Principality of Catalonia
The Principality of Catalonia was a medieval and early modern political entity in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula. During most of its history it was in dynastic union with the Kingdom of Aragon, constituting together the Crown of Aragon. Between the 13th and the 18th centuries it was bordered by the Kingdom of Aragon to the west, the Kingdom of Valencia to the south, the Kingdom of France and the feudal lordship of Andorra to the north and by the Mediterranean sea to the east; the term "Principality of Catalonia" remained in use until the Second Spanish Republic, when its use declined because of its historical relation to the monarchy. Today, the term Principat is used to refer to the autonomous community of Catalonia in Spain, as distinct from the other Catalan Countries, and including the historical region of Roussillon in southern France. The first reference to Catalonia and the Catalans appears in the Liber maiolichinus de gestis Pisanorum illustribus, a Pisan chronicle of the conquest of Menorca by a joint force of Italians and Occitans.
At the time, Catalonia did not yet exist as a political entity, though the use of this term seems to acknowledge Catalonia as a cultural or geographical entity. The counties that would make up the Principality of Catalonia were unified under the rule of the Count of Barcelona. In 1137, the County of Barcelona and the Kingdom of Aragon were unified under a single dynasty, creating what modern historians call the Crown of Aragon. Under Alfons I the Troubador, Catalonia was regarded as a legal entity for the first time. Still, the term Principality of Catalonia was not used until the 14th century, when it was applied to the territories ruled by the Courts of Catalonia, its institutional system evolved over the centuries, establishing political bodies and legislation which limited the royal power and secured the political model of pactism. Catalonia contributed to further develop the Crown trade and military, most their navy. Catalan language flourished and expanded as more territories were added to the Crown, including Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Sicily and Athens, constituting a thalassocracy across the Mediterranean.
The crisis of the 14th century, the end of the rule of House of Barcelona and a civil war weakened the role of the Principality in Crown and international affairs. The marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile in 1469 laid the foundations of the Monarchy of Spain. In 1492 the Spanish colonization of the Americas began, political power began to shift away towards Castile. Tensions between Catalan institutions and the Monarchy, alongside the peasants' revolts provoked the Reapers' War. By the Treaty of the Pyrenees the Roussillon was ceded to France. During the War of the Spanish Succession, the Crown of Aragon supported the Archduke Charles of Habsburg. After the surrender of Barcelona in 1714, the king Philip V of Bourbon, inspired by the model of France imposed the abolutism and a unifying administration across Spain, enacted the Nueva Planta decrees for every realm of the Crown of Aragon, which suppressed the main Catalan, Aragonese and Majorcan political institutions and rights and merged them into the Crown of Castile as provinces.
Like much of the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula, it was colonized by Ancient Greeks, who chose to settle in Roses. Both Greeks and Carthaginians interacted with the main Iberian population. After the Carthaginian defeat, it became, along with the rest of Hispania, a part of the Roman Empire, Tarraco being one of the main Roman posts in the Iberian Peninsula and the capital of the province of Tarraconensis; the Visigoths ruled after the Western Roman Empire's collapse near the end of the 5th century. Moorish Al-Andalus gained control in the early 8th century, after conquering the Visigothic kingdom in 711–718. After the defeat of Emir Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqiwas's troops at Tours in 732, the Franks gained control of the former Visigoth territories north of the Pyrenees, captured by the Muslims or had become allied with them, in what is today Catalonia under French administration. In 795, Charlemagne created what came to be known as the Marca Hispanica, a buffer zone beyond the province of Septimania, made up of locally administered separate petty kingdoms which served as a defensive barrier between the Umayyad of Al-Andalus and the Frankish Kingdom.
