Els franciscans i la burgesia de Puigcerdà. La historia d'una aliança medieval

Abstract

The present article is an attempt to reconstruct the years between 1320 and 1570, using the large number of notarial manuals still extant in the Puigcerda archives. By showing the interaction between merchants and friars and the early prosperity of Puigcerda, it is evident that the Franciscans were dependent on commercial prosperity in the Pyrenees for their continued mission there. The close proximity of the Dominican house, the presence of the Poor Clares and the need to support three mendicant orders proved too much for a small market town of some 6500 inhabitants. It is significant that the convent of Saint Francis led a quasi-independent existence; its affiliation with the French Franciscan province of Provence and its geographical separation from most of Catalonia led to an anomalous situation.