Timeline of Catalan history

This is a timeline of Catalan history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Catalonia and its predecessor states and polities. To read about the background to these events, see History of Catalonia.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

8th century

Year Date Event
760 Perpignan conquered by the Franks from Muslim control. Establishment of the County of Roussillon.
785 Girona conquered by the Franks from Muslim control. Establishment of the County of Girona.

9th century

Year Date Event
801 Barcelona conquered by the Franks from Muslim control. Establishment of the County of Barcelona.
826 Aissó Revolt against Frankish nobility, devastating and depopulating most of Central Catalonia.
878 Wilfred the Hairy, count of Urgell and Cerdanya becomes count of Barcelona, Girona and Osona.
880 Monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll founded.
897 Muslim raid over the County of Barcelona. Count Wilfred died, creating the tradition of hereditary passage of their titles, founding the House of Barcelona.

10th century

Year Date Event
942 Hungarian raid.
985 6 July Cordoba's ruler Almanzor sacks Barcelona.
988 Borrell II, Count of Barcelona not renewed allegiance to the French king Hugh Capet; ensuring the independence of the counties from Frankish monarchy.

11th century

Year Date Event
1018 Countess Ermesinde of Carcassonne became regent of Barcelona, Girona and Osona after the death of her husband, the count Ramon Borrell.
1027 First Assembly of Peace and Truce of God of Catalonia, in Toulouges (Roussillon), promoted and presided by Abbot Oliba.
1035 Mir Geribert led the nobility of the Penedès against the authority of the count, representing the height of the feudal revolution in Catalonia.
Ramon Berenguer I, grandson of Ermesinde, became Count of Barcelona, he began a process of negotiation with the nobility in order to recover the authority over them, respecting the resulting new feudal order.

12th century

Year Date Event
1111 Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, inherited the County of Besalú.
1117 The first reference to Catalonia and the Catalans appeared in the Liber maiolichinus de gestis Pisanorum illustribus, a Pisan chronicle of the conquest of Majorca by a joint force of Italians, Catalans, and Occitans.
1118 Archdiocese of Tarragona reestablished, the Catalan Church gained independence from the Archdiocese of Narbonne, in France.[1]
1137 Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona received from Ramiro II the Kingdom of Aragon and its heiress, Petronilla, resulting in the dynastic union later known as Crown of Aragon.
1148 Ramon Berenguer IV takes Tortosa from Muslim rule.
1149 Ramon Berenguer IV takes Lleida from Muslim rule.
1173 First documentary reference of the Usages of Barcelona, the first compilation of feudal legislation and the basis of Catalan law. First legal delimitation of Catalonia.
1192 First Assembly of Peace and Truce of God with representatives of the non-privileged estate, making it a precedent of the Catalan Courts.

13th century

Year Date Event
1213 12 September Battle of Muret, defeat of Catalan, Aragonese and Occitan forces led by Peter II of Aragon, which died in the battle, against the French-Crusade army led by Simon de Montfort.
1214 Royal Court convened in Lleida by cardinal Peter of Benevento in order to fix the confusing situation after the death of King Peter II and secure the succession of his heir James I.
1229 5 September Conquest of Majorca: James I the Conqueror led a fleet of some two hundred vessels and twenty thousand men from Salou, Cambrils and Tarragona to Majorca.
1249 Council of One Hundred of Barcelona established.
1258 11 May Treaty of Corbeil between James I and Louis IX of France. The French king renounced claims of feudal overlordship over Catalonia while James renounced his claims in Occitania, except Foix.
James I granted the Carta Consular, the legal basis of the Consulate of the Sea, to the city of Barcelona.
1276 27 July James the Conqueror died. He was succeeded as king of Aragon, Valencia and count of Barcelona by his son, Peter the Great, and as king of Majorca by another son, James II of Majorca.
1283 First regulated Catalan Courts, presided by Peter III. First Catalan constitutions.
1285 4 September Aragonese Crusade: A Sicilian-Catalan fleet decisively defeated the French and Genoans at the naval Battle of Les Formigues, northeastern coast of Catalonia.
30 September Aragonese Crusade: Battle of the Col de Panissars (Catalan Pyrenees), decisive victory of the king Peter III of Aragon over French forces.
1300 University of Lleida, the first university of Catalonia and the Crown of Aragon, founded.[2]

