Medieval Seaports of the Atlantic Coast of Spain

Scholarly interest in Spain's Atlantic seaports during the Middle Ages has grown steadily since the 1970s. Although this phenomenon has various causes, two are doubtless the modern-day concern about the current and future prospects for urban areas and a belief that a fuller knowledge of the past can improve our approach to contemporary issues. That being said, it should come as no surprise that the historiography has also been influenced by societal conditions in Spain during the 1950s and 1960s. Thus, the warping of the history of the Kingdom of Castile for political purposes during the Franco regime hampered our understanding of the region's past, including its medieval history. 2 Happily, the end of the Franco era led to a flowering of intellectual inquiry, which in the case of port history was sparked by the publication of collections of documents preserved in municipal archives. New work based in part on this material during the late 1970s and early 1980s began a redefinition of medieval Castilian history in general and port history in particular. The publication of additional archival material in the early 1990s promoted a new outburst of scholarly inquiry distinguished by new approaches to urban history. 3

Some aspects began to be studied for the first time, such as kinship; political systems; municipal government; violence and social unrest; the city as a centre of power; the relationship between city councils and other institutions; the social distribution of power; and the social organization of urban space. Interest in urban matters was accompanied by studies of the relationship between the urban and rural worlds and a recognition of the existence of a "dual economy." This reflected work elsewhere, especially in France and Italy; in the Spanish context, the earliest foci were the Basque Country and Galicia.
"Las formas del poblamiento en el Sefiorio de Vizcaya durante la Edad Media (Bilbao, 1978); Saez, et al. (eds.), La ciudad hispanica, I; Elfuero de San Sebastian y su epoca (San Sebastian, 1981); EI fuero de Santander y su epoca (Santander, 1989); and Juan Bar6 Pazos (ed.), EI Fuero de Laredo en el Octavo Centenario de su Concesion (Santander, 2001). 5Examples include Beatriz Arizaga Bolumburu, Urbanistica medieval (Guipuzcoa) (San Sebastian, 1990); Arizaga Bolumburu, "Ellitoral vasco peninsular en la epoca preurbana y el nacimiento de la villa de San Sebastian," Lurralde, XIII (1990), 227-312; Dolores Barral Rivadulla, La Corufia en los siglos XlII al XV (La Coruna, 1997); Soledad Tena Garcia, La sociedad urbana en la Guipuzcoa costera medieval: San Sebastian, Renteria y Fuenterrabia   (San Sebastian, 1997); Jose A. Ach6n Insausti, A voz de concejo. Linaje y corporacion urbana en la constitucion de la Provincia de Guipuzcoa: Los Bane; y Mondragon, siglos XlII-XVI (San Sebastian, 1995); and Inaki Bazan Diaz, Delincuencia y criminalidad en el Pais Vasco en la transicion de la Edad Media a la Moderna (Vitoria, 1995). For work on Cantabria, see Jesus A. Sol6rzano Telechea and Beatriz Arizaga Bolumburu (eds.), EI fenomeno ur-The historiography of the Atlantic ports of medieval Spain has been dominated by urban and maritime history, with an emphasis in the latter on mercantile activities. This has been distinguished by an analysis of individual cities; only Jean Gautier Dalche has considered the broader urban world of Atlantic Spain." The focus has been on four main topics: town planning, the granting of charters and privileges, commercial relations and territorial conflict. Yet some important topics remain unexplored, notably the emergence of urban networks within northern Atlantic Spain and the still broader question of the relationship between this region and the rest of Western Europe.

Seaports on the Northern Coast of Atlantic Spain
Historical studies of urban networks traditionally have focused on the grouping of towns and cities into regional hierarchies and their role on the national stage. At its most basic level, a network comprises three elements: people, communities and institutions. How a network functions is determined by the ties that unite these elements and by their effectiveness.' Such concepts can be applied to medieval as well as modem studies. Here, we will also consider such factors as geography, communications, infrastructure, government policies and economic relationships. Above all, a network implies the existence of relationships based on the flow of people, ideas, innovations and goods. Accordingly, we will first examine the relationships among the towns." bano medieval entre el Cantabrico y el Duero (Santander, 2002); and Arizaga Bolumburn and Solorzano Telechea (eds.), Ciudades y villas portuarias del Atlaniico en la Edad Media: Najera, Encuentros Intemacionales del Medievo 2004(Logrofio, 2005.
