Servitude in Roussillon

Abstract

Was there serfdom in Roussillon during the thirteenth century, a time when it developed in Catalonia? The question is linked to the status of Roussillon within the Aragonese-Catalan kingdom. The Fortress of Salses was the conventional northern boundary of Catalonia in political-geographic discourse, but Roussillon and the diocese of Elne's relation to Old Catalonia (the diocese of Vic, Girona, Urgell and most of Barcelona) was ambiguous. Old Catalonia was the territory of servitude while the lands south and east of the Llobregat River (New Catalonia) were free. Roussillon does not fit clearly into this territorial and social division. Documents from Roussillon include aspects of servile tenure (bad customs, redemption, sale of land with existing tenants, peasant complaints of mistreatment), but the general impression is one of a weak and incidental form of serfdom rather than a dominant or even preponderant institution.