Nick Boalch → Spanish → History of Catalunya

A Brief History of Catalunya, 410–

© Nicholas Boalch 2000–2007. Some Rights Reserved.

5^th century

• 410: The Roman province of Tarraconensis (corresponding roughly to modern-day Catalunya, Aragó and Navarre) is captured by the Visigoths.
• 475: Tarraconensis is incorporated into the newly independent Visigothic kingdom of Tolosa, which gradually extends to cover most of the Iberian peninsula.

8^th century

• 711–718: Conquest of the Iberian peninsula by Moors of the Umayyad Caliphate, creating the province of Al-Andalus (later to become an Emirate and then a Caliphate in its own right).

9^th century

• 
  Charlemagne
• 801: Barcelona is captured by Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious as part of the Carolingian Franks' military reaction against the Moorish invasion of the Frankish Empire. Catalunya becomes part of Charlemagne's Spanish March, a military buffer zone between the Frankish Empire and Al-Andalus. Frankish noble Berà (?–844) is installed as the first Count of Barcelona and given responsibility for defending the Spanish March.
• 878: Guifrè el Pelós (c.840–897), Count of Cerdanya and Urgell, becomes Count of Barcelona, Girona, Besalú and Osona, uniting much of modern-day Catalunya under one Count for the first time.
• 897: Guifrè's titles are passed to his sons on his death as the countships of the Spanish March become de facto hereditary.

10^th century

• 985: Barcelona is sacked by Almansor, Caliph of Còrdova, after the Frankish King Lothair refuses to send military assistance, accelerating an increasing rift between the Counts of the Spanish March and their Carolingian masters.
• 987: King Louis the Indolent dies childless and the crown of France passes to Hugh Capet, ending the Carolingian dynasty and starting the Capetian. Count Borell II of Barcelona refuses to swear fealty to the new monarch, cementing the de facto separation from France.

11^th century

• Relations between Christians and Muslisms in the borderlands settle into an uneasy stalemate.
• Society in the former Spanish March begins to feudalise as the lesser nobility gradually acquire formerly independent peasant farmers as vassals, often by means of extreme violence. By the middle of the century, the area has acquired the essential characteristics of a feudal state headed by the Counts of Barcelona.
• Count Ramon Berenguer I (c.1006–1035) codifies the first Usatges de Barcelona, the first compilation of feudal law in Europe.

12^th century

• 1117: The first documented use of the name 'Catalan'. The Liber Maiolichinus, a Latin epic of Pisan origin, refers to the then Count of Barcelona, Ramon Berenguer III (1082–1131), as 'Dux Catalanensis' and the territory as 'Catalania'. The origin of the term is disputed.
• 
  Ramon Berenguer IV & Peronella
• Capture of Tortosa (1148) and Lleida (1149) from the Moors.
• 1150: Count Ramon Berenguer IV (c.1113–1162) of Barcelona marries Peronella, Queen of Aragó. The Countship of Barcelona becomes subsumed into the Crown of Aragó as their marriage unites the territories under a single ruler (although both retain autonomous identities).