6Jean Gautier-Dalche, Historia Urbana de Leon y Castilla (siglos IX al XlII) (Madrid, 1979 the interplay between geo-morphology and politics exercised a fundamental role in determining the transformation of a port into a seaport. 12 Castile's Atlantic seaports were not isolated enclaves but comprised an urban network whose relationships with the cities of the interior evolved over time. After the conquest of Seville in 1248, the seaports were a fulcrum for relations between the northern and southern sections of the Iberian Peninsula. They began to playa more important role as centres of commercial exchange and the redistribution of goods. But their consolidation into a network was a lengthy process heavily influenced by the monarchy. In short, economics, power, and space were interconnected.13 The seaports of Atlantic Spain were born in the second half of the twelfth century, although most existed as small portii or monasteria since at least the mid-tenth century." Recent archaeological work suggests that some had even earlier beginnings than indicated by printed records." Until the twelfth century, royal authority was weak due to the deep-rooted power of feudal lords, particularly in the monastic and episcopal domains. To expand Solorzano Telechea (eds.), Ciudades y villas portuarias, 57-90; and Denis Menjot, "La ville frontiere: un modele original d'urbanisation?" in Les villes frontiere Moyen Age-Epoque Modeme (Strasbourg, 1996), 6. On the creation of networks, see Tom Scott and Bob Scribner, "Urban Networks," in Scribner (ed.), Germany: A New Social and Economic History. Vol. I: 1450-1630(London, 1996, 113-143. On the question of space in the creation of urbanity, see Martha C. Howell, "The Spaces of Late Medieval Urbanity," in Marc Boone and Peter Stabel (eds.), Shaping Urban Identity in Late Medieval Europe (Leuven, 2000), 3-24.
15Jose A. Gutierrez Gonzalez, "Sobre la transicion del sistema antiguo al feudal: una revision arqueologica del Altomedievo hispano," Territorio, sociedady poder, No. 1 (2006), 53-78;Excavaciones Arqueologicos en Asturias, 1995-1998(Oviedo, 1999; Jose L. Solaun Bustinza, La ceramica medieval en el Pais Vasco (siglos VIII-XIII): sistematizacion, evolucion y distribucion de la produccion (Vitoria, 2005); and Belen Bengoetxea Rementeria and Juan A. Quiros Castillo, "Las Villas vascas antes de las villas: La perspectiva arqueologica obre la genesis de las villas en el Pais Vasco," El Espacio Urbano en la Europa Medieval. Najera. Encuentros intemacionales del Medievo 2005 (Logrofio, 2006), 147-165. their influence along the Atlantic coast, the kings of Castile endeavoured to create new towns by granting charters and economic privileges designed to promote exports while protecting domestic trade. In 1255, for example, Alfonso X gave Corunna an absolute monopoly over the Galician salt trade and export tax revenues from Santander and Castro Urdiales. The kings pursued a strategy of control on the Cantabrian coast for good reason: it was the natural border with France and was therefore certain to play a role in the exchange of goods. Indeed, the seaports of the Galician and Cantabrian coasts were pivotal in trade with France, England and Northern Europe in the late Middle Ages. 16 Creating an Urban Network on the Castilian Coast: Kings and Merchants Urban development on Spain's Atlantic coast was initiated in the twelfth century to achieve royal goals in the area. I? Seaports emerged relatively late compared with other parts of Europe and did not really start until after the death of Alfonso VII in 1157 and the former Kingdom of Castile and Leon was split in two. Admittedly, Alfonso VII created royal seaports in Galicia and Asturias using royal charters, but it was not until the reigns of Fernando II and Alfonso IX that we begin to see intensive urban development in the region.
