Castell de Campdorà: A Medieval Territorial Castle in Spain
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Spain
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Crown of Aragon
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page12 sections
History
Castell de Campdorà, also called the Força de Campdorà, is a medieval territorial castle in Spain near Girona, beside the church of Sant Jaume de Campdorà. It stands in a small settlement northeast of Girona, on the elevated part of the valley between the Sant Miquel and Tramont ranges and on the right bank of the Ter River. The surviving building is generally dated to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, while the castle’s recorded history extends back to 1148.
Medieval lordship
Campdorà was a territorial castle, meaning a stronghold linked to jurisdiction and lordship over a defined surrounding area. During the tenth century, seigneurial rights, the powers to govern a territory and collect its revenues, were exercised by the bishop of Girona and by the lords of the castles of Hostoles and Puig-alder. Between 1148 and 1166, the Sitjar family of Girona held Campdorà as a sub-feu, a feudal holding granted by someone who held the land from a higher lord.
Ramon Renal of Girona acquired the castle in 1266. In 1287, he also bought the tithe rights over its territory from Pere de Palafolls. A tithe was a customary payment of one-tenth of agricultural or other income to a religious authority, so this purchase expanded Renal’s control over the resources associated with Campdorà.
From the Sitjar family to the Campmanys
Maria Sitjar sold the castle to Joan Capmany of Girona in 1493. Joan Capmany then obtained a diploma from Ferdinand the Catholic, the king of Aragon and co-ruler of Castile with Isabella I. The diploma transformed the former fortified house into a true principal castle, confirming a new status for the property within the local hierarchy.
The Campmany family’s lordship ended in 1621, when ownership passed to Miquel Colomer of Girona. After two generations, the absence of descendants transferred the property to his niece Marianna Soler, who was married to Francesc de Miquel.
Inheritance and hospital ownership
In 1742, Pere de Miquel, the son of Francesc, died without children. The property passed to his wife, Ermerenciana, who later remarried. Following numerous lawsuits with relatives of her first husband, she left the castle to Girona’s Antic Hospital de Santa Caterina in 1757. The property later passed to Pere Miquel, who bequeathed it to the Hospital de Santa Caterina of Girona.
Campdorà remained connected to changing municipal boundaries as well as to private and institutional ownership. Its territory had been incorporated into the municipality of Celrà in 1846, and Campdorà became part of the municipality of Girona in 1968.
Restoration and heritage status
Joan Baptista Muntada i Macau bought the castle in 1950 with the intention of restoring it. He was a lawyer, poet, former Republican judge, exile, and founder of the Catalan Nationalist Party, and acquired the property a few years after returning from exile. The ceilings had collapsed and the building was in total ruin, but he gradually restored it while respecting its medieval origins. He also enriched its interiors with works of art and restored furniture.
Castell de Campdorà was declared a Cultural Asset of National Interest as a historic monument on 22 April 1949. This is a high-level heritage designation in Catalonia, and the castle is also recorded within Spain’s Bien de Interés Cultural heritage system.
Remains
The surviving complex is a large medieval manor house with a later crenellated annex. Its principal block forms the core of the site, while later additions extend the building and imitate the appearance of a medieval fortification. The construction preserves defensive elements around the enclosure, including arrow slits, narrow openings designed for projecting missiles.
Principal manor house
Square-plan core
The original main building has a square plan, a hipped roof, a ground floor, and two upper floors. A crown of windows runs along the upper part of the structure and may originally have represented defensive merlons, the raised sections of a battlement. The openings are formed in polished stone. Some have ogee arches, whose pointed profiles are made from opposing curves, while others use flat lintels, horizontal stones spanning the openings.
Southeastern tower
A circular-plan tower stands at the southeastern angle of the original enclosure. Arrow slits survive around the entire perimeter of the building, preserving evidence of the defensive character associated with the medieval complex. Remains of the original building probably continue beneath the ground.
Later additions
L-shaped body
A lower L-shaped body was added to the principal square block. This extension forms part of the manor house’s later arrangement and remains physically connected to the original core.
Northern annexes
Several additional bodies were later built on the north side. They imitate medieval fortification and use materials and defensive elements analogous to those of the original building. Their crenellated appearance therefore belongs to a later phase of the complex, while continuing the visual language of the medieval castle.
