OBICIÓ, Berenguer

Profile and historiographical debate

[Berengarius Opiç, Berengarius Opiz, Berengarius Obicionis]

He was a canon that served as builder manager (operarius) for the Cathedral of Lleida. His name is known through the epigraphic commemoration of the official begining of the construction of the Cathedral of Santa Maria (1203), where he acts as operarius, that is, as a cathedral worker that was responsible for the financial management of the construction. In 1206, in his role of responsible for the management of the cathedral works he made an operation in order to hand over a plot: Berengarius Opiç, canonicus et operarius Sedis Ilerdensis, and in 1222 he appears as prior, the highest dignity of the Chapter: Prior et operarius Sedis Ilerdensis.

The documents allow us to assume that he is a canon of the cathedral Chapter, who was also responsible for the opera, that is the institution that was responsible for the financial management of the construction or the financial institution that was responsible for managing the construction (LLADONOSA 1965). Consequently, he cannot be considered an architect as it has been suggested. However, the presence of his name on the headstone that commemorates the beginning of the construction of the cathedral equates its worker condition to the role of the architect, in this case, Pere de Coma. In 1222 Berenguer d'Obició gave Berenguer de Coma and his descendants a statica domorum; a plot to build, which had belonged to the deceased master Pere de Coma who had yielded it before to the Cathedral. By acquiring this statica, it is possible that Berenguer was the successor to the master Pere de Coma at the head of the works of the cathedral (LLADONOSA 1970).

Works

Management of the building of the Cathedral of Santa Maria de Lleida, the Seu Vella

Epigraphic Sources

Epigraphic commemoration of the official beginning of the construction of the Cathedral of Santa Maria de Lleida. North wall of the presbytery, Seu Vella.

ANNO D(omi)NI MCIII ET XI

K(a)L(endas) AUGUS/TI\ SUB DO(m)INO IN(n)O

CE(n)TIO P(a)P(a) III VENER/AB\ILI GO(m)

BALDO HUIC EC(c)LE(siae) P(rae)SID(en)TE I (n)CLI

TU REX /PE\TRUS II ET ERMEN

GAUDUS CO/ME\S /UR\GELLEN(sis) PRIMA

RIU(m) ISTIUS FABRIC(a)E LAPI/DE \ (m)

POSUERU(n)T

[be] RE(n)G/AR\IO OBICIONIS OPER/AR\IO EXIS

[te](n)TE PE/TR\US D(e) CU(m)BA {.} M(agister) <et>

FABRICATOR

The year of the Lord 1203, on July 22, with Pope Innocent III and presiding this church the venerable Gombaldo. The illustrious King Peter II and Count of Urgel, Ermengol, laid the first stone of this building, being present the man in charge of the work, Berenguer d'Obició. Pere de Coma, master and architect.

Documentary Sources

• November 13^th, 1206 – Donation of a plot located under the King's castle and in front of the door of the bishop's palace. ACL, Llibre Verd, f. 144. (Edition: LLADANOSA, 1970, p. 129-130). Documented as Berengarius Opiç, canonicus et operarius Sedis Ilerdensis.
• March 1^th, 1222 – Canon worker Berenguer Opiç handed out a domorum statica to Berenguer de Coma, that had once belonged to Pere de Coma. ACL, Llibre Verd, f. 138. (Edition: LLADANOSA, 1970, p. 134). Documented as Berengarius Opiz, Prior et Operarius Ilerdensis Sedis.

Text: Carles Sánchez