Barberà de la Conca

Historia

Barberà de la Conca is a village in the province of Tarragona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain.HistoryThe region in which Barberà de la Conca is located is named after this village. Some archaeological remains which have been found show that it was inhabited during the time of the Roman occupation. It was first mentioned in 945 with the name of Campo Barberano in a document outlining the donation of the San Pedro church to the Santa Cecilia de Montserrat monastery. In 1012 it appeared in the aforementioned's castrum of Barbará.At the beginning of the eleventh century the place was uninhabited, it was recovered thanks to Ramón Berenguer I donating it to Arnau Pere de Ponts, called the Puig of Barbará. He was charged with repopulating the area and raising a castle there. The complete repopulation occurred in the twelfth century when the castle was ceded to the Knights of the Order of the Temple.In 1307 the Templars were imprisoned by order of veguer of Montblanc and the property remained under administration royal until in 1307 when they were taken over by the Knights Hospitallers who retained the lordship until the end of the Old Regime. For over thirty years, the area was ruled by Guillem de Guimerà, a friar who expanded considerably the territory held under the order.CultureThe village grew around the old castle. Built in the eleventh century, the expansion of the Templars were later commissioned, adding, among other aspects, the chapel. For a while it functioned as a public school after Queen Elizabeth II ceded the rights to the municipality. At the end of fulfill that role it was abandoned. It is owned by the municipality.