Archives of the Crown of Aragon Catalogue of Publications of the Ministry: General Catalogue of Publications: Publicacionesoficiales.Boe.Es
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Archives of the Crown of Aragon Catalogue of Publications of the Ministry: www.mecd.gob.es General Catalogue of Publications: publicacionesoficiales.boe.es Edition 2018 Translation: Communique Traducciones MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, CULTURE AND SPORTS Published by: © TECHNICAL GENERAL SECRETARIAT Sub-Directorate General of Documentation and Publications © Of the texts and photographs: their authors NIPO: 030-18-036-7 Legal Deposit: M-13391-2018 Archives of the Crown of Aragon 700th anniversary of the creation of the Archive of the Crown of Aragon (ACA) (1318) United Nations Santa Fe Capitulations United Nations Celebrated in association with UNESCO Educational, Scientific and Inscribed on the Register in 2009 Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Memory of the World Cultural Organization Index 1. History .......................................................................................................... 7 2. Current Locations ..................................................................................... 21 3. Board of Trustees ..................................................................................... 25 4. European Heritage Label and UNESCO Memory of the World Register ........................................................................................................ 28 5. Documents ................................................................................................. 32 Real Cancillería (Royal Chancery) ....................................................... 32 Consejo de Aragón (Council of Aragon) .......................................... 37 Real Audiencia (Royal Court) ................................................................ 40 Real Patrimonio (Royal Heritage) ........................................................ 42 Generalitat of Catalonia ......................................................................... 45 Religious and Military Orders ............................................................... 47 Notarial documents ................................................................................. 49 Hacienda (Treasury) ................................................................................ 51 Miscellaneous and Other Collections ................................................ 52 Culture ......................................................................................................... 56 Library .......................................................................................................... 57 6. Services Available .................................................................................... 60 7. Practical Information ................................................................................ 63 [1] HISTORY UNTIL THE 1137 UNION OF THE COUNTY OF BARCELONA AND THE Kingdom of Aragon, there is no firm evidence of archives as such in the lands that since then were part of the Crown of Aragon. This said, a number of documents that predate the union have been preserved. The 13th century, especially during the long reign of James I the Con- queror (1213-1276) saw a significant increase in bureaucratic and ad- ministrative activity, which generated a greater number of documents. We know of several archives of original material from this period, in- cluding those housed in the monastery of Santa María de Sigena, that go back to at least 1255. However, the idea of creating a general ar- chive for the Crown only took hold at the beginning of the 14th century. It first saw light as the Royal Archives, which was housed in Barcelona’s Main Royal Palace (Palacio Real Mayor) for more than four centuries. It was created at the behest of a monarch with a keen attention to detail who knew how to use written documents as both a legal and diplo- matic weapon in order to acquire new territories and jurisdictions. The Archives was established in 1318 at a time when the accumulation of ancient royal decrees, archives seized from the Knights Templar in 1307, compounded by the weight of documents emanating from his own chancery, prompted King James II (1291-1327) to dedicate to it two rooms within the Royal Palace in a place that had been vacated after the construction of the new Palatine Chapel (what is known nowadays as the Chapel of Saint Agatha). The Royal Archives was to remain here until 1770, when significant cracks appeared in his walls. 7 Ramiro II of Aragon informs his subjects that he has bestowed his daughter Petronilla and his entire realm to Ramon Berenguer IV. Signed in Zaragoza, 11 No- vember 1137, this document is regarded as marking the beginning of the Crown of Aragon. ACA, Chancery, Parchment charters of Ramon Berenguer IV, 85. It was during the latter end of the reign of James I the Conqueror, when paper began to be used more extensively, that records began to be kept, initially in synopsis form but later in greater detail, of the most significant letters and instructions, sealed and delivered by the royal chancery. Such practices continued under James I’s two immediate successors, yet it was James II who standardised the complete copy of documents in thematic series of registers. He also made the prior reg- istration of a royal document as obligatory a measure as the affixing of the royal seal. He managed to gather eighty books of register that pre- date his accession, some of which had been in the possession of the scribes of the chancery, while a full 330 registers survive from his reign. In addition to administrative files and registers, James II took care to en- sure that his Archives held all important documentation that related to his royal household, including treasury accounts, cases brought before 8 Archives of the Crown of Aragon The first Ordinances of the Royal Archives of Barcelona, granted by Peter IV the Ceremonious on 12 March 1384 and confirmed by Alfonso V on 4 November 1452. ACA, Chancery, Register 2551, f. 89r-90r. 9 the judges who were members of his court and reports of his envoys and trusted informants, together with his daughters’ marriage contracts and letters from his family. Around 20,000 paper documents survive from his reign, together with more than 5,000 in parchment form. His successor, Alfonso the Gentle (1327-1336) following in his father’s foot- steps, amassed a similar quantity of papers and deeds, both private and official. Once Peter the Ceremonious (1336-1387) assumed the throne, the Royal Archives began to be considered less the monarch’s private or exclusive archives and more the archives of the royal administration. Peter the Ceremonious was just as thorough and organised as his grandfather, maybe even more so. He automatically kept documents that he regarded as important, ensuring that they were readily acces- sible when required. For example, he sent to the Archives for safe keeping significant documents such as the Book of Privileges of Mal- lorca, seized when this kingdom was incorporated into the Crown of Aragon in 1344; Book of Privileges of Valencia, which became null and void when the Union was defeated in 1348; the original copy of his fa- mous ‘Ordinances’, detailing household and curial customs; originals of the two chronicles that he commissioned, one about the Kingdom of Aragon, the so called Chronicle of San Juan de la Peña, and the other concentrating upon his own reign; the trial of James of Mallor- ca; his speeches before the Cortes (Parliament), etc. He also contin- ued the practice of transferring to the Archives all chancery registers, which numbered 1,800 volumes at the time of his death. Peter the Ceremonious’ principal achievement is to have transformed the Archives into a permanent office for housing and maintaining doc- uments. In 1346, he nominated as archivist his clerk Pere Perseya, who immediately set about compiling the first full inventory of char- ters, which were stored at that time in cupboards and chests which acted as a form of classification. The king always remained in close contact with the archivists who succeeded Perseya, ordering docu- ment searches, demanding copies or originals to be forwarded to him and sending documents for conservation. In 1384 he gave orders to Berenguer Segarra, archivist at the time, on how registers should be treated: ensuring that they were submitted by the royal scribes, la- 10 Archives of the Crown of Aragon belled and foliated; undertaking repairs, where required; compiling indexes by name of the recipients of the documents they contained. In succeeding reigns, and despite a change of dynasty in 1412, the role of the Archives vis-à-vis the royal administration remained con- stant. What did change was its social role. A PUBLIC ARCHIVE The registers of the chancery recorded the rights and privileges en- joyed by the monarch. They also deal with matters of import for his subjects, those who had at some point paid for a judgement to be implemented, for exclusive rights to work a mine or for legitimatising children born out of wedlock and so on. In this way, as documents became publically available, the Royal Archives became much more than a repository that served the interests of the monarch alone. The Estates of the time realised this and themselves demanded ac- cess to the documents. In 1419, the Cortes of the Kingdom of Valencia, gained a concession from King Alfonso that the chancery should draw up separate registers for matters relating to this kingdom and that these should be held in the royal palace in the city of Valencia. Some time later, in 1461, the Aragonese Cortes, taking advantage of the rebellion