Wilfred "the Hairy" de Barcelona

Abt 840 - Aft 897  (~ 57 years)

• Name	Wilfred "the Hairy" de Barcelona
  Birth	Abt 840  [1]
  Gender	Male
  Death	Aft 21 Aug 897  [1]
  Burial	Santa Maria de Ripoli, Ripoll, Catalonia, Spain   [2]
  Person ID	I7220	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of AP, Ancestor of DDB, Ancestor of DGH, Ancestor of DK, Ancestor of EK, Ancestor of JTS, Ancestor of LD, Ancestor of LDN, Ancestor of LMW, Ancestor of TNH, Ancestor of TSW, Ancestor of TWK, Ancestor of UKL, Ancestor of WPF
  Last Modified	6 Jan 2018

  
  

  Father	Sunifred of Urgell,   b. Abt 800   d. 848 (Age ~ 48 years)
  Mother	Ermesende
  Family ID	F2837	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Winilda
  Marriage	877  [1]
  Children	+ 1. Miron II   d. Oct 927 + 2. Wilfred II de Barcelona,   b. Abt 878   d. 26 Apr 911 (Age ~ 33 years) + 3. Sunyer,   b. Abt 880   d. 15 Oct 950 (Age ~ 70 years)
  Family ID	F2096	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	16 Jun 2018

  
  

• 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]

  
  

• Sources

  [S49] Genealogics by Leo Van de Pas, continued by Ian Fettes and Leslie Mahler. [S160] Wikipedia.