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Birth:          ABT  840 of Urgel, Lerida, Spain
Death:          AFT 21 Aug  897 

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfred_the_Hairy
Wilfred or Wifred, called the Hairy (in Catalan: Guifré el Pilós),[1] was Count of Urgell 
(from 870), Cerdanya (from 870), Barcelona (from 878), Girona (from 878, as Wilfred 
II), Besalú (from 878) and Ausona (from 886). On his death in 897, his son, Wilfred 
Borrell, inherited these Catalan counties.

He was responsible for the repopulation of the long-depopulated no-man's land around 
Vic (the county of Ausona, a frontier between Christian and Muslim), the re-
establishment of the bishopric of Vic and the foundation of the Monastery of Santa 
Maria de Ripoll, where he is buried.
Historical significance[edit]

Wilfred was the Catalan Count of Barcelona (878–897) who created the tradition of 
hereditary passage of titles. His son, Wilfred Borrell, inherited the county without any 
interruption and held it from 897–911.

A number of primitive feudal entities developed in the Marca Hispanica during the 9th 
century. They were generally self-sufficient and agrarian, but ruled by a small military 
elite. The pattern seen in Catalonia is similar to that found in similar border lands or 
marches elsewhere in Europe.

Traditionally the Count of Barcelona was appointed directly by the Carolingian 
(Frankish) emperor, for example the appointment of Bera in 801. The appointment of 
heirs could not be taken for granted. However, with the rise of strong counts such as 
Sunifred (fl. 844–848) and Wilfred, and the weakening of Carolingian royal power, the 
appointment of heirs eventually become a formality. This trend resulted in the counts 
becoming de facto independent of the Carolingian crown under Borrell II in 985.

Wilfred remained obscure until drawn into the historians' net by Sir Richard Southern, 
in The Making of the Middle Ages, 1953.

Origins[edit]

Wilfred was of Gothic lineage from the region of Carcassonne. Tradition claims he was 
born near Prades in the County of Conflent, now Rià, in Roussillon, France.

According to legend, he was the son of Wilfred of Arriaount (or Wilfred of Arri), a 
county near Prades. His father was murdered by Salomón and Wilfred became his 
avenger, killing the assassin.[2] After the research done by French monks Dom De Vic 
and Dom Vaissete, authors of Histoire Générale de Languedoc,[3] he is identified as 
the son of Sunifred I of Barcelona, count of many counties under Louis the Pious and 
Charles the Bald. Wilfred's mother may have been named Ermesende. Sunifred may 
have been the son[4] of Belló, Count of Carcassonne during the reign of Charlemagne, 
or more probably, his son-in-law.[5] Thus, as a descendant of Sunifred and his brother, 
Sunyer I, count of Empúries and Roussillon (834-848), Wilfred is considered to be a 
member of a Bellonid dynasty by Ramon d'Abadal and other historians.

Investiture[edit]

The Bellonid lineage lost its power when Sunifred and Sunyer died in 848, but was 
revived slightly by the appointment of Dela and Sunyer II, sons of Sunyer I, to the 
countship of Empúries in 862. Later, at an assembly at Attigny in June 870, Charles 
the Bald made their cousins, Wilfred the Hairy and his brother Miró (known as the 
Old), counts of Urgell and Cerdanya, and Conflent, respectively. For in that year, the 
poorly-chronicled Solomon, count of Urgell, Cerdanya, and Conflent, had died.

After becoming Count of Urgell and Cerdanya in 870, Wilfred received the counties of 
Barcelona, Girona, and Besalú in 878 from the Carolingian king of France, Louis the 
Stammerer. His reign coincided with the crumbling of Carolingian authority and unity. 
Wilfred was thus the last count of the Hispanic March appointed by the French king 
and the first to pass his vast holdings as an inheritance to his sons (albeit sanctioned 
by the monarch[citation needed]).

Wilfred came into possession of Barcelona through his service to Charles the Bald 
against the rebel Bernard of Gothia, Count of Barcelona, Roussillon, and numerous 
other Septimanian counties. Wilfred, Miró, their brother Sunifred (who became the 
Abbot of Arles), and Lindoí, the Viscount of Narbonne, marched against Bernard on 
behalf of King Charles and his son, Louis the Stammerer. In March and April 878, they 
defeated the nobles loyal to Bernard, including Sigebuto, Bishop of Narbonne, and 
expelled all partisan priests from the church.

