Royalty at medieval military camps. Temporary architectures of power in the four Grand Catalan Chronicles (1208-1387)

Royalty at medieval military camps
Temporary architectures of power in the four
Grand Catalan Chronicles (1208-1387)
Movement and Mobility in the Medieval Mediterranean
(6th-15th centuries)
Society for the Medieval Mediterranean 6th Biennial Conference
Barcelona, Institut d'Estudis Catalans, 8-11 July 2019
Esther Dorado-Ladera
doradoladera@gmail.com

Jaume I the Conqueror
Book of Deeds (1208-1276)
Bernat Desclot
Chronicle (1208-1285)
Ramon Muntaner
Pere IV the Ceremonious
The four Grand Catalan Chronicles
Jaume I
Bernat Desclot
Ramon Muntaner
Pere IV
Period covered in the chronicle When the chronicle was written
• Chronicle of Jaume I of Aragonor Llibre dels Fets (Book of Deeds)
• Chronicle of Bernat Desclot
• Chronicle of Ramon Muntaner
• Chronicle of Pere IV of Aragon

Jaume the Conqueror
Bernat Desclot
Ramon Muntaner
Pere the Ceremonious
Military camps described in the Grand Catalan Chronicles
• Ringed by a wooden fence or by a moat
• Location:
• In a high place
• Close to a clean water source
• Whenever possible, in farmlands:
• Irrigated areas (vega / horta)
• Farms (alqueria)
• Fields (camp)
• The king is closely involved in the planning of the camp:
“[...] in battle the king ought to be in the rearguard, but, in setting up the camp, he ought to
go first, in order to lay the siege in the best possible manner [...].”
Car en la batalla deu ésser lo rei en la reraguarda, mas en albergar la host, lo rei hi deu ésser
que vaja primer per assetjar-los mellor [...].”
(Book of Deeds, 434)
• Lodgings:
• Tents
• Wooden houses

Jaume the Conqueror
Bernat Desclot
Ramon Muntaner
Terminology
• Casa de fust(a) / Barraca / Caban(y)a
• Wooden houses or huts
• Tenda / tendes / tendal
• The most frequent term
• Reyal / Reial
• Commonly refers to any royal lodgings
• Papallons
• From the latin papĭlio, -ōnis (butterfly, tent)
• Only used to refer to temporary lodgings by Bernat Desclot
• Tenda oltra marina
• Meaning “tent from beyond the sea”
• Only mentioned in the Book of Deeds (323)

Jaume the Conqueror
Bernat Desclot
Ramon Muntaner
Tents' structure
• Made with wood cut close to the camp
“[...] we ordered sleeping quarters to be made out of rugs and blankets that we had brought,
as we had forbidden anybody to cut them down the trees [...].”
[...] faíem barraques de tapits e de vànoves que nós portàvem, per ço com nós vedam que
negú no hi tallàs arbre [...].
• Based in a single central pole
“[...] a swallow had made her nest on the pole of our tent [...].”
[...] una oreneta havia feit niu prop de l'escudella en lo tendal [...].

Jaume the Conqueror
Bernat Desclot
Ramon Muntaner
Tents' structure
• Made with wood cut close to the camp
• Based in a single central pole
Conquest of Mallorca (detail)
Mural paintings, Aguilar Palace (currently at MNAC)
Barcelona, 1285-1290
Order of Calatrava's Camp (detail)
Mural paintings, Order of Calatrava Castle
Alcañiz (Teruel), 14th cent.

Jaume the Conqueror
Bernat Desclot
Ramon Muntaner
Royal tents' fabric
• Opaque
“Thus, at sunset we collected wide and long cloths, and we had them put up facing the town,
so that the Saracens would not see the candles [...].”
E quan venc al sol post nós demanam draps amples e llongs, e faem-los metre de part de la
vila per tal que no vissen les candeles [...].
(Book of Deeds, 68)
• Waterproof: waxed cloth covered with silk
“And I had a litter made (in which the Lord Infante and the wet nurse went), covered with
waxed cloth and over it scarlet silk cloth[...].”
[...] jo havia feta fer una anda en què havia l'infant, e anava a son aire, e la dida; que havia
coberta de drap encerat, e puis, damunt, de drap vermell, de presset vermell [...].
(Ramon Muntaner, 269)

