

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l’home que, gràcies a la «celsitud transcendent» [elevació transcendent] de la seva poesia, va aconseguir per uns breus moments rescatar la seva esposa morta del regne dels morts. L’art de «dir bé lo concebiment de sa pensa» i el poder significatiu dels antics mites són l’objecte central de la literatura. Joan Roís de Corella, com a fill segon d’una família de la petita noblesa valenciana, va cursar estudis de teologia i en la seva maduresa va ser famós com a predicador sagrat. Entre les seves obres es compten vides de sants, poesies marianes i traduccions d’obres pietoses: els Salms i els quatre volums de la Vida de Crist de Ludolf de Saxònia, el Cartoixà. Corella és el primer autor català important que va difondre en vida la seva obra en vulgar a través de la impremta: el primer llibre imprès en català, les Trobes en llaor de la Verge Maria (1474), contenen una composició seva i el seu Cartoixà ens ha arribat en incunables. L’obra profana de Corella comprèn poesies amoroses centrades en el tema del desengany (La sepultura, Balada de la garsa i de l’esmerla, poemes a Caldesa), obres de circumstàncies de remarcable treball formal (Sepultura de mossèn Francí Aguilar), i remakes de temes mitològics com els que ja s’han esmentat. L’única «invenció» narrativa o producció original és la Tragèdia de Caldesa, datable el 1458, que exposa, en primera persona i en termes molt dramàtics, la traïció amorosa d’una estimada de costums promiscus. Martorell la va transformar en una representació teatral privada al capítol 283 del Tirant.32 Atès que el Tirant estava acabat el 1464, tots els manlleus de Corella que presenta cal que siguin anteriors a aquesta data, la qual cosa confirma que la poesia profana i les proses mitològiques són una obra de joventut del nostre autor, escrita probablement durant els estudis de gramàtica propedèutics als de teologia. La tradició escolar medieval havia ensenyat des de sempre el llatí a través de la lectura dels clàssics i el repertori disponible a València a mitjan segle xv havia de ser prou ric per a estimular la voluntat d’estil. Els estudis religiosos afinaven el propòsit d’emulació moral dels continguts llicenciosos d’Ovidi, Sèneca o Virgili. També és una obra de joventut l’intercanvi epistolar bilingüe amb Carles de Viana, mort el 1461, que comptava entre els seus títols el de duc de Gandia, ciutat natal de Corella. Carles de Viana va traduir les Ètiques d’Aristòtil a l’espanyol, però el tema del debat amb Corella és una qüestió d’amor de tradició trobadoresca, a saber: en una situació extrema en què cal salvar només una de dues dames d’una mort segura, un enamorat sincer quina triaria, la que ell estima en va o la que l’estima a ell sense esperança? Discutir un dilema com aquest, argumentant acuradament els efectes psicològics i morals de les decisions, il· lustra a propòsit dels gustos de Corella i del seu públic cortesà. Sentimentalisme extrem, visió tràgica de les relacions amoroses, fatalisme lligat a la passió d’amor, pessimisme invencible. L’elaborada prosa dels relats mitològics transmet aquesta conflictivitat i aquest neguit, presents també a la lírica d’Ausiàs March (1400-1459), amb una adjectivació

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barroca, que anuncia implacablement les catàstrofes, i un ús sistemàtic de la hipèrbole i de la hipàl·lage.33 Ultra els cinc mites del Parlament en casa de Berenguer Mercader, Corella va escriure unes Lamentacions de Mirra, Narcís i Tisbe, emmarcades en una davallada del narrador a un infern particular, on alguns enamorats exhibeixen les seves dissorts. Completen el repertori amorós la Història de Biblis que s’enamorà de Cauno i el Leandre i Hero, que és una reelaboració narrativa de les Heroides que s’intercanvien els dos protagonistes a l’obra d’Ovidi. Com també és el cas de la Tragèdia de Caldesa, Corella hi alterna la prosa amb algunes tirades de decasíl·labs, que li serveixen per a fixar emblemàticament els moments més dramàtics o per a construir emotius epitafis. Heus ací com l’amor empeny Leandre a la fi, ofegat quan intenta passar el braç de mar que el separa de l’estimada: I, estant de peus en la banyada arena, dreçant los ulls a la llum que, encesa en la torre d’Hero, lo seu cor encenia, tornà altra vegada llançar lo cos a la mar fonda, dient amb veu per amor esforçada: –Lo foc que veig encès alt en la torre, crema dins mi la por de la mar fonda: o pendré port en la illa de Cestos, o beuré prest de la mort lo trist càlzer; i ab vostres mans donant‑me sepultura, vós, per qui muir, tancar‑me heu dins la tomba, llavant lo cos, de llàgremes ab l’aigua. No us espanteu besar ma boca freda. O escura ceguedat d’aquells qui desordenadament amen! E ab quin ànimo, ab quina sol·licitud e diligència treballen ensems l’ànima ab la vida perdre! O animosa por d’aquells qui, recelant, temen los perills de viciós morir e viure, e, ab invincible e discret ànimo, per lo regne del cel la vida abandonen!34 Les altres obres mitològiques de Corella pertanyen al cicle troià i són una mostra més de l’èxit extraordinari que van tenir als segles xiv i xv les Històries troianes, que va escriure en llatí al segle xiii, recopilant fonts narratives franceses del xii, el jutge de Messina Guido delle Colonne, molt admirat per Boccaccio, Martorell i l’Anònim autor del Curial e Güelfa.35 D’acord amb aquesta tradició, que inclou el viatge dels argonautes entre els antecedents del conflicte de Troia, Corella va produir un remake de la història de Jasó i Medea, presentat des del punt de vista de l’heroïna, que denuncia la traïció de Jàson i la poca fe dels homes en general amb paraules apreses en textos d’Ovidi i de Sèneca. El Juí de Paris, que desenvolupa un dels episodis clàssics més divulgats a l’edat mitjana, es presenta com una obra col·lectiva, en què el poeta Joan Escrivà relata el mite de l’aparició de les tres deesses amb els seus dons al jove pastor de l’Ida i Corella el compendia amb una exegesi moral o tropològica, pròpia de la cultura clerical d’un mestre en teologia.

«Volent escriure a vostra consolació e plaer»: Metge, Corella i altres mestres de la prosa catalana dels segles xiv i xv

La breu Lletra d’Aquil·les a Políxena36 s’inspira en les Històries troianes i en l’estil epistolar de Sèneca per a explorar novament un motiu sentimental tràgic, i el Raonament de Telamó i Ulisses reelabora els versos que Ovidi dedica a les Metamorfosis al debat sobre les armes d’Aquil·les. La més reeixida de les proses mitològiques corellianes és el Plany dolorós de la reina Hècuba, inspirat en les Troianes de Sèneca, en el compendi troià de Guido i en les Metamorfosis.37 Hècuba adquireix la dignitat d’una mater dolorosa davant de l’horror de les morts dels seus fills, marit i nét, víctimes de la fúria dels implacables vencedors grecs. Exclamacions, invocacions i apòstrofes s’entrellacen amb crides a l’atenció del lector perquè s’impliqui en els tràgics esdeveniments: O cosa raonable, si la gravitat d’aquelles dolors que les altres totes passa, ab esparç e apartat llenguatge als oïns se parlava, e veus llagrimants, doloroses, nostra mísera destrucció representassen, trasportant los oïnts entrestits en la presència de nostra gran pèrdua: no consentissen sinó ab gemecs, tristor, sospirs e sanglots ésser oïdes! Aquestes són dolors de mare i estèril reina, e cativa d’aquells que, ella mirant, en la sua pròpia ciutat han donat cruel e dolorosa mort a sos fills, tolent a Príam en un dia ensems la vida e los regnes! O invariables, inics e implacables fats, qui la varietat dels actes humans infal· liblement ordenau! Per què forçau la mia trista ànima ésser present a fatigat cors per dies e treballs, així dèbil, envellit e caigut que, deixant-me de tan dolorós viure, altre no serà en color e magrea, sinó tal com era com falç nom de viu tenia? Vixca, doncs, Hècuba puix la mort sola de misèria la pot traure. O mare, semblant a ovella que fecunda has parit los fills per ser trossejats, partits en diverses parts, rossegats a l’entorn de la tua ciutat, com arades fent solcs de gran profunditat en la sangonosa terra! O febrida espasa d’Aquil·les, gasta e oscada sovint tallant real carn en lo meu miserable ventre criada, i així mussa e envellida en trossejar los ossos e carn dels fills, que envides ha pogut tallar lo dèbil coll del pare! Fir sens tarda, esquinça e talla les nostres carns femenils e molles per què les animes prestament fugen d’habitació derruïda; que sens comparació més cruel te mostres cessant de ferir en nosaltres, que matant aquells per la mort dels quals en tant extrem avorrim la miserable vida. O defunct e no sobrat ni vençut, fill meu Hèctor, oges dels profundes inferns la mia dolorosa veu, digna de moure los cruels infernats deus a misericòrdia! O, si la ous, per què venir tardes? Qui pot resistir a la tua animosa força? Encara en los escurs regnes Aquil·les te contrasta? Deixa lo cors en lo sepulcre: devore’l la insaciable terra. Vine, desijada, lleugera ombra, que sola tu bastes vençre los covards grecs que, de tu viu fugint, de tes victòries son romasos; porta Tròiol en ta companyia, que ensems principi feu a la honor e fi a la vida.38

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Corella dóna el millor de si mateix combinant dos motius predilectes del seu repertori: la repulsió per la violència, que el porta a renegar fins i tot dels valors cavallerescos tan estimats per altres autors coetanis, i la pietat pels vençuts, especialment per les dones dissortades, que, com Caldesa o la pròpia cruel Medea, mereixen comprensió i commiseració. El plaer i la consolació que troba el lector en el Plany d’Hècuba agermana l’expansió sentimental amb una actitud pacifista d’inspiració cristiana. No és aquest el lloc de dreçar un inventari de tots els escriptors catalans medievals que van practicar la prosa d’art o valenciana prosa, especialment els que tractaven de temes teològics o devots, perquè requeriria un article a part: Pero Martines, sor Isabel de Villena i un llarg etcètera. Cal destacar, però, la figura del canonge barceloní Felip de Malla (1370-1431), autor d’un tractat ascètic i al· legòric escrit amb una exigència retòrica molt elevada i constel·lat de referències clàssiques traduïdes al català: el Memorial del pecador remut («redimit»). Malla, format a les universitats de Lleida i de París, va ser un teòleg i un home polític, molt actiu durant el canvi de dinastia (14101412) i als temps de Ferran I i d’Alfons el Magnànim. Va destacar entre els representants de la Corona d’Aragó al Concili de Constança i la seva biblioteca era una de les més riques en autors clàssics de la Barcelona del seu temps. Felip de Malla, que va pronunciar els discursos de la festa de la gaia ciència de 1413, considerava que la poesia i la bella prosa s’havien de consagrar a temes teològics, morals i polítics, de manera que la seva afecció a les lletres llatines s’aparta de la línia didàctica d’Antoni Canals i també de la poètica boccacciana de Metge i de Corella.39 En canvi, no es pot passar per alt Francesc Alegre, que, a més de traductor d’obres llatines, també va cultivar la ficció d’inspiració clàssica.40 La seva condició de ciutadà de Barcelona ha permès d’identificar-lo amb un personatge que va ser cònsol a Palerm des de 1482 i que va morir entre 1504 i 1511, tot distingint-lo del seu pare, el mercader homònim que va viure entre 1433 i 1495 i que va tenir interessos comercials a Sicília i vinculacions amb la cort del rei Joan II.41 L’escriptor Francesc Alegre va freqüentar l’escola de Iacopo della Mirabella, un professor de grec de Palerm que havia estat en contacte amb Carles de Viana. D’aquesta connexió amb un cercle humanístic, en deriven segurament les seves versions de la Primera guerra púnica de Leonardo Bruni, datada el 1472, i de les Metamorfosis d’Ovidi. Aquesta versió porta l’afegit d’unes glosses preses de la Genealogia deorum de Boccaccio i es conserva en un incunable de 1494, editat a Barcelona per Pere Miquel i dedicat a Joana d’Aragó, la Boja. La traducció de les Metamorfosis d’Alegre va ser redescoberta pels erudits del segle xix, que en van publicar alguns fragments amb comentaris admiratius de la qualitat de la prosa. Al pròleg, Alegre defensa la versió íntegra de textos clàssics contra els extractes i els resums dels seus predecessors en l’empresa i la funció de les glosses explicatives, tant de caràcter evemerista o històric com naturalista. Heus ací una mostra de la maduresa i la professionalitat de l’estil d’Alegre

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adaptant en prosa els darrers versos del llibre xv del poema llatí: Iamque opus exegi, quod nec Iovis ira nec ignis nec poterit ferrum nec edax abolere vetustas. cum volet, illa dies, quae nil nisi corporis huius ius habet, incerti spatium mihi finiat aevi: parte tamen meliore mei super alta perennis astra ferar, nomenque erit indelebile nostrum, quaque patet domitis Romana potentia terris, ore legar populi, perque omnia saecula fama, siquid habent veri vatum praesagia, vivam. Conclusió de la obra present Ja és venguda a la fi desijada la mia present obra, la qual no poran destruhir lo ferro ne lo foc, ni l’antiguitat devoradora no la porà consumar. Quant vendrà aquell dia esperat ab espant, no tenint algun dret si no sobre lo cors, fenesca a son plaer l’espai de ma vida, que ab la millor part de mi serà portat sobre lo cel lo meu nom indelible e seré llegit per boca dels pobles en totes les províncies sotmeses al poder dels romans, vivint en tots los segles eternalment ma fama, si res de veritat ha en lo dir dels poetes.42 La Faula de les amors de Neptuno i Diana és un exercici d’imitació creativa d’Ovidi i de Boccaccio, que explica una transformació atribuïda al poeta Claudià, presumptament traduïda al català, però que no correspon a cap model conegut. Al darrere dels noms dels antics déus s’hi amaguen personatges coetanis en clau al·legòrica, potser un mercader (Neptú) i tal vegada una monja (Diana), protagonistes d’uns amors desafortunats i marcats per la deshonestedat. La transformació de Diana en roca per la ira de Venus està presa literalment d’uns versos de les Metamorfosis. No seria correcte acabar aquest succint repàs de la prosa d’art catalana del segles xiv i xv sense posar en evidència les vacil·lacions i els dubtes dels escriptors davant de la imitació dels models italians i clàssics. Més enllà del tòpic de la falsa humilitat del traductor i de la inferioritat de la llengua vernacla en relació amb el llatí, present als pròlegs de moltes de les versions romàniques d’obres clàssiques, hi ha un matís d’inseguretat que veu com un desafiament difícil de superar l’ús de determinats motius literaris i l’amplificació retòrica desplegada en tota la seva plenitud. Advertim, però, que al darrere dels dubtes i de les vacil· lacions hi ha una forta confiança en la legitimitat de la bona literatura en llengua vulgar, especialment si es posa en relació amb un pretext moralitzant, com hem vist que feien Antoni Canals i Ferran Valentí.43 Ho expressa amb tota propietat l’Anònim autor del Curial e Güelfa, de qui malauradament no tenim cap dada documental.44 Per la seva cultura, sabem que era proper a l’ambient cortesà de les corts aragoneses de mitjan segle xv. La seva novel·la cavalleresca defensa els valors militars i cortesans i la fidelitat en amor, amb una clara militància contra la renúncia

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als plaers honestos propugnada pel Tirèsies de Lo somni. La seva prosa és continguda i sàvia, més propera a l’equilibri i a la intel·ligència de Metge que a l’exuberància de Corella. L’Anònim, que cita diverses vegades la Comèdia de Dant, recull sentències de Petrarca i reelabora insistentment suggeriments del Filocolo de Boccaccio,45 creu que no és lícit invocar les muses en el pròleg d’una obra com la seva, que conté elements poètics, però que està molt lluny de l’Eneida i de la Comèdia, que de ple dret pertanyen al que ell anomena la «reverenda lletradura»: E si serà lícit a mi usar de ço que los altres qui escriviren usaren o han usat, ço és, invocar les Muses, certes jo crec que no. Abans entenc que seria cosa supèrflua, car elles no apareixerien ne es mostrarien a mi per molt que jo les apellàs en subsidi e favor mia, car no han cura sinó d’hòmens de gran ciència e aquells segueixen, encara que no sien demanades, e mi e mos pars així com ignorants han en estrany avorriment; per ço que jo, així en aquesta obra com en totes les coses que parle, són imitador de les míseres e garrules filles de Píerus, enemigues capitals d’aquelles nou egrègies sorel·les habitadores de mont Parnàs. D’altra part, que elles se tenen per menyspreades si són meses en obres ínfimes e baixes, car no solen seguir sinó los molt alts e sublimes estils, escrits per solemnes e molt grans poetes e oradors.46 Tanmateix, en el curs de la visió en somnis del protagonista al temple d’Apol·lo, descobrim que un cavaller cristià com Curial, excel·lent en l’exercici de les armes i educat en les nobles arts de la música, la poesia i l’oratòria, mereix una consideració tan alta com els protagonistes de les grans ficcions d’Homer i de Virgili. L’Anònim no gosa invocar les muses, però Cal·líope, en el somni, tria Curial per fer de jutge d’un plet literari d’alta volada. El cavaller, òbviament, se’n meravella: Oh, egrègia senyora! E quals fades me fadaren que jo tanta honor reebés, que nou germanes, filles del major dels déus mortals, venguessen a mi e visitassen aquest sepulcre d’ignorància? Cert és a mi que vosaltres fes companyia a Homer, Virgili, Horaci, Ovidi e a Lucà e a molts altres, los quals, per no ésser llong, lleixaré de recitar. Mes a mi, quina raó havets haüda de venir? Jo no són home de ciència, ne meresquí ne meresc per donzelles de tanta excel·lència ésser visitat. Lleixats Aristòtil e Plató e venits a mi?47 La resposta a la pregunta de Curial és ben simple i ben representativa de la consciència literària dels prosistes catalans del segle xv, que descobrien en l’excel·lència dels seus escrits una indiscutible bona «disposició» per a la literatura: –No et meravells d’açò –dix Cal·líope–, car nosaltres totstemps seguim aquells que ens volen, e encara que estigam de present ab tu, no ens partim dels altres, ans

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totstemps estam ab ells e per virtut de Déu som fetes tals, que en tot lloc que ens volem som. E per ventura a vegades acompanyam, totes o alguna o algunes de nós, alguns hòmens que ells no s’ho cuiden, e els ajudam a fer e dir ço que fan e dien, a uns més, a altres menys, segons la disposició que en ells trobam.48

Notes i referències [1]

[2] [3]

[4] [5]

[6] [7]

Martí de Riquer. Història de la literatura catalana. Ariel, Barcelona 1964, vol. i, p. 197-352 i 429-501; vol. ii, p. 133-196. Ramon Muntaner. The Catalan Expedition to the East: from the «Chronicle» of Ramon Muntaner, edició de Jocelyn N. Hillgarth i Robert Hughes. Barcino, Tamesis, Barcelona, Woodbridge 2006. Albert Hauf. D’Eiximenis a Sor Isabel de Villena. Aportació a l’estudi de la nostra cultura medieval. Institut de Filologia Valenciana, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, València, Barcelona 1990. Francesc Eiximenis. An Anthology, edició de Xavier Renedo, David Guixeras i Robert Hughes. Barcino, Tamesis, Barcelona, Woodbridge 2008. Lluís Cifuentes. La ciència en català a l’Edat Mitjana i al Renaixement. Universitat de Barcelona, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca 2006. Francesco Bruni. Boccaccio. L’invenzione della letteratura mezzana. Il Mulino, Bolonya 1990. Curt Wittlin. De la traducció literal a la creació literària. Institut de Filologia Valenciana, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, València, Barcelona 1995. Josep Pujol. «Traducciones y cambio cultural entre los siglos xiii y xv». A: Historia de la Traducción en España, edició de Francisco Lafarga i Luis Pegenaute. Ambos Mundos, Salamanca 2004, p. 623-650. Vegeu el website «Translat» a <http:// www.narpan.net/index.php/recerca/translat-db> (consulta: 25 abril 2009). Martí de Riquer. Història…, op. cit., vol. ii, p. 433458. Martí de Riquer. Obras de Bernat Metge. Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona 1959. Bernat Metge. Lo somni, edició d’Stefano M. Cingolani. Barcino, Barcelona 2006. The Dream of Bernat Metge, edició de Richard Vernier. Aldershot, Ashgate 2002. Bernat Metge. Il sogno, edició de Lola Badia i Giorgio Faggin. Edizioni dell’Orso, Torí. Bernat Metge. El sueño, edició de Jorge Carrión. DVD, Barcino, Barcelona 2006. Bernat Metge. Lo somni, edició de Lola Badia. Quaderns Crema, Barcelona 1999, p. 53. Xavier Renedo. «L’heretge epicuri a Lo somni de Bernat Metge». A: Intel·lectuals i escriptors a la baixa edat mitjana, edició de Lola Badia i Albert Soler. Curial, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 1994, p. 109-127.

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[8] Bernat Metge. Lo somni, op. cit., p. 56-57. [9] Ídem, p. 110. [10] Francesc J. Gómez. «L’ofici del poeta segons Orfeu: una clau hermenèutica per Lo somni de Metge?». A: Literatura i cultura a la Corona d’Aragó (s. xiii-xv), edició de Lola Badia, Miriam Cabré i Sadurní Martí. Curial, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 2002, p. 63-85. Roger Friedlein. «Mitologia antiga i forma dialògica en Lo somni de Bernat Metge (1398)». A: «Vestigia fabularum»: la mitologia antiga a les literatures catalana i castellana entre l’edat mitjana i l’edat moderna, edició de Roger Friedlein i Sebastian Neumaster. Curial, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 2004, p. 6793. [11] Josep Maria Ruiz Simon. «Lo somni de Bernat Metge: el malson filosòfic d’un epicuri». A: Literatura i cultura..., op. cit., p. 25-62. Lluís Cabré. «De nou sobre Metge, Laelius i el Somnium Scipionis». A: Literatura i cultura..., op. cit., p. 49-62. [12] Bernat Metge. Lo somni, op. cit., p. 173. [13] Guillem de Torroella. La faula, edició de Pere Bohigas i Jaume Vidal Alcover. Tàrraco, Tarragona 1984. Lola Badia. Tres contes meravellosos del segle xiv. Quaderns Crema, Barcelona 2002, p. 59-89. [14] Lluís Cabré. «Comentaris sobre Bernat Metge i la seva primera consolació: el Llibre de Fortuna e Prudència». A: Intel·lectuals i escriptors..., op. cit., p. 95107. Bernat Metge. Llibre de Fortuna e Prudència, edició de Lluís Cabré, Barcelona, Barcino (en premsa). [15] Jaume Torró. «Bernat Metge i Avinyó», a Literatura i cultura..., op. cit., p. 99-111. [16] Giuseppe Tavani. «La Griselidis de Petrarca i la Griselda de Bernat Metge». A: Per una història de la cultura catalana medieval. Curial, Barcelona 1996, p. 158-171. [17] Lola Badia. De Bernat Metge a Joan Roís de Corella. Quaderns Crema, Barcelona 1988, p. 62-65. [18] Lola Badia. «La legitimació del discurs literari en vulgar segons Ferran Valentí». A: Intel·lectuals i escriptors..., op. cit., p. 174. [19] Josep Pujol. La memòria literària de Joanot Martorell. Models i escriptura en el Tirant lo Blanc. Curial, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 2002. [20] Lola Badia. De Bernat Metge..., op. cit., p. 13-38. [21] Mariàngela Vilallonga. La literatura llatina a Catalunya al segle xv. Curial, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 1993. Vegeu el website «Studia_humanitatis»: <http://www.udg. edu/tabid/11894/Default.aspx/ Eiximenis/html_eiximenis/Studia_humanitatis.htm> (consulta: 25 abril 2009). [22] Martí de Riquer. Història…, op. cit., vol. iii, p. 254320. Lola Badia. De Bernat Metge..., op. cit., p. 145180. [23] Joan Roís de Corella. Obres completes, vol. i,

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[24] [25]

[26]

[27] [28]

[29] [30] [31]

[32]

[33]

[34]

Obra profana, edició de Jordi Carbonell. Tres i Quatre, València 1973. Abans calia recórrer a l’excel·lent edició de bibliòfil: Joan Roís de Corella. Obres, edició de Ramon Miquel i Planas. Biblioteca Catalana, Barcelona 1913. Actes del Symposion «Tirant lo Blanc» (Barcelona 1990). Quaderns Crema, Barcelona 1993. Josep Pujol. La memòria..., op. cit. Per a una anotació completa dels préstecs de Corella: Joanot Martorell, Tirant lo Blanch (València 1490) i Tirante el Blanco (Valladolid 1511), 2 v., edició d’Albert Hauf i Vicent Escartín. Tirant lo Blanch, València 2004. Vegeu també Jaume Torró. «La doble autoría de Tirant lo Blanc o un colofón y la estilística». Revista de Erudición y Crítica (Madrid, Castalia), núm. 1 (2006), p. 75-82. Jesús Villalmanzo. Joanot Martorell. Biografía ilustrada y diplomatario. Ajuntament de València, València 1995. Jaume Torró. «Joanot Martorell, escrivà de ració». L’Avenç, núm. 273 (octubre 2002), p. 12-18. Vegeu els darrers paràgrafs de l’article. Jaume Torró. «Una cort a Barcelona per a la literatura del segle xv». Revista de Catalunya (juny 2001), p. 97-123. Stefano M. Cingolani. Joan Roís de Corella. La importància de dir-se honest. Tres i Quatre, València 1998. Jaume Chiner. «Aportació a la biografia de Joan Roís de Corella». Caplletra, núm. 15 (1993), p. 49-61. Josep Maria Nadal i Modest Prats. Història de la llengua catalana. Edicions 62, Barcelona 1996, vol. ii, p. 472-512. Josep Lluís Martos. Les proses mitològiques de Joan Roís de Corella. Institut Interuniversitari de Filologia Valenciana, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, València, Barcelona 2001, p. 237. Xavier Renedo. «Turpia feminarum incesta lascivarum. El joc teatral al cap. 283 del Tirant lo Blanc», a Formes teatrals de la tradició medieval. Actes del VII Col·loqui de la Société Internationale pour l’Étude du Théâtre Médiéval (Girona 1992), edició de Francesc Massip. Institut del Teatre, Barcelona 1996, p. 209-216. Josep Lluís Martos. Fonts i seqüència cronològica de les proses mitològiques de Joan Roís de Corella. Universitat d’Alacant, Departament de Filologia Catalana, Alacant 2001. Josep Lluís Martos. Les proses mitològiques..., op. cit., p. 162-163.

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[35] Guido delle Colonne. Les històries troianes, edició de Ramon Miquel i Planas. Biblioteca Catalana, Barcelona 1916. Joan M. Perujo Melgar. «Difusió de motius de la llegenda de Troia: traducció i reinterpretació». A: «Vestigia fabularum...», op. cit., p. 13-30. [36] Annamaria Annicchiarico. Varianti corelliane e «plagi» del Tirant: «Achille e Polissena». Schena, Fasano di Brindisi 1996. [37] Lola Badia. «El Plany dolorós de la reina Hècuba de Joan Roís de Corella. Restauracions i contextos». A: Homenatge Joan Fuster, edició d’Antoni Ferrrando i Albert Hauf. Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 1991, vol. iii, p. 195-223. [38] Josep Lluís Martos. Les proses mitològiques..., op. cit., p. 142-144. [39] Martí de Riquer. Història..., op. cit., vol. iii, p. 387425. Evangelista Vilanova, Història de la teologia cristiana. Facultat de Teologia, Herder, Barcelona 1984, vol. i, p. 684-686. Josep Pujol. «Psallite sapienter: la gaia ciència en els sermons de Felip de Malla de 1413 (Estudi i edició)». Cultura Neolatina, núm. 56 (1996), p. 177-250. [40] Martí de Riquer. Història..., op. cit., vol. iii, p. 249253. [41] Jaume Torró. «Officium poetae est fingere: Francesc Alegre i la Faula de Neptuno i Diana». A: Intel· lectuals i escriptors..., op. cit., p. 221-241. [42] Francesc Alegre. Transformacions. Pere Miquel, Barcelona 1494, r[6]r. [43] Vegeu Lola Badia. «La legitimació...», op. cit. [44] Martí de Riquer. Història..., op. cit., vol. ii, p. 602630. Pere Bohigas, «Curial e Güelfa». A: Aportació a l’estudi de la literatura catalana. Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 1982, p. 277294. Lola Badia. «De la reverenda letradura en el Curial e Güelfa». A: De Bernat Metge..., op. cit., p. 121-144. [45] Jaume Torró. «El manuscrit, els pròlegs i el Filocolo». A: Encontres sobre el «Curial e Güelfa». Aspectes lingüístics i culturals. Castalia, Madrid (en premsa). Lola Badia i Jaume Torró. «Curial entre Tristán y Orlando». A: Actas Segundo Congreso de la Semyr (San Milllán de la Cogolla 2008) (en premsa). [46] Curial e Güelfa. Barcino, Barcelona 1930-1933, vol. iii, p. 12. [47] Ibídem, p. 78. [48] Ibídem, p. 79.

Nota biogràfica Llicenciada en filologia hispànica per la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (1973), va obtenir-hi un doctorat en filologia romànica el 1977 sota la direcció de Martí de Riquer. El 1983 va guanyar una càtedra de Literatura Catalana i en anys successius va passar temporades d’estudi al Warburg Institute de la Universitat de Londres, al Raimundus-Lullus-Institut de la Universitat de Friburg de Brisgòvia i al Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies de la Universitat de Toronto.

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Ha exercit la docència de les lletres catalanes antigues a les universitats Autònoma de Barcelona, de Girona i de Barcelona i ha produït obres de divulgació. A partir del curs 1987-1988 coordina un seminari d’investigadors al Departament de Filologia Catalana de la Universitat de Barcelona. És responsable del Grup de Recerca Consolidat de Literatura i Cultura Catalanes Medievals, repetidament subvencionat per la Generalitat de Catalunya, i ha dirigit i dirigeix projectes de recerca del Ministeri d’Educació espanyol, actualment el CODITECAM. És membre numerari de la Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona (1996) i pertany a diverses associacions d’estudi d’àmbit català i medievalístic; també forma part dels consells assessors i de la redacció de diverses revistes especialitzades i d’alguns comitès tècnics editorials. Ha dirigit una quinzena de tesis doctorals des de 1991 i ha obtingut la Medalla Narcís Monturiol de la Generalitat (2000). Ha publicat preferentment sobre la lírica i la narrativa de tradició trobadoresca, la cultura literària dels escriptors catalans del tres-cents i del quatre-cents, les obres en vulgar de Ramon Llull i l’herència científica medieval en vulgar. Dirigeix el Centre de Recerca Ramon Llull de la Universiat de Barcelona i coordina, juntament amb Albert Soler, la Base de Dades Ramon Llull, ideada per Anthony Bonner.

CATALAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 3: 197-211 (2010) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.1000.01.46 · ISSN: 2013-407X http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/

La Guerra de Successió espanyola als Països Catalans Agustí Alcoberro i Pericay* Universitat de Barcelona Museu d’Història de Catalunya

Rebut 30 juny 2009 · Acceptat 20 setembre 2009

Resum La Guerra de Successió espanyola va afectar directament o indirecta tot el continent europeu. A la monarquia hispànica, els estats de la Corona d’Aragó van optar de forma majoritària per l’arxiduc Carles d’Àustria (Carles III), mentre que la Corona de Castella va donar suport al duc Felip d’Anjou (Felip V). Després del Tractat d’Utrecht, Catalunya va prolongar la resistència durant catorze mesos, amb un govern republicà. A la fi de la guerra, els vencedors van imposar la repressió, l’exili i la fi de les constitucions catalanes.

Paraules clau: guerra de successió espanyola, austriacisme, pactisme, absolutisme, història de Catalunya, segle xviii

La historiografia dels Països Catalans (i també del Regne d’Aragó) situa a la fi de la Guerra de Successió un autèntic punt d’inflexió. Fins en aquell moment, els regnes de la Corona d’Aragó havien desenvolupat una legislació i una vida política pròpies. Aquest procés no es va aturar amb la unió de corones, que vinculà dinàsticament Aragó i Castella a la fi del segle xv, ni amb la formació de la monarquia composta dels Habsburg. Ben a la inversa, els diversos estats de la Corona d’Aragó van viure un desenvolupament institucional al llarg dels segles xvi i xvii, que es carac teritzà per l’eixamplament de la representativitat social i territorial i per l’augment de les competències i recursos fiscals de les seves institucions representatives, o parlamentàries. En paral·lel, i en especial des de les últimes dècades del segle xvi, aquestes institucions van construir un discurs juridicopolític propi. Aquest procés va ser particularment intens a Catalunya. Tanmateix aquesta tendència es va cloure de cop i volta amb la derrota catalana a la Guerra de Successió. El nou ordre borbònic, certificat als Decrets de Nova Planta, suposà la imposició d’un règim absolutista de nou encuny. En aquest article analitzem la implicació dels Països Catalans en la Guerra de Successió espanyola, tot centrant-nos especialment en els factors que van dur a la seva entrada a la guerra i en les conseqüències que comportà la seva derrota.*

* Adreça de contacte: : Agustí Alcoberro i Pericay. Departament d’Història Moderna. Facultat de Filosofia i de Geografia i Història. Carrer Monta legre, 6-8, E-08001 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU. Tel. +34934037956. E-mail: alcoberro@ub.edu

Corona d’Aragó i monarquia hispànica: una perspectiva històrica La unió de corones segellada amb el casament de Ferran II de Catalunya-Aragó i Isabel I de Castella, el 1469, preservà la sobirania política i institucional dels regnes. Tan sols els afers exteriors (diplomàtics i/o de guerra) passaren a dependre d’una instància superior que la resta de corts etiquetaren com a monarquia hispànica, o catòlica. Com han assenyalat diversos autors, la unió de corones seguí el model catalanoaragonès, de matriu confederal, i no pas el castellà, de trets uniformitzadors i assimilistes.1 A tot plegat, cal afegir-hi el caràcter essencialment pactista del model polític catalanoaragonès, contraposat al caràcter fonamentalment autoritari del model de govern castellà. Així, el règim constitucional desplegat successivament a Catalunya fins al 1714 garantia, entre d’altres punts, la plena sobirania legislativa i fiscal de la Cort general, o Parlament; la sobirania judicial, expressada mitjançant l’Audiència de Catalunya, que era l’última instància de reclamació; l’existència d’una institució arbitral, el Tribunal de Contrafaccions, de composició paritària (rei i institucions «de la terra»), destinada a resoldre els conflictes institucio nals, i les reclamacions contra actuacions de les autoritats considerades inconstitucionals, etc. Les institucions esmentades, i la pràctica jurídica que se’n derivava, es fonamentaven en una literatura juridicopolítica de gran tradició, que havia conformat uns valors polítics plenament consolidats. Esmentem-ne, entre els més importants: la caracterització de la sobirania com un pacte entre el rei i «la terra» (pactisme); la supremacia de la llei, a la qual s’havien de sotmetre governats i governants, inclòs el ma-

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teix monarca, i, com a tret força original del país, el control sobre els ingressos i les despeses de la fiscalitat d’estat per part de les institucions representatives dels braços o estaments (i notablement, per part de la Diputació del General o Generalitat de Catalunya).2 Només la plena consciència del poder polític i fiscal de la Generalitat permet entendre el paper protagonista d’aquesta institució en les conjuntures revolucionàries de 1640, 1705 i 1713. Per la seva banda, el Regne d’Aragó disposà inicialment d’un marge fins i tot més ampli de sobirania política. Aquest fet queda reblat per la cèlebre fórmula amb què la Cort aragonesa retia fidelitat al monarca: els braços, o estaments aragonesos, li recordaven que «nosaltres valem tant com vós, i junts més que vós» abans de reconèixer-lo com «el nostre rei i senyor». Tanmateix el règim foral aragonès va ser substancialment moderat per la Cort de 1592, convocada per Felip II després que les seves tropes haguessin reduït la revolta del regne. Al Regne de València, per la seva banda, tot i disposar també d’un sistema polític foral d’arrel pactista, les competències del monarca van ser sempre molt importants. Més clar és encara el cas del Regne de Mallorca, l’únic que no disposà d’una Cort general pròpia. La major empremta reial a València i a Mallorca té una causa força evident: a diferència d’Aragó i de Catalunya, regnes constitutius de la Corona d’Aragó, aquells foren regnes consecutius i, per tant, conquerits. Aquest fet marcà la seva conformació jurídica, com també ho féu al Regne de Sardenya, l’altre estat vinculat a la Corona d’Aragó durant l’edat moderna. Tanmateix el marge de maniobra de les institucions representatives de Catalunya es reduí substancialment després de la Guerra dels Segadors, o de Separació (16401659).3 Amb la definitiva ocupació de Barcelona per part de les tropes hispàniques (1652), Felip IV es reservà algunes competències importants. Esmentem-ne especialment dues: el control de les llistes d’«insaculats», o persones elegibles per sorteig, de la Generalitat i del Consell de Cent (govern municipal), i el control militar de la ciutat (muralles, fortalesa de Montjuïc, etc.). Només des del control militar i polític del territori es pot entendre la nul· la resposta que tingué a les institucions del país la signatura del Tractat dels Pirineus entre Felip IV i Lluís XIV (1659). Com és sabut, aquest tractat suposà l’esquarterament de Catalunya i l’annexió de la seva zona nord (els comtats de Rosselló i Cerdanya) al Regne de França.