A distinctive Catalan culture started to develop in the Middle Ages stemming from a number of these petty kingdoms organized as small counties throughout the northernmost part of Catalonia. The counts of Barcelona were Frankish vassals nominated by the Carolingian emperor the king of the Franks, to whom they were feudatories. During the 9th century, Wifred the Hairy, Count of Barcelona, made its title hereditary and founded the dynasty of the House of Barcelona, which ruled Catalonia until the death of Martin I, its last member, in 1410. In 987 Count Borrell II did not recognise the Frankish king Hugh Capet and his new dynasty taking Barcelona out of Frankish rule. During the 9th and 10th centuries, the counties became a society of aloers, peasant proprietors of small, family-based farms, who lived by subsisten
Philip III of Navarre
Philip III, called the Noble or the Wise, was King of Navarre from 1328 until his death. He was born a minor member of the French royal family but gained prominence when the Capetian main line went extinct, as he and his wife and cousin, Joan II of Navarre, acquired the Iberian kingdom and a number of French fiefs. Philip and Joan's accession signified the end of the 44-year-long personal union between France and Navarre. Although neither succeeded in claiming the crown of France and Joan were powerful vassals of the Valois king Philip VI as well as successful co-monarchs in Navarre. Despite initial reluctance by the Navarrese to accept him as king alongside Joan, Philip in particular is credited with improving the kingdom's legislature; the couple resided chiefly in their French lands but spent enough time in Navarre to earn them substantial popularity in the country. Philip supported his Valois cousin with his troops and as army leader during the onset of the Hundred Years' War. During his joint reign with his wife, the focus of Navarre again shifted to its Iberian neighbours.
This may have influenced Philip to join the crusade against the Kingdom of Granada, during which he fell ill wounded, died. Philip was the son of Louis, Count of Évreux, a younger son of King Philip III of France by his second wife, Marie of Brabant. Philip's father was the founder of the Capetian House of Évreux, while his mother, belonged to another Capetian branch, the House of Artois; the House of Évreux was involved in negotiations about the succession to King Louis X, the nephew of Philip's father. At the time of his sudden death in 1316, Louis X's only child was a four-year-old daughter, which presented a problem because no Capetian king had died sonless. Joan's maternal family, the Capetian House of Burgundy, claimed the crown on her behalf, but her paternal uncle succeeded instead as King Philip V. Philip V displaced her in succession to the Kingdom of Navarre, which had only come into Capetian hands through Queen Joan I, his and Louis X's mother. Philip V was pressured to renegotiate his niece's status.
An agreement reached on 27 March 1318 included territorial concessions which placated Joan's maternal family, as well as her betrothal to Philip of Évreux, a dowry and a promise of succession to the counties of Champagne and Brie if King Philip V were to die sonless. Philip's marriage to Joan was celebrated on 18 June, after which she lived with his grandmother, Queen Marie. A dispensation had been sought. Although they lived near each other and Joan were not raised together due to age difference, their union was not consummated until 1324. Philip inherited the fief of Évreux in Normandy upon his father's death in 1319; as Philip was a minor, his uncle Charles of Valois was appointed his guardian. King Philip V died sonless in 1322 and all his patrimony passed to his and King Louis X's younger brother, King Charles IV, who married Philip's sister Joan in 1325; when Charles too died leaving no sons on 1 February 1328, the direct male line of the House of Capet came to an end. With the bypassing first of Philip of Évreux's wife and of Philip V's daughters, the principle of agnatic succession had become established.
Philip of Évreux and his namesake cousin, Philip of Valois, were the strongest Capetian candidates for the throne, while King Edward III of England claimed it as Charles IV's sororal nephew. The 15-year-old Edward's claim was dismissed, the 35-year-old Philip of Valois was preferred over the 23-year-old Philip of Évreux on account of his more mature age; the House of Valois thus ascended the throne in the person of Philip VI, who took Philip of Évreux on his council. The Valois had no right to the Kingdom of Navarre or the French counties of Champagne and Brie, however, as they were not descended from Joan I. Philip VI could not allow the Évreux couple to take possession of Champagne and Brie since that, coupled with their holdings in Normandy, would give them a powerbase encircling his capital at Paris. Philip and Joan thus ceded these lands to the Valois in return for the counties of Angoulême, Mortain and Longueville; the death of Charles, Joan's younger uncle, in February 1328 paved the way for Philip's accession to the throne of Navarre, as there was no longer anyone who could challenge the couple's right to it.
