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Apocrypha Majorca


Repopulation of Majorca

To think that the native population of Majorca was murdered or sold as slaves and the island was populated by Catalans it's totally false and ridiculous.

Especially knowing that at this time it is documented that there were no people to repopulate many of the conquered areas of Muslims in Catalonia, and that they were still trying to repopulate Christian areas.

" The Christian repopulation of the Baix Ebre regions - except that of the urban center of Tortosa - had not been seriously undertaken until several decades after its effective military occupation, that is, at the end of the 12th century, developed, mainly, to the activity of the Templars, in the Terra Alta and some particular lords."

"We can now affirm that the colonization of these lands acquires greater intensity in the course of the thirteenth century."
Population and franchise letters of Catalonia (in spanish, google books)


Batalla de Muret

The repopulation of these areas of Catalonia coincides with the persecution of the Cathars of Occitania (Albigensian Crusade) and the defeat of the Crown of Aragon in the Battle of Muret, in 1213.
During this period, a large number of Occitan fleeing their lands and seeking refuge in Catalonia, among other places.

This excerpt is taken from the same book, page 136.

" and the participation of people from the d'Oc countries, Toulouse, Provencal, etc., stands out in a special way, in the formation of the new citizen communities of the western and southern territories of Catalonia."

The Catalans could hardly repopulate the Balearic Islands and Valencia, when they had no population to repopulate Catalonia itself.

But perhaps the most absurd and ridiculous of all, is that these supposed repopulators came from the Empordà coast.
An Empordà coast where were still in force "the bad uses" with which the feudal lord prevented or made it difficult for his servants to abandon their lands.


After the Battle of Muret, a large number of Occitan people leave their territory, many of them persecuted by heretics (Catharism). Its main destination will be the Crown of Aragon, participating in the Christian repopulation of this entire area. And through what will later be Catalonia many arrive in Majorca.
In this fragment of a work by the historian Sergi Grau Torras (Historiografía del catarismo en Cataluña, pag.28), tells us how Pope Gregory IX, urges the heretics of Majorca to acquit themselves to abjure their mistakes. Only 10 years after the Christian conquest of Mallorca.


bendicion

"In 1240, Gregory IX granted the Bishop of Mallorca to absolve the heretics of his diocese to impose a penance on them if they abjured their errors before the clergy and the people, indicating that he most likely referred to Catharism."

In the Middle Ages they had a bad habit of burning heretics alive. If I were one of these Occitan refugees, obviously I will NOT say that I come from Occitania, I will say that I am Catalan, that I come from the land of the new lords of Majorca, Catalonia.
I will easily imitate the dialect that is spoken in Barcelona or Gerona because they are Occitan dialects very similar to those spoken in Occitania. In a time as turbulent as that time, who could prove otherwise?.
However our "dear" UIB professors, this Catalan University that they have planted in the middle of Majorca seems to know without any doubt the origin of those who arrived in Majorca in the thirteenth century, when in the twenty-first century people from Africa come to us and we are unable to know from which country they are.

So that to the numerous native population that remained in Majorca, although the Catalan fantasy tells us otherwise, the new arrivals were added, especially from Occitania.



There are several versions about the repopulation of Majorca. The official version says that the majorcan Muslims were killed or sold as slaves, and the islands were populated mostly with Catalans.


firma

This is simply a lie. It is enough to read Marsilio's chronicle , where he tells us that Xuaip and 16,000 people who were with him receive papers signed and sealed by James I, with the right to populate the land. And what can we say about Ben Abet and his followers, both in the " Book of Acts " and in " The Chronicle of Desclot ", as in the " Kitab Tarih Mayurqa " (Arab version of the Christian conquest), tells us of the support received by Christians from a part of the natives of Majorca.
We must think that before the arrival of the Christian troops of James I, the island was practically in a civil war.
On the one hand there was the native population, and on the other hand there were the almohads, who were a Muslim fundamentalist sect from North Africa, who ruled the Balearic Islands at that time.
We could even make a parallel of the situation that was lived in Majorca at that time with the Almohad fanatics, and the current situation in Syria with the fanatics of the ISIL (Islamic State).

Does the Catalanis version want to tell us that, as a reward for their collaboration, they were massacred or sold as slaves?

