Alphonse II of Aragon

Alphonse Pure the (born the March 25th 1152 with Huesca (Aragon) - died the April 25th 1196 with Perpignan (Roussillon) was king d' Aragon under the name of Alphonse II, and count de Barcelone, of Provence and Roussillon under the name of Alphonse Ist.

Takeover

Born in 1152 from Raimond Berenger IV, count de Barcelone and of Pétronille Ramirez, heiress of the kingdom of Aragon, Alphonse II Pure the sees his/her father dying whereas it is only 5 years old. To follow the will of late, the succession of the kingdom is dealt with by assembly noble Aragonese and Catalan ones (Huesca, October 1162). It is only in 1163 that the young Alphonse (11 years) seized really the power.

The January 18th 1174, with Saragossa (Spain), it marries Sancha de Castille. From their union will be born the future Pierre II '' the Catholic '', Alphonse, future count de Provence, and three girls: Constancy, Éléonore and Sancha.

Reign

In 1172, the last count de independent Roussillon, Girard II, dies without children by bequeathing his county to king Alphonse. This last supplements the company of unification of the Catalan counties undertaken by its ancestors. Starting from this date, remain indeed only the counts of Empúries, Pallars and Urgell, whose possessions wedged in the royal field, are less menaçantes to be able it of the sovereign. Alphonse II in addition endeavoured to reunify his territory made up of a kingdom, relatively little populated, and of a county, much richer, two independent components having each one their own uses, languages and bodies of government. Its tax work (creation of new taxes, the such bovatge as from 1175) and legal (drafting of the Liber feudorum maior in 1194) caused in particular the dissatisfaction with most of the Catalan nobility.

In spite of his accession with the royal crown of Aragon, Alphonse remains vassal of king de France for the title of count de Barcelone. In 1180, for marking its independence well de facto , it prohibits at the time of the Corts of Tarragone to date the acts from the years from the reign from king de France. It then makes strengthen the Northern border of its states as of 1192, improves the Château of Puigcerda (always in 1192, but this castle existed already in 1178). It founds the Château of Puyvalador in 1192 and that of Salses the same year. From the same point of view, it authorizes the abbot of Cuxa and that of Arles to strengthen some their possessions.

End of reign

Alphonse took the party of the Croisade (1195) and prepared by accomplishing a voyage to Saint-Jacques-with-Compostelle, but died on his return the April 25th 1196 to Perpignan.

He made gift of the seigniory of Nogaret with Guillaume de Nogaret (wire of Ermeniard) in 1191, ancestor of famous the other Guillaume de Nogaret, minister of Philippe IV the beautiful one

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