Ermengol X, Count of Urgell

Who was Ermengol X, Count of Urgell?

Ermengol X was the Count of Urgel and Viscount of Àger from 1268, though his succession was disputed. He was the son of Álvaro of Urgell and his second wife, Cecilia, daughter of Roger-Bernard II of Foix.

As he inherited Urgel at the age of fourteen, he was originally under the regency of Roger-Bernard III of Foix. However, the relatives, of the house of Montcada of Béarn, of his father's first wife, Constance, opposed his succession. At the instigation of the house of Foix, Ermengol participated in the coalition of rebels against Peter III of Aragon in 1276, but in the succeeding two years he recovered all the territory of his county which had unto then been in the hands of his rivals: the Montcada, the king of Aragon, or the viscount of Cardona. In 1278, he met the king at Agramunt and received Urgel as a fief.

Ermengol attached himself thereafter to Peter's entourage, travelling with the king to Sicily in 1282 and Bordeaux in 1283. When Peter died in 1295, Ermengol became a close companion and adviser of his sons Alfonso III, whom he aided in conquering the Kingdom of Majorca in 1287, and James II.