Armengol VII of Urgel

Armengol (or Ermengol) VII of Urgel, known as "he of Valencia" (? – Requena or Valencia de Alcántara, 1184), count of Urgel (1154 –1184) and lord of Valladolid. He was the son of Armengol VI of Urgel and his first wife, Arsenda de Cabrera.

Life

Without any possibility of territorial expansion, Armengol VII was attracted to the Castilian possessions that he had inherited from his grandmother María Pérez. Thus, an important part of his reign was spent as a vassal of King Ferdinand II of León, of whom he was butler and lieutenant of a good number of castles in Leonese Extremadura. He was governor of Valladolid, occupying this position during his absence Fernando Rodríguez de Sandoval, as recorded in a deed from the year 1160.

He founded the canon of Bellpuig de las Avellanas around 1166 and granted population charters to Agramunt in 1163 and Balaguer in 1174. In addition, in 1164, he minted the Agramunt coin, exclusive to the county.

The reference to his death appears in the Gesta Comitum Barcinonensium, and indicates that in 1184 Count Armengol VII died "with his brother Galcerán de Sales, near Valencia." However, Ubieto argues that given that his life was spent in the kingdom of León and that in that year the Leonese monarch and Armengol were in Ciudad Rodrigo, leading a siege expedition against Cáceres, the Valencia where he died must have been Valencia de Alcantara.

Marriage and offspring

Around 1157 he married Dulce de Foix, daughter of Roger III of Foix and Ximena de Osona, who acted as regent of the county. From this marriage were born:

• Armengol, what happened to his father in Urgel County.
• Miracle (also called Marquesa) of Urgel. He fell in November 1181 with Count Gómez González de Traba (m. v. 1191). He contracted a second marriage in 1194 with Ponce III of Cabrera, Viscount of Cabrera.