Pedro III el Grande, rey de Aragón

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Pedro III de Aragón (Valencia, 1240 – Villafranca del Penedés, 2 de noviembre de 1285), llamado el Grande, fue hijo de Jaime I el Conquistador y su segunda esposa Violante de Hungría. Sucedió a su padre en 1276 en los títulos de rey de Aragón, rey de Valencia (como Pedro I) y conde de Barcelona (como Pedro II).

Casado el 13 de junio de 1262 en la catedral de Montpellier con Constanza de Hohenstaufen, hija y heredera de Manfredo I de Sicilia, fueron coronados en Zaragoza en una ceremonia en la que Pedro canceló el vasallaje que con el papado había concertado su abuelo Pedro II.

Todo su reinado se centró en la expansión de la Corona de Aragón por el Mediterráneo y para ello aprovechó su matrimonio con Constanza para reivindicar la corona siciliana. Sicilia se encontraba desde 1266 bajo la soberanía de Carlos de Anjou quien, con el apoyo del papa Clemente IV, que no deseaba a ningún Hohenstaufen en el sur de Italia, había sido investido rey tras derrotar, en Benevento a Manfredo, quien falleció en la batalla.

El monarca angevino hizo cegar a los tres hijos varones de Manfredo y, en 1268, capturó e hizo decapitar a Conradino que - como nieto de Federico II - era el último heredero varón de la casa Hohenstaufen. La línea sucesoria pasó entonces a Constanza, quien ofreció refugio en Aragón a las familias partidarias de su padre, los Lanza, los Lauria y los Prócidas.

Una flota de la corona aragonesa, al mando de Conrado Lanza, recorre en 1279 las costas africanas para restablecer la soberanía feudal de Aragón sobre Túnez, que la muerte del emir Muhammad I al-Mustansir había debilitado. Posteriormente, en 1281, Pedro III armó una flota para invadir Túnez y solicitó al recién elegido papa Martín IV una bula que declarara la operación militar como cruzada; pero el papa, de origen francés y partidario de Carlos de Anjou, se la negó.

Cuando la flota se disponía a zarpar, tuvieron lugar en Sicilia los acontecimientos conocidos como las Vísperas sicilianas que provocaron la expulsión de la isla, tras una gran matanza, de los franceses. Los sicilianos enviaron entonces una embajada a Pedro III ofreciéndole la corona siciliana, a la que tenía derecho gracias a su matrimonio. El rey aragonés puso entonces su flota rumbo a Sicilia, donde arribó el 30 de agosto de 1282 y donde fue coronado rey en la ciudad de Palermo.

Inmediatamente envió una embajada a Carlos de Anjou, que se encontraba en Mesina, instándole a reconocerle como rey de Sicilia y a abandonar la isla. La derrota de la flota angevina en Nicoreta, a manos del almirante Roger de Lauria, obligó a Carlos a dejar Mesina y refugiarse en su reino de Nápoles.

El papa Martín IV respondió a la coronación siciliana de Pedro III con su excomunión (9 de noviembre de 1282) y su deposición como rey de Aragón (21 de diciembre de 1283), ofreciendo la corona al segundo hijo del rey de Francia, Carlos de Valois, a quien invistió el 27 de febrero de 1284, y declarando una cruzada contra Aragón. La situación en la que se encontró Pedro III era totalmente inestable, ya que no sólo tenía que enfrentarse a la invasión francesa que se preparaba al norte de los Pirineos, sino que tuvo que hacer frente a graves problemas en el interior de sus reinos surgidos antes las necesidades económicas que provocó la conquista de Sicilia.

Pedro III el Grande en el collado de las Panizas. Óleo sobre ienzo de Mariano Barbasán. 1889.Pedro III soluciona los problemas internos concediendo, en 1283, la formación de la Unión aragonesa y prestando juramento al “Privilegio General” que defendía los privilegios de la nobleza; asimismo concedió a Cataluña la constitución “Una vegada l´any” en las cortes celebradas en Barcelona entre 1283 y 1284.

Solucionados los problemas interiores, pudo centrar su atención en la invasión francesa, que al mando del propio rey francés Felipe III tomó en 1285 la ciudad de Gerona, para inmediatamente tener que retirarse cuando la flota aragonesa retornó de Sicilia al mando de Roger de Lauria e infligió a la escuadra francesa una derrota total.

Tras su gran victoria, Pedro III se dispuso a enfrentarse a su hermano Jaime II y a su sobrino el rey Sancho IV de Castilla, que no le habían prestado apoyo durante su conflicto con los franceses, pero su prematura muerte, el 11 de noviembre de 1285, lo impidió.

Sepulcro de Pedro III el Grande en el Real Monasterio de Santes Creus.En su testamento, Pedro III dispuso que su cadáver recibiera sepultura en el Monasterio de Santes Creus, de la orden cisterciense. Las exequias del monarca se celebraron con gran solemnidad y el cuerpo del rey fue colocado en una urna de pórfido rojo, que el almirante Roger de Lauria trajo desde Sicilia. El fue el primer monarca aragonés en recibir sepultura en el Monasterio de Santes Creus.

El rey Jaime II el Justo de Aragón, ordenó la erección de las tumbas del rey Pedro III el Grande, su padre, al mismo tiempo que disponía la creación de su propia tumba y la de su segunda esposa, Blanca de Nápoles. Se dispuso que los sepulcros se hallaran cobijados, como así se hizo, bajo baldaquinos labrados en mármol blanco procedente de las canteras de San Felíu, cerca de Gerona. Cuando el rey Jaime II dispuso la creación de su propio sepulcro, tomó como modelo el sepulcro de su padre.

El sepulcro del rey Pedro III fue realizado entre los años 1291 y 1307 por Bartomeu de Gerona y es más rico que el de su hijo Jaime II y su esposa. Un gran templete de caladas traceerías alberga el sepulcro del rey, consistente en una urna de pórfido rojo, antes una pila de baño romana, traída a España por el almirante Roger de Lauria. La urna de pórfido se encuentra rodeada por imágenes de santos.

El epitafio del rey Pedro III, colocado enfrente del mausoleo, en el pilar que separa el presbiterio de la capilla lateral del crucero, reza la siguiente inscripción:

"PETRUS QUEM PETRA TEGIT GENTES ET REGNA SUBEGIT, FORTES CONFREGITQUE CREPIT, CUNCTA PEREGIT, AUDAX MAGNANIMUS SIBI MILES QUISQUI FIT UNUS, QUI BELLO PRIMUS INHERET JACET HIC MODO IMUS, CONSTANS PROPOSITO VERAX SERMONE FIDELIS, REBUS PROMISSIS FUIT HIC ET STRENUUS ARMIS, FORTIS JUSTITIA VIVENS AEQUALIS AD OMNES, ISTIS LAUDATUR VI MENTIS LAUS SUPERATUR, CHRISTUS ADORATUR DUM PENITET UNDE BEATUR, REX ARAGONENSIS COMES ET DUX BARCINONENSIS, DEFECIT MEMBRIS UNDENA NOCTE NOVEMBRIS, ANNO MILLENO CENTUM BIS ET OCTUAGENO, QUINTO, SISTE PIA SIBI TUTRIX VIRGO MARIA"

En diciembre de 1835, durante las Guerras Carlistas, la Legión francesa de Alger y varias compañías de miqueletes se alojaron en el edificio monacal, causando numerosos destrozos en el mismo. Las tumbas reales de Jaime II y su esposa fueron profanadas. Los restos de Jaime II, hijo de Pedro III fueron quemados, aunque parece que algunos restos permanecieron en el sepulcro. La momia de la reina Blanca de Nápoles fue arrojada a un pozo, de donde fue sacada en 1854. El sepulcro de Pedro III, a causa de la solidez de la urna de pórfido utilizada para albergar los regios despojos, impidió que sus restos corrieran igual suerte.

Fruto de su matrimonio con Constanza de Sicilia, nacieron los siguientes hijos del rey:

1.Alfonso III de Aragón (1261-1291), rey de Aragón, Valencia y conde de Barcelona. Sepultado en la Catedral de Barcelona.

2.Jaime II de Aragón (1267-1327), rey de Aragón, Valencia, conde de Barcelona, rey de Cerdeña y de Sicilia. Sepultado en el Monasterio de Santes Creus junto a su esposa Blanca de Nápoles y su padre, Pedro III.

3.La infanta Isabel de Aragón (1271-1336), Santa Isabel de Portugal, reina consorte de Portugal por el matrimonio en 1288 con Dionisio I de Portugal.

4.Federico II de Sicilia (1272-1337), rey de Sicilia.

5.La infanta Violante (1273-1302), casada en 1297 con el infante Roberto de Nápoles, futuro Roberto I.

6.El infante Pedro de Aragón (1275-1296). Sepultado en el desaparecido Convento de San Francisco de Zaragoza, es posible que sus restos fueran trasladados al también desaparecido Convento de San Francisco de Barcelona.

Fruto de su relación extramatrimonial con una dama llamada Doña María Nicolau, el rey tuvo tres hijos ilegítimos:

1.Don Jaime de Aragón (fallecido después de 1285). Señor de Segorbe. Casado con Doña Sancha Fernández, hija de Don Fernando Díaz.

2.Don Juan de Aragón

3.Doña Beatriz de Aragón, esposa de Don Ramón de Cardona, señor de Torá.

De su relación con la dama conocida como Doña Inés Zapata, le nacieron cuatro hijos ilegítimos al rey:

1.Don Fernando de Aragón. Señor de Albarracín

2.Don Sancho de Aragón. Castellano de Amposta.

3.Don Pedro de Aragón, casado con Doña Constanza Méndez Pelita de Silva, hija de Don Suero Méndez de Silva.

4.Doña Teresa de Aragón. Casó en primeras nupcias con Don García Romeu III, ricohombre de Aragón, hijo de García Romeu II. En segundas nupcias contrajo matrimonio con Don Artal de Alagón, señor de Sástago y Pina. En terceras nupcias se desposó con Don Pedro López de Oteiza.

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Pedro III de Aragón (Valencia, 1240 – Villafranca del Penedés, 2 de noviembre de 1285), llamado el Grande, fue hijo de Jaime I el Conquistador y su segunda esposa Violante de Hungría. Sucedió a su padre en 1276 en los títulos de rey de Aragón, rey de Valencia (como Pedro I) y conde de Barcelona (como Pedro II).

