History of Catalonia. The Bishops of La Seu D’Urgell
History of Catalonia. The Bishops of La Seu D’Urgell
La Seu D’Urgell is situated in the centre of a plain surrounded by mountains and has, since time immemorial , played a notable role as crossroads on the routes from Lleida plain to Cerdanya and Roussillion, Central Catalonia and Andorra and to the other side of the Pyrenees (France). This fact explains the presence of humans in this area from the earliest times, as well its geographical importance. It has often been speculated that the first precursor of La Seu D’Urgell may have existed in connection with the hill of Castelciutat. Some historians have pointed to the possibility of having been there a fairly important late – Roman military presence on this spot, and even the existence of an urban settlement and Cathedral. The name Castellciutat would have led to the assumption, although it has not been adequately verified by archaeological or documentary evidence.
However, what we can be sure of is the fact that the current centre of La Seu D’Urgell arose around the area occupied by the old town. It seems that in the late – Roman period this area, which was a crossroad at the intersection of roads defined by the rivers Segre and Valira, might have undergone some degree of fairly dense occupation according to the archaeological remains that were discovered just a few years ago, at the ancient Church of Santa Eulalia, beneath the Town Hall of La Seu D’Urgell. In 531, the existence of a Bishop of Urgell is documented for the first time, in relation to Bishop Justus, who attended the third Council of Toledo that year. The creation of a new diocese in the Pyrenees, the circumstances of which remain obscured, would have been accompanied by the building of a first cathedral. Although the lack of archaeological evidence makes it difficult to locate this first building, which would become important in the future evolution of the city, much of the academic would agree that this temple would have been built in a central location close to the current cathedral. The ecclesiastical centre of the diocese of Urgell, and the bishopric that would have given its stimulus, would already have had a major role in the organization of the Pyrenees lands during the 6th, 7th and 8th centuries.
La Seu would become the main driving force of a new hybrid society, in which the legacy of the Roman period, Christianity and ancient forms of a Pyrenean culture in retreat would come together, which would happen in the construction of Catalonia.
Since the time of the late Roman period, the mountain areas and especially the Pyrenees, were home to a significant population. The collapse of urban systems, centralized power and long-range trade without doubt contributed to this phenomenon of revitalization in the mountain areas. On the hand, these uncertainties about security also contributed to the large movements of people which took part during this period.
The reorganization, hierarchal restructuring and the Christianization of these Pyrenees lands required the establishment of political and religious hierarchies, and in this context the primitive La Seu D’Urgell, the centre of a large Pyrenean bishopric, would come to play a major role.
With the Muslim invasion in the 8th century, the Pyrenees were under pressure from the regional powers from the north and south: the Carolingians and the Andalusians. It was, however, a period of isolation.
Far from becoming a barrier, the Pyrenees became a juncture between two worlds and the creative centre of a new model of society. The monasticism, originating in the Visigothic period, continued to rise, and would have a great influence on the structuring of the new country, on its Christianization and on its human development. Unique ventures such as that initiated Bishop Felix (781-799) with the doctrine of Adoptionism , which believed in the unity of God, in opposition to the supporters of the tripartite nature, demonstrate that the Pyrenean village, bustling, economically active and mobile, could also become the focus of profound intellectual and theological disputes at the European level.
Although La Seu and its suburbs remained largely at the margins of the Muslim presence, its strategic location at a crossroad of the paths that guarded one of the main routes to cross the Pyrenees did not save it from some violent episodes. For instance, in 793, the Saracen troops, of Abd al-Malik, returning from a raid on the city of Narbonne and southern Gaul, destroyed the old town of la Seu D’Urgell. Some authors have argued that, in reality, the troops of Abd al-Malik destroyed the town of Castellciutat along with the putative cathedral of Bishop Justus and that , as a result of this, the cathedral, would have to be moved back to the plain and would have given rise to La Seu D’Urgell. However, the scarce data available points to the original construction of the Cathedral being of the plain and, if it had been destroyed by the Saracens, its reconstruction in Carolingian times would not have involved and change of location with respect to the previous Visigothic church.
After the Adoptionist crisis, when the Pyrenees had been definitely incorporated into the Carolingian realm, the bishopric of Urgell passed into the hands of the ecclesiastical province of Narbonne, at the same time that the region adapted itself to the context of the county structures of the Marca Hispanica, or Spanish March. In any case, the dominant role of la Seu in the social, political and cultural construction of the Pyrenees war crucial, as evidenced by the fact that, beside the figure of the Bishops of Urgell, stood the counts of Urgell as permanent delegates to the Carolingian Emperor for territory that extended around La Seu, from the highest peaks of Andorra to a constantly moving border to the south. The County Palace world be established on the hill of Castellciutat and, from that moment on, it would wield a dual civil and religious power in the late Middle Ages, causing severe problems.
To the rhythm of these events the centre of La Seu D’Urgell began to grow, the ecclesiastical centre, formed by the cathedral and some adjoining churches , such as Sant Pere and Sant Andreu, as documented in the 9th century would be expanded with an articulated growth around the road that led towards The Cerdanya and at the crossroads of the road to Andorra, setting up a core which, in time, would become known as the Old Town. In the 10th century the ecclesiastical district, clustered around the Cathedral of Santa Maria, would continue to grow, with ever increasing numbers of properties to house the staff and services related to the management of the diocese and the church of Urgell.