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98-576: The building maintains the Saló de Cent , where the Consell de Cent which governed the city met in the Middle Ages. The architect Arnau Bargués designed its Gothic facade, which was built between 1399 and 1402. Josep Mas i Vila designed the current neoclassical facade, built between 1830 and 1847. When the church that is the namesake of the square was demolished in 1823, Mas was tasked with making

196-826: A Catalan Republic was briefly established. By the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), the northern parts of Catalonia, mostly the Roussillon , were ceded to France. The status of separate state of the Principality of Catalonia came to an end after the War of Spanish Succession (1701–1714), in which the Crown of Aragon supported the claim of the Archduke Charles of Habsburg . Following Catalan surrender on 11 September 1714 ,

294-615: A composite monarchy later known as Crown of Aragon , while the County of Barcelona and the other Catalan counties merged into a state , the Principality of Catalonia , which developed an institutional system ( Catalan Courts , constitutions , Generalitat ) that limited the power of the kings. Catalonia sponsored and contributed to the expansion of the Crown's trade and military, most significantly their navy . The Catalan language flourished and expanded as more territories were added to

392-497: A cultural renaissance coupled with incipient nationalism while several workers movements (particularly anarchism ) appeared. In the 20th century, Catalonia enjoyed and lost varying degrees of autonomy. The Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939) established Catalan self-government and the official use of the Catalan language. Like much of Spain, Catalonia (which, in turn, expererienced a revolutionary process ) fought to defend

490-833: A buffer zone of Christian counties in the south that became historiographically known as the Marca Hispanica or Gothia. The first county to be conquered from the Moors was in Septimania which became Roussillon (including the Vallespir ), following the conquest of Narbonne (759). In 785 the County of Girona (with Besalú ) on the south side of the Pyrenees was captured. Ribagorça and Pallars were linked to Toulouse and were added to this county around 790. Urgell and Cerdanya were added in 798. The first records of

588-575: A compilation of rights for the inhabitants of the Principality. In order to collect general taxes, the Courts of 1359 established a permanent representation of deputies, the Deputation of the General (Catalan: Diputació del General ) and later usually known as Generalitat , which gained an important political power over the next centuries. The Principality of Catalonia saw a prosperous period during

686-676: A descendant or a named successor. A two-year interregnum progressively evolved in favor of a candidate from the Castilian Trastámara dynasty, Ferdinand of Antequera, who on the Compromise of Caspe (1412), representatives of Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia appointed him monarch as Ferdinand I of Aragon . Opposition to Ferdinand, led by the alternate candidate James II, Count of Urgell , was defeated in 1413. Ferdinand's successor, Alfonso V ("the Magnanimous"), promoted

784-682: A dynastic union between the Crowns of Aragon and Castile , and both realms kept their own laws, institutions, borders and currency. In 1492 the Spanish colonization of the Americas began, political power began to shift away towards Castile. Tensions between Catalan institutions and the Monarchy, alongside the economic crisis and the peasants' revolts, caused the Reapers' War (1640–1652), in which

882-655: A facade worthy of facing the Renaissance-era Generalitat building. The previous facade was to be sacrificed until a campaign by the Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona and the Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi . The medieval door remains, with a notable mutilation. In 2008, routine work on the city hall found Gothic and Renaissance paintings on the ceiling, underneath more modern paintings. In 2017,

980-526: A larger buffer zone of Christian counties against Islamic rule historiographically known as the Marca Hispanica . In the 10th century the County of Barcelona became progressively independent from Frankish rule. In 1137, Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona betrothed the heiress of the Kingdom of Aragon, Petronilla , establishing the dynastic union of the County of Barcelona with Aragon, resulting in

1078-534: A military fortress. Goods were exported via the port of Tortosa. Although there were peace treaties between the caliph in Córdoba and some Catalan counts, the mutual attacks accumulated so, in 985 Almanzor , de facto ruler of the Caliphate, sacked Barcelona and captured thousands of its inhabitants. After repelling Muslim incursions as far north as Tours in 732 , the expanding Frankish Empire set about creating

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1176-715: A new fuero (code of laws): the Furs de València . In contrast, the Majorcan territory together with that of the counties of Cerdanya, Vallespir , Capcir and Roussillon and the city of Montpellier were left as a kingdom for his son James II of Majorca as the Kingdom of Majorca . This division began a period of struggle that ended with the annexation of that kingdom by the Crown of Aragon in 1344 by Peter IV "the Ceremonious". In 1258, James I and Louis IX of France signed

