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The castle of Vilademàger, in whose area is also the church of Sant Pere, is in the municipality of La Llacuna, region of Anoia.
It is located at the top of a cliff, on one of the rocky spurs of the Llacuna mountain range, occupying a plateau about 145 meters long surrounded by cliffs at a maximum elevation of 749 meters.
It dominates the population of La Llacuna, which is one of the largest municipalities in the region and borders the regions of Alt Penedès, with Sant Joan de Mediona, to the east, Font-rubí, to the southeast, and Torrelles de Foix and Pontons to the south, with the Alt Camp with Querol, in the southwest and, within the Anoia, it faces the terms of Orpí and Santa Maria de Miralles, in the north.
It includes the valley of the riera de la Llacuna, an open furrow in the interior of the Prelittoral Cordillera, drained by torrents that originate the Bitlles river and, to the south, rise the sierras de los Escavellats, de Ancosa, de la Llacuna and de Puigfred with the summits of Puig Castellar (942 m) and Puig de Solanes (914 m).
The most primitive area of ??the complex, where it was the object of archaeological interventions in recent years, is located in the southernmost sector of the plateau. The castral complex is located on the northern slope of the mountain range, from where you can see part of the mountain ranges that surround the Òdena and Montserrat Basin.
Visually it is connected with other contemporary castles and watchtowers, such as the castle of Miralles, that of Sant Jaume de Queralt (Bellprat), and also with that of Aguiló; all of them heading northwest following the path from Panadella passing through Santa Coloma de Queralt.
This pass surrounded by these castles was already known since ancient times as a communication route from the Santa Coloma area to the Penedès, a very active route also at the livestock level, since it is part of one of the routes that cross the Principality from the Pyrenees to the coast.
Regarding interventions in the primitive area of ??the castle and in the remains of the main tower, apart from the cleaning of part of the demolition and vegetation carried out during the work in the eighties.
Between the years 1973-1976 and 1986-1989, the Cataloging and Conservation of Monuments Service of the Barcelona Provincial Council, currently the Local Architectural Heritage Service of the same Provincial Council (SPAL), carried out various conditioning and restoration interventions on the complex.
These works served to improve the perimeter security systems with the placement of protective railings around the cliffs, the cleaning of the interior of the keep or master tower and the restoration of the church.
Likewise, some of the buildings attached to it were demolished, the remains of the cemetery walls and part of the old manor or rectory house that it supported, as well as part of the perimeter wall and a storm in the Tramuntana area in which it was located. attached this construction.
The castle is referenced in several well-known ancient publications, where a historical approach had already been made based on medieval documentation. It is necessary to place the construction of the castle in the context of the county conquest in the 10th century.
In Catalonia, the first castles are documented from the 9th century onwards, especially in the area of ??Pallars and Ribagorça and later in the advance of the border from Cerdanya and Urgell in the context of the conquest that Guifré el Pilós promoted) .
Starting in the 10th century, the expansion led by the counts of Barcelona began beyond the Llobregat and Cardener rivers, a conquest that led to the establishment of an original castral network, made up of dozens of termenat castles, (territorial district centered on a castle). , in which the holder exercised a certain jurisdiction; in the Catalan Countries it was equivalent to a barony) that will be established in the western regions of the counties of Barcelona and Manresa.
It is in these fortifications held by the aristocracy and by the institutions close to the county power that the first Castilian feudal holdings appear.
The people who manage them, usually called Castilians due to the documentation of the 11th century, are the representatives of their allodial or feudal owners who hold them by right of conquest or transaction and belong, in any case, to the families that own them and who They are considered fully feudal.
From the second half of the 10th century, this model of military organization financed by obtaining ecclesiastical income was progressively established in all county borders.
In the case of the Vilademàger castle, this appears documented in few sources in the 10th century. It is mentioned for the first time in the year 987 (fortress named after Uilla de Maier), where it is mentioned as one of the confrontations (Indicación de las inheritances, with which he faces an inheritance) in the donation that Count Borrell II refers to the church of Sant Pere de Vic of some land located in the castle of Miralles.
A little later, the year 996 appears as one of the boundaries of the castles of Montagut, Querol and Pinyana, in the sale document that Sendred de Gurb refers to Hug de Cervelló. From the 11th century, the texts that refer to the castle are scarce. Thus in several documents of the Monastery of San Lorenzo del Munt on Terrassa, seat of which the priory of Santa Maria located in La Llacuna depended, from the beginning of the 11th century, we find the Uilla de Maier fort mentioned.
