Ramiro II of Aragon

The reign of Ramiro the Monk, as he is known, was tumultuous. At the beginning of his reign he had problems with his nobles, who thought he would be docile and easily steered to their wishes, but discovered him to be inflexible. In order to produce an heir, Ramiro married Agnes, daughter of Duke William IX of Aquitaine.^[1] He and Agnes had a daughter, Petronilla, who was betrothed to Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona at the age of one.^[1] The marriage contract, signed at Barbastro on 11 August 1137, made Petronilla the heir to the crown of Aragon, which in event of her childless death would pass to Ramon Berenguer and any children he might have by other wives. Ramon accepted Ramiro as "King, Lord and Father", and the County of Barcelona and the Kingdom of Aragon were united into the Crown of Aragon.^[2] The previously-landlocked Aragonese state thus returned to the position of peninsular power it had held prior to the loss of Navarre, and received a window to the Western Mediterranean it would come to dominate.

In the time between his accession and the betrothal of his daughter, Ramiro II had already had to put down a rebellion of the nobles, and knowing himself not to be a war king, he passed royal authority to his son-in-law Ramon Berenguer on 13 November 1137. Ramon became the "Prince of the Aragonese people" (Princeps Aragonensis) and effective chief of the kingdom's armies. Ramiro withdrew from public life, returning to the Abbey of San Pedro in Huesca. He later became known for the famous and passionate legend of the Bell of Huesca. He died there on 16 August 1157 and is buried there.

In 1137 he ceded the throne but continued to hold the title of king until his death,^[3] and even so the chronicles written in other kingdoms mention him.^[4] Regardless of Ramiro's title, his daughter Petronilla was using the title of regina (queen) in not only the document about her abdication in 1164 but also her will, written in 1152, before her father's death.^[5][6]

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• Belenguer, Ernest (2006). «Aproximación a la historia de la Corona de Aragón». La Corona de Aragón. El poder y la imagen de la Edad Media a la Edad Moderna (siglos XII – XVIII). Sociedad Estatal para la Acción Cultural Exterior (SEACEX), Generalitat Valenciana y Ministerio de Cultura de España: Lunwerg, pp. 25–53. ISBN 84-9785-261-3
• Bisson, Thomas N. (2000). The Medieval Crown of Aragon: A Short History. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Chaytor, Henry John. (1933). A History of Aragon and Catalonia. London: Methuan Publishing.
• Graham-Leigh, Elaine (2005). The Southern French Nobility and the Albigensian Crusade. The Boydell Press.
• Lapeña Paúl, Ana Isabel. (2008). Ramiro II de Aragón: el rey monje (1134–1137). Gijón: Trea. ISBN 978-84-9704-392-2