AGER AND PORTOLÁ
The valley and the village of Ager, is an area of great historic importance. Located between the mountain ranges of Montroig and Montsec d’Ares, and boxed in between the slopes of the rivers Noguera Palleresa and Noguera Ribagorzana. Its geographical contours are similar to the lands of the barony of Castellnou de Montsec. For a long time its access routes were very difficult, which kept the valley isolated at the edge of the pre-Pyrenean ranges.
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Despite being a valley of dry-land cultivation, it is rich and very fertile, because the nearby mountains provide a certain dampness and a temperate climate which favors traditional crops and plantings.
There are numerous archaeological sites and sections of the Roman roads that crossed the valley. Same outstanding Arabic remains are also preseved.
After its conquest in 1050 by Arnau Mir de Tost and its isolated position, allowed to found the Abbey of Saint Peter, depending directly on the Holy Father in Rome and without any Episcopal jurisdiction over it. For centuries these special ecclesiastical privileges, always respected by the Catalan counts and the monarchs, led to the valley steering clear of the many conflicts of expansion and dominion.
The Abbot granted rights and prebends over its lands and villages to the local nobles after economic agreements that freed the Abbey from problems and produced very high income.
The exquisite collegiate church, jewel of XIth century Romanesque and the monastery of Abbots and clerics of renown, was maintained for centuries before falling into progressive discredit and disrepair. Of that splendor remain impressive architectural ruins and abundant examples of decoration and murals distributed in the Diocesan Museum of Lérida, Vic, and in Boston city, in the U.S.A..
The Portolá family, on establishing itself on the plain of Lérida, obtained certain rights in some parts of the Valley of Ager valley, where it also bought a house in which it lived. Ager was the link-town which the Portolás maintained between Castellnou and Arties, before settling definitively in Balaguer.
The noble Gaspar de Portolá y Pont, left in Ager his second son Nicolás and so started a Portolá branch with abundant clerical and military offspring.
The noble Gaspar de Portolá y Pont, left in Ager his second son Nicolás and so started a Portolá branch with abundant clerical and military offspring.
The power derived from the many properties the family had acquired, was increased by the jurisdictional and privilege rights over villages and estates, the nominations of mayors, constables, judges and beneficiaries of certain churches, in which they naturally installed friends and family members.
For years, Ager was the backbone of the economic power of the Portolá family, as it was the reference point for the productive livestock businesses run by Don Nicolás.
The Valley of Ager is today a beautiful spot which will undoubtedly develop considerably because of its privileged situation and the qualities of its climate.
It has a permanent colony of families who have established their country homes there. It is an ideal zone for hang-gliding and site of Spanish and international competitions.