Best serious studies, such as those made by the historian and former professor of the University of the Balearic Islands Álvaro Santamaría, tell us about something very different. According to his work, in Majorca there would still be a large native population, and only 39% of the settlers came from what is now Catalonia.(That they came from Catalonia does not mean that they were Catalan. As I have already mentioned above, many of the new settlers are Occitan fled from their territory and arrived in Mallorca through Catalonia).
The rest would come from the south of France, Italy, Aragon, and to a lesser extent from other places.

In addition, at that time the southern Catalonia, conquered the Muslims, was still being populated, and only 8 years after Majorca, Valencia was conquered (here we can see a map with the dates of the conquests), and needed repopulators too.
Mapa conquista Valencia
Where did so many Catalans come from, if it is documented that Catalonia was still being repopulated?




If we put ourselves in the skin of the peasants who had to repopulate Majorca, we thought that the only way to access the island was by boat, and the boats of that time, were not the ones we have now, which takes you from Barcelona to Palma in 4 or 8 hours. The expedition of James I, took 3 days to arrive in Majorca, with storm included.

galley
Galley, jcdonceld.blogspot
Why would Catalan farmers embark on these walnut shells, on a trip of 3 or 4 days, when they had options like Valencia or Murcia on the mainland?

We must think that many had not seen the sea in his life, without forgetting all the superstitions of the time (sea monsters, giant octopi ...). Why would they embark, when they had other options on the mainland?

The vision that the possible repopulators of Majorca could have, with soldiers fleeing of hurry of the island by an epidemic of plague and the presence still of rebellious Muslims in the mountains, that passed so much hunger that they ate the Christians who were able to kill, in addition to the threat on the part of the Moorish king of Tunisia to invade the island, turning it into a mousetrap for the possible settlers.
This was not, precisely, the most desirable vision to undertake the adventure.

This does not mean that new settlers did not come, but yes, much less than the official version tells us.



Señor feudal

We are talking about the feudal era, where the peasants were attached to the land that the feudal lord owned, and were considered simply as part of it.
For this reason we should not be surprised if in the "Distribution Book" there is no mention of the Muslim peasant population, it was simply considered part of the land.
To the lords who obtained land in "the distribution", it should have been of little use to them to have large land possessions, if they did not have serfs or slaves, that they should cultivate it and pay them taxes.

Santamaría tells us in his work, as after the Christian conquest there was a massive conversion of the native population to Christianity, and they were even forced to stay for 3 days of reflection before being converted. Probably never ceased to be Christians.

Remember that before the arrival of James I troops, in the Balearic Islands ruled a Muslim fundamentalist sect from Africa, the Almohads. In documents found in the Iberian Peninsula, we can see how the Almohads forced the Christian population to convert to Islam, under penalty of death. We could find a parallel between this fundamentalist sect and the current members of ISIL (Islamic State), which sow terror in Syria.
In these same documents they describe how the population feigned their conversion to Islam, while in private they remained faithful to their Christian faith.
So in Majorca the same thing must have happened, and once the Christian conquest triumphed, a significant number of natives, who were forced to convert to Islam, publicly professed their Christianity.
We must also remember that this Almohad sect was only 27 years in Majorca (1202 - 1229), but as tells us in Kitab Tarih Mayurqa (document found in the Maghreb, is the Arabic version of the Christian conquest of Majorca) , it was not until 1212, after his defeat in the Navas de Tolosa, that a significant number of almohades flee towards Majorca, which is when the harassment of the majorcan population begins.



Caballeros cristianos en la Mallorca musulmana

Once Christianity took power on the islands, the native Christians were able to freely practice their faith again, and took their Christian images and symbols from the place where they had been hidden.
It is said that the Virgin of Lluch (the original was a Paleochristian carving), was unearthed after the Christian conquest, the current Virgin is a different Gothic image from the original. The original could be a seated virgin, similar to the Virgin of Lloseta or the Virgin of Sant Llorens, who belong to the Romanesque. Both were also found after the Christian conquest.
The central pillar , which supports the main altar of the Cathedral of Palma, of Byzantine origin, was also found after the Christian conquest.

These religious images and symbols were hidden at the arrival of the Almoravid and Almohad Muslim fundamentalist sects, between the 11th and 13th centuries. After the Christian reconquest, many of these images were recovered, creating miraculous legends about their appearance. This happened throughout the Iberian Peninsula and of course in the Balearic Islands as well.