In 1268, Alfonso X began a campaign to establish royal authority, starting with the establishment of the port of Llanes. Next, he issued charters to Gijon (1270), Luarca, Roboredo, Villaviciosa, Ribadesella, Candas and Luanco. These efforts aroused predictable opposition from the nobility and church officials, and in some cases the kings had to abandon their fledgling ports to these deeply entrenched interests. Pontevedra, for example, was founded by Fernando II in 1169 but was yielded to the bishop of St. James in 1180. A classic example of conflict between the competing jurisdictions occurred in the estuary of Ribadeo, which formed a natural border between the bishoprics of Oviedo and Mondonedo. The port of Ribadeo dated from 1182, but in 1282 Alfonso X founded Roboredo on the opposite shore, initiating an intense rivalry between the ports. Matters were further complicated after the bishop of Oviedo founded a third port town, Castropol, in the same area. The royal town eventually vanished.20 Between 1157 and 1200, under the necessity of finding outlets for the produce of the interior, Alfonso VIII launched an ambitious program to create seaports in the central part of the Cantabrian coast. Three seaports resulted 18See the articles by Elisa Ferreira Priegue, Ignacio Ruiz de la Peiia, Jesus Sol6rzano, Jose R. Diaz de Durana and Lorena Fernandez in Sol6rzano Telechea and Arizaga Bolumburu (eds.), El fenomeno urbano medieval. See also Jose I. Ruiz de la Pella, "EI nacimiento de las villas costeras cantabro-atlanticas y su instrumentaci6n juridica (siglos XII-XIII)," in Bar6 Pazos (ed.), El Fuero de Laredo,156. 19Garcia Oro, Galicia, II; Barra! Rivadulla, La Cotuna; Ruiz de la Pella, "Poblamientos," 27-60; and Jose Armas Castro, Pontevedra en los siglos XlI a XV: Configuracion y desarrollo de una villa marinera en la Galicia medieval (Pontevedra, 1992).
2°Ruiz de la Pella, Las "polas" asturianas; and Beatriz Arizaga Bolumburu, "Conflictividad por la jurisdicci6n maritima y fluvial en el Cantabrico en la Edad Media," in Arizaga Bolumburu and Sol6rzano Telechea (eds.), Ciudades y villas portuarias, 17-56. from this initiative: Castro Urdiales (1163), Santander (1187) and Laredo (1200); a fourth, San Vicente de la Barquera, was added in 1210. 21 With the recovery of the Basque coast in 1200, Alfonso VIII granted charters for Fuenterrabia (1203), Guetaria (1209) (1327).23 By means of charters that imitated those issued by the monarchs, the Biscayan lords gave the promoters of these seaports economic privileges such as duty-free markets and free trade." The seaports were material and logistical bases for commercial and personal connections not only with each other but also with their regional hinterlands and international markets. As the kings pursued a policy of consolidation, merchants sought to influence consumption and production -and to make greater profits -by expanding trade. In Castile, as elsewhere, the resulting domestic and international trade routes were the framework that grouped the ports into networks." From the twelfth century, the seaports began to forge commercial and fishing links with the main ports of Atlantic Europe, especially La Rochelle and those in southern England.26 The fruits of seaport development were distributed unevenly, chiefly because ports with closer ties to royalty received preferential treatment. For example, during the thirteenth century the kings bestowed trading privileges on 21Jesus A. Sol6rzano Telechea, Santander en la Edad Media: patrimonio, parentesco y poder (Santander, 2002); and Sol6rzano Telechea, "La fundaci6n y pro-moci6n de las 'villas nuevas' en litoral Atlantico del Norte peninsular durante el reinado de Alfonso X," in El mundo urbano en la Castilla del siglo XlII: 750 Aniversario de la Fundaci6n de Ciudad Real (Ciudad Real, 2006) Santander because of the influence of its abbots, who had family connections to the royal family and members of the COurt. 27 Ultimately, with the exception of Aviles, this weakened commercial development along the Asturian shore while fostering it in the Cantabrian and Basque ports, whose merchants had strong ties with counterparts elsewhere in Castile, especially in Burgos. 