Bernard II, Count of Besalú  Bernard II (, ; died 1100) was the Count of Besalú and Ripoll in Catalonia, the brother, co-ruler (from 1052), and successor of William II, who was assassinated in 1066. The second son of William I of Besalú and his wife, Adelaide, Bernard married his first cousin Ermengarda, daughter of Ponç I of Empúries and Adelaide, sister of William I. He was suspected of involvement in the murder of his brother. He was also a strong proponent of the Gregorian reforms. Described as "piadós i versatil" (pious and versatile), he was the opposite of his brother, "iracund i violent de caràcter" (of an irascible and violent character). He almost certainly took the cross and joined the First Crusade. During his co-reign with his brother, "denarii" and "oboli" were minted by the church bearing an effigy of Saint Raphael on the obverse, with the initials S-R, and an effigy of Saint Prim or perhaps Jesus Christ on the reverse. In 1075 Bernard recovered the right to mint coinage, which had been granted to the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary by his father. The coins he minted, weighing between 0.5 and 0.6 grams, were divided by a cross on the obverse, with the words SANC-TA CR-VX ("sancta crux" means holy cross) on the horizontal and vertical bars respectively, and with the letters BR-NR-DS-CO ("Bernardus comes", meaning count Bernard) in the spaces remaining. The reverse bore the word BISIL-DVNO ("Bisilduno", of Besalú). Bernard did grant to the church a tenth of the money minted in Besalú in perpetuity, whether of gold or of silver. We beseech most carefully your lordships on behalf of the city or rather the church of Tarragona and we order you to make a vigorous effort to restore it in every possible way for the remission of sins. For you know what a great defence it would be for Christ's people and what a terrible blow it would be to the Saracens if, by the goodness of God, the position of that famous city were restored. If the knights of other provinces have decided with one mind to go to the aid of the Asian Church and to liberate their brothers from the tyranny of the Saracens, so ought you with one mind and with our encouragement to work with greater endurance to help a church so near you resist the invasions of the Saracens.