Record Atlas
4 eras · 714–2026 · 3 places

Tortosa, the Ebro delta and the Maestrat coast

Tortosa, Amposta, Vinaròs, Benicarló, Peníscola. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
714–1148 Muslim Tortosa no registers survive

Before registers. Tortosa was occupied around 714 and Muslim rule lasted more than 400 years; Louis the Pious besieged it in 808-809.

1148–1347 Crown of Aragon PARES · FamilySearch

Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona conquered Tortosa in 1148 during the Second Crusade, and the land was granted to foreign crusaders and to military and religious orders. The castle became a residence of the Montcada family and the Templars, and from the 13th century a royal mansion.

1347–1597 Crown of Aragon: the cathedral city PARES · FamilySearch

The cathedral was begun in 1347 and consecrated in 1597. The Disputation of Tortosa was held in it in 1413-1414, and the town had a sizable Jewish community in the 14th and 15th centuries.

1597–2026 Spain PARES · FamilySearch · Geneanet

The ring runs from the Ebro delta north of Tortosa to the Castellón coast at Vinaròs, Benicarló and Peníscola.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 714–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

3 places on this ground

47 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

All record regions · The map