14th century

Year Date Event
1311 The Catalan Company conquered the duchies of Athens and Neopatras, in Greece.
1318 Establishment of the Royal Archives in Barcelona.[3]
1329 25 March Santa Maria del Mar church construction begins.
1333 Lo mal any primer ("The first bad year"), great famine due to poor harvest.
1343 The counties of Roussillon and Cerdanya, previously owned by the Kingdom of Majorca, were reincorporated in to the Principality of Catalonia. First documented use of the term "Principality of Catalonia".
1348 Black Death in Barcelona.
1349 University of Perpignan founded.
1350 Catalan Courts of Perpignan.
1358 First Fogatge (hearth tax) carried out in Catalonia.
1359 19 December The Catalan Courts of 1359 established the Deputation of the General (Generalitat of Catalonia).
1365 22 July Privilege of Sant Feliu de Guíxols: Peter IV of Aragon granted to inhabitants of the Kingdom of Majorca the condition of Catalans and the right to be represented in the Catalan Courts, politically vinculating Majorca with the Principality of Catalonia.
1375 Catalan Atlas.

15th century

Year Date Event
1401 Taula de canvi, first public bank of Europe, founded in Barcelona.[4]
1410 31 May Martin I, last king of the House of Barcelona, died without heirs. Beginning of two-year interregnum.
1412 Compromise of Caspe, representatives of Catalonia, Aragon and Valencia elected Ferdinand of the Castilian House of Trastámara as the new King of Aragon.
1413 Defeat of count James II of Urgell, claimant of the throne of Aragon, at the siege of Balaguer.
1428 2 February Earthquake with an epicentre in Northern Catalonia.
1450 University of Barcelona founded.
1460 8 December The Generalitat creates the Council of the Principality.
1461 21 June Capitulation of Vilafranca between John II and the Generalitat.
1462 Outbreak of the Catalan Civil War.
Outbreak of the First War of the Remences.
1472 24 October Capitulation of Pedralbes, end of the Civil War with negotiated victory of the royal side.
1481 The Constitució de l'Observança passed by the Catalan Courts, establishing the submission of royal power to the laws of the Principality Catalonia.
1486 21 April Sentencia Arbitral de Guadalupe: the remença peasants were liberated from most of feudal abuses.
1492 31 March Alhambra Decree issued by the Catholic Monarchs, expelling non-converted Jews from their realms.
1493 April Christopher Columbus was received in the monastery of Sant Jeroni de la Murtra of Badalona by the Catholic Monarchs after his first voyage to America.
Ferdinand II established a separate Royal Audience of Catalonia, the supreme court and seat of the government of the Principality.

16th century

Year Date Event
1519 Charles V presided the Catalan Courts and was recognized as Count of Barcelona.
1529 29 June Treaty of Barcelona between Charles V and Pope Clement VII.
1587 The Generalitat commissions to the painter Filippo Ariosto the Gallery of portraits of the Counts of Barcelona, one of the oldest and largest royal galleries of Europe.

17th century

Year Date Event
1626 The Catalan Courts, presided by Philip IV, rejected the proposal of Union of Arms made by the royal favourite and minister Count-Duke of Olivares.
1640 6 January The border fortress of Salses recovered to the French by the Spanish armies with large assistance of Catalan militia.
7 June Corpus de Sang in Barcelona, one of the initial events of the Reapers' War. Dalmau de Queralt, viceroy of Catalonia, assassinated during the event.[5]
7 September Pact of Ceret between Catalonia and France.
10 September Junta de Braços or States-General (assembly of Estates) of the Principality of Catalonia summoned, it began to assume the sovereignty.
16 December On its way to Barcelona, the Spanish armies perpetrate the Cambrils massacre.
1641 16 January The Junta de Braços, presided over by Pau Claris, President of the Generalitat, accepted the establishment of an independent Catalan Republic under French proteccion.[6]
23 January In order to gain more military aid from France, the Junta de Braços proclaimed Louis XIII as Count of Barcelona.
26 January Battle of Montjuïc, decisive Franco-Catalan victory over the Spanish armies.
30 December Louis XIII swears the Catalan constitutions.
1644 Spanish armies capture Lleida. Philip IV commits to respect the Catalan constitutions.
1652 Fall of Barcelona to the Spanish Royal army. The Principality was reincorporated into the Monarchy of Spain.
1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees between Spain and France, the counties of Roussillon and the northern half of Cerdanya were ceded to France.
1687 Revolt of the Barretines.
1697 10 August French armies occupied Barcelona during the Nine Years' War.

