Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona
Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona (c. 1113 † August 6, 1162 in Borgo San Dalmazzo ) was the eldest son of Ramon Berenguer III. the Great and his wife Dulcia of Gevaudan. He followed his father in 1131 in the five Catalan countries, including in the county of Barcelona, while his younger brother Berengar Raymond I of Provence ( † 1144 ), the rule was transferred in Provence.
By the marriage contract between Ramon Berenguer IV and the first year Petronella of Aragon (1136-1173), heir to the kingdom of Aragon, was created in 1137 from Aragon and Catalonia to the 12th century with largely identical countries of the Counts of Barcelona, to 1516 existing, as the crown of Aragón designated community that rose still in the 12th century to one of the foremost great powers of the Mediterranean and the Iberian Peninsula.
Life
About Raimund Berengar's life, there is no coherent account of a medieval chronicler. However, important events were mentioned in the designated " Chronicon Adefonsi Imoeratoris " report by an anonymous author about the life of King Alfonso VII of Castile and León, the IV in his first marriage to Berenguela of Barcelona, a sister of Raymond Berengar since 1128 was married. In addition, the policy decisions of the Count can be detected on the basis of traditional instruments.
In 1134 the Aragonese nobility opposed the testament expressed will of their late King Alfonso I, who intended his kingdom to inherit the Holy Land. Therefore, the nobility crowned the last member of the dynasty, Ramiro II, Alfonso specially from the monastery fetched brother to the king of Aragon, who soon afterwards with Agnes of Poitou (1103-1160) was married and his only daughter Petronella begat. Already crowned the 1137 with his duties as king overtaxed ex- monk his daughter to the Queen, to a little later again retire to the monastery. Since the year Petronella could not exercise even their sovereign rights, Ramiro II arranged the marriage of his daughter with Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, which should lead the regency of the Kingdom of Aragon during Petro Ellas minority.
De facto only came the Count of Barcelona as Regent of the Kingdom of Aragon and husband of Petronella in question. A reign of Alfonso VII, of the neighboring king of Castile and León and Aragón's greatest adversary, was excluded because it was feared rightly that Aragon would lose its autonomy in the Kingdom of Castile and León. Because Navarre until 1134 separated from Aragon and around 1137 ran his own expansionist policies, even the King of Navarre was undesirable as a possible regent in Aragon.
The Marriage of Petronella and Ramon Berenguer led to the formation of an existing artificial state formation to 1516, the traded under the name "Crown of Aragon ". Although Aragonese and Catalans lived under different legal systems, they pursued their own economic interests and also spoke no common language, yet the crown of Aragon rose under Raimund Berengar's son Alfonso II on a major power in the Mediterranean and the Iberian Peninsula. This was above all the fact that both parts of the State Union withdrew their advantages. Aragonese and Catalans were able to preserve their cultural identity, the Kingdom of Aragon was given access to the Mediterranean, and the County of Barcelona was protected against the expansionism of Castile.
The basis for the stability of the new state were during the reign of Ramon Berenguer IV created. He occupied from 1145 almost all bishoprics with his trusted and established the ecclesiastical province of Tarragona as a link between the Catalan and Aragonese territories. In addition, he promoted the newly created orders of chivalry, especially the Templars, and the canons of St. Ruf ( Avignon ), which he commissioned from 1148 with the establishment of a bishopric in the organization again conquered Tortosa. In addition to the church polity Ramon Berenguer also created a new order for state administration. He also had a new legal collection, put together " Usatges of Barcelona", which guaranteed the integrity of the Crown of Aragon in the long term.
Because the will of Alfonso I was aware ignored, Raimund Berengar had foreign policy work for a rapid reconciliation with the papacy and the strong angry also angered those in power in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Already in 1140 he paid the Hospital Knights, the Hospitallers later, a settlement for their lost inheritance. This agreement was approved in 1141 by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, where the Count of Barcelona was generously allowed to use the title " King of Aragón ". This leaning Ramon Berenguer IV, however, from, he called himself still simply " Count of Barcelona and prince ( princeps ) of Aragón ", possibly just out of consideration for the popes who his kingdom still not recognized. It was not until 1158 allowed Pope Adrian IV Raimund Berengar, to use the title " King of Aragón ".
Between 1144 and 1150, the Count of Barcelona took over for his nephew Ramon Berenguer III. the guardianship of government in the county of Provence. As a result of the call of Pope Eugene III. the Second Crusade initiated in 1147 Ramon Berenguer IV invited the Muslim conquest Taifenreiche in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, some of which have been subjected to 1149. Furthermore, he conquered in 1147 - together with Alfonso VII of Castile and León and an allied Genoese - Pisan fleet - the pirate nest Almeria and 1148 - again with the help of a Genoese fleet - Tortosa at the Ebromündung and the Moorish enclave Lerida.
Ramon Berenguer IV sought after the death of his liege lord Alfonso VII († 1157 ) political support for the English King Henry II, whose French lands ended at the Pyrenees. Heinrich intention on behalf of his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, which claims to enforce the county of Toulouse. For this reason, a political alliance between the English king and the Count of Barcelona was formed in 1159 in Blaye in Gascony, whereby a future marriage between Henry's son Richard and a daughter Raimund Berengar, probably Dulce Barcelona decided.
The 1161 was marriage of his nephew Ramon Berenguer III. of Provence with the Piastin Richeza - widow of the Castilian king Alfonso VII, cousin of Emperor Frederick I and ( possibly ) relatives of the Hohenstaufen antipope Victor IV - led to contacts with the Holy Roman Empire. Due to the ecclesiastical schism Frederick Barbarossa sought his supremacy over the südburgundischen space to a new, consolidated basis to lift. Since the counts of Barcelona ruled in the County of Provence and since 1137 in the Kingdom of Aragon since 1113, they were considered as the most important rulers in the south of France - eastern Spanish region. They also were in political opposition to local rulers, notably the Counts of Toulouse. This led to the alliance between the Emperor and Ramon Berenguer IV, the then County of Provence, the south of the Durance was awarded.
As a result of the 1161 treaty of alliance concluded pulled Ramon Berenguer IV to Italy to support Barbarossa in its fight against the rebellious Milan. However, the Count of Barcelona died a few days before the scheduled personal meetings with the Emperor on 6 August 1162 Borgo San Dalmazzo. Thither, in order to prove Frederick Barbarossa his late ally who was then buried in the Count's grave lay in Santa Maria Ripoll their last respects to a few days later. Ramon Berenguer III. of Provence renewed on August 18, 1162 the contract with the emperor. On the other hand felt Alfonso II of Aragon, son and successor, Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona, not bound by the contract. He later moved to the opposition camp Barbarossa.
Progeny
Children of the marriage of Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona with Petronella of Aragon:
- Pedro, Count of Cerdanya, Carcassonne and Narbonne ( born May 4, 1152 Barcelona, † 1158 in Huesca)
- Alfonso II ( Aragon ) ( I of Catalonia and Provence) el Case or the troubadour born as Ramon Berenguer; (* March 25, 1157 in Huesca, † April 26, 1196 in Perpignan )
- Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence, born as Pedro (c. 1158; † April 5, 1181 in Montpellier)
- Dulce Berenguer of Barcelona or Dolça (* 1158/1159; † 1 September 1198 in Coimbra ), she later married King Sancho I of Portugal ( the colonizers )
- Sancho, Count of Roussillon, Regent of Aragon (* 1161, † 1223 or 1226 )
Out of wedlock:
- Berengar (* before 1150; † August 11, 1213 ), Archbishop of Narbonne