In medieval times, the name Aragon also indicated the lands held by the house of Aragon, which included the kingdom of Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, Majorca and some French fiefs, especially in Provenance, Roussillon and Montpellier.
The principality of Aragon had its origin in 1035, when Sancho III of Navarre left part of the region to his illegitimate son, Ramiro I. Ramiro and his successors, as kings of Aragon, extended the Aragonese territory southward at the expense of the Moorish emirate of Zaragoza.
Zaragoza, the capital of the Al-Moravod kingdom, fell to Alfonso I of RAgaon in 1118 and the re-conquest of present day Aragon from the Moors was completed by the late twelve century. In 1118 Zaragoza replaced Huesca as the kingdom’s capital.
In the 13th century James I the Conqueror, King Aragon, extended the kingdom by taking control of Valencia and the Balearic islands.
In the 13th – 15th centuries it came to rule Sicily, Sardinia, Naples and Navarra. In 1479 the kingdom of Aragon and Castile were united to form the nucleus of modern Spain. The old kingdom of Aragon survived as an administrative unit until 1833, when it was divided into provinces.
Kingdom of Aragon