The Navarrese, uncomfortable with repressive governors appointed from Paris, were pleased to see the personal union with France come to an end. They held a general assembly in March and again in May, recognizing Philip's wife as their sovereign; the ascension of the House of Évreux under Philip III is thus important as beginning of a new era in the history of Navarre, now once again free from the government of France. While Joan's hereditary right to the crown was universally recognized by the Estates, Philip's future role was not clear. Joan alone was invited to the capital Pamplona to assume government on her uncle's death. Philip was ignored but determined to assert his own authority; the spouses negotiated with the Estates separately in July, on 22 August Pope John XXII issued a bull confirming Philip as King of Navarre. Of particular concern was Philip's role in the forthcoming coronation; the Estates insisted that Joan alone, as "the natural lady", would be raised on the shield and crowned and that "no one can be raised up if they are not the natural lord".
They agreed to allow Philip to take part in the government. Philip was dissatisfied, believing that his position would be undermined if he were not crowned alongside Joan; the couple's legate
Eleanor of Castile (1307–1359)
Eleanor of Castile was Queen of Aragon as the wife of King Alfonso IV from 1329 until 1336. Eleanor was the eldest child and daughter of King Ferdinand IV of Castile by his wife, Constance of Portugal. At the age of four Eleanor was engaged to James, the eldest son and heir apparent of King James II of Aragon, through the agreements reached in the Meeting of Calatayud of 1311 between Ferdinand IV of Castile and James II; the marriage between Maria, daughter of James II, with Peter, brother of Ferdinand IV, was celebrated at the same time. Shortly after, Eleanor was sent to the Aragonese court to be raised there as the future queen; when she was five years old, in September 1312, King Ferdinand IV died. A year in November 1313, Queen Constance died as well. Eleanor's grandmother, Maria de Molina, ruled on behalf of Eleanor's young brother, King Alfonso XI of Castile; the young James, despite his betrothal to Eleanor, was eager to receive the sacred orders and to enter a monastery. Pope John XXII intervened to remind James of his duties.
In view of the situation, King James II and his son, whose relationship was strained due to the reluctance of the latter to fulfill his court obligations, signed a document before a notary in October 1319, on the eve of the marriage ceremony, where the younger James promised to marry. In an interview between father and son, both agreed that the young James should be only present at the bridal mass, which would be officiated in the city of Gandesa, but leaving undiscussed the question of whether the marriage should be consummated, given his opposition to the consummation, taking into account that the commitments with the Kingdom of Castile and León only forced the celebration of the marriage. On 18 October 1319 the wedding ceremony between James of Eleanor of Castile took place. James, according to the chronicles of the time, refused to give the kiss of peace during the ceremony, James II had to do it. After the ceremony, officiated by the Archbishop of Tarragona, the bridegroom again transmitted to his father his desire to renounce his rights to the throne and enter a convent.
After the wedding ceremony, after a discussion with his father, he fled on horseback, leaving his wife abandoned, in December 1319, renounced his rights to the throne of Aragon in the Convent of San Francisco of Tarragona. He took the habit of the Knights Hospitaller in the Convent of Santo Domingo of the same city. Alfonso, King James II's younger son, was proclaimed heir apparent; the rejection of Eleanor could have caused serious diplomatic incidents between the Castilian and Aragonese courts. James II informed Eleanor's grandmother, Queen Maria, about his regret for the actions of his eldest son, incomprehensible to him. During the spring of 1320 Eleanor remained lodged in the city of Tortosa. After her stay in Tortosa, Eleanor lived in the cities of Zaragoza and Ateca, from where some Castilian ricohombres returned her to the Kingdom of Castile and León. Once in her homeland, Eleanor retired to the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, although she never took the veil. In early 1325, King Edward II of England proposed the marriage of his eldest son, with Eleanor, sent his proxies to negotiate the terms of the wedding by charter dated 6 February 1325.
The union never took place. In Ágreda in January 1329 the betrothal between Eleanor and King Alfonso IV of Aragon was signed, the wedding ceremony took place one month on 5 February in the Church of San Miguel de Tarazona; the ceremony was attended by King Alfonso XI of Castile and King James II's children, John and Ramón Berenguer. Alfonso IV gave his new wife the city of Huesca and other villages and castles belonging to the Aragonese crown; this marriage improved relations between Castile and Aragon in a renewed alliance formed with the aim of reconquering Granada. The Kingdom of Aragon had breached several marriage agreements, returning to Castile several princesses after breaking off engagements, this union put an end to the practice. Eleanor became a disruptive influence in Aragon, plotting to advance the interests of her own sons over those of her stepson, born from Alfonso IV's first marriage with Teresa d'Entença, Countess of Urgell, who died in 1327, she convinced her husband to consent to make significant territorial donations to the children born to them and John.
Alfonso IV was generous and on 28 December 1329, he granted Ferdinand the Marquisate of Tortosa and the cities of Albarracín, Callosa, Alicante, Elda, La Mola and Aspe. Eleanor's younger son John received several lordships: Elche and Bolsa; these donations made by Alfonso IV diminished the territorial patrimony of the crown and affected Peter, producing a climate of resentment in the Aragonese court. Because of this the nobility was divided into two camps. One of the two sides was in favor of Queen Eleanor and her sons, the other defended the prerogatives of Peter and his full siblings; when the King granted his son Ferdinand the cities of Xàtiva, Sagunto, Morella and Castellón de la Plana, all located in the Kingdom of Valencia, the local subjects protested, for this reason the King decided to revoke these last donations. After the death of Alfonso IV, which occurred in the city of Barcelona on 24 January 1336, Queen Eleanor fled to the Kingdom of Castile and León, accompanied by his two sons and John, fearing the new King Peter IV of Aragon, resentful of his stepmother and stepbrothers, because of the postponement suffered since the seco
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The four largest islands are Mallorca, Menorca and Formentera. Many minor islands and islets are close to the larger islands, including Cabrera, S'Espalmador; the islands have a Mediterranean climate, the four major islands are all popular tourist destinations. Ibiza, in particular, is known as an international party destination, attracting many of the world's most popular DJs to its nightclubs; the islands' culture and cuisine are similar to those of the rest of Spain but have their own distinctive features. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain, with Palma de Mallorca as the capital; the 2007 Statute of Autonomy declares the Balearic Islands as one nationality of Spain. The co-official languages in the Balearic Islands are Spanish; the official name of the Balearic Islands in Catalan is Illes Balears, while in Spanish, they are known as the Islas Baleares.
The term "Balearic" derives from Greek. In Latin, it is Baleares. Of the various theories on the origins of the two ancient Greek and Latin names for the islands—Gymnasiae and Baleares—classical sources provide two. According to the Lycophron's Alexandra verses, the islands were called Γυμνησίαι/Gymnesiae because its inhabitants were nude because of the year-round benevolent climate; the Greek and Roman writers derive the name of the people from their skill as slingers, although Strabo regards the name as of Phoenician origin. He observed it was the Phoenician equivalent for armoured soldiers the Greeks would have called γυμνῆτας/gymnetas; the root bal does point to a Phoenician origin. Indeed, it was usual Greek practice to assimilate local names into their own language, but the common Greek name of the islands is not Γυμνησίαι/Gymnesiai. The former was the name used by the natives, as well as by the Carthaginians and Romans, while the latter derives from the light equipment of the Balearic troops γυμνῆται/gymnetae.
The Balearic Islands are on a raised platform called the Balearic Promontory, were formed by uplift. They are cut by a network of northwest to southeast faults; the main islands of the autonomous community are Majorca, Menorca/Minorca and Formentera, all popular tourist destinations. Amongst the minor islands is Cabrera, the location of the Cabrera Archipelago Maritime-Terrestrial National Park; the islands can be further grouped, with Majorca and Cabrera as the Gymnesian Islands, Ibiza and Formentera as the Pityusic Islands referred to as the Pityuses. Many minor islands or islets are close to the biggest islands, such as Es Conills, Es Vedrà, Sa Conillera, Dragonera, S'Espalmador, S'Espardell, Ses Bledes, Santa Eulària, Foradada, Tagomago, Na Redona, Colom, L'Aire, etc; the Balearic Front is a sea density regime north of the Balearic Islands on the shelf slope of the Balearic Islands, responsible for some of the surface-flow characteristics of the Balearic Sea. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, the Balearic Islands unsurprisingly have typical Mediterranean climates.
