User:Mcapdevila/Marca Hispanica

Carolingian Period - Catalan Counties

In the first place, we must point out that the one known as the Hispanic Brand was not the definition of a territory. The Carolingian empire called marks to those places that were bordering unconquered territories; in this case al-Andalus was the bordering territory with the empire. The Franks had conquered Girona (785) and Barcelona (801)

The so-called Hispanic Brand was divided into counties directed by counts named directly by the Frankish kings. These counts were the representatives of the Frankish monarchs, they had administrative and military functions at the same time that they were the ones who administered justice.

Hispanic Brand

With the passage of time, the independence of the counties will be greater and greater - remember that the last count appointed by the Franks was Wilfredo the Hairy (870-897). From there, a political unit was formed, which had the same language as its link and the acceptance by all the counts of the preeminence of the Count of Barcelona. With Ramón Berenguer I the Elder (1035-1076) the Usatges were drawn up, which established the laws by which the counties would be governed, with a marked feudal aspect. It is also with this monarch that Catalonia's own currency is minted, the mancusos.

As of Pedro IV the Ceremonious, the old counties would happen to denominate Principality. Some historians point to this moment, 1350, as a preconstitutional period.

What does seem beyond any doubt is that there was already a feeling of the nation prior to the state. It is for this reason that Thomas E. Bisson - American historian - maintains that in Catalonia the concept of nation is prior to that of state, and that there is no doubt that this feeling of nation dates from before the s. XII. In fact, a Pisan chronicler calls the participants in the expansionist expeditions of Ramón Berenguer III el Grande (1086-1131) Catalan, which shows that they were already recognized as a people [1].

Something that should not be forgotten is that we are talking about the heyday of feudalism. A feudalism that in Catalonia takes on a form very similar to that in the rest of Europe, something that cannot be said of the rest of the kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. The relationship established between the count of Barcelona and the rest of the counts was totally feudal, with a vassalage of the latter with respect to the former.

Given what some defenders of Spanish nationalism argue to deny the rights to the independence of Catalonia that it was never a kingdom, it should be noted that the count of Barcelona did not want to be a king who was above the system, but to be the head of the system, that is, the primus inter pares. The non-existence of a king does not presuppose that one cannot speak of a socially and politically formed entity. A contemporary example is Monaco, there is no king, but a prince, and no one doubts that it is a sovereign state. In 1198 the name of Catalonia appears for the first time in a document related to the Peace and Truce.

According to Professor Eduardo Manzano, the structure that existed in the Middle Ages did not make counties less important than kingdoms or empires: they simply expressed their spaces, claims, or dominance capabilities.

The union with Aragon

As is known, the union of Catalonia and Aragon begins to take shape with the marriage of Ramón Berenguer IV with Petronila, daughter of Ramiro III of Aragon. And it is very important to highlight the betrothal contract between both spouses:

I Ramiro, by the grace of God the King of Aragon, I give you Ramón, Count of Barcelona and Marquis, my daughter as his wife along with the entire kingdom of Aragon, in full […] And I entrust to you all the men of the aforementioned kingdom with homage and oath so that they may be faithful to you […] Also all the aforementioned things, I, the aforementioned King Ramiro, do them in such a way to you, Ramón, count of Barcelona and marquis, that, if my daughter died prematurely, and you still live, have the donation of the aforementioned kingdom in a free or immutable way without any impediment after my death […] Which was done on the III of the Ides of August in the year 1137 of the Incarnation of the Lord… reigning the mentioned King Ramiro.

Petronila de Aragón and Ramón Berenguer IV

Ramón Berenguer, to whom Ramiro III had granted the title of prince of Aragon, was never named king. The first king of the house of Barcelona who will jointly hold the title of King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona will be Alfonso II the Chaste, eldest son of Ramón Berenguer and Petronila. From that moment, and until the coronation of Ferdinand the Catholic, all the Aragonese kings will be from the house of Barcelona, ​​or what is the same, Catalan.

