Catalan society was already, towards the year 1000, divided by barriers of blood into two quite distinct classes: above were the maximi, the majores, the nobiles (the words were synonymous), below, the minimi, the minores, the inferiores. The maximi, of illustrious birth, enjoyed a monopoly of power, under the superior authority of the count. The minimi obeyed. This antithesis was tempered, however, by a number of factors, amongst them, most importantly, respect for the law – and the limits it imposed on the arbitrary actions of the great – and the protection accorded by the counts to village franchises. The lesser people, then, a few residual pockets of servitude apart, were free, and their liberty was based on the allodial nature of most peasant holdings and on the capacity to bear arms.

A century later, the gulf not only still existed, but was far wider. The harsh realities of economic growth had had the effect of accentuating the disparities. At the same time, in the fever of violence provoked by the lure of new wealth, the liberties of the peasants had been destroyed. The degradation of their condition was apparent in all areas of life. Vocabulary itself bears witness to it: while the terms minimi and minores were in no way pejorative, the term ignobiles which replaced them was redolent of contempt. Even before 1100, ignobilis had become a synonym for vilis.