I’m back from vacation and I am breaking from the format a bit with this week’s show. This is a five minute montage of street musicians and other video clips from my trip to Barcelona. Enjoy!

Carlos II was the last of the Spanish Habsburg rulers. When he died in 1700, he left no heir. This caused Archduke Karl of Austria and Philip of Anjou to vie for the throne. As the great, great, great grandson of Charles V, Archduke Karl was supported by Catalonia because Charles’ oath to defend the Catalonian Constitution. Karl invaded Spain with the support of England, establishing himself in Barcelona as Carlos III. In 1711 Karl succeeded his brother to become the Holy Roman Emperor, leaving Barcelona. This caused England to begin to fear Charles’ growing power and withdraw their troops from Catalonia, leaving it relatively defenseless.

Meanwhile Philip of Anjou’s power as an opposition leader began to grow throughout Spain. Philip’s forces began a siege on Barcelona in August of 1713, and it did not end until September 11th, 1714 with a dramatic battle. When it was all over, two thirds of the city’s houses were damaged or destroyed. Even more were torn down near the Cuitadella fortress to create a fire defense. September 11th is still celebrated as Catalonia’s national day.

During the 18th century, Barcelona was dominated by Philip’s Bourbon troops. Philip eventually claimed the Spanish throne as Felipe V. Barcelona flourished economically during Bourbon rule, as it’s Catalonia cultural identity began to wain. The 19th century brought the Peninsular Wars between France and Spain. Napoleon’s troops took the city in 1808, making it the capital of the Imperial Department of Montserrat until 1813. Two years later Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo and Catalonia was returned to the House of Bourbon.

The last years of the 14th century were dark times in Barcelona, marked by famine, disease, and ethnic violence. In 1348 over a third of the city’s population was wiped out by disease and in 1391 anti-Semitic violence (sparked by bad harvests) virtually eliminated Barcelona’s Jewish population.

Marti I was the last of Catalonia’s sovereign counts. In 1410 he died without an heir, leaving his crown to his nephew Ferdinand de Trastamara. Ferdinand II married Isabella of Castile in 1469 unifying Castile, Leon and Aragon to form the Reyes Catolicos (Catholic Monarchs). In the year of 1492 they funded Columbus’ expedition to the Americas, started the Inquisition, and unified Spain by taking Granada from the Moors and expelling all non-Christians from the region. Ferdinand and Isabella had once ruled from Barcelona, but as they began to shift toward being an Atlantic power, the importance of Catalonia began to wain.

Carlos I (Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) inherited power over most of central Europe, Spain, and all of its holdings in the Americas. He officially moved the royal court away from Barcelona, but left the Generalitat in place with semi-autonomous power. During his reign he sought to expand the empire but eventually retired to a monastery at the age of 56 passing his thrown to his son Felipe II. Felipe moved the capital to Madrid, but before Carlos’ death, Carlos swore to defend the Constitution of Catalonia. This oath helped set the stage for the War of Spanish Succession over 150 years later.

After their break from the Franks, the Sovereign Counts of Catalonia carved out their own identity as a loose federation of states anchored by Barcelona. The federation expanded into Southern France, and with the marriage of their Ramon Berenquer IV to the infant daughter of Aragon’s King Ramiro in 1137, Catalonia became a formidable power in the Mediterranean.

Jaume I el Conqueridor (1208-1276) is viewed as one of the greatest figures in Catalonia’s history. At the age of five we was captured by the French after his father Pere I was killed in battle. He managed to return to Catalonia when he was seventeen years old, was proclaimed king, and continued to rule for fifty years. Jaume conquered Majorca, Ibiza, and Valencia. The city of Barcelona also expanded during his reign with the construction of new city walls around the neighborhoods of Sant Pere and Ribera. Jaume also fostered legal and political development, compiling laws and practices in the Llibre del Consolat de Mar. Elections in 1283 led to creation of one of the oldest parliaments in Europe (the Consell de Cent). The Consell continued to play a municipal advisory role until 1714. One of Jaume’s successors (Pere II el Gran) set up another governing body in 1283 called the Corts de Barcelona. It became know as the Generalitat in the 14th century and continues to govern Catalonia to this day.

