Count of Barcelona

The Count of Barcelona (Catalan: Comte de Barcelona, Spanish: Conde de Barcelona) was the ruler of Catalonia for much of Catalan history, from the 9th until the 15th century.

The Spanish March.

The County of Barcelona was created by Charlemagne after he had conquered lands north of the river Ebro. These lands, called the Marca Hispanica, were partitioned into various counties, of which the Count of Barcelona, usually holding other counties simultaneously, eventually obtained the primacy over the region.

As the county became hereditary in one family, the bond of the counts to their Frankish overlords loosened, especially after the Capetian dynasty supplanted the Carolingians.

In the 12th century the Counts formed a dynastic union with the Kingdom of Aragon, merging the two realms under a single ruler. In 1258, the king of France relinquished his feudal authority over the County in the Treaty of Corbeil.

Barcelona remained, as a part of the Principality of Catalonia, part of the Crown of Aragon when the latter around 1500 entered into a union with the Crown of Castile, thereby forming the Spanish Monarchy. Catalonia maintained its own laws, institutions, taxes and privileges until they were removed after the War of the Spanish Succession in the 18th century.

Count of Barcelona remained one of the many hereditary titles of the Spanish monarchy.

In the 20th century, the title regained some prominence when Juan de Borbón, the exiled heir to the Spanish throne, adopted the title of Count of Barcelona. In doing so, he claimed a historical royal title without claiming to be the current king of Spain, especially after his son Juan Carlos became the prospective successor of the then-ruler of Spain, Francisco Franco. In 1977, after Juan Carlos had become King upon Franco's death in 1975, he officially awarded the title of Count of Barcelona to his father, who had renounced his rights to the throne. Juan held that title until his death in 1993, when it reverted to the King who has held it ever since. Juan de Borbón's widow used the title Countess of Barcelona until her death in 2000.

List of Counts of Barcelona

Non-dynastic, 801-878

NamePortraitReignNotes
Berà, Count of Barcelona 801-820son of Guilhèm I of Razès, brother of Bello of Razès, also Count of Razès and Conflent (790-820), Girona, Besalú, Ausona (812/817-820), deposed.
Rampon
(Rampó)
820-826also Count of Girona and Besalú
Bernard I
(Bernat I)
826-832son of William of Gellone, also margrave of Septimania (834-835) and Imperial Chamberlain (829-830), deposed.
Berenguer 832-835also Count of Toulouse.
Bernard I
(Bernat I)
836-844restored, executed on orders of Charles the Bald.
Sunifred 844-848son or son-in-law of Belló of Carcassone, also Count of Ausona, Besalú, Girona, Narbonne, Agde, Béziers, Lodève, Melgueil, Cerdanya, Urgell, Conflent and Nîmes.
William
(Guillem)
848-850son of Bernard I, also Count of Toulouse (844-850), rebelled and was killed.
Aleran 850-852also Count of Empúries and Roussillon and Margrave of Septimania.
Odalric 852-858son of Hunfrid, Margrave of Istria, also Count of Girona, Roussillon, Empúries and Margrave of Septimania.
Humfrid 858-864son of Hunfrid II, Duke of Rhaetia, also Count of Girona, Empúries, Roussillon, and Narbonne and Margrave of Gothia.
Bernard II
(Bernat II)
865-878son of Bernard of Poitiers also Count of Girona and Margrave of Gothia and Septimania, rebelled.

House of Sunifred, 878-1162

NamePortraitReignNotes
Wilfred I
(Guifré I)
el Pelós (the Hairy)
878-897son of Sunifred, managed to establish hereditary succession
Wilfred II Borrell I
(Guifré II Borrell)
897-911son of Wilfred the Hairy
Sunyer911-947son of Wilfred the Hairy, retired to a monastery
Borrell II947-992son of Sunyer
jointly with Miro (947-966) and Ramon Borrell (988-992),
also Count of Urgell (948-992). Unsuccessfully asked King Lothair of France for aid against the Saracens, refused to recognise Hugh Capet as King of France in 987. The feudal link with France was broken, so that the County of Barcelona became independent de facto.
Miro947-966son of Sunyer, jointly with Borrell II
Ramon Borrell988-1018son of Borrell II, jointly with his father (988-992)
Berenguer Ramon I
el Corbat (the Crooked)
1018/1023–1035son of Ramon Borrell, under the regency of Ermesinde of Carcassonne (1018–1023), forced to recognise the suzerainty of Sancho the Great of Navarre.
Ramon Berenguer I
el Vell (the Old)
1035/1039–1076son of Berenguer Ramon I
Ramon Berenguer II
el Cap d'Estopes (the Towhead)
1076–1082son of Ramon Berenguer I, jointly with his twin brother Berenguer Ramon II
Berenguer Ramon II
el Fratricida (the Fratricide)
1076–1097son of Ramon Berenguer I, jointly with his twin brother Ramon Berenguer II (1076–1082) and later his nephew Ramon Berenguer III (1082–1097)
Ramon Berenguer III
el Gran (the Great)
1082–1131son of Ramon Berenguer II
Ramon Berenguer IV
el Sant (the Saint)
1131–1162son of Ramon Berenguer III, engaged Petronilla of Aragon in 1137 and married her in 1150.
Tomb of Count Ramon Berenger I (d. 1076).

