Wilfred the Hairy
Encyclopedia
Count of Girona
The Counts of Girona were:*Rostany *Odilon *Bera *Rampo *Bernard I , first reign*Berengar *Bernard I , second reign*Sunifred I *Wilfred I *Odalric...
(878–897), Besalú (878–897), and Ausona (886–897).
He was responsible for the repopulation of the long depopulated no-man's land around Vic
Vic
Vic is the capital of the comarca of Osona, in the Barcelona Province, Catalonia, Spain. Vic's location, only 69 km far from Barcelona and 60 km from Girona, has made it one of the most important towns in central Catalonia.-History:...
(the county of Ausona, a frontier between Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
and Muslim
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
), the re-establishment of the bishopric of Vic, and the foundation of the Monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll, where he is buried.
Historical significance
Wilfred the Hairy was the Catalan Count of Barcelona (878–898) and created the tradition of hereditary passage of titles. His son, Wifred Borell, inherited the county without any interruption and held it between 898–914.A number of primitive feudal
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
entities developed in the Marca Hispanica
Marca Hispanica
The Marca Hispanica , also known as Spanish March or March of Barcelona was a buffer zone beyond the province of Septimania, created by Charlemagne in 795 as a defensive barrier between the Umayyad Moors of Al-Andalus and the Frankish Kingdom....
, during the 9th century. They were generally self-sufficient and agrarian, but ruled by a small military elite. The pattern seen in Catalonia is similar to that found in similar border lands or marches elsewhere in Europe.
Traditionally the count of Barcelona was appointed directly by the Carolingian emperor, for example the appointment of Bera
Bera, Count of Barcelona
Bera was the first count of Barcelona from 801 until his deposition in 820.He was also the count of Girona and Besalú from 812 or 817 and count of Razès and Conflent from 790 until his deposition.-Origins:...
(in 801). The appointment of heirs could not be taken for granted. However, with the rise of strong Counts such as Sunifred, (fl.
Floruit
Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
844- 848) and Wilfred, and the weakening of Carolingian, then French royal power, eventually the appointment of heirs become a formality. This trend resulted in the counts becoming de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
independent of the Carolingian Crown under Borrell II in 985).
Wilfred remained obscure until drawn into the historians' net by Sir Richard Southern, in The Making of the Middle Ages, 1953.
Origins
Wilfred was of GothicVisigoth
The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. These tribes were among the Germans who spread through the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period...
lineage from the region of Carcassonne
Carcassonne
Carcassonne is a fortified French town in the Aude department, of which it is the prefecture, in the former province of Languedoc.It is divided into the fortified Cité de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. Carcassone was founded by the Visigoths in the fifth century,...
. Tradition claims he was born near Prades
Prades, Pyrénées-Orientales
Prades is a commune and a sub-prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. It is the capital of the historical Conflent comarca. Its inhabitants are called Pradéens.-Geography:...
in the County of Conflent
Conflent
Conflent is a historical Catalan comarca of Northern Catalonia, now part of the French Département of Pyrénées-Orientales. In the Middle Ages it comprised the County of Conflent....
, now Rià
Ria
A ria is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea. Typically, rias have a dendritic, treelike outline although they can be straight and without significant branches. This pattern is inherited from the...
, in Roussillon
Roussillon
Roussillon is one of the historical counties of the former Principality of Catalonia, corresponding roughly to the present-day southern French département of Pyrénées-Orientales...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
According to legend, he was the son of Wilfred of Arriaount (or Wilfred of Arri), a county near Prades. His father was murdered by Salomón and Wilfred became his avenger, killing the assassin. After the research done by French monks Dom De Vic and Dom Vaissete, authors of Histoire Générale de Languedoc, he is identified as the son of Sunifred I of Barcelona, count of many counties under Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...
and Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith.-Struggle against his brothers:He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder...
. Sunifred may have been the son of Belló
Bello of Carcassonne
Bello was Count of Carcassonne from 790 until his death. He was the founder of the Bellonid Dynasty of Carcassonne and Razes which reached its apex in Wilfred the Hairy, progenitor of the House of Barcelona....
