Deed of Foundation of the Merchants' Guild in Tàrrega

Adorned by an artful miniature of the Virgo Lactans – an archetypal image of the Virgin Mary nursing the baby Jesus – this document is not only one of the earliest examples of the Catalan language, but also attests to the presence of female members in the guild and in the economic life of Tàrrega overall. The Deed of Foundation of the Merchants' Guild in Tàrrega was ratified on April 7th, 1269 during the reign of King James I of Aragon (1208–76), who was the first major patron of vernacular Catalan literature and an important figure in the development of Catalan identity and culture. It is thus both an important written testimony to the development in the use of vernacular in Spain and an early piece of evidence concerning the importance of women for the developing economy of the High Middle Ages.