Casado el 13 de junio de 1262 en la catedral de Montpellier con Constanza de Hohenstaufen, hija y heredera de Manfredo I de Sicilia, fueron coronados en Zaragoza en una ceremonia en la que Pedro canceló el vasallaje que con el papado había concertado su abuelo Pedro II.

Todo su reinado se centró en la expansión de la Corona de Aragón por el Mediterráneo y para ello aprovechó su matrimonio con Constanza para reivindicar la corona siciliana. Sicilia se encontraba desde 1266 bajo la soberanía de Carlos de Anjou quien, con el apoyo del papa Clemente IV, que no deseaba a ningún Hohenstaufen en el sur de Italia, había sido investido rey tras derrotar, en Benevento a Manfredo, quien falleció en la batalla.

El monarca angevino hizo cegar a los tres hijos varones de Manfredo y, en 1268, capturó e hizo decapitar a Conradino que - como nieto de Federico II - era el último heredero varón de la casa Hohenstaufen. La línea sucesoria pasó entonces a Constanza, quien ofreció refugio en Aragón a las familias partidarias de su padre, los Lanza, los Lauria y los Prócidas.

Una flota de la corona aragonesa, al mando de Conrado Lanza, recorre en 1279 las costas africanas para restablecer la soberanía feudal de Aragón sobre Túnez, que la muerte del emir Muhammad I al-Mustansir había debilitado. Posteriormente, en 1281, Pedro III armó una flota para invadir Túnez y solicitó al recién elegido papa Martín IV una bula que declarara la operación militar como cruzada; pero el papa, de origen francés y partidario de Carlos de Anjou, se la negó.

Cuando la flota se disponía a zarpar, tuvieron lugar en Sicilia los acontecimientos conocidos como las Vísperas sicilianas que provocaron la expulsión de la isla, tras una gran matanza, de los franceses. Los sicilianos enviaron entonces una embajada a Pedro III ofreciéndole la corona siciliana, a la que tenía derecho gracias a su matrimonio. El rey aragonés puso entonces su flota rumbo a Sicilia, donde arribó el 30 de agosto de 1282 y donde fue coronado rey en la ciudad de Palermo.

Inmediatamente envió una embajada a Carlos de Anjou, que se encontraba en Mesina, instándole a reconocerle como rey de Sicilia y a abandonar la isla. La derrota de la flota angevina en Nicoreta, a manos del almirante Roger de Lauria, obligó a Carlos a dejar Mesina y refugiarse en su reino de Nápoles.

El papa Martín IV respondió a la coronación siciliana de Pedro III con su excomunión (9 de noviembre de 1282) y su deposición como rey de Aragón (21 de diciembre de 1283), ofreciendo la corona al segundo hijo del rey de Francia, Carlos de Valois, a quien invistió el 27 de febrero de 1284, y declarando una cruzada contra Aragón. La situación en la que se encontró Pedro III era totalmente inestable, ya que no sólo tenía que enfrentarse a la invasión francesa que se preparaba al norte de los Pirineos, sino que tuvo que hacer frente a graves problemas en el interior de sus reinos surgidos antes las necesidades económicas que provocó la conquista de Sicilia.

Pedro III soluciona los problemas internos concediendo, en 1283, la formación de la Unión aragonesa y prestando juramento al “Privilegio General” que defendía los privilegios de la nobleza; asimismo concedió a Cataluña la constitución “Una vegada l´any” en las cortes celebradas en Barcelona entre 1283 y 1284.

Solucionados los problemas interiores, pudo centrar su atención en la invasión francesa, que al mando del propio rey francés Felipe III tomó en 1285 la ciudad de Gerona, para inmediatamente tener que retirarse cuando la flota aragonesa retornó de Sicilia al mando de Roger de Lauria e infligió a la escuadra francesa una derrota total.

Tras su gran victoria, Pedro III se dispuso a enfrentarse a su hermano Jaime II y a su sobrino el rey Sancho IV de Castilla, que no le habían prestado apoyo durante su conflicto con los franceses, pero su prematura muerte, el 11 de noviembre de 1285, lo impidió.

Descendencia

Fruto de su matrimonio con Constanza de Sicilia, nacieron los siguientes hijos del rey:

1.Alfonso III de Aragón (1261-1291), rey de Aragón, Valencia y conde de Barcelona. Sepultado en la Catedral de Barcelona.

2.Jaime II de Aragón (1267-1327), rey de Aragón, Valencia, conde de Barcelona, rey de Cerdeña y de Sicilia. Sepultado en el Monasterio de Santes Creus junto a su esposa Blanca de Nápoles y su padre, Pedro III.

3.La infanta Isabel de Aragón (1271-1336), Santa Isabel de Portugal, reina consorte de Portugal por el matrimonio en 1288 con Dionisio I de Portugal.

4.Federico II de Sicilia (1272-1337), rey de Sicilia.

5.La infanta Violante (1273-1302), casada en 1297 con el infante Roberto de Nápoles, futuro Roberto I.

6.El infante Pedro de Aragón (1275-1296). Sepultado en el desaparecido Convento de San Francisco de Zaragoza, es posible que sus restos fueran trasladados al también desaparecido Convento de San Francisco de Barcelona.

Fruto de su relación extramatrimonial con una dama llamada Doña María Nicolau, el rey tuvo tres hijos ilegítimos:

1.Don Jaime de Aragón (fallecido después de 1285). Señor de Segorbe. Casado con Doña Sancha Fernández, hija de Don Fernando Díaz.

2.Don Juan de Aragón

3.Doña Beatriz de Aragón, esposa de Don Ramón de Cardona, señor de Torá.

De su relación con la dama conocida como Doña Inés Zapata, le nacieron cuatro hijos ilegítimos al rey:

1.Don Fernando de Aragón. Señor de Albarracín

2.Don Sancho de Aragón. Castellano de Amposta.

3.Don Pedro de Aragón, casado con Doña Constanza Méndez Pelita de Silva, hija de Don Suero Méndez de Silva.

4.Doña Teresa de Aragón. Casó en primeras nupcias con Don García Romeu III, ricohombre de Aragón, hijo de García Romeu II. En segundas nupcias contrajo matrimonio con Don Artal de Alagón, señor de Sástago y Pina. En terceras nupcias se desposó con Don Pedro López de Oteiza.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_III_of_Aragon

Peter III of Aragon (Catalan: Pere el Gran, Spanish: Pedro el Grande (c. 1239 – November 1285) was King of Aragon, King of Valencia (as Peter I), and Count of Barcelona (as Peter II) from 1276 to his death. At the invitation of some rebels, he conquered the Kingdom of Sicily and became King of Sicily in 1282, pressing the claim of his wife, Constance II of Sicily, uniting the kingdom to the crown.

Youth and succession

Peter was the eldest son of James I of Aragon and his second wife Violant of Hungary. Among opportunistic betrothals of his youth, he was betrothed to Eudoxia Laskarina, the youngest daughter of Theodoros II Laskaris, in or before 1260. This contract was dissolved, however, after Eudoxia's brother lost the imperial throne in 1261, and Eudoxia was instead married to the Count of Tenda. On 13 June 1262, Peter married Constance II of Sicily, daughter and heiress of Manfred of Sicily. During his youth and early adulthood, Peter gained a great deal of military experience in his father's wars of the Reconquista against the Moors.

On his father's death in 1276, the lands of the Crown of Aragon were divided amongst his two sons. The Kingdom of Aragon, the Kingdom of Valencia and the Catalan counties went to Peter III as being the eldest son; while the Kingdom of Majorca and the Catalan counties beyond the Pyrenees went to the second son, who became James II of Majorca. Peter and Constance were crowned in Zaragoza in November 1276 by the archbishop of Tarragona.

Early rebellions

Peter's first act as king was to complete the pacification of his Valencian territory, an action which had been underway before his father's death.

However, a revolt soon broke out in Catalonia, led by the viscount of Cardona and abetted by Roger-Bernard III of Foix, Arnold Roger I of Pallars Sobirà, and Ermengol X of Urgell. The rebels had developed a hatred for Peter as a result of the severity of his dealings with them during the reign of his father. Now they opposed him for not summoning the Catalan Courts, and confirming its privileges after his ascension to the throne.

At the same time, a succession crisis continued in the County of Urgell. When Álvaro of Urgell died in 1268, the families of his two wives, Constance, a daughter of Pedro Moncada of Béarn, and Cecilia, a daughter of Roger-Bernard II of Foix, began a long fight over the inheritance of his county. Meanwhile, a good portion of the county had been repossessed by Peter's father, James I, and was thus inherited by Peter in 1276. In 1278, Ermengol X, Álvaro's eldest son, succeeded in recovering most of his lost patrimony and came to an agreement with Peter whereby he recognised the latter as his suzerain.

In 1280, Peter defeated the stewing rebellion led by Roger-Bernard III after besieging the rebels in Balaguer for a month. Most of the rebel leaders were imprisoned in Lleida until 1281, while Roger-Bernard was imprisoned until 1284.

Wars abroad

Tunisia

When Muhammad I al-Mustansir, the Hafsid Emir of Tunisia who had put himself under James I of Aragon, died in 1277, Tunisia threw off the yoke of Aragonese suzerainty. Peter first sent an expedition to Tunis in 1280 under Conrad de Llansa designed to re-establish his suzerainty. In 1281, he himself prepared to lead a fleet of 140 ships with 15,000 men to invade Tunisia on behalf of the governor of Constantine.[3] The fleet landed at Alcoyll in 1282. It was these Aragonese troops that received a Sicilian embassy after the Vespers of 30 March asking Peter to take their throne from Charles I of Anjou.

War of the Sicilian Vespers Main article: War of the Sicilian Vespers

In 1266, Charles I of Naples, with the approval of Pope Clement IV, invaded the Kingdom of Sicily, governed by the house of Hohenstaufen, which was the house of Peter's wife, Constance II of Sicily, daughter of Manfred of Sicily and rightful heir to the throne of Sicily after the deaths of her father and cousin Conradin fighting against Charles's invading forces. This made Peter the heir of Manfred of Sicily in right of his wife.

