page_title: Generalitat de Catalunya
section_title: Medieval origins
hierarchical_section_title: Generalitat de Catalunya / History / Medieval origins
caption_attribution_description: English: Palau de la Generalitat Deutsch: Palau de la Generalitat Español: Palacio de la Generalidad de Cataluña
context_page_description: The Generalitat de Catalunya, or Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia politically organizes its self-government. It is formed by the Parliament of Catalonia, the Presidency of the Generalitat de Catalunya, and the Executive Council of Catalonia
  Its origins are in the 13th century when permanent councils were created to rule administration of the Courts of the different territories and Kingdoms that formed the Crown of Aragon which gave birth to the General Council of the Principality of Catalonia, the General Council of the Kingdom of Aragon and the General Council of the Kingdom of Valencia.
  Its headquarters are at the Palau de la Generalitat, in the city of Barcelona.
context_section_description: Catalonia's political past as a territorially differentiated community with its own representative and separated institutions, with respect to the sovereign power of the combined Catalan counties (988-1164), the Crown of Aragon (1164-1516), the Monarchy of Spain (1516-1808),(1812-1814) French Empire and of the Spanish constitutional state (since 1814), can be divided into four stages, separated by three great ruptures in the legal/public order.
  The Pau i Treva de Déu ("Peace and Truce of God") was a social movement born in the eleventh century promoted by the Church, united with the peasantry as the response to the violence perpetrated by feudal nobles. The hometowns, then, delimited a space protected of feudal violence. However, to ensure a coexistence climate, it was necessary to go further, establishing an authority that prohibited the practice of any type of violent act anywhere in the territory. This was the objective of the assemblies of Peace and Truce of God, the first of which, in the Catalan counties, took place in Toluges (Roussillon), in 1027, under the presidency of Abbot Oliba, on behalf of Bishop Berenguer d'Elna, absent from the diocese because he was on a pilgrimage. The origin of the Catalan Courts can be considered from the Peace of Truce of God.
  The Generalitat of Catalonia stems from the medieval institution which ruled, in the name of the King of the Crown of Aragon, some aspects of the administration of the Principality of Catalonia. The Catalan Courts were the main institution of the Principality during its existence as a political entity and approved the Catalan constitutions. The first constitutions were that of the Courts of 1283.
  The medieval precedent of the Generalitat, the Diputació del General de Catalunya ("Deputation of the General of Catalonia", where "General" means the political community of the Catalans and not the military rank) was a permanent council of deputies established by the Courts in order to recapt the new "tax of the General" in 1359, and gained an important political power during the next centuries, assuming tasks of prosecutor. It was chosen by the legislators in 1931 because they felt it was appropriate for invoking as a legitimising base for contemporary self-government.
caption: Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, seat of the Government and the Presidency of Catalonia
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