Guerra internacional i revolta interior Durant el regnat de Carles II (1665-1700), França va desplegar una activíssima política de caràcter militar i diplomàtic destinada a influir en la successió dels regnes hispànics. Els consecutius pactes de repartiment de la monarquia hispànica, signats amb altres estats europeus, van anar acompanyats d’una incidència cada cop més directa i nombrosa a la cort de Madrid. També de conjuntu-

Agustí Alcoberro i Pericay

res bèl·liques en què França mostrà la seva superioritat militar, com la Guerra dels Nou Anys (1689-1697). En aquesta contesa, les tropes gal·les ocuparen de nou Catalunya, mentre la seva armada s’ensenyoria del litoral mediterrani i bombardejava punts estratègics com Alacant.4 Fora del partit filofrancès de la cort madrilenya, l’opinió pública dels diversos regnes hispànics no podia acollir amb gaire entusiasme l’elecció d’un candidat francès com a sobirà. I, tanmateix, això és el que es deduí del testament de Carles II. Cal recordar que l’hostilitat entre la monarquia hispànica i França s’havia desenvolupat de manera ininterrompuda al llarg dels dos darrers segles. I quelcom semblant podria dir-se de la rivalitat entre Àustries i Borbons, les dues dinasties que havien competit per l’hegemonia a Europa durant tota la dissetena centúria. En certa mesura, després de Westfàlia (1648), l’arribada al tron hispànic d’un descendent directe de Lluís XIV certificava la definitiva victòria de França, i dels Borbons en aquell combat de llarga durada. Així, els primers passos del joveníssim duc Felip d’Anjou com a Felip V d’Espanya van suscitar respecte, però no emoció. Aquest fou un comportament força homogeni i generalitzable a tots els regnes. També, com és sabut, a Catalunya, on el nou rei convocà la Cort general (1701), jurà les constitucions i féu importants concessions econòmiques i polítiques.5 Resulta particularment interessant la reflexió sobre el període 1700-1705. En aquests anys, es produí el salt d’un sentiment antifrancès més o menys difús, però desorganitzat i desmobilitzat, a la formació d’un autèntic partit austriacista, que advocava per l’enderrocament del monarca i la seva substitució per l’arxiduc Carles d’Àustria –que els seus seguidors hispànics anomenaren Carles III. I aquest salt es donà, cal recordar-ho, en la més estricta clandestinitat. La literatura austriacista, tant la dels primers temps com la que es produí a l’exili després de la derrota, destaca les causes interiors en aquest canvi d’actitud. L’austriacisme castellà, encara mal conegut, subratlla que el canvi de dinastia va representar la submissió d’una gran potència, abans altiva, a França. Així, l’entronització de Felip V assenyalaria el punt culminant de la decadència hispànica. L’argument té també una vessant econòmica, ja que la publicística austriacista castellana recorda el domini monopolístic que exerciren les companyies franceses en el comerç hispanoamericà, i especialment en el tràfic d’esclaus, a partir de l’entronització de Felip V. La reducció de la vella monarquia a l’estadi de colònia que aquests escrits constaten seria reblada per la substitució de l’antiga classe dirigent castellana per funcionaris i cortesans francesos. Tots aquests arguments són ja presents al manifest signat a Lisboa el 1702 per l’almirall de Castella, Juan Tomás Enríquez de Cabrera, el primer gran d’Espanya que optà per l’exili i la confrontació directa amb els Borbons. I es poden recuperar, gairebé literalment, al discurs polític Teatro de desdichas publicat a l’exili milanès el 1716.6

La Guerra de Successió espanyola als Països Catalans

L’austriacisme català, que va poder generar un discurs propi d’una manera molt més continuada tot al llarg de la guerra, també destaca les causes interiors d’aquella ruptura. Aquest discurs va ser especialment desenvolupat per Narcís Feliu de la Penya. Feliu, autriacista de primera hora, va ser empresonat per la policia borbònica el 1704. El 1709 publicà els Anales de Cataluña, que poden ser considerats la història oficial de la Catalunya de l’Arxiduc. L’autor dedica una part important del volum tercer a descriure el procés d’enrariment de les relacions entre els catalans i Felip V. De fet, els capítols d’aquesta obra que expliquen els fets posteriors a la mort de Carles II van ser objecte de la ira de les autoritats borbòniques de 1714, que n’ordenaren la destrucció massiva.7 Però Feliu, i amb ell l’austriacisme català, desenvolupa una línia argumentativa pròpia. Es tracta de descriure el reguitzell de greuges, abusos, actuacions inconstitucionals, etc. que haurien caracteritzat el comportament de Felip V i dels seus ministres durant els anys previs a l’alçament de 1705. D’una manera més o menys implícita, el rosari de deslleialtats per part del monarca hauria invalidat el jurament de fidelitat que Catalunya li havia fet a la Cort general de 1701 i hauria legitimat, doncs, la ruptura. Aquest argument, de passada, invalidava les acusacions de rebel·lia que la publicística borbònica repetí arreu. La lectura atenta del text de Feliu, testimoni presencial dels fets, però també actor, mostra, si més no fins a 1704, un tipus de conflictes puntuals no gaire diferents dels que havien enfrontat les institucions «de la terra» i els lloctinents reials en els regnats anteriors.8 És cert que des del primer moment es produïren motius de tensió entre la Corona i les institucions representatives, i notablement amb el Consell de Cent i el braç militar (corporació formada per nobles i ciutadans, amb seu a Barcelona). Però també ho és que les dinàmiques de l’una i de les altres es produïren al marge d’un encara no explicitat plet dinàstic. Cal anar als poquíssims textos polítics clandestins d’aquell període inicial per adonar-se que la dinàmica que abocà els Països Catalans –i tots els regnes hispànics– a la guerra s’escrigué en termes internacionals.9 També aquí, però, hi ha una altra font que resulta particularment reveladora. Ens referim a les Narraciones históricas de Francesc de Castellví. L’autor, cavaller natural de Montblanc (Conca de Barberà), una de les àrees on la repressió borbònica va ser extrema, va ser un austriacista de primera hora, va participar a l’última resistència de Barcelona i va viure en un règim de semiclandestinitat la primera postguerra. El 1726, un any després de la Pau de Viena, que comportà l’amnistia recíproca per als partidaris de Felip V i de Carles III (llavors ja emperador Carles VI d’Alemanya), Castellví s’exilià a la capital imperial. Allí dedicà la resta de la vida –trenta anys llargs fins a la seva mort el 1757– a redactar la seva monumental història de la guerra.10 Castellví va escriure des de l’exili i la derrota, sense les urgències ni les dissimulacions pròpies de qui se sent factor actiu del conflicte. Ho va fer, a més, des d’una inequívoca voluntat d’objectivitat i des d’una enorme honradesa

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intel·lectual, fet que confereix a la seva obra una rellevància excepcional. Des d’aquesta perspectiva, Castellví descriu sense embuts les trames de la construcció i difusió del partit austriacista, en particular a Catalunya, i la seva vinculació des dels primers moments als estats aliats. Més encara, l’autor de Montblanc es permet esmenar la plana a Feliu en diverses ocasions, tot separant el que aquest explica i el que oculta. Aquest exercici d’honestedat intel· lectual arriba fins al punt de fer comprensibles determinades actituds de la inicial repressió borbònica, que obeïren a les dimensions creixents de l’amenaça austriacista. El paper clau de les potències aliades en la conformació de l’alçament austriacista també és un element central de dos importants textos polítics publicats els anys 17341736, en el context d’un nou conflicte internacional (la Guerra de Successió de Polònia) que semblà donar noves ales a la reivindicació d’una solució justa per al «cas dels catalans». Ens referim a Via fora als adormits, un opuscle polític de grans dimensions que va ser editat en dues versions, catalana i francesa; i Record de l’Aliança fet al sereníssim Jordi, augusto rei de la Gran Bretaña, que s’imprimí en una edició bilingüe catalana i llatina. L’argument central de tots dos textos era responsabilitzar els estats aliats, i especialment Anglaterra, de l’alçament català i exigir-los que reparessin el deute contret amb Catalunya dins el marc dels previsibles nous tractats de pau.11 En síntesi, l’explicació exterior de la Guerra de Successió com a guerra civil hispànica subratlla els orígens i la dimensió internacional que va tenir inicialment el conflicte. Es tracta d’una seqüència històrica prou coneguda, per bé que no sempre prou valorada per les historiografies romàntiques catalana i espanyola: la formació de la Gran Aliança de l’Haia (1701); la declaració de la guerra als estats borbònics d’Espanya i França (1702); la proclamació de l’arxiduc Carles com a rei d’Espanya, amb el nom de Carles III, a Viena (1703); l’entrada a l’Aliança de Savoia i Portugal, aquell mateix any, i l’arribada de Carles III a Lisboa i l’inici de les hostilitats peninsulars (1704). Tots i cadascun d’aquests fets van anar acompanyats de les victòries, i de les no-derrotes, aliades en els camps de batalla del continent, i van generar la impressió força estesa que la causa austriacista estava destinada a la victòria final. És en aquest clima d’expectació, i finalment d’eufòria, que es gestà, i cresqué, el partit austriacista. La dimensió internacional en els primers compassos de la guerra civil queda reblada per l’origen etimològic més probable del terme botifler, mot despectiu estès a tots els Països Catalans amb una notable precocitat (està documentat ja el 1702), amb què els seguidors de Carles anomenaren els partidaris del Borbó. Així, segons Castellví, però també segons els botiflers valencians Isidre Planes i Josep Vicent Ortí i Major,12 el mot és una lectura paròdica, o còmica, del cognom del mariscal de Boufflers, que comandà l’exèrcit francès en diverses batalles els anys 1702 i 1703. Com que el seu resultat fou incert, els qui difonien notícies favorables als Borbons van ser anomenats

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botiflers –de la mateixa manera que els qui ho feien a favor dels aliats van ser coneguts com a imperials. Com és sabut, aquell terme penjà sobre els partidaris de Felip V durant la guerra i la llarga postguerra. De fet, continua essent un concepte pejoratiu d’ús freqüent en el llenguatge polític català d’avui per a denominar els catalans al servei de la submissió al centralisme espanyol. Si recapitulem sobre el que acabem d’escriure, ens adonarem que la implicació dels Països Catalans a la Guerra de Successió va tenir unes causes profundes interiors, però també que hauria estat impensable sense l’esclat de la guerra internacional. Els catalans no podien veure de bon ull una dinastia que havia consolidat el seu poder sobre la base de l’uniformisme polític i l’absolutisme. Més encara quan acabaven d’assistir, en termes històricament curts, al procés d’assimilació violenta dels comtats del nord –i als desastres de les ocupacions militars recents del Principat, o Catalunya del sud. En aquest context, inevitablement, les simpaties dels nuclis dirigents catalans ha vien de mirar cap a d’altres horitzons: la monarquia composta dels Habsburgs alemanys, que garantia, en termes prou acceptables per a l’època, el respecte vers les diverses realitats historicoidentitàries; o els models parlamentaris i econòmicament oberts d’Anglaterra i de les Províncies Unides dels Països Baixos. Tanmateix la guerra no hauria esclatat a Catalunya sense l’existència dels seus primers episodis internacionals, ni sense la convicció entre una part important de la seva classe dirigent que la victòria era possible. Des d’aquesta doble perspectiva, doncs, el cas dels catalans fóra perfectament comparable al d’altres nacions, o col·lectius, que mantenien un plet històric amb l’entramat estatal al qual pertanyien, o al qual estaven sotmesos. Ens referim als jacobites escocesos, contraris a la Revolució Gloriosa de 1688 i a la Union Act de 1707, però al capdavall sufragats des de França; als malcontents hongaresos, oposats a la creixent germanització del territori, però també finançats des de París, o als camisards francesos protestants, reduïts a l’uniformisme catòlic amb la revocació de l’Edicte de Nantes decretada per Lluís XIV, que tanmateix comptaren amb el suport polític, fiscal i d’intendència dels whigs anglesos.13 En tot cas, sobre el doble estímul d’uns conflictes estructurals interns i de la pressió externa, l’austriacisme cresqué, com a opció política clandestina, a tots els regnes hispànics. A Castella, molt probablement, arribà a aplegar sectors mitjans i aristocràtics molt més nombrosos dels que finalment van acabar donant-li suport de manera explícita. Al País Valencià s’estengué entre els llauradors, recentment derrotats a la revolta coneguda com la Segona Germania, però també, d’una manera molt més evident que el que s’havia pensat fins fa tot just un parell de dècades, entre la burgesia de València i d’altres ciutats del regne.14 En algunes ciutats, com Alcoi, la guerra reproduí conflictes locals entre famílies que se’n disputaven l’hegemonia.15 Els interessos comercials d’una burgesia anglòfila expliquen també l’opció favorable als aliats de Cartage-

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na, al Regne de Múrcia, l’àmbit que es pronuncià de manera més explícita favorable als aliats dins la Corona de Castella. També en aquest punt coneixem millor el cas del Principat. A Catalunya, el partit austriacista cresqué, i assolí fins i tot una clara hegemonia social, sobre una triple base.16 D’una banda, l’austriacisme es va fer fort entre els caps militars que van organitzar la resistència popular a les invasions franceses de la segona meitat del segle xvii a l’eix Vic-Ripoll. Parlem de petits nobles i de pagesos propietaris que esdevingueren líders de les comunitats locals i que van dirigir els cossos irregulars de fusellers i miquelets i els sometents. Són, de fet, els vigatans, nom que es generalitzà al conjunt de la resistència antiborbònica catalana. Aquest col·lectiu mantingué una relació estreta amb el príncep alemany Jordi de Hessen-Darmstadt, heroi de la resistència catalana contra les tropes franceses durant la Guerra dels Nou Anys, últim virrei de Carles II, i posteriorment confinat a l’exili per Felip V –jugà un paper clau en la formació de la Gran Aliança de l’Haia. Els vigatans foren, de fet, el braç armat del partit austriacista a Catalunya. Però el nucli dur de l’austriacisme català el conformà la burgesia comercial barcelonina. En l’òrbita del que Narcís Feliu de la Penya definí amb la metàfora del Fénix de Cataluña,17 diversos sectors mercantils i industrials esbossaren un model de desenvolupament econòmic que aspirava a convertir Catalunya en «l’Holanda del Mediterrani». Aquesta burgesia, oberta als nous temps, estengué la seva influència sobre el conjunt del territori mitjançant les xarxes urbanes i creà, en el context de guerra, diverses empreses comercials pensades per a l’exportació, com la Companyia Nova de Gibraltar.18 La nova classe dirigent urbana generà també uns nous àmbits de producció cultural –com l’Acadèmia dels Desconfiats–19 i uns col· lectius implicats en la nova dinàmica política –especialment evidents avui en l’àmbit del notariat.20 En aquell context, la Universitat de Barcelona va esdevenir un àmbit clau de la dinàmica subversiva, que acabà aplegant alhora estudiants i professors. El tercer peu de la resistència antiborbònica el conformà el baix clergat, i especialment els ordes religiosos mendicants. Aquest col·lectiu, amb un gran ascendent popular, jugà un paper determinant en les conjuntures de 1705 i de 1713-1714. L’austriacisme català, el més ben conegut, construí un discurs polític fonamentat en la defensa del pactisme i de les constitucions. Atorgà un paper crucial a les institu cions «de la terra», que tendí a desplegar tant pel que fa a les competències com a la seva creixent representativitat social i territorial. En les seves formulacions més radicals, s’inscriví dins del republicanisme, entès com a corrent que situava el bé comú com a valor suprem, per damunt de les consideracions estrictament dinàstiques.21 Per la seva banda, l’austriacisme castellà, encara poc estudiat, desenvolupà un discurs fonamentat en la defensa d’una monarquia «moderada» per les lleis del país i pel paper

La Guerra de Successió espanyola als Països Catalans

intermediari que correspondria a la noblesa i a l’Església.22 Monarquia paccionada, en el cas català, i monarquia «moderada», a Castella, es contraposarien, doncs, a la monarquia absoluta instaurada pel primer Borbó. En un moviment i en l’altre, l’oposició a França i a allò que suposava, en els terrenys polític i econòmic, va ser també un argument central. Com hom pot veure, en cap cas, doncs, la Guerra de Successió no va tenir a l’interior peninsular una caracterització exclusivament dinàstica.

Del desembarcament fallit al desembarcament exitós (1704-1705) Juntament amb la caracterització social i ideològica de l’austriacisme, cal tenir en compte també la seva composició generacional. En general, fins a 1704 si més no, les persones compromeses amb l’oposició antiborbònica eren joves i no disposaven d’una presència significativa a les institucions de govern del país. Aquest fet es posà descarnadament de manifest amb motiu del desembarcament aliat a Barcelona del 28 de maig d’aquell any. És prou evident que l’empresa tenia el suport d’una conspiració a l’interior de la ciutat. Però també ho és que aquesta resultà, arribat el moment, feble i immadura. Les institucions «de la terra», Generalitat i Consell de Cent, es posaren al servei del duc de Velasco, lloctinent de Cata lunya per Felip V. I la Coronela, o milícia urbana, va protagonitzar la defensa de la ciutat. Les tropes aliades van haver de marxar ben aviat. Cal dir, però, que alguns centenars de membres de la conspiració van aprofitar aquell moment per a abandonar Barcelona i embarcar-se a l’estol que unes setmanes més tard conquerí Gibraltar. Aquest primer col·lectiu d’exiliats catalans es desplaçà a Lisboa, però també, en menor nombre, a Gibraltar, Gènova (república neutral i, per definició, cau d’espies d’ambdós bàndols) i fins i tot Viena. La presència d’un nombre significatiu d’exiliats eixamplà els contactes internacionals de la resistència, i també les xarxes d’arribada de correspondència aliada. En tot cas, el desembarcament fallit i la convicció de l’existència d’una conspiració interior van generar una forta repressió a Barcelona i al conjunt de Catalunya. En aquest punt, és interessant contrastar les fonts catalanes i les de la Cort. Així, tot resseguint Narcís Feliu de la Penya, es fa evident que la repressió dirigida pel lloctinent duc de Velasco va ser inusitada, tant pel seu volum com pels mitjans emprats. Per contra, les fonts madrilenyes tendeixen a acusar Velasco de tou i d’incapaç per a fer front a la revolta. En realitat, totes dues percepcions recolzen en un punt de veritat. De manera complementària, denoten un salt qualitatiu en l’enfrontament entre Catalunya i Felip V. Aquest salt es caracteritzà pel pas dels conflictes de tipus tradicional, puntuals i més o menys corporatius, a uns nous comportaments més àmpliament subversius; i, sobretot, per l’ús massiu de determinades expressions pú-

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bliques de desacatament a l’ordre vigent, com per exemple l’ús de llaços grocs, que es van convertir en un emblema de l’austriacisme. De manera progressiva, el corrent favorable a Carles III va anar conquerint àmbits d’expressió i de relació. I, en paral·lel, els anomenats botiflers van començar a experimentar un estrany sentiment de minoria. Però ni tan sols en aquelles circumstàncies l’austriacista més abrandat no hauria cregut que era possible una mena de revolta popular interior que foragités el Borbó. Ben a la inversa, l’autriacisme, que havia estat en bona part, com hem vist, una conseqüència de la guerra internacional, necessitava més que mai els aliats. I aquesta necessitat, a la fi de 1704, era ja mútua. La Gran Aliança sostenia una guerra contra les dues corones borbòniques des de feia dos llargs anys en nom d’un litigi dinàstic que no havia donat lloc a expressions armades importants al país on, suposadament, es volia resoldre el greuge. L’activació del front portuguès, amb l’arribada de Carles III a Lisboa, s’havia saldat amb un fracàs absolut. I la indiscutible hegemonia naval aliada a les costes ibèriques tan sols havia obtingut Gibraltar, que es conformava com un presidi que vivia d’esquena al rerepaís. El fracàs aliat en terres hispàniques contrastava amb la dinàmica vencedora de les seves tropes en tots els altres fronts. Tot plegat pot explicar la tendència a la imbricació entre resistència interior i estats aliats. La màxima expressió d’aquest procés va ser la signatura del Pacte de Gènova el 20 de juny de 1705. El pacte, que comprometia Anglaterra i els «vigatans» catalans, posa de manifest una voluntat de llarga durada d’ambdues parts per a arribar a un acord. D’una banda, els ambaixadors que el signaren en nom de la resistència interior compartien la condició d’exiliats des de 1704. El barceloní Antoni de Peguera, aleshores amb només vint-i-tres anys, havia estat un dels fundadors de l’Acadèmia dels Desconfiats. Domènec Perera, advocat, era un personatge molt apreciat a la plana de Vic. Per la seva banda, l’ambaixador plenipotenciari de la reina Anna era Mitford Crowe, un comerciant que havia tingut negocis a Catalunya en el camp de la fabricació i l’exportació d’aiguardents. Complia, doncs, una doble condició: coneixia bé el país i alhora era ben conegut per una part important dels sectors dirigents. Per si tot plegat no fos suficient per a generar confiança a l’interior de Catalunya, el pacte garantia el suport militar aliat a una eventual revolta. I, el que potser encara era més important per a guanyar l’opinió pública catalana, garantia el compromís d’Anglaterra en el manteniment de les seves constitucions, fos quin fos el resultat de la contesa. La importància cabdal del pacte queda confirmada pels esdeveniments immediats. El 20 de juliol els vigatans obtenien la victòria del Congost davant les tropes borbòniques i s’ensenyorien de la comarca d’Osona, a l’eix del riu Besòs, una de les principals rutes de proveïment de Bar celona. Un mes després, el 22 d’agost, un gran estol aliat desembarcava davant la ciutat. Hi anava l’arxiduc Carles

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d’Àustria, Carles III. Al llarg del mes i mig que es prolongà el setge, el paper de la resistència va ser important, tant a les portes de Barcelona com en la difusió de la revolta pel país. Tanmateix en aquest punt tampoc no es pot prendre al peu de la lletra el relat de Narcís Feliu de la Penya, d’innegable to agitador, com ha provat Josep M. Torras.23 L’èxit aliat a Barcelona, tal vegada previsible, va venir acompanyat del triomf dels «maulets», o austriacistes valencians, en una operació que molt probablement s’havia dissenyat tan sols com una distracció militar. Efectivament, el 10 d’agost, uns dies abans del desembarcament de Barcelona, l’estol aliat havia desembarcat un petit contingent d’homes a la costa d’Altea, al sud del Regne de València. El comandava l’oficial imperial Joan Baptista Basset i Ramos.24 D’origen valencià, Basset havia construït la seva carrera militar a l’exèrcit imperial, on destacà com a artiller, i havia acompanyat el príncep de Hessen-Darmstadt en el procés negociador que dugué a la signatura del tractat de la Gran Aliança. Dotat també d’un fort caràcter populista, Basset obtingué el suport de la vila de Dénia, i, després, d’un gran nombre de llauradors valencians, als quals prometé l’alliberament de les servituds feudals. Amb un exèrcit essencialment popular i improvisat, Basset obtingué també el suport de les tropes catalanes del general Rafael Nebot, que inicialment s’havien d’encarregar de la seva repressió. Però el seu ràpid accés a la ciutat de València, on entrà el 16 de desembre, confirma també l’abast de les trames conspiradores a l’interior de la ciutat. Com a Barcelona, una part significativa de la burgesia valenciana havia optat ja per la causa de l’Arxiduc. Aquest va ser el cas, entre d’altres, de Josep Vicent Torres Eiximeno, secretari del Consell Municipal. Més difícil resulta saber l’abast de la conspiració en l’àmbit de la noblesa i de la jerarquia eclesiàstica. El comte de Cardona, Josep Folch de Cardona i Erill, se singularitzà des del primer moment en defensa de Carles III. El seu va ser, però, un cas força excepcional. Cardona pertanyia a una branca lateral de la nissaga, i el seu ascens s’havia donat sempre en l’entorn cortesà dels Habsburg, de primer a Madrid i després a Viena. Més freqüent va ser, d’entrada, l’actitud de suport a Felip V, tot i que una gran part de la noblesa valenciana acabà passant-se a la causa de l’Arxiduc en la segona ofensiva aliada sobre Madrid, de 1710. Aquest va ser, entre altres, el cas de Joan Basili de Castellví i Coloma, comte de Cervelló, i de l’arquebisbe de València, Antoni Folch de Cardona. El canvi d’actitud pot obeir a un doble impuls extern. D’una banda, és evident que el discurs antifeudal de Basset va refredar el 1705 alguns sectors nobiliaris que inicialment podien haver estat pròxims a la causa de Carles III. D’altra banda, l’abolició dels Furs de València i la imposició al regne de les lleis de Castella (1707), juntament amb la duríssima repressió exercida per les tropes borbòniques, van acabar decantant aquests sectors a favor de la causa austriacista. La resta de territoris de la Corona d’Aragó es van anar proclamant a favor de l’Arxiduc a mesura que els exèrcits

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aliats hi van fer acte de presència. Aquest fou el cas del Regne d’Aragó i de les illes de Mallorca, Eivissa i Sardenya. Cal entendre, doncs, que en tots aquests àmbits la causa austriacista disposava de simpaties notables, però en cap cas prou poderoses per a llançar-se a la subversió. L’única excepció a aquesta dinàmica va ser Menorca. Però la proclamació unilateral de Carles com a rei, el 1706, va ser ofegada per l’ocupació borbònica de gener de 1707, que tot seguit abolí els privilegis de l’illa. Menorca va ser recuperada per les tropes aliades a la fi de setembre de 1708. L’austriacisme, actiu o passiu, dels regnes de la Corona d’Aragó contrasta amb la molt majoritària actitud filipista que expressà el poble castellà. Aquest comportament es va fer especialment evident durant les dues ocupacions aliades de Madrid de 1706 i 1710. Si bé en les dues ocasions les autoritats borbòniques empresonaren alguns aristòcrates i bisbes, acusats de col·laborar amb Carles III, la capacitat de mobilització del partit austriacista va ser molt escassa, i la causa de Felip V fins i tot guanyà suports com a conseqüència d’aquells fets. Aquesta realitat contrasta, sens dubte, amb la seva precocitat i la seva important presència en nuclis poderosos que havien caracteritzat fins aleshores, com hem vist, l’austriacisme castellà. La resposta a aquesta paradoxa es pot trobar de nou en els arguments utilitzats per la publicística. Com ha assenyalat M. Teresa Pérez Picazo, els textos borbònics castellans van aguditzar en aquelles conjuntures el discurs xenòfob, tot presentant l’exèrcit aliat com un conglomerat format per protestants i enemics d’Espanya. En aquest context general, la catalonofòbia va tenir un relleu especial, sobretot en els textos adreçats als sectors populars.25 De fet, aquest discurs no era pas nou. Va ser fins i tot previst per l’almirall de Castella, a Lisboa, quan es va començar a parlar d’un probable desembarcament aliat a Barcelona. Els cronistes d’un signe i de l’altre són en aquest punt coincidents. L’historiador filipista sard Vicenç Bacallar, marquès de San Felipe, posa en boca de l’almirall que «el golpe mortal para la España era atacar la Andalucía, porque nunca obedecería Castilla a rey que entrase por Aragón, porque ésta era la cabeza de la Monarquía.»26 I el mateix Francesc de Castellví confirma el sentit de la intervenció de l’almirall: «Que, dirigiéndose las armas a Cataluña, esto haría más pertinaces las Castillas, que juzgarían presumía la Corona de Aragón darles ley; [...] que si el rey entraba por Andalucía a ocupar Madrid se mantendría en el reino, y que si se intentaba por las partes de Aragón y Valencia no permanecería en España.»27

Carles III, rei dels catalans: política i guerra A partir del 7 de novembre de 1705, data de l’entrada triomfal de Carles III a Barcelona, la guerra internacional esdevingué també, doncs, una guerra civil. Dos joves

La Guerra de Successió espanyola als Països Catalans

prínceps estrangers disposaren paral·lelament de sengles corts, a Madrid i a Barcelona, amb una estructura de govern, formada per consells i secretaries, que tendí a repetir-se mimèticament.28 Com el seu antecessor i rival, Carles convocà la Cort general de Catalunya i s’hi mostrà particularment generós. No solament repetí algunes de les principals conces sions econòmiques (el comerç directe amb Amèrica, el port franc per a Barcelona) i polítiques (com la creació del Tribunal de Contrafaccions) atorgades pel primer Borbó hispànic, sinó que n’hi afegí de noves. Entre aquestes, destaca l’abolició del control reial sobre les insaculacions a la Generalitat i al Consell de Cent, cosa que esborrà de fet l’última gran conseqüència repressiva de la Revolució de 1640. En la mateixa línia, cal destacar la legalització de la Conferència dels Tres Comuns, que aplegava aquestes dues institucions i el braç militar. Aquesta mancomunitat d’institucions havia estat explícitament prohibida per Felip V, i jugaria un paper clau en l’última defensa de Barcelona durant el setge de 1713-1714. Afegim a tot plegat una política deliberada de promoció social de l’austriacisme local, mitjançant ennobliments, concessions de ciutadanies honrades, intitulacions i càrrecs civils i militars. Podríem dir, doncs, que a la primavera de 1706, quan Barcelona superà el primer setge borbònic, el partit austriacista consolidava la seva victòria en l’àmbit militar, en l’àmbit de les idees i també en el de les persones. Tanmateix el funcionament diari del nou règim no va ser fàcil. La tensió entre la Corona i les institucions «de la terra» reaparegué ben aviat, i esdevingué especialment visible a partir de la fi de 1707, quan la guerra s’instal·là definitivament a Catalunya amb l’ocupació borbònica de Lleida. En aquell context, l’entorn cortesà arribà a generar projectes de contingut autoritari, o absolut. En tot cas, resulta impossible extreure conclusions sobre quina hauria estat l’evolució de la cort de Carles si la fi del conflicte bèl· lic hagués estat una altra. Cal tenir en compte, en aquest sentit, que el Govern de Barcelona estigué permanentment afectat per la guerra, cosa que li conferí un estatus de provisionalitat continuada. Aquesta situació d’excepcionalitat es pogué viure a un doble nivell. D’una banda, Barcelona no tan sols continuà essent la capital del Principat, sinó que, a més, esdevingué de cop i volta capital d’una cort paral·lela, on es constituí, de manera més o menys improvisada o imperfecta, tota l’arquitectura de consells característica dels Habsburg hispànics. A aquests, s’hi superposaren dues secretaries d’estat: la dirigida pel notari català Ramon de Vilana-Perles (esdevingut marquès de Rialb), amb competències a la península; i la d’Itàlia, encarregada al navarrès Juan Antonio Romeo, marquès d’Erendazu. Convé remarcar, doncs, que aquests organismes governaven teòricament uns territoris que mai no van estar en mans de Carles, o bé ho van estar durant un temps excepcionalment breu. Aquest fet suposà una clara migradesa fiscal i, per tant, una dependència política i militar respecte als estats aliats.

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L’excepcionalitat va ser causada també pels vaivens de la guerra. A diferència de les dues corones borbòniques, que disposaven de continuïtat territorial i d’un clar lideratge per part de l’oficialitat francesa, l’Exèrcit aliat a la Península va ser sempre una amalgama heterogènia. Sobre un conjunt de forces diverses –imperials, britànics, holandesos, portuguesos, i també tropes hispàniques reclutades per Carles III–, la presència britànica va esdevenir decisiva, entre altres coses perquè eren els únics que disposaven d’una armada suficient per a desplaçar tropes. I les campanyes militars britàniques van venir marcades per la necessitat de convèncer una opinió pública interior molt dividida. Això explica, molt probablement, l’obsessió per entrar a Madrid –és a dir, per donar un titular d’impacte a la publicística anglesa favorable– que encapçalà (i finalment féu fracassar) les operacions de 1706 i 1710. Malgrat tot, Barcelona visqué durant els anys 17051713 el miratge social i simbòlic d’una cort reial, una circumstància que caldria retrocedir més de dos segles enrere per retrobar. A Barcelona s’hi aplegaren, doncs, ambaixadors i representants de tots els estats aliats i neutrals, comerciants d’arreu, la noblesa de tradició vinguda d’arreu d’Espanya i d’Itàlia i la nova noblesa elevada pel nou monarca. També s’hi aplegaren importants artistes, la qual cosa va tenir repercussions immediates en l’àmbit de l’arquitectura, el teatre i la música.29 D’altra banda, també es van tirar endavant ambiciosos projectes comercials que cercaven els mercats ultramarins, com la ja esmentada Companyia Nova de Gibraltar, fundada el 1709.30 I, en totes les escales, és detectable un cert procés de fusió entre nouvinguts i autòctons, que continuà en els anys següents a l’exili vienès. La dinàmica militar ibèrica anà, però, sempre a mal borràs. La primera ofensiva sobre Madrid se saldà amb la derrota aliada a la batalla d’Almansa (1707). Aquest fet tingué enormes repercussions polítiques, ja que suposà l’arraconament de la guerra a Catalunya i la publicació del decret que abolí els furs dels regnes d’Aragó i de València. Els austriacistes més destacats d’aquests dos territoris van haver de refugiar-se a Barcelona, mentre les noves autoritats borbòniques iniciaren una repressió massiva que es caracteritzà pels càstigs col·lectius, per les execucions massives i per la crema de les viles considerades rebels. Fet i fet, la dominació de Carles III al Regne de València no havia arribat al cap d’un any i mig –alguns mesos més de la que conegué Aragó.

El moment republicà Tanmateix Carles III no perdé la guerra al front ibèric, sinó en el joc diplomàtic internacional. Com és sabut, l’11 d’abril de 1713 se signà el Tractat d’Utrecht, que suposà la fi de la guerra internacional. Gairebé un mes abans, el 19 de març, la seva esposa Elisabet Cristina s’havia embarcat a Barcelona, rumb a l’Imperi, en companyia d’alguns dels

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membres més conspicus de la cort. El tractat, en el seu article tretzè, reconeixia els esforços de la reina Anna d’Anglaterra per a garantir el manteniment de les constitu cions de Catalunya (per bé que no feia un esment explícit del Pacte de Gènova, signat amb els catalans el 1705). Tanmateix la reina es donava per satisfeta amb el compromís de Felip V de garantir als catalans els «privilegis que posseeixen els habitants de les dues Castelles, que de tots els pobles d’Espanya són els més amats del rei Catòlic.» No cal dir que aquest text avalava, amb innegables dosis de cinisme, la voluntat del primer Borbó hispànic d’abolir les constitucions de Catalunya.31 La retirada de les tropes aliades va anar acompanyada de l’avanç paral·lel de l’exèrcit de les dues corones. Aquesta pràctica, pactada per les màximes autoritats militars al Conveni de l’Hospitalet (22 de juny), tan sols va tenir tres excepcions: les guarnicions de les fortaleses de Castellciutat i Cardona, governades respectivament pels generals Josep Moragues i Manuel Desvalls, i, sobretot, Barcelona. A la capital de Catalunya, el conseller en cap es va fer càrrec, en nom de la ciutat, de la fortalesa de Montjuïc i de les Drassanes, on es guardaven les municions i el material de guerra de l’exèrcit aliat. Aquest darrer acte, de contingut netament rupturista, va marcar els esdeveniments posteriors.32 Efectivament, mentre el general Starhemberg, últim lloctinent de Catalunya, tancava la retirada de les tropes imperials, la Diputació del General convocava, d’acord amb els altres dos comuns, la Junta General de Braços de Catalunya. Aquesta institució, coneguda també coetàniament com a Parlament de Catalunya, disposava d’una representació social i territorial fins i tot superior a la de la Cort general, de la qual es diferenciava per l’absència del monarca. De fet, la Junta General tan sols havia estat convocada en una altra ocasió, el 1641, moment també caracteritzat per la ruptura i la guerra. La junta es constituí solemnement el 30 de juny de 1713, i s’organitzà en reunions separades dels braços o estaments. El debat va ser molt viu als braços militar i reial, ja que l’eclesiàstic optà per no participar de les votacions. Els termes que es dirimien eren la rendició o la resistència. A favor de la primera opció s’esgrimiren arguments tan evidents com la inevitabilitat de la derrota o la necessitat d’evitar un vessament de sang i la ruïna del país. La segona opció apel·là a l’orgull i a la història de la pàtria, a la irreversibilitat de la pèrdua de les constitucions i, encara, a la possibilitat que la conjuntura internacional variés en els mesos següents. Des d’aquesta argumentació, la resistència, si més no en una primera etapa, esdevenia una tàctica dictada per la prudència política. Gràcies a Francesc de Castellví disposem dels discursos pronunciats al braç militar, tots ells d’una eficaç factura retòrica i d’una inevitable eloqüència política.33 Tot ens fa pensar que la majoria dels assistents a la Junta de Braços advocaven per la rendició. En aquest sentit, es pronuncià fins i tot un primer text redactat per una representació paritària dels tres braços. Tanmateix el 9 de juliol

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la Diputació del General publicà, en nom de la Junta, l’acord per a la resistència. Aquest fet sorprengué enormement les cancelleries europees, començant per la imperial, però també una bona part de l’opinió pública catalana. Fou el resultat d’una combinació de factors: la decisió del braç eclesiàstic de no participar en la votació, probablement convençut del seu resultat favorable a la rendició; l’opció decidida per la resistència del braç reial, format per ciutats, viles i llocs lliures, i la presència d’un nucli molt actiu, però probablement minoritari, de membres del braç militar proclius també a la resistència, que forçaren una segona votació després que les ciutats i viles haguessin pres aquesta opció. Cal afegir-hi també la pressió del poble menut de Barcelona, que amenaçà repetidament, i fins violentament, els sectors partidaris de la rendició, i que probablement aconseguí que alguns nobles favorables a aquesta opció s’absentessin de la ciutat abans de la segona i decisiva votació del seu braç. En sentit invers, cal notar les pressions d’Starhemberg sobre els sectors benestants per tal que acceptessin allò pactat a Utrecht. L’exèrcit de les dues corones, comandat pel duc de Pòpuli, encerclà la ciutat i la intimà a la rendició el 25 de juliol de 1713. Les forces eren clarament desproporcionades. En els moments culminants del setge, les tropes borbòniques van arribar a aplegar a Catalunya uns cent mil homes, la meitat dels quals situats al voltant de la ciutat. Per contra, les forces defensives eren força més migrades: uns dos mil soldats professionals dirigits pel general Antoni de Villarroel, a Barcelona; una xifra potser lleugerament superior de fusellers de muntanya, repartits pel país, als quals caldria sumar les guarnicions de Castellciutat i de Cardona, i uns cinc mil civils, autòctons i refugiats, que conformaven la Coronela, o milícia urbana de Barcelona, dirigida pel seu conseller en cap (Rafael Casanova, des del novembre de 1713). Tanmateix la ciutat resistí amb encert els primers mesos de setge, tot i que no aconseguí generalitzar la guerra al conjunt del territori. L’hivern de 1714, però, s’estengué arreu la revolta de les Quinzenades, coneguda així pel nom del nou impost introduït aleshores per les autoritats borbòniques.34 La repressió d’aquest moviment va ser ferotge i es va saldar amb un gran nombre de localitats cremades i devastades i d’execucions massives i indiscriminades. D’altra banda, des del 22 de maig de 1714, les bateries borbòniques van assolir les posicions que els van permetre iniciar els bombardeigs sobre Barcelona. El setge es va accelerar el 6 de juliol, gairebé un any després del seu inici, amb la incorporació del duc de Berwick i de nombrosos efectius militars francesos. Com és prou sabut, Barcelona va caure l’11 de setembre. No ens pertoca aquí enumerar de manera detallada els esdeveniments militars que es produïren al llarg d’aquells catorze mesos,35 ni la seva terrible incidència sobre la població civil, un aspecte suficientment remarcat per Francesc de Castellví. Volem, però, aportar algunes reflexions sobre el govern de la resistència en aquell període, un tema que hem analitzat més àmpliament.36

La Guerra de Successió espanyola als Països Catalans

El govern d’un país sense rei prengué formes inevitablement republicanes. S’estructurà mitjançant òrgans col· legiats, d’una certa complexitat organitzativa, però que, com hem vist, disposaven ja d’una àmplia tradició i de nombroses complicitats. Així, quan, el 16 de juliol de 1713, la Junta General de Braços suspengué les seves funcions, nomenà una junta col·legiada de trenta-sis membres, dotze per cada braç, encarregada de dirigir la resistència en nom dels estaments. Convé remarcar el caràcter executiu, i no només consultiu, de la junta. D’aquesta manera, tot i que els diputats i oïdors de la Diputació del General van continuar tenint la precedència protocol·lària dins la institució, el poder real s’organitzà des d’aquesta junta àmplia. D’altra banda, la Conferència dels Tres Comuns, formada per la Diputació, el Consell de Cent i el braç militar, es féu càrrec del govern efectiu de la resistència. Una de les seves primeres mesures va ser comunicar al lloctinent de Mallorca, Joan Antoni de Rubí i de Boixadors, marquès de Rubí, la decisió de resistir. També ho feren als ambaixadors catalans a les antigues corts aliades, que havien estat nomenats pels comuns els mesos precedents. Al llarg del setge, els ambaixadors reberen instruccions per a trobar una sortida negociada al conflicte; entre altres, s’especulà sobre la possibilitat de formar una «república lliure» de Catalunya, amb Mallorca i Eivissa, sota protectorat britànic. El 26 de febrer de 1714, la trenta-sisena va ser substi tuïda per una vint-i-quatrena (junta de 24 membres), formada exclusivament per membres del Consell de Cent. Com ja s’havia esdevingut a la Guerra dels Segadors, l’ocupació de la gairebé totalitat del país per part de les tropes enemigues havia deixat la Diputació del General sense rendes i amb una escassa representativitat política. Com aleshores, doncs, el Consell de Cent acaparà el lideratge de l’última resistència. Tanmateix convé remarcar que la Conferència dels Tres Comuns continuà prenent col·legiadament totes les decisions polítiques rellevants. Però el govern sorgit el juliol de 1713 mostrà un interès especial a mantenir la legalitat d’un entramat polític al capdamunt del qual hi havia un monarca, Carles III, en nom de qui s’havia proclamat la resistència. En absència de lloctinent, a causa de l’evacuació d’Starhemberg, la màxima representació del monarca al Principat era el portantveus de la governació general, Pere de SentmenatTorrelles, que com a tal exercí les seves funcions. El mateix cal dir de l’Audiència de Catalunya, molt delmada per la marxa d’alguns dels seus membres a Mataró, sota control borbònic. També Carles, des de Viena, jugà les seves cartes. Un personatge clau, en aquest sentit, va ser el notari Joan Francesc de Verneda, cunyat de Ramon de Vilana-Perles, que aleshores havia esdevingut secretari d’estat i del Despatx Universal del Consell d’Espanya, amb seu a la capital imperial. Verneda, que havia marxat de Catalunya el març de 1713 en el seguici que acompanyà l’emperadriu

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Elisabet Cristina, retornà a Barcelona el 2 d’octubre d’aquell any. Des d’aleshores, exercí el paper d’agent o ambaixador oficiós del rei emperador al cap i casal. Mitjançant el lloctinent de Mallorca, Verneda mantingué informat el Consell d’Espanya, i en especial el seu cunyat, Vilana-Perles, del curs dels esdeveniments a Barcelona, i en rebé ordres concretes d’actuació. El govern militar de Barcelona anà a càrrec d’una comissió restringida, anomenada Junta Secreta, formada per representants dels Tres Comuns, pel portantveus de la governació i pel mateix Verneda. La junta despatxava amb el general governador, Antoni de Villarroel, que, si més no des de l’arribada de Verneda, se sentí nomenat pel seu rei, Carles III. Al llarg del setge, la resistència organitzà una important acció de propaganda política. El discurs més significatiu, en aquest sentit, va ser el Despertador de Catalunya. El text, publicat a Barcelona el novembre de 1713, va ser poc després traduït a l’italià i imprès a Nàpols. A diferència de la publicística de 1705-1706, de contingut més pròpiament dinasticista, els textos del darrer setge de Barcelona destacaren els valors republicans com la llibertat de la pàtria o la supremacia del bé comú i de l’interès general. D’altra banda, rebateren la propaganda borbònica, que presentava les constitucions de Catalunya com un conjunt de drets arcaïtzants destinats exclusivament als estaments privilegiats. Enfront d’aquesta visió, textos com el Despertador remarcaren el gran nombre de drets –fiscals, jurídics i de tota mena– de què gaudien els catalans comuns gràcies al seu entramat legal, aleshores en perill d’extinció.37 També cal destacar la publicació dins de la ciutat d’una Gaseta de Barcelona, que va arribar a editar quaranta-dos números entre juliol de 1713 i agost de 1714.38 L’objectiu de la publicació era mantenir la moral dels assetjats i contraatacar la propaganda borbònica. La defensa del país també va prendre ben aviat formes de fervor catòlic popular, que, al llarg dels mesos del setge, van anar lliscant vers el mil·lenarisme. Les expressions diàries de religiositat de masses van ser dirigides per sectors del clergat regular urbà, que alguns destacats dirigents de la resistència van qualificar pejorativament de «beates». Algunes formes de devoció popular se situaren a cavall dels discursos civil i catòlic. En resulta particularment significatiu el culte a Nostra Senyora de la Llibertat, que va donar lloc a uns goigs molt celebrats.

