Otger Cataló (or Otger Catalon, Otger Cathaló, Otger Gollant, Otgerius Gollantes Cathelon, Otger Katzalot, Otho Katzalot, Germano Cathelon; ) is a fictional historical character who, according to legend, fought to free Catalonia from the Saracens, alongside the Nine Barons of Fame, sometime in the 8th century AD. The first sources mentioning him, dating to the 15th century, use his name to provide an explanation for the origin of the name "Catalonia". The legend spread from 15th century, becoming associated with a Catalanist cultural perspective during the 19th century Catalan Renessaince, due to the works of the authors Víctor Balaguer, Antoni Ferrer i Codina and Jacint Verdaguer.
There have been many versions of the legend, but all agree that Otger came from outside Catalonia, most chroniclers stating he was from southern France, but a minority describing him as German. The legends have him entering Spain to fight a non-Christian enemy, usually the Saracens but occasionally the Goths, assisted by nine barons, who were either Catalans or servants who accompanied him from his homeland. After many victorious battles, Otger died, with his death often said to have occurred while he was besieging Empuries. After his death, the legend states that the nine barons fled to the mountains and awaited the liberation of Catalonia by Christian forces under Charlemagne.
Otger's name is influenced by the name of Ogier the Dane.
Development of the legend
Earliest surviving documents
The first two surviving mentions of Otger Cataló date to 1418 (manuscript 92–6–12, Library of the University of Valencia) and in 1431 (special manuscript 13, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris), both written in Medieval Catalan. The two documents give differing accounts of the life of Otger, but agree that the name of the region derives from the name of his castle.
1418 Manuscript
The 1418 manuscript states that in 732, a noble called Otger, who resided in a castle called Cathaló in Gascony, received news that "Barchinona" (Barcelona) had been conquered by the Goths, who are described as "people who do not believe in God". In order to regain the city for Christianity, Otger and the people of his castle invaded the lands of the Goths and fought in many battles, before besieging Barcelona. The Goths realised victory was impossible and surrendered the city. Following the war, the many followers of Otger settled in Barcelona and the nearby regions, taking the widows and daughters of the fallen Goths as their wives. Over the years, the children of these marriages took some words from their fathers and some from their mothers, creating a new language and taking their name, "Catalans", from Otger's castle of Cathaló.
This text is unusual in that it positions Otger as fighting a religious war against the Goths, who had long been Christians by 732. Twentieth century Catalan politician and historian, Miquel Coll i Alentorn, argued that this was due to a misreading of an earlier, now lost, source, which must have stated that Otger campaigned in (rather than against) "the land of the Goths", referring to Visigothic Hispania.
1431 Manuscript
The 1431 manuscript relates that Otger was a "great captain" of Francia, who came to Catalonia to conquer it for the Christian faith "in the time that the Moors held the Principality of Catalonia, or the most part of it." The chronicler then says that nine barons accompanied him in his conquest, and that he died giving siege to the city of Empúries. Like the 1418 chronicle, the text states that Catalonia was named after Otger. The document then relates that the Christians were driven to the mountains and rocky fortresses of Catalonia, until Charlemagne "conquered all of Spain" and divided Catalonia into 9 counties given to the 9 barons. The text gives further details of the creation of 9 bishoprics and 900 houses of gentlemen.
Other early versions
Pere Tomich, in his 1438 Histories e Conquestes del reyalme d'Arago e principat de Cathalunya gives a mixture of information found in the 1418 and 1431 manuscripts, alongside details found in neither. He states that Otger's real surname was Golant, but that he was known as Otger Cataló due to the name of his castle. According to Tomich, Otger was a German noble who governed the province of Guyenne for the King of France. A more detailed account of Otger's campaign in Catalonia is given, stating he entered the region through Val d'Aran, into the Àneu Valley, where they fought battles against the moors of the region, alongside those of Pallars and Ribagorça. He continued his conquest by taking the castles of the region, alongside those of Cerdanya and Capcir, founding churches as he went. While Otger was laying siege to Empuries, Tomich says that a coalition of Muslim kings of Catalan cities formed and marched on the besiegers. By this time, Otger had died of illness (Tomich gives the date as 735), his army, now headed by one of the nine barons, Napifer of Montcada, retreated to the mountains and strong places. The history then narrates the liberation of the region by Charlemagne and the 9 barons. This version was highly influential on subsequent accounts of Otger.
Completed in 1448, Jaume Marquilles gives a version close to the 1431 manuscript in his Commentary on the Usages of Barcelona. It differs from the original in that it gives a date of 719 for the arrival of Otger, gives further details on the nine barons, and links the story of the reconquest to the cycle of legends around Wilfred the Hairy.
Theorised Latin source for the early documents
The 1418, 1431 and Tomich's versions were likely influenced by an earlier source written in Latin. The two earliest sources have considerable differences which show the 1431 author was not aware of the 1418 text, thus suggesting that they were both expansions of a briefer original. Coll i Alentorn notes that the 1418 text's confusion about Otger's enemy implies that the author was working from an original source which merely stated he campaigned in the "land of the Goths", without stating who he was fighting against.
