Boscos i deveses a la Corona catalano-aragonesa (segles XIV-XV)

Abstract

In the Middle Ages, forests supplied important resources for the life of men, such as fire-wood and coal to warm themselves, to cook their food and to do several artisan and industrial activities; moreover, wood to build their houses, ships, furniture and all kind of articles, as well as food for human and animal nourishment. Forests also offered pasture for cattle and habitat for hunting. So, authorities were watchful to prevent that forests would be fired by shepherds, farmers or some other people who speculated with ashes or that they became destroyed by the progress of farming and overexploitation. The article, based on documents from the Archives, explains the different methods of forestry exploitation: the obtaining of coal, of fire-wood for domestic use and for different kinds of ovens; for building houses, ships and so on. The authoress also studies the control of wood export trade and its conveyance along roads or rivers. The article is completed by the study of the controlled use of nature by means of preserved grounds; thus, the inhabitants of villages, who had the possibility of caking advantage of them and so preventing forests from overexploitation by restricting the access to them, were duly supplied with wood, coal and pastures. The geographical area of chis study is Catalonia, Valencia and Aragon.