The below-listed climatic data of the capital Palma are typical for the archipelago, with minor differences to other stations in Majorca and Menorca. Little is recorded on the earliest inhabitants of the islands; the story, preserved by Lycophron, that certain shipwrecked Greek Boeotians were cast nude on the islands, was evidently invented to account for the name Gymnesiae. A tradition holds that the islands were colonised by Rhodes after the Trojan War; the islands had a mixed population, of whose habits several strange stories are told. In some stories, the people were said to go naked or were clad only in sheepskins—whence the name of the islands —until the Phoenicians clothed them with broad-bordered tunics. In other stories, they were naked only in the heat of summer. Other legends allow that the inhabitants lived in hollow rocks and artificial caves, that they were remarkable for their love of women and would give three or four men as the ransom for one woman, that they had no gold or silver coin, forbade the importation of the precious metals, so that those of them who served as mercenaries took their pay in wine and women instead of money.
Their marriage and funeral customs, peculiar to Roman observers, are related by Diodorus Siculus. In ancient times, the islanders of the Gymnesian Islands constructed talayots, were famous for their skill with the sling; as slingers, they served as mercenaries, first under the Carthaginians, afterwards under the Romans. They went into battle ungirt, with only a small buckler, a javelin burnt at the end, in some cases tipped with a small iron point; the three slings were for stones of different sizes.
Sibila of Fortià
Sibila of Fortià, Queen of Aragon, was daughter of Berenguer de Fortià and his wife Francesca of Palau. Sibila belonged to the family of Fortià, of the lower nobility, with possessions in rural Empordà, in the County of Empúries, she was the fourth wife of Peter IV of Aragon. Sibila was said to be a natural beauty in her early adulthood, she married Artal de Foces on an unknown date. Upon her widowhood, Sibila became a lady in waiting to Peter's third wife, Eleanor of Sicily, during the royal couple's stay in Sibila's home of Empordà. Eleanor died in 1375. Sibila attracted the attention of the king soon after Eleanor's death, when Sibila was in her twenties and Peter was fifty six; when the king's sons and John, found out what was happening, they opposed their father's remarriage, as it could cause dynastic problems. The marriage announcement of the lovers led to tense relations between his sons. On 11 October 1377, in Barcelona, Sibila married Peter IV of Aragon. It's believed that before the marriage, Sibila gave birth to a son, who only lived for a year.
The child's birth has been doubted, as the only record of his birth is in the Chronicle of Peter IV of Aragon. The couple had three children: Alfonso of Count of Morella. Peter of Aragon. Isabella of Aragon, married James II of Urgell and was mother of Isabella of Aragon, Countess of Urgell. Through Isabella and Sibila are ancestors to Joana, Princess of Portugal and John II of Portugal. Over time, things grew worse. Sibila's family were invited to court, the king began to favor Sibila's brother, Bernard. Peter and her family formed one faction of the court, the other being composed of Peter's son and heir, his French wife Violante de Bar, their followers. After Peter died in 1387, John and Violant became King and Queen of Aragon, they wanted to be rid of Sibila. For her own safety, Sibila fled to Sant Martí Sarroca. Sibila did not stay there long, as she was forced to return to Aragon, on the command of John and Violant, they did not execute Sibila but sent her to live in Barcelona under close surveillance, however she was treated better there than at the royal court.
