1
National formation is a lengthy process, subject to dramatic rupture, which can include conquest, civil war, famine or plague. Human history is incomplete unless we also consider the physical features of the landscape. The mountain of Montserrat is at least 35 million years old, yet it and other features of the landscape have become part of a nationalist reading of the past. It is a holy place and one of many symbols of Catalan nationhood. Place can be a useful enhancement for a collective sense of identity. In the nineteenth century, as Catalan identity was being reframed, poets and others wrote of the eternal elements of the land and mountains. One striking poetical epic, Canigó, written by the religious mystic Jacint Verdaguer in 1886, is set in the early medieval period on a mountain within the Pyrenees. The poem is focussed on the story of Catalan national formation in the eleventh century. There are features of the landscape of Catalonia that have determined its history: the sea and the mountains. The Catalan coast forms part of the Mediterranean Sea, stretching from the Pyrenees to Valencia. This geography has had lasting impact with the coastline today substantially more inhabited than the interior. Some 80 per cent of the present-day Catalan population of over seven million inhabitants are concentrated along this coast or in towns that serve these urban areas. This Mediterranean location has determined that sea faring was an early component to the local culture as the coastline contains extensive natural places to land. This required familiarity with currents and the winds. It was in the Mediterranean that important advances in the field of navigation took place. Sea going facilitated trade and communication. Sailors returned home with news of the wider world. The ports of Catalonia developed an urban trading tradition. For example, as the Roman Empire expanded, it was certain that the ports along the Iberian coast were to become of key strategic importance. Until the arrival of the railways, transport by sea remained the most rapid means of moving goods. Though for much of his period, the urban trading zones were lowly populated whilst the interior farming area contained the dominant core of the population. The sea-bound aspect to Catalonia enabled two further elements. Firstly, a mutual relationship between Catalonia and the sea was formed. Secondly, as territorial expansion beckoned in the early middle ages, the option of overseas conquest in the Mediterranean seemed a natural choice.
As the territory that became Catalonia developed and consolidated, it found it had four main expansion options. To the west was the rest of the Iberian peninsula but this was rapidly blocked by the expansion of Castile. This was a path not taken. To the north over the Pyrenees; this did occur for a period in the early middle ages but in time French expansion blocked this route. To the east was the Mediterranean Sea and to the south were the Valencian territories, and these became the two outlets for Catalan expansion. As we will see in Chapter 4, for a time, Catalonia itself was a pivotal and conquering Mediterranean power. The next important physical feature that has contributed to the making of Catalonia are mountains. After Switzerland, the Iberian peninsula is the most mountainous area of Europe and historians have long noted how these physical features contributed to intense local identities. The Pyrenees have acted as a physical frontier between the two major states of Spain and France, yet they have not always functioned as such. Mountain peoples have a long tradition of independence and self-sufficiency and are usually the last areas to be incorporated within a state. They have provided refuge for Catalan rebels from the middle ages to the early Franco period in the 1940s. There is a deeply rooted Catalan tradition of banditry with these mountainscapes providing perfect hideouts. The Pyrenees were also a route for smuggling well into the modern era. Mountains are vast and impenetrable to the uninitiated yet also provide opportunity for transport and communication for those with deep knowledge of their morphology.
Linked to both the sea and the mountains is the River Ebro. This river, which is Spain’s longest, was navigable which meant coastal goods could be supplied, transported and distributed inland. Other rivers too were key to these patterns such as the Ter and Llobregat.1 Rivers also contribute to the fertility of nearby land and are places where humans from the earliest periods settled. For example, settlement situated on the Ebro dates back at least 2,500 years, testament to its pivotal location between the Mediterranean and the interior of the peninsula. The Ebro has often functioned as a natural frontier and was used by the Romans to divide the peninsula between its sphere of interest and that of its geo-political rival, Carthage. Other important Catalan settlements such as Lleida and Girona are also on rivers. It has been the geographical location of Catalonia, and the wealth that became possible because of it that has attracted the attention of conquerors. The territory has no coal and little in terms of gems or precious metals. It is thus poor in terms of natural resources though the land is abundant in parts. This has ensured that trading has been not only a natural outcome but also essential.
For most of the period until the present, the Catalan climate has been marked by winters that are mostly mild with summer periods of heat. Spring and autumn are also mild facilitating farming and growing. Rain is usually sufficient in these two seasons to ensure successful harvests. A further factor to note is the temperatures between higher, coastal and lowlands as this can determine internal micro-climates. This climate has not been unchanging and general periods of apparent stability also contained long periods of extensive cold or heat. The end of the last ice age approximately 10,000 years ago enabled greater sharing of knowledge and population movement. Over many generations, the slow build-up of knowledge combined with a mostly benign climate enabled the move towards farming. Settlement also enabled the introduction of new technology including the smelting and working of metals. It also contributed to new forms of building such as earthworks to provide greater security. Continuous occupation is a further indicator of the relationship between people and their landscape. Colder periods were experienced during parts of the Roman era and the middle ages, the latter known as the Little Ice Age. In the case of the latter, poorer conditions for farming contributed to social conflict and unrest. The changing climate and disease have directly impinged on and disrupted societal stability in Catalonia whilst a benevolent environment contributes towards societal stability. The land, sea, rivers and mountains inscribe the human experience and play fundamental roles for the knowledge that must be developed to shape their usage.
Pre-history
Neanderthals were amongst the earliest inhabitants in Catalonia and only in three other places in Europe, wooden tools are found which were used by Neanderthal population groups. One of these four locations is Abric Romaní, located inland at around 60 miles from Barcelona.2 The preservation of wooden tools dating back more than 40,000 years is rare because wooden tools rarely survive, unlike metal objects. Neanderthals were skilled hunters of large mammals and they co-existed with other populations including the ancestors of modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens). As with elsewhere in Europe, modern humans gradually displaced the Neanderthal population groups. Catalan territory formed part of larger regional networks and patterns. Catalonia in pre-history can be situated within an arc from Gibraltar along the Mediterranean almost to northern Italy in terms of the shared experience of transformation. This included forms of settlement, hunting and farming patterns, religious beliefs and societal structure. Farming arrived in the period 5800 to 5300 bce. The gradual arrival of a pottery form known as Cardium spread through Italy, southern France and the Mediterranean coast.3 In broad terms, this geographical spread was repeated in terms of advances in copper, bronze and iron, usually arriving from the near east.
The co-existence and admixture of different population groups determine much of pre-history.4 Genetic analysis has shown that early inhabitants can find shared lineage with farmers from Anatolia, North Africa as well as eastern Europe.5 This was all before new arrivals such as Romans or Goths. At the site of Ullastret, some 20 miles inland, is the largest Iberian settlement discovered so far in Catalonia. Permanent structures began to be built there around 550 bce. Analysis has confirmed the existence of population groups with diverse genetic origins. A macabre feature of this site is the severed heads of Ullastret. Skulls of both men and women have been found with evidence of nails inserted and other injuries likely produced by stabbing. Scholars continue to debate the cause with one view being the public display of defeated enemies as assertions of power and victory.6 However, the later finds of female heads with similar injuries have caused some doubt as to the veracity of this theory. Yet we should note that these specific finds are not typical of the record elsewhere. Evidence of conflict and violence is mostly lacking in general terms. Cooperation was also an essential element to social life. Whilst this was not some harmonious rural idyll either, intense violence is mostly associated with resistance to outsider rule, for example in the case of the Roman conquest. Ullastret was the urban centre of a tribal grouping known as the Indigetes, whose territory included much of north eastern Catalonia. These Iberian societies were developing new forms of iron working and extensive domestication of a range of animals.
The rock art along the Mediterranean is the largest group of rock-art sites in Europe and in Ulldecona, near Tarragona, a series has been found containing around 400 examples of this art. They are at least 8,000 years old. Significantly, the art that survives depicts few scenes of violence, except against animals being hunted.7 This art is subject to a wide range of interpretations but their public location should be seen as instances of prehistoric inscribing on the landscape. They thus served a different social function from that found within caves. The scenes mostly affirm the priority of hunting to the society so mostly male figures are represented. Prehistoric belief systems were firmly rooted in the land, which was expressed in the building of burial mounds and other monuments. Some 650 grave sites have been located in Catalan territory from pre-history. As settlement stabilised and became normalised, from around 4000 bce, we see increasing evidence of cults of fertility. In Gavà, in the province of Barcelona, a figurine of a pregnant Neolithic woman has been found, dated to around 3500 bce. This is one of only three early figures that have human form found in this zone. Ever greater importance was shown in the burial of the dead as can be seen for example in the site at Solsona region, deep in the Catalan interior, some dating back to 3000 bce.
