Canonry of Santa Maria de la Seu d'Urgell

Despite the Saracen presence in the territory, the life of the bishopric continued to develop, with gaps, and the setback due to the affair of Bishop Fèlix (786-799), who defended the adoptionist doctrine condemned by the Church as heresy. Fèlix confronted the Carolingian power and was eventually deposed and exiled. The next known bishop was Possedoni (814-823). Bishop Sisebut (833-840) consecrated a new cathedral on the present site. At this time, he received from Louis the Pious and Count Sunifred several possessions in a large territory, which allowed the consolidation of episcopal power until it became the centre of an extensive feudal patrimony, with recognised authority over the region, which was gradually extended with the recovery of new territories occupied by the Saracens to the south.

At the same time, the development of an Aachen canon community was promoted, although the community may have originated in the Visigothic period. The Council of Aachen took place in 817, where the adoption of a common rule for these communities within the Carolingian dominions was obligatory, and the canonry of Urgell had probably already adopted it by 826. The canonry had considerable power, overseeing the election of the bishop, at the head of a very powerful institution.

One of his successors was Bishop Ot, of the family of the Counts of Pallars, appointed bishop in 1095, in his last years he was also abbot of Santa Maria de Gerri (Pallars Sobirà) a monastery which he particularly favoured. He died and was buried there, Saint Odo (Ot) rebuilt the cathedral, the current 12th-century building; the reason for this last construction was the poor state of the building from the time of Ermengol. This work would have been practically completed by the end of the 12th century; in 1195 the city was attacked and the cathedral sacked.