Throughout this century the castle remained in the possession of the count of Barcelona. Thus, in 1022 the countess Ermesenda and her son, Berenguer Ramon, infeuded the castle to Bernat Sendred de Gurb-Queralt, who later, between the years 1039 and 1049, swore allegiance to the counts Ramon Berenguer and his wife Isabel as Castilian of Vilademàger. This castle (in the Middle Ages this is what was called the one who had the government and jurisdiction of a castle and a portion of attached property or castle, in immediate possession, although without any right over the useful domain, in the name of the lord who gave them he had trusted, sometimes for life, but usually temporary or accidental. He could not put subcastlán without the consent of his lord.
From the 14th century, the Castilians began to be replaced by mayors, wardens and castle captains), later, it passed to Bernat’s son, Oliver, as demonstrated by the act of vassalage carried out by him to the counts Ramon Berenguer and his wife Almodis.
A few years later, in 1066, Guillem Bernat, brother of Oliver, reiterates the oath of vassalage made by the Gurb-Queralt family to the counts of Barcelona. Finally, in 1079, this fortification passed to the Cervelló family, which was related to the Gurb-Queralt.
In the 12th century we also know several documents in which the castle is mentioned. In this sense, in 1154 Ramon Berenguer IV donated the lands of l’Espluga de Ancosa, a plain to the west of the La Llacuna valley, to the monastery of Santa Maria de Valldaura (Cerdanyola del Vallès) where they possibly began construction and They decided to move a part of the community.
Two years later, Guillermo Alemán de Cervelló, castlan of the castle of Vilademàger, and his wife Saurina also donate land from the Espluga de Ancosa in Santa Maria de Valldaura. Likewise, in 1161 the bishop of Barcelona Guillem de Torroja grants the exemption from the payment of the tithe that the monastery of Santa María de Valldaura had to satisfy in the church of Sant Pere de Vilademàger, for the lands and possessions that the monks had in Ancosa and in other places in the term of this parish. It is in this document that there is an explicit reference to the church of Sant Pere de Màger, although it is supposed to be an earlier construction.
But in 1168 the community received the site of Santes Creus, where the monastery moved definitively, and Ancosa was left with only a large domain and a monastic farm. The Vilademàger family owned several places, among them the exempt territory that formed the block of Vilademàger, which was given in 1162 by Pere Bernat de Vilademàger in the order of the Hospital.
Finally, at the will in 1193, Guerau Alemany bequeathed the castle of Vilademàger to his son, Guillem de Cervelló. From this step to Guerau de Cervelló and then to his daughter Felipa.
In the twelfth century the castle passed to the Cervelló branch originated by Berenguer, son of Ramon Alemany de Cervelló and in 1255 it was owned by Guillem de Cervelló, who was succeeded by Guerau de Cervelló.
In the middle of the 14th century, the castle was part of the barony of La Llacuna, which included the town that bears this number, the castle and terminus of Vilademàger and that of Pontils.
In the 15th century the barons of La Llacuna-Vilademàger had their social and economic boom with the marriage of Berenguer Arnau III, who married Juana de Castre-Pinós, baroness of Castre y de Peralta. Thus, his son Berenguer Arnau IV reunited the barony of La Llacuna-Vilademáger and his mother’s possessions, becoming viscount of Isla and baron of Castre and Peralta.
Finally, already in modern times, the property passed from the Cervelló family to the Montcadas, with the marriage between Margarita, regent of the Cervelló family and heir to the barony of Llacuna-Vilademàger, and Francesc de Montcada, Count of Osona and Viscount of Cabrera.
Later, in the 18th century, with the marriage of Teresa de Moncada and Luis Antonio Fernández de Córdoba, these possessions passed into the hands of the Dukes of Medinaceli and, finally, in 1831, the possession of the barony of La Llacuna was shared by the Marquis of Aitona and Moja.
Although the castral enclosure had been losing prominence in relation to the town of La Llacuna, the church of San Pedro Mayor continued to serve as a parish for the inhabitants of the nucleus, until the construction of the current church of Santa María de La Llacuna in 1734. in the place occupied by the old hospital and chapel dedicated to Saint Mary of Nazareth.
However, the castle church continues to be one of the nerve centers within the traditions of the term, especially until the eighties of the last century, when the parish priest and, with him, the rectory disappeared.
Apart from the religious uses of the location, due to the existence of the church, the castle grounds had another leading moment in the 18th century.
Thanks to recent research carried out by local fans following a stanza of the joys of the Holy Christ, we have been able to learn that in July 1719 there was a small battle between supporters and detractors of the Bourbon occupation after the War of Succession at the site of the Vilademàger Castle; In this battle, which ended on July 28, 1719, the Bourbon faction emerged victorious against more than a hundred migueletes commanded under the orbit of characters such as Carrasclet, Bernic or Tome de Pollina.
