Back to search

Book of the Sea Consul of Girona

Date
1530 - 1539
Archive
Municipal Archive of Girona
Document type
Textual
Reference code
CAT-AMGi-1-024515
Link to the online document
Description

Account book of the Consul of the Sea of ​​Girona from the years 1530 to 1539. It is a handwritten book, with parchment covers, 292 leaves and dimensions of 30 x 21 cm.
In 1385 the infant Joan granted the city of Girona the privilege of creating the Consulate of the Sea, which was confirmed in 1407 by King Martí I; however, of his activities, only this account book of the sea consul of Girona from the 16th century has been preserved.
The Consulate of the Sea was a body of Catalan maritime law to deal with maritime and commercial issues and which, in addition, exercised criminal jurisdiction. Its function was to regulate international maritime trade, an area in which the merchants of the Catalan-Aragonese crown excelled. The importance assumed by the port of Barcelona from the 13th century motivated the appearance of the first Consulate of the Sea in the city, which was followed by the creation of other consulates in the Crown of Aragon. In fact, the Book of the Barcelona Consulate is the most outstanding compilation of common maritime law in the Mediterranean.
This document is important at a European level because it was produced by a key institution when it came to regulating relations between traders at the time. In addition, it allowed the expansion of medieval Catalan trade, with sea consulates all over Europe, which caused Catalan maritime law to transcend political borders in the Mediterranean and the eastern Atlantic.