The siege of Barcelona was a military operation by a
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippin ...
army with the aim of conquering the city of
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, which had been under Muslim control for 80 years. The siege and conquest were part of the expansion of the
''Marca Hispanica'' and the constitution of the
County of Barcelona
The County of Barcelona ( la, Comitatus Barcinonensis, ca, Comtat de Barcelona) was originally a frontier region under the rule of the Carolingian dynasty. In the 10th century, the Counts of Barcelona became progressively independent, heredi ...
by the Carolingians.
Background
In the beginning of the 8th century when the
Visigothic Kingdom
The Visigothic Kingdom, officially the Kingdom of the Goths ( la, Regnum Gothorum), was a kingdom that occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. One of the Germanic peoples, Germanic su ...
was conquered by the Muslim troops of the
Umayyad Caliphate
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by th ...
, Barcelona was taken by the Muslim ''
wali
A wali (''wali'' ar, وَلِيّ, '; plural , '), the Arabic word which has been variously translated "master", "authority", "custodian", "protector", is most commonly used by Muslims to indicate an Islamic saint, otherwise referred to by the ...
'' of
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus DIN 31635, translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber languages, Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, ...
,
Al-Hurr ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Thaqafi
Al-Ḥurr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Thaqafi ( ar, الحر بن عبد الرحمن الثقفي) was an early Umayyad governor who ruled the Islam, Muslim province of Al-Andalus from between 716 and 718. He was the third successor to Musa bin Nusa ...
. After the failure of the Muslim invasion of Gaul at the Battles of
Toulouse
Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...
in 721 and
Tours
Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...
in 732, the city was integrated into the
Upper March
The Upper March (in ar, الثغر الأعلى, ''aṯ-Tagr al-A'la''; in Spanish: ''Marca Superior'') was an administrative and military division in northeast Al-Andalus, roughly corresponding to the Ebro valley and adjacent Mediterranean coa ...
of Al-Andalus.
From 759 onwards the Frankish Kingdom embarked on the conquest of the territories under Muslim domination. The capture of the city of
Narbonne
Narbonne (, also , ; oc, Narbona ; la, Narbo ; Late Latin:) is a commune in France, commune in Southern France in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. It lies from Paris in the Aude Departments of Franc ...
by the forces of the Frankish king,
Pepin the Short
the Short (french: Pépin le Bref; – 24 September 768), also called the Younger (german: Pippin der Jüngere), was King of the Franks from 751 until his death in 768. He was the first Carolingian to become king.
The younger was the son of ...
, brought the border to the
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...
. The Frankish advance was met with failure in front of
Zaragoza
Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...
, when
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...
was forced to retreat and suffered a setback in
Roncevaux
Roncesvalles ( , ; eu, Orreaga ; an, Ronzesbals ; french: Roncevaux ) is a small village and municipality in Navarre, northern Spain. It is situated on the small river Urrobi at an altitude of some in the Pyrenees, about from the French bor ...
in the hands of Basque forces allied with the Muslims. But in 785, the rebellion of the inhabitants of
Girona
Girona (officially and in Catalan language, Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter River, Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in ...
, who opened their gates to the Frankish army, pushed back the border and opened the way for a direct attack against Barcelona.
Rostaing, a relative of Charlemagne, was appointed head of a vast county which also extended over the ancient ''pagi'' of Girona, Empúries and Besalú.
The Emirate of Cordoba was then in a crisis: the Umayyad Emir
Al-Hakam I
Abu al-As al-Hakam ibn Hisham ibn Abd al-Rahman () was Umayyad Emir of Cordoba from 796 until 822 in Al-Andalus (Moorish Iberia).
Biography
Al-Hakam was the second son of his father, his older brother having died at an early age. When he came ...
, ascended to the throne in 796 and had to fight against the claims of his uncles, Sulayman and Ubayd-Allah Abu-Marwan, who had rebelled after the death of
Hisham I
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik ( ar, هشام بن عبد الملك, Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik; 691 – 6 February 743) was the tenth Umayyad caliph, ruling from 724 until his death in 743.
Early life
Hisham was born in Damascus, the administrat ...
. In 798, the Count of Toulouse and Marquis of Septimania,
William of Gellone
William of Gellone ( 755 – 28 May 812 or 814), the medieval William of Orange, was the second Duke of Toulouse from 790 until 811. In 804, he founded the abbey of Gellone. He was canonized a saint in 1066 by Pope Alexander II. , was responsible for coordinating operations for the conquest of the Upper March of Al-Andalus. He called an assembly in Toulouse, attended by ambassadors of the
King of Asturias
This is a list of the rulers of the Kingdom of Asturias, a kingdom in the Iberian peninsula during the Early Middle Ages. It originated as a refuge for Visigothic nobles following the conquest of Iberia by the Umayyad Caliphate. Following the for ...
,
Alfonso II, and
Bahlul Ibn Marzuq Bahlul Ibn Marzuq () (died 802) was born in the current term of La Puebla de Castro (Huesca), was a Vascones, Vascon-Muslim, the son of a local lord named Marzuq ibn Uskara ("son of the Basque people, Basque"). He rebelled in Zaragoza against the Ar ...
