The transition from ecclesiastical scribania to professional notariate in Santa Coloma de Queralt

Abstract

Commerce and notarial writing were closely related activities for the Mediterranean world of the thirteenth century, and both were integral to rural commercial communities by the last decades of the century. The transformation of the scribania of Santa Coloma de Queralt from proto-notarial to professional notarial institution during the second half of the thirteenth century demonstrates the changes in the process of written documentation and the growth of commercial activity as sophisticated economic and political development occurred in many areas of rural Catalonia. The professional notarial scribes of the period provided administrative services in many different arenas, but more significantly provided a reliable means – accurate, flexible and legal – of monitoring the commercial transactions they recorded for their customers. The value of professional notarial writing helped create and further the increased commercial activity of the period within the Crown of Aragon. While scholars have long considered this process in major urban centres, it was also a significant factor for rural communities in Catalonia, which utilised and benefited from regular access to professional writing for the necessities of daily life.