The Catalan counties (Catalan: Comtats Catalans, IPA:[kumˈtatskətəˈlans]) were those surviving counties of the Hispanic March and the southernmost part of the March of Gothia that were later united to form the Principality of Catalonia.
In 778, Charlemagne led the first military Frankish expedition into Hispania to create the Hispanic March, a military buffer zone between the Umayyad Moors and Arabs of Al-Andalus and the Frankish Empire. The territory that he subdued would in later centuries be the kernel of Catalonia (not yet known like that since the first written mention of Catalonia is in 1113). In 781, Charlemagne made his 3-year-old son Louis the Pious (778 – 840) king of Aquitaine, who was sent there with regents and a court in order to secure the southern border of his kingdom against the Arabs and Moors and to expand southwards into Muslim territory.
These counties were originally feudal entities ruled by a small military elite. Counts were appointed directly by and owed allegiance to the Carolingian (Frankish) emperor. The appointment to heirs could not be taken for granted. However, with the rise of the importance of the Bellonids and strong figures among them such as, Sunifred (fl. 844–848) and Wilfred the Hairy (c.870-897), and the weakening of Carolingian royal power, the appointment of heirs eventually become a formality. This trend resulted in the counts becoming de facto independent of the Carolingian crown under Borrell II in 987, starting since, to call themselves and to be known as dei gratia comes (counts by the grace of god) and dux catalanensis (Catalan dukes) or even Hispaniae subjogator (attorney of Hispania) and Propugnator et murus christiani populi (wall and defender of the Christian folk).
The many counties (aside from the counties of County of Pallars, County of Urgell and County of Empuries) were to be soon absorbed into the County of Barcelona. A Count of Barcelona, prince Ramon Berenguer IV, married princess Petronilla of Aragon of the Kingdom of Aragon in 1150, uniting as equals the County of Barcelona and the Kingdom of Aragon. Thus, their son, Alfonso II of Aragon, became the first king of the Crown of Aragon, ruling over both the Catalans and the Aragonese.
The Catalancounties (Catalan: Comtats Catalans, IPA: [kumˈtats kətəˈlans]) were those surviving counties of the Hispanic March and the southernmost part...
From the 13th century onwards, the territory of the County of Barcelona and the other Catalancounties progresivelly began to be identified as a single political...
Catalan Alliance (Catalan: Aliança Catalana) is a far-right political party in Catalonia. It is a Catalan pro-independence, and nationalist party, and...
acquired or vassalized the other Catalancounties and extended their influence over Occitania. In 1164, the County of Barcelona entered a personal union...
Catalonia (singular comarca, Eastern Catalan: [kuˈmarkə], Western Catalan: [koˈmaɾka]), often referred to in English as counties, are an administrative division...
administered separate counties which served as a defensive barrier between the Umayyad of Al-Andalus and the Frankish Kingdom. A distinctive Catalan culture started...
Later, his grandson King Ferdinand II of Aragon recovered the northern Catalancounties—Roussillon and Cerdagne—which had been lost to France as well as the...
historically known as Urgell, one of the Catalancounties. The capital is the city of Tàrrega. Counts of Urgell County of Urgell La Seu d'Urgell Pla d'Urgell...
territories—the Principality of Catalonia (which included the former CatalanCounties), the Kingdom of Valencia, the Kingdom of Majorca, and other possessions...
The County of Roussillon (Catalan: Comtat de Rosselló, IPA: [kumˈtad də rusəˈʎo], Latin: Comitatus Ruscinonensis) was one of the Catalancounties in the...
The County of Urgell (Catalan: Comtat d'Urgell, IPA: [kumˈtad duɾˈʒeʎ]; Latin: Comitatus Urgellensis) is one of the historical Catalancounties, bordering...
Spanish: Condado de Cerdaña, French: Comté de Cerdagne) was one of the Catalancounties formed in the last decades of the 8th century by the Franks in the...
Barcelona and the other Catalancounties merged into a state, the Principality of Catalonia, which developed an institutional system (Catalan Courts, constitutions...
Catalan (/ˈkætələn, -æn/ KAT-ə-lən, -lan or /ˌkætəˈlæn/ KAT-ə-LAN; autonym: català, Eastern Catalan: [kətəˈla]), known in the Valencian Community and...
The official languages are Catalan, Spanish and the Aranese dialect of Occitan. In the late 8th century, various counties across the eastern Pyrenees...
institutions, materialized in the institutional systems of the combined Catalancounties (9th–12th centuries), the Principality of Catalonia within the Crown...
of the counties became hereditary, the total number of Catalan counts fell steadily. One individual often had the charge of several counties, but these...
of Girona (currently in Catalonia), the earliest-established of the CatalanCounties which formed the Marca Hispanica. The line was established by the Frankish...
suzerainty over the County of Barcelona and the other Catalancounties, while he renounced northward expansion and taking back the once Catalan territories in...
Catalan nationalism is the ideology asserting that the Catalans are a distinct nation. A related term is Catalanism (Catalan: catalanisme, Spanish: catalanismo)...
Victorious"), which is often Latinized as Almanzor in Spanish, Almansor in Catalan and Almançor in Portuguese (c. 938 – 8 August 1002), was a Muslim Arab...
The County of Osona, also Ausona (Catalan: Comtat d'Osona, IPA: [kumˈtad duˈzonə]; Latin: Comitatus Ausonae), was one of the Catalancounties of the Marca...
Barcelona (Catalan: comte de Barcelona, Spanish: conde de Barcelona, French: comte de Barcelone, Latin: comes Barcinonensis) was the ruler of the County of Barcelona...
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