{{Short description|Internal administrative territorial jurisdiction of Catalonia}} {{italic title}} {{Infobox subdivision type |name={{lang|ca|Vegueries}} of Catalonia |map=300px |caption=The eight vegueries of Catalonia and the autonomous Val d'Aran as of 2025. |category=Regional government (''de jure'')<br />Service distribution regions<br />Statistical regions |territory=Catalonia |upper_unit=Autonomous community |legislation_begin={{Ill|Catalan Vegueries Law|ca|Llei de vegueries de Catalunya}} |current_number=8 |number_date=2025 |population_range=65,998–5,066,684 |government=Vegueria council (''de jure'') |subdivision=Counties and municipalities }} A '''''vegueria''''' ({{IPA|ca|bəɣəˈɾi.ə}}), plural '''''{{Lang|ca|vegueries}}''''', is the highest-level regional division of Catalonia. Each {{lang|ca|vegueria}} is further divided into ''comarques'' and municipalities. As of 2025, the {{Ill|Catalan Vegueries Law|ca|Llei de vegueries de Catalunya}} divides the territory into eight {{lang|ca|vegueries}}.<ref name=":5" /> The autonomous Aran Valley, considered a "unique territorial entity", is not part of any {{lang|ca|vegueria}}.<ref>{{Cite web |last=ACN |date=2023-06-29 |title=La Val d'Aran celebra 30 anys d'autogovern - 17 juny 2021 |url=https://www.elpuntavui.cat/politica/article/17-politica/1987647-la-val-d-aran-celebra-30-anys-d-autogovern.html |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=El Punt Avui |language=ca}}</ref>
The {{lang|ca|vegueries}} system is based on the feudal administrative territorial jurisdiction of the vegueries "vicariates" of the Principality of Catalonia, which was abolished with the Nueva Planta decrees of 1716.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=decrets de Nova Planta {{!}} enciclopedia.cat |url=https://www.enciclopedia.cat/gran-enciclopedia-catalana/decrets-de-nova-planta |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=www.enciclopedia.cat}}</ref> Preceding the {{lang|ca|vegueries}} is the division into ‘functional territorial areas’ in 1995, now mostly identical to the {{lang|ca|vegueries}}, except for the merger of the Val d'Aran and Alt Pirineu into a single ''Alt Pirineu i Aran'' region for statistical purposes. The current administrative division was established by the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006 with two functions: an inter-municipal government and the arrangement of the services from the Generalitat de Catalunya.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=vegueria {{!}} enciclopedia.cat |url=https://www.enciclopedia.cat/gran-enciclopedia-catalana/vegueria-1 |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=www.enciclopedia.cat}}</ref>
Although the {{lang|ca|vegueries}} are intended to become Catalonia's only first-level administrative division and a full replacement for the four ''diputacions'' of the official provinces of Catalonia within the Spanish system in the future and create a council for each {{lang|ca|vegueria}},<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=palau |first=òscar |title=Traient l'entrellat a les vegueries - 12 març 2010 |url=https://www.elpuntavui.cat/article/146574-traient-lentrellat-a-les-vegueries.html |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=El Punt Avui |language=ca}}</ref> the latter is currently still used administratively at state level,<ref>{{Cite web |last=femVallès |date=2020-04-28 |title=La Catalunya de 9 vegueries (en 4 províncies) - femVallès |url=https://www.femvalles.cat/la-catalunya-de-9-vegueries-en-4-provincies/ |access-date=2023-06-29 |language=ca}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Se impide crear veguerías alterando los límites provinciales {{!