User:Mcapdevila/Catalan Galley


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The Catalan galley (formerly galea), has its own entity with respect to the galleys of the other maritime nations (referenced from the 13th century  ), since the Corominas provides a reference to a Catalan galley from the year 1120 (100 years before the others). It was a type of warship and trade, entirely propelled by the force of the oars and sometimes of the wind, thanks to the presence of masts with sails (usually Latin).

Model of the " La Real ".

Catalan galley sailing a long way.

Maltese galley, Catalan style

At least from the 12th century, the Catalans built the "Catalan galleys", making extensive use of them for wars with the different maritime republics (as enemies or as allies) or for trade with most Mediterranean ports, guaranteeing the commercial routes with the Catalan consulates. Their use began to decline from the seventeenth century, when they were progressively replaced by sailboats, finally becoming extinct at the end of the eighteenth century.

Etymology
The name " galley ", for a Catalan ship is documented in the 12th century (in 1120), it is derived from the old term galea, and this from the Greek γαλέoς ( galeos ), that is to say "fish shape", because the shape of this type of ships at the time of its main exponent, it remembered the shape of a fish : a long and subtle shape,

History
Reconstruction of the Olympias trireme

Galliot Catalan style (small galley)

The Catalan galley is the natural evolution of ancient Greek ships, such as those described in the Iliad and the Odyssey. The different types of Greek ships had a completely analogous shape, but they were smaller in size.

The construction of larger ships was possible, in classical times, with the innovation of the oars arranged on more orders on both sides of the ship: the best compromise between size and maneuverability was achieved with the trireme, that is, a galley with three orders of oars, which replaced the pentecontera. At the Battle of Salamis ( 480 BC ) the Athenian fleet was already made up almost entirely of triremes. Rarer, but ever present, were ships with a larger number of orders of oars, adopted in particular by the Romans.

The shape of these ships remained largely unchanged until the early Middle Ages, when the Byzantine Empire developed the dromons , an intermediate shape between agile triremes and larger ships.

In the 12th century (1st reference of the year 1211), in the West, with the beginning of the development of the Catalan navy, different types of Catalan galley appeared , a hybrid boat designed not only with the advantages of the rowing boat, but also by the the fact of associating two characteristics in the same type of ship: as a warship and as a merchant ship.

Towards the end of the Middle Ages, the system of rowing with a slam was invented, in which 4-5 rowers did a lot on the same oar. The rowers could be free men, salaried or recruited by lottery (in case of war), they could also be slaves or prisoners sentenced to galleys for a certain number of years: the Catalan term galley actually derives from the word galley.

Finally the galley was progressively replaced by the galleon propelled only by sail, much larger and more powerful: apart from having a greater firepower, it could face the oceanic courses, which with the increase in traffic with America became more important. . The galleon, invented in Spain, the first to adopt it were the countries of the Atlantic coast , especially England. But on the other hand, in the Mediterranean, in the seventeenth century , the galley was still the most commonly used warship.

Organization on board
The organization of the Catalan galleys in the Middle Ages had two main sections: the rowers, under the command of the commander or captain of the rabble; and those who we could qualify as the official. Between these two sections were sailors with regard for their duties. The officers consisted of the skipper, one or more pilots and the ship's clerk who enjoyed great prominence.

Among the crew were the pilots, practical men with nautical knowledge, among whom were chosen the boatswains and helmsmen. The most important position was for the senior pilot, a true officer who substituted for the boss and could accidentally act as a pilot. The other sailors were panhandlers and they went to the stern of the ship, there were also one or more carpenters and caulkers and the servants or servants, among whom there were the boys or cabin boys.

When a commercial galley became armed, it rose in rank, increasing the number of crew, sometimes having an admiral or a captain instead of the master, men at the bow and gonfaloneros, in charge of flags and signals, and retaining their high functions. , the clerk of the galley.

The organization of a corsair galley was curious, mixing the positions of peace and war. Apart from the aforementioned, the crew had different specializations, the overseers or liquidators, distributors of the loot obtained; the aferradors (handles) that clung to the ships in the attacks, at the moment of the boarding; the registrars who registered the opposing vessels and carried out the inventory of the dam; the boys (cabin boys), with a corporal in charge of them; the Consuls, a kind of judges in charge of the on-board police, and the clavarios (treasurers) who are auditors of the prey carried out and depository cashiers of what was collected. The senior pilot, acting as boatswain or captain of the sails, was in charge of everything regarding the sail.The presence of a priest, a doctor and a barber was compulsory in warships or choirs.

Crew
For a crew of one hundred sailors, this ratio used to be established: 16 pilots, 24 Bread, and the rest prolels.

The embarked soldiers were called men at arms (people of arms) and crossbowmen, some of them were in charge of the admiral's guard. The crossbowmen carried two crossbows of three feet in length (with their nuts), three hundred pins, arrows, a Gorella, a shell coat, a cuirass, a bastion, a basket and two hooks to assemble and mount the crossbow.

The passengers were divided into three classes: merchants or flight attendants; pilgrim passengers, traveling in fulfillment of a vow, and passengers with luggage, in traffic from one port to another.

Merchants who transported their own cargo enjoyed certain privileges on board. They were consulted in certain circumstances, such as changes in the trip, stopovers, enemy attacks or abandonment of packages in the event of a storm, determinations that required this prior consultation and that Escrivà noted in his book, making a sworn relationship, in case shipwreck, which forced the survivors.

A passenger carrying less than ten quintals of cargo was considered a pilgrim, and was only consulted in certain cases. The other passengers were not consulted, since they did not have representation, just like the sailors, except when they went proportionally apart from the benefits of the freight. It was the obligation of all who were on board, to carry weapons for their personal defense.

Sailors could charge either a monthly salary, a bit per mile, or per entire voyage to a given port. Some received the captain's food and others prepared it themselves. Sometimes they transported junk, that is, a variety of effects, according to the custom of the ports or according to the agreement concluded, which gave them the right to embark on their own on each trip, to trade with it. They could transport free of charge, the equivalent of half the salary of the entire trip, paying freight for the surplus.

Meal
They had three meals a day: in the morning bread with companatge, consisting of cold food or fruit; at noon, on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, roast beef, the other days escudella or meatless soup; in the evening bread and companatge, which consisted of cheese, onion, salted sardines or other dried fish.

It was the captain's duty to distribute wine at each meal, as long as it was not too light, in this case he had to thicken it with raisins and boiled dried figs. Only when this was lacking, the wine was suppressed. For Easter and other important holidays, a double portion was given.

Passengers, when they were flight attendants or merchants, were generally in charge of a servile servant who prepared the stew. On the other hand, those called pilgrims agreed to it with the skipper or they prepared it themselves or they took the one that was prepared for the crew. Depending on the amount of merchandise they carried, passengers could be accompanied by servants and luggage without paying freight. When they carried little or no merchandise, they paid.

The contracts and adjustments that the merchants, pilgrims, passengers, officers and sailors made with the patron, were written in the charter or register of the notary, in which the entries and exits of merchandise were also noted, being a diary of the one that happened in the trip, and gave faith among the porters or those who had childbirth on the ship.

The clerk took the oath upon receiving the post and kept the book, which could not be seen by any crew member.