As the transition to stable settlement occurred, familiarity with the land had been obtained over hundreds of generations through hunting and consuming. Animals were often a guide to the most fertile terrain. In the entire Catalan region, settlement choices were favoured towards sites with potential for the development of agriculture. The gradual transition from a hunter-gatherer economy to one based mostly upon farming brought about a range of social changes. Initial groupings were usually in the range of 70–100 or so individuals. This settlement pattern remained basically unchanged until around 1000 bce. As society developed, settlement size gradually grew. From this period, we find increasing evidence of extensive permanent settlement, some displaying increasing complexity. For example, the settlement of Els Vilars, near the city of Lleida, which was built by the second half of the eighth-century bce, housed up to 200 people. This was protected by a wall, a series of towers and an extensive moat. The settlement was also supported by a network of roads.8 Settlement in Els Vilars lasted some 500 years. Choice of settlement location was key to ensuring stable social organisation. There is now evidence for over 1,000 settlements of varying sizes located across Catalonia and these are, of course, only those so far unearthed by archaeologists. Whilst some hierarchy gradually emerged within these societies, chiefdom was substantially less powerful than something approaching kingship. A clan or tribal chief amongst the Iberian groups was not a figurehead like a monarch but one who worked the land and was given some decision-making powers. Authority was dependent on consent. Status was defined by the ability to distribute gifts rather than conspicuous displays of personal wealth.
For hundreds of years, these population groupings and settlements were mostly self-sufficient though internal and external trading emerged. Trading between different tribes began in the eighth-century bce. The evidence indicates that it was the growth of trading activity that led to greater disparities of wealth both within and between communities.9 With the emergence of early social classes, there is increased evidence of conflict. This is particularly clear in the lower Ebro River area, where settlements such as Sant Jaume Mas d’en Serra, south-east Catalonia, was destroyed by fire and permanently abandoned around 550 bce.10 A newly expansive trading society from modern day Lebanon, who have become known to us as the Phoenicians, is believed to have contributed to this change. These traders, from city-states on the Lebanese coast, developed relations with some tribal heads. In Sant Jaume Mas d’en Serra, for example, around 30 per cent of pottery finds are of Phoenician origin, leading to the belief that the site belonged to a local chieftain. Thus, this seems to demonstrate that elites were beginning to distinguish themselves from the majority.11 Trading posts were established on the Catalan coast. These early settlements were solely for the purpose of trade and did not represent an attempted colonial form of domination. Together with that of the Greeks, the impact was also socio-cultural through the arrival of new products, such as olives and grapes. These products marked a new phase in agriculture as crops such as these take many years to establish before harvesting is possible. Wine making in Catalonia dates back over 2,500 years. However, consumption was not initially widespread as it functioned more in religious rituals and for ceremonial usage.12 Wine drinking outside of this context was confined to tribal elites. Again, we see how outside influence impacted on local societal structure. New fruits and other plants were also introduced by the Romans.
Greeks
The ancient Greeks also founded new outposts at coastal sites across the Mediterranean. This was a form of imperial expansion without the trappings of imperial control. Empúries (the word for market or trading place), located to the north of Barcelona, functioned as a site of trade between Greeks and a local tribe, the Indiketes.13 The location of Empúries, on the coast and between two rivers, was key to its founding and success. This was a relationship that was mutually beneficial, where goods were exchanged between trading partners. This trading post also encouraged the parallel development of native urban centres in the vicinity. Empúries was a multi-ethnic settlement, one that included both locals and Greeks. There has been a tendency to exaggerate the significance of Empúries. Part of this exaggeration has come from later authors who wished to claim an early Catalan heritage of classical culture. As noted, the impact of Greeks and Lebanese-Phoenicians was most evident in the case of the local elites. Analysis of pottery found in the vicinity has confirmed that at least 95 per cent was not of Greek origin but was of local manufacture.14 This indicates that consumption of Greek goods did not impinge on the majority of the population. Given that Empúries continued to develop through Greek and Phoenician patronage, it was inevitable that as Rome expanded, it would play a role in Roman rule. As part of the complex inter-relations and alliances that emerged during Roman ascendancy, inhabitants of Empúries welcomed Roman forces, even as the Iberian tribes revolted. Before Rome embarked in Empúries, however, it had gained the attention of its Mediterranean rival Carthage.
