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.
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 dies, 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 doesn't renew the allegiance to the French king Hugh Capet; thus 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 begins 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 gains independence from the Archdiocese of Narbonne, in France.History of the Archdiocese of Tarragona. The Middle Ages Archdiocese of Tarragona Official Website. 1137 Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona receives from Ramiro II the Kingdom of Aragon and his daughter, Petronilla, resulting in the dynastic union later known as the Crown of Aragon. 1148 Conquest of Tortosa from Muslim rule. 1149 Conquest of Lleida from Muslim rule. 1150 August Ramon Berenguer IV marries Petronilla in Lleida. 1162 6 August Ramon Berenguer IV dies. He is succeeded by his son, Alfonso II of Aragon and I of Barcelona. 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 which includes 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 dies 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 Consell de Cent of Barcelona established. 1251 The Catalan Courts establish the supremacy of the Usages of Barcelona throughout the whole of Catalonia. 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 grants the Carta Consular, the legal basis of the Consulate of the Sea, to the city of Barcelona. 1276 27 July James the Conqueror dies. He is 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 Constitutions of Catalonia. 1285 4 September Aragonese Crusade: A Sicilian-Catalan fleet decisively defeats 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.
14th century Year Date Event 1311 The Catalan Company conquers the duchies of Athens and Neopatras, in Greece. 1318 Establishment of the Royal Archives of Barcelona. 1329 25 March Santa Maria del Mar church construction begins. 1333 ("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 grants 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. 1410 31 May Martin I, last king of the House of Barcelona, dies 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. 1455 Dispute between the Biga and Busca, political factions of Barcelona, begins. 1460 8 December The Generalitat establishes 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. 1484 Outbreak of the Second War of the Remences, led by the radical remença peasant Pere Joan Sala. 1486 21 April Sentencia Arbitral de Guadalupe: the remença peasants are freed 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 is received in the monastery of Sant Jeroni de la Murtra (Badalona) by the Catholic Monarchs after his first voyage to America. Ferdinand II establishes 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 presides the Catalan Courts and is appointed Count of Barcelona. 1529 29 June Treaty of Barcelona between Charles V and Pope Clement VII. 1587 The Generalitat commissions to 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. 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 begin 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.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. 23 January In order to ensure 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 himself to respect the Catalan constitutions. 1652 Fall of Barcelona to the Spanish Royal army. The Principality is 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 occupies 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 War of the Catalans: the Junta de Braços of Catalonia votes to remain on the fight against Philip V. Army of Catalonia and Catalan navy raised. 25 July Siege of Barcelona begins. 9 August 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 16 January Nueva Planta Decrees: the Principality of Catalonia lost its institutions and public law, being politically incorporated as a province of 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 War of the Quadruple Alliance: Pro-Habsburg uprising, led by Pere Joan Barceló Carrasclet 1721 Mossos d'Esquadra founded. 1725 Citadel of Barcelona inaugurated. 1758 Royal Barcelona Board of Trade founded. 1773 Revolt of the Quintas against the imposition of Castilian-style 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