La repressió i el Decret de Nova Planta A Catalunya, la desfeta de 1714 només admet comparacions amb la de 1939. Tot apunta que les xifres de represaliats, d’executats i d’exiliats foren gairebé intercanviables, en termes proporcionals a la població d’una data i de l’altra. En tots dos casos, a més, les conseqüències qualitatives de la repressió van ser fins i tot superiors, ja que aquesta afectà especialment els sectors que, des d’una realitat

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social diversa i en el conjunt del territori, havien liderat un projecte de país i de futur. Més enllà de l’escapçament d’una classe dirigent, la desfeta comportà, en ambdues dates, la fi d’una organització juridicopolítica pròpia i la imposició d’un model d’estat contra el qual s’havia combatut. El règim que s’establí a Catalunya els mesos que seguiren l’11 de setembre ha estat qualificat de terrorisme militar per diversos autors, des de Salvador Sanpere i Miquel. Aquest model, caracteritzat per l’acció indiscriminada i per la plena impunitat de l’oficialitat de l’exèrcit, tenia, de fet, dos precedents immediats. El primer, com hem assenyalat, es produí al País Valencià, en especial després de la batalla d’Almansa, i es va saldar amb l’incendi de diverses viles. El segon es va dur a terme al Principat durant els primers mesos de 1714, a causa de la revolta contra l’establiment de les Quinzenades. En ambdós casos, l’Exèrcit va recórrer a pràctiques similars: els càstigs col·lectius i indiscriminats; les execucions en massa, en cas de resistència; els constrenyiments militars, les requises i l’empresonament d’autoritats locals, o els recàrrecs sobre localitats veïnes, en cas d’impagament d’impostos, etc. En definitiva, la pràctica abusiva i permanent de la pedagogia del terror d’estat. Però la generalització del terrorisme militar sobre el conjunt del territori no va ser en cap cas fruit de l’acció espontània, o autònoma, dels caps de l’exèrcit. Ben a la inversa, formà part d’un projecte planificat, que en tot moment seleccionà i castigà les víctimes. Així, els dirigents militars i polítics de la resistència de Barcelona durant el setge de 1713-1714 van ser detinguts i enviats a Alacant, des d’on van ser distribuïts als presidis d’Hondarribia, Pamplona i la Corunya; la majoria no van ser alliberats fins al 1725. D’altra banda, els oficials i soldats van ser empresonats en places més pròximes, com Tortosa i Peníscola, o bé van poder retornar a les seves viles i llocs, amb la condició de presentar-se periòdicament davant les autoritats borbòniques.39 Per la seva banda, algunes desenes d’eclesiàstics van ser desterrats a terres sota jurisdicció de l’emperador, en especial a Itàlia, o als Estats Pontificis. La mateixa sort corregueren els centenars de refugiats d’altres regnes hispànics que havien restat a Catalunya durant el setge. La mesura s’aplicà fins i tot a aquells que es refugiaren a Mataró, sota domini borbònic, tot esperant el perdó de Felip V. La política repressiva abastà tots els àmbits. Els béns dels austriacistes van ser segrestats per l’Administració reial. També es van suprimir tots els títols, càrrecs i honors concedits en temps de Carles III. La política de desmemòria històrica va esdevenir un objectiu primordial, la qual cosa suposà la destrucció dels símbols del passat llunyà o pròxim, la prohibició total o parcial d’obres publicades en temps de Carles III i una rígida censura sobre les cròniques coetànies, que impedí fins i tot la difusió a la monarquia hispànica de textos clarament favorables a Felip V i hostils amb els seus rivals.

Agustí Alcoberro i Pericay

Els decrets de prohibició d’armes es van aplicar sense excepcions. A la majoria de ciutats i viles de Catalunya, l’exèrcit va ocupar, de manera permanent, alguns dels edificis més emblemàtics i de dimensions més grans. A Lleida, per exemple, es van fer amb la Seu Vella. A Barcelona, a més d’ocupar Montjuïc, les muralles de la ciutat, les Drassanes, antics convents com el de Sant Agustí i edificis públics com la Universitat, a la Rambla dels Estudis, es va fer construir la Ciutadella militar, una obra que, com ha assenyalat Albert Garcia Espuche, va obligar a destruir més de mil dos-cents habitatges, és a dir, una cinquena part del total de la ciutat.40 Tots els estudis universitaris van ser clausurats. Al seu lloc, es va crear una universitat única, amb seu a Cervera, localitat d’adscripció borbònica, que es va posar sota control de la Companyia de Jesús. La llengua catalana va ser progressivament bandejada de tots els àmbits públics seguint el criteri expressat en una instrucció als corregidors de 1717: «que se consiga el efecto sin que se note el cuidado.» El Decret de Nova Planta de Catalunya, del 16 de gener de 1716, va ser la darrera baula d’una cadena de decrets que afectà el conjunt dels regnes de la Corona d’Aragó. Com hem vist, el primer decret d’abolició dels furs es publicà el 1707, i es va adreçar als regnes de València i d’Aragó.41 El 1711 es formulà un nou decret per a aquest darrer regne, ja que l’anterior havia estat suprimit durant l’ofensiva aliada de 1710. El penúltim decret es publicà al Regne de Mallorca el 1715. Com ha assenyalat Joan Mercader i Riba,42 el text aplicat a Catalunya va ser el més elaborat i madur. El decret suprimia totes les institucions representatives, tant locals com nacionals. En el seu lloc, proclamava el poder absolut del monarca, que havia d’exercir-se mitjançant tres línies jeràrquiques paral·leles, organitzades sempre de dalt a baix. D’una banda, el capità general esdevenia la primera autoritat del Principat, en el pla militar i polític; de tota manera, la seva funció primordial, al llarg del segle, va ser el comandament de les abundants forces militars que s’allotjaren a Catalunya. D’altra banda, la Reial Audiència, formada per dues sales civils i una de criminal, amb un total de setze jutges, esdevingué el tribunal superior i el govern polític del Principat. La confiscació, per part de la institució, de la Casa dels Diputats, o Palau de la Generalitat, simbolitzà el seu encimbellament. L’Audiència va ser l’única institució en què la presència de catalans botiflers va ser significativa. Tot i que formalment supeditada al capità general, que n’era president nat, disposà d’una major continuïtat institucional i va tenir un gran pes polític, ja que controlava la xarxa de corregidors i alcaldes, responsables de l’ordre públic en l’àmbit local. Finalment, la Superintendència es va fer càrrec del cobrament dels impostos i dels pagaments de l’exèrcit i de l’Administració; s’estructurà sobre el territori mitjançant subdelegacions. En un sistema de caràcter piramidal, totes les autoritats polítiques de Catalunya, fins i tot les locals, havien de ser nomenades directament pel rei o, en el cas de les autoritats menors, per la Reial Audiència.

La Guerra de Successió espanyola als Països Catalans

El nou organigrama polític tingué el seu complement en el nou sistema fiscal. La Superintendència es va fer amb tots els impostos ordinaris pagats anteriorment a la monarquia i, alhora, amb els impostos de la Generalitat i del Consell de Cent. També, com hem assenyalat, es va quedar els béns segrestats als austriacistes. A més, va crear nous impostos indirectes i va generar un nou impost directe, el cadastre, publicat el 9 de desembre de 1715 i aplicat des de l’any següent. La contribució del cadastre, amb altres impostos annexos, se situà des dels seus orígens al voltant del milió de pesos anuals, cosa que suposà multiplicar per 7,3 el valor dels serveis votats en les dues últimes convocatòries de la Cort general de Catalunya.43 La seva aplicació en un país arruïnat per l’impacte dels fets bèl·lics va esdevenir particularment dolorosa i el convertí, de fet, en un càstig de guerra. D’altra banda, tot i que aparentment havia d’introduir criteris d’equitat, alguns errors de concepció i la precipitació i la violència amb què va ser aplicat van contribuir a agreujar-ne les conseqüències. En molts casos, la seva aplicació només va ser possible mitjançant constrenyiments militars i altres mesures repressives. També van ser freqüents, en els casos d’impagament, els recàrrecs sobre les poblacions veïnes. Per tot plegat, el nou impost es guanyà el qualificatiu popular de «catàstrofe». Tanmateix, malgrat l’espectacular augment de la pressió fiscal, la presència militar va ser tan imponent tot al llarg del segle que els impostos pagats per Catalunya no van arribar a cobrir les despeses de l’Estat. Així, el 1729, els ingressos totals de la Corona a Catalunya tot just representaven el 58,49 % de les despeses de l’exèrcit ocupant i el 49,8 % de les despeses totals de la monarquia al Principat. En definitiva, tot i que en teoria la Nova Planta havia de comportar l’extensió a Catalunya de les lleis i institucions castellanes –en la línia del compromís adquirit per Felip V a Utrecht–, en realitat allò que s’introduí era essencialment nou. Així, la concentració de poders en mans del capità general, la militarització del càrrec de corregidor, la mateixa existència de la Superintendència o el model fiscal van constituir un assaig de caràcter radicalment absolutista, que només va ser possible per la condició del país com a territori vençut. Quan, a partir de 1745, la monarquia intentà introduir el cadastre a la Corona de Castella, es trobà amb una àmplia oposició, que l’obligà a retardar i, finalment, a liquidar el projecte.

L’exili i l’«austriacisme persistent» Una de les conseqüències més importants de la Guerra de Successió va ser l’exili.44 Els censos elaborats a partir de 1714 permeten situar la xifra total d’exiliats entre les 25.000 i les 30.000 persones. L’exili es nodrí de persones de totes les classes socials i de tots els regnes peninsulars, si bé els catalans foren el col·lectiu majoritari.

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De fet, l’exili es produí en diverses onades. La primera correspon a l’evacuació de juliol de 1713. Aleshores abandonaren Barcelona la majoria de polítics i nobles cortesans. També ho feren un gran nombre d’oficials i soldats, amb les seves famílies; un cop a Itàlia, constituïren tres regiments de cavalleria i dos d’infanteria. La segona gran onada és conseqüència directa de la desfeta de 1714. Hi prengueren part, de manera organitzada, la guarnició de Cardona, que obtingué en la capitulació de la plaça el dret de poder abandonar el país, i els col·lectius que van ser objecte de desterrament per part de les autoritats borbòniques, és a dir, eclesiàstics i naturals d’altres regnes que residiren a Catalunya durant el setge. Tanmateix l’exili més nombrós i prolongat en el temps es va produir de manera clandestina; ens referim als milers de catalans que marxaren del país, contravenint la llei, en veure en perill la pròpia vida. També contribuïren a eixamplar-ne el nombre les ocupacions borbòniques de Mallorca (1715) i Sardenya (1717) i la desmobilització dels guerrillers de Carrasquet després de la Guerra de la Quàdruple Aliança (1720). La Pau de Viena (1725), que donà formalment per acabada la guerra, suposà l’amnistia recíproca; la majoria d’oficials que es trobaven presos des de 1714 optaren aleshores per marxar a l’exili. El col·lectiu exiliat se situà molt majoritàriament al Regne de Nàpols i a l’estat de Milà. Tanmateix la noblesa i els alts funcionaris van anar a parar a Viena. A la capital imperial, s’hi formaren els consells d’Espanya i de Flandes, encarregats de governar els territoris cedits a l’emperador pel tractat d’Utrecht. La majoria dels seus consellers eren exiliats. D’altra banda, com recordà Ernest Lluch,45 la historiografia alemanya ha destacat la influència que disposà en l’entorn imperial l’anomenat «partit espanyol», format també per exiliats i per antics membres de la cort de Barcelona. Per la seva banda, una part important dels eclesiàstics exiliats es concentrà a Roma. Els qui residien en terres de l’emperador van disposar, en general, de pensions o rendes d’acord amb el seu estatus social anterior. Fins ben entrat el decenni de 1740, l’exili mantingué arreu els seus trets d’identitat i uns àmbits de sociabilitat propis. A Viena, els exiliats freqüentaven el monestir benedictí de Montserrat (els Schwarzspanier, o espanyols negres) i el convent dels trinitaris descalços, o espanyols blancs, que va ser enllestit el 1727 i que conserva, a la seva cripta, les tombes d’alguns dels exiliats més il·lustres. També es creà l’Hospital d’Espanyols que, segons Cas tellví, entre 1718 i 1732 va atendre 2.427 pacients. La seva església, encara en funcionament avui, es posà sota la invocació de la Mare de Déu de la Mercè. Els cinc regiments hispànics i una companyia de voluntaris van participar activament a la Tercera Guerra Turca (1714-1718). En aquell conflicte, les campanyes bèl·liques de 1716 i 1717 van permetre l’ocupació de Temesvar i Belgrad, respectivament, que va ser ratificada pel Tractat de Passarowitz (1718). El comte d’Alcaudete, Antonio de Portugal y Toledo, comandà les forces assetjants en el moment de la rendició d’ambdues places; per això es féu amb

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les claus de les portes de les muralles, que envià en els anys següents, juntament amb dues figures de plata, al monestir de Guadalupe (Extremadura). D’altra banda, el valencià Vicent Díaz de Sarralde escriví en aquella ocasió una composició èpica de grans dimensions, que publicà a Nàpols.46 A l’exili es van escriure algunes importants obres d’història i de pensament polític. Entre les figures destacades esmentem Francesc de Castellví, l’autor de la millor crònica catalana de la guerra, que hem citat abundantment; Antoni de Bastero, que publicà a Roma La Crusca Provenzale (1724), estudi que defensava la influència dels trobadors catalanoprovençals en els orígens del tres-cents toscà; Josep Plantí, autor de diverses obres d’història i d’un projecte de creació d’una nova ciutat per als exiliats; Juan Amor de Soria, que redactà diversos tractats polítics de gran importància, i els juristes Domènec Aguirre i Francesc Solanes, entre d’altres.47 Malgrat la prohibició de la correspondència durant llargs períodes, l’exili mantingué contacte polític amb els nuclis resistents de l’interior. La relació va ser més intensa en ocasió dels grans conflictes bèl·lics internacionals, que l’exili va considerar una plataforma per tornar a posar damunt la taula el «cas dels catalans». Aquestes circumstàncies es van produir durant la Guerra de la Quàdruple Aliança (1718-1720) i el Congrés de Cambrai que la seguí, i en ocasió de la Guerra de Successió de Polònia (17331735). Com ja hem esmentat, durant aquest darrer conflicte, que se saldà amb l’ocupació borbònica de Nàpols i Sicília, es publicaren a l’exili dues obres de gran importància política: Via fora als adormits i Record de l’Aliança fet al sereníssim Jordi, augusto rei de la Gran Bretanya.48 Però l’ocupació borbònica dels regnes meridionals d’Itàlia tingué conseqüències funestes per als exiliats. El Consell d’Espanya va ser clausurat, es van deixar de pagar les pensions i l’entorn imperial acordà desplaçar el col· lectiu de pensionistes a terres del Banat de Temesvar, que aleshores era objecte d’una activa colonització. Així, uns vuit-cents exiliats es concentraren a l’actual Zrenjanin (Vojvodina, Sèrbia), on fundaren la Nova Barcelona (1735-1738). L’experiment es va saldar amb un fracàs estrepitós i una gran mortaldat. Els seus supervivents retornaren els anys següents a Buda i a Viena.49 A la fi del decenni de 1740, el col·lectiu es va anar desdibuixant de manera ja força evident. Hi contribuïren el retorn a terres peninsulars, en alguns casos, i les defuncions i la dissolució a les societats d’acollida, mitjançant matrimonis mixtos, en d’altres. A l’interior de Catalunya, fins al decenni de 1730 existiren diversos col·lectius que, naturalment de manera clandestina, es van oposar a l’ocupació borbònica. La guerrilla va reprendre amb força durant la Guerra de la Quàdruple Aliança (1718-1720), que, en aquesta ocasió, enfrontà els vells aliats i França contra Felip V. L’estiu de 1719, el guerriller Pere Joan Barceló, Carrasquet, amb diners i armament francesos, va revoltar les comarques meridionals del Principat. Altres caps seguiren el seu exemple més o menys arreu, com ha assenyalat Enrique Giménez.50 D’al-

Agustí Alcoberro i Pericay

tra banda, a les viles pirinenques ocupades per les tropes franceses es restablí el règim municipal anterior a la Nova Planta. Tanmateix la fi de la guerra i, sobretot, la signatura de la Pau de Viena (1725) representaren, en el pla interior, la consolidació del règim borbònic. Encara el 1735 hi hagué una petita represa de la guerrilla, coincidint amb la nova guerra internacional. Des d’aquesta data, però, l’austriacisme deixà de ser una alternativa dinàstica viable. Allò que restà, l’«austriacisme persistent», en paraules d’Ernest Lluch,51 va ser la nostàlgia per les constitucions perdudes. Aquest esperit impregnà les diverses iniciatives de recuperació de les institucions, que ja es produïren dins la nova legalitat, com el Memorial de Greuges presentat el 1760 a Carles III de Borbó pels representants de les ciutats de Saragossa, València, Barcelona i Palma. La nostàlgia del règim anterior a la Nova Planta va ser present encara durant la Guerra del Francès (1808-1814) i en els primers compassos de la Revolució liberal. La Catalunya del segle xviii visqué un clima d’ocupació militar permanent, com ha assenyalat Lluís Roura.52 Tanmateix la brutalitat en l’exercici de la pedagogia de la repressió es combinà, de manera progressiva, amb el desenvolupament de mecanismes d’integració o d’adaptació al nou règim. Aquest procés s’inicià ja durant la crisi de 1719 i va ser més evident entre alguns sectors de les classes dirigents i d’allò que podríem anomenar «gent d’ordre».53

Notes i referències [1]

[2] [3]

[4]

Vegeu, entre d’altres: John H. Elliott. Imperial Spain, 1469-1716. Edward Arnold Publishers, Londres 1963; Helmut G. Koenigsberger. La práctica del imperio. Alianza, Madrid 1989. (Edició original anglesa: Helmut G. Koenigsberger. The practice of empire. Cornell University Press, Ithaca 1969.) Víctor Ferro. El Dret Públic català. Les institucions a Catalunya fins al Decret de Nova Planta. Eumo, Vic 1987. Josep Sanabre. La acción de Francia en Cataluña en la pugna por la hegemonía de Europa (16401659). RABL, Barcelona 1956; John H. Elliott. The revolt of Catalans. A study in the decline of Spain (1598-1640). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1963; Eva Serra (ed.). La revolució catalana de 1640. Crítica, Barcelona 1991; Antoni Simon. Els orígens ideològics de la revolució catalana de 1640. PAM, Barcelona 1999; Xavier Torras. La guerra dels Segadors. Eumo, Pagès, Vic, Lleida 2006; Xavier Torras. Naciones sin nacionalismo: Cataluña en la Monarquía Hispánica, siglos xvi-xvii. Universitat de València, València 2008; Antoni Simon. Pau Claris, líder d’una classe revolucionària. PAM, Barcelona 2008. Antonio Espino. Cataluña durante el reinado de

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[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9] [10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

Carlos II. Política y guerra en la frontera catalana, 1679-1697. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra 1997. Una comparació sitemàtica entre els resultats de les Corts generals de 1701 i 1705 a: Joaquim Albareda. «Estudi introductori». A: Constitucions, capítols i actes de cort: anys 1701-702 i 1705-1706. Base, Barcelona 2004. Sobre l’almirall de Castella, vegeu María Luz González Mezquita. Oposición y disidencia en la Guerra de Sucesión Española. El Almirante de Castilla. Junta de Castilla y León, Valladolid 2007. El seu manifest de 1702 ha estat publicat per M. Teresa Pérez Picazo. La publicística española en la Guerra de Sucesión. CSIC, Madrid 1966, vol. ii, p. 201220. Vegeu també Agustí Alcoberro. «“Monarquia moderada” i “llibertat de la pàtria”. Notes sobre el pensament polític de l’autriacisme castellà a l’exili». Pedralbes. Revista d’Història Moderna, núm. 27 (2007), p. 173-196. Narcís Feliu de la Penya. Anales de Cataluña, Barcelona, 1709, 3 v. (ed. facsímil: Base, Barcelona 1999. Estudi introductori de Jaume Sobrequés). Sobre la formació del partit austriacista a Catalunya, vegeu Joaquim Albareda. Els catalans i Felip V. De la conspiració a la revolta (1700-1705). Vicens Vives, Barcelona 1993. Eva Serra. «Una alternativa nacional sota l’aparença de conflicte dinàstic». A: L’aposta catalana a la Guerra de Successió (1705-1707). Museu d’Història de Catalunya, Barcelona 2007, p. 509-518. Agustí Alcoberro. «Catalunya davant l’escenari europeu a la Guerra de Successió». A: L’aposta catalana..., op. cit., p. 35-46. Francesc de Castellví. Narraciones históricas. Edició a cura de J. M. Mundet i J. M. Alsina. Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada y Erasmo Pércopo, Madrid 1997-2002, 4 v. Ernest Lluch (ed.). Escrits polítics del segle xviii, tom iii, Via fora als adormits. IUHJVV, Eumo, Vic 2005; Josep M. Torras i Ribé (ed.). Escrits polítics del segle xviii, tom ii, Documents de la Catalunya sotmesa. IUHJVV, Eumo, Vic 1996. Francesc de Castellví. Narraciones..., op. cit., vol. i, p. 420. Vicent Josep Escartí (ed.). El «Diario (1700-1715)» de Josep Vicent Ortí i Major. Estudi i edició. Bancaixa, València 2007, p. 286. Jean-Pierre Amalric. «La elección de un bando: hugonotes y jacobitas en la Guerra de Sucesión de España». Manuscrits. Revista d’Història Moderna, núm. 19 (2001), p. 59-79. Carme Pérez Aparicio. Canvi dinàstic i Guerra de Successió. La fi del Regne de València. Tres i Quatre, València 2008, 2 v.; Joaquim E. López Camps. «La invasió austriacista del Regne de València (17011705)». Afers. Fulls de Recerca i Pensament, núm. 52 (2005), p. 521-540.

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[15] Josep Lluís Santonja. La desfeta d’Alcoi. Ajuntament d’Alcoi, Alcoi 2008. [16] Joaquim Albareda. Els catalans..., op. cit. Vegeu també Joaquim Albareda. Catalunya en un conflicte europeu. Felip V i la pèrdua de les llibertats catalanes (1700-1714). Generalitat de Catalunya, Edicions 62, Barcelona 2001. [17] Sobre Narcís Feliu de la Penya i el seu entorn, vegeu Pere Molas. Comerç i estructura social a Catalunya i València als segles xvii i xviii. Curial, Barcelona 1977. Vegeu també: Henry Kamen. «El Fénix catalán: la obra renovadora de Narciso Feliu de la Peña». Estudis (València), núm. i (1973), p. 185203; Benet Oliva. La generació de Feliu de la Penya. Burgesia mercantil i Guerra de Successió entre el Maresme i Barcelona. Universitat de Lleida, Lleida 2001. Sobre la vinculació entre la burgesia de Barcelona i la causa austriacista, resulta particularment interessant el treball d’Albert Garcia Espuche. «El món de John Kies i Arnold de Jager: economia i política». A: Barcelona entre dues guerres. Economia i vida quotidiana (1652-1714). Eumo, Vic 2004, p. 261-365. Sobre el marc econòmic general, vegeu Pierre Vilar. Catalunya dins l’Espanya moderna. Edicions 62, Barcelona 1964-1968, 4 v. [18] Pierre Vilar (ed.). Le «Manual de la Companyia Nova» de Gibraltar, 1709-1723. SEVPEN, París 1962 (segona edició catalana: Barcelona, Casa Amèrica, 2009. Estudi introductori d’Agustí Alcoberro). [19] Mireia Campabadal. La Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona en el segle xviii. L’interès per la història, la llengua i la literatura catalanes. RABLB, PAM, Barcelona 2006. [20] Albert Garcia Espuche. Barcelona..., op. cit. [21] Joaquim Albareda (ed.). Escrits polítics del segle xviii, tom i, Despertador de Catalunya i altres textos. IUHJVV, Eumo, Vic 1996; Ernest Lluch. L’alternativa catalana (1700-1714-1740). Ramon de Vilana Perlas i Juan Amor de Soria: teoria i acció austriacistes. Eumo, Vic 2000; Juan Amor de Soria. Aragonesismo austriacista (1734-1742), edició i estudi introductori d’Ernest Lluch. Institución Fernando el Católico, Saragossa 2000; Rosa M. Alabrús. Felip V i l’opinió dels catalans. Pagès, Lleida 2001; José M. Iñurritegui. «Las virtudes y el jurista: el “Emperador Político” de Francisco Solanes y el amor a la patria». Pedralbes. Revista d’Història Moderna, núm. 24 (2004), p. 285-310; Antoni Simon. Construccions polítiques i identitats nacionals. Catalunya i els orígens de l’estat modern espanyol. PAM, Barcelona 2005; Angela De Benedictis. «Guerra, tirannide e resistenza negli scritti politici catalani». A: L’aposta catalana..., op. cit., p. 65-71. [22] Agustí Alcoberro. «“Monarquia moderada”...», op. cit.

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[23] Josep M. Torras i Ribé. La Guerra de Successió i els setges de Barcelona (1697-1714). Rafael Dalmau, Barcelona 1999. [24] Carme Pérez Aparicio. Canvi dinàstic..., op. cit.; Joaquim E. López Camps. «La invasió...», op. cit.; José Luis Cervera Torrejón. Basset: mite i realitat de l’heroi valencià. Eliseu Climent, València 2003. [25] M. Teresa Pérez Picazo. La publicística..., op. cit., vol. i, p. 166-168. [26] Vicenç Bacallar i Sanna. Comentarios de la guerra de España e historia de su rey Felipe V, el Animoso. Edició a cura de Carlos Seco Serrano. Atlas, Madrid 1957, p. 94. [27] Francesc de Castellví. Narraciones..., op. cit., vol. i, p. 510. [28] Sobre la cort de Carles III a Barcelona, vegeu especialment Pere Voltes Bou. Barcelona durante el gobierno del Archiduque Carlos de Austria (17051714). Institut Municipal d’Història, Barcelona 1963-1970, 3 v. Vegeu també: Virginia León Sanz. Entre Austrias y Borbones. El Archiduque Carlos y la Monarquía de España (1700-1714). Sigilo, Madrid 1993; Virginia León Sanz. Carlos VI. El emperador que no pudo ser rey de España. Aguilar, Madrid 2003. [29] Roger Alier. L’òpera a Barcelona. Els orígens, desenvolupament i consolidació de l’òpera com a espectacle teatral a la Barcelona del segle xviii. Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona 1983; Deanna Lenzi i Jadranka Bentini (ed.). I Bibiena: una famiglia europea. Marsilio, Venècia 2000; Danièle Lipp. Musik am Hofe Karls III in Barcelona. Viena 2005 (tesi de llicenciatura inèdita); Andrea Sommer-Mathis. «Entre Nápoles, Barcelona y Viena. Nuevos documentos sobre la circulación de músicos a principios del siglo xviii». Artigrama, núm. 12 (1996-1997), p. 45-77. [30] Pierre Vilar (ed.). Le «Manual»…, op. cit. [31] Sobre aquest tema, vegeu una perspectiva de conjunt a: Joquim Albareda. El «cas dels catalans». La conducta dels aliats arran de la Guerra de Successió (1705-1742). Fundació Noguera, Barcelona 2005. [32] Juntament amb la bibliografia esmentada, cal destacar, pel que fa al setge de Barcelona de 1713-1714: Mateu Bruguera. Historia del memorable sitio y bloqueo de Barcelona. Barcelona 1871-1872, 2 v.; Salvador Sanpere i Miquel. Fin de la Nación Catalana. L’Avenç, Barcelona 1905 (edició facsímil: Base, Barcelona 2005, estudi introductori de Joaquim Albareda); Santiago Albertí. L’Onze de Setembre. Albertí, Barcelona 1964 (2a ed., 2006); Josep M. Torras i Ribé. Felip V contra Catalunya. Testimonis d’una repressió sistemàtica (1713-1715). Rafael Dalmau, Barcelona 2005. [33] Francesc de Castellví. Narraciones..., op. cit., vol. iii, p. 784-810; Joaquim Albareda (ed.). Escrits po-

Agustí Alcoberro i Pericay

[34] [35]

[36]

[37] [38]

[39]

[40]

[41] [42]

[43]

[44] [45]

lítics..., op. cit. Les actes de la junta han estat publicades per Eva Serra (coord.). La Junta General de Braços de 1713. L’ambaixada Dalmases i altra documentació (1713-1714). Parlament de Catalunya, Departament de Justícia, Barcelona 2008. Josep M. Torras i Ribé. Felip V..., op. cit., p. 77109. Sobre aquesta qüestió, vegeu especialment F. Xavier Hernàndez i Francesc Riart. Els exèrcits de Catalunya (1713-1714). Uniformes, equipaments, organització. Rafael Dalmau, Barcelona 2007. Agustí Alcoberro. «La Junta General de Braços i el govern de la Catalunya resistent». A: Agustí Alcoberro (dir.). Catalunya durant la Guerra de Successió. Ara Llibres, Barcelona 2006, vol. ii, p. 59. Vegeu també Eduard Martí. La Conferència dels Tres Comuns (1697-1714). Una institució decisiva en la política catalana. Fundació Ernest Lluch, Pagès, Lleida 2008. Joaquim Albareda (ed.). Escrits polítics..., op. cit. Mireia Campabadal (ed.). Diario del sitio y defensa de Barcelona, estudi introductori d’Agustí Alcoberro i Xevi Camprubí. Tres i Quatre, València 2009. Josep M. Torras i Ribé. Felip V..., op. cit., p. 157345; Antoni Muñoz i Josep Catà. Repressió borbònica i resistència catalana (1714-1736). Muñoz Catà, Madrid 2005; Enrique Giménez. «“Contener con más autoridad y fuerza”. La repressió de l’austriacisme als territoris de la Corona d’Aragó». A: Joaquim Albareda (ed.). Del patriotisme al catalanisme. Eumo, Vic 2001, p. 221-238. Albert Garcia Espuche. «Memòria d’una ciutat, memòria d’uns ciutadans». A: Joaquim Albareda i Albert Garcia Espuche. 11 de setembre de 1714. Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona 2005, p. 97171. Enrique Giménez López. Gobernar con una misma ley. Sobre la Nueva Planta borbónica en Valencia. Universitat d’Alacant, Alacant 1999. Joan Mercader Riba. Felip V i Catalunya. Edi cions 62, Barcelona 1968; Josep M. Gay Escoda. «La gènesi del decret de Nova Planta de Catalunya. Edició de la consulta original del “Consejo de Castilla” de 13 de juny de 1715». Revista Jurídica de Cata lunya, núm. 81 (1982), p. 7-41 i 263-348; Josep M. Gay Escoda. El corregidor a Catalunya. Marcial Pons, Madrid 1997; Josep M. Torras i Ribé. Els municipis catalans de l’Antic Règim (1453-1808). Curial, Barcelona 1983. Agustí Alcoberro «El Cadastre de Catalunya (1713-1845): de la imposició a la fossilització». Pedralbes. Revista d’Història Moderna, núm. 25 (2005), p. 231-258. Agustí Alcoberro. L’exili austriacista (17131747), Barcelona, Fundació Noguera, 2002, 2 v. Ernest Lluch. L’alternativa..., op. cit.

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[46] Agustí Alcoberro. «Presència i ecos de l’exili austriacista hispànic a la Tercera Guerra Turca. L’Epopeia panegírica de Vicent Díaz de Serralde (Nàpols, 1718)». Aguaits. Revista d’Investigació i Assaig, núm. 24-25 (2007), p. 73-96. [47] Agustí Alcoberro. «Conseqüències de la Guerra de Successió en el patrimoni artístic i cultural: repressió interior i continuïtat a l’exili». A: Immaculada Socias (ed.). Conflictes bèl·lics, espoliacions, col·leccions. Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona 2009, p. 13 – 30. [48] Vegeu la nota 11. Agustí Alcoberro. «Exili interior i exili exterior: una correspondència austriacista inèdita (1721-1724)». Estudis Històrics i Documents dels Arxius de Protocols, núm. xxi (2003), p. 321360.

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[49] Agustí Alcoberro. «L’exili austriacista i la Nova Barcelona del Banat de Temesvar: teoria i pràctica». Boletín de la Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona, núm. xlviii (2001-2002), p. 93-112. [50] Enrique Giménez López. «Conflicto armado con Francia y guerrilla austriacista en Cataluña (17191720)». Hispània, núm. lxv/2, 220 (2005), p. 543600. [51] Ernest Lluch. L’alternativa catalana..., op. cit. [52] Lluis Roura. Subjecció i revolta en el segle de la Nova Planta. Eumo, Vic 2006. [53] Agustí Alcoberro. «Crisi i consolidació de la Nova Planta borbònica (1719-1725)». A: Joaquim Albareda (ed.). Una relació difícil. Catalunya i l’Espanya moderna. Base, Barcelona 2007, p. 233259.

Nota biogràfica Agustí Alcoberro (1958) és doctor en història moderna, professor de la Universitat de Barcelona i director del Museu d’Història de Catalunya. Ha publicat treballs sobre Humanisme i Renaixement, entre els quals destaca l’edició crítica de les Cròniques d’Espanya de Pere Miquel Carbonell (1997). Recentment s’ha especialitzat en la Guerra de Successió i la postguerra. És autor de L’exili austriacista (1713-1747) (2002). Ha comissariat l’exposició «Catalunya i la Guerra de Successió» al Museu d’Història de Catalunya (2007).

CATALAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 3: 213-225 (2010) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.1000.01.47 · ISSN: 2013-407X http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/

L’anarquisme als països de parla catalana: entre el sindicalisme i la propaganda (1868-1931) Teresa Abelló i Güell* Universitat de Barcelona

Rebut 18 maig 2009 · Acceptat 20 juliol 2009

Resum El text repassa la trajectòria del moviment anarquista als Països Catalans, des de la seva introducció en el context de la Revolució Democràtica de setembre del 1868 fins a la caiguda de la dictadura de Primo de Rivera. L’anarquisme es difon de la mà de treballadors que defensen el societarisme obrer, i amb una trajectòria dins les files del republicanisme federal. Aquesta característica li donarà unes connotacions que mantindrà sempre: relació amb el republicanisme i primacia del contingut sindicalista sobre l’anarquista. Va penetrar en les societats obreres i va acabar constituint la central sindical anarcosindicalista més potent del món. En una trajectòria dual, perviuran sempre sectors sindicals molt pragmàtics i pensadors més radicalitzats sense tradició societària. Paral·lelament, convençuts del valor de l’ensenyança i el saber, els anarquistes es van esforçar a impregnar-se de coneixements, i van desenvolupar una cultura pròpia, que els definia com a grup.

