Housing developers in the context of construction fever in twelfth- and thirteenth-century Catalonia

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the different types of people who became housing developers in medieval Catalonia through the assignment in emphyteusis of land for building (“ad construendum domos”). As examples, the article looks at four places of different sizes and jurisdictions which are well enough documented – in some cases with a series of emphyteutic establishments – to permit a diachronic study. In addition to identifying some of the main developers and the kinds of actions they took in each area, the article reviews the beneficiaries of the subsequently allotted or distributed plots, conditions established in the donations, size of plots or other indications regarding construction, materials used, and layout of future dwellings. Although this study is primarily based on published documentary sources, some contributions from the field of archaeology are also considered. Ultimately, it aims to determine the timeline of this phenomenon, that is, the moments when such building activity might have peaked in the context of the demographic and economic growth of the whole period.