FORMER SOVEREIGN STATES OF THE PYRENEAN ISTHMUS (III).

KINGDOM OF ARAGON


The Kingdom of Aragon (Aragonese: Reino d'Aragón), was a medieval and early modern kingdom in the Pyrenean istmus.

History

Independent kingdom

This kingdom was originally a Frankish feudal county around the city of Jaca, which in the first half of the 8th century became a vassal state of the kingdom of Pamplona (later Nabarre), its own dynasty of counts ending without male heir in 922.

On the death of Sancho III of Nabarre in 1035, the Kingdom of Nabarre was divided in to three parts: (1) Nabarre with some Basque lands, (2) Castile and (3) Sobrarbe, Ribagorza and Aragon. As the most important Christian monarch in the Pyrenean isthmus and the King of all Nabarre, each of his three lands were converted into a Kingdom. Sancho's son Gonzalo inherited Sobrarbe and Ribagorza, but Gonzalo was killed soon after and all the land he owned went to his illegitimate brother Ramiro, creating the future Kingdom of Aragon.

By defeating his brother, Ramiro achieved virtual independence for Aragon. As the kingdom expanded to the south, conquering land from Al Andalus, the capital city moved from Jaca to Huesca (1096), and later to Zaragoza (1118). By 1285 the southernmost areas of Aragon had been taken from the Moors.

Dynastic union with Catalonia

The Kingdom of Aragón gave the name to the Crown of Aragon, after the dynastic union in 1150 of a Count of Barcelona (Ramon Berenguer IV) with a Queen of Aragon (Petronilla of Aragon), their son inheriting all their respective territories in the House of Aragon. The Kings of Aragon had also the title of Count of Barcelona and ruled territories that consisted of not only the present administrative region of Aragon but also Catalonia, and later the Balearic Islands, Valencia, Sicily, Naples and Sardinia (see Crown of Aragon). The King of Aragón was the direct King of the Aragonese region, and held also the title of King of Valencia, Count of Provence, King of Majorca (for a time), Count of Barcelona, Lord of Montpellier, and, for a time, Duke of Athens and Neopatria. Each of these titles gave him sovereignty over a certain region, and these titles changed as he lost and won territories. In the fourteenth century, his power was greatly restricted by the Union of Aragon.