Virgin of Lloseta
Virgin of Lloseta.
www.researchgate.net
virgin of Sant Llorens
Virgin of Sant Llorenç
www.santllorenc.cat
The original image of La Virgen de Lluch would have a similar shape to these two, which are part of what is called Virgin found ( Mare de Déu trobada ). They are Romanesque virgins from the 11th to the 13th centuries. Recall that throughout the 9 century Balearic is part or is linked to the Carolingian Empire, along with the Catalan counties, and that in the years 892 and 897, before the arrival of the Muslims, papal bulls make link Majorca and Menorca of the bishopric of Gerona. And that, as we said at the beginning of this work, there are documents that prove that in the 11th and 12th centuries there were still Christians in the Balearic Islands who conserve their faith and practice their religion.



pueblos en la Mallorca musulmana

A copy of the "Distribution Book" is written in Catalan language (in any case an incipient Catalan language, if we want to call it Catalan language), another in Latin and another in Arabic language.
Why in Arabic anguage, if they were all dead or slaves? Or is it that what Catalanism tells us is false?

The answer is obviously YES. The copy in Arabic language was possibly for those natives who, understanding or not the language of the conquerors, could not read it and needed the property deed (the distribution book), also in Arabic. This means that there were natives who also received land or simply stayed with what they already had.
Someone can explain to us how it is that the Christian troops, who went to liberate the Islands from the enemies of Christianity and in "name of God Our Lord". That they have finished with the population of the Island or they have enslaved. One of the documents of the distribution of the booty, precisely the original codex, is written in Arabic language.
But that is not all, if we read this fragment of the Arabic codex, corresponding to the distribution of the portion of the Count of Rosselló, Nuño Sanchez, we can read something surprising:

"Until the measurement is made, if Allah, praised be, he wants it"
But this is not the only reference to Allah. In the first years after the conquest, letters are sent to James I from Majorca, and these begin with, "Allah be praised".
We could find an explanation for this in the " Kitab Tariq Mayurqa ", the Arabic version of the Christian conquest. Where he speaks of Ibn Abbad (in the Christian version, Ben Abet), according to the Arabic chronicle, a traitor and an apostate. Lord of Pollença and ally of the Christians, who convinces the native Muslims that Christianity and Islam are the same.

We can deduce, that contrary to what some historians affirm about the post conquest, converts to Christianity do not occupy the lowest echelons of society, but are part, from the beginning, of the administration and government of the island.

In the "the distribution book" , page 15, mention is made of Ben Abet ..

"Very noble Moor lord of Pollensa, Inca and Alfabia, governor of all the foreign part of this island, he gave important services to King Don James and became a Christian, his son Juan, took the surname Bennaser and in 1240 he recovered the Alfabia farmhouse"
casa de Ben Abet
Arabic coffered ceiling of Alfabia, perdidoenmallorca.com
Part of Arab decoration is still preserved in Alfabia.


This population was joined by the population arriving from the Iberian Peninsula, France and Italy mainly.
The population that came after the Christian conquest, mixed with the large native population, although some want to make us believe otherwise.
The population that came from the current Catalonia contributed 39% of the total of repopulators (according to the historian Álvaro Santamaría ), if we think that the native population could represent 50% of the total. This means that the population from the current Catalonia would be less than 20% of the total, which was gradually arriving in a period of more than 100 years. Which caused that the repopulators arrived from Catalonia and other places, were reabsorbed by the Majorcan society.

I remember you again that, although many arrived from Catalonia does not mean that Catalans were.


This is simply an estimate. We should take into account the demographic increase in these more than 100 years, and the mixture of different origins, which is the true essence of Majorca and the Balearic Islands population during its thousands of years of history.



In the work of Professor Álvaro Santamaría we can read:

"When the first centenary of the conquest was completed in 1329, Majorca, with a demography of 12,454 fires, reaches its medieval apogee".
By fires we must understand the households counted at that time, if we assume that each household 4.5 people, we get about 56,000 people counted.

In a work by Gabriel Jover (University of Girona) and Ricard Soto (University of Barcelona), "Feudal colonization and organization of the territory, Majorca, 1230-1350", on page 17 (in small print), we have interesting information on the demography of Catalonia and Majorca.

"In Catalonia, the density of population before the year 1350 was about 16 inhabitants per square km, while in Majorca it was 13 inhabitants / km, by 1360/70 the population density was approximately 13 inhabitants / km in Catalonia, 12 hab / km in Majorca and 5 hab / km in the Valencian Country."
Which means that in just over 100 years the population density in Catalonia and Majorca were very similar, which reaffirms the fact that Majorca already had an important native population that was increasing with settlers from outside, but in much less number than what the Catalanist version wants us to believe.


