County of Osona

County of Osona

Comtat d'Osona (Catalan)

Comitatus Ausonae (Latin)
County of Osona Comtat d'Osona (Catalan); Comitatus Ausonae (Latin);
~798–1111
Count of Osona
• ~798-820	Borrel I (first)
• 1107–1111	Bernard III (last de facto count)
Historical era	Middle Ages
• Established	~798
• Became a permanent territory of the Principality of Catalonia	1111
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Al-Andalus
Principality of Catalonia
Today part of	Osona

The County of Osona, also Ausona (

diocese, whose territory was roughly the current comarca of Osona

.

The ancient diocese of Osona was

Aissó succeeded in taking it with help from the Emirate of Córdoba, Osona remained depopulated and outside of Frankish control until 879.^[2]

It was considered to be part of the County of Barcelona throughout that period.

In 879,

aprisiones; they turned Osona into a central and important part of Catalonia.^[3] There was a viscounty of Osona from 900.^[4] The viscounts controlled the region on behalf of the counts, who were usually resident in Barcelona. The viscountship later changed its name to viscounty of Cabrera^{[citation needed]}. Wilfred, who established the viscounty, also built new castles along the frontier of Osona, at Torelló (881), Montgrony (887), and Tarabaldi (892).^[5] All these fortresses were controlled either directly by the count or by a castellan who also controlled the appendici or surrounding territory on certain specific terms.^[6] The castle, in fact, and its mandamenta (commandment) were the central organising feature of Osona after its repopulation. Wilfred also reorganised the church in Osona — after the bishopric, Wilfred's foundation of the convent of Sant Joan de les Abadesses, originally under his daughter Emma, was the most important ecclesiastical institution in the county^[7] — and introduced serfdom

on a limited scale.

Throughout the tenth century, Osona remained tied to Barcelona, except for the brief rule of Ermengol from 939 to 943. In 990, the small pagus of Berga was detached from it and granted to Cerdanya. In 1035, Osona was detached from Barcelona for another brief period when Berenguer Ramon I left it to his widow, Guisla de Lluça, on his death. She ruled it with her son William until she remarried and he renounced it. After that, it was reattached to Barcelona, but was augmented by the addition of the County of Manresa, which was subsumed within Osona and ceased to be a distinct polity in the region.^{[citation needed]}.

Ramon Berenguer III ceded the county to his son-in-law Bernard III of Besalú, as dowry of his daughter Jimena in 1107. When both Jimena and Bernard died without heirs, Osona returned to Barcelona. This was to be the end for Osona as a nominally distinct county; the use of the terms "county" and "count" of Osona disappeared subsequently. From that point, its history was linked to the Principality of Catalonia. The title was revived for the Cabrera family in 1356 and it passed to the House of Montcada in 1574 and the Medinaceli in 1722, but none of these families ever controlled the feudal region.

List of counts

Borrell
798–820
Rampon 820–825
Bernard 825–826
Aisso 826–827
Guillemó 826–827
to the
Counts of Barcelona
827–939
Ermengol 939–943
to the
Counts of Barcelona
943–1035
Guisla de Lluça 1035–1054
William 1035–1054
to the
Counts of Barcelona
1054–1107
Ximena 1107–1149
Bernard 1107–1111
Bernard III of Cabrera 1356–1364
to the
Counts of Barcelona
permanently

Sources

Lewis, Archibald Ross. The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society, 718–1050. University of Texas Press: Austin, 1965.
ISBN 84-232-0632-7
.

Notes

^ Lewis, 41.
^ Lewis, 47.
^ Lewis, 73.
^ Lewis, 117.
^ Lewis, 131.
^ Lewis, 133–134.
^ Lewis, 251.

[1] Lewis, 41.

[2] Lewis, 47.

[3] Lewis, 73.

[4] Lewis, 117.

[5] Lewis, 131.

[6] Lewis, 133–134.

[7] Lewis, 251.

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]