1274-531: A new stage of Aragonese expansion, this time over the Kingdom of Naples , over which he finally gained dominion in 1443. At the same time, though, he aggravated the social crisis in the Principality of Catalonia, both in the countryside and in the cities. Political conflict in Barcelona arose due to the disputes over the control of the Consell de Cent between two political factions, Biga and Busca looking for

1372-742: A potential invasion and annexion by Castile. Ramon Berenguer IV used the title " comes Barchinonensis " (count of the Barcelonians) as his primary title and " princeps Aragonensis " (prince of the Aragonians) as his second title, beside his wife who retained her title of Regina ("queen"). Their son and heir, Alfonso II of Aragon and I of Barcelona consolidated the dynastic union as Rex Aragonum, Comes Barchinone et Marchio Provincie ("king of Aragon, count of Barcelona, and marquis of Provence"). Catalonia and Aragon retained their distinct traditional rights, and Catalonia its own personality with one of

1470-650: A second, distinct stage in the ancient history of Catalonia. Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus arrived in Empúries in 218 BC, with the objective of cutting off the sources of provisions of Hannibal 's Carthaginian army during the Second Punic War . After the Carthaginian defeat, and the defeat of various Iberian tribes who rose up against Roman rule, 195 BC saw the effective completion of the Roman conquest of

1568-612: A solution to the economic crisis. Meanwhile, the " remença " ( serfs ') peasants subjected to the feudal abuses known as Evil customs began to organize themselves as a syndicate against seignorial pressures, searching protection from the monarch. Alfonso's brother, John II ("the Unreliable"), was an exceptionally deeply hated and opposed regent and ruler - both in the Basque kingdom of Navarre and in Catalonia. The opposition of

1666-421: A succession of natural catastrophes, demographic crises, stagnation and decline in the Catalan economy, and the rise of social tensions. In 1333, known as Lo mal any primer ("The first bad year"), a severe famine affected the lands of the Crown. Between 1347 and 1497 the Principality of Catalonia lost 37 percent of its population. The reign of Peter the Ceremonious was a time of war: the annexation of Majorca ,

1764-579: A system of obligation or vassalage that the Romans termed "fides". The Iberians adopted wine and olives from the Greeks; Horse breeding was of particular importance to the Iberian nobility. Mining was a major contributor to the economy, from which fine metalwork and high-quality iron weapons could be produced. The Iberian language was a Paleohispanic language . The oldest inscriptions are dated from

1862-612: A week later the Catalan institutions, needing more French military aid, accepted King Louis XIII of France as Count of Barcelona. Catalan and French armies defeated the Spanish armies at the gates of Barcelona, in the battle of Montjuïc , on 26 January 1641. The French general Marquis of Brézé, Marshal of France was appointed viceroy of Catalonia, and the Franco-Catalan forces obtained victories in Montmeló and Lleida . However,

1960-454: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This government -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . History of Catalonia The recorded history of the lands of what today is known as Catalonia begins with the development of the Iberian peoples while several Greek colonies were established on the coast before the Roman conquest. It was

2058-583: Is first documented in an early 12th-century Latin chronicle called the Liber maiolichinus , where Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona is referred to as catalanicus heroes , rector catalanicus , and dux catalanensis . Some manuscripts suggest that Catalunya (Latin Gathia Launia ) Gothia (or Gauthia ), "Land of the Goths ", since the origins of the Catalan counts, lords and people were found in

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2156-677: The Consulate of the Sea and the Book of the Consulate of the Sea , one of the first compilations of maritime law . The trade allowed the formation of banking . In 1401, the local authorities created a pioneering public bank , the Taula de canvi de Barcelona , in 1401, arguably the world's first-ever central bank . The second quarter of the 14th century saw crucial changes for Catalonia, marked by

2254-647: The Decretos de Nueva Planta upon his occupation of Barcelona after the Siege of Barcelona in 1714. Since that moment, the new government of the city was controlled directly by the monarchy. A main street in the city of Barcelona , the Carrer (street) del Consell de Cent , is named after this institution (before 1978 it was known as Calle del Consejo de Ciento, in Spanish). This Catalan history -related article

2352-505: The House of Barcelona , which ruled Catalonia until the death of Martin I , its last ruling member, in 1410. During the 10th century, the counts became increasingly independent of the weakening Carolingians. This was publicly acknowledged in 988 when the Count of Barcelona Borrell II declined to swear fealty to Hugh Capet , the first Capetian monarch of the emerging French kingdom. Borrell

