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Peter II the Catholic (; ) (July 1178 – 12 September 1213) was the
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 ...
and
Count of Barcelona The Count of Barcelona ( ca, Comte de Barcelona, es, Conde de Barcelona, french: Comte de Barcelone, ) was the ruler of the County of Barcelona and also, by extension and according with the usages and Catalan constitutions, of the Principality ...
from 1196 to 1213.


Background

Peter was born in
Huesca Huesca (; an, Uesca) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the autonomous community of Aragon. It is also the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and of the comarca of Hoya de Huesca. In 2009 it had a population of 52,059, almo ...
, the son of
Alfonso II of Aragon Alfonso II (1–25 March 1157Benito Vicente de Cuéllar (1995)«Los "condes-reyes" de Barcelona y la "adquisición" del reino de Aragón por la dinastía bellónida» p. 630-631; in ''Hidalguía''. XLIII (252) pp. 619–632."Alfonso II el Casto, hi ...
and Sancha of Castile. In 1205 he acknowledged the feudal supremacy of the
papacy The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
and was crowned in Rome by
Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 ...
, swearing to defend the
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
faith (hence his
epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...
, "the Catholic"). He was the first king of Aragon to be crowned by the pope. In the first decade of the thirteenth century Peter commissioned the ''
Liber feudorum Ceritaniae The ''Liber feudorum Ceritaniae'' is, as its Medieval Latin, Latin title indicates, a book (''liber'', in fact a chartulary) registering the fiefs (''feudi'') within the counties of County of Cerdagne, Cerdagne (''Ceritania''), County of Roussillon ...
'', an illustrated codex
cartulary A cartulary or chartulary (; Latin: ''cartularium'' or ''chartularium''), also called ''pancarta'' or ''codex diplomaticus'', is a medieval manuscript volume or roll (''rotulus'') containing transcriptions of original documents relating to the fo ...
for the counties of
Cerdagne Cerdanya () or often La Cerdanya ( la, Ceretani or ''Ceritania''; french: Cerdagne; es, Cerdaña), is a natural comarca and historical region of the eastern Pyrenees divided between France and Spain. Historically it was one of the counties ...
, Conflent, and
Roussillon Roussillon ( , , ; ca, Rosselló ; oc, Rosselhon ) is a historical province of France that largely corresponded to the County of Roussillon and part of the County of Cerdagne of the former Principality of Catalonia. It is part of th ...
.


Marriage

On 15 June 1204 Peter married (as her third husband) Marie of Montpellier, daughter and heiress of
William VIII of Montpellier William VIII (in Occitan: Guilhem; died 1202) was Lord of Montpellier, the son of William VII and Matilda of Burgundy (1135?-1173?). William VIII married Eudokia Komnene, grand-niece of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos. They had one dau ...
by Eudocia Comnena. She gave him a son,
James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambigua ...
, but Peter soon repudiated her. Marie was popularly venerated as a saint for her piety and marital suffering, but was never canonized; she died in Rome in 1213. Marie also perhaps bore Peter II a daughter, "Sancha", at Collioure in October 1205 according to Christian Nique. ("Sancha" was born in 1206 according to other accounts; in 1208 according to Mark Gregory Pegg, but February 1208 is more likely the year the couple's son was born). Sancha was betrothed to Raymond VII the son Count Raymond VI of Toulouse, not long after her birth, according to Nique, only days (sources differ as to how long). The marriage contract included Marie's inheritance, Montpellier, which was to be passed to the child immediately should something happen to Peter, says Nique, citing documents discovered in 1850, something Marie would at first not agree to, but finally agreed to a few months later, stating that she had agreed under pressure. However the child's younger brother James makes no mention of her and Sancha was apparently dead before the New Year, according to Nique's information.


