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The toponym Mediona already appears documented in the year 954 in a donation to Sant Cugat del Vallès of lands and a mill located on the Mediona gorge near the Bitlles river. This fortification, protagonist in this report in Las Fotos de los Lectores de La Vanguardia, was not located in a place with a great panorama, but it was near an important communication route, which connected the Penedès and the Anoia.
Let’s see where the origin of the name Mediona comes from. The Emperor Charlemagne, finding himself in the County of Girona, in the year 778, and seeing himself as owner of the territory from said city to Narbonne, to preserve everything he had conquered, divided Catalonia into nine parts, which he called Counties. He established in each of them and under the authority of the Count, a Viscounty, a Nobility and a Vervesoría. There were, therefore, nine Counts, nine Viscounts, nine Nobles and nine Vervesores ruling Catalonia. One of those nine Vervesorías, which in 805 was confirmed by King Louis, was that of Mediona, after which he gave his name to the castle.
The first mention of the castle of Mediona is from 984, according to a scroll preserved in Vic. Bishop Borrell de Vic entrusted the first castlans (number to those who were called the Castilians).
From 1015 we begin to find enough documentation of the place: that of the farmer Gotmar, who sells properties located at the end of the castle of Mediona, on the Río de Bitlles (1019), or that of Ramon Hug who sells to Guillem Dalmau and his wife Agnès the right to collect census on a land that belonged to his grandparents, located on the border of the castle of Mediona and the parish of Sant Quintí.
The origins of this castle are closely related to the Mediona lineage. Members of this family have been known since the beginning of the 11th century, such as Guifred, who had possessions in Moja, or Guillem de Mediona, to whom the bishop of Vic entrusted the defense and repopulation of the most extreme territories of his bishopric around 1018.
In 1057 he was lord of the castle Ramon de Mediona, son of Guillem, who had as castle Bernat de Mediona, surely his brother. Ramon de Mediona collaborated with Mir Geribert in the fights against the count of Barcelona Ramon Berenguer I.
This lineage owned numerous assets and rights, in other words, as in Lavit or Cabrera d’Anoia. The last famous person of the lineage was Asbert de Mediona, who served Kings Pedro II and James II in various diplomatic affairs between the years 1274 and 1312. Asbert de Mediona had rights in Lavit and Font-Rubí and in 1286 he received from the count – king the barony of Pierola.
In the middle of the 10th century, the castle, integrated into the county of Barcelona, ??was part of the historical development of the area: the first defensive and repopulating impulse given by Abbot Oliba, the tug of war with the county during the time of Mir Geribert and the subsequent projection towards Catalunya Nova and the kingdoms of Mallorca and Valencia.
The architects of these movements since the 11th century were the Castlán family who took the name of the castle, the Mediona. Although in the 13th century the high domain of the castle passed from the Count of Barcelona to the Cabreras and the Templar order, the Mediona remained as castlán, who maintained ownership with the Barberà.
Beyond noble relations, the general process of transformation of castles into production and administrative centers left its mark on its physiognomy. In 1222 Jaume I and Guillem de Mediona established the regulations for the Barcelona levida (royal tax that levied on the entry of goods into the city).
During the 12th century, the eminent lordship of the castle passed to the Cabrera family, although the Mediona family retained the power of the Emperor Charlemagne, being at the diet of Gerona in 778, and seeing himself as owner of the territory from said city to Narbonne, to preserve everything he had conquered. He divided Catalonia into nine parts, which he called Counties, establishing in each of them and under the authority of the Count, a Viscounty, a Nobility and a Vervesoría. Therefore, nine Counts, nine Viscounts, nine Nobles and nine Vervesors were left governing Catalonia.
One of those nine Vervesorías, which in 805 was confirmed by King Luis, was that of Mediona, which was named after a castle located within the Conca de Odena, between Villafranca del Penedés and Igualada, province of Barcelona. Said castle gave its name, in turn, to the town that extended at its feet and over which the Vervesor exercised its jurisdiction, as well as that of San Quintín de Mediola, built within the limits of Vevesoría.
The town of Mediona. It disappeared and the Vervesores moved their residence to San Quintín, which is why the Barony or Vervesoría was named after San Quintín de Mediona.
Carlomagno told the Vervesoría that we talked about Guillém de Mediona, Guillém de Mediona born in Santa Maria d’Oló, Moianès, dying in Argençola, Anoia, 1032 Magnat, son of Sisemund de Oló and grandson of the viscount of Girona Guiniguís Mascaró. Inherited from his father the castles of Oló and Aguilar, and from his uncle Eldemar, that of Clariana. He married Arsenda, and was the father of four children. He was a Levite, and received from Bishop Borrell de Vic the commission to repopulate the Calaf region (1015), and from Bishop Oliba, the castles of Tous and Montbui (1023). He died fighting the Saracens.