REPOPULATION OF MAJORCA IN THE XIII CENTURY. City of Majorca
Catalans 39,7% Occitans 24,26% Italians 16,19%
Aragonese 7,35% Navarrese 5,88% French 4,42%
Castellans 1,47% Flemish 0,73%
Source: Repopulation and society of the Kingdom of Majorca (1230-1343) . Álvaro Santamaría.

To get as close as possible to the truth, we must read the documents closest to the narrated facts.
In a translation of the book by Pedro Marsilio , a monk who came to speak with descendants of majorcan Muslims converted to Christianity "baptizati", in 1311. In his text we can read the agreement reached by James I and Xuaip, head of the Muslim resistance that remained in the mountains, in which James I grants that Xuaip and 4 of his lineage, obtain properties, weapons and horses, and 16,000 people who with him were entitled to populate the land.
In a work by G. Rosselló Bordoy (Notes on the Conquesta de Majorca) we can read:

Both names can be found in the Repartiment, since we see one Abinxuaib rafal in Bitrah (Petra) and another in Yiynaw (Sineu)."



jaime y benabet

And what can we say about Ben Abet , who according to the chronicle of Bernat Desclot, could have between 4,000 and 6,000 followers, who helped the Christians of James I, not only with food supplies, but also became a fifth column within of the walls of Medina Mayurca, informing of the plans of Abu Yayah, governor almohade of Majorca. Or capturing those who left the city to encourage outside Muslims to rebel against Christians.

If we add the large number of Muslims who remained to work the land as slaves, and that with the passage of time they converted to Christianity, we can speak of between 25,000 and 30,000 natives.
100 years after the conquest, the population surveyed was between 50,000 and 60,000 people, taking into account the population growth in these more than 100 years and that the people who arrived did so throughout this period of time, made the new Arrivals could be reabsorbed by the native population.

An important fact we must bear in mind is that we are talking about population census. At that time there were no censuses, so historians have used the payment of taxes as a basis for an approximate census. To pay taxes you should have a house or have a certain amount of money .
Those who did not possess their own home or did not have enough money, they did not enter the census. And precisely this part of the population were the natives that after Christian conquest lost their possessions and, or, were enslaved .
So that the native population would be much greater than that represented in these censuses.
It is as if to the census of Spain we used the statements to the Treasury. There are many people who are not required to make the statement because they do not reach the minimum of income .



Repopulate means to populate an uninhabited place. Maybe we should talk about immigration, and about this immigration, how many were Catalans?
To answer that question, it would be enough to simply look around us, and ask ourselves a simple question.
Where is Catalonia in Majorca?.

In other words, if we go to Spanish America, we see Spanish footprint everywhere.
- Cities with names of those from here (Guadalajara, Madrid, Granada ...).
- The architecture in many cases is Spanish colonial.
- Regional costumes are based in those of Spain.
- And the language, it is simply Spanish.

Returning here:
- There is no town or city with the name of another Catalan town or city, the names of the towns are from the time of the Moors or before them.
- There is no Catalan architecture (just see the peasant possessions of Majorca or Ibiza).
- The typical peasant dress of Majorca and Menorca has nothing to do with Catalan.
- And the language is neither Catalan nor has it ever been.
It is part of a group of languages ​​(which we could say occitan language), which run through the Spanish and French Mediterranean basins, including the Provencal language.



Dialectal classification, Wikipedia
Before the arrival of the Muslims there already existed in the Mediterranean strip of Spain and France a common language, or very similar dialects. As the Kharja written in Valencia in the thirteenth century prove, which proves that a Romance language was spoken throughout the period of Muslim occupation. The jarchas are poems in the Romance language written in Arabic writing.


