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Principality of Andorra
A tiny territory, Andorra is also known as the 'Principality of the
Valleys of Andorra'. It is nestled high in the eastern Pyrenees on the
modern French-Spanish
border, lying between the French départements of Ariège and Pyrénées-Orientales
to the north and the Spanish provinces of Gerona and Lérida to the
south. Its total boundary stretches to 120.3 kilometres (74.6 miles).
Andorra was created by a charter of AD 988, although tradition asserts that
Charlemagne originally granted the Andorran people a charter in return for
their help in fighting the Moors of the
Islamic
empire in the late eighth century, and that Charlemagne's son Louis I, king
of France, confirmed the charter. It is generally agreed that Charles the
Bald, the son of Louis, appointed the count of Urgel (or Urgell) as overlord
of Andorra and gave him the right to collect the imperial tribute. The
bishop of Urgel, however, also claimed Andorra as part of the endowment of
his cathedral. In 1226, the lords of the county of Foix, in modern
south-central France, by marriage became heirs to the counts of Urgel.
The quarrels between the Spanish bishop and the French counts over rights
in Andorra led in 1278 to their adoption of a paéage, a feudal institution
that recognised the equal rights of two lords to a seigniorage. The Treaty
of Joint Suzerainty between the bishop of Urgel in Spain and France's count
of Foix would see them acting as co-princes. The latter's descendants inherited
Navarre in 1479 and then France
in 1589, heralding the
Bourbon dynasty. In
time they were replaced by France's emperor and restored kings, and
later by the presidents of the republic, but each of those heads of state
has fulfilled the function of co-prince of Andorra.
The capital is at Andorra la Vella, in the south-west. Most of the country
is rough and mountainous, and there is little level surface. All of the
valleys are at least nine hundred metres (three thousand feet) high, meaning
that winters are severe. Andorra was once heavily forested, and one explanation
for the name of the country is that it came from the Moorish word aldarra,
meaning 'place thick with trees'. An alternative tradition asserts that
Charlemagne gave the region its name for its supposed likeness to the biblical
town of Endor. However, the Greek historian Polybius noted that the Iberian
tribe, the Andosini
(Andosins, as he named them), occupied the valleys here, long before the
coming of the Moors or of Charlemagne. Whilst the state is managed both by
France and Spain, the predominant spoken language is Catalan. All other
regional languages are also spoken within the principality to a lesser
degree.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Funk
& Wagnalls New Encyclopaedia, 1985 Edition (Revised 1993), from
La Ciudadela de Barcelona: Cataluña vindicada, Lluís Cutchet, from
Los Condes de Barcelona Vindicados, y Cronología y Genealogía de los
Reyes de España considerados como Soberianos Independientes de su Marca.
Tomo I: abraza los siete primeros, desde el año 874 al 1035, Prosper
de Bofarull, 1836 (reprinted 1990), and from External Links:
Encyclopaedia.com, and
Lleida
Tourism, and
Enciclopèdia Catalana,
SAU, and
Representació de SE Copríncep Francès (in French and Catalan).) |
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778?/785 |
Tradition asserts that the
Frankish King
Charlemagne grants the Andorran people a charter in return for their help
in fighting the Moors of the
Islamic
empire. Charlemagne is known to conduct a campaign against the
Umayyad Arabs in Spain in 778,
so this could be the point at which Andorra provides support. Confirmation
seems to come around 785 when the county of Urgel is created as a division
of the march (border area) of Toulouse following territorial seizures from
the Umayyads by the Franks.
The king's son, Louis I, king of
Aquitaine from
781 (and France 814-840), reputedly confirms the charter, and the creation
of the Cathedral of Urgel in 839 does show increasing Christian support for
this region. It is generally agreed that Charles the Bald (840-877), the
son of Louis, appoints the count of Urgel as overlord of Andorra and gives
him the right to collect the imperial tribute. A
Visigothic
noble by the name of Borrell is the first count of Urgel, Cerdanya, and
Osona (the latter from 799). |
c.798 - 820 |
Borrell |
Appointed by
Charles the Bald of the
Western Franks. |
799 - 801 |
Having been appointed count of the newly captured territories of Urgel and
Cerdanya, Borrell is an important part of the conquest of Osona in 799 and
Barcelona in 801. The latter
victory follows a siege of the city. He is awarded the county of Osona,
possibly in thanks for his contribution towards the reconquest of occupied
Iberia and the extension of Aquitaine's Marca Hispania or Spanish
March (a march being a
Germanic word for
borderlands).