Ordinationes Ripariae
In 1258, the prominent men on the banks of Barcelona made ordinances called Ordinationes Ripariae, in which they set out provisions for navigation. From them it can be seen how the merchant navy was armed in circumstances on the warpath, to avoid the attacks that the ships could be subjected to, by pirates and Saracen corsairs, in their travels in the East. Using terms appropriate to our times, we could say that they constituted a type of reserve of the military navy, always ready to enter into military functions and abandoning its typical commercial functions.

Every sailor had to wear an ausberg (chainmail), an iron helmet, shield, two spears, and a sword or saber. It did not exempt the crew of the logs from being armed. So severe was the ordinance that a piece of fifty salaries was imposed on the captain, for each sailor who had on board without weapons.

The study that refers to corsairs is really curious. In the Ordinances, the epigraphs that we have cited, detail the name and class of ships, the strength of the crews and the internal regime of the ships, war maneuvers and functions and trades that are practiced in them.

Book of the Consulate of the Sea
The "Book of the Consulate of the Sea" has an appendix of 34 chapters entitled "Ordinacions de todo Barco who will be armed to go to choirs, and of all armada that is faciper mar". I meet again before old Catalan, but I would venture "Ordinances of any ship that is armed as a privateer and of any navy that is produced at sea." The summary note indicates the positions and functions appropriate to the service, as can be seen from their list by subject:

"Of the admiral, captain and shipowners, as it must be clear expense and benefit; of the committee, of conveniences; of the parts that have to be done in an armed ship, of pilots and other trades, and of the partition; the Admiral, of major pilot; of proeles; of crossbowmen; of men-at-arms, of Gabieros (those who went to the cages); of weight and measure of overseers; of helmsmen, of barbers; of liquidators, of the Admiral's Guard, of spies and of registrars; of servants; of master of adze (ribera carpenter), of crossbowman; of calafate, of corporal of servants; of consuls; of what the Captain has to do; Clerk, of the treasurers; of the senior pilot, and of how are the fifths raised (distributed, distributed?) "

Another appendix is ​​the Penal Ordinances for the service of the navy, made up of 39 articles bearing this heading: "King Peter chapters on the maritime facts and actions" promulgated in Barcelona by royal order in 1430 and which were dictated by three notable Barcelona sailors: Bernat de Cabrera, Jaume Boscà and Joan Llompart.

Characteristics
Sections of a Catalan galley.

Stages of construction of a Catalan galley.

There were examples of Catalan galleys of up to 60 m in length and 6 m of hose, with an emerging spur fixed to the bow, which served to spur the opposing ships and then to be able to launch the hooks to pass the collision. The rowing propulsion made the Catalan galley fast and maneuverable in all conditions; the blocks candles or Latino allowed to exploit the wind when it blew in the right direction.

The long and tight shape of the galleys, ideal especially in battle and to obtain good speed (which in boats that do not plan is limited by the length ), was detrimental to stability, and storms and heavy seas could do capsize : why is preferably used during the summer season, as much to fall; It is documented by Joan of Austria that the galleys wintered: "..the ynbernadero of the river of Tortosa that I find here a great relationship and the mayor (Lluis de Requesens) and Don Sancho seem to be the best that  SM has in all of Spain . . ". If the trip allowed it, they did a cabotatge navigation, that is, near the coast, since the small capacity of its cellar required several stages for the supply, especially of water, which the rowers, due to the continuous physical effort, consumed in large quantities. Even so, although the galley was little adapted to oceanic navigation, it was used in trade with England and the rest of the ports of the northern sea and was made in Barcelona for the race to the Indies.

From the fourteenth century to the sixteenth century, when their military use was very important, Catalan galleys were classified into three categories, depending on their size, being from largest to smallest, fat , bastard and subtle.  The crew of the Catalan galleys included forty crossbowmen in the fat ones and thirty in the subtle ones, with the mission of attacking enemy decks with arrows and viratons. The actual or Admiral galley was out of the classification,

Captain galley
The captain's galley was a large galley, accompanied by a subtle, or light, squad of galleys and rowing logs. They regulated subordination, rewards, punishments, dangers and gains. The men at arms constituted the admiral's guard, in combat, they never had to leave helpless, until they lost their lives. Their ordinary weapons were the aforementioned crossbowmen, except what the admiral ordered. They were suitable people for boarding, and they fought on all occasions; his prize was a quarter of the spoils, apart from what the admiral might promise them. The most desired prey was the armor of the corporal and all that the enemies were wearing at the time of the boarding, since once this was consummated, their rights were prescribed. All the people of arms were commanded directly by the so-called constable.

Combat
On board the Catalan galleys, the combats with other galleys were resolved only on boarding, in which the crews faced melee and, from the 16th century on, with arcabus shots. Sometimes the rowers also joined the fight.

Compared with the medium-sized galleons, which had twelve to twenty guns of greater caliber and range, the galleys were of a fragile structure that was not very resistant to enemy fire, with a maximum of five guns at the bow. In combat the low structure of the galleys was surpassed by the high edges of the galleons, while their crew fired from the higher decks.

Catalan galleys at the Tavola Strozzi. Fleet of Galceran de Requesens and Joan de Soler returning to Naples after their victory in Ischia

The crossbowmen "in table"
The crossbowmen were the most important offensive forces aboard a traditional galley. And they lived together for many years with the arcabussers and artillerymen. Ramon Muntaner was a supporter of professional crossbowmen, only enrolled to act as crossbowmen (crossbowmen hired in the agreed table; hence the name "in table").

It was mandatory that every sailor with crossbowman functions in the galleys, had to have two two-foot crossbows and another of streb (which had a streb to arm it), three hundred pins, steel hull, stitching (it could be the union of weight and point: point-heavy) or cuirass and sword or saber. The same weapons had to carry the crossbowmen of trade in smaller ships.


 * The galleys were the same. The normal galleys only carried two rowers per bank: a dovecote and a postic. The galleys with third parties went with a third rower on each bench: the third row. They were faster but the number of professional crossbowmen was smaller.
 * Some foreign scholars have wanted to translate (without justification or accuracy) the "table" by a type of castle or protection reinforcement that only the Catalan galleys carried.

Construction of a galley
A galley was built on a slipway or slipway, natural or artificial. The first thing that was necessary was to "plant the steppes", to arrange some level planks that formed the base of the construction.

The actual construction began with the laying of the keel (traditionally called the hull), the bow stem and its counterrod, the stern stem and its counterrod. The frames were of several pieces: medissos and estameneres. The medís was anchored to the hull, in an approximately horizontal and perpendicular position. Each band of the medís was joined by a estamenera (in Castilian "varenga"). Medissos and estameneres were encavalcats (sideways) to form a fairly solid union.

Once all the frames were placed on the keel or hull, the whole was reinforced with the overcap. The upper ends of the frames were joined with a longitudinal stringer to each band and the beams were assembled, stringers from part to part.

The set of previous pieces, reinforced with the tape and the counter-tape (on each side) and the contovals (one on each band), formed the resistant structure or skeleton of the galley. It only remained to pose the lining and the cover.


 * The lining consisted of plates placed at the top ("carvel" in English).
 * It must be remembered that a galley was a ship almost completely closed by the deck and, in this sense, relatively watertight in the waves that broke on the deck. The rowers were going outside. This quality of a watertight ship "a priori", was counteracted by the structural fragility of the set, which determined mediocre qualities to withstand strong storms.
 * An important part was the caulking, painting and backing of the living work.