It is a castle made up of a tower and a fairly large enclosure that extends to its western side. In addition to this original enclosure, further to the west, there is the closure of a second enclosure of walls, which also included the church and perhaps the original town, which was later moved to the plain, next to the priory of Santa María de La Llacuna.
The tower, located at the eastern and most unprotected end of the early enclosure, on the lower level, about 6 m high, has an almost square plan inside (3.4 m by 3.8 m); On the outside, the west side is straight and finished with two edges, to the north and south, while the three remaining sides are rounded. The thickness of the wall is about 160 cm or, at some point, perhaps more. Above this low compartment, there were at least two more floors, separated by about 4 m. The total exterior height could therefore be about 16 m.
Above the first floor, the plan on the inside, and perhaps on the outside, appears to have been circular, although it is difficult to be sure, as only a small part has been preserved. Almost the entire tower is made with medium-sized ashlars (for example, 10 cm high by 25 cm long), poorly worked and joined with whitish lime mortar.
However, on the eastern side, the one that faced the outside, below, the ashlars are very large; For example, they measure about 40 cm by 180 cm. In principle, we must date this building to the 10th century.
On the south side of the tower, a wall oriented from south to north, very thick (2 m) and 4.8 m long, was added. Perhaps the southern end, made with well-squared ashlars, is later. However, outside this wall, we see several rows of stones placed forming an opus spicatum, which suggests that it may not have been much later than the tower.
To close the enclosure that extended on the eastern side of the tower there was a wall that ran from east to west, with a thickness of 130 cm, which now extends for about 5 m; It continues, perhaps less thickly, for about 30 m or more. At the end of these 30 m, there is a closing wall about 70 cm thick, which delimits a space with a width of about 17 m.
On the south side, next to the cliff, there is also an 80 cm thick wall. It is very possible, therefore, that there was a room adjacent to the tower and beyond it an enclosure of about 500 m2, in which there could have been other constructions, already before the 10th century; now, for the most part, only bare rock is visible. In small terms, the organization of this space is quite reminiscent of that of the Gélida castle.
Further to the east is the church and there was surely a group of homes, some of which survived to contemporary times, which before the latest restoration works were much more visible than now. This western sector remains closed, especially to the west, by a new wall, which was defended in the southwest corner by a semicircular tower.
Further north we see some walls, which belong to this exterior fence of the castle, made with ashlars that tend to form courses, which contrast with the other walls, made with stone blocks only roughed and arranged irregularly. In this place the access door to the interior of the enclosure opens, finished with a semicircular arch made with voussoirs. This western sector must belong to a much later time, which must be dated to the limit of the period that has now been studied.
Likewise, some of the buildings attached to it were demolished, the remains of the cemetery walls and part of the old manor or rectory house that it supported, as well as part of the perimeter wall and a turret in the Tramuntana area in which it was located. attached this construction.
In recent years, the excavation of several Catalan castles has allowed us to begin to understand what these fortifications were like in their initial moments, in the first period of the count, during the 10th and 11th centuries. The use of an appropriate methodology for these early medieval records has contributed decisively, with the application of radiocarbon dating, bioarchaeological studies and a better knowledge of ceramic materials.
In the case of the sovereign enclosure of the Vilademàger castle, the 2016 intervention already provided some very interesting data while its evolution between the 10th and 15th centuries has been studied in more detail. And this both at a morphological level, by documenting a good set of structures, and at the level of archaeological material, by recovering good contexts that cover the entire Middle Ages and that can serve as references throughout this area of ??l’Anoia.
The castle presents an evolution very similar to other castles in Catalonia. In the 12th centuries it had a fairly simple physiognomy, where the main tower with a circular plan stands out, a wall that would close the access from the west, a closing wall with opus spicatum (the opus spicatum or fishbone is a type of construction used in the times of Ancient Rome and the Middle Ages) that would protect the castle from the east and an ovoid-shaped cistern.
In the 13th century, some structures were depreciated and several changes were planned in the appearance of the castle, which would operate throughout the 14th century and part of the 15th century.
The circular tower would be remodeled at this time to present a square shape in its northern part, while a new closing wall was built opposite the previous one and the wall attached to the tower to the west was reinforced. Finally, at a late point in the 15th century the castle was depreciated, probably in the context of the Catalan Civil War.
It is a church of Romanesque origin largely renovated during the 14th, 15th and 17th centuries, which, however, took advantage of some elements of the previous building, which are now included and subordinated within the current complex, which, broadly speaking, It is a late Gothic style building with the intrusion of some later additions.