2450-779: The Indigetes in Empordà , the Ceretani in Cerdanya and the Airenosins in the Val d'Aran . Some urban agglomerations became relevant, including Ilerda (Lleida) inland, Hibera (perhaps Amposta or Tortosa) or Indika ( Ullastret ). The settlement of Castellet de Banyoles in Tivissa was one of the most important ancient Iberian settlements. This, situated in the northeast of the peninsula,

2548-521: The Treaty of Corbeil : the French king, as the heir of Charlemagne, renounced his claims of feudal overlordship over Catalonia, which it was effectively independent from French rule since the end of the 10th century, while James renounced his claims in Occitania . At the same time, the Principality of Catalonia developed a complex institutional and political system based on the concept of a pact between

2646-794: The War of the Sicilian Vespers , were hired by the Byzantine Empire to fight the Turks, defeating them in several battles. After the assassination of Roger de Flor by orders of the emperor's son Michael Palaiologos (1305), the Company took revenge sacking Thrace and later Greece, where they took the duchies of Athens and Neopatras in the name of the King of Aragon. Catalan rule over the Greek lands lasted until 1390. The Crown became

2744-464: The aloers had been converted into vassals. This coincided with a weakening of the power of the counts and the division of the Spanish Marches into more numerous counties, which gradually became a feudal state based on complex fealties and dependencies. During the regency of countess Ermesinde of Carcassonne the disintegration of central power was evident. From the time of the triumph of

2842-435: The bishopric of Narbonne by restoring the archiepiscopal see of Tarragona (1118). In 1137 the dynastic union that would later be known as Crown of Aragon was established after Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona betrothed the heiress of the Kingdom of Aragon , Petronilla , after Ramiro II of Aragon agreed to donate his kingdom and his daughter Petronilla to Barcelona's Count, avoiding and protecting Aragon from

2940-410: The composite monarchy , in favor of an increased centralization. Resistance in Catalonia was especially strong, given the lack of any significant apparent regional return for the sacrifices. The Catalan Courts of 1626 and 1632 were never concluded, due to the opposition of the estates against the economical and military measures of Olivares, many of which violated the Catalan constitutions. The failure of

3038-487: The diocese of Tarraco was already established by 259, when the bishop Saint Fructuosus (Fructuós) and the deacons Augurius and Eulogius were burned alive on the orders of the governor Aemilianus, under an edict issued by the emperor Valerian . Although Hispania remained under Roman rule and did not fall under the rule of Vandals, Swabians and Alans in the 5th century, the main cities suffered frequent sacking and some deurbanization. While archaeological evidence shows

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3136-474: The estates of the realm and the king. From 1283 onwards, legislation had to be approved in the General Court of Catalonia (or Catalan Courts), regarded the first parliamentary body of Europe that banned the royal power to create legislation unilaterally. The Courts were composed of the three estates, were presided over by the monarch as count of Barcelona, and approved the constitutions , which created

3234-454: The submission of royal power to the laws of the Principality of Catalonia. Ferdinand's 1469 marriage to Isabella I of Castile brought about a dynastic union of the Crown of Aragon with Castile. After the 1512 invasion of the Kingdom of Navarre , in 1516 the monarchies were formally united into a single Monarchy of Spain ("Kingdom of the Spains", as it was sometimes known). Each realm of

3332-599: The "three milestones of Catalan political identity". Catalonia became the base for the Aragonese Crown's sea power, which came to dominate a maritime empire that extended across the western Mediterranean after the conquest of Valencia , the Balearic Islands, Sardinia , and the accession in Sicily of the kings of Aragon . This period saw a large increase of maritime trade in Catalan ports, particularly of

3430-412: The 13th century and lasted until the 18th century. Its name derives from the number of its members: one hundred ( Catalan : cent ). In 1249, James I created the fundamental structure of the municipal government of Barcelona : a board of advice of four members, helped by eight counselors and an assembly of probi homines (leaders), all them members of the mà major (Catalan for senior hand , or

3528-591: The 13th century and the first half of the 14th. The population increased; Catalan culture expanded into the islands of the Western Mediterranean. The reign of Peter III of Aragon ("the Great") included the conquest of Sicily and the successful defense against a French crusade ; his son and successor Alfonso ("the Generous") conquered Menorca ; and Peter's second son James II , who first acceded to

3626-521: The Aragonese Crown's leading city, Barcelona. At the end of the 12th century, a series of pacts between the crowns of Aragon and Castile delimited the zones that the two would each attempt to conquer from Muslim-ruled kingdoms, (the " Reconquista " ); to the east, in 1213, the defeat and death of Peter II of Aragon ("Peter the Catholic") in the Battle of Muret put an end to the project of consolidating

