James I of Aragon.
'James I the Conqueror' (
Catalan: ''Jaume el Conqueridor'',
Aragonese: ''Chaime lo Conqueridor'',
Spanish: ''Jaime el Conquistador'',
Occitan: ''Jacme lo Conquistaire'';
2 February 1208 –
27 July 1276) was the
King of Aragon,
Count of Barcelona, and
Lord of Montpellier from
1213 to
1276. His long reign saw the expansion of the
Crown of Aragon on all sides: into
Valencia to the south,
Languedoc to the north, and the
Balearic Islands to the east. By a treaty with
Louis IX of France, he wrested the
Principality of Catalonia from nominal French suzerainty and integrated it into his crown. His part in the
Reconquista was similar in Mediterranean Spain to that of his contemporary
Ferdinand III of Castile in
Andalusia.
As a legislator and organiser, he occupies a high place among the Spanish kings. James compiled the ''
Libre del Consulat de Mar'',
[1] which governed maritime trade and helped establish Catalan supremacy in the western
Mediterranean. He made
Catalan the official language of his domains
[2] and sponsored Catalan literature, even a quasi-autobiographical chronicle of his reign: the ''
Llibre dels fets''.
Early life and reign until majority
James was born at
Montpellier as the only child of
Peter II and
Mary, heiress of
William VIII of Montpellier and
Eudokia Komnene. As a child, James was a pawn in the power politics of
Provence, where his father was engaged in struggles with the
Cathar heretics of
Albi on one side and the
Albigensian Crusaders led by
Simon IV de Montfort,
Earl of Leicester, who were trying to exterminate them on the other. Peter endeavoured to placate the northern crusaders by arranging a marriage between his son James and Simon's daughter. He entrusted the boy to be educated in Montfort's care in
1211, but was soon forced to take up arms against him, dying at the
Battle of Muret on
12 September 1213. Montfort would willingly have used James as a means of extending his own power had not the Aragonese and Catalans appealed to
Pope Innocent III, who insisted that Montfort surrender him. James was handed over, at
Carcassonne, in May or June
1214, to the
papal legate Peter of Benevento.
James was then sent to
Monzón, where he was entrusted to the care of
William of Montredon, the head of the
Knights Templar in Spain and Provence; the regency meanwhile fell to his great uncle
Sancho, Count of Roussillon, and his son, the king's cousin,
Nuño. The kingdom was given over to confusion until, in
1217, the Templars and some of the more loyal nobles brought the young king to
Zaragoza.
[3]
In
1221, he was married to Eleanor, daughter of
Alfonso VIII of Castile and
Leonora of England. The next six years of his reign were full of rebellions on the part of the nobles. By the
Peace of Alcalá of
31 March 1227, the nobles and the king came to terms.
[2]
Acquisition of Urgell
In
1228, James faced the sternest opposition from a vassal yet.
Guerau de Cabrera had occupied the
County of Urgell in opposition to
Aurembiax, the heiress of
Ermengol VIII, who had died without sons in
1208. While Aurembiax' mother, Elvira, had made herself a protegée of James' father, on her death (
1220), Guerao had occupied the county and displaced Aurembiax, claiming that a woman could not inherit.
James intervened on behalf of Aurembiax, whom he owed protection. He bought Guerau off and allowed Aurembiax to reclaim her territory, which she did at
Lleida, probably also becoming one of James' earliest mistresses.
[5] She surrendered Lleida to James and agreed to hold Urgell in fief from him. On her death in
1231, James exchanged the Balearic Islands for Urgell with her widower,
Peter of Portugal.
Relations with France and Navarre
James I of Aragon.
From
1230 to
1232, James negotiated with
Sancho VII of Navarre, who desired his help against his nephew and closest living male relative,
Theobald IV of Champagne. James and Sancho negotiated a treaty whereby James would inherit Navarre on the old Sancho's death, but when this did occur, the Navarrese nobless instead elevated Theobald to the throne (
1234), and James disputed it.
Pope Gregory IX was required to intervene.
[6] In the end, James accepted Theobald's succession.
James endeavoured to form a state straddling the
Pyrenees, to counterbalance the power of France north of the
Loire. As with the much earlier
Visigothic attempt, this policy was victim to physical, cultural, and political obstacles. As in the case of Navarre, he was too wise to launch into perilous adventures. By the
Treaty of Corbeil, signed in May
1258, he frankly withdrew from conflict with
Louis IX of France and was content with the recognition of his position, and the surrender of antiquated and illusory French claims to the overlordship of Catalonia.
Reconquista
After his false start at uniting Aragon with the
Kingdom of Navarre through a scheme of mutual adoption, James turned to the south and the
Mediterranean Sea, where he conquered the Balearic Islands (
Majorca 1229;
Minorca 1232;
Ibiza 1235) and where Valencia capitulated
28 September 1238.
During his remaining two decades after Corbeil, James warred with the
Moors in
Murcia, on behalf of his son-in-law
Alfonso X of Castile. On
26 March 1244, the two monarchs signed the
Treaty of Almizra to determine the zones of their expansion into
Andalusia so as to prevent squabbling between them. Specifically, it defined the borders of the newly-created
Kingdom of Valencia. James signed it on that date, but Alfonso did not affirm it until much later. According to the treaty, all lands south of a line from
Biar to
Villajoyosa through
Busot were reserved for Castile.