Romans
Urbanisation was well underway before the impact of Rome with the town of Ullastret reaching a size of up to 6,000 inhabitants. From around 550 bce, local tribal cultures continued to develop, peaking in the third-century bce, before Roman arrival disrupted and ultimately destroyed pre-existing patterns. By the time of Roman intervention in the peninsula, around 190 bce, we find up to ten main tribal groupings in the Catalan territory. It would partly be this internal fragmentation which contributed towards ultimate Roman victory. Iberia became one of the central areas of dispute between two imperial powers: Rome and Carthage. The Carthaginians, originally from Lebanon, developed in North Africa and gradually came to be Rome’s rival for domination of the Mediterranean. The north-east, mostly Catalonia, held an important role in this conflict due to urban settlements and its strategic situation. Whilst Iberian tribal groupings had initially supported Rome against the Carthaginians, once it became clear that one power was simply to be replaced by another, local discontent rapidly escalated. Roman rule rapidly became unpopular, with mass rebellion one outcome. At least 40,000 took up arms and the full force of Roman power was necessary to defeat them. The Ebro valley was the scene of fierce fighting between the Iberian populations and Rome. This climate of instability culminated in a large-scale uprising by the Iberian tribes both in the interior and on the coast in 197 bce. The siege of Empúries was a notable event of the campaign. Some 20,000 Roman soldiers and allies defeated a larger besieging army. Subsequent repression was ruthless with many built settlements razed to the ground and survivors sold into slavery.
Whilst further rebellions occurred in subsequent years, Roman rule was not shaken in the same way again. Local revolts were normally no match for the Roman army when it intervened. It was the revolt of 197 bce that pushed Rome towards the full incorporation of Hispania into the empire. The consequences of defeat in Catalan territory were extensive. Tribal groupings such as the Lacetans or Bergistans were harshly repressed and were subject to the imposition of Roman forms of landholding.15 The long process of the loss of a local tribal identity began, with assimilation into the Roman world its ultimate end result. The main tribal urban settlements were abandoned. Defensive walls were destroyed as part of a generalised policy of violent destruction to not only subdue a defeated enemy but also crush collective morale. The population growth that had been occurring in Catalonia prior to Roman intervention now stabilised or reversed. This was due to intermittent war with Rome and the consequences of defeat, where substantial local populations were enslaved. Others were given the option to fight for Rome in the army but this meant departure from the country. Some fled to the mountains to avoid Roman domination. Whilst intermittent rebellions continued to occur, most of the territory was subdued by 180 bce. Catalonia was fully conquered before many other regions of Spain and it frequently became the launch base for Roman forces in their attempts to force submission of the rest of the peninsula. The priority of initial Roman domination was coastal, including the Catalan site of Empúries. In this early phase, there was no attempt at cultural Romanisation but simply the determination to prevent further rebellion and ensure that taxation was paid. There was substantial disruption with population movement usually towards mountainous terrain to avoid the Romans.
Romanisation
It was the Roman military presence which was initially most effective at disrupting the then existing society. For at least a hundred years, the traditional order, whilst militarily defeated, remained mostly intact.16 However, the tribal elites lost much of their prestige, which may explain why it was the higher echelons of this society that moved most quickly to submit to the new conquerors and embrace Romanisation.17 Traditional belief systems were disrupted as some attributed native defeat and Roman victory to their abandonment by their gods. Due to internal developments within Rome itself, from around 100 bce (if not a little earlier), a full strategy of colonisation was adopted. The first period of control was marked by militarisation and repression.18 This was followed by establishing relations with local elites who had agreed to submit. The shift to full colonisation represented a major policy change. This would find expression in terms of infrastructure: cities, roads and bridges. This physical change was an expression of the permanence of Rome, perhaps not imagining that some of this would still be visible 2,000 years later. In cultural terms, we find the ascendancy of Latin and Roman philosophy, literature and learning, particularly applied to the elites. Finally, Romanisation represented economic change and a shift towards a new model of trade and agriculture. The Romans imposed their law, and members of the local elite who wished to deal with the Roman authorities and to function in the new system had to learn Roman cultural practices and the Latin language. The adoption and acceptance of the Roman legal code was directly related to the obtention of citizenship. The spoken language did not have the same association with identity as we might find today, and in the early phase of Roman rule, the adoption of Latin was simply a pragmatic one to enable communication with the new rulers. Settlers from Italy were also introduced to the area and they did not learn the local languages. Therefore, Latin was central. The old world of Catalan society was to begin a process of overhaul and transformation, leaving little in terms of legacy or cultural memory of an extensive past. Catalonia, like other territories, now belonged to Rome.
