ME - 022 - 04 - 379-426-Duran Duelt PDF

Medieval
Medieval Encounters 22 (2016) 379426 Jewish, Christian and Muslim Culture
Encounters
in Confluence and Dialogue
brill.com/me
An Arrested Community: Christians of the Girdle in

Fifteenth-Century Barcelona
Daniel Duran Duelt

Independent Scholar, 08013 Barcelona, Spain
daniel_duran_duelt@yahoo.es
Abstract
In the early fifteenth-century a group of Christians of the GirdleEastern Christians

coming from Syriaarrived in Barcelona. In the first decades of their presence in the
city they acted as a group, living in the same quarter, adopting a policy of endogamous
marriages and establishing a brotherhood. But a marked improvement in economic
conditions of the newcomers and their descendants, as well as an expansion of their
social relationship networks, marked the end of the strong cohesion. It seems, then,
that the experience of the Christians of the Girdle must be interpreted primarily as a
strategy for survival in the new social environment of Barcelona rather than a delib-
erate policy of exclusive cultural identity with a view to reproduction of a specific
cultural, linguistic, and religious model.
Keywords
brotherhood economic conditions marriage mimicry Syrian Christians
Introduction
Medieval Barcelona, like many Mediterranean cities, experienced an almost

continuous flow of people from very different places and very different condi-
tions. Immigration was essential to the city, both to make up for population
losses due to recent demographic crises and to sustain Barcelonas role at the
forefront of economic development both within the Crown of Aragon and in
koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 6|doi 10.1163/15700674-12342231

380 Duran Duelt
the wider Mediterranean region.1 Slavery was one of the ways that Barcelona
met those needs, but many people came freely, attracted by the economic
opportunities offered by the city. This mixed immigrant population gave
rise to settlement phenomena very diverse in nature, depending on factors
such as the legal status of the newcomer or the nature of their business, to
name but two.
Displacements were mostly individual or sometimes couples with children,
and were the result of individual initiatives. Newcomers usually did not try to
organize themselves as communities more or less recognizable by geographi-
cal origin, common jurisdictional subjections, or religious or linguistic charac-
teristics. The exceptions were few and quite late. In general, neither merchants
nor seamen were organized as nations or consulates, and in cases where they
were, the profiles of these institutions were low.2 This had much to do with the
attitude of the city government of Barcelona and its leaders, who were suspi-
cious of any form of supervised autonomy, if not directly opposed to any orga-
nization outside of its control. The Barcelona city council was always attentive
and vigilant in the presence of newcomers. As each case represented a particu-
lar reality, resulting in different situations, city authorities implemented vari-
ous strategies in order to confront and handle each of those situations and thus
safeguard the social and political order they had designed. One well-known
example is the monitoring of Italians. Although numerically insignificant, the
relations of Italians with the monarchy and nobility, their integration into
international economic and financial networks, and their economic strength,
in direct competition with local business interests, generated distrust and
1 For a general approach to Barcelonas demography in the Middle Ages, see Joan F. Cabestany
i Fort, Evoluci demogrfica, in Histria de Barcelona, ed. Jaume Sobrequs i Callic,
8 vols. (Barcelona: Enciclopdia Catalana, 19911997), 3:7384. Monetary abbreviations used:
ll. = lliura/lliures; s. = sou/sous; d. = diner/diners.
2 Spaniards are a good example of this phenomenon. Hilario Casado, Las colonias de mer-
caderes castellanos en Europa (ss. XVXVI), in Castilla y Europa, comercio y mercaderes
en los siglos XIV, XV y XVI. V Centenario de la fundacin del consulado de Mar de Burgos, ed.
H. Casado (Burgos: Diputacin Provincial de Burgos, 1995), 1556; Elisa Ferreira Priegue,
Cnsules de castellanos y cnsules de espaoles en el Mediterrneo bajomedieval, in Castilla
y Europa, 191239; Maria Teresa Ferrer i Mallol, Documents sobre el consolat de castellans
a Catalunya i Balears, Anuario de Estudios Medievales 1 (1964): 599605; De nuevo sobre el
consulado de castellanos en Catalua y Mallorca a fines del siglo XIV, in Poder y sociedad en
la Baja Edad Media hispnica. Estudios en homenaje al profesor Luis Vicente Daz Martn, ed.
C. M. Reglero de la Fuente, 2 vols. (Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid, 2002), 2:951969;
Ivn Szsdi Len-Borja, Un documento indito sobre el Consulado de Castellanos de
Barcelona y algunas consideraciones sobre ste, Estudis Histrics i Documents dels Arxius
de Protocols 14 (1996): 229239.
medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

Christians of the Girdle in Fifteenth-Century Barcelona 381
even led to (largely unsuccessful) attempts on the part of the city council to
expel them.3 Another example is the monitoring of slaves, whose high number,
and status as religious, linguistic, and cultural foreigners, as well as the need
for the manpower that they supplied, led to strict control policies, but also to a
clear commitment to ensure their integration into Barcelonas milieu.4
The foreigners known as the Christians of the Girdle (cristians de la
centura) represent a different case, connected at the same time with the situ-
ation of both Italians and slaves, but with their own particular circumstances.
This obscure group of Eastern Christians, a mix of both free people and slaves
recently arrived in Barcelona from the area of Syria-Palestine as refugees from
the chaos unleashed by the campaigns of Timur, maintained a high degree
of cohesion for one or two generations. Such cohesion indicates a policy of
intermarriages and an intense social and professional association reinforced
by a certain professional specialization.5 Another apparent sign of cohesion
and perhaps of group identity is their formation of a professional organiza-
tion of religious nature, a brotherhood, making the Christians of the Girdle the
first of Barcelonas brotherhoods for foreigners and a precedent of the better-
known brotherhood of black freedmen of 1455. However, the brotherhood was
in fact an instrument of social framework, might be better understood as a way
for local authorities to control group members and a means by which the
3 Maria Teresa Ferrer i Mallol, Els italians a terres catalanes (segles XIIXV), Anuario de
Estudios Medievales 10 (1980): 393466; Patrizia Mainoni, Mercanti lombardi tra Barcellona
e Valenza nel basso Medioevo (Bologna: Cappelli, 1982); Eleanor A. Congdon, Protectionist
Legislation and Italians in Aragon/Catalonia 13981404, Medieval Encounters 9 (2004):
214235; Maria Elisa Soldani, Uomini daffari e mercanti toscani nella Barcellona del
Quattrocento (Barcelona: CSIC, 2010).
4 Josefina Mutg i Vives, Les ordinacions del municipi de Barcelona sobre els esclaus, in De
lesclavitud a la llibertat: Esclaus i lliberts a ledat mitjana; actes del Col.loqui Internacional
celebrat a Barcelona, del 27 al 29 de maig de 1999, eds. M. T. Ferrer i Mallol, J. Mutg i Vives
(Barcelona: CSIC, 2000), 245265; Ivn Armenteros Martnez, Ritmos y dinmicas de un
mercado de esclavos. Barcelona, 13011516, in Les esclavages en Mditerrane. Espaces et
dynamiques conomiques, ed. Fabienne P. Guilln, Salah Trabelsi (Madrid: Casa de Velazquez,
2012), 101118; Ivn Armenteros Martnez, La esclavitud en Barcelona a fines de la Edad Media
(14791516). El impacto de la primera trata atlntica en un mercado tradicional de esclavos
(Barelona: Universitat de Barcelona, 2012); Ivn Armenteros Martnez, Lesclavitud a la
Barcelona del Renaixement (14791516). Un port mediterrani sota la influncia del primer trfic
negrer (Barcelona: Fundaci Noguera, 2015).
5 Thus far, it has been impossible to identify large groups of Christians of the Girdle in other
parts of the Crown of Aragon or in Western Europe; thus, it seems their significant pres-
ence in Barcelona represents a special case. It has proved impossible to determine why they
choose Barcelona as place to install themselves. No document or written sources gives us any
information permitting us to establish the reason for this choice.

382 Duran Duelt
members themselves channeled and demonstrated their aspirations for social

mimicry and identification with the host environment, as has been put in relief
for some other cases.6 Indeed, the behavior of Christians of the Girdle must
be understood in the context of their host environment and the conditions
that determined the integration of newcomers, whether those conditions were
domestic factors such as members legal and economic status or external fac-
tors such as cultural and religious prejudice of their hosts, to name but two.7
This idea of an action strategy as a function of integration and adaptation to the
environment seems to be confirmed by the fact that changes in these factors
determined changes in action strategies and goals of that model. The following
pages discuss precisely these issues, starting with an analysis of the extremely
elusive nature of the name Christian of the Girdle in order to establish the
identity of those displaced to Barcelona, moving on to analyze the members
relationship with their new city and the evolution of that relationship. Beyond
mere anecdotal value, the analysis of this case will allow us to deepen our
understanding of medieval migration and the position of foreigners in urban
societies of the Crown of Aragon in general, and Barcelona in particular.8
6
Concerning brotherhoods as instruments for social mimicry, see the works of Ivan
Armenteros in footnote 161 below. Mimicry is a concept borrowed from postcolonial studies,
as put forth by Homi K. Bhabha, but used here in a more narrow sense. If mimicry appears
when members of a colonized society imitate and take on the culture of the colonizers, but
with the result of a difference being almost the same, but not quite, here I highlight the
imitative process of certain foreigners more than its results because we are not yet in condi-
tions to value them. See the chapter On Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial
Discourse, in Homi K. Bhabha, The Location of Culture (London-New York, NY: Routledge,
1994), 8592; Also Homi K. Bhabha, Post-Colonial Studies. The Key Concepts, ed. Bill Ashcroft,
Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin (London-New York, NY: Routledge, 2000), 124127.
7 About all these questions, see Letranger: identit et altrit au temps de la Renaissance,
ed. Marie Thrse Jones-Davies (Paris: SIRIR, 1996); The Stranger in Medieval Society, ed.
F. R. Akehurst and S. C. Van DElden (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1998);
Les trangers dans la ville: minorits et espace urbain du bas Moyen ge lpoque moderne,
ed. Jacques Bottin, Donatella Calabi (Paris: ditions de la Maison des sciences de lhomme,
1999); Ltranger au Moyen ge. XXXe Congres de la SHMES, Gttingen, juin 1999 (Paris:
Publications de la Sorbonne, 2000); Dentro la citt. Stranieri e realt urbane nellEuropa dei
secoli XIIXVI, ed. G. Rossetti (Naples: Liguori, 1989); Comunit forestiere e nationes
nellEuropa dei secoli XIIIXVI, ed. Giovanna Petti Balbi (Naples: Liguori, 2001); Soldani,
Uomini daffari, 3536.
8 Despite the amount of noticies in the rich notarial and public records, there is unfortunately
an important lack of studies on foreigners in medieval Barcelona, in contrast with other
cities of the Crown of Aragon, especially Valencia. For a general overview and a rich collec-
tion of notices, see Claude Carrre, Barcelone, centre conomique lpoque des difficults,

Christians of the Girdle, or the Difficulty in Defining a Group
Who were the Christians of the Girdle? This name, appearing in almost all
medieval Western languages, presents serious problems of interpretation:
13801462, 2 vols. (Paris-La Haye: Mouton, 1967) and Carme Batlle, La presenza degli stranieri
a Barcelona nei secoli XII e XIII, in Dentro la Citt. Stranieri e realt urbane nellEuropa dei
secoli XIIXVI, ed. G. Rossetti (Naples: Liguori, 1989), 87110. Excepting Italians (n. 3 above),
studies are quite general, often in the context of all the Crown of Aragon. See Carme Batlle
i Gallart, Els francesos a la Corona dArag, Anuario de Estudios Medievales 10 (1980): 361
392 (on Frenchs); Nikolas Jaspert, Corporativismo en un entorno extrao: las cofradas de
alemanes en la Corona de Aragn, in La Mediterrnia de la Corona dArag, segles XIIIXVI
& VII Centenari de la Sentncia Arbitral de Torrellas, 13042004: XVIII Congrs dHistria de
la Corona dArag, Valncia 2004, 914 setembre, 2 vols., ed. R. Narbona Vizcano (Valencia:
Universitat de Valncia, 2005), 1: 17851806 (on Germans); Ivn Casado Nova, Las migracio-
nes de lite: la presencia y la actividad commercial de los mercaderes alemanes, in Actas
del II Simposio Internacional de Jvenes Medievalistas MdP 2015, eds. G. Fabin Rodrguez and
J. F. Jimnez Alczar (Mar del Plata: Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, 2015), 156175
(on Germans); Mximo Diago Hernando, Los mercaderes alemanes en los Reinos Hispanos
durante los siglos bajomedievales: Actividad de las grandes Compaas en la Corona de
Aragn, in Espaa y el Sacro Imperio: Procesos de cambios, influencias y acciones recpro-
cas en la poca de la europeizacin, siglos XIXIII, eds. J. Valden, K. Herbers and K. Rudolf
(Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid, 2002), 299328 (on Germans); Hermann Kellenbenz,
Las relaciones econmicas y culturales entre Espaa y Alemania alrededor de 1500, Anuario
de Estudios Medievales 10 (1980): 545554 (on Germans). The few works on Spaniards are
mainly focused on their consulate (footnote 2) with the exception of Carles Vela i Aulesa,
Naves y marinos vascos en Barcelona a partir de los registros de coses vedades, Itsas
Memoria. Revista de estudios martimos del Pas Vasco 3 (2000): 629648. Only Germans have
been studied in a more large and specific way, e.g., Marina Mitj, Dificultades de la industria
y comercio alemanes para abrirse paso en Barcelona hasta 1410, Spanische Forschungen der
Goerresgesellschaft: Gesammelte Aufstze zur Kulturgeschichte Spaniens 13 (1958): 188228;
Marina Mitj, El comercio y la industria alemanes en Barcelona de 1410 a 1420, in Homenaje
a Johannes Vincke, para el 11 de mayo 1962, 2 vols., ed. J. Vincke (Madrid: CSIC, 19621963),
1:285320; Konrad Hbler, Das Zollbuch der Deutschen in Barcelona (14251440) und der
deutsche Handel mit Katalonien bis zum Ausgang des 16. Jahrhunderts, Wrttembergische
Vierteljahrshefte fr Landesgeschichte 10 (1901): 116120; Nikolas Jaspert, Ein Leben in der
Fremde. Deutsche Handwerker und Kaufleute im Barcelona des 15. Jahrhunderts, in Ein
gefllter Willkomm. Festschrift fr Knut Schulz zum 65. Geburtstag, ed. K. Schulz, F. J. Felten,
S. Irrgang, and K. Wesoly (Aachen: Shaker, 2002), 435462; Montserrat Jard Anguera, Mestres
entalladors a Barcelona durant la segona meitat del segle XV i primer quart del segle XVI: de la
tradici germnica a la producci local, 2 vols. (Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, 2006);
Anna Molina i Castella, Un dels suptils maestres de la sua art qui sien en nostra senyoria:
Consol Blanch dEstrasburg, un argenter alemany a la Corona dArag (13721401), Anuario
de Estudios Medievales 29 (1999): 655687.

