Alfons de Tous

Who is Alfons de Tous?

Alfons de Tous was president of the Generalitat of Catalonia 1396-1413, succeeding Miquel de Santjoan when the latter left Catalonia in 1396 to become a royal ambassador; Miquel de Santjoan did not return to live in the principality.

During the Western Schism, he aligned with the Antipope Benedict XIII and the revived line of Avignon popes, and continued that support until the Council of Constance, when Ferdinand I of Aragon withdrew his support for Avignon, at which point Alfons tried unsuccessfully to convince Benedict to voluntarily renounce his claim to the papacy.

Alfons began his ecclesiastical career as the rector of the church of Sant Mateu in Tortosa. He next served the Benedict XIII as his ambassador to the Kingdom of Castile, and later became rector of the Church of Santa Maria del Pi in Barcelona, from which position he was appointed a deputy to the Corts of Barcelona, the Catalan parliament. On December 3, 1400, as president of the Corts of Barcelona, he purchased the original portion of what then became the Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya for 38,500 sous. Alfons became the first president of the Generalitat of Catalonia to live there.