Catalan counties Northern Catalonia formed part of the southern counties of the Frankish Empire (historiographically known as the
Marca Hispanica), established by
Charlemagne as a buffer territory against
Al-Andalus forces. As such, it was divided into feudal counties,
Rosselló,
Vallespir,
Conflent north of the Pyrenees and
Cerdanya to the south. By the end of the ninth century, these counties had gained progressively independence from the
Carolingian kings and operated as princely states (whose rulers nevertheless retained the title of count). As the seigneury of the counties became hereditary, the total number of Catalan counts fell steadily. One individual often had the charge of several counties, but these were not always transmitted based on
primogeniture. Hence Count
Miró II the Young, third son of
Wilfred I the Hairy, inherited the counties of Cerdanya and Conflent from his father in 897, and the counties of
Besalú and Vallespir from his elder brother
Sunyer I when the latter became
Count of Barcelona in 911. The
Counts of Rosselló, in alliance with their cousins the
Counts of Empuriés, tried to resist this dilution of their power. However, the
Counts of Barcelona steadily gained suzerainty over the other Catalan counts, a process that was virtually complete by the twelfth century. The last separate Count of Rosselló,
Girard II, left his title to the
Crown of Aragon on his death in 1172 to prevent the territory passing to his illegitimate half-brothers. From that point on, the County merged with the other Catalan counties to establish a new state within the Crown, the Principality of Catalonia.
Principality of Catalonia Royal administration in the
Principality of Catalonia was organized based on territorial divisions known as
vegueries, under the charge of a
veguer appointed by the King of Aragon as Count of Barcelona. In Northern Catalonia, the
vegueries followed closely the boundaries of the old counties. The district of
Capcir was a
sotsvegueria, based around the castle of
Puigbalador (French:
Puyvalador) but subordinate to the
vegueria of
Conflent. The
Treaty of Corbeil (1258) confirmed the frontier between the lands of the Kingdom of France and the Crown of Aragon as the
Cerbères, leaving the
Occitan district of
Fenolheda to France. On the death of King
James I the Conqueror in 1276, Northern Catalonia was combined with the
Balearic Isles to form a new
Kingdom of Majorca, which passed to
James II while the rest of the territory of the Crown of Aragon passed to his brother
Peter III. By the Treaty of Perpignan (1279), James II of Mallorca would have to participate in the
Catalan Courts; in the counties of Roussillon and Cerdanya the
Usages of Barcelona would be in force and Catalan currency would circulate there, therefore ensuring that these counties would continue to be an integral part of the Principality of Catalonia. Furthermore, once peace was made between the brothers, they would sign a pact of mutual defense. This division satisfied neither branch of the family, and the Kingdom of Majorca was retaken militarily by the Crown of Aragon in 1344, fully reintegrating Roussillon and Cerdanya into the Crown of Aragon. In 1350,
University of Perpignan, the second one of Catalonia after
Lleida, was founded.
Cession to France At the end of the
Reapers' War (1640–1659), the
Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659 ceded Northern Catalonia to the Kingdom of France, where it became the province of
Roussillon. The French provinces were abolished at the
Revolution (Law of 1789-12-22), and Roussillon was joined with the district of
Fenouillèdes (Occitan:
Fenolheda) to form the
département of the
Pyrénées-Orientales, with
Perpignan (
Perpinyà) as its administrative centre.
Present day The
département of the Pyrénées-Orientales is divided into the
arrondissements of
Céret (Catalan:
Ceret),
Perpignan (
Perpinyà) and
Prades (
Prada de Conflent), which are further divided into
cantons and
communes. Perpignan and sixteen surrounding communes are also associated in the
Communauté d'agglomération Têt Méditerranée, created in 2001. Enclaved in the southwest of the
département there is the Spanish (
Catalonia) exclave of
Llívia. " according to Joan Becat (
Atles de Catalunya Nord, 1977). As is common, the present-day
arrondissements do not correspond to pre-
Revolutionary boundaries. The
arrondissement of Prades (
Prada) covers the whole of
Haute-Cerdagne (
Alta Cerdanya) and
Conflent (including
Capcir), as well as about a third of
Fenolheda (not part of the province of Roussillon). The
arrondissement of Céret covers the whole of
Vallespir but also the
Côte Vermeille (
Costa Vermella), which was historically under the control of the counts and
veguers of Rosselló at
Perpinyà (Perpignan). Catalan writers sometimes speak of the
"comarques of Northern Catalonia". Unlike the
autonomous community of Catalonia, these
comarques have no administrative significance, although they usually correspond to a certain historical and geographical unity. A commonly used division is that of
Joan Becat in his 1977 work
Atles de Catalunya Nord, which follows closely the boundaries of the former
vegueries except insofar as it promotes the former
sotsvegueria of
Capcir (177 km2, pop. 1532 (1990)) to a full
comarca. ==Politics==