Sunifred was the Count of Barcelona as well as many other Catalan and Septimanian counties; including Ausona, Besalú, Girona, Narbonne, Agde, Béziers, Lodève, Melgueil, Cerdanya, Urgell, Conflent, and Nîmes; from 834 to 848 (Urgell and Cerdanya) and from 844 to 848 (others).
He may have been the son of Belló, Count of Carcassonne, or more probably, his son-in-law. In 834, he was named count of Urgell and Cerdanya by Louis the Pious, Holy Roman Emperor; at the time these counties were in the control of Aznar Galíndez I, an ally of the Banu Qasi). Sunifred conquered Cerdanya in 835 and Urgell three years later (838).
In the dynastic struggles that accompanied the three years between Louis the Pious' death (840) and the Treaty of Verdun (843), Bernard of Septimania, the Count of Barcelona (and many other marches and counties, including Septimania, Girona, Narbonne, Béziers, Agde, Melgueil, Nîmes, and Toulouse) aligned with Pepin II of Aquitaine, while Sunifred, his brother Sunyer I, Count of Empúries, and their sons (sometimes referred to as the Bellonid Dynasty or Bellonids) placed their allegiance with Charles the Bald.