TheCounty of Osona, alsoAusona (Catalan:Comtat d'Osona,IPA:[kumˈtadduˈzonə];Latin:Comitatus Ausonae), was one of theCatalan counties of theMarca Hispanica in theEarly andHigh Middle Ages. It was based around the capital city ofVic (Vicus) and the correspondingdiocese, whose territory was roughly the currentcomarca ofOsona.
County of Osona | |||||||||
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| 798–1111 | |||||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||||
 The county of Ausona at the start, united with the other counties of Borrell (in brown). | |||||||||
| Status | County | ||||||||
| Capital | Vic | ||||||||
| Common languages | Old Catalan | ||||||||
| Count of Osona | |||||||||
• 798–820 | Borrel I(first) | ||||||||
• 1107–1111 | Bernard III (lastde facto count) | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
• Established | 798 | ||||||||
• Became a permanent territory of thePrincipality of Catalonia | 1111 | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Osona | ||||||||
The ancient diocese of Osona wassacked by the Arabs in the mid eighth century (c. 750–755). Itsreconquest by Christian powers began in 798; in that yearLouis of Aquitaine orderedBorrell, aGoth, to enter the abandoned region and repair the castles of Vic,Cardona, andCasserès.[1] Vic was in Frankish hands by 799. After the successful siege ofBarcelona in 801, Borrell, alreadyCount of Cerdanya andUrgell, received Osona as a countship from his liege lord, King Louis. On Borrell's death, Osona was granted toRampon, Count of Barcelona. After the rebellion of 826, during whichGuillemó andAissó succeeded in taking it with help from theEmirate of Córdoba, Osona remained depopulated and outside of Frankish control until 879.[2] It was considered to be part of the County of Barcelona throughout that period.
In 879,Wilfred the Hairy began therepopulation of the county with freeminores, who cultivated the lands given them asaprisiones; they turned Osona into a central and important part of Catalonia.[3] There was a viscounty of Osona from 900.[4] The viscounts controlled the region on behalf of the counts, who were usually resident in Barcelona. The viscountship later changed its name to viscounty of Cabrera[citation needed]. Wilfred, who established the viscounty, also built new castles along the frontier of Osona, atTorelló (881),Montgrony (887), andTarabaldi (892).[5] All these fortresses were controlled either directly by the count or by a castellan who also controlled theappendici or surrounding territory on certain specific terms.[6] The castle, in fact, and itsmandamenta (commandment) were the central organising feature of Osona after its repopulation. Wilfred also reorganised the church in Osona — after the bishopric, Wilfred's foundation of the convent ofSant Joan de les Abadesses, originally under his daughterEmma, was the most important ecclesiastical institution in the county[7] — and introducedserfdom on a limited scale.
Throughout the tenth century, Osona remained tied to Barcelona, except for the brief rule ofErmengol from 939 to 943. In 990, the smallpagus ofBerga was detached from it and granted to Cerdanya. In 1035, Osona was detached from Barcelona for another brief period whenBerenguer Ramon I left it to his widow,Guisla de Lluça, on his death. She ruled it with her sonWilliam until she remarried and he renounced it. After that, it was reattached to Barcelona, but was augmented by the addition of theCounty of Manresa, which was subsumed within Osona and ceased to be a distinct polity in the region.[citation needed].
Ramon Berenguer III ceded the county to his son-in-lawBernard III of Besalú, asdowry of his daughterJimena in 1107. When both Jimena and Bernard died without heirs, Osona returned to Barcelona. This was to be the end for Osona as a nominally distinct county; the use of the terms "county" and "count" of Osona disappeared subsequently. From that point, its history was linked to thePrincipality of Catalonia. The title was revived for theCabrera family in 1356 and it passed to theHouse of Montcada in 1574 and theMedinaceli in 1722, but none of these families ever controlled the feudal region.