}} Barcelona {{!}} elmundo.es |url=https://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2010/07/09/barcelona/1278690407.html |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=www.elmundo.es}}</ref> as any changes to the State's provinces were ruled to violate the Spanish Constitution.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=324cat |date=2010-07-09 |title=El Constitucional només admet les vegueries si es conserven les províncies |url=https://www.ccma.cat/324/el-constitucional-nomes-admet-les-vegueries-si-es-conserven-les-provincies/noticia/761666/ |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=CCMA |language=ca}}</ref> Thus, in practice, despite being official, {{lang|ca|vegueries}} are not allowed to carry the administrative powers of the provinces and currently remain only usable for similar territorial deployments to those carried out by the areas, e.g. government services, weather reports, commercial distribution, media coverage, curfew during the COVID-19 pandemic, television frequencies, etc.<ref name=":1" />
== List == {{See also|Subdivisions of Catalonia#List of subdivisions}} {| class="wikitable sortable" !Location !{{lang|ca|Vegueria}} !Capital city<ref name=":5">{{cite web |title=LLEI 2/2017, del 15 de febrer, de modificació de la Llei 30/2010, de vegueries, per a crear la vegueria del Penedès. |url=https://dogc.gencat.cat/ca/document-del-dogc/?documentId=777117}}</ref> !Population (1 Jan 2024)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Idescat. Population on 1 January 2024. Counties and Aran, areas and provinces |url=https://www.idescat.cat/indicadors/?id=aec&n=15224&lang=en&t=202400 |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=www.idescat.cat}}</ref> !Date approved<ref>{{Cite journal |journal=Butlletí d'innovació i recerca |last=Torre |first=Marga |date=2011-01-03 |title=Pla territorial de l'àmbit metropolità de Barcelona: naturalesa, gènesi i contingut. |url=https://rdi.dtes.scipedia.com/s/Torre_2010c |language=en-GB |volume=Notícies |archive-date=2023-06-30 |access-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630150405/https://rdi.dtes.scipedia.com/s/Torre_2010c |url-status=dead }}</ref> |- |80x80px |Alt Pirineu |''La Seu d'Urgell''{{efn|name=a|Following the vegueries law, the regions of Alt Pirineu, Central Catalonia and Penedès have their most populated cities as their de facto capitals until a law determines them.}} |65,998 |July 2006 |- |80x80px |Barcelona |Barcelona |5,066,684 |April 2010 |- |80x80px |Camp de Tarragona |Tarragona |555,957 |January 2010 |- |80x80px |Catalunya Central |''Manresa''{{efn|name=a}} |427,296 |September 2008 |- |80x80px |Girona |Girona |804,851 |October 2010 |- |80x80px |Lleida |Lleida |375,964 |July 2007 |- |80x80px |Penedès |''Vilanova i la Geltrú''{{efn|name=a}} |517,499 |February 2017<ref name=":4">{{cite web | url=https://www.ara.cat/societat/catalunya-vegueries-parlament-vegueria-penedes_1_1410475.html | title=Catalunya ja té vuit vegueries: El Parlament aprova la creació de la vegueria del Penedès | date=8 February 2017 }}</ref> |- |80x80px |Terres de l'Ebre |Tortosa |187,437 |August 2010 |}
==History==
===Origins and functions=== The origins of the {{lang|ca|vegueria}} go back to the era of the Carolingian Empire, when vicars (Latin: ''vicarii'', singular ''vicarius'') were installed beneath the counts in the Spanish March. The office of a vicar was a vicariate (Latin: ''vicariatus''), and his territory was a ''vicaria''. All these Latin terms of Carolingian administration evolved in the Catalan language even as they disappeared in the rest of Europe. The Catalan terms were even subsequently Latinised: ''vicarius'' → ''vigerius''.
