Peter III of Aragon ( November 1285) was
King of Aragon
This is a list of the kings and queens of Aragon. The Kingdom of Aragon was created sometime between 950 and 1035 when the County of Aragon, which had been acquired by the Kingdom of Navarre in the tenth century, was separated from Navarre ...
,
King of Valencia (as ), and
Count of Barcelona (as ) 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
Eudoxia Laskarina Asanina ( el, , Nicaea, 1245/1248 – Zaragoza, 1309 or 1311), sometimes known as Laskara, was a member of the Byzantine Laskaris family. In later life, she fled to Aragon, where she was known as Irene Lascaris.
Family
Eudoxia ...
, the youngest daughter of
Theodoros II Laskaris, in or before 1260 (''claim not substantiated''). 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
The ' ( Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the N ...
'' against the
Moors
The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a distinc ...
.
In June 1275, Peter besieged, captured, and executed his rebellious half-brother
Fernando Sánchez de Castro Fernando Sánchez de Castro (1241–1275) was an Aragonese ''infante'' (royal prince), crusader and rebel leader.
Fernando was an illegitimate son of King James I of Aragon by his mistress Blanca, daughter of Sancho de Antillón. Their relationsh ...
at
Pomar de Cinca.
On his father's death in 1276, the lands of the
Crown of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon ( , ) an, Corona d'Aragón ; ca, Corona d'Aragó, , , ; es, Corona de Aragón ; la, Corona Aragonum . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of ...
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
Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Province of Zaragoza, Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Ara ...
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
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...
, 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
The County of Urgell ( ca, Comtat d'Urgell, ; la, Comitatus Urgellensis) is one of the historical Catalan counties, bordering on the counties of Pallars and Cerdanya.
History
The county of Urgell was carved by the Franks out of a former secti ...
. When
Àlvar of Urgell died in 1268, the families of his two wives, Constance, a daughter of Pere de Montcada of Bearn, 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
Ermengol X (1254–1314) was the Count of Urgel and Viscount of Àger from 1268 to 1314. He was the son of Álvaro of Urgell and his second wife, Cecilia, daughter of Roger-Bernard II of Foix.
Ermengol inherited Urgel at the age of fourteen upon t ...
, Àlvar'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
Muhammad I al-Mustansir (; ) was the second ruler of the Hafsid dynasty in Ifriqiya and the first to claim the title of Khalif. Al-Mustansir concluded a peace agreement to end the Eighth Crusade launched by Louis IX of France in 1270. Muhammad ...
, the
Hafsid Emir of Tunisia who had put himself under
James I of Aragon, died in 1277,
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
threw off the yoke of Aragonese suzerainty. Peter first sent an expedition to
Tunis
''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois
, population_note =
, population_urban =
, population_metro = 2658816
, population_density_km2 =
, timezone1 = CET
, utc_offset1 ...
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 men to invade Tunisia on behalf of the governor of
Constantine. The fleet landed at
Alcoyll in 1282. It was these Aragonese troops that received a Sicilian embassy after the
Vespers
Vespers is a service of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic (both Latin and Eastern), Lutheran, and Anglican liturgies. The word for this fixed prayer time comes from the Latin , mea ...
of 30 March asking Peter to take their throne from
Charles I of Anjou.
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
The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynas ...
, 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
Conrad III (25 March 1252 – 29 October 1268), called ''the Younger'' or ''the Boy'', but usually known by the diminutive Conradin (german: link=no, Konradin, it, Corradino), was the last direct heir of the House of Hohenstaufen. He was Duke ...
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
Michael VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( el, Μιχαὴλ Δούκας Ἄγγελος Κομνηνὸς Παλαιολόγος, Mikhaēl Doukas Angelos Komnēnos Palaiologos; 1224 – 11 December 1282) reigned as the co-emperor of the Empire ...
. 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
Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half.
The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the pe ...
. John then returned to Barcelona but the Pope died, to be replaced by
Pope Martin IV
Pope Martin IV ( la, Martinus IV; c. 1210/1220 – 28 March 1285), born Simon de Brion, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 February 1281 to his death on 28 March 1285. He was the last French pope to hav ...
, 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
Pope Martin IV ( la, Martinus IV; c. 1210/1220 – 28 March 1285), born Simon de Brion, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 February 1281 to his death on 28 March 1285. He was the last French pope to hav ...
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
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectu ...
. A hundred knights would accompany each side and
Edward I of England
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a va ...
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.
He also had a long-lasting friendly relationship with the
Kingdom of Castile
The Kingdom of Castile (; es, Reino de Castilla, la, Regnum Castellae) was a large and powerful state on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region. It began in the 9th ce ...
, 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
Denis (, ; 9 October 1261 – 7 January 1325 in Santarém), called the Farmer King (''Rei Lavrador'') and the Poet King (''Rei Poeta''), was King of Portugal. The eldest son of Afonso III of Portugal by his second wife, Beatrice of Castile, and ...
