Hugh, tenth count of Albarracin

Hugh
Count of Albarracin
Predecessor	Blanca
Successor	Hugh
Born	1117 Kingdom of Aragon
Died	5 January 1187 (aged 69) Albarracin, Kingdom of Aragon
Buried	Cathedral of Híjar
Noble family	Cerdanya Vieja
Spouse(s)	Blanca de Oka (d. 1154) Gontroda Jimena
Issue Frederic Guislabert Hugh Guerau Sancha
Father	Suleyman of Eilat
Mother	Elisenda de Cerdanya

Hugh de Cerdanya Vieja (Catalan: Hug; 1117 - 5 January 1187) was an Aragonese nobleman, military commander, and noted falconer during the High Middle Ages. He was the first member of his dynasty to bear the name of Cerdanya Vieja.

Early life

Hugh was born in 1117, probably during the summer; an account of his death records that natus ante solstitium, while a later (and perhaps spurious) history of his dynasty reports that he was born around the Feast of St. James, which falls in July. His father, Suleyman of Eilat, was a man of Andalusian descent and unknown parentage. Perhaps a favored official at the court of William, count of Albarracin, he obtained permission for a matrilineal marriage to the count's daughter Elisenda circa 1100. Several years after his wife's death in 1136, Suleyman left Aragon for service in the duchy of Sinai, from whence he obtained his epithet.

Hugh was his parents' third and last child. Details about his early life are nonexistent. Hugh probably became a knight in the service of his distant cousin Blanca, countess of Albarracin. After the death of his elder brother Guislabert in May 1136, Hugh became the last surviving male of the House of Cerdanya. According to multiple chroniclers, Hugh had drawn increasingly close to King Adalbert since coming of age in 1133, with the ultimate aim of seizing the Cerdanya dynasty's lands for himself.

Hugh played a critical role in sparking the civil war of 1136-37 between Adalbert and William Raymond, duke of Valencia, the latter of whom sought both to control the Cerdanya lands as regent for his granddaughter Blanca, and to uphold her right to Albarracin against that of Hugh. At the conclusion of the war, on 1 August 1137, the king invested Hugh as count of Albarracin under the terms of the original grant of 1068. Hugh attempted to regain his ancestral barony of Cerdanya, which was granted to Queen Sibila at the conclusion of the war, but the king denied his ambitions in this regard.

Count of Albarracin

After securing the county of Albarracin, Hugh successfully applied to change his family name to Cerdanya Vieja, probably to distinguish it from the "younger" Cerdanya line that had formerly served as counts of Calatayud. This appellation may have been given to the dynasty as early as the late 1120s, but historians remain uncertain as to this fact.

Hugh granted a surviving charter at Valderrobres, near Teruel, on 19 April 1140. In May 1141, he obtained royal confirmation of his wife's rights in the county of Albarracin in the event of his death. Despite his early closeness with King Adalbert, Hugh appears to have drifted away from the king in the later years of the reign. In February 1145, Hugh dutifully attended the great council convened at Manresa; on 2 August of the same year, however, he submitted to a warning from the king's justiciars that he should desist from "treasonous associations". The context of this warning is no longer known. After the queen's death in 1147, Hugh for the second time attempted to secure the barony of Cerdanya from Adalbert, again without success. On 14 November 1150, Hugh signed a bond of friendship with Otto the Holy, count of Rosello, which Adalbert may have perceived as threatening. Hugh retained a low political profile until the king's death in 1153.

Hugh enjoyed a better relationship with Adalbert's son Ramon-Berenguer III. He attended the royal tournament held at Lleida in 1154, at which he was granted permission to sit in Ramon-Berenguer's pavilion. Hugh obtained some form of military office after the new king's accession; he was recorded as praefectus militum on 14 January 1155. As such, he was given special responsibility for the raising of the Aragonese feudal host in April 1155, after Ramon-Berenguer's declaration of war on the Aftasid Sultanate.

