Isarn (died 948) was the
Count of Pallars from 920 until his death, and effectively a sovereign prince. He was the eldest of the four sons of
Raymond I, Count of Pallars and Ribagorza Raymond I ( ca, Ramon, es, Raimundo) (fl. 884–920) was the first independent count of Pallars and Ribagorza from 872 until his death. Early speculation made him a scion of the counts of Toulouse, but he is certainly the "Count Raymond, son of C ...
. With his younger brother
Lope he co-ruled Pallars after his father's death in 920. Their brothers
Bernard
Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname.
The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brav ...
and Miró co-governed Ribagorza. A fifth brother, Otto (or Ato), was Bishop of Pallars, which allowed the counts, especially Isarn, to effectively control the
Church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* Chris ...
in their territories.
Isarn probably co-governed Pallars with his father from around 900.
In 904 he was captured along with seven hundred others during a raid by the
Qasawi Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
lord
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or ar ...
of
Lleida
Lleida (, ; Spanish: Lérida ) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida.
Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It is also the capital city of the Segrià comarca, as ...
,
Llop ibn Muhammad. From the ''
Códice de Roda
The ''Códice de Roda'' or ''Códice de Meyá'' (Roda or Meyá codex) is a medieval manuscript that represents a unique source for details of the 9th and early 10th century Kingdom of Navarre and neighbouring principalities. It is currently held ...
'' we know that he remained a prisoner at
Tudela until 918, when he was liberated by his cousin, King
Sancho I of Pamplona
Sancho Garcés I (Basque: ''Antso Ia. Gartzez''; c. 860 – 10 December 925), also known as Sancho I, was king of Pamplona from 905 until 925. He was the son of García Jiménez and was the first king of Pamplona of the Jiménez dynasty. Sancho I ...
. As count, Isarn founded a convent,
Sant Pere de Burgal, at
Burghals and made his daughter Ermengardis its first abbess in 945. At that date he signed a charter as ''Domnus Isarnus comes et marchio dum resideret in Paliarensis regno'': "Lord Isarn, count and margrave, while residing in the kingdom of Pallars." Isarn also had a son named William who succeeded him but died without descendants.
[Ferran Valls i Taberner and Ferran Soldevila (2002), ''Història de Catalunya'' (Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat), 90.]
Notes
{{reflist
Counts of Pallars
948 deaths
Year of birth unknown
Upper March
10th-century Catalan people