384 Duran Duelt
neither medieval sources nor modern scholars agree upon its meaning, which
in any case seems to experience a clear evolution over time.9 The very different
texts that discuss them, from brief mentions to more or less detailed descrip-
tions, present the Christians of the Girdle as Christians installed in a broad
geographical framework mainly extending from Egypt to Syria. All of these
texts generally agree that the name stems from the distinctive clothing worn
by members to distinguish themselves from other confessional groups. But the
vague and diverse nature of the body of evidence renders it difficult to iden-
tify the Christians of the Girdle with a specific denomination. One of the first
9 The ancient religious dictionaries tend to choose, in general, broad identification with
Christians of Syria and Egypt, including Nestorians, Jacobites (Syrian Orthodox), and
Maronites; see Barthlemy dHerbelot, Bibliothque orientale ou Dictionnaire universel
contenant generalement tout ce qui regarde la connoissance des Peuples de lOrient (Paris:
Compagnie des Libraires, 1697), 68, 939; A. Calmet, Dictionnaire historique, critique, chro-
nologique, geographique et literal de la Bible, 4 vols., (Ginebra: Marc-Michel Bousquet et
Compagnie, Libraires & Imprimeurs, 1730), 2:87; Charles-Louis Richard, Bibliothque sacre,
ou Dictionnaire universel, historique, dogmatique, canonique, gographique et chronologique
des sciences ecclsiastiques, 15 vols., (Paris: Boiste Fils Ain, diteur, 18221827), 6:262. More
recently, on the differences regarding the identification of those Christians of the Girdle see,
for example, G. Levi Della Vida, Chrestiens de la saincture, Modern Language Notes 59.7
(1944): 484487; and Henry L. Savage, Chestiens de la sainctureA Friendly Rejoinder,
Modern Language Notes 60.3 (1945): 206210. Others identify Christians of the Girdle as
Maronites, e.g., Anne Wolf, How Many Miles to Babylon?: Travels and Adventures to Egypt and
Beyond, 13001640 (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2003), 73. Still others associate them
with Melkites; see Anna-Dorothee Von den Brincken, Die nationes christianorum orienta-
lium im Verstndnis der lateinischen Historiographie (Cologne-Vienne: Bhlau, 1973), 76103.
And other scholars opt for the Copts; see Otto Meinardus, The Copts in Jerusalem (Cairo:
Commission on Oecumenical Affairs of the See of Alexandria, 1960), 19 n. 46.
In general, with respect to the perception of Eastern communities in the writings of trav-
elers and pilgrims and identification problems posed by their texts, see Francis M. Rogers,
The Quest for Eastern Christians: Travels and Rumor in the Age of Discovery, (Minneapolis, MN:
University of Minnesota, 1962); A. Jotischky, The Mendicants as Missionaries and Travellers
in the Near East in the Thirteenth and Fourteenths Centuries, in Eastward Bound. Travels
and Travellers, 10501550, ed. R. Allen (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004),
88106; Ilaria Sabatini, The Representation of the East in the Diaries of Pilgrimage (XIV and
XV centuries). Men, Women, Customs, Cultures, between Religion and Observation, Liber
Annuus 61 (2011): 1741; Michele Campopiano, Islam, Jews, and Eastern Christianity in Late
Medieval Pilgrims Guidebooks: Some Examples from the Franciscan Convent of Mount
Sion, Al-Masq: Islam and the Medieval Mediterranean 24.1 (2012): 7589; Camille Rouxpetel,
Le turban fait-il loriental? Les chrtiens de la ceinture dans les rcits de plerinage occiden-
taux (XIIIeXIVe sicles), Questes 25 (2013): 2344.

mentions in Western texts comes from the thirteenth century when Jacopo
Sanudo uses the expression to refer to Egyptian Christians.10 Odorico of
Pordenone, talking about Egypt as well, points out that their name comes
from the girdle used to tie their clothing, an outfit distinguishing them from
other people.11 By then, the Christian communities in Egypt were mainly
Coptic, with a minority of Melkites (Greek-Arabic peoples of Byzantine rite).
However, there is no doubt that there were Christian Copts whom other texts
refer to as Jacobites. These texts are confirmed by later testimonies, most
notably that of the Irishman Simon Fitzsimons (Symon Semeonis) who iden-
tified Jacobites with Christians of the Girdle in 1324. Referring to Christians
from Alexandria, he points out Muslims called the Jacobites or Christians of
the Girdle Nysrani, meaning from Nazareth. According to Fitzsimons, these
Christians practiced circumcision, adult baptism, and communion, in addi-
tion to crossing themselves with the index finger, celebrating long masses, and
using both Egyptiani.e. Copticand Arabic languages in their liturgy. He
also points out that, despite similarities with Greeksmeaning Christians of
the Byzantine rite or Chalcedonian Christiansin their views on priests mar-
riage and monks celibacy, there were basic theological differences concerning
the procession of the Holy Spirit and the use of unleavened bread.12 But it is
also interesting that this description links Fitzsimons to the tradition charac-
terizing Christians of the Girdle by their dress: he points out that Muslims, Jews,
and Christians (with the exception of Latin Christians) shared the same kind
of clothes, distinguished only by the color of the cloth of their head-coverings,
but adds that the Christians of the Girdle wear a silk or linen girdle from which
they take their name.13 With all this information it seems clear Fitzsimons was
10 Christianos plurimos in partibus gypti degentes, qui Christiani de cinctura vocan-

tur, Marino Sanudo Torsello, Liber Secretorum Fidelium Crucis Super Terrae Sanctae
Recuperatione Et Conservatione: quo Et Terrae Sanctae Historia ab Origine. [et] Eiusdem
vicinarumque Provinciarum Geographica descriptio continentur, (Frankfurt: Heredes
Ioannis Aubrii, 1611), 48; Marino Sanudo Torsello, The Book of the Secrets of the Faithful of
the Cross. Liber Secretorum Fidelium Crucis. Tr. Peter Lock (Farnham: Ashgate, 2011), 88.
11 Charles du Fresne du Cange et al., Glossarium medi et infim latinitatis, 10 vols., (Niort:
L. Favre, 18831887), 2: col. 319a.
12 Mario Esposito, Itinerarium Symonis Semeonis ab Hybernia ad Terram Sanctam (Dublin:
The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Scriptores Latini Hiberniae, 1960), 56.
13 Mario Esposito, Itinerarium Symonis Semeonis, 58; Danielle Rgnier-Bohler, Le Voyage de
Symon Semeonis dIrlande en Terre Sainte, in Croisades et plerinages: rcits, chroniques
et voyages en Terre sainte XIIeXVIe sicle (Paris: Robert Laffont, 1997), 976977. Niccol da
Martoni, in 1395, speaking of the inhabitants of Alexandria, gives a similar description:

386 Duran Duelt
talking about Christian Copts, Christian Egyptian non-Chalcedonian commu-

nities, considering both his references to the languages used in liturgy, as well
as their differences with Greeks about the procession of the Holy Spirit.14
More than a century later, Anselmo Adorno, in his account of his
14701471 pilgrimage, points out the existence in Alexandria of certain
schismatic Christians.
Schismatic Christians have been in Egypt and Syria since ancient times.
They have the customs and language of the Moors and do not differ at all
from them, except in their cap, because they wear on their head bands of
blue or sky color. They generally never dare to wear white robes, but only
blue ones. These Christians, who are called Christians of the Girdle, have
numerous churches in the city and especially one called Saint Mark.
He found them in Cairo as well.15 It seems at first that Adorno is referring to

Egyptian Copts, but then he adds that Christians of the Girdle are also present
in Syria and other places such as the town of Tor on the Red Sea.16 In this case,
he could be referring to Copts documented in possession of some chapels of
the Holy Sepulcher or to the monks present at that time in Mount Lebanon,17
but it is more probable that he was talking about some other large confessional
groups in those areas. Who? In Syria and Palestine there were communities
sharing the Copts creed, the Orthodox Syrians, who were non-Chalcedonian
Christians. It was logical that many people saw them as comparable to Copts
Louis Legrand, Relation du pelrinage a Jrusalem de Nicolas de Martoni, notaire italien

(13941395), Revue de lOrient Latin 3 (1894): 566669 at 588.
14 For other identifications, see Jotischky, The Mendicants as Missionaries, 93.
15 Jacques Heers, Georgette De Gror, Itinraire dAnselme Adorno en Terre Sainte: 14701471
(Paris: CNRS, 1978), 188.
16 Jacques Heers, Georgette de Gror, Itinraire dAnselme Adorno, 220. The description of the
city made by a Venetian in the sixteenth century (1538) confirms that presence, Giovanni
Battista Ramusio, Primo volume & terza editione delle Navigationi et viaggi raccolto gia da
M. G. B. Ramusio & con...discorsi, da lui...dichiarato & illustrato. Nel quale si contengono
la descrittione dellAfrica & del paese del Prete Janni, con varij viaggi, etc. (Venice: Stamperia
de Giunti, 1563), 274 (v).
17 Otto F.A. Meinardus, The Copts in Jerusalem and the Question of the Holy Places, Coptic
Church Review 16.1 (1995): 925; R. Jabre Mouawad, Les moines thiopiens au Mont
Liban (xve sicle), Bulletin Liban Souterrain 5 (1998): 188207; Iskandar Bcheiry, Lattivita
siro-ortodossa nel Monte Libano nella seconda meta del secolo XV, Parole de lOrient:
revue semestrielle des tudes syriaques et arabes chrtiennes: recherches orientales: revue
dtudes et de recherches sur les glises de langue syriaque 28 (2003): 609658.

and thus used the same expression to refer to them, given the similarities
between the two.18
Mentions of Christians of the Girdle in the Holy Land appear from the four-
teenth century onwards.19 But if in the Egyptian case the identification with
Copts is more or less clear, the case of Syria-Palestine is more problematic.
The majority of texts point out the presence in Jerusalem of Byzantine rite
ChristiansGreeks in the textsplus Armenians, Maronites, Ethiopians,
Indians, Nestorians, and Copts; some others add Georgians, Gypsies, Christians
of the Girdle, and/or Syrians.20 The texts sometimes treat the last two as
18 Links between Syrian Orthodox and Coptic populations date from quite early, not only by
the presence of Copts in Jerusalem and Lebanon but also by the Syrian presence in Egypt,
in places such as the monastery of Deir el-Surian and the desert of Wadi el-Natrun, as
well as by more general theological and cultural connections between the two communi-
ties. See Jean-Maurice Fiey, Copts et Syriaques. Contacts et changes, Studia Orientalia
Christiana Collectanea 15 (19721973): 323326; Karel C. Inneme, Deir al-Surian (Egypt):
conservation work of Autumn 2000, Hugoye: Journal of Syrian Studies 4.2 (2001): 259268;
Lucas Van Rompay, Fr. Bijoul El-Souriany, Syriac Papyrus Fragments Recently Discovered
in Deir Al-Surian (Egypt), Hugoye: Journal of Syrian Studies 4.1 (2001): 93101; Lois Farag,
Coptic-Syriac Relations Beyond Dogmatic Rhetoric, Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies
11.1 (2008): 328.
19 Pilgrim and travel narratives often mention them, providing numerous and diverse
notices. Some texts only mention the groups name, without providing any information
that can help to identify them, or simply note their distinctive clothing, Simone Sigoli,
Viaggio al Monte Sinai, in Pellegrini scrittori. Viaggiatori toscani del Trecento in Terrasanta,
ed. A. Lanza and M. Troncarelli (Florence: Ponte alle Grazie, 1990), 217255 at 222. One
fourteenth-century author notes the existence of a cemetery of Christians of the Girdle in
Saint Mary of Mount Zion; see Fra Niccol da Poggibonsi, Libro dOltramare (13461350).
Testo di A. Bacchi della Lega, riveduto e riannotato da B. Bagatti (Jerusalem: Tip. dei
PP. Francescan, 1945), 73. Another observer, pilgrim Thomas Brygg, points the existence
of a cemetery in Damascus in December 1392, Comte Riant, Voyage en Terre-Sainte dun
maire de Bordeaux au XIVe sicle, Archives de lOrient Latin 2 (1884): 378388 at 386. Some
texts make mention of Christians of the Girdle living around Jerusalem, as did Gilbert de
Lannoy, who visited the Holy Land in the early 1420s. See Ch. Potvin and J.-C. Houzeau,
Oeuvres de Ghillebert de Lannoy voyageurs, diplomate et moraliste (Louvain: Imprimerie
de P. et J. Lefever, 1878), 142. Bertrandon de La Broquire indicates their presence in
Bethlehem (a city populated mostly by Muslims at that time), and documents their pres-
ence in the church of the Holy Sepulchre and in a village near Jerusalem, where they
were engaged in the cultivation of the vine; see Charles Schefer, Le voyage doutremer de
Bertrandon de La Broquire, premier cuyer tranchant et conseiller de Philippe le Bon, duc
de Bourgogne (Paris: E. Leroux, 1892), 11, 12, 17.
20 For example, Pero Tafur mentions in the Holy Sepulcre Catholicsthree Franciscan
friars that were thereand Greeks, Jacobites, and Armenians, and those of the Girdle,

388 Duran Duelt
s ynonymous and sometimes as diferent groups, at times also using the term
Jacobites interchangeably with one of them. The fact that many of these texts
authors lacked knowledge of basic religious matters and of daily life in the
Near East, together with their often extreme dependence on second- and third-
hand information, explains more than a few of their misunderstandings, and
makes it difficult for modern scholars to identify with accuracy each Christian
group present in the area.21 In the first half of the fourteenth century, Jacopo de
Verona identified Jacobites with Christians of the Girdle in the Holy Land and
characterized them by their dress, in the classical description we have found
for Egypt: they dressed as Muslims, excepting the color of their hat (blue for
Christians, white for Muslims), and they wore a belt. The Italian placed them in
Syria, the Holy Land, Fustat, and Cairo.22 On the other hand, other testimonies
distinguish between Jacobites and Christians of the Girdle. In 1384, Leonardo
Frescobaldi points out the existence in the church of the Holy Sepulchre of
some chapels of other Christians, that is, Christians of the Girdle, Jacobite
Christians, and Greek Christians.23 Years earlier, Niccol de Poggibonsi had
and those from India, and Zngaros. In short, seven sorts of Christians. Andanas e viajes
de un hidalgo espaol, Pero Tafur (14361439) (Barcelona: El Albir, 1982), 54. The use of the
Christians of the Girdle nickname to refer to religious groups in the Holy Land dates
back to the twelfth century, see Andanas e viajes, 270.
21 The testimony of Milanese Canon Pietro Casola is paradigmatic: in his 1494 pilgrimage
narrative, he notes that he could not find the explanation for the name of Christians of
the Girdle, as there were conflicting opinions about it, which is why he did not enter
into the discussion: As soon as we entered the said place, as it was evening, many of
the inhabitants of Rama came there, both Moors and Christians of the Girdle, as they
are called. I could not find out with certainty the reason for this name; some say one
thing, some another, so I leave the matter. These men brought bread, cooked eggs, much
fruit, and rice cooked in milk to sell to the pilgrims. Wine is not sold by the Moors; those
Christians sell a little, but it is expensive. Many barrels of it were brought from the galley
and sold at a high price. In the said lodging there was a good cistern which greatly allevi-
ated the thirst of the pilgrims M. Margaret Newett, Canon Pietro Casolas Pilgrimate to
Jerusalem In the Year 1494 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1907), 238.
22 U. Monneret de Villard, Iacobus Veronensis Liber peregrinationis (Rome: Libreria dello
Stato, 1950), 59.
23 Certe cappelle daltri Cristiani, cio Cristiani di cintura, Cristiani giacopini e Cristiani
greci. See Viaggio in Terra Santa di Lionardo di N. Frescobaldi, in Viaggio in Terra Santa
di Lionardo Frescobaldi e daltri dal seccolo XIV, ed. Carlo Gargiolli (Florence: G. Barbra
Editore, 1862), 102.

made a similar observation.24 Some sources suggest that there was some kind
of connection between Christians of the Girdle and Jacobites, perhaps helping
to identify them. In 1419, Caumont points out that Christians of the Girdle and
Jacobites shared four chapels in the church of the Holy Sepulchre. This would
be a sign of a special relationship that would probably not have been possible
if they had not shared the same religious beliefs. If that is the case, Jacobites
could be identified with Copts and Christians of the Girdle with Orthodox
Syrians (non-Chalcedonian Christians), while Greeks could be Byzantine-rite
Christians or Chalcedonian Christians. In those days there were also a large
number of Miaphysite Christians present in Syria, Palestine, but also Arabia,
Cyprus or Euphrates, especially in rural areas.25
In general, it seems that during the fifteenth century, Jacobitesthat is,
Coptswere clearly distinguished from Christians of the Girdle in Jerusalem.
However, discrepancies in the sources mean that we cannot identify them with
certainty. An anonymous text from the end of the fifteenth century identified
Syrian Christians with Christians of the Girdle.26 They were Arabic-speaking,
24 Alberto Bacchi della Lega, Libro dOltremare di Fra Niccol da Poggibonsi (Bologna:
Gaetano Romagnoli, 1881), 9497, 104105; Jotischky, The Mendicants as Missionaries,
9394.
25 In regard to the presence of Syrian Christians (Nestorian, Orthodox and Melkite) in
Cyprus, see Gilles Grivaud, Les minorits orientales Chypre (poques mdivale et
moderne) in Chypre et la Mditerrane orientale. Formations identitaires: perspectives
historiques et enjeux contemporains. Actes du colloque tenu Lyon, 1997, Universit
Lumire-Lyon 2, Universit de Chypre, ed. Y. Ioannou, F. Mtral, and M. Yon (Lyon: Maison
de lOrient et de la Mditerrane Jean Pouilloux, 2000), 5153. Francisco J. Apellniz, An
Unknown Dispora between the Dr al-arb and the Dr al-islm, in Proceedings of the
International Colloquium Dr al-islm / Dr al-arb: Territories, People, Identitites, Rome,
56 December, 2012 (Brill Studies in Islamic Law and Society series, forthcoming). In Cypriot
context, Fazolati studied by Apellniz have many connection points with Christians of the
Girdle in Jerusalem, as well as in Palestinan and Syria contexts. See, for example, A. Palmer,
The History of the Syrian Orthodox in Jerusalem, Oriens Christianus 75 (1991): 1643.
26 Dansette, Croisades et plerinages, 1190. Ludolph von Sudheim, speaking of the customs in
clothing of different peoples in the Holy Land, also makes this identification in the 1440s,
G. A. Neumann, Ludolphus de Sudheim. De itinere Terre Sancte, Archives de lOrient
Latin 2 (1884): 307377 at 364365. So, too, did Fra Francesco Suriano, in enumerating
the various Christian groups in the Holy Land, although he distinguished between the
Jacobites and Copts (in this case, dissociated groups) and the Maronites. See Girolamo
Golubovich (ed.), Il Trattato di Terra Santa di Frate Francesco Suriano, Missionario e
Viaggiatore del Secolo XV (Siria, Palestina, Arabia, Egitto, Abissinia, etc.) (Milan: Tipografia
Editrice Artigianelli, 1900), 76, 78, 79.