Urban change
Whilst urbanisation had been increasing in the period prior to the arrival of the Romans, its scale now accelerated. Hilltop settlements which had been growing before Roman arrival in 200 bce and smaller rural villages were now displaced by larger Roman urban centres.19 The new Roman cities had a number of goals. As well as asserting dominance, they were designed to marshal agricultural production and improve trade. Roman conquest resulted in enormous changes in settlement patterns, in architecture and in the lifestyles lived in the major settlements. An extensive building programme was undertaken and included the creation of large urban settlements such as Tarragona together with smaller cities such as Baetulo (Badalona), Gerunda (Girona) and Iluro (Mataró).20 Stone became the principal material for a permanent expression of Roman rule. This new urban form was the model adopted throughout Catalan territory. These settlements were usually built close to previous Iberian sites that had been abandoned or destroyed and previous inhabitants now often relocated to these new cities. Yet as we have noted, not all previous Iberian population groups chose to accept this new reality as some fled to the mountains in an attempt to preserve a previous way of life. In the early decades after conquest, the actual overall urban population fell. The new cities symbolised Romanisation. As with other features of Catalan physical infrastructure, Catalonia’s contemporary cities have their origins in the Roman era.
Here we must note the primary importance given to the city of Tarragona. It became one of the two most important military and political centres in all of Roman Hispania in 25 bce. Tarraco, as the Romans called Tarragona, was the administrative capital when Barcelona was little more than a small urban settlement. At its height the city had over 30,000 inhabitants. Tarragona retained primacy over the future Catalan capital until the third century and was the last Catalan city to fall to Gothic invasion in the fifth century. Strategic needs were key to the locations chosen for Roman cities. Tarragona had held some importance in the Iberian period when it was the most important urban settlement of people called the Cessetani.21 Rome split the Iberian peninsula in two and later into three zones for imperial purposes. Tarragona was responsible for the administration of a vast zone of northern Spain from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. The first group of inhabitants of the new city were mostly Roman military and governing officials.22 As in all phases of Roman domination and control, the initial phase centred around military functions. Tarragona was an entry point into the peninsula. It was a city built on a hill, close to a river and a port. It thus combined in one place many of the features desired by the conquerors: security, ease of communication and transport. Rome could be reached by sea in just five days. Tarragona was given vast fortifications, with walls 20 metres high. To this was added an aqueduct and a bridge of almost 30 metres. Tarragona was the centrepiece of Romanised Catalonia, and its inhabitants embraced features of its new rulers. Within its secure walls were found a large Roman temple, arena and theatre. The full range of Roman festivities, religious rites and games, including chariot races was adopted. Seating in the arena demonstrated the status of the new ruling elite.23 Tarragona grew in importance over the following century becoming a site of attraction for traders and other settlers with its port in near constant activity. As a truly Roman city, its destiny was affected by the development of the wider empire. In 260 ce, during a period of imperial instability, Tarragona was seized by the Franks. However, the city walls remained standing though much outside of the walls was destroyed. The city retained its importance by later becoming a seat of Christendom.
The founding of cities conveyed to the conquered their complete domination. In all cases, social division was evident in the cities’ structure and ordering.24 Those elites who had embraced Romanisation as well as the newcomers from the Empire expressed their social prestige by supporting the building of works of varying kinds in the city, from temples to theatres to public monuments. We find clear evidence in these cities of powerful Roman or Romanised families engaged in public display and patronage as expressions of their social dominance.25 Within their walls, the free and the slaves served their new rulers. Stones found in the city of Tarragona contain inscriptions referring to slaves owned. The cityscape of Roman Catalonia formed a series of major and minor urban settlements to ensure collection of tax and the assertion of Roman order. They also functioned as poles of attraction for those wishing to embrace the new ruling order. Architecture functioned as a form of colonial expression. Barcino (Barcelona) was founded in the late first-century bce with extensive walls. The new city exactly modelled Italian building style and no concessions were made to the previously existing cultures.26 This was a form of empire where pre-existing culture, identity, religion and society was expected to fully submit. Imperial ideology can be seen, for example, in the capital Tarragona through decoration paying homage to the achievements of the emperor. Local notables petitioned the emperor to erect a temple in his honour.27 Temples are also found in locations small and large throughout the territory in a sign that the old religious idols of the Iberian populations were being replaced by cults of the Roman Gods. The Roman bath affirmed a combination of the sacred and a new form of sociability. In the mid-first century, baths such as those in the city of Ilerda (Lleida) were testimony to the rising affluence of the main city residents.28
A new city such as Barcino asserted the power of Rome through its vast structure to both opponents and to those who had chosen to accept Roman rule and its benefits. The walls of Barcelona were later strengthened and added to as the later Roman period was marked by raids and assault by Goths and others. The Roman city sought to offer security. Prominent homes in Barcino adopted the full range of Roman interior decoration including mosaic and tiling. The Roman mosaic was a further expression of the newly dominant culture as it communicated religious and historical expressions of Rome. Those found in Baetulo (Badalona), for example, follow the latest Roman styles of the period.29 It was in the urban settlements that cultural Romanisation occurred most rapidly and city-based dominance of the rest of Catalonia was affirmed. The wider territory had been pacified and the conflict that remained was usually to do with factional struggles within Rome itself that impacted on elites throughout the empire. These range from the overthrow of an emperor to a Roman civil war that spread to other areas of the empire. The transformation brought by Rome occurred not only in the urban arena. There were also major upheavals in the countryside.
