, Alfonso Ii Of Aragon

Alfonso II (Aragon) or Alfons I (Provence and Barcelona); Huesca, Aragon,1–25 March 1157[1][2][3] – 25 April 1196), called the Chaste or theTroubadour, was the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1164 untilhis death.[1][4] He was the son of the count Ramon Berenguer IV ofBarcelona and the Queen Petronilla of Aragon and the first King of Aragonwho was also Count of Barcelona. He was also Count of Provence from 1166or shortly before,[5] which he acquired from Countess Douce II, until1173, when he ceded it to his brother Berenguer. His reign has beencharacterised by nationalistic and nostalgic Catalan historians, asl''engrandiment occitànic or "the Pyrenean unity": a great scheme to unitevarious lands on both sides of the Pyrenees under the rule of the Houseof Barcelona.[6]

Born at Huesca,[2] Alfonso, called indistinctly from birth Alfonso andRamon,[7] ascended the united throne of Aragon and Barcelona as Alfonso,in deference to the Aragonese, to honour Alfonso I.[8]

For most of his reign he was allied with Alfonso VIII of Castile, bothagainst Navarre and against the Moorish taifa kingdoms of the south. Inhis Reconquista effort Alfonso pushed as far as Teruel, conquering thisimportant stronghold on the road to Valencia in 1171. The same year sawhim capturing Caspe.

Apart from common interests, kings of Aragon and Castile were united by aformal bond of vassalage the former owed to the latter. Besides, onJanuary 18, 1174, in Zaragoza Alfonso married Infanta Sancha of Castile,sister of the Castilian king.[9]

Another milestone in this alliance was the Treaty of Cazorla between thetwo kings in 1179, delineating zones of conquest in the south along thewatershed of the rivers Júcar and Segura. Southern areas of Valenciaincluding Denia were thus secured to Aragon.

During his reign Aragonese influence north of the Pyrenees reached itszenith, a natural tendency given the affinity between the Occitan andCatalan dominions of the Crown of Aragon. His realms incorporated notonly Provence (from 1166 or just before),[5] but also the counties ofCerdanya (1168) and Roussillon (inherited in 1172).[10] Béarn and Bigorrepaid homage to him in 1187. Alfonso''s involvement in the affairs ofLanguedoc, which would cost the life of his successor, Peter II ofAragon, for the moment proved highly beneficial, strengthening Aragonesetrade and stimulating emigration from the north to colonise the newlyreconquered lands in Aragon.

In 1186, he helped establish Aragonese influence in Sardinia when hesupported his cousin Agalbursa, the widow of the deceased Judge ofArborea, Barison II, in placing her grandson, the child of her eldestdaughter Ispella, Hugh, on the throne of Arborea in opposition to Peterof Serra.

Alfonso II provided the first land grant to the Cistercian monks on thebanks of the Ebro River in the Aragon region, which would become the siteof the first Cistercian monastery in this region. The Monasterio dePiedra was founded in 1194 with thirteen monks from Poblet Monastery, inan old castle next to the Piedra river, the Real Monasterio de NuestraSenora de Rueda was founded in 1202 and utilized some of the firsthydrological technology in the region for harnessing water power andriver diversion for the purpose of building central heating.

He died at Perpignan in 1196.

He was a noted poet of his time and a close friend of King Richard theLionheart. One tensó, "Be·m plairia, Seingner En Reis",[11] apparentlycomposed by him and Giraut de Bornelh, forms part of the poetical debateas to whether a lady is dishonoured by taking a lover who is richer thanherself. The debate had been begun by Guilhem de Saint-Leidier and wastaken up by Azalais de Porcairagues and Raimbaut of Orange; there wasalso a partimen on the topic between Dalfi d''Alvernha and Perdigon.

Alfonso and his love affairs are mentioned in poems by many troubadours,including Guillem de Berguedà (who criticized his dealings with Azalaisof Toulouse) and Peire Vidal, who commended Alfonso''s decision to marrySancha rather than Eudokia Komnene that he had preferred a poor Castilianmaid to the emperor Manuel''s golden camel.

Wife, Sancha of Castile, daughter of king Alfonso VII of Castile, b. 1155or 1157, d. 1208
Constance, married Emeric of Hungary and later Frederick II, Holy RomanEmperor
Eleanor, married Raymond VI of Toulouse
Peter the Catholic, successor
Douce (Dolça), nun
Alfonso, Count of Provence
Ferdinand, Abbot of Montearagon, d. after 1227
Ramon Berenguer, d. in the 1190s
Sancha of Aragon, married Raymond VII of Toulouse, in March 1211. Theyhad one daughter, Joan, and were divorced in 1241.