Third Generation  

4. Conde Ramon I BERENGUER de Barcelona [123688] (Comtessa Consort Sancha de CASTILLA de Barcelona², Sancho I de Castille (Conde)¹) was born in 1023 and died on 27 May 1076 at age 53.

General Notes: Wikipedia says of this Ramon,
Ramon Berenguer I (1023\endash 1076), called the Old (Catalan: el Vell, French: le Vieux), was Count of Barcelona in 1035\endash 1076. He promulgated the earliest versions of a written code of Catalan law, the Usages of Barcelona.

Born in 1024, he succeeded his father, Berenguer Ramon I the Crooked in 1035.[2] It was during his reign that the dominant position of Barcelona among the other Catalan counties became evident.

Ramon Berenguer campaigned against the Moors, extending his dominions as far west as Barbastro and imposing heavy tributes (parias) on other Moorish cities.[2] Historians claim that those tributes helped create the first wave of prosperity in Catalan history. During his reign Catalan maritime power started to be felt in the western Mediterranean. Ramon Berenguer the Old was also the first count of Catalonia to acquire lands (the counties of Carcassonne and Razés) and influence north of the Pyrenees.[2]

Another major achievement of his was beginning the codification of Catalan law in the written Usatges of Barcelona which was to become the first full compilation of feudal law in Western Europe. Legal codification was part of the count's efforts to forward and somehow control the process of feudalization which started during the reign of his weak father, Berenguer Ramon. Another major contributor was the Church acting through the institution of the Peace and Truce of God. This established a general truce among warring factions and lords in a given region for a given time. The earliest extant date for introducing the Truce of God in Western Europe is 1027 in Catalonia, during the reign of his father, Berenguer Ramon.

While still married to his second wife Blanca, he became involved with the wife of the Count of Toulouse, Almodis de La Marche, countess of Limoges.[3] Both quickly married and were consequently excommunicated by Pope Victor II.[3][4]

Ramon Berenguer I, together with his third wife Almodis, also founded the Romanesque cathedral of Barcelona, to replace the older basilica presumably destroyed by Almanzor. Their velvet and brass bound wooden coffins are still displayed in the Gothic cathedral which eventually replaced the cathedral that they founded.

He was succeeded by his twin sons Ramon Berenguer II and Berenguer Ramon II.

Ramon married Comtesse Consort Almodis de La MARCHE de Toulouse & Barcelona [123696]. Almodis was born about 1020 in La Marche Nièvre Bourgogne-Franche-Comté France and died on 16 Oct 1071 in Barcelona Catalonia Spain aged about 51. Another name for Almodis was Dame Almodis de La MARCHE de Lusignan.

Children from this marriage were:

+ 5    i. Conde Ramon II BERENGUER de Barcelona [123684] was born about 1054 in Barcelona Catalonia Spain and died on 8 Dec 1082 in Girona Catalonia Spain aged about 28. (Twin)

   6    ii. Conde Ramon II BERENGUER de Barcelona [123818] was born about 1054 in Barcelona Catalonia Spain and died in 1097 in Jerusalem Kingom of Jerusalem Palestine aged about 43. (Twin)

General Notes: Wikipedia says of this Twin,
Berenguer Ramon II "the Fratricide" (1053/54 \endash 1097/99) was Count of Barcelona from 1076 to 1097. He was the son of Ramon Berenguer I, and initially ruled jointly with his twin brother Ramon Berenguer II.

Born in 1053 or 1054, Berenguer Ramon succeeded his father Ramon Berenguer I the Old in 1075 to co-rule with his twin brother Ramon Berenguer II. The twins failed to agree and divided their possessions between them, against the will of their late father. Ramon Berenguer II was killed while hunting in the woods on 5 December 1082. Berenguer Ramon II, who became the sole ruler of Catalonia for the next four years, was credited by popular opinion with having orchestrated this murder. This suspicion and other divisions of loyalty led to a civil war. Various parties asserted ways to resolve this 'unjust and iniquitous murder', which led to a moderate compromise in 1086 in which Berenguer Ramon II would rule Catalonia with his brother's four-year-old son Ramon Berenguer III for eleven years until he came of age.[1]

In the 1080s Berenguer Ramon's involvement in the internal strife in the Moorish taifa kingdoms brought him in conflict with El Cid. In the ensuing war the Count of Barcelona was twice taken prisoner.

After Berenguer Ramon's resignation in 1097 his life became more obscure. Still living under the accusations of his brother's assassination, the guilt of which may have been determined by trial by combat, which he lost, he went to Jerusalem, either on pilgrimage, as a penance, or as part of the First Crusade, and perished there between 1097 and 1099. Berenguer Ramon II was succeeded by his nephew Ramon Berenguer III, son of Ramon Berenguer II.

   7    iii. Comtesse Consort Ines BERENGUER d'Albon [123815] was born in 1054 and died in 1100 at age 46.

   8    iv. Estefania BERENGUER de Barcelona [123814] was born about 1055 and died on 30 Jun 1109 aged about 54.

   9    v. Comtessa Consort Sanca BERENGUER de Cerdanya [123813] was born about 1057 in Barcelona Catalonia Spain and died in 1095 aged about 38.

   10    vi. Poncia BERENGUER de Barcelona [123812] was born after 1057.