King Ramiro II “El Monje” (The Monk) handed over his daughter Petronila in marriage to Ramon Berenguer IV , Count of Barcelona, when she was only one year old. In doing so, Ramiro II created in 1137, the foundationsof the future Crown of Aragon, because although his daughter offered all the Kingdom of Aragon for her marriage, he was to continue to be King and Lord of his Kingdom and its counties.

In this way, from 1137 until his death in 1162, Ramon Berenguer was both count of Barcelona and Prince of Aragon. In this role he resumed the battles of conquest that had been abandoned since the reign of Alfonso I “El Batallador”(The Warrior). In this period the lands of Daroca, Lerida and the Low Aragon were reconquered. The Low Ebro came under his control after the takeover of Torosa in 1148.

However , the principal representative of the Crown was the son of Ramon Berenguer IV, Kinf alfonso II, and his wife Lady Petronila. They conquered the majority of the Province of Teruel and in doing so practically all the present day Aragonese Territory was mapped out. What is more, because of family connections, it encorporated French Territory such as Provenze and Nice.

The third major thrust of territorial expansion for The Crown came with Jaime I “El Conquistador” (The Conquerer), who lived from 1213 to 1276. During his long reign territories such as The Balearic Islands and Valencia were conquered, and the Island of Sicily also became part of his Kingdom.

From now on , and during the 14th and 15th Centuries, The Crown went on extending its power across the Mediterranean, encorporating French territories, Islands such as Corcega and Cerdeña, or Greek lands such as Athens. All this meant that the Crown of Aragon played an important role in the European economy and politics. For this reason it was constantly changing from being either ally or enemy of other powers such as France, Genoa or The Catholic Church in Rome.

© Prames