The present project aims to contribute to the analysis of the medieval notary in the Western Mediterranean societies and to the study of his activity, focusing on the urban area of the Crown of Aragon. A wide chronological frame is necessary to fully analyse the evolution of this institution from its beginnings in the 13th century up to its definitive establishment in the 15th century.

Comparative studies are promoted to carry out an in-depth analysis of the relations that are formed between the notary of the Crown of Aragon and the notary that we find in other regions of the area of influence of Roman law. Specifically, attention is focused on the territories of the Iberian and Italian Peninsula, and the islands of Majorca, Sardinia and Sicily.

In this chronological and territorial framework, the project is structured around four main points: writing, institutions, society and economy, with the aim of developing analyses from different perspectives. Therefore, it will include studies about the graphic culture and the practices of writing, among which the circulation of notarial documents and literature, and its conservation, always focusing on the urban environment. In the institutional aspect, we want to deepen the study of notarial activity within some organizations of the time by analyzing both notarial practice and documentation produced by institutions such as the municipality, the diocese, the confraternities and the hospitals. In this sense it is also intended to study the professional mobility of notaries and their role as intermediaries in society and in medieval economic life, arbitrators and guarantors of the public faith and, sometimes, creators of memory and identity of cities.