390 Duran Duelt
numerous, and occupied a chapel under the arch behind the Holy Sepulcher
information that connects them with Jacobites whom other texts mentioned
as being in possession of a chapel in the same area.27 The 1461 pilgrimage
narrative of Louis de Rochechouart provides another account: besides link-
ing Jacobites with Egyptian Copts and Christians of the Girdle in the classic
description of Christians dressed in the Muslim way, in blue color and with a
girdle (which he compares with the girdle given by Mary to Saint Thomas), the
author compares Syrians with Jacobites or Copts, but says they use Syriac and
Arabic languages.28 It seems that his description could be referring to Melkite
Christians when talking of Christians de zona (i.e. of the girdle, zona being
synonymous with girdle or cincture) because apart from the dress he puts
them on an equal footing with Greeks.29 An even clearer deviation was the
misidentification of Christians of the Girdle with Georgians, as in the account
of Don Fadrique Enrquez de Ribera from 1500, who affirms that they are also
named of the girdle because Saint George tied the dragon with a girdle.30
The precise identification of Christians of the Girdle in Syria-Palestine, over
and above the problem of their identification with Copts or with Orthodox
Syrians, is made even more difficult by the existence in the area of other con-
fessional groups sharing many characteristics with the aforesaid Orthodox
27 In contrast, another report equates Christians of the Girdle with Greek Melkites and
Georgians. This same text, however, links Christians Copts, Orthodox Syrians, Ethiopians,
and Indians as a doctrinal family. See Henri Moranvill, Un plerinage en Terre Sainte et
au Sina au xve sicle, Bibliothque de lcole des chartes 66 (1905): 70106.
28 C. Couderc, Journal de voyage Jrusalem de Louis de Rochechouart, vque de Saintes
(1461), Revue de lOrient Latin 1 (1893): 168274 at 254257.
29 Couderc, Journal de voyage, 256257. Melkites refers to Chalcedonian Orthodox
Christians under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchs of Antioch and Jerusalem, the imple-
mentation of which was mainly in urban areas. Although the groups were essentially
Greek-speaking or of Greek culture, they were gradually arabized. Similarly, the Syrian
Orthodox and the Maronites, of Syriac culture, were also arabized.
30 Francisco Manuel de Mena, El viage de la Tierra Santa, hecho, y escrito en prosa por Don
Fadrique Enriquez de Ribera, Adelantado de la Andalucia, y primer Marques de Tarifa,
a que se aade el mismo viage en versos antiguos por Juan de la Encina, prior de Len,
dedicado al rey nuestro seor Don Fernando VI (Madrid: Imprenta de Francisco Martinez
Abad, 1749), 49. Texts from much earlier, published as an anonymous pamphlet in
1422, made the same identification: Epitome bellorum Christinis Principibus pro
recuperatione Terrae sanctae susceptorum, in qua etiam descriptiu Palastinae & multa de
Mahomete, ab incerto auctore conscripta, anno 1422. Thesaurus monumentorum ecclesi-
asticorum et historicorum, ed. H. Canisius, 4 vols. (Amsterdam: Rudolphum & Gherardum
Wetstenios, 1725), 4:434. Enriquez de Riberas Syrians could, however, be either Syrian
Orthodox or Jacobite and Melkite Syrian of Chalcedonian creed and Byzantine rite.

Syrians, giving rise to misidentifications and confusions, as we have seen.

But a synthesis of the many diverse and sometimes contradictory sources,
together with what we know of the confessional landscape of the region at
that time, suggests that Christians of the Girdle was a term applied primar-
ily to non-Chalcedonian communities using Syriac and Arabic languages, but
also sometimes applied to Melkites (highly Hellenised and primarily urban
Chalcedonians under the jurisdiction of the patriarchates of Antioch or
Jerusalem) and Marionites living in the region that is now Lebanon.
Contemporary Catalan documents reinforce this argument.31 References to
Christians of the Girdle present in the Crown of Aragon include mainly the
place names Syria, Beirut, Jubayl (Gebellech: Gibelet in Middle Ages, Jubayl
or Jbeil today) and Tripoli (of Syria) as family names. Some of them seem to
come from Damascus and one case clearly identifies the origin of one family
in Latakia (La Litxa).32 All of these places had a strong Maronite presence,
as well as significant populations of Syrian Orthodox and Melkite Christians.33
In the Crown of Aragon, Christians of the Girdle were also linked with monks
of Saint Catherine near Mount Sinai and it was under the patronage of this
saint that they would eventually found their brotherhood in Barcelona.34
31 Concerning the Christians of the Girdle appellation in Catalan texts, see Toms
Martnez, Un comentari a propsit de Crestians de la Centura (Blanquerna, cap. XCIII),
Randa 35 (1994): 715. These texts suggest a very wide geographical scope.
32 Barcelona, Arxiu Histric de Protocols de Barcelona (hereafter AHPB), Antoni Parera,
161/8, fol. 3 v. Concerning this location, see Konrad Kretschmer, Els portolans de ledat
mitjana. Una contribuci a la histria de la cartografia i la nutica (Barcelona: Institut
Cartogrfic de Catalunya, 2009), 275.
33 Rochechouart documented Maronites in Damascus, Beirut, and Tripoli; see C. Couderc,
Journal de voyage, 257. On Maronites and Syrian Orthodox in these locations, see Fady
Baroudi, Jacobites, Ethiopians and Mount Lebanon, Liban Souterrain 5 (1998): 75160;
Iskandar Bcheiry, Lattivit siro-ortodossa nel Monte Libano nella seconda met del
secolo XV, Parole de lOrient 28 (2003): 609658; Ray Jabre Mouawad, The Ethiopian
Monks in Mount-Lebanon (XVth Century), Liban Souterrain 5 (1998): 186207; Andrew
Palmer, John Bar ayallh and the Syrian Orthodox Community under Aqquyunlu Rule
in the Late Fifteenth Century, in Christians and Muslims in Dialogue in the Islamic Orient
of the Middle Ages, ed. Martin Tamcke (Beirut: Orient-Institut / Wrzburg: Ergon Verlag,
2007), 187206; Paul Rouhana, Les origines religieuses des Maronites daprs trois sources
franciscaines (XVXVII s.): portrait du frre Gryphon ( 1475), in Christianisme oriental:
krygme et histoire. Mlanges offerts au pre Michel Hayek, ed. Ch. Chartouni (Paris: Paul
Geuthner, 2007), 201223.
34 In Tor (Al-r), not far from the monastery, we know of Melkite Christians. Are they
Christians of the Girdle documented by some pilgrims and travellers in the fifteenth cen-
tury? See D. S. Richards, Documents From Sinai Concerning Mainly Cairene Property,

392 Duran Duelt
Likewise unclear is the social and economic profile of the Christians of the
Girdle. Western accounts very often speak of their role as mediators between
the local population and Muslim authorities on one hand and Christian pil-
grims on the other, usually as translators.35 Closely related to these functions
was their commercial activity, oriented mainly towards the provisioning of pil-
grims, though we know they participated in wide-scale trade as well.36 Some
of them even had major roles in provisioning pilgrims and organizing their
journeys to specific pilgrimage sites. This is the case with a certain Gazelles,
Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 28 (1985): 225293 at 229.
Venetian documents in Alexandria connect Christians of the Girdle with the monks of
Saint Catherine, as Sexfeit, Christian of the Girdle, and brother Hyeronimos from Saint
Catherine of Mount Sinai, attorneys of Sezemel Jusiph, son of Enbachamis (?), Christian
of the Girdle, both appear in Cairo; see Venice, Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Cancelleria
inferiore, B. 211, Not. Nicol Turiano, fols. 31r32v (December 30, 1434). In any case, we
know of contacts between Sinai and Syrians, both Orthodox and Melkite; see Sebastian
Brock, Syriac on Sinai: the Main Connections, in . Studi miscellanei per il 75
di Vincenzo Poggi S. J., ed. V. Ruggieri and L. Pieralli (Soveria Mannelli: Rubbetino Editore,
2003), 103117.
35 We know the name of some of Christians of the Girdle working for the Franciscans of
Mount Zion, such as Moyses, caretaker of the monastery they possessed in Rama; see
M. Margaret Newett, Canon Pietro Casolas, 237; on Gazello/Gazelles/Gazella, translator,
Christians consul, and pilgrims supplier, see Reinhold Rhricht and Heinrich Meisner,
Das Reisebuch der familie Rieter (Tbingen: Gedruckt fr den Litterarischen Veiren in
Stuttgart, 1884), 52; H. W. Heyd, Les consulats tablis en Terre Sainte au Moyen-A ge pour
la protection des plerins, Les Archives de lOrient Latin 2 (1884): 355363 at 361.
36 When he arrived in Jaffa on 8 August 1486, Georges Lengherand notes: Et quand tous
lesdits pellerins furent descendus...aucuns crestiens de la chainture vinrent pour la
lucrature, et nous aportoyent vivres, Le Marquis de Godefroy Menilglaise, Voyage de
Georges Lengherand, mayeur de Mons en Haynaut, Venise, Rome, Jrusalem, Mont Sina
& Le Kayre (14851486) (Mons: Masquillier & Dequesne, 1861), 113. Concerning their par-
ticipation in other commercial activities in the Eastern Mediterranean we have only
the most general references. For example, some Christians of the Girdle and Turks
reported being injured by the attack of a ship from Barcelona on two ships of Damietta,
around 1410; see Joan Ainaud, Quatre documents sobre el comer catal amb Sria i
Alexandria (14011410), in Homenaje a Jaime Vicens Vives, 2 vols., (Barcelona: Universitat
de Barcelona, 1965), 1:334 (doc. 3). The presence of Christians of the Girdle has also been
noted in Cyprus, where they were engaged in very lucrative commercial activities, pass-
ing themselves off as Nestorian Christians; see L. Fenoy, Refuge et rseaux: les chrtiens
orientaux en Chypre entre 1192 et 1473, in Espaces et rseaux en Mditerrane.VIeXVIe
sicle, 2: La formation des rseaux, ed. D. Coulon, C. Picard, and D. Valerian (Paris: ditions
Bouchene, 2010), 187206.

well known to Western pilgrims to the Holy Land, who claimed a monopoly on
Saint Catherine of Mount Sinai pilgrimages at the end of the fifteenth century.37
But despite this example, the truth is that Christians of the Girdle do not
seem to have had a relevant political or economic position in Syrian society in
general. In fact, their position, as in the case of other Christian minorities in
the area, was relatively weak in thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Like the
Copts in Egypt, who were especially threatened at the beginning of the four-
teenth century, Orthodox Syrians, Melkites, Maronites, and Nestorians suffered
several persecutions after the Mongol campaigns of the thirteenth century and
the subsequent Ayyubid reactionalthough these persecutions more often
took the form of limitations of rights rather than systematic violence. This era
of difficulty coincided with the Orthodox Syrian schism in two patriarchates
and fights both within ecclesiastical organizations and between the several
confessional groups. Timurs offensive in the region, and especially the capture
and plundering of Damascus in 1400, was critical, causing the death or deporta-
tion of many Christians and the ruin of many communities.38 Tales of the inci-
dent speak of massacres, and while the details must be read with caution, as
with all such descriptions, they confirm the serious difficulties experienced by
the inhabitants of the city, Christians included.39 Properties and dependences
of the monastery of Saint Catherine of the Mount Sinai were seriously dam-
aged as well, putting the monastery in economic difficulties, according to the
account of emissaries sent by the monks to the Crown of Aragon to collect aid;
probably other religious institutions suffered similar d epredations.40 Deaths
and deportations provoked the disappearance of dioceses and communities,
37 C. D. Hassler, Fratris Felicis Fabri Evagatorium in Terr sanct, Arabi et Egypti peregrina-
tionem, 3 vols. (Stuttgart: sumt. Soc. lit. Stuttgardiensis, 18131849), 2:179.
38 Isaiae Presbyteri carmen in Tamerlanem e syriaco latine versum (Uppsala: Regiae
Academiae, 1821); Jean-Paul Roux, Tamerlan (Pars: Fayard, 1991), 250251; John Joseph,
Muslim-Christian Relations and Inter-Christian Rivalries in the Middle East: The Case
of the Jacobites in an Age of Transition (New York, NY: SUNY Press, 1983), 17; J. M. Fiey,
Communauts syriaques en Iran et en Irak des origines 1552 (London: Variorum Reprints,
1979), 289342; Aptin Khambaghi, The Fire, the Star and the Cross: Minority Religions in
Medieval and Early Modern Iran (London-New York, NY: I. B. Tauris, 2006), 9091; Ian
Gillman, Hans-Joachim Klimkeit, Christians in Asia Before 1500 (Ann Arbor, MI: University
of Michigan Press, 1999), 151152, 208.
39 Ainaud, Quatre documents, 327335 (doc. 1).
40 Antoni Rubi i Lluch, Diplomatari de lOrient Catal (13011409). Collecci de docu-
ments per a la histria de lexpedici catalana a Orient i dels Ducats dAtenes i Neoptria.
(Barcelona: IEC, 1947), 731 (doc. DCXCI); Daniel Duran Duelt, La Corona de Aragn y el

394 Duran Duelt
only to be rebuilt with difficulty in the next decades, and never to be restored
to their former position.
Christians of the Girdle in Barcelona: Acting as a Community?
Timurs campaigns seem to have triggered the arrival in the Crown of Aragon
primarily in Barcelonaof a group of Christians of the Girdle looking for an
opportunity to reconstruct lives that had been disrupted by instability on the
opposite shore of the Mediterranean Sea. According to some documents, it is
from the time of the attack on Damascus that they began the major part of their
migration. If all movements cannot be related directly to the campaign against
the Syrian capital, certainly they are nevertheless attributable to instability
caused by Timurs incursion into the area, as we have no evidence of a pres-
ence of Christians of the Girdle in Catalan-Aragonese lands before this time.41
Initially, the more immediate consequence of Timurs campaigns was the cap-
tivity of large numbers of Christians. A portion of those supplied Eastern slave
markets, and through international commercial networks some of them arrived
in the Crown of Aragon. Such was the case, for example, with Catherine who,
because there was war in the city of Damascus (vigente guerra in civitate
Domasi), was sold with her brother John of Syria for a five-year period.42 This
type of contract of temporary servitude, meaning in many cases real slavery,
Sina en la Edad Media: a propsito del retablo de Santa Catalina de Bernat Maresa, cn-
sul cataln en Damasco, Erytheia 32 (2011): 220224.
41 As for the Christians of the Girdle, only in the case of some Pisans political circumstances
seem to be the reason of their arrival and installation in Barcelona, after the conquest
of their mother-city by the Republic of Florence in 1406 or some Florentine refugees as
result of the several changes of power in Florence, if indeed those Italians were mem-
bers of the elites of their cities. See Soldani, Uomini daffari, 4347. But in general, for-
eigners settled in Barcelona made their trip for economic reasons, as German or Italian
merchants or craftmen, and their decision and choice cannot be connected to concrete
political facts. See Giovanna Petti Balbi, Negoziare fuori patria. Nazioni e genovesi in et
medievale (Genoa: Clueb, 2005), 149153; Soldani, Uomini daffari, 3547; Molina i Castell,
Un dels suptils, 657.
42 Catherine finished in Mallorca, Barcelona, Archives of the Crown of Aragon (hereafter
ACA), Cancillera, reg. 2.270, fols. 55 v56 r; Maria Teresa Ferrer i Mallol, Esclaus i lliberts
orientals a Barcelona: Segles XIV i XV, in De lesclavitud a la llibertat: Esclaus i lliberts a
ledat mitjana; actes del Col.loqui Internacional celebrat a Barcelona, del 27 al 29 de maig de
1999, ed. Maria Teresa Ferrer i Mallol and Josefina Mutg i Vives (Barcelona: CSIC, 2000),
169171.

seems to have been common with Christians of the Girdle, and in the Crown of
Aragon the only contract associated to them.43 In these dramatic circumstances,
they accepted temporary servitude under onerous conditions simply to leave
their homeland. Cases such as that of Mary, who lived in Barcelona in 1408, may
have been common for other Christians of the Girdle. Although we do not know
the particular circumstances of her departure, it seems they were urgent enough
for her to accept submission to slavery. She came to an agreement with the mer-
chant Guillem Mancofa of Barcelona for her travel from the land of Christians of
the Girdle (partibus Christianorum centure) to Barcelona, including her pas-
sage, food, and clothing, in return for enslavement to him.44 Not all Christians
of the Girdle arrived as slaves, however, and some may have taken care to assert
their status as free people. One, Philip of Syria, appears in a manumission con-
tract affirming that he had never been a slave.45 We know nothing more of him,
but the mere fact of even this brief notice is significant, as such statements rarely
appear in documents concerning slaves.
Of great interest is the fact in some cases these Christians of the Girdle
moved to Barcelona as complete family units, typically a couple or a single
parent with children. John of Syria and his sister Catherine arrived as cap-
tives, although Catherina ended up in Mallorca. Another unnamed couple
43 On temporary servitude among Christians of the Girdle, see Ferrer i Mallol, Esclaus i
lliberts, 170171. As she points out, there is a parallel with Venetians contracts with
Albanians.
44 At some point, a disagreement arose between Mary and Mancofa about satisfying the
costs of the trip, and the matter ended up in court. The merchant and his attorney, the
apothecary Nicolau Sala, wanted to recover the costs through the service rendered by
Christians of the Girdle, but failed to reach an agreement, so they ended up in the court
of the Barcelona batlle on 27 June 1408. Finally, it was decided that, to satisfy her debt of
27 ll. and 10 d., Mary, with no cash, would serve Mancofa or the person designated by him
for five years or until she could raise that amount; see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Nadal,
58/42, fols. 36 v37 v. Sim Mancofa, probably a relative of Guillem, also had problems
with a Christian of the Girdle regarding her servitude, in a case that probably had charac-
teristics similar to those of the case between Mary and Guillem Mancofa. This time it was
Sarah, twenty-four years old, who claimed her freedom. She had been sold to Pere Doi. For
the recongnition of her freedom leading to the subsequent agreements and compensation;
see Barcelona, Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Nadal, 58/37, fols. 39 v40 v; Barcelona, AHPB,
Bernat Nadal, 58/39, fols. 44rv. Sim Mancoffa was responsable for the attack against a
Rhodian ship in Beirut in 1419. On board were Muslims and fazolati. See Ch. Verlinden,
Marchands chrtiens et juifs dans lEtat mamelouk au dbut du XVe sicle daprs un
notaire vnitien, Bulletin de lInstitut historique belge de Rome 51 (1981): 1986 at 46.
45 Ffilipus Soria, crestianus cinture, qui nunquam fuit servus (18 November 1417), Barcelona,
AHPB, Bernat Pi, 113/14, fols. 25v26v.