Jaume the Conqueror
Bernat Desclot
Ramon Muntaner
Royal tents' contents and size
• Furniture
• Beds, tables, benches
• Chapel
• Size (probably larger in all cases)
• Philippe III of France >150 m2
• His tent could accommodate 1,000 knights
• Jaume the Conqueror >18 m2
• He had at least a bed and a portable chapel
• 10 knights usually slept in his tent
• Pere the Cerimonious >15 m2
• He had at least a bed, a table, a bench and a space to celebrate Mass
• His tent could accommodate at least 40 noblemen standing

Jaume the Conqueror
Bernat Desclot
Ramon Muntaner
Relevant uses of royal temporary lodgings
• Political and military affairs
• Royal councils
• Surrender negotiations and capitulation agreements
• Homage ceremonies
• Religious ceremonies
• Mass
• Social events
• Banquets
• Tournaments
• Mourning for knights killed in battle
• Receiving important guests

Jaume the Conqueror
Bernat Desclot
Ramon Muntaner
Different approaches to military camps
Jaume the Conqueror
• Prefers to stay in military camps
“[...] they said that we were unsettling the men of the army. Yet we said that they did not speak
the truth, and that the kingdom would be won by what we knew how to say and do [...].”
[...] E ells dixeren que nós destorbàvem los de la host. E nós dixem que no deïen veritat; que
per ó que nós hi sabríem dir e fer se guanyaria el regne [...].
• Only religious communities he accepts as hosts are military orders
• Templars' castle at Horta (Tarragona)(Book of Deeds, 25)
• House of the Templars at Burbáguena (Teruel) (Book of Deeds, 25)
• Espital de Burgos, Order of Hospitallers (Book of Deeds, 496)

Jaume the Conqueror
Bernat Desclot
Ramon Muntaner
• Stays out of military camps quite often
• Hostal de Bella dona (Barcelona o Girona) (Pere de Ceremonious, 3.59)
• Hostal of Castelló de Sant Pere (Barcelona) (Pere de Ceremonious, 4.12)
• Hostal d'En Verdú (Castelló) (Pere de Ceremonious, 6.34)
• Feels comfortable staying in religious buildings
• Church of the Franciscan Order in Zaragoza (Pere de Ceremonious, 2.2)
• Mosque of Jérica (Castelló) (Pere de Ceremonious, 2.26)
• Church of St Nicolau de Portopí (Mallorca) (Pere de Ceremonious, 3.35)
• Bishop of Girona's Palace (Pere de Ceremonious, 3.59)
• Monastery of St Miquel de Cuixà (Pyrénées-Orientales) (Pere de Ceremonious,
4.15)

Jaume the Conqueror
Bernat Desclot
Ramon Muntaner
Bernat Desclot
• Uses descriptions of French monarchs' tents as a literary device
• Phillippe III of France prominence
“[...] he found three tents. They were the most beautiful tents anyone had ever seen, and
one of them belonged to the king of France and accommodated a thousand knights [...].”
[...] trobà-hi tres tendes, les pus belles que anc fossen vistes en negunes terres, de les
quals l'una era del rei de França e cabera-hi bé mil cavallers [...].
(Bernat Desclot, 157)
• Charles of Anjou lack of chivalry
“[...] they were lodged in a church. There were not mattresses nor bedcovers, and they were
just provided with a lot of hay.”
[...] els mès hom en una esgleia e aquí hom los fó albergar; e no hi ha matalafs ne cobertors,
sinó molt fe que hi hagren mes.
(Bernat Desclot, 92)

Jaume the Conqueror
Bernat Desclot
Ramon Muntaner
Ramon Muntaner
• Emphasises the occasions when he was a witness
• Stays of Alfonso X of Castile in his parents' house in Peralada
“[...] the said Lord King of Castile and the Queen lay, that night, in the chamber of my father's
house in which, as I have already told you, the said Lord King En Jaime of Aragon had lodged [...].”
[...] el dit senyor rei de Castella e la reina jagueren aquella nit en la cambra de l'alberg de mon
pare, on ja vos he contat que el damunt dit senyor rei En Jaume d'Aragon havia posat [...].
• Stay of Ferran of Mallorca in his tent in Gallipolli
“[I] gave up the whole of my house to him [...] and all he required for setting out I gave him, tents
and harness of all sorts that are required by such a lord on a march.”
[...] e li lliuré tot mon alberg [...]. E tot quant hac mester jo li doné, e tendes, e armes e totes coses
que havia ops a caminar.