Patronage of art, learning, and literature
James built and consecrated the
Cathedral of Lleida, which was constructed in a style transitional between
Romanesque and
Gothic with little influence from
Moorish styles.
[7]
James was a patron of the
University of Montpellier, which owed much of its development to his impetus.
[2] He also founded a ''
studium'' at Valencia in
1245 and received privileges for it from
Pope Innocent IV, but it did not develop as splendidly.
[2] In
1263, James presided over a debate in
Barcelona between the
Jewish rabbi Nahmanides and
Pablo Christiani, a prominent ''
converso''.
James was the first great sponsor and patron of vernacular Catalan literature. Indeed, he may himself be called "the first of the Catalan prose writers."
[10] James wrote or dictated at various stages a chronicle of his own life, ''
Llibre dels fets'' in Catalan, which is the first self-chronicle of a Christian king. As well as a fine example of autobiography the "Book of Deeds" expresses concepts of the power and purpose of monarchy; examples of loyalty and treachery in the
feudal order; the growth of
national sentiment based on homeland, language, and culture; and medieval military tactics.
James also wrote the ''
Libre de la Saviesa'' or "Book of Wisdom." The book contains proverbs from various authors going back as far as
King Solomon and as close to his own time, such as
Albert the Great. It even contains maxims from the medieval Arab philosophers and from the ''
Apophthegmata Philosophorum'' of
Honein ben Ishak, which was probably translated at Barcelona during his reign. A
Hebrew translator by the name of Jehuda was employed at James's court during this period.
[2]
Though James was himself a prose writer and sponsored mostly prose works, he had an appreciation of verse.
[12] In consequence of the
Albigensian Crusade, many
troubadours were forced to flee southern France and many found refuge in Aragon and Catalonia. Notwithstanding his early patronage of poetry, by the influence of his confessor
Ramon de Penyafort, James brought the
Inquisition into his realm in
1233 to prevent any vernacular translation of the
Bible.
[2]
Succession
The favour James showed his illegitimate offspring led to protest from the nobles, and to conflicts between his sons legitimate and illegitimate. When one of the latter,
Fernán Sánchez, who had behaved with gross ingratitude and treason to his father, was slain by the legitimate son
Peter, the old king recorded his grim satisfaction.
At the close of his life, James divided his states between his sons by
Yolanda of Hungary: the aforementioned Peter received the Hispanic possessions on the mainland and
James, the
Kingdom of Majorca (including the Balearic Islands and the counties of
Roussillon and
Cerdanya) and the Lordship of Montpellier. The division inevitably produced fratricidal conflicts. In 1276, the king fell very ill at
Alzira and resigned his crown, intending to retire to the
monastery of Poblet, but he died at Valencia on 27 July.
Marriages and children
James first married, in
1221, Eleanor, daughter of
Alfonso VIII of Castile and
Leonora of England. Though he later had the marriage annulled, his one son by her was declared legitimate:
#
Alfonso (1229–1260), married
Constance of Montcada,
Countess of Bigorre
In
1235, James remarried to
Yolanda, daughter of
Andrew II of Hungary by his second wife Yolande de Courtenay. She bore him numerous children:
#
Yolanda, also known as Violant, (1236–1301), married
Alfonso X of Castile
#Constance (1239–1269), married
Juan Manuel, Lord of Villena, son of Ferdinand III
#
Peter (1240–1285), successor in Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia
#
James (1243–1311), successor in Balearics and Languedoc
#Ferdinand (1245–1250)
#Sancha (1246–1251)
#
Isabella (1247–1271), married
Philip III of France
#Mary (1248–1267), nun
#
Sancho, Archbishop of Toledo (1250–1279)
#Eleanor (born 1251, died young)
James married thirdly
Teresa Gil de Vidaure, but only by a private document, and left her when she developed leprosy.
#James (c.1255–1285), lord of
Xèrica
#Peter (1259–1318), lord of
Ayerbe
James also had several lovers, both during and after his marriages, and a few bore him illegitimate sons.
By Blanca d'Antillón:
#
Ferran Sanchis (or ''Fernando Sánchez''; 1240–1275), baron of Castro
By Berenguela Fernández:
#Pedro Fernández, baron of
Híjar
By Elvira Sarroca:
#
Jaume Sarroca (born 1248),
Archbishop of Huesca
Notes
1. Chaytor, 96.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid, 82.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid, 83.
6. Ibid, 86.
7. Ibid, 96.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid, 93.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid, 94.
13. Ibid.
References
★ Chaytor, H. J. ''
A History of Aragon and Catalonia''. London: Methuen, 1933.
External links
★
Full online book The Chronicle Of James I Of Aragon
★
The Book of Deeds of James I of Aragon (available in PDF format)
★
[1] James I of Aragon
★
Medieval Sourcebook: e-text of James's grant of trade privileges to Barcelona, 1232, freeing the city from tolls and imposts with his realms
★
The Worlds of Alfonso the Learned and James the Conqueror - Robert I. Burns, S.J., ed.
★
The Crusader Kingdom of Valencia - Robert Ignatius Burns, S.J.
★
James I at Find-A-Grave
★
The Barcelona Maritime Code of 1258
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