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Andorra's mountainous landscape offers a very mixed selection
of terrain, from lush valleys to high Pyrenean peaks and the
Circ del Pessons shown here, a natural amphitheatre in the
area of Grau Roig
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820 |
Following Borrell's death, Osona is granted to Rampon, count of
Barcelona,
while Urgel and Cerdanya pass to the Basque noble, Aznar I Galíndez of
Aragon, following his
overthrow and exile from that county. |
820 - 824 |
Aznar I Galíndez |
Count of
Aragon. Exiled and succeeded
Borrell. Died 839. |
824 - 834 |
Galindo I Aznárez |
Son. Reclaimed
Aragon in 844. Died 867. |
834 - 838 |
Sunifred, son-in-law of Belló, count of Carcassonne, is granted Urgel and
Cerdanya by Louis the Pious, who has progressed from his early role as king
of Aquitaine
to ruling the Frankish
empire. Sunifred conquers Cerdanya in 835 and Urgel in 838. The
dispossessed Galindo soon goes on to reclaim
Aragon for himself. |
834 - 848 |
Sunifred I |
Count of
Barcelona (844), Girona-Osona,
& Urgel-Cerdanya. |
840 - 843 |
Before
his death, Louis of the
Franks proclaims
that his eldest son, Lothar, will be sole beneficiary of the imperial
dignity and sole inheritor of the empire. The new idea provokes rebellions
and rivalries between all four of Louis' sons which last until after the
king's death. (One of the sons, Pepin I of
Aquitaine,
has already predeceased his father.)
Lothar initially claims overlordship over all three regions and Louis
and Charles have to go to war to convince him to relent. The counties
of the Spanish March all take sides during this period, with the
powerful Bernard of Septimania, count of
Barcelona (along with
a large number of other marches and counties, including Agde, Béziers,
Girona, Melgueil, Narbonne, Nîmes, Septimania, and Toulouse, capital
of Aquitaine) siding with Pepin II of Aquitaine. Opposing them in
favour of Charles are Sunifred, count of Urgel and Cerdanya, his brother
Sunyer I, count of Empúries, their sons (who collectively are sometimes
referred to as the Bellonid dynasty or the Bellonids), Ricwin, count of
Nantes
(killed in battle in 841), and Lambert II, also later count of Nantes.
Lothar does relent in 843, and the Treaty of Verdun confirms the official
division of the empire between Charlemagne's surviving three grandsons, with
rule over the empire as a whole being nominal. |
841 - 844 |
Taking advantage of the chaos in the
Frankish empire,
the Umayyads invade
Barcelona
and penetrate Cerdanya as they attack Narbonne. Sunifred, count of Urgel
and Cerdanya, stops the invasion dead in its tracks. When, in 844, Charles
the Bald captures Toulouse and
Aquitaine
from Pepin II, he has Bernard of Septimania executed and grants Barcelona
and Girona - and also the march territory of Gothia - to Sunifred. |
848 |
William of Septimania, son of the executed Bernard, had risen against Charles
the Bald in 844, but has largely been unable to reclaim his father's lands
until now. William is granted Toulouse and Empúries by Pepin II the rival
king of Aquitaine,
and he quickly removes both brothers, Sunifred in
Barcelona and Sunyer in
Empúries,
although the former is known to die of natural causes. |
848 - 870 |
Solomon |
Appointed count of Urgel-Cerdanya. Died between 868-870. |
870 - 897 |
Wilfred the Hairy |
Son of Sunifred.
Count of
Barcelona and others. |
898 - 948 |
Sunifred II |
Son. |
948 - 966 |
Miró de Barcelona |
Co-ruler of
Barcelona with Borrell II. |
c.950 |
The Catalan House of Caboet occupies the Cabó and Saint John valleys (along
modern Andorra's border), with their power originating in the former. They
emerge into history around this time as loyal subjects of the bishops of
Urgel. The bishopric itself has existed since the death of St Just d'Urgel
around 546, under the jurisdiction of Tarragona.
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The bishopric of Urgel gained a diocesan seat in 1116, in the
form of the Cathedral of Santa Maria d'Urgel, in Seu d'Urgel,
although the diocese itself existed at least as early as the
sixth century AD
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966 - 992 |
Borrell II |
Count
of Barcelona, Girona, &
Osona. |
988 |
Borrell II, count of Barcelona,
Girona, Ausona (from 940), and Urgel (from 948), grants the Andorran valleys
to the diocese of Urgel in exchange for land in Cerdanya. |
fl c.1010 |
Isarn Caboet |
Lady of Caboet. |
? - 1095 |
Guitard Caboet |
Son. Lord of Caboet. |
1095 |
The bishop of Urgel is aware that the current count of Urgel desires the
return of Andorra to his control, so support and protection are requested of
the lord of Caboet. The bishop and the lord sign and seal a declaration of
their co-sovereignty over Andorra (it is unclear whether this lord is
Guitard or his successor, Guillem Guitard). |
1095 - ? |
Guillem Guitard Caboet |
Son. Lord of Caboet. |
? |
Miró Guitard Caboet |
Son. Lord of Caboet. |
1114 - 1150 |
Peter I |
Viscount of Alt Urgel. Gained Cerdanya (1126).
