Maria Ximena (Barcelona) Foix (abt. 1100 - abt. 1136)

Born about 1100 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Aragon

Ancestors

Descendants

Died about 1136 at about age 36 in Foix, Languedoc, France

Biography

Maria Ximena or Jimena de Barcelona was born around 1100 CE in Barcelona, capital of the Province of Catalonia, in the Kingdom of Aragon. Her parents were the rulers of Barcelona:

Ramón Berenguer, Count of Barcelona

Maria Elvira Rodriguez de Barcelona

From her birth, Maria Ximena de Barcelona was destined for a political marriage as her father was an ambitious Catalan nobleman, eager to expand his land-holdings and political authority. When she was still a small child, her mother, a daughter of the legendary Spanish knight, El Cid, passed away (ca. 1105). Her father remarried but their union remained childless.

Two years later, when Ximena or Jimena, as she was known, was about 7 years old, she was married to the 50-year-old bachelor Count Bernard III of Besalú, a prosperous territory just north of Catalonia, extending across the Pyrenees into what today is Roussillon in south-west France. Their marriage contract stipulated that should no legal heir be produced from their "May-December" union, the County of Besalú would be taken over by Ramon's Barcelona. The aging Bernard III, Count of Besalú, soon allowed his new father-in-law to fill the vacuum left by the death of Count Bernard II in 1100 CE. ^[1]

In 1111, just before Maria Jemina de Besalú was of age for her marriage to be legally consummated (age 12 at that time), her 55-year-old husband suddenly died. Count Ramon, via his daughter, inherited Besalú. Bernard William of Cerdagne, the feudal suzerain of the County of Besalú, objected. Ever the politician, Ramón Berenguer solved that problem by ceding the chateaux of Vallespir, Fenouillèdes, Peyrepertuse, and Castellnou to the Count of Cerdagne as compensation.^[2]

In 1117, Jemina (de Barcelona), widow Contessa de Besalú, now of marriageable age at 17, married widower Comte Roger III de Foix, about 30 years old. His County of Foix, on the French side of the Pyrenee mountains, had been separated from Carcassonne in 1012 CE and was under the suzerainty of Toulouse. Count Roger III's family, however, claimed family ties to the Berenguer family, Counts of Barcelona. Roger III's mother was Etiennette de Besalu, so he was also a distant cousin of Jemina's 1st husband.

Jemima (Chimene in French) and Roger III de Foix had 4 children:^[3]

1. Roger-Bernard I (b: ca. 1119 - † 1188), Count de Foix.
2. Unnamed Daughter, m: Roger I, Viscount of Couserans
3. Bradimène, m. in 1131, Guillaume, Viscount de Sault, Baron de Niort
4. Douce (b: ca. 1130 - † 1209), m. in 1157, Armengol VII († 1184), Count of Urgell (Aragon)

Maria Ximena de Foix died about 1136 in Foix, Languedoc, France. Her husband survived her passing; Roger III de Foix died in 1148 and was succeeded by his oldest son, Roger-Bernard I de Foix, nicknamed "le Gros".

Sources

1. ↑ County of Besalu Article on Wikipedia.org
2. ↑ See preceding Note.
3. ↑ Roger III de Foix article on Wikipedia.fr In French.

• Ramon Berenguer III--Wikipedia contributors, "Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ramon_Berenguer_III,_Count_of_Barcelona&oldid=785497464 (accessed September 30, 2017).

• Count of Foix--Wikipedia contributors, "Count of Foix," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Count_of_Foix&oldid=797758090 (accessed September 30, 2017.

• Source: #S553800047 Ancestry Family Trees http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=12155729&pid=-256001026 - Repository: #R545402309

Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.

Acknowledgments

• A profile for this person was created through the import of Harrington_Wright 2009.ged on 05 May 2011.
• A profile for this person was created through the import of Acrossthepond.ged on 21 February 2011.
• Travis Wagner, firsthand knowledge. Click the Changes tab for the details of edits by Travis and others.
• WikiTree profile De Barcelona-16 created through the import of 20110708.ged on Jul 8, 2011 by Carlos Molina
• Saunders-3874 13:26, 30 September 2017 (EDT)