Everything about Ramon Berenguer Iv Count Of Barcelona totally explained
Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona also called
Ramon the Holy (c.
1113 –
6 August 1162) effected the union between
Aragon and
Catalonia.
Early reign
He inherited the county of Barcelona from his father
Ramon Berenguer III on
August 19,
1131. On
August 11,
1137 in
Huesca he was betrothed to the infant
Petronila 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 Ramon Berenguer. The latter essentially became ruler of Aragon, although he was never king himself, but instead
Count of Barcelona, 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. 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
Castile 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 wars
In 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 French and Genoese crusaders. 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 Berenger 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. 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.
Death
He died in 1162 in Borgo Sam 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 her mother's abdication
Petronila of Aragon (Ramiro II was already dead), and, in compliment to the Aragonese, changed his name to Alfonso and became
Alfonso II of Aragon, I of Catalonia. Ramon Berenguer's younger son Pedro inherited the county of
Cerdanya and lands north of the
Pyrenees.
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