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Bellver Castle
Bellver Castle (, ) is a Gothic-style castle on a hill 3 km to the west of the center of Palma on the Island of Majorca, Balearic Islands, Spain. It was built in the 14th century for King James II of Majorca, and is one of the few circular castles in Europe. First serving as the residence of the Kings of Majorca, and afterward long used as a military prison throughout the 18th to mid-20th century, it is now under civilian control, being one of the main tourist attractions of the island, as well as the seat for the city's History Museum. Origins and evolution The castle's plan, a circular floor with round towers attached to it,somewhat like the Herodion, a 15 BCE hilltop palace in the West Bank, that was also circular and had a large principal tower and three minor towers as well. They are attached while the principal one is coupled to the complex by a high bridge over the surrounding moat. The Castle has clear Islamic influences in its original design, displaying double ...
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Palma De Mallorca
Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situated on the south coast of Mallorca on the Bay of Palma. The Cabrera Archipelago, though widely separated from Palma proper, is administratively considered part of the municipality. History Palma was founded as a Ancient Rome, Roman camp upon the remains of a Talaiotic settlement. The city was subjected to several Vandal raids during the fall of the Western Roman Empire, then reconquered by the Byzantine Empire, then colonised by the Moors (who called it ''Medina Mayurqa'') and, in the 13th century, by James I of Aragon. Roman period After the conquest of Mallorca, the city was loosely incorporated into the province of Hispania Tarraconensis, Tarraconensis by 123 BC; the Romans founded two new cities: ''Palma'' on the south of ...
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Barbican
A barbican (from ) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes. Europe Medieval Europeans typically built barbicans outside, or at the edge of, a main line of defenses, and connected them to defensive walls with a walled road called ''the neck''. Barbicans would thus control the entrance to a city or castle at the "choke point". In the 15th century, as siege tactics and artillery developed, barbicans began to lose their significance, but new barbicans were built well into the 16th century. Fortified or mock-fortified gatehouses remained a feature of ambitious French and English residences well into the 17th century. Portuguese medieval fortification nomenclature uses the term "barbican" ("") for any wall outside of and lower than the main defensive wall that forms a second barrier. The barrier may be complete, extensive or only protect p ...
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Martin I Of Aragon
Martin the Humane (29 July 1356 – 31 May 1410), also called the Elder and the Ecclesiastic, was King of Aragon, Valencia, Sardinia and Corsica and Count of Barcelona from 1396 and King of Sicily from 1409 (as Martin II). He failed to secure the accession of his illegitimate grandson, Frederic, Count of Luna, and with him the rule of the House of Barcelona came to an end. Background Martin was born in 1356, in either Girona or Perpignan, both then in the Principality of Catalonia. He was the second son of King Peter IV of Aragon and Eleanor of Sicily (Leonora), princess of the Sicilian branch of the House of Aragon. As a cadet prince of the Aragonese royal family, Martin was given the County of Besalú. In Barcelona on 13 June 1372, Martin married María López de Luna (d. Villarreal, 20 December 1406), the daughter and heiress of Lope, Lord and 1st Count of Luna and Lord of Segorbe and his wife Brianda de Got, who was born in Provence and was related to Pope Clement V ...
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Revolt Of The Brotherhoods
The Revolt of the Brotherhoods (, ) was a revolt by artisan guilds ('' Germanies'') against the government of King Charles V in the Kingdom of Valencia, part of the Crown of Aragon. It took place from 1519–1523, with most of the fighting occurring during 1521. The Valencian revolt inspired a related revolt in the island of Majorca, also part of Aragon, which lasted from 1521–1523. The revolt was an anti-monarchist, anti-feudal autonomist movement inspired by the Italian republics. It also bore a strong anti-Islamic aspect, as rebels rioted against Valencia's peasant Muslim population (also called mudéjars, to contrast with crypto-Muslims or Moriscos in the Crown of Castile, where Islam was outlawed) and imposed forced conversions to Christianity. The ''agermanats'' are comparable to the comuneros of neighboring Castile, who fought a similar revolt against Charles from 1520–1522. Both rebellions were partially inspired by the departure for Germany of ...
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Peasant
A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants existed: non-free slaves, semi-free serfs, and free tenants. Peasants might hold title to land outright (fee simple), or by any of several forms of land tenure, among them socage, quit-rent, leasehold, and copyhold. In some contexts, "peasant" has a pejorative meaning, even when referring to farm laborers. As early as in 13th-century Germany, the concept of "peasant" could imply "rustic" as well as "robber", as the English term villain/villein. In 21st-century English, the word "peasant" can mean "an ignorant, rude, or unsophisticated person". The word rose to renewed popularity in the 1940s–1960s as a collective term, often referring to rural populations of developing countries in general, as the "semantic successor to 'native', ...