13^th century

• 1213: Defeat at the Battle of Muret and the death of King Pere el Catòlic (1174–1213) firmly end Catalo-Aragonese territorial ambitions in France.
• 1214: The first meeting of the Corts catalanes, later to become Catalunya's Parliament, is assembled in Lleida in response to the defeat.
• 
  Jaume I
• Catalo-Aragonese territorial expansion continues under King Jaume I el Conqueridor (1208–1276) with the conquest of Mallorca (1229), Menorca (1232), Eivissa and Formentera (1235) and València (1238). These conquests lead to the expansion of Catalan mercantile interests into a trading empire in the Mediterranean over the late 13th century.
• 1249: King Jaume institutes the Consell de Cent (Council of One Hundred) to govern the city of Barcelona.
• 1251: At the request of King Jaume, the Corts agree the legal primacy of the Usatges de Barcelona over the whole of Catalunya.
• 1258: King Jaume signs the Treaty of Corbeil with France, renouncing feudal claims over French territory in exchange for France renouncing its own claims to Catalunya.
• 1282: Guerra de les Vespres Sicilianes (War of the Sicilian Vespers) begins. King Pere III el Gran (1239–1285) captures Sicília from Charles of Anjou in 1282 (at the invitation of the Sicilian people) and is promptly excommunicated by Pope Martin IV, an ally of Charles.
• 1283: Ramon Llull publishes Blanquerna, one of the earliest novels.
• 1284: The Croada contra Catalunya (Aragonese Crusade) is declared by the Pope, who names Charles of Anjou's great-newphew Charles of Valois as King of Aragó. The Crusade is joined by Pere's brother King Jaume II of Mallorca.
• 
  Roger de Llúria
• 1285: Charles besieges and captures Girona. Soon afterwards, however, his fleet is destroyed in the Mediterranean by Admiral Roger de Llúria at the Battle of Les Formigues and his army slaughtered at the Battle of the Col de Panissars, ending the Crusade. Pere's son Alfons III el Franc (1265–1291), the newly crowned King, captures Mallorca from Jaume II.
• 1291: The Treaty of Tarascon – a four-way accord between Alfons, King Charles II the Lame of Nàpols, King Philip IV the Fair of France and the new Pope Nicholas IV – formally ends the Aragonese Crusade and recognises Alfons as the rightful King of Aragó; but Alfons dies just weeks after signing it.
• 
  Jaume el Just
• 1295: A new accord, the Treaty of Anagni, is signed by Alfons's son Jaume II el Just (1267–1327), Charles II of Nàpols, Philip IV of France, Jaume II of Mallorca and Pope Boniface VIII, returning Sicília to the Papacy and Mallorca to Jaume II of Mallorca.
• 1298: The Pope names Jaume el Just ruler of a newly-invented kingdom in Sardenya, then part of the Republic of Pisa.

14^th century

• 1302: The Peace of Caltabellotta formally ends the Sicilian wars by splitting the kingdom into two parts, the Kingdom of Sicília (ruled by Jaume's brother King Frederic II) and the Kingdom of Nàpols (ruled by Charles of Anjou's son King Charles the Lame).
• 1324: Jaume's son King Alfons IV el Benigne (1299–1336) captures the Sardinian Giudicatos ('Judicatures') of Cagliari and Gallura from the Pisans with the support of the independent Giudicato of Arborea, becoming King of Sardenya in more than name only.
• 1343: Alfons's son King Pere IV el Cerimoniós (1319–1387) invades and conquers Mallorca from King Jaume III el Temerari, removing him to Montpeller. In 1349, Jaume III invades Mallorca in an attempt to recapture it, but is defeated and killed at the Battle of Llucmajor.
• 1356: Guerra dels dos Peres (War of the Two Peters) begins between Aragó and Castile, and named for their respective monarchs Pere IV and Pedro I. Part of the general instability of the Hundred Years' War, it drags on along the Aragonese-Castilian border for many years and merges into the Castilian Civil War (1366–1369), which ends with the death of Pedro I and the accession of his illegitmate half-brother Enrique de Trastámara to the throne of Castile.
• 1358: The financial instability of the war prompts the Corts to designate twelve of its members to take responsibility for the administration of Catalunya: the 'Diputació del General' or the first Generalitat. Bishop Berenguer de Cruïlles of Girona is recognised as its first President.
• 1375: The Castilian-Aragonese war is formally ended by the Treaty of Almazán.
• 1393: Pere's son King Joan I el Caçador (1350–1396) founds the Jocs Florals of Barcelona.

