Barbastro

Barbastro (Latin: Barbastrum or Civitas Barbastrensis, Aragonese: Balbastro) is a city in the Somontano county, province of Huesca, Spain. The city (also known originally as Barbastra or Bergiduna) is at the junction of the rivers Cinca and Vero.

History
An ancient Celtiberian city called  Bergidum or Bergiduna, in Roman times Barbastro (now called  Brutina) was included in the Hispania Citerior region, and later of Hispania Tarraconensis.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it was part of the Visigoth kingdom. Barbastro and  the Barbitaniya area were overtaken by Musa bin Nusair in 717, as part of the Umayyad push to conquer northern states of the Marca Hispanica and the name Madyar was given to the town.

It was later settled by the Banu Jalaf who made it the capital of the Emirate of Barbineta and Huesca until 862, and was known as the Emirate of Brabstra until 882.

In 1064, Sancho Ramírez, King of Aragón, and his Frankish Christian forces, led by William VIII of Aquitaine and Le Bon Normand, invaded the city, which at the time was part of the emirate of Zaragoza. This attack was known as the Siege of Barbastro. Contemporary sources state that 50,000 people were killed or captured in the attack, but modern historians view this as an exaggeration since the whole population of the town probably did not exceed 8,000. The following year, however, it was reconquered by the Moors. In 1101 it was captured permanently by Peter I of Aragon, who made it a bishopric seat. Barbastro since then has followed the history of Aragon and Spain.

In the Middle Ages, a Sephardic Jewish community thrived in Barbastro, suffering little compared to other Jewish populations in Spain. The first written record of a Jewish presence dates to 1144. After the Disputation of Tortosa, the Jewish community ceased to exist because they had all become conversos. The old synagogue, however, became a center for converso life.

During the Spanish Civil War 51 Catholic Claretians were executed in Barbastro by militia of the Popular Front. Numerous socialist, republican and communist activists were jailed and executed in the following years after the end of the Spanish Civil War.

Barbastro's economy flourished until the early 20th century, when a period of decline began, ending only in the 1960s due to the growth of agricultural production.

Notable residents

 * Bartolomé and Lupercio de Argensola, brothers, historians and poets who were part of the Spanish siglo de oro, a period of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain.
 * Antonio Ricardos Carrillo de Albornoz, was a famous Spanish army general, who lived in the 18th century.
 * Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei, an institution of the Roman Catholic Church.
 * María Pilar Crespí Pérez, chemist by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and teacher in the Colegio Estudio. Wife of Don Antonio Corróns Rodríguez, Ph.D., and mother of D. Pablo Antonio Corróns Crespí (AENOR) and D. Jorge Antonio Corróns Crespí (Proteyco Ibérica, S.A.).

Twin towns

 * 🇫🇷 Saint-Gaudens, Haute-Garonne