, Count of Carcassonne during the reign of Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
, or more probably, his son-in-law . Thus, as a descendant of Sunifred and his brother, Sunyer I, count of Empúries
County of Empúries
The County of Empúries was a medieval county centred on the town of Empúries and enclosing the Catalan region of Peralada. It corresponds to the historic comarca of Empordà....
and Roussillon
Roussillon
Roussillon is one of the historical counties of the former Principality of Catalonia, corresponding roughly to the present-day southern French département of Pyrénées-Orientales...
(834-848), R. de Abadal and other historians consider him a member of a Bellonid dynasty
Bellonid Dynasty
The Bellonids , sometimes called the Bellonid Dynasty, were the counts descendant of the Goth Belló who ruled in Carcassonne, Urgel, Cerdanya, Conflent, Barcelona, and numerous other Catalan and Septimanian counties and marches in the 9th century and whose most famous grandson was Wilfred the...
.
In the dynastic struggles that accompanied the three years between Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...
' death (840) and the Treaty of Verdun
Treaty of Verdun
The Treaty of Verdun was a treaty between the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious, the son and successor of Charlemagne, which divided the Carolingian Empire into three kingdoms...
(843), the count of Barcelona (and many other margravates and counties: Septimania
Septimania
Septimania was the western region of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed under the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septimania was ceded to their king, Theodoric II. Under the Visigoths it was known as simply Gallia or Narbonensis. It corresponded roughly with the modern...
, Girona, Narbonne
Viscount of Narbonne
The Viscount of Narbonne was the secular ruler of Narbonne in the Middle Ages. Narbonne had been the capital of the Visigoth province of Septimania, until the eighth century, after which it became the Carolingian Viscounty of Narbonne. Narbonne was nominally subject to the Carolingian Counts of...
, Béziers
Béziers
Béziers is a town in Languedoc in southern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the Hérault department. Béziers hosts the famous Feria de Béziers, centred around bullfighting, every August. A million visitors are attracted to the five-day event...
, Agde
Agde
Agde is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France. It is the Mediterranean port of the Canal du Midi.-Location:Agde is located on the river Hérault, 4 km from the Mediterranean Sea, and 750 km from Paris...
, Melgueil
County of Melgueil
The County of Melgueil was a fief of first the Carolingian Emperor, then the King of France, and finally the Papacy during the Middle Ages. Counts probably sat at Melgueil from the time of the Visigoths. The counts of Melgueil were also counts of Maguelonne and Substantion from at least the time...
, Nîmes
Nîmes
Nîmes is the capital of the Gard department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France. Nîmes has a rich history, dating back to the Roman Empire, and is a popular tourist destination.-History:...
, and Toulouse
Counts of Toulouse
The first Counts of Toulouse were the administrators of the city and its environs under the Merovingians. No succession of such royal appointees is known, though a few names survive to the present...
) Bernard of Septimania
Bernat of Septimania
Bernard of Septimania , son of William of Gellone, was the Frankish Duke of Septimania and Count of Barcelona from 826 to 832 and again from 835 to his execution. He was also count of Carcassonne from 837. He was appointed to succeed his fellow Frank Rampon...
, aligned with Pepin II of Aquitaine
Pepin II of Aquitaine
Pepin II, called the Younger , was King of Aquitaine from 838 as the successor upon the death of his father, Pepin I. Pepin II was eldest son of Pepin I and Ingeltrude, daughter of Theodobert, count of Madrie...
, while the Bellonids maintained their allegiance to Charles the Bald. In 844, after taking Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
and capturing Bernard, Charles had him executed. In exchange for his fealty, Charles gave the dead count's honours of Barcelona, Girona, Narbonne, Nîmes, Agde, Béziers, and Melgueil to Sunifred.
In 848, William
William of Septimania
William of Septimania was the son of Bernard and Dhuoda. He was the Count of Toulouse from 844 and Count of Barcelona from 848....