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Crown Of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon (, ) ;, ; ; . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona (later Principality of Catalonia) and ended as a consequence of the War of the Spanish Succession. At the height of its power in the 14th and 15th centuries, the Crown of Aragon was a thalassocracy controlling a large portion of present-day eastern Iberian Peninsula, parts of what is now Northern Catalonia, southern France, and a Mediterranean empire which included the Balearic Islands, Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, Malta, Southern Italy (from 1442), and parts of Greece (until 1388). The component realms of the Crown were not united politically except at the level of the king, who ruled over each autonomous polity according to its own laws, raising funds under each tax structure, dealing separately with each ''Corts'' or ''Cortes'', particularly in the Kingdom of Aragon, the Principality of Catalonia, and the Kingdom of V ...
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Peter IV Of Aragon
Peter IV (Catalan: ''Pere IV d'Aragó;'' Aragonese; ''Pero IV d'Aragón;'' 5 September 1319 – 6 January 1387), called the Ceremonious (Catalan: ''El Cerimoniós''; Aragonese: ''el Ceremonioso''), was from 1336 until his death the king of Aragon, king of Sardinia and Corsica, Sardinia-Corsica, and King of Valencia, Valencia, and count of Barcelona. In 1344, he deposed James III of Majorca and made himself King of Majorca. His reign was occupied with attempts to strengthen the crown against the Union of Aragon and other such devices of the nobility, with their near constant revolts, and with foreign wars, in Sardinia, Sicily, the Mezzogiorno, Latin Empire, Greece, and the Balearics. His wars in Greece made him Duke of Athens and Duchy of Neopatria, Neopatria in 1381. Succession conflicts Peter was born at Balaguer, the eldest son and heir of Alfonso IV of Aragon, Alfons IV, then Count of Urgell, and his first wife, Teresa d'Entença. Peter was designated to inherit all of ...
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Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and transitioned into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history: classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is itself subdivided into the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages. Population decline, counterurbanisation, the collapse of centralised authority, invasions, and mass migrations of tribes, which had begun in late antiquity, continued into the Early Middle Ages. The large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the 7th century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire� ...
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Siege
A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static, defensive position. Consequently, an opportunity for negotiation between combatants is common, as proximity and fluctuating advantage can encourage diplomacy. A siege occurs when an attacker encounters a city or fortress that cannot be easily taken by a quick assault, and which refuses to surrender. Sieges involve surrounding the target to block provision of supplies and reinforcement or escape of troops (a tactic known as "investment"). This is typically coupled with attempts to reduce the fortifications by means of siege engines, artillery bombardment, mining (also known as sapping), or the use of deception or treachery to bypass defenses. Failing a military outcome, sieges can often be ...
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Taifa Of Majorca
The Taifa of Majorca was a medieval Islamic taifa kingdom which existed from 1018 to 1203 in Majorca. It was founded by the Slavic warlord Mujāhid al-ʿĀmirī. The first taifa lasted for about 50 years (1076-1116), first succumbing to a Christian crusade and later being occupied by the Almoravids. After a period in which the Balearic Islands were integrated into the Almoravid Empire, it ended up disintegrating, suffering the same fate as the Caliphate of Córdoba. It was ruled by the Aghlabids, Aghlabid dynasty, an Arab Najdi dynasty of the Banu Tamim tribe. A new, independent kingdom arose, the second taifa (1147-1203), under the Banu Ghaniya dynasty, which would become the last Almoravid stronghold in Al-Andalus against the Almohads' advance. List of Emirs Mujahid dynasty * Mujāhid al-ʿĀmirī Abu ʾl-Jaysh Mujāhid ibn ʿAbd Allāh Amirids, al-ʿĀmirī, surnamed ''al-Muwaffaḳ'' (died AD 1044/5 nno Hegirae, AH 436, was the Taifa of Dénia, ruler of Dénia and the ...
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Almohad Caliphate
The Almohad Caliphate (; or or from ) or Almohad Empire was a North African Berbers, Berber Muslim empire founded in the 12th century. At its height, it controlled much of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) and North Africa (the Maghreb). The Almohad movement was founded by Ibn Tumart among the Berber Masmuda tribes, but the Almohad caliphate and its ruling dynasty, known as the Mu'minid dynasty, were founded after his death by Abd al-Mu'min. * Around 1121, Ibn Tumart was recognized by his followers as the Mahdi, and shortly afterwards he established his base at Tinmel in the Atlas Mountains. Under Abd al-Mu'min (r. 1130–1163), they succeeded in overthrowing the ruling Almoravid dynasty governing the western Maghreb in 1147, when he conquered Marrakesh and declared himself caliph. They then extended their power over all of the Maghreb by 1159. Al-Andalus followed, and all of Muslim Iberia was under Almohad rule by 1172. The turning point of their presence in the Iberian Pe ...
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