The Corts Catalanes and the first Medieval Generalitat (13th and 14th centuries)

Constitutions and other rights of Catalonia, 1588

The Generalitat de Catalunya (as well as the Generalitat Valenciana) has its origin in the Corts Reials Catalanes, an assembly which first began to meet during the reign of James I the Conqueror (1208-1276), convened by the king to represent the social estates of the time. Precursors to the Corts Reials Catalanes can be found in the Cort Comtal (circa the year 1000) and in the assemblies of Pau i Treva (peace and truce) which met as of 1021 to deliberate over the signing of peace treaties or actions to be taken in response to acts of violence.

According to historians, the Corts Catalanes came into being at an assembly called by the papal delegate, Cardinal Pere de Benevento, in Suda Castle in Lleida in 1214. The assembly was convened in an attempt to establish order given the state of confusion in which the country found itself at the start of the reign of James I, still a child, following the death of his father King Peter I in the Battle of Muret. The new king took his oath before the prelates and magnates of the royal court and the representatives of the towns and villages.

The institutional form of the Corts Reials Catalanes took shape during the reign of Peter II the Great (1276-1285). During the Corts held in Barcelona in 1283, the King pledged to convene a “General Cort” once a year with the representatives of the estates to deal with the good state and reformation of the land. He also promised that “if we and our successors wish to draw up a constitution or a statute for Catalonia, we will submit them to the approval and consent of the Prelates, Barons, Nobles and citizens...”.

So, the Corts had advisory as well as legislative functions exercised through the three estates: the ecclesiastical (the clergy), the military (the nobility) and the popular or royal chamber (villages and towns directly subject to government by the King). The whole assembly of all of these Catalan representatives in the Corts was called “lo General de Cathalunya”, and represented a true balance of powers between the estates and the King.

The origins of the Generalitat lie in the fact that the Corts Reials needed executive bodies to carry out their rulings. Schematically, the process can be traced back to various historical events which took place in the 14th and 15th centuries.

The first took place at the Corts held in Montsó (Aragon) in 1289, when a “Diputació del General” – a temporary committee – was appointed to collect the servei, a tax which the “estates” granted to the king at his petition.

The second stage took place at the Corts of 1358-1359, held in Barcelona, Vilafranca and Cervera. In fact, during the reign of Pere III the Ceremonious (1336-1387), Castile invaded Aragon and Valencia, sparking a war that proved very costly to the Catalan-Aragon Crown. This circumstance led to the Corts appointing twelve deputies with financial powers and oïdors de comptes (auditors of accounts) who were to control the administration under the authority of Berenguer de Cruïlles, bishop of Girona (1359), considered to be the first President of the Generalitat.

Historians have considered this new Diputació del General as constituting the first, embryonic stage of the future Generalitat.

The third event took place at the Corts in Montsó in 1362-1363: a tax called generalitats was created, a permanent tribute guaranteeing independent revenues and the continuity of the Diputació del General, henceforth comprising three deputies.

The Corts in Barcelona, Lleida and Tortosa in 1364 and 1365 completed the consolidation of what could now be considered an executive institution: the Corts made a public debt issue which was to be administered by the Diputació del General or Generalitat on a permanent basis. The same session of the Corts based this body in the capital of Catalonia – Barcelona. A house on Carrer Sant Honorat was renovated for this purpose. This building, which forms the eastern facade of the present-day Generalitat Palace, is one of the few Gothic palaces – perhaps the only one in Europe – which has continuously housed a government institution since the 14th-15th centuries.

Finally, in 1413, King Ferdinand I shaped the definitive legal form of the Generalitat; it thus became a government body, virtually separate from the Corts, free to appoint its members, and with the authority to enforce the constitutional system of the Confederation.