Parts of a galley

 * trellis
 * Vessel
 * Bacallares
 * Crossbows
 * Battles and battles
 * Vogue room
 * Bow castle (corulla, arramblada)
 * Stern castle
 * Cossia
 * Toletes
 * Scandalous
 * Spur
 * Yokes
 * Paradise
 * Fake
 * Keel
 * Tabernacle
 * Awning
 * Candles

Master Quaderna
Section at the level of the master quaderna of La Real. Names: 1, master neck support or higher; 2, mast cockpit clamping curve (cockpit = paramola); 3, keel and wing; 4, neck key; 5, bench or bench; 6, crossing by rowing rowers; 7, bench to support the feet of the rowers; 8, curve; 9, bacallar; 10, cover; 11, trancanil; 12, tape; 13, false; 14, battle; 15, battle for the pavesadas; 16, liner

Colors and decoration
The galley ships were painted black or bright colors: red, green, purple, yellow, ... Some galleys were luxuriously decorated.


 * Pedro III of Aragon commissioned Ramon Marquet to paint boats and galleys, in various colors.

Petrus Dei gratia, Rex Aragonum, fideli suo Reymundo Marcheti salutem et gratiam: Manam you that fasats to paint les Galees et les Barches de les Galees so is to know; Les dues Galees blanques et dues bermeles, et dues grogues, et dues berts, et dues blaves, et dues seyal de Barchelona, ​​and puys on tot he painted it aya Escuts Reyals en cascuna Galea et Barca. In face manam that the Nau that formed Vilar et a Barcha de Sanert that hom hi fassa si paints a Signal Reyal ...

Spanish Navy of the Middle Ages. F. Javier de Salas.


 * Valencian galleys by Joan el Cazador.

From the grosses, the Santa María, s'ha d'aparellar pel Sant Pare, and mana que's faça en l'escandelar, axí bella cambra com se belongs, which is painted ab l'escandalar  ensemps de vermell als costats and quey sien fets cayrons Reyals ab fulla dor according to what deserves and that the tray sia dazur ab estels de fulla daur axí be com fer se pusca; the stern of which sia tota vermella and that the fornescats of totes altres coses quey sien necessaries ... Així mateix you manam that l'altra galea grossa apellada Sent Johan, sia painted de vert, axí com l'altra dessús deu esser vermella e quey sia aytal difference that I think it would be d'or in that ultra les armes Reyals sia dargent in that, in which nostra cunyat will mount it Cardinal of Terovana ...

Johan I D'Aragó, page 182. Josep Ma Roca i Franquesa.

Arrangement of the oars

 * Simple : with three rowers per bench or fret (each row with one row). Regarding the position of the rowers on the frets seems that he had palomeros, postics and terçols.
 * A galotxa : In a row per band (A few rowers per row. Normally 3 rowers: the vogavant and two more).

Stove

 * The hearth of a 16th-17th century galley was located on the port side (left) and occupied the space of an oar. Thus, a galley of 51 oars armed 25 oars to port and 26 to starboard. Regarding the longitudinal situation, it was located forward of the master mast or larger. Some documents indicate the dimensions of the firebox: 8 x 4 feet and 8 inches tall. The box was made from 2-inch thick oak planks and filled with soil ("argile" in the original French, a 1619 manuscript).

Bilge Pump
Roman bronze bomb (3rd century, Huelva)

In the high Middle Ages there does not seem to be any reference of any kind.

In pre-modern times there are any:


 * In 1460, Miquel de Gualbes, from Barcelona, ​​commissioned the Mataró's adze master, Luis Pou, among other things: ".. two beautiful round shafts for two horns, that are beautiful, long and grux, to the sanity of the master finger. . . " .  The "two shafts" characterize the suction-impeller type pump.
 * In an inventory of the shipyards of Barcelona from 1467 it can be read: "a sgotar horn".
 * Some verses from the poem Luigi Pulci "Il morgante maggiore" 1487 speak of how: "la tromba aggottava".
 * In 1460, Girolamo Cardano describes one.

Barcelona bombardswarehouse
As documented in the Chronicle of San Juan de la Peña (in 1359), in the middle of the 14th century the Catalan galleys (those of the other nations took a little longer), began to arm themselves with bombards on board, the fact was so important and secret that the commitres took them out of a warehouse in Barcelona, ​​forced to sign a document in which they said that they would not give them to any foreign nation under pain of death if they did: "... the artillery that they took out as rented in the large warehouse of bombards, in the so-called General Store in Barcelona ..  "  They generally carried a central bay bombard plus some pieces of caliber.lower to port and starboard. The power of these bombers, especially the lateral ones, was limited because the recoil from the shots shook the ship.

Barcelona shipyards
New interior view of the wall, mausoleum and lateral nave (2013)

The shipyards of Barcelona, where galleys were built until the end of the seventeenth century can be considered a great productive complex of the Medieval Era and the Modern Age, a true great modern factory: where hundreds of men worked, with their various activities, supported by the corresponding guilds, from their neighborhood inside the wall. The galleys were built "in series", anticipating the forms of the modern assembly line. Barcelona's productive capacity was impressive for the time: in 1571, at the imminence of the Battle of Lepanto, fifty ships were launched ready to go to Italy and Greece.

In the battle of Lepanto, the Catalans (among others) experimented with the best results the galleys made in Barcelona. They were larger and more stable galleys that could embark batteries of large caliber guns and fire in all directions, on the other hand, it was impossible to maneuver the galleys with the oars, so that for this they had to be towed by two smaller galleys.

Royal Shipbuilding Orders
Shipyards with Customs preventing the launching of ships towards the sea.


 * 1527 Campaign against Barbarossa, from the secret Venice-England archives released to the public:

"'.. Orders Have Been Given by the Emperor for the construction of 60 galleys at Barcelona, Genoa, and elsewhere. The Emperor Enters the Cortes, Summoned for grants of money, Which is very unusual ...'"


 * 1568. The Royal Gallery of Joan of Austria was built with melis wood from Tortosa.

For this, after his election in 1568, on the fifteenth of January, the Duke of Francavila, and Prince of Melito, who resides for Viceroy in Catalonia, in Barcelona, ​​was ordered to build this gallery of the best wood that was found. In these parts, because it is the pine of Catalonia, the best firewood than in Assia, Africa, and Europe is found outside the East Indies, thus because it is lighter than oak: as for being stronger than ordinary pine, inasmuch as the ornament of the stern was made in Barcelona ...

Description of the Royal Galley.


 * 1571 Campaign of the battle of Lepanto, from the archives of the Requesens found by P.Bosch (IHS):

"'...... the four galleys of which the two are already stranded instead of the ones that were left in Carthagena and then the other two that are armed again although in this shipyard there are infinite missing rigs of those that would be necessary and the factory of the new royal galley and other things is not as far ahead as I thought of everything. send remediate and eight thousand ducats that the treasurer Melchor Herrera havia of send it will either need to ship these galleys v ansi'm trying the viceroy pay some money for the subsidy estavan here .. ' .'"


 * 1585. Frederic Despalau, major drassaner of the Barcelona Shipyards.

