Vic

Geography

Vic lies in the middle of the Plain of Vic, equidistant from Barcelona and the Pyrenees.

Vic has persistent fog in winter as a result of a thermal inversion, with temperatures as low as -10 °C, an absolute record of -24 °C and episodes of cold and severe snowstorms. For this reason, and also for the relatively moist summers, the region's natural vegetation includes the pubescent oak typical of the sub-Mediterranean climates of eastern France, Northern Italy and the Balkans.

Names

Originally known as Auso, it was known in Latin as Vicus Ausonae. From Latin vicus (neighborhood or urban population), it became Vich in Old Catalan.

In 1538, Lorenzo de Padilla writes Vic Bique and it appears as Vique in the Memorial of the Bishop of Vic, Antonio Pascual (ca. 1694) In 1715, Spain's Nueva Planta decrees for Catalonia gave the city the Spanish name of Vique; an invention which tried to avoid a consonant ending that is uncomfortable in the Spanish language, applying the logic of cases such as Mastrique (Maastricht). However, this artificial variant only remained for a time in Spanish official texts and, as early as 1789, it reappeared in the gazetteer as Vich.

In 1913 the new orthographic regulations by the Institute for Catalan Studies of 1913 eliminated from the Catalan language the mute h at the end of the word and in intervocalic position to simplify the spelling (Normes ortogràfiques). Other analogous cases are those of Montjuïch, Hostalrich and Reixach, which are now written as Montjuïc, Hostalric and Reixac, respectively.

Since 1982, the official name has been Vic.

History

Roman and Visigothic origins

Vic´s origins lie in a Roman settlement established in the 1st century AD on a hill near the Mèder river, following the subjugation of the Ausetani, an Iberian people whose principal centre the Romans replaced. The new city Auso was granted the status of a municipium. In the Visigothic period Auso served as an episcopal see, and it appears to have been razed during the Muslim conquest.

Carolingian refoundation and the County of Osona

The Frankish advance into the region in the 9th century permitted the resettlement of the Plain of Vic. Under the County of Osona established by Count Guifré el Pilós, the old Roman town was rebuilt, though only the walls of the Roman temple remained. The refounded settlement took the name Vicus Ausonensis, meaning the outskirts of Ausona, from which the name Vic derives. The bishopric was re-established, and a cathedral was raised in the lower town.

Bishop Oliba and the medieval bishopric

The cathedral was consecrated in 1038 under Bishop Oliba, a leading figure of the Catalan church. During the medieval period, authority over the town was split between the bishop, whose share later passed to the crown, and the lords of the castle, the Montcada family. The town expanded around the cathedral, the castle, and the market square, and was ringed by towered wall that was rebuilt in the 14th century. In 1450, King Alfonso the Magnanimous purchased the Montcada share, reuniting the town under a single jurisdiction.

Late-medieval cris, factional strife, and the War of Succession

A time of decline followed, brought on by the late-medieval contraction, the conflict between the Nyerros and Cadells factions, and the wars with France. In the War of the Spanish Succession, Vic took the side of the Archduke of Austria from the start, so the defeat of 1714 proved disastrous for the city.

18th-19th century revival

In the 19th century, the Peninsular War and the Carlist Wars compounded an economic downturn as industry relocated to the Ter basin. The city recovered through construction and the arrival of the railway connecting it to Barcelona.

Cultural renaissance

A notable cultural revival centred on the Seminary, which upheld the traditions of the old medieval cathedral school and the 17th-century University of Vic. Among its students were the philosopher Jaume Balmes, Saint Antoni Maria Claret, and the poet Jacint Verdaguer, all of whom helped give Vic a prominent place in the Renaixença.

Later events

The town has been described as "a hotbed of secessionist sentiment".

A car bombing by the Basque separatist group ETA on May 29, 1991 killed 10 people in Vic.

Ecclesiastical history

The bishopric is a suffragan of the archbishopric of Tarragona.

Education

The Universitat de Vic (Vic University)

Demography

Vic has almost 28,000 registered voters.

Miscellaneous

The remains of Jaume Balmes, the Spanish philosopher of the 19th century, are interred in the cloister of the cathedral. His first centenary was celebrated at Vic by a Catholic Congress. Architect Antoni Gaudí (who lived in Vic for three weeks during May 1910) designed two basalt and wrought iron lampposts for the Plaça Major of Vic in honour of Balmes's centenary. The lampposts were inaugurated on 7 September 1910 but destroyed in 1924.

Other natives of Vic include:

Trinitarian Saint Michael de Sanctis

Joseph Sadoc Alemany, (1814–1888), born in Vic, later Archbishop of San Francisco

Caterina Coromina i Agustí (1824–1893), religious woman beatified in 2006

On 22 December 2005 some inhabitants of the city won a total prize of about 500 million euros in the Spanish Christmas Lottery.

Sport

The city has a football club, UE Vic founded in 1922. After winning the Lliga Elit in 2025, the club was promoted to the Tercera Federación.

Sources and references

Panareda Clopés, Josep Maria; Rius Calvet, Jaume; Rabella Vives, Josep Maria (1989). Guia de Catalunya, Barcelona: Caixa de Catalunya. ISBN 84-87135-01-3 (Spanish). ISBN 84-87135-02-1 (Catalan).

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Diocese of Vic". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

Paul Freedman, "The Diocese of Vic" has broad implications for the medieval history of Catalonia in general

Diocese of Vic general information of the Catholic-Hierarchy website