28 There were, in effect, two maritime regions: the eastern seaports from Santander to Fuenterrabfa, and the western ones from San Vicente de la Barquera to Bayona. The favoured status of the eastern ports was further strengthened by their service to the Castilian crown; they played a key role in the conquest of Seville and in the Hundred Years' War, when the kings of Castile were allied with France, enabling the French to use Cantabrian galleys to devastating effect in raids on coastal Gascony. 29 By the end of the fourteenth century, royal ships were built in Santander's dockyards (Atarazanasi." The Muslim geographer al-Idrisi's description of the Bay of Biscay as "the sea of the English" strongly suggests English contact with coastal Castile by the early twelfth century Y It is certain that by the early thirteenth century merchants from Castile's eastern seaports were beginning to develop commercial links with the main ports of Atlantic Europe. Like the development of the 27Arizaga Bolumburu, "Las actividades economicas," 229-231; and Sol6rzano Telechea, Santander en la Edad Media. 28Luis Suarez Fernandez, Navegacion y comercio en el Golfo de Vizcaya (Madrid, 1957); Betsabe Caunedo del Potro, Mercaderes castellanos en el Golfo de Vizcaya, 1475-1492(Madrid, 1983; Jose I. Ruiz de la Pella, El comercio ovetense en la Edad Media (Oviedo, 1990); Juan Una Riu, "Oviedo y Aviles en el comercio atlantico de la Edad Media," Boletfn del1nstituto de Estudios asturianos, No. 62 (1964), 199-250 seaports, the evolution of international contacts was profoundly influenced by royal politics. From the mid-thirteenth century to the mid-fourteenth, the seaports availed equally of French and English markets; thanks to the Hundred Years' War, they also made inroads into the Flemish market." From 1350 to 1475, the kings of Castile opted to support their French counterparts, although significantly this did not stop merchants in the Castilian seaports from trading with English-controlled ports in Gascony, even in wartime. 33 Trade with France, England and Flanders was well established by the thirteenth century and with Ireland by the fourteenth. In 1224, eight ships laden with goods arrived at the port of La Rochelle." In 1237, the merchants of San Sebastian received safe conduct to trade with the English Cinque Ports. Commercial links are better documented after Leonore of Castile's marriage with Edward I and the Anglo-Castilian agreement of 1254. In 1260, Castilian merchants resided in Southampton; in 1385, forty-two percent of ships arriving in the port of London belonged to Castilian merchants. By the end of the fifteenth century, a total of 480 Spanish merchants were living in Bristol, London, Southampton and Sandwich. England's main export to Castile was cloth, followed by grain, tin, lead, feathers, fish, gravestones, sculptural altarpieces, jewellery and books; from Castile came wine, spices, olive oil, leathers, silk, horses, dyes and wool oil. Most of these goods were carried by Castilian sailors in the service of merchants belonging to Castile's eastern seaports and the interior cities of Vitoria and Burgos." Spanish vessels also carried English goods to France, Gascony, Flanders and even Italy. 36 32Although Spanish-Irish trade was conducted in the fourteenth century, more regular exchanges occurred after the mid-fifteenth century. See Timothy O'Neill, Merchantsand Mariners in MedievalIreland (Dublin, 1987) For intra-regional trade, Galicia sent grain and fish to the eastern Castilian seaports and imported salt from Cantabria and Asturias. The Basque Country shipped wool and iron to the seaports of Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia. Cantabria in tum sent manufactured iron products and wood to western Castilian seaports." In 1296, the eastern seaports formed a guild to protect and develop trade and for mutual aid and assistance. Called the Brotherhood of the Seafarers of Castile (La Hermandad de la Marisma de Castilla), it comprised seven seaports: Santander, Laredo, Castro Urdiales, Bermeo, Guetaria, San Sebastian and Fuenterrabfa, and a town in the hinterland (Vitoria);" The absence of a similar body in the western seaports speaks to their general weakness, which stemmed from a lack of royal favour, failure to establish complementary markets and competition from the Brotherhood.

