'Ermengol III' or 'Armengol III' (
1032 –
1066), called ''el de Barbastro'', was the
Count of Urgell from
1038 to his death. He was the son of
Ermengol II and Constance, daughter of the
Count of Besalú.
Allied with his contemporary and second cousin
Raymond Berengar I of Barcelona, together they shared in the process of erosion of the comital authority to the noblesse. They also cooperated in the
Reconquista and he received a third part of the conquests, occupying, in
1050,
Camarasa and
Cubells after taking them from
Yusuf of Lleida. In
1039–
1040, Ermengol and Raymond Berengar signed a pact against
Raymond of Cerdanya. Later in that decade, Raymond Berenger paid 20,000 ''
solidi'' for Ermengol's support and military aid.
[1]
He took part in the
Barbastro War of
1064 under the banner of
Sancho Ramírez of Aragon. When
Barbastro was captured, he was given the lordship of the city. On
17 April 1066, he died defending the city from Moorish reprisals.
Ermengol married before 1048 Adelaide, whose family is not known, even if some scholars made her daughter of Guillem I Count of Besalu. She died before May 1055, leaving at least a son, and perhaps a daughter:
★
Ermengol IV, his heir
★ Elisabeth/Isabel (died circa
1071), married Sancho Ramírez in
1065
before May 7, 1055, Ermengol took as his second wife Clemencia, presumably daughter of Count Berenger Ramon of Barcelona and his second wife Guisla (this is hypothesized from the name of their 3 sons), by whom he had:
★ Berenguer
★ Guillem
★ Ramon
Clemencia died after June 26, 1057, and before November 6, 1062, Ermengol was remarried to a lady named Elvira
In 1065, Ermengol married as his fourth wife Sancha, daughter of
Ramiro I of Aragon by Ermessinda of Foix. They may have had daughter, Sancha, who married
Hugh II of Empúries.
Notes
1. Lewis, 380.
Sources
★ Lewis, Archibald R. ''
The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society, 718–1050''. University of Texas Press: Austin, 1965.
★ Ponsich, Pierre. "Le Conflent et ses comtes du IXe au XIIe siècle." ''Etudes Roussillonnaises'', 1, 1951, pp 241-344.
★ Aurell i Cardona, Martin. "Jalons pour une enquête sur les stratégies matrimoniales des comtes catalans (IXe-XIe s.)" ''Symposium internacional'', 1991, vol 1, pp 281-364.