3724-490: The Aragonese influence and power over Provence and the County of Toulouse . His successor James I of Aragon did not fully consolidate his power until 1227; once he consolidated his inherited realm, he began a series of new conquests. Over the course of the next quarter-century he conquered Majorca and Valencia . The latter became a new state, the third kingdom associated with the Crown of Aragon, with its own court and

3822-468: The Catalan territory, where there is evidence of significant levels of destruction and abandonment of Roman villas . This period also provides the first documentary evidence of the arrival of Christianity. Conversion to Christianity, attested in the 3rd century, was completed in urban areas in the 4th century. The first Christian communities in the Tarraconense were founded during the 3rd century, and

3920-431: The Cau de les Goges, in Sant Julià de Ramis . From the next prehistoric era, the Epipaleolithic or Mesolithic , important remains survive, the greater part dated between 8000 BC and 5000 BC, such as those of Sant Gregori ( Falset ) and el Filador ( Margalef de Montsant ). The Neolithic era began in Catalonia around 4500 BC, although the population was slower to develop fixed settlements than in other places, thanks to

4018-416: The Consell de Cent in the history and the government of the Principality of Catalonia is supported by many examples. For instance, in year 1464 it proclaimed Peter V of Aragon (known as Peter the Constable of Portugal ) as count of Barcelona . Another example is the rejection by the Consell de Cent of Martin the Humane 's foundation on January 10, 1401, of the General Medical School in Barcelona with

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4116-443: The Count to the Carolingian Emperor and later to the kings of West Francia . At the end of the 9th century, the Carolingian monarch Charles the Bald designated Wilfred the Hairy — a noble descendant of a family from Conflent and son of the earlier Count of Barcelona Sunifred I — as Count of Cerdanya and Urgell (870). After Charles's death (877), Wilfred became the Count of Barcelona and Girona (878) as well, bringing together

4214-440: The Courts aggravated the tensions between Catalan institutions and Monarchy, favoring a scenario of rupture. The Reapers' War ( Catalan : Guerra dels Segadors , 1640–59) started as an uprising of peasants in northern areas of Catalonia. When Spanish tercios (military corps) concentrated in Roussillon at the end of the 1630s, because of the Thirty Years' War with France, local peasants were required to lodge and provision

4312-414: The Crown of Aragon, including Valencia , the Balearic Islands , Sardinia , Sicily , Naples , and Athens . The Crisis of the Late Middle Ages , the end of the reign of House of Barcelona , serf and urban conflicts and a civil war (1462–1472) weakened the role of the Principality within the Crown and internationally. The marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile in 1469 created

4410-445: The Frankish-ruled counties along the Llobregat and Cardener rivers and the Montsec Range . Lleida and Tortosa , the two main cities of the Muslim ruled area of today's Catalonia (historiographically known as "New Catalonia"), formed the centers of defense. Many of the predominantly Christian inhabitants of these Muslim border regions converted to Islam . Especially the inhabitants of the valleys of Ebro, Segre, and Cinca as well as

4508-471: The Mediterranean would continue, but efforts to achieve further Spanish conquests in Europe itself largely stopped and the maritime expansion into the Atlantic and the conquest of territories in the Americas was not a Catalan enterprise. Castile and the realms of Aragon were separate states until 1716 in spite of a shared crown and the newly established colonies in the Americas and Pacific were Castilian, administered as appendages of Castile, until in 1778 Seville

4606-483: The Monarchy conserved its political institutions and maintained its own courts, laws, public administration, and separate coinage of money. When Christopher Columbus made his discovery in The Americas during a Spanish-sponsored expedition, and began to shift Europe's trade and economic centre of gravity (and the focus of Spain's ambitions) from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean, undermining Catalonia's economic and political importance. Aragonese and Catalan power in

4704-414: The Republic in the Civil War of 1936–1939. The Republican defeat established the dictatorship of Francisco Franco , which unleashed a harsh repression and suppressed the autonomy. With Spain devastated and cut off from international trade and the autarkic politics of the regime, Catalonia, as an industrial center, suffered severely; the economic recovery was slow. Between 1959 and 1974 Spain experienced

4802-458: The Romans, the Tarraconense was maintained, but after the establishment of the new province of Cantabria its extension was reduced to the Valley of the Ebro and the current Catalonia. Beginning in 654, king Recceswinth ordered the promulgation of the Liber Iudiciorum ("Book of the Judges"), which was the first law code that applied equally to the Goths and to the Hispano-Roman population. This compilation will be in vigor in Catalan counties until