, son of Bernard, was named count of Toulouse and Empúries
Empúries
Empúries , formerly known by its Spanish name Ampurias , was a town on the Mediterranean coast of the Catalan comarca of Alt Empordà in Catalonia, Spain. It was founded in 575 BC by Greek colonists from Phocaea with the name of Ἐμπόριον...
by Pepin II. He quickly moved to eliminate Sunifred and Sunyer.
Investiture
The Bellonid lineage was revived slightly by the appointment of DelaDela
Dela , count of Empúries , was the son of Sunyer I of Empúries, whom he succeeded along with his brother, Sunyer II of Empúries, in 862....
and Sunyer II, sons of Sunyer I, to the countship of Ampurias in 862. Next, Charles the Bald made their cousins, Wilfred the Hairy and his brother Miró (known as the Old), counts respectively of Urgell and Cerdanya, and Conflent in June, 870 at an assembly at Attigny
Attigny, Ardennes
Attigny is a commune on the river Aisne in the arrondissement of Vouziers in the département of Ardennes in the Champagne-Ardenne region in northern France.-Councils of Attigny:In 765, St...
. For in that year, the mysteriously ill-chronicled Salomon
Solomon, Count of Cerdanya and Urgell
Solomon was the count of Urgell and Cerdanya from 848 and of Conflent from 860 to his death.According to the historian Abadal, Solomon recognised the succession of the children of his possible relative, Sunifred I, Count of Barcelona, on the latter's death in 848, and acted as their defender...
, count of Urgell, Cerdanya, and Conflent, had died.
After becoming Count of Urgell and Cerdanya in 870, Wilfred received the counties of Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, Girona, and Besalú in 878 from the Carolingian
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...
king of France, Louis the Stammerer
Louis the Stammerer
Louis the Stammerer was the King of Aquitaine and later King of West Francia. He was the eldest son of Charles the Bald and Ermentrude of Orléans. He succeeded his younger brother in Aquitaine in 866 and his father in West Francia in 877, though he was never crowned Emperor...
. His reign coincided with the crumbling of Carolingian authority and unity. He was thus the last count of the Hispanic March appointed by the French king and the first to pass his vast holdings as an inheritance to his sons (albeit sanctioned by the monarch).
Wilfred came into possession of Barcelona through his service to Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith.-Struggle against his brothers:He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder...
against the rebel Bernard of Gothia, Count of Barcelona, Roussillon, and numerous other Septimanian counties. Wilfred, Miró, their brother Sunifred (who became the Abbot of Arles
Arles
Arles is a city and commune in the south of France, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the former province of Provence....
), and the Viscount of Narbonne, Lindoí, marched against Bernard on behalf of the King and his son, Louis the Stammerer. In March and April of 878, they defeated the nobles loyal to Bernard, including Sigebuto, Bishop of Narbonne, and expelled all partisan priests from the church.
At the Council of Troyes
Council of Troyes
There have been a number of councils held at Troyes:* 867 - proclaimed that no bishop could be disposed without reference to the Holy See* 1129 - convened by Pope Honorius II:...
in August 878, presided over by Pope John VIII
Pope John VIII
Pope John VIII was pope from December 13, 872 to December 16, 882. He is often considered one of the ablest pontiffs of the ninth century and the last bright spot on the papacy until Leo IX two centuries later....
and King Louis II the Stammerer, Wilfred was formally invested as Count of Urgell and Cerdanya, Miró as Count of Conflent, Sunyer as Count of Empurias, and Oliba II as Count of Carcassonne. On September 11, Bernard was dispossessed of all his titles. The Bishop of Elna, Bishop of Urgell, Bishop of Girona, and Bishop of Barcelona were confirmed in their sees. Bernard's former possessions were given to Wilfred (Barcelona, Ausona, Besalú, and Girona) and Miró (Roussillon). The counties of Narbonne, Béziers, and Agde were separated from that of Barcelona. Sunifred was made Abbot of Arles and Riculf Bishop of Elna. Wilfred immediately ceded Besalú to his brother Radulph (878-920).
