“The Normans under their leader Roger had set forth to kill the heathens in Spain, they destroyed a large number of Saracens and conquered their towns and fortresses.”
“Mighty Normans went to Spain to break the military power of the Saracens and to subjugate the country to the Christians. […] Then the city of Barbastro was taken. It had extensive lands, was well stocked, and full of great riches.”
After the collapse of the caliphate of Córdoba (1031) and the rise of the Taifa principalities, the balance of power on the Iberian Peninsula changed considerably. The Christian territories of the North benefited from internal weaknesses and conflicts between the Taifa principalities. However, for their military expeditions they were dependent on the support of foreign powers, which they sought north of the Pyrenees. In the early 11th century, Roger of Tosny (d. 1040) came from Northern France, having been forced to go into exile from Normandy. While his father went to Italy, Roger supported Ermesinde of Carcassonne (d. 1058), Regent-Countess of Barcelona. Visigoth chroniclers gave him the epithet “of Spain” or even “Moor-Eater”.
Numerous Normans were also involved in the capture of the city of Barbastro in 1064.
Production: eichfelder artworks
Length: 04:38 min
The Arab historian Ibn Hayyan provides important insights into the history of Spain in the 11th century, including the so-called “Reconquista” and its consequences for the Muslim population. An anecdote in the context of the conquest of Barbastro (1064) in which Norman contingents were involved gives a particularly vivid illustration of the cultural interconnections of the region. Who knows, maybe the count mentioned in this story even was a Norman...
France, mid 12th c.
Parchment
Paris, Bibliothèque national de France,
ms. latin 5926, fol. 134r
In his chronicle (narrative period until 1028), the French monk Adémar of Chabannes vividly describes the battles of Normans on the Iberian Peninsula. Particularly impressive is his description of Roger Tosny (d. 1040), whom he portrays as cruel and cunning. This was a common characterisation of Norman warriors.
„ERMESI(N)DIS“, underneath in Kufic writing: „rmsnd“
Catalan counties, 1st half of the 11th c.
Blue chalcedony
Girona, Museu Tresor de la Catedral, Inv. TCG 26
Middle East, after 1100
Carnelian
Girona, Museu Tresor de la Catedral, Inv. TCG 25
Both seals were part of the antependium (altar hanging) of the Girona Cathedral. The blue chalcedon (1) was once the personal seal of Countess Ermessenda of Barcelona. For many years she ruled the county in the name of her underage son and later her grandson. The signet stone bears her name in inverted letters in Latin and Arabic. The bilingualism refers to the Christian-Muslim border region she ruled and to the multilingualism present in medieval Iberia. Ermessenda recruited the Norman Roger Tosny for military support. The second seal (2) was for a long time attributed to her daughter-in-law, Countess Guisla de Lluçà. However, due to the generalised Kufic inscription this is doubted today.
The inscriptions of the seals read:
(1) Latin: „ERMESI(N)DIS“, underneath in cufic script „rmsnd“
(2) Cufic script: “Unique in His heaven and righteous in His judgement /
Be generous with everyone who prays to You morning and evening"
Òdena, Catalonia, 11th c.
Gold
Barcelona, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Inv. MNAC 080047-CJT
On the Iberian Peninsula both Christian silver coins and Muslim gold coins were used. When Muslim dinars became scarce, the Christian counts of Barcelona began to mint their own imitations of the Muslim dinars, the so-called mancusos. The minters were often Jewish. Around 1069, the Count of Barcelona even commissioned bilingual gold coins. These coins are an example of Spain’s multiculturalism in action. Norman mercenaries were probably also paid with this type of coins.
County Barcelona, 1076–1082 (resp. 1076–1096)
Observe: BARCINON
Copper-silver alloy
Barcelona, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Inv. MNAC 026997-N (1); Inv. MNAC 027004-N (2)
Ramon Berenguer II and Berenguer Ramon II were twins and for a short time ruled the county of Barcelona together. After the disappearance of the Muslim gold coins, they introduced monetary stability by minting new coins. The abstract coinage does not show portraits and rulers and does not bear their names. Instead, it bears the name “Barcelona” as well as a heraldic lily and a cross pattée. Their successors continued to mint this type of coin and contributed to the spread of this currency.