18th century

Year Date Event
1701 Catalan Courts presided by Philip V of Bourbon, recognizing Philip as Count of Barcelona and establishing the Court of Contraventions.
1705 20 June Pact of Genoa between England and Catalonia.
9 October Grand Alliance armies took Barcelona.
5 December Last Catalan Courts, presided by Charles III of Habsburg, they recognized Charles as Count of Barcelona and represented an important progress in the guarantee of individual, civil and political rights.
1713 9 July The Junta de Braços of Catalonia votes to remain on the fight against Philip V, thus starting the War of the Catalans. Army of Catalonia and the Catalan navy raised.
9 July Expedition of the military deputy: Catalan army disembarked in Arenys de Mar, in order to weaken the siege of Barcelona and provoke a general rebellion against the Bourbons in the countryside.
1714 13 August Battle of Talamanca, last pro-Habsburg major victory in Catalonia.
11 September Fall of Barcelona to Bourbon armies, after thirteen months of siege.
1716 Nueva Planta Decrees, the Principality of Catalonia loss its institutions and public law, being politically and administratively incorporated as a province into the Crown of Castille, as the new Kingdom of Spain.
1717 Philip V decrees the abolition of all universities of Catalonia and the foundation of the University of Cervera.
1719 Pro-Habsburg uprising, led by Pere Joan Barceló Carrasclet, during the War of the Quadruple Alliance.
1721 Mossos d'Esquadra founded.
1758 Royal Barcelona Board of Trade founded.
1773 Revolt of the Quintas against forced recruitment.
1778 Charles III of Spain decrees the end of Cádiz's trade monopoly with American colonies.
1789 28 February Rebombori del Pa.

19th century

Year Date Event
1808 14 June Second Battle of the Bruch, Spanish victory.
1809 12 December Girona was taken by the French after seven months of siege.
1812 12 January By decree of Napoleon, Catalonia was incorporated to France and divided into four French departments.
1814 French troops evacuated Catalonia.
1832 The Bonaplata Factory commenced operation in Barcelona, the first one of the country to make use of the steam engine.
1833 Outbreak of the First Carlist War. Parts of inland Catalonia were in Carlist hands, while Liberals retained the coastal areas.
November Minister Javier de Burgos decrees the territorial division of Spain into provinces. Catalonia was divided into four provinces (Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona).
1835 First Barcelona bullanga (popular revolt or riot).
1840 6 July Carlist general Ramon Cabrera crossed the border to France, ending the First Carlist War.
1842 3 December Bombardment of Barcelona ordered by General Espartero due to popular uprising.[7]
1843 Jamància, last bullanga, which vindicated a progressive political program.
1846 Second Carlist War or Guerra dels Matiners.
1848 28 October First railway service in the Iberian Peninsula, linking Barcelona with Mataró.
1855 2 July Catalan general strike, being the first carried out in Spanish history.
1859 May Floral Games were re-established, in the context of the Renaixença.
1869 18 May Representatives of the federal-republican committees of Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands signed the Tortosa Pact to work together in order to establish the Spanish Federal Republic.
1870 April Revolt of the Quintas. Bombing of the town of Gràcia.
1872 21 April Outbreak of the Third Carlist War.
1873 9 May The Provincial Council of Barcelona, controlled by radical federal-republicans, attempts to proclaim a Catalan State within the Spanish Federal Republic.
1882 19 March Gaudí's Sagrada Família church construction begins.
1888 1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition.
1892 Manresa Bases, first proposal for self-government of Catalonia promoted by Catalan nationalism.
1893 7 November Liceu bombing attack by the anarchist Santiago Salvador.
1899 July Tancament de caixes, tax strike in Barcelona against tax hikes in order to pay for the expenses of the Spanish–American War.

