Fourteenth-Century Rent Management in Catalonia: A Case Study of the Pia Almoina of Barcelona

This article investigates the changing practice of land management by the Cathedral poorhouse of Barcelona, known as the Pia Almoina. During the fourteenth century, the institution moved away from earlier increases in the use of free tenancy and fixed-rate rents and began to acquire new lands that relied more heavily on sharecropping and wage labor. The shift began before the depopulation brought on by the Black Death and continued through the second half of the fourteenth century. This shift in practice is notable because it contrasts with the dominant English model in which tenancies generally improved and direct farming practices shrank after the Black Death. However, the Almoina's practices do reflect urban practices in Tuscany where a strong mark could make sharecropping contracts such as the mezzadria desirable and profitable, even in an era of falling population.