It should be noted that, despite the dynastic union, Aragon and Catalonia were governed by different laws, each also having its own institutions. In fact, the king had to swear allegiance to both courts; which did not happen in Castile, where it was the courts that swore allegiance to the king. With Pedro II the Great (1196-1213) [2] the obligation to hold Cortes once a year was established. This point is marked by many historians as the beginning of the configuration of a parliamentary regime. It is important to note that this obligation on the part of the king to summon Cortes did not exist in any European country, which explains, in some way, that the parliamentary regime in Catalonia was much more advanced than, for example, in Castile.

In the S. XIV there was a clear idea of ​​the unity of Catalonia, as reflected in the courts of 1368-1369. The king limited himself to granting "force of law" to the provisions issued by the courts. To get an idea of ​​how clear the Catalans had their independence from the rest of the Iberian kingdoms is in the opinion issued by the courts in 1283, where they forbid the King of Aragon, Jaime I, to appear in Catalonia with a title other than that of the count of Barcelona.

We must get out of the way of those who still defend that Catalonia was an Aragonese possession, true historical stupidity that is not sustained anywhere. Here it is also argued that Catalonia was not a kingdom, on the basis that a king is more than a count. They forget that in the Middle Ages this was far from the truth: the counts of Flanders were more powerful than the kings of England; the Doge of Venice was more important than the King of Austria; the dukes of Bavaria were more powerful than the kings of Poland; and, of course, the counts of Barcelona were far more powerful than the kings of Aragon.

The Trastamara

It should be noted that since the middle of the s. XV Catalonia had a political and fiscal structure very similar to a modern state. To give two examples, Holland and England would not have this consolidated structure until the s. XVIII.

After the death without issue of Martín I el Humano (1396-1410), in February 1412 the Concordia de Alcañiz was signed, in which it was established that nine compromisaries, three for Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia respectively, would choose the new monarch among the five suitors. Fernando de Antequera was elected, recognized by the Cortes of Barcelona in 1413. There was thus a fact that did not exist until then: that the two main kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula were ruled by the same family, the Trastámara, Juan II in Castile and Fernando I in Aragon (Juan was Fernando's son-in-law)

This does not mean, far from it, that there was a unity project, much less a national one. The kingdoms continued to be governed by different institutions, different laws, and with a different social fabric.

When Fernando I was sworn in the Cortes, he had to agree that he could not dictate any law contrary to Catalan jurisprudence; the Generalitat was established as a permanent governing body; The king's ability to administer justice without the agreement of the Audiencia was also limited. It could be said that the king in Catalonia was clothed with a certain authority but that in reality he had no effective power. This authority that was granted to the Generalitat was, according to Vicens Vives, the step "between a medieval system of fueros and a modern constitutional system."

Juan II of Aragon suffered an armed uprising when trying to undermine the authority of the Catalan institutions. Although Juan II achieved the triumph (he entered Barcelona in 1472) in the Treaty of Pedralbes - in which neither winners nor losers were mentioned - the king recognized the justice of the Catalan petitions, while stipulating that they would try to return to the situation before the war.

Catholic kings

Ferdinand II of Aragon (1479-1516) married Isabel I of Castile on October 18, 1469. This marriage has been taken by many, within the context of the traditional history of Spain that has been and continues to be transmitted, the birth of Spain as a political and territorial unit. Nothing is further from reality.

Isabel and Fernando

Although it is true that Ferdinand II tried to increase his royal power, he never did it by force - as Isabel sometimes asked him, who advocated military conquest. Fernando II preferred the policy of pacts with which he avoided internal confrontations.

In the kingdom of Aragon, the monarch had to request permission to carry out certain actions from the councils of Aragon and Valencia, and the Catalan Government.