Agriculture
Whilst the focus of Roman impact is often mostly concerned with urban settlements usually found on the Catalan coast, partly because these are the most prominent remains existing in the present, this urban population remained a clear minority of the population. The Catalan land, as in other parts of Roman Hispania, held great potential due to its climate and productive land. Once the territory was conquered, Roman interest was above all economic. From the trafficking of slaves to quarrying and mining, agriculture and trading, this region was to prove its economic worth. Whilst initially slow to take off under the new Roman system, the economy boomed in the second century. The countryside experienced new forms of land ownership and peasants were subject to new taxes. The turn towards a new agricultural order was facilitated by changes in the climate. The climatic situation from 100 bce to 200 ce, known as the Roman Warm Period, favoured an increase in agrarian production. This 300-year period combined warmth and sufficient rainfall.30 The intensification of agriculture and the type of crops grown such as cereals, grapes and olives led to a transformation of the surrounding landscape. Roman intensive agriculture increased the clearing of forests. In an area close to the city of Lleida, a vast clearing was created to introduce and grow new fruit varieties.31 Imperial change thus had a range of consequences including new culinary traditions. The introduction of the Roman economic form of landholding had a negative impact on the majority. Repeated tax demands produced a near subsistence existence for many as the conquered population resettled. At the height of the empire, the average income level was at the lower end of the empire average overall as surplus from Catalonia was sold for trade or consumed by Romanised elites.
Land was used as a tool to ensure social control through its distribution to locally favoured elites as well as former veterans from the army. Evidence in the city of Baetulo (Badalona) points to increased pork production to satisfy the dietary demands of soldiers from Rome.32 There is also clear evidence of other Italian settlers in the territory. The Roman villa was transplanted and developed as a system of agricultural exploitation. An example of this form is found at Vilauba Villa, near Banyoles in the north of the region, where olive oil and wine was produced.33 A villa of this kind was where the central activity took place in a rural area, including important trades such as pottery production. In this sense, the villa can be seen as a small outpost of Roman rule but one scattered throughout the land. In the Maresme region, over 70 Roman villas and 50 other Roman buildings have been located in a zone of around 15 square miles.34 The villa, where the new elite lived, organised the rural workforce and was also a privileged zone for social life in a rural area. Whilst the urban world predominated over the countryside in the early centuries of Roman rule, growing imperial instability shifted the focus of stability to the Catalan countryside. The new economic conditions produced a growing surplus which led to a vast trade of goods from Catalonia leaving for Rome or other outposts of the empire. The rural population grew, yet the total number of villas declined and wealth became more concentrated in fewer individuals.