Intervention in Ausona
After the investiture of 878, Wilfred's lands stretched from the PyreneesPyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
to the coast, from Urgell and Cerdanya to Barcelona and Girona. This was the first time since the reign of his father (which ended in 848) that these different areas had been united politically and the only other time within that century. The land between these regions—Ripollès
Ripollès
Ripollès is a comarca in Catalonia, Spain. It is located in the Ribes and Camprodon river valleys. , its population is 25,744, about 40% of whom live in the capital, Ripoll....
, Vall de Lord, Berguedà
Berguedà
Berguedà is a comarca in the interior of Catalonia, Spain, lying partly in the Pyrenees and partly in Catalonia's Depressió Central.-Geography:...
, Lluçanès
Lluçanès
Lluçanès is a natural comarca, transitioning between the Plain of Vic and Berguedà, in the pre-Pyrenees. Although not an officially recognized comarca of Catalonia, it has a strong historical, natural and social personality.-Corresponding Municipalities:...
, the Plana de Vic, Moianès, Guilleries
Guilleries
The Guilleries Massif is a mountain system located at the apex of the Catalan Transversal Range and the Pre-Coastal Range...
, and Bages
Bages
Bages is a comarca in the center of Catalonia, Spain. It includes two subcomarques, el Moianès and el Lluçanès.Industries include the mining of potash at Súria and Sallent, and the manufacture of textiles along the rivers Llobregat and Cardener...
—had long been depopulated; since the rebellion of Aissó
Aissó
Ayxun ibn Sulayman ibn Yaqdhan al-Arabí better known as Ayxun or Aissó was an Islamic or a Goth nobleman who led a revolt in Barcelona, Ausona, and Girona in 826 to 827....
.
Wilfred embarked on the process of repopulating these territories with immigrants from the heavily populated mountain regions—Pallars, Urgell, and Cerdanya—to which people had fled in the two centuries between the collapses of Visigothic and Carolingian authority. Wilfred's plan involved repopulating and subsequently annexing the Counties to those he already controlled. Thus, Vall de Lord became part of Urgell and Berga into Cerdanya. Wilfred created the County of Ausona
Osona
County of Osona was one of the Catalan counties of the Marca Hispanica in the Early and High Middle Ages. It was based around the capital city of Vic and the corresponding diocese, whose territory was roughly the current comarca of Osona....
from the remaining Counties made up of Ripollés, Lluçanès, the Plana de Vic, and Guilleries—centred around Ausona (the city), had a unique ethnic and cultural history whose population descended from an ancient historic Hispanic tribe. He also added Moianés and Bagés and the lands around Manresa
Manresa
Manresa is the capital of the Comarca of Bages, located in the geographic centre of Catalonia, Spain, and crossed by the river Cardener. It is an industrial area with textile, metallurgical, and glass industries. The houses of Manresa are arranged around the basilica of Santa María de la Seo....
, which were distinct in their history themselves. In 885, Wilfred designated a Viscount to control the County of Ausona in his absence as it formed the frontier with the Moslem Kingdoms to the south.
Ecclesiastical reform
The ecclesiastic state of the region was no less isolated than its political state, the parishes largely remaining outside of the universal hierarchy. Wilfred brought the parishes of Bergueda and Vall de Lord within the control of the nearby diocese of Urgell. However, he had to re-establish the lapsed bishopric in Ausona. After consulting the Archbishop of Narbonne in 886, he was given permission to install Gotmar, a priest, as bishop of Ausona. The new bishop immediately set about restoring the repopulated city and its cathedralCathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
which had been devastated and in ruins since the last Muslim conquest and the rebellion of Aissó
Aissó
Ayxun ibn Sulayman ibn Yaqdhan al-Arabí better known as Ayxun or Aissó was an Islamic or a Goth nobleman who led a revolt in Barcelona, Ausona, and Girona in 826 to 827....
.
