Adolescence

As a forefront bastion of the Frankish Empire & capital of its county (Marca Hispanica) Barcelona was ruled by a series of counts that were burdened with the heavy duty of defense against the Moorish attacks. Throughout the 9th century, the counts appointed by the Frankish Kings had to face several Moorish expeditions, most of them successful, without this being translated into consolidated territorial gains for the Muslims.

In 897 the last Count of Barcelona to be appointed by the Carolingian court,  Wilfred the Hairy (Guifré el Pelós), gets mortally wounded in a battle against the invading Moors & his more than one county gets divided between his sons, marking the beginning of a hereditary regime for Catalonia. Wilfred is considered to be the founder of the House of Barcelona, an iconic figure for all Catalan nationalists today.

He founded the Monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll and was entombed there upon his death. According to the legend, the Catalan flag known as the Senyera was created when Wilfred’s blood-stained fingers from the battle that finally cost his life, run his golden shield, forming the red lines that became the honorary coat of arms of the Catalan House.

Wilfred II was the last of the Counts of Barcelona to pledge fidelity to the Carolingian court after being ignored in his pleas for help against the Moors. He refused to renew his vassalage when the new Frankish monarch Hugh Kapet came to the throne in 987 AD.

Being de facto independent of the Carolingian crown, the County of Barcelona grew increasingly in influence by incorporating other Catalan Counties, through marriages, treaties & new alliances. It extended its influence even further to the north making Barcelona the epicenter of the fledging Principality of Catalonia.

The principality’s prolonged autonomy started to give shape to a distinctive local culture which combined with the use of the local language, defined the Catalan identity during the first years of the Middle Ages. The first historic reference to Catalonia & Catalans appears in a manuscript from Pisa written between 1117 & 1125 even though a political entity did not yet exist officially.

In 1137 the Count of Barcelona Ramon Berenguer IV marries Petronilla, future Queen of Aragon, establishing a union of the Principality of Barcelona and all of its counties with the neighboring Kingdom of Aragon. Although the two realms are nominally equal the scale of power favors Aragon.

In 1140 Barcelona goes into a revival period with the help of the Knights Templar and the Knights of Saint John both of whom are given properties around the city to settle in. Following the two renowned orders, all sorts of Christian communities establish their Abbeys & Churches around the city’s core, increasing its size considerably.

Although de facto independent until then, it wasn’t until the year 1258 and the Treaty of Corbeil that the King of France Louis IX formally relinquished his feudal over-lordship over the counties of the Principality of Catalonia to the King of Aragon, Jaume I (the Conqueror), a descendant of Ramon Berenguer IV of the house of Barcelona.

The treaty formally recognized the Catalan Counties as constituent members of the Crown of Aragon, whereas the King of Aragon & Count of Barcelona relinquished any claim over the County of Provence in Southern France.