The Llibre dels fets is the autobiographical chronicle of the reign of James I of Aragon (1213–1276). It is written in Old Catalan in the first person and is the first chronologically of the four works classified as The Four Great Catalan Chronicles, all belonging to the early medieval Crown of Aragon, and its first royal dynasty, the House of Barcelona. James I inherited as a child the titles of King of Aragon, Count of Barcelona, and Lord of Montpellier, but also became by conquest King of Majorca and King of Valencia. James emphasises in his chronicles his conquest of Majorca (1229) and of Valencia (1238).
Fragment of the oldest existing copy of the Llibre dels Fets written in Old Catalan, dating from 1343. The scene depicts a supper in Tarragona, where James I of Aragon with his lords planned the conquest of Mallorca (1229) ruled by the Muslims (in the context of the Iberian Christian Reconquista)
The 1313 Latin translation "Cronice Illustrissimi Regis Aragonum", possibly a copy from the original, translated by the Dominican friar Pere Marsili, by order of James II of Aragon, grandson of James I of Aragon, called "the Conqueror".
1619 Frontispiece of Catalan manuscript made by Jaume Ferrera
1313 Latin translation of the Llibre dels Fets, the Cronice Illustrissimi Regis Aragonum by Friar Pere Marsili following the order of James II of Aragon (grandson of James I of Aragon).
James I the Conqueror was King of Aragon, Count of Barcelona and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 to 1276; King of Majorca from 1231 to 1276; and Valencia from 1238 to 1276. His long reign of 62 years is not only the longest of any Iberian monarch, but one of the longest monarchical reigns in history, ahead of Hirohito but remaining behind Queen Victoria and Ferdinand III of Naples and Sicily. He saw the expansion of the Crown of Aragon in three directions: Languedoc to the north, the Balearic Islands to the southeast, and Valencia to the south. By a treaty with Louis IX of France, he achieved the renunciation of any possible claim of French suzerainty over the County of Barcelona and the other Catalan counties, while he renounced northward expansion and taking back the once Catalan territories in Occitania and vassal counties loyal to the County of Barcelona, lands that were lost by his father Peter II of Aragon in the Battle of Muret during the Albigensian Crusade and annexed by the Kingdom of France, and then decided to turn south. His great part in the Reconquista was similar in Mediterranean Spain to that of his contemporary Ferdinand III of Castile in Andalusia. One of the main reasons for this formal renunciation of most of the once Catalan territories in Languedoc and Occitania and any expansion into them is the fact that he was raised by the Knights Templar crusaders, who had defeated his father fighting for the Pope alongside the French, so it was effectively forbidden for him to try to maintain the traditional influence of the Count of Barcelona that previously existed in Occitania and Languedoc.
Jaime in 1265, giving orders to a guard in the royal palace
The Moors request permission from James I, taken from The Cantigas de Santa María
First compilation of the Fueros of Aragon, carried out by the bishop of Huesca Vidal de Canellas in 1247. Vidal Mayor.
Posthumous portrait in the Generalitat Valenciana