Where the Romanesque work is most evident is on the west wall, since the old Romanesque façade with a cruciform window projecting at the top is still visible on the facing.
The apparatus of this fragment, inserted within the west wall of the church, is made from medium-sized ashlars that are only roughed, but quite well faceted, which are arranged in horizontal courses.
The entrance door opens at the end of the Tramuntana wall, framed by a facing slightly advanced with respect to the façade, which is delimited above by a molded cornice, while being flanked by two columns crowned with smooth truncated-pyramidal capitals.
The door, on the contrary, is composed of two semicircular arches in degradation, whose interior is much narrower than the exterior, which, for its part, is backed by an archivolt decorated, like the bases of the jambs, with some complex moldings, which are returned to the fascia hugging the uprights on both sides, the last saw of which shows a sculpted element like a pearl or button.
On the left side of this portal you can see the walled vestiges of a double-threaded semicircular arch, corresponding to a door, undoubtedly older, since the current one does not fit with the Romanesque work described, but due to its characteristics It is related to the late Romanesque portals and, in these, it is even consistent with later dating, within the context of the Gothic renovation.
On the other hand, on the south wall, together with a double-flow window finished with a semicircular arch made with pumice stone voussoirs, appear the vestiges of another door covered with a single semicircular arch, which is now walled. .
Part of the apparatus where the remains of these portals are located (north and south walls) is consistent with the fragment of wall included in the west façade and which, as we have indicated, belongs to the primitive construction, which seems to show that These fragments are the residual parts of the old Romanesque temple, now mutilated and subordinated to the new construction.
Given the lack of structures and the migration of elements belonging to the Romanesque building, it is difficult to ascertain the dating which, consequently, can be established with reservations towards the beginning of the 12th century, without completely ruling out a slightly earlier date corresponding to the end of the 12th century. XI. The building is well preserved, even more so after having been restored between 1981-87 by the Architectural Heritage Service of the Barcelona Provincial Council.
This church had housed a carving of Christ, known by the Majesty of Vilademàger, which was unfortunately destroyed in the civil war of 1936.
Inside the church there is a baptismal pike with an external diameter of 110 cm, an internal diameter of 87 cm and a height of 85 cm. Its structure is truncated conical at the top and quadrangular at the bottom, a change that is achieved by a strip that runs along the entire perimeter of the piece. The lower part ends with a strip similar to the central one, although quadrangular.
The peculiarity of this piece is not only given by its shape, but also by the fact that it still preserves part of the original polychrome.
During the years 1989 and 1990, the Department of Conservation and Restoration of the School of Arts and Crafts of the Diputación cleaned and consolidated this sink while restoring a fragment of mural painting (14th century) that is preserved in the church.
The baptismal pike presents, in addition to traces of pigment (basically brown-red and black), some elements sculpted in high relief. On the one hand, under the central strip, each of the faces shows four elements like shields, with the camper absolutely smooth. On the other hand, the chamfered angles of the quadrangular part of the spike clearly show a large shield with its head cut off at the bottom, three stems crowned by a kind of lanceolate-shaped flowers or fruits (perhaps it identifies some lineage?).
Below these angular elements four oval shapes, defined as small pine cones, head the lower strip on the edges.
Dating this type of pieces is certainly difficult, on the one hand, due to the lack of studies in this field and, on the other hand, because often, as pieces of liturgical furniture, their function took precedence over their aesthetics.
In this case, furthermore, neither the shape nor the decoration follow the typology most common during the Middle Ages (completely truncated-conical structure, decoration of arches, crosses, stars, rope motif, segments, etc.).
The Sant Pere de Màger pike seems to follow medieval guidelines, but the truth is that it is a local and particular piece made without much more interest than the function for which it was designed.
It is known that in the church of Sant Pere de Màger there had been a carving of Christ Majesty that was burned in 1936. From the year 1396 there is news of an altar dedicated to Saint Mary, and from 1404 of an altar dedicated to San Salvador (Christ the Savior ) and another to San Miguel.
There is only one known document from 1583 that mentions the existence of a chapel dedicated to Saint Christ. This carving, of which no graphic reproduction is known, is believed to have been in the Romanesque style, according to Antoni Dalmau y Ribalta, “in 1936 the church was burned, which led to the loss of a famous Saint Christ or Romanesque majesty.” .
It is known that she was publicly venerated in the Aplec del Sant Crist, which was celebrated on the Monday after the Ascension. The Joys of this festival tell a story according to which the image freed the castle from a Saracen attack.
These are the only news that are known today about this size, perhaps later if photographs prior to 1936 are discovered, a careful study of the image will be possible.