Viscount (1127). |
1126 - 1127 |
Peter I, viscount of Urgel is the first to assume the title
viscount of Castellbò, following his marriage to Sybil, heir to the viscounty
of Cerdanya. He and his successors are shown here in green
to avoid confusion with the House of Caboet. |
? |
Ramon Caboet |
Son of Miró. Lord of Caboet. |
? - 1170 |
Arnau Caboet |
Son. Lord of Caboet. Died without male issue. |
1150 - 1185 |
Ramon II Castellbò |
Son of Peter I. Viscount of Castellbò (Alt Urgell
& Cerdanya). |
1159 |
The oath of 1095 between the Caboet and the bishopric of Urgel is now
confirmed by a treaty between Viscount Arnau and Bernat Sanç (Sancho),
bishop of Urgel. This treaty also stipulates that although the House of
Caboet still exercises co-sovereignty, it is not able to exercise rights
over politicians, the military, or judicial matters. |
1180 |
The widowed Arnalda, daughter of Arnau of Caboet, has remained under the protection
of the bishop of Urgel following the death of her father and her first husband,
Bertran de Tarascon. Now she marries the future Viscount Arnau of Castellbò
('the castle, stronghold'), joining together that title with Cerdanya and making
the viscount's descendants the successors of the House of Caboet. Arnalda dies
in 1201 or 1203. |
1185 - 1226 |
Arnau Castellbò |
Son. Viscount of Castellbò. Married Arnalda Caboet. |
1186 |
Concerned that the viscounts of Castellbò may be tempted to exercise too
much power in Andorra, the bishop of Urgel ensures that Arnau Castellbò is
not recognised by the Andorrans as their lord without his consent. |
1226 |
The daughter of Arnalda and her husband, the viscount of Castellbò, is
Ermessenda. She now marries Roger Bernat II, the count of Foix in
south-central
France. They become
Roger Bernat II and Ermessenda I, counts of Foix, viscounts of Castellbò and
Cerdanya, and co-sovereigns of Andorra (still shared with the bishop of
Urgel). |
1226 - 1230 |
Ermessenda Castellbò |
Daughter. Viscountess of Castellbò. Married Roger Bernat
II. |
1230 - 1240 |
Roger Bernat I (Roger Bernat II of Foix) |
Husband. Count of Foix. Administered Andorra from 1230. |
1240 - 1265 |
Roger (Roger IV of Foix) |
Administered Andorra from 1240. |
1265 - 1278 |
Roger Bernat II (Roger Bernat III of Foix) |
Son? |
1278 |
Quarrels between the Spanish bishop of Urgel and the
French counts over
rights in Andorra leads now to their adoption of a paéage, a feudal
institution that recognises the equal rights of two lords to a seigniorage.
The Treaty of Joint Suzerainty between the bishop of Urgel and the count of
Foix will see them acting as co-princes. The numbering for the counts of
Foix now ignores Castellbò's numbering and naming assumes a more Anglicised format
thanks to the records used to source the information. |
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BISHOPS OF URGEL |
COUNTS OF FOIX |
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1278 - 1293 |
Pedro d'Urg /
d'Urtx |
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Bishop of Urgel since 1269. |
1278 - 1302 |
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Roger Bernard III |
Count of Foix and
viscount of Castellbò. Killed. |
1290 - 1302 |
The wife of Roger Bernard inherits the viscounty of Bearn. In 1295 he is
appointed governor of Gascony and his first act is to return the two castles
that he had early seized. He is mortally wounded in 1302 fighting the
Catalans, and dies in Tarascon (Tarascó). His body is placed in the
Cistercian Abbey of Bolbona. |
1295 - 1308 |
Guillem de Montcada |
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1302 - 1315 |
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Gaston I |
Son. Count of Foix
and viscount of Castellbò. |
1309 - 1326 |
Ramón Trebaylla |
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1315 |
Gaston II of Foix and IX of Bearn inherits these titles from his father in
1308, but the viscount of Castellbò passes to his brother, Roger Bernat (Bernard).
During his lifetime he gains other titles in the form of viscount of
Lautrec, Marsan and Gabardà, lord of Andorra (in 1315), and also Donasà.
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The county of Foix was situated in south-eastern France,
touching the Pyrenees at its lowest point and providing a
western neighbour to the important regional centre of
Narbonne
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1315 - 1343 |
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Gaston II |
Son. Count of Foix.