396 Duran Duelt
must have come as slaves, because they are documented as filing a claim
for freedom in 1404. In general, however, family units do not seem to have
arrived in Barcelona as slaves. In 1407 we find another Catherine (unrelated to
the Catherine mentioned above), about to marry, with her mother Lucy, and
her brother John, her father John being already deceased.46 One year later,
records mention a Thomas from Tripoli of Syria together with his son John.47
Anthony of Syria arrived with his parents Simon and Mary, who were both
deceased in 1410, as were Marys parents John and Margueritte and her sis-
ter Magdalene.48 John of Beirut and Catherina arrived as a couple, but prob-
ably their daughter Catherine was born in Barcelona, because in 1417 she was
eleven years old.49
Whether brought as slaves or by other means, a small group of Christians
of the Girdle had reconstituted in Barcelona by the first decades of the
fifteenth century. It is difficult to quantify their numbers, but between 1400
1401 and 1463 we can count at least one hundred and twenty seven of them.50
This might seem like few for a city with an estimated population of 35000
inhabitants at that time, but it is not so far from the number of Tuscans docu-
mented in Barcelona during this same period.51 Christians of the Girdle appear
in a relatively small number of documents, but their conspicuous grouping
and large number in each documentas many as twelve in a document of
1413suggests they may have been greater in number, especially consider-
ing that their low socioeconomic profile meant that they would have been
underrepresented in written records. The fact they were qualified as citizens
of Barcelona denotes the stable nature of their presence. In fact, we have no
evidence that any of them ever returned to their homeland.
In contrast to the ambiguity presented by evidence of their numbers, the
socio-professional profile of Christians of the Girdle is quite precise. Most of
the men with known professional activity are porters (macips de ribera)
46 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Nadal, 58/43, fols. 22rv.

47 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Nadal, 58/42, fols. 65 v66r. In the Middle Ages, Syria also
included what is present-day Lebanon.
48 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Pi, 113/1, fols. 31rv; Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Pi, 113/1, fol. 56r.
49 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Pi, 113/13, fols. 83v84r.
50 We count here three generations, until the grandsons of Christians of the Girdle arrived in
Barcelona in the first years of the fifteenth century. The use of the appellation Christian
of the Girdle in the Barcelona documentation is very common down to 1423, after which
point it becomes increasingly rare until 1443, when it disappears, except for the references
to the brotherhood of Saint Catherine of Christians of the Girdle.
51 Soldani, Uomini daffari, 329575. On demography see n. 1, above.

mainly charged with transporting merchandise arrived by sea from the shore to
houses or storehouses52or workers in occupations related to grain transport
and sifting (garbelladors or porgadors de blats).53 We also document two
peddlers or traginers (John of Beirut in 1408 and 1410, and Nicholas of Beirut in
1417), an occupation closely connected with that of the porters, as well as three
sailors (John of Syria in 1408, Anthoni in 1416, and John of Beirut in 1417 and
1423), another maritime profession. Occupations aside from activities related
to the sea and grain transport are unusual in this early period: we know of only
two cloth wool dressers (Bernard of Syria in 1407 and 1408, and John of Syria
in 1408), one tanner (Antoni Massot in 1417 and 1423), one shoemaker (John
of Syria in 1410), and one merchant (John of Beirut in 1422). There is no doubt
that porter and transportation sectors were the most significant professions of
the group, to the point that the label Christian of the Girdle eventually became
synonymous with porter (bastaix).54 Traditionally, porters, like sailors, were
primarily either foreigners or slaves (the latter increasing in number over
the course of the fifteenth century). The physical difficulty and unskilled nature
of these occupations meant that they were work left to the lowest-status mem-
bers of Barcelonas population.55 The result was a humble socio-professional
profile of the Christians of the Girdle who lived in Barcelona. Another sign of
the limited resources of this group is the known value of brides dowries: 20 ll.
of Barcelona for Catherine in 1407, 34 ll. for Magdalene in 1408, 15 ll. for Mary
in 1410, 27 ll. for Mary in 1411, 47 ll. for Catherine in 1417, 25 ll. for Lucy in 1419,
and 25 ll. for Catherine in 1422.56 They are humble amounts, corresponding
52 John of Syria (1410, 1419, 1421), Joan Toms (1421, 1435, 1436), Mart Marquet (1421, 1427, 1435,
1436), Francis of Syria (1421); George of Tripoli (1421), Bernard of Syria (1426); Nicholas of
Syria (1435, 1436).
53 John of Tripoli (1408), Chaplain (Capell) of Syria (1408), Thomas of Syria (1410), George
(1410), Joan Toms (1410, 1424), John of Syria (1413), George of Tripoli (1417), John of Beirut
(1417).
54 The best example is in the chapters or statutes of the Saint Catherine brotherhood: la
dita confraria, la qual sia dels bastaxos e altres christians de la centura, Barcelona, ACA,
Cancelleria, reg. 2.591, fol. 70r.
55 Carrre, Barcelone centre conomique, 1: 8889; Armenteros, La esclavitud en Barcelona,
599602.
56 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/9, fols. 99rv.

398 Duran Duelt
to those of Barcelonas lowest-skilled workers and freedmen;57 some of these

families even relied on charity to ensure a dowry for their daughters.58
We are thus faced with a group of men and women of varying legal sta-
tus, mostly free people, but also some freedmen and slaves, though all of
them would obtain their freedom with time.59 Access to freedom must have
been obtained in a relatively brief time after their arrival, because men-
tions of Christians of the Girdle as slaves had disappeared from the record
by 1413,60 and the majority of Christians of the Girdle seem not to have arrived
in Barcelona as slaves because the documents do not attribute to them any
present or past slave status.61 Likewise, Christians of the Girdle do not seem to
57 Antoni Albacete i Gascn, El matrimoni com a via dintegraci dels lliberts a la Barcelona
del segle XV, in XI Congrs dHistria de BarcelonaLa ciutat en xarxa (Barcelona: Arxiu
Histric de la Ciutat de Barcelona, Institut de Cultura, Ajuntament de Barcelona, 2009),
910, available online at http://w110.bcn.cat/ArxiuHistoric/Continguts/Documents/Fitxers/
XI%20CONGRES_albacetec.pdf. We have more information without precise dating, but
it goes along the same lines. On 15 December 1417 John of Syria, sailor and peddler, noted
in his will the dowry and the dower for his second wife, Constana, of 50 ll. The same will
also notes that the dowry of his first wife, Maria, was even smaller, 16 ll. 10 s., Barcelona,
AHPB, Lloren Aragall, 108/1, fols. 139v141r.
58 On 21 April 1419 in Barcelona, diocesan authorities granted a license to Mary, Christian
of the Girdle, widow of John of Syria, that she might beg to raise money for a dowry to
marry his daughter Gabriela quam maritare non potest cum sit pauper; see Barcelona,
Arxiu Dioces de Barcelona (hereafter ADB), Registra Gratiarum, vol. 24, fol. 19v. This
license was renewed on 26 February 1420, but unlike the first license, which had been free,
he had to pay 9 d.; see Barcelona, ADB, Registra Gratiarum, vol. 24, fol. 141v. In other cases,
we see grooms equip brides being unable to provide a dower gift. In 1413 John of Syria,
grain sifter, arranged his marriage to Joanna through various friends and acquaintances,
with the condition that the said Joanna have a dower from him and not be left without
it, making a donation propter nuptias to her of 15 ll. John was twenty-three and Joanna
fifteen years old. Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Pi, 113/5, fols. 72v73r.
59 Documented as slaves are John of Syria and his sister Catherinecarried to Mallorca
(14001401); Sarah, 24 years old, sold to Pere Doy by Berenguer Solers and Joaneta, wife
of Sim Mancoffa (1403, 1406); a couple, husband and wife, slaves of Francesc Descars,
merchant of Barcelona (1404); and Mary, sold by Agnesona, wife of Pere Gras of Barcelona
(1405). In relation to the presence of Christians of the Girdle in Barcelona, these slaves are
documented very early, with all mention of Christians of the Girdle as slaves disappear-
ing in subsequent years; we must therefore assume that most eventually attained their
freedom, perhaps after paying their debts for their transport to Barcelona, or after being
released from illegally long contracts of servitude after proving their status as Christians.
60 The last known mention of a freedman, Joan Comes, is from 1416.
61 Catalan documents indicate a slave past with different formulas, even many years after
those referred to attained their freedom; see Antoni Albacete i Gascn, Els lliberts a la
Barcelona del segle XV, Estudis Histrics i Documents dels Arxius de Protocols 26 (2008):

have discriminated amongst themselves by former slave status, given that free
men did not reject marriages with freedwomen. In 1413 the winnower John of
Syria arranged his betrothal with Joanna who, since she was in the process
of being freed (talla), had secured the permission of Guillem Mancofa, her
former owner.62 This may have also been the case with Anthony, a sailor who,
in 1416, was planning his marriage with Martha, a woman of unknown ethnic or
cultural origin who had been the slave of Galceran Carb.63 It seems that cul-
tural criteria overrode legal status in the selection of spouses among this group.
If in the Near East it is difficult to identify and to characterize Christians of the
Girdle as a group, in Barcelona during the first decades of the fifteenth century
they displayed a high degree of interconnectedness, suggesting a strong sense
of community. Perhaps ties originally based on factors of language and custom
were reinforced more here than with other immigrant groups by the arrival of
family units, which served as an ideal medium for social reproduction.
Planed marriages show the intention to establish ties in a close, favorable,
and known social and cultural setting. Almost all documented marriages and
betrothals arranged by Christians of the Girdle were endogamous within
the group.64 In January 1406, Bernard of Syria married Catherine, daughter
of the deceased John and Lucy.65 In 1408 John of Tripoli, winnower and
son of Thomas of Tripoli, from Tripoli of Syria, together with his father (as John
was only 24 years old), contracted to marry the orphan Magdalene, daughter
167190. We can read the slave past for some Christians of the Girdle in their adoption of
clearly Catalan names, a widespread habit among freed slaves. Thus, we find a Pere and
Francesc den Coll or Descoll, an Antoni Massot or an Antoni and a Mart Marquet, names
that could have been assumed when they attained their freedom or at the beginning of
the manumission processalthough the name change could have been also a strategy
designed to facilitate identification in the context of a society unaccustomed to Christian
Arabic or Syriac. In this last case, Germans in Barcelona often changed or adapted their
names also, apparently for the same reasons, taking as last name the toponym Germany or
another well-known German place-name. See Jard Anguera, Mestres entalladors, 2224.
63 Barcelona, AHPB, Antoni Brocard, 106/4, fol. 8r.
64 Probably some of them arrived in the Crown of Aragon already married, as in the 1404
record of a slave couple pleading a case (probably concerning their freedom) that was
resolved by the royal vice chancellor: Barcelona, ACA, Cancelleria, reg. 2.179, fol. 86r.
Italians had a more varied marriage policy. Those spending only some time in Barcelona
usually married women in their mother-city, but those choosing to stay often opted for
local women as a way to ensure their integration in the city. See Soldani, Uomini daffari,
148169.
65 On January 1, 1407 an endowment worth of 20 ll. was signed, by which the mother and
brother (John) of the bride acknowledged a debt to the future husband. The amount was
finally paid on March 3, 1409; see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Nadal, 58/43, fols. 22rv.

400 Duran Duelt
of Simon and, like John, a Christian of the Girdle.66 In April 1410, Anthony of
Syria, orphan of Simon of Syria and Mary, planned to marry Mary, orphan
of John and Margueritte.67 Sometime before 31 March 1410, Magdalene had
married Thomas, and her sister Margueritte had married George.68 During the
summer of 1411, Michael of Jubayl (Gebellech) and Mary contracted to marry,69
as did John of Syria and Joanna in 1413.70 This same year, a man named George
took a wife who must have been a Christian of the Girdle, since we know that
Georges new brother-in-law, John of Beirut, was one himself.71 Another one
of these intra-Christian-of-the-Girdle marriages was that of John of Syria and
Mary, although by 1419 Mary was already Johns widow.72 These marriages would
have connected families living in Barcelona, reinforcing the sense of group
and community. In fact, marriages outside Christians of the Girdle group seem
to have been exceptional.73 In 1419 Lucy, recent widow of the porter Nicolau
Perer, was mother of their five year-old son John and pregnant with another
child of her deceased husband when she arranged a marriage with Pere Roca,
a shoemaker of Muslim origin and a freedman of the archbishop of Tarragona.74
Lucys exceptionally vulnerable situationwidowed with one fatherless child
and another on the waywas probably what impelled Lucy to this second
marriage with somebody who was not a member of the community.
Lucys choice of a former Muslim might even suggest a certain cultural
proximity between Christians of the Girdle and Muslims. We have noted
that Christians of the Girdle in the Near East were traditionally assimilated
66 On November 19, John acknowledged receiving 34 ll. de tern of Barcelona as dowry of
the said Magdalena; see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Nadal, 58/42, fols. 65v66r.
67 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Pi, 113/1, fols. 31rv.
68 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Pi, 113/1, fol. 56r.
69 The dotal contract of 27 ll. of Barcelona was signed on August 11, and on October 15
Michael acknowledged receiving the said amount in money and goods; see Barcelona,
AHPB, Bernat Nadal, 58/47, fols. 51v, 83rv.
71 Barcelona, ACA, Cancelleria, reg. 2.417, fols. 30rv.
72 In the case of late husband, the document does not mention whether he was a Christian
of the Girdle, but his name would seem to indicate that this was the case; see Barcelona,
ADB, Registra Gratiarum, vol. 24, fol. 19v.
73 In two cases it is possible to determine the origin of one of the spouses. In 1416 Anthony
planned to marry Martha, who was a freed captive of Galceran Carb, her origin being
unknown; see Barcelona, AHPB, Antoni Brocard, 106/4, fol. 8r. In 1417, a marriage was
arranged between Catherine with Antoni Massot, tanner and Christian of the Girdle; see
Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Pi, 113/22, fols. 56v57r.
74 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Nadal, 58/58, fols. 14v15r.

to Muslim populations by Westerners, being distinguishable mainly by dress

(aside from their religious practices). They shared a language and without a
doubt many more other cultural characteristics. Probably this would explain
social ties established between Christians of the Girdle and Muslim slaves and
freedmen in Barcelona. Notably, Christians of the Girdle served as guarantors
of Muslims in their manumission contracts, a type of intervention not docu-
mented in contracts concerning other communities.75 For example, in 1416,
among the guarantors of Cassi, an unbaptized Muslim slave of the tanner Pere
Madella, one finds three Christians of the Girdle mentioned: Philip, the freed-
man Jaume Comes, and Miquel Valls.76 In the 1419 manumission contract of
Ali, Muslim slave of Joan dOlesa, citizen of Barcelona, Philip of Syria appears
as guarantor.77 The close ties between these two outsider communities could,
however, work against Christians of the Girdle, who might be suspected of
being Muslims. This could be a danger, especially for slaves. In the Crown
of Aragon, Muslim slaves were the lowest and most reviled among the hierar-
chy of slaves, as illustrated by strict control measures over them that did not
apply to slaves of other ethnic or religious groups.78 The common confusion
75 See note 76 below. A case exists in which three Christians of the Girdle buy a one-eyed
Muslim slave, though we do not know for what purpose. The purchase was made on
30 July 1417 by John of Beirut and George of Tripoli, grain sifters, and Antoni Massot,
tanner, from the merchant Jordi Esteve. The llor (dark-skinned) slave named Sayt was
30 years old and was purchased for 33 ll. of tern of Barcelona; see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat
Pi, 113/13, fols. 73rv; Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Pi, 113/75, fols. 34v35r.
76 Barcelona, AHPB, Antoni Brocard, 106/3, 30, fols. 71rv. Phillip is the same Ffilipus,
Christianus centure who appears among the guarantors of the Muslim Haamet, slave
of the merchant Pere Grau, in his manumission contract of may 27, 1417; see Barcelona,
AHPB, Bernat Pi, 113/13, fols. 32r33r. This is probably the same Ffilipus Soria, Crestianus
cinture, who appears as a guarantor in the manumission of the Circassian Marsili, slave
of the merchant Bernat Cassassaja of 18 November 1417; see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Pi,
113/14, fols. 25v26v.
77 Barcelona, Arxiu Histric de la Ciutat de Barcelona (hereafter AHCB), Arxiu notarial XI.7,
Notari Pere Roig, any 1419, without fol. Phillip is the only one of the guarantors who is not
qualified as a slave or former slave. All other guarantors in this contract are Saracens. This
Phillip of Syria is the same man who, as sailor and married to Catherine, is documented
in 1431 when we are told that he had been captured by a Neapolitan galley; see Barcelona,
AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/1, fols. 3rv.
78 During the fourteenth century, Muslim slaves in Mallorca were subject to more dis-
criminatory treatment compared to those of other origins or creed; see Onofre Vaquer
Bennssar, Lesclavitud a Mallorca. 14481500, (Palma de Mallorca: Institut dEstudis
Balerics, 1997), 75. For an overwiev of Muslim slaves in Barcelona, see Josep Hernando
i Delgado, Els esclaus sarrans. De lesclavitud a la llibertat. Blancs, negres, llors i turcs,

