Count of Barcelona

The Count of Barcelona (Catalan: Comte de Barcelona, Spanish: Conde de Barcelona) was the ruler of Catalonia for much of Catalan history, from the 9th until the 18th century.

The County of Barcelona was created by Charlemagne after he had conquered lands north of the river Ebro. These lands, called the Marca Hispanica, were partitioned into various counties, of which the Count of Barcelona, usually holding other counties simultaneously, eventually obtained the primacy over the region.

As the county became hereditary in one family, the bond of the counts to their Frankish overlords loosened, especially after the Capetian dynasty supplanted the Carolingians.

In the 12th century the Counts formed a dynastic union with the Kingdom of Aragon, merging the two realms under a single ruler. In 1258, the king of France relinquished his feudal authority over the County in the Treaty of Corbeil.

Barcelona remained part of the Crown of Aragon when the latter around 1500 entered into a union with the Kingdom of Castile, thereby forming the Spanish Kingdom. It maintained its own laws, taxes and privileges until they were removed after the War of the Spanish Succession in the 18th century.

Count of Barcelona remained one of the many hereditary titles of the Spanish monarchy.

In the 20th century, the title regained some prominence when Juan de Borbón, the exiled heir to the Spanish throne, adopted the title of Count of Barcelona. In doing so, he claimed a historical royal title without claiming to be the current king of Spain, especially after his son Juan Carlos became the prospective successor of the then-ruler of Spain, Francisco Franco. In 1977, after Juan Carlos had become King upon Franco's death in 1975, he officially awarded the title of Count of Barcelona to his father, who had renounced his rights to the throne. Juan held that title until his death in 1993, when it reverted to the King who has held it ever since. Juan de Borbón's widow used the title Countess of Barcelona until her death in 2000.

List of Counts of Barcelona

Non-dynastic, 801-878

Counties in the Spanish March.

House of Sunifred, 878-1162

Name	Portrait	Reign	Notes
Wilfred I (Guifré I) el Pelós (the Hairy)		878-897	son of Sunifred, managed to establish hereditary succession
Wilfred II Borrell I (Guifré II Borrell)		897-911	son of Wilfred the Hairy
Sunyer		911-947	son of Wilfred the Hairy, retired to a monastery
Borrell II		947-992	son of Sunyer jointly with Miro (947-966) and Ramon Borrell (988-992), also Count of Urgell (948-992). Unsuccessfully asked King Lothair of France for aid against the Saracens, refused to recognise Hugh Capet as King of France in 987.
Miro		947-966	son of Sunyer, jointly with Borrell II
Ramon Borrell		988-1018	son of Borrell II, jointly with his father (988-992)
Berenguer Ramon I el Corbat (the Crooked)		1018–1035	son of Ramon Borrell, under the regency of Ermesinde of Carcassonne (1018–1023), forced to recognise the suzerainty of Sancho the Great of Navarre.
Ramon Berenguer I el Vell (the Old)		1035–1076	son of Berenguer Ramon I
Ramon Berenguer II el Cap d'Estopes (the Towhead)		1076–1082	son of Ramon Berenguer I, jointly with his twin brother Berenguer Ramon II
Berenguer Ramon II el Fratricida (the Fratricide)		1076–1097	son of Ramon Berenguer I, jointly with his twin brother Ramon Berenguer II (1076–1082) and later his nephew Ramon Berenguer III (1082–1097)
Ramon Berenguer III el Gran (the Great)		1082–1131	son of Ramon Berenguer II
Ramon Berenguer IV el Sant (the Saint)		1131–1162	son of Ramon Berenguer III, engaged Petronilla of Aragon in 1137 and married her in 1150.

Tomb of Count Ramon Berenger I (d. 1076).

The succession of Ramon Berenguer IV and Petronilla led to the creation of the Crown of Aragon.

