The General Archive of the

Crown of Aragon The Crown of Aragon ( , ) an, Corona d'Aragón ; ca, Corona d'Aragó, , , ; es, Corona de Aragón ; la, Corona Aragonum . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of ...

(Catalan: ''Arxiu General de la Corona d'Aragó''), originally Royal Archives of Barcelona (Catalan: ''Arxiu Reial de Barcelona''), is an archive containing the background documents of the institutions of the former

and currently also contains other historical resources. Since 1994 it has been based on the street Almogàvers of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, where it was transferred from the ''Palau del Lloctinent'' (Lieutenant Palace). It was founded in 1318 in Barcelona by the king

James II of Aragon James II (Catalan: ''Jaume II''; Spanish: ''Jaime II;'' 10 April 1267 – 2 or 5 November 1327), called the Just,, an, Chaime lo Chusto, es, Jaime el Justo. was the King of Aragon and Valencia and Count of Barcelona from 1291 to 1327. He ...

the Just as the unified archive of all the territories of the

. It was the single central archive of the Crown from 1318-1348, in which the Courts of Zaragoza created the Archive of the Kingdom of Aragon. In 1419 the Royal Archives of Valencia where also created, which is where the funds of the courts of economic control of the administration of the kingdom and the Rational Master File of the Kingdom of Valencia were deposited . After the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

(1701 - 1714), Javier Garma(1740 - 1783) was appointed head of archive. He attempted to create an authentic Archive of the

by gathering in the Royal Archives of Barcelona all funds of the royal administration of the territories of the former

. The Garma project inspired the policy of Prosper Bofarull and Mascaro, chief of the archive between 1814 and 1849, and creator of the current General Archive of the Crown of Aragon. From 1318 until 1993, the archive was headquartered in ''Palau del Lloctinent'' part of Palau Reial Major (the Royal Palace in Barcelona), and from that date it was partly transferred to Almogàvers building, so it now has two locations: the historical palace for protocol events, exhibitions and courses, and the newer location for research and curation. On 20 January 2007, the

Spanish government gl, Goberno de España eu, Espainiako Gobernua , image = , caption = Logo of the Government of Spain , headerstyle = background-color: #efefef , label1 = Role , data1 = Executive power , label2 = Established , d ...

, owner and manager of the Archive, authorized the creation of a Board of TrusteesBoard of Trustees
/ref> (Catalan: ''Patronat de l'Arxiu de la Corona d'Aragó'', Spanish: ''Patronato del Archivo de la Corona de Aragón'') located in the Lieutenant Palace in Barcelona. Members of this Board are the

minister of Culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizatio ...

and the regional presidents of the former kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon (

Aragón Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises th ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

, the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wi ...

and the

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History

Precedents

Precedents for the archive are collections of scrolls from the clerk's office of the first Counts of Barcelona and Kings of Aragon. Is mentioned for the first time a king's archive in October 25, 1180. In 1194 King

Alfonso II of Aragon Alfonso II (1–25 March 1157Benito Vicente de Cuéllar (1995)«Los "condes-reyes" de Barcelona y la "adquisición" del reino de Aragón por la dinastía bellónida» p. 630-631; in ''Hidalguía''. XLIII (252) pp. 619–632."Alfonso II el Casto, hi ...

commissioned the compilation of the documents from the royal archive that were legally valid and could be useful for the rights of the Crown to Ramon de Caldes (jurist), Dean of the

Cathedral of Barcelona The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia ( ca, Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulàlia), also known as Barcelona Cathedral, is the Gothic cathedral and seat of the Archbishop of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The cathedral was cons ...

and jurist. The result was the ''Liber feudorum maior''. Ramon de Caldes himself said that the file was in ''ordinatione confused''. With this compilation we know of more than one thousand documents, the oldest of the 9th century. These early mentions does not mean that there is still a sorted archive but had cataloged several scrolls that could be geographically dispersed, and usually do not take these statements as a precedent for the current archive. The first mention of a real document depot is in 1255. This depot was located at the monastery of Santa Maria de Sixena, then located in the geographic center of the Crown. The reign of

James I of Aragon James I the Conqueror ( es, Jaime el Conquistador, ca, Jaume el Conqueridor; 2 February 1208 – 27 July 1276) was King of Aragon and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 to 1276; King of Majorca from 1231 to 1276; and Valencia from 1238 to 12 ...

increased the use of paper, which increased the rate of production of documents and marks the beginning of the record of the royal chancery .

Notes

External links

General Archive of the Crown of Aragon
{{Authority control Archives in Spain History of Barcelona Crown of Aragon

History

Precedents

Notes

Further reading

External links