402 Duran Duelt
between Muslims and Christians of the Girdle threatened the latter directly,
and abuses were not uncommon. Such was the case, for example, with Mary,
who, having been taken for a baptized Muslim slave, was required to show her
genuine Christian status in the royal court in 1405. Her owner Agnesona had
sold her to the clothier Francesc Folc for ten years, claiming she was a Muslim
slave. But Mary argued that, as a genuine Christian, she could not legally be
enslaved for such a long period. In fact, for the owners, the genuine Christian
origin of a slave begins to be a problem from the moment a new sensibility
about the enslavement of Christian people began to develop, because limita-
tions were imposed on the conditions of their captivity.79 Even if such rules
were easily avoided, passing off Christians of the Girdle as Muslims gave
greater control to owners. The sentence of King Martins court in Marys case
is a clear illustration of how much could depend on this contested status: the
sale was annulled because Mary was of free Christian descent and had already
served for two and a half years, a period that the court considered sufficient to
satisfy the expenses of her transfer to Barcelona.80
In a confused and delicate context for Christians of the Girdle living in
Barcelona, both marriage strategies and the preference for specific professional
sectors, even if impelled by the social milieu, suggest a conscious attempt to
reinforce group connection and identity. This connection can be detected in
other categories of social behavior as well. Like marriage, the neighborhood
was an important milieu for group socialization. In 1413, twelve Christians of
the Girdle lived in the same street of the city, den Merdenana street, in the
Ribera de la mar quarter.81 The Ribera was the center of their professional
activities, because its beach was where merchandise arriving in Barcelona by
sea was unloaded; it was also the site of one of the two grain markets of the city.
Slightly later documents also show us several Christians of the Girdle living in
this neighborhood.82 John of Syria had a house in den Pujalt street in 1417.83
Close by, in den Puig Ermenal street, Catherine had a two-door house in 1438
in De lesclavitud a la llibertad, 213244; Josep Hernando i Delgado, Els esclaus islmics a

Barcelona. Blancs, negres i turcs. De lesclavitut a la llibertat (Barcelona: CSIC, 2003).
79 Concerning the growing rejection of the enslavement of people with Christian origins
in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, see Ferrer i Mallol, Esclaus i lliberts,
174188.
82 Tuscans also lived in the area of the Ribera quarter, but in the areas connected to mer-
chants and not to craftsmen or seamen as the Christians of the Girdle had done, Soldani,
Uomini daffari, 139148.
83 Barcelona, AHPB, Lloren Aragall, 108/1, fols. 139v141r.

that was later inherited by the Saint Catherine of Mount Sinai Brotherhood
and sold to Mary, widow of the sailor Peter of Syria in 1448.84 Bernard of Syria
lived in a house in a place named Vilanova in 1442.85 John of Beirut benefited
from the grant to him of a three-door house with an underground store on den
Oliver Street in 1443. The house was inherited by his son Peter in 1459, who was
also in possession of another house in den Puig Ermenal street that would
be inherited by his son Bartholomew after his death.86 Anthony of Syria, alias
Carb, had a house in den Vila-rasa Street in 1454.87
The inclination of Christians of the Girdle to reside in close proximity to
one another extended to their provisions for burial, for which they tended
to prefer graves in the cemetery of the church of Santa Mara del Marthe
parish for the majority of the groups population88and especially (after 1421)
84 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/7, fols. 17v18r; Barcelona, AHPB, 159/19, fols.
11rv.
85 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Pi, 113/100, fols. 18v19v. In the fifteenth century, the Vilanova was
the eastern part of the city, especially the area comprised between the mill of the sea or
den Campderaclose to Sant Agust monasteryin the North and Santa Clara nunnery
in the South. Thanks to a document of 1464 we can deduce that the house was located in
loco vocato Vilanova satis prope vicum vulgo dictum den Cavarroques, Barcelona, AHPB,
Bernat Montserrat, 159/44, fol. 143r.
86 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/13, fol. 72v; Barcelona, AHPB, 159/44, fols.
52v54v.
87 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/25, fols. 92rv. It has not been possible to pre-
cisely identify this street, although it is certain that it was located in the Ribera quarter;
see Vctor Balaguer, Las calles de Barcelona, I, (Barcelona: Salvador Manero Editor, 1865),
534.
88 All wills known to be of Christians of the Girdle and their direct descendents in Barcelona
mention Santa Mara del Mar as their parish church; several examples include Francesca,
wife of Francis of Syria (1410), Barcelona, AHPB, Lloren Aragall, 108/1, fols. 100rv; John
of Syria (1417), Barcelona, AHPB, Lloren Aragall, 108/1, fols. 139v141r; Francis of Latakia
(1434), Barcelona, AHPB, Antoni Parera, 161/8, fols. 3v5r; Bartomeua, daughter of Bernard
of Syria (1439), Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Pi, 113/99, fols. 159r160r; Bernard of Syria (1442),
Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Pi, 113/100, fols. 18v19v; John of Beirut (1451), Barcelona, AHPB,
Bernat Montserrat, 159/44, fols. 52v54v; Catherine, widow of Bernard of Syria (1460),
Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/44, fols. 115v116v. Wills also show a clear and
close relation with another of the major religious institutions in the quarter, the Saint
Augustine monastery. All wills contain a bequest for the House of the Augustinians
in Barcelona, especially for the construction of the chapel of Saint Mary of Pieta. The
close relationship between Barcelonas Christians of the Girdle and the Saint Augustine
monastery is further illustrated by the fact some of the monasterys friars served as con-
fessors for some members of the group (Brother Guillem Arbons, Theology graduate,
was confessor of Bernard of Syria) or executors of their wills (Brother Mateu Rella,

404 Duran Duelt
in the tomb of the Saint Catherine brotherhood.89 Thus, the Ribera became
the central place for Christians of the Girdle to show a desire for connection as
a community, both in life and after death. This group will and consciousness
is also evident in joint behavior of the group, especially in terms of mutual
support. Bernard of Syria, John of Syria, Nicholas of Syria, John of Beirut, his
brother-in-law George, John, Jordi Petit, Francesc Descoll, Pere Descoll, and
Joan Traginerall Christians of the Girdle living in den Merdenana street
got involved, together with three Maltese sailors, Anthony, Augustine, and
Andrew, in the unclear case of an attack on the slave of a Barcelona knight.90
The implication of twelve persons seems to indicate it was a matter involving
the group of Christians of the Girdle or a sense of community solidarity that
led to them to help one of their compatriots. Thus, group consciousness seems
obvious, at least among the first generation of newcomers. But beyond these
perhaps isolated episodes, that consciousness would be revealed in a more sig-
nificant and iconic episode: the creation of a religious and charitable brother-
hood with professional character. Its creation and development disclose much
about how Christians of the Girdle fit in with Barcelona society.
The Brotherhood of Saint Catherine of Mount Sinai, or of

Christians of the Girdle
In 1418, in Sant Cugat del Valls, near Barcelona, king Alfonso the Magnanimous
approved the rules presented to him by the porters (bastaixos) that were
constituted in a brotherhood named for the porters and other Christians
of the Girdle (appellada dels bastaxos e altres christians de la centura).91
provincial of the order of Saint Agustin and master in Holy Scriptures, was executor of the
will of Catherine from 1460). In addition, the only known monk or priest who came from
a family of Christians of the Girdle was a member of this community: Anthony of Tripoli,
Augustinian frair in the monastery of Barcelona, was the grandson of the porter John of
Beirut and his wife Mary; see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/9, fols. 27rv.
89 See below, n. 99.
90 Barcelona, ACA, Cancelleria, reg. 2.417, fols. 30rv. We do not know the details of this inci-
dent, but probably the wound of the slave was the result of a street fight. The Maltese
seem to have been very close to Christians of the Girdle, as we have seen in several occa-
sions in this paper.
91 Tenore presentis, ad devocionem et humilem supplicacionem nobis pro parte vestri
dictorum mancipiorum alias bastaxos et alios directam dictam confratriam et capitula
preinserta, ac omnia in eis contenta grata habentes; illam et illa laudamus, approbamus,
ratifficamus et nostre auctoritatis et confirmacionis presidio roboramus, Barcelona, ACA,

The brotherhood, as it appears in these statutes, takes the typical form of this
sort of religious-charitable-professional organization,92 initially configured as
a religious association for mutual support based in the church of Santa Mara
del Mar under the name of Saint Catherine of Mount Sinai.93 At its inception,
it seems to have been based on the high altar of the said church.94 Later, pos-
sibly in 1445, in the wake of unification with the almoina [charity] of joves
and macips, the organization was moved to the chapel of Saint Matthias and
Saint Thecla, located in the ambulatory of the church,95 where it remained
Cancelleria, reg. 2.591, fols. 70r72r. These ordinances have been only partially edited by
Antonio de Capmany y de Montpalau, Memorias histricas sobre la marina, comercio
y artes de la antigua ciudad de Barcelona, 4 vols. (Madrid: Imprenta de D. Antonio de
Sancha, 17791792), 2:358359; and after him by Josep Vives i Miret, Historial del gremi
de bastaixos de capana i macips de ribera de la duana de Barcelona: segles XIIIXX)
(Barcelona: s.n., 1933), 2223. Capmany has been reedited: Antonio de Capmany y de
Montpalau, Memorias histricas sobre la marina, comercio y artes de la antigua ciudad de
Barcelona, 3 vols., ed. E. Giralt i Ravents and C. Batlle i Gallart (Barcelona: Cmara Oficial
de Comercio y Navegacin de Barcelona, 19611963), 2.1: 421422.
92 About brotherhoods in Barcelona, see Antoni Albacete Gascn, Les confraries de llib-
erts negres a la Corona Catalano-Aragonesa, Acta Historica et Archaelogica Mediaevalia
30 (2009): 307331; Pierre Bonnasie, La organizacin del trabajo en Barcelona a fines
del siglo XV (Barcelona: CSIC, 1975); M. Gual Camarena, Una cofrada de negros liber-
tos en el siglo XV, Estudios de la Edad Media en la Corona de Aragn 5 (1952): 457466;
Antoni Riera Melis, La aparicin de las corporaciones de oficio en Catalua (12001350),
in Cofradas, gremios, solidaridades en la Europa medieval. Actas de las XIX Semana de
Estudios Medievales de Estella, 2024 de julio de 1992 (Pamplona: Gobierno de Navarra,
1993), 285318.
93 Santa Mara del Mar was the church par excellence of sailors and traders of Barcelona
and closely linked to porters (macips, bastaixos); see Mart Matlleu, Los que levan-
taron el templo de Santa Mara del Mar, Diario de Barcelona (Barcelona: Diario de
Barcelona, 1918), 74927494, 77897792, 80858087, 86978699, 89658968, 92649267.
94 confratrie predicte Beate Caterine Montis Sinay constructe in altari maiori Beate Marie
de Mari Barchinone, Barcelona, AHPB, Honorat Saconamina, 166/4, fol. 65r. About the
several moves of the brotherhood inside the church, Vives i Miret, Historial del gremi de
bastaixos, 3637.
95 See above, note 94. A pastoral visit made to the parish church states that the chaplain
(condudor) who presided over the chapel was the incumbent priest from the church
of Sant Just i Sant Pastor of Barcelona, Joan Gibert, who received from los bestays
10 florins for his services, Barcelona, ADB, Visites pastorals, vol. 6, fols. 92 bis v93r. Another
document of 1438 stated that in the said altar there was no established benefice, but that
the porters had a chaplain, the same Gibert, words that were repeated in the 1440 visit,
although at that time there were two incumbents of the church of Santa Mara del Mar,
Gabriel Asbert and Francesc Angls, who acted as chaplains, Barcelona, ADB, Visites

406 Duran Duelt
until 1583, at which time it would be relocation yet again.96 Statutes ratified
in 1418 specify only spiritual and welfare functions for the brotherhood, as is
usual in this type of document. Brethren received permission to meet once a
year, on Saint Catherines day, at the altar instituted for that purpose in Santa
Maria del Mar, and to celebrate a solemn mass there. Brothers and others who
supported their organization could build and beautify the altar and the afore-
said chapel, furnishing it with fabric, chalices, lamps, candles, books and other
necessities, according to the judgment of the majority of the members. The
primary charitable functions entrusted to the brotherhood were related to
brethrens funeral arrangements. The 1418 statutes provide that the brother-
hood could institute or order all the necessities for the burial of each of its
members, including wax tapers, candles, fabrics, mass singing, prayers, and
everything necessary in the eyes of the majority of the brothers. In the event
that one of members died within two leagues around Barcelona and pov-
erty or destitution prevented his body from being transported to the city for
burial, the brotherhood or brethren should go with candles and wax tapers to
fetch the deceased and to bring him back to the city for burial as required by
the directors or the council of the brotherhood. More generally, the statutes
mandated that the brotherhood help the sick and poor of the said brother-
hood (socrrer als malats e pobres de la dita confraria), both during his
lifetime and with regard to his burial. They were also charged with building
and decorating the chapel of Saint Catherine and addressing the needs of
the brotherhood, brothers or administrators; in addition, most of them were
empowered to impose immediate, weekly, or monthly fees (talles) and taxes,
and could impose five-sous fines on their own members without incurring any
legal penalty, although only a royal official could enforce payment.
With respect to membership in the brotherhood, admission or rejec-
tion was determined by the administrators and a majority of the brothers.
Entry was prohibited to those men who kept a concubine, or whose wives were
engaged in prostitution or even reputed to be prostitutes. Moreover, any mem-
ber, male or female, who was discovered violating any of these rules after entry
into the brotherhood could be expelled by administrators and the majority
of brothers. Brethren would meet three times a year in the church of Santa
Mara del Mar, on the days of Saint Martin (11 November), Saint Catherine
(25 November) and Saint John the Baptist (24 June), generally in the presence
of a royal official (though they were empowered to meet in his absence),
pastorals, vol. 6, fols. 160v, 195r. On this chapel see Cristina Borau, Els promotors de capelles
i retaules a la Barcelona del segle XIV (Barcelona: Fundaci Noguera, 2003), 390391.
96 Bonaventura Bassegoda, Santa Mara de la Mar. Monografa Histrica-artstica ilustrada,
2 vols. (Barcelona: Indstries grfiques Fills de J. Thomas, 19251927), 1:146.

in order to discuss and decide matters concerning the brotherhood and the
brothers as well as a...service of our Lord God and Madonna Saint Mary and
the said Saint Catherine, Virgin. Additionally, during the Saint Martins day
meeting, the members would choose two or more individuals to act as coun-
cilors or administrators, whose role would be to make requests on behalf of
the brotherhood, and to store jewelry, clothes, money, and other goods belong-
ing to the brotherhood as well as to satisfy debts owed by the brotherhood to
former members or outsiders.
All members were subject to the 1418 charter approved by the king, and the
majority of the brothers or administrators had the authority to rebuke and
discipline the members who violated those statutes. Managers could collect
fines, paid in cash, wax, or other items, up to a maxiumum value of two sous
per member whom the majority had voted to punish for offenses against the
brotherhood; the proceeds of these fines would go to support the brotherhood
as a whole. In addition to fines, the offenders could be expelled from the broth-
erhood, if only as a last resort. According to the statutes, the violator should
first receive a confidential warning to desist from his reprehensible behavior. If
his behavior did not change with the prompting of good words, the brother-
hood should again caution him in the presence of five or six brothers. The next
step would entail public reprimand in one of the three annual meetings or
coinciding with a meeting for the burial of any member. Only if there was still
no correction of behavior after this third reprimand the council of the brother-
hood might deprive the violator of his membership, and it could do this only
with the agreement of the majority of the brothers present at any of the said
three meetings or members burial.
If, as it seems, Saint Catherines brotherhood did not differ formally from
other similar organizations, did anything distinguish it from them? Did it
have a different purpose? Referring to members entry, the charter affirms that
into the said brotherhood...may enter and be admitted as brethren all those
people, both men and women, porters and other Christians of the Girdle of
the city who might wish to join it (que en la dita confraria...puxen entrar e
sser admesos en confrares totes aquelles persones, aix hmens com fembres,
bastaxos e altres christians de la centura de la dita ciutat qui intrar hi volran).
In the preamble of the document, the king addresses you, our faithful, porters
and other so-called Christians of the Girdle from the city of Barcelona (vos,
fideles nostri, mancipii alias bastaixos et alii vocati Christiani de la centura
civitatis Barchinone). Thus, from its very inception, Saint Catherines broth-
erhood was intended for a specific group, the Christians of the Girdle. This
was the first attempt in the city of Barcelona to create a brotherhood for a
group that consisted solely of foreigners. The fact that this group was charac-
terized by a predominant professional profilemany, as noted above, were

