• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

874-1137 - Catalonia

Catalonia had been overrun by the Moslems when they entered Spain, but between 785 and 811 the Prankish kings were able to reconquer that region, establishing a province there which they called the Spanish Mark. This section was at first ruled by a number of counts, independent of each other, but subject to the kings of the Franks. Catalan submission to the latter did not endure through the ninth century. Wifredo, count of Barcelona, is believed to have established his independence as early as 874, although that event is doubtful; at any rate the separation from the Frankish kingdom was not much longer delayed. Each count was lord unto himself, although the counts of Barcelona were recognized as the greatest among them. Indeed, in the entire breadth of northern Spain each unit labored for its own selfish ends. Christians fought Moslems, but also fought other Christians. Owing to the disorder of the Moslem realm, however, the Catalan counts, like the other Christian rulers, were able to make some territorial gains.

The most significant of the counties in Catalonia was that held by the counts of Barcelona. They were descendants of Wilfrid the Hairy (874-98), who at the end of the ninth century declared his fief free of the French crown, monopolized lay and ecclesiastical offices on both sides of the Pyrenees, and divided them--according to Frankish custom--among members of the family.

At the time when Ramon Berenguer I (1035-1076) became count of Barcelona, Catalonia was a federation of tension of counties, acknowledging the ruler of Barcelona as overlord. Possessed already of Barcelona and Gerona, Ramon Beren- of tjje guer soon acquired two more counties, which had been left counts of by his father to other sons. He extended his frontiers at Barcelona. the expense of the Moslems, and laid the foundations of the later Catalonian power in southern France through marriage alliances with princes of that region. It was in his reign, too, that the Catalan code of the Usatgea (Usages, or Customs), was compiled, though at the instance of his powerful vassals, who wanted their privileges reduced to writing. By the end of his reign he had united five Catalonian counties and many other territories under his rule, including almost as much land in southern France as he possessed in Spain.

By 1100 Barcelona had dominion over all of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands (Spanish, Islas Baleares). No further progress was made until the reign of Ramon Berenguer III (1096-1131), who, through inheritance, without civil wars, acquired all of the Catalonian counties but two and a great part of southern France. Aragon and the Catalan counties were federated in 1137 through the marriage of Ramon Berenguer IV, count of Barcelona, and Petronilla, heiress to the Aragonese throne. Berenguer assumed the title of king of Aragon, but he continued to rule as count in Catalonia. Berenguer and his successors thus ruled over two realms, each with its own government, legal code, currency, and political orientation.