The succession of Ramon Berenguer IV and Petronilla led to the creation of the Crown of Aragon.

House of Barcelona, 1164–1410

Name Portrait Birth Marriages Death
Alphonse I the Troubadour
18 July 1164 – 25 April 1196
1157
Huesca
son of Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona and Petronilla of Aragon
Sancha of Castile
7 children
25 April 1196
Perpignan
aged 44
Peter I the Catholic
25 April 1196 – 13 September 1213
1178
Huesca
son of alfons I and Sancha of Castile
Marie of Montpellier
15 June 1204
2 children
12 September 1213
Battle of Muret
aged ca. 35
James I the Conqueror
13 September 1213 – 27 July 1276
2 February 1208
Montpellier
son of Peter I the Catholic and Marie of Montpellier
Leanor of Castile
1221
1 child

Violant of Hungary
1235
10 children

Teresa Gil de Vidaure
2 children
27 July 1276
Valencia
aged 68
Peter II the Great
27 July 1276 – 2 November 1285
1240
Valencia
son of James I and Violant of Hungary
Constance of Sicily
13 June 1262
6 child
2 November 1285
Vilafranca del Penedès
aged 45
Alphonse II the Liberal
2 November 1285 – 18 June 1291
1265
Valencia
son of Peter II and Constance of Sicily
Eleanor of England
15 August 1290
No children
18 June 1291
Barcelona
aged 27
James II the Fair
18 June 1291 – 2 November 1327
10 August 1267
Valencia
son of Peter II and Constance of Sicily
Isabella of Castile
1 December 1291
No children

Blanche of Anjou
29 October 1295
10 children

Marie de Lusignan
15 June 1315
No children

Elisenda de Montcada
25 December 1322
No children
5 November 1327
Barcelona
aged 60
Alphonse III the Kind
2 November 1327 – 24 January 1336
1299
Naples
son of James II of Aragon and Blanche of Anjou
Teresa d'Entença
1314
7 children

Eleanor of Castile
2 children
27 January 1336
Barcelona
aged 37
Peter III the Ceremonious
24 January 1336 – 5 January 1387
5 October 1319
Balaguer
son of Alphonse III and Teresa d'Entença
Maria of Navarre
1338
2 children

Leonor of Portugal
1347
No children

Eleanor of Sicily
4 children
5 January 1387
Barcelona
aged 68
John the Hunter
5 January 1387 – 19 May 1396
27 December 1350
Perpignan
son of Peter III and Eleanor of Sicily
Martha of Armagnac
1 child

Yolande of Bar
3 children
19 May 1396
Foixà
aged 46
Martin the Humanist
19 May 1396 – 31 May 1410
1356
Girona
son of Peter III and Eleanor of Sicily
Maria de Luna
13 June 1372
4 children

Margaret of Prades
1409
No children
31 May 1410
Barcelona
aged 54

Martin was the last direct descendant of Wilfred the Hairy to rule; died without legitimate heirs (interregnum 31 May 1410 – 24 June 1412). By the Compromise of Caspe of 1412 the County of Barcelona and all its associated dominions passed to a branch of the House of Trastámara.

The County of Barcelona formed a constituent part of the Crown of Spain under the rule of the House of Habsburg, until the Nueva Planta decrees (1707 and 1716), when Philip de Bourbon declared that all the territories from the Crown of Aragon should merge into Castile, building the centralized Kingdom of Spain. In Barcelona this was promulgated in 1716, and the title of Count of Barcelona became one of the many unused hereditary titles of the modern Spanish monarchy.

Courtesy title

House of Bourbon, 1977–1993

NamePortraitReignNotes
John III
(Juan III)
1977–1993claimed title from 1941; officially granted by his son Juan Carlos I in exchange for renouncing his claim to the Spanish throne

References

    See also

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