Died 1343 and buried in Bolbona Abbey. |
1326 - 1341 |
Arnau de Llordà |
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1341 - 1347 |
Pere de Narbona |
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1343 - 1391 |
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Gaston III Phoebus |
Son. Count of
Foix. Failed to produce a legitimate male heir. |
1348 - 1351 |
Niccolo Capocci |
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1351 - 1361 |
Hug Desbac |
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1362 - 1364 |
Guillem Arnau de Patau |
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1365 - 1370 |
Pero de Luna |
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1371 - 1388 |
Berenguer D'Erill |
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1388 - 1415 |
Galceran de Vilanova |
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1391 |
With Gaston's failure to produce a recognisable heir for the county of Foix,
the title passes to his cousin Matthew. As the viscount of Castellbò since
1381, Matthew is able to reunify the two titles. |
1391 - 1396 |
|
Matthew |
Cousin. Count of Foix,
and viscount of Castellbò. |
1396 |
Matthew invades Catalonia to further his claim to its throne upon the death
of John I of Aragon. He is forced
to abandon his attempt in the face of Martin the Humane's stronger claim which
also appears to threaten his own position in terms of Andorra. Martin seizes
Castellvi Rosanes and Moncada from Matthew. |
1396 - 1398 |
|
Matthew |
Restored. Died
without producing an heir. |
1398 |
Upon Matthew's death without his having produced a legitimate make heir, his
estate and titles pass to Isabel (Isabella) or Elizabeth Castellbó, who is
usually referred to as Isabel de Foix. She has already (in 1381) married Arquimbald
de Grailly, lord of Grailly, but it takes the
French king four years
to recognise his role as count of Foix because he is allied to the
English. |
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GRAILLY |
|
1398 - 1413 |
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Isabella |
Sister. Countess of Foix,
and viscountess of Castellbò. |
1398 - 1413 |
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Archibald / Arquimbald |
Husband and joint
prince of Andorra with Isabella. |
1408 - 1409 |
William III of Narbonne lands on
Sardinia on 8 December
1408 to be crowned king, but Martin the Humane's son, Martin the Younger, has
already landed a force of his own from
Sicily (on 6 October),
with a subsidiary force of men under the command of John, son of Arquimbald
and Isabella. The two meet at the Battle of Sanluri in 1409 and the battle
is a disaster for William. He is forced to flee to
France for assistance,
but Martin of Sicily dies of malaria a few days after the battle. |
1413 - 1426 |
With the death of Arquimbald, Isabella hands everyday administrative duties
to their son, John. The countess remains nominally in overall authority
until her own death in 1426. In 1415, Henry V of
England wins a surprise victory at the Battle of Agincourt. One of the
relatively small number of commanders to survive on the
French side is John
I, count of Foix. Five years later, Charles VI cedes France to Henry V in
the Treaty of Troyes. The king's son, Charles VII, apparently
dispossessed, refuses to heed his father's commands and sets up a rival claim
to the throne, accompanied by John of Foix. |
1413 - 1436 |
|
John I |
Son. Prince John of Foix, count of Foix, viscount of Bearn. |
1416 - 1436 |
Francesc de Tovia |
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1436 - 1472 |
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Gaston IV |
Son. Count of Foix. Married to Eleanore, infanta
of Aragon. |
1437 - 1461 |
Arnau Roger de Pallars |
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1462 - 1466 |
Jaume de Cardona |
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1467 - 1472 |
Roderic de Borja |
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Pope
Alexander VI in 1492. |
1471 - 1472 |
Louis XI of France refuses
to recognise the rights of the Foix in
Navarre, and Gaston teams up
with his new son-in-law, Francis II of
Brittany
(who has just married Princess Margarita of Foix in the same year), and also
Charles the Bold of
Burgundy, and revolts. However, he quickly dissolves the alliance and
flees to Navarre where he heads the supporters of his wife, Eleanore. He
dies at Roncesvalles in 1472. |
1472 - 1515 |
Pere de Cardona |
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|
1472 - 1483 |
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Francis Phoebus |
Grandson. Count of Foix. King of
Navarre. Poisoned? |
1479 |
Eleanore is the daughter of Blanca and John II, king of
Aragon. Married to Gaston IV,
count of Foix and co-prince of Andorra, she is already a widow by now (with
Gaston dying in 1472). Instead, their grandson, Francis Phoebus, succeeds
as king of Navarre, and has
already served as the count of Foix and co-prince of Andorra since 1472.
(His father, Gaston of Foix, son of Gaston IV, had predeceased his father
in 1470.) |
1483 - 1512 |
|
Catherine |
Sister. Countess
of Foix. Queen. m John III of
Navarre. |
1505 |
Germaine of Foix marries Ferdinand II, king of
Aragon,
Navarre and
Sicily, and
soon to be the regent of
Castile,
thereby bringing the lordship of Andorra under Spanish rule. |
1512 - 1513 |
Most of
the kingdom of Navarre is seized by Aragon
and then Castile
under Ferdinand of Navarre and then his son, Charles I of a united
Spain. Pamplona is
occupied, Upper Navarre is annexed, and the title of viscount of Castellbò
is confiscated. For a brief period they also hold authority over Andorra.
The remainder of Navarre - now termed
French Navarre
- is still held by Catherine and John II, as are the counties of Foix and
Bigorra, and the viscounties of Bearn and Marsan. |
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D'ALBRET |
|
1512 - 1517 |
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Catherine |
Reduced to
French Navarre.
Countess of Foix. |
1512 - 1516 |
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John II |
Husband, and
co-ruler of French
Navarre. |
1515 - 1530 |
Joan D'espés |
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1516 |
On taking over the kingdoms of
Castile,
Navarre, and
Aragon under the banner of a united
Spain, Charles I of
Habsburg grants the lordship of Les Valls (The Valleys), as it is currently
known, to Germaine of Foix's line in perpetuity.