Paraules clau: anarquisme, anarcosindicalisme, cultura anarquista, violència i terrorisme, obrerisme L’anarquisme representa un dels elements més singulars de la història social recent, que singularitza políticament i socialment la història dels Països Catalans, tot i que aquest terme no va ser mai assumit per l’anarquisme. Des que es va introduir a Espanya, l’anarquisme va arrelar de forma desigual en els diferents territoris de la Península, i va ser precisament l’àmbit dels Països Catalans l’escenari privilegiat de les seves actuacions (juntament amb Andalusia i Aragó al segle xx, i la contínua presència de nuclis molt actius a Madrid, Astúries i Galícia) i el que va aplegar més de la meitat de la militància. La forta implantació de l’anarquisme als territoris dels Països Catalans fa que la major part de militants, historiadors, actuacions i editorials se situïn en aquest espai.* Com a fenomen sociopolític, l’anarquisme ha donat lloc a una historiografia abundant i de llarga tradició, no sempre present en els debats acadèmics actuals i que sovint no reflecteix la singularitat de l’anarquisme català, que, en general, es presenta indiferenciat dins de l’anarquisme espanyol.1 A Espanya, la ruptura que va significar la Guerra Civil i la llarga dictadura del general Franco van marcar profundament la historiografia. Des de l’àmbit de * Adreça de contacte: Teresa Abelló i Güell. Departament d’Història Contemporània, Facultat de Geografia i Història, Universitat de Barcelona. Carrer Montalegre, 6-8. E-08001 Barcelona. Tel.: +34 934037792. Fax: +34 934037800. E-mail: teresaabello@ub.edu

la recerca professional, molts temes, com el que ens ocupa, es van veure vetats durant les primeres dècades de la dictadura, i quan es van abordar es va fer des de l’oficialitat i amb la intenció de deixar clara la responsabilitat dels anarquistes –i, juntament amb ells, la de catalanistes i comunistes– en el drama de la Guerra Civil. En canvi, i amb l’objectiu contrari, durant la mateixa època, des de les files anarquistes a l’exili es va generar una àmplia bibliografia –amb el benentès que cal individualitzar-la respecte a la republicana i la comunista– de testimonis i anàlisis amb l’element comú de voler ser exculpatòria, i en la qual es volia deixar constància de la visió que l’anarquisme tenia de la seva actuació durant la Guerra Civil, justificar la pròpia fe i definir dogmàticament les seves creences.2 Al mateix temps, des d’un entorn professional i polític completament diferent, hispanistes com Gerald Brenan3 s’interessaven per l’anarquisme hispànic –l’andalús de manera particular, els comportaments del qual extrapolaven erròniament– atrets pels elements més primitius de «rebel·lia espontània» i «mil·lenarista», freqüents en les àrees mediterrànies, però que no tenen res a veure amb l’anarquisme que es va desenvolupar als Països Catalans. Una historiografia més professional, i compromesa amb l’antifranquisme, sobre el moviment obrer en general i l’anarquisme en particular es va desenvolupar a partir dels últims anys del franquisme. Aquesta historiografia, fruit de la recerca universitària, ha prosseguit fins a l’ac

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tualitat, diferenciant clarament entre discurs militant i anàlisi històrica. En aquest sentit, els primers treballs, que mantenen la seva vigència, es van dedicar a estudiar l’anarcosindicalisme amb la voluntat explícita de posar les bases de la història del moviment obrer. Quant a l’edició, l’aparició de recerques sobre l’anarquisme va ser constant fins a mitjan dècada dels noranta del segle passat, moment a partir del qual van experimentar un clar descens. Els temes predilectes van ser la formació i el desenvolupament de l’anarcosindicalisme amb les seves peculiaritats regionals, les mobilitzacions rurals, les relacions internacionals, la premsa i la cultura llibertàries i, sobretot, els aspectes relacionats amb la Guerra Civil.4

L’aparició de l’anarquisme L’anarquisme es va començar a propagar als Països Catalans a partir de la Revolució del 1868, que va posar fi al regnat d’Isabel II, i la seva història va íntimament lligada a la de l’obrerisme industrial. El nou règim polític va crear un clima favorable a les llibertats polítiques i sindicals que va afavorir el desenvolupament de les societats obreres, que fins aleshores s’havien vist molt limitades. La irrupció de l’anarquisme es va produir en aquest moment, i ho va fer a través de la relació que l’Associació Internacional de Treballadors (AIT) va establir amb les societats obreres. La formació de l’AIT, fundada a Londres el 1864, havia impulsat un canvi qualitatiu en el moviment obrer europeu en proposar organitzacions obreres pròpies, al marge dels partits progressistes i demòcrates, i en donar una dimensió internacional a les seves reivindicacions socials. Quan es van tenir notícies de la revolta política a Espanya, el comitè de l’AIT instal·lat a Ginebra va dirigir un missatge als treballadors espanyols, inspirat pel mateix Bakunin. D’aquí va sorgir el viatge a Espanya de l’internacionalista i antic garibaldí Giuseppe Fanelli, que va afavorir la creació de nuclis de l’AIT a Madrid i a Barcelona. Fanelli va arribar a Barcelona a finals d’octubre i, amb un grup de republicans, va participar en un viatge de propaganda per Tarragona, Tortosa i València. D’allí, Fanelli va anar a Madrid, on va constituir un nucli de l’AIT. Poc després retornava a Barcelona: el 2 de maig de 1869 es va reunir amb un grup de treballadors a casa del pintor Josep Lluís Pellicer i plegats van constituir una secció de l’AIT. Ara bé, els contactes que Fanelli va deixar establerts foren amb l’Aliança de la Democràcia Socialista, el sector bakuninista de l’AIT. Els obrers de Barcelona ja tenien notícies de la Internacional des d’abans de l’arribada de Fanelli: el 1867 havien enviat un missatge d’adhesió al II Congrés de la Internacio nal, que se celebrava a Lausana, i l’any següent un obrer barceloní va participar en el de Brussel·les; però, en realitat, com ja s’ha dit, es va començar a difondre quan l’italià Giuseppe Fanelli va ser enviat a Espanya en viatge de propaganda anarquista. L’obrerisme, que va esdevenir el primer receptor de l’anarquisme, tenia una forta tradició republicanofederal i

Teresa Abelló i Güell

practicava un societarisme reformista del qual va ser difícil que s’apartés. Els mateixos neòfits bakuninistes que en van esdevenir els primers dirigents, com Rafael Farga Pellicer, eren destacats dirigents del Partit Federal i no van trencar amb el republicanisme federal fins a l’octubre del 1869, després del desencís que per a molts va comportar el fracàs de l’aixecament republicanofederal que es va produir els mesos de setembre i octubre d’aquell any, en el qual van participar les masses obreres de Catalunya i del País Valencià. A partir d’aquí, els dirigents dels sindicats barcelonins van començar a malfiar-se de la via política per a millorar la seva situació social i l’ambient va ser més receptiu a la difusió dels postulats apolítics. Destaquen, com a introductors de l’anarquisme, l’esmentat tipògraf Rafael Farga Pellicer i el metge Gaspar Sentiñón. Ambdós van conèixer Bakunin el setembre de 1869, arran de l’anada a Basilea per assistir al congrés de la Internacional. La influència de Bakunin degué ser decisiva per a reafirmar el seu distanciament respecte al republicanisme. Van iniciar una relació epistolar i immediatament van començar a publicar, al periòdic La Federación, escrits de Pierre-Joseph Proudhon i de Bakunin insistint en la necessitat que la Internacional havia de ser independent de qualsevol partit polític, principi que ja era assumit pels neòfits bakuninistes espanyols. Històricament, les societats obreres van assimilar, sense gaires ruptures, la militància republicana i les primeres idees socialistes, cosa que va donar com a resultat una amalgama complexa, d’arrel igualitarista i federal, que explica la peculiar adhesió a l’anarquisme d’un obrerisme específicament industrial. L’anarquisme es va introduir de la mà dels bakuninistes, però també van influir-hi altres pensadors, com William Godwin i, sobretot, PierreJoseph Proudhon, que es va donar a conèixer gràcies a la traducció de les seves obres feta pel destacat dirigent republicà federal Francesc Pi i Margall,5 que hi va introduir pensament propi. Els primers anarquistes insistien a reconèixer que van arribar a l’anarquisme després d’haver passat pel federalisme de Pi i Margall. Aquests orígens s’han de tenir en compte per explicar la influència de l’anarquisme entre l’obrerisme al segle xix i al primer terç del xx. L’anarquisme, que conjuminava somnis mil· lenaristes i elements racionalistes, tenia un espai natural d’acció en una societat poc desenvolupada i amb nuclis d’incipient creixement industrial. A aquest fet genèric, s’hi ha d’afegir un factor assenyalat amb insistència per Josep Termes: la conjuminació entre antiestatisme, com a reflex de l’oposició genèrica a l’estat, i federalisme, com a reacció a un estat centralista.6

L’anarquisme i els sindicats obrers: la Federació Regional Espanyola de l’AIT El juny del 1870, el Centre Federal de Societats Obreres,7 de Barcelona, va reunir el primer congrés obrer de l’Estat espanyol. S’hi va constituir la Federació Regional Espa-

L’anarquisme als països de parla catalana: entre el sindicalisme i la propaganda (1868-1931)

nyola (FRE) de l’AIT i va determinar la introducció de l’anarquisme als sindicats. Hi van assistir noranta delegats d’arreu de l’Estat i de tendència diversa, però la majoria eren dels Països Catalans (setanta-quatre de Catalunya, cinquanta de Barcelona, tres del País Valencià i dos de Mallorca). Els bakuninistes eren minoria, però controlaven espais importants, com els periòdics La Federación de Barcelona i El Obrero de Palma de Mallorca, i van establir un pacte amb els sindicalistes que va ser clau per a desplaçar altres corrents i reforçar la influència anarquista en el si de les societats obreres. Es va acceptar el sindicalisme, que impulsà l’organització de sindicats d’oficis en sentit federal, i, pel que fa a la qüestió de la lluita política, els anarquistes, en lloc del refús total a l’acció política, van acceptar l’apoliticisme de les societats obreres, fórmula de pacte que es va mantenir en el futur i amb la qual es rebutjava la subordinació dels sindicats a qualsevol partit polític al mateix temps que es tolerava l’activitat política individual. Amb l’assimilació del bakuninisme, el moviment obrer català va experimentar una brusca transformació i inicià una ruta que en gran part hauria de seguir fins a la Guerra Civil espanyola del 1936. La FRE va créixer ràpidament i els anarquistes van consolidar el seu predomini en els congressos successius. Dues terceres parts de les forces internacionalistes es trobaven a Catalunya, i la resta es distribuïa entre Andalusia i el País Valencià, concretament al sud, al voltant de la localitat d’Alcoi. Ben aviat la Federació Local d’Alcoi es va convertir en una de les més importants d’Espanya, la segona darrere Barcelona, fins al punt de facilitar que el 1873 la Comissió Federal, el màxim òrgan dirigent de la FRE, abandonés Barcelona i s’instal·lés en aquella localitat. Pel que fa a les Illes Balears, l’anarquisme es va intro duir a Mallorca sota la influència, i a imitació, dels anarquistes barcelonins i del periòdic La Federación. Segons les dades que dóna Pere Gabriel, a Mallorca els sindicats anarquistes no van superar mai els dos mil afiliats, i la dependència que l’obrerisme va mantenir respecte del republicanisme el va apartar irreversiblement de l’anarquisme, que només va seguir de manera testimonial. A Menorca tingué una presència més destacada, però els sindicats menorquins van ser molt febles.8 En general, a les Balears, el desenvolupament del moviment obrer no es va produir fins després de la Primera Guerra Mundial; va ser aleshores quan l’anarcosindicalisme es va consolidar, ja que entre la població obrera es donaven les condicions idònies (precarietat laboral, crispació, etc.) per a preconitzar un model sindical més revolucionari. Els anys de l’AIT eren de gran excitació social i la FRE es va veure alterada per causes internes i externes que la van debilitar. Després del fracàs de la Comuna de París (1871), van arribar a Barcelona nombrosos refugiats i la FRE va ser víctima de la repressió generalitzada que es va desencadenar. D’altra banda, com a resultat de la ruptura que s’havia produït al si de l’AIT de l’Haia (1872), on els anarquistes van ser expulsats pels marxistes, la FRE es va

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trencar. A Espanya, però, la situació es va esdevenir a la inversa: van ser els bakuninistes, forts a Barcelona, els qui van expulsar el grup madrileny, procliu a les tesis de Marx a l’Estat espanyol. En un altre aspecte, els canvis polítics que van portar a la proclamació de la Primera República espanyola van afectar la FRE, que va viure intensament la breu experiència republicana del 18739 i la primera insurrecció anarquista. Els internacionalistes moderats, forts a Catalunya, van donar suport al nou règim, però els més radicals van mostrar una actitud combativa. La direcció de la FRE s’havia traslladat temporalment a Alcoi, i estava en mans dels anarquistes insurreccionalistes. Coincidint amb un aixecament federal de signe cantonalista, va transformar una vaga general que havia esclatat a la localitat en un aixecament insurreccional contra l’Estat que, en certa manera, volia imitar la Comuna de París. El fracàs de la insurrecció d’Alcoi va determinar el futur de l’anarquisme a mitjà termini: va abocar la FRE a la clandestinitat fins al 1881 i va servir perquè els marxistes, expulsats de la FRE l’any anterior, critiquessin la incapacitat i els errors tàctics de l’anarquisme en la direcció del moviment obrer.10 Pel que fa al País Valencià, l’anarquisme només va sobreviure en petits grups aïllats. Inicialment, els bakuninistes havien trobat el seu espai, però la clandestinitat i la fragmentació van fer declinar la seva influència a finals del segle xix. La desorganització va anar a favor dels socialistes i l’aïllament dels anarquistes no va començar a canviar fins a partir dels primers anys del segle xx, quan societats obreres valencianes11 es van incorporar al projecte reorganitzador influenciat pel sindicalisme francès que significà el moviment de Solidaritat Obrera impulsat per les societats obreres de Barcelona (agost del 1907).

Clandestinitat i reorganització Als últims anys de la dècada dels setanta del segle xix, l’anarquisme va anar perdent terreny entre les societats obreres a causa de la clandestinitat i el radicalisme que havien marcat els últims anys de la FRE. La clandestinitat va facilitar la tasca dels grups anarquistes insurreccionalistes, que van controlar durant anys el moviment, defensant la via insurreccional i les represàlies individuals. Actuaven en petits grups, molt radicals. En el terreny doctrinal, no superava el nihilisme; en el sindical, la seva actuació era nul·la. Coincidint amb l’onada d’atemptats terroristes a Rússia, l’Imperi alemany i Itàlia, l’any 1878 es van produir els primers atemptats frustrats contra el rei Alfons XII. Els sectors més sindicalistes van intentar revitalitzar el moviment associatiu a partir del moment en què el règim inicià una certa tolerància política. Pel que fa a l’anarquisme, al començament dels anys vuitanta el sector sindicalista català, contrari a l’insurreccionalisme i al nihilisme i partidari de l’acció sindical pública, va decidir recuperar la iniciativa i va impulsar una nova federació. Els anarcosindicalistes, dirigits pels mateixos que havien introduït

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l’anarquisme –Rafael Farga Pellicer, Josep Llunas, Antoni Pellicer Paraire, etc.–, van destituir la Comissió Federal de la FRE, que des de feia anys s’havia anat desintegrant entre pressions ideològiques i organitzatives, engolida tant pel terrorisme anarquista com per la repressió política, i el 1881 van constituir una nova organització, la Federació de Treballadors de la Regió Espanyola (FTRE). La nova organització tenia uns plantejaments similars als de la vella FRE i aplegava opcions ideològiques diverses, sempre sota la constant de l’apoliticisme. La FTRE va créixer ràpidament. En un principi va ser dirigida pel nucli sindicalista barceloní, però els catalans no van poder recuperar el paper hegemònic que havien tingut anteriorment. Al començament dels vuitanta, el gruix de la militància anarquista es trobava a Andalusia i el 1882 les federacions es van enfrontar amb la direcció. Les tensions entre sindicalistes partidaris de l’anarcocol lectivisme i els que defensaven la via clandestina i la insurrecció, identificats amb els anarcocomunistes i contraris a qualsevol fórmula organitzativa, van fer que la FTRE es dissolgués el 1888. A les últimes dècades del segle xix, com a resultat de les circumstàncies que hem apuntat, l’anarquisme es fragmentava en dos plantejaments filosòfics diferents: l’anarcocol·lectivisme, inspirat en Bakunin, i l’anarcocomunisme, propagat per Kropotkin i difós per Malatesta. Ambdós creien en una societat sense classes ni estat, però discrepaven en l’organització i en la manera d’arribar-hi. Els anarcocol·lectivistes s’identificaven amb els anarcosindicalistes; confiaven en la lluita sindical tant per a aconseguir millores laborals com per a fer la revolució a mitjà o a llarg termini.12 Volien uns sindicats que aspiressin a crear una societat sense classes, en la qual la propietat estaria en mans de les col·lectivitats obreres. Aquesta era la tendència dominant a Catalunya; de fet, un sindicalisme extrem. La tendència anarcocomunista, forta a Andalusia i amb seguidors destacats a Catalunya, incorporava una tradició molt més individualista i radical: s’oposava al sindicalisme (vist com a excessivament legalista i poc útil per a aconseguir l’objectiu final d’una revolta social) i propugnava una estructura basada en petits grups, no sindicals sinó d’afinitat ideològica, la missió dels quals no era la preocupació sindical, sinó la propaganda ideològica constant i la lluita sistemàtica contra els factors d’ordre social, sense refusar l’acció directa i la propaganda violenta.13 Aquesta postura estava en sintonia amb la línia que l’anarquisme europeu, majoritàriament apartat dels sindicats des que havia estat expulsat de l’AIT, defensava i que tot just havia ratificat en el congrés semiclandestí que havia celebrat a Londres el 1881. La direcció de la FTRE, encapçalada pels anarquistes catalans esmentats, va ser durament atacada pels anarcocomunistes, fins a arribar a l’enfrontament personal. Els intents de pacificació van ser en va i l’organització es va anar desintegrant a partir del 1884. L’associacionisme anarcosindicalista es va anar debilitant entre tensions ideològiques i organitzatives, devorat per la dinàmica del terroris-

Teresa Abelló i Güell

me individualista i la subsegüent repressió policial. En aquest període de desarticulació, l’anarquisme peninsular lluitava per no caure en l’ostracisme esforçant-se tant a participar en els fòrums obrers internacionals a partir de la constitució de la II Internacional, malgrat que n’era sistemàticament expulsat, com a mantenir vinculacions amb els grups anarquistes internacionals.14 Tanmateix és en aquest context que s’ha d’entendre la participació anarquista a les reivindicacions obreres i a les primeres jornades del Primer de Maig, però els primers de maig dels anys 1890, 1891, 1892 i 1893 van ser a Catalunya origen de greus conflictes d’ordre públic, saldats amb fracassos del moviment obrer. El desencís i la frustració van conduir l’anarquisme cap a l’acció directa i la «propaganda pel fet».

La reflexió teòrica L’anarquisme va desenvolupar una intensa activitat intel· lectual que no es pot veure deslligada de l’ampli moviment cultural republicà de finals del segle xix, desplegat a través d’institucions diverses (casinos, ateneus, etc.) i en sintonia amb moviments ideològics com el lliurepensament o la maçoneria. La reflexió teòrica penetrava amb força dins les files anarquistes. Els plantejaments anarquistes dels últims anys del segle xix van ser discutits per tota una generació de teòrics, com Fernando Tarrida del Mármol, Joan Montseny (Federico Urales), Teresa Mañé (Soledad Gustavo), Leopold Bonafulla, Pere Esteve, Anselmo Lorenzo, José López Montenegro, Teobaldo Nieva, etc., que, si bé no van fornir l’anarquisme d’una ideologia pròpia, sí que van col·laborar a crear una cultura anarquista peculiar i important que va ultrapassar els cercles estrictament obreristes i va influir en moviments intel· lectuals com el que va sorgir a l’entorn de la revista modernista L’Avenç. En ple debat teòric entre anarcocol·lectivistes i anarcocomunistes, la premsa va adquirir un impuls extraordinari. La major part de les publicacions van aparèixer a Barcelona. Quasi totes s’editaven en llengua castellana, i van tenir una periodicitat i una durada molt desiguals. En van aparèixer de tendència anarcocol·lectivista, com El Productor a Barcelona, el periòdic sindicalista més important fins a l’aparició de Solidaridad Obrera al segle xx, o El Chornaler (1883) a València. S’organitzà el Primer Certamen Socialista15 a Reus (juliol del 1885), amb aportacions dels qui es consideraven intel·lectuals d’aquest corrent (Josep Llunas, Ricardo Mella, etc.). Els anarcocomunistes, per la seva banda, publicaven els quinzenaris La Justicia Humana, Tierra y Libertad i altres i difonien traduccions d’obres de Kropotkin, Jean Grave i Errico Malatesta. Aquesta tendència ideològica va dominar el Segon Certamen Socialista, celebrat a Barcelona el novembre del 1889.16 L’espiral entre terrorisme i repressió de finals del segle xix va posar fi a un brillant floriment de la premsa anarquista. La polèmica teòrica entre anarcocomunistes i anarcocol·

L’anarquisme als països de parla catalana: entre el sindicalisme i la propaganda (1868-1931)

lectivistes va provocar l’aparició d’un grup eclèctic que es va definir partidari de «l’anarquia sense adjectius», el qual refusava discutir, prèviament a qualsevol acció o organització, el programa i l’estructura de la societat futura. En aquesta línia es va situar un sector intel·lectualista mancat de plantejaments tàctics: Fernando Tarrida del Mármol, Pere Esteve, Federico Urales, Teresa Mañé, etc. Aquest corrent va facilitar el contacte entre el sindicalisme anarquista i joves intel·lectuals barcelonins «anarquitzats», entre els quals hi havia Pere Coromines, Pompeu Gener, Jaume Brossa, etc., que també defensaven una cultura catalana en sentit nacionalista Aquest constitueix un dels trets més singulars de l’anarquisme català. Ja observem que la primera generació d’anarquistes (Rafael Farga Pellicer, Josep Llunas, etc.) havien treballat per donar forma a un catalanisme popular. Eren els mateixos dirigents obrers que defensaven un sindicalisme moderat, treballadors relacionats amb la tipografia i les arts gràfiques, que de la militància federal van passar a ser dirigents anarcoobreristes i es van convertir en representants de la intel·lectualitat obrera del moment. Col·laboraven en publicacions que defensaven un catalanisme progressista, i al mateix temps eren l’ànima de publicacions obreroanarquistes per excel·lència com La Tramontana (l’única escrita en llengua catalana) o les ja esmentades Acracia i El Productor. A la dècada dels noranta es va donar una nova convergència entre neòfits ideòlegs de l’anarquisme i joves intel· lectuals catalanistes, que es va mantenir fins a final de la Guerra Europea, salvant l’etapa del Procés de Montjuïc. En aquesta fase, els qui van actuar com a nexe d’unió entre ambdós corrents ja no van ser els antics federals se duïts pel bakuninisme, sinó joves estudiants, fills de famílies de classe mitjana, atrets per l’anarquisme i seduïts per una ideologia més nietzscheana que bakuninista, que els permetia ser rebels i moderns i actuar –intel·lectualment parlant– contra una societat que refusaven. L’intent d’aquest sector de posar-se en contacte amb els nuclis més actius de la classe obrera responia a motius de modernitat i llibertat expressiva, però també al convenciment que el catalanisme era inviable si girava l’esquena a la nova societat industrial.

La propaganda pel fet Paral·lelament a l’activitat intel·lectual, va sorgir un terrorisme centrat en l’acció individual, que es va barrejar amb l’activisme que imposava el corrent anarcocomunista. Aquests impulsaven l’organització en grups clandestins i predicaven la «propaganda pel fet», convençuts que la propaganda pacífica no seria capaç d’arrossegar les masses cap a la revolució social. A aquest fenomen no eren alienes les referències terroristes de l’anarquisme francès i del populisme rus amb la pràctica de mètodes nihilistes. La «propaganda pel fet» va ser el resultat d’una llarga discussió teòrica al voltant de la necessitat d’afirmar els

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principis anarquistes mitjançant accions revolucionàries. Finalment, l’ús de la violència com a tàctica revolucionària va ser debatut en la reunió que l’anarquisme internacional va celebrar a Londres el 1881,17 coincidint amb l’assassinat del tsar Alexandre II. El fenomen terrorista, que de manera velada havia gestat el sentiment de frustració col·lectiva, arrenca de la interpretació que cada grup i/o individu va fer de les resolucions del Congrés de Londres i de la importància que es va donar a l’ús de la dinamita com a eina revolucionària. Els mètodes dels nihilistes russos hi van influir notablement. El terrorisme, encobert sota la subtilesa de «propaganda pel fet», havia aparegut al començament dels anys vuitanta a Europa, que durant la dècada dels noranta es va veure pertorbada per les explosions mortals dels atemptats terroristes, exponent tràgic de l’individualisme anarquista. Arreu els atemptats s’havien generalitzat a la dècada dels vuitanta. A Barcelona van començar al mateix moment; inicialment eren petards que esclataven a la porta de les fàbriques tèxtils de Barcelona i rodalia, sense causar víctimes i sense que se n’identifiqués els autors. Van adquirir una virulència especial a partir del 1892, sense que l’obrerisme organitzat hi pogués posar fre. Publicacions obreristes tan importants com El Productor o La Tramontana insistien a condemnar la violència que en aquells moments flagel·lava Barcelona. Era l’època de les bombes de Ravachol a França, de les revoltes insurreccionals del fasci al sud d’Itàlia, de les bombes d’August Vaillant contra la Cambra de Diputats a França, etcètera. Després dels fracassos dels primers de maig, cada vegada va anar agafant més força l’anarcocomunisme desorganitzador, que creia molt poc en les virtuts del sindicalisme i en els avantatges de l’acció de masses i que volia accions espectaculars que ferissin de mort la societat burgesa. L’acció terrorista portada a terme al marge dels sindicats va allunyar l’anarquisme de les masses obreres i va enfortir els governs, que a gairebé tot Europa van dictar lleis d’excepció contra l’anarquisme. El 1892, el destacat anarquista italià Errico Malatesta, exponent de l’anarcocomunisme i de l’insurreccionalisme, va visitar Espanya en gira propagandística i va contribuir a fer que l’anarquisme es decantés cap a formes individualistes, en un moment en què a Barcelona vivien refugiats un bon nombre d’individualistes francesos i italians defensors d’aquesta tàctica (un dels quals, Paolo Schicchi, que havia publicat a Itàlia Pensiero e dinamita, va editar a Barcelona, el 1891, El Porvenir anarquista). Les protestes de La Tramontana, de Llunas i Pujals, i d’El Productor contra el terrorisme no van servir de res. Llunas va haver de tancar La Tramontana el 1893 i deixar d’actuar. Bonafulla, per la seva banda, va abandonar i va emigrar als Estats Units el 1892. El juny del 1892 es va declarar l’estat de setge a Catalunya. La col·locació de bombes no es va aturar. El 24 de setembre de 1893, Paulí Pallàs, un obrer anarquista, apassionat per La conquesta del pa de Kropotkin, va atemptar contra el capità general de Catalunya. S’iniciava

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així una espiral de violència que va continuar amb el llançament de dues bombes Orsini al Liceu de Barcelona durant una representació (novembre del 1893), en un acte de venjança per l’execució de Pallàs. Va ser l’atemptat més sagnant dels que hi va haver a Barcelona: va provocar vint-i-dos morts, desenes de ferits i escenes de pànic dantesques. Va prosseguir amb l’atemptat contra la manifestació religiosa del carrer de Canvis Nous, de Barcelona, el dia del Corpus, que va provocar dotze morts (juny del 1896). Aquest cicle culminà amb l’assassinat del cap del Govern, Antonio Cánovas del Castillo (agost del 1897) i amb l’atemptat que realitzà Ramon Sempau contra el tinent Porta i un suboficial, considerats responsables de les tortures practicades als qui havien estat empresonats al castell de Montjuïc. El Govern va utilitzar l’atemptat del carrer de Canvis Nous per a fer una gran operació repressiva contra l’anarquisme i, de retruc, contra l’obrerisme organitzat a Catalunya. Centenars de persones van ser acusades de terroristes o d’inductores al terrorisme. Es van suspendre les garanties constitucionals i la repressió va arribar a dirigents anarquistes, sindicalistes, escriptors i polítics republicans, anticlericals, lliurepensadors, mestres racionalistes, etc.; es va arrestar indiscriminadament enemics i apologetes del terrorisme, i es van clausurar centres obrers, periòdics, etcètera. Més de quatre-centes persones van ser confinades al castell-fortalesa de Montjuïc i torturades en espera de judici. Tot seguit es va produir una pantomima de judici que es coneix com el Procés de Montjuïc; començava així la gran causa judicial contra l’anarquisme, reclamada amb insistència des de sectors conservadors des que havien començat els atemptats. La sentència del judici va ser rigorosa: cinc penes de mort, vint condemnes de presó i desenes de persones absoltes, però obligades a exiliar-se. La policia va parlar de conspiració anarquista, i aquests ho van considerar sempre una provocació de les forces de l’ordre, però l’autoria de l’atemptat no es va establir mai.18 Immediatament es va produir la denúncia pública del procés: les tortures i les irregularitats judicials van provocar la protesta de l’opinió internacional. La campanya va ser impulsada per les denúncies fetes per Fernando Tarrida del Mármol, un simpatitzant anarquista que havia estat empresonat arran de l’atemptat i que va publicar relats esfereïdors sobre les tortures practicades al castell de Montjuïc i les irregularitats judicials comeses.19 El terrorisme s’havia demostrat inhumà i inútil, i després de Montjuïc va provocar el desengany de molts obrers respecte a l’internacionalisme i va posar fi a la relació que en el terreny cultural s’havia establert entre la intel·lectualitat modernista, espantada pel radicalisme, i l’obrerisme anarquista. L’acció terrorista, portada a terme al marge dels sindicats, va allunyar l’anarquisme de les masses obreres i va provocar que a molts llocs d’Europa els governs dictessin lleis d’excepció contra el terrorisme. Les bombes van rebrotar a Barcelona entre el 1903 i el 1909, però en aquesta etapa es tractava d’un terrorisme

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lucratiu que va col·laborar a mantenir el control i la repressió respecte als anarquistes. Joan Rull es convertí en l’exemple més clar d’aquest terrorisme infundat i lucratiu. Rull, que havia tingut contactes amb grups anarquistes barcelonins, utilitzà la col·locació de bombes per a extorsionar policies i fabricants, cosa que es va voler presentar i es va barrejar com a terrorisme anarquista sense que tingués res a veure amb el període anterior.20

Un món cultural propi L’anarquisme va constituir un món cultural propi. Com la resta del moviment obrer, confiava en el potencial emancipador de l’educació i la formació es va convertir en element capital de la seva estratègia i del seu projecte so ciopolític. L’analfabetisme afectava la meitat de la po blació vers 1900 i encara un 21 % l’any 1930 a Catalunya. La prioritat per l’educació va estimular la creació d’un teixit cultural en què van participar ateneus i institucions molt diverses, que tenien per objectiu educar des del laïcisme i el racionalisme. A l’Estat espanyol, amb una ensenyança endèmicament deficitària per a les classes socials més pobres i controlada per l’Església catòlica, aquesta tasca va ser especialment remarcable. La preocupació per l’ensenyança laica, igualitària i mixta va ser una constant. L’exemple més conegut és l’Escuela Moderna de Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia,21 lligada als medis anarquistes i laïcistes. Era un nucli de propagandistes anarquistes, però, a pesar d’haver-se convertit en el referent més conegut, no va ser el projecte pedagògic més interessant ni el de contingut més anarquista. La gestació i la formació d’aquesta cultura es va produir paral·lelament a la configuració teòrica de l’anarquisme, dins el marc d’una cultura eclèctica impregnada de republicanisme, romanticisme social, mil·lenarisme, lliurepensament, pacifisme, naturisme, etc. El moviment anarquista, obert a corrents culturals alternatius diversos i amb dificultats intrínseques per encaixar tota mena de dogmatismes, va generar un espai cultural plural, sociològicament molt ampli, visualitzat en el discurs ideològic, el teatre i la literatura.22 La premsa es va convertir en mitjà de divulgació del pensament anarquista i en transmissora del plantejament sociocultural àcrata. A les dues darreres dècades del segle xix aparegueren un gran nombre de revistes sociològiques (Acracia, Ciencia Social i Natura a Barcelona). A València, a la primera dècada del segle van aparèixer una sèrie de revistes de tall nietzscheà (El Corsario, Juventud, Vida), i a Madrid es va publicar La Revista Blanca, impulsada per anarquistes catalans que hi vivien exiliats. A més de militants, hi escrivien destacats escriptors, com Pere Coromines, Jaume Brossa, Miguel de Unamuno, Pío Baroja, Ramón Gómez de la Serna, etc., tots ells joves literats i intel·lectuals que al principi de les respectives carreres literàries van adoptar, en major o menor grau, actituds nietzscheanes i es van atansar puntualment a l’anarquis-

L’anarquisme als països de parla catalana: entre el sindicalisme i la propaganda (1868-1931)

me. La Revista Blanca, en les seves dues etapes (la segona, publicada a Barcelona entre el 1923 i el 1936), constitueix el producte cultural anarquista més acabat. Era fruit de l’esforç intel·lectual i empresarial dels anarquistes catalans Joan Montseny (que signava amb el pseudònim Federico Urales) i Teresa Mañé (que ho feia amb el de Soledad Gustavo). El nom de la publicació era un homenatge a la Revue Blanche francesa, que havia difós les denúncies fetes pels anarquistes empresonats a Mont juïc el 1894. A les últimes dècades del segle xix es va suscitar una vastíssima producció literària amb la qual es volia expressar tota una concepció de l’univers i del destí de la humanitat, optimista i orientada per les creences de cada grup. Es van imposar corrents ideològics diversos: l’ideari i els mites de la Revolució francesa, el racionalisme, el positivisme anglès, el darwinisme, el pacifisme, el materialisme de Büchner, el lliurepensament, l’idealisme de Hegel, elements diversos de tradició socialista, el pensament de Nietzsche, i un plantejament radical sobre la destrucció de la moral tradicional burgesa i catòlica, etc., i de manera més puntual també es va donar suport a l’esperantisme, el naturisme o el neomaltusianisme. La base d’aquests darrers elements estava, igual que va passar a França, en la dispersió de tendències que es va produir al si de l’anarquisme a partir dels darrers anys del segle xix, a la recerca de noves vies revolucionàries després del fracàs del sindicalisme tal com s’havia plantejat fins a aquell moment. Eren grups que volien trobar en l’escola, l’esperantisme, la ciència, el control de la natalitat, el naturisme o l’antimilitarisme la fórmula per a fer la revolució; però totes aquestes tendències, excessivament tancades en si mateixes, sovint van acabar perdent el contingut revolucionari. Van tenir ressò a Catalunya i les de major interès social van ser el naturisme i el neomaltusianisme. La publicació Natura, editada a Barcelona (1903-1905), constitueix l’exponent més clar del naturisme anarquista del començament del segle xx. A València hi va haver un moviment vegetarià i naturista de llarga durada al voltant de la revista Helios (1916-1939). Íntimament relacionat amb el darwinisme, es va difondre el neomaltusianisme. Es va posar de manifest en la divulgació de teories de procedència francesa que condicionaven la revolució social al millorament de l’espècie –de la classe treballadora, s’entén–, tant físic com intel·lectual. Defensaven que si els obrers tenien menys fills, els po drien alimentar i educar en millors condicions, amb la qual cosa evitarien malalties i tares congènites i millorarien el nivell intel·lectual de la prole. El neomaltusianisme enllaçava amb l’interès anarquista per la pedagogia, ara de la mà del pedagog francès Paul Robin, i pel cientifisme, que es posava de manifest en la divulgació de mitjans contraceptius. Aquesta teoria va ser assumida per alguns grups i individualitats, però també va ser molt criticada en el si del moviment anarquista. La seva filosofia quedava explicada a la revista ¡Salud y Fuerza!, publicada a Bar-

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celona (1904), i més tard a Generación Consciente, d’Alcoi (1923), i a Estudios, de València (1924), aquesta darrera ja molt vinculada a l’eugenèsia i ambdues marginades de l’anarquisme més obrerista.23 Més enllà de la premsa, les manifestacions culturals de l’anarquisme van trobar un espai en el teatre i en un cert model de literatura popular. Es va crear el «teatre social». Era una manera d’inculcar uns valors i estimular determinades reivindicacions. Hi havia publicacions de to anarquista dedicades quasi exclusivament a l’art dramàtic, com Teatro Social, el butlletí de la Companyia Lliure de Declamació, publicat a Barcelona a partir del 1896. La novel·la va ser un altra via de difusió cultural. En general, les obres mostraven un món rural idíl·lic allunyat de la societat industrial i parlaven amb una certa candidesa d’un món idealitzat i d’uns personatges quimèrics redimits i redemptors. Hi havia editorials emblemàtiques orientades al públic obrer, com Maucci, Sempere o La Revista Blanca (que publicava també la revista amb el mateix nom). El grup editor La Revista Blanca va ser el que va tenir més transcendència. Imitant models editorials francesos, compaginava l’edició de revistes i periòdics literaris i militants (La Revista Blanca, Tierra y Libertad, El Luchador) amb la de col·leccions de narrativa, com «La Novela Ideal» (de la qual es van publicar uns sis-cents títols), «La Novela Libre» i «El Mundo al Día». Era una combinació d’ideologia i de visió comercial que, amb gran èxit, difonia en ambients anarcoobreristes una novel·la sentimental i lacrimògena que pretenia incorporar elements d’emancipació social i feministes amb la finalitat de propalar de manera didàctica principis ideològics anarquistes. La seva divulgació va ultrapassar entre el públic obrer qualsevol altre producte de to més culte.

