Álvaro (Urgell)

Álvaro the Castilian ( Catalan Àlvar el Castellà ; † 1267 in Foix ) was a count of Urgell and vice count of Áger from the house of Cabrera . He was a son of Count Ponç von Urgell († 1243) and María González Girón.

The reclining figures of the tombs of Álvaro von Urgell and Cecile von Foix in The Cloisters , Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York City .

Although he was the second son of his father, Álvaro could take over the line of succession shortly after his death, since his older brother Ermengol IX. died that same year. At that time, Álvaro was still a minor and was raised by his mother in Castile , which is where his nickname comes from. He was also called "Rodrígo". In the time of his absence from Urgell he was married in 1253 by his guardians by consensus with King James I of Aragón to Constança, a daughter of the Seneschal Pere de Montcada. The Cabrera had been in a feud with the Montcada House for generations , which this marriage was to end. But when Álvaro personally came to Urgell in 1256 to celebrate the wedding there, he abandoned his wife shortly afterwards because he had fallen in love with Cecile, a sister of Count Roger IV of Foix .

This resulted in a war with the Montcada, in which Álvaro enjoyed the support of most of the Catalan nobles, while the Montcada had King James I and the ecclesiastical authorities on their side. At the same time, a legal tug of war broke out between the two women, who both appealed to Pope Urban IV for recognition of the legal validity of their marriages. The Pope instructed Raimund von Penyafort to head a commission of inquiry that should decide the case. After King James I had militarily intervened in Urgell in 1260, Álvaro temporarily returned to Constança, from whom he still hoped to separate. But when Pope Clement IV confirmed the legal validity of the marriage based on the judgment of Raimunds von Penyafort in 1266 , he was not prepared to recognize this judgment. War broke out again with the king, from which Álvaro had to flee to Foix , where he died the following year. According to his will, he was buried in the Abbey of Santa María de Bellpuig near Avellanas.

The first wife of Álvaro was Constança de Montcada, daughter of Pere I. de Montcada. They had a daughter together:

• Leonor (†?); ∞ with Sancho d'Antillón.

His second wife was Cecile de Foix, daughter of Count Roger Bernard II of Foix . Álvaro had chosen their children as his testamentary heirs:

• Ermengol X. († 1314), Count of Urgell.
• Álvaro II. († 1299), Vice Count of Áger.
• Cecila; ∞ with Jofre IV. De Rocaberti, Vice Count of Rocabertí.

literature

• James A. Brundage: Matrimonial Politics in Thirteenth-Century Aragon: Moncada v. Urgell , In: Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Vol. 31 (1980), pp. 271-282.
• The Book of Deeds of James I of Aragon. A Translation of the medieval catalan Llibre dels Fets , ed. by Damian J. Smith and Helena Buffery (2010), p. 333, note 20.

swell

• Ex Gestis comitum barcinonensium et aragoniæ regum , ed. in: Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France , Vol. 19 (1880), p. 233.
• Historia de la Corona de Aragón: Crónica de San Juan de la Peña: Part aragonesa , ed. by T. Ximénez de Embún y Val (1876), §35, pp. 149-150.
• Jéronimo Zurita , Anales de la corona de Aragón , ed. by Ángel Canellas López (1967), Vol. 1, Lib. 3, §54, 58, 61, 73.

Web link

• COMTES de URGELL (CABRERA) 1231-1275 at Foundation for Medieval Genealogy.ac

predecessor	Office	successor
Ermengol IX.	Count of Urgell 1243–1267	Ermengol X.