Alfonso II of Aragon
Alfonso II (1–25 March 1157 – 25 April 1196), called the Chaste or the Troubadour, was the King of Aragon and, as Alfons I, the Count of Barcelona from 1164 until his death. The eldest son of Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona and Queen Petronilla of Aragon, he was the first King of Aragon who was also Count of Barcelona. He was also Count of Provence, which he secured from Douce II and her would-be father-in-law Raymond V, Count of Toulouse, from 1166 until 1173, when he ceded it to his brother, Ramon Berenguer III. His reign has been characterised by nationalistic and nostalgic Catalan historians as l'engrandiment occitànic or "the Pyrenean unity": a great scheme to unite various lands on both sides of the Pyrenees under the rule of the House of Barcelona.
Alfonso the Chaste | |
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Portrait from the 12th-century manuscript Liber feudorum maior | |
King of Aragon Count of Barcelona | |
Reign | 18 July 1164 – 25 April 1196 |
Predecessor | Petronilla |
Successor | Peter II |
Regent | Petronilla (until 1173) |
Born | 1–25 March 1157 Huesca, Kingdom of Aragon |
Died | 25 April 1196 39) Perpignan, Principality of Catalonia | (aged
Burial | Poblet Monastery |
Spouse |
Sancha of Castile (m. 1174) |
Issue among others... |
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House | Barcelona |
Father | Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona |
Mother | Petronilla, Queen of Aragon |