The origin (12th century)

Around 1080, a first settlement called Duesaigües was created near the confluence of the Francolí and Anguera rivers. It was a definitive settlement by the year 1150, once the Christian conquest was over.

The king Ramon Berenguer IV, in 1155, gave the first population letter to Pere Berenguer de Vilafranca, who was nominated mayor. He changed the name of Duesaigües to Vila-salva (village free of taxes), so as to favour its development.

Among the privileges that Vila-salva had, we can mention an extensive administrative area, the duty-tax-free and the free use of two important elements for the economical progress derived from the forest (firewood for building and for homes) and the use of water (agriculture, flax and hemp industry, and mills).

As Vila-salva was under threat from the flooding of the Anguera and Francolí rivers and in a flat area that was difficult to defend, the king Alfons I ordered Pere Berenguer to move Vila-salva to the hill of the Pla de Santa Bàrbara. He wanted a strong town halfway between Tarragona and Lleida, with a good strategic situation.

The town was renamed Montblanc because of the lack of vegetation on the hill where the first settlement was located.

The new population letter was given by the king Alfons I in February 1163 and it involved the changing of place, but respecting all the rights given in the first population letter.