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The Kingdom of Aragon was an old kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon (Aragón), 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 Principality of Catalonia, all of them sharing the same king.
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. In the 11th century, lands in the County of Aragon were given by Sancho III of Navarre to his son Ramiro I, who also acquired the counties of Ribagorza and Sobrarbe following the death of this brother Gonzalo in 1043. By defeating his brother, García Sánchez III of Navarre, he achieved virtual independence (although the royal title was not used until the next generation). 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 Aragón (Petronila of Aragon), their son inheriting all their respective territories. The Kings of Aragón 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, 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.
In modern popular culture
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 civilization on the Grand strategy wargame series, Europa Universalis.
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