Family of Ramon IV + BERENGUER and Petronila I + of ARAGON

Husband:	Ramon IV + BERENGUER (1113-1162)
Wife:	Petronila I + of ARAGON (1136-1173)
Children:	Alfonso II + (1157-1196)
	Peter of ARAGON (c. 1159- )
	Dulce (c. 1160- )
	Ramon BERENGUER (c. 1161- )
	Sancho (c. 1162- )
Marriage	1151	Huesca, Huesca, Aragon, Spain

Husband: Ramon IV + BERENGUER

Name:	Ramon IV + BERENGUER
Sex:	Male
Father:	Raimund III + Berenger (1080-1131)
Mother:	Douce I + (1095-1127)
Birth	1113	Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Occupation		Count of Barcelona
Title		Count of Barcelona
Death	6 Aug 1162 (age 48-49)	Borgo San Dalmazzo, Cuneo, Italy

Wife: Petronila I + of ARAGON

Child 1: Alfonso II +

Child 2: Peter of ARAGON

Name:	Peter of ARAGON
Sex:	Male
Spouse:	Agnes ( -1097)
Birth	1159 (est)

Child 3: Dulce

Name:	Dulce
Sex:	Female
Birth	1160 (est)

Child 4: Ramon BERENGUER

Name:	Ramon BERENGUER
Sex:	Male
Birth	1161 (est)

Child 5: Sancho

Name:	Sancho
Sex:	Male
Birth	1162 (est)

Note on Husband: Ramon IV + BERENGUER

Ramon Berenguer IV (Catalan pronunciation: [r?'mom b????'ge]) (c. 1113 – 6 August 1162, Anglicized Raymond Berengar IV), sometimes called the Holy, was the Count of Barcelona who effected the union between the Kingdom of Aragon and the Principality of Catalonia into the Crown of Aragon.

 

He inherited the county of Barcelona from his father Ramon Berenguer III on August 19, 1131. On 11 August 1137, he was married to the infant Petronilla of Aragon, aged one at the time. Her father, Ramiro II of Aragon the Monk, who sought Barcelona's aid against Alfonso VII of Castile, abdicated on November 13 that same year, leaving his kingdom to Petronilla and Ramon Berenguer. The latter essentially became ruler of Aragon, although he was never king himself, but instead Count of Barcelona and Prince of the Kingdom of Aragon. He was the last Catalan ruler to use the title of Count as his first; starting with his son Alfonso II of Aragon the counts of Barcelona styled themselves, in the first place, as kings of Aragon.

 

The treaty between Ramon Berenguer and his father-in-law stipulated that their descendants would rule jointly over both realms. Even should Petronila die before the marriage could be consummated, Berenguer would still inherit the title of King of Aragon.[1] Both realms would preserve their laws, institutions and autonomy, remaining legally distinct but federated in a dynastic union under one ruling House. Historians consider this arrangement the political masterstroke of the Hispanic Middle Ages. Both realms gained greater strength and security and Aragon got its much needed outlet to the sea. On the other hand, formation of a new political entity in the north-east at a time when Portugal seceded from León in the west gave more balance to the Christian kingdoms of the peninsula. Ramon Berenguer successfully pulled Aragon out of its pledged submission to Castile, aided no doubt by the beauty and charm of his sister Berenguela, wife of Alfonso the Emperor, for which she was well-known in her time.

 

Crusades and warsIn the middle years of his rule, his attention turned to campaigns against the Moors. In October 1147, as part of the Second Crusade, he helped Castile to conquer Almería. He then invaded the lands of the Almoravid taifa kingdom of Valencia and Murcia. In December 1148, he captured Tortosa after a five-month siege with the help of Southern French, Anglo-Normans and Genoese crusaders.[2] The next year, Fraga, Lleida and Mequinenza in the confluence of the Segre and Ebro rivers fell to his army. The reconquista of modern Catalonia was completed.

 

Ramon Berenguer also campaigned in Provence, helping his brother Berenguer Ramon and his infant nephew Ramon Berenguer II against Counts of Toulouse. During the minority of Ramon Berenger II the Count of Barcelona also acted as the regent of Provence (between 1144 and 1157). In 1151, Ramon signed the Treaty of Tudilén with Alfonso VII of León and Castile. The treaty defined the zones of conquest in Andalusia in order to prevent the two rulers from coming into conflict. Also in 1151, Ramon Berenguer founded and endowed the royal monastery of Poblet. In 1154, he accepted the regency of Gaston V of Béarn in return for the Bearnese nobles rendering him homage at Canfranc, thus uniting that small principality with the growing Aragonese empire.

 

DeathHe died in 1162 in Borgo San Dalmazzo, Piedmont, Italy, leaving the title of Count of Barcelona to his eldest son Ramon Berenguer, who next year inherited the title of King of Aragon from the abdication of his mother Petronilla of Aragon (Ramiro II was already dead), and, in compliment to the Aragonese, changed his name to Alfonso and became Alfonso II of Aragon. Ramon Berenguer's younger son Pere (Peter) inherited the county of Cerdanya and lands north of the Pyrenees.

Note on Wife: Petronila I + of ARAGON

Petronilla of Aragon (Huesca, 29 June 1136 – Barcelona, 15 October 1173),[1] whose name is also spelled Petronilla or Petronella (Aragonese Peyronela or Payronella,[2] and Catalan: Peronella), was Queen regnant of Aragon from 1137 until 1164. She was the daughter and successor of Ramiro II by Agnes of Aquitaine. By right of her marriage, she was also styled Countess of Barcelona.

 

 

Charter by which Petronila abdicated in favour of her son Alfonso II of Aragon.Petronila came to the throne through special circumstances. Her father, Ramiro, was bishop of Barbastro-Roda when his brother, Alfonso I, died without an heir in 1134, and left the crown to the three religious military orders. The nobility of Aragon, however, raised Ramiro to the throne. As king, he received a papal dispensation to abdicate from his monastic vows in order to secure the succession to the throne. King Ramiro the Monk, as he is known, married Agnes, daughter of Duke William IX of Aquitaine and Gascony, and through her produced an heiress, Petronila. When she was just a little over one year old, Petronila was married in Barbastro on 11 August 1137 to Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona.[3] Immediately thereafter, Ramiro abdicated in favour of Petronila and Ramon Berenguer and returned to monastic life.

 

Petronila consummated her marriage to Ramon Berenguer in the early part of 1151,[3] when she reached the age of 15. The marriage produced five children:

 

Peter of Aragon (b.4 May 1152- died young)

King Alfonso II of Aragon (March 1157- 25 April 1196), Married Sancha of Castile, by whom he had issue.

Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Provence (1158- 5 April 1181), died unmarried.

Dulce of Aragon (1160- 1 September 1198), married King Sancho I of Portugal, by whom she had issue.

Sancho, Count of Provence (1161–1223), married firstly Ermensinda of Rocaberti; and secondly Sancha Nunez de Lara, by whom he had a son and a daughter.

Shortly after his death in 1162, Petronila renounced the crown of Aragon in favour of her eldest son, Ramón Berenguer, who, as a compliment to the Aragonese, changed his name to Alfonso. Her son was the first ruler of both Aragon and Catalonia (where he is known as Alfons I) thereby establishing the dynastic union between the two countries that lasted until the Crown of Aragon was dissolved in 1707. The two kingdoms remained largely separate in a federal state in which each had its own system of laws and government. The ruler used both titles of King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona. Alfonso II was seven years old when on 18 July 1164 Petronila abdicated on his behalf. She died in Barcelona in October 1173 and was buried at Barcelona Cathedral. Her tomb has been lost.