The Vall de Ribes is a geographic zone in the northwest of the

Ripollès Ripollès (; es, link=no, Ripollés) is a comarca (county) in Catalonia, Spain. It is located in the Ribes and Camprodon river valleys. In 2001, its population was 25,744, about 40% of whom lived in the capital, Ripoll. Ripollès borders the c ...

in the valley of the river Freser. Its largest municipality is

Ribes de Freser Ribes de Freser () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Ripollès in Girona, Catalonia. It is situated at the confluence of the Freser, Rigard and Segadell rivers, north of Ripoll. It is known for its mineral water, paper manufact ...

. It also contains the municipalities of

Queralbs Queralbs () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Ripollès in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is situated in the Pyrenees to the north of Ribes de Freser, near the peaks of Puigmal (2909 m), Infern (2896 m) and ...

Toses Toses () is a small village in the county of Ripollès in the province of Girona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. It is furthermore the name of the municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having cor ...

, Planoles, Pardines and

Campelles Campelles () is a village in the province of Girona and autonomous community of Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' b ...

, and the sanctuary and resort of

Vall de Núria ''La Vall de Núria'' (, "The Valley of Núria") is a south-opening valley coming down from the crest of the Pyrenees within the municipality of Queralbs, province of Girona, community of Catalonia, Spain. The floor of the valley lies about abo ...

. The Vall de Ribes was historically a part of the

county of Cerdanya The County of Cerdanya ( ca, Comtat de Cerdanya, ; la, Comitatus Ceritaniae; es, Condado de Cerdaña, french: Comté de Cerdagne) was one of the Catalan counties formed in the last decades of the 8th century by the Franks in the ''Marca Hispanica' ...

and ecclesiastically pertained to the

diocese of Urgell The Diocese of Urgell is a diocese in Catalonia (Spain) and Andorra in the historical County of Urgell,

. This made it unlike the rest of the Ripollès, which was part of the

county of Osona The County of Osona, also Ausona ( ca, Comtat d'Osona, ; la, Comitatus Ausonae), was one of the Catalan counties of the '' Marca Hispanica'' in the Early and High Middle Ages. It was based around the capital city of Vic (''Vicus'') and the corre ...

and the

diocese of Vic The Roman Catholic Diocese of Vic ( la, diocoesis Vicen(sis)) is a diocese with its seat in the city of Vic in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tarragona, ecclesiastical province of Tarragona in Catalonia, Spain. Vic Cathedral, Its cathedral is ...

. During the rule of Count Ramon Berenguer IV, it was associated with the

county of Besalú The County of Besalú ( ca, Comtat de Besalú, ; la, Comitatus Bisuldunensis) was one of the landlocked medieval Catalan counties near the Mediterranean coastline. It was roughly coterminous with the modern ''comarca'' of Garrotxa and at various t ...

. There must have been fortifications there, and both these and the comital

demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept or ...

lands were

enfeoffed In the Middle Ages, especially under the European feudal system, feoffment or enfeoffment was the deed by which a person was given land in exchange for a pledge of service. This mechanism was later used to avoid restrictions on the passage of ti ...

to Galceran de Sales before 1151. The demesne was administered by (but not enfeoffed to) Ramon de Ribes in 1158, when the entire valley was inventoried. In 1162, along with Besalú, the Vall de Ribes was granted for life to Peronella, the widow of the count, and a survey of it was made. During this time, several complaints were lodged with the count, Alfons I, against Ramon, alleging that he acted independently of any higher authority. At Peronella's death in 1173, the demesne reverted to Alfons, who in 1194 granted the mills to the monastery of

Santa Maria de Ripoll The Monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll is a Benedictine monastery, built in the Romanesque style, located in the town of Ripoll in Catalonia, Spain. Although much of the present church is 19th century rebuilding, the sculptured portico is a renown ...

. In 1198 Ramon's son and namesake was ''

baiulus A bailiff (from Middle English baillif, Old French ''baillis'', ''bail'' "custody") is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. Bailiffs are of various kinds and their offi ...

'' and

castellan A castellan is the title used in Medieval Europe for an appointed official, a governor of a castle and its surrounding territory referred to as the castellany. The title of ''governor'' is retained in the English prison system, as a remnant o ...

there.T. N. Bisson, ''Fiscal Accounts of Catalonia under the Early Count-Kings (1151–1213)'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), 185, contains an account of the Vall de Ribes during the period 1151–1213. Today, the valley is an attraction for its natural beauty, its montane vegetation and its remaining Catalan Romanesque architecture. The Romanesque painting known as the baldachin of Ribes, from the second quarter of the twelfth century, is from the area.

Notes

External links

Official website
{{coord, 42, 18, 26.42, N, 2, 10, 7.88, E, type:landmark_region:ES, display=title Valleys of Catalonia