. Catalonia, a region whose name derives from the proliferation of castles during the 11th century, is situated in the northeast corner of the Iberian peninsula. It comprises four modern provinces in Spain (Barcelona, Tarragona, Gerona, and Lérida), plus Andorra and the adjacent French département of the Pyrénées-Orientales. Mountains divide the region into valleys that drain into the Mediterranean Sea either directly or via the lower Ebro River.
From the 5th century, Visigoths inhabited Catalonia’s Roman cities (e.g., Barcelona, Tarragona, Gerona), which declined in population with economic stagnation; during Muslim invasions of the 8th century, many Christians sought refuge in high mountain villages, concentrating populations there. In 795, Charlemagne designated north-ern Catalonia as the “Spanish March” of his Frankish kingdom, in anticipation of military victories over local Muslim rulers. Through the intervention of Alcuin, the Adoptionist teachings of Bishop Felix of Urgel were condemned in the late 8th century; subsequently, Roman orthodoxy gained ground in the Catalonian church over Mozarabic influences. The 9th century saw the emergence of an indigenous Hispano-Gothic ruling aristocracy, which intermarried with the southern French nobility and remained loyal to the Frankish kingdom.
As the caliphate of Cordova disintegrated into petty kingdoms, the military advantage shifted to Christian forces. From the early 11th century, the Catalonian nobility profited from trade in arms and export of mercenary services to the Muslim south. The gold they received in exchange contributed to an economic revival both in Catalonia and in western Europe generally.
Catalonia’s social order was severely disrupted in the early 11th century by the deterioration of the authority of the count of Barcelona. Local strongmen usurped the authority of the count by constructing castles from which they subjugated a heretofore largely free peasantry. By the end of the 11th century, the rule of law was generally replaced by a new system of military alliances cemented by bonds of fealty and grants of fiefs. Such social and political turmoil inspired the Truce of God movement in Catalonia beginning in 1027.
During the 12th century, the count of Barcelona succeeded in redirecting the energy of Catalonia’s military class toward the expansion of his influence and power within the region of Catalonia and beyond its boundaries. In 1137, Ramon Berenguer IV acquired political control of the inland kingdom of Aragon through his marriage to Queen Petronilla. His descendants from 1180 on were known as “count-kings” (of Barcelona-Aragon).
Prior to the Albigensian Crusade, the influence of the House of Barcelona extended north and east of the Pyrénées to the Occitan region of Béarn, Foix, and Toulouse and to Provence. However, the defeat of Count-king Peter I in the Battle of Muret in 1213 effectively ended Catalonia’s political influence in Occitania, and under James I the nobility redirected its military attention toward the reconquest of Muslim Spain and the projection of Catalonian influence in the eastern Mediterranean. Nominal suzerainty of the Capetian monarch over the count-kings of Barcelona ended with the Treaty of Corbeil in 1258.
Bisson, Thomas N. The Medieval Crown of Aragon: A Short History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
Bonnassie, Pierre. La Catalogne du milieu du Xe a la fin du XIe siècle. Toulouse: Association des Publications de l’Université de Toulouse-LeMirail, 1975–76.
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