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The poor lands of French Navarre were filled with small farms
abutting the jagged hills of the Pyrenees, with most of the
working population having Basque ancestry - linking them directly
to the earliest hunter-gatherer settlers in Europe
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1516 - 1555 |
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Henry II |
Son. Co-ruler in
French Navarre
following father's death. |
1532 - 1533 |
Pere Jordan de Urries |
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1534 - 1551 |
Francesc de Urries |
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1552 - 1556 |
Miquel Despuig |
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1555 - 1572 |
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Jeanne III
d'Albret |
Daughter. Queen of
French Navarre
and countess of Foix. |
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HOUSE OF
CAPET-BOURBON |
|
1555 - 1562 |
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Anthony / Antoine |
Husband and
co-ruler with Jeanne III. Duc de Vendome. |
1556 - 1560 |
Joan Pérez García de Olivan |
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|
1561 - 1571 |
Pere de Castellet |
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|
1560 - 1562 |
A
massacre of Protestants by Catholics near Paris in 1562 ignites the first of
eight French Wars of Religion. Jeanne and Anthony have already introduced
reforms in
French Navarre
and Bearn in line with Jeanne's Calvinist beliefs. Anthony's own brother,
Louis I Bourbon, prince of Condé, had already been arrested and sentenced to
death (in 1560) for supporting the Protestant cause. As the conflict begins,
Anthony is in Rouen, where he is harried and where he dies on 10 November
1562. |
1562 - 1610 |
|
Henry III |
Son.
Duke of Bourbon. King of
France (1589-1610). |
1568 - 1571 |
The
French king, Charles IX,
orders the confiscation of the lands of his Protestant opponents. The Catholics
of Bearn, part of the holdings of Jeanne III, led by Terride, rebel and take
power as royal troops do elsewhere. The peace of Longjumeau of 23 March 1568,
ends the Second French War of Religion but almost immediately the
Third French War of Religion begins in September 1568. The Battle of Jarnac
on 12 March 1569 kills the prince of Condé, the Protestant leader, and Henry
of Navarre is appointed the new political leader while military leadership is
in the hands of Gaspard de Coligny.
In August 1569, Jeanne III regains her estates with the arrival of the forces
of Duke Francis de Montmorency. On 8 August of 1570 the Peace of
Saint-Germain-en-Laye is signed. In 1571 the status of Calvinism is
formalised in Bearn and Navarre as the state religion, and shortly afterwards
Jeanne negotiates a union between her son, Henry of Navarre, with Marguerite
de Valois, sister of Charles IX of France, although she does not live to see
the union effected. |
1572 - 1576 |
Joan Dimes Lloris |
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1577 - 1579 |
Miquel Jeroni Morell |
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|
1580 - 1586 |
Hug Ambròs de Montcada |
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|
1587 - 1609 |
Andreu Capella |
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|
1589 |
Henry
III, king of France,
recognises the Protestant Henry III, duc de Bourbon, king of
French Navarre,
and co-prince of Andorra as his successor. The League of Cambrai and
the duc de Guise are far from happy about this, but Henry has the duke
of Guise assassinated at Blois. King Henry himself is stabbed to death
on 2 August 1589 by the Dominican Jacques Clément. Henry of Navarre
succeeds him as King Henry IV of
France. |
1589 - 1596 |
The
League refuses to recognise Henry IV as king of
France and he has to
conquer his way to power. His conversion to Catholicism at Saint-Denis (1589)
followed by his coronation at Chatres (1594), opens Paris to him. His
reconquest continues with the the Edict of Nantes (1594) and the taking of
Amiens (1596), which ends the civil wars.
 |
The entrance of Henry IV into Paris in 1594 as depicted in oils
and which marked the victory of the Bourbons of French Navarre
in their efforts to claim the throne
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1607 |
By
edict, Henry III of
France,
French Navarre, and
Foix, establishes the head of the French state, along with the bishop of
Urgel, as co-princes of Andorra. |
1610 - 1620 |
Bernat de Salvà |
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|
1610 - 1643 |
|
Louis XIII |
Son. King of
France (1610-1643). |
1610 -
1617 |
Louis
XIII, just aged nine when he ascends the
French throne, is at first excluded from
power by his powerful mother who acts as regent. Her co-regent, Concini, is
assassinated on Louis' orders in 1617. Further afield during this century,
French piracy in the Caribbean, mainly targeted at wealthy
Spanish
ships and the colony of
Hispaniola,
becomes firmly established. |
1621 - 1627 |
Lluis Diez Aux de Armendáriz |
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|
1627 - 1633 |
Antoni Pérez |
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|
1634 - 1651 |
Pau Duran |
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|
1643 - 1715 |
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Louis XIV |
Son. King of
France (1643-1715). |
1643 -
1661 |
With
Louis' agreement, Cardinal Mazarin (along with the king's mother) governs
France until Mazarin's
death in 1661, by which time the king is twenty-three. During his reign,
Louis establishes an absolute monarchy, but is almost constantly at war
internally, owing to the revolts of a people overburdened by taxation and
opposition from princes of the blood, disappointed from being progressively
excluded from power. This process is accelerated when the king removes his
court to the newly-built Palace of Versailles, just outside Paris, where
he is able to control the court and small council of the few faithful. |
1655 - 1663 |
Joan Manuel Espinosa |
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1664 - 1670 |
Melcior Palau |
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1671 - 1681 |
Pere de Copons |
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|
1682 - 1688 |
Joan Baptista Desbac |
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1689 - 1694 |
Oleguer de Montserrat |
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1695 - 1714 |
Julián Cano y Tovar |
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1702 - 1715 |
Portugal
initially supports
France during the War of
Spanish Succession but
Britain alters the situation with the signing of the Methuen Treaty with
Portugal on 16 May 1703. In December 1703 a military alliance between
Austria,
Britain, and Portugal sees them invade
Spain. The allied forces
capture Madrid in 1706, although the campaign ends in a defeat at the Battle
of Almansa. The conclusion of the war in 1715 ensures that the Bourbon crowns
of Spain and France can never be united under a single ruler. |
1714 - 1737 |
Simeón de Guinda
y Apéztegui |
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|
1715 - 1774 |
|
Louis XV |
Great-grandson. King of
France (1715-1774). |
1738 - 1747 |
Jorge Curado y Torreblanca |
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|
1740 - 1748 |
The
War of the Austrian Succession is a wide-ranging conflict that encompasses
the North American King George's War, two Silesian Wars, the
War of Jenkins' Ear, and involves most of the crowned heads of Europe
in deciding the question of whether Maria Theresa can succeed as archduke of
Austria
and, perhaps even more importantly, as
Holy Roman Emperor.