The churches in the region during this period flourished gaining much power and privilege. This included the right for monks to elect their own Abbots as espoused by Saint Benedict. Wilfred founded two new monasteries
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
: Santa María de Ripoll (880) and Sant Joan de les Abadesses
Monastery of Sant Joan de les Abadesses
The Monastery of Sant Joan de les Abadesses is a monastery in the comarca of Ripollès, Catalonia, northern Spain. Until the year 945 it was the only female monastery in the area.-History:...
(885). The Abbey of S. Joan de les Abadesses in the diocese of Vic (Catalunya) was founded by Count Wilfred and his wife Guinedilda, to provide for their daughter Emma, who became the community's first abbess in 899 and was given immunity from lay jurisdiction by King Charles the Simple.
Carolingian crisis
When Louis the Stammerer died (879), the kingdom was divided between his two young sons: Louis IIILouis III of France
Louis III was the King of France, still then called West Francia, from 879 until his death. The second son of Louis the Stammerer and his first wife, Ansgarde, he succeeded his father to reign jointly with his younger brother Carloman II, who became sole ruler on Louis's death...
received the ancient northern partitions of the Merovingian kingdom, Neustria
Neustria
The territory of Neustria or Neustrasia, meaning "new [western] land", originated in 511, made up of the regions from Aquitaine to the English Channel, approximating most of the north of present-day France, with Paris and Soissons as its main cities...
and Austrasia
Austrasia
Austrasia formed the northeastern portion of the Kingdom of the Merovingian Franks, comprising parts of the territory of present-day eastern France, western Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Metz served as its capital, although some Austrasian kings ruled from Rheims, Trier, and...
(including the Lorraine). His other son Carloman
Carloman of France
Carloman II , King of Western Francia, was the youngest son of King Louis the Stammerer and Ansgarde of Burgundy, and became king, jointly with his brother Louis III of France, on his father's death in 879....
received the southern partitions, Burgundy and Aquitaine
Aquitaine
Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...
(including Septimania
Septimania
Septimania was the western region of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed under the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septimania was ceded to their king, Theodoric II. Under the Visigoths it was known as simply Gallia or Narbonensis. It corresponded roughly with the modern...
). The problems plaguing the throne were exacerbated when both Louis (882) and Carloman (884) died soon after their succession. Not wanting to crown Louis the Stammerer's remaining son, Charles the Simple
Charles the Simple
Charles III , called the Simple or the Straightforward , was the undisputed King of France from 898 until 922 and the King of Lotharingia from 911 until 919/23...
, who was only five, the nobles of France looked about for a powerful man who could defend the land from the fearsome Vikings and their vicious raids on the Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
and Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
coasts.
At the Assembly of Ponthion
Ponthion
Ponthion is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France.It is located southeast of Châlons-en-Champagne.-History:It was a royal pfalz under both the Merovingian and the Carolingian dynasties. In appears repeatedly in the Frankish royal and ecclesiastical history.In 753 Pope Stephen...
(884), the Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
chose the Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
Charles the Fat
Charles the Fat
Charles the Fat was the King of Alemannia from 876, King of Italy from 879, western Emperor from 881, King of East Francia from 882, and King of West Francia from 884. In 887, he was deposed in East Francia, Lotharingia, and possibly Italy, where the records are not clear...
, who was already king of Germany and Italy
King of Italy
King of Italy is a title adopted by many rulers of the Italian peninsula after the fall of the Roman Empire...
. Charles, son of Louis the German
Louis the German
Louis the German , also known as Louis II or Louis the Bavarian, was a grandson of Charlemagne and the third son of the succeeding Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye.He received the appellation 'Germanicus' shortly after his death in recognition of the fact...
, therefore became the first person since the death of Louis the Pious to reign over the entire realm of his illustrious great-grandfather
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
. He would also be the last.
Incapable of much, he was lethargic and probably suffered from epilepsy
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...
. In November, 885 he raised a grand army to fight off the Norsemen besieging Paris
Siege of Paris
The Siege of Paris, lasting from September 19, 1870 – January 28, 1871, and the consequent capture of the city by Prussian forces led to French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the establishment of the German Empire as well as the Paris Commune....