At the Council of Troyes in August 878, presided over by Pope John VIII and King 
Louis II the Stammerer, Wilfred was formally invested as Count of Urgell and 
Cerdanya, Miró as Count of Conflent, Sunyer as Count of Empúries, and Oliba II as 
Count of Carcassonne. On 11 September 878, Bernard was dispossessed of all his 
titles. Bernard's former possessions were given to Wilfred (Barcelona with Ausona, 
Girona, and Besalú) and Miró (Roussillon). The counties of Narbonne, Béziers, and 
Agde were separated from that of Barcelona. Sunifred was made Abbot of Arles, Riculf 
Bishop of Elna, and the Bishops of Urgell, Girona, and Barcelona were confirmed in 
their sees. Wilfred immediately ceded Besalú to his brother Radulph (878-920).

Intervention in Ausona[edit]

After the investiture of 878, Wilfred's lands stretched from Urgell and Cerdanya in the 
Pyrenees to Barcelona and Girona on the Mediterranean coast. This was the first time 
since the reign of his father (which ended in 848) that these different areas had been 
united politically and the only other time within the 9th century. The land between 
these regions—Ripollès, Vall de Lord, Berguedà, Lluçanès, the Plana de Vic, Moianès, 
Guilleries, and Bages—had long been depopulated due to the rebellion of Aissó in 827, 
but was considered territory belonging to the Count of Barcelona since 820, when it 
was given to Rampon upon the death of Borrell, the first Count of Urgell, Cerdanya, 
and Ausona.

Wilfred embarked on the process of repopulating these territories with immigrants from 
the heavily populated mountain regions—Pallars, Urgell, and Cerdanya—to which people 
had fled in the two centuries between the collapses of Visigothic and Carolingian 
authority. Wilfred's plan involved repopulating and subsequently annexing the 
counties to those he already controlled. Thus, Vall de Lord became part of Urgell and 
Berguedà part of Cerdanya. Wilfred re-created the County of Ausona from the 
remaining counties of Ripollés, Lluçanès, the Plana de Vic, and Guilleries—centred 
around the city of Ausa, a region which in ancient times had been ethnically and 
culturally distinct, inhabited by the descendants of the Ausetani. (ref is prob Lewis, 
A.R. - needs to be checked) To Ausona, Wilfred also attached Moianés and Bagés 
and their traditional capital, Manresa, which had historically been the region of the 
Lacetani. In 885, Wilfred designated a Viscount to control the County of Ausona in his 
absence as it formed the frontier with the Muslim Kingdoms to the south. The "County 
of Manresa" received special attention from King Odo, granting it the privilege of 
constructing defensive towers in 889 and 890, although it was actually part of 
Ausona.

Ecclesiastical reform[edit]

The ecclesiastic state of the region was no less isolated than its political state, with 
the parishes largely remaining outside of the universal hierarchy. Wilfred brought the 
parishes of Bergueda and Vall de Lord within the control of the nearby Diocese of 
Urgell. However, he had to re-establish the lapsed bishopric of Vic in Ausona. After 
consulting the Archbishop of Narbonne in 886, he was given permission to install 
Gotmar, a priest, as Bishop of Vic. The new bishop immediately set about restoring the 
repopulated city and its cathedral, which had been devastated and in ruins since the 
last Muslim conquest and the rebellion of Aissó.

The churches in the region during this period flourished gaining much power and 
privilege. This included the right for monks to elect their own abbots as espoused by 
Saint Benedict. Wilfred founded two new monasteries: Santa María de Ripoll (880) 
and Sant Joan de les Abadesses (885). The Abbey of Sant Joan de les Abadesses 
was founded in the Diocese of Vic by Wilfred and his wife Guinedilda to provide for 
their daughter Emma, who became the community's first abbess in 899 and was given 
immunity from lay jurisdiction by King Charles the Simple.[citation needed]

Carolingian crisis[edit]

When Louis the Stammerer died in 879 after a two-year reign, the kingdom was 
divided between his two young sons. Louis III received the ancient northern partitions 
of the Merovingian kingdom, Neustria and Austrasia (including the Lorraine). His 
second son Carloman received the southern partitions, Burgundy and Aquitaine 
(including Septimania). The problems plaguing the throne were exacerbated when both 
Louis (882) and Carloman (884) died soon after their succession. Not wanting to crown 
Louis the Stammerer's remaining son, Charles the Simple, who was only five, the 
nobles of France looked about for a powerful man who could defend the land from the 
fearsome Vikings and their vicious raids on the Channel and Atlantic coasts.