Pere III (1336-1387) was the ruler who saw the apex of Catalonia’s expansion. During his rule the Empire expanded northward to Montpellier, France and far into the Mediterranean from the Balearic Islands to Sicily and Sardinia. The House of Aragon even held Athens as a colony from 1311-1381. As a seat of naval and economic power, Barcelona became a magnet for imported raw materials and a major exporter of manufactured goods such as steel weaponry and textiles. Eventually that power was eroded by the growth of the Ottoman Empire in eastern Europe.

This spring we are planning to take a trip to Barcelona, Spain. I wanted to visit the city because I knew of its fabulous modernist architecture and status as a blossoming metropolitan center of the Mediterranean area, but I didn’t know much else about the history of the city, or its region’s (Catalan) distinct cultural history. Over the next couple of weeks I will be publishing a handful of articles that trace the history of the region from the Pre-Roman Iberian tribes to the modern day political environment. This first installment talks about the periods of the Laitetani, Roman, Visigoth, and Frankish peoples, ending in 988 A.D. with Catalan sovereignty.

The Path to Catalonian Sovereignty (Prehistory to 988 A.D.)

Controversy has always enshrouded the stories of Barcelona’s origins. Legends have said that the city was founded by the Hamilcar Barca of Carthage (Hannibal’s father). More far fetched legends attributed Hercules as the founder, but archaeologists have found that the area’s earliest inhabitants were a group called the Laietani. The Laietani were an indigenousness Iberian tribe who practiced agriculture in the hills between the mouths of the Llobregat and Besos Rivers. These people are remembered with the naming of Via Laietana (a grand boulevard in modern Barcelona) but there is no clear evidence directly linking the civilization of these people to the development of modern, urban Barcelona.

Roman influence on Barcelona is clear. The language of Catalan evolved from Latin independently from Castilian Spanish. It bears strong influences from the regional Celtic and Iberian languages. Romans established the first urban center on the spot of Barcelona. It was called “Barcino”. Initially Barcino was nothing more that a crossroads station north of the city of Tarraco (modern day Tarragon). Barcelona’s original city walls were built during Rome’s Pax Romani of the 1st century. Caesar Augustus also constructed a forum and a temple to his own glory. Some traces of the Roman construction are still visible in the city’s Barri Gotic district. The entire territory of Spain was referred to as “Hispania Citerio” by Romans. The majority of Roman officials settled in the south of Spain, while soldiers and traders gravitated north toward Barcino and Valencia, perhaps laying groundwork for the area’s strong independent nature.

As Roman domination began to crumble in the 3rd century, the area was overtaken by the Visigoths. Visigoth King Ataulf set up court in the city, ushering in a period of prosperity until the Visigoths moved their capital to Toledo in the mid 6th century. Moors advanced from the south and established Muslim rule over the city from 717 to 801. In 801 Charlemagne’s Frankish forces came from the north to take control of the region. The Franks called the area “Marca Hispania” (Spanish March). Barcelona lied on the vanguard of the Frankish empire. It was a buffer against the Moors. To rule the area more effectively, Franks divided the area in semi-autonomous counties. The combination of geographic and political isolation eventually led to an strong spirit of independence in the region. In 897 Guifre el Pilos (Wilfred the Hairy) was the strongest of the sovereign counts in the region. Rather than wait for the official decree of the central Franish government, he passed his governing power directly to his son. This strongly symbolized the Catalonian independence. Frankish power had diminished to point that they were no longer able to exert central leadership. In 988 Barcelona was sacked by the Moorish leader Al-Mansur. Barcelona’s sovereign count Borrell II requested military aid from the Frankish central forces. He received no help. Catalan was now on its own as an independent nation.