El Mallol

El Mallol stands on a rocky hill in the Vall de Bas that, in the distant past, rose as an island from a lake filling the valley floor. Its layout still follows the line of the original town walls, and the old path that ran around them was once used for a grimly public purpose: convicted offenders were paraded along it to be flogged before the townspeople.

The town was the administrative centre of the Viscountcy of Bas, and its commanding position made it the chosen residence of the viscounts, who built their castle-palace here. The name Mallol appears in written records for the first time in 1176, in the will of Viscount Udalard. By 1247, Simó de Palau, Viscount of Bas, acknowledged holding the castle on behalf of King Jaume II. Ownership later passed to the Crown when Bernat II de Cabrera was executed by Pere el Cerimoniós in 1364, though the property was returned to Bernat IV de Cabrera in 1381. In 1377, Pere el Cerimoniós granted the town the right to hold an eight-day annual fair beginning on the feast of Sant Nicolau, 6 December. That fair ran until the early twentieth century and has since been revived, taking place on 6 and 7 December.

A severe earthquake on 15 May 1427, followed by another the next year, destroyed much of the town. The castle had to be rebuilt, and a chapel dedicated to Sant Just was erected in the main square. The walls were not rebuilt; instead, their stone was reused in reconstructing houses, which is why large dressed blocks still appear in the foundations and corners of many ordinary buildings.

Plague between 1528 and 1530 killed many residents. In 1658, during the Guerra dels Segadors, French troops occupying the castle were forced to surrender by Catalan irregular fighters known as miquelets, and the castle and chapel were destroyed in the process. Only the well survives today. The Church of Sant Bartomeu was later built on the site of the old Sant Just chapel.

El Mallol is also the birthplace of Francesc de Verntallat, the leader of the remença peasant movement, credited with organising what has been called the first agricultural workers' association in Europe, which fought for the abolition of oppressive feudal obligations. The town was declared a protected historic ensemble on 22 July 1995.