The Italian physician John of Procida acted on behalf of Peter in Sicily. John had fled to Aragon after Charles' success at the Battle of Tagliacozzo. John travelled to Sicily to stir up the discontents in favour of Peter and thence to Constantinople to procure the support of Michael VIII Palaiologos.[4] Michael refused to aid the Aragonese king without papal approval, and so John voyaged to Rome and there gained the consent of Pope Nicholas III, who feared the ascent of Charles in the Mezzogiorno. John then returned to Barcelona but the Pope died, to be replaced by Pope Martin IV, a Frenchman and a staunch ally of Charles and the Anjou dynasty. This set the stage for the upcoming conflict.

Constance thus claimed to her father's throne, supported by her husband, but the claim was fruitless, as Charles was supported by the Papacy and his power remained stronger. The election of a new Pope Nicholas III in 1277 gave the King of Aragon a glimpse of hope, but Nicholas somehow died in 1280 and a pro-French Pope Martin IV dissipated hopes.

Peter nevertheless had begun making strategic alliances with his neighbouring monarchs. Peter made his brother James II of Majorca sign the treaty of Perpignan in 1279, in which he recognized the Kingdom of Majorca as a feudal kingdom of Peter III (making the Crown of Aragon an indissoluble unity). Peter pressed his advantage and by February 1283 had taken most of the Calabrian coastline. Charles, perhaps feeling desperate, sent letters to Peter demanding they resolve the conflict by personal combat. Peter accepted and Charles returned to France to arrange the duel. Both kings chose six knights to settle on places and dates, and a duel was scheduled for 1 June at Bordeaux. A hundred knights would accompany each side and Edward I of England would adjudge the contest; the English king, heeding the pope, however, refused to take part. Peter left John of Procida in charge of Sicily and returned via his own kingdom to Bordeaux, which he entered in disguise to evade a suspected French ambush. Needless to say, no combat ever took place and Peter returned to find a very turbulent Aragon.[5]

He also had a long-lasting friendly relationship with the Kingdom of Castile, establishing a strong alliance between realms by signing the treaties of Campillo and Ágreda in 1281 with Alfonso X of Castile and infant Sancho.

With the Kingdom of Portugal, Peter established a marital alliance by which his eldest daughter Elizabeth of Aragon married Denis I of Portugal.

Peter also made alliance with England, engaging his heir Alfonso III with Eleanor of England, daughter of Edward I of England. Despite all these alliances, Peter kept his bad relationship with the Kingdom of France.

On 30 March 1282 there was a popular uprising in the Kingdom of Sicily called the Sicilian Vespers, against the government of Charles I of Anjou. The noble sicilian rebels asked for Peter for help and offered him the crown as they considered his wife Constance their rightful Queen, and after receiving an embassy from the people of Palermo at Alcoy, Peter landed at Trapani on 30 August 1282.[4] He was proclaimed King in Palermo on 4 September.[6] Charles was forced to flee across the Straits of Messina and be content with his Kingdom of Naples. Pope Martin IV excommunicated both Peter and Michael VIII Palaiologos for providing Peter with 60,000 gold pieces to invade Sicily.[7]

Catalan ground troops were commanded by Guillem Galceran de Cartellà, and were formed by the famous and feared almogavars, crossbowmen and lancers. Peter's powerful fleet was commanded by Roger of Lauria, and constantly repelled Angevin attacks to the island. Roger de Lauria defeated the French forces at the Battle of Malta, and at the Bay of Naples in 1284, where Charles was made prisoner.

The conquest of Sicily was financed by Jewish contributions and taxes charged to the aljamas. The infant Alfonso demanded them an allowance of 200,000 sous in 1282. The aljamas from the Kingdom of Valencia gave 25,000 sous, the Aragonese 75,000 and 100,000 were charged to the Catalan aljamas. The Kingdom of Sicily was to be a tenaciously-pursued inheritance for the Aragonese royal house and its heirs for the next five centuries.

Later domestic unrest
Peter was dealing with domestic unrest at the time when the French were preparing an invasion of Aragon. He took Albarracín from the rebellious noble Juan Núñez de Lara, he renewed the alliance with Sancho IV of Castile, and he attacked Tudela in an attempt to prevent Philip I of Navarre from invading on that front. Peter held meetings of the cortes at Tarragona and Zaragoza in 1283. He was forced to grant the Privilegio General to the newly formed Union of Aragon.[5]

Also in 1283, Peter's brother James II of Majorca joined the French and recognised their suzerainty over Montpellier. This gave the French free passage into Catalonia through Roussillon as well as access to the Balearic Islands. In October, Peter began preparing the defences of Catalonia. In 1284, Pope Martin IV granted the Kingdom of Aragon to Charles, Count of Valois, another son of the French king and great-nephew of Charles I of Anjou. Papal sanction was given to a war to conquer Aragon on behalf of Charles of Valois.

Aragonese Crusade Main article: Aragonese Crusade

Peter III the Great at Col de Panissars by Mariano Barbasán.
In 1284, the first French armies under Philip and Charles entered Roussillon. They included 16,000 cavalry, 17,000 crossbowmen, and 100,000 infantry, along with 100 ships in south French ports.[8] Though the French had James's support, the local populace rose against them. The city of Elne was valiantly defended by the so-called "bastard of Roussillon", the illegitimate son of Nuño Sánchez, late count of Roussillon. Eventually he was overcome and the cathedral was burnt; the royal forces progressed.

In 1285, Philip entrenched himself before Girona in an attempt to besiege it. The resistance was strong, but the city was taken. Charles was crowned there, but without an actual crown. The French soon experienced a reversal, however, at the hands of Roger de Lauria, back from the Italian theatre of the drawn-out conflict. The French fleet was defeated and destroyed at the Battle of Les Formigues on 4 September 1285. In addition, the French camp was hit hard by an epidemic of dysentery.

The King of France himself was afflicted. The King of Navarre, the heir apparent to the French throne, opened negotiations with Peter for free passage for the royal family through the Pyrenees. But the troops were not offered such passage and were decimated at the Battle of the Col de Panissars. Philip III of France died in October at Perpignan, the capital of James II of Majorca (who had fled in fear after being confronted by Peter), and was buried in Narbonne. James was declared a vassal of Peter.

Troubadour works

Peter matched his father in patronage of the arts and literature, but unlike him he was a lover of verse, not prose. He favoured the troubadours, having himself created two sirventesos. The first is in the form of an exchange between himself and Peironet, a troubadour. The second is part of a compilation of five compositions from Peter himself, Bernat d'Auriac, Pere Salvatge, Roger-Bernard III of Foix, and an anonymous contributor.

As well the wars with Philip III of France and James II of Majorca furnished material for new sirventesos and during this period the sirventes was converted into a convenient tool of political propaganda in which each side could, directly or allegorically, present its case and procure sympathy propitious to its cause.

Death and legacy

Peter died from unknown causes at Vilafranca del Penedès on November 1285,[9] just one month after Philip III of France, and was buried in the Monastery of Santes Creus.[10] His deathbed absolution occurred after he declared that his conquests had been in the name of his familial claims and never against the claims of the church. His remains are entombed in a porphyry sarcophagus at the monastery.

Like his father, Peter divided his kingdoms between his sons. He left Aragon to his eldest son, Alfonso III, and Sicily to his second son, James II. Peter's third son, Frederick, in succession to his brother James, became regent of Sicily and in due course its king. Peter did not provide for his illegitimate youngest son and namesake, Peter. This Peter left Spain for Portugal with his half-sister Elizabeth.

In the Divine Comedy, (Purgatory, Canto VII) Dante Alighieri sees Peter "singing in accord" with his former rival, Charles I of Anjou, outside the gates of Purgatory.

Children

Peter and Constance II of Sicily had six children:

Alfonso III of Aragon (4 November 1265–18 June 1291).
James II of Aragon (10 August 1267–2 November 1327).
Elizabeth, Queen of Portugal (c. 1271–4 July 1336). Married Denis of Portugal.
Frederick III of Sicily (13 December 1272–25 June 1337).
Yolande, Duchess of Calabria (c. 1273–August 1302). Married Robert of Naples.
Peter of Aragon [es] (c. 1275–25 August 1296). Married Guillemette of Béarn, daughter of Gaston VII, Viscount of Béarn.
Peter had a relationship with Ines Zapata between 1275-1280 and had the following children:

Fernando of Aragon.

Sancho of Aragon.

Pedro of Aragon. Married in Portugal with Constança Mendes da Silva.

Teresa of Aragon.

Additionally, he had 3 illegitimate children with Maria Nicolau before marrying Constance of Sicily:

Jaime Perez of Aragon (d. 1285).

Juan Perez of Aragon.

Beatriz of Aragon (d. 1316).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_III_of_Aragon

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Peter the Great (Catalan: Pere el Gran, Spanish: Pedro el Grande; 1239, Valencia – 2 November 1285) was the King of Aragon (as Peter III) of Valencia and of Majorca (as Peter I), and Count of Barcelona (as Peter II) from 1276 to his death. He conquered Sicily and became its king in 1282. He was one of the greatest of medieval Aragonese monarchs.

Contents [hide]

1 Youth and succession

2 Early rebellions

3 Wars abroad

3.1 Africa

3.2 Italy

4 Later domestic unrest

5 Aragonese Crusade

6 Troubadour works

7 Death and legacy

8 Ancestry

9 Notes

10 Bibliography

[edit] Youth and succession

Peter was the eldest son of James I of Aragon and his second wife Yolanda of Hungary. On 13 June 1262, he married Constance, daughter and heiress of Manfred of Sicily. During his youth and early adulthood, Peter gained a great deal of military experience in his father's wars of the Reconquista against the Moors.[1]

On James' death, the lands of the Crown of Aragon were divided, with Aragon and Valencia, along with the Catalan counties, going to the eldest son, Peter, while the Balearic Islands (constituted as the Kingdom of Majorca), alongside the territories in the Languedoc (Montpellier and Roussillon), went to the second son, James. Peter and Constance were crowned in Zaragoza (the capital of Aragon) in November by the archbishop of Tarragona. At this ceremony, Peter renounced all feudal obligations to the papacy which his grandfather Peter II had incurred.

[edit] Early rebellions

Peter's first act as king was to complete the pacification of his Valencian territory, an action which had been underway on his father's death.

