Sunifred (died 848) was the

Count of Urgell This is a list of the counts of Urgell, a county of the Principality of Catalonia in the 10th through 13th centuries. {{circa, 798–870 Counts appointed by the Carolingians *798–820 Borrell, count of Urgell and Cerdanya *820–824 Aznar ...

and

Cerdanya Cerdanya (; , ; , ) or often La Cerdanya is a natural region, natural comarca and historical region of the eastern Pyrenees divided between France and Spain. Historically it was one of the Catalan counties, counties of Catalonia. Cerdanya has a ...

from 834 to 848, and the

Count of Barcelona The count of Barcelona (, , , ) 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 Principality of Catalonia as Prince#Prince as generic for ruler, p ...

as well as many other Catalan and

Septimania Septimania 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 Septimania was ceded to their king, Theod ...

n counties, including

Ausona The County of Osona, also Ausona (, ; ), 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 corresponding diocese, whose territory was ro ...

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 ''comarc ...

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

Narbonne Narbonne ( , , ; ; ; Late Latin:) is a commune in Southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and was ...

Agde Agde (; ) is a commune in the southern French department of Hérault. It is the Mediterranean port of the Canal du Midi. It is situated on an ancient basalt volcano, hence the name "Black Pearl of the Mediterranée". Location Agde is locate ...

Béziers Béziers (; ) is a city in southern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. Every August Béziers ho ...

Lodève Lodève (; , ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Hérault, in the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, southern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefe ...

, Melgueil,

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 (), and it bor ...

and

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...

, from 844 to 848. He may have been the son of Belló,

Count of Carcassonne 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 Carcassonne as a county probably go b ...

, or, more probably, his son-in-law. In 834, he was named Count of Urgell and Cerdanya by

Louis the Pious Louis the Pious (; ; ; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor, co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aquitaine from 781. As the only ...

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

; at the time these counties were under the control of

Aznar Galíndez I Aznar Galíndez I (also '' Asnar Galí'') (died 839) was a Basque Count of Aragon and Conflent from 809 and Cerdanya and Urgell from 820. Aznar has been confused with Aznar Sánchez, Duke of Gascony, and some authorities have even considered the ...

, an ally of the

Banu Qasi The Banu Qasi, Banu Kasi, Beni Casi (, 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 territory of the Umayyad Emirate of Córdoba, l ...

. 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 to on 10 August 843, ended the Carolingian civil war and divided the Carolingian Empire between Lothair I, Louis the German, Louis II and Charles the Bald, Charles II, the surviving sons of the emperor Louis the ...

(843),

Bernard of Septimania Bernard (or Bernat) of Septimania (795–844), son of William of Gellone and cousin of Charlemagne, was the Duke of Septimania and Count of Barcelona from 826 to 832 and again from 835 until his execution, and also Count of Carcassonne from 837. H ...

, Count of Barcelona (and many other marches and counties, including

, Melgueil,

and

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

), failed to align with

Charles the Bald Charles the Bald (; 13 June 823 – 6 October 877), also known as CharlesII, 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 series of civil wars during t ...

. Bernard did not enter the fray at the

Battle of Fontenoy The Battle of Fontenoy took place on 11 May 1745 during the War of the Austrian Succession, near Tournai, then in the Austrian Netherlands, now Belgium. A French army of 50,000 under Maurice, comte de Saxe, Marshal Saxe defeated a Pragmatic Ar ...

, and had to leave his son

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

as a hostage to guarantee his good behavior in the future. Sunifred, on the other hand, halted a Moor invasion in 841/2, which marched against Narbonne through the region of Cerdanya and he was granted land in 843. In 844,

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

rose again in rebellion, supported by Bernard. After the siege of Toulouse, and the capture and execution of Bernard, Sunifred received the counties of Barcelona, Girona and the

march March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...

of Gothia. Sunifred also augmented his domains when Conflent fell into his hands, as reigning count of Cerdanya, on the death of Bera II. He was apparently successful at pacifying the march and stopping the Moors, since in 847 envoys went from Cordoba to Rheims to make peace. In 848,

was named count of Toulouse and

Empúries Empúries ( ) was an ancient Greek city on the Mediterranean coast of Catalonia, Spain. The city Ἐμπόριον (, Emporion, meaning "trading place", ''cf.'' emporion) was founded in 575 BC by Greeks from Phocaea. After the invasion o ...

by Pepin II, as part of his continuing struggle with Charles the Bald. He quickly moved to eliminate Sunifred and his brother 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 = , image_size = , caption = , alt = , CoA = , more = no , su ...

(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, a ...

(died 896) *Sisenanda *Sunifred (abbot of

Abbey of Arles-sur-Tech The abbey of Saint Mary of Arles-sur-Tech (; , ''Notre-Dame d'Arles-sur-Tech'') was a Benedictine Order, Benedictine monastery in Arles-sur-Tech in the Vallespir between the ninth century and the eighteenth. It was dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesu ...

) *Riculf (

Roman Catholic Diocese of Perpignan-Elne The Diocese of Perpignan–Elne (Latin: ''Dioecesis Elnensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Perpignan–Elne''; Catalan: ''Bisbat de Perpinyà–Elna'') is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in France. *Cixilona

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 Year of birth unknown