Warfare

Peter participated in the
Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, known in Islamic history as the Battle of Al-Uqab ( ar, معركة العقاب), took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the '' Reconquista'' and the medieval history of Spain. The Chri ...
in 1212 which marked the turning point of Muslim domination in the Iberian peninsula.''A Global Chronology of Conflict'', Vol. I, ed. Spencer Tucker, (ABC-CLIO, 2010), 269. 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 ...
was widespread in the area that is now southwestern France, but which at that time was under the control of vassal local princes, such as the Counts of Toulouse. The
Cathars Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. Follo ...
or Albigenses rejected the authority and the teachings of the Catholic Church. Innocent called upon
Philip II of France Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), byname Philip Augustus (french: Philippe Auguste), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks, but from 1190 onward, Philip became the first French ...
to suppress the Albigenses. Under the leadership of Simon of Montfort a campaign was launched. The
Albigensian Crusade The Albigensian Crusade or the Cathar Crusade (; 1209–1229) was a military and ideological campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, southern France. The Crusade was prosecuted primarily by the French crown ...
, begun in 1209, led to the slaughter of approximately 20,000 men, women and children, Cathar and Catholic alike. Over the course of twenty years military campaigns essentially destroyed the previously flourishing civilization of Occitania and by 1229 brought the region firmly under the control of the King of France, and the Capetian dynasty from the north of France. Peter returned from Las Navas in autumn 1212 to find that
Simon de Montfort Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester ( – 4 August 1265), later sometimes referred to as Simon V de Montfort to distinguish him from his namesake relatives, was a nobleman of French origin and a member of the English peerage, who led the ...
had conquered
Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...
, exiling Count
Raymond VI of Toulouse Raymond VI ( oc, Ramon; October 27, 1156 – August 2, 1222) was Count of Toulouse and Marquis of Provence from 1194 to 1222. He was also Count of Melgueil (as Raymond IV) from 1173 to 1190. Early life Raymond was born at Saint-Gilles, Gard ...
, who was Peter's brother-in-law and vassal.Raymond VI had married Eleanor, sister of Perer II Peter crossed the Pyrenees and arrived at
Muret Muret (; in Gascon Occitan ''Murèth'') is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the Occitanie region of southwestern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Muretains''. It is an outer suburb of the cit ...
in September 1213 to confront Montfort's army. He was accompanied by Raymond of Toulouse, who tried to persuade Peter to avoid battle and instead starve out Montfort's forces. This suggestion was rejected. The
Battle of Muret The Battle of Muret (Occitan: Batalha de Murèth), fought on 12 September 1213 near Muret, 25 km south of Toulouse, was the last major battle of the Albigensian Crusade and one of the most notable pitched battles of the Middle Ages. Althoug ...
began on 12 September 1213. The Aragonese forces were disorganized and disintegrated under the assault of Montfort's squadrons. Peter himself was caught in the thick of fighting, and died as a result of a courageous last stand. He was thrown to the ground and killed. The Aragonese forces broke in panic when their king was slain and Montfort's crusaders won a crushing victory. The nobility of Toulouse, vassals 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 defeated. The conflict culminated in the Treaty of Meaux-Paris in 1229, in which the integration of the Occitan territory into the French crown was agreed upon. Upon Peter's death, the kingdom passed to his only son by Marie of Montpellier, the future James the Conqueror.


References


Sources

*Sumption, Jonathan. ''The Albigensian Crusade''. 2000. * Martín Alvira-Cabrer, ''12 de Septiembre de 1213: El Jueves de Muret'', Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, 2002. * Martín Alvira-Cabrer, ''Muret 1213. La batalla decisiva de la Cruzada contra los Cátaros'', Ariel, Barcelona, 2008 and 2013. * Martín Alvira-Cabrer, ''Pedro el Católico, Rey de Aragón y Conde de Barcelona (1196-1213). Documentos, Testimonios y Memoria Histórica'', 6 vols., Zaragoza, Institución Fernando el Católico (CSIC), 2010 (on line). * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peter 02 Of Aragon 1178 births 1213 deaths 12th-century Aragonese monarchs 13th-century Aragonese monarchs People from Huesca Counts of Barcelona Lords of Montpellier House of Aragon Aragonese infantes Monarchs killed in action