On May 22, 1585, I returned to Sa Magestat, ab les persones reals, anar a la drassana per a veure to launch some galleries in sea, the captain who was to be from Spain and two galleries who had to sail to the Indies, who May se n'havien fetes així, but they were of two cutlery and 20 bancs, and it's said aprés feren bons prova for those mars ... Because in all the regions of the kingdom and a greater comfort per a fer galeres than in Catalonia, For the great it appeared that and à de fusta, ferro, canyem and you open and antenes and rems, that tot ho produced the terra amb molta abundance ...

Cavallers i ciutadans a la Catalunya del Cinc-cents. Antoni Simón i Tarrés. Page 125.


 * 1589. Campaign for the defense of Portugal, the secret archives Venice-England made known to the public:

"'.. In Cataloniahe has ordered ten galleons of six hundred tons each, lateen rigged, so as to sail better to wind; they are to be ready by March. For this purpose fifty thousand crowns have been sent to that district. The Catalans, who are entrusted with the order, declare that the time allowed is too short for the importance of the work; and even if all the wood were ready — and it is all to cut yet — it would be a hard task to complete the order in Such a space of time .. '"

Merchant galleys
Similar to Venetian merchant galleys, there are several documented cases of Catalan merchant galleys.


 * 1427. Merchant galley in England.
 * 1429. Merchant galley made of Narbonne.

Chronology of the various stages and eras

 * Pisano-Catalan crusade
 * 1120. Ramón Berenguer III

... ut habeat illi viginti galeas et de gorabs so many id possit alchaid mitere ducentos cauallos inter christianos et sarracenos et passet illum ad maioricas ...

Historical origins of Catalonia. Josep Balari i Jovany. Page 657.


 * Pedro the Ceremonious and Bernat II de Cabrera
 * Ordinations on what is made of the sea
 * Features of the galleys of the time


 * Contribute

The Catalan galley (formerly galea), has its own entity with respect to the galleys of the other maritime nations (referenced from the 13th century  ), since the Corominas provides a reference to a Catalan galley from the year 1120 (100 years before the others). It was a type of warship and trade, entirely propelled by the force of the oars and sometimes of the wind, thanks to the presence of masts with sails (usually Latin).

Model of the " La Real ".

Catalan galley sailing a long way.

Maltese galley, Catalan style

At least from the 12th century, the Catalans built the "Catalan galleys", making extensive use of them for wars with the different maritime republics (as enemies or as allies) or for trade with most Mediterranean ports, guaranteeing the commercial routes with the Catalan consulates. Their use began to decline from the seventeenth century, when they were progressively replaced by sailboats, finally becoming extinct at the end of the eighteenth century.

Etymology
The name " galley ", for a Catalan ship is documented in the 12th century (in 1120), it is derived from the old term galea, and this from the Greek γαλέoς ( galeos ), that is to say "fish shape", because the shape of this type of ships at the time of its main exponent, it remembered the shape of a fish : a long and subtle shape,

History
Reconstruction of the Olympias trireme

Galliot Catalan style (small galley)

The Catalan galley is the natural evolution of ancient Greek ships, such as those described in the Iliad and the Odyssey. The different types of Greek ships had a completely analogous shape, but they were smaller in size.

The construction of larger ships was possible, in classical times, with the innovation of the oars arranged on more orders on both sides of the ship: the best compromise between size and maneuverability was achieved with the trireme, that is, a galley with three orders of oars, which replaced the pentecontera. At the Battle of Salamis ( 480 BC ) the Athenian fleet was already made up almost entirely of triremes. Rarer, but ever present, were ships with a larger number of orders of oars, adopted in particular by the Romans.

The shape of these ships remained largely unchanged until the early Middle Ages, when the Byzantine Empire developed the dromons , an intermediate shape between agile triremes and larger ships.

In the 12th century (1st reference of the year 1211), in the West, with the beginning of the development of the Catalan navy, different types of Catalan galley appeared , a hybrid boat designed not only with the advantages of the rowing boat, but also by the the fact of associating two characteristics in the same type of ship: as a warship and as a merchant ship.

Towards the end of the Middle Ages, the system of rowing with a slam was invented, in which 4-5 rowers did a lot on the same oar. The rowers could be free men, salaried or recruited by lottery (in case of war), they could also be slaves or prisoners sentenced to galleys for a certain number of years: the Catalan term galley actually derives from the word galley.

Finally the galley was progressively replaced by the galleon propelled only by sail, much larger and more powerful: apart from having a greater firepower, it could face the oceanic courses, which with the increase in traffic with America became more important. . The galleon, invented in Spain, the first to adopt it were the countries of the Atlantic coast , especially England. But on the other hand, in the Mediterranean, in the seventeenth century , the galley was still the most commonly used warship.

Organization on board
The organization of the Catalan galleys in the Middle Ages had two main sections: the rowers, under the command of the commander or captain of the rabble; and those who we could qualify as the official. Between these two sections were sailors with regard for their duties. The officers consisted of the skipper, one or more pilots and the ship's clerk who enjoyed great prominence.

Among the crew were the pilots, practical men with nautical knowledge, among whom were chosen the boatswains and helmsmen. The most important position was for the senior pilot, a true officer who substituted for the boss and could accidentally act as a pilot. The other sailors were panhandlers and they went to the stern of the ship, there were also one or more carpenters and caulkers and the servants or servants, among whom there were the boys or cabin boys.

When a commercial galley became armed, it rose in rank, increasing the number of crew, sometimes having an admiral or a captain instead of the master, men at the bow and gonfaloneros, in charge of flags and signals, and retaining their high functions. , the clerk of the galley.

The organization of a corsair galley was curious, mixing the positions of peace and war. Apart from the aforementioned, the crew had different specializations, the overseers or liquidators, distributors of the loot obtained; the aferradors (handles) that clung to the ships in the attacks, at the moment of the boarding; the registrars who registered the opposing vessels and carried out the inventory of the dam; the boys (cabin boys), with a corporal in charge of them; the Consuls, a kind of judges in charge of the on-board police, and the clavarios (treasurers) who are auditors of the prey carried out and depository cashiers of what was collected. The senior pilot, acting as boatswain or captain of the sails, was in charge of everything regarding the sail.The presence of a priest, a doctor and a barber was compulsory in warships or choirs.

Crew
For a crew of one hundred sailors, this ratio used to be established: 16 pilots, 24 Bread, and the rest prolels.

The embarked soldiers were called men at arms (people of arms) and crossbowmen, some of them were in charge of the admiral's guard. The crossbowmen carried two crossbows of three feet in length (with their nuts), three hundred pins, arrows, a Gorella, a shell coat, a cuirass, a bastion, a basket and two hooks to assemble and mount the crossbow.

The passengers were divided into three classes: merchants or flight attendants; pilgrim passengers, traveling in fulfillment of a vow, and passengers with luggage, in traffic from one port to another.

Merchants who transported their own cargo enjoyed certain privileges on board. They were consulted in certain circumstances, such as changes in the trip, stopovers, enemy attacks or abandonment of packages in the event of a storm, determinations that required this prior consultation and that Escrivà noted in his book, making a sworn relationship, in case shipwreck, which forced the survivors.

