Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona
Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona the Saint (c.
1113 –
August 6,
1162) is most known for effecting the union between
Aragon and
Catalonia.
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 3 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 Petronila and her husband. 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 monarch 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 southeast 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. After that, in the middle years of his rule, his attention turned to campaigns against the
Moors. In
1147 he helped Castile to conquer
Almería. In
1148 he turned against the lands of the
Almoravid taifa kingdom of
Valencia and
Murcia, capturing
Tortosa and, the next year,
Fraga,
Lleida and
Mequinenza in the confluence of the
Segre,
Cinca and
Ebro. The
reconquista of the actual Catalonia was complete.
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 Berenguer
the Saint founded and endowed the royal monastery of
Poblet. He died in
1162 in Borgo Sam Dalmazzo,
Piedmont,
Italy, leaving the title of Count of Barcelona to his eldest son Ramon Berenguer, who that same 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.
Ramon Berenguer's marriages and descendants
* First wife,
Petronila of Aragon** Dolça or
Dulce Berenguer (b. 1152, d. 1198) -> married King
Sancho I of Portugal the Populator**
Alfonso II of Aragon (I of Catalonia and Provence)
the Chaste or
the Trobadour (born Ramon Berenguer, 1157, d. 1196)
** Pedro, Count of
Cerdanya,
Carcassonne and
Narbonne, (born 1152, d. in the 1160s).
**
Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Provence (born Pedro, 1158, d. 1181)
**
Sancho, Count of Roussillon, Regent of Aragon (b. 1161, d. 1226).
* Unknown mistress
** Ramon Berenguer,
Abbot of Montearagon,
Archbishop of Narbonne
