It is said that the pacts for the marriage between Petronila and Ramón Berenguer were based on an institution called “marriage at home”. This consists of the husband attaching himself to the wife’s family: she is the one who passes on her membership of the family group, together with the patrimony she inherits; the husband formally submits to his father-in-law or the “senior lord” of the house, and the latter, in exchange, grants him the power over the family plot, but reserves his lordship over both the assets of the patrimonial plot and those contributed by the husband. Translated to the case we are dealing with here: Ramón Berenguer became another member of the House of Aragon and of his lineage, to all intents and purposes, and the reigning dynasty would use the designation “of Aragon”.

Look for information on the legal concept of “house”, which is very present in Aragonese law. Does it refer only to the building, or does it include something else? Why do you think it is so important (it guarantees the continuity of the heritage, avoids its dispersion)?

Another activity, in line with this marriage agreement: locate on a map the conquests and territories consolidated by Ramon Berenguer IV. Compare the situation of the kingdom of Aragon at the death of Alfonso I (1134) with the possessions left by the prince of Aragon at his death in 1162.

The role reserved for Inés and Petronila, mother and daughter, although they were practically unknown to each other, was very similar (instrumentalised as containers for heirs) and reaches extremes that are difficult to understand today.

Whatever our opinion of this fact, the fact is that Petronila died at the age of 37. An age at which, nowadays, many women (especially in our western society) begin motherhood. In her short life, the Queen of Aragon had five children, four of whom survived her (the first-born Pedro died as an infant), who would reach these ages: 23 (the second Pedro), 38 (Dulce), 39 (Alfonso), with only the youngest Sancho reaching “old age” (62, which “today is nothing”).

If this happened in wealthy and noble houses, with extreme care, imagine what would happen in more disadvantaged social strata (which was the vast majority of the population). Many births were necessary to compensate for the high infant mortality rate; mothers started very young to optimise their childbearing age; it was difficult to live beyond the age of forty in good condition (after that age, many people could be considered old).

Inquire about these terms:

• Fertility rate.
  
• Birth rate.
  
• Infant mortality rate.
  
• Life expectancy.
  
• Ancient / modern demographic regime.

How are they defined? Have they evolved throughout history? How do they relate to cultural, social and economic changes? Do scientific advances in medicine, hygiene, etc. have anything to do with the change from one regime to another?

The Museum of Huesca contains an important part of what was once the Palace of the Kings of Aragon, and today it still has three of its rooms: the Bell Room, the Room of Doña Petronila and the Throne Room.

Visit the Museum: in addition to its permanent collection and its very interesting temporary exhibitions, you can find out more about the history of the building, the legends forged inside it, breathe in evocative atmospheres…

Rome never recognised Petronila or her father as kings of Aragon. Only when the military orders renounced the Alfonso I’s inheritance did the Church admit the situation… and it did so half-heartedly, recognising Ramon Berenguer as ruler, despite the fact that it was not he, but his wife, who held the title to the kingdom.

Petronila was the first fully-fledged woman queen of Aragon, with a title in her own right. There would be only one other in the history of the kingdom, several centuries later. She was born in Toledo in 1479 and has gone down in posterity as “Juana the Mad”, although her sad reality is that of a person mistreated and humiliated by her father, first, and by her own son, later: Ferdinand the Catholic and Charles I. Again… this gives us much food for thought.

Alfonso or Ramón? The man who was to wear the crown after his mother’s renunciation had been christened Alfonso, but for his father he was always “Ramón”, and this is recorded in some documents. For the man from Barcelona it was important to maintain the traditional nomenclature of his county house, and Petronila was very jealous of the names customary in her “house”. Her uncle Alfonso, the champion of the kings of his time, weighed heavily, and when there was no more “competition”, after the death of Ramon Berenguer, the heir to the throne would accede to it, now without half measures, as Alfonso II of Aragon.

Look up information on this King Alfonso, the first king of the Crown of Aragon. Among other things, he has a relationship with Teruel, can you explain it?