| Kingdom of Aragon Reino d'Aragón (Aragonese) Regne d'Aragó (Catalan) Regnum Aragonum (Latin) Reino de Aragón (Spanish) |
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| In red, the modern territory of Aragon within Spain | |||||
| In yellow: the medieval Crown of Aragon including the former kingdom of Aragon, c. 1250 | |||||
| Capital | Zaragoza | ||||
| Language(s) | Aragonese, Catalan, Castilian and Latin | ||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||
| - County of Aragon established as independent kingdom | 1035 | ||||
| - Nueva Planta decrees dissolve remaining Aragonese institutions | 1716 | ||||
The Kingdom of Aragon (Aragonese: Reino d'Aragón, Catalan: Regne d'Aragó, Latin: Regnum Aragonum, Spanish: Reino de Aragón) was a medieval and early modern kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon, in Spain. It should not be confused with the larger Crown of Aragon, of which the Kingdom of Aragon was a member along with other territories such as the Kingdom of Valencia or the County of Provence, all of them under the rule of the King of Aragon.
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This kingdom was originally a Frankish feudal county around the city of Jaca, which in the first half of the 8th century became a vassal state of the kingdom of Pamplona (later Navarre), its own dynasty of counts ending without male heir in 922.
On the death of Sancho III of Navarre in 1035, the Kingdom of Navarre was divided in to three parts: (1) Navarre and the Basque country, (2) Castile and (3) Sobrarbe, Ribagorza and Aragon. As the most important Christian monarch in Iberia and the King of All Spain, each of his three lands were converted into a Kingdom. Sancho's son Gonzalo inherited Sobrarbe and Ribargorza, but Gonzalo was killed soon after and all the land he owned went to his illegitimate brother Ramiro, creating the future Kingdom of Aragon.[1]
By defeating his brother, García Sánchez III of Navarre, Ramiro achieved virtual independence for Aragon. As the kingdom expanded to the south, conquering land from Al Andalus, the capital city moved from Jaca to Huesca (1096), and later to Zaragoza (1118). By 1285 the southernmost areas of Aragon had been taken from the Moors.
The Kingdom of Aragón gave the name to the Crown of Aragon, after the dynastic union in 1150 of a Count of Barcelona (Ramon Berenguer IV) with a Queen of Aragon (Petronilla of Aragon), their son inheriting all their respective territories. The Kings of Aragon had also the title of Count of Barcelona and ruled territories that consisted of not only the present administrative region of Aragon but also Catalonia, and later the Balearic Islands, Valencia, Sicily, Naples and Sardinia (see Crown of Aragon). The King of Aragón was the direct King of the Aragonese region, and held also the title of King of Valencia, Count of Provence, King of Majorca (for a time), Count of Barcelona, Lord of Montpellier, and, for a time, Duke of Athens and Neopatria. Each of these titles gave him sovereignty over a certain region, and these titles changed as he lost and won territories. In the fourteenth century, his power was greatly restricted by the Union of Aragon.
The Crown of Aragon was effectively disbanded after the dynastic union with Castile which supposed the de jure unification of the Spanish Kingdom after some time of de facto unification under a common monarch. After this happened, Aragon kept some political institutions, until the Nueva Planta decrees, promulgated in 1707, finally put an end to it.
The Kingdom of Aragon is discussed in the video game Age of Empires 2: The Conquerors, where El Cid tries to drive the Moors out of Spain. The game campaign features historic figures like the Count of Barcelona Ramon Berenguer IV.
Released in August 2002, Medieval: Total War is a turn-based strategy and real-time tactics computer game in which the Kingdom of Aragon is a playable faction.
The Kingdom of Aragon is also a playable nation in the Grand strategy wargame series, Europa Universalis.