Siege of Barcelona (801)
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Siege of Barcelona (801) | |||||||
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Part of the Reconquista | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Carolingian Empire | Emirate of Córdoba | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Louis the Pious William of Gellone Rostaing of Girona |
Sa'dun al Ruayni Harun of Barcelona | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
"Troops from Aquitaine, Gascony, Burgundy and Septimania" | Unknown |
The siege of Barcelona was a military operation by a
Background
In the beginning of the 8th century when the Visigothic Kingdom was conquered by the Muslim troops of the Umayyad Caliphate, Barcelona was taken by the Muslim wali of Al-Andalus, Al-Hurr ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Thaqafi. After the failure of the Muslim invasion of Gaul at the Battles of Toulouse in 721 and Tours in 732, the city was integrated into the Upper March 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
The Emirate of Cordoba was then in a crisis: the Umayyad Emir
Siege
On August 20, 800, a considerable army was gathered under the authority of the son of Charlemagne, Louis the Pious, 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.[3] 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 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.[4]
The troops of Rostaing arrived under the walls of Barcelona in October 800. The Muslim wali 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 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.[6] 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.[7]
Aftermath
The Carolingians made Barcelona the capital of the
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 in the following years, and Huesca in 807 and 812.
Bibliography
- d'Abadal i de Vinyals, Ramon (1986). El domini carolingi a Catalunya. Institut d'Estudis Catalans. ISBN 978-84-321-1882-1. (Catalan)
- Fernández, Luis Suárez (1976). Historia de España antigua y media 2. ed.. Ediciones Rialp, Madrid. (Spanish)
- Bramon, Dolors (2001). "3 d'abril de 801: la conquesta cristiana de Barcelona". L'Avenç. 257. (Catalan)
- Augustí, David (2008). Historia Breve de Barcelona. Silex, Barcelona. ISBN 978-84-7737-205-9. (Spanish)
- Faral, Edmond (1932). "Ermold le Noir, Poème sur Louis le Pieux et épitres au roi Pépin". Les classiques de l'histoire de France au Moyen Age. éd. Honoré Champion. (French)
References
- ^ D'Abadal i de Vinyals, 1986, p. 86–92.
- ^ Suárez Fernández, 1976, p. 186–188.
- ^ Bramon, 2001.
- ^ Agustí, 2008, p. 50.
- ^ Ermold le Noir, Poème sur Louis le Pieux et épitres au roi Pépin, Edmond Faral (éd. et trad.), Les classiques de l'histoire de France au Moyen Age, éd. Honoré Champion, Paris, 1932.
- ISBN 9780415413954.
- ISBN 3775253521.