TheCounty of Pallars orPallás[1] (Catalan:Comtat de Pallars,IPA:[kumˈtaddəpəˈʎas];Latin:Comitatus Pallariensis) was ade facto independent petty state, nominally within theCarolingian Empire and thenWest Francia during the ninth and tenth centuries, perhaps one of theCatalan counties,[2] originally part of theMarca Hispanica in the ninth century. It was coterminous with the upperNoguera Pallaresa valley from the crest of thePyrenees to the village ofTremp, comprising theVall d'Àneu,Vall de Cardós,Vall Ferrera, the right bank of theNoguera Ribagorçana, and the valley of theFlamicell. It roughly corresponded with the historic region of Catalonia called Pallars. Its chief city wasSort.
The early history of Pallars, which was the easternmost extent ofBasque settlement,[3] is linked to that of its western neighbour,Ribagorza. Both territories, nominally lands of theMoors, came under the sway of the count of Toulouse perhaps as early as 781,[4] perhaps as late as the start of the 9th century. They formed in turn a new province attached to Toulouse and therefore became Carolingian vassals.
A widely circulated monastic account of 1078 from theAbbey of Santa María de Alaón contains the earliest foundation myth of any of the counties of the Hispanic March. Written at a time when the independence of Pallars and Ribagorza was threatened by the hegemony recently created by thepersonal union of theKingdom of Navarre andKingdom of Aragon (1076). It records that Count Bernard and Bishop Ato, both of Ribagorza and descended by tradition fromCharlemagne, spearheaded the conquest and repopulation ofSobrarbe and Pallars respectively and that the bishop held ecclesiastical rule over all three counties.
In reality, being so far from the centres ofCarolingian power, it was easy for the rulers of Toulouse to act as sovereigns in Pallars and Ribagorza, granting privileges to monasteries in a style very similar to that of their ownFrankish lords. Two monasteries were founded in the valleys of the two principal rivers of Pallars:Santa Maria de Gerri by the Noguera Pallaresa andSenterada by the Flamicell on land granted by the emperorLouis the Pious himself.[5] The revival of monasticism was largely associated with non-Frankish and especiallyVisigothic clergymen.[6]Charlemagne himself, however, attached Pallars and Ribagorza ecclesiastically to thediocese of Urgell. In 817, Pallars and Ribagorza were made a part of theKingdom of Aquitaine bestowed on the youngPepin, second son of the emperor Louis the Pious.[7] Throughout the ninth century, theaprisio had increasingly become a principal form of land division and ownership in Pallars, which was not yetfeudalised.[8] Louis the Pious forbade the holdingin beneficium of church property and by the end of the ninth century, mostaprisiones in Pallars had been converted intoallods: feudalism was never to take hold.[9]
The local population — Basque, Visigothic, andHispano-Roman — rejected the rule of thehouse of Toulouse. In 833, oneAznar Galíndez,[10] alreadyCount of Urgell andCerdagne, usurped thepagi (countries) of Pallars and Ribagorza. He was immediately dispossessed of Urgell and Cerdagne by Louis the Pious (in 834), but managed to hold out in mountainous Pallars and Ribagorza for several more years--until he was expelled, either in 838 bySunifred I, Count of Barcelona, and partisans ofBernard of Septimania,[11] or in 844 by theCount of Toulouse,Fredelon.
Opposition to Toulousain suzerainty remained, however, while the Toulousain counts governed Pallars throughviscounts.[12] In Pallars,vicars were not employed, rather a minor official beneath the viscount called thecentenarius was used.[13] In 872, a crisis enveloped Toulouse when the incumbent count,Bernard II, was assassinated by thefideles (faithful men) ofBernard Plantapilosa, who was recognised as the late count's successor by the king,Charles the Bald.[14] The men of Pallars and Ribagorza took the opportunity to regain their independence from Toulouse. One of them, a localcacique namedRaymond, who had probably originally held them as a subject of Toulouse, found himself count of the territories formerly of Toulouse south of the Pyrenees: the first Count of Pallars and Ribagorza.[15] The loss of Pallars and Ribagorza to Frankish suzerainty was the first step in the gradual weakening of the ties between Catalonia and the Francia.
The reign of Raymond I began with overtures of peace and alliance with the Muslim governors of nearbyHuesca andZaragoza (then under theBanu Qasi), but to no avail; by the end, a policy ofReconquista had been adopted. The reign also saw a proliferation (encastellation) ofturres (defensive towers) in Pallars and Ribagorza;[16] castles such asLeovalles,Castellous, andLemignano also multiplied.[17] Raymond also consolidated hisde facto independence from any superior authority by creating a newdiocese of Pallars, enabling himself to control the local church. Raymond, a Basque himself,[18] established an alliance with theJiménez dynasty inNavarre, helping them to take the throne. He lost much of Ribagorza to Huesca in 907 and thereafter ruled mainly just Pallars, which had always been his political base. He died in 920. Pallars was inherited by his two youngest (of four) sons,Isarn andLope I of Pallars.
The history of Pallars in the tenth century is obscure. It was ruled by brothers of the native dynasty, which had married into theBellonid dynasty ruling inBarcelona. Pallars and Ribagorza had experienced a constant decline as brother and cousins divided it up,[19] and the phrasein rem valentem appearing in charters indicates a transition from a money to a barter economy.[20] By late in the tenth century, the counts of Pallars, still refusing to recognise any authority higher than themselves, began using the titlemarchio in documents.[21] By 975, their underlings, themilites (knights) who governed the countryside from the castles, levied dues, formerly Carolingian royal dues, on the inhabitants for the upkeep of defence, and to line their personal coffers.[22] At the same time, a steady advance was made in the borderlands; many charters make reference to land acquiredde ruptura along in line settlement along the frontier.[23]
WhenSunyer I, who had outlived his brothers and nephews, and died in 1011, the once independent Pallars, through subdivision of authority, had become subject to influences from Urgell,Barcelona, andAragon.[24] Sunyer's two sons divided their inheritance, withRaymond III ruling inPallars Jussà andWilliam II inPallars Sobirà.