Squeezed between more powerful France and Spain, Catalonia has endured a violent history. Its medieval empire that conquered Naples, Sicily and Athens was crushed by Spain. Its geography, with the Pyrenees falling sharply to the rugged Costa Brava, is tormented, too.

Michael Eaude traces this history and its monuments: Roman Tarragona, celebrated by the poet Martial; Greek Empúries, lost for centuries beneath the sands; medieval Romanesque architecture in the Vall de Boï churches (a World Heritage Site) and Poblet and Santes Creus monasteries. He tells the stories of several of Catalonia’s great figures: Abbot Oliva, who brought Moorish learning to Europe, the ruthless mercenary, Roger de Flor, and Verdaguer, handsome poet-priest.

Catalonia is famous today for its twentieth-century art. This book focuses on the revolutionary Art Nouveau buildings (including the Sagrada Família) of Antoni Gaudí. It also explores the region’s artistic legacy: the young Picasso painting Barcelona’s vibrant slums; Salvador Dalí, inspired by the twisted rocks of Cap de Creus to paint his landscapes of the human mind; and Joan Miró, discovering the colours of the red earth at Montroig.

"Barcelona-based Eaude marries a deep knowledge of, and sympathy for, his adopted home with a beguiling lightness of touch in this tour of Catalan society. He proves sure-footed in every field, from the monsatery at Poblet, to that other sacred site: Barca's Camp Nou." The Independent

From the great poet Verdaguer, to the unique architect Gaudí, this cultural history of Catalonia inspires the reader to explore the many and varied riches of this interesting area of northeastern Spain.  Why are the Catalan people so proud of their heritage and so fiercely independent? What are the links between Catalan music and politics? What role has FC Barcelona played in the history of this community? These and many other topics are written about in a flowing style that cannot fail to provoke interest and enthusiasm. The reader is also guided on a journey through the region from Portbou in the north right through to the Ebro Delta in the south. It is abundantly clear that Michael Eaude has a real passion for all things Catalonian. If you are planning a trip to Catalonia, this book is a must.

Review by Alison Dent.  Alison is a professional IT programme manager who has spent many years travelling and living abroad before recently settling in southern Spain where she translates from Spanish and French into English whilst also enjoying the lifestyle.

By Rod Younger

My mother was born in Barcelona but left, never to return, when she was a child just before the Spanish Civil War. That makes me half Catalan and I’ve visited Barcelona many times over the years, but mainly only for 1-2 days on business.

My first real exposure to some of the history of Catalonia was only a few years ago, via Cathedral of the Sea by Idelfonso Falcones, a weighty, historical fiction novel set in medieval Catalonia, which opened my eyes about Catalonia’s role in the Iberian Peninsula in the times when Spain comprised many kingdoms, many at war with each other. It was an eye opener but one I did not follow up on.

However, recently, given my “role” at Books4Spain, I was given the opportunity to read Catalonia, a cultural history, by Michael Eaude who has lived in Barcelona for many years and also written Barcelona, the city that re-invented itself. Now, I get quite a lot of books to read but I give most to our growing group of independent reviewers – because I just don’t have the time, or the expertise, to read and review them all. However, I decided it was time to learn more about Catalonia’s cultural history and so added Michael Eaude’s book to the pile on my bedside table.

I’m glad I did. This book covers the history and development of Catalonia’s art, architecture, music, literature since the middle ages and provides a marvellous tool to help anyone understand why the Catalan’s are “different” and have more justification than I realised to claim a degree of independence. Very simply put, Catalonia, was, and has until recently been, the economic powerhouse of Spain, which in turn put it at the forefront of most cultural (and industrial) developments.

However, ever since Spain was unified under Isabel and Ferdinand and the country became ruled by Castile, as Eaude demonstrates with many examples, Catalonia has regularly been subjugated in some shape or form by the central “government” in Madrid. For example in a codicil to her will, Isabel barred Catalonia from trading with the New World, a ban which was to last until the 1700s. This despite the fact that los Reyes Catolicos welcomed Columbus back from his discovery of the New World in Barcelona! As a result of this ban, and its geographical location, Catalonia has always been closer to western “civilisation” than the rest of Spain – to the extent it conquered Sicily, Venice and many parts of the eastern Mediterranean.

In Catalonia, a cultural history, Eaude takes us on a journey, geographic as well as historical, through Catalonia, from Portbou and Monsterrat in the north, Tarragona, the first city on the Iberian Peninsular to be Romanised and holiday playground of Augustus, Hadrian and Martial and then Barcelona itself, via Romanesque Catalonia in the Pyrenees, Reus and the Costa Brava.

This book has a plethora of interesting facts and figures, for example the Boi Valley was made a World Heritage site in 2000 because of the concentration of Romanesque churches it contains, the only Jewish ritual bath in Spain a “mikwah” is in Besalu; the Usatges is equivalent of the Magna Carta but dared 150 years earlier; two Catalan states were founded n Greece and Turkey in the 1300s etc. etc.

Naturally, Eaude also covers Catalonia’s more recent history – how it was the Lancashire of Spain in the 1840s and 50s due to its thriving cotton industry – the third largest in Europe; how the nouveau rich “indianos” (from slave trading in Cuba) returned and fostered the “Catalan Art Nouveau”, supporting “artists” such as the great poet Verdaguer, the architects Gaudí and Domenech and later Casas, Picasso and Miro, amongst others; and how industrialisation led to social unrest, which was ultimately to culminate in the Civil War, since the “new working class” were effectively excluded from political power.

If you want to know more about what shaped Picasso, Dali, Miro and others, then this is one of the best places to start because of the social and cultural context it provides. Eaude claims that the best Picasso museum is in Barcelona and that Hemingway “lusted” after Miro’s La masia. All fascinating stuff for the uninitiated and written in an easy to read style which educates and stimulates at the same time. As its name suggests, it is predominantly a cultural history but it is impossible to ignore the underlying, and continuing, influence of politics, as intertwined as it is in Catalonia’s history.

Overall, this is a must read book for anyone with an interest understanding why the Catalans are so proud of their heritage and so fiercely independent and provides many facts about the places and people who were instrumental in Catalonia’s cultural history. It also makes a great guide book for more interesting parts of Catalonia that are off the mass tourist map.