Editing Ramiro II of Aragon (section)

==Early life==
Ramiro was the youngest son of [[Sancho Ramírez]], [[king of Aragon]] and [[king of Navarre|Navarre]], and [[Felicia of Roucy]]. Sancho placed Ramiro as a child into the [[Benedictine Order|Benedictine]] monastery of [[Saint-Pons-de-Thomières Cathedral|Saint Pons de Thomières]] in the [[Viscounty of Béziers]]. As a respected monk, Ramiro was elected abbot of the Castillian royal [[monastery of Santos Fecundo y Primitivo]] in [[Sahagún, Spain|Sahagún]] and later was abbot of the [[Abbey of San Pedro el Viejo|monastery of San Pedro el Viejo]] at [[Huesca]]. Wanting to limit Ramiro's power within the Kingdom of Navarre-Aragon, his brother [[Alfonso the Battler]] had blocked his elections as [[bishop of Burgos]] and as [[bishop of Pamplona]].

In 1134 Ramiro had been elected [[bishop of Barbastro-Roda]] when the death of his childless brother made him one of the candidates for succession to the crown. Others put forward included [[Alfonso VII of Castile]], who as a foreign king found little support, and the choice of the Navarrese nobility, [[Pedro de Atarés]], grandson of [[Sancho Ramírez, Count of Ribagorza]], the illegitimate son of [[Ramiro I of Aragon]]. At an assembly at [[Borja, Zaragoza|Borja]] intended to resolve the succession, a misunderstanding alienated Pedro from his supporters, yet they were unwilling to accept the Aragonese-favored Ramiro, and in the end the kingdoms were divided. In [[Navarre]], [[García Ramírez of Navarre|García Ramírez]], a scion of the pre-union royal family of Navarre and protégé of Alfonso VII was chosen king, while in Aragon the choice fell on Ramiro, who suspended his monastic vows to take the crown.