Consolidation of the Network: Town Councils and Port Infrastructure
In the statutes (Las Partidas) of Alfonso X, "port" was defined as "a locked place in the mountains, or in the coast, where the ships can load or unload goods" and that provided shelter. 39 As this defmition suggests, the material reality of medieval ports could be breathtakingly simple; indeed, even the most highly developed ports lacked much in the way of infrastructure until the se-Dyes, master of that ship, Peter de la Vygne and some men of Portesmuth took the ship with the wines and other goods in her at sea after the proclamation of the truce between the king and the king of 39Jose Sanchez Arcilla (00.), Las Siete Partidas (Madrid, 2004). cond half of the fifteenth century. 40 Galician seaports were blessed with excellent natural shelter, thus reducing pressure to develop infrastructure. The typical port contained a beach or sandbank offering easy access for small craft and a nearby estuary with water sufficiently deep for ships to sit safely at anchor. Bridges were one of the most common and valuable forms of infrastructure in Galician ports. Cranes were sometimes positioned to facilitate cargo handling, and were used by workers to carry goods across them on foot. 41 Galician ports featured stone wharves (peiraos), including one in the walled town of Pontevedra, which boasted a suburb (Moureira) inhabited by fishermen." Ships that could not come alongside the wharves stayed in the estuary. Pontevedra had a commercial wharf, the Peirao da Ponte, located inside the town, and a fishermen's wharf in Moureira, which handled only fish and fishery products. The Peirao da Ponte was built in 1339 because the town needed port facilities to avoid the dangers of low tide for ships. In 1491, the town council proposed a major overhaul, but it was not carried out until 1569. 43 Until then, we know that the wharf was of free-stone construction. Curiously enough, local shipbuilding posed a unique challenge for wharf maintenance. Municipal ordinances reveal that the carpenters sometimes removed stones from the bridge to use as weights when submerging wood for warping. Afterward, they dumped the stones into the estuary. 44 Financial responsibility for the construction and maintenance of wharves was widely paid for by alms, legacies, residents, merchants and municipal councils. "Archive General de Simancas (AGS), Registro General del Sello, XIV, 258;and 1497, 2. Other infrastructure in Galicia, including shipyards and storage facilities, were scarce, and Corunna was the only port with a significant shipbuilding capacity. In 1505, Diego of Salamanca wrote that he had constructed "a very good and big ship of 700 tons in the port of Corunna, which has all the instruments, both for war and for peace. "46 The remaining Galician seaports had only small shipyards. The seaports also had warehouses for the long-term storage of fish, com and salt. As one of the most fundamental aids to navigation, lighthouses were also an important piece of port infrastructure. Although lighthouses are rarely mentioned in the documentary record, evidence of their existence abounds in the toponymy of coastal areas. 47 Except for the seaports of Aviles and Gij6n, Asturias sorely lacked infrastructure until almost the sixteenth century, and most harbours consisted of little more than a pier. Ships anchored in deeper water, and small boats conveyed goods to the shore. Wharf construction seems to have begun only in the sixteenth century when the volume of trade increased. Only Aviles possessed infrastructure comparable to the Cantabrian and Basque towns. It boasted a bridge, called Los Pi/ares, and a small wharf which, however, could not accommodate large ships. When silting forced the closure of the wharf in 1488, the Catholic kings permitted the town council to charge a new tax on goods." Close to Aviles was Gijon, whose infrastructure was documented first in 1488. 49 The remaining Asturian ports did not begin to build infrastructure until the early sixteenth century; even then, the results were disappointing. In 1511, Ribadesella decided to build a wharf, but otherwise there are no records of further improvements until mid-century. 50 In 1550, a tax was introduced to pay for construction of a new wharf in Gijon, but the work was not finished until 1595. Similar projects took place in Lastres and Llanes. 51 46Garcia Oro, Galicia, 220. 51Ignacio Adaro Ruiz, EI puerto de Gijon y otros puertos asturianos (Gij6n, 1976); and Jose I. Ruiz de la Pefia, Las polas asturianas en la edad media (Oviedo, 1981).