. However, he chose to buy the Vikings off, paying them to attack Burgundy (not a friend of his) instead. He left Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in December. He subsequently failed to deal with revolts in Swabia
Swabia
Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...
, Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
, Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
, Franconia
Franconia
Franconia is a region of Germany comprising the northern parts of the modern state of Bavaria, a small part of southern Thuringia, and a region in northeastern Baden-Württemberg called Tauberfranken...
, and Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
. The nobles of the Empire deposed him in 887. He died two months later (888).
Charles' nephew Arnulf of Carinthia
Arnulf of Carinthia
Arnulf of Carinthia was the Carolingian King of East Francia from 887, the disputed King of Italy from 894 and the disputed Holy Roman Emperor from February 22, 896 until his death.-Birth and Illegitimacy:...
, succeeded him in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Berengar of Friuli succeeded him in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and Odo
Odo, Count of Paris
Odo was a King of Western Francia, reigning from 888 to 898. He was a son of Robert the Strong, count of Anjou, whose branch of the family is known as the Robertians....
succeeded him in France. The breakdown in royal authority and the dynastic change which accompanied it in France broke the Empire in two. The Carolingian polity which empowered the counts at the beginning of the century was nonexistent by the end, the Counts were de facto independent—especially in the outlying regions, like the Marca Hispanica
Marca Hispanica
The Marca Hispanica , also known as Spanish March or March of Barcelona was a buffer zone beyond the province of Septimania, created by Charlemagne in 795 as a defensive barrier between the Umayyad Moors of Al-Andalus and the Frankish Kingdom....
.
The crisis and the counts
In the great tradition of their family, Wilfred, Miró, Dela, and Sunyer II maintained their loyalty to the Carolingian monarchs until the death of Charles the Fat (deposed 887, died 888). They visited the royal court in 886 to ask for privileges and precept to be granted to Teotario, Bishop of Girona. Upon the death of Louis the Stammerer, however, this loyalty became largely nominal. When Louis's sons Louis and Carloman marched against BosoBoso of Provence
Boso was a Frankish nobleman from the Bosonid-family, who was related to the Carolingian dynasty, who rose to become King of Provence ....
, king of Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
, the Catalan counts supported Carloman, but did not join the campaign. This was a far cry from the prompt action the family had taken against Bernard of Gothia. The Counts became more interested in issues that directly effected them and did not attend the Assembly of Ponthion dealing with the Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
problem which they regarded as meaningless to their domains.
The counts rejected Charles the Fat's successor, Odo, but they did not rise in favour of Louis the Stammerer's surviving son, Charles the Simple. Odo was too absorbed with the Norsemen
Norsemen
Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language belonging to the North Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, especially Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish and Danish in their earlier forms.The meaning of Norseman was "people...
and those loyal to Charles the Simple to be bothered with the far south of the realm.
In 886, a presbyter
Presbyter
Presbyter in the New Testament refers to a leader in local Christian congregations, then a synonym of episkopos...
named Esclua, taking advantage of the absence of Teotardo, Archbishop of Narbonne, was consecrated Bishop of Urgell and expelled the titular Bishop Ingoberto with the tacit permission of Raymond I, Count of Pallars-Ribagorza, and Wilfred. He complicated the situation further by declaring himself metropolitan
Metropolitan bishop
In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...
of Tarraconensis, separating his diocese from Narbonne. Now acting as metropolitan, Esclua promptly removed Servus Dei from the Bishopric of Girona.
Servus who was rejected by Dela, Sunyer, and Wilfred but who had been consecrated by Teotardo; took refuge in the monastery of Bañolas. Esclua, with the help of the Bishops of Barcelona and Vic, consecrated as the new Eremir Bishop of Girona. In 888, he resurrected the sees of Pallars and Empurias to repay Raymond, Sunyer, and Dela for their support.
If at first Wilfred tolerated the dethronement of Ingoberto — there had been little love between them — however he could not allow the metropolitan pretensions of Esclua because of his friendship with Teotardo. The independent dioceses were a method of securing political independence and Wilfred opposed this. He could not allow the lands under his control to be effected by Nobles or Church.
