Oliba (; 971–1046) was the

count of Berga The counts of Berga were the feudal lords of Berga, one of the Catalan counties created out of Besalú in 988 for a younger son of Oliba Cabreta. The viscounts of Berga ruled the city in name during the rule of the counts of Besalú from the earl ...

and Ripoll (988–1002), and later abbot of the monasteries of Santa Maria de Ripoll and Sant Miquel de Cuixà (1008–1046) and the bishop of

Vic Vic, vic or VIC may refer to: People and fictional characters * Vic (name), a list of people, fictional characters and mascots with the given name * V.I.C. (rapper) (born 1987), stage name of an American rapper Places * Vic, Spain, a town and ...

(1018–1046). He is considered one of the spiritual founders of

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

and perhaps the most important prelate of his age in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

. Oliba was a great writer and from his ''scriptorium'' at Ripoll flowed a ceaseless stream of works which are enlightening about his world. Most important are the Arabic manuscripts he translated into Latin for the benefit of 11th century and later scholars.

Early life

Oliba was born circa 971 to an affluent family in the

Spanish March The Spanish March or Hispanic March was a march or military buffer zone established c. 795 by Charlemagne in the eastern Pyrenees and nearby areas, to protect the new territories of the Christian Carolingian Empire—the Duchy of Gascony, the D ...

. His father was Oliba Cabreta, the count of Besalú, Cerdanya, Berga and Ripoll, and his mother was Ermengard of Empúries. His father's lineage made him the great-grandson of

Wilfred the Hairy {{Infobox noble, type , name = Wilfred , title = Count of Barcelona , image = , image_size = , caption = , alt = , CoA = , more = no , su ...

. Oliba had three brothers and a sister, and when his father chose to retire to a monastery in 988, his lands were divided among his three oldest sons;

Bernard Bernard ('' Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It has West Germanic origin and is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''be ...

received Besalú, Wilfred received Cerdanya, and Oliba received Berga and Ripoll. In 1002, Oliba abdicated his secular possessions to his brothers, with Wilfred receiving Berga and Bernard getting Ripoll. Oliba then took up the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

habit residing at the Monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll.

Church life

Six years after joining the order, Oliba was named abbot at Santa Maria de Ripoll, and also at Sant Miquel de Cuixà shortly thereafter. Oliba promoted the movement of the

Peace and Truce of God The Peace and Truce of God () was a movement in the Middle Ages led by the Catholic Church and was one of the most influential mass peace movements in history. The goal of both the ''Pax Dei'' and the ''Treuga Dei'' was to limit the violence o ...

beginning about 1022. In 1027 a council of bishops and noblemen took place in Toulouges, a town in

Roussillon Roussillon ( , , ; , ; ) was a historical province of France that largely corresponded to the County of Roussillon and French Cerdagne, part of the County of Cerdagne of the former Principality of Catalonia. It is part of the region of ' ...

( North Catalonia), and it was agreed to establish days during which there would be no violence between Christians - initially Sundays and Holy Days - and that fugitives could take refuge in churches and holy places, sure of being protected. This was in addition to the already established principle of the movement: to protect peasants, the clergy and other defenceless individuals by threat of excommunication. So influential was Oliba that, in 1023, King Sancho III of Navarre consulted him on the propriety of marrying his sister Urraca to her second cousin,

Alfonso V of León Alfonso V (c. 9947 August 1028), called the Noble, was King of León from 999 to 1028. Like other kings of León, he used the title emperor () to assert his standing among the Christian rulers of Spain. He succeeded his father, Bermudo II, in 9 ...

. The bishop objected, but Sancho ignored him. Oliba's letters to the various contemporaneous

kings of Spain This is a list of monarchs of Spain, a dominion started with the dynastic union of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. The regnal numbers follow those of the rulers of Asturias, León, and Castile. ...

indicate that Alfonso and his successor, Vermudo III were regarded as '' imperatores'', while the

king of Navarre This is a list of the kings and queens of kingdom of Pamplona, Pamplona, later kingdom of Navarre, Navarre. Pamplona was the primary name of the kingdom until its union with Kingdom of Aragon, Aragon (1076–1134). However, the territorial desig ...

was a mere '' rex'', though eventually ''rex Ibericus''. Oliba founded the monastery of Santa María de Montserrat (1025), reformed others such as Sant Miquel de Fluvià and Sant Martí del Canigó, and consecrated or patronised numerous other churches, such as the Collegiate Basilica of Manresa. He also created the Assemblies of Peace and Truce, the seeds of the future Catalan '' Corts,'' to aid the nobles in the administration of the realm. He improved the decoration of his own church at Ripoll and rededicated it on 15 January 1032. He was a close advisor to Count Berenguer Ramon I of Barcelona and reconstructed the cathedral of Vic with the support of Berenguer Ramon's mother, the Countess Ermesinde. The new cathedral was rededicated to Saints Peter and Paul on 31 August 1038. Oliba died at his monastery at Cuixà in 1046.

Legacy

In 1973, the Abat Oliba College was established as a private branch of the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

. In 2003, the Catalan government (

Generalitat de Catalunya The Generalitat de Catalunya (; ; ), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia is self-governed as an autonomous community of Spain. It is made up of the Parliament of Catalonia, the President of the Govern ...

) approved the conversion of Abat Oliba College to the

Abat Oliba CEU University Abat Oliba CEU University (official name: Universitat Abat Oliba CEU; UAO CEU) is a private university located in Barcelona, Spain. It was founded in 1973 as the Abat Oliba College. In 2003, the Parliament of Catalonia approved its conversion to ...

. The founders named the institution after Abbot Oliba because they "aimed to embrace the spirit of Oliba who one thousand years ago established the foundations of the nascent

on the basis of Roman and Christian culture". (English translation)

Gallery

File:OlibaObiolsMontserat.jpg, Marqueterie depicting Oliba File:Abat Oliba (2).JPG, Abbot Oliba founder of

Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey Santa Maria de Montserrat () is an abbey of the Order of Saint Benedict located on the mountain of Montserrat (mountain), Montserrat in Monistrol de Montserrat, Catalonia, Spain. It is notable for enshrining the image of the Virgin of Montserrat ...

File:Museu Episcopal de Vic (Catalunya).JPG, Monument of Oliba at Vic File:Abat Oliba.JPG, Statue of Oliba at Montserrat File:Abat Oliba Escultura Ripoll.JPG, Statue of Oliba at the main gate of Ripoll monastery

References

Sources

* Menéndez Pidal, Ramón. ''The Cid and his Spain''. 1929. *

External links

Fundació Abat Oliba

Abat Oliba CEU University
* Oliba at

Wikisource Wikisource is an online wiki-based digital library of free-content source text, textual sources operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole; it is also the name for each instance of that project, one f ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oliba 970s births 1046 deaths Benedictine abbots Abbots from Catalonia 11th-century Catalan bishops Bishops of Vic 11th-century Christian abbots