It is not true, therefore, that there was a union of the two political institutions. To give two examples: Fernando II was recognized as king consort of Castile, while Isabel I was not of Aragon. Another detail: the coins minted in this period in Castile had no legal value in Aragon.

What is created from Castile is the idea that the kings of Castile were the heirs of the Goths and, therefore, kings of Spain, creating confusion between the crown of Castile and Spain. But, I insist, the name of Spain as a political body is only used by the Castilian chroniclers. The truth is that they had nothing to do either administratively, institutionally, or economically. Each kingdom followed with its own laws and institutions. The only institution common to both kingdoms was the Inquisition.

The Habsburgs

The situation in Catalonia did not change substantially during the Austracist period, although it is true that several monarchs of the dynasty tried to increase their power over the Catalan institutions. But the independence of the kingdom of Aragon was still maintained. An example is the well-known case of the secretary of Felipe II, Antonio Pérez, accused of the murder of the secretary of Juan de Austria, who fled to Aragon to remain under the protection of his fueros. The refusal of the Justice of Aragon to hand him over led to the military entry into Aragon of the troops of Felipe II. The revolt ended with the death of the Justice of Aragon, Juan de Lanuza. Despite everything, Antonio Pérez managed to escape to England.

With Felipe IV the confrontations were more serious, and with the insistence of his valid, the Count Duke of Olivares , who in the Great Memorial of 1624 maintained that " the most important business of his monarchies" was "to become king of Spain, I want to Say sir that Your Majesty is not content with being King of Portugal, Aragon, Valencia, Count of Barcelona, ​​but rather work and think with mature and secret advice to reduce these kingdoms of which Spain is composed to the style and laws of Castile, without any difference . Included in this uniformity was that it was forbidden to speak Catalan.

This situation gave rise to a serious armed confrontation that arose when Pau Claris - President of the Generalitat - proclaimed the Catalan Republic. An important moment of this confrontation occurred on June 7, 1640 in what is known as the Corpus de Sangre. Although it could be said that the victory went to the side of the Castilians, the institutional situation in Catalonia varied very little.

The Civil War - Felipe V

The reason for this war is well known. The death without heirs of Carlos II caused the armed confrontation between those in favor of the crown passing into the hands of Felipe de Anjou, of the House of Bourbons, or that the new king was Archduke Carlos, a member of the House of Austria.

War of succession

In Catalonia they supported the majority of the candidate for the House of Austria, while Castile did it for Felipe de Anjou. The fall of Barcelona on September 11 marked the end of the fall of Catalan independence, with the abolition of all its fueros, institutions, privileges, even with the prohibition of the use of Catalan.

The Catalan language

Language is one of the most important vehicles for a people to acquire the concept of nation. According to scholars, the Catalan language began to take shape in the 7th and 7th centuries, as a primitive romance, noting the influence that Provençal and the language of Oc had on it.

Already in the 11th century some fragments written in Catalan appear –before they in Castilian-, one of the oldest is a partial translation of the Liber Iudiciorum; although the first volume written entirely in Catalan is believed to be the Homilies of Orgañá, from the early s. XIII.

The first philosophical treatises written in the Iberian Peninsula in the Romance language are also in Catalan.

Llibre de les gifts, by Francesc Eiximenis, 15th century

Conclusions

I believe I have provided enough arguments to show that if there is any current autonomous community that has sufficient historical arguments to claim its independence, this is Catalonia.

Another thing is whether or not one agrees, no longer on the legitimacy of the independence process, but if it is currently viable, and if this independence would mean benefits for Catalonia. The answer to both questions is no.

I imagine that some readers will not agree with what is stated in the article; I would ask you to comment on this. The debate of a question always brings the best knowledge of it.

[1] Enrique de Pisa Liber Maiochilinus de gestis Pisanorum illustribus, which narrates the crusade against the Balearic Islands in which the militias of Ramón Berenguer III participate.

[2] It was Pedro II of Aragon and I of Barcelona.