Romanisation occurred at a slower pace in the countryside, particularly in terms of the slow shift to a Latinised language.35 Other changes were more visible. Dietary changes are evident including the increasing use of salt even deep into the interior of the country.36 Only in the Pyrenees was Romanisation slow and halting with little physical evidence to indicate much Roman presence. Here were the last and longest lasting outposts of the speaking of the Iberian language. It would be several generations before a new mode of existence became assimilated and accepted in the countryside. Following the conquest, a period of consolidation and transition occurred to a new Roman order. It was during the first and second centuries that major changes took place. Greater agricultural activity is visible in much of the central area of the country. The greatest impact felt by the population at large was the introduction of the Roman form of property. Roman property law was a now a firmly embedded part of social life. The small peasant plot which provided sufficient produce for a family and a small surplus went into decline as slavery expanded the ability of the richer farmer to produce at scale.37 The new agricultural elite consolidated their dominance. Slave labour and that of the newly impoverished peasantry enabled the growth of production and the creation of surplus that could be sold abroad. The Roman economy was an agrarian regime that produced mainly cereal, wine and olive oil combined with livestock farming. Rome also introduced a form of consumer model to economic activity through pottery, earthenware, mosaic and other forms of decoration. The wine industry was one symbol of this transformed landscape and economic model. Whilst vines had been known previously, it was the intensification of their use that marked the Roman era. Wine production for both internal consumption and export contributed to the growth of coastal cities such as Baetulo (Badalona) and Iluro (Mataró). Wine from the Catalan region became a major export.
The physical infrastructure transformed
With the full incorporation of the region into the empire and the growing potential of the territory for agricultural riches, a process of vast infrastructural building was undertaken. The former model of settlement in the countryside was no more than a memory and the new cities, inspired by Rome and many situated around the most important land and sea routes, had become the main element around which the territory and its inhabitants were organised and integrated. The next step involved connecting the interior through a network of roads, most of which were completed by 120 to 110 bce. Improved communication and the facilitating of rapid troop movements as well as trade was a further tool of Romanisation. As previously noted, given that it was conquered early, Catalonia was used as a base to attack other parts of the peninsula that had not submitted to Rome. Roman roads played a key role in this development. The main route built was the Via Augusta which reached as far south as Cadiz. The location of the road also meant the consolidation of urban settlement along its path. The Romans undertook an extensive project of planning and mapping of the territory for military and trading purposes. Roman cities were distributed around 50 miles apart to ensure rapid internal communication should revolt or raids occur. The Via Augusta was the main route but feeder routes were also an important component to communication within Catalonia. This is visible in an area such as the plain of Vic, found in the interior, where minor roads linked the new city to the Via Augusta.38
It was only deep in the countryside where, in the absence of a river, areas remained isolated. However, even here some Roman settlements existed in the lower Pyrenees. In spite of the vast road-building project, transport by land continued to be slow and expensive. Ports retained their importance as sea transport was usually safer and more reliable. Rivers continued in their role as for example in the case of Empúries which made use of three forms of transport in the Roman period: sea, land and river. The Ebro retained its pre-eminence since it passed through so much of the interior. Tarragona, given its status as capital remained the main port of the Roman period. The Pont del Diable, the Devil’s Bridge, is the largest construction of its kind in Catalonia and was built as a key strategic element as it connected the local capital Tarragona to the Via Augusta.
Romanisation of culture and lifestyle
Rome treated its conquered territories as provinces, meaning they had been annexed. They were ruled by Roman appointed officials, backed by the military power of the army.
Romanisation occurred at different paces, being most rapid in these urban, coastal settlements. Mixed population groups of Romans and natives were more common in the coastal urban settlement, whilst a regime of colonial domination was found in the countryside. As noted, Romanisation was most visible amongst the elites who saw this avenue as an opportunity to maintain or obtain privilege. This social sector embraced Roman culture in all aspects and within a century they had been culturally Romanised. They retained power but in a new guise.39 This process lasted hundreds of years amongst the majority of the population in a slower moving transition from a dying old order to the new world. We should see this process as existing on an arc from complete Romanisation to little impact, particularly in isolated zones. The erosion of the native population’s traditional identity intensified over the hundred years between 50 bce and 50 ce. By around 70 bce, only one Roman legion was stationed in Spain. It was literacy and access to the Classics that accelerated elite Romanisation. After conquest, Rome was able to provide a stable social order. For around the next 250 years, imperial ideology was increasingly assimilated. Enlistment in the Roman army was the fastest route to citizenship to those without means and with it the future promise of land. The army was also the most popular mechanism for the transmission of Latin to those without literacy.
