Expansion of the Kingdom
of Aragon

Ramiro II, after the death of his brother Alfonso I, abandoned the religious life to find an heir to the throne of Aragon. He agreed to the marriage of his only daughter Petronila to the Conde of Barcelona, Ramón Berenguer IV, who, according to Aragonese law, had to renounce his family name and rights to become the legal son of Ramiro.

In 1162, the son of Queen Petronila and Conde-Principe Ramón became the first King of Aragon and Conde of Barcelona; the head of two states that maintained their political, juridical, cultural and linguistic differences. Thus was born the Crown of Aragon, a collection of territories, peoples, kingdoms, dutchies, and counties under the sovereignty of the King of Aragon. The House of Aragon steadily extended its power throughout the Mediterrenean (The Balearic Isles, Valencia, Sicily, Sardinia, Naples, Athens, etc.).

Pilar Rivero