It is known by the surname Mediona for having owned this castle, with that of Corbera de Llobregat. He distinguished himself in the reconquest of Catalonia, especially in the battle of the Marca, in which the chief of the Cavalry took the castle of Mediona, which, before the Moors, had belonged to his family; but Charlemagne, when creating the Vervesoría, reserved control of the castle and its terms, so that Guillém de Mediona. and his descendants possessed it.
In 1194 Ponç de Cabrera offered the castle of Mediona as a pledge to King Alfonso the Chaste. In 1226 Viscount Guerau IV ceded the superior domain of the castle to the Order of the Temple, but this retained it for a short time.
In 1242 the castle of Mediona passed from the Cabrera to the Cardona. Thus, in 1261 it is recorded that the viscount of Cardona held the castles of Mediona, Montbui and Castellolí in fiefdom of the count of Barcelona and that for this reason Ramon Folc VI had to give power.
The high jurisdiction of the territory was held by the ducal house of Cardona and its descendants until the abolition of the seigneurial regime in the 19th century. As for the castle, in 1266 it was transferred to Bernat de Barberà, whose family retained it until 1616, when Enric de Barberà, a clergyman, sold it to Joan Ferrer, a merchant from San Pedro de Riudebitlles. The Ferrers owned it until the 19th century.
The 14th century, in the last period of the Late Middle Ages, was a time of general crisis that prepared a change. The demographic decline was added to the collapse of feudalism. A fief was an agreement made between two noble people, one of whom, in a preeminent position (feudal lord or major castellan) received from the other (feudatory lord, vassal or minor castellan) the payment of homage with the corresponding oath of fidelity, in exchange for giving you a real domain. It was a European political crisis, but it was linked to an economic crisis.
The nobles, the feudal lords, the castláneas, feared losing the privileged position they had. A conflicting feud took place at the end of the castle of Mediona. In 1387 there was a judicial process between Sibila, married in the first marriage to the minor castlánea Bernat de Barberà and in the second to the noble Guillem Castelló, a relative of the major castlánea Asbert Barberà, of the castle of Mediona, for the collection of rents that belonged to her from her deceased husband
In some years of the 12th century, part of the lordship of the castle passed to Cabrera, although the Mediona family retained another part. Then he moved to Cardona’s house, in the Barberà family. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the area of ??Mediona Castle continued to be divided among different lords/knights who dominated different fiefs of the area. Guillem de Mediona was called castle of Mediona in the year 1237 by the Viscount of Cabrera. The Barberàs also settled as a castle.
By the line of inheritance, in 1500 it was castlán Pere de Subirats or de Barberà passed in the 19th century to Laureà Pasqual. In 1831 the señoría belonged to the Duke of Cardona and Visconde de Cabrera.
The original point of the castle (datable to the second half of the 10th century) would be the circular tower that sits on the highest spur of the rock, near the southern end of the current complex. It is only 5 m in external diameter, and its stilted base and mixed use of masonry of small rough blocks and opus spicatum are characteristic.
Above the rocky ridge there are sections of wall that must have formed a first enclosure around the tower. It possibly has its origins at the beginning of the 11th century, but various renovations from later phases of the complex can be seen: there are masonry facings, ashlars and even formwork.
Just at the foot of the rock (on its eastern slope) there is a landing with remains of a cistern, silos and other buildings (the rock wall itself has remains of roof beam heads and a water channel) dating back to the first centuries of the castle, since they were amortized by the later constructions.
The fortified complex that integrates the various buildings and defensive perimeters built over the centuries, covering an increasingly larger area. Although the current main access is from the south, along the Can Verdaguer road (which borders the river between San Juan de Mediona and San Quintín de Mediona), in medieval times it was reached from just the opposite side, from a road that It runs along the Mediona stream and separates by going up the hill where the castle is located from the north.
This allows us to better understand the evolution of the castle, which always sought to locate the main stately building in the highest corner and furthest from possible access.
The original point of the castle would be the circular tower that sits on the highest spur of the rock, near the southern end of the current complex. It is only 5 m in external diameter, and its stilted base and mixed use of masonry of small rough blocks and opus spicatum are characteristic.
Above the rocky ridge there are sections of wall that must have formed a first enclosure around the tower. It possibly has its origins at the beginning of the 11th century, but various renovations from later phases of the complex can be seen: there are masonry facings, ashlars and even formwork.
Just at the foot of the rock (on its eastern slope) there is a landing with remains of a cistern, silos and other buildings (the rock wall itself has remains of roof beam heads and a water channel) dating back to the first centuries of the castle, since they were amortized by the later constructions.
