Pere de Moragues, mestre major de l 'obra de la seu de Tortosa

Abstract

The documented research, carried out during the last years in the Chapter Archive in Tortosa, has hallowed us to verify the presence in the town of some master craftsmen, specially stone-cutters, who are related with the works in the cathedral. Some of them had already been pointed out by canon Josep Matamoros in La Catedral de Tortosa. Others, however, had not been reported yet. That is the case of Pere de Moragues who was an imagery sculptor and goldsmith from Barcelona and whom we have discovered working as major master in the workshop of the Tortosa catedral in 1382-1383.
From the very beginning our objective has always been to explain the conclusions of our research as a whole; nevertheless, the specific interest of some documents, which verify the presence of the above mentioned Pere Moragues directing the works in the cathedral of Tortosa, led us to publish them in advance. On the hand, the documents corresponding to the signature of Pere Moragues's contract as the major master on the works of the Gothic Catedral have been found in the notary registrations; on the other hand, some specific references have been taken from the books registering the work in the period 1382-1383 and which confirm his presence in the workshop.
The documents related with Pere Moragues introduce new information and make us talk about two other stone-cutter masters, of whom we had very little reference. One of them is Antoni Guare, who had already been identified by Josep Matamoros as his signature was in the plant pan of die cathedral. The plan was found in the Chapter Archive in Tortosa and, up now, it has been dated by 1345. Our contribution delays the master's chronology since we have been able to notice a first presence of his in the works of the Cathedral of Tortosa in 1379, working as imagery maker; and later in 1382 as rival of Pere Moragues as major master in the workshop. The second stone-cutter master is Joan de Mayni. Joan de Mayni arrived in Tortosa in September 1382. He arrived together with Pere Morages in order to be quantity surveyor in the works his companion was to direct.