 |
The War of the Austrian Succession saw Europe go to war to
decide whether Maria Theresa would secure the throne left
to her by her father, but several other issues were also decided
as a wide range of wars were involved in the overall conflict
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Austria
is supported by
Britain,
the Netherlands,
the Savoyard kingdom of
Sardinia, and
Saxony
(after an early switchover), but opposed by an opportunistic
Prussia and
France, who had raised
the question in the first place to disrupt Habsburg control of Central Europe,
backed up by
Bavaria
and Sweden
(briefly). Spain joins
the war in an unsuccessful attempt to restore possessions lost to Austria in
1715. |
1747 - 1756 |
Sebastián de Victoria
de Emparán y de Loyola |
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|
1757 - 1762 |
Francisco José Catalán
de Ocón |
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|
1763 - 1771 |
Francisco Fernández de Xátiva |
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|
1772 - 1779 |
Joaquín de Santiyán y Valdivieso |
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|
1774 - 1792 |
|
Louis XVI |
Grandson. King of
France (1774-1792). |
1780 - 1783 |
Juan García Montenegro |
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|
1785 - 1795 |
José de Boltas |
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|
1789 - 1792 |
Louis XVI is unable to impose the reforms he wants in
France and fails to support
his more competent ministers. An economic crisis aggravated by the
American War of Independence leads the government to convene
the states general on 5 May 1789. Ill-advised and influenced by the queen,
Louis leads the monarchy to its fall. The French Revolution begins on 14
July with the storming of the Bastille prison during a popular uprising in
Paris. On 10 August 1792 the Tuileries is taken by the Paris mob, signalling
the end of the Ancien Régime. The king is deposed and imprisoned in
the Temple with his family, and is condemned to death by a narrow majority. |
1792 - 1795 |
|
Louis XVII |
Son. Uncrowned
king of France. |
1793 - 1794 |
The ex-king, Louis XVI, is executed by guillotine on 21 January, while
his brother (the future Louis XVIII) has already fled the country. On
6 April, the Committee of Public Safety is created in Paris, headed by
Maximilien Robespierre and so begins 'The Terror'. In the same year, the
French
revolutionary government refuses the traditional Andorran tribute because
it smacks of feudalism. French suzerainty is renounced, despite the wish
of the Andorrans to enjoy French protection and avoid being under exclusively
Spanish influence. |
1795 - 1806 |
|
(Vacant) |
Position refused
by the French Directory. |
1797 - 1816 |
Francisco Antonio de la Dueña y Cisneros |
|
|
1798 - 1799 |
Following Napoleon's failed expedition to
Egypt,
the French
Directory is swept away by a coup on '18 Brumaire', 9 November. Although
several members of the failing Directory support the coup, one of its main
instigators is Napoleon himself. He becomes the head of the new government
as First Consul. |
1804 - 1806 |
Napoleon Bonaparte gravitates France towards the creation of the
First Empire,
convinced that creating a new French monarchy and embedding it in the
constitution will make a
Bourbon restoration
much harder. In 1806, he restores the co-principality after the Andorrans
have petitioned him to do so. French title to the principality subsequently
passes from the emperor and then kings to the presidents of France. |
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HOUSE OF
BONAPARTE |
|
1806 - 1814 |
|
Napoleon I Bonaparte |
Emperor of
France
(1804-1814). |
1814 - 1806 |
Napoleon is defeated and abdicates the thrones of
France and
Italy. The
Bourbon monarchy is
restored under Louis XVIII, and the czar of
Russia, less
antagonistic towards the former emperor than other European monarchs, helps
in the choice of the Mediterranean island of Elba as a small kingdom to
which Napoleon can retire.
