Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona in the context of Kings of Aragon

This is a list of the kings and queens of Aragon. The Kingdom of Aragon was created sometime between 950 and 1035 when the County of Aragon, which had been acquired by the Kingdom of Navarre in the tenth century, was separated from Navarre in accordance with the will of King Sancho III (1004–35). In 1164, the marriage of the Aragonese princess Petronila (Kingdom of Aragon) and the Catalan count Ramon Berenguer IV (County of Barcelona) created a dynastic union from which what modern historians call the Crown of Aragon was born. In the thirteenth century the kingdoms of Valencia, Majorca and Sicily were added to the Crown, and in the fourteenth the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica. The Crown of Aragon continued to exist until 1713 when its separate constitutional systems (Catalan Constitutions, Aragon Fueros, and Furs of Valencia) were abolished by the Nueva Planta decrees at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession.

Ramon Berenguer IV or V (French: Raimond-Bérenger; 1198 – 19 August 1245) was a member of the House of Barcelona who ruled as count of Provence and Forcalquier. He was the first count of Provence to live in the county in more than one hundred years. During the minority of a previous count in 1144–1161, the regency was exercised by Ramon Berenguer IV de Barcelona, who is sometimes counted among the counts of Provence, which has led to varied numbering of the counts of Provence named Ramon Berenguer. This Ramon Berenguer was the fourth of his name to be a reigning count of Provence.

Petronilla (29 June/11 August 1136 – 15 October 1173), whose name is also spelled Petronila or Petronella (Aragonese: Peyronela or Payronella, and Catalan: Peronella), was Queen of Aragon (1137–1164) from the abdication of her father, Ramiro II, in 1137 until her own abdication in 1164. After her abdication she acted as regent during the minority of her son Alfonso II of Aragon (1164–1173). She was the last ruling member of the Jiménez dynasty in the Kingdom of Aragon, and by marriage to Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona brought the House of Barcelona to the throne of Aragon, uniting the Kingdom of Aragon with the County of Barcelona to create the Crown of Aragon.

The recorded history of the lands of what today is known as Catalonia begins with the development of the Iberian peoples while 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 northern half of 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 historiographically known as the Marca Hispanica. In the 10th century the County of Barcelona became progressively independent from Frankish rule.

In 1137, Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona betrothed the heiress of the Kingdom of Aragon, Petronilla, establishing the dynastic union of the County of Barcelona with Aragon, resulting in a composite monarchy later known as Crown of Aragon, while the County of Barcelona and the other Catalan counties merged into a state, the Principality of Catalonia, which developed an institutional system (Catalan Courts, constitutions, Generalitat) that limited the power of the kings. Catalonia sponsored and contributed to the expansion of the Crown's trade and military, most significantly their navy. The Catalan language flourished and expanded as more territories were added to the Crown of Aragon, including Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, and Athens. The Crisis of the Late Middle Ages, the end of the reign of House of Barcelona, serf and urban conflicts and a civil war (1462–1472) weakened the role of the Principality within the Crown and internationally.

The Vall de Ribes is a geographic zone in the northwest of the Ripollès in the valley of the river Freser. Its largest municipality is Ribes de Freser. It also contains the municipalities of Queralbs, Toses, Planoles, Pardines and Campelles, and the sanctuary and resort of Vall de Núria.

The Vall de Ribes was historically a part of the county of Cerdanya and ecclesiastically pertained to the diocese of Urgell. This made it unlike the rest of the Ripollès, which was part of the county of Osona and the diocese of Vic. During the rule of Count Ramon Berenguer IV, it was associated with the county of Besalú. There must have been fortifications there, and both these and the comital demesne lands were enfeoffed to Galceran de Sales before 1151. The demesne was administered by (but not enfeoffed to) Ramon de Ribes in 1158, when the entire valley was inventoried. In 1162, along with Besalú, the Vall de Ribes was granted for life to Peronella, the widow of the count, and a survey of it was made. During this time, several complaints were lodged with the count, Alfons I, against Ramon, alleging that he acted independently of any higher authority. At Peronella's death in 1173, the demesne reverted to Alfons, who in 1194 granted the mills to the monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll. In 1198 Ramon's son and namesake was baiulus and castellan there.

Fraga (Spanish: [ˈfɾaɣa] ; Catalan: [ˈfɾaɣɛ]) is the main town of the comarca of Bajo Cinca (Catalan: Baix Cinca) in the province of Huesca, Aragon, Spain. It is located by the river Cinca. According to the 2014 census, the municipality has a population of 14,926.

King Alfonso I of Aragon died at its walls in 1134 while trying to capture it during the Battle of Fraga. It was eventually taken from the Moors by the Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona in 1149.