Financing a captive's ransom in late medieval Aragon

Medieval Encounters

Volumn 9, Issue 1, 2003, Pages 164-181

  Rodriguez, Jarbel ^a  

^a SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33845785802     PISSN: 13807854     EISSN: 15700674     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/157006703322576574     Document Type: Article

References (52)

1. Ramon Llull. Blanquerna, ed. E.A. Peers (London, 1987), ch. 71.3
2. For a good general introduction to the problem of captivity in Iberia see James Brodman, Ransoming Captives in Crusader Spain: The Order of Merced on the Christian-Islamic Frontier (Philadelphia, 1986) ch. 1
3. María Dolores López Pérez, La Corona de Aragón y el Magreb en el siglo XIV (1331-1410) (Barcelona, 1995), 577-861, is especially good in reference to captives, especially 686-771 where she discusses Muslim piracy
4. Andrés Díaz-Borrás, Los Orígenes de la Piratería Islámica en Valencia: La Ofensiva Musulmana Trecentista y la Reacción Cristiana (Barcelona, 1993), passim
5. Stephen Bensch, "From Prizes of War to Domestic Merchandise: The Changing Face of Slavery in Catalonia and Aragon, 1000-1300," Viator, 25 (1994), 69
6. For overviews on the exeas and alfaqueques, see Brodman, Ransoming Captives, 7-8
7. Maria Teresa Ferrer i Mallol, "La Redempció de captius a la corona Catalano-Aragonesa (Segle XIV)" in Anuario de Estudios Medievales, 15 (1985), 262-66
8. José Enrique López de Coca Castaner, "Institutions on the Castilian Granadan Frontier, 1369-1482" in Medieval Frontier Societies ed. Robert Bartlett and Angus MacKay (Oxford, 1989), 137-41
9. José María Ramos y Loscertales, El Cautiverio en la Corona de Aragón durante los Siglos XIII, XIV y XV (Zaragoza, 1915), 154-56
10. Juan Torres Fontes, "Los Alfaqueques Castellanos en la frontera de Granada" in Homenaje a Don Agustín Millares Carlos, 2 vols. (Madrid, 1975), 2: 99-116
11. and Charles Verlinden, L'esclavage dans l'Europe Médiévale, Tome Premier, vol. I: Peninsule Ibérique-France (Brugge, 1955), 153
12. James Brodman "Military Redemptionism and the Castilian Reconquest, 1180-1250," Military Affairs, 44 (1980), 24-28
13. Brodman, "Military Redemptionism and the Castilian Reconquest," 24-25
14. Ramos y Loscertales, El Cautiverio, 156-61
15. for a good overview of the Order of Mountjoy see Alan Forey's, "The Order of Mountjoy," Speculum, 46 (1971), 250-66
16. Other military orders were also active in the ransoming process, but they mostly limited their activities to ransoming for profit, as opposed to ransoming for charity. See Joseph Delaville Le Roulx's, Cartulaire General de l'Ordre des Hospitaliers de Saint Jean de Jerusalem, 4 vols. (Paris, 1894-1906), does. 1410 (May 16, 1212), 1434 (Feb. 1215), and 1861 (May 8, 1227) for some representative examples of the ransoming work conducted by the Knights Hospitallers
17. For a more nuanced study of the ransoming activities of the military orders, see Alan Forey, "The military orders and the Spanish Reconquest in the 12th and 13th Centuries," Traditio, 40 (1984), 197-234
18. Ibn Khaldūn, Histoire des Berbères et des Dynasties Musulmanes de l'Afrique Septentrionale trans. Baron de Slane (Paris, 1934), 3: 117
19. Brodman, Ransoming of Captives, 106
20. This estimate and those that follow are based on the figures provided by Earl J. Hamilton, Money, Prices, and Wages in Valencia, Aragón, and Navarre, 1351-1500 (Philadelphia, 1975), appendixes 9 and 10. The estimate assumes 300 workdays and the figures are for Valencia. Laborers earned less in smaller cities or areas with more modest economies. In Aragón proper, for example, an unskilled laborer earned around 25£ a year in 1405
21. See López Pérez, La Corona de Aragón y el Magreb, 824-25 for the figures from the 1380s
22. e siècle (1410-1525) (Paris, 1986), p. 230 for 1415
23. López Pérez, La Corona de Aragón, 824-25
24. Stanley Jados, The Consulate of the Sea and Related Documents (University, Alabama, 1975), ordinance 247
25. Teresa María Vinyoles i Vidal, La vida quotidiana a Barcelona vers 1400 (Barcelona, 1985), 185-86