4900-428: The Spanish Monarchy became evident and the military clashes began. The Spanish armies perpetrated a massacre in Cambrils on 16 December, convincing Catalan leadership that they could not expect any pardon or negotiated solution from them. With the Spanish royal armies approaching Barcelona, on 17 January 1641 the Junta de Braços accepted the establishment of the Catalan Republic under the protection of France , however

4998-415: The Visigothic king Euric formed the kingdom of Tolosa (modern Toulouse ), he incorporated the territory equivalent to present-day Catalonia. Later, the Visigothic kingdom lost most of its territory north of the Pyrenees and shifted its capital to Toledo . The Visigothic Kingdom in Hispania lasted until the early 8th century. The Visigothic Kingdom respected and adopted the provincial system inherited from

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5096-498: The abundance of woods, which allowed the continuation of a fundamentally hunter-gatherer culture. The most important Neolithic remains in Catalonia are the Cave of Fontmajor ( l'Espluga de Francolí ), The Cave of Toll ( Morà ), the caves Gran and Freda ( Montserrat ), the shelters of Cogul and Ulldecona, or La Draga, an early Neolithic village which dates from the end of the 6th millennium BC. The Chalcolithic or Eneolithic period developed in Catalonia between 2500 and 1800 BC, with

5194-402: The ancient March of Gothia , known as Gothia , whence Gothland > Gothlandia > Gothalania from which Catalonia has been theoretically derived. During the Middle Ages, Byzantine chroniclers claimed that Catalania derives from the local medley of Goths with Alans , initially constituting a Goth-Alania . Alternatively, the name may come from the word "ca(s)telan" (inhabitant of

5292-404: The beginning of the construction of copper objects. The Bronze Age occurred between 1800 and 700 BC. There are few remnants of this era, but there were some known settlements in the low Segre zone. The Bronze Age coincided with the arrival of the Indo-Europeans through the Urnfield Culture , whose successive waves of migration began around 1200 BC, and they were responsible for the creation of

5390-402: The capital, was already a colony of Roman law since 45 BC). It was a rich agricultural province (olive oil, vine, wheat), and the first centuries of the Empire saw the construction of roads (the most important being the Via Augusta , parallel to Mediterranean coastline) and infrastructure like aqueducts . The Crisis of the Third Century affected the whole Roman Empire, and gravely affected

5488-435: The castle) as the area had many fortifications. Until the middle of the 12th century, the successive counts of Barcelona tried to expand their domain in multiple directions. Ramon Berenguer III incorporated the County of Besalú , part of the County of Empúries , all of the County of Cerdanya , and also the County of Provence through his marriage to Douce of Provence . The Catalan church, for its part, became independent of

5586-413: The compilation of the Usages of Barcelona by count Ramon Berenguer I, largely based on the same Liber Iudiciorum . Between 672 and 673, the eastern part of the Tarraconenis (modern Catalonia) and the province of Septimania rebelled against king Wamba , appointing dux Flavius Paulus as king in Narbonne . The rebellion was crushed by Wamba. In 714, the Umayyad forces reached the northeastern part of

5684-413: The council put €2.4 million towards the study and conservation of these paintings. 41°22′56″N 2°10′39″E  /  41.3822°N 2.1775°E  / 41.3822; 2.1775 Consell de Cent The Consell de Cent ( Catalan pronunciation: [kunˈsɛʎ də ˈsen] , meaning in English "Council of One Hundred") was a governmental institution of Barcelona . It was established in

5782-410: The county of Empúries (with Perelada ) are from 812, but the county was probably under Frankish control before 800. After a series of struggles, Charlemagne 's son Louis took Barcelona from the Moorish emir in 801 and set up the County of Barcelona . The counts of the Marca Hispanica had small outlying territories, each ruled by a lesser miles with armed retainers, who owed allegiance through

5880-436: The death of his paternal ( House of Habsburg ) grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor , he was also elected Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor , in 1519. In the 16th century, the Catalan population began a demographic recovery and some measure of economic recovering. The reign of Charles V was a relative harmonious period, during which Catalonia generally accepted the new structure of Spain, despite its own marginalization. As

5978-436: The end of the 12th century. During the reign of Alfonso, in 1173, Catalonia was regarded as a legal entity for the first time, while the Usages of Barcelona were compiled in the process to turn them into the law of Catalonia ( Consuetudinem Cathalonie ). Apart from the Usages, between 1170 and 1195 the Liber feudorum maior and the Gesta Comitum Barchinonensium were also compiled and written, being considered together as

