Sancho was the count of Cerdanya from 1168, Provence from 1181 to 1185, and Roussillon from 1185. He was the youngest son of Count Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona and Queen regnant

Queen regnant

A queen regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right, in contrast to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reigning king. An empress regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right over an empire....

 Petronilla of Aragón.

His elder brother Raymond Berengar III of Provence

Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Provence

Ramon Berenguer III was the count of Cerdanya , as Peter, and count of Provence .He was the second son of Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona and Petronilla of Aragon. He received Cerdanya, including Carcassonne and Narbonne, on his father's death, but relinquished it to his younger brother Sancho in...

 ceded Cerdanya to him in 1168. On Raymond's death, his eldest brother, King Alfonso II

Alfonso II of Aragon

Alfonso II or Alfons I ; Huesca, 1-25 March 1157 – 25 April 1196), called the Chaste or the Troubadour, was the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1164 until his death. He was the son of Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona and Petronilla of Aragon and the first King of Aragon who was...

, named Sancho count of Provence.

In 1185, Alfonso dispossessed Sancho in order to make peace with the House of Toulouse. Nonetheless, Sancho continued to maintain the title of count of Roussillon. In 1209, his nephew King Peter II

Peter II of Aragon

Peter II the Catholic was the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1196 to 1213.He was the son of Alfonso II of Aragon and Sancha of Castile...

 named him governor of Provence and lord of Languedoc

Languedoc

Languedoc is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² .-Geographical Extent:The traditional...

. He was a regent

Regent

A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...

 for the young King James I.

Sometime before 1184, Sancho married Ermesinda of Rocabertí, daughter of Jofré of Rocabertí and Ermesinda de Vilademuls. In 1185, he married Sancha Núñez de Lara, daughter of Nuño Pérez de Lara

Nuño Pérez de Lara

Nuño Pérez de Lara was a Castilian nobleman, politician and military leader. He began his career at the court of the Emperor Alfonso VII, during whose reign he took part in the repoblación of the Extremadura and the defence of the Almohad frontier...

 and Teresa Fernández de Traba and step-daughter of Ferdinand II of León

Ferdinand II of Leon

Ferdinand II was King of León and Galicia from 1157 to his death.-Life:Born in Toledo, Castile, he was the son of King Alfonso VII of León and Castile and of Berenguela, of the House of Barcelona. At his father's death, he received León and Galicia, while his brother Sancho received Castile and...

. By her he had one son, Nuño

Nuño Sánchez

Nuño Sánchez was a Catalan nobleman and statesman.Nuño was the son of Sancho, Count of Provence, Roussillon, and Cerdagne, and Sancha Núñez of the House of Lara. His father was dispossessed of Provence in 1185 but maintained Roussillon and Cerdagne until his death in 1223, handing control of them...

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