20th century

Year Date Event
1901 Regionalist League founded.
1905 25 November ¡Cu-Cut! incident. Officers of the Spanish Army, angry at the magazine for having published an offending joke, stormed the Cu-Cut! offices.[8]
1907 3 August Solidaridad Obrera labor federation founded.
1909 25 July Beginning of the Tragic Week.
13 October The radical freethinker, anarchist, and educationist Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia is executed, falsely accused of orchestrating the Tragic Week.
1910 30 October CNT, Anarcho-syndicalist trade union, founded in Barcelona.[9]
1911 6 January First edition of the Volta a Catalunya cycle race begins.
1914 6 April Commonwealth of Catalonia established. Enric Prat de la Riba (Regionalist League) appointed its first president.
Library of Catalonia opens to the public.[9]
1919 February La Canadiense strike. Among its consequences was to force the Spanish government to issue the first law limiting the working day to eight hours.
1925 20 March Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish dictator, disbanded the Commonwealth of Catalonia.
1926 4 November Events of Prats de Molló: Francesc Macià, leader of the independentist party Estat Català, tried to liberate Catalonia from France with a small army and proclaim the Catalan Republic, but he was betrayed and arrested.
1929 1929 Barcelona International Exposition.
1931 14 April Francesc Macià proclaimed the Catalan Republic within the "Iberian Federation".[10]
17 April After negotiation, the Catalan Republic becomes the Generalitat, the Catalan institution of self-government within the Spanish Republic.
1932 18 January Anarchist insurrection in the Alt Llobregat mining area.
9 September Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia approved by the Spanish Parliament. Catalonia became an autonomous region within the Spanish Republic.[11]
20 November First election to the Parliament of Catalonia, the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) won a large majority of seats.[12]
14 December The Parliament appointed Francesc Macià (ERC) as president of the Generalitat of Catalonia.
1934 1 January The Parliament appointed Lluís Companys (ERC) as president of the Generalitat of Catalonia right after the death of Macià on 25 December 1933.
21 March Crop Contracts Law passed by Catalan Parliament.
6 October Lluís Companys proclaimed the Catalan State of the Spanish Federal Republic. The Spanish army quickly suppressed the proclamation, arresting Companys and the Catalan government. Self-government suspended.
11 November Art Museum of Catalonia inaugurated.[13]
1936 19 February After the Popular Front victory in the February 1936 Spanish general election, the Catalan government was pardoned and reinstated.
19 July Military uprising in Barcelona, as part of the coup against the Republic. Forces of the Generalitat and trade unions stopped the coup in Barcelona and Catalonia. Beginning of the Spanish Civil War. Anarchists take control de facto of Catalonia. People's Olympiad of Barcelona cancelled.
21 July Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia established.
24 October The Generalitat passed the Decree on Collectivization and Workers' Control.[14]
6 December People's Army of Catalonia raised.
1937 3 May May Days, clashes between the anarchists and POUM versus the forces of the Republic and the Generalitat, supported by the PSUC. The Republic recovered full control of Catalonia.
1938 5 April General Francisco Franco decrees the suppression of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia and the Generalitat.
25 July Beginning of the Battle of the Ebro.
1939 5 February Lluís Companys crossed the Franco-Spanish border, the Generalitat went into exile.
1940 15 October President Lluís Companys is executed in Montjuïc Castle of Barcelona by firing squad in Francoist Spain.
1952 27 May 35th International Eucharistic Congress held in Barcelona.
1971 7 November Assembly of Catalonia founded.
1977 11 September 1977 Catalan autonomy protest.
23 October The exiled president of Catalonia, Josep Tarradellas, returned to Barcelona and the Generalitat of Catalonia was restored.
1979 8 September Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 1979.
1980 20 March First election to the reestablished Parliament of Catalonia. Convergència i Unió (CiU) became the winning party.
24 April The Parliament appointed Jordi Pujol (CiU) as president of the Generalitat of Catalonia.
1983 6 April Law of Linguistic Normalization of Catalan passed by the Parliament.
8 September Televisió de Catalunya founded.[15]
1992 25 July 1992 Summer Olympic Games held in Barcelona.[16]
1998 15 July Law recognizing same-sex partnerships passed by the Parliament. Catalonia became the first Spanish territory to recognize them.[17]