On the Cantabrian coast, natural conditions limited the potential for seaports, with only four bays able to accommodate shipping: Castro Urdiales, Laredo, Santander and San Vicente of Barquera.? Even these were fairly open, but in all except Laredo, small hills offered reasonable protection from northwesterly winds. Only the most basic port facilities -small, timber wharves and not much else -existed before the mid-fifteenth century, and these were prone to be swept away during storms. The most substantial wharf in medieval times was at Santander. Located inside the town walls, the wharf had an area of roughly 4000 square metres. It was near the mouth of the Becedo River, which divided the town into two parts. On each side of the harbour entrance (Boquer6n) was a tower, and a chain between them restricted access to the urban centre. Construction of a dockyard on the shores of the Becedo estuary in the late fourteenth century forced small boats out of the area, in part to maintain a clear path for the ships 52Jesus A. Sol6rzano Telechea, MEl fen6meno urbano medieval en Cantabria, M in Sol6rzano Telechea and Arizaga Bolumburu (eds.), El fenomeno urbano medieval, 241-307; and Sol6rzano Telechea, MLa fundacion," 315-328. that were constructed there and to allow for the construction of a new wharf. Called the Coopers' Dock (Cay de los Toneleros), it appeared for the first time in 1428. Smaller wharves of timber construction were located outside the main port area; meanwhile, fishermen brought their boats ashore on a beach on the outskirts of town. In the southern section of the port lay the "Dock of the Vessels," first noted in 1434. Access to this dock, which was close to the castle and town walls, was through a gate. As in many other ports, larger ships could not draw near and thus had to anchor in the bay, relying on lighters to convey goods. All aspects of the port's infrastructure were in poor shape by 1504, but the town council did not consider replacement facilities until forty years later. When it did, it initially proposed a wharf 650 metres long, but in the end the wharf was only 250 metres.53 An engraving by George Braun shows the results of the major upgrade begun in 1561 (see figure 2).
The Dockyard (Atarazanas) was not only a fundamental part of Santander's port infrastructure but also the only one on the entire Cantabrian coast. First documented in 1391, it was destroyed by fire in 1425, then rebuilt. It, however, was short-lived, and according to municipal records it collapsed in 1504. The port's facilities included separate buildings for storing wheat and salt, and, from the start of the fifteenth century, the Bastida, an all-purpose store close to the town wall. In 1453, the council levied an annual tax on the Merchant Society of Burgos to cover the cost of repairs and maintenance.54 Santander's strength derived from three main sources: natural features, including its large bay, sandy beach and estuary; a central location on the coast; and easy access to a productive hinterland. In addition, its municipal leadership jealously guarded the town's interests. In the early fifteenth century, when the inland community of Santillana, controlled by the Mendoza family, wanted a coastal outlet, its town council established a port in San Martin de La Arena, just west of Santander; Santander's council defeated the threat by erecting its own facilities there. 55 This was part of a process by which Santander created a network of regional satellite ports in the fifteenth century.
