Valls

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Valls is a Catalan city in the province of Tarragona in the northeast of Spain. It is the main town of Comarca Alt Camp.

Geographical location
The city is located about 20 kilometres northwest of Tarragona. about 80 km west of Barcelona on the river Francolí at about 215 meters altitude.

Sub-locations
Fontscaldes (~150 inhabitants) - Masmolets (~50 E.) - Picamoixons (~500 E.) - Valls (~23,000 E.)

History
Valls was already in the 11. The story has only been mentioned since the beginning of the 12th century. This century is documented in the archives. First the settlement grew around the church and later towards the castle built in 1130 by Archbishop Oleguer. The rule was shared by the king and the archbishop of Tarragona. The town was from the beginning a member of the “comuna del Camp”, a kind of community of interests of the villages of Camp de Tarragona, which existed until 1715. Already in 1210 Pere I of Catalonia (King Peter II of Aragon) donated the still existing weekly market on Wednesday.

Eleonore of Aragon, Mistress of Valls
After the murder of Peter I of Cyprus, his widow, Eleonore of Aragon, returned a cousin of Count Pere III. of Catalonia and King of Aragon in 1382 back to Catalonia. The king gave her rights over his share of the city.

The Archbishop's palace, which Eleonore moved into, was then transformed into a ruling court with numerous servants and minions. In particular, the Majordomus Bonanato and the Count of Prades, brother of Eleonore, who often stayed in the city, were a nuisance for the population. Already the unsuccessful refusal of the minions to pay the taxes due in Valls on the import of wine led to a revolt of the population with fatalities on both sides.

After the death of the king, his son and successor Joan I sold his rights to the archbishop in 1391, who thus became sole master. The disputes between the population and the ex-lady continued, however. Because of an insult to the citizens, they invaded the palace again and killed Bonanato in front of Eleonore. Horrified, she fled to her brother's dominion, to Gratallops near Falset. She never entered the city again.

Joan II In 1464, he used the city as a base in his struggle against the Generalitat.

Valls in the War of the Spanish Succession

In the War of the Spanish Succession, Valls stood on the side of the Habsburg Charles VI, as Charles III. Designate King of Spain. He awarded Valls the title of Imperial City in 1709 in gratitude for his loyalty. But when his allies left him, Karl had to renounce the Spanish crown. In order to secure the trade routes and fairs of the city from the attacks of scattered supporters of the defeated Habsburgs, the then mayor Pere Anton Veciana (1682–1736) founded the Mossos d’Esquadra in 1721, the still existing civil police force