CASTELLNOU DE MONTSEC AND PORTOLÁ

 

Gaspar de Portolá y Pont, from the lineage of the Portolás of Arties in the Valle de Aran, was honored by H.M. King Philip IV. In 1682 Charles II conceded him a coat of arms.

That proclamation established that the noble title was hereditary through the masculine line and conveyed privileges, honors, rights and prerogatives.

Gaspar de Portolá used the title "Baron and Lord of Castellnou de Montsec, of Beniure, Estorm, San Esteban de la Sarga, Subveguer de Gotlar, Lord of the castles' territories of Claramunt and Montfalcó in the Valle de Ager valley, and of the boundary of Pradell and Margalef in the Plain of Lérida".

As well as owning the baronial lands, he was the jurisdictional lord of other villages. His privileged position converted him into a person of great prestige.

Even though the heir of the noble family based himself in these years in Balaguer and Ager he constructed in Castellnou house and chapel.

 

 

 

Catellnou and the Portolá's fortified house.
Click for enlargement.

 

For years, the social and economic status gave them huge influence in these lands. They married into the most outstanding families in the country, from Solsona, Barcelona, Gerona and also Madrid. Families in which landowners, military officers and lawyers predominated among them.

They are the golden years of the Portolá family. Thanks to their nobility recognition, they were part of a preeminent Catalan society of which the king made use to keep on the crown projects.

The political circumstances which led the catalan nobility to support the Archiduque of Austria as pretender to the Spanish Crown against King Philip V, the devastating War of Succession that ravaged Catalonia, and the ensuing reprisals against the losers, caused the Portolá family serious harm, for they had defended the Archiduque’s cause, as most of Catalonia’s nobles did.

Their economic situation deteriorated drastically and their importance declined markedly, although their family’s prestige was maintained and even grew it.

Gaspar de Portolá y de Rovira, son of Francisco de Portolá, chose the military career and went into the service of the Crown like many young nobles of that time. This Gaspar was the famous discoverer and Governor of California.

A statue has been put up recently in homage to him and his family who possessed the title of Barons of Castellnou.

 

 

 

For three generations the heirs of the House of Portolá were women., On marrying, their husbands had to accept the entail created by Gaspar de Portolá y Pont. This obliged them to place the surname of their wife before their own, so as to maintain the noble title and privileges of the Portolá family.

Over decades, they lost many of their legal rights and privileges. Lacking financial means, they ended up leaving Balaguer, Castellnou and Ager, to go and live in Figueras and Agullana in the province of Gerona, where they had ties with the family Fontcuberta y Dalmases, which belonged to the House of the Marquesses of Vilallonga.

The last Portolá, in direct line of descent, did not claim the title and their surname disappeared.

Today Castellnou is a quiet and lonely place. In the North of the Montsec range, it forms part of some wide flat areas bordered by the valley of the river Noguera Ribagorzana on one side and of the river Noguera Pallaresa on the other.

The old and fortified Portolá house is going to be recovered as a pleasant place to rest.

[Return to Catalonia's map] [Back to index]