However, a revolt soon broke out in Catalonia, led by the viscount of Cardona and abetted by Roger-Bernard III of Foix, Arnold Roger I of Pallars Sobirà, and Ermengol X of Urgell.[2] The rebels had grown a hatred for Peter in response to the severity of his dealings with them in the days of his father. Now, as king, they opposed him for not summoning the Catalan corts, or assembly, and confirming its privileges.

At the same time, a succession crisis continued in the County of Urgell. When Count Álvaro died in 1268, the families of his two wives, Constance, a daughter of Pedro Moncada of Béarn, and Cecilia, a daughter of Roger-Bernard II of Foix, began a long fight over the inheritance of his county. Meanwhile, a good portion of the county had been repossessed by James and thus inherited by Peter. In 1278, Armengol X, Álvaro's eldest son, succeeded in recovering most of his lost patrimony and came to an agreement with Peter whereby he recognised the latter as his suzerain.[3]

In 1280, Peter defeated the stewing rebellion led by Roger-Berengar III after besieging the rebels in Balaguer for a month. Most of the rebel leaders were imprisoned in Lleida until 1281, while Roger-Bernard was imprisoned until 1284.

[edit] Wars abroad

[edit] Africa

When the Hafsid Emir of Tunisia, Muhammad I al-Mustansir, who had put himself under James the Conqueror, died in 1277, Tunisia threw off the yoke of Aragonese suzerainty.[4] Peter first sent an expedition to Tunis in 1280 under Conrad de Llansa designed to re-establish his suzerainty.[5] In 1281, he himself prepared to lead a fleet of 140 ships with 15,000 men to invade Tunisia on behalf of the governor of Constantine.[6] The fleet landed at Alcoyll in 1282 and the troops began to fortify themselves in. It was these Aragonese troops that received a Sicilian embassy after the Vespers of 30 March asking Peter to take their throne from Charles of Anjou.

[edit] Italy

Main article: War of the Sicilian Vespers

Peter was the direct descendant and the heir-general of the Mafalda, daughter of Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia, the Norman conqueror, and his official wife Sigelgaita, daughter of a Lombard prince, Guaimar IV of Salerno. Thus, he stood at the end of the Hauteville succession to Sicily. After the ducal family of Apulia became extinct with William II in 1127, Mafalda's heirs (then counts of Barcelona) apparently became de jure heirs of Guiscard and Sigelgaita: thus Peter was dormantly a claimant to the Norman succession of southern Italy. More directly, he was the heir of Manfred in right of his wife. The Two Sicilies were to be a tenaciously-pursued inheritance for the Aragonese royal house and its heirs for the next five centuries.

The Italian physician John of Procida acted on behalf of Peter in Sicily. John had fled to Aragon after Charles' success at Tagliacozzo. John travelled to Sicily to stir up the discontents in favour of Peter and thence to Constantinople to procure the support of Michael VIII Palaeologus.[7] Michael refused to aid the Aragonese king without papal approval and so John voyaged to Rome and there gained the consent of Pope Nicholas III, who feared the ascent of Charles in the Mezzogiorno.[8] John then returned to Barcelona and the pope promptly died, to be replaced by Simon de Brie, a Frenchman and a staunch ally of Charles. The stage, however, had been set for a conflict.

After receiving an embassy from the people of Palermo at Alcoyll, Peter landed at Trapani on 30 August 1282.[9] He was proclaimed King in Palermo on 4 September. Charles was forced to flee across the Straits of Messina and be content with his "Kingdom of Naples." Simon de Brie as the new Pope Martin IV excommunicated both Peter and the Byzantine emperor for providing Peter III with 60,000 gold pieces to invade Sicily (18 November).[10]

Peter nevertheless pressed his advantage and by February 1283 had taken most of the Calabrian coastline. Charles, perhaps feeling desperate, sent letters to Peter demanding they resolve the conflict by personal combat. The invader accepted and Charles returned to France to arrange the duel. Both kings chose six knights to settle matters of places and dates. A duel was scheduled for 1 June at Bordeaux. A hundred knights would accompany each side and Edward I of England would adjudge the contest; the English king, heeding the pope, however, refused to take part. Peter left John of Procida in charge of Sicily and returned via his own kingdom to Bordeaux, which, evading a suspected French ambush, he entered in disguise. Needless to say, no combat ever took place and Peter returned to a very troubled Spain.[11]

While Peter was back in France and Spain, his admiral, Roger of Lauria, was wreaking havoc in Italy. He routed Charles' fleets on the high seas several times and conquered Malta for Aragon.

Pedro III el Grande en el collado de las Panizas by Mariano Barbasán (1889)[edit] Later domestic unrest

Peter was dealing with domestic unrest at the time when the French were preparing an invasion. He took Albarracín from the rebellious noble Juan Núñez de Lara, and he renewed the alliance with Sancho IV of Castile and attacked Tudela in an attempt to prevent the king of Navarre, Philip I, the son of the French king, from invading on that front.

Peter held meetings of the cortes at Tarragona and Zaragoza in 1283. He was forced to grant the Privilegio General to the newly-formed Union of Aragon.[12] Also in that year, Peter's brother James joined the French and recognised their suzerainty over Montpellier, giving them free passage through the Balearic Islands and Roussillon. In October, Peter began preparing the defences of Catalonia.

In 1284, Pope Martin IV granted the kingdom of Aragon to Charles, Count of Valois, the son of the French king, Philip III the Bold, and great nephew of Charles. Papal sanction was given to a war — crusade — to conquer Aragon on behalf of Charles of Valois.

[edit] Aragonese Crusade

Main article: Aragonese Crusade

In 1284, the first French armies under King Philip and Count Charles entered Roussillon. They included 16,000 cavalry, 17,000 crossbowmen, and 100,000 infantry, along with 100 ships in south French ports.[13] Though the French had James' support, the local populace rose against them. The city of Elne was valiantly defended by the so-called bâtard de Roussillon ("bastard of Roussillon"), the illegitimate son of Nuño Sánchez, late count of Roussillon (1212–1242). Eventually he was overcome and the cathedral was burnt; the royal forces progressed.

In 1285, Philip entrenched himself before Girona in an attempt to besiege it. The resistance was strong, but the city was taken. Charles was crowned there, but without an actual crown. The French soon experienced a reversal, however, at the hands of Roger de Lauria, back from the Italian theatre of the drawn-out conflict. The French fleet was defeated and destroyed at the Battle of Les Formigues. As well, the French camp was hit hard by an epidemic of dysentery.

Philip himself was afflicted. The heir to the French throne, Philip the Fair, opened negotiations with Peter for free passage for the royal family through the Pyrenees. But the troops were not offered such passage and were decimated at the Battle of the Col de Panissars. The king of France himself died at Perpignan, the capital of James of Majorca, who had fled in fear after being confronted by Peter, and was buried in Narbonne. James was declared a vassal of Peter.

[edit] Troubadour works

Peter matched his father in patronage of the arts and literature, but unlike him he was a lover of verse, not prose. He favoured the troubadours, of which he himself was one, and wrote two sirventesos.

The first is in the form of an exchange between Peter and one Peironet, a jongleur. The second forms part of a compilation of five compositions from Bernat d'Auriac, Peter the Great, Pere Salvatge (perhaps the same as Peironet), Roger-Bernard III of Foix, and an anonymous contributor.

As well, the wars with Philip of France and James of Majorca furnished material for new sirventesos and during this period the sirventes was converted into a convenient tool of political propaganda in which each side could, directly or allegorically, present its case and procure sympathy propitious to its cause.

[edit] Death and legacy

A croat minted at Barcelona, bearing the image of Peter and the words Petrus Dei gracia rex (Peter by the grace of God king) and civitas Barcenona (city of Barelona)Peter died at Vilafranca del Penedès on 2 November 1285, in the same year as his royal foe Philip, and was buried in the monastery of Santes Creus.[14] His deathbed absolution occurred after he declared that his conquests had been in the name of his familial claims and never against the claims of the church.

Peter left Aragon to his eldest son Alfonso III and Sicily to his second son James II. Peter's third son, Frederick III, in succession to his brother James, became regent of Sicily and in due course its king. Peter did not provide for his youngest son and namesake, Peter (1275 – 25 August 1296), who married Constanca Mendes de Silva, daughter of Soeiro Mendes Petite, governor of Santarem in Portugal. This Peter left Spain for Portugal with his sister Elizabeth.

Peter also had two daughters, Elisabeth, who married Denis of Portugal, and Yolanda (1273 – August 1302), who married Robert of Naples.

In the Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri sees Peter "singing in accord" (d'ogni valor portó cinta la corda) with his former rival, Charles I of Sicily, outside the gates of Purgatory.

[edit] Ancestry

Ancestors of Peter III of Aragon[hide]

 16. Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona 

8. Alfonso II of Aragon
17. Petronila of Aragon
4. Peter II of Aragon
18. Alfonso VII of León
9. Sancha of Castile
19. Richeza of Poland
2. James I of Aragon
20. William VII of Montpellier
10. William VIII of Montpellier
21. Matilda of Burgundy
5. Marie of Montpellier
22. Isaac Komnenos
11. Eudokia Komnene
23. Irene Synadene
1. Peter III of Aragon
24. Géza II of Hungary
12. Béla III of Hungary
25. Euphrosyne of Kiev
6. Andrew II of Hungary
26. Raynald of Châtillon
13. Agnes of Antioch
27. Constance of Antioch
3. Violant of Hungary
28. Peter of Courtenay
14. Peter II of Courtenay
29. Elizabeth de Courtenay
7. Yolanda de Courtenay
30. Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut
15. Yolanda of Flanders
31. Margaret I, Countess of Flanders
[edit] Notes

1.^ Chaytor, 97.

2.^ Chaytor, 97.

3.^ Chaytor, 97.

4.^ Chaytor, 101.

5.^ Chaytor, 97.

6.^ Chaytor, 102.

7.^ Chaytor, 103.

8.^ Chaytor, 103.

9.^ Chaytor, 103.

10.^ J. Harris, Byzantium and The Crusades, 180

11.^ Harris, 104.

12.^ Harris, 104.

13.^ Harris, 106.

14.^ A royal tomb ever desecrated: Peter III of Aragon in Patrimoni.gencat [1]

[edit] Bibliography

Runciman, Steven. The Sicilian Vespers. 1958. ISBN 0-521-43774-1

Chaytor, H. J. A History of Aragon and Catalonia. London: Methuen, 1933.

