The castle that divided feudal Spain

A square tower of rugged ashlars, the castle of Montoliu overlooks the Gaià river at its entry to the Tarragona plain. In 1118, the count of Barcelona gave the castle to the bishop of Barcelona, but the identity of the castle is in question. The same count had also given the castle of Ullastrell, built by the descendants of the Claramunt family in 1060, to 'Bernat Amat', but there is no certainty of the identity of the castle that the count gave, or whether it is the same as the castle of Montoliu.

A battle for the ownership of the castle between 'Guillema de Claramunt' and 'Guillem de Cervera' in 1251 saw the intervention of Ramon de Penyafort, a leading figure in the church, who helped to resolve the dispute between them with a judgment in favour of Guillema. The castle remained in the hands of the Claramunt family until 1244, when Archbishop Pere d'Albalat purchased the Codony site and part of the villages of Cubelles, Tamarit and Montoliu from Guillem de Claramunt and Guillem d'Aguiló.

The castle was part of the territory of the 'marquesat de la Coma de Tarragona', one of the royal possessions of the crown of Aragon. In 1348, the castle and the surrounding lands passed to a branch of the Steward family of Burgundy, who held it until the 16th century, when it was finally integrated into the Crown of Castile. Today, the castle can still be visited as a reminder of the history of feudal Spain.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons