page_title: History of Catalonia
section_title: Dynastic union with Aragon
hierarchical_section_title: History of Catalonia / Catalonia and Aragon (1100–1469) / Dynastic union with Aragon
caption_attribution_description: English: Detail of portrait of queen Petronila of Aragon and count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona, oil canvas 1634 (Prado Museum). 244 x 127 cm. Español: Detalle de los retratos de la reina Petronila de Aragón y el conde Ramón Berenguer IV de Barcelona. Procede del Palacio del Buen Retiro de Madrid y es copia de un original de Filippo Ariosto de 1586 pintado para el Salón Real del Palacio de la Generalidad del Reino de Aragón que fue destruido en 1809 tras los Sitios de Zaragoza durante la Guerra de la Independencia Española. En el cuadro figura a la derecha la reina Petronila de Aragón (Reina de Aragón entre 1157 y 1164) dotada de los atributos reales: Corona real abierta o medieval, cetro, mantón de pieles y collar, bajo uno de los blasones que en el siglo XVI se consideraba que representaba en modo privativo al Reino de Aragón: de plata, cruz de San Jorge con cuatro cabezas de moro en los respectivos cuarteles o "Cruz de Alcoraz", emblema documentado por primera vez en 1281 como divisa personal de Pedro III de Aragón "El Grande" (1276-1285), y considerado a partir del siglo XIV por Pedro IV el Ceremonioso como armas antiguas de Aragón, consideración que hizo fortuna en la necesidad de dotar a los distintos reinos, condados y soberanías del Casal d'Aragó/Casa de Aragón, de emblemas privativos. En segundo plano, a la izquierda, aparece el conde Ramón Berenguer IV de Barcelona con corona condal y vara de mando bajo escudo con los palos de gules timbrado de corona condal. Desde el siglo XIV el senyal reyal de la Casa de Aragón se consideró asociado al linaje condal. Cfr. Guillermo Redondo Veintemillas, Alberto Montaner Frutos y María Cruz García López, Aragón en sus escudos y banderas, Zaragoza, Caja de la Inmaculada, 2007 (Colección Mariano de Pano y Ruata, 26). ISBN 978-84-96869-06-6; Reyes y Reinas de Aragón, Zaragoza, Gobierno de Aragón-Heraldo de Aragón, 2006. D. L. Z-569-06 y Ernest Belenguer, Felipe V. Garín Llombart y Carmen Morte García, 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, 2006. ISBN 84-9785-261-3.
context_page_description: Catalonia was first settled during the Middle Palaeolithic era. Like the rest of the Mediterranean side of the Iberian Peninsula, the area was occupied by the Iberians and several Greek colonies were established on the coast before the Roman conquest. It was the first area of Hispania conquered by the Romans. It then came under Visigothic rule after the collapse of the western part of the Roman Empire. In 718, the area was occupied by the Umayyad Caliphate and became a part of Muslim ruled al-Andalus. The Frankish Empire conquered the area from the Muslims, ending with the conquest of Barcelona in 801, as part of the creation of a larger buffer zone of Christian counties against Islamic rule known as the Marca Hispanica. In the 10th century the County of Barcelona became progressively independent from Frankish rule.
context_section_description: Until the middle of the 12th century, the successive counts of Barcelona tried to expand their domain in multiple directions. Ramon Berenguer III incorporated the County of Besalú, part of the County of Empúries, all of the County of Cerdanya, and also the County of Provence through his marriage to Douce of Provence. The Catalan church, for its part, became independent of the bishopric of Narbonne by restoring the archiepiscopal see of Tarragona (1118).
  In 1137 the Crown of Aragon was created by the marriage of Queen Petronilla of Aragon and Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, after Ramiro II of Aragon ceded the potestas of his kingdom and his daughter Petronilla to Barcelona's Count, avoiding and protecting Aragon from a potential invasion and annexion by Castile. Ramon Berenguer IV used the title "comes Barchinonensis" (count of the Barcelonians) as his primary title and "princeps Aragonensis" (prince of the Aragonians) as his second title, beside his wife who retained her title of Regina ("queen"). Their son and heir, Alfonso II of Aragon consolidated the dynastic union as Rex Aragonum, Comes Barchinone et Marchio Provincie ("king of Aragon, count of Barcelona, and marquis of Provence"). Catalonia and Aragon retained their distinct traditional rights, and Catalonia its own personality with one of the first parliaments in Europe, the Catalan Courts (Catalan: Corts Catalanes).
  In addition, the reign of Ramon Berenguer IV saw the Catalan conquest of Lleida and Tortosa, completing the unification of all of the territory that comprises modern Catalonia. This included a territory to the south of the historic Spanish Marches, which became known as Catalunya Nova ("New Catalonia") and which was repopulated with Catalans by the end of the 12th century.
caption: Petronilla of Aragon and Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, dynastic union of the Crown of Aragon
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