At the Assembly of Ponthion (884)[citation needed], the Franks chose the Holy Roman 
Emperor Charles the Fat, who was already king of Germany and Italy. Charles, son of 
Louis the German, therefore became the first person since the death of Louis the 
Pious to reign over the entire realm of Charlemagne, his illustrious great-grandfather. 
He would also be the last.

Incapable of much, Charles was lethargic and probably suffered from epilepsy. In 
November 885, he raised a grand army to fight off the Norsemen besieging Paris, after 
two requests from the French nobility. However, he chose to buy the Vikings off, 
paying them to attack Burgundy (then in revolt) instead. He left Paris in December. He 
subsequently failed to deal with revolts in Swabia, Saxony, Thuringia, Franconia, and 
Bavaria. The nobles of the Empire deposed him in 887, and he died two months later 
in 888.

Charles' nephew Arnulf of Carinthia succeeded him in Germany, Berengar of Friuli 
succeeded him in Italy, and Odo, Count of Paris, succeeded him in France. Splinter 
realms also arose in Aquitaine and Burgundy. The breakdown of central royal authority 
and the dynastic changes broke the Holy Roman Empire and Frankish Kingdom apart. 
The Carolingian polity which empowered the counts at the beginning of the century 
was nonexistent by the end; the Counts were de facto independent—especially in the 
outlying regions, like the Marca Hispanica.

The crisis and the counts[edit]

In the great tradition of their family, Wilfred, Miró, Dela, and Sunyer II maintained their 
loyalty to the Carolingian monarchs until 888 and the death of Charles the Fat. Upon 
the death of Louis the Stammerer, however, this loyalty became largely nominal. When 
Louis's sons Louis and Carloman marched against Boso, King of Provence, the 
Catalan counts supported them, but did not join the campaign. This was a far cry from 
the prompt action the family had taken against Bernard of Gothia. The Counts became 
more interested in issues that directly affected them and did not attend the Assembly 
of Ponthion dealing with the Viking problem, which they regarded as meaningless to 
their domains. However they did visit the royal court in 886 to ask for privileges and 
precept to be granted to Teotario (Teuter), Bishop of Girona.

The Bellonid counts rejected Charles the Fat's successor, Odo, but they also did not 
rise in favour of Louis the Stammerer's surviving son, Charles the Simple. In the end, 
Odo was too absorbed with the Norsemen and those loyal to Charles the Simple to be 
bothered with the far south of the realm.

In 886, a presbyter named Esclua, taking advantage of the absence of Teotardo, 
Archbishop of Narbonne, had himself consecrated as Bishop of Urgell and expelled 
the titular Bishop Ingoberto with the tacit permission of Wilfred and Raymond I, Count 
of Pallars-Ribagorza. Esclua complicated the situation further by declaring himself 
metropolitan of Tarraconensis, separating his diocese (and others) from the 
Archbishopric of Narbonne. Now acting as metropolitan, Esclua promptly removed 
Servus Dei from the Bishopric of Girona.

Servus, who was consecrated by Teotardo, but had been rejected by Dela, Sunyer, 
and Wilfred, took refuge in the monastery of Banyoles. Esclua, with the help of the 
Bishops of Barcelona and Vic, consecrated Eremir (Hermemiro) as the new Bishop of 
Girona. In 888, Esclua resurrected the sees of Pallars and Empuries to repay 
Raymond, Sunyer, and Dela for their support.

At first Wilfred tolerated the dethronement of Ingoberto — there had been little love 
between them — but he could not allow the metropolitan pretensions of Esclua because 
of his friendship with Teotardo. The creation of independent dioceses was a method 
of securing political independence and Wilfred opposed this. He could not allow the 
lands under his control to be affected by the nobility or the Church. However, there is 
no indication that he took any action, possibly because of other external issues (such 
as the Muslim presence to his south and west).

Death[edit]

By 884, the Muslims had become increasingly uneasy by the expansion of the Christian 
counties to the north. Wilfred had established defensive positions or castles in Ausona 
at Cardona, Bergueda, and Vall de Lord; some were even south of the River Llobregat 
in the Vall de Cervelló. Essentially the frontiers of Wilfred's counties had now 
extended too far to remain irrelevant.

