History
In 1978, the town of Sant Cugat was granted city status. Shortly before, its physiognomy had begun to change: industries and factories were transforming the mainly agricultural landscape. Dating from a long time before these transformations, we find the first historic relics of Sant Cugat: from the traces of the first settlers of ancient times to the first settlement located around the town's monastery which was inhabited by the peasantry.
Different eras: from 1100 BC to 2005
The early settlers
The remains of the most ancient settlement found in Sant Cugat del
Vallès date from the late Aeneolithic period, which roughly spanned the
years 2000 to 1500 BC. A burial site dating from this period was
found in the Cova de la Torre Negra, a cavern located on the Collserola
Ridge. The bell-shaped vessels found alongside individual burial plots
and ossuaries corroborate this fact.
The Romans
During the time of the Roman Empire, the territory of Sant Cugat del
Vallès was near one of the most important Roman roads, the Augustan
Way, which originated in Rome, passed through Tarraco (Tarragona) and
followed an inland route towards the south of the Iberian
Peninsula. Near to Sant Cugat, a secondary road traversed the
Augustan Way across the Collserola Ridge. It linked Egara (Terrassa)
with Barcino (Barcelona). A fortress was built along this
secondary road on the site occupied today by the monastery. The
fortress came to be known as Castrum Octavianum and, as a result of the
most recent archaeological excavations carried out, it is thought to
date from about the 4th century AD.
According to legend,
shortly before the year 313, Cucuphas (Cugat), an African who had come
to Barcino to preach the Christian faith, was martyred in the Roman
fortress. This occurrence meant that the site became a
place of Christian worship over the years.
The Visigoths
The mass invasion by the Germanic peoples in the 5th century brought about the definitive fall of the Western Roman Empire. Catalan territories were first absorbed by the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse and subsequently by the kingdom in Toledo. The domination of the Visigoths did not have much impact on local customs, nor did it affect the language or ethnic composition. The process of ruralisation, begun during the last years of the Roman Empire, was stepped up and the bases of late medieval society were established. There was probably a monastic community in Sant Cugat in the 7th century.