A passenger carrying less than ten quintals of cargo was considered a pilgrim, and was only consulted in certain cases. The other passengers were not consulted, since they did not have representation, just like the sailors, except when they went proportionally apart from the benefits of the freight. It was the obligation of all who were on board, to carry weapons for their personal defense.

Sailors could charge either a monthly salary, a bit per mile, or per entire voyage to a given port. Some received the captain's food and others prepared it themselves. Sometimes they transported junk, that is, a variety of effects, according to the custom of the ports or according to the agreement concluded, which gave them the right to embark on their own on each trip, to trade with it. They could transport free of charge, the equivalent of half the salary of the entire trip, paying freight for the surplus.

Meal
They had three meals a day: in the morning bread with companatge, consisting of cold food or fruit; at noon, on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, roast beef, the other days escudella or meatless soup; in the evening bread and companatge, which consisted of cheese, onion, salted sardines or other dried fish.

It was the captain's duty to distribute wine at each meal, as long as it was not too light, in this case he had to thicken it with raisins and boiled dried figs. Only when this was lacking, the wine was suppressed. For Easter and other important holidays, a double portion was given.

Passengers, when they were flight attendants or merchants, were generally in charge of a servile servant who prepared the stew. On the other hand, those called pilgrims agreed to it with the skipper or they prepared it themselves or they took the one that was prepared for the crew. Depending on the amount of merchandise they carried, passengers could be accompanied by servants and luggage without paying freight. When they carried little or no merchandise, they paid.

The contracts and adjustments that the merchants, pilgrims, passengers, officers and sailors made with the patron, were written in the charter or register of the notary, in which the entries and exits of merchandise were also noted, being a diary of the one that happened in the trip, and gave faith among the porters or those who had childbirth on the ship.

The clerk took the oath upon receiving the post and kept the book, which could not be seen by any crew member.

Ordinationes Ripariae
In 1258, the prominent men on the banks of Barcelona made ordinances called Ordinationes Ripariae, in which they set out provisions for navigation. From them it can be seen how the merchant navy was armed in circumstances on the warpath, to avoid the attacks that the ships could be subjected to, by pirates and Saracen corsairs, in their travels in the East. Using terms appropriate to our times, we could say that they constituted a type of reserve of the military navy, always ready to enter into military functions and abandoning its typical commercial functions.

Every sailor had to wear an ausberg (chainmail), an iron helmet, shield, two spears, and a sword or saber. It did not exempt the crew of the logs from being armed. So severe was the ordinance that a piece of fifty salaries was imposed on the captain, for each sailor who had on board without weapons.

The study that refers to corsairs is really curious. In the Ordinances, the epigraphs that we have cited, detail the name and class of ships, the strength of the crews and the internal regime of the ships, war maneuvers and functions and trades that are practiced in them.

Book of the Consulate of the Sea
The "Book of the Consulate of the Sea" has an appendix of 34 chapters entitled "Ordinacions de todo Barco who will be armed to go to choirs, and of all armada that is faciper mar". I meet again before old Catalan, but I would venture "Ordinances of any ship that is armed as a privateer and of any navy that is produced at sea." The summary note indicates the positions and functions appropriate to the service, as can be seen from their list by subject:

"Of the admiral, captain and shipowners, as it must be clear expense and benefit; of the committee, of conveniences; of the parts that have to be done in an armed ship, of pilots and other trades, and of the partition; the Admiral, of major pilot; of proeles; of crossbowmen; of men-at-arms, of Gabieros (those who went to the cages); of weight and measure of overseers; of helmsmen, of barbers; of liquidators, of the Admiral's Guard, of spies and of registrars; of servants; of master of adze (ribera carpenter), of crossbowman; of calafate, of corporal of servants; of consuls; of what the Captain has to do; Clerk, of the treasurers; of the senior pilot, and of how are the fifths raised (distributed, distributed?) "

Another appendix is ​​the Penal Ordinances for the service of the navy, made up of 39 articles bearing this heading: "King Peter chapters on the maritime facts and actions" promulgated in Barcelona by royal order in 1430 and which were dictated by three notable Barcelona sailors: Bernat de Cabrera, Jaume Boscà and Joan Llompart.

Characteristics
Sections of a Catalan galley.

Stages of construction of a Catalan galley.

There were examples of Catalan galleys of up to 60 m in length and 6 m of hose, with an emerging spur fixed to the bow, which served to spur the opposing ships and then to be able to launch the hooks to pass the collision. The rowing propulsion made the Catalan galley fast and maneuverable in all conditions; the blocks candles or Latino allowed to exploit the wind when it blew in the right direction.

The long and tight shape of the galleys, ideal especially in battle and to obtain good speed (which in boats that do not plan is limited by the length ), was detrimental to stability, and storms and heavy seas could do capsize : why is preferably used during the summer season, as much to fall; It is documented by Joan of Austria that the galleys wintered: "..the ynbernadero of the river of Tortosa that I find here a great relationship and the mayor (Lluis de Requesens) and Don Sancho seem to be the best that  SM has in all of Spain . . ". If the trip allowed it, they did a cabotatge navigation, that is, near the coast, since the small capacity of its cellar required several stages for the supply, especially of water, which the rowers, due to the continuous physical effort, consumed in large quantities. Even so, although the galley was little adapted to oceanic navigation, it was used in trade with England and the rest of the ports of the northern sea and was made in Barcelona for the race to the Indies.

From the fourteenth century to the sixteenth century, when their military use was very important, Catalan galleys were classified into three categories, depending on their size, being from largest to smallest, fat , bastard and subtle.  The crew of the Catalan galleys included forty crossbowmen in the fat ones and thirty in the subtle ones, with the mission of attacking enemy decks with arrows and viratons. The actual or Admiral galley was out of the classification,

Captain galley
The captain's galley was a large galley, accompanied by a subtle, or light, squad of galleys and rowing logs. They regulated subordination, rewards, punishments, dangers and gains. The men at arms constituted the admiral's guard, in combat, they never had to leave helpless, until they lost their lives. Their ordinary weapons were the aforementioned crossbowmen, except what the admiral ordered. They were suitable people for boarding, and they fought on all occasions; his prize was a quarter of the spoils, apart from what the admiral might promise them. The most desired prey was the armor of the corporal and all that the enemies were wearing at the time of the boarding, since once this was consummated, their rights were prescribed. All the people of arms were commanded directly by the so-called constable.

Combat
On board the Catalan galleys, the combats with other galleys were resolved only on boarding, in which the crews faced melee and, from the 16th century on, with arcabus shots. Sometimes the rowers also joined the fight.

Compared with the medium-sized galleons, which had twelve to twenty guns of greater caliber and range, the galleys were of a fragile structure that was not very resistant to enemy fire, with a maximum of five guns at the bow. In combat the low structure of the galleys was surpassed by the high edges of the galleons, while their crew fired from the higher decks.

Catalan galleys at the Tavola Strozzi. Fleet of Galceran de Requesens and Joan de Soler returning to Naples after their victory in Ischia

The crossbowmen "in table"
The crossbowmen were the most important offensive forces aboard a traditional galley. And they lived together for many years with the arcabussers and artillerymen. Ramon Muntaner was a supporter of professional crossbowmen, only enrolled to act as crossbowmen (crossbowmen hired in the agreed table; hence the name "in table").

