All Hail King Ramir

In the dark XII Century, the long Iberian war of reconquest rages on between fragmented Christian kingdoms in the nord and Muslims in the south. Ramir was the third son of the late king of Aragon and Navarre and his father had chosen for him an ecclesiastic career. In a monastery he had become a scholar and a man of peace and generosity. His older brothers had perished in the war against the Muslims without children and Ramir, who had become a Bishop, is unexpectedly elected as the new king. He opposes all forms of war and violence but as the sovereign he must witness the progressive desintegration of his realm in civil wars and conflicts. The hostilities from the Moors loom threatingly. In want of a heir, Ramir marries Princess Agnes of Aquitaine, a 30-year old widow with a proven record of fertility. The union results in the birth of a girl, Princess Peronella. After less than four years on the throne, King Ramir identifies a way out: he betrothes his 2 year-old daughter to Ramon Berenguer, the young, strong and dashing Count of Barcelona and Prince of Catalonia who refuses the title of King, but accepts the hand of the little girl, who now wears the royal crown. Ramon Berenguer will immediately assume the effective rule of the kingdom with the title of Prince of Aragon. Pleased with the arrangement, Ramir happily returns to his former life as a monk while Agnes returns to Aquitaine.

Alphonse the Battler, the greatest known warrior of his time and sovereign of all peninsular Christian kingdoms except Catalonia, orders his young and beloved brother Ramir to leave the monastery and join him in the siege of Saragossa. This wealthy moorish kingdom in the north of the peninsula has been taken over by the Almoravids, a fanatic jihadist muslim nation from North Africa and is threatening to cross the Pyrenees (as it had happened once before, a century earlier) and march toward Rome. Crusaders from all Europa are joining Alphonse. On the way Ramir understands and sees for the first time the cruelty and horror of war. He meets the Duke William of Aquitaine (his future father-in-law) known as the King of Troubadors, a licentious, conceited and dangerous man (and a singer-poet) and witnesses Alphonse's victory. Ramir is a humble lonely monk who cannot handle his high position. The king encourages him to travel to Aquitaine. The Duke might have a daughter for Ramir, who is recognized by everybody as Alphonse's heir apparent. Alphonse seems to encourage him to have children. In Poitiers, the capital of Aquitaine, the young man is seduced by the young Princess Agnes but Ramir runs away in horror when terrible scandals resulting from the public debauchery, alcoholism and recklessness of the Duke arise. Next he visits Burgos, main city of northern Castile, where his brother King Alphonse rules as husband of Queen Urraca. He expects to sire a heir to all his kingdoms, but Urraca has already a child from here first marriage. it becomes evident that he is known to be homosexual and that the Queen mocks and insults him. Alphonse hits and puts the Queen in prison. Again disappointed by the vanity, troubles and unchristian contradictions of the world, Ramir definitively chooses priesthood and life as a monk. Alphonse understands that he is not going to have a successor and Queen Urraca succeeds in dissolving their marriage and removing him from Castile. Alphonse was an invincible warrior but he finally falls into a trap and is mortally wounded by the Almoravids. In his last will, he leaves his kingdoms to God and the Virgin Mary. The kingdoms of Aragon and Navarre become very unsettled. Ramir clearly does not want the crown and he had never been trained for it. Many electors are reluctant to choose a Bishop as king. Finally the crown of Aragon is literally forced upon Ramir for lack of alternatives but Navarre, the land of the basques, severs her long union with Aragon. Ramir immediately faces a feudal uprising and is upset by the killings and feudal intrigues. He attempts to establish trade relations with the muslims but is not willing to continue his brother's war. Realizing that a heir is needed, he marries his old flame Agnes of Aquitaine, already a widow with sons, but Ramir writes that he does it not do it to satisfy "carnal desires" but only to sire a son. He is disappointed when Agnes brings to the world Peronella, a baby girl. Ramir and his advisors clearly recognize that the kingdom is breaking down in disarray and that something needs to be done. At this time, Ramir performs the diplomatic master stroke of the Iberian Middle Ages. He plights his one or two year old daughter Peronella to Count Ramon Berenguer of Barcelona, who rules Catalonia (the old Marca Hispanica of Emperor Charlemagne). He will abdicate immediately in Peronella's favor and the Count will take over with full irrevocable authority his entire kingdom. The Count, a young and dashing man with an excellent military record, rejects the royal crown born by his betrothed wife Peronella (whom she will marry in Lleida at the age of 14) and starts signing documents as "Count of the Barceloneans and Prince of the Aragonese). Aragon and Catalonia had been united under a single king but preserving separate Parliaments, laws and languages. Pleased with his solution, Ramir resumes life in his old monastery while Agnes returns to Aquitaine.

Joan Gil Born in Barcelona (Catalonia) After brief employment in rural community hospitals in West Germany and Switzerland, he became Assistant and later Professor at the Medical School of the University of Bern, Switzerland (1966-1976). He emigrated with his entire family to the US, being appointed Professor at the University of Pennsylvania (1977-1984) in Philadelphia and finally Professor and Attending Physician at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Hospital in New York City (1984-2006). He retired and lives currently in Fort Worth TX. Since early childhood he was highly interested in literature, especially classical, but his professional obligations kept him for exploring his writing abilities, as friends had advised him to do. His productivity was limited to scientific articles and books. He recently published two novels in Amazon (LAIA'S TAKEOVER and DRAMA IN THE UPPER EAST SIDE). ALL HAIL KING RAMIR is his third fiction novel and his first look at historical figures. The author stresses that he never was inclined to write medical dramas.