- Peter IV of Aragon
Peter IV (also known as Pedro or Pere
5 September 1319 ,Chaytor, 166.]Balaguer Bisson, 104.] –5 January 1387 ), called the Ceremonious ("el Ceremonioso") or "El del Punyalet" ("the one of the little dagger"), was theKing of Aragon , King of Sardinia and Corsica (as Peter I),King of Valencia (as Peter II), andCount of Barcelona (and the rest of thePrincipality of Catalonia as Peter III) from 1336 until his death. He deposedJames III of Majorca and made himselfKing of Majorca in 1344. His reign was occupied with attempts to strengthen the crown against theUnion of Aragon and other such devices of the nobility, with their near constant revolts, and with foreign wars, inSardinia ,Sicily , theMezzogiorno , Greece, and theBalearics . His wars in Greece made himDuke of Athens and Neopatria in 1381.uccession conflicts
Peter was the eldest son and heir of Alfonso IV, then merely
Count of Urgell , and his first wife,Teresa d'Entença . Peter was designated to inherit all of his father's title save that of Urgell, which went to his younger brother James.Upon succeeding his father he called a "cort" in
Zaragoza for his coronation. He crowned himself, disappointing theArchbishop of Zaragoza and thus rejecting the surrender Peter II had made to thePapacy , in an otherwise traditional ceremony. According to his own later reports, this act caused him some "distress". He did, however, affirm the liberties and privileges of Aragon.Chaytor, 167.] Also while he was at Zaragoza an embassy from Castile had met him and asked that he promise to uphold the donations of land his father had made to his stepmother Eleanor, but he refused to give a clear answer as to the legitimacy of the donations.After the festivities in Zaragoza, Peter began on his way to Valencia to receive coronation there. On route he stopped at
Lleida to affirm the Usatges and Constitucions ofCatalonia and receive the homage of his Catalan subjects. This offendedBarcelona , at which the ceremony had usually been performed, and the citizens of that city complained to the king, who claimed that Lleida was on his way to Valencia.Bisson, 105.] While in Valencia he decided on the case of his stepmother's inheritance, depriving her of income and outlawing her Castilian protector,Pedro de Ejérica . However, Pedro had enough supporters within Peter's domains that Peter was unable to maintain his position and in 1338, through papal mediation, Pedro was reconciled to the king and Eleanor received her land and jurisdictional rights.Chaytor, 168.] Peter was largely forced to capitulate by a new invasion fromMorocco aimed at Castile and Valencia.In 1338 he married Maria, second daughter of Philip III and
Joan II of Navarre . In May 1339 he allied withAlfonso XI of Castile against Morocco, but his contribution of a fleet had no effect at the pivotalBattle of the Río Salado (October 1340).Conquest of Majorca
Early on in his reign, a thorn in Peter's side had been
James III of Majorca , his brother-in-law, the husband of his sister Constance. James had twice postponed performing the ceremony of homage to Peter, his feudal overlord, and when he finally performed it in 1339 it was on his terms. The rising economic star of Majorca, whose merchants were establishing independent markets and gaining trading privileges in the western Mediterranean, threatened the supremacy of Barcelona. The gold coinage of Majorca and the diplomatic equality granted it by the powers of France and Italy irked Peter further, while James also allied withAbu al-Hassan , the king of Morocco and Peter's enemy. Peter's outrage, however, was given no outlet until 1341, when James, threatened with invasion by the French over disputed rights to theLordship of Montpellier , called on his suzerain Aragon for aid.Bisson, 106.] Chaytor, 170.] In order not to offend France nor to support James, Peter summoned the king of Majorca to a "cort" at Barcelona, to which he knew he would not come, and when James or a representative of his failed to appear, Peter declared himself free from the obligations of an overlord to James.Peter then opened a legal process against James, with the intent of dispossessing him of his kingdom. He alleged that the circulation of James' coinage in the Counties of Roussillon and Cerdagne to be an infringement on the royal right of monopoly of coinage. This was open to question, considering the ancient customs of Roussillon and Cerdagne, but Peter was prepared to move forward anyway. The interference of