Jaume the Conqueror
Bernat Desclot
Ramon Muntaner
Temporary displays of power
Jaume the Conqueror (1/2)
• Focuses on surrender negotiations
• Preparing special seats
• Ordering people out of the room
• Standing to receive guests
• Arrangements made to tents or rooms, e.g. Mallorca, 1231:
“And our messengers sent word to us saying that we should prepare the dwellings which we
were in fittingly. And we ordered them to be decorated and adorned with much fennel, because
we had no other type of reed, and we placed our bedcovers and those of all who were with us
on the walls of the house [...].”
I ens enviaren a dir els nostres missatgers que arrangéssim bé la casa on nós estàvem. I la
vàrem fer arranjar i enjoncar bé amb fenoll, perquè no teníem altra mena de jonc; i posàrem
cobertors nostres I dels que eren amb nós per les parets de la casa, en la part on ells s'havien
de ficar [...].

Jaume the Conqueror
Bernat Desclot
Ramon Muntaner
Jaume the Conqueror (2/2)
• València, 1238:
“[...] he entered our quarters (which were very tidy and adorned) [...].”
E nós llevam-nos per ell en nostres cases ben guarnides e bé adobades [...].
• Xàtiva, 1240:
“And we had seats prepared in the reyal we had given to the bishop of Valencia [...].”
[...] e havíem fet aparellar setis en lo reial que nós donam al bisbe de València[...].
• Murcia, 1266:
“[...] we had our house draped with good cloths and fine couches prepared.”
[...] faem encortinar nostra casa de bons draps, e fer bons setis [...].

Jaume the Conqueror
Bernat Desclot
Ramon Muntaner
• Focuses on homage ceremonies
• Where it takes place
• Depends on his own agenda
• No special arrangements made
• His lodgings were probably luxurious at all times
• Details of the ceremony
• Bowing
• Swearing an oath
• Kissing the king's feet and hands
• Town privileges
• Forgiveness
• Who attended the event
• Standing to receive subjects

Jaume the Conqueror
Bernat Desclot
Ramon Muntaner
Concluding remarks
• Royal lodgings strongly influenced the dynamics of military campaigns
• Surrender negotiations
• Homage ceremonies
• Appropriation of newly conquered towns
• Personal preferences of the monarchs
• Jaume the Conqueror
• Continued presence of the king in military camps and newly conquered
territories as a reminder of his authority
• Pere the Ceremonious
• Maintained distance from his subjects and court
• All his political activities revolved around his personal circumstances
• Royal preferences and quality of temporary lodgings evolved over time and were
critical for the occupation processes

Thank you
Jaume I of Aragon (1982). Crònica o Llibre dels feits (F. Soldevila, ed.). Barcelona: Edicions 62.
Jaume I of Aragon (2003). The Book of Deeds of James I of Aragon. A Translation of the Medieval Catalan
Llibre dels Fets (D. Smith and H. Buffery, trans.). Aldershot and Burlington: Ashgate.
Bernat Desclot (1982). Crònica (M. Coll i Alentorn, ed.). Barcelona: Edicions 62.
Ramon Muntaner (1979). Crònica (M. Gustà, ed.). Vols I-II. Barcelona: Edicions 62.
Ramon Muntaner (1921). The Chronicle of Muntaner (Lady Goodenough, trans.). London: Hakluyt Society.
Pere IV of Aragon (1995). Crònica (A. Cortadellas, ed.). Barcelona: Edicions 62.
Esther Dorado-Ladera
doradoladera@gmail.com

Royalty at medieval military camps. Temporary architectures of power in the four Grand Catalan Chronicles (1208-1387)

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Royalty at medieval military camps. Temporary architectures of power in the four Grand Catalan Chronicles (1208-1387)