15^th century

• 
  Martí l'Humà
• 1410: With the death of Martí l'Humà, the male line of the Counts of Barcelona becomes extinct, provoking a two-year interregnum.
• 1412: In the Compromís de Casp, electors from the parliaments of Aragó, València and Barcelona decide on Ferran I d'Antequera (1380–1416), Prince of Castile and maternal grandson of Pere el Cerimoniós. With the accession of the Castilian-Aragonese House of Trastàmara, Aragonese interests begin to dominate the Catalo-Aragonese relationship.
• 1413: Compilation of the first Constitution of Catalunya by Ferran I, building on the pre-existing Usatges and formalising the rights and priveleges of the Catalan peoples, including the protection of the Generalitat from royal interference.
• 1416: Ferran dies and is succeeded by his son Alfons V el Magnànim (1396–1458). Preferring to spend his time in Italy, he leaves the goverment of Aragó, Catalunya and València to his wife Maria de Castella and his brother Joan, to general dissatisfaction.
• 1442: Alfons, who had been named heir to the Kingdom of Nàpols by Queen Joanna II in 1421, captures it from René of Anjou, who had become King after Joanna's death in 1435.
• 1450: The University of Barcelona is founded.
• 
  Joan el Gran
• 1458: Alfons dies and is succeeded by his brother Joan II el Gran (1398–1479), already by marriage the King of Navarre.
• 1460: Joan imprisons his popular son Carles de Viana. Deputations from Aragó and Catalunya (the newly-formed Consell del Principat) fail to secure his release, prompting the Catalans to threaten an armed insurrection. Joan capitulates (1461) and confirms Carles as his heir, as well as declaring him Governer of Catalunya in perpetuity.
• 1462: Carles de Viana's suspicious death triggers a rebellion against Joan, the Guerra civil catalana (Catalan Civil War), which also coincides with a revolt by the Catalan peasantry, the Guerra dels remences (Serfs' War). Faced with an alliance between Joan and King Louis XI of France aimed at their subjugation, the Consell del Principat offers the countship of Barcelona to King Enrique IV el Impotente of Castile, maternal grandson of King Ferran I. Enrique accepts, and Castilian troops raise Joan's siege of Barcelona.
• 1463: Louis XI negotiates a peace between Aragó and Castile, and Enrique renounces the countship of Barcelona.
• 1464: Continuing the Civil War, the Consell offers the countship of Barcelona to Pedro de Coimbra, the grandson of Jaume d'Urgell (who had been a candidate to the kingship of Aragó at the time of the Compromís de Casp).
• 1465: Joan's forces achieve a signficant victory over the Catalans at the Battle of Calaf.
• 1466: Pedro de Coimbra dies. The Consell offers the countship of Barcelona to René of Anjou. René sends his son John of Lorraine to Catalunya to prosecute his claim.
• The tacit support of Louis XI for René, along with Joan's preoccupation with the unstable political situations in Castile and Navarra, provoke some changes in the direction of the war: military victories won by John of Lorraine include the capture of Girona (1467), Besalú (1469) and Empúries (1469).
• 1469: Joan's son Ferran marries Isabel, son of the Castilian King Juan II, laying the foundations for the future union of Castile and Aragó.
• 1470: John of Lorraine dies, rumouredly by poison, in Barcelona.
• 1471: Girona, l'Empordà and much of the rest of Catalunya is gradually subjugated by Joan's troops, and Barcelona is besieged.
• 1473: Barcelona surrenders to King Joan after a ten-month siege, and the Civil War is formally ended by the Capitulació de Pedralbes.
• 
  Els Reis Catòlics
• 1479: Joan dies and is succeeded by his son Ferran I el Catòlic, already King Consort of Castile since his wife Isabel's accession to the Castilian throne in 1474. The dynastic union brings Castile and Aragó together in the first approximation to modern 'Spain', though the territories continue to maintain separate economic and political systems and institutions.
• 1484: Sentència de Guadalupe: Ferran restores order in Catalunya and deals with the grievances of the remences by dismantling the feudal system; monetary compensation is given to the nobles. The Sentència creates a class of peasant farmers who effectively owned their own lands, making them a stabilising influence on the area.
• 1490: Joanot Martorell publishes the epic Tirant lo Blanc.
• 1492: Christopher Columbus 'discovers' America, focusing European trade and warcraft away from the Mediterranean and undermining Catalunya's economic and political significance by comparison to Castile. Barcelona is gradually overtaken as the principal port of the Iberian peninsula by Sevilla, which has a monopoly on American traffic.

16^th century

• 1513: Navarre is captured and subdued by Ferran's troops during the larger War of the League of Cambrai and added to the burgeoning Spanish kingdom.
• 
  Carles I
• 1516: Ferran dies and is succeeded by his grandson Carles I (later Carles V of the Holy Roman Empire), the first monarch to be sole ruler of both Castile and Aragó.
• Conflicts of interest with Castile increase throughout the sixteenth century, particularly over taxation and military affairs.

