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The Mustassaf of Castelló de la Plana

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Convivencia and Medieval Spain

Part of the book series: Mediterranean Perspectives ((MEPERS))

Abstract

This chapter examines the institution of the mustassaf, a municipal officer in the towns of the post-Conquest Crown of Aragón. The origin of this office and its etymology is traced back to ancient Greece and thence through the Byzantine and Arab worlds to the newly conquered Kingdom of Valencia. The mustassaf became the second most powerful town official and his responsibilities expanded to include oversight of the marketplace, public health, building and infrastructure, and the town’s defenses. After a discussion of the legal foundation of the office of the mustassaf, four case studies are laid out in which specific aspects of the mustassaf’s regulatory role are elucidated.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Thomas F. Glick, “Muhtasib and Mustasaf: A Case Study of Institutional Diffusion,” Viator, Vol. 2 (1971): 59–81.

  2. 2.

    Ibid., p. 63.

  3. 3.

    Personal communication August 21, 1999.

  4. 4.

    Francisco Roca Traver, “El gremio de curtidores de Castellón: unas ordenanzas desconcocidas del siglo XIV,” Boletín de la Sociedad Castellonense de Cultura 26, no. 3 (1950): 198.

  5. 5.

    Francisco Sevillano Colom, “De la institución del Mustaçaf de Barcelona, de Mallorca y de Valencia,” Anuario de História del Derecho Español 23 (1953): 529.

  6. 6.

    José Sanchez Adell, Castellón de La Plana en la Baja Edad Media, (Castellón de La Plana: Sociedad Castellonense de Cultura, 1982), p. 28.

  7. 7.

    Libre de Consell, 1374–1375, Arxiu Municipal de Castelló de la Plana, Entry for March 12, 1375.

  8. 8.

    José Sanchez Adell, ed., El Libre de Privilegis de Castello de la Plana (1245–1470), (Castellon de la Plana: Excmo. Ayuntamiento de Castellon de la Plana. 1993). Privilegio num. XXVIII of Peter IV, doc. num 35.

  9. 9.

    Francisco A. Roca Traver, ed., El Mustaçaf de Castellón y el “Libre de la Mustaçaffia.” (Castellón de la Plana: Sociedad Castellonense de Cultura. 1973): fol. 131, pp. 107–108.

  10. 10.

    Libre de Consell. Arxiu Municipal de Castelló de la Plana, Entry for November 28, 1389.

  11. 11.

    Ibid.

  12. 12.

    In 1404 the council commissioned a new redaction of the Libre de la Mustaçaffía. Libre de Consell. March 11, 1404.

  13. 13.

    Libre de Consell. December 1, 1389.

  14. 14.

    Maria Cueves Granero, “Abastimientos de la Ciudad de Valencia durante la Edad Media,” Saitabi, vol. 12 (1962): 151.

  15. 15.

    Libre de Consell. May 7, 1375.

  16. 16.

    José Maria Orenga Beltran, “El sistema de medidas, pesos y monedas del Reino de Valencia,” Boletín de la Sociedad Castellonense de Cultura 49, Nos. 2, 3 & 4, (1973): 132. Palmo, pie and dedo are all body parts, being “palm,” “foot” and “finger” (or “toe”). One charming fact that Orenga does not mention is that the Castilian word for inch, pulgada, is meant to express the distance between the tip of the thumb and the first knuckle. It is so named because this was what was used to crush fleas, pulgas in Castilian.

  17. 17.

    Ibid., p. 136 et seq.

  18. 18.

    See the following section.

  19. 19.

    Libre de Consell. November 28, 1389.

  20. 20.

    Orenga Beltran, “El sistema,” 137. Ras-a—adj. ‘level with the brim, full measure.’ Salvador Oliva & Angela Buxton, Diccionari Català—Anglès, Barcelona, 1986.

  21. 21.

    Libre de Consell. November 28, 1389. On this date, the scribe is recording the report that Tauhenga made on the first of the month.

  22. 22.