The repopulation process will last about 100 years. As Professor Santamaría tells us in his work:

"At the end of the first centenary of the conquest in 1329 Majorca with a demography of 12,454 fires (about 56,000 people) reaches its medieval demographic apogee." In 1524, after the revolt of the agermanados the demography was 7,904 fires (about 35,500 people) with a decrease from 1329 of 30.20 percent. "

This population decrease is due in part to the epidemics of plague suffered by Majorca during this period, and on the other hand to the economic ruin that was the occupation of the Kingdom of Majorca by the Crown of Aragon, and its subsequent integration in Catalonia by decree of Peter IV of Aragon ( Privilege of Sant Feliu De Guíxols ). What legitimized the economic depletion of the Kingdom of Majorca, to pay for the wars against Castile and Sardinia. An economic ruin that was the seed of the peasant revolts that happened years later.
This population decline is not only due to the deaths from the plague and the riots, and its consequent reprisals, it is also due to the exit of the island from an important mass of population.
In history, when a series of factors are repeated, very similar events are also reproduced. In the same way that during the crisis of 2008 - 2014, many immigrants who came to Spain during the years of growth, return to their countries of origin. Many of the people who came to populate Majorca, and their descendants, who still have relatives or properties in their place of origin, return.
And in the same way that highly qualified people left Spain to look for a future in other countries. Majorcans that put the Kingdom of Majorca within the European medieval scientific history, with the Majorcan cartographic school, they leave Majorca. Some arrive in Portugal, in the court of Henry the Navigator, where they will develop their nautical knowledge and collaborate in the successful African exploration company, which will be the beginning of Portuguese Empire.
Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Majorca will plunge into centuries of darkness and misery, within the Crown of Aragon.


In the seventeenth century (1609), a significant number of majorcan people moved to an area of ​​Valencia to repopulate it , where even today, after more than 400 years, the "majorcan salty speech" and his Majorcan gastronomy are preserved .
Where is Catalonia in the Balearic Islands?


To conclude, I simply refer you to this page of the newspaper EL MUNDO, where he tells us about Mr. Don Próspero de Bofarull i Mascaró, director of the Archive of the Crown of Aragon. Where you can see the Catalan manipulation of the supposed Catalan repopulation of Valencia.

manipulador catalanista
Próspero de Bofarull, newspaper EL MUNDO.
He had to be the conservator and guardian of the archive, however he manipulated the documents, so that the supposed Catalan repopulation of Valencia was much greater.

They say that history is written by the winners. But if you are a loser with enough money to buy renegades and traitors, and put them in strategic positions, such as education, politics, media, justice ... You can rewrite history at your convenience.

Minorca

About the repopulation of Menorca, the Catalan version is so absurd and ridiculous that it produces shame on others. We should ask ourselves, how is it possible that trained and educated people can believe such historical barbarities that attempt against the slightest common sense.

More than a Catalanist version, we should talk about Catalanist versions. To paraphrase Groucho Marx: "This is the true story of the Balearic Islands, but if you do not like it, I have others.". One of the Catalanist versions says that Menorca, like Majorca, was depopulated of people and repopulated by peasants of the Empurdà, who brought the salty talk to Menorca.
Knowing that Menorca remained Muslim for almost 60 years after the Christian conquest of Majorca in 1229. To say that its inhabitants came from the same place as Majorca is so absurd, that to try to give a slightly more credible version, there is another version which says that Menorca was repopulated by majorcan.
That is, Majorca, which was still being repopulated, repopulated Menorca.
It's like the one caught in a lie and to get out of the way, he says a bigger lie.

According to the Menorcan historian María Luisa Serra , in Menorca an important native population remained and the settlers who came along over the years were simply reabsorbed by Menorcan society. The same thing that happened in Majorca.


Ibiza


In Ibiza their regional male costumes are similar to the Catalans , even if only in the barretina (hat).
However, the feminine dress is a very different thing.

The Catalan conquest of Ibiza was another massacre, where probably the majority of men were killed and those who remained were enslaved. As we are told in this article in Diario de Ibiza, the depopulation was such that repopulation campaigns had to be carried out with people from Tarragona.
However, remember that in Ibiza salty speech is used, as in the other Balearic Islands, something that obviously is not shared with Tarragona. And Ibizan architecture has absolutely nothing to do with Tarragona or the rest of the islands. Probably people came from Tarragona, mostly men, who mixed with the Ibizan women. Women who kept their Ibizan romance language and culture, and passed it on to their children.


Ibiza woman traditional dress. www.canplanells.com

Tunisian woman traditional dress. www.pinterest.es

Traditional dress woman from Libya. www.pinterest.co.uk
Perhaps the Ibiza woman traditional dress is part of the Muslim heritage, or perhaps this dress is part of the Phoenician heritage of this entire territory. What is certain is that it has absolutely nothing to do with Catalonia.



It is very sad that our kids do not know the true history of the Balearic Island. That they do not know the incredible period of Kingdom of Majorca , and the enormous misfortune that supposed the reintegration in the Crown of Aragon.

Arriba