House of Aragon and Barcelona, 1164–1410

Name	Portrait	Birth	Marriages	Death
Alfons I the Troubadour, Count of Barcelona 18 July 1164 – 25 April 1196		1157 Huesca son of Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona and Petronilla of Aragon	Sancha of Castile 7 children	25 April 1196 Perpignan aged 44
Peter I the Catholic, Count of Barcelona 25 April 1196 – 13 September 1213		1178 Huesca son of alfons I and Sancha of Castile	Marie of Montpellier 15 June 1204 2 children	12 September 1213 Battle of Muret aged ca. 35
James I the Conqueror, Count of Barcelona 13 September 1213 – 27 July 1276		2 February 1208 Montpellier son of Peter II of Aragon and Marie of Montpellier	Leanor of Castile 1221 1 child Violant of Hungary 1235 10 children Teresa Gil de Vidaure 2 children	27 July 1276 Valencia aged 68
Peter II the Great, Count of Barcelona 27 July 1276 – 2 November 1285		1240 Valencia son of James I and Violant of Hungary	Constance of Sicily 13 June 1262 6 child	2 November 1285 Vilafranca del Penedès aged 45
Alfonso II the Liberal, Count of Barcelona 2 November 1285 – 18 June 1291		1265 Valencia son of Peter II and Constance of Sicily	Eleanor of England 15 August 1290 No children	18 June 1291 Barcelona aged 27
James II the Fair, Count of Barcelona 18 June 1291 – 2 November 1327		10 August 1267 Valencia son of Peter II and Constance of Sicily	Isabella of Castile 1 December 1291 No children Blanche of Anjou 29 October 1295 10 children Marie de Lusignan 15 June 1315 No children Elisenda de Montcada 25 December 1322 No children	5 November 1327 Barcelona aged 60
Alfons III the Kind, Count of Barcelona 2 November 1327 – 24 January 1336		1299 Naples son of James II of Aragon and Blanche of Anjou	Teresa d'Entença 1314 7 children Eleanor of Castile 2 children	27 January 1336 Barcelona aged 37
Peter III the Ceremonious, Count of Barcelona 24 January 1336 – 5 January 1387		5 October 1319 Balaguer son of Alfons III and Teresa d'Entença	Maria of Navarre 1338 2 children Leonor of Portugal 1347 No children Eleanor of Sicily 4 children	5 January 1387 Barcelona aged 68
John I the Hunter, Count of Barcelona 5 January 1387 – 19 May 1396		27 December 1350 Perpignan son of Peter III and Eleanor of Sicily	Martha of Armagnac 1 child Yolande of Bar 3 children	19 May 1396 Foixà aged 46
Martí I the Humanist, Count of Barcelona 19 May 1396 – 31 May 1410		1356 Girona son of Peter III and Eleanor of Sicily	Maria de Luna 13 June 1372 4 children Margaret of Prades 1409 No children	31 May 1410 Barcelona aged 54

Martí the Humanist was the last direct descendant of Wilfred I the Hairy, Count of Barcelona to rule; died without legitimate heirs (interregnum 31 May 1410 – 24 June 1412). By the Compromise of Caspe of 1412 the County of Barcelona and all its associated dominions passed to a branch of the House of Trastámara, descended from the infante Eleanor of the House of Barcelona.

The County of Barcelona formed a constituent part of the Crown of Spain under the rule of the House of Habsburg, until the Nueva Planta decrees (1707 and 1716), when Philip de Bourbon declared that all the territories from the Crown of Aragon should merge into Castile, building the centralized Kingdom of Spain. In Barcelona this was promulgated in 1716. and the title of Count of Barcelona became one of the many unused hereditary titles of the modern Spanish monarchy.

Courtesy title

House of Bourbon, 1977–1993

Name	Portrait	Reign	Notes
John III (Juan III)		1977–1993	claimed title from 1941; officially granted by his son Juan Carlos I in exchange for renouncing his claim to the Spanish throne

See also

• List of Aragonese monarchs
• List of Spanish monarchs
• List of Viscounts of Barcelona