La Confederació Nacional del Treball (CNT) A partir dels primers anys del segle xx, un cop superada l’etapa terrorista, l’anarquisme evolucionà de manera definitiva cap a l’anarcosindicalisme. Després de l’onada vaguística del començament del segle xx es produí una variada resposta organitzativa i política entre els treballadors que enfortí el moviment societari. A Catalunya, la influència dintre del món sindical continuava essent predominantment anarquista. Al País Valencià, en canvi, l’anarquisme s’havia estès sobretot al camp, mentre que l’obrer de fàbrica s’inclinava majoritàriament cap al socialisme, i es va mantenir en aquesta línia fins a la fundació de la CNT. A les Balears, el moviment obrer seguia molt influenciat pels socialistes i pel republicanisme de la Unió Republicana. Només entre la Federació d’Obrers de Menorca l’anarquisme tenia una presència destacada. Durant aquest període, l’anarquisme, a escala internacional, s’esforçava per trobar una via d’entesa que, sense contradir el principis anarquistes, garantís el desenvolupament de la revolució una vegada s’hagués produït. El

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1907 es creà a Amsterdam una Internacional Anarquista, que resultà totalment inoperant i va desaparèixer, com tantes altres organitzacions internacionals, amb la guerra del 1914. En aquest context, i en un clima de creixement continu de la població obrera, el 1907 les societats obreres catalanes van fer un pas decisiu en el procés de modernització, al qual no era aliena la influència del sindicalisme revolucionari francès, en fundar a Barcelona l’agrupació Solidaritat Obrera. Estava molt influenciada pels anarquistes. L’octubre d’aquell mateix any, l’agrupació va impulsar una publicació amb el mateix nom de Solidaridad Obrera, que posteriorment es va convertir en òrgan i símbol de la CNT.24 Aquesta organització va ser l’embrió de la Confederació Nacional del Treball (CNT), que va néixer a Barcelona el novembre del 1910 amb vocació d’estendre’s a tot l’Estat. La construcció de la CNT es va produir en l’entorn d’una nova generació de militants que es va configurar pròpiament com a anarcosindicalista des de l’experiència sindical en uns anys de crisi política molt acusada del règim i de canvis estructurals de fons en la població obrera. No va ser producte de reflexions teòriques o d’influències doctrinals, sinó resultat de l’èxit del moviment sindical, de llarga tradició, basat en les federacions d’ofici, que va aconseguir articular la classe obrera. La reorganització va partir dels sectors laborals bàsics. En els anys successius, dintre de la CNT van ser molt visibles dues realitats: els propagandistes que pretenien dotar la nova central sindical d’una ideologia i una doctrina, i els quadres sindicals, els homes dels sindicats.25 Dins la CNT, molt pocs propagandistes van ser homes de sindicat, i molts dels debats i escissions que es van produir en el futur van ser impulsats per propagandistes que van arrossegar homes dels sindicats. La CNT propugnava l’acció directa i es refermava en el tradicional apoliticisme dels sindicats; amb ells l’anarcosindicalisme va assolir forma definitiva i va canalitzar l’anarquisme hispànic fins a l’adveniment de la Segona República. Els inicis de la CNT van estar marcats per la clandestinitat. En realitat, es va mantenir en una fase de contenció fins després de la celebració del Congrés internacional anarquista per la Pau (El Ferrol, 1915). El gran embat confederal es va iniciar, doncs, durant els anys de la Guerra Europea, paral·lelament a l’expansió generalitzada que experimentà el moviment sindical arreu dels Països Catalans. Responia a unes indispensables necessitats obreres d’unitat d’acció i d’estructuració que es van traduir en un fort desenvolupament de les federacions d’ofici i dels sindicats en general. En els anys successius va anar cohesionant les societats obreres, sobretot a Catalunya, i es va estendre ràpidament cap a València26 i les Balears. En els anys de la formació de la CNT, els medis anarquistes eren molt diversos. Hi convivien una barreja de sectors: anarquistes més doctrinals i teòrics, altres publicistes relacionats amb la cultura, grups d’afinitat ideològi-

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ca que cercaven l’emancipació obrera i social per camins diferents del que seguia el sindicalisme revolucionari, i un sector de joves dirigents sindicalistes que van haver d’assegurar els lligams entre l’anarquisme i els nous sindicats que es volien constituir superant les societats d’ofici. Va ser dins aquest context que la direcció del moviment obrer va passar a mans d’uns nous dirigents. De la direcció va desaparèixer el predomini dels tipògrafs i va sorgir un ventall d’oficis molt més ampli. La reorganització va acompanyada d’una renovació vital, amb l’actuació de gent nova i jove, molt més activista que discursiva, d’oradors de mítings, més que de periodistes o autors d’opuscles doctrinals (Salvador Seguí, Martí Barrera, Camil Piñón, Sebastià Clarà, Joan Peiró, Joan Viadiu, Ángel Pestaña, etc.). És una generació de revolucionaris que, encara que oficialment apolítics, està profundament polititzada.

Un nou model organitzatiu: els sindicats únics Catalunya, i en concret Barcelona, va esdevenir el centre de la CNT. La seva força numèrica no tenia parangó: el 1915 tenia uns quinze mil afiliats; el 1918, quasi setantaquatre mil, i el desembre del 1919, quan la CNT celebrà un congrés a Madrid amb representants de tot l’Estat, la regional catalana afirmava tenir 427.000 obrers afiliats (d’un total de 714.000 que hi eren representats). Les xifres parlen per si soles. Un salt quantitatiu d’aquesta envergadura s’explica per l’esforç reorganitzatiu impulsat per la CNT a Catalunya el 1918, en un congrés celebrat a la barriada obrera de Sants (Barcelona) el juny d’aquell any. Allí la CRT27 de Catalunya va adoptar un nou model organitzatiu que va acabar imposant a tota la CNT. La reorganització va permetre a la CNT de fer un pas important per afermar-se com a representant absoluta dels obrers i únic interlocutor amb la patronal. En el Congrés de Sants s’acordà exercir, de manera preferent, l’acció directa i es reafirmà l’apoliticisme i el contingut anarcosindicalista de la CNT. L’acord més transcendental va ser l’adopció d’una nova forma d’organització que trencava la tradició de l’obrerisme català d’associar-se per oficis. Va adoptar els sindicats únics d’indústria, d’àmbit local, integrats per diverses seccions corresponents als diversos oficis, com a base organitzativa de la CNT, en perjudici de les federacions nacionals d’ofici. Aquesta centralització del moviment obrer multiplicà enormement la seva força i la capacitat de negociació i de lluita davant els conflictes obrers. La CRT, estructurada en un comitè regional integrat per les federacions locals i comarcals, va començar a funcionar amb regularitat organitzativa, atès que així es posava fi a l’ambigüitat i la imprecisió anterior pel que feia a afiliacions i cotitzacions. Aquest era el primer congrés confederal després de la reconstitució del 1915. Va estar protagonitzat per una nova generació de sindicalistes que van desplaçar tant els anarquistes puristes com els que havien orientat els primers

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anys de la CNT. El nou secretari general de la CRT de Catalunya era un d’ells, Salvador Seguí, que es convertí en l’home més representatiu de la CNT fins que va ser assassinat el 1923, en plena època del pistolerisme. A mesura que la CRT assumia la direcció del moviment obrer, es radicalitzaven les mobilitzacions obreres, suscitades per un procés reivindicatiu creixent des del 1916, al qual s’oposava la intransigència de la patronal, parapetada davant el fantasma bolxevic. El 1919 va ser l’any culminant, en què es va produir la prova de força entre la CNT i la patronal: la vaga a l’empresa Barcelona Traction Light and Power Co., coneguda com la Canadenca, amb referència al lloc d’origen de la companyia, el Canadà. Era la matriu d’una sèrie d’empreses dedicades a la producció i distribució d’electricitat i a l’explotació de tramvies i ferrocarrils elèctrics, entre els quals els de Barcelona. Amb la vaga, Barcelona es va quedar a les fosques, sense serveis públics i amb l’activitat industrial aturada. El conflicte no va quedar resolt fins al cap de cinc mesos.28 El que va ser inicialment un gran èxit dels sindicats anarquistes va acabar amb repercussions polítiques i socials negatives per als obrers i per a la mateixa CNT; aquesta havia mostrat la seva força i la patronal va respondre ensenyant la seva cara més radical i facciosa. Va imposar la línia dura i va amenaçar contínuament amb el locaut patronal. Aquesta intransigència fomentà el clima de violència que engendrà el pistolerisme i l’ascens dels grups d’acció entre les files anarcosindicalistes. L’any 1919 va ser crucial en la història de la CNT. Els grups anarquistes, arrossegats per la seva força, havien decidit l’ingrés a la CNT. És el moment en què comença a créixer al País Valencià, paral·lelament a com ho fa a tot Espanya, particularment a Andalusia, i crea nuclis poderosos a Gijón, Bilbao, Vigo i Madrid. En aquestes condi cions, la CNT afrontà el congrés d’àmbit estatal, que esdevindria decisiu per al seu futur (Congrés de la Comèdia, Madrid, 1919). La vaga de la Canadenca havia fet sorgir conflictes interns en el si de la CRT a Catalunya. Els anarquistes més intransigents criticaven, per moderada, l’actuació dels dirigents cenetistes i els responsabilitzaven de la força que havia adquirit la patronal. La seva força va facilitar el triomf a Madrid dels elements més radicals i el congrés va formular la teoria del comunisme llibertari. Tanmateix es va decidir l’adhesió provisional a la Tercera Internacional, de la qual es retirà definitivament el 1922, per adherir-se a l’AIT,29 quan els anarcosindicalistes van tornar a recuperar el control de la CNT. De fet, l’anarquisme va entrar en un període molt conflictiu, centrat en la lluita pel control de la CNT, que determinà la complexitat dels anys posteriors.30

El pistolerisme31 Després de la duresa, i el fracàs, del moviment vaguístic del 1919, la patronal va imposar una línia d’actuació marcada per la duresa. Aquesta situació va fomentar el clima

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de violència que havia d’engendrar el pistolerisme, i l’ascens dels grups d’acció entre les files anarcosindicalistes. Els anys següents la conflictivitat laboral s’anà incrementant i radicalitzant, i entre el 1920 i el 1922 esdevingué especialment cruenta. Els empresaris exigien mà dura al Govern: suspensió de garanties constitucionals, clausura de sindicats, empresonament de sindicalistes, etc., i la Confederació Patronal Espanyola va amenaçar el Govern de paralitzar tota la indústria, la catalana primer i l’espanyola després, amb la declaració de locaut general si no posava remei a la situació. El Govern va endurir la seva postura: el 5 de gener de 1920 van ser suspeses les garanties constitucionals a Barcelona, clausurats els sindicats i detinguts cenetistes destacats. Va ser aleshores que van començar a actuar els sindicats lliures. Eren una organització que, sobre una base de societats obreres moderades, es presentava com a enemiga dels sindicats únics i disposada a posar fre a les coaccions per afiliar-s’hi. Es va configurar com un grup que responia amb violència contra els cenetistes, i es va posar a disposició de l’autoritat militar i governativa, i a sou de la patronal, per actuar contra la CNT. La violència no era una novetat a Espanya. Havia estat sempre present en les lluites polítiques, convivint amb les manifestacions cíviques i pacífiques. A les primeres dècades del segle xx, aquesta tendència es va accentuar i grups extremistes de tendència diversa van utilitzar sistemàticament l’agressió per imposar-se. Des de la constitució dels sindicats únics, la CNT havia començat a pressionar entre els treballadors perquè s’afiliessin als respectius sindicats; en aquestes circumstàncies, els conflictes entre els cenetistes del sindicat únic i obrers d’altres sindicats, o contraris a l’afiliació, eren constants: la CNT volia forçar la sindicació i el pagament de les quotes i, en conseqüència, es produïen amenaces, coaccions i agressions entre obrers. Va aparèixer com la continuació d’una acció sindical considerada insuficient, i l’ideal revolucionari va servir per a donar cobertura a una violència que fregava la criminalitat. Segons el dirigent cenetista Ángel Pestaña, el terrorisme contra la patronal va sorgir el 1916, per part de grups de joves, anarquistes d’acció, que, davant els conflictes patronals, es mostraven disposats a suprimir els directors de fàbrica que l’organització obrera decidís; era gent que ho feia de manera altruista, moguda inicialment per idealisme. La conseqüència immediata era que els patrons atorgaven el que se’ls demanava. Després, però, uns quants dirigents sindicals els van utilitzar pagant els seus serveis. En resposta, la patronal començà a reclutar homes a sou per actuar contra la CNT: mercenaris, excenetistes procedents dels grups d’acció, sindicalistes procedents dels Sindicats Lliures, etc. El primer sindicalista assassinat va caure el 1919. En definitiva, hi havia dues organitzacions que s’enfrontaren, en gran mesura com a resultat del desafiament a la patronal que va significar la vaga de la Canadenca: la CNT i la Federació Patronal; totes dues volien monopolitzar la representació dels sectors respectius, i totes

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dues exigien la rendició sense condicions de l’altra. De la intransigència es va passar a la violència. El novembre del 1920, un centenar de dirigents de la CNT de Barcelona van ser empresonats al castell de la Mola, a Maó (Menorca), i hi van romandre fins a l’abril del 1922. Va ser en aquest clima de crispació que hi va haver un continu d’atemptats socials comesos per bandes armades al servei de la patronal, per grups al servei de sindicats contraris a la CNT i per membres de la mateixa CNT. No es pot establir una equivalència entre anarquisme i pistolerisme, però es van barrejar. A la CNT la situació se li havia escapat de les mans. Es trobava amb una reacció de les mateixes característiques, dirigida per la fracció dura de la patronal, amb la connivència de les autoritats governatives. Dirigents sindicalistes reconeixien que l’escalada d’atemptats era perjudicial per a l’organització, però no van saber, o no van poder, aturar-ho, i malgrat els esforços sempre van aparèixer grups d’acció radicals disposats a respondre amb virulència. La CNT es va veure atrapada en un cercle viciós: la inestabilitat dels sindicats i la manca de reconeixement patronal van privar l’organització de la continuïtat i la institucionalització necessàries per a poder-se deslliurar del terrorisme. Finalment, va representar un punt d’inflexió en la CRT que va arrossegar tota la CNT. La violència era múltiple i extremament cruenta; entre el 1919 i el 1923, els carrers de Barcelona van estar dominats per les pistoles. En aquesta guerra bruta van ser assassinats, entre d’altres, Francesc Layret, advocat defensor dels sindicalistes, i Salvador Seguí, el dirigent més complet i popular de la CNT a Catalunya. Per part dels anarcosindicalistes, la resposta també va ser espectacular: assassinat a València del comte de Salvatierra, exgovernador de Barcelona, del mateix cap del Govern Eduardo Dato, o del cardenal Segura, arquebisbe de Saragossa. Segons les xifres que dóna Albert Balcells, entre el 1918 i el 1923, a Barcelona, van morir 951 persones (143 patrons i gerents d’empreses i 201 sindicalistes de la CNT). Proporcionalment, els primers anys van morir més patrons, i els darrers més sindicalistes.32 El terrorisme va desaparèixer amb la dictadura. Entre els homes d’acció de l’anarquisme que van començar a actuar a Barcelona trobem figures que esdevindrien clau a l’època de la dictadura de Primo de Rivera i de la República. Homes com Joan Garcia Oliver, Francisco Ascaso, Buenaventura Durruti, etc., tots arribats a Barcelona d’altres indrets de Catalunya i d’altres regions d’Espanya. Aquests i altres activistes van formar part del grup d’acció anarquista més destacat d’aquests anys, Los Solidarios. Argumentaven que s’havien constituït en grup per defensar la CNT dels atacs presents i futurs i van desenvolupar un altre tipus de violència, fregant la delinqüència comuna: els atracaments per suplir les quotes sindicals de les quals la CNT es veia privada per les il· legalitzacions i el control policial. Ángel Pestaña i Joan Peiró s’hi van oposar radicalment, i van acordar negar l’ajuda de la Confederació als acusats d’atracaments i ac-

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tes terroristes, però va ser en va, i grups similars van anar guanyar terreny tot convertint-se en exponents de l’anarquisme. Pel que fa al País Valencià, a Alacant, punt de pervivència històrica de l’anarquisme, es va reproduir, a petita escala, la situació de Barcelona. Allí, en una situació de violència menor, destaca el debat teòric. A finals del 1920 va aparèixer el setmanari El Comunista Libertario; l’objectiu era establir les diferències entre el comunisme d’estat, que s’havia imposat a Rússia, i el comunisme llibertari, de base socioeconòmica. Es criticava els dirigents anarcosindicalistes, molt especialment el dirigent català Salvador Seguí, per moderats. El grup Espartaco fins i tot acusava els dirigents de la CNT de col·laboració amb polítics i patrons. En definitiva, constitueix una interessant reflexió crítica dels grups anarquistes sobre el que consideren que ha estat la política de la CNT als darrers anys: el predomini de la lluita sindical, criticada per economicista i en ocasions per pragmàtica, sobre la lluita ideològica. S’insistia a renovar la vida dels grups específicament anarquistes i en la necessitat de celebrar un congrés anarquista d’àmbit estatal per evitar que el sindicalisme es desviés de l’anarquisme. La repressió i la desorganització, que tant afavorien els grups d’acció, van ser catastròfiques per a la CNT, que va veure com la seva militància quedava reduïda a una tercera part respecte a la que tenia abans que comencés el pistolerisme.

La dictadura i l’organització dels grups anarquistes El setembre del 1923, el general Primo de Rivera va fer un cop d’estat, avalat per la monarquia i per amplis sectors dirigents del país. Ningú no va lluitar en defensa d’un parlamentarisme impotent i desprestigiat, i hom va acceptar una dictadura que es presentava com un règim transitori que havia de durar el temps necessari per a regenerar les institucions polítiques. Era una fal·làcia, però molts sectors ho van voler interpretar d’aquesta manera. En un primer moment, la dictadura no va il·legalitzar la CNT, però va posar tota mena de traves i controls per a limitar l’actuació sindical. A Barcelona, la mateixa CNT va decidir passar a la clandestinitat tres setmanes després del cop d’estat. La decisió es va prendre a instància dels anarquistes per evitar els controls de la policia, que perseguia els qui recaptaven les quotes sindicats acusant-los d’estafadors. El fet marca l’inici d’un període de dures polèmiques internes. Alguns sindicats es van oposar a la decisió de la federació local de Barcelona i va esclatar la crisi entre anarquistes i sindicalistes. La situació va esdevenir més greu quan l’any següent, després de l’assassinat del botxí de Barcelona, el Govern va ordenar la detenció dels dirigents de la CNT, la clausura dels locals i la suspensió de la premsa anarcosindicalista. Dos punts aïllats es van convertir en referents de l’activitat cenetista: els periòdics

L’anarquisme als països de parla catalana: entre el sindicalisme i la propaganda (1868-1931)

Acción Social Obrera, publicat a la localitat catalana de Sant Feliu de Guíxols, i ¡Despertad! de Vigo. Sorprenentment hi va haver una tolerància més gran amb les revistes filosòfiques, i va ser en plena dictadura que va reaparèixer La Revista Blanca, abans citada, que al llarg de tots aquests anys va tenir una gran difusió i una renovada influència. La CNT va haver de tornar a la clandestinitat, de la qual no sortiria fins proclamada la Segona República. La situació política va forçar l’exili de molts militants, que van anar preferentment cap a França i l’Argentina. Dels contactes amb l’exili van sorgir dues línies d’actuació que es van posar en marxa simultàniament: la propagació d’actes violents per enderrocar el règim i la preocupació per facilitar als anarquistes de l’Estat espanyol una organització dintre el nou règim. Pel que fa al primer aspecte, des de França, el grup dels Trenta (amb figures destacades com Buenaventura Durruti i Francisco Ascaso) i el Comitè de Relacions Anarquistes van organitzar un intent, frustrat, d’assalt a la caserna de les Drassanes de Barcelona. Més tard, la Federació de Grups Anarquistes de Llengua Espanyola a França es va atansar, també infructuosament, als sectors insurreccionals catalanistes que van preparar un simbòlic intent d’invasió per Prats de Molló per enderrocar la dictadura. En el pla organitzatiu, la instauració de comitès paritaris, amb participació de patrons i obrers, acceptats pels socialistes, va provocar la divisió interna entre els sindicalistes de la CNT. El dirigent Ángel Pestaña i un sector minoritari es mostraven disposats a acceptar-los a canvi de la legalització de la CNT. Un altre sector, dirigit per Joan Peiró, s’hi oposava. A la pràctica, la CNT va posar en marxa en plena dictadura una reorganització sindical clandestina, paral·lela a l’adaptació al sistema sindical de la dictadura. Aquesta decisió és clau per a explicar la ràpida recuperació que va experimentar la CNT a partir del moment en què va tornar a ser legal. Durant els anys de clandestinitat es van popularitzar les teories de Diego Abad de Santillán, emigrat a l’Argentina, i de Manuel Buenacasa, que des del 1925 propugnaven la creació d’un moviment sindical explícitament anarquista. El sector més sindicalista (Pestaña, Peiró, etc.) es mantenia fidel als vells principis anarcosindicalistes de la CNT. Van aconseguir que els primers acceptessin la realitat sindical, però no van poder impedir que lluitessin per donarli un caràcter més anarquista a través d’una organització paral·lela, la Federació Anarquista Ibèrica (FAI). La FAI va ser constituïda clandestinament al Saler (València) el juliol del 1927 per la Federació de Grups Anarquistes d’Espanya i la Unió Anarquista Portuguesa. Era el resultat de l’esforç per configurar un moviment sindical explícitament anarquista que havien portat a terme teòrics com Abad de Santillán i Buenacasa, i resultat de la iniciativa del Segon Congrés de la Federació de Grups Anarquistes de Llengua Espanyola (Marsella, maig del 1926). Aplegava tendències diverses, des d’activistes propers al terrorisme i a la delinqüència comuna fins a idealistes preocupats pel manteniment de la puresa àcrata en el si de

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la CNT. Es proposava assegurar el component àcrata de la Confederació mitjançant la participació paritària en comitès clau com ara el Pro-presos o el de Defensa confederal, i també apartar-la de qualsevol entesa amb els republicans, tot i que acabà col·laborant-hi puntualment. Volia enquadrar tots els grups ibèrics existents, però alguns, com La Revista Blanca o el de Los Treinta, i Nosotros, no s’hi van adherir fins ben entrada la República, tot i que el primer li era força afí i el segon n’era la viva imatge. La Revista Blanca propugnava l’allunyament dels sindicats per evitar contaminar-se de reformisme i Los Treinta (successor del grup Los Solidarios) i Nosostros es negaven a acceptar tota disciplina organitzativa i van acabar imposant una actitud revolucionària i insurreccional.

La caiguda de la dictadura El 1930 va significar un punt d’inflexió per a l’apoliticisme tradicional de l’anarcosindicalisme espanyol. L’any començava amb la caiguda del dictador Primo de Rivera i amb els primers passos per part del nou govern per restaurar el règim democràtic previ al cop militar. En aquestes circumstàncies, la CNT va experimentar la necessitat d’implicar-se en l’ampli moviment polític que acabaria portant la Segona República. Van començar els contactes amb els polítics republicans i la Confederació es va mostrar favorable a donar suport a un canvi de règim que permetés el desenvolupament legal i continuat de la CNT, la qual cosa implicava un acostament indeterminat als republicans, plasmat puntualment durant la República. El ressorgiment de la CNT va ser ràpid. Durant la Segona República va ser la força sindical que va experimentar un creixement més important (arribà a tenir més de 800.000 afiliats), però les relacions amb els republicans van esdevenir més i més conflictives a mesura que els grups anarquistes oposats a la direcció anarcosindicalista augmentaven la seva influència en el si de la Confederació i, desplaçant-los dels òrgans de direcció i d’expressió, desenvolupaven un intens moviment reivindicatiu i insurreccional. La complexitat i l’heterogeneïtat de l’anarquisme el van portar, un cop més, a un seguit d’enfrontaments i crisis internes, de les quals va sortir definitivament guanyadora la FAI, que va acabar controlant el periòdic Solidaridad Obrera i els ressorts més influents de la Confederació. L’enfrontament amb el sector anarcosindicalista que havia dirigit la reorganització de la CNT va provocar una escissió, la dels anomenats trentistes. A partir d’aquest moment, la CNT, ara anomenada CNT-FAI, va mantenir una actitud permanentment insurreccionalista, orientada a proclamar el comunisme llibertari, i de continu enfrontament amb el govern repu blicà. En el joc de grans tendències, al País Valencià la tensió es va establir entre un anarcosindicalsme molt inclinat cap al sindicalisme que conduiria a l’acceptació del trentisme i dels sindicats d’oposició a la FAI que van anar apa-

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reixent durant la Segona República, i un anarquisme més filosòfic i cultural, amb pretensió de puresa i ortodòxia.33

Notes i referències [1]

Xavier Díez. «La historiografia anarquista als Països Catalans. Una llarga tradició entre el desconeixement i la vitalitat». Afers, núm. 59 (2008), p. 155170. Reflexió sobre la historiografia anarquista sorgida de les pròpies files de la militància i sobre el tractament que n’ha fet la historiografia posterior. [2] Susanna Tavera. «La historia del anarquismo español: una encrucijada interpretativa nueva». Ayer, núm. 45 (2002), p. 13-37. Anàlisi de la gestació de la historiografia anarquista i dels diferents corrents interpretatius. [3] L’obra de Gerald Brenan. The Spanish Labyrinth (1943), que encara avui es continua reeditant a la Gran Bretanya, en constitueix un exemple paradigmàtic. [4] Repàs de la historiografia sobre l’anarquisme publicada entre el 1968 i el 1988 a: Pere Gabriel, Eulàlia Vega i Julià Casanova. «Anarquismo y sindicalismo» (dossier). Historia Social, núm. 1 (1988), p. 4576. Un recull més exhaustiu a: Salvador Guru charri. Bibliografía del anarquismo español, 1869-1975. La Rosa de Foc, Barcelona 2004. [5] Jordi Casassas i Albert Ghanime. Homenatge a Francesc Pi i Margall, 1824-1901: Intel·lectual i politic federal. Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona 2001. [6] Josep Termes. Federalismo, anarcosindicalismo y catalanismo. Anagrama, Barcelona 1976. [7] El Centre Federal de les Societats Obreres era una organització, constituïda el 1869, que agrupava les societats obreres locals. Publicava el periòdic La Federación. Es van constituir centres similars a València i a Palma de Mallorca. [8] Pere Gabriel. El moviment obrer a Mallorca. Curial, Barcelona 1973, p. 120-134. [9] La Primera República es va proclamar el febrer del 1873. Va ser breu: el gener del 1874, un cop d’estat del general Pavía hi va posar fi. L’experiència republicana coincideix internacionalment amb l’accentuació de la reacció conservadora contra l’internacionalisme, escenificada per la substitució de Thiers per Mac Mahon a la presidència de la República Francesa. [10] Josep Termes. Anarquismo y sindicalismo en España. La Primera Internacional (1864-1881). Ariel, Barcelona 1972. Continua essent l’estudi més complet sobre sindicalisme i anarquisme durant el període de la Primera Internacional. [11] Francisco Moreno Sáez. El anarquismo en Alicante. Instituto de Estudios Juan Gil-Albert, Alacant 1986.

Teresa Abelló i Güell

[12] Els anarcocol·lectivistes propugnaven que fossin els sindicats obrers de cada localitat els que es fessin càrrec de la producció del seu sector. Al sindicat pertocaria la propietat concreta del ram productiu corresponent. Defensaven la propietat col·lectiva dels béns i mitjans de producció, controlats pels sindicats. Cada individu produiria segons la seva voluntat o capacitat i percebria segons el seu treball. [13] Els anarcocomunistes rebutjaven els sindicats, que consideraven massa moderats i burocràtics; propugnaven una estructura molt laxa basada en petits grups d’afinitat ideològica, els quals havien de portar a terme accions de lluita i propaganda contra els factors d’ordre social, amb l’acció directa i sense refusar l’ús d’accions violentes com a mitjans de propaganda. Defensaven la propietat comuna dels béns i mitjans de producció en una societat en què tothom produiria segons la seva voluntat i rebria segons les seves necessitats. El desenvolupament d’ambdós corrents és analitzat per Jordi Piqué. Anarco-col·lectivisme i Anarco-comunisme. Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 1989. [14] Teresa Abelló. Les relacions internacionals de l’anarquisme català (1881-1914). Edicions 62, Barcelona 1987. [15] Manuel Morales. «Cultura e ideología en el Primer Certamen Socialista». A: Pere Joan Bert Hofmann i Manfred Tietz (ed.). El anarquismo español y sus tradiciones culturales. Iberoamericana, Vervuert 1995, p. 273-280. [16] Un recull de les nombrosíssimes publicacions periòdiques anarquistes a Francisco Madrid. La premsa anarquista y anarcosindicalista en España, desde la I Internacional hasta la Guerra Civil. Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona 1991. [17] Teresa Abelló. Les relacions internacionals..., op. cit., p. 21-42. [18] Una relació i descripció dels atempats: Rafael Núñez Florencio. El terrorismo anarquista. 18881909. Siglo XXI, Madrid 1983. També: Amàlia Pradas. L’anarquisme i les lluites socials a Barcelona 1918-1923: la repressió obrera i la violència. Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 2003. [19] Teresa Abelló. «El Proceso de Montjuïc. La condena internacional al régimen de la Restauración». Historia Social, núm. 14 (1992), p. 47-60. [20] Una explicació d’aquesta etapa a Antoni Dalmau. El cas Rull: viure el terror a la ciutat de les bombes, 1901-1908. Columna, Barcelona 2007. [21] Francesc Poblet. Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia i el periòdic «La Huelga General». Afers, Catarroja 2004. [22] Lily Litvak. Musa libertaria: arte, literatura y vida cultural del anarquismo español, 1880-1913. Fundación de Estudios Libertarios Anselmo Lorenzo, Madrid 2001. [23] Francisco J. Navarro. «El paraíso de la razón». La revista «Estudios» (1928-1937) y el mundo cultural

L’anarquisme als països de parla catalana: entre el sindicalisme i la propaganda (1868-1931)

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27] [28]

[29]

anarquista. Institució Alfons el Magnànim, València 1977. Susana Tavera. Solidaridad Obrera. El fer-se i desfer-se d’un diari anarcosindicalista: 1915-1939. Diputació de Barcelona, Col·legi de Periodistes, Barcelona 1992. Aquestes característiques són analitzades per Susanna Tavera. «Revolucionarios, publicistas y bohemios: los periodistas anarquistas (1918-1936)». A: Pere Joan Bert Hofmann i Manfred Tietz (ed.). El anarquismo español..., op. cit., p. 377-392. També a Pere Gabriel. «Propagandistas confederales entre el sindicato y el anarquismo. La construcción barcelonesa de la CNT en Cataluña, Aragón, País Valenciano y Baleares». Ayer, núm. 45 (2002), p. 105-146. Una visió general a Javier Paniagua i José A. Piqueras. Trabajadores sin revolución. La clase obrera valenciana, 1868-1936. Institució Alfons el Magnànim, València 1986. Confederació Regional del Treball, és a dir, la secció regional de la CNT a Catalunya. Soledad Bengoechea. Organització patronal i conflictivitat social a Catalunya. Tradició i corporativisme entre finals de segle i la Dictadura de Primo de Rivera. Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrrat, Barcelona 1994. De la mateixa autora: El locaut de Barcelona (1919-1920). Curial, Barcelona 1998. L’Associació Internacional dels Treballadors (Ber-

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[30]

[31]

[32] [33]

lín, desembre del 1922-gener del 1923), constituïda pels sindicats hostils a tota actuació política, reivindicant el nom de la Primera Internacional. La CNT era la central sindical més poderosa de la nova AIT. S’hi van afegir també la Unione Sindicale Italiana, la Federación Obrera Regional Argentina (FORA) i la CGT de Portugal. Albert Balcells. El sindicalismo en Barcelona: 1916-1923. Nova Terra, Barcelona 1965. Una visió de tot Espanya a: Antonio Bar. La CNT en los años rojos: del sindicalismo revolucionario al anarcosindicalismo, 1910-1926. Akal, Madrid 1981. Fenomen propi dels anys 1919-1923 a Espanya, amb una incidència especial a Barcelona. Va ser un enfrontament armat entre bandes a sou de la patronal i els sindicats, per eliminar el contrari. Va provocar centenars de víctimes. Albert Balcells. El pistolerisme. Barcelona, 19171923. Pòrtic, Barcelona 2009, p. 56 i 80. És l’estudi més recent i complet sobre el pistolerisme. Es pot trobar informació sobre l’anarquisme als països de parala catalana a dues obres enciclopèdiques: Maria Teresa Martínez de Sasa i Pelai Pagès (dir.). Diccionari biogràfic del moviment obrer als Països Catalans. Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona 2000, i Diego Iñiguez. Enciclopedia histórica del anarquismo español. Asociación Isaac Puente, Vitòria 2008.

Nota biogràfica Teresa Abelló i Güell és doctora en història contemporània per la Universitat de Barcelona (UB) i professora titular del Departament d’Història Contemporània a la Facultat de Geografia i Història d’aquesta universitat. Membre del Grup de Recerca i Anàlisi del Món Actual del Centre d’Estudis Històrics Internacionals de la UB. La seva tasca investigadora s’ha centrat en temes relacionats amb l’anarquisme català i el nacionalisme, sobre els quals ha publicat diversos articles a les revistes Afers, L’Avenç, Historia Social, Spagna Contemporanea i altres. És coautora de llibres com Les relacions internacionals de l’anarquisme català (1881-1914), Barcelona, Edicions 62, 1987; El movimiento obrero en España, ss. xix/xx, Barcelona, Hipòtesi, 1997; El procés estatutari del 1932, Barcelona, Publicacions del Parlament de Catalunya, 2007. També ha dirigit les obres Catalunya triomfant (ss. xviii-xix): Temps de rebel·lia i autogovern, Barcelona, Edicions 62, 2006, i Catalunya oprimida. De Felip V a Franco (ss. xviii-xx), Barcelona, Edicions 62, 2006. Ha participat en diverses obres col· lectives sobre la Catalunya del segle xx.

CATALAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 3: 227-235 (2010) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona DOI: 10.2436/20.1000.01.48 · ISSN: 2013-407X http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/

Entorn del Surrealisme català Francesc Miralles i Bofarull* Historiador de l’art

Rebut 24 març 2010 · Acceptat 15 abril 2010

Resum El Surrealisme català té arrels autòctones, per bé que també té una dimensió internacional. Encara que s’hagin formulat dubtes sobre si alguns dels seus autors s’ajusten completament a la definició teòrica del Surrealisme, no es pot escriure la història d’aquest corrent artístic sense Salvador Dalí i Joan Miró, que en desborden el marc. Però no és correcte limitar-se a aquestes figures més famoses, sinó que cal tenir en compte altres artistes com Leandre Cristòfol, Esteban Francés i altres que aquí s’esmenten.

Paraules clau: Surrealisme, avantguardes artístiques, pintura contemporània, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró S’ha escrit molt sobre el Surrealisme: sobre els personatges que integren el famós grup fundacional, sobre els seus creadors i teòrics i caps de fila, i sobre alguns dels nouvinguts que van ser decisius en la consolidació del moviment. S’ha escrit molt sobre la poesia surrealista, sobre la revolució que els uns i els altres empenyien i sobre la política social que professaven i propulsaven. S’ha escrit molt sobre el cinema surrealista, sobre els llocs en els quals els surrealistes es trobaven i que freqüentaven en les seves reunions parisenques... No hi ha dubte que el Surrealisme és el moviment cultural del segle xx sobre el qual més s’ha escrit. Malgrat tota aquesta abundant bibliografia que fins i tot eleva l’anecdotari dels personatges a exemples doctrinaris i les seves sentències a doctrina messiànica, malgrat tot, el Surrealisme és un moviment de difícil definició a la vegada que és poc conegut, si exceptuem el grup francès i alguns noms rellevants. Així, quan el 1981 es van posar en marxa les grans exposicions del Palau de la Virreina de Barcelona, vaig proposar fer una mostra del Surrealisme català i un dels responsables de la regidoria de Cultura de l’Ajuntament barceloní em va contestar preguntant-me si jo pensava pintar les obres. Fins a aquell moment, encara no existia en general la imatge-concepte que pogués existir un Surrealisme català o artistes surrealistes suficients; en aquest país, d’aquesta tendència, tan sols es podia esmentar Dalí.* Fins a aquells inicis dels anys vuitanta, no s’havia escrit gaire sobre el Surrealisme català. Però sí que crec conve-

* Adreça de contacte: Francesc Miralles i Bofarull. Carrer Hurtado, 35. E-08022 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU. Tel: +34 934340564. E-mail: mika77kimi@yahoo.es

nient detallar tres fets, pel que fa al tema: una revista, un llibre i una exposició amb el corresponent catàleg. La revista fou un número especial del primer Cobalto1 que agrupava articles molt diversos, com ara compara cions entre el Surrealisme modern i el Surrealisme que es volia veure en imatges del món antic; el Surrealisme medieval, el Surrealisme en Moore i Àngel Ferrant, així com alguns aspectes generals i teòrics, una anàlisi sobre Chagall i, lògicament, aproximacions a Miró i Dalí. Però no s’hi analitzaven altres catalans. El llibre El surrealismo2 es va editar l’any següent, el 1949, escrit per A. Cirici Pellicer, dins la col·lecció Poliedro, col·lecció que va esdevenir imprescindible per a conèixer, en la immediata postguerra espanyola, els corrents artístics contemporanis. Cirici –amb bona documentació i amb els errors característics en ell– analitza el Surrealisme per dècades, després de repassar-ne els antecedents. Ara ens interessa si s’acosta als surrealistes catalans, i com. Lògicament, obre l’apartat del país amb Joan Miró: en destaca la postura antiòptica alhora que l’automatisme alliberat de la subjecció expressiva, exalta els collages que creen una mítica poètica i afirma que per les rutes del Surrealisme va molt més enllà d’on havia arribat Max Ernst, i que per això André Breton va afirmar que podia passar pel més surrealista de tots.3 El llibre segueix acostant-se a Salvador Dalí, i ho fa en tres ocasions. A la dècada dels anys vint, l’esmenta en parlar del cinema surrealista afirmant que el 1928, en arribar a París, va sorprendre el món aportant, amb Luis Buñuel, Un chien andalou, amb tres escenes històriques, com les formigues que neixen al palmell de la mà d’una dona que juga amb la mà tallada, l’ull seccionat per una navalla d’afaitar i els pianos carregats d’ases podrits. A la dècada

228 Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010

dels trenta, torna a esmentar la punyent pel·lícula, alhora que parla de les seves monumentals creacions pictòriques –com El gran masturbador– i assenyala que acaba improvisant l’objecte surrealista, en col·laboració amb Gala, i que crea tota una nova doctrina amb La dona visible. I que l’atzar i l’ambigüitat en les imatges el van dur al punt més alt. A la dècada dels quaranta, significa Dalí com a conqueridor d’Amèrica –davant l’eclipsi de Breton, Éluard i Peret–, destaca que allà fou el retratista de moda, que va ser el creador del pavelló Venus de l’Exposició Universal de Nova York i que fou escenògraf brillant de diversos ballets. Però, abans, dedica tot un paràgraf al grup barceloní Adlan, del qual destaca Jaume Sans, Ramon Marinel·lo i Eudald Serra, i insinua algunes de les seves passions, com el circ, els objectes de fira, els siurells mallorquins... És important que Cirici, tot i que es queda en l’anècdota del grup, l’esmenti donant fe així de l’existència d’altres surrealistes autòctons que creaven a l’ombra dels dos artistes internacionals parisencs, Miró i Dalí. És inevitable analitzar la mostra i el catàleg de l’exposició “Surrealismo en España” que va presentar la galeria Multitud de Madrid l’any 1975, dintre d’aquell cicle breu, però reconfortant, de mostres que van recuperar moviments que quasi s’havien oblidat. Amb elles es van consolidar Francisco Calvo Serraller i Ángel González García. Aquesta mostra del Surrealisme presentà un gran interès: perquè a la introducció al catàleg ja s’afirma que la importància del moviment va ser la creació d’una cons ciència surrealista, fet que va donar lloc a una pervivència dels plantejaments del grup més enllà de la desaparició del nucli fundador i històric, i també perquè, malgrat tot, existia una profunda foscor referent a la importància i el desenvolupament del moviment a Espanya. En aquesta introducció, tenim elements nous d’anàlisi, com per exemple que, contràriament al que sempre s’havia dit, el Surrealisme va més enllà dels personatges que van promoure, constituir i dissoldre el grup històric: així es donava opció que artistes d’una o dues generacions posteriors poguessin considerar-se surrealistes. Després, s’introduïa també un nou concepte d’anàlisi: el geogràfic. Es buscava establir unes coordenades generals a tota una zona, més enllà dels noms dels artistes més destacats del moviment històric. Aquest plantejament duu els autors a establir una llista de deu artistes catalans que, cronològicament, es poden dividir en dos grups: els que intervenen abans de l’any 1939 i els que intervenen després d’aquesta data. Entre els primers, juntament amb els inevitables Miró i Dalí, trobem Leandre Cristòfol, Joan Massanet, Àngel Planells i Àngels Santos; entre els segons, Modest Cuixart, Joan Ponç, August Puig i Antoni Tàpies. Aquest escrit introductori planteja certs aspectes que en parlar del Surrealisme seran debatuts sempre: per exemple, l’inici o arrel en l’àmbit literari, poètic. Així, en el focus català «[...] priman inicialmente los poetas como J. V. Foix, Sebastià Gasch y Salvat Papasseit entre otros.»4 I el més apassionant de tots és si es pot o no es pot parlar de Surrealisme espanyol, de Surrealisme català...

