Berenguer Ramon II, Count of Barcelona

Berenguer Ramon II the Fratricide (1053/1054 – 1097/1099) 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, he 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 his 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.

Notes

1. Pg 136, The Quest for El Cid, Richard Fletcher, ISBN 0-394-57447-8