Kingdom of Majorca
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Kingdom of Majorca | |||||||||||
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| 1229–1715 | |||||||||||
 Flag
 Coat of arms
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 The Kingdom of Majorca in the 13th and 14th centuries | |||||||||||
| Capital | Palma and Perpignan | ||||||||||
| Common languages | Catalan | ||||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism (official)[1] Islam Judaism | ||||||||||
| Government | Aragonese led-Royal Constitutional Monarchy | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
• Established | 1229 | ||||||||||
| 1715 | |||||||||||
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| Today part of | Spain France | ||||||||||
The Kingdom of Majorca (Catalan: Regne de Mallorca, IPA: [ˈreŋnə ðə məˈʎɔɾkə]; Spanish: Reino de Mallorca; Latin: Regnum Maioricae; French: Royaume de Majorque) was an insular realm off the east coast of modern day Spain, which included three islands of Mallorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The islands were conquered from the Muslim caliphate of Tunis by James I of Aragon. The king became known as James the Conqueror due to the Conquest of Majorca.
The king willed to have his domains between his sons as it may be gleaned from an early draft of his will that was written as early as 1262 when the eldest son Alfonso died. In that version of the insular domain of Majorca were to be ceded to the third son, James. This initial configuration remained in all successive versions of the king's wills and upon the death of James in 1276 the Crown of Aragon was split between the three remaining sons. Peter succeeded his father in the mainland as Peter III of Aragon or Peter the Great, whereas the islands constituted the Kingdom of Majorca which passed to James, who reigned it as James II of Majorca.
After 1279, Peter III of Aragon established that the King of Majorca were to be a vassal to the King of Aragon, a reconfiguration of relationships that made secured tensions between the two brothers. Finally, in 1344 the Kingdom of Majorca was invaded by King Peter IV of Aragon and brought under the Crown of Aragon, remaining a constituent Kingdom, but with the same King, until its dissolution in 1715 by one of the Nueva Planta decrees.
Geography
[edit]The kingdom included the Balearic Islands: Majorca, Menorca,[2] Ibiza and Formentera. The king was also lord of the mainland counties of Roussillon and Cerdanya, and the territories James I kept in Occitania: the signory of Montpellier, the viscountcy of Carlat in Auvergne, and the barony of Aumelas, contiguous with Montpellier.
History
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The legacy of James I included the creation of a strategic Mediterranean enclave, including territories between two large kingdoms, the Capetians of France and the Crown of Aragon, which were in constant conflict at the time. Conscious of the fragility of the Kingdom of Majorca, James I undertook the conquest of Cerdanya to unify the new kingdom. He also entered into negotiations to arrange the marriage of his son James to Beatrice of Savoy, daughter of Amadeus IV, Count of Savoy. Neither plan was successful.
The new King of Majorca, James II, since the islands were patrimonial inheritance, thus, part of the territorial domains of the kingdom found it pejorative to pay tribute to his brother Peter III of Aragon. Preoccupied with diverse problems within his realm, in 1279 the Majorcan monarch reconciled and recognized as his overlord the king of Aragon. The Treaty of Perpignan which sealed the above case of affaires presents quite eloquently this imbalance of powers between the two kingdoms. The Aragonese ruler maintained political and economic oversight over the insular kingdom of Majorca, reestablishing the centralised model of state existence that the will of James I had overturned. The lack of parliament in Majorca aggravated the destabilisation and came quite a few times on the brink of fracture since other than the monarchy it lacked any other uniting institution.
James II of Majorca due to the situation found himself opposite of his own brother, having allied himself with Pope Martin IV and the French. The son of Peter III, Alfonso, nephew of James II invaded in the realm of his uncle and conquered the island of Majorca in 1286. Some 10 years a new treaty, the Treaty of Anagni in 1295 declared that the new King James II of Aragon would have to restore the Balearic islands to his uncle, James II of Majorca.
On the death of James II, his son Sancho succeeded him in 1324, whereas the son of the latter James III ascended to the throne at nine, which necessitated a regency council. The council was headed by the youngest son of James II, Philip. The situation was difficult since James II of Aragon despite the treaty had not renounced his claim to the Majorcan throne, something that Philip secured along with all claims on the rights of succession to the Majorcan throne in 1325, as repayment for the great debts that were incurred by Sancho's participation in the invasion of Sardinia. While the act may have solved the problem of succession, the kingdom was plunged into a severe financial crisis.
James was forced to develop policies similar to that of Aragon's. To that end, he was forced to participate in the war against the Republic of Genoa (1329–1336), which resulted in the loss of various economic markets for the kingdom. Again, it was necessary to impose new taxes and fines, which were levied on the Jewish community, though this was insufficient to resolve the financial crisis. The problems of the kingdom did not appear to have an end since in 1341, Peter IV of Aragon closed relations with the Kingdom of Majorca as a prelude to invasion. In May 1343, Peter IV invaded the Balearic Islands and followed that in 1344 with the invasions of the counties of Roussillon and Cerdanya. James III was able to keep only his French possessions. After the sale of these possessions to the King of France in 1349, James III left for Majorca to reconquer his possessions, but he was defeated and killed at the Battle of Llucmajor on 25 October 1349. Then, the Kingdom of Majorca was definitively incorporated into the Crown of Aragon.
Fall of Majorca
[edit]The extinction of the Kingdom of Majorca was inevitable given the conflicts by which it was affected: the Hundred Years War between France and England; the War with the Benimerines, which involved Castile and the Crown of Aragon as well as attempts by the Genoese to make the Balearics a satellite state. The Kingdom of Majorca, which had bonds of vassalage with the crowns of France (through Montpellier) and Aragon, could not remain neutral during the conflicts. In addition, increased taxes to fund the kingdom's treasury during its neutrality caused substantial unrest.
The Kingdom of Majorca continued for nearly another four hundred years in personal union with the Crown of Aragon, retaining its own viceroy and political identity. However, during the War of the Spanish Succession the Crown of Aragon mostly backed the claims of the Archduke Charles and with his defeat the victorious Philip V of Spain abolished the kingdom via the Nueva Planta decrees in 1715.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Hughes, Robert (2011). Barcelona. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 3. ISBN 978-0307764614.
- ^ which was still under the rule of Muslims until 1231 when its sovereignty was surrendered to James I
- A Mediterranean emporium – The Catalan kingdom of Majorca, by David Abulafia, ISBN 0-521-89405-0
- Abulafia, David. The Western Mediterranean Kingdoms, 1200–1500. 1997. ISBN 0-582-07820-2
External links
[edit]- (in Spanish)—Genealogía, Reyes y Reinos: Reino de Mallorca
- (in Spanish)—La Conquista de Mallorca en mapas y cuadros
| International | |
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| National | |
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- Kingdom of Majorca
- Christian states
- Crown of Aragon
- History of the Balearic Islands
- Former countries in Europe
- Former kingdoms
- Former monarchies of Europe
- Island countries
- States and territories established in 1231
- States and territories disestablished in 1715
- 1231 establishments in Europe
- 1715 disestablishments in Spain
- 13th-century establishments in Aragon