The Muslim ruler Isma'il ibn Musa ibn Qasi fortified Lleida in response. Provoked by 
this, Wilfred attacked Ismail at Lleida. The attack however was a disaster. The 
historian Ibn al Athir describes the massacre of the attackers by the city's defenders. 
Buoyed by this success, Ismail's successor Lubb ibn Muhammad ibn Qasi attacked 
Barcelona in 897. Wilfred died in battle on 11 August 897. He was buried in the 
monastery at Ripoll.

Succession[edit]

The weakening of Frankish royal authority in the Hispanic March is principally the 
result of the establishment of hereditary succession of the counties rather than by 
choice of the monarch. In 895, Miró the Old died and his county of Roussillon passed, 
without interference from King Odo, to Sunyer II of Empúries. In fact, Wilfred himself 
was never confirmed by any monarch as Count of Ausona. The importance of this 
development in the Middle Ages cannot be overstated. As hereditary succession 
became the custom, it became accepted as law and the kings lost control over the 
counts. The counts had become sovereigns in their own dominions.

The lack, however, of a legal basis for inheritance led to various experiments in 
hereditary succession. When Wilfred died in 897, his counties were divided amongst 
his sons. Wilfred Borrell and Sunyer (oldest and youngest) ruled over Barcelona, 
Girona, and Ausona; Miró over Cerdanya and Conflent; and Sunifred over Urgell. It is 
uncertain whether this distribution was the intention of Wilfred, or a decision 
eventually reached by the brothers themselves.

Wilfred and Catalonia[edit]

Wilfred the Hairy has become a figure of importance for contemporary Catalan 
nationalists. Nineteenth century European Romanticism looked to the medieval world 
for references and links to modern national and cultural identities, and in the context 
of Catalan nationalism and its search for its historical foundations in a distant and 
idealised past, Wilfred soon arose as a figure of independence, the de facto founder 
of the House of Barcelona, and, by purported extension, one of the forefathers of the 
latter Catalonia.

One of the legends that has arisen around his person is that of the creation of the 
coat of arms from which the Catalan flag (the Senyera) derives today. After being 
wounded in battle (some versions say against the Moors; others, the Normans), the 
Frankish king Charles the Bald rewarded his bravery by giving him a coat of arms. The 
king slid Wilfred's blood-stained fingers over the Count's copper shield, and thus was 
the Senyera first born, with its four pallets in Gules on Or. As much as this legend is 
popular and extended, there is no historical evidence to support it.

Wilfred's actions as a Frankish vassal towards carving out his own domain from 
several counties and moving out of the sphere of influence of the Carolingian crown — 
coupled with his re-creation of the County of Ausona and the restoration of the 
Bishopric of Vic — laid out the territorial and patrimonial base for the House of 
Barcelona. As such, Wilfred has retrospectively been identified with the creation of 
Catalonia, even though a written reference to such a territorial entity would not appear 
until more than two centuries later in the Liber maiolichinus de gestis Pisanorum 
illustribus, a 12th-century Pisan manuscript describing the raids of 1114 by Pisans and 
Catalans on the island of Mallorca.

Family[edit]

Wilfred married Guinidilda daughter of Baldwin I of Flanders and Judith, a Carolingan 
pincess who had been queen consort to two kings f Wessex; they had the following 
issue:
Emma, Abbess of Sant Joan de les Abadesses, d.942
Wilfred Borrell
Sunyer
Miró
Sunifred
Rodolfo, Bp of Urgel, Abbot of Ripoll, d.940
Riquilla
Ermesinde, d.after 925
Cixilona, a nun, d.945
[parentage not proven] Guinidilda; m.Cte Raymond II of Toulouse (d.923)

Appearance[edit]

The Gesta comitum barcinonensium reported that "...[h]e was hairy in places not 
normally so in men..."

Parents
____ Sunifred I (ABT  810 -  848)
____ Ermensende (ABT  814 - )

Siblings
____ Wilfred I "el Velloso" (ABT  840 - AFT 21 Aug  897)

Marriage To ____ Widnille (Guinidilda) (ABT  863 - )
    m.  877 

Notes

Parents
____ Baldwin I "Bras de Fer" (ABT  816 - ABT  879)
____ Judith (ABT  844 - ABT  870)

Children by ____ Widnille (Guinidilda) ABT  863 - 
____ Gunhilde (Guidenlide) (ABT  878 - )
____ Miro II (ABT  878 - Oct  927)
____ Sunifred (Sunyer) (ABT  880 - 15 Oct  950)
BORREL Wilfred II (ABT  885 - 26 Apr  911)

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