Editing History of Catalonia (section)

== From late antiquity to feudalism (400–1100) ==

=== Visigothic and Muslim rule ===
[[File:Tortosa - La Suda.jpg|thumb|Military fortress (suda) of Tortosa]]
In the 5th century, as part of the invasion of the Roman Empire by [[Germanic peoples|Germanic tribe]]s, the [[Visigoths]] led by [[Athaulf]], installed themselves in the Tarraconensis (Ebro basin, 410) and when in 475 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 (Spain)|Toledo]]. The [[Visigothic Kingdom|Visigothic Kingdom in Hispania]] lasted until the early 8th century. The Visigothic Kingdom respected and adopted the provincial system inherited from 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 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 (king)|Wamba]], appointing dux [[Flavius Paulus]] as king in [[Narbonne]].<ref>Bishop Julian of Toledo, in his History of King Wamba, accuses Paul of crowning himself with a votive crown King Reccared (the king who converted the Visigoths from Arianism to Catholicism) had dedicated to the body of St. Felix in Girona. Historia Wambae Regis in MGH, Scriptorum rerum Merovingicarum t. V, p. 522.</ref> The rebellion was crushed by Wamba.

In 714, the [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania|Umayyad forces]] reached the northeastern part of 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.<ref name="Collins1998">{{cite book|author=Roger Collins|title=Charlemagne|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05IVoPSfb48C&pg=PA29|year=1998|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-8218-3|page=29}}</ref><ref name="Reilly1993">{{cite book|author=Bernard F. Reilly|title=The Medieval Spains|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NdJjn1HpSy4C&pg=PA53|date=3 June 1993|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-39741-4|page=53}}</ref>

In the time of the [[Caliphate of Córdoba]] in the 10th century, the northern border stabilized against 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 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 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.<ref>Roger Collins, ''Caliphs and Kings, 796-1031'', (Blackwell Publishing, 2012), 191.</ref>

=== Carolingian conquest ===
[[File:Comtats catalans s. VIII-XII.svg|thumb|right|Evolution of the [[Catalan counties]] between the 8th and the 12th centuries]]
After repelling Muslim incursions as far north as [[Battle of Tours|Tours in 732]], the expanding [[Frankish Empire]] set about creating 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 [[County of Roussillon|Roussillon]] (including the [[Vallespir]]), following [[Siege of Narbonne (752-759)|the conquest of Narbonne]] (759).<ref>Hernàndez Cardona, Francesc Xavier. ''Història militar de Catalunya, vol. I, dels íbers als carolingis''. 1st ed. Rafael Dalmau Editor, 2001, p. 145. {{ISBN|84-232-0639-4}}.</ref>

In 785 the County of [[Girona]] (with [[Besalú]]) on the south side of the [[Pyrenees]] was captured. [[Ribagorça]] and [[County of Pallars|Pallars]] were linked to [[Toulouse]] and were added to this county around 790. [[Urgell]] and [[Cerdanya]] were added in 798. The first records of 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 the Pious|Louis]] took Barcelona from the [[Moors|Moorish]] emir in 801 and set up the [[County of Barcelona]].<ref name="Lewis2009">{{cite book|author-link=David Levering Lewis|first=David Levering |last=Lewis|title=God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zxuar_ISdcUC&pg=PA312|date=12 January 2009|publisher=W. W. Norton|isbn=978-0-393-06790-3|page=312}}</ref>

[[File:Guifred1Barcelonsky.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Wilfred the Hairy]], depicted in the ''Genealogy of the Kings of Aragon'', c. 1400]]
The counts of the Marca Hispanica had small outlying territories, each ruled by a lesser ''miles'' with armed retainers, who owed allegiance through 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, Count of Barcelona|Wilfred the Hairy]] – a noble descendant of a family from [[Conflent]] and son of the earlier Count of Barcelona [[Sunifred I, 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 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 [[County of Osona|Ausona]] (he repopulated the last one after a revolt)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=Archibald Ross |title=The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society, 718&ndash;1050 |date=1965 |publisher=University of Texas Press |location=Austin |page=73}}</ref> 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 the [[House of Barcelona]], which ruled Catalonia until the death of [[Martin of Aragon|Martin I]], its last ruling member, in 1410.

