THE EMERGENCE OF ARAGON-CATALONIAJews and Christians, combining financial services to the count-
king with involvement in commerce, urban investments, ship-
building, dyeshops and so on. Yet the town was not in an
outstandingly propitious situation, for it stood some way from
the key markets of al-Andalus (Muslim Spain), and yet was
cut off from the major trans-European trade routes by the
Pyrenees.^43 In any case, there were significant competitors
within the Catalan world: it is no coincidence that Pere
Martell, merchant and shipowner of Barcelona, was based in
Tarragona when he offered the king and his court a feast at
which plans were laid for the invasion of Majorca. Tarragona
merchants appear often in the early Catalan commercial re-
cords, as do those ofTortosa; after 1229, Majorca City rapidly
became another prime centre of Catalan trade, acting in
many respects as a twin of Barcelona in the opening up of
Mrican markets. The question is thus not simply that of the
expansion of Barcelona, but the growing trade of Catalonia,
backed up by the textile centres of the interior, notably
Lleida, and by the financial support of bankers from Girona
and elsewhere.
Another perspective is to look at Barcelona's links with
southern France. Just as historians have underestimated
the persistence of James's southern French policy, so they
have not always done justice to a link that fed Barcelona's
trade in its early days: Montpellier, Marseilles, and eventually
Perpignan exploited their ease of access to the international
cloth traffic passing from Flanders towards the Mediterranean;
Barcelona tapped into this trade route, finishing off northern
cloths in its dyeshops and then redistributing them, particu-
larly towards Muslim Spain, the Maghrib and Sicily, which
itself was a significant source of raw cotton for the developing
Catalan industries, and of grain for the expanding cities of
Barcelona and Majorca.^44 In league with the southern French
and Provenpl ports Barcelona acquired its first privilege for
trade in the Holy Land, in 1190; in league with them and
the king Barcelona invaded Majorca. Especially important
was an understanding with the Genoese and Pisans, who
- F. Fernandez-Armesto, Barcelona.^1000 years of a city's past (London,
1991) is rich in reflections about the city's emergence. - David Abulafia, 'Catalan merchants and the western Mediterranean,
1236-1300: studies in the notarial acts of Barcelona and Sicily', Viator:
medieval and Renaissance Studies,^16 (1985), pp. 209-42.