Ramiro I of Aragon (1011-8 May 1063) was King of Aragon from 1035 to 1063, succeeding Sancho III of Pamplona and preceding Sancho Ramirez of Aragon. Ramiro was the first monarch to rule over Aragon independently, and he fought against his brothers Garcia Sanchez III of Pamplona and Fernando I of Leon in several battles over territory. Ramiro would be slain by El Cid's army at the 1063 Battle of Graus.
Biography[]
Ramiro was born in 1011, the illegitimate son of King Sancho III of Pamplona and his mistress Sancha de Aybar. He was adopted by Queen Muniadona of Castile after he was the only one of Sancho's children to help her when asked, giving him legitimacy. When his father was assassinated in 1035, he became the ruler of Aragon as a vassal of Garcia Sanchez III of Pamplona, but he later attempted to rebel against his siblings. He was defeated at the Battle of Tafalla in 1037 despite an alliance with the Emir of Tudela, but he succeeded in conquering Sanguesa and other cities to add to his increasingly-independent domain. A mistress of his gave birth to a son, Sancho Ramirez, who would become his heir and the ruler of Ribagorza. In 1063, the hot-headed King Ramiro was slain at the Battle of Graus by the army of Castile, commanded by the rising general El Cid.