File talk:France 1154 Eng.jpg

  This map shows an erroneous area for the County of Toulouse, since there was the County of Roussillon beyond its Southern border. --Juiced lemon 16:43, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

In 893, Sunyer II became the first hereditary count of an independent Roussillon but his rule only extended over the eastern part of what became the later province. The western part, the Cerdanya, was ruled in 900 by Miró as first count. One of Miró's grandsons, Bernat, became the first hereditary count of the middle portion (Besalú).

By 1117 the Cerdanya and Besalú had become subsumed within the County of Barcelona and shortly after the first crusade the Count of Roussillon swore fealty to the Count of Barcelona. The last count of Roussillon, Girard II, left all his lands to the Count of Barcelona, which was one of the titles of Alfonso II of Aragon, and he took possession of Roussillon in 1172.

By 1235 James I of Aragon had wrested the Balearic Isles from the Moors and he joined the islands with Roussillon to create the Kingdom of Majorca, with its capital at Perpignan.

The Kingdom of Majorca became subsumed within the Kingdom of Aragon which in turn was subsumed within the nascent KIngdom of Spain in 1479.

In 1659, the Treaty of the Pyrenees transferred Roussillon, Besalú and the Cerdanya from Spain to France and the ancien régime province of Roussillon was created.

During the French Revolution, Roussillon was abolished and a new department, the Department of Pyrénées-Orientales, replaced it. This is the name by which the department is officially known in France today. It corresponds roughly to the old Roussillon, with the addition of the comarca of Fenouillèdes. The old name of Roussillon did contribute to the French région of Languedoc-Roussillon which existed from 1982 to 2015 but this was subsumed within the new, larger, région of Occitanie in 2016. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Terryleary (talk • contribs) 10:48, 11 January 2020 (UTC)