Castell d’Eramprunyà: A Medieval Frontier Castle in Spain
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.3
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Spain
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Carolingian
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page11 sections
History
Castell d’Eramprunyà is a 10th-century castle complex in Spain, first documented in 957. Established on the frontier between Al-Andalus, the Muslim-ruled territory covering much of the Iberian Peninsula, and the Carolingian Empire, it became a centre of political, economic, and military control between the Garraf and Llobregat regions.
The Medieval Castle Term
During the medieval period, the castle served as the seat of the Eramprunyà Castle Term, a territorial jurisdiction administered from a castle. Its authority covered Gavà, Begues, Castelldefels, Sant Climent de Llobregat, and Viladecans, together with parts of Sant Boi de Llobregat, Sitges, and Olivella. Later documents indicate that the castle already existed during the time of Sunyer, Count of Barcelona.
The Counts of Barcelona owned Eramprunyà until 1323. After an 11th-century feudal revolt, the lordship was held by the lineage of Mir Geribert and the Sant Martí family. In the 13th century, it returned to the Crown of Aragon.
Transfer, War, and Later Ownership
In 1323, James II of Aragon, known as “the Just,” transferred the castle and its jurisdiction to the banker Pere Marc for 120,000 sous, a medieval monetary unit used in the Crown of Aragon. James II lacked the resources to begin the conquest of Sardinia. Pere Marc belonged to a family associated with both knighthood and poetry, and the transfer placed the castle and its barony under new lordship.
During the Catalan Civil War, a conflict over political authority in Catalonia, troops of the Generalitat, Catalonia’s representative governmental institution, bombarded the castle with large artillery pieces in 1469. The attack caused the castle’s first destruction and left it badly damaged, although different families continued to possess the castle and the Eramprunyà barony.
At the end of the 19th century, the banker Manuel Girona i Agrafel acquired the castle. Girona was also associated with completing the façade of Barcelona Cathedral. The municipality of Gavà acquired the castle complex in 2007. From 2010, successive consolidation and adaptation campaigns secured the remains and prepared the site for public visitation, while documentary and archaeological research broadened understanding of its history. Castell d’Eramprunyà is protected as a nationally significant cultural asset and historic monument in Catalonia, and it is registered as a Spanish cultural-interest property under a designation dating to 1988.
The Chapel of Sant Miquel
The chapel of Sant Miquel d’Eramprunyà is mentioned as the “house” of Saint Michael in the 977 testament of Galí de Santmartí, the count’s vicar at Eramprunyà. The testament was sworn by its executors in 981. The church was recorded as a parish in 1074, and bequests for work on it were made in 1129 and 1141.
By the 14th century, Sant Miquel no longer had a cemetery, and its parish had been transferred to Sant Pere de Gavà. It subsequently became a suffragan church, meaning a subordinate church linked to a principal parish.
Remains
The ruins occupy a mountain summit between cliffs at an overall altitude listed as 438 metres, with views over the Llobregat Delta and part of the Garraf. The complex is arranged in three fortified enclosures at different levels. The upper enclosure lies at 402 metres, the lower enclosure at 392 metres, and the outer enclosure at 319 metres. Together, these levels preserve the remains of the castle-palace, chapel, and defensive wall.
Fortified Enclosures
Upper Enclosure
The upper, or sovereign, enclosure contains the ruins of the Gothic castle-palace. Its surrounding walls were approximately 50 centimetres thick in many sections and were built from small, regularly dressed stone blocks. The entrance was reached by a stone bridge, now replaced for access by a wooden walkway. A projecting defensive structure at the entrance portal has a southern wall 90 centimetres thick.
Lower and Outer Enclosures
The lower enclosure, also called the jussà enclosure, contains the chapel of Sant Miquel d’Eramprunyà. The outer enclosure lies farther down the mountain at 319 metres, where a substantial section of the former defensive wall survives.
Chapel and Associated Remains
Sant Miquel d’Eramprunyà
Sant Miquel is a single-nave church whose masonry preserves several building phases. The inner side walls represent a pre-Romanesque phase. The outer side walls and the springing of the former apse’s barrel vault belong to a Romanesque phase, while the front and rear walls and the modest vaulted roof reflect later Gothic-Renaissance construction. Romanesque architecture used heavy masonry, rounded arches, and barrel vaults.
The Romanesque section, including the apse and presbytery, dates to the first half of the 12th century. The building may incorporate an older southern wall. The nave, choir, and portal are attributed to a Renaissance phase dated to 1509.
Tombs and Inscriptions
Anthropomorphic tombs, cut in roughly human form, are located around the chapel, including beside the building. A rock inscription made in the 14th century by Jaume March I, lord of Eramprunyà, is preserved there. The surroundings also contain a 12th-century inscription and an 18th-century inscription concerning the local militia forces assigned to guard duty at the castle.
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