408 Duran Duelt
portersand because a significant portion of brotherhoods in Barcelona had

been associated with a particular job activity, meant that in a short time the
professional identity of the Brotherhood of the Christians of the Girdle pre-
vailed over the ethno-cultural one. Yet the brotherhood seems to have played
a very important ethno-cultural role in the first decades of its existence. Even
if years later we document members who were not ethnic Christians of the
Girdle, the members of the Saint Catherines brotherhood were originally
drawn primarily from this group, and they continued to play a major role in
the institution, probably turning it into a kind of social network for Christians
of the Girdle living in the city.
Even given the fact that the cult of Saint Catherine was widespread in
the Crown of Aragon, and in Barcelona as well,97 it is still remarkable that a
Barcelona organization chose as its patron of one of the best known Eastern
saints, one who was bound to an Eastern cult center, the monastery in Sinai,
that was economically, politically, and culturally very influential in the east-
ern Mediterranean, and that was apparently closely linked with Christians of
the Girdle. This link may have fostered more direct connections in Barcelona,
because on 5 March 1422, brother Peter of Damascus and brother John of
Pamphilia, monks of Saint Catherine, hired as procurators Guillem Sim,
presbyter of Barcelona, Jaume Blai, citizen of Barcelona and translator of the
monks, and George of Tripoli, Christian of the Girdle, to collect the dona-
tions in support of the monastery from those charged with gathering them.98
97 Recall the Dominicans devotion to this saint, who was patron of their convent in the
city of Barcelona, founded in 1221. In this monastery there was also a brotherhood of
Santa Catalina, documented at least as early as 1422; see Barcelona, Arxiu de la Catedral
de Barcelona, Notaris pblics 527, fols. CXXVIIIvCXXXr. The Barcelona shipwrights
founded a Brotherhood under the patronage of Saint Catherine, the statutes of which
were approved by John I in 1392; see Manuel de Bofarull y de Sartorio, Gremios y cofradas
de la antigua Corona de Aragn, in Coleccin de documentos inditos del Archivo General
de la Corona de Aragn, XL (Barcelona: Direccin General de Archivos y Bibliotecas,
1876), 408419.
98 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Pi, 113/20, fol. 31v. Witness to this act was the merchant John
of Beirut, Christian of the Girdle. The document does not mention him as citizen of
Barcelona, as was the case with most other documented Christians of the Girdle, so
he may have been a refugee who arrived in Barcelona in the company of the monks of
Sinai. Catalan pilgrims visited the monastery of Sinai at least from the fourteenth century
onwards, but close contacts between the kings of Aragon and the religious community
date from the first years of the fifteenth century. See above (note 40), and Daniel Duran,
The Journey of Saint Catherine of Mount Sinai, Mediterraneum: The Splendour of the
Medieval Mediterranean (13th15th centries), ed. Xavier Barral i Altet (Barcelona: IEMed-
Lunwerg Editores, 2004), 363371.

Very probably the Christians of the Girdle themselves chose Saint Catherine as
their patron, a sign that this institution was closely linked to a community that
was bound together by their shared eastern Mediterranean roots.
In addition to the leading role that Christians of the Girdle played in the
brotherhood for many years, there are two indications reinforcing the idea
that the brotherhood functioned as a sort of backbone for the community
of Christians of the Girdle in Barcelona. In 1421, a few years after the groups
foundation, the brotherhood purchased some tombs in the main cemetery of
Santa Mara del Mar.99 Curiously, it has also been possible to document indi-
vidual purchases of carners and gravestones apparently next to those bought
by the brotherhood, as in the case of the grain sifter Joan Toms, Christian
of the Girdle, in 1424.100 This spatial gathering would be a sign of the role of
the brotherhood as an organizing force within the community. The argument
that the Saint Catherines brotherhood was founded explicitly to foster soli-
darity among a community of largely poor resident foreigners is reinforced
by comparing it with the pious charity of Saint Matthias and Saint Thecla.
This organization was already in existence when the Brotherhood of Saint
Catherine was founded, and numerous porters (macips) or shore youths
(joves) and Christians of the Girdle were attached to this pious charity as
demonstrated by bequests some of them made to the institution.101 The fact
that an organization already existed to serve the professional group to which
the Christians of the Girdle belonged seems to indicate that Saint Catherines
brotherhood was born as a private group with community or cultural
significance.102 The brotherhoods importance for Christians of the Girdle was

100 Joan Toms acquired one carnerium and four tombstones; see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat
Nadal, 58/63, fols. 51v52 r.
101 For example, in his will of 15 December 1417 John of Syria, sailor and peddler, bequeathed
2 s. for the elemosine mancipiorum ripparie of the city of Barcelona; see Barcelona,
AHPB, Lloren Aragall, 108/1, fols. 139v141r.
102 The first located mention of this almoina of Saint Matthias and Saint Thecla dates from
1439, in the ordinances of the councilors and notables of the city of Barcelona; Barcelona,
AHCB, Consell de cent, 1B. IV-6, fol. 84v (la almoyna dels dits macips e jovens de ribera
fundada sots ttol de Sant Matia e de Sancta Thecla). Probably the almoina originated
before that date, since Saints Matthias and Tecla are linked to porters much earlier.
Already in 1402 we know that in Santa Mara del Mar the veneration of these two saints
was associated with the porters, and the chapel dedicated to the saints maintained a spe-
cial bond with the porters, as indicated by the fact that the chapel housed a drap dor roig
ab imatges de Santa Tecla y Sant Matas y de dos bastaxos; see Bassegoda, Santa Mara de
la Mar, 2:607. Further evidence for the earlier existence of an almoina of the porters of the

410 Duran Duelt
also evident in pious endowments made by community members who often

included the said brotherhood among the beneficiaries. Bartomeua, wife of
the house-builder Joan Roger and daughter of the porter (macip de ribera)
Bernard of Syria and his wife Catherine, attached to her will of 25 July 1439
a clause with a bequest of two sous for the brotherhood of Saint Catherine
erected in the church of Santa Mara del Mar (confratrie Beate Caterine
constructe in ecclesia Beate Marie de Mari).103 Her father Bernard made a
similar bequest some years later, in 1442.104 And even as late as in 1451, some
years after the brotherhood had been united with those of Saint Matthew and
Saint Thecla, John of Beirut bequeathed ten sous to the said brotherhood
of Saint Catherine of which I am a member (dicte confratrie Sancte Caterine
cuius ego sum confrater) with the stipulation that he be buried in the broth-
erhoods tomb located in Santa Mara del Mar church.105 Given that John of
Beirut was a peddler and, as such, he left money to the brotherhood of Saint
Anthony of Barcelonas peddlers,106 this last case seems to confirm the com-
munity basis of a brotherhood linked as much to the common ethno-cultural
origins of its members as to a particular profession.
The increasing professional orientation (as opposed to an ethno-cultural
one) of the Saint Catherine brotherhood over time becomes clear in the con-
flict that erupted with another similar institution, a dispute that masks a pro-
fessional competition between local and foreign workers. As noted above, the
founding of the brotherhood of Saint Catherine was predated (though it is
Ribera comes in ordinances issued by the Barcelona councilors about the organization
of the porters of Ribera in 1433, where there is mention of an almoina, though without
any specific dedication. These ordinances also refer to the existence of previous ordi-
nances dealing with the organization of these porters, which might include the almoina,
although it has not been possible to locate these earlier ordinances; see Barcelona, AHCB,
Consell de cent, 1B. IV-6, fols. 20r21r. Probably, this almoina was the almoina of Saint
Matthias and Saint Thecla.
103 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Pi, 113/99, fols. 159r160v.
104 Et confratrie Sancte Caterine Christianorum centure institute in dicta ecclesia Beate
Marie de Mari Barchinone, tam pro fine meo quam aliis, undecim solidos, Barcelona,
AHPB, Bernat Pi, 113/100, fols. 18v19v.
105 Sepulturam vero corporis mei fieri volo in cimitterio ecclesie Beate Marie de Mari
Barchinone, in tumulo confratrie Beate Caterine Christianorum Centure dicte civitatis
cuius ego sum confrater, Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/44, fols. 52v54v.
106 Item dimitto confratrie Sancti Anthonii tragineriorum Barchinone, de qua ego sum con-
frater, tres solidos, Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/44, fols. 52v54v. We have
a legacy even later: In 1460, Catherine, widow of Bernard of Syria, porter, left 10 s. to the
confratrie Sancte Caterina Christianorum centure cuius sum confratrissa; see Barcelona,
AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/44, fols. 115v116v.

uncertain by how much) by a pious and charitable foundation known as the

almoina of Saint Matthias and Saint Thecla, of the porters (dels macips or
joves de Ribera). Both organizations coexisted for some time, but not entirely
peacefully. The Saint Catherine foundation was much poorer than the older
organization, likely due to the relative poverty of its members: members of
the Saint Catherine brotherhood paid weekly dues of 1 d. to their brotherhood,
while the joves or macips of the almoina of Saint Matthias and Saint
Thecla were required pay three to their organization. Given that membership
in one institution or the other was mandatory in order to practice the profes-
sion, macips or joves who were not Christians of the Girdle tried to become
members of the brotherhood of Saint Catherine, though not precisely for
pious reasons.107 The competition for members led to disagreements between
the two groups as joves or macips felt that Christians of the Girdle ought to
also pay 3 d. to work.108 In 1439, the councilors and patricians of Barcelona had
to order the joves and macips of the Ribera who had become part of the
107 E del dit temps en alsguns dels dits macips e jvens de la dita almoyna se sien meses en
la dita confraria e altres se vullen metre semblantment en aquella, no ab propsit vertader
o devoci de la dita confraria, mas que ab via indirecta puxen bastexar pagant solament
un diner cascuna setmana e no volen pagar, ans contradient, cascuna setmana los dits
tres diners, cuyden sser quitis e exemps de la paga de aquella, Barcelona, AHCB, Consell
de Cent, 1B. IV-6, fol. 84v. Concerning this conflict see also Armenteros, Lesclavitud a la
Barcelona, 334336.
108 It is possible that discontent had reached city officials years earlier, albeit veiled. The
November 20, 1432 ordinances of the councilors and patricians of Barcelona mention the
controversy about Christians entitled to exercise the office of porter, and doubts about
certain groups that had previously come to the city as slavesdoubts that perhaps
affected, among others, Christians of the Girdle, against whom some of their fellow crafts-
men might have raised complaints: E ms sie mogut en dubte ja si ser perms bastexar
a qualsevol altres vulles catius e ffranchs per vegues diguen christians de diverses altres
nacions de les quals s acustumat sser portats e venuts per sclaus en les terres de la
senyoria del senyor rey, lo christianisme dels quals no s ax notori ques spie sser chris-
tians de natura e vers catlichs...Per o los dits honorables consellers e prohmens de
la dita ciutat...ordonaren que dac avant puxen bastexar solament christians de natura,
los quals sien de nacions aprovades e no deviants de la fe cathlica e dels quals no s
acustumat de sser hic portats ne venuts per sclaus. E semblantment puxen bastexar tots
aquells qui sien de nasci de sards. Barcelona, AHCB, Consell de cent, 1B. IV-6, fols. 93rv.
These ordinances and others from the month of August of that year and on 22 November
essentially insist on banning slaves and freedmen of Saracen, Turkish, Tatar, and other
foreign origin from acting as porters, and even compelling them to convert to Christianity
or to have a wife and house in the city; see Barcelona, AHCB, Consell de cent, 1B. IV-6,
fols. 93rv, 94rv, 95rv.

412 Duran Duelt
brotherhood of Saint Catherine but who were not ethnic Christians of the
Girdle to pay the said 1 d. weekly dues and in addition the amount due to
the almoina of Saint Matthias and Saint Thecla from they time they
had joined the brotherhood of Saint Catherine, while Christians of the
Girdle were required to pay only for the support of their home institution.109
This decision did not, however, resolve the conflict between the two groups,
and disputes and tensions between them continued, probably fed by the dis-
content of the macips who had to pay more in charitable dues than their
foreign competitors. In 1444, the councilors had to repeat their call for provi-
sions in favor of Christians of the Girdle and their brotherhood, a fact that
would seem to indicate that the above provisions had not been effectively
implemented.110 A few months later, the councilors tried to provide a defini-
tive solution. On April 20, 1445, councilors and city notables ordered that the
Saint Catherine brotherhood and the almoina of Saint Matthias and Saint
Thecla combine the membership of all porters into a single organization.111
The organizational structures of both institutions persisted, at least nominally,
for a few years: in 1448, for example, the porter Lleonard Veya claimed the
title of administrator of the brotherhood of Saint Catherine of Christians of
the Girdle. But in practice the two institutions acted as one. Thus, the above-
mentioned Veya acted as administrator of the almoina of Saint Matthias and
Saint Thecla, as did the porters Ramon de Salania and Nadal de Sacase, taking
care to emphasize further that both institutions had been joined by an order
of municipal councilors.112
The community orientation of the brotherhood did not carry with it a par-
ticularly dogmatic approachthat is, there was no regulation of specific fea-
tures of creed or worship, although all Christians of the Girdle seemed to come
from a tradition different from that of the Latin Roman Church.113 On a formal/
official level, the church of Barcelona controlled the brotherhood through
the priest appointed by the diocese to be responsible for the organizations
109 Barcelona, AHCB, Consell de cent, 1B. IV-6, fol. 84v.

110 Barcelona, AHCB, Consell de cent, 1B. IV-6, fols. 146rv.
111 Barcelona, AHCB, Consell de cent, 1B. IV-6, fols. 166rv.
112 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/19, fols. 11rv. Concerning the late Catherine,
we know that she had been the slave of Francesca, widow in 1438 of Bernat Font, citi-
zen of Barcelona. In that year Catherine was listed as free. On 18 October 1438 she
brought as dowry to the sailor Domnec Saragossa 40 ll. in goods and a house on den
Puigermenal street she had for a annual ground rent of 13 s. 6 d.; see Barcelona, AHPB,
Bernat Montserrat, 159/7, fols. 17v18r.
113 Even the Maronites, who recognized papal primacy, were under suspicion until well into
the fifteenth century, when a campaign was launched to shield them from the Syrian
Orthodox influence.

religious services. Other aspects of the religious life of Christians of the Girdle
can only be guessed at, due to the organizations lack of specific cultic struc-
tures. For example, if we look at their confessors, we find no religious of Eastern
origin; all seem to be Catalans. Despite this fact, we can tell that the religious
issue was present, and came up in professional disputes between Christians
of the Girdle and other Barcelona porters. The dispute between the porters of
Saint Catherine and the porters of Saint Matthias and Saint Thecla developed
within a broader context of labor competition between natives and foreigners,
especially slaves, in late medieval Barcelona, and legal complaints against the
porters of the brotherhood of Saint Catherine brought up religious status as
much as legal (free vs. servile) status. Although slaves had long formed part
of the labor force of Barcelona, the large increase of slaves beginning in the
early fifteenth century and the discontent that eventually arose between local
porters led the municipal government to issue a series of ordinances, begin-
ning in 1414, attempting to exclude slaves and freedmen from the porters
professions.114 At first, municipal orders affected only non-Christian slaves,
but each new ordinance progressively broadened the scope of affected work-
ers, eventually (in August 1432) expanding to include slaves and freedmen
of Christian origin but notably only those belonging to denominations not
considered truly Catholic. This restriction would seem clearly addressed to
Christians of the Girdle (and perhaps to other groups of Eastern Christians
as well) who were probably the most important non-native group among
the portersso significant, as we have noted, that the epithet Christians
of the Girdle would eventually become synonymous with that profession. This
discriminatory ordinance was short-lived, and a few months later (November
1432) councilors amended it, allowing the exercise of that office to be shared
with Sardinian slaves and freedmen, as well as to Christians of any denomina-
tion. But even if legalized discrimination against Christians of the Girdle on
the basis of religion was only temporary, it gives us an idea of how easily their
religious status could be used against them, and perhaps also suggests a gen-
eral mistrust regarding the orthodoxy of Christians of Eastern origin.
Although Saint Catherines brotherhood was strongly controlled by or tied
to ethnic Christians of the Girdle, the institution opened its membership to
outsiders, and indeed seems to have served as a magnet for other foreign
porters. Although the number of brothers or documented people related to
114 About slaves and labour market, see Roser Salicr, Slaves in the Professional and Family
Life of Crafstmen in the Late Middle Ages, in La famiglia nelleconomia europea secoli
XIIIXVIII / The Economic Role of the Family in the European Economy from the 13th to the
18th Centuries, ed. Simonetta Cavaciocchi (Florence: University of Florence Press, 2009),
325342.