It was mandatory that every sailor with crossbowman functions in the galleys, had to have two two-foot crossbows and another of streb (which had a streb to arm it), three hundred pins, steel hull, stitching (it could be the union of weight and point: point-heavy) or cuirass and sword or saber. The same weapons had to carry the crossbowmen of trade in smaller ships.


 * The galleys were the same. The normal galleys only carried two rowers per bank: a dovecote and a postic. The galleys with third parties went with a third rower on each bench: the third row. They were faster but the number of professional crossbowmen was smaller.
 * Some foreign scholars have wanted to translate (without justification or accuracy) the "table" by a type of castle or protection reinforcement that only the Catalan galleys carried.

Construction of a galley
A galley was built on a slipway or slipway, natural or artificial. The first thing that was necessary was to "plant the steppes", to arrange some level planks that formed the base of the construction.

The actual construction began with the laying of the keel (traditionally called the hull), the bow stem and its counterrod, the stern stem and its counterrod. The frames were of several pieces: medissos and estameneres. The medís was anchored to the hull, in an approximately horizontal and perpendicular position. Each band of the medís was joined by a estamenera (in Castilian "varenga"). Medissos and estameneres were encavalcats (sideways) to form a fairly solid union.

Once all the frames were placed on the keel or hull, the whole was reinforced with the overcap. The upper ends of the frames were joined with a longitudinal stringer to each band and the beams were assembled, stringers from part to part.

The set of previous pieces, reinforced with the tape and the counter-tape (on each side) and the contovals (one on each band), formed the resistant structure or skeleton of the galley. It only remained to pose the lining and the cover.


 * The lining consisted of plates placed at the top ("carvel" in English).
 * It must be remembered that a galley was a ship almost completely closed by the deck and, in this sense, relatively watertight in the waves that broke on the deck. The rowers were going outside. This quality of a watertight ship "a priori", was counteracted by the structural fragility of the set, which determined mediocre qualities to withstand strong storms.
 * An important part was the caulking, painting and backing of the living work.

Parts of a galley

 * trellis
 * Vessel
 * Bacallares
 * Crossbows
 * Battles and battles
 * Vogue room
 * Bow castle (corulla, arramblada)
 * Stern castle
 * Cossia
 * Toletes
 * Scandalous
 * Spur
 * Yokes
 * Paradise
 * Fake
 * Keel
 * Tabernacle
 * Awning
 * Candles

Master Quaderna
Section at the level of the master quaderna of La Real. Names: 1, master neck support or higher; 2, mast cockpit clamping curve (cockpit = paramola); 3, keel and wing; 4, neck key; 5, bench or bench; 6, crossing by rowing rowers; 7, bench to support the feet of the rowers; 8, curve; 9, bacallar; 10, cover; 11, trancanil; 12, tape; 13, false; 14, battle; 15, battle for the pavesadas; 16, liner

Colors and decoration
The galley ships were painted black or bright colors: red, green, purple, yellow, ... Some galleys were luxuriously decorated.


 * Pedro III of Aragon commissioned Ramon Marquet to paint boats and galleys, in various colors.

Petrus Dei gratia, Rex Aragonum, fideli suo Reymundo Marcheti salutem et gratiam: Manam you that fasats to paint les Galees et les Barches de les Galees so is to know; Les dues Galees blanques et dues bermeles, et dues grogues, et dues berts, et dues blaves, et dues seyal de Barchelona, ​​and puys on tot he painted it aya Escuts Reyals en cascuna Galea et Barca. In face manam that the Nau that formed Vilar et a Barcha de Sanert that hom hi fassa si paints a Signal Reyal ...

Spanish Navy of the Middle Ages. F. Javier de Salas.


 * Valencian galleys by Joan el Cazador.

From the grosses, the Santa María, s'ha d'aparellar pel Sant Pare, and mana que's faça en l'escandelar, axí bella cambra com se belongs, which is painted ab l'escandalar  ensemps de vermell als costats and quey sien fets cayrons Reyals ab fulla dor according to what deserves and that the tray sia dazur ab estels de fulla daur axí be com fer se pusca; the stern of which sia tota vermella and that the fornescats of totes altres coses quey sien necessaries ... Així mateix you manam that l'altra galea grossa apellada Sent Johan, sia painted de vert, axí com l'altra dessús deu esser vermella e quey sia aytal difference that I think it would be d'or in that ultra les armes Reyals sia dargent in that, in which nostra cunyat will mount it Cardinal of Terovana ...

Johan I D'Aragó, page 182. Josep Ma Roca i Franquesa.

Arrangement of the oars

 * Simple : with three rowers per bench or fret (each row with one row). Regarding the position of the rowers on the frets seems that he had palomeros, postics and terçols.
 * A galotxa : In a row per band (A few rowers per row. Normally 3 rowers: the vogavant and two more).

Stove

 * The hearth of a 16th-17th century galley was located on the port side (left) and occupied the space of an oar. Thus, a galley of 51 oars armed 25 oars to port and 26 to starboard. Regarding the longitudinal situation, it was located forward of the master mast or larger. Some documents indicate the dimensions of the firebox: 8 x 4 feet and 8 inches tall. The box was made from 2-inch thick oak planks and filled with soil ("argile" in the original French, a 1619 manuscript).

Bilge Pump
Roman bronze bomb (3rd century, Huelva)

In the high Middle Ages there does not seem to be any reference of any kind.

In pre-modern times there are any:


 * In 1460, Miquel de Gualbes, from Barcelona, ​​commissioned the Mataró's adze master, Luis Pou, among other things: ".. two beautiful round shafts for two horns, that are beautiful, long and grux, to the sanity of the master finger. . . " .  The "two shafts" characterize the suction-impeller type pump.
 * In an inventory of the shipyards of Barcelona from 1467 it can be read: "a sgotar horn".
 * Some verses from the poem Luigi Pulci "Il morgante maggiore" 1487 speak of how: "la tromba aggottava".
 * In 1460, Girolamo Cardano describes one.

Barcelona bombards warehouse
As documented in the Chronicle of San Juan de la Peña (in 1359), in the middle of the 14th century the Catalan galleys (those of the other nations took a little longer), began to arm themselves with bombards on board, the fact was so important and secret that the commitres took them out of a warehouse in Barcelona, ​​forced to sign a document in which they said that they would not give them to any foreign nation under pain of death if they did: "... the artillery that they took out as rented in the large warehouse of bombards, in the so-called General Store in Barcelona ..  "  They generally carried a central bay bombard plus some pieces of caliber.lower to port and starboard. The power of these bombers, especially the lateral ones, was limited because the recoil from the shots shook the ship.

Barcelona shipyards
New interior view of the wall, mausoleum and lateral nave (2013)

The shipyards of Barcelona, where galleys were built until the end of the seventeenth century can be considered a great productive complex of the Medieval Era and the Modern Age, a true great modern factory: where hundreds of men worked, with their various activities, supported by the corresponding guilds, from their neighborhood inside the wall. The galleys were built "in series", anticipating the forms of the modern assembly line. Barcelona's productive capacity was impressive for the time: in 1571, at the imminence of the Battle of Lepanto, fifty ships were launched ready to go to Italy and Greece.