17^th century

• 1618: Start of the Thirty Years' War. The increased financial burden of the war, along with atrocities committed by Castilian troops based in Catalunya, eventually lead to:
• 1640: The Corpus de Sang (Bloody Corpus), a widespread revolt by the peasantry that grows into the Guerra dels Segadors (Reapers' War), a Catalunya-wide secessionist rebellion.
• 1641: The President of the Generalitat, Pau Claris, declares an independent Catalan Republic under the protection of France; Louis XIII is proclaimed Cout of Barcelona. Catalan troops repulse the Spanish at the Battle of Montjuïc.
• 1642: The French army captures Perpinyá and Salses and occupies the provice of Rosselló.
• 1643: The French army captures the towns of Montsó and Lleida. Louis XIII of France dies and is replaced as the pretender to the Countship of Barcelona by his son Louis XIV.
• 1644: The Spanish recapture Lleida and Tarragona.
• 1645: The French besiege and capture Roses.
• 1652: A Spanish army commanded by Felipe IV's bastard Juan José de Austria captures Barcelona after a lengthy siege, ending the Reapers' War.
• 1659: The Treaty of the Pyrenees ends the Franco-Spanish war and formalises the division of Catalunya by making its French-occupied northern provinces (Rosselló, Conflent, Vallespir, Alta Cerdanya and Capcir) officially part of France.
• 1687: A revolt against continued impositions by Spanish troops, the Revolta dels Barretines, begins. It is eventually suppressed in 1689 in the opening stages of the War of the Grand Alliance with France.
• 1694: In part of the ongoing war, French forces invade Catalunya, win a decisive victory at the Battle of Toroella and capture the town of Girona.
• 1697: French forces besiege and capture Barcelona in the last major military action of the War of the Grand Alliance. The war is ended by the Treaty of Rijswijk, by which Catalunya is returned to Spanish control.

18^th century

• 1700: King Carlos II of Spain dies childless, naming his heir as Philip, Duke of Anjou, the grandson of Louis XIV of France and Carlos's half sister María Teresa, thus passing control of Spain from the House of Habsburg to the House of Bourbon.
• 1701: Alarmed by the prospect of Spain falling under French dominance, England, the Netherlands and Austria ally in support of a rival claimant to the throne, Charles, Archduke of Austria: starting the Guerra de Successió Espanyola (War of the Spanish Succession). While Aragó sides with the Alliance, Catalunya initially supports the Bourbons.
• 1705: In the Pact of Genoa, the Catalans agree to support Archduke Charles's claim. Charles's army besieges and captures the cities of Barcelona and València.
• 1707: The Franco-Spanish army wins a significant victory at the Battle of Almansa and recaptures Aragó and València.
• 1710: The Spanish army enters Catalunya, but is defeated at the Battle of Almenara and forced to withdraw to Aragó.
• 1713: The Treaty of Utrecht brings an end to the war between Spain and France and both Great Britain and the Netherlands. Catalunya, though, fights on.
• 1714: Barcelona surrenders to the Bourbon army after an eighteen-month siege.
• 1716: Philip, now formally King Felipe V, issues the final Nova Planta Decree (following similar decrees for Aragó and Valencia in 1707). The decree punishes Catalunya for its opposition to him during the war by subjugating it entirely: dismantling its institutions (including the Generalitat and the universities), revoking its constitution and making it subject to the laws of Castile.
• With its laws, traditions and language rigidly suppressed and its culture Castilianised, Catalunya falls into a century of literary and cultural obscurity, known as la Decadència.
• 1768: Felipe V bans the use of Catalan in schools.

