Today I'll show you a video. Maybe you may not
know this man, his name is Pau Casals and was considered one of the best
cellists in the world. He was Awarded in 1971 with the U.N. Peace Medal in
recognition of his stance for peace, justice and freedom. In this video you can
hear his speech in front of the UN:
In this speech he talks about some things in
the history of Catalonia that you may not know but they have their historical
basis:
1.- Catalonia
has been the greatest nation in the world.
Well, maybe not, but Catalonia did be one of
the greatest nations in the world: Catalonia was a group of counties that
formed part of the Spanish March (a buffer zone between the Frankish Kingdom
and the Muslim Al-Andalus). That Catalan Counties united under the rule of the
Count of Barcelona and in 985 the Count of Barcelona Borrell II broke the
vassalage to the Frankish kingdom and declared the independence of Catalonia.
With the dynastic union upon the marriage of Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona
and Petronilla of Aragon the principality of Catalonia and the Kingdom of
Aragon united to found the Crown of Aragon, a Kingdom that would spread across
Valencia, the Balearic Islands and the Mediterranean Sea, becoming one of the
greatest nations within the known world.
2.- Catalonia
has had the first Parliament, much before England.
Iceland and the Isle of Man have claimed to
have Parliaments before Catalonia. However, the Parliament of Catalonia (Corts
Catalanes), dating from the 11th century, is one of the first parliaments in
continental Europe. The Parliament of England dates from 1215.
3.- Catalonia
had the beginning of the United Nations.
When Pau Casals speaks about a French city in
that time Catalan in which all authorities met to discuss about peace, I think he
refers to the city of Toluges, a city in which took place the Pau i Treva de Déu (Peace and Truce of
God) that was a social movement promoted the 11th century as a response of the
Church and of the farmers to the violence perpetrated by feudal nobles (the
different counts of Catalonia). That Pau i Treva de Déu can be considered the
origin of the Catalan Parliament, because the three levels of society then represented
in the Parliament had to reach an agreement.
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