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Book of the Consulate of the Sea

Date
1201 - 1500
Archive
Municipal Archive of Barcelona
Document type
Textual
Reference code
CAT-AHCB-AHCB4-236-B080
Link to the online document
Description

The Libro del consolat dels fets marítims or Libro del Consolat de Mar is the main compilation of commercial maritime law used in the Mediterranean between the 13th and 15th centuries. Its legislation was applied during the Middle Ages in the ports of the western Mediterranean, and during the modern age it expanded to the commercial courts of Europe and America. Some authors define it as “the greatest contribution of the lands of the former Crown of Aragon to the history of world law”. Various texts are compiled there, with a polycentric drafting process that will not conclude until the end of the 15th century when, with the appearance of the printing press, the definitive text is set. The first edition printed in Catalan is attributed to the printer Nicolau Spindeler (Barcelona, ​​1484), while in 1494 a second edition was published in Barcelona with the text corrected by Francesc Celelles. From the 16th century, the work was translated into numerous languages ​​(Italian, Spanish, French, Dutch, German and English) and remained valid until the 19th century.
Despite the fact that there are different copies all over Mediterranean Europe and that this is not the oldest, it is one of the only two copies in a Catalan archive (apart from the one in the Library of Catalonia). The AHCB manuscript is from the 15th century.