414 Duran Duelt
the brotherhood who were not Christians of the Girdle is small, they all seem
to have foreign originsat least during the first decades of the institution.115
Nevertheless, Christians of the Girdle dominated the brotherhood for decades.
In 1421, the most important positions in the structurethe five clavaris or
administratorswere all Christians of the Girdle: Joan Toms, Mart Marquet,
Francis of Syria, George of Syria and John of Tripoli.116 That near-monopoly
on leadership positions was still in place over a decade later, even though
Christians of the Girdle apparently no longer were numerically dominant
within the organization as a whole: in a list of brothers from 20 August 1436,
among the fifteen named (Antoni Marquet, Bernard of Syria, John of Beirut,
Mateu Alegret, Mart de Gerra, Lleonard Serra, Antoni Mates, Antoni Carb,
Martin of Ragusa, Pere Mates,117 John of Syria, Stephen of Ragusa, Mart Pla,
Joan Contino, and George Maltese). Only five of them seem clearly identifiable
as Christians of the Girdle: Antoni Marquet, Bernard of Syria, John of Beirut,
Antoni Carb,118 and John of Syria. Even so, Christians of the Girdle domi-
nated leadership positions in the group. In 1435 Joan Toms, Mart Marquet,
and Nicholas of Syria were the three notables chosen by the members of the
brotherhood.119 Joan Toms might be the same Joan Toms, Christian of
the Girdle and grain sifter, documented in 1410. Mart Marquet was a porter,
according to other documents in which he is mentioned,120 and Nicholas
115 In his will of 28 March 1432, Jordi Malts, a grain sifter originally from Malta, asks to be
buried in the tomb of the brotherhood of Saint Catherine of Christians of the Girdle in
Santa Mara del Mar. Among the witnesses of this will is the porter Antoni Marquet, a
sign reinforcing the idea of close contacts of the Maltese with Christians of the Girdle;
see Barcelona, AHPB, Antoni Parera, 161/8, fol. 2r. Marquet is documented as member of
the brotherhood in 1436, as is a Jordi Malts, which could be our personage or, more likely,
the Jordi Malts, also grain sifter and nephew of the testator (see note 116 below). On
2 April 1440 Francescona, wife of Jaume Giralt, wool comber, and daughter of Mart Pla,
porter, expressed in her will the desire to be buried in the tomb of the brotherhood of
Saint Catherine of Christians of the Girdle in the cemetery of Santa Mara del Mar; see
Barcelona, AHPB, Antoni Parera, 161/8, fols. 7v8r.
116 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Nadal, 58/61, fols. 4rv. Mart Marquet is documented years later,
1427, where he is clearly identified as Christian of the Girdle; see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat
Pi, 113/28, fol. 78r. We know he had a son, John, who in March 1432 was fourteen years old;
see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Nadal, 58/68, fols. 12rv.
117 Concerning him, see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/7, fols. 17v18r (1438).
118 Two years earlier, in 1434, Antoni Carb christianus de la sentura is qualified as former
(olim) seneschal of Bernat Vivess ship, Barcelona, AHPB, Joan Bages, 119/6, fol. 39v.
119 Barcelona, AHPB, Honorat Saconamina, 166/47, paper (August 20, 1436).
120 On 14 October 1427 he recognized a Barcelona merchant had received 108 ll. 5 s. 3 d. relat-
ing to the fees due to him for transporting 909 salmas of wheat (forment) from store to
store and for carrying 1440 salmas from one store to the barns (pallols); see Barcelona,

of Syria, who must have been a Christian of the Girdle, given his name, may
be the peddler of the same name who appears in other documents from
roughly the same period. This dominance would last at least until the unifica-
tion with the almoina of Saint Thecla and Saint Matthias in 1445, although it
is not easy to establish an evolutionary timeline because of a lack of data. In
any case, the leadership role of Christians of the Girdle almost certainly dimin-
ished in the combined organization. In 1448, the administrator of the brother-
hood of Saint Catherine of Christians of the Girdle was Lleonard Veya, a man
who does not seem to have its origins within that ethnic group.121
Changing Strategies, Vanishing Identities? The Disappearance

of the Christians of the Girdle from Barcelona
The decrease over time in the number of references to the Brotherhood

of Saint Catherine and especially to the role played by the Christians of the
Girdle in that organization is not just a function of decreasing documentary
evidence; it may equally be the result of the dying out of the group of origi-
nal immigrants who served as an organizing force in the community, and the
subsequent disappearance of a conscious group identity among their descen-
dants. Indeed, with the passage of time, mechanisms that had supported the
maintenance of group identity and cohesion in the past had been completely
altered. Gradually, the range of professional activities of Christians of the
Girdle expanded and the dominance that had once been strong enough to
make the ethno-cultural label Christians of the Girdle synonymous with the
profession of porter itself would be lessened as the lines between professional
and ethnic groups blurred. Although in the decades of the 1430s, 1440s, and
1450s Christians of the Girdle were still concentrated in professional activities
in which physical strength prevailed over specific technical trainingoccupa-
tions such as porters, peddlers, laborers, woodcutters or wood-peddlers122it
AHPB, Bernat Pi, 113/28, fol. 78r. Nearly four years later, on 23 July 1431, although he
does not appear qualified as Christian of the Girdle, but as porter (macip de ribera),
he renounced to the Saracen slave rental, belonging to the notary Antoni Maruny, rent
that had begun last November 8, Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/1, fols. 7v8r.
121 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/19, fols. 11rv. We know of some Veya natives of
Badalona; see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/44, fols. 124r126r.
122 Porters: Bernard of Syria (1433, 1434, died in 1442), John of Latakia (1438). Peddlers: John
of Syria (1433), Bartholomew of Beirut (1444), John of Beirut (ranked as peddler of ribera
in 1434, must surely be the same John of Beirut named in 1439) Nicholas of Syria (1439).
Laborers: Francis of Latakia, son of the porter Francis of Latakia (1439, 1447). Woodcutter:
George of Syria (1436). Wood peddlers: Nicholas of Syria (1442), John of Beirut (1442).

416 Duran Duelt
is possible to document their growing presence in other, more skilled trades.

Some of these included weavers of linen fabrics or falconersa grouping that
may be linked to the Eastern origins, direct or at the remove of one genera-
tion, of those who practiced those professions.123 Of particular interest is the
fact that some individuals who originally worked in less-skilled occupations
changed careers during these years, shifting to more technically specialized
trades.124 In addition, immigrant parents made an effort to place their chil-
dren, both those born in Barcelona and those who arrived with their parents
when very young, as apprentices in skilled tradesif, that is, their offspring
had not already done so on their own initiative.125 Thus, on 7 March 1432
Mart Marquet placed his son John, fourteen years old, under the service of
the shoemaker Pere Sans to reside with him for four years and learn the art of
shoemaking.126 Ten years later, in 1442, Joan Toms, son of the late Joan Toms,
porter, and his widow Barbara, agreed to spend two years as apprentice to Joan
123 The Latakia family is a good example. Francis of Latakia, porter, who died in 1434, was
son of John of Latakia, linen weaver who lived in the city of Latakia. He had a brother,
Peter, who had a son also named Peter or Perico, who in Barcelona exercised the same
trade as his grandfather (he appears in the do until 1461); see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat
Montserrat, 159/36, fols. 58rv. Another family member, perhaps a brother of Francis and
Peter, worked as a falconer; see Barcelona, AHPB, Antoni Parera, 161/8, fols. 3v5r. In 1438
perhaps relative of all of them was Anthony of Syria, ranked as linen weaver, Barcelona,
AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/7, fols. 17v18r. He was son of John of Latakia, porter, who
was likely a member of the family with several members working as linen weavers;
see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/7, fols. 66rv. However, the professional pro-
file of Anthony seems to have been flexible, because in 1439 he is also named as weaver of
woolen cloth; see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/7, fols. 66v67r.
124 Antoni Massot abandoned his former profession as a tanner to become a falconer. It was
probably around 1423 when the change occurred, because on 22 May he is referred to as
having been a tanner once upon a time (olim lisahonator pellium), Barcelona, AHPB,
Bernat Pi, 113/22, fols. 56v57r. The first document located referring to him as a falconer is
from 3 July 1427. In this document, concerning a trade venture with Sicily, he acts together
with the falconer or falcon trader Jordi Sim and is also linked with the falconer or falcon
trader John of Candia, also a citizen of Barcelona, and possibly even one of eastern origin;
see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Nadal, 58/65, fol. 69v. He is mentioned as falconer again in
1434; see Barcelona, AHPB, Antoni Parera, 168/8, fols. 3v5r.
125 For female Christians of the Girdle, however, domestic service seems to have remained
the primary occupation. On 1 August 1433 Maciana, daughter of Francis of Latakia, por-
ter, and his wife Eulalia, 13 years old, undertook, with the consent and permission of her
husband, to serve as a maid (pedisseca) during following two years to Joan Noguers,
merchant, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/2, fols. 13v14r.

de Lesques, crossbow-maker, and his brother in law, to learn the said office.127
This case is relevant since it shows a double phenomenon that helps to under-
stand the disintegration of the group of Christians of the Girdle: the arrange-
ment provided Tomas with the possibility of social advancement by opening
the doors to an apprenticeship, while the link itself represented a change
in the traditional strategy of intra-group alliances between families of Christians
of the Girdle that had been so characteristic of the previous generation.
If Mart Marquet had tried to promote his son occupationally by direct-
ing him toward the craft of shoemaking and away from the manual labor
professions practiced by the first generations of Christians of the Girdle (i.e.,
transport and seamanship), the marriage he arranged for his son also points
in that same direction. In February 1440, while still a minor, Joan had been
betrothed to Aldona, daughter of Jaume Oromir, embroiderer in silk and gold,
and his wife Nadala.128 Moreover, Joans sister Angelina had already married
the scribe Joan Esteve.129 These actions broke with the custom of endogamous
marriage within the group of Christians of the Girdle and their descendants.
Other members of Marquet family acted similarly: Joanna, daughter of Antoni
Marquet and his wife Mary, married the sailor Bernat Pont, son of boatman
Jaume Pont and his wife Margaret, in 1438.130 This new trend among Christians
of the Girdle toward exogamous marriages became more prominent from the
thirties onward,131 as the professional identity of parents or of spouses, rather
than membership in a group with common geographical and cultural origins,
began to play a larger role in partner choice. Catherine, sister of Anthony of
Syria, linen cloth weaver, and daughter of John of Latakia, porter, would marry
the linen cloth weaver Joan Daura.132 Catherine, sister of the laborer Francis of

128 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/9, fols. 27v28r.
130 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/10, fol. 17v.
131 The examples abound: Bartolomea, daughter of Bernard of Syria, porter, and Catherine,
his wife, married Joan Roger, builder, Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Pi, 113/99, fols. 159r160r.
John of Syria, peddler, married in 1440 to Antonia, daughter of the late Antoni Llaurador,
sailor, and Saurina, his widow, Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/9, fols. 3rv, 17r.
From what we know so far, the third generation seems to have completely abandoned any
deliberate preference for endogamous marriages, as in the case of Joanna, a granddaugh-
ter of two Christians of the Girdle, who married the butcher Joan Torra, son of the butcher
Arnau Torra, and grandson of the butcher from Manresa Pere Torra; see Barcelona, AHPB,
Bernat Montserrat, 159/44, fols. 132r133r, 142r143r.

418 Duran Duelt
Latakia, would marry Joan Llopis, also a laborer.133 Nevertheless, we can still
detect a tendency to marry with other groups of foreign origin. One such group
was the Castilians, with whom the Christians of the Girdle had maintained
close ties for some time, perhaps in an attempt to strengthen their weak social
position by an alliance with people in a similar situation, although better posi-
tioned socially.134 John of Beirut, peddler, and Mary, his wife, married their
daughters to two men of Castilian origin: Joanna, in 1431, to Pedro Lop, belt-
maker and son of Alfonso Ferrandis, alcaide of Carrizo (Carrizo de la Ribera?),135
and Antnia, in 1433 with Rodrigo de Len, also belt maker, and son of the late
Pedro Alfonso de Len, notary of Len, in the kingdom of Castilla, and the
late Menca, his wife.136
Notarial records provide yet another indication of the gradual opening up of
the group of Christians of the Girdle to Barcelona society and the progressive
abandonment of ethno-cultural ties as the main criterion in the sustenance of
social relationships within the urban environment. If until the 1420s notarial
deeds involving Christians of the Girdle were primarily made between group
membersdocuments where even the witnesses were also mostly Christians
of the Girdle137from the early 1430s on we begin to see more contracts and

134 For example, among the executors named by John of Syria in his will of December 15, 1417
appears Alfonso Garca del Caudete, Consul of the Castilians in Barcelona; see Barcelona,
AHPB, Lloren Aragall, 108/1, fols. 139v141r. Interestingly, the two adjoining graves with
eight tombstones in the major graveyard of Santa Mara del Mar (duo carneria contigua
cum octo lapidibus sive lambordis que ibi sunt...in cimitterio maiori dicte ecclesie),
which the brotherhood of Saint Catherine acquired in 1421, are located close to those of
the consul of Castilians in Barcelona (in capite ipsius cimiterii versus Orientem prope
carnerii consules Castellanorum Barchinone); see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Nadal, 58/60,
fols. 4rv.
137 Prominent among these documents are wills, which offer us numerous data about family
life. The wills of Christians of the Girdle of the first or second generation mention mostly
other Christians of the Girdle, primarily family members of the testator. In general, these
wills mention almost no one who is not a member of the family. The will of Bernard of
Syria, porter, from 2 February 1442, is a good example: he designated as executors his wife
Catherine and John of Beirut, wood peddler. He leaves some money to Joaneta, his grand-
daughter, and daughter of Joan Roger, builder (not a Christian of the Girdle), and the late
Bartomeua, his daughter, and establishes his wife Catherine as universal heiress of his
remaining goods. There is a mention to his confessor, Fra Guillem Arbons, Bachelor of
Theology, of the convent of Saint Augustine in Barcelona. Listed among the witnesses is
Nicholas of Syria, wood peddler, and among the witnesses to the publication of that will

agreements between Christians of the Girdle and people outside their group,
demonstrating a broader and richer social interactivity, in line with what the
apprenticeship and marriage patterns have already suggested in the areas of
economic and professional activities138 and social relationships,139 respec-
tively. Although family ties remained paramount in multiple aspects of the
lives of Christians of the Girdle and their descendants, the opening of fam-
ily ties to outsiders suggests a progressive weakening of the group identity of
Christians of the Girdle living in Barcelona.140
on 5 February 1442 are included John of Latakia, porter, and the aforementioned Nicholas
of Syria. Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Pi, Llibre de testaments, 113/100, fols. 18v19v.
Of the other papers, many have to do with issues regarding probate and executorship.
For example, according to a document of 24 February 1439 the executors of the will of
the deceased Mary, wife of John of Latakia, porter, were Nicholas of Syria, peddler, and
Mary, wife of John of Beirut, peddler, and the sons and legatees were Anthony of Syria,
woolen cloth weaver, and Catherine, his sister, and wife Joan Daura, weaver of linen cloth.
Some money of Mary was for Friar Anthony of Tripoli, for Francis of Latakia, laborer, and
the aforesaid Anthony of Syria; Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/7, fols. 66v67r;
Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/9, fols. 27rv. Some other examples are found
in Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/19, fol. 43v (concerning Bartholomew
of Beirut, peddler, and his father John of Beirut, peddler, and the inheritance of Mary,
November 22, 1448. Document in very bad condition).
138 On 9 July 1436, Pere de Croanyes sells to George of Syria, lumberjack, firewood of oak,
pine and arbutus, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/5, fol. 40r. On 14 March 1443 Antoni Pujol,
butcher, had bought a red-coated nag with a saddle and bridle to John of Beirut, peddler;
see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/6, fols. 94rv.
139 Here some examples: On 4 September 1443 Miquela, widow and heir of Francesc Pi, oar
maker, donates to John of Beirut free and in perpetuity a house located in den Oliver Strett
in gratitude for all his help, service and attention to her; see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat
Montserrat, 159/13, fol. 72v. On 29 April 1443 John of Beirut, peddler, attorney of the sailor
of Syracuse Galceran Simon, appointed Rodrigo de Len, his son-in-law and beltmaker,
as substitute in such procurement; see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/13, fols.
16rv. On 17 November 1444 John of Beirut was working as attorney for Simon in a busi-
ness concerning a bill of exchange; see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/15, fols.
75rv. In 1455, Peter of Latakia and Peter of Syria, linen cloth weavers, together with the
broker Joan Sunyer, the shoemaker Bartomeu Llobet and the peddler Jordi Ferrer, stood
as guarantors for the 30 ll. of the dowry that Angelina, daughter of the deceased Andreu
Melis, miller, and his wife Maciana, promised to Jaume Antol, silversmith; see Barcelona,
AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/26, Bossa (17 gener 1455).
140 The entry of non-Christians of the Girdle into families had consequences for Christians
of the Girdles preferences of professional and social partnerships, traditionally based
first on familiy ties and then with other Christians of the Girdle. Outsiders also at times
occupied the role of attorneys and arbitrators, thus opening up the relatively closed

