Ermengol (or Armengol) IV (1056–1092), called ''el de Gerb'' or ''Gerp'', was the

Count of Urgell This is a list of the counts of county of Urgell, Urgell, a Catalan counties, county of the Principality of Catalonia in the 10th through 13th centuries. c. 798–870 Counts appointed by the Carolingians *798–820 Borrell, Count of Osona, Borre ...

from 1066 to his death. He was the son of Ermengol III and Adelaide, whose family is not known, even if some scholars made her daughter of Guillem I, Count of Besalu. Ermengol inherited Urgell when he was only ten years old and ruled under the tutelage of the countess dowager, Sancha, third wife of his father, until he was twelve. During this brief minority, the nobility took the opportunity to plunder and occupy the comital demesne. It was not until 1075 that Ermengol was in control of his county and his nobles. Ermengol was an active count. During his reign, Urgell profited economically collecting tribute from

Lleida Lleida (, ; Spanish: Lérida ) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It is also the capital city of the Segrià comarca, as ...

and

Fraga Fraga (; ) is the major town of the ''comarca'' of Bajo Cinca ( ca, Baix Cinca) in the province of Huesca, Aragon, Spain. It is located by the river Cinca. According to the 2014 census, Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) the municipality ...

. In 1076, having brought the nobles to submission, he began a

Reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...

of his own, taking the basin of the river

Sió The Sió or Sió-csatorna (''Sió-Channel'') is a fully regulated river in midwest Hungary. It is the outlet, at the eastern end, of Lake Balaton, flowing out of the lake in Siófok. It flows into the river Danube near the city of Szekszárd. Sió ...

with the villages of

Agramunt Agramunt is a municipality (''municipi'') in the ''comarca'' of the Urgell in Catalonia. It is situated in the north of the ''comarca'', near the border with the Noguera. The town centre is protected as a historic-artistic monument, especially t ...

and

Almenar Almenar is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Segrià in Catalonia, Spain. The Battle of Almenar, one of the main battles of the War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict t ...

that year and Linyola and

Belcaire Belcaire (; oc, Bèlcaire) is a commune in the Aude department, part of the ancient Languedoc province and the present-day Occitanie region in southern France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primaril ...

in 1091. He conquered Calassanç and built a castle at

Gerb GERB ( bg, ГЕРБ, translation=coat of arms, acronym for Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) is a conservative, Populism, populist List of political parties in Bulgaria, political party which was the ruling party of Bulgaria betwee ...

, Spain, where he died, in an effort to pave the way to the recapture of

Balaguer Balaguer () is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Noguera, in the province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. It is located by the river Segre, a tributary to the Ebre. The municipality includes an exclave to the east. Balaguer also has a sister city i ...

, which occurred during the reign of his son, Ermengol V, in 1102. Ermengol was a firm supporter of the contemporary

Gregorian reform The Gregorian Reforms were a series of reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII and the circle he formed in the papal curia, c. 1050–80, which dealt with the moral integrity and independence of the clergy. The reforms are considered to be na ...

of the Church, which he introduced to Urgel. In 1077, Ermengol married Lucy, daughter of

Artau I, Count of Pallars Sobirà Artau I ( la, Artallus or ''Artaldus'', es, Artallo or ''Artaldo'') was the Count of Pallars Sobirà from 1049 until his death in or around 1081. His reign was characterised by ceaseless wars and litigations with his more powerful cousin and neigh ...

, and granddaughter of

Bernard I of La Marche Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brav ...

. With her, he had his son and heir, the aforementioned Ermengol. In 1079, he remarried to

Adelaide of Forcalquier Adelaide of Forcalquier (11th-century - after 1129) was a suo jure reigning countess of Forcalquier from 1110 to 1129..Édouard Baratier, Histoire de la Provence, Toulouse, Editions Privat, 1990, 604 p. (ISBN 2-7089-1649-1) She was the daughter ...

, daughter of

William Bertrand of Provence William Bertrand (died 28 July 1094Also sometimes cited as 29 April 1090.), known as William V or Bertrand I or II, was the count and margrave of Provence from 1051 to his death. He succeeded his father Fulk Bertrand on his death in that year, but ...

. They had a son,

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, who inherited

Forcalquier Forcalquier (; oc, Forcauquier, ) is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France. Forcalquier is located between the Lure and Luberon mountain ranges, about south of Sisteron and west of the Durance river. D ...

, and a daughter who died young.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * 1056 births 1092 deaths Counts of Urgell 11th-century Catalan people 11th-century Visigothic people {{Europe-noble-stub