Francesc Miralles i Bofarull

Per una part, la poesia espanyola era molt allunyada de la poesia francesa i encara més de la poesia i la literatura dels escriptors surrealistes; per una altra part, a partir del 1929, el Surrealisme oficial es popularitza profundament amb les pugnes i dissensions prou conegudes. Tot això va significar un fort obstacle per a establir comunicacions i influències entre els personatges i els grups francesos i els espanyols. Lucía García de Carpi, una de les investigadores insistents en el tema del Surrealisme espanyol –en especial en el vessant poètic–, fa aquesta lúcida anàlisi: «Tras los estudios llevados a cabo en estos últimos años, no se puede cuestionar ya la existencia en España de una creación literaria y plàstica de carácter surreal. Pero cabe constatar como, apenas superada esta inconsciente polémica, se ha ido abriendo paso en la historiografía española la falacia, ahora, de un surrealismo español de carácter autóctono, desligado por completo del movimiento francés. Se ha pasado así, sin solución de continuidad, de negar cualquier manifestación de surrealismo en España a justificar su existencia en función de un determinismo telúrico o una incontestable predisposición psíquica de carácter colectivo.»5 I la investigadora acaba afirmant que, com en totes les tendències d’avantguarda que es van cultivar a Espanya abans de la Guerra Civil, el Surrealisme va alimentarse dels plantejaments i els impulsos europeus. Cal constatar, doncs, l’existència d’un Surrealisme espanyol, com també la d’un Surrealisme català. Tot i que, en el cas de Catalunya, els fets es desenvolupen de manera una mica diferent, ja que dos dels creadors plàstics més importants del Surrealisme mundial –potser els dos més importants– són catalans. És obvi que em refereixo a Joan Miró i a Salvador Dalí. André Breton, en el seu assaig El Surrealisme i la pintura –que en el fons és més assaig que història, per la seva anàlisi partidista i interessada–, arriba a afirmar de Joan Miró que pot passar pel més surrealista de tots.6 Malgrat aquesta afirmació, fins i tot Breton mateix es qüestionava que l’artista català fos un bon exemple de pintor surrealista i els teòrics i els historiadors que s’aproximen a la seva obra no saben ben bé com classificar-la i en quin apartat encabir-la. Breton, per fer-lo dels seus, volia acostar-lo a l’automatisme: «Amb mil problemes que no el preocupen a cap nivell, malgrat que l’esperit humà en sigui ple, Joan Miró només té un desig, el de donar-se completament a l’hora de pintar, i solament per pintar (que per a ell és limitar-se a l’únic camp en el qual estem segurs que disposa de tots els mitjans), a aquell pur automatisme que per la meva banda no he deixat de ressaltar però els valors i les raons profundes del qual, em temo, ha verificat molt succintament.»7 Aquesta frase és molt significativa de com actuava Joan Miró i de com Breton percebia que Miró actuava. Primer, li retreu que els problemes retòrics del Surrealisme no el preocupin, tot i que, segons ell, són problemes que té l’esperit humà; després, ressalta que té tots els recursos per pintar, però que és l’únic camp en el qual té recursos...

Entorn del Surrealisme català

Breton, de manera subtil, molt francesa, deixa ben clar que a Joan Miró no el preocupa la teoria, la ideologia surrealista, fet que li retreu com una limitació personal. El sent, vol sentir-lo surrealista, donada la gran força pictòrica que té la seva obra. És per aquestes raons que l’encaix de Joan Miró amb el Surrealisme sempre ha trobat més dubtes que reticències. Crec que és Rosa Maria Malet qui ha analitzat de manera precisa i objectiva la posició de Miró respecte al grup i el moviment surrealista en el seu petit assaig «Joan Miró: el Surrealisme entre l’afinitat i la divergència».8 Rosa Maria Malet fa un recorregut complet de l’evolució de Joan Miró: la seva incomoditat i inconformitat per la situació que es vivia, en la seva joventut, en l’àmbit artístic barceloní, ja que a més del gran pes de la pintura acadèmica com a futur es volia implantar a Catalunya, amb el Noucentisme, el retorn a les essències mediterrànies; de com, des que s’estableix a París al començament del 1921, en un estudi de la Rue Blomet, veí del que allí tenia André Masson, s’endinsa en un altre món. Aquest fet casual el condiciona de manera absoluta i per sempre, ja que Masson l’introdueix al cercle dels seus amics poetes, que representen l’avantguarda del moment: Tristan Tzara, Michael Leiris, Pierre Reverdy, Georges Limbour... Són els avantguardistes que s’uniran a Breton quan aquest configuri el grup surrealista. Joan Miró es troba per atzar connectat amb el nou grup, el més decisiu de la plàstica del segle xx. I el més revolucionari. En arribar a aquest punt, Rosa Maria Malet confessa que sorgeixen nombrosos interrogants respecte a la vinculació de Miró al Surrealisme: la seva obra és fruit de l’automatisme o està condicionada pels somnis?; què va interessar a Miró del Surrealisme? El profund arrelament de Miró a la terra fa que, fins i tot quan no és realista, la seva obra sorgeixi o es fonamenti en la natura. «Joan Miró no deixà pas de prendre la realitat com a punt de partida de les seves obres, però en lloc de reproduir-la amb un esperit detallista, deixà que envaís el seu esperit, calés fons en els seus sentiments i fossin aquests sentiments i l’impacte de les seves vivències personals els que li dictessin la forma. Els resultats obtinguts són més unes obres sense precedents, on la llibertat dóna pas a la imaginació i al suggeriment.»9 Vivències personals, imaginació i suggeriments... però no es parla ni d’automatisme ni de somnis. Com podem parlar d’automatisme si de cada obra ens queden diversos dibuixos preparatoris que l’artista elaborava pacientment? Com podem parlar de connexió amb el món dels somnis si la seva estructura sempre va partir del món natural i extern? I Rosa Maria Malet contesta a aquestes preguntes afirmant que: «No hi ha cap dubte, els fets ho demostren, que, efectivament, existí una etapa surrealista, dintre la trajectòria de Miró; el que no és menys cert és que a aquesta etapa va tenir un caràcter totalment anticonvencional quan se la compara amb el Surrealisme ortodox.»10 És cert també que Miró empra el collage i dóna un alt valor a l’objecte, però la manera en què el tracta i el presenta és

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sempre allunyada dels cànons surrealistes. Però Joan Miró no hauria desenvolupat la seva obra tal com ho va fer sense l’existència del Surrealisme i sense la seva amistat amb els components de l’històric grup. A qualsevol lloc del món, quan es diu Surrealisme es pensa, en primer lloc, en Salvador Dalí. Cal recordar que ell mateix va repetir en nombroses ocasions: «El Surrealisme sóc jo.»11 Però aquest reconeixement i aquesta presència popular no van lligats en absolut a les interpretacions i anàlisis d’historiadors i analistes. Aquesta complexitat bibliogràfica, jo la resumia així: «[...] definir-nos un personatge, enfocar-lo en una nítida imatge que el recuperi de les tenebres, sens dubte malèvoles, que els mateixos companys surrealistes, l’esquerra intel·lectual, la crítica repetitiva i el catalanisme ranci han creat entorn seu. Els uns i els altres, per raons i interessos molt diferents, han volgut crear una imatge de Salvador Dalí per complet distorsionada: d’una banda, relativitzadora, limitant la importància de l’obra –o sigui, de la pròpia creació– i desacreditant, de l’altra, la persona de l’artista. Els uns i els altres tenien un gran aliat: l’excèntric comportament, les inusitades reaccions de l’artista, que es podien presentar com les d’un veritable desequilibrat. Per a uns, Dalí no seguia els dictats de l’esquerra; per a uns altres, les seves idees eren feixistes; quasi tots afirmen que la seva creativitat es va parar en un temps llunyà, i encara per a d’altres, no era dels nostres. I per a aquells que assumeixen una bona part d’aquestes interpretacions, la seva vida fou “excessiva”. Llongueras, en el seu exhaustiu estudi, puntualitza: “Una vida no pot ser mai ‘excessiva’ –com ho afirmen Gibson o els seus editors–, si de cas serà més rica o molt més intensa –com passa en el cas de Salvador Dalí– que la d’altra gent no marcada pel toc de la genialitat.”»12 No hi ha dubte que Salvador Dalí fou el més gran dels surrealistes plàstics, tot i que encara falten uns anys, potser dues o tres dècades, perquè el món dalinià sigui mesurat sense gaires prejudicis. Falta un allunyament prou ampli per a poder acostar-se a la seva persona i a la seva obra sense grans condicionants. Ara vull analitzar l’article «Esquema de Salvador Dalí» que va escriure J. A. Gaya Nuño i que va publicar l’esmentat número de Cobalto dedicat al Surrealisme. La seva anàlisi és anterior a la càrrega ideològica i partidista que l’analitzarà més tard. Gaya Nuño, republicà exiliat als anys quaranta a Barcelona, estigué sempre ben documentat i sempre va evidenciar una total llibertat de criteri, una independència completa respecte a les modes i les tendències analítiques. Al llarg del seu breu assaig, fa referència a tres punts referents a Dalí: al personatge, a la tècnica i a la temàtica de les obres. És evident que no té la més mínima afecció pel personatge. Al llarg de l’escrit, podem llegir nombroses sentències com aquestes: «Rara vez habrá planeado en el campo de las artes plásticas un ejemplar tan anormal de creador»; «Dalí es de una anormalidad flagrante; es un insano adorador de lo hediondo y podrido como determinante de belleza con la que no hace sino proclamar valientemente

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una faceta, estética o paraestética, común a muchos pero inconfesables para todos»; «En el catalán, la furia exhibicionista, la preocupación sexual, la atracción hacia fenomenología obscena y escatológica suplirá con creces, como fuente de monstruosidad, a la preocupación moralista de Jerónimo van Anken. Una vez los amigos y la esposa de Dalí llegaron a preguntarse si éste sería coprófago.»13 Podria omplir quatre o cinc planes senceres recollint les afirmacions sempre malèvoles i recargolades de l’historiador sorià conegut pel seu llenguatge incisivament menyspreatiu. Aquesta era l’opinió que tenia Gaya Nuño sobre la persona de Dalí. Insisteix l’analista a demostrar que, pel que fa a la tècnica, Dalí significa un retrocés comparat amb Picasso-Braque: enfront del collage i de tècniques heteròclites dels cubistes, Dalí empra les velles tècniques de pinzellada minuciosa que «només és possible observar en mitja dotzena dels millors museus del món.» Però aquesta afirmació, que en principi pot semblar un elogi, en realitat era, encobertament, una observació despectiva: a l’article, trobem frases com aquestes: «[...] un muchacho de empuje revolucionario bajo el que se encubren mohos indeciblemente conservadores.» I una altra vegada li retreu el seu academicisme, li retreu que faci Rafael i Vermeer de Delft els seus déus, retreu que es fixi en el prerafaelisme –«la més neciament artificiosa de les escoles pictòriques que hi ha hagut en un país antipictòric per excel·lència»–. Li retreu que miri endarrere i no endavant com Picasso. I li retreu que es fixi en mestres modestos i locals, com Modest Urgell i Marià Fortuny, que «l’havien seduït per alguna enginyositat tècnica.» I li retreu que celebri tant Gaudí –encara no s’havia produït la revaloració del Modernisme ni la del seu cap de files–: «[...] el catalán que más imprime su sello en nuestro hombre es Gaudí, el anciano arquitecto de la Sagrada Familia. Gaudí, no desprovisto de genio, pero superdotado con abrumadoras cantidades de un hirviente mal gusto, había de impresionar con sus arborescencias pseudo góticas, con sus camuflajes i chirimbolos, el ávido y mal educado Dalí, una de cuyas estéticas consiste en “odiar la simplicidad en todas sus formas”. Aún más sinceramente, proclama la fecundidad del mal gusto, simbolizando éste, con harta razón, por los nombres de Gaudí, Boecklin y Wagner. He aquí las extraordinarias consecuencias de que el niño Dalí fuese llevado una tarde al parque Güel.»14 M’he allargat amb aquests comentaris perquè són força indicatius del que passaria a partir d’aquest moment: que Dalí seria analitzat bàsicament pel seu comportament abans que per la seva obra. Fins i tot quan parla del seu triomf americà, el compara a Xavier Cugat, Bing Crosby o Frank Sinatra. És cert que Gaya Nuño arriba a dir que El momento sublime –aquell auricular de telèfon que penja sobre un parell d’ous ferrats– és la millor natura morta del segle xx; és cert que situa Dalí en la línia tan hispànica dels dimonis, del món demoníac, col·locant-lo al costat de Goya i de Solana; és cert que poc abans d’aquest assaig l’havia inclòs com l’última anella de la pintura espanyola juntament amb el Greco, Velázquez, Goya i Picasso.15

Francesc Miralles i Bofarull

Però també és veritat que l’historiador sorià obre la porta a l’anàlisi de fets col·laterals a la vertadera aportació daliniana –prescindint de si agrada o no–. És curiós que un personatge sempre ben documentat com Gaya Nuño no analitzés les teories que Dalí va aportar al Surrealisme, que foren potser les més profundes i radicals que van sorgir dins el moviment, des del punt de mira plàstic. Oblida el Dalí teòric del Surrealisme, el que justifica la major part de la seva creació. Parla de la Vida secreta,16 però no fa cap referència a la teoria de la «paranoia-crítica» que exposa en el seu llibre La femme visible (1930) i que fou rebuda amb gran entusiasme per Breton, alhora que marca una fita en el moviment surrealista. Gaya Nuño exalta la representació d’escenes oníriques que ell realitza amb una tècnica precisa i meticulosa, insistint en la presència del paisatge de Portlligat. Gaya Nuño tampoc no parla de la importància dels objectes surrealistes, en la creació dels quals va arribar a la pràctica del happening, acció artística de la qual fou un dels creadors. Ni tan sols destaca, com ho fa José Pierre, el vessant eròtic que infon en el moviment. L’historiador francès afirma: «[...] la mayor contribución de Salvador Dalí al Surrealismo estriba en su exaltación sistemática del erotismo, es decir, de su propia personalidad erótica en todo. Ésta le inspirará numerosas pinturas de enorme importancia como El gran masturbador de 1929 –que evidentemente es un retrato simbólico– o como, en 1931, Persistencia de la memoria –cuyos famosos “relojes blandos”, en mi opinión, vienen a decir que la masturbación constituye un medio mágico eficaz de lucha contra la muerte.»17 O sigui que, des del primer moment en què Dalí i la seva obra comencen a ser analitzats des de la historiografia, trobem que s’estableix un corrent que s’aparta de la manera com s’estudia l’obra dels altres artistes. Si insisteixo en el fet que Gaya Nuño no parla dels escrits teòrics de Dalí, és per la transcendència que van tenir en el seu moment, i també per a recalcar la importància que la teoria tenia, com hem vist, en l’àmbit surrealista. Quasi es pot dir que el Surrealisme és una teoria o posició, impulsada pels literats, que es ramifica i s’introdueix en moltes disciplines i conductes. És per això que els tres catàlegs bàsics de les tres exposicions més importants sobre el moviment fetes a Espanya insisteixen a remarcar que aquí també existia una bibliografia. En el catàleg de l’exposició de la Galeria Multitud de Madrid (1975) –la mostra i el catàleg més coherents fets fins ara a Espanya sobre el Surrealisme–, es fa present que la literatura és un dels eixos fonamentals del moviment: des de l’escriptura automàtica fins als manifestos, passant pels seus creadors i impulsors, que eren poetes i literats. En conseqüència, es fa un esforç per fusionar el Surrealisme espanyol amb els joves de la futura Generació del 27 i el Surrealisme català amb J. V. Foix i Salvat-Papasseit. Se subratlla que l’única revista espanyola que es pot anomenar surrealista fou la Gazeta del Arte, fundada el 1932, quan Breton estigué uns mesos a Tenerife. O sigui, que tot i que la Revista de Occidente de Madrid va traduir quasi

Entorn del Surrealisme català

d’immediat el manifest de Breton, a Espanya no va existir una vertadera bibliografia surrealista, no hi va haver teòrics del nou moviment.18 En el catàleg de l’exposició “Surrealisme a Catalunya 1924-1936”, de Barcelona, al Centre d’Art Santa Mònica (1988), s’adjunta un article que se centra en el paper de les revistes en l’àmbit català, pel que fa al moviment surrealista. Isabel Coll fa un meticulós repàs a les revistes Terramar, Monitor i L’Amic de les Arts i subratlla tot el que pot tenir connexió amb el Surrealisme. De Terramar esmenta un article de Pérez Jorba en el qual diu que apareix la paraula «surrealisme», potser per primera vegada, o una de les primeres, entre nosaltres. De Monitor, en destaca els articles de M. A. Cassanyes, que incitaven a trencar amb les tendències tradicionals, que ho dominaven tot: «Prefereixo no parlar del nostre art d’avantguarda, que es pot dir inexistent.» Diu Isabel Coll: «Des de la revista Monitor, la personalitat de Cassanyes feia reeixir l’admiració vers el món simbolista, el qual se singularitza per la perseverança cap a la recerca d’una tendència alliberadora que impel·lia l’esperit a trobar una fórmula que seguís el dictat del pensament, rebutjant les directrius marcades anteriorment per antigues escoles.» Tot i que més tard s’ha volgut establir que el Simbolisme hi era a la base, que era l’antecedent més immediat del Surrealisme, la veritat és que tots aquests articles no eren pas ideològics ni analítics envers els nous corrents francesos, sinó que exaltaven el trencament amb el passat, animaven a anar cap a l’avantguarda, sense que s’especifiquessin ben bé quins eren els nous camins i els nous moviments. L’Amic de les Arts és a Catalunya la revista mítica, considerada el baluard de l’avantguarda durant els anys en què es va publicar –trenta-un números entre el 1926 i el 1929–. Baluard d’avantguarda perquè és on va començar a escriure Salvador Dalí, encetant alguns temes premonitoris de les seves teories; és on escrivia Sebastià Gasch que, en aquell moment, fou una referència de modernitat; és on J. V. Foix publicava els seus poemes i textos de decantació surrealista; és on Lluís Montanyà i M. A. Cassanyes feien certes disquisicions sobre el Surrealisme, tot i que no entraven ni en aspectes conceptuals ni en processos de conducta. De fet, Isabel Coll tanca el seu article amb aquesta afirmació: «El conjunt d’aquestes revistes [Terramar, Mirador, L’Amic de les Arts] se’ns mostra com un mirall fidel de l’ideal que compartien els seus redactors, els quals, de manera infatigable, defensaven els corrents més avançats. Amb aquest ànim, no s’acontentaren únicament a contemplar el problema a distància, sinó que es col·locaren enmig de la lluita i, tot prenent-hi part de manera aferrissada, es convertiren en un incomparable testimoni d’un prodigiós treball de voluntat, d’intel·ligència i d’honradesa que els permeté d’obrir nous camins al nostre art d’avantguarda. / La seva tasca pot ésser considerada d’un valor excepcional, i pot situar-se entre els exemples literaris més reconeguts del nostre segle.»19 Consideració, aquesta, que, si té algun mal, és el de pecar d’optimisme.

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La realitat és que ni a Catalunya, ni a Espanya, no es pot parlar de revistes autènticament surrealistes, ni tan sols d’alguna que estigués compromesa amb el Surrealisme. Penso que aquest és un aspecte important, més ben dit, decisiu, per a entendre realment el Surrealisme català, alhora que l’espanyol. Pensem, per exemple, en el Manifest Antiartístic Català del 1928, més conegut amb el nom de Manifest Groc, que fou signat per Salvador Dalí, Lluís Montanyà i Sebastià Gasch. Es va redactar amb moltes dificultats, ja que Montanyà i Gasch –segons explicà aquest últim, més tard–, porucs, no s’atrevien a rectificar moltes afirmacions que escrivia Dalí, que en aquell moment iniciava la seva postura provocativa. De fet, el «manifest» no era programàtic ni tenia res a veure amb el Surrealisme. En realitat, era un atac a la cultura catalana vigent, tradicional, la de l’Orfeó Català, la del Noucentisme, la de la fama de Bernat Metge,20 i era l’exaltació de l’esperit modern, de la vida moderna –del cinema, del jazz, dels concursos de bellesa, dels grans transatlàntics...–. És cert que aquest dit «manifest» va aixecar molta polseguera, a Catalunya, com és lògic, i a Espanya, però en realitat, en essència, era una important rebequeria de joventut. En el fons, res ideològic. Així, doncs, tot i els esforços dels uns i dels altres per a demostrar el contrari, a Catalunya no hi va haver ni revistes surrealistes ni tan sols teòrics del Surrealisme. Aquest és un fet capital que ens fa negar l’existència d’un veritable Surrealisme català i ens deixa només en la possibilitat d’un cert Surrealisme a Catalunya. Així, no pot estranyar que en cap de les poques mostres que es van fer al nostre país arran del cinquantenari de la publicació del primer manifest surrealista no es presentés un Surrealisme català, sinó que sempre es remarcava l’àmbit geogràfic de la mostra: «El Surrealisme a Catalunya 1925-1975», a la Galeria Dau al Set de Barcelona; «1924-36. Surrealisme històric a Catalunya», a la Galeria Bonanova, també de Barcelona; «Pintors surrealistes de l’Empordà», al Museu de l’Empordà de Figueres. Però si bé és cert que els títols de les mostres eren força continguts, els textos que s’incloïen en els catàlegs o els que els mateixos autors van escriure arran de les mostres eren més agosarats. Rafael Santos Torroella afirmava: «[...] contra el que alguna vegada s’ha escrit, el Surrealisme ha tingut a Catalunya –i en certa manera segueix tenint– una vigència important, segurament major que la de qualsevol altre corrent d’avantguarda», i qüestionava aquells que consideraven que «[...] parlar, doncs, d’un Surrealisme català sigui tal vegada improcedent, incorrecte i abusiu.» I s’oposava a les afirmacions que el Surrealisme espanyol és, bàsicament, poètic.21 Però, a part aquests qüestionaments, poc es fa per a apropar-se a aspectes genèrics i definitoris. Deia que el Surrealisme a Catalunya comptava amb Miró i Dalí, dos dels surrealistes plàstics més importants, i aportava dades d’alguns dels artistes menys coneguts que s’incloïen en el camp surrealista. Alexandre Cirici, en el catàleg de la mostra exhibida a la Galeria Bonanova de Barcelona, ressaltava també la im-

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portància dels dos artistes esmentats: «Si pensem en aquella part de la plàstica surrealista, identificada amb el treball automàtic, sense control de raó, veurem que la figura de Joan Miró hi ocupa un lloc innegablement presidencial. Si pensem en aquell altre que transmetia, per representacions visuals convencionals, els continguts onírics o subconscients, caldrà reconèixer el paper sobresortint que hi tingué Dalí.» I Cirici trobava les arrels dels surrealistes catalans endinsades en el Modernisme, ja que creia que el moviment clau de final del segle xix era una rebel· lió contra l’academicisme, un pròleg al Surrealisme –un Surrealisme avant la lettre–, i que Gaudí era un precursor del moviment surrealista. Amb aquesta interpretació, afiançava la importància de Catalunya respecte al Surrealisme internacional.22 L’exposició dels surrealistes de l’Empordà va aportar dos nous matisos al tema: Santos Torroella afirmava que no existia el menor dubte que tramuntana23 equival a Surrealisme, i que en conseqüència el Surrealisme català és empordanès o que allà hi tenen les seves arrels els artistes surrealistes; i Jordi Gimferrer afirmava que el bressol del Surrealisme ibèric era l’Empordà.24 Jo feia –en la Història de l’art català– la recapitulació de les tres exposicions commemoratives del cinquantenari de la publicació del manifest surrealista i de la publicació d’alguns articles en aquest respecte: «Si no per altra cosa, el cinquantenari del Surrealisme va servir per posar en evidència el desconeixement que tenim d’un dels moviments culturals en què els catalans hem imposat uns valors a nivell internacional.»25 A mesura que els futurs historiadors de l’art han fet tesis doctorals, i que una nova generació de joves comissaris d’exposicions han rebuscat temes inèdits o poc estudiats, la bibliografia, o sigui, el coneixement d’artistes vinculats, en diferents graus, al Surrealisme, s’ha perfilat més. Quasi tots els artistes catalans que han passat una etapa més o menys llarga lligada al Surrealisme tenen ara, el 2010, com a mínim un llibre o un catàleg d’una àmplia exposició. Malgrat tot, encara no s’ha fet un balanç general del que han significat aquestes aportacions. Un cert balanç es va voler fer l’any 1988, quan Josep Miquel Garcia, Fina Duran i Conxita Oliver van presentar la mostra «Surrealisme a Catalunya, 1924-1936», ja esmentada abans en aquestes divagacions. Fou una mostra singular: crec que el seu valor fonamental va ser el de cridar l’atenció sobre el tema que es presentava, reconèixer que sí, que es pot parlar de Surrealisme concretant-se al territori català. Però en més d’un aspecte la mostra era desconcertant, més en el catàleg, o sigui, en la part teòrica, que no pas en les obres presentades. Hi ha un excel·lent article sobre Miró, però cap sobre Dalí. És cert que, a més de les imatges de les obres presentades a l’exposició, es concedeixen les dues primeres planes del catàleg a l’artista de Portlligat: a la primera, es reprodueix la coberta del número 8 de la revista Minotaure; a la segona, es presenta solemnement la frase «Le surréalisme c’est moi», que com en una acta notarial es constata que Dalí ho va dir el 22 de

Francesc Miralles i Bofarull

març de 1988, a la Torre Galatea, davant d’Antoni Pitxot i Josep Miquel Garcia. Insòlita constatació, ja que des que Dalí va fer aquesta suggestiva –i amb molta probabilitat verídica– afirmació als primers anys trenta, la va repetir dotzenes, centenars de vegades.26 Crec que aquesta singular entrada de catàleg –singular i ambigua– no explica el fet que Dalí sigui un dels més destacats –jo crec que el més destacat– component del grup surrealista internacional. Per a mi no té justificació que no s’hi inclogui un article sobre Dalí, l’autor d’unes teories i unes doctrines que van ampliar de manera profunda el primer corrent automatista del moviment. Sí que s’hi dedica un article a l’obra, quasi inexistent, d’Àngel Ferrant en la seva etapa catalana, i s’hi inclou Leandre Cristòfol al nivell de Viola i Lamolla; no s’hi parla del Surrealisme de postguerra, que, connectant principalment amb Miró –l’esquerra intel·lectual del moment era decididament antidaliniana–, amb el temps consolida un notable corrent propi del país. Sí que s’hi dóna relleu a l’acció d’Adlan. Adlan (Amics de l’Art Nou) va ser una agrupació que es va constituir a Barcelona a final del 1932. En el primer article dels seus estatuts, queda clar quines són les seves intencions: «Adlan té per objecte la protecció i desenrotllament de l’art, en qualsevol de les seves manifestacions.» Ni en els seus estatuts ni en el seu manifest posterior, no trobem cap indicació programàtica. Jo vaig resumir les intencions i les actuacions del grup dient: Adlan «[...] suposava una primera presa de consciència davant l’art d’avantguarda i era la primera vegada que es constituïa entre nosaltres un grup amb objectius coherents vers la defensa de l’art nou: en la seva difusió.»27 Pot estranyar, doncs, que sempre que es parla de Surrealisme al nostre país es parli d’Adlan. Això és deu al fet que, entre les seves notables activitats –des de l’exposició de Picasso, la primera que es feia a Barcelona des del 1912, fins a l’exel·lent número d’hivern del 1934 de la revista D’ací i d’allà, dedicat a l’art del segle xx–, Adlan va promoure l’exposició «Logicofobista», que es va inaugurar a Barcelona a començament de maig del 1936, a la Llibreria Catalònia. Corredor-Matheos va afirmar que tots els membres d’Adlan estaven tocats pel Surrealisme, però ell mateix afegeix que el grau d’afecció que tenien pel nou moviment era divers i que la manifestació d’aquest interès es produïa també de manera molt diferent.28 Tots estaven tocats pel Surrealisme, o sigui, per la petja de Joan Miró i de Salvador Dalí. Però entre els dos artistes, Dalí tenia una preponderància, potser perquè els seus plantejaments se sabien més pròxims al Surrealisme oficial, o sigui, a André Breton. L’exposició «Logicofobista» es va inaugurar el 5 de maig de 1936 a la Llibreria Catalònia, que en aquells anys trenta promovia notables mostres artístiques. L’organitzà M. A. Cassanyes, teòric de l’art, de qui Arnau Puig fa una subtil anàlisi del seu pensament. Cassanyes opta per impulsar el Surrealisme: «El Surrealisme se li presenta com el material que tenia més a mà per a fonamentar una filosofia que amb esperit romàntic –clara oposició al forma-

Entorn del Surrealisme català

lisme asèptic i “natural” del classicisme– i m’atreviria a dir fins i tot de recerca de les essències fenomenològiques de la filosofia de Husserl, li proporcionés el sentit radical de la vida i el seu sentit en el món.»29 Cassanyes, tot i el seu autodidactisme i una certa fragmentació del seu pensament, era dels pocs –potser l’únic– que aquí al país tractava d’estructurar una teoria que impulsés o donés suport a la plàstica més d’avantguarda. Logicofobia, logicofobisme, foren paraules –conceptes– que va crear Cassanyes, que volien dir fòbia a la lògica i que justificava retòricament en el catàleg de l’exposició. La inauguració, com tots els actes d’Adlan, fou un acte social brillant i esnob. Cassanyes havia pensat en una mostra internacional, amb Miró i Dalí, potser Picasso, i altres. Però no va tenir prou poder de convocatòria. Hi participaren Artur Carbonell, Leandre Cristòfol, Àngel Ferrant, Esteban Francés, A. Gamboa-Rothwoss, A. G. Lamolla, Ramon Marinel·lo, Joan Massanet, Maruja Mallo, Àngel Planells, Jaume Sans, Nadia Sakolova, Remedios Varo i Joan Ismael. Aquesta mostra tenia una significació especial: era la primera vegada que es feia una exposició temàtica surrealista, volent donar una visió àmplia del moviment; era també la primera vegada que es volia constituir un grup coherent entorn d’una nova tendència. Era la primera vegada que es reunien els artistes que actuaven a Lleida –que estaven mitjanament cohesionats entre ells– i els que tenien els orígens i el camp de treball a l’Empordà. A ells s’unirien artistes de Barcelona i algun de fora. Per primera vegada, existia una certa teoria –la que arribava de París, la que constituïa M. A. Cassanyes– que donava suport al treball dels artistes. Aquest pas tan positiu, que eixamplava el que havia fet el mateix Adlan un any abans, en presentar els tres escultors Ramon Marinel·lo, Jaume Sans i Eudald Serra, no va poder tenir el fruit esperat: unes setmanes més tard esclatava la Guerra Civil espanyola. Arran de la guerra vingué l’exili, momentani o definitiu, de la majoria d’aquests artistes. I el que és més decisiu: bona part d’aquests creadors es van allunyar dels esquemes surrealistes. O sigui que, per a molts, el Surrealisme va constituir una etapa, més o menys llarga, més o menys intensa, en la seva trajectòria. Vistes amb una certa perspectiva, pel que fa al Surrealisme català, aquesta mostra logicofobista i la seva gran proximitat a l’esclat de la Guerra Civil espanyola tenen una rellevància especial. Penso que la guerra va ser un factor altament negatiu, molt concretament per a la marxa del Surrealisme a Catalunya: l’exposició logicofobista i el dinamisme del grup Adlan i els seus dirigents feien preveure que es donaria un fort impuls al moviment –cal tenir present que Joan Prats era un dels principals puntals del grup i alhora era gran amic de Joan Miró–. I cada vegada més, el reduït cercle d’artistes que podien incloure’s en el grup o, si més no, en la tendència surrealista, s’anava consolidant i s’ampliava a poc a poc. Cada vegada més, la teoria s’estructurava i es coneixia millor dintre del cercle d’artistes. La guerra va tallar de manera radical la trajectò-

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 233

ria que es començava a perfilar. No hi ha dubte que el conflicte bèl·lic, a qui va afectar amb major grau va ser al moviment surrealista català. En realitat, el Surrealisme català no va poder ser. Tant els catàlegs de totes aquestes mostres que he esmentat fins aquí com els pocs estudis de síntesi que s’han fet –històries de l’art contemporani espanyol o de l’art català– citen molt pocs artistes o, en qualsevol cas, tan sols aquells que estan més a mà. Tampoc aquest és el lloc apropiat per a fer una llista que es pugui considerar més o menys completa, ni és el cas de fer-ne l’historial. Però sí que en vull fer un esment una mica més ampli que alguns noms, alhora que vull ressaltar dos fets. Àngel Planells acostuma a ser el primer de tots en qualsevol llista de surrealistes catalans. Això es deu al fet que fou més proper a Dalí ja als anys vint i el que més es va apropar a la seva estètica inicial. Ara, des de la seva fundació a Blanes, se’n potencia la personalitat. Joan Massanet –Massanet de l’Escala, com li agradava anomenar-lo a Santos Torroella– potser és el menys consolidat o conegut de tots, ja que la seva activitat professional com a farmacèutic el va mantenir sempre allunyat dels ambients artístics, si bé seguia molt de prop els moviments plàstics que es desenvolupaven a Europa. Esteban Francés és potser el pintor surrealista català més relacionat internacionalment. Ja a Barcelona va connectar amb Óscar Domínguez i Paul Éluard; a l’exili de França pren contacte amb el grup surrealista, al qual s’integra; a Mèxic i als Estats Units, on es trasllada en esclatar la Segona Guerra Mundial, manté estretes relacions amb els surrealistes clàssics que també s’havien exiliat a Amèrica. Remedios Varo, tal vegada per les seves connexions amb diversos personatges del grup fundador del Surrealisme, a París i a Mèxic, és, potser, l’artista més historiada dels surrealistes catalans –exceptuant-ne, com és lògic, els tres grans–. Però la seva obra, a Mèxic, es va decantar vers un il·lusionisme simbolista. Curiosament, Remedios Varo és l’única imatge d’artista surrealista que apareix reproduïda –i a tota plana– a l’insòlit i desconcertant catàleg Surrealisme a Catalunya 1924-1936, publicació en la qual pràcticament no es parla d’ella. Potser hi apareix perquè era guapa, o per reivindicació feminista. Vull deixar constància que aquests quatre artistes van ser surrealistes o van pintar dins els cànons surrealistes durant una etapa de la seva vida. Igual que Ángeles Santos. Però a ella la porto aquí singularitzant-la en un dels dos punts que volia ressaltar, abans de tancar aquestes divagacions. Ángeles Santos és un cas desconcertant dintre la bibliografia catalana: és l’artista que té un major nombre d’estudis que foren fets amb gran rigor. Però el que és desconcertant és la seva obra: es pot dir –com ja ha dit Lucía García de Carpi– que és la surrealista d’un sol quadre, Un món. Poc en va fer de Surrealisme, però ens ha deixat un dels quadres més impactants del moviment. Vinyet Panyella, en el seu documentat estudi sobre la pintora, escriu sobre aquesta obra: «Ángeles Santos pintà el re-

234 Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010

trat del món imaginat com un fragment de l’univers, ideat des d’una doble intuïció: la de la construcció i la del somni. I hi abocà tot el que fins llavors havia vist, intuït, observat. Hi trasplantava el sentit de la vida espiritual tal com havia après al col·legi religiós de Sevilla –l’univers, el cel, l’infern, les ànimes– i el del món tangible que coneixia: les ciutats i les cases, la vida de la gent, els trens, les platges, els rius, els cementiris. Un món depassa la mera descripció, perquè el quadre és la representació d’un univers metafísic on la terra i els esperits hi són integrats com si es tractés d’un tractat de geografia còsmica.»30 Un altre fet que considero anòmal és el poc relleu que es dóna a Leandre Cristòfol. Quan se citen els artistes catalans que s’inclouen en el moviment surrealista, Cristòfol és un nom més entre els altres, si és que no s’oblida. I això no és correcte perquè la seva obra es constitueix en la més sòlida, àmplia i creativa del nostre país –exceptuant sempre Miró i Dalí–. No puc entendre que ja el 1988, a l’exposició de Surrealisme presentada al Centre d’Art Santa Mònica de Barcelona, Cristòfol tingui el mateix tractament que Viola i Lamolla, els seus companys de Lleida. I el fet és més preocupant en la mesura que un dels organitzadors de la mostra i que a la vegada escriu l’article que fa referència a Lleida sigui Josep Miquel Garcia, un dels màxims analistes de l’escultor. En canvi, Josefina Alix Trueba, en parlar de La experimentación tridimensional en el surrealismo español, sí que li dóna un relleu destacat.31 I Arnau Puig el condensa així: «Leandre Cristòfol, que sense que li manqui la ironia sarcàstica, tanmateix conserva el goig encisat per tot allò que el rodeja i dels detritus d’aquest món en fa joies d’exquisides sensacions per a ell i per als altres.»32 Tot això, pel que fa al Surrealisme històric, o sigui el d’abans de la guerra. Però a Catalunya molts artistes han insistit en aquest corrent. Així, el primer moment de Dau al Set evidencia que els contactes amb Joan Miró van donar un primer fruit, tot i que després la majoria dels pintors del grup es decantessin vers altres llenguatges. Tímidament, en alguna mostra recent sobre el Surrealisme s’han inclòs alguns noms més actuals. Però sense donar cap visió de conjunt. I la mostra recent «Il·luminacions. Catalunya visionària», per la seva amplitud, no va acabar de profunditzar el tema. No hi ha dubte que un gran estudi sobre l’art català seria el del Surrealisme de la segona meitat del segle xx.

Notes i referències [1] [2] [3] [4]

[5]

Cobalto, vol. ii, quadern primer. Barcelona 1948. A. Cirici Pellicer. El surrealismo. Ediciones Omega, Barcelona 1949. A. Cirici Pellicer. Op. cit., p. 35. Ángel González García, Francisco Calvo Serraller. «Cuando en 1919 volvieron del frente...», al catàleg Surrealismo en España. Galeria Multitud, Madrid 1975, p. 18. Lucía García de Carpi. «La respuesta española».

