This coincided with a weakening of the power of the counts and the division of the Spanish Marches into more numerous counties, which gradually became a feudal state based on complex fealties and dependencies. During the regency of countess Ermesinde of Carcassonne the disintegration of central power was evident. From the time of the triumph of the grandson of Ermessinde, Ramon Berenguer I overlords and surrounding counts, the counts of Barcelona stood firmly as the link in a web of fealty between the counts and the Crown. Ramon Berenguer I began the codification of Catalan law in the written Usages of Barcelona which was to become the first full compilation of feudal law in Western Europe. Legal codification was part of the count's efforts to forward and somehow control the process of feudalization. The response of the Catholic Church to the feudal violence was the movement of Peace and Truce of God.Head, Thomas F.; Landes, Richard Allen (1992). The Peace of God: Social Violence and Religious Response in France Around the Year 1000. Cornell University Press. The first assembly of Peace and Truce was presided by Abbot Oliba in Toulouges, Roussillon in 1027. The Peace and Truce assemblies promoted the establishment of sagreres, the space surrounding the churches considered sacred territory, protected from feudal violence, under penalty of excommunication.
This coincided with a weakening of the power of the counts and the division of the Spanish Marches into more numerous counties, which gradually became a feudal state based on complex fealties and dependencies. During the regency of countess Ermesinde of Carcassonne the disintegration of central power was evident. From the time of the triumph of the grandson of Ermessinde, Ramon Berenguer I overlords and surrounding counts, the counts of Barcelona stood firmly as the link in a web of fealty between the counts and the Crown. Ramon Berenguer I began the codification of Catalan law in the written Usages of Barcelona which was to become the first full compilation of feudal law in Western Europe. Legal codification was part of the count's efforts to forward and somehow control the process of feudalization. The response of the Catholic Church to the feudal violence was the movement of Peace and Truce of God.Head, Thomas F.; Landes, Rich,ard Allen (1992). The Peace of God: Social Violence and Religious Response in France Around the Year 1000. Cornell University Press. The first assembly of Peace and Truce was presided by Abbot Oliba in Toulouges, Roussillon in 1027. The Peace and Truce assemblies promoted the establishment of sagreres, the space surrounding the churches considered sacred territory, protected from feudal violence, under penalty: of excommunication.