In Laredo, east of Santander, construction of port facilities began in 1448, chiefly to mitigate the impact of tidal flooding during storms. Progress 53FernAndez Gonzalez, Archivo de la catedral de Santander,docs. 158 and 212;and Jesus A. Sol6rzano Telechea and Lorena Fernandez Gonzalez, Conflictos jurisdiccionales entre la villa de Santander y el Marquesado de Santillana en el siglo XV(Santander, 1996), 157. 54Sol6rzano Telechea, Santander en la Edad Media, 94;Sol6rzano Telechea, Patrimonio documental de Santander, doc. 53;and Jesus A. Sol6rzano Telechea, Coleccion diplomdtica del Archivo Municipal de Santander: Documentacion medieval (Santander, 1995), doc. 255. 55Sol6rzano Telechea and Fernandez Gonzalez, Confliaos, 30-78. was slow, and the work was suspended in 1460. That same year, however, Henry IV gave the council permission to erect a new wharf, but this project was interrupted in 1474 because of the plague and political unrest following his death. Determined to capture a share of the growing trade between Burgos and other Castilian cities and France, England and Flanders, the town council returned to the task in 1489. Five years later, stormy seas washed away the town's walls and flooded many houses, but the port facilities survived until 1523. Because the harbour was built primarily for the protection of the town it was not able to receive ships of great tonnage. In 1557, a traveller described the facilities as "walls in the sea for fortification of the land." When completed, Laredo's port infrastructure included storage facilities, notably the iron warehouse (alfonf del hierro), whose existence was first documented in 1398. The council was able to control the important traffic in iron by issuing licenses to ships using the port. 56 Like Laredo, Castro Urdiales was highly exposed; in the absence of port facilities, its fishermen and sailors had to moor their craft in open water, not far from the town square. The town council initiated port construction in 1508, explaining to Queen Juana I that "the town was destroyed annually by the sea." Construction was delayed because engineers miscalculated the cost, but the works lasted until 1528. Also like Laredo, Castro Urdiales's port facilities included an iron warehouse.57 San Vicente de la Barquera had an anchorage and wharf in the later Middle Ages. The former was situated close to the castle and was accessible from the northern gate. The customs office was located inside the castle. An old stone structure on the outskirts of town was the only wharf before 1500. In the 1620s, Pedro de Teixera recorded that the town had only a small wharf. 58 In Biscay there were seven seaports: Bilbao, Portugalete, Plencia, Bermeo, Lequeitio, Ondarroa and Motrico, of which only four possessed any real port infrastructure. The most important in the later Middle Ages was Bilbao, founded by Diego LOpez de Haro V in 1300 in the Nervi6n estuary. Although a secure port, access was difficult. The first mention of wharves in Bilbao was in 1402, the same year in which we learn of San Anton's Bridge. During the first half of the fifteenth century the town had a small harbour, which was expensive to maintain because of flooding. In 1470, Enrique IV gave the council permission to charge a tax on the transport of goods, with revenues going to various repairs stemming from that year's flooding. Similarly, Isabel I gave Bilbao the privilege to receive royal revenues from wine and fish in order to acquire funds "to repair the wharves, walls and bridges." Between 1540 and 1542, the town council built a new wharf, but after the catastrophic floods of 1553, work did not resume until 1560. 59 Bilbao's emergence as the most important port in the urban Atlantic network of northern Castile during the second half of the fifteenth century hindered the development of other Basque seaports. Bermeo began to build a wharf in 1489, for which its town council sought money from the Catholic kings. Instead of granting their request, the kings ordered the Royal Governor, Antonio Cornejo, to prepare detailed estimates and to explain why a wharf was necessary. Between 1500 and 1510, a wharf was fmally constructed, only to be destroyed by a storm in 1517. In Portugalete, a wharf was built between 1502 and 1514; the town also had an unknown number of dockyards. Lequeitio was the fourth and final town in Biscay with a port infrastructure. In 1463, the town council used tax revenues to fund new work, which was quite expensive. In 1468, the council used tax revenues to pay Ochoa Sanchez de Mendiola for getting on with the works.60 In the province of Guipuzcoa, adjacent to France, there were eight seaports (Deva, Zumaya, Guetaria, Zarauz, Orio, Fuenterrabfa, Renteria and San Sebastian), but only five of them had any infrastructure. The most important was San Sebastian, which, despite a good bay and impressive natural protection offered by the Island of Santa Clara and Mount Urgull, could not be used by large ships owing to the water's shallow depth. To remedy this, the town council started to build a wharf in 1440, for which they approached the king for funds. In 1463, after Enrique IV gave them money they erected a wharf parallel to Mount Urgull. In 1522, this wharf was extended; according to a source from 1552, it could accommodate more than seventy ships. 