Preceded by:

James I

King of Aragon

1276–1285

Succeeded by:

Alfonso III

Count of Barcelona

1276–1285

King of Valencia

1276–1285

Charles I King of Sicily

1282–1285 James

[show]v • d • eInfantes of Aragon

1st Generation Sancho I · Infante García

2nd Generation Peter I · Alfonso I · Ramiro II

3rd Generation Crown Prince Peter

4th Generation Infante Peter · Alfonso II · Peter, Count of Cerdanya · Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Provence · Sancho, Count of Provence · Infante Ramon

5th Generation Peter II · Alfonso II, Count of Provence · Infante Sancho · Infante Ferdinand · Infante Ramon Berenguer

6th Generation James I

7th Generation Crown Prince Alfonso · Peter III · James II of Majorca · Infante Ferdinand · Infante Sancho · James, Lord of Jérica · Peter, Lord of Ayerbe

8th Generation Alfonso III · James II · Frederick III of Sicily · Infante Pedro · Infante James* · Sancho of Majorca* · Infante Philip* · Ferdinand, Viscount of Aumelas* · James, Lord of Jérica · Peter, Lord of Ayerbe

9th Generation Crown Prince James · Alfonso IV · Infante John · Peter, Count of Ribagorza · Ramon Berenguer, Count of Ampurias · Peter II of Sicily** · Infante Roger** · Manfred, Duke of Athens and Neopatria** · William II, Duke of Athens and Neopatria** · John, Duke of Randazzo** · James III of Majorca* · Ferdinand, Viscount of Aumelas* · James, Lord of Jérica · Peter, Lord of Jérica · Alfonso, Lord of Cocentaina

10th Generation Crown Prince Alfonso · Peter IV · James I, Count of Urgell · Infante Fadrique · Infante Sancho · Ferdinand, Marquis of Tortosa · John, Lord of Elche · Alfonso, Count of Ribagorza · John, Count of Prades · Infante Jaime · John, Count of Ampurias · Peter, Count of Ampurias · Louis of Sicily** · Frederick IV of Sicily** · Frederick I, Duke of Athens and Neopatria** · James IV of Majorca*

11th Generation Infante Peter · John I · Martin · Infante Alfonso · Alonso, Count of Morella · Infante Peter · Peter II, Count of Urgell · Infante John of Ribagorza · James, Baron of Arenós · Alfonso, Count of Ribagorza · Peter, Marquis of Villena · Peter, Count of Prades · James, Count of Prades · Infante Louis of Prades

12th Generation Infante James · Infante John · Infante Alfonso · James, Duke of Gerona · Infante Fernando · Pedro, Duke of Gerona · Martin I of Sicily · Infante James · Infante John · Infante Antonio of Urgell · James II, Count of Urgell · Infante Peter of Urgell · John, Baron of Etenza

13th Generation Martin, Crown Prince of Sicily*

14th Generation Alfonso V · John II · Henry, Duke of Villena · Peter, Count of Alburquerque · Infante Sancho

15th Generation Charles, Prince of Viana · Ferdinand II

16th Generation Juan, Prince of Asturias · John, Prince of Gerona

17th Generation Charles I of Spain · Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

• also a prince of Majorca
  • also a prince of Sicily

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_III_of_Aragon"

Categories: 1239 births | 1285 deaths | People excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church | People from Valencia | Aragonese monarchs | Kings of Valencia | Kings of Sicily | Counts of Barcelona | Roman Catholic monarchs | Catalan-language poets | Troubadours | Characters in The Decameron | House of Aragon

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Peter III of Aragon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Peter the Great (Catalan: Pere el Gran, Spanish: Pedro el Grande; 1239 – 2 November 1285) was the King of Aragon (as Peter III) of Valencia and of Majorca (as Peter I), and Sovereign Count of Barcelona (as Peter II) from 1276 to his death. He conquered Sicily and became its king in 1282. He was one of the greatest of medieval Catalan/Aragonese monarchs.

Youth and succession

Peter was the eldest son of James I of Aragon and his second wife Yolanda of Hungary. On 13 June 1262, he married Constance, daughter and heiress of Manfred of Sicily. During his youth and early adulthood, Peter gained a great deal of military experience in his father's wars of the Reconquista against the Moors.[1]

On James' death, the lands of the Crown of Aragon were divided, with Aragon and Valencia, along with the Catalan counties, going to the eldest son, Peter, while the Balearic Islands (constituted as the Kingdom of Majorca), alongside the territories in the Languedoc (Montpellier and Roussillon), went to the second son, James. Peter and Constance were crowned in Zaragoza (the capital of Aragon) in November by the archbishop of Tarragona. At this ceremony, Peter renounced all feudal obligations to the papacy which his grandfather Peter II had incurred.

[edit]Early rebellions

Peter's first act as king was to complete the pacification of his Valencian territory, an action which had been underway on his father's death.

However, a revolt soon broke out in Catalonia, led by the viscount of Cardona and abetted by Roger-Bernard III of Foix, Arnold Roger I of Pallars Sobirà, and Ermengol X of Urgell.[2] The rebels had grown a hatred for Peter in response to the severity of his dealings with them in the days of his father. Now, as king, they opposed him for not summoning the Catalan corts, or assembly, and confirming its privileges.

At the same time, a succession crisis continued in the County of Urgell. When Count Álvaro died in 1268, the families of his two wives, Constance, a daughter of Pedro Moncada of Béarn, and Cecilia, a daughter of Roger-Bernard II of Foix, began a long fight over the inheritance of his county. Meanwhile, a good portion of the county had been repossessed by James and thus inherited by Peter. In 1278, Armengol X, Álvaro's eldest son, succeeded in recovering most of his lost patrimony and came to an agreement with Peter whereby he recognised the latter as his suzerain.[3]

In 1280, Peter defeated the stewing rebellion led by Roger-Berengar III after besieging the rebels in Balaguer for a month. Most of the rebel leaders were imprisoned in Lleida until 1281, while Roger-Bernard was imprisoned until 1284.

[edit]Wars abroad

[edit]Africa

When the Hafsid Emir of Tunisia, Muhammad I al-Mustansir, who had put himself under James the Conqueror, died in 1277, Tunisia threw off the yoke of Aragonese suzerainty.[4] Peter first sent an expedition to Tunis in 1280 under Conrad de Llansa designed to re-establish his suzerainty.[5] In 1281, he himself prepared to lead a fleet of 140 ships with 15,000 men to invade Tunisia on behalf of the governor of Constantine.[6] The fleet landed at Alcoyll in 1282 and the troops began to fortify themselves in. It was these Aragonese troops that received a Sicilian embassy after the Vespers of 30 March asking Peter to take their throne from Charles of Anjou.

[edit]Italy

Main article: War of the Sicilian Vespers

Peter was the direct descendant and the heir-general of the Mafalda, daughter of Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia, the Norman conqueror, and his official wife Sigelgaita, daughter of a Lombard prince, Guaimar IV of Salerno. Thus, he stood at the end of the Hauteville succession to Sicily. After the ducal family of Apulia became extinct with William II in 1127, Mafalda's heirs (then counts of Barcelona) apparently became de jure heirs of Guiscard and Sigelgaita: thus Peter was dormantly a claimant to the Norman succession of southern Italy. More directly, he was the heir of Manfred in right of his wife. The Two Sicilies were to be a tenaciously-pursued inheritance for the Aragonese royal house and its heirs for the next five centuries.

The Italian physician John of Procida acted on behalf of Peter in Sicily. John had fled to Aragon after Charles' success at Tagliacozzo. John travelled to Sicily to stir up the discontents in favour of Peter and thence to Constantinople to procure the support of Michael VIII Palaeologus.[7] Michael refused to aid the Aragonese king without papal approval and so John voyaged to Rome and there gained the consent of Pope Nicholas III, who feared the ascent of Charles in the Mezzogiorno.[8] John then returned to Barcelona and the pope promptly died, to be replaced by Simon de Brie, a Frenchman and a staunch ally of Charles. The stage, however, had been set for a conflict.

After receiving an embassy from the people of Palermo at Alcoyll, Peter landed at Trapani on 30 August 1282.[9] He was proclaimed King in Palermo on 4 September. Charles was forced to flee across the Straits of Messina and be content with his "Kingdom of Naples." Simon de Brie as the new Pope Martin IV excommunicated both Peter and the Byzantine emperor for providing Peter III with 60,000 gold pieces to invade Sicily (18 November).[10]

Peter nevertheless pressed his advantage and by February 1283 had taken most of the Calabrian coastline. Charles, perhaps feeling desperate, sent letters to Peter demanding they resolve the conflict by personal combat. The invader accepted and Charles returned to France to arrange the duel. Both kings chose six knights to settle matters of places and dates. A duel was scheduled for 1 June at Bordeaux. A hundred knights would accompany each side and Edward I of England would adjudge the contest; the English king, heeding the pope, however, refused to take part. Peter left John of Procida in charge of Sicily and returned via his own kingdom to Bordeaux, which, evading a suspected French ambush, he entered in disguise. Needless to say, no combat ever took place and Peter returned to a very troubled Spain.[11]

While Peter was back in France and Spain, his admiral, Roger of Lauria, was wreaking havoc in Italy. He routed Charles' fleets on the high seas several times and conquered Malta for Aragon.

Later domestic unrest

Peter was dealing with domestic unrest at the time when the French were preparing an invasion. He took Albarracín from the rebellious noble Juan Núñez de Lara, and he renewed the alliance with Sancho IV of Castile and attacked Tudela in an attempt to prevent the king of Navarre, Philip I, the son of the French king, from invading on that front.

Peter held meetings of the cortes at Tarragona and Zaragoza in 1283. He was forced to grant the Privilegio General to the newly-formed Union of Aragon.[12] Also in that year, Peter's brother James joined the French and recognised their suzerainty over Montpellier, giving them free passage through the Balearic Islands and Roussillon. In October, Peter began preparing the defences of Catalonia.

In 1284, Pope Martin IV granted the kingdom of Aragon to Charles, Count of Valois, the son of the French king, Philip III the Bold, and great nephew of Charles. Papal sanction was given to a war — crusade — to conquer Aragon on behalf of Charles of Valois.

