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Timeline
Roman times – Evidence of early settlement
10th century - The medieval town of Perpignan founded and became the capital of the counts of Roussillon
1172 - Bequeathed to the Counts of Barcelona
1197 - Perpignan became a partly self-governing commune
1258 - French feudal rights relinquished
1276 – Perpignan becomes capital of the Kingdom of Majorca
1344 - Peter IV of Aragon annexes the Kingdom of Majorca for the County of Barcelona
1463 - Louis XI of France attacks and occupies Perpignan
1473 - Violent uprising against French rule is harshly put down after a long siege
1493 - Charles VIII of France restores Perpignan to Ferdinand II of Aragon
1642 - Perpignan again besieged and captured by the French
1659 - Ceded by Spain to the kingdom of France as part of the Treaty of the Pyrenees
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Although settlement in the area dates back to Roman times, the medieval town of Perpignan was founded around the beginning of the 10th century and soon became the capital of the counts of Roussillon. Its southerly location near the frontier with Spain however led to a bloody future with Perpignan frequently under siege.
In 1172 Count Girard II bequeathed his lands to the Counts of Barcelona but by 1197 Perpignan had become a partly self-governing commune and in 1258 French feudal rights over Roussillon were relinquished by Louis IX in the Treaty of Corbeil.
The city’s golden age came at the end of the 13th century when James I, king of Aragon and count of Barcelona, formed the Kingdom of Majorca which reached from the Balearic Islands to Montpellier and Perpignan became its capital. The city prospered for several decades as a centre for cloth manufacture, leather, goldsmiths and other luxury crafts.
In 1344 Peter IV of Aragon annexed the Kingdom of Majorca and Perpignan once more became part of the County of Barcelona and a few years later suffered terribly from the Black Death losing almost half of its population to the horrific disease.
Louis XI of France attacked and occupied the city in 1463. It remained under French control, successfully defeating a brutal uprising against French rule in 1473 until Charles VIII of France restored it to Ferdinand II of Aragon in 1493 to allow him to concentrate on more pressing matters in Italy.
The final chapter in its history starts in the Thirty Years' War when in September 1642 Perpignan was again besieged and captured by the French. It was formally ceded by Spain 17 years later in the Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659 when it began to form part of the Kingdom of France.
Some of Perpignan’s most famous sons and daughters include François Arago (1786-1853), the physicist, astronomer and politician who secured the abolition of slavery in the French colonies. Robert Brasillach (1909-1945) was a pro-Nazi author in Vichy France and rugby union supporter who supported the ban on rugby league. Frédérick Bousquet (born 1981), French freestyle and butterfly swimmer who competed at two consecutive Summer Olympics (2000 and 2004) and Sandrine Erdely-Sayo (born 1968) pianist, the youngest recipient of the French Minister of Culture Prize at 13 years old.
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