ABSTRACT
In tracing the public career of Jaume (II) Sarta, however, the meritocratic principles which operated in the careers of many of the city's most active people should not be underestimated. As a wealthy man of capital, Jaume Sarta was also appointed to collect taxes for the city, a duty which he performed on several occasions in the 1360s and 1370s, thus following in the footsteps of his relative, Pere (II) Sarta. But the real initiative in Jaume (II)'s business affairs lay with his son Jaume (III), and during the 1380s the elder Jaume was no longer as active as he had once been. As the wealthiest man who still styled himself a 'merchant' at the beginning of the fifteenth century, Jaume (III) Sarta continued his father's tradition of frequent service to the town council; he himself was consul several times for the city and earned the title venerabilis in the process.
