In marca hispanica (trips one through eight)

Something I should have done some considerable time ago, an index page for the posts I’ve written about my travels to Catalonia as medieval historian. The first trip recorded here was done in March of 2008 with my then-partner cheerfully serving as driver, the second in January 2009 with my pre-teen son in tow, the third solo and wheels-less in May 2011, the fourth similarly for two days only in May 2013 and the fifth, no more extended or enabled, in December 2014. The sixth had wheels and a different partner, happily still current, and took place in late April 2016. Since then visits have been more fly-by-night, but thankfully they are still accumulating!

Trip the First

Here a grateful nod of acknowledgement to Professor Steve Muhlberger, who got tired of waiting for me to mount some kind of index to the posts for this trip and did so himself here; I’ve been linking to that since then and it is long past time it was relieved. Thankyou, Steve! The actual posts were:

1. In marca hispanica I: Girona
2. In marca hispanica II: Barcelona from Romans to Gaudí
3. In marca hispanica III: cartoon nationalism
4. In marca hispanica IV: Sacalm and Tona and nationalist sentiment 889-2008
5. In marca hispanica V: Vic, charters, cathedrals, metal bishops and stone slabs
6. In marca hispanica VI: Plana de Gurb (but not the castle)
7. In marca hispanica VII: Besalú and its rainy gardens
8. In marca hispanica VIII: pilgrimage to see Emma
9. In marca hispanica IX: actual charter scholarship

Trip the Second

10. In marca hispanica X: Been to Barcelona
11. In marca hispanica XXI: the palace of Saint Stephen, and others, considerably out of order as you can tell but from this trip

Trip the Third

12. In marca hispanica XI: climbing castles, in which I finally got to the Castell de Gurb
13. In marca hispanica XII: do not walk whole valley at once, on a slightly disastrous visit to Vallfogona
14. In marca hispanica XIII: more stones than parchment, I (Santa Maria de Ripoll)
15. In marca hispanica XIV: l’Esquerda, city of helpful archæologists
16. In marca hispanica XV: gratuitous Carolingian church sidetrack, a short diversion to Sant Esteve de Tavèrnoles
17. In marca hispanica XVI: the actual research target, on Sant Pere de Casserres
18. In marca hispanica XVII: hidden temples and empty palaces, on Vic
19. In marca hispanica XVIII: more stones than parchment II (Sant Pere de Vilamajor)
20. In marca hispanica XIX: a dead count’s church in the Barri Gòtic, on Sant Pau del Camp, Barcelona
21. In marca hispanica XX: actual archive stuff, on a visit to the Archivo de la Corona de Aragón and the fruits thereof

Trip the Fourth

22. In marca hispanica XXII: how hard can it be to get at an actual charter?, on the Archivo again and the difference in accessibility between it and other archives in Barcelona
23. In marca hispanica XXIII: a walk across Barcelona, on the journey between the Archivo and another archive in Barcelona…
24. In marca hispanica XXIV: still welcome in Vic, on archive access and unexpected giants back in Vic

Trip the Fifth

25. In Marca Hispanica XXV: la meva primera adreça publica en català, a trip to Barcelona to make a speech in the local language, quite the challenge
26. In Marca Hispanica XXVI: in, but not inside, Montserrat, an attempt to gain access to the monastic archive completely waylaid by scenery
27. In Marca Hispanica XXVII: a bigger castle than usual, on a brief and only partly successful visit to the Castell de Montjuïc in Barcelona

Trip the Sixth

28. In Marca Hispanica XXVIII: three castles in one day, part 1 – Gurb again, a return to the Castell de Gurb with a second pair of eyes and a better camera
29. In Marca Hispanica XXIX: three castles in one day, part 2 – Taradell, a new castle for the collection in a fairly amazing setting
30. In Marca Hispanica XXX: three castles in one day, part 3 – Tona, a revisit to an old haunt with new questions and a gratuitous photo opportunity
31. In Marca Hispanica XXXI: contacts, changes of plan and a main-street hermitage, on a visit to Bellvitge and its almost-sole medieval remain
32. In Marca Hispanica XXXII: coastal Gothic, in which I rave about Santa Maria del Mar in Barcelona
33. In Marca Hispanica XXXIII: my questions answered, on a trip to my favourite archive and its fruits
34. In Marca Hispanica XXXIV: parts of Vic previously unreached, a few pictures of parts of the Catedral de Vic I hadn’t been in before and some that I had
35. In Marca Hispanica XXXV: new archæology at l’Esquerda, as the title suggests a fresh visit to l’Esquerda, my most significant fortress site, to see the new relevations there under expert guidance on the very last part of this trip

Trip the Seventh

A short visit for personal reasons in June 2017, with no academic purpose, out of which I still apparently got two medievalist photo posts, as follows.

36. What should have been In Marca Hispanica XXXVI, Second Try at Sant Esteve de Palautordera, a further attempt to capture the most medieval structure in the town of Palautordera
37. What actually became In Marca Hispanica XXXVI: Castell de Montclus, a bit of the castle-climbing and architecture-decoding for which my visits to the March are now infamous

Trip the Eighth

In July 2018 a rare – and in the end only – chance arose to meet up with one of my international collaborators, who was visiting Montserrat in pursuit of esoteric knowledge, not an unreasonable thing to do once you’ve seen it. Because flying was still cheap then (except for the planet) I leapt at the chance actually to meet him, but this also meant being in Montserrat, and one or two other places, with a camera. These were the results:

38. Flying Visit to Montserrat, I: Santa Cecília, on what has happened to the monastery which began the settlement here
39. Flying Visit to Montserrat II: the place itself, on a weather-damped attempt to explore the paths along the mountaintop above Santa Maria de Montserrat
40. Flying Visit to Montserrat III: Manresa by night, documenting an unsuccessful evening attempt to get fed in Manresa that still produced some good pictures