Ramiro I of Asturias - Marriages, Descendants, and Succession

Marriages, Descendants, and Succession

All that is known of Ramiro's first marriage is that it must have occurred early enough for his son to have already been an adult at the time of Ramiro's succession. Ramiro's son Ordoño succeeded his father as king of Asturias upon the former's death.

Ramiro contracted his second marriage, to Paterna, around 842, the year of the death of his predecessor Alfonso II. The chronicle of his grandson asserts that when Alfonso II died, Ramiro was in the Castilian lands for his wedding, suggesting that his wife was Castilian. It is presumed that the bride in this marriage was the Paterna who appears later as his widow.

There is no solid evidence of children other than Ordoño. Traditionally, Count Rodrigo of Castile (died 873) has been named as son of Ramiro and Paterna, but the dates make this unlikely: Rodrigo repopulated Amaya in 860, but Ramiro and Paterna's marriage is believed to date from 842. The medievalist Justo Pérez de Urbel says that Rodrigo was named count of Castile because of his link to the Asturian royal family, and that it is possible that this link existed through Queen Paterna, but not necessarily through being her son.

Ramiro also may have been the father of Gatón, Count of Astorga and of El Bierzo, since the 14th century Al-Bayan al-Mughrib of Ibn Idhari, states that Gatón was the 'brother' of Ordoño I de Asturias.