The maintenance of the royal falcons

[Falconry - Jaume III of Mallorca]. Invoice document (albarán) for falconry expenses.

€ 12.500,00

An account of expenses incurred for the maintenance of the royal falcons of King Jaime III of Mallorca: "Aquastas són les masions fetas per los falcons del senyor rey. Primerament, donam a 1 hom quils anà aspiar, 3 s. 6. Ítem, per altra dia quils anà traura, 20 s. Ítem, donam a 1 fadrí ab 1a bístia qui portà la exàrsia, 2 s. Ítem, donam a 2 hòmons qui anaren ab nós con anam traura los falcons, 4 s. Ítem, despenguem a vianda, 13 s. 2. Ítem, costaren 2 pols que donam a manjar als falcons antra 2es vaguadas, 22 d. Ítem, donam a 1 hom qui portà als falcons a la ciutat, 5 s. Ítem, costà 1a bèstia en què anà cavalcant lo batla con anà traura los falcons, 1 s. 6. Ítem, costà 1a senalla an quà vangueran los falcons, 7 d. Suma per totas las ditas masions, 51 s. 7 d.".

The document is not dated. A note in the margin, much later, indicates the year 1337, which could be the year the account was written.

Written in Mallorcan, a dialectal variant of Catalan, in a scribal hand, on cotton paper manufactured in Mallorca by Arab paper makers. Under Muslim rule from 903 until 1229, Mallorca ("Mayurqa") had formed one of the Eastern Islands of al-Andalus ("al-jaza'ir al-sharqiya li-l-andalus"). The art of papermaking, long mastered by the Arabs, had reached the southern Spain only in the 12th century through the Muslim conquest, at a time when most of western Europe still favoured vellum as a writing material. The Arab tradition of papermaking is still evident in this early 14th century insular specimen.

An extraordinarily rare survival in excellent state of preservation.