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[6] [7] [8]

[9] [10] [11]

[12]

[13] [14] [15]

[16]

Al catàleg El surrealismo en España. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, octubre 1994, p. 25. André Breton. Le Surrealisme et la peinture. Gallimard, París 1965 (2a edició), p. 37. André Breton. Op. cit., p. 36-37. Rosa Maria Malet. «Joan Miró: el Surrealisme entre l’afinitat i la divergència», al catàleg Surrealisme a Catalunya 1924-1936. De L’Amic de les Arts al logicofobisme. Centre d’Art Santa Mònica, Barcelona, maig 1988, p. 17-23. Rosa Maria Malet. Op. cit., p. 20. Rosa Maria Malet. Op. cit., p. 20. Són nombroses les versions de quan i com Dalí va dir per primera vegada que el Surrealisme era ell: si fou quan el grup ortodox i intransigent del Surrealisme decidí expulsar-lo del nucli històric; si fou quan, pocs dies després de visitar Sigmund Freud, un periodista li preguntà què és el Surrealisme, si fou... És millor cultivar la llegenda, en tot el que fa a Dalí. El que sí que sembla clar és que va proclamarho durant els primers anys trenta. Francesc Miralles: «Adiós... especial amigo...». A Lluís Llongueras. Tot Dalí. Vida i obra del personatge més genial i espectacular del segle xx, Pòrtic, Barcelona 2003, p. 14. J. A. Gaya Nuño. «Esquema de Salvador Dalí». Cobalto. Vegeu op. cit. a la nota 1, p. 35 i 38. J. A. Gaya Nuño. Op. cit., p. 37. “El surrealismo había hallado mentores y creadores en el extranjero; pero también ha sido un español el que ha extraído del surrealismo más plásticas y reales, menos monstruosas. Aceptado el surrealismo como escuela, no cabe duda que a Dalí se debe su mayor integración artística.» «Picasso, Dalí y Miró continúan su labor, y aún cabe esperar de sus inquietudes estéticas nuevas conquistas e innovaciones. Con ellas ha logrado la pintura española una admiración de extraños, que no se estilaba desde que comenzó la obra de Goya a ser estimada.» J. A. Gaya Nuño. Historia del arte español. Editorial Plus Ultra, Madrid, p. 433-434. Com fa l’autor al llarg de l’assaig, tracta la Vida Secreta amb el mateix to que estableix a tot l’escrit: entre la lloança capciosa i el menyspreu radical. «Este documento de impúdica egolatría, aun narrado con cierta claridad, deja flotantes en lo impreciso los principales nudos de esta diabólica y seductora historia que ha sido la imposición del arte daliniano. Era, pues, preciso este esquema [es refereix al seu article] porque en la Vida Secreta, cifra paranoica de la paranoica actividad de Dalí, lo que debiera ser más claramente explicado se esconde astutamente tras la exhibición de puerilidades –lo que no se cuenta es lo más sabroso. Al mismo tiempo, en este libro único, al lado de ingeniosísimas sutilezas y de trascendentales desnudeces, se hacen afirmaciones

Entorn del Surrealisme català

[17]

[18] [19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

tendenciosas y se inserta más de una majadería.» J. A. Gaya Nuño. Op. cit., p. 36. José Pierre. «La contribución española a la revolución surrealista». Al catàleg El surrealismo en España. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, octubre 1994, p. 59-60. Ángel González García, Francisco Calvo Serraller. Op. cit., p. 16 i s. Isabel Coll. «El Surrealisme a través de tres revistes d’avantguarda: Terramar, Mirador i L’Amic de les Arts». Al catàleg Surrealisme a Catalunya 19241936. Op. cit., p. 27-31. El Noucentisme, definit per Eugeni d’Ors, fou un moviment cultural, d’abast polític, que s’inicià el 1906 i durà fins al 1923, amb una certa continuïtat fins al 1936. El classicisme i el mediterranisme el caracteritzen. Ordre, serenitat, modernitat i civilisme són els seus valors principals. R. Santos Torroella. «Algunes notes entorn a una exposició de “El Surrealisme a Catalunya”». Al catàleg de la mostra. Dau al Set, Barcelona 1975. R. Santos Torroella. «El Surrealisme a Catalunya». El Noticiero Universal, Barcelona, 3, 11 i 18 de novembre de 1975. Alexandre Cirici. Catalunya i el Surrealisme. Catàleg de la mostra Bonanova Galeria d’Art. Barcelona 1975.

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 235

[23] Santos Torroella. Del Surrealisme a l’Empordà. Catàleg de l’exposició. Museu de l’Empordà, Figueres 1977. Jordi Gimferrer. «Del Noucentisme al Surrealisme, Salvador Dalí». Revista de Banyoles, núm. 550 (1979). [24] La tramuntana és un vent del nord, violent, que bufa sobretot a l’Empordà, la comarca de la Catalunya del nord-est. [25] Francesc Miralles. «Entorn del Surrealisme» [sub capítol]. A: «L’època de les avantguardes, 19171970». Història de l’art català. Vol. VIII. Edicions 62, Barcelona 1983, p. 94. [26] Vegeu la nota 11. [27] Francesc Miralles. Adlan [subcapítol]. Vegeu la nota 23, p. 138. [28] Josep Corredor-Matheos. «Adlan i el Surrealisme». Al catàleg Surrealisme a Catalunya. Op. cit., p. 49-52. [29] Arnau Puig. «El Logicofobisme i l’exposició logicofobista». Al catàleg Surrealisme a Catalunya. Op. cit., p. 51-55. [30] Vinyet Panyella. Ángeles Santos, I. Viladot, Barcelona 1992, p. 40 i 42. [31] Josefina Alix Trueba. «La experimentación tridimensional en el surrealismo español». Al catàleg El surrealismo en España. Op. cit., p 110 i s. [32] Arnau Puig. Vegeu la nota 27.

Nota biogràfica Francesc Miralles Bofarull (Tarragona, 1940) és un crític i historiador català de l’art. Format a la Universitat de Barcelona, en fou molts anys professor. Fou director de l’Escola Massana de Barcelona. Va ser molts anys crític d’art al setmanari Destino i al diari La Vanguardia, entre altre publicacions. Va dirigir la important revista d’història de l’art Estudios ProArte. Coordinà la Història de l’art català d’Edicions 62 (sis edicions del 1982 al 2007) i hi publicà el volum corresponent al segle xx. Ha publicat nombrosos llibres, especialment monografies d’artistes actuals (Pla-Narbona, Gerard Sala, Elena Paredes, Daniel Argimon, Josep S. Jassans, entre d’altres), però les seves aportacions principals són la monografia Anglada-Camarasa (1981), en col·laboració amb Francesc Fontbona, que conté el catàleg raonat de la seva pintura, la monografia catàleg sobre els dibuixos del mateix Anglada (2006), la monografia més extensa apareguda sobre el ceramista Llorens Artigas (1992), també amb catàleg de la seva obra, i un conjunt de monografies sobre Joaquim Mir, que han representat l’estudi d’aquest pintor per etapes i que han convertit Miralles en el principal expert en Mir. Arran d’aquests coneixements, fou nomenat comissari de la retrospectiva de l’artista que es va fer durant el 2009 al Caixafòrum de Barcelona. També ha publicat monografies sobre Oleguer Junyent (1994) i Pere Pruna (1998), així com Memòria dels somnis: Salvador Dalí (2000), en col·laboració amb Arnau Puig.

CATALAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 3: 237-239 (2010) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona ISSN: 2013-407X http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/

Sisè centenari de Francesc Eiximenis

Amb motiu del sis-centè aniversari de la mort de l’escriptor Francesc Eiximenis (Girona 1340-Perpinyà 1409), l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans va celebrar un cicle de nou conferències i una taula rodona els dies 16 i 17 de desembre de 2009 sobre el context històric i l’obra d’aquest franciscà gironí. Eiximenis va graduar-se i obtingué la licencia docendi en teologia a la Universitat de Tolosa de Llenguadoc el 1374. Visqué a la ciutat de València entre el 1383 i el 1408, on va escriure la major part de les seves obres, molt conegudes al seu temps i traduïdes a diversos idiomes. Participà al Concili de Perpinyà del 1408 enmig del Cisma d’Occident, cridat pel papa aragonès Benet XIII, a qui donà suport. El papa el féu bisbe d’Elna. Tres dels principals especialistes en Eiximenis –Curt Wittlin, Albert Hauf i Xavier Renedo– van intervenir en el cicle. L’obra d’Eiximenis ofereix un testimoni de la unitat lingüística, cultural i política dels actuals Països Catalans al segle xv. Durant els anys seixanta d’aquella centúria, el frare Eiximenis va estudiar a Colònia, París i Oxford. Quan tornà, l’Estudi General de Lleida li va oferir una càtedra de Teologia, que no pogué exercir en mancar-li el grau de mestre. Becat pel rei Pere el Cerimoniós i protegit pel duc d’Anjou i el comte d’Armanyac, es graduà a Tolosa de Llenguadoc. Va escriure el primer volum de la seva magna obra enciclopèdica Lo Crestià a Barcelona i va predicar l’oració fúnebre de Pere el Cerimoniós. Però la mort del seu protector no afluixà els vincles amb la casa reial, atès que fou confessor de Joan I i de la reina Maria de Luna, esposa del rei Martí l’Humà. A València, actuà com a conseller dels jurats que regien la ciutat i intervingué eficaçment en la pacificació de l’assalt cruent que patí el call jueu de la ciutat el 1391. Els seus llibres Primer del Crestià i El regiment de la cosa pública figuraven damunt la taula de l’escrivà del govern municipal de València. En aquells anys, va escriure dues obres molt traduïdes, el Llibre dels àngels i el Llibre de les dones, i també la Vida de Jesucrist. El Llibre de les dones resulta un document interessant per a la història de la condició femenina, tot i la misogínia clerical. Comença parlant de les donzelles, continua amb les dones casades i les vídues, per acabar amb les monges, sense estalviar crítiques sobre els costums de cada grup. La difusió de la seva obra queda palesa, per exemple, amb la seixantena de manuscrits conservats del Llibre dels

àngels així com amb la notable quantitat d’edicions i traduccions de què fou objecte a la darreria del segle xv i primera meitat del segle xvi. Com digué l’organitzador del cicle, Antoni Riera Melis, actualment l’obra de Francesc Eiximenis continua tenint gran importància, tant per als filòlegs com per als historia dors. Per als primers, constitueix un testimoni de primer ordre sobre la llengua culta i popular de la segona meitat del segle xiv. Els segons, d’altra banda, hi troben un reflex viu i detallat de la societat coetània, una font imprescindible per a analitzar no sols les estructures econòmiques, socials i polítiques d’aquell segle, sinó també els costums, la mentalitat, la religiositat, les fòbies i les filies dels seus contemporanis. Si per un costat l’obra d’Eiximenis no es pot entendre sense el seu context, és al mateix temps necessària per a conèixer-lo. Flocel Sabaté, de la Universitat de Lleida, parlà de les estructures polítiques de la Corona catalanoaragonesa entre el 1333 i el 1410. La visió catastròfica de la segona meitat del segle xiv, que ha predominat fins fa poc, es troba ara en plena revisió atesa la creativitat, vitalitat i consolidació institucional que presenta aquella època. Es revalora avui el paper del comerç internacional amb un rol clau en l’economia del període. La pagesia depengué cada vegada més dels burgesos inversors i les ciutats, regides per una oligarquia, com en el cas de València, intentaren dominar l’entorn rural i superar la fragmentació jurisdiccional que dificultava les reclamacions. Eiximenis justifica el paper que estaven prenent els grans municipis, que marquen límits al poder reial alhora que s’oposen a la venda de jurisdiccions del rei, portat a això per la seva penúria financera en un temps de guerres incessants i de reducció demogràfica. Eiximenis teoritza la sobirania com d’origen comunitari dins el marc pactista d’una monarquia limitada, característic de la Corona catalanoaragonesa, on els burgesos estaven reforçant el poder parlamentari de les Corts. Però també és testimoni de l’oposició de les altres classes al patriciat urbà que monopolitzava el poder i repartia desigualment les càrregues. Ell, fill de mercader, no sols elogia el paper d’aquest braç, sinó que dóna normes per a un govern municipal just. De tota manera, la visió utòpica i apocalíptica d’Eiximenis del regnat final de la «justícia popular» es veu limitada pel menyspreu per la pagesia, que constituïa la immensa majo-

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ria de la població, el rebuig de jueus i homosexuals i l’inici de la criminalització de la pobresa, distingint entre pobres dignes de caritat i lumpen, que cal expulsar de la ciutat. Enric Guinot, de la Universitat de València, parlà d’aquesta ciutat a la segona meitat del segle xiv. Malgrat el flagell de la pesta negra i l’empobriment de la pagesia, la ciutat va créixer, mostrant la seva capacitat de reconstrucció al final del segle com a centre exportador i reexportador. València va anar rebent territoris de fora del seu terme en règim de senyoria urbana. Aquest desenvolupament econòmic i polític es produí malgrat problemes com els conflictes socials interns, amb un increment de la lluita entre bàndols, i malgrat la marginació dels mudèjars, els musulmans sotmesos, objecte de desconfiança com a potencials aliats d’atacs sarraïns des del nord d’Àfrica, i l’hostilitat envers els jueus, víctimes del motí popular descontrolat del 1391, que conduí a la seva conversió forçada. Maria Teresa Ferrer, investigadora del Consell Superior d’Investigacions Científiques i presidenta de la Secció Històrico-Arqueològica de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans, parlà extensament i en profunditat de la projecció exterior de la Corona catalanoaragonesa en aquella època de guerres gairebé incessants amb Gènova i pel domini de Sardenya, i amb la Corona de Castella, amb atacs devastadors del seu rei que col·locaren Pere el Cerimoniós a la defensiva i esgotaren les seves finances. La Corona catalanoaragonesa superà l’asfíxia gràcies a la guerra civil castellana. El balanç final positiu de la política exterior de Pere el Cerimoniós i de Martí l’Humà fou la reincorporació dels regnes de Mallorca i de Sicília. La política exterior catalana es va trobar enllaçada amb la guerra anglofrancesa dels cent anys i afectada pel Cisma d’Occident amb la diversitat d’autoritats papals. Xavier Renedo, de la Universitat de Girona i de l’Institut Francesc Eiximenis, dedicà la seva ponència a analitzar Lo Crestià de forma molt documentada i amb nombroses citacions textuals. Es tracta d’una obra monumental, encara no editada tota, com és el cas del seu llibre dotzè. Eiximenis era un lector de la literatura profètica, que tenia molt d’èxit en el seu temps, però era vista amb desconfiança per la jerarquia eclesiàstica, si bé el nostre autor considerava finalitzat el temps dels profetes i es presentava ell mateix com el «piadós glossador dels antics profetes» de la Bíblia. Però n’actualitzava el llegat, fins al punt de tractarse també d’una obra política, perquè el poder públic ha d’estar atent als perills de l’esdevenidor. Els exemples que ofereix en parlar dels pecats i de les virtuts fan d’Eiximenis un gran observador de la societat del seu temps i un definidor de la ciutat, no sols de la ideal, sinó de la real –aquí radica l’interès de la seva obra per a la història de l’urbanisme–, així com de la tècnica militar, de la pedagogia i de les germandats d’ajuda mútua. Eiximenis justifica la revolta contra el príncep que no compleix les lleis pactades i profetitza el final de les monarquies, però el rei l’obligà a una rectificació després dels pogroms del 1391 i la rectificació més notable es troba al Llibre dels àngels. Aquest llibre és ple de referències polítiques amb intervenció angèlica com

Sisè centenari de Francesc Eiximenis

a mitjancera. Eiximenis havia dit que el poder ve del poble, però resulta ser Déu qui garanteix la rectificació dels prínceps per mitjà de missatges angèlics evitant així la revolta dels súbdits. Xavier Renedo acaba d’editar a la col·lecció de textos pedagògics d’Eumo Editorial el llibre d’Eiximenis Art de predicació al poble. Salvador Giner, sociòleg de la Universitat de Barcelona i president de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans, parlà dels orígens del republicanisme al llibre Lo regiment de la cosa pública. Lamentà la injusta absència de menció de l’obra d’Eiximenis en la historiografia sobre els orígens medievals del pensament republicà abans de Maquiavel. Giner remarcà l’aportació del savi frare franciscà en aquest corrent de la filosofia política democràtica que és el republicanisme. Eiximenis basa el bon govern en la sobirania de la llei pactada i en troba la justificació en la utilitat pel bé de la comunitat. Exalta la necessitat de la virtut cívica i secular, solidària i fraternal, defensa l’hegemonia de la «mà mitjana» –la classe mitjana urbana– i exalta la llibertat humana, que no sols és compatible amb els privilegis de cada grup i amb la diferència, sinó que n’és respectuosa mentre no els violin els drets dels altres. El pragmatisme d’Eiximenis l’allunya del constitucionalisme abstracte, molt posterior. Giner remarcà la influència dels mestres franciscans de la Universitat d’Oxford damunt el pensament d’Eiximenis. El text és ple de retrets contra l’ociositat parasitària de la classe dirigent, i d’exaltació del treball, tot i la seva commiseració pels indigents que no siguin culpables de la seva misèria. Malgrat les apel·lacions a la divinitat, Eiximenis és un precursor de l’argumentació política secular i laica. El menyspreu burgès del nostre pensador envers la pagesia rau en la seva aversió per l’univers feudal. Però no estalvia la crítica als mercaders especuladors i acaparadors. No cal dir que el republicanisme d’Eiximenis, que s’estima més la insaculació dels càrrecs públics –el sorteig per a elegir els magistrats en lloc de la votació–, és compatible amb la justificació del monarca com a poder arbitral i moderador del conjunt de la societat. Josep Hernando, professor de la Universitat de Barcelona i medievalista, va presentar la ponència sobre el Tractat d’usura de Francesc Eiximenis, Aquesta obra, conservada al manuscrit 42 del monestir de Sant Cugat del Vallès, va restar inèdita fins als anys vuitanta del segle xx i només se n’han conservat els tretze primers capítols, que Eiximenis va escriure entre el 1374 i el 1383. La definició de la usura, exemplificada amb detall, permet legitimar l’interès del crèdit que practicaven els prestamistes burgesos. Resulta evident la importància de l’obra per a entendre millor el sistema monetari medieval català i els diferents tipus de préstec de l’època. Hi ha una relació entre aquest tractat i el capítol sobre l’avarícia de Lo terç del Crestià. Albert Hauf, catedràtic de la Universitat de València i membre de l’IEC, parlà de la Vita Christi, inscrita en el gènere dels llibres de meditació amb exemples de la vida de Jesucrist. Va ser escrita en català i no en llatí com era habitual en aquest tipus d’obra. I així ho volgué el comitent, Pere d’Artès, per tal que l’obra arribés a un públic

Sisè centenari de Francesc Eiximenis

més nombrós. Avui és un llibre poc conegut, mentre que a la seva època va ser molt valorat, traduït a diverses llengües i llegit per les classes dirigents. Mostra d’això és la traducció d’Hernando de Talavera, a Granada el 1496, i la traducció al francès del manuscrit de Joana de França, dels voltants del 1461. Curt Wittlin, membre corresponent de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans, parlà del Psalterium, un llibre per a papes, reis i bisbes, una obra que tingué una versió en llengua catalana el 1406 per obra d’un traductor. L’origen es troba en les oracions que Eiximenis havia anat escrivint per a la reina, per al papa i per als estudiants de teologia. Són un complement a la seva vida de Jesucrist. Wittlin es pregunta on aprengué el nostre autor aquell llatí clàssic. Va ser a la Vulgata de Sant Jeroni, perquè no es troben autors antics llatins a la seva biblioteca. Eiximenis manipula i interpreta les seves fonts, no sol citar-les literalment i fins i tot inventa fonts i exemples. No és un simple repetidor d’autoritats. I en aquest sentit, és original dins una tradició ortodoxa. Dins el seu tarannà profètic reprimit, Eiximenis pregunta a Déu per què permet els mals governants mentre que els millors resten exclosos del poder. La resposta no pot ser cap altra: són un càstig pels nostres pecats. Eiximenis era conscient que els eclesiàstics vivien a costa del delme tributat per les classes subalternes. Wittlin il·lustrà la seva ponència amb nombrosos textos. Jaume de Puig, membre de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans, va oferir una relació detallada dels manuscrits de cada una de les grans obres d’Eiximenis amb la seva localització precisa, tot elogiant el primer catàleg que presentà Massó i Torrents fa molts anys, però advertint que ens trobem encara al començament del procés de descoberta, de manera que el mateix centenari pot contribuir a noves troballes. Informà també que està en via de publicació un nou catàleg, continuació del de Massó. La multiplicació de manuscrits i la seva difusió europea demostren que Eiximenis fou un autor apreciat fora de la Corona catalanoaragonesa. El seu llegat ha estat víctima de les seves proporcions descomunals, que n’han dificultat molt l’edició completa i indexada. Les traduccions al flamenc, al castellà i al francès de les obres d’Eiximenis foren també objecte de l’anàlisi de Jaume de Puig. A la taula rodona final a càrrec d’Antoni Riera Melis, Albert Hauf i Salvador Giner, es formularen diverses conclusions. Eiximenis ha estat poc utilitzat pels historiadors medievalistes com a font per l’amplitud de la seva obra, que, mancada d’una edició completa i indexada, no és fàcil d’utilitzar. Però resulta imprescindible per a la història de la religiositat i de la moralitat així com per a la del pensament polític i de la mentalitat d’un període molt agitat i tràgic però curull de creativitat, esperonada per les dificultats. Eiximenis va justificar els canvis i molt ràpidament va ser llegit i citat. També és utilíssima l’obra d’Eiximenis per a la història de l’alimentació i de la urbanitat en la forma de menjar, un art procedent d’Itàlia. El nostre autor posa en relació el rang social amb el menjar. I fins i tot esbossa un patriotisme gastronòmic. També és im-

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 239

prescindible per al coneixement de la vida quotidiana. Els seus escrits completen de forma viva els inventaris morts dels notaris. Els organitzadors són conscients de la manca d’una ponència dedicada al Llibre de les dones, però confien comptar amb un article complementari abans de l’edició del conjunt de les ponències. Molt abans que la Inquisició posés final a la traducció de la Bíblia a la llengua vulgar amb l’eliminació de la Bíblia Valenciana, impresa en català el 1478, Eiximenis defensava que les Escriptures estiguessin a l’abast de la gent senzilla en la seva llengua materna. Per al folklore i les llegendes, Eiximenis és una font medieval fonamental. En definitiva, editar tota la seva obra completa amb un índex per a la seva consulta és una tasca necessària. No seria completa la present crònica sense fer esment del congrés internacional que sobre Eiximenis se celebrà a la Universitat de Girona entre els dies 12 i 14 de novembre de 2009. Les ponències foren les següents. Jaume de Puig, «Sobre els manuscrits de les traduccions en francès del Llibre dels àngels»; Paolo Evangelisti, «Moneta, sovranità, res publica in William of Pagula, Nicola Oresme, Francesc Eiximenis»; Albert Hauf, «Noves reflexions sobre la Vita Chisti d’Eiximenis»; Robert E. Lerner, «The authorship of De Triplici Statu Mundi»; Xavier Renedo, «Francesc Eiximenis i el pactisme»; Damien Ruiz, «L’ordre Franciscain, Francesc Eiximenis et le schisme d’Occident»; Francesco Santi, «Francesc Eiximenis e la scrittura mistica europea tra xiv e xv secolo»; Curt Wittlin, «Eiximenis: Entenc a romançar e expondre... segons que em serà vejares que sia... pus profitós». Les comunicacions presentades al congrés foren les següents: Gemma Avenoza, «El manuscrito de la Universidad de Oviedo del Libro de las donas, traducción cas tellana del Llibre de les dones de Francesc Eiximenis»; Montserrat Batllori, «Ordre de mots i estructura informativa a la llengua de Francesc Eiximenis»; Míriam Cabré, «Francesc Eiximenis i Cerverí de Girona»; Carme Clausell, «Tradició textual de l’Scala Dei»; Antonio Contreras, «En nostre temps present: consideracions sobre l’art de la guerra segons Francesc Eiximenis»; Carme Cortès, «La justícia com a fonament de la cosa pública»; Immaculada Fàbregas, «Algunes anotacions paremiològiques referents a Lo llibre de les dones»; Josep Antoni Iglésias, «Eiximenis i les inscripcions»; Eva Izquierdo, «Tradició catalana del Llibre de les dones»; Sadurní Martí, «Amb el diable al cos: somnis i temptacions al Segon del Crestià»; Marco Pedretti, «Francesc Eiximenis, el bateig forçat dels jueus i els avalots del 1391»; Jordi Redondo, «La sofística a l’obra de Francesc Eiximenis»; Jaume Torró, «Eiximenis i Joan I»; Enric Tremps, «Captius i servicials en la ciutat d’Eiximenis»; Jaume Riera i Sans, «Eiximenis i Martí I». El comitè científic del congrés estigué format per Stefano Alperti (Università Roma-La Sapienza), Lola Badia (Universitat de Barcelona), Pedro M. Cátedra (Universitat de Salamanca), Francesc M. Gimeno Blay (Universitat de València) i Gian Luca Potestà (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore).

CATALAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 3: 241-249 (2010) Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona ISSN: 2013-407X http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/

Sessió a l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans sobre la dimensió civicopolítica de l’obra de l’historiador Jaume Vicens Vives

L’obra de Jaume Vicens Vives El 18 de febrer de 2010, l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans contribuí a la celebració de l’any Jaume Vicens Vives, el del centenari del naixement d’aquest historiador, amb una sessió acadèmica sobre «Vicens Vives, més enllà de l’historiador», és a dir, una sessió sobre la seva dimensió civicopolítica. Convé recordar que Vicens fou elegit membre de la Secció Històrico-Arqueològica de l’IEC l’any 1958, quan acabava de publicar Industrials i polítics del segle xix a la col·lecció que ell dirigia, «Biografies Catalanes», de l’Editorial Teide, que havia fundat amb el seu cunyat Frederic Rahola. Amb aquell llibre inaugurà la historiografia contemporània de Catalunya amb caràcter universitari. Jaume Vicens Vives va néixer a Girona el 1910. Orfe de pare, va haver de treballar mentre estudiava fins que guanyà una beca. A la Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres de la Universitat de Barcelona va ser deixeble d’Antonio de la Torre (Còrdova 1878 - Madrid 1966), que el familiaritzà amb el treball sobre els documents de l’Arxiu de la Corona d’Aragó i amb la temàtica del regnat dels Reis Catòlics. Antonio de la Torre fou desfavorable al règim de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona del 1933. La Guerra Civil espanyola l’agafà en zona antirepublicana i el 1940 es traslladà a Madrid, on esdevingué figura directiva del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, successor de la Junta de Ampliación de Estudios e Investigaciones Científicas. Des d’aquesta posició protegí Vicens en la seva carrera fins a la càtedra universitària. Vicens Vives va ser nomenat professor encarregat de curs de la Universitat de Barcelona el 1933 i es doctorà el febrer de 1936 amb una tesi sobre Ferran II el Catòlic i la ciutat de Barcelona. Abans havia tingut una polèmica amb Antoni Rovira i Virgili, durant la qual declarà la seva posició revisionista envers la historiografia nacional catalana. Vicens defensava el paper del monarca com a moderador de les lluites internes a finals del segle xv i com a modernitzador i racionalitzador enfront de la Generalitat de Catalunya i el Consell de Cent de Barcelona, les institucions que limitaven el poder del rei i que havien protagonitzat la Guerra Civil catalana entre el 1462 i el 1472. Vicens titllava de romàntica, és a dir, de tronada i plena de prejudicis, la historiografia catalana anterior. No quedava

al marge de les seves crítiques ni l’obra de Ferran Soldevila, professor també de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Soldevila tenia un gran prestigi perquè acabava de publicar la seva Història de Catalunya (1934-1935). Vicens Vives va ser expulsat de la Universitat de Barcelona després de la Guerra Civil juntament amb molts altres professors. El 1942 fundà l’Editorial Teide, que renovà els llibres de text escolars i li serví després de suport per als seus projectes historiogràfics. Adoptà la retòrica feixista del primer franquisme i la ideologia dels vencedors de la guerra amb obres com España. Geopolítica del Estado y del Imperio (1940). Després de vuit anys d’ostracisme universitari i de diversos intents fracassats, el 1947 obtingué un lloc de catedràtic d’Història moderna i contemporània a la Universitat de Saragossa i l’any següent, novament per concurs, esdevingué catedràtic de la mateixa titulació a la Universitat de Barcelona. El 1945 havia publicat el seu primer llibre de recerca de després de la guerra: Historia de los remensas, que tracta de la lluita i l’emancipació parcial dels pagesos adscrits a la terra a la meitat nord de Catalunya al segle xv. Un cop establert a Barcelona, cercà una aproximació a l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans, que es trobava en una situació de semiclandestinitat per la política de genocidi identitari a què la dictadura franquista havia sotmès Catalunya. El 1950 va assistir al IX Congrés Internacional de Ciències Històriques a París. Era el primer després de la Segona Guerra Mundial i significà el principi de l’hegemonia mundial de l’escola dels Annales. Vicens establí contacte amb Fernand Braudel al mateix temps que adoptava el qualitativisme de Charles Morazé. També intentà combinar la geohistòria, les morfologies històriques d’Arnold Toynbee i el mètode de les generacions. En qualsevol cas, l’orientació de Vicens mai no fou marxista. A Barcelona fundà, el 1949, el Centro de Estudios Históricos Internacionales, reconegut oficialment el 1955, amb les seves dues revistes renovadores: Estudios de Historia Moderna (1951-1959) i Índice Histórico Español (1953), publicació de bibliografia crítica encara existent avui. El primer consell de redacció d’Índice Histórico Español era l’equip de col·laboradors més propers a Vicens: Jordi Nadal, Emili Giralt, Joan Reglà, Joan Mercader, Ramon Gubern, Jordi Rubió i Lois, Manuel Riu, David Ro-

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Sessió a l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans sobre la dimensió civicopolítica de l’obra de l’historiador Jaume Vicens Vives

mano, Eduard Ripoll i Josep Pérez Ballestar. Per mitjà de les dues revistes esmentades va promoure la renovació de la història espanyola i catalana que considerava, sobretot la primera, massa ideològica i dependent de l’assaig filosòfic i polític, tal com indicà al seu llibre Aproximación a la Historia de España (1952). D’aquest assaig, n’hi ha la versió anglesa de Joan Connelly Ulman, Approaches of the history of Spain, publicada el 1967 i el 1970 per University of California Press. Per tal d’explicar la psicologia col· lectiva dels catalans i esbossar els orígens de la Guerra Civil del 1936, va escriure l’assaig Notícia de Catalunya (1954), un llibre breu que obtingué un gran èxit, malgrat l’estil de vegades el·líptic, imposat per la censura de l’època i pel trauma massa proper de la Guerra Civil espanyola. A la segona edició del 1960 tingué en compte algunes de les crítiques i observacions que se li havien fet, amb satisfacció de la resistència cultural catalana, que considerà que Vicens se li apropava. La mateixa editorial de la versió catalana en publicà la castellana –Noticia de Cataluña– el 1954, el 1962 i el 1971. Ja el 1954, la publicació de l’article «Coyuntura económica y reformismo burgués» indicava que Vicens havia començat a treballar en l’estudi del segle xix. Vicens va ser nomenat professor d’història econòmica d’Espanya a la nova Facultat de Ciències Econòmiques i Empresarials de la Universitat de Barcelona el 1954 i va escriure uns apunts sobre la matèria el 1956, que es convertiren el 1959, amb la col·laboració del seu ajudant Jordi Nadal, en el prestigiós Manual de historia económica de España que té versió en anglès editada per Princeton University Press: An economic history of Spain (1969). Dues grans empreses col·lectives va dirigir i publicar a la seva editorial: els onze volums de «Biografies Catalanes» (1955-1959), una veritable nova història de Catalunya, i els cinc volums de la Historia social y económica de España y América (1957-1959). Dins «Biografies Catalanes», Vicens va escriure personalment el volum dedicat al segle xv (Els Trastàmares) i el que tracta del segle xix, que era una novetat total: Industrials i polítics del segle xix (1958). Molt aviat, aquesta darrera obra va ser traduïda al castellà i publicada el 1961 per l’editorial de gent de l’Opus Dei, per iniciativa de Florentino Pérez Embid d’acord amb Vicens, a la col·lecció dirigida per Rafael Calvo Serer, amb el títol Cataluña en el siglo xix. La mort prematura de Vicens Vives als cinquanta anys, el 1960, no li permeté escriure el volum dotzè de la col·lecció, dedicat al segle xx, que estava anunciat amb el títol Homes del nostre temps. Si Montserrat Llorens s’havia encarregat en el volum anterior de la part dedicada a les biografies de figures representatives del segle xix, les del segle xx era previst que anessin a càrrec de l’escriptor Josep Pla, de qui Vicens era amic. Vicens va ser un medievalista especialista en el segle xv que inicià després la història contemporània de Catalunya, la història econòmica i la quantificació estadística, que eren unes completes novetats en la historiografia catalana i espanyola del seu temps. Si el Vicens medievalista havia

explicat sense pal·liatius la davallada catalana del segle xv amb un sever judici sobre les classes dirigents d’aquella centúria, el Vicens contemporanista feia l’elogi del redreçament català del segle xix i posava com a model el capità d’indústria, a la vegada que n’oferia un model d’«història total»: demogràfica, econòmica, social, política i cultural. Contra totes les dificultats, els avantpassats dels lectors del seu llibre havien convertit Catalunya en un país modern i havien iniciat la Renaixença amb la conversió de la llengua popular, la catalana, foragitada de l’ús públic des del segle xviii, en llengua literària moderna. I Vicens acabava el seu llibre amb l’elogi de la generació del 1901, la que inicià el progrés del catalanisme polític, perquè havia recuperat l’ambició i la responsabilitat de governar. Aquest era l’exemple que presentava als joves futurs empresaris del Club Comodín, després Círculo de Economía, per tal que superessin les pors heretades de la Guerra Civil, adoptessin un horitzó esperançat i s’obrissin a una Europa pròspera i liberal, que començava a unificar-se. Aquest missatge voluntarista contrastava amb el determinisme que Vicens gastava per a explicar altres èpoques i contradiu, igual que Notícia de Catalunya, la despolitització i el cientifisme que ell preceptuava en la feina de l’historiador. El 1959, Vicens visità Washington amb motiu de la trobada del Consell de Bibliografia Històrica a la Biblioteca del Congrés dels Estats Units. Presentà informes a les autoritats espanyoles i rebé una subvenció governamental per al CEHI de cent mil pessetes. Al mateix temps, establia relacions estretes amb l’abat de Montserrat, Aureli M. Escarré, que començava a enfrontar-se amb el franquisme, i encetava una relació amb el president de la Generalitat de Catalunya a l’exili, Josep Tarradellas, per mitjà de Josep Pla i amb l’aval de Frederic Rahola, cunyat i soci del nostre historiador i antic col·laborador de Tarradellas. Vicens Vives morí als cinquanta anys en un moment de canvis, que ell mateix assumia. Al costat de mèrits indiscutibles, presentava notòries contradiccions, que reflectien les d’un moment molt concret, molt diferent de l’actual. Per això, del seu llegat s’han pogut presentar apropiacions divergents entre si. Del seu prestigi fora del seu país, en dóna testimoni el fet que Pierre Vilar, Raymond Carr, John Elliott, Alberto Boscolo i un llarg etcètera d’historiadors europeus l’han reconegut i admirat. Vicens és l’únic historiador espanyol que apareix amb una entrada pròpia al Dictionnaire des sciences historiques dirigit per André Burguière. En canvi, no hi ha cap article dedicat a Vicens Vives a l’Enciclopedia de historia de España. Els ponents de la sessió de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans dedicada a Vicens Vives foren tres historiadors que coneixen a fons el tema. En primer lloc, Enric Pujol, professor del Departament d’Història Moderna i Contemporània de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, autor d’un llibre que és la primera història de la historiografia catalana des de finals del segle xix fins al 1970: Història i reconstrucció nacional. La historiografia catalana a l’època de

Sessió a l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans sobre la dimensió civicopolítica de l’obra de l’historiador Jaume Vicens Vives

Ferran Soldevila. Un capítol d’aquest llibre es titula «Llums i ombres de Jaume Vicens Vives». Enric Pujol parlà del personatge com a acadèmic i intel·lectual. Antoni Simon, catedràtic de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona i membre numerari de l’IEC, és codirector amb Enric Pujol i Jordi Casassas del Diccionari d’histo riografia catalana (2003) i resulta especialment competent en el tema com a coeditor dels dos volums de l’Epistolari de Jaume Vicens, apareguts el 1994 i el 1998. Antoni Simon analitzà les relacions de Vicens amb el context hispànic. Jaume Sobrequés, catedràtic de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona i president de la Societat Catalana d’Estudis Històrics, és autor del llibre Història d’una amistat. Epistolari de Jaume Vicens Vives i Santiago Sobrequés i Vidal (2000), que era el pare del ponent. Jaume Sobrequés parlà de Vicens com a editor. El primer resum que presentem és el de la conferència d’Enric Pujol.

L’acadèmic i la seva evolució ideològica: un retrat de maduresa La condició d’acadèmic de les dues societats cultes més importants de la seva època, l’Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona (on ingressà el 1956) i l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans (on entrà el 1958), no tan sols significà la consagració professional de Vicens Vives, sinó que coincidí amb el desenvolupament de la formulació madura del seu pensament, que evolucionà molt al llarg de la seva vida a causa de les convulsions històriques que li tocà viure i de la seva voluntat d’incidir en el decurs polític del seu temps. L’obtenció d’una càtedra universitària (primer, el 1947, per la Universitat de Saragossa i l’any següent –per nova oposició– per la Universitat de Barcelona) li serví per a preparar el terreny al seu reconeixement acadèmic. A l’Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona va substituir el seu mestre Antonio de la Torre, en uns moments en què el president de l’Acadèmia de Bones Lletres era l’historiador Ramon d’Abadal, també vinculat a l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC), considerat aleshores el principal cenacle de la resistència cultural antifranquista. L’interès de Vicens a entrar a les dues institucions acadèmiques anava més enllà d’un reconeixement professional i, sobretot en el cas de l’IEC, cercava entrar en contacte amb sectors de l’oposició democràtica per tal que l’ajudessin a dur a terme un projecte de renovació i modernització de l’Estat espanyol en què fos reconeguda també una certa autonomia política a Catalunya. Cal dir, però, que aquest acostament de Vicens a l’IEC va suscitar inicialment moltes reticències, ja que abans del final de la Segona Guerra Mundial ell havia sintonitzat amb el pensament del règim franquista. Malgrat les desconfiances existents, ja a principis de la dècada dels cinquanta van haver-hi concrecions molt palpables d’oberta col·laboració. Així, per exem-

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ple, la intervenció de Vicens fou determinant perquè l’Institut tingués un lloc en el si del Comitè Espanyol de Ciències Històriques quan aquest organisme es constituí, l’any 1951. I segurament també influí perquè la corporació catalana estigués representada en el comitè organitzador dels congressos d’història de la Corona d’Aragó, dels quals ell fou un dels promotors més destacats. El Vicens dels anys cinquanta, doncs, era ja una persona compromesa amb la represa cultural (i nacional) catalana, però que comptava també amb unes certes complicitats de gent del mateix règim. Una posició molt interessant en aquell moment, ja que sectors importants de la resistència cultural antifranquista, veient que el triomf aliat no havia comportat l’enderrocament del règim dictatorial i que hi havia franquisme per a molts anys, cercaven també de menar una política possibilista d’obtenció de conquestes concretes. Aquesta política, que Joan Samsó ha qualificat de «possibilisme digne», és la que facilità, precisament, la represa cultural catalana de l’època. En el cas de Vicens, a més a més, la seva condició de catedràtic a la Universitat de Barcelona obria la possibilitat d’una col· laboració entre aquest centre i un Institut d’Estudis Ca talans que aleshores cercava l’aliança amb la resta d’en titats cultes de la capital a la recerca del reconeixement perdut arran del triomf franquista. L’Institut sabia que, si no es guanyava la benevolència de les principals entitats acadèmiques, tindria un entrebanc més en la seva penosa i incerta (i, al capdavall, infructuosa) marxa cap a la legalització i el finançament públic. A l’hora d’analitzar el pensament madur de Vicens, que es configura al llarg de la dècada dels cinquanta, pot ser molt aclaridor fer una comparació entre les dues edicions que es publicaren del seu llibre més famós, Notícia de Catalunya (una del 1954 i l’altra del 1960), ja que els importants canvis existents entre una edició i l’altra ens permeten seguir amb força detall l’evolució del seu pensament. Els canvis introduïts a la segona edició foren qualitativament i quantitativament molt importants. En aquest darrer aspecte, només cal assenyalar que de les 226 pàgines de la segona edició, una vuitantena eren de nova incorporació (cosa que significa gairebé un quaranta per cent de text absolutament nou). A què responien, però, les incorporacions i modificacions fetes respecte a la primera edició? D’entrada, hi havia un bloc de canvis que afectaven bàsicament la part de síntesi històrica que indubtablement tenia l’obra i que, pel temps transcorregut i per la reflexió historiogràfica feta pel mateix Vicens, exigien un major desenvolupament o un judici més ponderat. Aquest podria ser el cas dels elements que va incorporar procedents de la seva síntesi històrica del segle xix, Industrials i polítics (1958). Però un altre bloc de canvis responia clarament al que en podríem dir la part més pròpiament d’intervenció política que el llibre tenia. Era l’exposició pública d’un programa regenerador que en ocasions es feia ben explícit. Així, en la crítica que feia a la historiografia catalana anterior, que qualificava despectivament de romàntica, retreia als historiadors (i per extensió al

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conjunt del catalanisme polític) l’actitud de menyspreu envers l’Estat i de crítica sistemàtica «sense intentar una tasca d’infiltració pregona en els seus llocs de comandament.» Ell va intentar, doncs, fer això, dur endavant aquesta «infiltració». I per poder-ho fer va cercar aliats, tant entre l’oposició democràtica com a dins del mateix règim, on comptà amb l’ajut de figures de pes com Florentino Pérez Embid o Rafael Calvo Serer. D’aquí prové la indefinició de la seva proposta política. Calia convèncer i aplegar al voltant del seu lideratge sectors polítics molt diferents. Així, no ha de sobtar que un seu amic i col· laborador, Josep Pla, arribés a escriure d’ell que «ningú no sabia si era de l’Opus, si era socialista, si era capitalista o si era simplement un ésser ambiciós.» El que sí que era ben clar era el sector social que havia de liderar aquest procés de canvi, de modernització: els sectors més desperts de l’empresariat català. Uns sectors que havien de reprendre la política duta a terme pels seus predecessors de principis del segle xx (la famosa generació del 1901 definida pel mateix Vicens). Especialment important havia de ser el jove empresariat barceloní. Per formar-lo i per orientar-lo, organitzà cenacles que, amb el temps, foren decisius en la configuració d’una nova classe empresarial (el Club Comodín i, posteriorment, el Círculo de Economía) i orientà el nucli principal de la seva producció historiogràfica envers aquest objectiu (amb obres com Industrials i polítics, sobretot, i també la mateixa Notícia de Catalunya). De fet, en aquesta orientació d’engegar el seu projecte modernitzador, arribà a constituir un grup de gent que havia de funcionar com el que avui en diríem un «grup de pressió» basat en un nucli dur de persones en les quals tenia molta confiança en aquell moment. L’escriptor Josep Pla n’era un. Josep Tarradellas (aleshores president de la Generalitat a l’exili) era l’encarregat de l’aportació relativa a la confederació i organització política. Manuel Ortínez havia de fer la seva aportació en els sectors de la burgesia industrial. Vicens s’ocupava dels interessos eclesiàstics i Joan Sardà de les qüestions econòmiques. Els canvis introduïts a la segona edició de Notícia de Catalunya revelen que fins i tot la formulació ideològica i política del Vicens «madur» és en mutació constant. Es tracta d’un projecte que no és tancat. La seva mort el 1960, a cinquanta anys, en plena efervescència vital i intel· lectual, encara fa més palès aquest fet. No sabem com hauria evolucionat davant dels grans canvis de la dècada dels seixanta i com s’hauria posicionat en el procés de derogació franquista. Havent establert, però, que ens trobem davant d’un pensament en mutació constant, en funció de cada conjuntura política determinada, hem de concloure que en la seva proposta política hi ha punts fonamentals que no tenen un caràcter permanent i que ara els hem de veure necessàriament des d’una perspectiva crítica. Evidentment, n’hi ha d’altres que no, que mantenen una plena validesa. Aquests darrers són els més recordats habitualment i són objecte d’un ús constant. A títol merament d’exemple, podem esmentar, d’entrada, el ma-

teix lema que presideix l’obra: conèixer-nos. I tots aquests altres: la idea de Catalunya com a passadís i com a producte de mestissatge, la conformació de la personalitat nacional durant l’època medieval i no abans, la importància de superar una història centrada només en els grans esdeveniments (per tal de no negligir la continuïtat de la vida social col·lectiva), els orígens pagesos dels catalans i l’íntima relació camp-ciutat en la contemporaneïtat, Catalunya com a model de feudalitat, la transcendència de la lluita remença, l’aptitud per la feina, la capitalització i industrialització malgrat les limitacions dels recursos naturals, la importància del desenvolupament institucional medieval i modern (base d’una tradició política pròpia, el pactisme), la necessitat de comparar el nostre desenvolupament històric amb l’europeu, la defensa de la immigració, etc. La major part dels punts exposats són acceptats, amb una insistència variable en un punt o en un altre, per una majoria molt significativa d’historiadors i d’intel·lectuals. N’hi ha d’altres, però, també molt importants, que avui hem de considerar críticament, sobretot perquè aquest exercici crític envers l’obra vicensiana de maduresa no ha estat gaire habitual. Ha pesat excessivament la imatge d’un Vicens com a precursor de l’autonomisme dels anys vuitanta. Una construcció realitzada pòstumament i amb una intencionalitat política molt clara. Encara que potser la faceta que ha estat més discutida als darrers temps ha estat el seu projecte historiogràfic. Diversos historiadors (Josep Termes, Albert Balcells, Eva Serra, Antoni Simon i d’altres) han fet aportacions substantives perquè a nivell historiogràfic sí que s’hagi superat el que en podríem dir el «paradigma vicensià». En canvi, pel que fa a les propostes més explícitament polítiques i ideològiques, això encara està per fer. Ara i aquí només podem apuntar alguns punts que, a títol personal, penso que hauríem de revisar. D’entrada, qüestionar la pretesa neutralitat, embolicada de suposada cientificitat, dels seus plantejaments globals, ja que actualment ha quedat palesa la vinculació de les seves propostes (àdhuc les historiogràfiques) a un projecte polític i ideològic determinat. Com passa, de fet, amb tots els intel·lectuals i historiadors haguts i per haver. Cal també no fer un trencament tan taxatiu (com fa ell) amb la tradició cultural i política anterior (especialment amb la historiografia, però també amb la resta de la intel·lectualitat precedent). Precisament ara més que mai cal que l’estudiem i la recuperem per a les generacions actuals, òbviament des d’una perspectiva crítica, però respectuosa (com fem amb la mateixa aportació vicensiana, esdevinguda avui ja «clàssica»). Una altra idea que cal impugnar és la impossibilitat i la inviabilitat d’un plantejament polític de caire sobiranista o independentista, que ell nega de manera categòrica, fins i tot com a objectiu a llarg termini. I finalment, cal que diguem clarament si de debò pensem que la dialèctica que regula l’evolució i la realitat històrica de Catalunya s’explica per la confrontació entre seny i rauxa, com ell afirma en el llibre. Al seu moment, ja fou un dels extrems més criticats (cosa que el

Sessió a l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans sobre la dimensió civicopolítica de l’obra de l’historiador Jaume Vicens Vives

va dur a refer el capítol corresponent en la segona edició de Notícia de Catalunya) i avui les explicacions de caire psicologista del tarannà dels pobles són totalment desprestigiades, per poc rigoroses. Creure en una dialèctica seny/rauxa ens distrauria de cercar constants de major solidesa històrica, i més quan d’altres historiadors contemporanis seus n’han assenyalat algunes que avui prenen una especial vigència. Vegeu, si no, aquesta disjuntiva apuntada per Ferran Soldevila en la seva Història de Catalunya, referida a la història moderna i contemporània catalana: «Catalunya debatent-se en el dilema: o separar-se d’Espanya o dirigir Espanya.» Més enllà de les crítiques que se li puguin fer, Vicens resta com a figura de referència indiscutible d’una dècada decisiva (la dels cinquanta) que serà emprada en les dues o tres dècades posteriors com a bandera i símbol de renovació en el procés de liquidació franquista i de recuperació de l’autogovern. I, naturalment, resta també la seva condició de clàssic («anticanònic», segons la terminologia proposada per Harold Bloom) de la historiografia catalana del segle xx, en un nivell similar al de l’altre gran clàssic del segle: Ferran Soldevila. La fusió dels lemes rectors de l’obra d’aquestes dues grans figures intel·lectuals del segle xx ens dóna la pauta que penso que convindria que seguíssim els de les generacions actuals: «Conèixer-nos per fer de Catalunya un poble normal.» El segon resum que presentem és de la conferència d’Antoni Simon i Tarrés.

L’historiador i la seva escola en el context hispànic Durant les dècades dels anys quaranta i cinquanta del segle xx, Jaume Vicens Vives va desplegar una activitat historiogràfica, editorial, cultural i àdhuc política que hom pot qualificar de febril. La seva relació epistolar amb historiadors i personalitats de distinta mena ho reflecteix perfectament. Durant aquells anys, l’historiador català volgué jugar conscientment un paper de pont i vincle de comunicació entre les historiografies catalana i espanyola, i entre aquestes i les més avançades tendències de la ciència històrica del món occidental. Aquesta contribució a les jornades sobre Vicens vol aprofundir en el coneixement d’una part d’aquesta empresa que absorbí els esforços de Vicens en les dues dècades anteriors al seu traspàs. Tractarem de reconstruir els orígens i les diverses facetes dels lligams i interessos de Vicens amb la historiografia espanyola dels anys quaranta i cinquanta, amb l’afany de cercar tant la seva lògica com les contradiccions generades per unes relacions que, cal no oblidar-ho, es donaven en un context fortament polititzat, tal com ho era el de la Universitat espanyola de la postguerra. Voldria exposar d’entrada dues consideracions generals. La primera fa al·lusió a l’enfocament de la meva anàlisi. Entenc que l’estudi de les relacions de Vicens amb la

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historiografia espanyola no es pot fer únicament des d’una perspectiva «intel·lectual». Crec que resulta impossible entendre la lògica i la dimensió historiogràfica d’una personalitat tan fortament lligada a la Universitat, com ho era Vicens, sense entrar en les qüestions relacionades amb el complex joc del poder acadèmic, especialment les que fan referència a l’accés a les càtedres universitàries i al finançament de projectes institucionals i de recerca. D’altra banda, en una figura tan forta, però alhora tant eclèctica i possibilista, resulta igualment imprescindible analitzar unes relacions personals que van ser extraordinàriament àmplies i diverses quant a la seva filiació ideològica i historiogràfica. La segona consideració general que volia exposar fa referència a l’eix conductor d’aquesta intervenció, és a dir, la relació de Vicens amb els principals historiadors i intel· lectuals de l’institut religiós de l’Opus Dei. A banda de l’impuls inicial que Vicens rebé del seu antic mestre a Barcelona, Antonio de la Torre, i del suport que aquest aconseguí de l’influent Cayetano Alcázar, els principals lligams acadèmics i polítics espanyols de Vicens durant aquelles dècades passaren per la gent vinculada a l’institut religiós fundat el 1928 per José María Escrivá de Balaguer. Tot i que Vicens mantingué relacions d’amistat amb altres historiadors com Felipe Ruiz Martín, Jesús Pabón o José María Lacarra, indubtablement fou amb la gent de l’Opus Dei amb qui Vicens travà unes aliances i unes relacions acadèmiques més profundes, cosa que no ha estat sempre suficientment explicitada. Encara que Vicens mantingué alguna relació amb altres membres o persones pròximes a l’Opus Dei, el principal feix de lligams i interessos entre l’historiador català i els seguidors d’aquest institut religiós es vehiculà a través de tres joves catedràtics d’història: Vicente Rodríguez Casado, Rafael Calvo Serer i Florentino Pérez Embid. Com és sabut, en els anys de la immediata postguerra, Vicens va ser depurat, separat de la universitat i per raons politicoadministratives es va veure obligat a retirar-se de les oposicions de catedràtic d’universitat que havia preparat i iniciat l’octubre del 1940. Si bé Antonio de la Torre i Cayetano Alcázar foren els principals artífexs del retorn de Vicens a la Universitat, l’historiador català també comptà amb el suport de la gent de l’Opus Dei. Rodríguez Casado fou nomenat en el tribunal que, el febrer de 1947, atorgà a Vicens la plaça de catedràtic d’Història Moderna i Contemporània de Saragossa i també estigué present en la que, just un any després, el febrer de 1948, li permeté accedir a la d’igual denominació de Barcelona, trasllat possible, crec que paga la pena remarcar-ho, perquè Vicente Palacio Atard, llavors afí a la gent de l’Opus Dei i que l’any anterior havia guanyat aquella plaça de Barcelona, es va traslladar al seu torn a Valladolid. Indubtablement, en aquells anys Vicens va trobar en la gent de l’Opus Dei un suport per als seus interessos i ini ciatives; tanmateix la seva posició en el sistema universitari espanyol era dèbil i no sempre aquesta aliança podia ser efectiva. De fet, els interessos de Vicens restaren sem-

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pre relegats als de la gent de l’Opus Dei, cosa que quedaria especialment demostrada en el llarg i penós procés de consolidació acadèmica dels deixebles de l’historiador català. Les causes de la proximitat de Vicens amb aquest emergent grup de seguidors d’Escrivá de Balaguer van ser diverses. Hi hagué, sens dubte, raons «utilitàries», car Vicens va buscar el suport de la gent de l’Opus Dei per reincorporar-se a la Universitat de Barcelona després de sofrir el procés de depuració subsegüent a la victòria franquista del 1939; també cercà la seva aliança per intentar que els seus deixebles guanyessin alguna de les disputades oposicions a la Universitat o al Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; igualment, atès l’important paper que els integrants de l’Opus Dei tingueren en la Dirección General d’Información (censura) durant aquells anys, Vicens hi acudí per tal que els seus llibres i articles, així com també els de la seva editorial i els d’alguns amics com Josep Pla, superessin els obstacles de la censura. Però, al costat d’aquestes motivacions, n’hi havia d’altres de tipus més personal i ideològic: aquests historiadors de l’Opus Dei constituïen un grup jove amb empenta (eren joves professors que només fregaven la trentena d’anys quan el 1947 Vicens es reincorporà a la Universitat) i, encara que amb accents diferents a Vicens, compartien la idea d’una renovació de la historiografia espanyola. A més, a nivell personal, Vicens va establir amb algun d’ells una relació de prou confiança i amistat, com seria el cas de Florentino Pérez Embid. I, tal com és sabut, Vicens s’arrenglerà primerament amb aquest grup intel·lectual liderat per Calvo Serer en la polèmica que aquests sectors catòlics integristes i antiliberals van mantenir entre el 1948 i el 1953 amb els falangistes de Laín Entralgo i Antonio Tovar entorn de l’anomenat «problema d’Espanya», tot i que després Vicens volgué jugar un paper de pont entre els dos bàndols enfrontats. Els primers contactes de Vicens amb la gent de l’Opus Dei van tenir lloc l’any 1943, a través de Florentino Pérez Embid. A partir d’un viatge que Vicens féu a Sevilla, va establir amb Pérez Embid una relació acadèmica i personal de molta més profunditat i confiança que no pas la que mantingué amb Rodríguez Casado i Calvo Serer. La cordialitat i, fins i tot, confidencialitat en la correspondència mantinguda entre ambdós historiadors així ho palesa. Vicens acudí sovint al seu amic Floro per distintes qüestions relacionades amb les oposicions dels seus deixebles, amb el finançament de publicacions, per superar les traves de la censura o també per intentar editar una revista en llengua catalana. Durant la dècada dels anys cinquanta, Florentino Pérez Embid viatjà sovint a Barcelona i Vicens li organitzà diverses intervencions acadèmiques a la Universitat i a l’Ateneu, i participà també a les reunions que l’historiador català celebrava a la seva casa barcelonesa del carrer Santaló. Així mateix, és fàcil trobar nombroses referències laudatòries de Vicens a Pérez Embid en les ressenyes i articles divulgatius que publicava especialment a la revista Destino. Pérez Embid jugà un pa-

per de nexe entre Calvo Serer, Rodríguez Casado i Vicens, car col·laborà i establí una relació de gran confiança amb tots tres. Floro era, sens dubte, l’home de més confiança amb qui comptava Vicens entre els cercles governamentals de Madrid, i al qual transmetia la pulsió política que es vivia a Catalunya. En les seves cartes a aquell membre de l’Obra que després de ser director general d’Informació dirigiria el diari Arriba, Vicens es manifestava contrari al separatisme català, però blasmava les actituds anticatalanes i ultranacionalistes espanyoles de falangistes com Demetrio Ramos, llavors professor ajudant de la Universitat de Barcelona, que feien fracassar els esforços de Vicens d’aconseguir un atansament entre Catalunya i Castella. Amb tot, conforme Vicens s’acostava al final de la seva vida, hom pot entreveure en la seva correspondència amb el seu amic Floro un creixent desencant respecte a aquesta via d’atansament castellanocatalà que defensava. En el conjunt de les relacions personals i acadèmiques que Vicens mantingué amb la gent de l’Opus Dei, no és gens fàcil destriar, però, entre el que hi ha de tacticisme i el que hi ha d’amistat sincera o afinat historiogràfica. Com en altres facetes de la seva trajectòria professional i universitària, Vicens se’ns mostra en aquestes relacions amb la historiografia espanyola com una personalitat amb grans dosis de pragmatisme i possibilisme, les quals es combinen, a nivell politicoideològic, amb altres d’ambició, de permeabilitat i, a vegades, d’ingenuïtat, tal com ja al seu moment van apreciar Josep Pla i Albert Manent. Vicens estava convençut que el redreçament historiogràfic, cultural i àdhuc polític de Catalunya i Espanya després de l’ensulsiada de la Guerra dels Tres Anys –així era com sovint anomenava la Guerra Civil de 1936-1939– només es produiria a partir de la suma de persones i forces diverses, encara que estiguessin enfrontades. Per això no té res d’estrany que col·laborés i fes amistat amb aquells joves nacionalcatòlics i antiliberals de l’Opus Dei, alhora que, per exemple, mantenia una forta relació i influència amb catalanistes resistents com Jordi Pujol, Josep Benet o Albert Manent. Finalment, presentem el resum de la conferència de Jaume Sobrequés.

L’editor i les seves realitzacions Jaume Sobrequés va indicar que l’activitat de Vicens Vives més relacionada amb la política, la va portar a terme entre el 1950 i el 1960. Ara bé, no va donar suport a cap partit polític clandestí ni es va comprometre amb l’oposició antifranquista, encara que, progressivament, s’acostà a la resistència cultural catalana, com indica l’interès que va mostrar amb el seu cunyat, Frederic Rahola, a promoure l’organització de les classes de català que es feien en petits grups a diversos punts de Catalunya. Els referents polítics europeus de Vicens van ser els de-

Sessió a l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans sobre la dimensió civicopolítica de l’obra de l’historiador Jaume Vicens Vives

mocratacristians. Els seus contactes amb figures que actua ven dins l’aparell del règim franquista, ho foren amb persones aparentment favorables a una mínima descentralització i un tènue regionalisme. Però el seu intent de jugar un paper de pont entre Barcelona i Madrid no donà cap resultat tangible. No aconseguí el permís per a la publicació d’una revista mensual en català. Editorial Teide, fundada per Vicens i el seu cunyat Frederic Rahola en els anys immediats de la postguerra, va ser molt més que una iniciativa empresarial. Concebuda, a partir del 1942 (el març d’aquell any Vicens escrivia: «Ara estic enfocant un negoci editorial»), com una manera de complementar els pocs beneficis econòmics que l’ensenyament li proporcionava, amb poc temps va esdevenir un dels nuclis impulsors d’iniciatives científiques de primer ordre. Sense Teide no haurien estat possibles algunes de les realitzacions historiogràfiques impulsades per Vicens. Sense Teide no haurien existit ni els Estudios de Historia Moderna, ni l’Índice Histórico Español, ni la Historia so cial y económica de España y América, ni la renovadora història de Catalunya que va dirigir sota el títol «Biografies Catalanes». A Teide, Vicens va trobar la infraestructura necessària per endegar unes iniciatives que la universitat del franquisme estava lluny de poder sostenir. Teide va esdevenir, doncs, una mena de departament universitari, on Vicens despatxava amb els seus col·laboradors i deixebles i des d’on exercia el seu mestratge. Cal tenir en compte, d’altra banda, que Vicens no va arribar a la Universitat de Barcelona fins al 1948 i que algunes iniciatives editorials importants, com la de renovar els manuals d’ensenyament mitjà, són anteriors a aquella data. Manuals d’ensenyament mitjà Bé que l’autèntica revolució de Teide es referia als ma nuals de batxillerat, els dos primers llibres publicats per la nova empresa anaven destinats a l’ensenyament primari. Es tractava d’un curs d’història d’Espanya i d’un altre de geografia. Aparegueren signats només per Teide però eren obra, respectivament, de Santiago Sobrequés – va ser el primer llibre de Teide– i del mateix Vicens. Des d’aleshores, aquests dos autors varen col·laborar de manera molt intensa en la redacció de llibres d’història i de geografia destinats a batxillerat. Varen fer-ho fins a la mort de Vicens. Fins al 1960, varen signar conjuntament nou llibres. Sobrequés en va escriure quatre tot sol, i Vicens sis més, que varen aparèixer només amb la seva signatura. Aquests llibres varen ser pioners en la renovació dels llibres de text a Espanya. No sempre aconseguiren passar la censura que existia durant la dictadura, i sovint hagueren de fer molts equilibris a l’hora de redactar els capítols referents a la Segona República, la Guerra Civil i el franquisme. Aquests llibres constituïren també una bona font d’ingressos per a Vicens i contribuïren a donar solidesa a Teide amb vista a finançar altres projectes científics.

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El Centro de Estudios Históricos Internacionales El 1949, just acabat d’arribar a Barcelona, Vicens va decidir crear el Centro de Estudios Históricos Internacionales. Com deia l’article primer dels seus estatuts, aquest centre es trobava inscrit a la càtedra d’Història Universal Moderna i Contemporània de la Universitat de Barcelona. El seu objectiu era estudiar els problemes històrics relacionats amb l’economia, la cultura i la diplomàcia «de los Países» –no s’especificava quins–. Aquests objectius s’assoliren a través de reunions científiques, de recerca de les fonts documentals i bibliogràfiques relatives a la història internacional, de la publicació de treballs erudits, de difusió d’aquesta publicació mitjançant cursos i conferències i d’intercanvis amb centres semblants que funcionaven a altres països. Pel que fa a l’àmbit espanyol, en una carta que el 27 de novembre de 1949 adreçà a Rafael Calvo Serer, dirigent del CSIC –els recursos econòmics del qual Vicens intentava aconseguir–, Vicens proposava distribuir la recerca a Espanya d’aquesta manera: «Después de meditarlo durante mucho tiempo, he decidido crear en la Universidad de Barcelona el Centro de Estudios Históricos Internacionales. Mi propósito ha sido dotar a nuestra ciudad de un centro que completara el mecanismo actual de resurgi miento de la Historia Moderna Española.» Vicens anava més lluny. Proposava una mena de distribució, arreu de la Península, dels estudis històrics: «Madrid: teoría general, síntesis, elucubraciones, siglos xviii y xix; Valladolid-Simancas: Imperio español (xvi-xvii); Sevilla-Indias: proyección americana hispana; Barcelona: relaciones mediterráneas y pirenaicas.» Aquest somni racionalista de Vicens no va reeixir i tothom va acabar per fer el que li va semblar. La solidesa del CEHI creat per Vicens li ha permès arribar fins avui. Els Estudios de Historia Moderna La primera realització del CEHI, impulsada amb el suport de l’Instituto Jerónimo Zurita del Consejo Superior de Investigacions Científicas, va ser la creació, el 1951, de la revista Estudios de Historia Moderna. El seu objectiu era «llenar los huecos del edificio de la investigación donde éstos aparezcan.» Vicens assenyalava en la presentació del primer volum que, a Barcelona, «los estudios de Historia Moderna son tan deficitarios que se requiere una voluntad hercúlea para ordenar y precisar su futura estructura.» La declaració d’intencions de Vicens es va concretar en un decàleg que havia de servir de manera conceptual i metodològica als col·laboradors dels Estudios. Era aquest: «1. Creemos fundamentalmente que la Historia es la Vida [...]. 2. Creemos que la Historia se ha desarrollado en un marco geográfico [...]. 3. Creemos que el hombre «está» en la Historia [...]. 4. Creemos en el principio de la articulación social [...]. 5. Creemos que en la Historia es un factor importante la lucha por la distribución de las riquezas morales y materiales [...]. 6. Creemos que la Historia debe definir las sucesivas mentalidades del pasado. 7. Creemos que cada generación histórica tiene su propia mentalidad.

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8. Creemos que debemos aceptar las consecuencias de los hechos históricos [...] el historiador no pretende enmendar los sucesos históricos, sino comprenderlos en su totalidad. 9. Creemos en la eficiencia del método estadístico para establecer la certidumbre histórica. 10. Nos sentimos a gusto en nuestra Civilización Occidental, cuyos altos fines consideramos servir estableciendo la verdad histórica por la libertad en la investigación y la exposición.» Els redactors del primer volum varen ser Joan Mercader i Riba, Joan Reglà i Campistol i Pere Voltes i Bou. En vida de Vicens varen aparèixer cinc números dels Estudios. El que feia sis, enllestit pel seu fundador, va sortir a la llum pública poc després de la mort de Vicens. La seva desaparició va matar els Estudios. Ningú no va tenir la força i la voluntat de donar-los continuïtat. L’Índice Histórico Español Un nou i important fruit del CEHI va ser l’aparició el 1953-1954 de la publicació de l’Índice Histórico Español. Bibliografía Histórica de España e Hispanoamérica, un important recull de ressenyes crítiques sobre la producció historiogràfica peninsular. L’Índice va ser coeditat per Editorial Teide, que en va tenir cura de la comercialit zació. L’obra, que encara avui perdura, era el resultat d’iniciatives sorgides entorn del Seminari d’Història que dirigia Vicens. Va ser, juntament amb els Estudios, l’aglutinant del treball conjunt de joves historiadors, deixebles i col·laboradors de Vicens, vinculats a la Universitat de Barcelona, però també de col·legues distribuïts per tot el territori peninsular. L’obra va tenir una acollida internacional de primer ordre, com és constatable en el recull de comentaris publicats al mateix Índice. Els crèdits del primer fascicle informen de qui hi havia al darrere d’aquella obra monumental. A més de la direcció, que corresponia al mateix Vicens, David Romano va assumir la secretaria de la redacció. Aquesta estava formada per Emili Giralt i Raventós, Ramon Gubern i Domènech, Joan Mercader i Riba, Jordi Nadal i Oller, Jordi Pérez i Ballestar, Joan Reglà i Campistol, Eduard Ripoll i Perelló i Manuel Riu i Riu. La impressionant llista de col·laboradors –persones que redactaven les ressenyes corresponents– il·lustra sobre l’extraordinari poder de convocatòria de Vicens i sobre el respecte que la seva obra mereixia, àdhuc entre persones de manera de pensar ben allunyada de la de Vicens mateix. Les «Biografies Catalanes» Sense oblidar altres iniciatives impulsades per Vicens, la direcció d’una autèntica història general de Catalunya, apareguda sota el nom de «Biografies Catalanes», constitueix el projecte editorial i científic dirigit per Vicens en el qual va posar més esforços i il·lusions, i del qual també es va sentir més orgullós. N’és testimoni una carta que el 18 de desembre de 1952 va enviar a Santiago Sobrequés: «Quan vinguis parlarem d’un altre afer també editorial i referent a la historiografia catalana. Te’n sucaràs els dits!» Uns dies després, Vicens desvelava el misteri: «El fet

que no vinguessis», escrivia a Sobrequés el 22 de gener de 1953, «em va partir per la meitat. Teníem moltes coses a parlar, entre les quals [...] la teva cooperació en unes biografies catalanes –l’afer misteriós que et vaig escriure.» També en la direcció d’aquest nou projecte Vicens va tenir el poder de convenciment per aconseguir que la flor i nata de la historiografia catalana escrivís, en aquella segona meitat dels anys cinquanta, els volums corresponents de les «Biografies», que abastaven des de les arrels prehistòriques del que un dia seria Catalunya fins al segle xix. Qui eren aquests autors? Només amb l’esment dels seus noms n’hi ha prou per a avaluar la solvència de l’obra innovadora impulsada per Vicens. Són aquests: Miquel Tarradell, Ramon d’Abadal, Santiago Sobrequés i Vidal, Enric Bagué, Ferran Soldevila, Joan Reglà, Joan Mercader, Rafael Tasis, Joan F. Cabestany, J. E. Martínez Ferrando i Vicens mateix. Els llibres de Tarradell sobre els temps antics, d’Abadal sobre els orígens històrics de Catalunya, de Sobrequés i Vidal sobre els comtes catalans i els barons de Catalunya, de Reglà sobre els Àustries, de Mercader sobre el segle xviii i de Vicens sobre els segles xv i xix constitueixen fites de primer ordre en la historiografia catalana contemporània. Les nombroses reedicions que s’han fet de les «Biografies» són una bona mostra del fet que han resistit bé, en molts casos, el pas dels anys. La Historia social y económica de España y América La concreció historiogràfica més significativa de la ruptura que Vicens va liderar en relació amb la vella manera de fer de la immensa majoria d’historiadors espanyols va ser la direcció de la Historia social y económica de España y América, publicada per Teide entre el 1957 i el 1959. En els cinc volums bellament il·lustrats i editats en una producció tipogràfica tan revolucionària com ho era el seu contingut, Vicens va reunir, a més dels capítols i del volum que va redactar personalment, el treball dels seus deixebles i col·laboradors més íntims. Era la primera vegada que en una obra d’alta síntesi –al darrere de la qual hi havia, però, molt treball de recerca– s’introduïa i àdhuc es prioritzava l’anàlisi dels factors econòmics i socials i de les mentalitats col·lectives a l’hora d’intentar copsar en la seva totalitat els processos històrics de canvi que s’han produït al llarg dels segles. A més a més, a la Historia social –això era particularment rellevant per al cas català–, el passat peninsular era presentat per primera vegada en la seva totalitat. Els estats nació de l’època medieval i moderna, com és el cas de Catalunya i de la Corona d’Aragó, ocupaven el lloc que els corresponia com a tals i deixaven de ser silenciats. És important esmentar la nòmina dels redactors dels volums corresponents de l’obra: I. Lluís Pericot, Miquel Tarradell, Jesús Garcia Tolsà, Jaume Vicens i Vives (El feudalismo), Josep M. Font i Rius, Enric Bagué. II. Santiago Sobrequés i Vidal. III. Joan Reglà. IV. A. Domínguez Ortiz, Joan Mercader i Riba. V. Jordi Nadal Oller, Rosa Ortega, Jaume Vicens i Vives. Els capítols referents a la història

Sessió a l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans sobre la dimensió civicopolítica de l’obra de l’historiador Jaume Vicens Vives

americana varen anar a càrrec de M. Ballesteros Gaibrois, G. Céspedes del Castillo i Mario Hernández Sánchez-Barba. Per tot això, la Historia social, dirigida, planificada i en part escrita per Vicens, constitueix una de les fites més significatives de la historiografia espanyola contemporània. Altres realitzacions i projectes impulsats des de Teide Des del primer dia de Teide –i aquest va ser potser el primer projecte realitzat a l’editorial–, Vicens va impulsar, amb destí a l’ensenyament secundari, l’edició de mapes muts dels cinc continents. La seva difusió va ser impressionant i un dels productes editorials més rendibles. Aquest interès per la cartografia donaria lloc, el 1947, a la creació d’URBS. Instituto Cartográfico Latino, que va editar, entre d’altres coses, un dels atles més emprats arreu de la Península en els nivells educatius esmentats. Era obra del mateix Vicens i de Santiago Sobrequés: Atlas de geografía general (Barcelona, Teide, 1950). Dos anys abans, Vicens havia publicat el seu Atlas de geografía económica, obra autènticament pionera tant pel seu contingut com per la seva presentació tipogràfica. En la seva etapa fundacional, la societat URBS, filial de Teide, estava participada de la manera següent: Teide, el 51 per cent (50.000 pessetes); Josep M. Costa i Cels, gerent de Teide i persona molt estimada per Vicens, el 29 per cent (29.000 pessetes), i Santiago Sobrequés i Vidal, el 20 per cent (20.000 pessetes). La societat es va dissoldre el 28 de febrer de 1961, uns mesos després de la mort de Vicens. Entre l’interès comercial i la voluntat de fer un producte editorial solvent i de qualitat, Vicens va encarregar la realització de dues guies turístiques, una sobre la ciutat de Barcelona i una altra sobre la seva Girona natal i la Costa Brava. La prova que volia que aquestes dues guies tinguessin una alta qualitat es posa de manifest en el fet que n’encarregués la redacció a dos eminents intel·lectuals del seu temps. La guia de Barcelona, amb el nom de Barcelona pas a pas, publicada el 1952, va ser escrita per Alexandre Cirici i Pellicer. El llibre, a través de successives reedicions actualitzades, ha fet una notable fortuna editorial. La guia Costa Brava y Gerona, apareguda el 1953, redactada per Sobrequés i Vidal i que va aparèixer en castellà, francès, anglès i alemany, se situa dins el grup dels millors llibres europeus d’aquest gènere en el seu moment, i durant bastants anys. Vicens s’hi va implicar de manera molt directa. El 18 de desembre de 1952 va escriure a l’autor del text de la guia: «Vàrem anar a la Costa Brava, ens hi vam passar tres dies, traient croquis, apunts, i fotografies i, malgrat la tramuntana, vam fer bona feina [...] Pensem fer sortir la Guia a finals de març, coincidint amb la inauguració de la temporada.» L’èxit comercial de la guia de Teide i Sobrequés i Vidal va ser excepcional i va tenir una llarga vida.

Cat. Hist. Rev. 3, 2010 249

Un darrer projecte no reeixit: el Llibre de les Institucions El darrer gran projecte científic de Vicens-Teide, que, com tants altres, va acabar essent un encàrrec personal a Sobrequés i Vidal, va ser un llibre sobre les institucions catalanes, que s’havia de publicar –la mort de Vicens no ho va permetre– amb algun d’aquests títols: Societat, govern i cultura als Països Catalans, Llibre de les Institucions dels Països Catalans o bé Història de la societat, el govern i la cultura a Catalunya, València i Mallorca. El llibre havia de ser redactat per Sobrequés i Vidal, el qual podria disposar, com a col·laboradors puntuals, de Josep Fontana i Làzaro, Josep M. Font i Rius, Joaquim de Camps i Arboix i Joan Ruiz i Calonja. Sobrequés havia d’escriure set-cents cinquanta folis; Font i Rius, cent; Camps i Arboix, cent, i Ruiz i Calonja, cent cinquanta. La participació de Fontana no es concreta en el projecte. L’objectiu de l’obra era, segons va escriure el mateix Vicens: «Presentar un panorama històric de les Institucions de Catalunya, Rosselló, València i Mallorca, en llur evident connexió amb les d’Aragó, Castella, Sardenya, Sicília i Nàpols, i, després, de les de la Monarquia Española. Per institució s’entén la forma assolida per un organisme o una col·lectivitat en l’evolució de la Societat, el Govern, el Dret, l’Economia i la Cultura. Cal explicar la gènesi, la plenitud, el declivi i la fi de la institució, d’acord amb les darreres dades històriques. La narració, que ha de ser plana i entenedora, no ha d’oblidar cap detall cronològic important, a fi i efecte que sigui un llibre de consulta escaient.» Quant al to de l’obra, el projecte afirma: «No ha d’ésser apologètic a ultrança. Ha de convèncer més pel pes de les realitzacions institucionals catalanes que per l’abundor romàntica del llenguatge.» Era una de les primeres vegades –als anys cinquanta– que algú plantejava, en un projecte d’aquest abast, la idea de presentar, en una sola obra, la realitat històrica dels Països Catalans. També en aquest aspecte Vicens va ser pioner. És un projecte –el darrer de Vicens– sobre el qual ningú no va parlar fins que l’any 2000 vaig donar-lo a conèixer per primera vegada. Ell mateix va preparar l’índex de l’obra. D’aquest llibre, n’han restat inèdits uns trenta-cinc folis del resum d’història de Catalunya. La carta del 29 de març de 1960 de Sobrequés a Vicens preguntant-li si el llibre havia d’anar fins a la unió amb Castella, la Nova Planta o la Segona República amb l’Estatut, mai no va tenir resposta. Aquest va ser un projecte rupturista que va restar tràgicament tallat per la mort de qui l’havia concebut. No són aquestes les úniques realitzacions científiques, acadèmiques i pedagògiques impulsades per Jaume Vicens i Vives en el curt espai de temps que va del 1940 al 1960, però sí que són les més rellevants i aquelles que permeten copsar la magnitud de la seva obra.

Catalan Historical Review

Catalan Historical Review Number 3 / 2010

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Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona

Contents

Number 3

Foreword

Josep Guitart

The origin of the earliest Roman cities in Catalonia: An examination from the field of archaeology

Flocel Sabaté

The Catalonia of the 10th-12th centuries and the historiographic definition of feudalism

Lola Badia

“Volent escriure a vostra consolació e plaer”: Metge, Corella and other 14th and 15th Century masters of Catalan prose

Agustí Alcoberro

The War of the Spanish Succession in the Catalan-speaking Lands

Teresa Abelló

Anarchism in the Catalan-speaking countries: Between syndicalism and propaganda (1868-1931)

Francesc Miralles

103

About Catalan Surrealism

115

Sixth centennial of Francesc Eiximenis

119

Session at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans on the civic-political dimension of the oeuvre of historian Jaume Vicens Vives

131

Historical publications of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC) during 2009

141

Catalan Version

Catalan Historical Review Number 3 / 2010

2010

Albert Balcells

2010

Catalan Historical Review

Institvt

d’Estvdis Catalans

Barcelona • Catalonia