19^th century

• 1808: The Napoleonic Wars come to Spain: French troops enter the country under the pretext of fighting Portugal in accordance with the Treaty of Fontainebleau (1807), but are secretly targeted at key Spanish cities and strongholds. In Catalunya, French troops under General Guillaume Duhesme capture Barcelona by a trick. Napoleon forces King Fernando VII to abdicate and gives the throne to his brother Joseph Bonaparte
• After French troops brutally suppress the Dos de Mayo Uprising in Madrid, the Spanish provinces one by one rise up in revolt against Napoleon: the beginning of the Guerra de la Independència Espanyola (Spanish War of Independence).
• In Catalunya, Girona holds out against two sieges, and a French army is beaten at the Battle of El Bruc. The French are routed at the Battle of Bailén subsequently retreat from Madrid, but an attempted reconquest of Barcelona (the Bloqueig de Barcelona) ends in a French victory.
• 1809: The French, now led in person by Napoleon, renew their offensive across Spain with great success. In Catalunya, Reus falls and Girona is captured after a third, seven-month-long siege, but at a huge cost of some 15,000 French lives.
• 1810: Lleida is besieged and captured by the French.
• 1811: Tortosa and Tarragona are captured by the French.
• 1812: Catalunya, now totally under French occupation, is formally integrated into the French Empire. Guerilla fighting by Catalan irregulars continues.
• 1813: With the French armies weakened by Napoleon's invasion of Russia, English, Spanish and Portuguese forces under Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington drive the French back to the Pyrenees and invade southern France. Napoleon abdicates, ending the War.
• 1814: Barcelona is finally liberated from French troops under Pierre-Joseph Habert, who had continued to hold it after Napoleon's defeat.
• 1833: Barcelona's first steam-powered factory is built, starting Catalunya's Industrial Revolution. Bonaventura Carles Aribau publishes Oda a la pàtria, kick-starting a powerful revival of Catalan language and culture, the Renaixença. King Fernando VII dies, leading to a struggle between his daughter Isabel and his brother Carlos, Count of Molina for the throne: the First Carlist War. Hoping for the restoration of their rights and priveleges, many Catalans side with the Carlists.
• 1839: The First Carlist War ends with the 'Abrazo de Vergara' after six years of vicious fighting.
• 1846: An uprising led by General Ramon Cabrera sparks the Second Carlist War, mainly concentrated in Catalunya.
• 1849: The war ends with an amnesty for the defeated Carlists.
• 1860: The Carlist pretender Carlos, Count of Montemolín lands in Tarragona aiming to lead a new uprising but is quickly arrested and forced to renounce his claim.
• 1868: La Gloriosa (the 'Glorious Revolution') deposes Queen Isabel II. After a two-year interregnum, she is replaced by Amadeo I. His unpopularity sparks the:
• 1872: Third Carlist War. A new Carlist pretender, Carlos, Duke of Madrid promises to restore the rights and priveleges of the Catalans. Carlist troops capture La Seu d'Urgell.
• 1873: Amadeo abdicates, and the First Spanish Republic is established in an immediate state of war with the Carlists.
• 1874: The Republic collapses and Alfonso XII is restored as king. In Catalunya, Carlist forces besiege and capture Olot. The Diputació is reestablished at Sant Joan de les Abadesses, intended to reimplement the Catalan Constitution.
• 1875: Olot and La Seu d'Urgell are recaptured by Spanish troops, ending the war in Catalunya. The fledgling Diputació is disbanded.
• 1876: Carlos flees to exile in France, ending the Carlist wars. Jacint Verdaguer publishes the epic poem L'Atlàntida.
• 1883: Antoni Gaudí begins work on the Sagrada Familia.
• 1888: The Universal Exposition is held at Barcelona, marking the beginning of Modernisme, an artistic movement aiming to foreground Catalan culture.

20^th century

• 1901: The Lliga Regionalista, one of the first Catalanist political parties, is founded.
• 1904: Pompeu Fabra publishes his Tractat d'ortografia catalana, a formalisation of Catalan orthography.
• 1906: The first Congress of the Catalan Language is held in Barcelona. Eugeni d'Ors coins Noucentisme, an artistic and political movement associated with Catalan nationalism. Enric Prat de la Riba publishes La nacionalitat catalana, a separatist manifesto.
• 1907: The Institut d'Estudis Catalans is founded.
• ...

21^st century

• ...

 

See also

• Rulers of Catalunya, 410–1700, a complete list of Catalunya's rulers through to its absorption into the Spanish crown in the War of the Spanish Succession.

    Nicholas Boalch (nick.boalch@gmail.com)
Last updated: 27th September 2007 (v. 1.7)