Blanca, ninth countess of Albarracin

Blanca
Countess of Alto Aragón Countess of Albarracin Countess of Calatayud Baroness of Cerdanya
Predecessor	William
Successor	Hugh
Born	1130 Albarracin, Kingdom of Aragon
Died	8 April 1192 (aged 62) Ayerbe, Kingdom of Aragon
Buried	Cathedral of Barbastro
Noble family	Cerdanya Vieja
Spouse(s)	Erramun, count of Alto Aragón
Issue Sancho Blanca Violant Guisla
Father	William (III), eighth count of Albarracin
Mother	Blanca de Mallorca del Bosque

Blanca de Cerdanya (1130 - 8 April 1192) was an Aragonese heiress and noblewoman. The wealthiest woman in Aragon during her youth, Blanca was disinherited and kept under house arrest for several years. She later married into the Alto Aragón branch of the royal Barcelona dynasty.

Troubled childhood

Blanca was born in 1130, the daughter and only surviving child of William, count of Albarracin. Through her mother Blanca (d. 1164), she was a granddaughter of William Raymond, duke of Valencia, the powerful favorite of several kings of Aragon.

Blanca's father was murdered on 11 January 1132, making her countess of Albarracin, countess of Calatayud, and baroness of Cerdanya suo jure at less than two years old. Blanca thus became the richest woman in the Kingdom of Aragon. During her infancy, Blanca's affairs were managed by her great-aunt Elisenda, who seems to have been close to her father William. Elisenda died in July 1136, after which Blanca's grandfather, the duke of Valencia, took a greater role in her affairs.

Elisenda's son Hugh grew increasingly close to King Adalbert during the years after Count William's assassination. Hugh had become the last male member of the House of Cerdanya after the death of his elder brother earlier in 1136. Medieval commentators generally agreed that Hugh sought to ingratiate himself with the king in order to seize the lands of Blanca, his distant cousin.

After William Raymond, duke of Valencia, sought to assume control over the administration of Blanca's lands in July 1136, Hugh prevailed on Adalbert to deny the legal rights of both Blanca and her grandfather. The ensuing civil war, provoked by William Raymond's defiance of the king's commands to desist from interfering in the Cerdanya inheritance, left the six year-old Blanca as a political pawn. Blanca was protected by her grandfather's troops in the castle of Albarracin until their surrender to Adalbert's army on 3 June 1137; afterwards, she was taken as a prisoner to Manresa Castle.

Disinheritance

On 1 August 1137, King Adalbert issued a decree recognizing Hugh de Cerdanya as count of Albarracin, citing claims that Blanca was an illegitimate child. These claims, which were recognized as spurious at the time, were surely political inventions meant to justify Blanca's disinheritance. On the same day, Blanca's ancestral barony of Cerdanya was revoked and granted to Queen Sibila. Blanca was allowed to retain the county of Calatayud until her final forfeiture on 1 June 1141, after ten days of deliberations by the king's justiciars.

Blanca's whereabouts during these years are uncertain. During the last months of 1137 she may have been kept as a royal prisoner at Zaragoza, but she seems to have been released to Calatayud under the care of her mother shortly afterwards. After her last disinheritance in 1141, Blanca may have lived at the royal court as a king's ward, but this is uncertain.

Married life

Blanca married Erramun de Barcelona, eldest son and heir of Marina the Cruel, countess of Alto Aragón, probably in late 1146. Erramun was a great-grandson of King Ramon-Berenguer I through a legitimate line, and a grandson of King Pere-Ramon through an illegitimate line. It is likely that King Adalbert would have given his license for such a prestigious marriage. Blanca's husband became count of Alto Aragón after her mother-in-law's death in 1152.

In adulthood, Blanca developed a reputation as a shrewd woman. She was described as sagax by one contemporary chronicler. Blanca was a pious woman who gave regularly to the poor and needy. After her death, she received several obituaries reminiscent of conventional hagiographies. She gained a reputation as a kindly figure among the people of northern Aragon. During her marriage to Count Erramun, Blanca bore four children; all accounts indicate that the couple enjoyed a happy marriage.

Blanca's political influence improved after her half-brother, Otto d'Empúries, became count of Rosello in 1158. In 1165, she was recorded as making a grant to the canons of the cathedral of Barbastro, and granting a maravedí to each indigent person in the diocese. In her later years, Blanca seems to have made peace with the events of her early childhood. In 1179, she supported the marriage of her daughter Violant to Ermengol de Cerdanya, a grandson of Hugh, count of Albarracin. This meant that the House of Cerdanya would eventually succeed to the county of Alto Aragón.

During her later years, Blanca played a key role in the education of her granddaughter Princess Alamanda. In 1172, she helped to arrange the marriage of her daughter and namesake Blanca to Arnau de Barcelona, the great-nephew of King Adalbert. After her daughter's death in 1177, shortly after giving birth to Alamanda, Blanca ensured that her infant granddaughter would be brought up at Jaca. After his accession to the throne in 1186, Arnau attempted to secure Alamanda's return from Alto Aragón without avail.

Later life

Circa 1179, Blanca's daughter Violant was placed under house arrest by order of King Ramon-Berenguer III, on suspicion of plotting the death of Prince Adalbert, the heir to the throne. The veracity of these charges has never been determined. In 1184, the king accused Erramun, count of Alto Aragón, of treason and launched a military campaign against him; the count surrendered in 1185 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Around this time, but perhaps earlier, Blanca's husband was also excommunicated by Pope Alexander IV at Ramon-Berenguer's request. Blanca lobbied Rome for five years against her husband's excommunication. The election of Eugene III as pope in 1189 helped to hasten her efforts; and the excommunication was finally reversed by a papal bull of 16 February 1190, which cited Blanca and Peter, duke of Aswan, as joint supplicants.

Blanca died at the monastery of Ayerbe, where she had sought medical treatment for a fatal illness, on 8 April 1192. She was buried in the cathedral of Barbastro. Her death prompted her former son-in-law, King Arnau, to grant her husband a release from prison. Blanca's marble tomb, in the south transept of the cathedral, survives to this day.

Issue

By her husband Erramun, count of Alto Aragón, Blanca had four children.

• Sancho (1147 - 1161), died of an illness of the lungs.
• Blanca (1155 - 1177), married Arnau de Barcelona, son of Arnau the Twitchy, baron of Cerdanya; died from complications of childbirth.
• Violant (1162 - 1213), succeeded her father as countess of Alto Aragón.
• Guisla (1166 - 1212), married firstly Mastino, count of Guarada; and secondly Guerau, count of Malaga.