, a
muwallad leader in revolt against Emir Al-Hakam I, who had seized Zaragoza. In 799, Bahlul also seized
Huesca
Huesca (; an, Uesca) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the autonomous community of Aragon. It is also the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and of the comarca of Hoya de Huesca. In 2009 it had a population of 52,059, almo ...
after driving out the
Banu Salama The Banu Salama ( ar, بني سلمة) were an Arab Hejazi family that governed the regions of Huesca and Barbitanya (Barbastro) in the Upper March of Al-Andalus from c. 780-800 CE.
In 800, the former ally of the Banu Salama, Bahlul Ibn ...
, a family loyal to Al-Hakam I.
Siege
On August 20, 800, a considerable army was gathered under the authority of the son of Charlemagne,
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious (german: Ludwig der Fromme; french: Louis le Pieux; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aqui ...
, named King of Aquitaine by his father in 781. It was made up of troops from Aquitaine, Gascony, Burgundy and Septimania, and was equipped with many siege weapons. The army itself was divided into three corps. The first, commanded by the count of Girona, Rostaing, led the siege, at the foot of the city; the second, led by the counts of Toulouse and Narbonne, William of Gellone and Adhemar, took position between the Muslim-held cities 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 ...
and Zaragoza, to oppose the arrival of any Muslim relief troops from Cordoba; the third corps, commanded by Louis the Pious himself, was charged with protecting the Roussillon valley.
The troops of Rostaing arrived under the walls of Barcelona in October 800. The Muslim wali of Barcelona,
Sa'dun al Ruayni Sa'dun al-Ruayni () was Governor, or Wali, of Barcelona from 792 to 801 and the penultimate Muslim ruler of the city.Roger Collins, ''The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710–797'' (Basil Blackwell, 1989).
He was appointed successor to Matruh ben Sulaym ...
, seeing that the siege was going to last, left the city to ask for help from Cordoba, but he was discovered and captured by the Frankish troops, and then sent to the court of
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
where he was condemned to exile. A certain Harun therefore assumed the government of Barcelona.
During the winter of 800–801, the troops of William of Gellone and Adhémar of Narbonne laid siege to Lleida and Huesca, devastating their surroundings. West of the Pyrenees, a revolt of the people of
Pamplona
Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region.
Lying at near above ...
against the Muslim occupation served as a diversion. Louis the Pious, was called to come to aid in the final assault on the city and arrived in front of Barcelona in February 801. On April 4, 801,
Harun, commander of Barcelona accepted terms to surrender the city, worn out by hunger, deprivation and the constant attacks. The inhabitants of Barcelona then opened the gates of the city to the Carolingian army. Louis entered the city preceded by priests and clergy singing psalms, processing to a church to give thanks to God.
Aftermath
The Carolingians made Barcelona the capital of the
County of Barcelona
The County of Barcelona ( la, Comitatus Barcinonensis, ca, Comtat de Barcelona) was originally a frontier region under the rule of the Carolingian dynasty. In the 10th century, the Counts of Barcelona became progressively independent, heredi ...
and incorporated it into the
Hispanic Marches
The Hispanic March or Spanish March ( es, Marca Hispánica, ca, Marca Hispànica, Aragonese and oc, Marca Hispanica, eu, Hispaniako Marka, french: Marche d'Espagne), was a military buffer zone beyond the former province of Septimania, estab ...
. Authority was to be exercised in the city by the Count and the Bishop.
Bera
Bera may refer to:
Acronyms
* Bioelectric recognition assay, a method in electrophysiology
* Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority, an energy regulatory body in Botswana
* Brainstem evoked response audiometry, a screening test to monitor for heari ...
, son of the Count of Toulouse, William of Gellone, was made the first
Count of Barcelona
The Count of Barcelona ( ca, Comte de Barcelona, es, Conde de Barcelona, french: Comte de Barcelone, ) was the ruler of the County of Barcelona and also, by extension and according with the Usages of Barcelona, usages and Catalan constitutions, of ...
.
The conquered territory however had several weak points, and a vulnerable border that made it poorly defended against possible Muslim attacks from the Upper March, reorganized around Zaragoza and its forward base of Lleida. The border, along the valley of Llobregat, was reinforced, and the Carolingians would then seek to conquer, without success,
Tortosa
Tortosa (; ) is the capital of the ''Catalonia/Comarques, comarca'' of Baix Ebre, in Catalonia, Spain.
Tortosa is located at above sea level, by the Ebro river, protected on its northern side by the mountains of the Cardó Massif, of which Buin ...
in the following years, and Huesca in 807 and 812.
Bibliography
* (Catalan)
* (Spanish)
* (Catalan)
* (Spanish)
* (French)
References
{{Reflist
801
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
Military history of Barcelona
History of Catalonia
Medieval Barcelona
Medieval Catalonia
9th century in Al-Andalus
Upper March
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...