Tradition holds that Charlemagne had granted a…

Tradition holds that Charlemagne had granted a charter to the Andorran people in return for fighting against the Moors.

Overlordship of the territory was by the Count of Urgell and eventually by the bishop of the Diocese of Urgell.

In 988, Borrell II, Count of Urgell, gave the Andorran valleys to the Diocese of Urgell in exchange for land in Cerdanya Since then the Bishop of Urgell, based in Seu d'Urgell, has owned Andorra.

Before 1095, Andorra did not have any type of military protection and the Bishop of Urgell, who knew that the Count of Urgell wanted to reclaim the Andorran valleys, asked for help and protection from the Lord of Caboet.

In 1095, the Lord of Caboet and the Bishop of Urgell signed under oath a declaration of their co-sovereignty over Andorra.

Arnalda, daughter of Arnau of Caboet, married the Viscount of Castellbò and both became Viscounts of Castellbò and Cerdanya.

Years later their daughter, Ermessenda, married Roger Bernat II, the French Count of Foix.

They became Roger Bernat II and Ermessenda I, Counts of Foix, Viscounts of Castellbò and Cerdanya, and co-sovereigns of Andorra (shared with the Bishop of Urgell).

A dispute that had arisen between the Bishop of Urgell and the Count of Foix in the eleventh century is resolved in 1278 with the mediation of Aragon by the signing of the first paréage, which provides that Andorra's sovereignty be shared between the count of Foix (whose title will ultimately transfer to the French head of state) and the Bishop of Urgell, in Catalonia.

This gives the principality its territory and political form.