420 Duran Duelt
Parallel to changes in career path, martial strategy, and social alliances,

notarial records also show a change in the economic status of many Christians
of the Girdle and their descendants. If on arrival in Barcelona and even dur-
ing the first two decades of their presence in this city Christians of the Girdle
were typically of modest social and economic condition, later decades showed
a marked improvement in the living conditions of some of the newcomers and
their descendants. Although it is difficult to establish any causal relationship
between the three phenomena, the coincidence allows us to relate them as
collectively crucial in the overall change in the social and economic status of
the second- and third-generation Christians of the Girdle.141 A first general
indication of increased economic capacity of many families is the apparent
increase in the value of the dowries for their female members: 40 ll. for Antonia
social world of the Christians of the Girdle. On 29 April 1443 the peddler John of Beirut
appointed Rodrigo de Len, belt maker, and his son-in-law, as attorney; see Barcelona,
AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/13, fol. 16v. Some months earlier, on 11 December 1442,
Pedro Lop and the aforesaid Rodrigo elected John of Beirut, their father in law, together
with Marc Teixidor, wool-dresser, and Laudam Polet and Joan Rabinell, belt makers, as
arbitrators to decide in the division of the partnership existing between them; Barcelona,
AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/12, fol. 50v.
141 Over the years, the first generation of Christians of the Girdle installed in Barcelona also
seem to have experienced a clear improvement in their living conditions, creating the
basis for the advancement of the second and third generations born in Barcelona. An
example is the porter Francis of Latakia, who in his will of 18 August 1434 is described as
who had been Christian of the Girdle. His will includes a list of debtors who, apart from
informing us of testator socio-economic interactions, is indicative of the financial posi-
tion achieved by Francis. The poor state of preservation of the document does not allow
us to identify all loaned amounts precisely, but they include 15 gold florins of Aragon to
Mart Despl, porter (of the 18 that he loaned him to freedman Bernat Maim), an unde-
termined amount loaned to Antoni Massot, falconer Christian of the Girdle, 13 ll. 15 s.
loaned three to [...] of Latakia, falconer, and Maria [...], 9 florins loaned to Pere, Pere
Olzinas nephew, his executor, 15 florins 3 [...] to Antoni Ferrer Sq[...]ra, fisherman, and
7 florins loaned to Pere [...], butcher. Barcelona, AHPB, Antoni Parera, 161/8, fols. 3v5r.
Maybe another signal of economical improvement is that some of them appear as owners
of slaves, as John of Beirut, peddler, who in 1444 is owner of Joan Toms, of Saracen origin,
22 years old; see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/19, fols. 45rv. This same year he
was also the owner of Bernard, Sarracen slave, 38 years old; see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat
Montserrat, 159/14, fols. 24rv.

in 1433 and 10 ll. more in 1436,142 50 ll. for Rafaela in 1437143 and 25 ll. more
the same year;144 40 ll. and a house for Catherine in 1438for her second
marriage.145 Corresponding to an increase in dowry we find a higher value of
the dower that male Christians of the Girdle provided to their future wives.
Thus in 1440, Joan Marquet, shoemaker son of Mart Marquet and the late
Mary, recognized Aldona, daughter of Jaume Oromir, embroiderer in silk and
gold, and his wife Nadala, as having received a dowry valued at 40 ll. in com-
bined money and goods, to which he added a dower of 20 ll., for a total of 60 ll.146
If until 1422 the average dowries for Christians of the Girdle stood at 27.5 ll., in
the 1430s and 1440s the average was around 55 ll.that is, almost double what
it had been only a generation earlier.147 One graphic example of this startling
increase comes from a very early date: the dowry provided by Mary, the first
wife of John of Syria, was 16 ll. 10 s., while that of his second wife, Constana,
who married the widower after the first few years before 1417, was 50 ll.148
Another indication of the improved economic status of certain people was
the acquisition of real estate assets, usually through the purchase of a house
or even more than one: for example, when the peddler John of Beirut died
in 1451 he had two houses.149 Real estate assets could also become a source
of regular income, especially from annual ground rents or collection of ten-
ant rents, which would have ensured a substantial improvement in the living
conditions and opportunities for the family. This was true for women as well
142 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/3, fols. 10v11r. In October 8, 1436 Rodrigo de
Len, belt maker, son of the late Pedro Alfonso de Len, notary and citizen of Len in
the kingdom of Castile, and the late Mencia, his wife, recognizes Antnia, his wife and
daughter of John of Beirut, which, besides the 40 ll. dowry, as stated by endowment of
2 January 1433, his father gave him in her name 10 ll. to purchase various items of clothing
and other necessities for her, as they had agreed in the marriage contract. He undertakes
to return the said amount along with the dowry; see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat,
159/5, fol. 71v.
143 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/6, fols. 79v80v.
147 This increase came in a context of instability of the monetary system. This fact could
make us doubt the relevance of the real increase, but there is no doubt that there was
an increase because these dowries were then closer to the dowries of the craftmen than
to those of servents or slaves at this time. See Teresa Vinyoles, Histria de les dones a la
Catalunya medieval (Lleida: Pags, 2005), 162.
148 Barcelona, AHPB, Lloren Aragall, 108/1, fols. 139v14r.
149 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/44, fols. 52v54v.

422 Duran Duelt
as men: among other conditions in her testament of 25 July 1439, Bartomeua,

wife of Joan Roger, builder, and daughter of the porter Bernard of Syria and
his wife Catherine, left the management of her house to her husband and par-
ents, who would be responsible for paying the annual ground rent, with the
provision that all of the rents they received from the house itself should be
set aside to fund a dowry for her daughter Joaneta when the time came for
her to marry.150 Widows took advantage of the operating of property hold-
ings acquired by father, mother, or marriage inheritance, but also through
their own resources. A good example is provided by Mary, widow of the sea-
man Peter of Syria. In 1448 she purchased a house in den Puigermenal street
from the brotherhood of Saint Catherine of Christians of the Girdle, speci-
fying that she had made the purchase with her own money and not money
she had received from her late husband.151 Many years later, we know she
owned another house, located in the cemetery of Santa Mara del Pi. On 16
March 1462, Mary and the mattress-maker Baltasar Vidal, who jointly held
the house for an annual ground rent of 18 s., rented it out from the following
1 April for a period of five years to the sharpener Ferran Castell. The total
amount of the rent was 16 ll. 10 s., at 3 ll. 6 s. per year, and the sharpener had
to pay it to Mary while she lived, or to whomever she designated, paying in
half-yearly installments of 1 ll. 18 s.152 These negotiations were part of a larger
real estate strategy that the widow had launched a few years earlier: since
at least 1442 and until at least 1462, Mary was collecting a yearly censal mort
of 5 ll. 15 s.,153 to be paid each 12th of January by Francesca, widow of boil-
ermaker Pere de Masnou,154 and subsequently by their heirs Vicens Masnou155
150 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Pi, 113/100, fols. 159r160r.

153 A censal mort is an indefinitely redeemable obligation to pay a pension or annual fee in
exchange for a given amount of capital.
154 On 16 January 1442 Mary, widow of the seaman Peter of Syria, recognizes that Francesca,
widow of Pere de Masnou, boilermaker, had paid through her son Joan de Masnou, boil-
ermaker, 5 ll. 15 sous that was to be paid on 12 January, corresponding to a perpetual rent
(censal mort) for the previous year; see Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/11,
fol. 84v.
155 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/14, fol. 25r (1444); Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat
Montserrat, 159/15, fols. 98rv (1445); Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/19, fol. 81r
(1449).

(later) and Joan Pau Masnou.156 Again, in this they followed the behavior of
many of their fellow locals.157
Conclusion
The lack of arrivals of new Christians of the Girdle after the first wave of immi-
grants in the beginning of the fifteenth century was without doubt a decisive
factor in the disappearance of Christians of the Girdle as a cohesive group for
whom social reproduction as such became increasingly difficult. But a marked
improvement in economic conditions of the early fifteenth-century newcom-
ers and their descendants, as well as an expansion of their social relationship
networks, also marked the end of the strong cohesion so evident in the first
half of the fifteenth century. The conjunction of the two factorsdecreased
immigration and increased integrationlargely erased any memory of the
Christians of the Girdle in Barcelona as a distinctive group. It seems, then, that
the experience of the Christians of the Girdle must be interpreted primarily
as a strategy for survival in the new social environment of Barcelona, as the
group, perhaps unconsciously, opted for a progressive adaptation to their host
society rather than a deliberate policy of exclusive cultural identity with a view
to reproduction of a specific cultural, linguistic, and religious model.
Municipal and royal authorities, conscious of the importance of the sub-
stantial immigrant presence in the city and eager to avoid social tensions and
conflicts, tried to regulate these individuals and groups. But they also offered
means to facilitate newcomers social and economic integration in an urban
community that, while permeable, was also riddled with diverse cultural and
religious prejudices. Thus, the municipality showed its interest in religious
education and preaching to the many slaves from the East,158 or involved itself
156 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/27, fol. 58v (1455); Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat
Montserrat, 159/36, fol. 39v (1462).
157 Jaume Aurell i Cardona, Els mercaders catalans al quatre-cents: mutaci de valors i procs
daristocratitzaci a Barcelona, 13701470 (Lleida: Pags, 1996), 327339.
158 On 10 September 1382, the city council requested that two friars, Francis, and Simon
of Tauris, take up residence in the citys Dominican convent: given that the two were
Armenians, and thus familiar with the languages spoken in Tartary, Greece, and by other
nations, the council felt that the two friars in question would be able to preach to and
act as confessors for the citys resident population of Tatars and other slaves, to the great
benefit of both these slaves and the city as a whole (per preycacions e confessions que
continuen de fer als esclaus tartres e daltres desta ciutat. Instruexen molt los dits esclaus
a la fe cathlica e a bons uses e costums, en tant que a la dita ciutat torna a gran plaer

424 Duran Duelt
in the regulation of foreign groups economic activities or slave labor. Similarly,

royal authorities monitored the few institutions adopted by foreigners,
especially brotherhoods, not only approving their statutes but also putting
them under the supervision of an officer, as in the case of the brotherhood of
Saint Catherine of Mount Sinai.
These foreigners brotherhoods, most of whose early members were slaves or
freedmen, exemplify the nature of apparent forms of community organization
among certain groups of foreigners in fifteenth-century Barcelona. These insti-
tutions have been interpreted as being a means by which members accultur-
ated in the host society. As devotional and mutual-assistance institutions with
long traditions and significance in medieval society, brotherhoods were mod-
els adopted by foreign groups as a means to channel and demonstrate their
aspirations for social integration and identification with the host environment
thanks to the public visibility of these institutions. The Christians of the Girdle
brotherhood was the first of its kind in medieval Barcelona.159 Other, similar
groups would be documented shortly thereafter. One is the Saint Lawrence
and Saint Amator brotherhood, located in the monastery church of La Merc.
It was established before 1 April 1455, and brought together the Christians of
Circassian, Russian, Albanian and Bulgarian origins (christicolas de genere
Xarquesiorum, Rossorum, Albanesiorum et Burgarorum).160 But undoubtedly
the best known is the Saint James brotherhood, for black freedmen and slaves,
also founded in 1455. This new group of immigrants was distinguished by their
per lo mellorament que sen segueix a lurs esclaus e missatgers). See Barcelona, AHCB,
Consell de Cent, 1B. VI-1, fol. 103r; Luis Cams Cabruja, Nota relativa a esclavos orientales
en Barcelona en el siglo XIV, Sefarad 6 (1946): 128129; Ferrer i Mallol, Esclaus i lliberts, 174;
Armenteros, Ritmos y dinmicas, 105106.
159 They appear to be from Mallorca, where there was already a brotherhood of Greeks in the
fourteenth century. On the island, the other guilds for foreigners (again, basically slaves
and freedmen) dated mainly from the second half of the fifteenth century; see Rafael
Juan, Cofadras de libertos de Mallorca, Bollet de la Societat Arqueolgica Lulliana 34
(19731975): 569584; Guillermo Llins y Socas, La capilla de la cofrada de los rusos en
el monasterio del Santo Espritu (Siglo XV), Bollet de la Societat Arqueolgica Lulliana 36
(1978): 143144. In Valencia there was a brotherhood of people from Girona in the four-
teenth century; the other guilds for foreigners in the same city dated from the second
half of the fifteenth century. David Igual Luis, La confraria dels genovesos de Valncia.
Una associaci interprofesional a les darreries de lEdat Mitjana, in Organitzaci del
treball preindustrial: Confraries i oficis, ed. L. Virs i Pujol (Barcelona: Publicacions de
lAbadia de Montserrat, 2000), 91102; Juan Martnez Vinat, Comerciantes gerundenses
en Valencia. La cofrada de San Narciso (siglos XIVXV), Aragn en la Edad Media 25
(2014): 163206.
160 Barcelona, ADB, Registra Gratiarum, vol. 37, fols. 112rv.

distinctive physical appearance; their organization accordingly represented

an evolution of these mutual assistance groups, exceeding the simple defining
criteria of dominant cultural nature in predecessors like the Saint Catherines
brotherhood of the Christians of the Girdle.161
Barcelona, as one of the main ports of the medieval Mediterranean, was
host to large numbers of immigrants who, whether arriving voluntarily or
brought by force, had very diverse geographical, cultural, linguistic, and reli-
gious backgrounds. Among them were various groups of people of Eastern
origin: Cypriots, Greeks, Bulgarians, Albanians, Russians, Tatars, Circassians,
Abkhazians, Egyptians, and Christians of the Girdle, among others.162 Most of
these came via the slave trade, a fact that conditioned their early existence
in the city. But their status as either Christians or non-Muslims was equally
decisive in their formation of particular subgroups within the complex social,
economic, and cultural melting pot that characterized the population of medi-
eval Barcelona. The fact that Barcelona was home to both free and slave mem-
bers of these Eastern cultural and ethnic groups, and that members of these
groups maintained ties across free/servile lines, shows that their status as for-
eign and Eastern Christians could be even more important than their legal sta-
tus in terms of group identity formation. This conclusion further suggests that
the early group strategy of the Christians of the Girdle was largely an initial
reaction to the social environment and attitudes towards foreigners. But given
that most of the Christians of the Girdle showed no desire to return to their
places of origin, we must also conclude that this early group strategy did not
preclude a clear long-term interest in social integration.
161 Antoni Albacete Gascn, Les confraries de lliberts, 307331; Ivn Armenteros Martnez,
Un precedente ibrico de las hermandades de negros: la cofrada de Sant Jaume de
Barcelona (1455), in Sociedades diversas, sociedades en cambio. Amrica Latina en perspec-
tiva histrica, ed. G. Dalla Corte, J. Lavia, N. Moragas, R. Piqueras, J. L. Ruiz-Peinado and
M. Tous (Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, 2011), 143150; Ivn Armenteros
Martnez, De hermandades y procesiones. La cofrada de esclavos y libertos negros de
Sant Jaume de Barcelona y la asimilacin de la negritud en la Europa premoderna (siglos
XVXVI), ClioRevista de Pesquisa Histrica, 29.2 (2011); Ivn Armenteros Martnez,
Being a Slave in Late-Medieval Barcelona: Running on the Paths of the Identity (Re)
construction, in Affranchis et descendents daffranchis dans le monde atlantique (Europe,
Afrique et Amriques) du XVe au XIXe sicle : Status jurdiques, insertions sociales et identi-
ts culturelles, ed. D. Rogers (Bordeaux, in press).
162 No attempt to know and to interpret the impact of this Eastern presence in Barcelona and
in the Crown of Aragon has yet been made. For a general (European) point of view, see
East Meets West in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times: Transcultural Experiences in
the Premodern World, ed. Albrecht Cassen (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2013).

426 Duran Duelt
Acknowledgements
This paper is part of the research project approved and financed by the
Department of Education and Culture (Government of Spain): Tripulaciones,
armamentos, construccin naval y navegacin en el Mediterrneo medi-
eval (MINECO HAR2013-48433-C2-1-P) and the research group approved and
financed by the Catalan Government (Generalitat de Catalunya CAIMM) La
Corona catalanoaragonesa, el Islam y el mundo mediterrneo (2014 SGR 1559).
The author wants to express his gratitude to prof. Marie A. Kelleher for her
revision of the English text.

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Medieval

Medieval Encounters 22 (2016) 379426 Jewish, Christian and Muslim Culture

An Arrested Community: Christians of the Girdle in

Daniel Duran Duelt

In the early fifteenth-century a group of Christians of the GirdleEastern Christians

brotherhood economic conditions marriage mimicry Syrian Christians

Medieval Barcelona, like many Mediterranean cities, experienced an almost

koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 6|doi 10.1163/15700674-12342231

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

members themselves channeled and demonstrated their aspirations for social

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

Christians of the Girdle, or the Difficulty in Defining a Group

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

10 Christianos plurimos in partibus gypti degentes, qui Christiani de cinctura vocan-

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

talking about Christian Copts, Christian Egyptian non-Chalcedonian commu-

He found them in Cairo as well.15 It seems at first that Adorno is referring to

Louis Legrand, Relation du pelrinage a Jrusalem de Nicolas de Martoni, notaire italien

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

Syrians, giving rise to misidentifications and confusions, as we have seen.

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

Christians of the Girdle in Barcelona: Acting as a Community?

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

46 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Nadal, 58/43, fols. 22rv.

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

to those of Barcelonas lowest-skilled workers and freedmen;57 some of these

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

to Muslim populations by Westerners, being distinguishable mainly by dress

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

in De lesclavitud a la llibertad, 213244; Josep Hernando i Delgado, Els esclaus islmics a

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

The Brotherhood of Saint Catherine of Mount Sinai, or of

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

portersand because a significant portion of brotherhoods in Barcelona had

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

99 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Nadal, 58/61, fols. 4rv.

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

also evident in pious endowments made by community members who often

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

uncertain by how much) by a pious and charitable foundation known as the

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

109 Barcelona, AHCB, Consell de cent, 1B. IV-6, fol. 84v.

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

medieval encounters 22 (2016) 379426

Changing Strategies, Vanishing Identities? The Disappearance

The decrease over time in the number of references to the Brotherhood

10 Christianos plurimos in partibus gypti degentes, qui Christiani de cinctura vocan-

46 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Nadal, 58/43, fols. 22rv.

99 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Nadal, 58/61, fols. 4rv.

109 Barcelona, AHCB, Consell de cent, 1B. IV-6, fol. 84v.

127 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/11, fols. 80rv.

133 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Montserrat, 159/18, fol. 95v.

150 Barcelona, AHPB, Bernat Pi, 113/100, fols. 159r160r.