Miron II

Notes:

Called "el Joven." Conde de Besalú et de Cerdaña.

Family/Spouse: Ava de Ribagorza. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Oliva II Carreta was born about 920; died in 990 in Montecassino Abbey, Italy.

Notes:

"The Hairy", or in Catalan, Guifré el Pilós. Count of Urgell (from 870), Cerdanya (from 870), Barcelona (from 878), Girona (from 878, as Wilfred II), Besalú (from 878) and Ausona (from 886).

"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." [Wikipedia]

"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 Ismail 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 Muhammed ibn Qasi attacked Barcelona in 897. Wilfred died in battle on 11 August 897." [Wikipedia]

"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." [Wikipedia]

Wilfred married Winilda in 877. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Guinidilda.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 849

Notes:

"Sunifred was the Count of Barcelona as well as many other Catalan and Septimanian counties; including Ausona, Besalú, Girona, Narbonne, Agde, Béziers, Lodève, Melgueil, Cerdanya, Urgell, Conflent, and Nîmes; from 834 to 848 (Urgell and Cerdanya) and from 844 to 848 (others). He may have been the son of Belló, Count of Carcassonne, or more probably, his son-in-law." [Wikipedia]

Todd A. Farmerie, 26 Apr 2016, post to soc.genealogy.medieval:

I would suggest for Iberia that the cutoff for the most stringent level of evidence with every generation solidly documented would be at Ramiro I in Asturias; Gonzalo, father of Count Fernan Gonzalez in Castile; Garcia, father of Sancho I in Pamplona; Galindo, father of Count Aznar I in Aragon; Lope, father of Raymond I of Ribagorza and Pallars; and Sunifred, father of Wifred I in Catalonia.

Sunifred married Ermesende. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]