Catalan Counties: Independence, Agriculture, and the Crown of Aragon
The Process of Independence
The counties are hereditary
At the end of the ninth century, Catalan counts appointed by the king of the Franks inherited their office. The first step towards independence was taken by Wilfred the Hairy, count of Barcelona, Girona, Urgell, and Cerdanya, who passed his territories to his offspring.
Thus, for the first time, the counts were not appointed by the Frankish king. This began the dynasty that ruled from the County of Barcelona.
The Counties Become Independent
The final step towards the independence of the Catalan counties from the Frankish monarchs was made by Count Borrell II.
When Barcelona was sacked and destroyed by Almanzor in 985, Count Borrell II asked for help from the king of France.
However, the help was denied because the king did not have the means.
Consequently, Borrell II decided not to renew the oath of allegiance to the king of France and considered himself independent in 988. Since then, the Catalan counts acted as sovereigns of their territories.
Agricultural Techniques in Medieval Catalonia
The richness of these Catalan counties during these centuries was founded on agriculture and livestock.
It was primarily subsistence farming for their own consumption, utilizing very rudimentary methods.
They practiced biennial rotation, meaning that half the fields were left uncultivated every year in order to recover.
Farmers used to develop the tools themselves, and agricultural products they needed. Therefore, exchanges were rare.
The Marriage that United Aragon and Catalonia
The new King of Aragon, Ramiro II, successor of Alfonso, married in 1136 and had a daughter, Petronila. The following year, the Aragonese king arranged the marriage of his daughter with the count of Barcelona, Ramon Berenguer IV.
Ramiro II then returned to the monastery, and Ramon Berenguer IV was appointed prince of Aragon and took care of this kingdom.
Alfonso II of Aragon: The First King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona
Alfonso II of Aragon, son of Ramon Berenguer IV and Petronila, was the first person who was both count of Barcelona and King of Aragon.
The king ended the reconquest of Aragon and founded the city of Teruel. In Catalonia, this king is known as Alfonso I.
From Alfonso I of Aragon, the territories of Aragon and Catalonia, and those subsequently conquered by the Crown of Aragon, were governed by the same monarch. Thus began the Catalan dynasty, which ruled the Crown of Aragon until the fifteenth century.
Repopulation of New Catalonia
Repopulation refers to the resettlement of lands that had remained uninhabited during the Muslim occupation or had subsequently been conquered.
The repopulation of New Catalonia was carried out during the thirteenth century. The lands were granted largely to military orders and nobles who had participated in the conquest. The kings also surrendered land to religious orders, like the Cistercian order, which established monasteries such as Poblet and Santes Creus.
To attract settlers to these territories, the counts issued letters of settlement to cities like Lleida and Tortosa. These documents assured farmers who settled in those areas that they would be free of certain manorial servitudes. Hence, in the conquered territories, new cities were created, many of which adopted the name Vilanova (New Town).
In most of these lands, along with the arriving farmers, there were a significant number of Jews and Muslims, who were offered the chance to settle there.