Family History 2.13

Bigelow History: pre-1630

Alfonso II of Aragon and Barcelona

Alfonso was King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1164 to 1196. He was the son of Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona, and the first to rule both the Kingdom of Aragon and the county of Barcelona.

 

From 1166 to 1173 he was also count of Provence. Catalan historians regard him as the leader of a move to unite the regions on both sides of the Pyrenees.

 

During Alfonso's reign, Aragon was closely allied with the Kingdom of Castille, both in extending the Christian Kingdoms' control at the expense of the Moorish regions to the south., and in moving people from the French dominions to repopulate these newly acquired regions to the south.

 

Aragon also helped family members extend control in Sardinia.

 

Alfonso was a noted poet of that time, and a close friend of Richard the Lionheart of England.

 

Alfonso encouraged the Cistercian order of monks to found monasteries in the Barcelona district.