61 Located on a peninsula, Guetaria was protected by the Island of San Anton. It did not have a wharf until the late fifteenth century; until then, the main anchorage was off the beach. After the Island of San Anton and Guetaria were linked, this beach disappeared. Construction of a wharf on the Island of San Anton began in 1479 but was not completed until 1541. 62 Motrico had the oldest port infrastructure of any eastern seaport, boasting two small wharves in the mid-thirteenth century. Both were enlarged in the sixteenth century to accommodate bigger ships. 63 Renteria had some port infrastructure close to Oyarzun River. In 1495, the town asked the kings for funds to repair an old wharf. Their request seems to have been granted, for the wharf was fixed two years later. 64

Conclusions
Access to the sea was the dominant factor in the economic development of all of Spain's northern Atlantic seaports. In addition to serving as a food source, the sea created employment for merchants, fishermen, mariners and affiliated tradesmen. In this context, the creation of port infrastructure was an integral part of urban expansion. In 1542, when the Santander town council requested money from the local church, the councillors asserted that the wharf "would 61Lorena Fernandez Gonzalez, "EI fen6meno urbano medieval en el territorio guipuzcoano: aspectos fundamentales sobre su origen y desarrollo," in Solorzano Telechea and Arizaga Bolumburu (eds.), El fenomeno urbano medieval, 110-174; Beatriz Arfzaga Bolumburu and Lorena Fernandez Gonzalez, "San Sebastian-Donosti: Villa portuaria y atlantica en la Edad Media," in Litoral Atlantica. Villas al mar: Ciudades medievales (Santander, 2001) 54-68; and Public Archive of Lequeitio, fondo hist6rico, registro 16, no. 14.
62AGS, Registro General del Sello, volume II, fo1. 63. 63Fernandez Gonzalez, "EI fen6meno urbano medieval," 121. 64AGS, Registro General del Sello,XII,fo1. 167. increase population, enlarging the congregation to pay tithes, directly benefiting the church. ,,65 The urban elites used port infrastructure as an instrument of power. Wharves offered protection from floods, storms and invasions, and this security acted as a further stimulus to economic and demographic growth. For example, port work in Laredo in 1448 was seen as a way both to counter floods and to strengthen the town's defences. In other words, the benefits of port development were numerous and widespread. Thus, applications by municipal govermnents for financial assistance for infrastructure projects typically included wording to the effect that the work would be for the "common good. ,,66 This is not to suggest that self-interest did not playa role; by advancing projects that served the interests of the community at large, councillors ensured that their own power would be maintained.
The geography of Spain's northern Atlantic coast was not especially conducive to the development of port cities and urban networks. Nonetheless, the seaports overcame physical limitations to become part of an urban network. This network embodied a complex web of regional and international connections based on the movement of people and goods and the related exchange of information (communications). Traditionally, historians have assigned excessive importance to the influence of geography and communications on the development of urban networks. In medieval Atlantic Spain, port infrastructure was slower to emerge than in other parts of western Europe; as a consequence, royal support and personal relationships among sailors and merchants exercised a greater role in the creation of networks.
The construction of port infrastructure helped to advance royal aims for the region. In particular, the seaports established the material and logistical bases for commercial ties between Castile and France, England, Ireland, Flanders and northern Europe. Be that as it may, the Basque and Cantabrian town councils were key protagonists in the struggle for port infrastructure. Of the fifty seaports founded between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, the eastern ones stood out in their more extensive development of infrastructure, especially in wharf construction. The pressure to develop infrastructure was greater in the east (Cantabria and the Basque Country), in part because natural conditions were more favourable in the west (from Galicia to the Portuguese border) where the local economies were dominated by fishing. The eastern ports blended fishing with trade, thus necessitating infrastructure, especially docks,  Alicante. Historia Medieval, No. 13 (2000-2002, 203-229.