Borrel II (died 992), count of Barcelona, Gerona, and Ausona from 947 and count of Urgel from 948, under whose mandate the Hispanic March sufferred a terrible attack from the Caliph Almanzor. He was the son of Sunifred II. During his reign, he employed the title dux Gothiæ, or "Duke of Gothia."

In 947, he retired his father to a monastery and took over the government of his counties: Barcelona, Gerona, and Ausona. He associated his brother Miro I with him in these counties until 966. In 948, he inherited Urgel. He married Letgarda, daughter of Raymond III of Toulouse, with whom he had two sons and two daughters: Ramon Borrell, Ermengol, Ermengarda,a nd Richilda. After her death, he married Eimeruda of Auvergne.

Contrary to his father, he was a diplomat, not a warrior. He maintained cordial relations with his most powerful neighbours: the Franks to the north and the Moors to the south. He exchanged many embassies with the Caliphate of Córdoba and confirmed a peace treaty with Al-Hakam II. He likewise maintained good relations with the papacy. In 969 and 970, he travelled to Rome to meet Pope John XIII and the Emperor Otto I in order to reorganise the ecclesiastical structure of Catalonia, even resurrecting the archdiocese of Tarragona. The pope persuaded Otto to employ Gerbert as a tutor for his young son, the future emperor Otto II.

Borrell was also a patron of learning and culture. In 967, Borrell visited the monastery of Aurillac and the abbot asked the count to take Gerbert of Aurillac with him so that the lad could study mathematics in Spain. In the following years, Gerbert studied in the Christian-held city of Barcelona and possibly in the Islamic cities of Córdoba and Seville.

Despite all this, his territory suffered one of its gravest attacks in years under his tenure. Almanzor, in 985, razed Barcelona itself. Barcelona was sacked and many denizens made prisoner. The petitions sent by the count to Lothair, King of France at the time, at Verdun were ignored. As a consequence of this, when Hugh Capet ascended the French throne, Borrell refused to pledge his fealty in 988 and the bond of vassalage between the March and France was broken. De facto independence had begun in earnest.

In 988, Borrell divided his lands between his sons, giving Ramon Borrell his original inheritence (from 947) and Ermengol Urgel. In 992, he gave them the government and then died.

947 births | 992 deaths | Counts of Barcelona

Borrell II | Borrell II. | Borrell II