The functions of the medieval {{lang|ca|vegueria}} were feudal, and it was probably initially hereditary. The {{lang|ca|veguer}} was appointed by his feudal lord, the count, and was accountable to him. He was the military commander of his {{lang|ca|vegueria}} (and thus keeper of the publicly owned castles), the chief justice of the same district, and the man in charge of the public finances (the fisc) of the region entrusted to him. As time wore on, the functions of the {{lang|ca|veguer}} became more and more judicial. He held a {{lang|ca|cort del veguer}} or {{lang|ca|de la veguería}} with its own seal. The {{lang|ca|cort}} had authority in all matter save those relating to the feudal aristocracy. It commonly heard pleas of the crown, civil, and criminal cases. The {{lang|ca|veguer}} did, however, retain some military functions as well: he was the commander of the militia and the superintendent of royal castles. His job was law and order and the maintenance of the king's peace: in many respects an office analogous to that of the sheriff in England.
=== Historical vegueries === [[File:Vegueries Catalunya 1304.svg|thumb|Vegueries of Catalonia in 1304 (Cerdanya and Rosselló had been integrated to the Kingdom of Majorca in 1276, only to be later reunited to the Principality in 1344)]] [[File:Administració del Rosselló i la Cerdanya.png|thumb|Vegueries and sotsvegueries of the Counties of Cerdanya and Rosselló under the Kingdom of Majorca (1276–1344)]] At the end of the twelfth century in Catalonia, there were twelve {{lang|ca|vegueries}}. By the end of the reign of Peter the Great (1285), there were seventeen, and by the time of James the Just, there were twenty-one. Some of the larger {{lang|ca|vegueries}} included one or more {{lang|ca|sotsvegueries}} (subvigueries), which had a significant degree of autonomy.
While the Principality of Catalonia continued to use {{lang|ca|vegueries}} as subdivisions of counties, elsewhere in the Iberian Peninsula there were the ''merináticos'' (Kingdom of Aragon) and the ''corregimientos'' (Kingdom of Castile) whose functions were similar to those of the Catalan {{lang|ca|vegueries}}.
When the Kingdom of Sicily became a Catalan-run state, it was not subdivided into {{lang|ca|vegueries}}, since a similar Italian institution was already entrenched there: that of the ''capitania'' and the ''capità''. The ''capità'' had similar to identical functions as the {{lang|ca|veguer}}. When the Catalans conquered the Duchy of Athens, they subdivided that duchy into three {{lang|ca|vegueries}}: Athens, Thebes, and Livadia.<ref>Setton, Kenneth M. ''Catalan Domination of Athens 1311–1380.'' Revised edition. London: Variorum, 1975.</ref> In the Duchy of Neopatras which the Catalans conquered in 1319, the institution of the ''capità'' appeared instead of the vigeriate, but the captaincies (Siderokastron, Neopatras, and Salona) were similar to identical in function to the {{lang|ca|vegueries}} of Athens. In Athens, the offices of captain and {{lang|ca|veguer}} were often held by the same individual as ''capitaneus seu vigerius'' and variants. Once the Aragonese crown had finally subdued most of the Kingdom of Sardinia to their rule by the end of the fourteenth century, they had subdivided its government into {{lang|ca|vegueries}}. All the {{lang|ca|vegueries}} of the Catalan possessions were, by the Usages of Barcelona, constrained to be held for only three years by any individual. In practice, some kings ignored this. In Athens, a vicar general on the Italian model was instituted above the {{lang|ca|veguers}}.
