The institutional celebration of the 744th Anniversary of the Carta Pobla de Finestrat is preceded by several conferences on this historical document. The first two, which will be held on 6 and 7 May, are aimed at students from public schools in Finestrat, and will be given by the Culture technician and director of the Museum of Finestrat, José Ramón Garcí­a GandÃía. On Friday, May 10, at 7:30 p.m., the professor of Medieval History at the University of Alicante, José Vicente Cabezuelo, will give the third lecture in the Museu de Finestrat, with the title "Bernat de Sarrià  and the Territorial Formation of the Marina Baixa".

The Carta Pobla de Finestrat, whose institutional events are held in the Plaça del Poble this Saturday, May 10, is the document that reflects the change of political and economic power made by King Pedro III. This settlement chart provides a lot of data that makes it possible to better understand the characteristics of today's society. It can be said that it is one more step in the historical evolution that all peoples are experiencing. When the Distributor of Goods of the Kingdom of Valencia, Jacobo Llinares, transferred the lands of the town to the feudal lord Ibáñez de Oriola, the inhabitants of this small municipality did not notice too many changes in their lives; they simply stopped paying tribute to the Islamic Regime and from that moment on began to be accountable to the Christian treasury.

However, despite the similarities between the two regimes, there are differences that will allow peoples to experience different destinies. To understand the entrepreneurial character of the inhabitants of a territory, it is sometimes necessary to penetrate the historical roots of their own culture. The Kingdom of Aragon, composed of present-day Aragon, Catalonia and the Valencian Community, was not governed by the same laws as the rest of Spain and feudal Europe. When the change took place, that is, when the Carta Pobla was granted 743 years ago, a new distribution of the land was established, by which each person belonged to six yugadas, this being a measure of the surface comparable to what two oxen can plough in a day.

Unlike what happened in other places that were governed by the classical feudal system, in which the land and the inhabitants, who were serfs, belonged to the feudal lord, in the Kingdom of Valencia, the lands and the people were separated, so their relationship was reduced to the peasants paying their own money. Sir, the twelve pieces of gold were taxed, which corresponded to twelve shillings. This payment was made on Easter Day, on which the feast of L'Ereta was celebrated, a festival that the inhabitants of Finestrat have managed to preserve to this day.

This difference, which the Kingdom of Aragon maintained with its Andalusian, Extremaduran or Castilian neighbours, was of enormous importance because it allowed the emergence of the middle classes. Once the lord was paid the 12 salaries, the leftover money could sometimes be saved, and over time, they were able to acquire land or become traders. This small nuance, introduced into the tax system by King James I, turned these areas of Spain into more dynamic and wealthy places compared to other territories, which still need more support to develop.