Ramon Berenguer III (Count of Barcelona)

Shortly after the birth of Ramon Berenguer, his father, Count Ramon Berenguer II, was killed on a hunt. Suspicion fell on the twin brother of Ramon Berenguer II, Berenguer Ramon II , who went down in history with the nickname Fratricide ( Spanish. El Fratricida ). Berenguer Ramon continued to rule the county, but the king of Castile Alfonso VI in 1096 accused the count of Barcelona of killing his brother. To establish the truth, a judicial duel was organized in which Berenguer Ramon lost. After that, Berenguer Ramon went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, from where he did not return. And power in Barcelona was transferred to his nephew, Ramon Berenguer III.

Ramon Berenguer was first married to Mary, daughter of Sid Campeador , his uncle's worst enemy, and the third to Dulce I , Countess of Provence. Thanks to marriages and kinship with other counts, he significantly expanded his possessions. The marriage with Dulsa brought in 1112 to Ramon Berenguer Provence, formally part of the Holy Roman Empire . He married one of the daughters from his first marriage with Maria, Jimen , to the Count Besalu Bernardo III , having given her to the dowry of Oson County. After the death of a childless Bernardo, Ramon Berenguer received not only Oson, but also Besal. And in 1118 , after the suppression of the line of the Counts of Cerdany, Ramon Berenguer also joined Cerdan with Berga. In 1123, Ramon Berenguer also gained suzerainty over Ampurias . As a result, almost all of Catalonia was in his hands. Only Urhel and Palyars remained independent.

Ramon Berenguer also expanded his holdings by conquering land in Muslim Spain. In alliance with the Earl of Urhel around 1106, he captured Barbastro and Balager . In 1118, he captured and restored Tarragona , which became the center of the archbishopric, which began to cover the whole of Catalonia (before that, the Catalan bishoprices were subordinate to the archbishops of Narbonne ). In addition, Ramon Berenguer established relations with the Italian maritime republics of Genoa and Pisa . Together, in 1115, they raided Mallorca and Ivica, the former Muslim pirate bases, freeing many Christian captives. However, he did not begin to hold the islands in his hands, a year later they were captured by the Almoravids .

Far more than once Ramon Berenguer suffered failure. In 1114, a detachment of almoravids from Valencia under the command of ibn al-Haji invaded Catalonia, ravaging it all the way to Barcelona. However, the following year, Ramon Berenguerher defeated them during a new invasion of Martorall Gorge. Ramon Berenguer also failed in his attempts to conquer Lleida , Tortosa and Valencia .

At the end of his life, Ramon Berenguer joined the Knights Templar . Before his death, he divided the possessions between his sons. Ramon Berenguer IV went to Barcelona and other counties south of the Pyrenees , and Berenguer Raimund I received Provence and possessions north of the Pyrenees.

1st wife: until 1103 Maria de Vivar (d. 1105/1106), daughter of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar Cid Campeador . Children:

• Maria husband: Bernardo (Bernat) III (d. 1111), Count of Besalu
• Jimena (1105 - after 1136), Countess of Osona 1107–1111; 1st husband: from 1107 Bernardo (Bernat) III (d. 1111), Count of Besalu; 2nd husband: from 1130 Roger III (d. 1147/1148), Count de Foix

2nd wife: until November 1, 1106, Almodis (d. 1111/1112)

3rd wife: from February 3, 1112, Dulce I (d. 1127), Countess of Provence, Viscountes Millau, Zhevodan and Rode, daughter of Gilbert , Viscount de Zhevodan, and Gerberg , Countess of Provence. Children:

• Ramon Berenguer IV (c. 1113 - August 6, 1162), Count of Barcelona, ​​Osona, Girona and Cerdani from 1131, Prince Regent of Aragon from 1137
• Berenguer Raimund I (1113/1114 - 1144), Count of Provence from 1131
• Bernat (1115/1116 - after 1117)
• Berengaria (c. 1116 - January 15/31, 1149); husband: from November 1128 Alfonso VII Emperor (March 1, 1105 - August 21, 1157), king of Castile and Leon
• (?) Estefania (c. 1118 -?); 1st husband: from 1128 Centul II (d. 1128/1130), Count de Bigorre; 2nd husband: from approx. 1130 Raimund Arnault (d. 1167), Viscount de Dax
• Mafalda ; husband: Guillaume Ramon II , seigneur de Castellwell
• Almodis (c. 1126 - after 1171); husband: Pons IV de Server (d. 1155), Viscount de Bass

• Korsunsky A.R. History of Spain IX - XIII centuries (Socio-economic relations and political system of the Asturo-Leon and Leon-Castile kingdoms). Tutorial. - M .: Higher school, 1976. - 139 p.
• Altamira i Crevea, Raphael . History of Medieval Spain / Translation from Spanish by E. A. Vadkovskaya and O. M. Garmsen. - SPb. : “Eurasia”, 2003. - 608 p. - 1,500 copies. - ISBN 5-8071-0128-6 .
• Ubieto Arteta, Antonio. Creación y desarrollo de la Corona de Aragón . - Zaragoza: Anubar (Historia de Aragón), 1987 .-- ISBN 84-7013-227-X .

• Catalan counties (neopr.) . Reconquista . Date of treatment May 24, 2009. Archived March 25, 2012.
• Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, ​​Gerona, Hosona, Besalu, Cerdanya All the monarchies of the world . Date of treatment May 24, 2009. Archived May 19, 2012.
• CATALONIA (English) . Foundation for Medieval Genealogy . Date of treatment May 24, 2009. Archived March 21, 2012.