Origins and functions The origins of the go back to the era of the
Carolingian Empire, when
vicars (
Latin:
vicarii, singular
vicarius) were installed beneath the counts in the
Spanish March. The office of a vicar was a vicariate (Latin:
vicariatus), and his territory was a
vicaria. All these Latin terms of Carolingian administration evolved in the Catalan language even as they disappeared in the rest of Europe. The Catalan terms were even subsequently
Latinised:
vicarius →
vigerius. The functions of the medieval were feudal, and it was probably initially hereditary. The was appointed by his feudal lord, the count, and was accountable to him. He was the military commander of his (and thus keeper of the publicly owned castles), the chief justice of the same district, and the man in charge of the public finances (the
fisc) of the region entrusted to him. As time wore on, the functions of the became more and more judicial. He held a or with its own seal. The had authority in all matter save those relating to the feudal aristocracy. It commonly heard pleas of the crown, civil, and criminal cases. The did, however, retain some military functions as well: he was the commander of the militia and the superintendent of royal castles. His job was law and order and the maintenance of the king's peace: in many respects an office analogous to that of the
sheriff in
England.
Historical vegueries in 1304 (
Cerdanya and
Rosselló had been integrated to the
Kingdom of Majorca in 1276, only to be later reunited to the Principality in 1344) and
Rosselló under the
Kingdom of Majorca (1276–1344) At the end of the twelfth century in Catalonia, there were twelve . By the end of the reign of
Peter the Great (1285), there were seventeen, and by the time of
James the Just, there were twenty-one. Some of the larger included one or more (subvigueries), which had a significant degree of autonomy. While the
Principality of Catalonia continued to use as subdivisions of counties, elsewhere in the
Iberian Peninsula there were the
merináticos (
Kingdom of Aragon) and the
corregimientos (
Kingdom of Castile) whose functions were similar to those of the Catalan . When the
Kingdom of Sicily became a Catalan-run state, it was not subdivided into , since a similar Italian institution was already entrenched there: that of the
capitania and the
capità. The
capità had similar to identical functions as the . When the Catalans
conquered the
Duchy of Athens, they subdivided that duchy into three : Athens,
Thebes, and
Livadia. In the
Duchy of Neopatras which the Catalans conquered in 1319, the institution of the
capità appeared instead of the vigeriate, but the captaincies (
Siderokastron,
Neopatras, and
Salona) were similar to identical in function to the of Athens. In Athens, the offices of captain and were often held by the same individual as
capitaneus seu vigerius and variants. Once the Aragonese crown had finally subdued most of the
Kingdom of Sardinia to their rule by the end of the fourteenth century, they had subdivided its government into . All the of the Catalan possessions were, by the
Usages of Barcelona, constrained to be held for only three years by any individual. In practice, some kings ignored this. In Athens, a
vicar general on the Italian model was instituted above the . , from 1716 to 1833 Catalan have changed their limits throughout history, and there has not always been the same number of them. The of Catalonia at the time of
James the Just were: •
Tortosa •
Tarragona •
Montblanc •
Barcelona (including the
Vallès ) •
Osona •
Berguedà (including the
Manresa ) •
Bages (including the
Moianés ) •
Vilafranca del Penedès (including the
Igualada and
Piera ) •
Girona •
Besalú •
Camprodon •
La Ral •
Ripollès •
Tàrrega •
Lleida (including the
Balaguer ) •
Cervera (including the
Agramunt and
Prats del Rei ) •
Ribagorça •
Pallars •
Camarasa •
Rosselló (including the
Vallespir ) •
Conflent (including the
Capcir ) •
Cerdanya (including the
Ribes and
Baridà ) Later, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, four more were created: •
Urgell •
Balaguer •
Agramunt •
Lluçanès were officially abolished in 1716, when the were replaced by 12
corregimientos, a historical
Castilian administrative division.
Second Spanish Republic During the
Second Spanish Republic, after Catalonia
obtained an autonomous government, it was divided into nine regions, which, in turn, were subdivided into
comarques. The organisation was as follows: • Region 1, the capital was
Barcelona and comprised the following
comarques:
Baix Llobregat,
Barcelonès,
Maresme,
Vallès Occidental and
Vallès Oriental. • Region 2, the capital was
Girona and comprised the following comarques:
Alt Empordà,
Baix Empordà,
Garrotxa,
Gironès, and
Selva (
Pla de l'Estany, newly created in 1987, was back then included in this region). • Region 3, the capital was
Tarragona and comprised the following comarques:
Alt Camp,
Alt Penedès,
Baix Penedès,
Garraf and
Tarragonès. • Region 4, the capital was
Reus and comprised the following comarques:
Baix Camp, la
Conca de Barberà,
Priorat and
Ribera d'Ebre. • Region 5, the capital was
Tortosa and comprised the following comarques:
Baix Ebre,
Montsià and
Terra Alta. • Region 6, the capital was
Vic and comprised the following comarques:
Baixa Cerdanya,
Osona and el
Ripollès. • Region 7, the capital was
Manresa and comprised the following comarques:
Anoia,
Bages,
Berguedà and
Solsonès. • Region 8, the capital was
Lleida and comprised the following comarques:
Garrigues,
Noguera,
Urgell,
Segarra and
Segrià (
Pla d'Urgell, newly created in 1987, was back then included in this region). • Region 9, the capital was
Tremp and comprised the following comarques:
Alt Urgell,
Pallars Jussà,
Pallars Sobirà and the
Aran Valley (
Alta Ribagorça, newly created in 1987, was back then included in this region). In 1937, a government decree reinstated the name of , but they were abolished by the
Francoist regime at the end of the
Spanish Civil War. Although the law allows for an inter-municipal government and the organisation of the services of the
Generalitat de Catalunya, the unapproved proposal aims to replace the current provincial deputations and to make the administrative structures more efficient. The law does not define any vegueria capitals and allows for creating or deleting any. After some opposition from some territories, it was made possible for the Aran Valley to retain its government (included in the Regional Plan as
Alt Pirineu i Aran, vegueria named
Alt Pirineu) and on August 3, 2016, Parliament approved the legislative initiative that advocated the creation of the eighth vegueria, Penedès. == Notes ==