[[File:Corregiments de Catalunya..svg|thumb|The twelve Catalan ''corregimientos'', from 1716 to 1833]] thumb|The four Catalan provinces since 1833 Catalan {{lang|ca|vegueries}} have changed their limits throughout history, and there has not always been the same number of them. The {{lang|ca|vegueries}} of Catalonia at the time of James the Just were:<ref>[http://www.enciclopedia.cat/fitxa_v2.jsp?NDCHEC=0216931 l'Enciclopedia], vegueria. {{in lang|ca}}</ref><ref>[http://www.enciclopedia.cat/fitxa_v2.jsp?NDCHEC=0143722 l'Enciclopedia], sotsveguer. {{in lang|ca}}</ref><ref>[http://www.enciclopedia.cat/fitxa_v2.jsp?NDCHEC=0143723 l'Enciclopedia], sotsvegueria. {{in lang|ca}}</ref> *Tortosa *Tarragona *Montblanc *Barcelona (including the Vallès {{lang|ca|sotsvegueria}}) *Osona *Berguedà (including the Manresa {{lang|ca|sotsvegueria}}) *Bages (including the Moianés {{lang|ca|sotsvegueria}}) *Vilafranca del Penedès (including the Igualada and Piera {{lang|ca|sotsvegueries}}) *Girona *Besalú *Camprodon *La Ral *Ripollès *Tàrrega *Lleida (including the Balaguer {{lang|ca|sotsvegueria}}) *Cervera (including the Agramunt and Prats del Rei {{lang|ca|sotsvegueries}}) *Ribagorça *Pallars *Camarasa *Rosselló (including the Vallespir {{lang|ca|sotsvegueria}}) *Conflent (including the Capcir {{lang|ca|sotsvegueria}}) *Cerdanya (including the Ribes and Baridà {{lang|ca|sotsvegueries}})
Later, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, four more {{lang|ca|vegueries}} were created: *Urgell<ref>[http://www.grec.net/cgibin/ggcc01cl.pgm?USUARI=&SESSIO=&PGMORI=&NDCHEC=0604589 GGCC], Alt Urgell {{in lang|ca}}</ref> *Balaguer<ref>[http://www.enciclopedia.cat/fitxa_v2.jsp?NDCHEC=0006893 l'Enciclipedia], vegueria de Balaguer {{in lang|ca}}</ref> *Agramunt<ref>[http://www.enciclopedia.cat/fitxa_v2.jsp?NDCHEC=0001039 l'Enciclopedia], vegueria d'Agramunt {{in lang|ca}}</ref> *Lluçanès<ref>[http://www.ccbages.cat/santfeliusasserra Consell comarcal del Bages] {{in lang|ca}}</ref> {{lang|ca|Vegueries}} were officially abolished in 1716, when the {{lang|ca|vegueries}} were replaced by 12 ''corregimientos'', a historical Castilian administrative division.<ref name=":0" /> In 1833, the new Spanish territorial division divided Spain into provinces, subdividing Catalonia in four (Barcelona, Lleida, Tarragona and Girona), which did not adequate to the comarques, but outside of minor differences remains in use today.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Real Decreto de 30 de noviembre de 1833 - Wikisource |url=https://es.wikisource.org/wiki/Real_Decreto_de_30_de_noviembre_de_1833 |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=es.wikisource.org |language=es}}</ref>
=== Second Spanish Republic === thumb|Catalan regions, from 1936 to 1939
During the Second Spanish Republic, after Catalonia obtained an autonomous government, it was divided into nine regions, which, in turn, were subdivided into comarques. The organisation was as follows:
* Region 1, the capital was Barcelona and comprised the following comarques: Baix Llobregat, Barcelonès, Maresme, Vallès Occidental and Vallès Oriental. * Region 2, the capital was Girona and comprised the following comarques: Alt Empordà, Baix Empordà, Garrotxa, Gironès, and Selva (Pla de l'Estany, newly created in 1987, was back then included in this region). *Region 3, the capital was Tarragona and comprised the following comarques: Alt Camp, Alt Penedès, Baix Penedès, Garraf and Tarragonès. * Region 4, the capital was Reus and comprised the following comarques: Baix Camp, la Conca de Barberà, Priorat and Ribera d'Ebre. * Region 5, the capital was Tortosa and comprised the following comarques: Baix Ebre, Montsià and Terra Alta. * Region 6, the capital was Vic and comprised the following comarques: Baixa Cerdanya, Osona and el Ripollès. * Region 7, the capital was Manresa and comprised the following comarques: Anoia, Bages, Berguedà and Solsonès. * Region 8, the capital was Lleida and comprised the following comarques: Garrigues, Noguera, Urgell, Segarra and Segrià (Pla d'Urgell, newly created in 1987, was back then included in this region). * Region 9, the capital was Tremp and comprised the following comarques: Alt Urgell, Pallars Jussà, Pallars Sobirà and the Aran Valley (Alta Ribagorça, newly created in 1987, was back then included in this region). In 1937, a government decree reinstated the name of {{Lang|ca|vegueries}}, but they were abolished by the Francoist regime at the end of the Spanish Civil War.<ref name=":2" />