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6076-473: The end of the 5th century BC, and the most recent of the end of the first century BC, even at the beginning of the 1st century AD, after being gradually replaced by Latin. In its different variants, the Iberian language was spoken in a broad coastal strip stretching from southern Languedoc to Alicante. Greeks arrived to the Iberian coasts by the late 7th century BC. The trading colony of Empúries (in Greek Emporion , meaning "market", in Latin Emporiae ),

6174-401: The establishment of a Council of Justice, a Council of Defense to respond to the expected Royal counter-attack and a Council of Treasury which began to issue debt and a special tax to the nobility, while maintained diplomatic contacts with the Kingdom of France, allowing the French army to cross the Pyrenees into the Iberian Peninsula. After the fall of Tortosa to the royal armies, the break with

6272-410: The first area of Hispania conquered by the Romans . It then came under Visigothic rule after the collapse of the western part of the Roman Empire. In 718, the area was occupied by the Umayyad Caliphate and became a part of Muslim ruled al-Andalus . The Frankish Empire conquered northern half of the area from the Muslims, ending with the conquest of Barcelona in 801, as part of the creation of

6370-430: The first parliaments in Europe, the Catalan Courts (Catalan: Corts Catalanes ). In addition, the reign of Ramon Berenguer IV saw the Catalan conquest of Lleida and Tortosa , completing the unification of all of the territory that comprises modern Catalonia. This included a territory to the south of the Catalan counties, which became known as Catalunya Nova ("New Catalonia") and which was repopulated with Catalans by

6468-407: The first proto-urban settlements. Around the middle of the 7th century BC, the Iron Age arrived in Catalonia. An iron-using culture first appeared in eastern Iberia in the 8th century BC. By the 5th century BC, the Iron Age Iberian civilization had become consolidated on the eastern side of the Iberian Peninsula. What is now the Catalan territory was home to several distinct tribes of Iberians:

6566-419: The focus of Spanish maritime power and of European rivalry shifted to the Atlantic, the Kingdom of Valencia became the most important kingdom of the Aragonese Crown, eclipsing Barcelona. The reign of Philip II marked the beginning of a gradual process of stagnation of Catalan economy, language, and culture. Among the most negative elements of the period were a rise in piracy along the coasts and banditry in

6664-439: The grandson of Ermessinde, Ramon Berenguer I overlords and surrounding counts, the counts of Barcelona stood firmly as the link in a web of fealty between the counts and the Crown. Ramon Berenguer I began the codification of Catalan law in the written Usages of Barcelona which was to become the first full compilation of feudal law in Western Europe. Legal codification was part of the count's efforts to forward and somehow control

6762-407: The greater part of what was later to become Catalonia. On his death the counties were divided again among his sons, however, since then, the counties of Barcelona, Girona and Ausona (he repopulated the last one after a revolt) remained under the rule of the same person, becoming the core of the future Principality. Upon his death in 897 Wilfred, making their titles hereditaries founded the dynasty of

6860-488: The institutions of Catalonia to the policies of John II resulted in their support to the son of John, Charles, Prince of Viana over his denied dynastic rights. In response of the detention of Charles by his father, the Generalitat established a political body, the Council of the Principality, with whom, under menace of a conflict, John was forced to negotiate. The Capitulation of Vilafranca (1461) forced to release Charles from prison and appoint him lieutenant of Catalonia, while

6958-452: The interior. Conflicts had already arisen between Catalonia and the monarchy in the time of Philip II. Having exhausted the economic resources of Castile, Philip wished to avail himself of those of the other polities of the Monarchy; Catalan institutions and laws were well protected by the terms and nature of the union of crowns, and were jealously guarded by the Catalan population, who during those times saw an increase of its participation in

7056-516: The king Philip V of Bourbon , inspired by the model of France imposed a unifying administration across Spain, enacting the Nueva Planta decrees , which suppressed the main Catalan political institutions and public law, and merged it into Castile as a province. These led to the eclipse of Catalan as a language of government and literature. During the second half of the 17th and the 18th centuries Catalonia experienced economic growth, reinforced in

7154-550: The king René of Anjou ("the Good"), lost the war against King John. The remença conflict did not reach any definitive conclusion and in 1493 France returned the counties of Roussillon and Cerdagne , which it had occupied during the conflict. Ferdinand II of Aragon ("the Catholic") profoundly reformed Catalan institutions, recovered without war the northern Catalan counties, increased active involvement in Italy and finally resolved

7252-556: The king would need permission of the Generalitat to enter the Principality. The content of the Capitulation represented a culmination and consolidation of pactism and the constitutional system of Catalonia. However, the disaggrament of King John, the death of Charles shortly after and the remença uprising in 1462 led to a ten-year Catalan civil war that left the country exhausted. In 1472, the last separate ruler of Catalonia,