 |
French grenadiers of the line defend against an attack by
Prussian infantry in the three-day Battle of Leipzig in October
1813, dubbed the 'Battle of the Nations' due to the number of
states involved, in this 1914 painting by Richard Knötel |
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HOUSE OF
CAPET-BOURBON |
|
1814 - 1815 |
|
Louis XVIII |
Brother of Louis
XVI. King of France (1814-1815). |
1814 - 1815 |
Payments to Napoleon from France
towards his upkeep, as promised by the victorious allies, never arrive because
Louis XVIII blocks them. Eventually, in 1815, Napoleon abandons his exile for
the Hundred Days rule, and Louis XVIII flees to
Belgium. |
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HOUSE OF
BONAPARTE |
|
1815 |
|
Napoleon I Bonaparte |
Restored as
emperor of France
(1815). |
1815 |
Europe mobilises against France and the duke of Wellington's
Anglo-Dutch-German
army defeats Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June in conjunction
with the Prussian
army, ending twenty-five years of war in Europe. The French monarchy is
restored. |
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HOUSE OF CAPET-BOURBON |
|
1815 - 1824 |
|
Louis XVIII |
Restored king of
France (1815-1824). |
1817 - 1824 |
Bernardo Francés y Caballero |
|
|
1820 - 1823 |
King Ferdinand VII of Spain
is detained by rebels after refusing to adopt the new and liberal Spanish
Constitution of 1812. It takes until 1822 for European states to react and
in 1823, under general agreement by those states,
French forces invade Spain
to restore Ferdinand, supported by Charles Albert, the future
Savoyard king of
Sardinia. The Battle
of Trocadero sees the French attack a fort from the seaward side to secure
access to Cadiz itself, which falls after a three week siege. Ferdinand is
freed to take his revenge, executing around 30,000 people. |
1824 - 1827 |
Bonifacio López y Pulido |
|
|
1824 - 1830 |
|
Charles X |
Brother. King of
France. Deposed by July Revolution.
Died 1836. |
1827 - 1851 |
Simón de Guardiola y Hortoneda |
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HOUSE OF
CAPET-BOURBON-ORLEANS |
|
1830 - 1848 |
|
Louis Philippe |
Duc de Orleans. King of
France (1830-1848). |
1847 - 1848 |
An economic crisis in 1847 is the final straw for the working classes in
France, after
a steady worsening in their general conditions under the king's rule. In a
year of European revolutions in 1848
(Ireland,
Lombardy-Ventia, and
Wallachia also
suffer), they revolt against the government and the monarchy is overthrown.
Louis Philippe abdicates in favour of his grandson and flees to
Britain,
mindful of the fate of Louis XVI in 1793. Public opinion is against his
grandson being crowned, so on 26 February the French
Second Republic
is declared. |
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HOUSE OF
BONAPARTE |
|
1848 - 1871 |
|
Louis Napoleon III |
President, and then emperor of
France (1852-1871). |
1852 |
Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who has been president of
France since
December 1848, now declares himself emperor, and the republic is replaced by the
Second Empire. |
1853 - 1879 |
José Caixal y Estrada |
|
|
1870 - 1871 |
Napoleon III refuses to accept the possibility of the
Prussian Prince
Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen gaining the
Spanish throne, and ends
up personally insulting the king of Prussia. The disagreement leads to
France going to war against
Prussia, but the country is humiliated with defeat and an invasion by Prussia's
armies, leading to the siege of Paris. The empire collapses and Louis Napoleon
goes into exile in
England where he later dies and is buried. |
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FRENCH REPUBLIC |
|
1871 |
A series
of republics replaces any further attempts at forming a
French monarchy or empire.
The French Third Republic is formed in 1871, although it almost founders
with the crushing of the Paris Commune and the majority decision to select
a new king. Henri, count of Chambord and former duke of Bordeaux, who had
been unconfirmed king for eleven days in 1830, refuses to acknowledge the
tricolour as the national flag of France and the restoration is effectively
sabotaged.
