The Generalitat de Catalunya (; ; ), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia politically organizes its self-government as an autonomous community of Spain. It is formed by the Parliament of Catalonia, the Presidency of the Generalitat de Catalunya, and the Executive Council of Catalonia (also very often referred to as Govern, "Government"). It is ruled according to the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia.
Its origins are in the 13th century when permanent councils of deputies (deputations) were created to rule administration of the Courts of the different realms that formed the Crown of Aragon which gave birth to the Deputation of the General of the Principality of Catalonia (1359), the Deputation of the General of the Kingdom of Aragon (1362) and the Deputation of the General of the Kingdom of Valencia (1412). The modern Generalitat was established in 1931, as the institution of self-government of Catalonia within the Spanish Republic. Remaining in exile after the end of the Civil War in 1939, it was reestablished in 1977.
Its headquarters are at the Palau de la Generalitat, in the city of Barcelona.
History
Catalonia's political past as a territorially differentiated community with its own representative and separated institutions, materialized in the institutional systems of the combined Catalan counties (9th-12th centuries), the Principality of Catalonia within the Crown of Aragon (1164-1714) and the Monarchy of Spain (1516-1714/1833), as well the establishment of Catalan self-government from 1931 onwards, can be divided into different stages, separated by ruptures in the legal/public order.
The Generalitat of Catalonia can trace its origins in the Catalan Courts, as during the reign of James I the Conqueror (1208-1276) they reunited and were convoked by the king, as representatives of the social statements of the time. Under the reign of Peter the Great (1276-1285), the Catalan Courts gained institutional status, after the king obliged himself to celebrate an annual "General Court". The Catalan Courts exercised as Council and had legislative functions through its three branches (braços): the ecclesiastical (clergy), the military (nobility) and the popular (villages and towns submitted to direct rule of the king). This union of the tree branches was named "Lo General de Cathalunya", where "General" means the political community of the Catalans as a whole.
Is in 1289 when the first step into becoming an institution happens during the Courts celebrated in the castle of Montsó (located in the Kingdom of Aragon, ruled by Count of Barcelona, since the year 1151 AD when Count Ramon Berenguer IV married Princess Petronilla of Aragon). A commission was then designed as "Diputació del General" (Deputation of the General), as to temporarily collect the "services" or tributes that the "branches" granted the king on his demand. This tax was popularly known as "Drets Generals" (General Rights) or "generalitats" (generalities), finding its counterpart in the French "Généralités", which were also founded as taxing districts.
Medieval origins
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 as Count of Barcelona, 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 polity and approved the Catalan constitutions. The first constitutions were that of the Courts of 1283.