However external pressures hampered him taking action.
Death
By 883 or 884, the Muslims became increasingly uneasy by the expansion of the Christian Counties to the north. Wilfred had established defensive positions or castles in Ausona at CardonaCardona
Cardona is a town ìn Catalonia, Spain, in the province of Barcelona; about 90 km northwest of the city of Barcelona, on a hill almost surrounded by the river Cardoner, a branch of the Llobregat.Near the town is an extensive deposit of rock salt...
, Bergueda
Berguedà
Berguedà is a comarca in the interior of Catalonia, Spain, lying partly in the Pyrenees and partly in Catalonia's Depressió Central.-Geography:...
, and Vall de Lord; some were even in the Vall de Cervelló south of the River Llobregat
Llobregat
The Llobregat is the second longest river in Catalonia, Spain. It originates in Castellar de n'Hug at an altitude of 1,259 meters in the Serra del Cadí, and ends in the Mediterranean Sea, in the municipality of El Prat de Llobregat, near Barcelona...
. The frontier of the County of Barcelona passed north of Solsona
Solsona, Lleida
Solsona is a municipality and capital of the comarca of the Solsonès in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated in the centre of the comarca in the Central Catalan Depression. It is served by the C-55 road to Manresa, and is linked to Berga and Bassella by the C-26.The old town is known as the Clos antic...
, past Besora, Tantallatge, and Correà
Correa
Correa is a genus of mainly eastern Australian plants with distinctive bell-shaped flowers. Correa is in the family Rutaceae, and like many in this family the crushed leaves have a distinctive scent. There are ca. 11 species in the genus, though natural hybridisation between the species makes...
; that of Berga, past Sorba
SORBA
SORBA, the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association, is an organization that builds and maintains mountain bike trails in the Southeast region of the United States. It also promotes mountain bikers' interests, such as access to trails...
, Gargalla, and Serrateix; and that of the County of Ausona past Cardona, Manresa, and Montserrat
Montserrat (mountain)
Montserrat is a multi-peaked mountain located near the city of Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. It is part of the Catalan Pre-Coastal Range. The main peaks are Sant Jeroni , Montgrós and Miranda de les Agulles...
.
The Muslim ruler Ismail ibn Musa ibn Qasi fortified Lleida
Lleida
Lleida is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida, as well as the largest city in the province and it had 137,387 inhabitants , including the contiguous municipalities of Raimat and Sucs. The metro area has about 250,000 inhabitants...
in response. Provoked by this, Wilfred attacked Lleida and Ismail. The attack however was a disaster. The historian Ibn al Athir describes the massacre of the attackers by the city's defenders. Buoyed by this success Ismail's successor, Lubb ibn Muhammed ibn Qasi attacked Barcelona in 897. Wilfred died in battle on 11 August 897. He was buried in the monastery at Ripoll
Ripoll
Ripoll is the capital of the comarca of Ripollès, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is located on confluence of the Ter River and its tributary Freser, next to the Pyrenees near the French border...
.
Succession
The weakening of Frankish royal authority in the Hispanic March is principally the result of the establishment of heredity in the succession of the counties rather than by choice of the monarch. In 895, Miró the OldMiro the Elder
Miro, called the Old or the Elder was the count of Conflent from 870 and Rosselló from 878 until his death...
died and his county of Roussillon passed, without interference from King Odo, to Sunyer II of Ampurias. In the same way, Wilfred was never confirmed by the monarch as Count of Ausona. The kings had lost control of the Counts. The importance of this custom in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
cannot be overstated. As hereditary succession became the custom, it became accepted as law and there was nothing the kings could do. The Counts had become sovereigns in their own dominions.
