Vegueria

.

   Àmbit metropolità

   Alt Pirineu i Aran

   Camp de Tarragona

   Comarques Centrals

   Comarques Gironines

   Ponent

   Terres de l'Ebre

] The vegueria (pl. "vegueries"; Castilian: "veguería", Latin: "vigeria") was the territorial jurisdiction of a veguer (Latin: "vigerius"). The vegueria was an important feudal land division in the Principality of Catalonia, Kingdom of Sardinia, and Duchy of Athens during the Middle Ages and into the Modern Era until the Nueva Planta decrees of 1716. It was the primary division of a county in Catalonia and the basic territorial unit of government in Sardinia and Athens after those countries became part of the Crown of Aragon. The office of a veguer was called a vigeriate (Latin: "vigeriatus").

History

Origins and functions

The origins of the vegueria go back to the era of the Carolingian Empire, when vicars (Latin: "vicarii", singular "vicarius") were installed beneath the counts in the Marca Hispanica. The office of a vicar was a vicariate (Latin: "vicariatus") and his territory was a "vicaria". All these Latin terms of Carolingian administration evolved in the Catalan language even as they disappeared in the rest of Europe. The Catalan terms were even subsequently Latinised: "vicarius" → "vigerius".

The original functions of the vigeriate were feudal and it was probably initially hereditary. The veguer was appointed by his feudal lord, the count, and was accountable to him. He was the military commander of his vegueria (and thus keeper of the publicly-owned castles), the chief justice of the same district, and the man in charge of the public finances (the fisc) of the region entrusted to him. As time wore on, the functions of the veguer became more and more judicial in nature. He held a "cort del veguer" or "de la vegueria" with its own seal. The "cort" had authority in all matter save those relating to the feudal aristocracy. It commonly heard pleas of the crown, civil, and criminal cases. The veguer did, however, retain some military functions as well: he was the commander of the militia and the superintendent of royal castles. His job was law and order and the maintenance of the king's peace: in many respects an office analogous to that of the sheriff in England.

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At the end of the twelfth century in Catalonia, there were twelve vegueries. By the end of the reign of Peter the Great (1285) there were seventeen, and by the time of James the Just there were twenty one. These administrative divisions remained until 1716. Some of the larger vegueries included one or more sotsvegueries, which had a large degree of autonomy.

While Catalonia continued to use vegueries as subdivisions of counties, elsewhere in the Iberian peninsula there were the "merináticos" (Kingdom of Aragon) and the "corregimientos" (Kingdom of Castile) whose functions were similar to those of the Catalan vegueries. When the Kingdom of Sicily became a Catalan-run state, it was not subdivided into vegueries, since a similar Italian institution was already entrenched there: that of the "capitania" and the "capità". The "capità" had similar to identical functions as the veguer. When the Catalans conquered Athens, they subdivided that duchy into three vegueries: Athens, Thebes, and Livadia. In the Duchy of Neopatria which the Athenian Catalans conquered in 1319, the institution of the "capità" appeared instead of the vigeriate, but the captaincies (Siderocastron, Neopatras, and Salona) were similar to identical in function to the veguerias of Athens. In Athens, the offices of captain and veguer were often held by the same individual as "capitaneus seu vigerius" and variants. Once the Aragonese crown had finally subdued most of the Kingdom of Sardinia to their rule by the end of the fourteenth century, they had subdivided its government into vegueries. All the vegueries of the Catalan possessions were, by the Usages of Barcelona, constrained to be held for only three years by any individual, though in practice some kings ignored this. In Athens, a vicar general on the Italian model was instituted above the veguers.

Today

In 1936, Catalonia was reconstituted into "comarques" (until the abolition of the 1939 and reconstituited again on 1987). Each "comarca" was grouped with two to four others into a veguerie, of which there were nine, with their capitals at Barcelona, Girona, Tremp, Vic, Manresa, Lleida, Reus, Tarragona, and Tortosa. Despite Catalonia was reconstituted again into "comarques" on 1987, Vegueries will be reconstituted on 2011. Under the 2006 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, the four provinces which make up Catalonia are due to be replaced by seven vegueries, which will also take over many of the functions of the "comarques". As of October 2008, the final boundaries of the new vegueries had yet to be approved:
*Àmbit metropolità: historical 1st region, Alt Penedès and Garraf.
*Alt Pirineu i Aran: historical 9th region and Cerdanya.
*Camp de Tarragona: historical 3rd region and 4th region.
*Comarques Centrals: historical 7th region and Osona.
*Comarques Gironines: historical 2nd and Ripollès.
*Ponent or Lleida: historical 8th region.
*Terres de l'Ebre: historical 5th region and Ribera d'Ebre.
*Some historical vegueries reclaim to be vegueries as in 1936:
**Penedès: Alt Penedès, Baix Penedès, Garraf and Anoia, now in Àmbit metropolità, Camp de Tarragona and Ponent or Lleida
**Alt Ter: Osona and Ripollès, now in Comarques Centrals and Comarques Gironines

Historical vegueries

The vegueries of Catalonia at the time of James the Just were:
*Tortosa
*Camp de Tarragona
*Montblanc
*Barcelona (with Vallès sotsvegueria)
*Osona
*Berguedà (with Manresa sotsvegueria)
*Bages (with Moianés sotsvegueria)
*Vilafranca del Penedès (with Igualada and Piera sotsvegueries)
*Girona
*Besalú
*Campodron
*La Ral
*Ripollès
*Tàrrega
*Lleida (with Balaguer sotsvegueria)
*Cervera (with Agramunt and Prats del Rei sotsvegueries)
*Ribagorça
*Pallars
*Camarasa
*Rosselló (with Vallespir sotsvegueria)
*Conflent (with Capcir sotsvegueria)
*Cerdanya (with Ribes and Baridà sotsvegueries)

Later, during the fourteenth century, a few more vegueries were created:
*Urgell
*Balaguer
*Agramunt
*Lluçanès

In Athens, there were always three vegueries:
*Athens
*Thebes
*Livadia

Generalitat republicana 1931

* 1st region, the capital was Barcelona and the comarques: Baix Llobregat, el Barcelonès, el Maresme, el Vallès Occidental i el Vallès Oriental.
* 2nd region, the capital was Girona and the comarques: l'Alt Empordà, el Baix Empordà, la Garrotxa, el Gironès (el Pla de l'Estany exists since 1988), i la Selva.
*3rd region, the capital was Tarragona and the comarques: l'Alt Camp, l'Alt Penedès, el Baix Penedès, el Garraf i el Tarragonès.
* 4th region, the capital was Reus and the comarques: Baix Camp, la Conca de Barberà, el Priorat i la Ribera d'Ebre.
* 5th region, the capital was Tortosa and the comarques: Baix Ebre, el Montsià i la Terra Alta.
* 6th region, the capital was Vic and the comarques: Cerdanya, Osona i el Ripollès.
* 7th region, the capital was Manresa and the comarques: l'Anoia, el Bages, el Berguedà i el Solsonès.
* 8th region, the capital was Lleida and the comarques: les Garrigues, la Noguera, l'Urgell, la Segarra i el Segrià (el Pla d'Urgell exists since 1987).
* 9th region, the capital was Tremp and the comarques: l'Alt Urgell, el Pallars Jussà (l'Alta Ribagorça exists since 1987), el Pallars Sobirà i la Vall d'Aran.

ources

*Setton, Kenneth M. "Catalan Domination of Athens 1311–1380". Revised edition. London: Variorum, 1975.