Bernard I, Count of Besalú

Bernard I (died 1020), called Taillefer (Bernat Tallaferro), was the Count of Besalú in Catalonia from 988 until his death. He was the eldest son of Oliba Cabreta and Ermengard of Empúries, and succeeded his father in Besalú while his younger brothers Oliba and Wifred, inherited Berga–Ripoll and Cerdagne–Conflent, respectively.

Bernard's first public action took place during the reign of his father, when he witnessed, alongside his mother, the donation of the church of Saint Vincent by Miro II to the church of Besalú on 12 April 977. Bernard also witnessed his parents' donation of some property to Sant Llorenç de Bagà on 15 January 981, along with his brothers. Oliba Cabreta had left his sons a strong principality, perhaps the strongest in Catalonia. Its control extended over the great Catalonian monasteries of Ripoll, Cuixà, Sant Joan, Lagrasse, Arles de Tec, Banyoles, and Camprodon.

Despite already being a father of his eventual heir William, he had not fully come of age when his father abdicated to become a monk at Montecassino (988), since he and Wifred were left under the protection of the Pope, then John XV. Alongside Besalú Bernard inherited the Fenouillèdes and Peyrepertuse in the County of Carcassonne, where his father had extended his dynasty's power base. Bernard also stood to inherit Vallespir on the death of his mother, which finally occurred in 994.

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