The lack, however, of a legal basis for heredity caused the early experiments in hereditary succession to be problematic. When Wilfred died in 897, his sons Wilfred Borrel, Miró, Sunifred
Sunifred II, Count of Urgell
Sunifred II was Count of Urgell. He was the son of Wilfred the Hairy and succeeded his father on the latter's death in 897. He was still ruling as late as 940, when he appears with his wife Adelaide....
and Sunyer governed his realm jointly, recognising the eldest Wilfred Borrel, as primus inter pares
Primus inter pares
Primus inter pares is Latin phrase describing the most senior person of a group sharing the same rank or office.When not used in reference to a specific title, it may indicate that the person so described is formally equal, but looked upon as an authority of special importance by their peers...
, or "first among equals".
However, when the succession came to their sons, this ideal broke down and the counts promptly transmitted their regions of governance to their descendants. Wilfred Borrel and the youngest son jointly ruled over Barcelona, Girona, and Ausona; Sunifred over Urgell; and Miró, over Cerdanya, Conflent, and Berga.
Wilfred and Catalonia
Wilfred the Hairy has become a figure of importance for contemporary Catalan nationalists. Nineteenth century European RomanticismRomanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
looked to the medieval world for references and links to modern national and cultural identities, and in the context of Catalan nationalism
Catalan nationalism
Catalan nationalism or Catalanism , is a political movement advocating for either further political autonomy or full independence of Catalonia....
and its search for its historical foundations in a distant and idealised past, Wilfred soon arose as a figure of independence, the de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
founder of the House of Barcelona
House of Barcelona
The House of Barcelona was a medieval dynasty that ruled the County of Barcelona continuously from 878 and the Crown of Aragon from 1137 . From the male part they descend from the Bellonids, the descendants of Wifred the Hairy...
, and, by purported extension, one of the forefathers of the latter Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
.
One of the legends that has arisen around his person is that of the creation of the coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
from which the Catalan flag (the Senyera
Senyera
The Senyera is a vexillological symbol based on the coat of arms of the Crown of Aragon, which consists of four red stripes on a golden background...
) derives today. After being wounded in battle (some versions say against the Moors
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
; others, the Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
), the Frankish
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
king Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith.-Struggle against his brothers:He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder...
rewarded his bravery by giving him a coat of arms. The king slid Wilfred's blood-stained fingers over the Count's copper shield
Shield
A shield is a type of personal armor, meant to intercept attacks, either by stopping projectiles such as arrows or redirecting a hit from a sword, mace or battle axe to the side of the shield-bearer....
, and thus was the Senyera first born, with its four pallets in Gules
Gules
In heraldry, gules is the tincture with the colour red, and belongs to the class of dark tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of vertical lines or else marked with gu. as an abbreviation....
on Or
Or (heraldry)
In heraldry, Or is the tincture of gold and, together with argent , belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". In engravings and line drawings, it may be represented using a field of evenly spaced dots...
. As much as this legend is popular and extended, there is no historical evidence to support it.
Wilfred's actions as a Frankish vassal towards carving out his own domain from several counties and moving out of the sphere of influence of the Carolingian
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...
crown — coupled with his creation of the County of Osona and the restoration of the bishopric
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
of Vic
Vic
Vic is the capital of the comarca of Osona, in the Barcelona Province, Catalonia, Spain. Vic's location, only 69 km far from Barcelona and 60 km from Girona, has made it one of the most important towns in central Catalonia.-History:...
— laid out the territorial and patrimonial base for the House of Barcelona
House of Barcelona
The House of Barcelona was a medieval dynasty that ruled the County of Barcelona continuously from 878 and the Crown of Aragon from 1137 . From the male part they descend from the Bellonids, the descendants of Wifred the Hairy...
, and hence has been posteriorly identified with the creation of Catalonia, even though a written reference to such a territorial entity would not appear historically until more than two centuries later in the Liber maiolichinus de gestis Pisanorum illustribus
Liber maiolichinus de gestis Pisanorum illustribus
The Liber maiolichinus de gestis pisanorum illustribus is a Medieval Latin epic chronicle in 3,500 hexameters, written between 1117 and 1125, detailing the Pisan-led joint military expedition of Italians, Catalans, and Occitans against the taifa of the Balearic Islands, in particular Majorca and...
, a 12th century Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
n manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
describing the raids of 1114 by Pisans and Catalans on the island of Majorca.