21st century

Year Date Event
2002 First book of the Civil Code of Catalonia passed by the Parliament.
2003 16 November Election to the Parliament of Catalonia. The Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC), the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Initiative for Catalonia Greens (ICV-EUiA) were able to form a coalition government.
16 December The Parliament appointed Pasqual Maragall (PSC) as President of the Generalitat of Catalonia
2005 PADICAT is established.
2006 9 August Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006.
2010 28 June At the request of the conservative People's Party, the Constitutional Court of Spain declared non valid many of the articles of the Statute of Autonomy.
10 July 2010 Catalan autonomy protest.
28 July Ban on bullfighting in Catalonia passed by the Catalan Parliament.
2013 11 September Catalan Way.
2014 9 November 2014 Catalan self-determination referendum.
2015 9 November Declaration of the Initiation of the Process of Independence of Catalonia.
2017 17 August Islamic terrorist attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils.
1 October 2017 Catalan independence referendum.
27 October Independence declared.
27 October Spanish Senate invoked Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution and PM Mariano Rajoy declared the dissolution of the Catalan Parliament and dismissed Catalonia's Government.
2018 1 May Quim Torra was elected President of Catalonia after the Spanish courts blocked the election of Carles Puigdemont, who had the support of the Catalan Parliament after the December election.

See also

City and town timelines

References

  1. ^ History of the Archdiocese of Tarragona. The Middle Ages Archdiocese of Tarragona Official Website.
  2. ^ "History". UDL - Universitat de Lleida. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
  3. ^ López Rodríguez, Carlos (April 2007). Mira Editores (ed.). Qué es el Archivo de la Corona de Aragón?. Mira Editores. pp. 32–33, 35–38, 41. ISBN 978-84-8465-220-5.
  4. ^ Ulrich Bindseil (2019). Central Banking before 1800: A Rehabilitation. Oxford University Press.
  5. ^ Corteguera, Luis R. (2002). For the Common Good: Popular Politics in Barcelona, 1580-1640. Cornell University Press. p. 188. ISBN 0801437806. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  6. ^ Gelderen, Martin van; Skinner, Quentin (2002). Republicanism: Volume 1, Republicanism and Constitutionalism in Early Modern Europe: A Shared European Heritage. Cambridge University Press. p. 284. ISBN 9781139439619
  7. ^ Romea Castro, Celia (1994). Barcelona romántica y revolucionaria: una imagen literaria de la ciudad, década de 1833-1843 (in Spanish). University of Barcelona. p. 122. ISBN 84-475-0462-X.
  8. ^ Capdevila, Jaume (May 2012). Cu-cut! Sàtira política en temps trasbalsats: 1902-2012 (PDF) (in Catalan) (Efadós ed.). Barcelona.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  9. ^ a b Arenas 2012.
  10. ^ Esculies, Joan (October 2012). "El cavaller de l'ideal". Sàpiens. 121: 22–28.
  11. ^ Fontana 2014, p. 336
  12. ^ * 1932 Parliament of Catalonia election in Historia Electoral
  13. ^ La Vanguardia. 11 November 1934. Inauguración del Museo de Arte de Catalunya
  14. ^ Fabregas, Joan P; Tarradellas, Josep (24 October 1936). "Col·lectivitzacions i Control Obrer".
  15. ^ History of Televisió de Catalunya Archived 23 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine ccma.cat
  16. ^ "Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  17. ^ Leston, Cesar (July 1998). "Catalonia has granted Domestic Partnership rights". ILGA. Archived from the original on 2012-02-27. Retrieved September 14, 2012.

Bibliography