Message #123168

[Savannah]

The creation of new convents on estates formerly subject to Novillas was paralleled in Aragon by a similar development which occurred slightly later and on a smaller scale on the lands subject to the convent of Zaragoza. In this area new convents were founded at Ricla, Pina, and La Zaida. In documents concerning Templar rights at Ricla drawn up between 1173 and 1176 a brother Nuño is mentioned, often together with Bernard of Salvi, the commander of Zaragoza. (76) In 1184 Nuño was called commander of Ricla and was accompanied by at least three other Templars; (77) and there is a reference to a Templar house there seven years later. (78) The convent at Ricla may therefore have been established before the end of the twelfth century.

Bernard of Salvi also acted for the Temple in the 1170s in the earliest transactions in the district of Pina and La Zaida; (79) but in 1182 García of Aragon -- already mentioned in a document drawn up in 1177 (80) -- was called commander in a charter concerned with land in this area, though his title was given no territorial qualification. (81) He was probably, however, the predecessor of Michael of Luna, who was commander of La Zaida and Pina from 1185 until 1188. These two places were still subject to a single commander [99] in 1200, (82) but the evidence is insufficient to show exactly how long this practice was maintained. There appear to have been convents at both Pina and La Zaida, however, by the 1230s, when there were commanders and subordinate officials at each of these places. (83) Yet in 1244 both Pina and La Zaida were again subject to a single official, and since no commander of Pina is known between then and 1263 and since in 1255 the commander of La Zaida made a grant of land in Pina, (84) it is possible that in this period there ceased to be a convent at Pina. But this could have been only a temporary development. In 1270 references were made to a chamberlain of the house of Pina, (85) and in 1277 Pina and La Zaida were assessed separately for payments to the provincial master. (86) And while the convent at Pina survived until the arrest of the Templars, it was the house at La Zaida that was abandoned after the Temple had alienated its rights of lordship there.

A gradual development of convents also occurred in the areas of Catalonia already in Christian hands before 1143, although little is known about the process of foundation. A commander of Barbará is mentioned in 1173 and there is a reference to the convent there a year later. (87) There was a commander of Selma in 1190, but the existence of a convent there is indicated only by much later sources. (88) Again, very few documents survive about the convent which was established at Juncosa, not far from Selma. According to Miret y Sans the house of Juncosa had originally been established at Gunyolas, where there was a commander in 1160. (89) When or why it was transferred to Juncosa is not known, but the transference must have occurred in the later part of the twelfth century, since the first known commander of Juncosa was a brother Dominic in 1199/1200; (90) but a convent there is not mentioned until 1243. (91)

The history of the foundation of convents in the more northerly parts of Catalonia is equally obscure. Very little can be discovered about the convent founded at Aiguaviva, south-west of Gerona. According to Miret y Sans it was in existence by 1192, but the only document now surviving in the Hospitaller archive is a transcript of three agreements dating from the year 1209, by which time a chapel had been built at the convent there. (92) Equally little is known of the convent which was established at Castellón de Ampurias, to the east of Figueras; its archives have completely [100] disappeared. Again according to Miret y Sans a commandery had been set up there by 1168, when land in Castellón was sold to brother Berenguer of Mulnels, who was described as 'preceptor of that province'. (93) But this vague title suggests that there was in fact no convent at Castellón at that time and that Berenguer of Mulnels was merely a Templar bailiff, who administered the Order's possessions in that area. There is no reference to a Templar establishment at Castellón de Ampurias until 1217, when James I in an exchange granted his rights over a man in Besalú to the commander of the house at Castellón, (94) and the only clear indication that a convent was established there is the inclusion of Castellón among the places owing dues to the provincial master at the beginning of the fourteenth century. (95)

According to Monsalvatge y Fossas a further Templar convent was established in north-eastern Catalonia at San Lorenzo de las Arenas; he states that Pons Hugh II, count of Ampurias, was buried in the Templar chapel he had endowed there and that the Templars of the convent there later supported Hugh IV in a quarrel with the bishop of Gerona. (96) But a document drawn up in 1226, at the end of this dispute, makes it clear that the house in question at San Lorenzo belonged to the Hospitallers, not to the Templars. (97)

The only other convent established in northern Catalonia was at Puigreig. A Templar with the title of commander of Solsona was mentioned in 1169, (98) but from 1181 the official in charge of Templar estates along the upper Llobregat was usually called commander of Cerdaña or of Cerdaña and Bergadán. (99) The reference in these titles to a wide area and not to a single place indicates that at the end of the twelfth and in the early thirteenth century the commander was merely a bailiff in charge of the Order's possessions and that no convent had been established. When Puigreig was finally acquired it became the centre of administration in that area: the title of commander of Puigreig is found in 1239, although it did not at once completely supersede the older descriptions of the office. And in time a convent was created there. Yet it is not clear when the break from Palau occurred. There is a reference to a Templar house at Puigreig in 1248, (100) but for most of the thirteenth century the documents show the commander acting with only one or two other Templars, and no minor conventual officials are mentioned until 1285.(101)

[101] Acquisitions from private individuals did not lead to a similar process of foundation in the more recently conquered areas. By the time that the most southerly districts were recovered from the Moors the Order was no longer increasing its property to any great extent through purchases or gifts from private individuals, and in the places conquered in the middle and later parts of the twelfth century the acquisitions which the Order made after the initial grants from the Crown did not usually compare in importance with these royal grants. The Templar convents in the more southerly parts of the Corona de Aragón were therefore almost exclusively those established in places granted by the Crown. Even when a convent was apparently founded late, as at Ribarroja, it was established in a place gained from the king. The only one that can be looked upon as an exception is that at Barbens, which was established on lands first subject to Gardeny and which was not founded as the result of royal patronage. The Order plainly had no establishment there in 1164, for in that year an individual promised that if a Templar house were built on any land at Barbens from which he received tithes he would surrender his right to them. (102) But there is a reference to a Templar house at Barbens three years later, (103) and a commander of Barbens is mentioned in a document drawn up in 1168. The authority of the head of Gardeny was not, however, then withdrawn from Barbens. He continued to conduct business there until at least the early part of the thirteenth century, and lack of evidence makes it impossible to say when Barbens became an independent convent; the first hint is provided by the presence of the commander of Barbens at what appears to have been a provincial chapter in 1244. (104)

Although, as in the case of Barbens, there is no evidence of some convents until almost the end of the Temple's history in the Corona de Aragón, it can be shown that most Templar convents had been set up by the middle of the thirteenth century, in the period when Templar property was expanding most rapidly; and there is no instance in which it can be definitely stated that a convent was established after the middle of the thirteenth century. The only changes that are known to have occurred after 1250 were in the siting of convents. Palau, to the north of Barcelona, was not a very convenient site for a convent, since the commander had frequent business with royal officials in Barcelona and with Barcelona merchants who transported Templar supplies [102] to the East. (105) These factors probably explain the transfer of the convent to Barcelona, which -- as changes in title indicate -- occurred in 1282. Romeo of Burguet was appointed as commander of Palau in 1280 or 1281, but from May 1282 his title was changed to 'commander of Barcelona', although he continued to administer all the possessions of the former commandery of Palau. (106) The convent at Ricla had similarly by 1289 been transferred to Calatayud, (107) although the reason for the change is not known, and after Peñíscola had been obtained from the king in exchange for Tortosa it became the site of the convent previously situated at Chivert. (108)