26. For the Mercedarians see James Brodman, "The Rhetoric of Ransoming: A Contribution to the debate over Crusading in Medieval Iberia," in Tolerance and Intolerance: Social Conflict in the Age of the Crusades ed. by Michael Gervers and James M. Powell (Syracuse, 2001), 47
27. for the Trinitarians see Porres Alonso, Libertad a los Cautivos, 1: 135
28. Bonifacio Porres Alonso, Libertad a los Cautivos: Actividad Redentora de la Orden Trinitaria, 2 vols. (Córdova & Salamanca, 1998), 1: 145-47
29. Sebastian Puig y Puig, Episcopologio de la sede Barcinonense (Barcelona, 1929), doc. 122 (Oct. 21, 1370)
30. published by Maria Teresa Ferrer i Mallol, La Frontera amb l'Islam en el segle XIV: Cristians i Sarraïns al país Valencià (Barcelona, 1988), doc. 229
31. Brodman, "The Rhetoric of Ransoming," 46
32. For more on "pro-anima" bequests see Brodman, "What is a Soul Worth?" Medievalia et Humanistica, 20 (1993), 15-23
33. For a brief study of the relationship between captives and unmarried girls in charitable donations see José Sanchez-Herrero, "La acción benéfica de las cofradías durante los siglos XIV al XVII: la redención de cautivos y la dotación de doncellas para el matrimonio," in Religiosidad Popular en Espana 2 vols. (Madrid, 1997), 1: 163-91
34. Agustin Rubio-Vela, Epistolari de la Valencia Medieval, 2 vols. (Valencia, 1985 and 1998), doc. II: 145 (May 25, 1441)
35. Agustín Altisent, L'almonie reial a la corte de Pere de Ceremoniós: Estudi i edició dels manuscrits de l'almoiner fra Guillem Deude, monjo de Poblet (1378-1385) (Poblet, 1969), pp. xxxviii-xxxix
36. see also Miguel Gual, "La Asistencia a los Pobres en la Corte de Pedro IV, El Ceremonioso" in A pobresa e a assistência aos pobres na península Ibérica durante la idade Media (Lisbon, 1973), 1: 479-81
37. Altissent, L'almoina real, 183, 186, 190
38. For a brief overview see Regina Sáinz de la Maza Lasoli, "Los Mercedarios en la Corona de Aragón durante la segunda mitad del siglo XIV," Miscellanía de Textos Medievales 4 (1988), 238
39. and James Brodman, "Ransomers or Royal Agents: The Mercedarians and the Aragonese Crown in the 14th Century" in Iberia and the Mediterranean World of the Middle Ages ed. P.E. Chevedden, D.J. Kagay and P.G. Padilla (Leiden, 1996), 248
40. published by Sáinz, "Los Mercedarios," doc. 43
41. José Sánchez Herrero, "La acción benéfica de las cofradías durante los siglos XIV al XVII: la redención de cautivos y la dotaciôn de doncellas para el matrimonio" in Religiosidad Popular en Espana 2 vols. (Madrid, 1997) I: 163-191
42. Verlinden, L'esclavage, 1: 538-39
43. Prospero de Bofarull y Mascaró, Colección de documentos inéditos del Archivo General de la Corona de Aragón, 41 vols. (Barcelona, 1847-1910), vol 40, doc. 17 (Sept. 1329)
44. See Bofarull, Colección de Documentos, vol. 40, docs. 4, 14, 17-23, 26-27, 45-47, 52, 59, 64. The dates range from 1298 to 1392
45. Sánchez Herrero, "La acción benéfica de las cofradías," 167
46. For a full account see Andrés Díaz Borrás "Notas sobre los primeros tiempos de la atención Valenciana a la redención de cautivos cristianos," Estudis Catellonencs, 3 (1986), 337-54
47. and "La Organización de la caridad redentiva en la ciudad de Valencia a finales del siglo XIV," in Francisco Toro Ceballo et al., Estudios de Frontera: Alcalá la Real y el Arcipreste de Hita (Jáen, 1996), 157-75
48. Díaz Borrás, "Notas sobre los primeros tiempos" 348
49. Pedro Bellot, Anales de Orihuela, ed. Juan Torres Fontes (Orihuela, 1954), 175-76
50. The same raid claimed the life of Pere's wife and subsequently the town council also gave Bartomeu and additional 100 florins as a gracious gesture for the death of his daughter-in-law. The money, however, was not enough and in 1408, Martí I granted Grimait a begging license for 200£ (3,400 sous) to help with his son's ransom. See Ferrer i Mallol, La Frontera amb l'Islam, 217-218 for the background and doc. 238 for the published begging license
51. Juan de Mata Carriazo, "Relaciones fronterizas entre Jaen y Granada en el ano 1479" in Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos, 61 (1955), 41-45
52. For an example from Castile see Porres-Alonso, Libertad a los Cautivos, doc. II: 10 (Feb. 27, 1311)