. Peter also made alliance with the
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England (, ) was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.
On ...
, engaging his heir
Alfonso III with
Eleanor of England
Eleanor of England ( es, Leonor; – 31 October 1214), was Queen of Castile and Toledo as wife of Alfonso VIII of Castile. She was the sixth child and second daughter of Henry II, King of England, and Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Early life and fam ...
, daughter of
Edward I of England
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a va ...
. 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
The Sicilian Vespers ( it, Vespri siciliani; scn, Vespiri siciliani) was a successful rebellion on the island of Sicily that broke out at Easter 1282 against the rule of the French-born king Charles I of Anjou, who had ruled the Kingdom of ...
, 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. 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.
Pope Martin IV
Pope Martin IV ( la, Martinus IV; c. 1210/1220 – 28 March 1285), born Simon de Brion, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 February 1281 to his death on 28 March 1285. He was the last French pope to hav ...
excommunicated both Peter and
Michael VIII Palaiologos
Michael VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( el, Μιχαὴλ Δούκας Ἄγγελος Κομνηνὸς Παλαιολόγος, Mikhaēl Doukas Angelos Komnēnos Palaiologos; 1224 – 11 December 1282) reigned as the co-emperor of the Empire ...
for providing Peter with gold pieces to invade Sicily.
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
Roger of Lauria (''c''. 1245 – 17 January 1305) was a Neapolitan admiral in Aragonese service, who was the commander of the fleet of the Crown of Aragon during the War of the Sicilian Vespers. He was probably the most successful and tal ...
, 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 ''sous'' in 1282. The ''aljamas'' from the
Kingdom of Valencia gave ''sous,'' the
Aragonese and 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 Tudela may refer to:
*Tudela, Navarre, a town and municipality in northern Spain
** Benjamin of Tudela Medieval Jewish traveller
** William of Tudela, Medieval troubadour who wrote the first part of the ''Song of the Albigensian Crusade''
** Ba ...
in an attempt to prevent
Philip I of Navarre from invading on that front. Peter held meetings of the ''cortes'' at
Tarragona and
Zaragoza
Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Province of Zaragoza, Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Ara ...
in 1283. He was forced to grant the ''Privilegio General'' to the newly formed
Union of Aragon.
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
Pope Martin IV ( la, Martinus IV; c. 1210/1220 – 28 March 1285), born Simon de Brion, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 February 1281 to his death on 28 March 1285. He was the last French pope to hav ...
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
In 1284, the first French armies under Philip and
Charles entered Roussillon. They included cavalry, crossbowmen, and infantry, along with 100 ships in south French ports. 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
Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capit ...
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
The naval Battle of Les Formigues (Catalan language, Catalan) took place probably in the early morning of 4 September 1285 near Les Formigues Islands, Catalonia, about 85 km northeast of Barcelona, when a Catalan-Sicilian galley fleet command ...
on 4 September 1285. In addition, the French camp was hit hard by an epidemic of
dysentery
Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...
.
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
A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a '' trobai ...
, 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 in November 1285, just one month after
Philip III of France, and was buried in the Monastery of
Santes Creus
The Monastery of ''Santa Maria de Santes Creus'', ( ca, Reial Monestir de Santa Maria de Santes Creus) is a former Cistercian monastery in the municipality of Aiguamúrcia, Catalonia, Spain.
The abbey was erected in the 12th century, in to ...
.
El País, news on discovery of mummy of Peter III at Monastery of Santes Creus
/ref> 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
The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature a ...
'', (Purgatory, Canto VII) Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His '' Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ...
sees Peter "singing in accord" with his former rival, Charles I of Anjou, outside the gates of Purgatory
Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...
.
Children
Peter and Constance II of Sicily had six children:
* Alfonso III of Aragon (–).
* James II of Aragon (–).
* Elizabeth, Queen of Portugal (–). Married Denis of Portugal.
*Frederick III of Sicily
Frederick II (or III) (13 December 1272 – 25 June 1337) was the regent of the Kingdom of Sicily from 1291 until 1295 and subsequently King of Sicily from 1295 until his death. He was the third son of Peter III of Aragon and served in th ...
(–).
* Yolande, Duchess of Calabria (–). Married Robert of Naples.
* (–). Married Guillemette of Béarn, daughter of Gaston VII, Viscount of Béarn
Gaston VII de Montcada ( la, Guasto de Biarde) (1225 – 26 April 1290), called ''Froissard'', was the twentieth Viscount of Béarn from 1229. He was the son and heir of Guillermo II de Montcada and of Garsenda, daughter of Alfonso II of Provence ...
.
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).
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Peter 03 Of Aragon
1239 births
1285 deaths
13th-century Aragonese monarchs
13th-century Kings of Sicily
Catalan-language poets
Counts of Barcelona
House of Barcelona
House of Barcelona (Sicily)
Jure uxoris kings
Male composers
People of the War of the Sicilian Vespers
People temporarily excommunicated by the Catholic Church
Valencian monarchs