In the 12th century, the set of buildings (and, therefore, the walled area) had already extended to the north, since we find the castral church 90 m from the circular tower.
In the late medieval period the enclosure reached its maximum extent and splendor. Some remains of the rammed earth walls of a Gothic building located at the northern end of the enclosure have remained.
However, the large 14th-15th century tower that was built on it is the most notable building of this phase: it has a square floor plan, with very thick walls and three floors that are connected by a spiral staircase. The device is made of ashlar and grouted with mortar, and the openings are finished with characteristic lowered arches.
As we have noted before, some of the wall sections that outline and/or appease the rock crest (presumably those built with ashlars) would belong to these extensions from the 14th-15th century.
The reform of the Church of Santa María also belongs to this phase. The Romanesque nave was raised and covered by a new pointed barrel vault. The original apse was replaced by a new one with a polygonal shape, covered with a ribbed vault. A rectangular building that could correspond to a few blocks was attached perpendicularly to its south side. At the southern end of the enclosure is the later line of wall, with a gate and a square tower that protects it, clearly associated by the device and the types of openings with the main tower.
The end of the Middle Ages also meant the loss of the castle’s defensive usefulness, so some of the buildings began to decay. On the other hand, the most active area throughout the modern age was the church, to which a belfry with two arches, a gallery over the nave, a masoveria and the neoclassical chapel were added already in the 19th century. XVIII. Observations: The complex is accessible, and a guided tour service is available by prior arrangement.
The discovery of the complex had an initial phase during the first half of the 1980s, when members of the Association for Scientific and Cultural Studies of Mediona carried out various surveys and excavated a silo. Between 1986 and 1989, a program of archaeological interventions was carried out directed by a team of archaeologists from the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
In the castle grounds is the church of Santa María. This is surely the primitive chapel of the Mediona castle, documented for the first time in 1308, when it was owned by Gispert de Barberà, castle of the town. It is very likely that it was built in the Romanesque period. It disappeared at the end of the 14th century. In 1371 it is recorded that a license was granted to transfer worship from this chapel to the parish of Santa Maria. The construction could be from the 12th century.
Of Romanesque origin, Santa Maria is a temple with a single nave with a slightly deviated orientation towards the northeast. Access is not axial, but is entered through a large voussoir portal on the south side. This characteristic, typical of the early Romanesque, is partly a necessity imposed by the orography, since the church is wedged between cliffs. It consists of a single nave with a slightly pointed vaulted roof.
In the 14th century, a polygonal apse covered with a ribbed vault was added. We know that there was the altar of Santa María, that of San Vicente (1374) and the altar of San Pedro (1417). Gispert de Barberà founded, on February 29, 1372, a benefice in the church of Mediona and in the altar of Sant Miquel. The Barberà (ladies of the castle of Mediona) had their own, family tomb, in front of the altar of Sant Miquel.
In front of the apse, stairs give access to the heart of the church, supported by an arch that rests on pillars attached to the wall. In the center of the heart there is a window. At the top of the heart rises the belfry with two eyes where the guides that supported the bells can still be seen.
There is a neoclassical style chapel that was added in the 18th century as a sanctuary for the image of the Holy Christ. Above the church there is an upper floor that the priest had built in the 17th century to store the tithes that he received from the residents of Mediona.
Access to the upper floor of the church is through an external staircase, the same one that had been used to access the bell tower. Annexed to the church we find the old rectory.
In its basement there is a room with arches that was originally a stable, supposedly from the Templar period, and which later in the 17th century was a wine cellar.
The baptismal pike of Santa María de Mediona is truncated conical in shape, with the mouth very wide in relation to its base. Inside, in the background, there is a clear square, a rare executive detail in the Penedès pikes. Completely smooth, without decoration.
It was placed on a foot not connected to the pike, but probably from the same period. some documents show it directly on the ground. Of the original height of 70 cm, 34 cm remain. The diameter of the base is 40 cm and the diameter of the mouth measures 70 cm inside and 110 cm outside. The glass has a depth of about 41 cm and the walls are 17.5 cm thick.
It is said that in one of the many raids that these lands suffered by the Muslims, those from Mediona decided to hide the image of the Holy Christ and buried it in a nearby field. The site was long forgotten.
After many years, a peasant digging with his hoe, collided with the old wooden image, and involuntarily hit it once on the leg, hot blood came out of the wound. That prodigious fact spread everywhere. To commemorate it, for more than 270 years, the meeting of Santo Cristo de Mediona has been celebrated on the first Sunday in September.
The survival of the church on the premises made it an involuntary protagonist of the events of the Civil War, since in 1936 it was burned down, although the image of the Holy Christ was saved. The sanctuary was largely restored in 1940 by the Barcelona council.