=== The rise and fall of the ''aloers'' ===
[[File:Liber feudorum maior.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Liber feudorum maior]]'', compilation of documents related to the domains of the Counts of Barcelona and its vassals.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kosto |first1=Adam J. |title=The "Liber feudorum maior" of the Counts of Barcelona: The Cartulary as an Expression of Power. |date=2001 |publisher=Journal of Medieval History |page=17}}</ref> Frontispiece]]
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, Count of Barcelona|Borrell II]] declined to swear fealty to [[Hugh Capet]], the first [[House of Capet|Capetian]] monarch of the emerging French kingdom. Borrell was motivated by Capet's failure to address Borrell's petitions to Capet for assistance against Muslim incursions.{{sfn|Salrach|2004|pp=144–149}} 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 ''[[aloer]]s'', [[peasant]] proprietors of small, family-based farms, who lived by [[subsistence agriculture]] and owed no formal [[feudalism|feudal]] allegiance.<ref>* Sadurní i Puigbò, Núria. ''Diccionari de l'any 1000 a Catalunya''. Edicions 62, Col·lecció El Cangur / Diccionaris, núm. 280. (Barcelona, 1999) p. 18 {{ISBN|84-297-4607-2}}.</ref>

The 11th century was characterized by the development of feudal society, as the ''miles'' formed links of [[vassal]]age 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 the ''aloers'' had been converted into vassals.{{sfn|Bisson|1998|p={{page needed|date=July 2023}}}}

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 [[Sovereign state|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 the grandson of Ermessinde, [[Ramon Berenguer I, Count of Barcelona|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]]{{sfn|Kagay|1994|p=47}} 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 the process of feudalization. The response of the Catholic Church to the feudal violence was the movement of [[Peace and Truce of God]].<ref>Head, Thomas F.; Landes, Richard Allen (1992). ''The Peace of God: Social Violence and Religious Response in France Around the Year 1000''. Cornell University Press. {{ISBN|0-8014-8021-3}}</ref> The first assembly of Peace and Truce was presided by [[Abbot Oliba]] in [[Toulouges]], [[County of Roussillon|Roussillon]] in 1027.{{sfn|Fontana|2014|p=19}} 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]].

=== First references to the name ''Catalonia'' ===
The term "Catalonia" 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''.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070929160049/http://usuarios.lycos.es/guerradesucesion/Textos/1114%20Dux%20Catalanesis-Catalanicus%20Heros-Catalania.pdf Latin text of the ''Liber maiolichinus'' with Spanish introduction]</ref>

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 the ancient [[Septimania|March of Gothia]], known as ''Gothia'', whence ''Gothland'' > ''Gothlandia'' > ''Gothalania'' from which ''Catalonia'' has been theoretically derived.<ref name="Books.google.com">{{cite book| author = Maximiano García Venero| title = Historia del nacionalismo catalán: 2a edición| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nUABAAAAMAAJ| access-date = 2010-04-25| date = 2006-07-07| publisher = Ed. Nacional }}</ref><ref>{{cite book| author = Ulick Ralph Burke| title = A history of Spain from the earliest times to the death of Ferdinand the Catholic| url = https://archive.org/details/ahistoryspainfr02burkgoog| year = 1900| publisher = Longmans, Green, and co.| page = [https://archive.org/details/ahistoryspainfr02burkgoog/page/n187 154] }}</ref> During the Middle Ages, Byzantine chroniclers claimed that ''Catalania'' derives from the local medley of [[Goths]] with [[Alans]], initially constituting a ''Goth-Alania''.<ref>The Sarmatians: 600 BC-AD 450 (Men-at-Arms) by Richard Brzezinski and Gerry Embleton, Aug 19, 2002.</ref> Alternatively, the name may come from the word "ca(s)telan" (inhabitant of the castle) as the area had many fortifications.