[edit]Aragonese Crusade

Main article: Aragonese Crusade

In 1284, the first French armies under King Philip and Count Charles entered Roussillon. They included 16,000 cavalry, 17,000 crossbowmen, and 100,000 infantry, along with 100 ships in south French ports.[13] Though the French had James' support, the local populace rose against them. The city of Elne was valiantly defended by the so-called bâtard de Roussillon ("bastard of Roussillon"), the illegitimate son of Nuño Sánchez, late count of Roussillon (1212–1242). Eventually he was overcome and the cathedral was burnt; the royal forces progressed.

In 1285, Philip entrenched himself before Girona in an attempt to besiege it. The resistance was strong, but the city was taken. Charles was crowned there, but without an actual crown. The French soon experienced a reversal, however, at the hands of Roger de Lauria, back from the Italian theatre of the drawn-out conflict. The French fleet was defeated and destroyed at the Battle of Les Formigues. As well, the French camp was hit hard by an epidemic of dysentery.

Philip himself was afflicted. The heir to the French throne, Philip the Fair, opened negotiations with Peter for free passage for the royal family through the Pyrenees. But the troops were not offered such passage and were decimated at the Battle of the Col de Panissars. The king of France himself died at Perpignan, the capital of James of Majorca, who had fled in fear after being confronted by Peter, and was buried in Narbonne. James was declared a vassal of Peter.

[edit]Troubadour works

Peter matched his father in patronage of the arts and literature, but unlike him he was a lover of verse, not prose. He favoured the troubadours, of which he himself was one, and wrote two sirventesos.

The first is in the form of an exchange between Peter and one Peironet, a jongleur. The second forms part of a compilation of five compositions from Bernat d'Auriac, Peter the Great, Pere Salvatge (perhaps the same as Peironet), Roger-Bernard III of Foix, and an anonymous contributor.

As well, the wars with Philip of France and James of Majorca furnished material for new sirventesos and during this period the sirventes was converted into a convenient tool of political propaganda in which each side could, directly or allegorically, present its case and procure sympathy propitious to its cause.

[edit]Death and legacy

Peter died at Vilafranca del Penedès on 2 November 1285, in the same year as his two royal foes, Charles and Philip, and was buried in the monastery of Santes Creus. His deathbed absolution occurred after he declared that his conquests had been in the name of his familial claims and never against the claims of the church.

Peter left Aragon to his eldest son Alfonso III and Sicily to his second son James II. Peter's third son, Frederick III, in succession to his brother James, became regent of Sicily and in due course its king. Peter did not provide for his youngest son and namesake (1275 – 25 August 1296), who married Guillemette, daughter of Gaston VI of Béarn.

Peter also had two daughters, Elisabeth, who married Denis of Portugal, and Yolanda (1273 – August 1302), who married Robert of Naples.

In the Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri sees Peter "singing in accord" (d'ogni valor portó cinta la corda) with his former rival, Charles I of Sicily, outside the gates of Purgatory.

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History: Pedro III (of Aragón)

Pedro III (of Aragón) (1239-1285), king of Aragón (1276-1285), called the Great. Pedro was the son of James I and Yolande of Hungary. He conquered Sicily from Charles of Anjou in 1282 and repelled a French invasion of Catalonia in 1285. Pedro’s reign marked the beginning of the long struggle between the Aragonese and Angevin dynasties.

Microsoft ® Encarta ® Encyclopedia 2002. © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

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Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_III_of_Aragon

Peter III of Aragon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Peter's fleet landing at Trapani. Notice the king wearing the crown and directing the landing

Peter the Great (Catalan: Pere el Gran, Spanish: Pedro el Grande; 1239, Valencia – 2 November 1285) was the King of Aragon (as Peter III) of Valencia and of Majorca (as Peter I), and Count of Barcelona (as Peter II) from 1276 to his death. He conquered Sicily and became its king in 1282. He was one of the greatest of medieval Aragonese monarchs.

Contents

[show]

   * 1 Youth and succession

* 2 Early rebellions
* 3 Wars abroad
o 3.1 Africa
o 3.2 Italy
* 4 Later domestic unrest
* 5 Aragonese Crusade
* 6 Troubadour works
* 7 Death and legacy
* 8 Ancestry
* 9 Notes
* 10 Bibliography
[edit] Youth and succession

Peter was the eldest son of James I of Aragon and his second wife Yolanda of Hungary. On 13 June 1262, he married Constance, daughter and heiress of Manfred of Sicily. During his youth and early adulthood, Peter gained a great deal of military experience in his father's wars of the Reconquista against the Moors.[1]

On James' death, the lands of the Crown of Aragon were divided, with Aragon and Valencia, along with the Catalan counties, going to the eldest son, Peter, while the Balearic Islands (constituted as the Kingdom of Majorca), alongside the territories in the Languedoc (Montpellier and Roussillon), went to the second son, James. Peter and Constance were crowned in Zaragoza (the capital of Aragon) in November by the archbishop of Tarragona. At this ceremony, Peter renounced all feudal obligations to the papacy which his grandfather Peter II had incurred.

[edit] Early rebellions

Peter's first act as king was to complete the pacification of his Valencian territory, an action which had been underway on his father's death.

However, a revolt soon broke out in Catalonia, led by the viscount of Cardona and abetted by Roger-Bernard III of Foix, Arnold Roger I of Pallars Sobirà, and Ermengol X of Urgell.[2] The rebels had grown a hatred for Peter in response to the severity of his dealings with them in the days of his father. Now, as king, they opposed him for not summoning the Catalan corts, or assembly, and confirming its privileges.

At the same time, a succession crisis continued in the County of Urgell. When Count Álvaro died in 1268, the families of his two wives, Constance, a daughter of Pedro Moncada of Béarn, and Cecilia, a daughter of Roger-Bernard II of Foix, began a long fight over the inheritance of his county. Meanwhile, a good portion of the county had been repossessed by James and thus inherited by Peter. In 1278, Armengol X, Álvaro's eldest son, succeeded in recovering most of his lost patrimony and came to an agreement with Peter whereby he recognised the latter as his suzerain.[3]

In 1280, Peter defeated the stewing rebellion led by Roger-Berengar III after besieging the rebels in Balaguer for a month. Most of the rebel leaders were imprisoned in Lleida until 1281, while Roger-Bernard was imprisoned until 1284.

[edit] Wars abroad

[edit] Africa

When the Hafsid Emir of Tunisia, Muhammad I al-Mustansir, who had put himself under James the Conqueror, died in 1277, Tunisia threw off the yoke of Aragonese suzerainty.[4] Peter first sent an expedition to Tunis in 1280 under Conrad de Llansa designed to re-establish his suzerainty.[5] In 1281, he himself prepared to lead a fleet of 140 ships with 15,000 men to invade Tunisia on behalf of the governor of Constantine.[6] The fleet landed at Alcoyll in 1282 and the troops began to fortify themselves in. It was these Aragonese troops that received a Sicilian embassy after the Vespers of 30 March asking Peter to take their throne from Charles of Anjou.

[edit] Italy

Main article: War of the Sicilian Vespers

Peter was the direct descendant and the heir-general of the Mafalda, daughter of Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia, the Norman conqueror, and his official wife Sigelgaita, daughter of a Lombard prince, Guaimar IV of Salerno. Thus, he stood at the end of the Hauteville succession to Sicily. After the ducal family of Apulia became extinct with William II in 1127, Mafalda's heirs (then counts of Barcelona) apparently became de jure heirs of Guiscard and Sigelgaita: thus Peter was dormantly a claimant to the Norman succession of southern Italy. More directly, he was the heir of Manfred in right of his wife. The Two Sicilies were to be a tenaciously-pursued inheritance for the Aragonese royal house and its heirs for the next five centuries.

The Italian physician John of Procida acted on behalf of Peter in Sicily. John had fled to Aragon after Charles' success at Tagliacozzo. John travelled to Sicily to stir up the discontents in favour of Peter and thence to Constantinople to procure the support of Michael VIII Palaeologus.[7] Michael refused to aid the Aragonese king without papal approval and so John voyaged to Rome and there gained the consent of Pope Nicholas III, who feared the ascent of Charles in the Mezzogiorno.[8] John then returned to Barcelona and the pope promptly died, to be replaced by Simon de Brie, a Frenchman and a staunch ally of Charles. The stage, however, had been set for a conflict.

After receiving an embassy from the people of Palermo at Alcoyll, Peter landed at Trapani on 30 August 1282.[9] He was proclaimed King in Palermo on 4 September. Charles was forced to flee across the Straits of Messina and be content with his "Kingdom of Naples." Simon de Brie as the new Pope Martin IV excommunicated both Peter and the Byzantine emperor for providing Peter III with 60,000 gold pieces to invade Sicily (18 November).[10]

Peter nevertheless pressed his advantage and by February 1283 had taken most of the Calabrian coastline. Charles, perhaps feeling desperate, sent letters to Peter demanding they resolve the conflict by personal combat. The invader accepted and Charles returned to France to arrange the duel. Both kings chose six knights to settle matters of places and dates. A duel was scheduled for 1 June at Bordeaux. A hundred knights would accompany each side and Edward I of England would adjudge the contest; the English king, heeding the pope, however, refused to take part. Peter left John of Procida in charge of Sicily and returned via his own kingdom to Bordeaux, which, evading a suspected French ambush, he entered in disguise. Needless to say, no combat ever took place and Peter returned to a very troubled Spain.[11]

While Peter was back in France and Spain, his admiral, Roger of Lauria, was wreaking havoc in Italy. He routed Charles' fleets on the high seas several times and conquered Malta for Aragon.

Pedro III el Grande en el collado de las Panizas by Mariano Barbasán (1889)

[edit] Later domestic unrest

Peter was dealing with domestic unrest at the time when the French were preparing an invasion. He took Albarracín from the rebellious noble Juan Núñez de Lara, and he renewed the alliance with Sancho IV of Castile and attacked Tudela in an attempt to prevent the king of Navarre, Philip I, the son of the French king, from invading on that front.

Peter held meetings of the cortes at Tarragona and Zaragoza in 1283. He was forced to grant the Privilegio General to the newly-formed Union of Aragon.[12] Also in that year, Peter's brother James joined the French and recognised their suzerainty over Montpellier, giving them free passage through the Balearic Islands and Roussillon. In October, Peter began preparing the defences of Catalonia.