War and imprisonment

In September 1155, Hugh was appointed as one of the commanders of the royal host while attending the king at Castellon. On 3 April 1156, Hugh fought in the battle of Tarazona, a bitter defeat for the Kingdom of Aragon against an Aftasid army. Fighting in the central division of the Aragonese army, Hugh was captured by the Aftasids. According to one later chronicler, the count was engaged bravely in holding off the enemy attack until Ramon-Berenguer could reach safety behind the Aragonese lines. It is possible that Hugh was wounded in the battle. Hugh was treated honorably by the Aftasids, and was perhaps taken to Lisbon, the sultan's capital, for the duration of his imprisonment.

During Hugh's imprisonment in the Aftasid Sultanate, the king appointed his eldest son Frederic to administer the county of Albarracin. In March 1157, in a formal appeal to Sultan Garsiya, Hugh complained of suffering "an illness of the chest". This appeal was denied, and Hugh remained in prison. The date of his release from Aftasid custody is not certain. He was probably released circa 1160, but may not have been released until 1162; the first documentary evidence of his presence in Aragon dates from 2 December of that year, when he granted a charter at Cantavieja.

Falconry

By the mid-1150s, Hugh had already developed a reputation as a great hedonist. An obituary written decades after his death labels him amator vini, a lover of wine. It seems likely that Hugh spent huge sums of money each year on expensive consumables and various entertainments, making him one of the most famous nobles in contemporary Christian Spain. In his later years, Hugh became a notorious drunkard.

Circa 1170, Hugh authored the Liber de venatione cum avibus, a text on the art of falconry. He seems to have been a pioneer in the late medieval style of hunting with falcons. Hugh was well-respected at the royal court of Aragon for his skill at falconry, and his achievements were mentioned by numerous contemporaries. At his death, he left over fifty falcons, hawks, and eagles to his grandson.

Later life

Hugh seems to have fallen mildly afoul of Ramon-Berenguer after returning to Aragon, although his transgressions never amounted to treason. In 1166, during the great council at Zaragoza, he was forced to swear special oaths of loyalty to the king and to Prince Adalbert. Hugh does not seem to have participated greatly in political affairs after his release from captivity, but was certainly ambivalent in his loyalties. A surviving charter, granted by Hugh during this period, dates from October 1171 at Albarracin. In March 1172, Hugh attended the wedding of Prince Adalbert, held at the new Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin in Sant Cugat. Although he attended the great council held at Denia in May 1175, Hugh was forced to swear a new oath of loyalty to the king at Híjar, under penalty of arrest, on 23 November of the same year.

According to multiple contemporaries or near-contemporaries, Hugh was expelled from the royal court in 1177 after becoming drunk on wine and throwing up on Prince Adalbert. In his last years, Hugh was viewed as eccentric and strange. One contemporary labelled him demens, a lunatic. A commentator writing circa 1180 observed that Hugh had a pet horse whom he allowed to sleep in his bedchamber. These tales are similar to those spread about Ramon-Berenguer III during the same period. After the death of his son Frederic in 1178, Hugh became a recluse who rarely left his estates. In March 1186, Hugh hosted Ramon-Berenguer at Albarracin, shortly before the king's death.

Hugh was appointed as chancellor of Aragon in April 1186, at the accession of Arnau I. The new king asked Hugh to journey to Rome on an embassy to Pope Alexander IV, but Hugh was already mortally ill and sent deputies to the Curia on his behalf. At the end of his life, the count became intensely religious. Hugh died at Albarracin on 5 January 1187 from febris, a fever, and was later buried at Híjar.

Issue

Circa 1133 Hugh married Blanka de Oca, an illegitimate granddaughter of Sancho IV, king of Navarre, and the widow of Gonzalo, count of Viscaya. They had two children before her death in 1154.

• Frederic (c. 1135 - 1178), married Estefanía de Haro, had issue including Hugh, eleventh count of Albarracin.
• Guislabert (c. 1140 - c. 1190), married Arsenda d'Empúries.

By his second wife Gontroda Jimena, daughter of Princess Sancha of Aragon and Sancho, count of Astorga, whom he married circa 1155, Hugh had three children.

• Hugh (1155 - c. 1225), never married. He seems to have been born out of wedlock, possibly just before his parents' wedding, and was never legitimized.
• Guerau (1168 - 1223), later baron of Loarre. Married Isabel de Mallorca del Bosque.
• Sancha (c. 1175 - c. 1245), became countess of Jaen through marriage to Jaume de Montcada, count of Jaen.