View source for Aragon

One of the former [[kingdom]]s of [[Spain]], '''Arag�n''' was initially a [[Frank]]ish [[feudal]] [[county]] (Jaca), before becoming a self-proclaimed [[kingdom]], which was united to the kingdom of Pamplona (later Navarre) in 925.  
Later split from the kingdom of [[Navarre]], the kingdom of Arag�n was re-established in 1035 and lasted through [[period]].  The [[city]] of Zaragoza was conquered from the [[Moor]]s in 1118, to become the capital.  

Among the other Spanish territories of the time, the County of [[Barcelona]] was a particularly powerful rival of Aragon's, ruling Valencia, the Balearics and parts of modern [[France]].  But, because of the [[dynasty|dynastic]] union of a [[Count]] of Barcelona (Ramon Berenguer IV) with a [[Queen]] of Arag�n (Petronila), with their son inheriting all their respective territories, Arag�n became the name of the joint [[crown]], although the two components maintained cultural separations.

This Crown was effectively disbanded after the dynastic union with [[Castile]] in 1479, when [[Ferdinand V]] of Aragon married Isabella of Castile (Their daughter, [[Catherine of Aragon]], was to be the ill-fated bride of [[Henry VIII]] of [[England]], after the early death of his brother, Prince Arthur).  It was under Ferdinand and Isabella that the last of the Moors were expelled from Granada, and this exodus of [[Muslim]]s and [[Jew]]s left the peninusla to the [[Catholic Church|Catholics]].

The Kings of Arag�n (called by some present-day historians "Catalan Kings of Arag�n", "Catalan Kings", "Count-Kings", or "Counts of Barcelona and Kings of Arag�n" so that the role played by Catalonia in the crown is not ignored inadvertently) ruled territories that consisted of not only the present administrative region of Arag�n but also Catalonia, and later the Balearic Islands, Valencia, [[Sicily]], [[Naples]] and [[Sardinia]].

The King of Arag�n was the direct King of the Aragonese region, and held also the title of King of Valencia, King of Mallorca (for a time), Count of Barcelona, Lord of Montpellier, and, only temporally, [[Duke]] of [[Athens]] and Neopatria. Each of these titles gave him [[sovereignty]] over a certain region, and these [[title]]s changed as he lost and won territories.

The real centre of this kingdom was Barcelona, since it had a seaport and was near the geographical centre of the Crown of Aragon, while Valencia was the most important seaport for trade until approximately the [[18th century]]. Present-day historians usually call the Crown the "Crown of Arag�n", the "Catalan-Aragonese Confederation" or simply "Catalonia-Arag�n", many times depending on whether that historian lives in Arag�n or in Catalonia. The Kingdom of Arag�n is called simply Kingdom of Arag�n. Saying just "Arag�n" is ambiguous and should be avoided. Barcelona was the center of what was in many ways a Mediterranean Empire, ruling the Mediterranean Sea and setting rules for the entire sea (for instance, in the ''Libre del Consolat del Mar'', in Catalan).

''The contents of this page was originally largely taken from the [[Wikipedia]] text, with some expansion''