In 1284, Pope Martin IV granted the kingdom of Aragon to Charles, Count of Valois, the son of the French king, Philip III the Bold, and great nephew of Charles. Papal sanction was given to a war — crusade — to conquer Aragon on behalf of Charles of Valois.

[edit] Aragonese Crusade

Main article: Aragonese Crusade

In 1284, the first French armies under King Philip and Count Charles entered Roussillon. They included 16,000 cavalry, 17,000 crossbowmen, and 100,000 infantry, along with 100 ships in south French ports.[13] Though the French had James' support, the local populace rose against them. The city of Elne was valiantly defended by the so-called bâtard de Roussillon ("bastard of Roussillon"), the illegitimate son of Nuño Sánchez, late count of Roussillon (1212–1242). Eventually he was overcome and the cathedral was burnt; the royal forces progressed.

In 1285, Philip entrenched himself before Girona in an attempt to besiege it. The resistance was strong, but the city was taken. Charles was crowned there, but without an actual crown. The French soon experienced a reversal, however, at the hands of Roger de Lauria, back from the Italian theatre of the drawn-out conflict. The French fleet was defeated and destroyed at the Battle of Les Formigues. As well, the French camp was hit hard by an epidemic of dysentery.

Philip himself was afflicted. The heir to the French throne, Philip the Fair, opened negotiations with Peter for free passage for the royal family through the Pyrenees. But the troops were not offered such passage and were decimated at the Battle of the Col de Panissars. The king of France himself died at Perpignan, the capital of James of Majorca, who had fled in fear after being confronted by Peter, and was buried in Narbonne. James was declared a vassal of Peter.

[edit] Troubadour works

Peter matched his father in patronage of the arts and literature, but unlike him he was a lover of verse, not prose. He favoured the troubadours, of which he himself was one, and wrote two sirventesos.

The first is in the form of an exchange between Peter and one Peironet, a jongleur. The second forms part of a compilation of five compositions from Bernat d'Auriac, Peter the Great, Pere Salvatge (perhaps the same as Peironet), Roger-Bernard III of Foix, and an anonymous contributor.

As well, the wars with Philip of France and James of Majorca furnished material for new sirventesos and during this period the sirventes was converted into a convenient tool of political propaganda in which each side could, directly or allegorically, present its case and procure sympathy propitious to its cause.

[edit] Death and legacy

A croat minted at Barcelona, bearing the image of Peter and the words Petrus Dei gracia rex (Peter by the grace of God king) and civitas Barcenona (city of Barelona)

Peter died at Vilafranca del Penedès on 2 November 1285, in the same year as his royal foe Philip, and was buried in the monastery of Santes Creus.[14] His deathbed absolution occurred after he declared that his conquests had been in the name of his familial claims and never against the claims of the church.

Peter left Aragon to his eldest son Alfonso III and Sicily to his second son James II. Peter's third son, Frederick III, in succession to his brother James, became regent of Sicily and in due course its king. Peter did not provide for his youngest son and namesake, Peter (1275 – 25 August 1296), who married Constanca Mendes de Silva, daughter of Soeiro Mendes Petite, governor of Santarem in Portugal. This Peter left Spain for Portugal with his sister Elizabeth.

Peter also had two daughters, Elisabeth, who married Denis of Portugal, and Yolanda (1273 – August 1302), who married Robert of Naples.

In the Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri sees Peter "singing in accord" (d'ogni valor portó cinta la corda) with his former rival, Charles I of Sicily, outside the gates of Purgatory.

[edit] Ancestry

Ancestors of Peter III of Aragon[hide]

16. Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona

8. Alfonso II of Aragon

17. Petronila of Aragon

4. Peter II of Aragon

18. Alfonso VII of León

9. Sancha of Castile

19. Richeza of Poland

2. James I of Aragon

20. William VII of Montpellier

10. William VIII of Montpellier

21. Matilda of Burgundy

5. Marie of Montpellier

22. Isaac Komnenos

11. Eudokia Komnene

23. Irene Synadene

1. Peter III of Aragon

24. Géza II of Hungary

12. Béla III of Hungary

25. Euphrosyne of Kiev

6. Andrew II of Hungary

26. Raynald of Châtillon

13. Agnes of Antioch

27. Constance of Antioch

3. Violant of Hungary

28. Peter of Courtenay

14. Peter II of Courtenay

29. Elizabeth de Courtenay

7. Yolanda de Courtenay

30. Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut

15. Yolanda of Flanders

31. Margaret I, Countess of Flanders

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Chaytor, 97.

2. ^ Chaytor, 97.
3. ^ Chaytor, 97.
4. ^ Chaytor, 101.
5. ^ Chaytor, 97.
6. ^ Chaytor, 102.
7. ^ Chaytor, 103.
8. ^ Chaytor, 103.
9. ^ Chaytor, 103.
10. ^ J. Harris, Byzantium and The Crusades, 180
11. ^ Harris, 104.
12. ^ Harris, 104.
13. ^ Harris, 106.
14. ^ A royal tomb ever desecrated: Peter III of Aragon in Patrimoni.gencat [1]
[edit] Bibliography

   * Runciman, Steven. The Sicilian Vespers. 1958. ISBN 0-521-43774-1

* Chaytor, H. J. A History of Aragon and Catalonia. London: Methuen, 1933.
Preceded by:

James I Aragon Arms.svg

King of Aragon

1276–1285

Succeeded by:

Alfonso III

Count of Barcelona

1276–1285

King of Valencia

1276–1285

Charles I King of Sicily

1282–1285 James

[show]

v • d • e

Infantes of Aragon

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_III_of_Aragon

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Peter III of Aragon, 1239 – 2 November 1285, was the King of Aragon (as Peter III) of Valencia and of Majorca (as Peter I), and Sovereign Count of Barcelona (as Peter II) from 1276 to his death. He conquered Sicily and became its king in 1282. He was one of the greatest of medieval Aragonese monarchs.

Peter was the eldest son of James I of Aragon and his second wife Yolanda of Hungary. On 13 June 1262, he married Constance, daughter and heiress of Manfred of Sicily. During his youth and early adulthood, Peter gained a great deal of military experience in his father's wars of the Reconquista against the Moors.

On James' death, the lands of the Crown of Aragon were divided, with Aragon and Valencia, along with the Catalan counties, going to the eldest son, Peter, while the Balearic Islands (constituted as the Kingdom of Majorca), alongside the territories in the Languedoc (Montpellier and Roussillon), went to the second son, James. Peter and Constance were crowned in Zaragoza (the capital of Aragon) in November by the archbishop of Tarragona. At this ceremony, Peter renounced all feudal obligations to the papacy which his grandfather Peter II had incurred.

Peter's first act as king was to complete the pacification of his Valencian territory, an action which had been underway on his father's death.

However, a revolt soon broke out in Catalonia, led by the viscount of Cardona and abetted by Roger-Bernard III of Foix, Arnold Roger I of Pallars Sobirà, and Ermengol X of Urgell. The rebels had grown a hatred for Peter in response to the severity of his dealings with them in the days of his father. Now, as king, they opposed him for not summoning the Catalan corts, or assembly, and confirming its privileges.

At the same time, a succession crisis continued in the County of Urgell. When Count Álvaro died in 1268, the families of his two wives, Constance, a daughter of Pedro Moncada of Béarn, and Cecilia, a daughter of Roger-Bernard II of Foix, began a long fight over the inheritance of his county. Meanwhile, a good portion of the county had been repossessed by James and thus inherited by Peter. In 1278, Armengol X, Álvaro's eldest son, succeeded in recovering most of his lost patrimony and came to an agreement with Peter whereby he recognised the latter as his suzerain.

In 1280, Peter defeated the stewing rebellion led by Roger-Berengar III after besieging the rebels in Balaguer for a month. Most of the rebel leaders were imprisoned in Lleida until 1281, while Roger-Bernard was imprisoned until 1284.

When the Hafsid Emir of Tunisia, Muhammad I al-Mustansir, who had put himself under James the Conqueror, died in 1277, Tunisia threw off the yoke of Aragonese suzerainty. Peter first sent an expedition to Tunis in 1280 under Conrad de Llansa designed to re-establish his suzerainty. In 1281, he himself prepared to lead a fleet of 140 ships with 15,000 men to invade Tunisia on behalf of the governor of Constantine.[6] The fleet landed at Alcoyll in 1282 and the troops began to fortify themselves in. It was these Aragonese troops that received a Sicilian embassy after the Vespers of 30 March asking Peter to take their throne from Charles of Anjou.

Peter was the direct descendant and the heir-general of the Mafalda, daughter of Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia, the Norman conqueror, and his official wife Sigelgaita, daughter of a Lombard prince, Guaimar IV of Salerno. Thus, he stood at the end of the Hauteville succession to Sicily. After the ducal family of Apulia became extinct with William II in 1127, Mafalda's heirs (then counts of Barcelona) apparently became de jure heirs of Guiscard and Sigelgaita: thus Peter was dormantly a claimant to the Norman succession of southern Italy. More directly, he was the heir of Manfred in right of his wife. The Two Sicilies were to be a tenaciously-pursued inheritance for the Aragonese royal house and its heirs for the next five centuries.

The Italian physician John of Procida acted on behalf of Peter in Sicily. John had fled to Aragon after Charles' success at Tagliacozzo. John travelled to Sicily to stir up the discontents in favour of Peter and thence to Constantinople to procure the support of Michael VIII Palaeologus. Michael refused to aid the Aragonese king without papal approval and so John voyaged to Rome and there gained the consent of Pope Nicholas III, who feared the ascent of Charles in the Mezzogiorno. John then returned to Barcelona and the pope promptly died, to be replaced by Simon de Brie, a Frenchman and a staunch ally of Charles. The stage, however, had been set for a conflict.

After receiving an embassy from the people of Palermo at Alcoyll, Peter landed at Trapani on 30 August 1282. He was proclaimed King in Palermo on 4 September. Charles was forced to flee across the Straits of Messina and be content with his "Kingdom of Naples." Simon de Brie as the new Pope Martin IV excommunicated both Peter and the Byzantine emperor for providing Peter III with 60,000 gold pieces to invade Sicily (18 November).

