Editing Catalonia (section)

=== Middle Ages ===
After the fall of the [[Western Roman Empire]], the area was conquered by the [[Visigoths]] and was ruled as part of the [[Visigothic Kingdom]] for almost two and a half centuries. In 718, it came under [[Muslim]] control and became part of [[Al-Andalus]], a province of the [[Umayyad Caliphate]]. From the conquest of Roussillon in 760, to the [[Siege of Barcelona (801)|conquest]] of Barcelona in 801, the [[Frankish empire]] took control of the area between Septimania and the [[Llobregat]] river from the Muslims and created heavily militarised, self-governing [[county|counties]]. These counties formed part of the historiographically known as the [[Septimania|Gothic]] and [[Spanish March|Hispanic]] Marches, a [[buffer zone]] in the south of the Frankish Empire in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, to act as a defensive barrier against further invasions from Al-Andalus.<ref>Ramos, Luis G-G (2002). ''Las Invasiones Bárbaras en Hispania y la Creación del Reino Visigodo''. Barcelona: Ariel. pp. 3–30. {{ISBN|978-84-344-6668-5}}</ref> [[File:Genealogía Casa de Aragón.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona]] (left), [[Petronilla of Aragon]] (right) and their son Alfonso II of Aragon and I of Barcelona (bottom), dynastic union of the [[Crown of Aragon]]]] These counties came under the rule of the [[counts of Barcelona]], who were Frankish [[vassal]]s nominated by the emperor of the Franks, to whom they were [[feudatory|feudatories]] (801–988). At the end of the 9th{{nbsp}}century, the Count of Barcelona [[Wilfred the Hairy]] (878–897) made his titles hereditaries and thus founded the dynasty of the [[House of Barcelona]], which reigned in Catalonia until 1410.

[[File:Hug IV Empuries Pero Maça Croada Mayurqa 1229.jpg|thumb|170px|Hug IV, count of Empúries, and Pero Maça during the conquest of Mallorca (1229)]]
[[File:Cortes Catalanas.jpg|thumb|upright|A 15th-century miniature of the Catalan Courts]]
In 988 [[Borrell II]], Count of Barcelona, did not recognise the new French king [[Hugh Capet]] as his king, evidencing the loss of dependency from Frankish rule and confirming his successors (from [[Ramon Borrell, Count of Barcelona|Ramon Borrell I]] onwards) as independent of the Capetian crown.<ref>Salrach, Josep Mª. ''Catalunya a la fi del primer mil·leni''. Pagès Editors, (Lleida, 2004) pp. 144–49.</ref> At the beginning of eleventh century the Catalan counties experienced an important process of feudalisation, however, the efforts of church's sponsored [[Peace and Truce of God|Peace and Truce Assemblies]] and the intervention of [[Ramon Berenguer I]], count of Barcelona (1035–1076) in the negotiations with the rebel nobility resulted in the partial restoration of the comital authority under the new feudal order. To fulfill that purpose, Ramon Berenguer began the modification of the legislation in the written [[Usages of Barcelona]], being one of the first European compilations of feudal law. The earliest known use of the name "[[Principality of Catalonia|Catalonia]]" for these counties dates to 1117.

In 1137, [[Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona]] decided to accept [[Ramiro II of Aragon|King Ramiro II of Aragon]]'s proposal to receive the [[Kingdom of Aragon]] and to marry his daughter [[Petronilla of Aragon|Petronila]], establishing the dynastic union of the County of Barcelona with Aragon, creating a composite monarchy later known as the [[Crown of Aragon]] and making the Catalan counties that were vassalized or merged with the County of Barcelona into a [[principality]] of the Aragonese Crown. During the reign of his son [[Alfonso II of Aragon|Alphons]], 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 and custom of Catalonia (''Consuetudinem Cathalonie''), being considered one of the "milestones of Catalan political identity".<ref>Cingolani, Stefano Maria (2006). "Seguir les Vestígies dels Antecessors. Llinatge, Reialesa i Historiografia a Catalunya des de Ramon Berenguer IV a Pere II (1131–1285)", Anuario de Estudios Medievales, p 225.</ref> In 1258, by means of the [[Treaty of Corbeil (1258)|Treaty of Corbeil]] [[James I of Aragon]] renounced his family rights and dominions in [[Occitania]], while the king of France, [[Louis IX of France|Louis IX]], formally relinquished to any historical claim of feudal lordship he might have over the Catalan counties.<ref name="Petit-Dutaillis2013">{{cite book|author=C. Petit-Dutaillis|title=The Feudal Monarchy in France and England|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vXr5AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA324|date=5 November 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-20350-3|page=324|access-date=6 February 2019|archive-date=11 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311110534/https://books.google.com/books?id=vXr5AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA324|url-status=live}}</ref> This treaty confirmed, from French point of view, the independence of the Catalan counties already established the previous three centuries.

