Catalan Independence #1: History

Catalan Independentismo is currently under hot debate all over Spain, and it is beginning to look like it may spark more controversy as other independence movements are inspired to make their own bids for independence following the Catalan referendum of October 1.

So why do the Catalans want independence? Let's talk about one of my favorite topics: the history of Catalonia.

Living in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona (el barrio gotico) allows me to see how the national consciousness of this country is wrapped in myth, legend, and mystery. Let's talk about one of the most well-known stories of Catalonia: the origin of the Catalan flag.

(A picture I took yesterday of a Catalan flag hanging from the House of Canons behind la Catedral de Barcelona)

The Catalan flag is formed with four red stripes on a gold background, and it helps us understand the Catalan national consciousness because it represents a royal bloodline that is one thousand years old.

You see, in the year 711 AD the Iberian Peninsula was invaded from the south by the moors (the Moroccans). They made their way through the entire peninsula until they had advanced to nearly the French (at the time Frankish) borders, and it took Spain 700 years to finish recapturing their lands.

Moorish Spain posed a real problem for the Franks, so in the 800s a group of knights and warriors were tasked with defending a buffer zone between France and Moorish Spain.

Legend has it that when Charles the Bald came to crown Wilfred the Hairy (I'm not kidding, those are their real names) count of these border lands, Wilfred the Hairy lay sick from a wound he had received the day before. A servant told Charles: "M'lord, you cannot see Wilfred. We think he may not live", but Charles was not to be stopped. Taking the golden shield he had brought as a gift for Wilfred, he went to where Wilfred lay, rubbed his hand in his wound until it was covered in blood, and pulled four fingers down the golden shield.

"This now is royal blood", Charles said, and from that time forward, Wilfred and his descendants ruled Catalonia.

Ladies and gentlemen, I know that story sounds too fantastic to be true, and maybe it is, but it is nonetheless featured in children's books and textbooks all over Catalonia.

That story sends the Catalan flag back, like I said, one thousand years. The Spanish flag, in comparison, has only existed in its official form for about three hundred years. The Spanish constitution (which we will talk about later) is only about forty years old.

To be Catalan is to identify with a nation crowned by an ancient bloodline, currently set against a young democracy. Who will prevail?

If you want to weigh in on Catalan Independentismo, please comment below! Also, please follow and upvote if you like this content, and I'll keep more coming!