Imperial domination was achieved through a range of measures. The shift to Romanisation was enabled because Roman culture held high prestige. This was a confident culture. Local elites were the quickest to find a mechanism of accommodation with Roman rule. Citizenship was granted to loyal local elites. The assertion of newly Romanised status amongst elites was evident in clothing, language shift to Latin and building. The adoption of the worship of Roman Gods was required. Those with the wealth directly copied the Roman villa. The transition from the Iberian languages to Latin was a lengthy process. Whilst written Latin remained static, language evolution occurred with the spoken variety, though this occurred slowly. Thus, the initial phase of vulgar Latin in Catalonia, which lasted hundreds of years, was the gradual appearance of some dialectal differences with written Latin. Until we find the final emergence of the Catalan language, not earlier than the eleventh century, it is easier to speak of the language spoken as the Catalan form of Latin. This is a difficult process to trace as it occurred for most people over many generations. Dialectical change occurs slowly with shifts in pronunciation and the arrival of new words. At a certain point, a new mother tongue will emerge. The shift from the Iberian languages to Latin was a process that occurred most intensely in the major Roman urban centres.40
Roman imperialism adopted two main methods to achieve control: repressive violence and diplomacy. The latter entailed building alliances with local elites, ensuring that they never faced a truly unified opponent. This was the articulation of the classic Roman method of divide and rule. Rome affirmed its domination and once it was accepted, it offered order and peace. Generation by generation, the old ways fell from use and the population increasingly accepted their sense of being Roman. The new ruling system clearly offered benefits, in particular that of acquiring Roman citizenship. Rewards to the elites were most evident. Iberian identity was gradually diluted, and a form of Roman identity emerged. Whilst Rome brought with it a colonial relationship, its willingness to bestow what Rome termed its benefits made it highly attractive for those willing to accept the abandonment of old practices and cultural habits. As we will see in the next chapter, the Pyrenees did not act as a cultural frontier in this latter period, as social structure was broadly similar in Catalonia to that of southern Gaul. Language differences in these two zones were small, ultimately producing the languages of Catalan and Occitan.
Roman legacy
The golden age of Roman rule was the first and second centuries. From the third century and until the arrival of a Germanic people known as the Visigoths in 409 ce, Catalonia experienced periods of disruption as well as the stability that the later Roman Empire was able to achieve. We have previously mentioned the assault on Tarragona in 260 ce. Crisis periodically hit Catalonia and some cities, such as Empúries, entered a period of decline. The decline of the Roman warm period and a general cooling of the climate is believed to have contributed to this disruption.41 It was during the latter phase of the empire that Tarragona began to lose its dominance to the city of Barcelona. Other Roman cities such as Girona also declined in importance as the profile of Barcelona rose. Notably, the Germanic invaders who came in the fifth century chose Barcelona not Tarragona as their base. Romanisation in social and cultural terms was however so deeply embedded that only a relatively small military force was kept in the territory. Romanisation is perhaps the most deeply felt of all foreign influence in the making of Catalonia. We have noted how little legacy of the lengthy Iberian period was remembered or evoked. Romanisation was so extensive that it ended collective memory of the Iberian period. Roman religion had swept the native cults aside though traditional religious practices survived longest in isolated rural areas. Christianity emerged in some small communities in the third century but it remained a religion of dissent until the Roman Empire decreed it as its official religion. Roman law also prevailed, and survived the presence of the Visigoths, to the point of becoming the basis of medieval Catalan law. The Roman system of landholding had a lasting legacy with the villa economy remaining the dominant form. The smallholder or peasant would not retain significant rights of tenure or access to land until rebellions over landlord abuses in the later feudal period.
The commonly held view of Rome as bringing order, hierarchy, roads and culture means that key aspects of Roman civilisation such as slavery and brutal violence are quickly passed over. Yet together with Christianity, the Roman legacy is the most apparent and long lasting in the making of Catalonia. This legacy as we have seen is physical and can be seen across the landscape. The urban and rural geography of contemporary Catalonia follows the pattern articulated in the Roman period. A legal code, as in much of Romanised Europe, led to the model of a Catalan legal form heavily influenced by Roman law. As in other areas of Catalan life, little legacy of the Iberian systems of justice survived. Conquered earlier than other parts of the Iberian peninsula, Catalonia was one of the most fully Romanised areas of the empire. This Romanisation was largely preserved by the next conquering people, the Visigoths. Whilst some societies evoke the pre-Roman period, in the case of Catalonia, because Romanisation brought the language which is central to contemporary identity, there is no attempt to celebrate the period before Rome. The Iberian era is not seen as making any useful contribution to the formation of the Catalans. The subsequent period, as we will see in the next chapter, entails three new influences in the making of Catalonia. Christianity, the Visigoths and the arrival and occupation of the Arabs.
Notes
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