Marriage and Family of Pierres Vedel
The surviving documentation makes it possible to reconstruct, in considerable detail, certain aspects of the family life of Pierres Vedel and the fate of his descendants.
Marriage
The essential details of his marriage are known thanks to a document dated 1608 related to proceedings initiated by Fray Pedro Vedel in order to verify various facts concerning his father's life. It states:
“And firstly, the aforementioned petitioners declare that between the late master Pierres Vedel, sculptor and architect, and Clara Vizcarret... from the same place of Vizcarret, in the Diocese of Pamplona in the Kingdom of Navarre, marriage was contracted according to the rites of the Holy Mother Church...”
From this document we learn that Pierres Vedel married Clara Vizcarret, a native of Vizcarret, in the Diocese of Pamplona.
The Children of Pierres Vedel
Pierres Vedel and Clara Vizcarret had several children whose existence can be documented through notarial records, parish registers, and judicial proceedings.
The eldest child was probably Catalina Pierris Vedel. After her father's death, she appeared before a notary in Zaragoza in 1575 to claim any property that might belong to her in the Kingdom of Navarre as an heir of Pierres Vedel and Clara Vizcarret. Records also show that between 1560 and 1562 she served as godmother at several baptisms celebrated in Santa Eulalia del Campo. She married Miguel Pérez, a resident of Villarquemado, where she was probably living when her father died.
Another son was Pedro Vedel, likely the eldest of the male siblings. Although the exact date of his birth is unknown, several indications support this conclusion: he was not placed under guardianship after his father's death, he appears first among the siblings in a notarial document of 1575, and he was the family member who initiated the 1608 proceedings on behalf of the family. In addition, he received the same name as his father.
Pedro pursued an ecclesiastical career. He became a Franciscan friar and engraver, and by January 1599 he was already serving as a judge of causes within his order in proceedings held in Zaragoza. In 1608 he held the position of Senior Definitor of the Order of Saint Francis in the Kingdom of Aragon when, together with his brother Juan, he promoted the aforementioned proceedings in Albarracín.
Less information survives regarding Bernabé (or Bernat) Pierris Vedel. It is known that he lived for a time in Santa Eulalia del Campo before moving to Ojos Negros with his wife, María Hernández, where he devoted himself to farming and livestock raising.
More extensive information is available about Juan Pierris Vedel. He was born in Teruel on 1 October 1553, and his baptismal record is preserved in the Parish Archive of San Salvador. He worked as an apothecary, a profession equivalent to that of a modern pharmacist, and remained in the city after his father's death.
The documentation indicates that he was fifteen years old at that time and that his guardians were Juan Lozano and Juan de Alavés. He married Justa Cifontes, born on 15 October 1579, a fact known through a judicial proceeding preserved in Albarracín. Although his profession differed from that of his father, he maintained certain links to the world of construction, appearing as a witness in various building contracts, including those of a parish church in 1585 and the church of Moscardón in 1595. Upon his death, he was buried alongside his parents.
The date of birth of Miguel Pierris Vedel is also known thanks to the preservation of his baptismal record in the Parish Archive of San Salvador. He was born in Teruel on 29 March 1558. In 1575 he appears identified as a stonemason and resident of Cella. Everything suggests that he worked in the service of Cosme Damián Blas, the sculptor responsible for the main altarpiece of the church in that town.
Finally, the family had another daughter, María Pierris Vedel. Documentary references to her are scarce, although she appears on several occasions between 1560 and 1566 in the Parish Archive of Santa Eulalia del Campo, mainly as a godmother at baptisms and in other activities connected with the religious life of the community.
The Places of Residence of the Vedel Family
After spending time in various localities of Navarre, the Vedel family arrived in the province of Teruel from Fuentes de Ebro.
Their residence in Teruel between 1552 and 1560 can be documented with certainty, since Pierres Vedel appears together with his wife, children, and several of his collaborators in the Annual Register of Penitents of the Parish of San Martín, preserved in the Parish Archive of San Salvador.
Although Vedel worked in numerous locations, the family maintained its residence in Teruel until his involvement in the construction of the church of Santa Eulalia del Campo led them to settle temporarily in that town between 1560 and 1566. The family retained a house there until the end of his life.
They subsequently moved their residence to Albarracín. However, Vedel's connection with the city was earlier, since documentation records him receiving a salary of 1,531 sueldos and 6 dineros in 1556 for work carried out there. Although the exact date of his permanent settlement remains unknown, it was in Albarracín that he undertook his final major architectural projects, participating in the reconstruction of the cathedral and in the construction of the Church of Santa María.
Albarracín would also be the setting for the final years of the Navarrese master's life, from where he continued to maintain an intense professional activity until his death in 1575.