Captives and Their Saviors in the Medieval Crown of Aragon

5. Liberating the Captives: Communal and Institutional Responses

119 C h a p t e r 5 Liberati ng the Capt ives Communal and Institutional Responses Besides the response that captivity generated from the victims ’ families and close associates, there were also communal and institutional responses. Town councils, royal officials, confraternities, religious figures and, of course, the crown often took up the plight of captives on their own. Although the primary responsibility for ransoming captives rested with the family, the larger Christian community was also bound to do all in its power to bring about their release.1 This chapter will examine the efforts of the Christian community to help captives. These activities ranged from truce agreements to retaliatory raids designed to capture Muslims or rescue prisoners and from the work of the ransoming orders to the more modest negotiations undertaken by municipalities. 1. For an example of this communal responsibility, see Alfonso X, Las Siete Partidas, II:29:2–3. y 120 The Crown, Royal Officials, and Cities Exeas and Alfaqueques The crown and the municipalities had a range of options when it came to helping captives. Among the earliest ransoming institutions to emerge in Iberia were the crown-appointed ransomers. Centuries of peninsular warfare had led the kingdoms of Iberia to appoint officials who facilitated and organized the exchange of prisoners and the ransoming of captives.2 These individuals—Jews in the early years, but almost exclusively Christian and Muslim merchants by the fourteenth century —exchanged prisoners for both sides, and the kings and sultans allowed them a freedom of movement that very few others enjoyed. The position seems to have originated as early as the beginning of the twelfth century, when there is evidence of individuals empowered to deal with the exchange of captives.3 In 1126 these individuals merited a collective name in the carta-puebla (town charter) of Belchite granted by Alfonso VII of Castile: the exeas de moros et christianos.4 A second title, alfaqueque, from the Arab word for redeemer, soon emerged.5 The influential town fuero of Aragonese Teruel, granted in 1179, recognized their importance and sought to codify their rights and obligations.6 The equally significant fuero of Castilian Cuenca echoed these provisions. Among them was the duty of the exeas to “present legal bondsmen in the SAVIORS 2. For overviews on the exeas and alfaqueques, see Brodman, Ransoming Captives, 7–8; Ferrer i Mallol, “La redempció,” 262–66; López de Coca Casta- ñer, “Institutions on the Castilian-Granadan Frontier,” 137–41; Ramos y Loscertales , El cautiverio, 154–56; Díaz Borrás, El miedo, 61–72; and Torres Fontes, “Los alfaqueques castellanos.” 3. Verlinden, L’esclavage, 1:153. 4. Torres Fontes, “Los alfaqueques castellanos,” 101. 5. Verlinden says exea was used in the Crown of Aragon, while the Castilians used alfaqueque: L’esclavage, 1:70. Sometimes this official was called a mostolaf, mostly in Catalonia. Bensch, “From Prizes of War to Domestic Merchandise ,” 71. 6. Caruana Gómez de Barreda, El fuero Latino de Teruel, ch. 507. 121 [town] council for the fact that the requa [expedition] that each leads should be secure.”7 This clause obligated the exeas to pay for any damage suffered during their missions. A further stipulation called for them to be thrown from a cliff if they ever betrayed the trust of the council that appointed them.8 The Siete Partidas further clarified their status and added new qualifications to the positions: “First, they should be sincere , for from this they derive their name; second, they should be without covetousness; third, they should be as familiar with the language of the country to which they go as with their own; fourth, they should not cherish ill-will; fifth, they should be courageous; sixth, they should own property.”9 The Partidas also required the alfaqueques to carry always the royal standard ; to travel on the most direct roads; to do everything possible to protect the dependents with whom they were traveling and their property; and to notarize a list of everything in their possession as a record in case they fell victim to brigands and thieves.10 These regulations ensured that others could recognize them easily and that they themselves would be above suspicion should calamity befall their mission. The great importance given to the selection of the exeas and alfaqueques and the high qualifications that they had to have attest to the significance of their position. Even with all the...