Peter nevertheless pressed his advantage and by February 1283 had taken most of the Calabrian coastline. Charles, perhaps feeling desperate, sent letters to Peter demanding they resolve the conflict by personal combat. The invader accepted and Charles returned to France to arrange the duel. Both kings chose six knights to settle matters of places and dates. A duel was scheduled for 1 June at Bordeaux. A hundred knights would accompany each side and Edward I of England would adjudge the contest; the English king, heeding the pope, however, refused to take part. Peter left John of Procida in charge of Sicily and returned via his own kingdom to Bordeaux, which, evading a suspected French ambush, he entered in disguise. Needless to say, no combat ever took place and Peter returned to a very troubled Spain.

While Peter was back in France and Spain, his admiral, Roger of Lauria, was wreaking havoc in Italy. He routed Charles' fleets on the high seas several times and conquered Malta for Aragon.

Peter was dealing with domestic unrest at the time when the French were preparing an invasion. He took Albarracín from the rebellious noble Juan Núñez de Lara, and he renewed the alliance with Sancho IV of Castile and attacked Tudela in an attempt to prevent the king of Navarre, Philip I, the son of the French king, from invading on that front.

Peter held meetings of the cortes at Tarragona and Zaragoza in 1283. He was forced to grant the Privilegio General to the newly-formed Union of Aragon.[12] Also in that year, Peter's brother James joined the French and recognised their suzerainty over Montpellier, giving them free passage through the Balearic Islands and Roussillon. In October, Peter began preparing the defences of Catalonia.

In 1284, Pope Martin IV granted the kingdom of Aragon to Charles, Count of Valois, the son of the French king, Philip III the Bold, and great nephew of Charles. Papal sanction was given to a war — crusade — to conquer Aragon on behalf of Charles of Valois.

In 1284, the first French armies under King Philip and Count Charles entered Roussillon. They included 16,000 cavalry, 17,000 crossbowmen, and 100,000 infantry, along with 100 ships in south French ports. Though the French had James' support, the local populace rose against them. The city of Elne was valiantly defended by the so-called bâtard de Roussillon ("bastard of Roussillon"), the illegitimate son of Nuño Sánchez, late count of Roussillon (1212–1242). Eventually he was overcome and the cathedral was burnt; the royal forces progressed.

In 1285, Philip entrenched himself before Girona in an attempt to besiege it. The resistance was strong, but the city was taken. Charles was crowned there, but without an actual crown. The French soon experienced a reversal, however, at the hands of Roger de Lauria, back from the Italian theatre of the drawn-out conflict. The French fleet was defeated and destroyed at the Battle of Les Formigues. As well, the French camp was hit hard by an epidemic of dysentery.

Philip himself was afflicted. The heir to the French throne, Philip the Fair, opened negotiations with Peter for free passage for the royal family through the Pyrenees. But the troops were not offered such passage and were decimated at the Battle of the Col de Panissars. The king of France himself died at Perpignan, the capital of James of Majorca, who had fled in fear after being confronted by Peter, and was buried in Narbonne. James was declared a vassal of Peter.

Peter matched his father in patronage of the arts and literature, but unlike him he was a lover of v

As well, the wars with Philip of France and James of Majorca furnished material for new sirventesos and during this period the sirventes was converted into a convenient tool of political propaganda in which each side could, directly or allegorically, present its case and procure sympathy propitious to its cause.

Peter died at Vilafranca del Penedès on 2 November 1285, in the same year as his two royal foes, Charles and Philip, and was buried in the monastery of Santes Creus. His deathbed absolution occurred after he declared that his conquests had been in the name of his familial claims and never against the claims of the church.

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http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=59222167

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In my new book LA SORPRENDENTE GENEALOGÍA DE MIS TATARABUELOS, you will find this and many other of your ancestors, with a biography summary of each of them. The book is now available at: amazon.com barnesandnoble.com palibrio.com. Check it up, it’s worth it. Ramón Rionda

PEDRO III (1240-1285), REY DESDE 1276

El infante Pedro, tras la muerte de su madre la reina Violante en 1251, quedó
por completo en manos de algunos nobles sobre todo catalanes, especialmente
Jazberto y Guillén de Castelnou o Gilberto de Cruilles. También tomó parte en su
cuidado el aragonés Ato de Foces. Con ellos se fue adiestrando en el uso de las
armas y en la caza, adquiriendo alguna formación en letras. En 1262, cumplidos
los veintidós años de edad, contrajo matrimonio con la princesa siciliana Constanza Staufen, una niña de apenas doce años que era hija del rey Manfredo y nieta del emperador alemán Federico II. Por aquel entonces disponía ya de una
modesta casa y corte propia en Barcelona con medio centenar de servidores, de
cuyos gastos se ha conservado alguna documentación. Después de la ocupación
de Sicilia por las tropas de Carlos de Anjou en 1272-1274, el infante Pedro acogió en su casa a varios exiliados de aquel reino como Roger de Lauria, Conrado
Lanza o Juan de Prócida.25 Según cuenta Ramón Muntaner en su crónica, el infante mantuvo a dos hijos de caballeros que procedían del entorno de su esposa la reina Constanza de Sicilia, éstos eran los citados Roger de Lauria y Conrado Lanza.
La madre de Lauria, llamada Bella, era dama de compañía de la reina y, de hecho,
su hijo Roger se crió en la corte de los infantes e faïa’s molt amar al senyor infant
e a madona la reina e a tots. De forma parecida, Lanza era altre honrat fadrí criado junto a Constanza como pariente suyo, teniendo fama de ser el pus bell catalanesc de aquellos tiempos.26
Muntaner narra también la escena en que el rey Pedro III nombró almirante a
Roger de Lauria años después, el 20 de marzo de 1283, rememorando los buenos
servicios prestados por su madre: E llavors lo senyor rei apellà lo noble En Roger
de Lòria, que ell havia nodrit, e féu-lo s’agenollar davant, e dix-li: –En Roger:
dona Bella, vostra mare, ha ben servida la reina muller nostra, e vós havets nodrit
ab nós, e entrò ací nos havets ben servit; e així donam-vos, ab la gràcia de Déu,
la verga de l’almirallat, axí que d’aquí avant siats almirall nostre, e de Catalunya, e del regne de València, e de Sicília, e de totes les terres que havem ne Déu
nos darà a conquistar.
27 El cargo de almirante o jefe de la escuadra naval tuvo
durante este reinado un papel muy relevante por los continuos enfrentamientos
con la flota francesa, de manera que los hechos de mar sirvieron para engrandecer el prestigio de algunos cortesanos como Roger de Lauria.
Cuando Pedro III partió de Sicilia tras reconquistarla a los franceses en 1283
dejó al mando de aquella tierra a su propia esposa la reina Constanza y al infante
Jaime, su hijo segundo y sucesor, nombrando como hombres principales de su
consejo a Guillén Galcerán, vicario del reino, Alaimo de Lentín, maestre justiciero, Juan de Prócida, canciller, y Roger de Lauria, su almirante y capitán generalquien en señal del gran amor que el rey le tenia le dio el caballo de su persona,
su lanza y espada y una celada muy rica y su escudo; a cuyo consejo y gobierno
principalmente quedaba encomendada no sólo la persona de la reina y de los
infantes, pero todo el estado del reino.
28 Estas noticias dadas por Zurita proceden
del cronista Muntaner, el cual resaltó también en su escrito la figura de Juan de
Prócida, qui era dels pus savis hòmens del món.
29 Además, la cancillería real de
Aragón tuvo que convivir con la de aquel reino. Como canciller de los territorios
peninsulares de la corona aragonesa actuó Arnau de Satorra, mientras que en el
reino de Sicilia fue nombrado canciller vitalicio en 1284 el citado Juan de Prócida, el cual desempeñó dicho cargo durante todo el reinado siguiente.30
La figura del canciller desde Jaime I se había convertido en el jefe nato del
consejo real, una de las instituciones más importantes de la corte que discutía los
asuntos más problemáticos. Así consta en las primeras ordenanzas de la casa real
aragonesa que se conocen y que corresponden precisamente a Pedro III, promulgadas en 1276, fijando por escrito una serie de prácticas y costumbres ya consolidadas en época de su padre Jaime I.31 En ese sentido, puede afirmarse que el canciller Arnau de Satorra (1279-1283) fue la figura política central del reinado de
Pedro III. Era otro hombre que había estado sirviendo al monarca antes de serlo,
cuando todavía era infante. Se le designa en la documentación real como profesor
de leyes y juez de la curia. En 1281 se le concedió como señorío el lugar de Juncosa en Lérida. Recibía un estipendio anual de 3.000 sueldos barceloneses además
de otros 300 anuales para la provisión de su vestido. A finales del reinado, en
1283, se le identifica como canónigo de Barcelona y rector de Sant Boi del Llobregat.32 Al final del reinado, Ponç de Vilaró (1287-1291) sustituyó en su puesto
al canciller Arnau de Satorra, mientras en Sicilia continuó ejerciendo como canciller Juan de Prócida. Y durante las ausencias de Vilaró actuó a veces como canciller sustituto un sacristán de Vic.33
Según Zurita, en vísperas de su muerte en 1285 y habiendo desaparecido ya
Satorra del entorno cortesano, el rey Pedro III hizo acudir junto a él a Jazberto,
obispo de Valencia, que era ahora su gran privado, a los abades de Poblet y Santes Creus, y a Hugo de Mataplana, preboste de Marsella y futuro obispo de Zaragoza, que era miembro del consejo real y otro
personaje influyente sobre el monarca. Delante de todos ellos, el rey Pedro III le dijo al prelado valenciano que siempre había tenido en él gran confianza y en los mayores negocios de su estado había seguido su parecer; y entonces le rogaba que le aconsejase en lo último de su vida, no como a rey, sino como a un hombre muerto o que esperaba en breve morir y apenas podía hablar.

Esta escena procede sin duda de la crónica de Bernat Desclot o Llibre del Rei En Pere d’Aragó e dels seus antecessors passats, que debió terminarse hacia 1286-1288. En ella figura también la respuesta que dio
el obispo al rey, aconsejándole que actuara como hicieron sus antecesores los
reyes de Aragón, buenos cristianos que en el momento de su muerte se confesaron e hicieron penitencia.

Fonte: https://bibliotecavirtual.aragon.es/i18n/catalogo_imagenes/grupo.cm...

Por Maria Godoy de Azevedo de Castro Faria

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L8TT-XFG