Principality of Catalonia

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Principality of Catalonia
Principat de Catalunya (Catalan)
Principatus Cathaloni (Latin)
Realm of the Crown of Aragon (11621641, 16521714)
Realm of the Monarchy of Spain (15161641, 16521714)
Realm of the Monarchy of France (16411652)
12th century1714

Territory of the Principality of Catalonia until 1659

Capital Barcelona
Languages Catalan, Latin
Religion Roman Catholicism
Government Monarchy subject to constitutions
Count of Barcelona[citation needed]
11621196 Alfons I (first)
17061714 Charles III (last)
President of the Deputation of the General
13591362 Berenguer de Crulles (first)
17131714 Josep de Vilamala (last)
Legislature General Court of Catalonia
Historical era Medieval Early modern
Marriage of Ramon Berenguer IV and Petronila 1137
Reign of Alfons I 1162
First Catalan Courts 1192
First Catalan constitutions 1283
Reign of Charles V 1516
Catalan Revolt 16401652
Treaty of the Pyrenees 1659
War of the Spanish Succession 1701- 1714
Population
1700 est. 500.000[1]
Currency Croat, Ducat, Barcelonian pound, and others
Preceded by Succeeded by
County of Barcelona
Catalan Republic
Enlightenment in Spain
Today part of France
Spain
? Catalonia
The Principality of Catalonia (Catalan Principat de Catalunya, Latin Principatus
Cathaloni, Occitan Principautat de Catalonha, Spanish Principado de Catalua), is
a historic territory and a medieval and early modern political entity and state in
the northeastern Iberian Peninsula, mostly in Spain, with an adjoining portion in
southern France. Between the 13th and the 18th centuries it was bordered by the
Kingdom of Aragon to the west, the Kingdom of Valencia to the south, the Kingdom of
France and the feudal lordship of Andorra to the north and by the Mediterranean sea
to the east.

The first reference to Catalonia and the Catalans appears in the Liber maiolichinus
de gestis Pisanorum illustribus, a Pisan chronicle (written between 1117 and 1125)
of the conquest of Menorca by a joint force of Italians, Catalans, and Occitans. At
the time, Catalonia did not yet exist as a political entity, though the use of this
term seems to acknowledge Catalonia as a cultural or geographical entity.

The counties that would eventually make up the Principality of Catalonia were
gradually unified under the rule of the Count of Barcelona. In 1137, the County of
Barcelona and the Kingdom of Aragon were unified under a single dynasty, creating
what modern historians call the Crown of Aragon; however, Aragon and Catalonia
retained their own political structure and legal traditions. Because of these legal
differences and their use of different languageAragonese and Catalanan official
recognition of the Catalan Counties as a distinct political entity with its own
institutions, laws and political community became necessary.

Under Alfons the Troubador (reigned 11641196), Catalonia was regarded as a legal
entity for the first time.[2] Still, the term Principality of Catalonia was not
used legally until the 14th century, when it was applied to the territories ruled
by the Courts of Catalonia.

The term Principality of Catalonia remained in use until the Second Spanish
Republic, when its use declined because of its historical relation to the monarchy.
Today, the term Principat (Principality) is used primarily by Catalan nationalists
to refer to the Autonomous Community of Catalonia, as distinct from the other
Catalan Countries.[3][4]

Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Origins
1.2 Catalan constitutions (12831716) and the 15th century
1.3 Catalonia during the early modern period
1.4 After Nueva Planta
2 Government and law
2.1 Institutions
2.2 Legislation
3 Symbols
4 The term Principality
5 Language
6 Culture
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
History[edit]
Main article History of Catalonia
Origins[edit]
Like much of the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula, it was colonized by
Ancient Greeks, who chose to settle in Roses. Both Greeks and Carthaginians
interacted with the main Iberian population. After the Carthaginian defeat, it
became, along with the rest of Hispania, a part of the Roman Empire, Tarraco being
one of the main Roman posts in the Iberian Peninsula.