In the battle of Lepanto, the Catalans (among others) experimented with the best results the galleys made in Barcelona. They were larger and more stable galleys that could embark batteries of large caliber guns and fire in all directions, on the other hand, it was impossible to maneuver the galleys with the oars, so that for this they had to be towed by two smaller galleys.

Royal Shipbuilding Orders
Shipyards with Customs preventing the launching of ships towards the sea.


 * 1527 Campaign against Barbarossa, from the secret Venice-England archives released to the public:

"'.. Orders Have Been Given by the Emperor for the construction of 60 galleys at Barcelona, Genoa, and elsewhere. The Emperor Enters the Cortes, Summoned for grants of money, Which is very unusual ...'"


 * 1568. The Royal Gallery of Joan of Austria was built with melis wood from Tortosa.

For this, after his election in 1568, on the fifteenth of January, the Duke of Francavila, and Prince of Melito, who resides for Viceroy in Catalonia, in Barcelona, ​​was ordered to build this gallery of the best wood that was found. In these parts, because it is the pine of Catalonia, the best firewood than in Assia, Africa, and Europe is found outside the East Indies, thus because it is lighter than oak: as for being stronger than ordinary pine, inasmuch as the ornament of the stern was made in Barcelona ...

Description of the Royal Galley.


 * 1571 Campaign of the battle of Lepanto, from the archives of the Requesens found by P.Bosch (IHS):

"'...... the four galleys of which the two are already stranded instead of the ones that were left in Carthagena and then the other two that are armed again although in this shipyard there are infinite missing rigs of those that would be necessary and the factory of the new royal galley and other things is not as far ahead as I thought of everything. send remediate and eight thousand ducats that the treasurer Melchor Herrera havia of send it will either need to ship these galleys v ansi'm trying the viceroy pay some money for the subsidy estavan here .. ' .'"


 * 1585. Frederic Despalau, major drassaner of the Barcelona Shipyards.

On May 22, 1585, I returned to Sa Magestat, ab les persones reals, anar a la drassana per a veure to launch some galleries in sea, the captain who was to be from Spain and two galleries who had to sail to the Indies, who May se n'havien fetes així, but they were of two cutlery and 20 bancs, and it's said aprés feren bons prova for those mars ... Because in all the regions of the kingdom and a greater comfort per a fer galeres than in Catalonia, For the great it appeared that and à de fusta, ferro, canyem and you open and antenes and rems, that tot ho produced the terra amb molta abundance ...

Cavallers i ciutadans a la Catalunya del Cinc-cents. Antoni Simón i Tarrés. Page 125.


 * 1589. Campaign for the defense of Portugal, the secret archives Venice-England made known to the public:

"'.. In Cataloniahe has ordered ten galleons of six hundred tons each, lateen rigged, so as to sail better to wind; they are to be ready by March. For this purpose fifty thousand crowns have been sent to that district. The Catalans, who are entrusted with the order, declare that the time allowed is too short for the importance of the work; and even if all the wood were ready — and it is all to cut yet — it would be a hard task to complete the order in Such a space of time .. '"

Panorama
View of Barcelona by Wyngaerde from 1563, with some Catalan galleys sailing, and with four that have just been launched before the shipyards (made possible before building the Customs),one of them still has not put the trees on.

Dead reckogning on board the Catalan galleys
Reversible Sandglass with a four-column "hanging" support With the Atlantic navigations of the time of the discoveries -apart from the compass- the tables, the astrolabe and the rod of Jacob or the quadrant were needed, but it must be said that during these navigations -like the Mediterranean navigations- the distance navigated was calculated by esteem,and, it is not possible the "navigation by appreciation" without an instrument to measure the time.

Marine Sandglass
For more than 500 years (from 1300 to 1800) the instrument for measuring time at sea was "the Ampoule of Hours".In Catalonia there are references of its manufacture since the middle of the fourteenth century made of Catalan transparent glass according to the formulas of the alchemist Guillem Sedacer, using as a melt the soda obtained by burning the barrella (its ashes dissolved in water and strained with a sieve have been the basis of the "laundry" to wash clothes since the Neolithic). The barrella grows on the Catalan coast from Orihuela to Montpellier and the Italian glassmaking manuals (La Sedacina and Arte Vetraria) say: "bisogna comprare la soda di Spagna".​​

In an extensive inventory of the things owned by Charles V of France that were in his possession at the time of his death on September 16, 1380.There is an article cited as "heures de naviguer" from the king's study to his castle of Saint Germain en Laye, which is described as follows:​​

This "orloge de mer" or "heures de naviguer" was sent to him, as a gift, when he was still only a prince (being, therefore, before 1356 when he took his father's place in prison), by John the Hunter, through his aunt Yolanda of Aragon,when John asked him for a manuscript by Joan de Mandeville,"to be translated into the Aragonese language". This point is capital to know the language of the original, since it does not tell him "to translate it into the Catalan language" which was the most important because it was his own -implying that he did not need any translation- on the other hand, if he had had in Catalonia a copy in Catalan language he would not have asked for that of his aunt, ergo the manuscript of Yolanda de Aragón was in Catalan.​

The most interesting of this reference from Charles V of France,is that an Ampoule of hours is defined as "ung grant orloge de mero" ("a great sea clock"), this together with the fact that the first explanation of its use in the sea appears in"the twelfth of the Crestià"(work of M.Llauradó on Francesc Eiximenis) and that it was given as a gift by his aunt Yolanda of Aragon,suggests that, in this period, the importance of an hourglass was commonly related to its use at sea and its demand for manufacture may have originated from the navigation needs of the Crown of Aragon, a maritime power of the moment in the Mediterranean.​​​ Twelfth of the Crestià (Valencia-1484)


 * Francesc Eiximenis in the Twelfth of the Crestià spoke of naval warfare and the discipline and order that must be observed on ships. As for the measure of time he wrote the following:​

La dotzena és quel alguatzir de cascuna galea faça observar les guaytes acostumades de nits e de dies. E si lo nauxer és diligent deu bé guardar les hores en sterna e daquell qui les guarda per cosia. Per guisa que sapìen lo temps qui passa quan és en quan van o quan tornen atràs e així de les altres circumstàncies.

Dotzé del Crestià; cap CCCXXXVI


 * In French galleys no reference has been found until the French manuscript Stolonomie of the years 1547-1550, where it says that each galley has to carry: "... Quatres ampoulletes à sablon pour mespartir les gardes à heures...". A phrase very similar to the Catalan of Eiximenis.​

The two obligatory "cards"
From Capmany, a number of authors have repeated that the Catalan galleys had to carry two marine charts (portolanas charts) on board, following the ordinacions of Bernat de cabrera of 1354.

In fact the original text says: "Item, governments supplied with needles and maps and mild", which should be updated in: "... item, rudders provided with pins, hinges and cams (levers = arjaus or reeds)...". Finger in another way: the ordinacions of Bernat de Cabrera do not speak of portolanas letters. The one that they do seem to indicate is that the Catalan rudders of the galleys of the time were already codaste rudders.​

Fame of the Catalan galleys
Tunisia Campaign The modern generic designation "galleys of the king of Aragon" is inaccurate and little descriptive of medieval reality. Until Ferdinand the Catholic,the galleys of the Crown of Aragon were Catalan, Valencian or Mallorcan. They were often owned by local institutions(Generalitat de Catalunya,municipalities, etc...). Sometimes they were privately owned. They were put at the service of the king, but this was not the owner. During a fairly long time the fame of the Catalan galleys was recognized by many.