After John died in 1396, Martin succeeded him, Sibila remained in Barcelona. Sibila died in Barcelona on 24 November 1406. By order of King Martin she had a state funeral, she was buried in the convent of San Francisco in Barcelona, traditional burial place of kings and queens of Aragon. She was transferred to the pantheon of Poblet; when the convent was demolished in the nineteenth century and others were reburied on 20 April 1852 at the Cathedral of Barcelona. She was the first deposited in a box embedded in the wall of the chapel of the Martyrs of the cloister, covered by Isabella II of Spain, on 13 October 1998, moved inside the temple, in a box placed on the wall to the left of the altar major. E. Albertí, queens, abbesses: Eighteen female figures in medieval Catalonia, Alberto, 2007. J. Nonell Bassegoda, "The Royal Tombs of the Cathedral of Barcelona", Bulletin de la Real Academia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi, 13, 237-255. A. Boscolo, Fortià di Sibila, regina d'Aragona, Padua, CEDAM, 1970.
L. Riber, Fortis Sibila, Ediciones y Publicaciones Españolas, 1944, pp. 13–55. J. M. Roca, "La Reyna ampurdanesan" Sovereignty of Catalonia: collection of historical monographs, Fundació Concepció Rabell and Cibils, widow Romaguera, 1928, pp. 9–211. R. Tasis and Mark, The King lives in Pere III, Aedos, 1954
John I of Aragon
John I, called by posterity the Hunter or the Lover of Elegance, but the Abandoned in his lifetime, was the King of Aragon from 1388 until his death. John was the eldest son of Peter IV and his third wife, the daughter of Peter II of Sicily, he was born in Perpignan, capital of the Rousillon, which at that time was part of the Principality of Catalonia, in the Crown of Aragon. He was a man of character, with a taste for verse, he was a Francophile and married Violant of Bar against the wishes of his father, who had wanted him to marry a princess of Sicily. His last marriage was happy, his wife participated in government, since the king was ill. Once on the throne, John abandoned his father's Anglophile policy and made an alliance with France, he continued Aragon's support for the Pope of Clement VII, in the Western Schism. John made an alliance with Castile, confirmed in 1388 a treaty with Navarre fixing borders between these kingdoms. In 1389-90, the Aragonese battled the troops of the Count of Armagnac, John III, attempting to conquer the lands of the vassal Kingdom of Majorca.
The attack went from Empordà to Girona. The invaders were defeated in 1390 by Aragonese troops commanded by John's brother Martin. During 1388-90, John lost all lands of the Duchies of Athens and Neopatras in Greece. In 1391, John promulgated legislation on Jews in different cities of the Kingdom of Aragon. In 1391, his administration faced a revolt in the vassal kingdom of Sicily, where the population had proclaimed Louis II of Naples as king. John was a protector of culture of Barcelona, he established in 1393 the Consistory of Barcelona, imitating the same office in Toulouse. Aragon had been attempting to subjugate Sardinia since the reign of James II, the Aragonese had conquered most of the island. However, in the 1380s, the remaining independent principality Arborea became a fortress of rebellion and the Aragonese were driven back by Eleanor de Bas-Serra; the Aragonese continued in John's reign to attempt to suppress rebels in Sardinia and regain lost territories. However, during John's reign the whole of Sardinia was lost.
John's reign was characterized by disastrous financial administration. He died during a hunt in forests near Foixà by a fall from his horse, like his namesake and contemporary, John I of Castile. Leaving no sons, he was succeeded by his younger brother Martin. Two daughters, survived to adulthood. From his first marriage on 24 June 1373 to Martha of Armagnac, daughter of Count Jean I of Armagnac: James Joanna, who married on 4 June 1392 at Barcelona to Mathieu, Count of Foix. Together they claimed the throne of Aragon after her father's death. Matthew of Foix was driven back by the new King Martin. Joanna died soon after, childless. John Alfonso Eleanor From his second marriage on 2 February 1380 to Yolande of Bar, daughter of Robert I, Duke of Bar and Marie of Valois: James, Duke of Girona and Count of Cervera Yolande, married on 2 December 1400 to Louis II of Naples Ferdinand, Duke of Girona and Count of Cervera Antonia Eleanor Peter, Duke of Girona and Count of Cervera Joanna Gómez, Maricarmen: "Música y corte a fines del Medioevo: el episodio del Sur", in Historia de la música en España e Hispanoamérica 1.
