 Abt 0800 - 0849 (49 years)
-
| Name |
URGELL Seniofredo |
| Birth |
Abt 0800 |
Comtat d'Urgell, Marca Hispanica  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Death |
0849 |
Marca Hispanica |
| Notes |
- Seniofredo (lat: Sunicfredus, es: Sunifredo) aka "Sunifred" de Urgell, later Count and Marquis in the Marca Hispánica (Spanish March) was the son (or potentially son-in-law) of the Visigothic count Bosrello / Borrell / Bello(n), the founder of the Bellonid Dynasty who controlled territories in the regions of Narbonensis (Septimania) and south across the Pyrenees into what was called the Marca Hispánica (the Spanish March region that would later become Catalunya / Catalonia). Seniofredo / Sunifred is considered to have been born in the Comtat d'Urgell (County of Urgell), an historic region in the Marca Hispanica situated between Barcelona and Lleida, by about 800 - based on records of a donation at Urgell in 819: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Sunicfredus donated property to the church of Urgell by charter dated 819. Emperor Louis I granted "villam…in pago Narbonensis…Fons-coopertus" to "fideli nostro Sunicfredo" by charter dated 829, which states that "Bosrello patri suo" had previously held the property.
Marca Hispánica / The Spanish March
Marca Hispánica 814
The Marca Hispánica (Spanish March) extended across the Pyrenees from Pamplona to Narbonne and Barcelona. The territory was established in about 795 by Emperor Charlemagne and was intended to form a militarized buffer zone to protect the Carolingian Empire from the Muslim Umayyad Emirate based in Cordoba that had gained control of much of the Iberian Peninsula, known as al-Andalus. [1] [6]
Sunifred's father (or potentially father-in-law) Bosrello / Borrell / Bello(n) was apparently of Visigothic origin and was one of the principal counts controlling territory in the region, which was later expanded upon. Sunifred apparently led a revolt of the indigenous [Visigothic] population against Bernard de Septimania - to become the Marquis - and in the 830s conquered Cerdanya and Urgell, effectively checking the Moorish expansion into the Northeastern portion of the Iberian Peninsula. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Honors de Sunifred (844-848)
Sunifred initially became the Count of Urgell and of Cerdanya and later controlled additional counties within the Marca Hispánica. These included territories north of the Pyrenees that would eventually become part of France (including Carcassonne, Béziers, Narbonne and Nimes) and territories south of the Pyrenees that would eventually become part of Catalonia and later Spain (including not only Urgell and Cerdanya, but Barcelona and Gerona). He would eventually be considered Marquis. [2] [4] [5]
Conde Sunifredo: conde de Urgel y Cerdaña: hacia 834-848; conde de Barcelona y Gerona, conde de Narbona, Carcasona, Beziers y Nimes; titulado marqués (Suniefrido etiam marchioni): 844-848 [3]
Family and Succession
Sunifred married a woman named Ermesinda / Ermesenda (whose parents remain unknown) in about 834 and the couple had seven or eight children, including five sons - the three eldest becoming counts within the Marca Hispánica - and the two younger joining the clergy to become an abbot and a bishop: [2] [3]
Sesenanda, who was born in about 835 and was still living in 902 as the widow of a man named Guadaldo, with descendants (cf. Salazar y Acha)
Guifré / Wilfredo (Guifred / Wilfredus), who succeeded his father as the Comte d'Urgell i Cerdanya and later as Comte de Barcelona
Rodolf, who became a count within the Marca Hispánica, potentially as Comte de Besalú
Miró / Miron, who was initially associated with the counties of Cerdanya and Conlflent and later became the Comte de Rosselló (fr: Roussillon)
Seniofredo / Sunifredo, who became the Abbot of Arles in 881
Ermesinda, who is not known to have married and who died in 898
Riculf, who became the Bishop of Elna (885-915)
Possibly an additional daughter named Cixilona / Quixilo
Sunifred was killed in battle in 849, in a counter-attack waged by the son of Bernard of Septimania. Various territories he controlled within the Marca Hispánica were later controlled by his three eldest sons. [2] [3]
Four of their sons and eldest daughter Sesenanda were reflected in a subsequent donation to the historic Abadiá Santa Maria de La Grassa located southeast of Carcassonne: [2]
Sesenanda, Sunicfredus, Wifredus comes, Radulfus comes, Miro comes donated property for the souls of Sunicfredi genitoris nostri vel domnæ Ermesinde genititricis nostrae to the abbey of Lagrasse by charter dated Apr or May [878].
Sources
↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 March of Spain by Cawley, Charles in Medieval Lands: A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families. Published by Charles Cawley and the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy (FMG) 2006-2021, including source citations and relevant texts; hosted online by FMG, accessed 2025: (See also WikiTree's source page for MedLands)
↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Comtes de Barcelona by Cawley, Charles in Medieval Lands: A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families. Published by Charles Cawley and the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy (FMG) 2006-2021, including source citations and relevant texts; hosted online by FMG, accessed 2025: (See also WikiTree's source page for MedLands)
↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Salazar y Acha, Jaime. Las dinastías reales de España en la Edad Media. (Madrid : Real Academia de la Historia, 2021). Electronic edition, Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado, PDF available online at: Las dinastías reales de España en la Edad Media. Cf. Capítulo VII, Los Condes de Barcelona, Reyes de Aragón - II. Conde Sunifredo, p 138
↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Wikipedia (ca) - Sunifred I d'Urgell-Cerdanya
↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Wikipedia (en) - Sunifred, Count of Barcelona
↑ Wikipedia (en) - Spanish March
|
| Person ID |
I59687 |
Freeman-Smith |
| Last Modified |
27 Jan 2026 |
| Father |
CARCASSONNE Bellon, b. Abt 0755, Perpignan, Roussilon, Languedoc-Roussilon, France d. Abt 0812, Carcassone, Aude, Languedoc, France (Age 57 years) |
| Relationship |
natural |
| Family ID |
F347532 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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