 |
This illustration of French Zouaves (light infantry,
generally drawn from North Africa) in the Crimea was
published in The Charleston Mercury on 21
November 1861
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|
1871 - 1873 |
|
Louis Adolphe Thiers |
President of
France. |
1873 - 1879 |
|
Patrice M de MacMahon |
President of
France. |
1879 - 1887 |
|
Francois P J Grévy |
President of
France. |
1879 - 1901 |
Salvador Casanas y Pagés |
|
|
1887 - 1894 |
|
Marie Sadi Carnot |
President of
France. |
1894 - 1895 |
|
Jean Casimir Périer |
President of
France. |
1895 - 1899 |
|
Francois Félix Faure |
President of
France. |
1899 - 1906 |
|
Émile Loubet |
President of
France. |
1901 |
Ramón Riu y Cabanes |
|
|
1905 - 1906 |
Juan José Laguarda y Fonollera |
|
|
1906 - 1913 |
Juan Benlloch y Vivó |
|
|
1906 - 1919 |
|
Clement Armand Fallieres |
President of
France. |
1913 - 1920 |
|
Raymond Poincaré |
President of
France. |
1914 - 1918 |
Having jointly guaranteed in 1839 to support the neutrality
of Belgium, when the country is
invaded by Germany,
Britain, France and
Russia are forced to
declare war at midnight on 4 August 1914. The German armies head towards
Paris before being halted and retreating to what becomes the Western Front
just inside French territory. A ceasefire is agreed with the remnants of the
Austro-Hungarian
empire by British, French, and
Italian forces on 3 November
1918, effectively ending the First World War. |
1920 - 1940 |
Justino Guitart y Vilardebó |
|
|
1920 |
|
Paul E L Deschanel |
President of
France. |
1920 - 1924 |
|
Alexandre Millerand |
President of
France. |
1924 - 1931 |
|
Gaston Doumergue |
President of
France. |
1931 - 1932 |
|
Paul Doumer |
President of
France. |
1932 - 1940 |
|
Albert Lebrun |
President of
France. |
|
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SKOSSYREV / SKOSSYREFF |
VICHY
(FASCIST) |
|
1934 |
Boris I |
|
Usurper. Ruled
for a few days. |
1934 |
Boris is an adventurer who proclaims himself king of Andorra, regent for the
'king of France', Jean
d'Orléans, duc de Guise (heir presumptive to the throne of France), 'true count
of Foix and Berne', ancient princes of Andorra. After a reign of eight days he
is deposed by the bishop of Urgel and the French president, and is arrested and
deported soon afterwards. |
1939 - 1944 |
The Nazi German
invasion of Poland on 1
September 1939 is the trigger for the Second World War. With both
France and
Britain pledged to support Poland, both countries have no option but to
declare war on 3 September. After a lightening march through the
Netherlands
and Belgium,
France is occupied by the Nazi war machine in 1940, ending the Third Republic.
Vichy (Fascist) rule is allowed as a puppet state in southern France (and
Algeria). |
1940 - 1944 |
|
Henri Philippe
Pétain |
President of
France.
|
1942 - 1969 |
Ramón Iglesias Navarri |
|
Bishop of Urgel. |
1944 |
A
provisional government is established in
France following the
liberation of Paris on 25 August 1944. Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain, hero
of Verdun in the First World War, is condemned to death for his part in
appeasing the Nazis, but his sentences is commuted to life imprisonment. |
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FRENCH PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT |
|
1944 - 1946 |
|
Charles de Gaulle |
Chairman of the
provisional government of
France. |
1946 |
|
Félix Gouin |
Chairman of the
provisional government of
France. |
1946 - 1947 |
|
Georges Bidault |
Chairman of the
provisional government of
France. |
1944 - 1947 |
The
Fourth Republic is declared in
France, almost as a
continuation of the Third Republic before it. Unfortunately it is
eventually discredited by inflation and colonial defeats. |
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FRENCH REPUBLIC |
|
1947 - 1954 |
|
Vincent Auriol |
President of
France. |
1954 - 1959 |
|
René Coty |
President of
France. |
1959 - 1969 |
|
Charles de Gaulle |
President of
France. |
1960s - 1980s |
Long an impoverished land with little contact with any nations other than
the adjoining France
and Spain, following
the conclusion of the Second World War, Andorra achieves considerable
prosperity through a developing tourist industry. This development is assisted
by improvements in transport and communications. It serves to break down
Andorra's isolation and to bring Andorrans into the mainstream of European
history. Public demands for democratic reforms lead to the extension of the
franchise to women in the 1970s and to the creation of new and more fully
autonomous organs of government in the early 1980s.
 |
Modern Andorra quickly became a typical Western European
location, but one that retained the stunning scenery of
some of the highest levels of the Pyrenees
|
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|
1969 - 1971 |
Ramón Malla Call |
|
Bishop of Urgel. |
1969 - 1974 |
|
Georges Pompidou |
President of
France. |
1971 - 2003 |
Juan Marti Alanis |
|
Bishop of Urgel. |
1974 - 1981 |
|
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing |
President of
France. |
1981 - 1995 |
|
Francois Mitterrand |
President of
France. |
1991 - 1993 |
Andorra enters into a customs union with the European Communities (latterly
the European Union) and is admitted to the United Nations on 28 July 1993.
The country has long been seeking ways of improving its export potential and
increase its economic ties with its European neighbours. The economy's
financial services sector is highly important, given Andorra's status as a
tax haven and its banking secrecy laws. |
1993 |
Bishop Juan Marti Alanis of Urgel and President Francois Mitterrand of
France are
co-signatories of Andorra's new constitution. The principality finally
becomes a parliamentary democracy. The new constitution retains the French
and Spanish co-princes,
albeit with reduced, and narrowly defined powers. Civil rights are greatly
expanded to include the legalisation of political parties and trade unions,
and provision is made for an independent judiciary. |
1995 - 2007 |
|
Jacques Chirac |
President of
France. |
2003 - Present |
Joan Enric Vives
Sicilia |
|
Bishop of Urgel.
Elevated to archbishop as a personal title. |
2007 - 2012 |
|
Nicolas Sarkozy |
President of
France. |
2012 - Present |
|
François Hollande |
President of
France. |
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