Bera, Count of Barcelona

Berà was count of Barcelona from 801 until 820.

He was the son of William I, count of Toulouse (a cousin of Charlemagne) and of the Visigoth princess Cunegunda, William's first wife. After 790 his father handed over to him the government of the counties of Rasez and Conflent, entrusting those of Rosselló (with the pagus of Vallespir) to his other son Gaucelm (his son by his second wife Romilla).

From 796 Sa'dun al Ruayni governed Barcelona in opposition to the emir of Córdoba; in April 797 he was presented in Aachen and offered to submit the city to Charlemagne in exchange for his help against Córdoba. Charlemagne summoned an assembly in Toulouse in the spring of the 800 that decided to send his son Louis the Pious toward Barcelona; an army under the command of several noble men, between them Rostany of Girona, Ademar of Narbonne and William I of Toulouse, departed for Barcelona to assume control of the city, but Sa'dun did not fulfil his promise. They began a long siege, probably beginning in the autumn of 800. Sa'dun attempted to escape toward Córdoba to request help but he was captured. He was replaced as governor by Harun. The population continued to starve under the siege and Harun finally yielded the city, probably on Saturday, April 3, 801, with Louis I entering the city on the following day. Not long after, Berà, who had participated in the siege, was invested as count. It is believed that Berà, under the influence of his mother, along with supporters of a peace with the Muslims, instituted a truce that was finally accepted by Charlemagne in the year 812, for a term of three years.

By the death of his father (May 18, 812), the counties of Rasez and Conflent came fully under Berà's control, and he entrusted their government to his elder son Guillemó (Guillemundus). He then traveled to Aachen together with the counts Gaucelm of Rosselló, Odiló of Girona and Besalú, Guiscafred of Carcasonne, Ermenguer of Empúries, Ademar of Narbonne, Laibulf of Provence and Erlín of Beziers, to defend themselves against accusation made by a group of hispani landowners (that is to say, local nobles of the ancient provinces of Septimania and Gothia or the Hispanic March) that they were imposing taxes and unjust charges on their lands. Charlemagne judged in favour of the claimants.

Around 813 count Odiló of Girona and Besalú died and and these counties passed to Berà. In 815 the war with the Muslims was resumed, who, under the command of Ubayd Allah Abu Marwan, uncle of the emir Al-Hakam I, assaulted Barcelona, but a Visigothic mercenary army compelled to the attackers to retire. This victory increased the prestige of Berà, whose relationships with the local Gothic nobility had to be very good. In November 816 the wali of Zaragoza traveled to Aachen and negotiated a new truce, which was finally concluded in February 817, for three years. The failures of the Frankish policy in Pamplona and Aragón presented this truce, and its main sponsor, Berà, as contradicting national interest. The war party was headed by Berà's half-brother, count Gaucelm of Rosselló and Empúries, and by the Gaucelm's brother Bernat of Septimania.

In February 820 a general assembly was celebrated in Aachen with Berà in attendance. Gaucelm sent his Gothic lieutenant Sanila in his place, who accused Belà of infidelity and perfidy. The litigation, as was customary in that era, was settled by a judicial duel in the palace itself. Berà was defeated by Sanila. Emperor Louis I, who did not consider the count a traitor, commuted the penalty of death implicitly carried by the defeat, and instead sent him into exile in Rouen. There he stayed until his death in the year 844. In Barcelona he was succeeded by Rampó.