 * Benedetto Cotrugli.​

Galea vogia III hommini per bancho ogi, et have XXVIII et XXVIIII banchi. Le fuste vogano dui remi per bancho, et queste sonno de più qualitate de longeçe, ad beneplacitum XII, XVI, XX, XXIIII etc... Et realmente quisto modo de galee ando aptissimamente la nation Catallana et sondo aptissimi allo governo de quelle, perché le altre nationi armano solamente alli bisogni, et li Catalani al continuo fando lo misterio, et ciascheduno ne sa in parte et li Catallani in totum.

De navigatione. Benedetto Cotrugli.


 * Martí de Viciana.​

And so we find that, in galleys, the Catalans have done more good things than any other nastions, where the saying turns out: "That if in galley something good is done, the captain will be Catalan".

Martí de Viciana: Third book of the Chronicle of the inclita and crowned city of Valencia.

Merchant galleys[edit code · edit]
Similar to Venetian merchant galleys, there are several documented cases of Catalan merchant galleys.


 * 1427. Merchant galley in England.​
 * 1429. Merchant galley made of Narbonne.​

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Merchant galleys
Similar to Venetian merchant galleys, there are several documented cases of Catalan merchant galleys.


 * 1427. Merchant galley in England.
 * 1429. Merchant galley made of Narbonne.

Chronology of the various stages and eras

 * Pisano-Catalan crusade
 * 1120. Ramón Berenguer III

... ut habeat illi viginti galeas et de gorabs so many id possit alchaid mitere ducentos cauallos inter christianos et sarracenos et passet illum ad maioricas ...

Historical origins of Catalonia. Josep Balari i Jovany. Page 657.


 * Pedro the Ceremonious and Bernat II de Cabrera
 * Ordinations on what is made of the sea
 * Features of the galleys of the time

NOTE 1: A bench on the left side (starboard) was suppressed by the stove.


 * Caspe's commitment. The Generalitat determines to build 3 trosselleres galleys ("trocelleres" in the original; made of pieces or pieces of scrapped galleys) of 30 banks.​​
 * Alfonso the Magnanimous
 * 1420. Set sail a stole of 26 galleys and 6 galleys.​
 * 1432. 26 galleys and 9 fat ships.
 * 1435. Defeat of the Battle of Ponça.
 * Catalan Civil War.​
 * Ferdinand the Catholic initiated what some have called "political persecution" of Catalan shipbuilding.​Previously the galleys (of war) were built by the Generalitat or private characters "with royal permission" investing their own money. From Ferdinand the Catholic, the money passes to the crown and the king orders the construction of galleys, allocating a very small part of the taxes collected to shipbuilding. The result is known: virtual destruction of the Catalan naval industry, loss of artisans and, in a few years, Spanish need for shipyards and foreign products with an exorbitant increase in prices.​​

These galleys were disarmed by order of the Catholic Monarchs Don Fernando and Doña Isabel and persuasion of friars who entrusted them with their consciences because they had galleys, saying that God did not have more than one hell for everyone, and that they wanted to have many because each galley was a hell. So much was the obedience that the Catalans had to their kings, that although they had war with old enemies ginoveses, and although they did and feared the damage that later here they have been followed by this, they then fulfilled the commandment; and so good was the advice of those friars, that it has been the cause of how many wars and robberies have done cosarios in these kingdoms ...

Choronica of the very named Omiche and Haradin Barbarossas. Francisco López de Gómara


 * In 1505, Ferdinand the Catholic commissioned the construction of 9 galleys to the shipyards of Barcelona. In the preserved correspondence the king speaks of "his" shipyards.​


 * 1529, 1535. Carlos V.​


 * 1585. Frederic Despalau, drassaner major of the Shipyards of Barcelona.​

Campaigns
The"Way of the Spaniards",with its main and secondary variants, went from Barcelona and Naples to Brussels, via Genoa-Milàn. The most famous campaigns where these ships fought, in both took part several hundred galleys fueron_


 * The campaign of Lepanto,the 1571
 * The campaign of the Invincible Navy in 1588. Although the history books do not recognize Catalan participation, the secret Venice-England archives released to the public say otherwise:

"'. The Englishman (Drake), apart from the burning of the Catalan ships, on board of which fifty thousand crowns were lost, captured a ship belonging to Don Pedro de Valdez, with four hundred and fifty Spaniards on board, and a large amount of field artillery that had been used as ballast.'​"Other important campaigns:


 * Mediterranean campaign of Alfonso the Magnanimous 1420-1423 All the troops of Alfonso the Magnanimous ) embarked the galleys in Barcelona.


 * Campaign of Granada with the siege of Malaga,in 1492,- "the royal was left without gunpowder and the king sent two galleys to Valencia and Barcelona for it" (Cura de los palacios)
 * Wars of Italy- All the troops of Ferdinand the Catholic (as they had done those of his uncle Alfonso the Magnanimous) embarked on the galleys in Barcelona.
 * Tunisia campaign 1535 All troops (as well as Charles V and his cohort)embarked on the galleys at Barcelona.

In the following wars the Spanish thirds (as well as Charles V and his cohort)went in Catalan galleys from Barcelona to Genoa and the Italian thirds from Naples to Genoa,there they took the Way of the Spaniards to their destination


 * War of Esmalcalda 1546-1547
 * War of Flanders 1548-1568

Chronology of battles
Detail of the Tavola Strozzi. Ships returning to Naples after the Battle of Ischia (1465).​​​​


 * Battle of Nicotera 1282
 * Battle of Malta 1283
 * Battle of the Golf of Naples 1284
 * Naval Battle of Sant Feliu de Guíxols 1285
 * Naval Battle of Formigues 1285
 * Battle of the Counts 1287
 * Battle of Cape Orlando 1299
 * Battle of Gagliano 1300
 * Naval Battle of Cagliari 1324
 * Naval Battle of the Bosphorus 1352
 * Naval Battle of Zonklon 1352
 * Naval Battle of Puerto del Conde 1353
 * Naval Battle of Barcelona (1359)
 * Naval Battle of Bône 1360
 * Siege of Boniface 1420
 * Battle of Foç Pisana 1421
 * Sack of Marseille 1423
 * Siege of Calvi 1429
 * Naval Battle of Ponza (1435)
 * Battle of Ischia 1465 (conspiracy of the Barons)
 * Siege of Kefalonia 1500
 * Mazalquivir Day 1506
 * Conquest of Oran 1509
 * Siege of Bejaïa (1514)
 * Battle of Formentera (1529)
 * Day of Tunisia 1535
 * Battle of Preveza 1538
 * Battle of Girolata 1540
 * Battle of Alboran Island 1540
 * Day of Algiers 1541
 * Siege of Nice (1543)
 * Battle of Los Gelves (1560)
 * Siege of Malta (1565)
 * Battle of Terceira Island 1582
 * Battle of Lepanto​​​

Panorama
The 'Invincible' Armada, with Catalan galleys sailing off Cornwall. There are at least two Catalan flags hoisted on two Navy ships, one of them on the galleys in the center of the painting. (They must not be confused with that of Isabel I observing from the coast, which is that of the Stuarts)