    The almut is a unit of dry measure. There are 4 almuts in a barcella which equals about 16.6 liters. Ergo, an almut equals approximately 4.15 liters.

  23. 23.

    Libre de Consell. November 28, 1389. 31 v.–32 r.

  24. 24.

    Mestal is a mixture of wheat with other grain, especially rye or barley. This mixture was thought of as inferior in quality to bread wheat. By mixing the wheat with lesser grains it was made to go farther.

  25. 25.

    Libre de Consell. November 28, 1389. fol. 33 r & v. They recognized many different varieties of wheat—there are over 30 different varieties listed in Alcover’s dictionary, some specific to a particular region or even around a particular town or valley.

  26. 26.

    Orenga Beltran, “El sistema,” 137.

  27. 27.

    Libre de Mustaçaffía, fol. 203; Roca Traver, El Mustaçaf de Castellón, 146. It is worth noting that these new converts have come to Castelló to buy oil. Is this a hint that the district is now producing a surplus of oil that it used to have to import? It is also interesting that they are identified as converts. Whether they are former Jews or Muslims is not specified though probably the latter.

  28. 28.

    Ibid., fol. 185, pp. 126–127.

  29. 29.

    Libre de Consell. November 28, 1389.

  30. 30.

    This ordinance appears in Libre de la Mustaçaffía, fol. 104 v., Roca Traver, El Mustaçaf de Castellón, 94–95. Roca Traver mistakenly dates it a year previous, November 28, 1388.

  31. 31.

    Libre de Consell. November 11, 1403.

  32. 32.

    Libre de Consell. November 28, 1389.

  33. 33.

    See the testimony of mill owners in the mill measure controversy in the previous section. Litigants sometimes appeal their rights in court cases by insisting that, “the memory of men is not to the contrary.”

  34. 34.

    Libre de Consell. August 8, 1389.

  35. 35.

    Roca Traver, “El gremio de curtidores,” op. cit., p. 202.

  36. 36.

    Libre de la Mustaçaffía, fol. 52, Roca Traver, El gremio de curtidores, p. 60.

  37. 37.

    Libre de la Mustaçaffía, fol. 52, Roca Traver, El gremio de curtidores, pp. 63–65. The herb is lentiscle which, according to Roca Traver, was cheaper and more readily available in the Kingdom of Valencia but produced an inferior leather.

  38. 38.

    Libre de la Mustaçaffía, fol. 52; Roca Traver, El gremio de curtidores, pp. 65–66.

  39. 39.

    Libre de la Mustaçaffía, fol. 173; Roca Traver, El gremio de curtidores, pp. 120–123.

  40. 40.

    Pedro Lopez Elum, “Contribución al estudios de las relaciones comerciales marítimas de Castellón de la Plana durante los años 1412 a 1418 y 1422,” Estudios de Edad Media de la Corona de Aragón 9 (1973).

  41. 41.

    Antoni Furió, “La baixa edat mitjana (segles XIV i XV),” in Historìa del País Valencià, ed. Eliseu Climent (Valencia, 1992), 112.

  42. 42.

    Libre de la Mustaçaffía, fol. 188 v., Roca Traver, El gremio de curtidores, pp. 130–131.

  43. 43.

    Libre de Consell. July 17, 1374, and October 25, 1374. On these dates the council made payment orders to Ferrer.

  44. 44.

    Libre de Consell. November 3, 1403.

  45. 45.

    The town sometimes paid an annual stipend to doctors or craftsmen to induce them to settle and stay in the town.

  46. 46.

    Interestingly, although there was a licensing procedure for doctors, there does not appear to have been any way of certifying the competence of veterinarians. Nor were there any university or school curricula for training them. One can only assume that one became a veterinarian by serving an apprenticeship or simply by experience.

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  1. Bentley University, Waltham, MA, USA

    Doug Kierdorf

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  1. Westfield State University, Westfield, MA, USA

    Mark T. Abate

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Kierdorf, D. (2019). The Mustassaf of Castelló de la Plana. In: Abate, M.T. (eds) Convivencia and Medieval Spain. Mediterranean Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96481-2_8

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