The Visigoths ruled after the Western Roman Empire's collapse near the end of the
5th century. Moorish Al-Andalus gained control in the early 8th century, after
conquering the Visigothic kingdom in 711718. After the defeat of Emir Abdul Rahman
Al Ghafiqiwas's troops at Tours in 732, the Franks gradually gained control of the
former Visigoth territories north of the Pyrenees, which had been captured by the
Muslims or had become allied with them, in what is today Catalonia under French
administration. In 795, Charlemagne created what came to be known as the Marca
Hispanica, a buffer zone beyond the province of Septimania, made up of locally
administered separate petty kingdoms which served as a defensive barrier between
the Umayyad of Al-Andalus and the Frankish Kingdom.

Origins of the blason of the County of Barcelona, by Claudi Lorenzale

A distinctive Catalan culture started to develop in the Middle Ages stemming from a
number of these petty kingdoms organized as small counties throughout the
northernmost part of Catalonia. The counts of Barcelona were Frankish vassals
nominated by the Carolingian emperor then the king of the Franks, to whom they were
feudatories (801987). During the 9th century, Wifred the Hairy, Count of
Barcelona, made its title hereditary and founded the dynasty of the House of
Barcelona, which ruled Catalonia until the death of Martin I, its last member, in
1410.

In 987 Count Borrell II did not recognise the Frankish king Hugh Capet and his new
dynasty, effectively taking Barcelona out of Frankish rule. At the start of
eleventh century the Catalan Counties suffer an important process of feudalisation.
[5] Then, in 1137 Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, married Petronilla of
Aragon, establishing the dynastic union of the County of Barcelona and its
dominions with the Kingdom of Aragon, which was to create the Crown of Aragon.

James I the Conqueror

The Battle of Muret (12 September 1213) and the unexpected defeat of King Peter of
Aragon and his vassals and allies, the counts of Toulouse, Comminges and Foix,
resulted in the fading of the strong human, cultural and economic ties existing
between the ancient territories of Catalonia and the Languedoc.

In the Treaty of Corbeil, 1258, James I of Aragon, descendant of Sunifred and Bello
of Carcassonne and therefore heir of the House of Barcelona, relinquished his
family rights and dominions in the Languedoc and recognized the Capetian king of
France as heir of the Carolingian Dynasty. In return, the king of France formally
renounced his nominal feudal lordship over all the Catalan counties. This treaty
turned the de facto independence of the Catalan counties into a full de jure, but
meant the irremediable separation between the people of Catalonia and the
Languedoc.

As a coastal territory within the Crown of Aragon and with the increasing
importance of the port of Barcelona, Catalonia became the main centre of the
Crown's maritime power, helping to expand its influence and power by conquest and
trade into Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Sardinia and Sicily.

Catalan constitutions (12831716) and the 15th century[edit]

1702 compilation of Catalan Constitutions

At the same time, the Principality of Catalonia developed a complex institutional
and political system based in the concept of pact between the estates of the realm
and the king. The laws (called constitutions) had to be approved in the General
Court of Catalonia, one of the first parliamentary bodies of Europe that banned the
royal power to create legislation unilaterally (since 1283).[6] The first Catalan
constitutions are of the ones from the Catalan Courts (Corts) of Barcelona from
1283. The last ones were promulgated by the Courts of 17051706, presided by the
disputed king Charles III. The compilations of the Constitutions and other rights
of Catalonia followed the Roman tradition of the Codex. This constitutions
developed an advanced compilation of rights for the whole citizens of the
Principality and limited the power of the kings.

Palau de la Generalitat, seat of the Deputation of the General, located in

Barcelona
The General Court of Catalonia, dating from the 11th century, is one of the first
parliaments in continental Europe. The Courts were composed by the three estates of
the realm and were presided by the king of Aragon. The current Parliament of
Catalonia is considered the symbolic and historic successor of this institution.

In order to recapt general taxes, the Courts of 1359 established a permanent

representation of deputies, called Deputation of the General (in Catalan Diputaci
del General) and later usually known as Generalitat, which gained an important
political power during the next centuries.