Mir Geribert (died 1060) was a Catalan nobleman and a rebel against the

Count of Barcelona The count of Barcelona (, , , ) was the ruler of the County of Barcelona and also, by extension and according with the Usages of Barcelona, Usages and Catalan constitutions, of the Principality of Catalonia as Prince#Prince as generic for ruler, p ...

for almost two decades (1040–1059) as the self-declared "Prince of

Olèrdola Olèrdola () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Alt Penedès in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the northern side of the Garraf massif, and the highest point of the municipality is the '' Puig de l'Àliga'' at 468 m. Olèrdol ...

". His revolt was merely the longest and most severe of what was then endemic to

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 ...

: private feudal warfare, which was theoretically restricted by 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 ...

, and disavowal of comital prerogatives by the

castellan A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...

s who nominally owed their positions to the count. Mir Geribert was related to both the

counts Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

and viscounts of Barcelona, being a son of viscount Geribert II and Ermengard, daughter of Count Borrell II. His powerbase lay in the

Penedès Penedès () is a natural region, natural and historical region of Catalonia. It is located in the south of the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain between the pre-coastal mountain range (''Serralada Pre-litoral'') and the Mediterranean Sea. ...

, where he had many castles, chief among them Olèrdola.Bensch, 60. Despite his wide-ranging possessions in that region, he had been marginalised as a member of a cadet branch of the vicecomital dynasty and was unwilling to accept his second-tier position within the Penedès or his exclusion from the familial possessions in La Guàrdia and Barcelona.Bensch, 130. He refused to accept a wife of any other than the comital dynasty of the

Bellonids The Bellonids (, , ), sometimes called the Bellonid Dynasty, were the counts descended from the Goth Belló who ruled in Carcassonne, Urgell, Cerdanya, County of Conflent, Barcelona, and numerous other Hispanic and Gothic march counties in the ...

and insisted on placing himself on equal footing with his relatives of the main vicecomital branch, which ambition led to violent confrontations. These conflicts were not, however, with his relatives, such as his cousin the viscount Udalard II or his uncle the bishop Guisalbert, but with the count, Raymond Berengar I, who refused to grant him a bride from his own family. Though both Udalard and Guisalbert got into a war with the count at this same moment, it was not related directly to Mir's rebellion. In 1039, Mir's brother, Folc Geribert, granted the castle of

Ribes ''Ribes'' () is a genus of about 200 known species of flowering plants, most of them native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The species may be known as various kinds of currants, such as redcurrants, blackcurrants, and White ...

near Olèrdola to their uncle the bishop. Thus deprived of any control over an important frontier fortress, Mir negotiated for the return of the castle in 1041, when he received it back from the bishop in return for swearing homage.Kosto, 191. At some point in his battle with Raymond Berengar, Mir assumed the title ''princeps Olerdulae'', which implied independent authority.Kagay, 40. Raymond Berengar countered by claiming princely authority in his marches. After Mir lost a claim against the monastery of

Sant Cugat del Vallès Sant Cugat del Vallès () is a town and municipality north of Barcelona, Catalonia. Known as ''Castrum Octavianum'' in antiquity (which means ''the castle of Octavianus'') and as ''Pins del Vallès'' during the Second Spanish Republic, it is nam ...

, he openly defied the court and the Visigothic law. In 1052 or 1053, a tribunal presided over by the

seneschal The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ...

Amat Eldric condemned Mir Geribert.Shideler, 16 n37. In response to this, Mir devastated the lands of the seneschal and of Raymond of Cerdanya, who had made peace with the count.Shideler, 21 and n52. Already before 1052 Renard Guillem, the younger brother of the count of Cerdanya, had been treated disgracefully (with ''mala et onta'') by Mir Geribert while on a mission for the Count of Barcelona. In 1059, Mir Geribert and his followers made their final submission to the count, relinquishing his disputed rights in the Penedès and

Ausona The County of Osona, also Ausona (, ; ), was one of the Catalan counties of the ''Marca Hispanica'' in the Early and High Middle Ages. It was based around the capital city of Vic (''Vicus'') and the corresponding diocese, whose territory was ro ...

.Kosto, 118. He and his wife Guisla promised to make their eldest sons, Bernat and Arnau, renounce the family's claims to the disputed castles and ''honores'' (

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

s) when they attained their majority, to make their younger sons sign the charter donating Castell de Port to the count, and to extract oaths of fidelity from their sons in accordance with their own oaths. Mir Geribert died at

Tortosa Tortosa (, ) is the capital of the '' comarca'' of Baix Ebre, in Catalonia, Spain. Tortosa is located at above sea level, by the Ebro river, protected on its northern side by the mountains of the Cardó Massif, of which Buinaca, one of the hi ...

in 1060.

Sources

*Bensch, Stephen P. ''Barcelona and Its Rulers, 1096–1291''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. . *Bisson, Thomas N. ''The Medieval Crown of Aragon: A Short History''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986. . *Freedman, Paul
''The Diocese of Vic: Tradition and Regeneration in Medieval Catalonia''.
New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1983. *Kagay, Donald J., trans

Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994. *Kosto, Adam J. ''Making Agreements in Medieval Catalonia: Power, order, and the written word, 1000–1200''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. . *Shideler, John C

Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geribert, Mir 1060 deaths Medieval Catalan nobility Year of birth missing