=== After the transition to democracy === thumb|Catalan regional plan of 1995, used as the basis for different {{lang|ca|vegueries}} projects. {{unbulleted list |{{legend2|#f37373|Àmbit metropolità}} |{{legend2|#73f3f3|Alt Pirineu i Aran}} |{{legend2|#73f373|Tarragona}} |{{legend2|#7373f3|Comarques Centrals}} |{{legend2|#f3f373|Comarques Gironines}} |{{legend2|#f373f3|Ponent}} |{{legend2|#b3b373|Terres de l'Ebre}} }} Following Franco's death and Spain's return to a democratic system, the Catalan comarques were reinstated by the Catalan government in 1987, although the {{lang|ca|vegueries}} have yet to be formally recognised by the State.
Under the 2006 Statute of Autonomy, the four Catalan ''diputacions'', which follow the Spanish province system, were to be superseded by seven ''consells de vegueries'', additionally taking over many of the ''comarques''<nowiki/>' functions. However, in June 2010, the Spanish Constitutional Court declared any changes to the statewide provinces system as unconstitutional, thus only allowing {{lang|ca|vegueries}} as long as the provinces system remained.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1" /> The Vegueries Law was approved on 27 July 2010 in Parliament. The approval provided for the replacement of the provincial councils by their own bodies, the vegueria councils (''consell de vegueria''), formed by the president and the vegueria councillors.<ref>{{Cite web |last=EP |date=2011-05-10 |title=El Govern paralitza la Llei de Vegueries i impulsa el Penedès |url=https://www.regio7.cat/arreu-catalunya-espanya-mon/2011/05/10/govern-paralitza-llei-vegueries-i-50611402.html |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=Regió7 |language=ca}}</ref> Although the law allows for an inter-municipal government and the organisation of the services of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the unapproved proposal aims to replace the current provincial deputations and to make the administrative structures more efficient.<ref>{{Cite web |last=NacióDigital |title=Mapa de Vegueries de Catalunya: on pertany el teu municipi? |url=https://www.naciodigital.cat/noticia/253850/mapa-vegueries-catalunya |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=www.naciodigital.cat |language=ca}}</ref>
The law does not define any vegueria capitals and allows for creating or deleting any.<ref>{{Cite web |last=324cat |date=2010-01-10 |title=La llei de vegueries no defineix capitals i deixa la porta oberta a crear-ne més de 7 o eliminar-ne alguna |url=https://www.ccma.cat/324/la-llei-de-vegueries-no-defineix-capitals-i-deixa-la-porta-oberta-a-crear-ne-mes-de-7-o-eliminar-ne-alguna/noticia/469508/ |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=CCMA |language=ca}}</ref> After some opposition from some territories, it was made possible for the Aran Valley to retain its government (included in the Regional Plan as ''Alt Pirineu i Aran'', vegueria named ''Alt Pirineu'')<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-04-21 |title=Mapa de Vegueries a Catalunya (2021): On és el teu municipi? |url=https://beteve.cat/mobilitat/mapa-vegueries-catalunya/ |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=beteve.cat |language=ca}}</ref> and on August 3, 2016, Parliament approved the legislative initiative that advocated the creation of the eighth vegueria, Penedès.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":1" />
== Notes == <references group="lower-alpha" responsive="1"></references>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Catalonia topics}}
Category:Types of administrative division Category:Subdivisions of Catalonia Category:Medieval Catalonia Category:Principality of Catalonia Category:Administrative divisions in Europe