Everything about Ramiro I Of Aragon totally explained
Ramiro I (bef.
1007 -
8 May 1063) is usually credited with being the first
King of Aragon. Apparently born before
1007, he was the natural son of
Sancho III of Navarre by his mistress
Sancha de Aybar. Ramiro was reputed to have been adopted by his father's wife
Mayor after he was the only of his father's children to come to her aid when needed, although there's no surviving record of these events, and the story is probably apocryphal.
During his father's reign, he appeared as witness of royal charters starting in
1011, and was given numerous properties in the county of Aragon, and by the division of Sancho's realm on the latter's death in
1035, the county of Aragon fell to Ramiro with the title of
baiulus or steward. The foundation traditions of the Kingdom of Aragon would make him the first king, (he is, on account of the small size of his
Pyrenean kingdom with its capital at
Jaca, sometimes called a "petty king") and he was called king by his vassals, neighbors, the church and even his sons, yet he referred to himself always as simply
Ranimiro Sancioni regis filio (Ramiro, son of King Sancho). Likewise, in his wills, he refers to his lands as simply having been given him in stewardship by his half-brother
García and by God. He is likewise called
regulus (rather than
rex used for García) and
quasi pro rege (acting as if king) in charters from
Navarre.
Ramiro sought to enlarge his lands at the expense of both the
Moors and his brother, García. Shortly after the death of his father (the date variously placed from
1036 to
1043), he supported the emir of
Tudela in an invasion of the
Kingdom of Navarre of his brother García. He was defeated in the
Battle of Tafalla, but out of the conflict gaind lands, including
Sanguesa, and established a state of semi-autonomy. In
1043, he annexed
Sobrarbe and
Ribagorza, held by his youngest legitimate half-brother,
Gonzalo, apparently with the approval of García..
Before he was married, Ramiro had a mistress named Amuña with whom he'd a natural son,
Sancho Ramírez, in whom he confided the government of the county of Ribagorza.
Ramiro wed his first wife, Gisberga, daughter of
Bernard Roger of Bigorre, on
22 August 1036. She changed her name to Ermesinda on marrying him. Together the couple had five children:
Ramiro's second wife was Agnes (Inés), a daughter of the
Duke of Aquitaine.
Ramiro set the advance from Aragon toward Huesca and Zaragossa,after annexation of Ribagorza and Sobrarbe. To him is due the first Chart for the Royal town of Jaca,that will set the example of an ideal Community (included well defined laws of protection even to non residents) for later urban rights until late in the Middle Ages.
Ramiro died at the
Battle of Graus in 1063 while trying to take the city.
Sources
Ballesteros y Beretta, Antonio. Historia de España y su Influencia en la Historia Universal. Barcelona: Salvat, 1920.
Chaytor, H. J. A History of Aragon and Catalonia
. London: Methuen, 1933.
Lourie, Elena. "The Will of Alfonso I, 'El Batallador,' King of Aragon and Navarre: A Reassessment." Speculum, Vol. 50, No. 4. (Oct., 1975), pp 635–651.
Nelson, Lynn. The Aragonese Acquisition of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza. Estudios en Homenaje a Don Claudio Sánchez Albornoz en sus 90 Años, 2:227-236 (1982).
Ubieto Arteta, Antonio. "Estudios en torno a la división del Reino por Sancho el Mayor de Navarra", Príncipe de Viana, vol. 21, pp. 5–56, 163–236.
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