As a coastal land, Catalonia became the base of the Aragonese Crown's maritime forces, which spread the power of the Crown in the Mediterranean, turning Barcelona into a powerful and wealthy city. In the period of 1164–1410, new territories, the [[Kingdom of Valencia]], the [[Kingdom of Majorca]], the [[Kingdom of Sardinia (1324–1720)|Kingdom of Sardinia]], the [[Kingdom of Sicily]], and, briefly, the [[Duchy|Duchies]] of [[Duchy of Athens|Athens]] and [[Duchy of Neopatras|Neopatras]], were incorporated into the dynastic domains of the [[House of Barcelona|House of Aragon]]. The expansion was accompanied by a great development of the Catalan trade, creating an extensive trade network across the Mediterranean which competed with those of the maritime republics of [[Genoa Republic|Genoa]] and [[Republic of Venice|Venice]].

At the same time, the [[Principality of Catalonia]] developed a complex institutional and political system based in the concept of a pact between the [[estates of the realm]] and the king. The legislation had to be passed by the [[Catalan Courts]] (''Corts Catalanes''), one of the first parliamentary bodies of Europe that, after 1283, officially obtained the power to pass legislation with the monarch.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://usuarios.multimania.es/maarian/Catalunya/historiacataluna/las_cortes_catalanas_.htm|title=Las Cortes Catalanas y la primera Generalidad medieval (s. XIII–XIV)|access-date=21 January 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101019003946/http://usuarios.multimania.es/Maarian/Catalunya/historiacataluna/las_cortes_catalanas_.htm|archive-date=19 October 2010}}</ref> The Courts were composed of the three estates organized into "arms" (''braços''), were presided over by the monarch, and approved the [[Catalan constitutions]], which established a compilation of rights for the inhabitants of the Principality. In order to collect general taxes, the Catalan Courts of 1359 established a permanent representative body, known as the [[Generalitat of Catalonia|Generalitat]], which gained considerable political power over the next centuries.<ref>[https://web.gencat.cat/ca/generalitat/historia/la-diputacio-del-general/ History of the Generalitat] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200916163434/https://web.gencat.cat/ca/generalitat/historia/la-diputacio-del-general/|date=16 September 2020}} gencat.cat</ref>

[[File:Map of the Crown of Aragon.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.25|Diachronic map of the [[Crown of Aragon]]. The Principality of Catalonia appears in light green]]
The domains of the Aragonese Crown were severely affected by the [[Black Death]] pandemic and by later outbreaks of the [[plague (disease)|plague]]. Between 1347 and 1497 Catalonia lost 37{{nbsp}}percent of its population.<ref>According to John Huxtable Elliott, "Between 1347 and 1497 the Principality [Catalonia] had lost 37% of its inhabitants, and was reduced to a population of something like 300,000." {{cite book|author=[[John Elliott (historian)|Elliott, John Huxtable]]|title=The revolt of the Catalans: a study in the decline of Spain (1598–1640) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X2Hf-crzPjUC&pg=PA26|year=1984|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=0-521-27890-2|page=26|access-date=9 November 2020|archive-date=11 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311111240/https://books.google.com/books?id=X2Hf-crzPjUC&pg=PA26|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1410, the last reigning monarch of the House of Barcelona, King [[Martin of Aragon|Martin I]] died without surviving descendants. Under the [[Compromise of Caspe]] (1412), the representatives of the kingdoms of Aragon, Valencia and the Principality of Catalonia appointed [[Ferdinand I of Aragon|Ferdinand]] from the Castilian [[House of Trastámara]] as King of the Crown of Aragon.<ref name=Reilly>{{cite book|last=Reilly|first=Bernard|title=The Medieval Spain|year=1993|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|location=Cambridge|isbn=0-521-39436-8}}</ref> During the reign of his son, [[John II of Aragon and Navarre|John II]], the persistent economic crisis and social and political tensions in the Principality led to the [[Catalan Civil War]] (1462–1472) and the [[War of the Remences]] (1462–1486) that left Catalonia exhausted. The [[Sentencia Arbitral de Guadalupe]] (1486) liberated the [[Remensa|remença]] peasants from the feudal [[evil customs]].

In the later Middle Ages, [[Catalan literature]] flourished in Catalonia proper and in the kingdoms of Majorca and Valencia, with such remarkable authors as the philosopher [[Ramon Llull]], the Valencian poet [[Ausiàs March]], and [[Joanot Martorell]], author of the novel ''[[Tirant lo Blanch]]'', published in 1490.