Career
Borrell's military career seems to have been undistinguished—he is recorded fighting only two battles and seems to have lost both, and it was under his rule that Barcelona was sacked in 985 by the Muslim leader al-Mansur. On the other hand, he was a far greater success as a diplomat. Before the attacks of the 980s, and discounting a single raid by the Caliph al-Hakam II soon after his succession in 961, he maintained cordial relations with the Muslim rulers of Córdoba and also sent emissaries to the kings of the Franks. In 970, furthermore, he himself voyaged to Rome to meet with Pope John XIII and Emperor Otto I.
Borrell was also a patron of learning and culture. In 967, Borrell visited the monastery of Aurillac and the Abbot asked the count to take Gerbert of Aurillac with him so that the lad could study mathematics in Spain. In the following years, Gerbert studied under the direction of Bishop Ato of Vich, some 60 km north of Barcelona, and probably also at the nearby Monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll. He was also taken on the 970 embassy to Rome, during which the Pope persuaded Otto to employ Gerbert as a tutor for his young son, the future emperor Otto II.
In 985 however the Hispanic March was attacked by the Muslim general al-Mansur. Al-Mansur managed to take Barcelona which was pillaged and sacked. Many citizens were taken prisoner by the Muslim forces. Borrell sent a request to help to King Lothar III, the current King of the Western Franks, but although documents of Borrell's refer to royal orders that must have come from this embassy, actual military assistance was beyond Lothar's power. What appears to have been a similar plea to Hugh Capet resulted in a letter from Hugh to Borrell promising aid if the count preferred "to obey us rather than the Ishmaelites", but in the event Hugh could not persuade his nobles to support a southern expedition. No answer to Hugh's letter is known from Borrell, and the connection between the March and France was effectively broken. Catalan historians now consider this the point at which their nation became a sovereign power, and the millennium of their independence was celebrated in 1987 with conferences and numerous publications, but in fact the Catalan counties other than Borrell's appear to have retained links with the Frankish crown for a little longer.
From 988 onwards, Borrell's sons Ramon Borrell and Ermengol appear as rulers in a divided territory, with Ramon Borrell inheriting the core triad of Barcelona, Girona and Osona and Ermengol taking over in Urgell. Borrell continued to issue documents and tour his domains, however, and when he was taken ill in 993 in Castellciutat near la Seu d'Urgell, the will that he made provided for him outliving his executors. It was not to be, however, and his death followed soon afterwards.
Read more about this topic: Borrell II, Count Of Barcelona
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