Petronella from Aragon

Petronella of Aragon (15th century)

Petronella ( Spanish Petronila , Aragonese Peironela , Catalan Peronella ; born June 29, 1136 in Huesca , † October 13 or October 15, 1173 in Barcelona ) was the last Queen of Aragón from the House of Jiménez from 1137 to 1173 . Her marriage to Count Raimund Berengar IV of Barcelona initiated the historic union between Aragon and Catalonia to form the Crown of Aragon .

Life

She was the daughter of King Ramiro II the monk and Agnes of Aquitaine. In 1137 Ramiro II regulated the line of succession to the effect that he betrothed Petronella to Count Raimund Berengar IV of Barcelona (1113–1162) at the age of one (the marriage was not consummated until 1150 when Petronella was 14 years old).

After the father resigned shortly after their engagement, he passed the reign to Raimund Berengar, the daughter officially became queen, but her father retained the title of king. After her father died in 1157, she became the sole queen of Aragon. Her husband never held the title of king, but still exercised the real rule. Under his rule Aragon began to rise to a great power.

After he died on a trip to Italy in 1162, she gained greater political influence. She sought closer relations with Henry II of England , who was a neighbor of the Spanish lands due to his French continental ownership. She managed to make peace with the Kingdom of Navarre , which would last for thirteen years. She lacked the education and support of the greats of the country for major political activities.

She handed over rule to her son Alfonso II on June 18, 1164 (" Actum est hoc in Barchinona XIIII kalendas julii anno Dominice incarnationis MC LXIIII. ") . Then the Queen withdrew from the political scene.

progeny

She had five children with her husband:

• Peter (* 1152, died as a child).
• Alfonso II (1157–1196), King of Aragon.
• Raimund Berengar IV. (1158–1181), Count of Provence.
• Dulce (1160–1198), ∞ with King Sancho I of Portugal .
• Sancho (1161–1223), Count of Roussillon.

literature

• Raphaela Averkorn: rulers and foreign policy. Noble women as agents of foreign relations on the Iberian Peninsula (13th-15th centuries). In: Karl H. Schneider: Gender roles in history from a Polish and German perspective. Münster 2004, p. 98ff.
• Laura Brander: You didn't want him to call himself king. ' The foreign prince and heiress of the country in the high Middle Ages. Ramon Sprinkling IV from Barcelona and Petronella from Aragon. In: Michel Pauly (ed.): The heir, the foreign prince and the country. The marriage of John the Blind and Elisabeth of Bohemia in a comparative European perspective, Luxembourg 2013, pp. 109–133.

Web links

Commons : Petronella of Aragón  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Entry in the Medieval Lands project

Individual evidence

1. ^ Lexicon of the Middle Ages: Volume VI Column 1952 ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Petronila at www.enciclopedia-aragonesa.com

predecessor	Office	successor
Ramiro II.	Queen of Aragon 1137–1164	Alfonso II