7350-533: The late 18th century when Cádiz's trade monopoly with American colonies ended. In the 19th century Catalonia was severely affected by the Napoleonic and Carlist Wars . The Napoleonic occupation and subsequent war in Spain began a period of political and economic turmoil. In the second third of the century, Catalonia became a center of industrialization. As wealth from the industrial expansion grew, Catalonia saw

7448-655: The local and general government of the Principality. After Philip IV acceded to the throne in 1621, his minister the Count-Duke of Olivares attempted to sustain an ambitious foreign policy by taxing the kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula and establishing a military contribution to the Empire in each one of them (the Unión de Armas , " Union of Arms "), which meant laying aside the until-then-prevailing principles of

7546-638: The major grievances of the remences with the Sentencia Arbitral de Guadalupe in 1486, in exchange for a payment. The Sentencia allowed the beginning of the right to freely contract emphyteutic agreements , which led to general prosperity in the Catalan countryside throughout the next centuries. In the frame of the institutional reforms of Ferdinand, in 1481 the Catalan Courts approved the Constitució de l'Observança , which established

7644-587: The most economically dynamic communities of Spain. Since the 2010s there have been growing calls for Catalan independence . The first known human settlements in what is now Catalonia were at the beginning of the Middle Palaeolithic . The oldest known trace of human occupation is a mandible found in Banyoles , described by some sources as pre- Neanderthal some 200,000 years old; other sources suggest it to be only about one third that old. Some of

7742-640: The most important prehistoric remains were found in the caves of Mollet ( Serinyà , Pla de l'Estany ), the Cau del Duc in the Montgrí mountain ( "cau" meaning "cave" or "lair"), the remains at Forn d'en Sugranyes ( Reus ) and the shelters Romaní and Agut ( Capellades ), while those of the Upper Paleolithic are found at Reclau Viver , the cave of Arbreda and la Bora Gran d'en Carreres , in Serinyà, or

7840-540: The peninsula, where some important clashes took place (Zaragoza, possibly Barcelona). In 720, Narbonne fell to the joint Arab-Berber forces, followed by the conquest of what remained of the Visigothic kingdom, Septimania . The last Visigothic king Ardo died in battle in 721 and Nîmes was captured four years later. In the time of the Caliphate of Córdoba in the 10th century, the northern border stabilized against

7938-656: The plain of Lleida took over the way of life and achievements of the Muslims like the highly developed irrigation techniques. The most important Muslim cities in Catalonia were Lleida, Balaguer and Tortosa. They developed an old town (Medina) in North African style with mosque, administrative headquarters and court. They also had large markets (Suq) with workshops and homes of artisans. In some cities there were open places of worship (Musallā) and – as in Tortosa – including

8036-591: The process of feudalization. The response of the Catholic Church to the feudal violence was the movement of Peace and Truce of God . The first assembly of Peace and Truce was presided by Abbot Oliba in Toulouges , Roussillon in 1027. The Peace and Truce assemblies promoted the establishment of sagreres , the space surrounding the churches considered sacred territory, protected from feudal violence, under penalty of excommunication . The term "Catalonia"

8134-494: The protector of the united Albanian principalities after the Treaty of Gaeta . This territorial expansion was accompanied by a great development of the Catalan trade, centered in Barcelona, creating an extensive trade network across the Mediterranean which competed with those of the maritime republics of Genoa and Venice . In this line, institutions were created that would give legal protection to merchants, such as

8232-480: The quelling of a rebellion in Sardinia, a rebellion by an Aragonese faction who wished to extinguish local Catalan privileges in favor of a more centralized kingdom of Aragon, and an Aragonese-Castilian war. These wars created a delicate financial situation, in a framework of demographic and economic crisis, to which was added a generation later a crisis of succession generated by the death in 1410 of Martin I without

8330-610: The recovery of some urban nuclei, such as Barcino (later Barcelona ), Tarraco (later Tarragona), and Gerunda (later Girona ), the previous situation was not restored: the cities became smaller, and constructed defensive walls . In the 5th century, as part of the invasion of the Roman Empire by Germanic tribes , the Visigoths led by Athaulf , installed themselves in the Tarraconensis (Ebro basin, 410) and when in 475

8428-662: The same prerogatives as the University of Montpellier , because they felt this encroached on their municipal jurisdiction. This ultimately led to the creation of the University of Barcelona in 1450. In the last decades of the 17th century it was represented in the Conferència dels Tres Comuns (in Catalan: Conference of the Three Commons). The Consell de Cent was abolished by Philip V of Spain with

