| History |
Suniario, also known as Sunifred (or Sunyer in the Catalan language) was the son of Wilfredo I \'el Velloso\', conde de Barcelona, and Guinihilda, and younger brother of the previous count of Barcelona, Wifredo II Borrell. He worked jointly with his brother in the government of the counties held by their father after his death in 897. He did not reign independently until his brother\'s death in 911. He was count of Barcelona, Girona, Urgell and Ausona from that year to 948.
On the death of his uncle, Count Radulf I of Besalu, in 913 or 920, a conflict emerged between Suniario and his brother Count Mirón II of Cerdanya over the succession in the county of Besalu. In exchange for the total renunciation of all claims on the county of Barcelona, Suniario gave up his claim to Besalu.
Suniario was married twice; his first marriage to Aimilda, which did not result in progeny, was followed in 925 by his marriage to Richilde de Toulouse, daughter of Armengol de Toulouse, comte de Rouergue. They had four sons and a daughter: Ermengol (925), Mirón (926), Borrell II (927), Adelaide (928), and Guillem (929). Of these, Borrell II is known to have had progeny.
Suniario made important efforts with domestic politics, protected the Church and strengthened its institutions and gave it more land and income. He also continued to encourage the repopulation of the county of Ausona.
He abandoned the defensive stance adopted by his predecessors and took up the fight actively against the Moorish states to the south. Battles were fought at Lleida and Tarragona. At the same time, he managed to retain diplomatic relations with Córdoba, which had increasingly lost control of its northern provinces.
In 912 the Moorish Wali of Lérida attacked and destroyed the Barcelonan army under Suniario in the Tàrrega valley. However in 914 Suniario\'s counterattack successfully pushed them back again. In 929 he repopulated the country of Penedès, which had been the scene of many conflicts between the Frankish and Muslim empires, as far as Olèrdola.
In the period 936-937 he led an expedition against the Muslims. He defeated them in Valencia, and as a result the Moors temporarily abandoned Tarragona (which became a no-man\'s land), and Tortosa was forced to pay a tribute to Suniario.
In 947 he retired to monastic life and ceded the government of his realms to his sons Borrell II and Mirón. He died in the monastery of La Grassa (in Conflent) on 15 October 950. [1] |
Ellie Wood Keith Genealogy
Abt 880 - 950 (~ 70 years)