Coll i Alentorn's deduction that the text must have been in Latin is based on the locations given for Otger's castle in the 1418 text and Tomich's version. While the 1418 text uses the word "Gascunya" (Gascony) to describe the location of Cataló, Tomich and subsequent authors frequently use the term "Güiena" (Guyenne). Both these words are possible translations of the Latin term "Aquitania", which had by the medieval period come to refer to different areas of southeastern France, thus suggesting both Tomich and the 1418 writer had access to a document which located Cataló in "Aquitania" but each used a different translation.
If the theory of the Latin source is correct, Coll i Alentorn argues that it must have been written at some point between 1268 and 1418. This is due to the influence on the Otger story that the author identifies from the 1243 De rebus Hispaniae, by Navarrese Archbishop Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, which became known in Catalonia after 1268.
Origins of the early accounts
There is no historical basis for the existence of the figure of Otger, and the legend serves principally to provide an explanation for the origin of the name Catalonia. However, his origin north of the Pyrenees does reflect the origin of the Catalan principalities in the Frankish Kingdom, and various historical events, as well as the mythical cycle of the Matter of France, influenced the development of the legend.
The frequent appearance of the date 732 in sources relating to Otger probably reflects historical knowledge of the Battle of Tours, which was well known among Catalan chroniclers and was linked to Otger's origin in Aquitania. The use of the date 719 by Maquilles is analysed by Coll i Alentorn as an attempt to push back the date of Catalan resistance to the Muslim invaders to match the then accepted dates for the beginnings of the reconquista in the Kingdoms of Asturias, Navarre and Aragon.
Origin of the name Otger Cataló The name Otger originates in the name of a largely fictional knight of Charlemagne, Ogier the Dane, whose legends were widely known in late medieval Catalonia. Coll i Alentorn also suggests that the name Otger is influenced by a character found in the fictional Provençal romance Gesta Karoli Magni ad Carcassonam et Narbonam (attributed to Philomena). The romance narrates that Ogier the Dane raided into Catalonia with Augier, who it says was the Duke of Normandy. Similarly to the 1431 text, the Christian forces lay siege to Empúries, where Augier of Normandy dies in battle, with the text also narrating a retreat from the region following Augier's death. Sergi Mainer views the connection with Ogier the Dane, an outsider at the Frankish court who refused to pay fealty to the Frankish king, as a reflection of the discomfort felt by the 15th century Catalan nobility under the rule of a Castilian king.
The name Cataló derives from misreadings chronicles relating the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields, in which a coalition of Goths and Romans defeated Attila and his army of Huns. The battle occurred near Châlons-en-Champagne in northern France, but 15th century scholars believed it had occurred near Toulouse. This, alongside the similarity of the names of Catalonia and the Latin name of Châlons (Catalaunum), gave rise to the confused version of a lord from a castle called Cataló located near Toulouse in Aquitaine.
Variants of the name Golant, dating from Tomich's text, are occasionally given by authors throughout the history of the legend. According to Coll i Alentorn, this possibly originates in the name Aigoland, which was the name of a Moorish king in the Carolingian cycle of legends. German-Canadian academic Erich von Richthofen also believed there was a connection to the Carolingian cycle, seeing Golant as a corruption of French Rollants referring to the legendary Roland.
Political motivations for the creation of the legend
The principle reason for the invention of the character was to provide an explanation for the origin of the name of Catalonia. However, medievalist Sergi Mainer argues that in Tomich's version a specifically nationalist agenda is also detectable. In his view, Tomich deliberately positions Otger's Frankish origin in opposition to the Gothic origins he ascribes to the other Iberian kingdoms. Mainer suggests that this focus was inspired by the accession of the Castilian noble Ferdinand of Antequera to the County of Barcelona and Kingdom of Aragon, which led to tensions among the Catalan nobility.
Catalan historian Agustí Alcoberro also sees the 15th century politics of Catalonia as a key influence in the legend's creation and spread. He argues the legend provides an origin for Catalonia independent of the Frankish crown, to which, historically, the earliest Catalan Counts owed allegiance. In an era of constant disputes over the frontiers of France and Aragon, this was politically useful. Furthermore, the legend served to justify noble power, as well as, given the easy accommodation of Otger and the nine barons to Frankish power, the non-confrontational attitude the Catalan nobility had taken towards their integration into the nascent Spanish state.
Spread of the legend in the Early Modern period
The legend of Otger spread rapidly and was repeated by many chroniclers from the late 15th to 17th centuries. These texts were frequently inspired by Tomich's version of the legend, with innovations introduced either by misunderstandings of older texts or inventions by the authors. Italian philosopher and historian Lorenzo Valla, probably writing in the 1440s while in the employ of Alfonso V of Aragon (who held extensive lands in modern-day Italy) mentioned Otger in his writings.