8526-463: The second-fastest economic expansion in the world known as the Spanish Miracle , and Catalonia prospered as Spain's most important industrial and tourist area. In 1975 Franco died, bringing his regime to an end, and the new democratic Spanish constitution of 1978 recognised Catalonia's autonomy and language. It regained considerable self-government in internal affairs and today remains one of

8624-513: The territory that later became Catalonia. Romanization of the region began in earnest. The various tribes were absorbed into a common Roman culture and lost many distinct characteristics, including differences of language. Most local leaders were later admitted into the Roman aristocratic class. Most of what is now Catalonia first became part of the Roman province of Hispania Citerior ; after 27 BC, they became part of Tarraconensis , whose capital

8722-497: The throne of Sicily and then succeeded his older brother as king of Aragon, conquered Sardinia; under James II, and Catalonia was the center of the flourishing empire. Barcelona, then the most frequent royal residence, was consolidated as the administrative center of the domains with the establishment of the Royal Archives in 1318. The Catalan Company , mercenaries led by Roger de Flor and formed by Almogavar veterans of

8820-528: The troops, thus creating a large tension and discomfort among them, and events such as religious sacrileges, destruction of personal properties and rape of local women by the soldiers were reported. The protest of the peasantry in the north quickly extended to Barcelona; On 7 June 1640 an uprising in Barcelona known as the Corpus de Sang , led by reapers, took the lives of various royal functionaries, Dalmau de Queralt, Count of Santa Coloma and viceroy of Catalonia

8918-404: The upper class formed by wealthy merchants). After several modifications, by the year 1265, the municipal organization gained its more permanent structure: the municipal authority rested on three counselors elected by a Council of one hundred individuals. In year 1335, Peter III the Ceremonious permitted the Consell de Cent to use the royal insignia of the four (red) bars . The importance of

9016-482: Was Tarraco (now Tarragona ). Other important cities of the Roman period are Ilerda (Lleida), Dertosa (Tortosa), Gerunda (Girona) as well as the ports of Empuriæ (former Emporion) and Barcino (Barcelona). As for the rest of Hispania, Latin law was granted to all cities under the reign of Vespasian (69-79 AD), while Roman citizenship was permitted to all free men of the Empire by the Edict of Caracalla in 212 AD (Tarraco,

9114-518: Was assassinated during the events. Mutinies continued; due to the few weeks later Pau Claris , president of the Generalitat of Catalonia , formed a Junta de Braços or Braços Generals (States-General), a consultive body similar to the Courts. The calling was a success, and the presence of cities and feudal villages was exceptionally large. The assembly assumed the sovereignty and began to enact and apply various revolutionary measures, such as

9212-416: Was characterized by the development of feudal society, as the miles formed links of vassalage over this previously independent peasantry. The middle years of the century were characterized by virulent class warfare. Seigniorial violence was unleashed against the peasants, utilizing new military tactics, based on contracting well-armed mercenary soldiers mounted on horses. By the end of the century, most of

9310-412: Was discovered in 1912. Also, the 'Treasure of Tivissa', a unique collection of silver Iberian votive offerings was found here in 1927. Iberian society was divided into different classes, including kings or chieftains, nobles, priests, artisans and slaves. Iberian aristocracy, often called a "senate" by the ancient sources, met in a council of nobles. Kings or chieftains would maintain their forces through

9408-475: Was founded on the northern coast of current Catalonia by the Greek city of Phocaea in the 6th century BC. Situated on the coastal commercial route between Massalia ( Marseille ) and Tartessos in the far south of Hispania, the city became a center of economic and commercial activity. Another known Greek colony was Rhode ( Roses ), located on the coast at the northern end of the Gulf of Roses . Romanization brought

9506-535: Was motivated by Capet's failure to address Borrell's petitions to Capet for assistance against Muslim incursions. During this period, the population of the Catalan counties began to increase for the first time since the Muslim invasion. During the 9th and 10th centuries, the counties increasingly became a society of aloers , peasant proprietors of small, family-based farms, who lived by subsistence agriculture and owed no formal feudal allegiance. The 11th century

9604-565: Was the only port authorized to trade in America, and despite the dynastic union Catalans, as subjects of the Crown of Aragon, had no right to trade directly with the Castilian-ruled Americas. By virtue of descent from his maternal grandparents, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, in 1516 Charles I of Spain became the first king to rule the Crowns of Castile and Aragon simultaneously by his own right. Following

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