Sunifred (died 848) was the

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 ...

as well as many other Catalan and

Septimania Septimania (french: Septimanie ; oc, Septimània ) is a historical region in modern-day Southern France. It referred to the western part of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed to the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septima ...

n counties, including Ausona,

Besalú Besalú () is a town in the ''comarca'' of Garrotxa, in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The town's importance was greater in the early Middle Ages, as capital of the county of Besalú, whose territory was roughly the same size as the current ''comarca' ...

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 ...

, Narbonne,

Agde Agde (; ) is a commune in the Hérault department in Southern France. It is the Mediterranean port of the Canal du Midi. Location Agde is located on the Hérault river, from the Mediterranean Sea, and from Paris. The Canal du Midi con ...

Béziers Béziers (; oc, Besièrs) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Every August Béziers hos ...

Lodève Lodève (; oc, Lodeva ) is a commune in the département of Hérault, in the Occitanie region in southern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. The derivation of the city's name is from Gaulish ''Luteva'', composed of lut-, swamp, ...

Melgueil Mauguio (; , primarily ''Melguelh'') is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France. History The city of Mauguio, seventh city of the Herault department and chief town of the district, is located 11 km east of Montpellier. T ...

Cerdanya Cerdanya () or often La Cerdanya ( la, Ceretani or ''Ceritania''; french: Cerdagne; es, Cerdaña), is a natural comarca and historical region of the eastern Pyrenees divided between France and Spain. Historically it was one of the counties ...

Urgell Modern-day Urgell (), also known as ''Baix Urgell'' (''baix'' meaning "lower", by contrast with Alt Urgell "Higher Urgell"), is a ''comarca'' (county) in Catalonia, Spain, forming only a borderland portion of the region historically known as Ur ...

Conflent Conflent () is a historical Catalan comarca of Northern Catalonia, now part of the French department of Pyrénées-Orientales. In the Middle Ages it comprised the County of Conflent. The capital of this ''pays'' is Prades ( ca, Prada de Conf ...

and

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,5 ...

, from 834 to 848 (Urgell and Cerdanya) and from 844 to 848 (others). He may have been the son of Belló,

Count of Carcassonne {{Notability, date=October 2022 The County of Carcassonne ( Occitan: ''Comtat de Carcassona'') was a medieval fiefdom controlling the city of Carcassonne, France and its environs. It was often united with the County of Razès. The origins of Carca ...

, or, more probably, his son-in-law.See A. Lewis, ''The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society, 718-1050'' (1965)
Ch. 6, note 9
/ref> In 834, he was named count of Urgell and Cerdanya by

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 ...

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

; at the time these counties were in the control of Aznar Galíndez I, an ally of the

Banu Qasi The Banu Qasi, Banu Kasi, Beni Casi ( ar, بني قسي or بنو قسي, meaning "sons" or "heirs of Cassius"), Banu Musa, or al-Qasawi were a Muladí (local convert) dynasty that in the 9th century ruled the Upper March, a frontier ter ...

). Sunifred conquered Cerdanya in 835 and Urgell three years later (838). In the dynastic struggles that accompanied the three years between

' death (840) and the

Treaty of Verdun The Treaty of Verdun (), agreed in , divided the Francia, Frankish Empire into three kingdoms among the surviving sons of the emperor Louis the Pious, Louis I, the son and successor of Charlemagne. The treaty was concluded following almost three ...

(843),

Bernard of Septimania Bernard (or Bernat) of Septimania (795–844), son of William of Gellone, was the Frankish Duke of Septimania and Count of Barcelona from 826 to 832 and again from 835 to his execution. He was also count of Carcassonne from 837. He was appointed t ...

, the count of Barcelona (and many other marches and counties, including

, Narbonne,

and

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 ...

) aligned with

Pepin II of Aquitaine Pepin II, called the Younger (823 – after 864 in Senlis), was King of Aquitaine from 838 as the successor upon the death of his father, Pepin I. Pepin II was eldest son of Pepin I and Ingeltrude, daughter of Theodobert, count of Madrie. He ...

, while Sunifred, his brother Sunyer I, Count of Empúries, and their sons (sometimes referred to as the Bellonid dynasty or

Bellonids The Bellonids ( ca, Bel·lònides, es, Bellónidas, links=no, french: Bellonides), sometimes called the Bellonid Dynasty, were the counts descended from the Goth Belló who ruled in Carcassonne, Urgell, Cerdanya, County of Conflent, Barcelona, an ...

) placed their allegiance with

Charles the Bald Charles the Bald (french: Charles le Chauve; 13 June 823 – 6 October 877), also known as Charles II, was a 9th-century king of West Francia (843–877), king of Italy (875–877) and emperor of the Carolingian Empire (875–877). After a ser ...

. In 841, the

Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...

invaded

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 ...

and marched against Narbonne through the region of Cerdanya. Sunifred stopped them cold in battle, an event which certainly influenced Charles the Bald's respect for him. For in 844, Charles reclaimed

from Pepin II, captured Bernard of Septimania, and had him executed. In exchange for his

fealty An oath of fealty, from the Latin ''fidelitas'' (faithfulness), is a pledge of allegiance of one person to another. Definition In medieval Europe, the swearing of fealty took the form of an oath made by a vassal, or subordinate, to his lord. "Fea ...

, Charles gave Sunifred the dead count's honours of Barcelona, Girona and the march of Gothia. Sunifred also augmented his domains when Conflent fell into his hands, as reigning count of Cerdanya, on the death of Bera II. Throughout his reign, he was aloof of

William of Septimania William of Septimania (29 November 826 – 850) was the son of Bernard and Dhuoda. He was the count of Toulouse from 844 and count of Barcelona from 848. The sources for his life are primarily the ''Annales Bertiniani'' and the '' Chronica Fo ...

, son of Bernard, who had risen in 844 against Charles the Bald. In 848, William was named count of Toulouse and

Empúries Empúries ( ca, Empúries ) was an ancient city on the Mediterranean coast of Catalonia, Spain. Empúries is also known by its Spanish name, Ampurias ( es, Ampurias ). The city Ἐμπόριον ( el, Ἐμπόριον, Emporion, meaning "tradi ...

by Pepin II. He quickly moved to eliminate Sunifred and Sunyer. Both brothers died in 848 and some of their counties were assumed by William. Sunifred supposedly died of natural causes, but the cause of Sunyer's death is unknown. Sunifred I married Ermesende, and had the following children: *

Wilfred the Hairy {{Infobox noble, type , name = Wilfred , title = Count of Barcelona , image = Wilfredo el Velloso 01.jpg , image_size = 150px , caption = Statue in Madrid, L. S. Carmona, 1750–53 , al ...

(died 11 August 897) *

Radulf of Besalú Radulf or Radulph may refer to: *Radulf, King of Thuringia, 7th-century noble, Duke and then King *Radulf II, Duke of Thuringia, 9th century *Radulf of Narbonne, 8th-century Count *Radulf of Besalú (died 920), Count * Radulf (d. 1220), Radulf II, ...

(died 920) *

Miro the Elder Miro, called the Old or the Elder (in Catalan, ''Miró el Vell'') was the count of Conflent from 870 and Rosselló ( Roussillon) from 878 until his death in 896. He was the son of Sunifred I, count of Barcelona, Urgell, Cerdanya, and Besalú, an ...

(died 896)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunifred, Count of Barcelona 848 deaths Counts of Barcelona Counts of Cerdanya Counts of Urgell Counts of Besalú 9th-century people from the County of Barcelona 9th-century Visigothic people Year of birth unknown