Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Wilfred was followed by a succession of rulers who attempted to consolidate his gains.
Early counts, like
Ramon Berenguer I
(1035-76), concentrated on establishing their su-
periority over the other local counts, which was bitterly resisted.
Ramon Berenguer III
(1144-66)addedconsiderableterritorytohisrealmswithhismarriagein1113toaProvençal
heiress, and made alliances and commercial treaties with Muslim and Christian powers
around the western Mediterranean.
ThemostimportantstageinCatalunya'sdevelopment,however,camein1137withthemar-
riageof
RamonBerenguerIV
toPetronella,thetwo-year-olddaughterofKingRamiroIIof
Aragón. This led to the
dynastic union of Catalunya and Aragón
. Although this remained
a loose and tenuous federation - the regions retained their own parliaments and customs - it
providedtheplatformforrapidexpansionoverthenextthreecenturies.Ramonalsomanaged
to force most of the other counts to recognize his superior status, and subsequently issued
the
UsatgesdeBarcelona
, a code of laws and customs defining feudal duties, rights and au-
thorities - sneakily putting Ramon I's name on them to make them appear older than they
were. He also captured Muslim Tortosa and Lleida in 1148-49, which mark the limits of the
modern region of Catalunya, but now the region began to look east for its future, across the
Mediterranean.
CATALAN ROOTS
Conflicting loyalties in the territories of the
Spanish Marches
in the ninth century sparked
the construction of many local fortifications to protect and control the population, which
led to the term
catlá
(“lord of the castle”) being used to refer to the people of the area - the
root of today's “
Catalan
” (Castilian has an analogous root). Also, and as happened across
muchoftheformerRomanEmpire,spokenLatinhadtakenongeographicalparticularities,
andthe“Romance” languages, including Catalan, hadbeguntodevelop. Adocument from
839 recording the consecration of the cathedral at La Seu d'Urgell in the Pyrenees is seen
as the first Catalan-language historical document.
The Kingdom of Catalunya and Aragón
Ramon Berenguer IV was no more than a count, but his son
Alfons I
(who succeeded to the
throne in 1162) also inherited the title of King of Aragón (where he was Alfonso II), and be-
came the first count-king of what historians later came to call the
Crown of Aragón
. To his
territories he added Roussillon and much of southern France, becoming known as “Emperor
of the Pyrenees”.
Alfons's son, Pere (Peter) the Catholic, gained glory as one of the military leaders in the
decisive defeat of Muslim forces at the
Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
in 1212. But through
histiesoflordshiptotheFrenchcountsofToulouse,Perefoundhimselfonthewrongsidein