De los orígenes hasta c. 1470. Madrid-México D. F. Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2009. ISBN 978-84-375-0638-8 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. "John I of Aragon". Encyclopædia Britannica. 15. Cambridge University Press. P. 440
Alfonso IV of Aragon
Alfonso IV, called the Kind was the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1327 to his death. His reign saw the incorporation of the County of Urgell, Duchy of Athens, Duchy of Neopatria into the Crown of Aragon. Alfonso was born in the second son of James II and Blanche of Anjou. In 1314, aged 14, he married Teresa d'Entença y Cabrera, heiress of Urgell, the same age as him. Teresa's granduncle Ermengol X of Urgell had died childless in La Llitera. Alfonso was at this time only the second son of the king of Aragon, he and his father agreed to Ermengol's condition, Alfonso married Teresa in 1314 in the Cathedral of Lerida. The teenage bridegroom is reputed to have been so liberal in the expenses during the wedding, that the local counsels imposed restrictions on how much he could spend. Alfonso and Teresa became the parents of seven children. Alfonso became heir to the throne in December 1319 after his older brother James renounced his rights to become a monk. During the reign of his father, Alfonso was the procurator-general of the Crown, in 1323–1324, he undertook the conquest of Sardinia.
Alfonso's father and first wife Teresa died within a few days of each other in 1327. Teresa died in childbirth on 20 October 1327, James II died on 2 November 1327, whereupon Alfonso became king. In 1329, he began a long war with the Republic of Genoa; the city of Sassari ahd surrendered to Alfonso in 1323, but rebelled three more times. In February 1329, Alfonso married Eleanor of the sister of king Alfonso XI of Castile. Eleanor had been married to Alfonso's elder brother James the monk; that marriage, which James had refused to consummate, had been annulled in 1319-20. Eleanor had remained unmarried. By December the same year, the couple were rejoiced to become the parents of a son, followed five years by another son, John. Eleanor earnestly sought to advance the interests of her own infant sons over those of her stepson, the Infante Peter, the heir-apparent, she convinced her husband to grant large and significant territories to her sons. On 28 December 1329, Alfonso granted his new-born son Ferdinand the Marquisate of Tortosa and the cities of Albarracín, Callosa d'en Sarrià, Alicante, Elda, La Mola and Aspe.
Eleanor's younger son John, born five years was granted several lordships when he was only a toddler: Elche and Bolsa were all bestowed upon him. These territories would be controlled by Eleanor, who had received the city of Huesca and some other villages and castles belonging to the Aragonese crown at the time of her wedding. Nor was this all. While all of the above grants had been made from among the possessions of the Aragonese crown, the King sought to bestow estates located within the Kingdom of Valencia upon the toddler Ferdinand, but he was prevented from doing so; when the King granted Ferdinand the cities of Xàtiva, Sagunto, Morella and Castellón de la Plana, all located in the Kingdom of Valencia, the local subjects protested, for this reason the King decided to revoked these patents. These grants of land diminished the territorial patrimony of the crown and affected the Infante Peter, Alfonso's son by his first wife, who however was too young to make any significant protest. However, the issue agitated the court, created a climate of resentment and divided the nobility into two camps.
Alfonso died in January 1336, aged only 36. He was succeeded by his 16-year-old son from his first marriage. By Teresa d'Entença: Alfonso Constance, married in 1336 to James III of Majorca. Peter IV, successor. James I, Count of Urgell inherited Entença and Antillon. Elizabeth. Frederick. Sancho, lived only a few days. By Eleanor of Castile: Ferdinand, Marquis of Tortosa and Lord of Albarracín and Fraga. John, Lord of Elche and Bolsa, married in 1355 to Isabel Núñez de Lara and was killed by order of his cousin Pedro of Castile. Diccionario universal de historia y de geografía, p. 152. By Lucas Alamán, Manuel Orozco y Berra Medieval Iberia: an encyclopedia, Ed. E. Michael Gerli, Samuel G. Armistead, Routledge, 2003. O'Callaghan, Joseph F. A History of Medieval Spain, Cornell University Press, 1975
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