Alfonso II of Aragon

Who was Alfonso II of Aragon?

Alfonso II or Alfons I; Huesca, Aragon, 1–25 March 1157 – 25 April 1196, called the Chaste or the Troubadour, was the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1164 until his death. He was the son of the count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona and the Queen Petronilla of Aragon and the first King of Aragon who was also Count of Barcelona. He was also Count of Provence from 1166 or shortly before, which he acquired from Countess Douce II, until 1173, when he ceded it to his brother Berenguer. His reign has been characterised by nationalistic and nostalgic Catalan historians, as l'engrandiment occitànic or "the Pyrenean unity": a great scheme to unite various lands on both sides of the Pyrenees under the rule of the House of Barcelona.