Pope Clement VI , however, granted James a hearing in Barcelona in front of papal delegates. Peter, for his part, spread rumours that James was seeking to capture him. James, fearing that Peter would stoop to invading Majorca and seizing it by force, returned to the island to prepare its defence.Chaytor, 171.] In February 1343 Peter declared James a contumacious vassal and his kingdom and lands forfeit.The legal process being terminated, Peter went to war, on the advice that the islanders were burdened by taxes and would readily rise in his support. In May a fleet which had been blockading
Algeciras landed at Majorca and quickly defeated James' army at theBattle of Santa Ponça . Peter received the submission of all theBalearics and confirmed the privileges of the islands as they had been under James I.Bisson, 107.] Though James sued for peace and Pope Clement attempted to mediate it, Peter returned to Barcelona prepared to invade Roussillon and Cerdagne. After these were finally conquered in 1344 James surrendered on a safe conduct, only to find himself ignominiously reduced to the status of a petty lord. In March Peter had declared his realm incorporated into the Crown of Aragon in perpetuity and ceremoniously had himself crowned its king.Military career
By the
Pact of Madrid , Peter was constrained to aidAlfonso XI of Castile in his successful attack onAlgeciras (1344) and his failed attempt onGibraltar (1349) by defending against aMoroccan counterattack.He found himself facing a rebellion among the nobles which would fail after he defeated the nobles in the
Battle of Epila in 1348.In 1356, he engaged with Peter I of Castile in what was called the "
War of the Two Peters ". It ended in 1375 with the Treaty of Almazán, without a winner due to theBlack Death and several natural disasters.He conquered Sicily in 1377 but the possession was given to his son Martin.
Throughout his reign, Peter IV had frequent conflicts with the inquisitor general of Aragon,
Nicolau Aymerich .In 1349, James invaded Majorca, but was soundly defeated by Peter's troops at the
Battle of Llucmajor , in which he died. After James' death, Peter allowed James IV, his successor, to retain his royal title on purely formal terms until his death in 1375. After that date, Peter assumed the titular. Majorca remained one of the component crowns of theCrown of Aragon until theNueva Planta decrees .Generalitat
At a
cortes celebrated atBarcelona ,Vilafranca del Penedès andCervera in 1358–1359, Peter instituted theGeneralitat . Castile had recently invaded Aragon and Valencia and the cortes decided to streamline the government by designating a dozen deputies to oversee the fiscal and material policies of the Crown. The first "President of the Generalitat" wasBerenguer de Cruïlles ,Bishop of Girona (1359).Toward the end of his reign (c. 1370) Peter ordered the compilation of the "
Chronicle of San Juan de la Peña " to record the historical basis for the authority of the crown.Marriage and children
On 1338, he married Maria of Navarre (1329-1347), daughter of
Joan II of Navarre . She bore him two daughters:
*Constança of Aragon (1343-1363), who married Frederick III of Sicily.
* Joan, Countess of Empuries (b.c. 1346).In 1347, he married Leonor of Portugal (1328-1348), daughter of
Afonso IV of Portugal . She died one year later of theBlack Death .His third marriage was to Eleanor of Sicily (1325-1375), daughter of
Peter II of Sicily . Four children were born from this marriage:* Juan I
* Martí I
* Eleanor, who married Juan I of Castile and was the mother ofFerdinand I of Aragon .
* Alfonso (died young).His last marriage, in 1377, was to Sibila of Fortià, who bore him a daughter:
* Isabella (1376-1424), who married her cousin James (Jaime), Count of Urgell.References
*Bisson, Thomas N. "The Medieval Crown of Aragon: A Short History". Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986. ISBN 0 19 821987 3.
*Chaytor, H. J. " [http://libro.uca.edu/chaytor/achistory.htm A History of Aragon and Catalonia] ". London: Methuen, 1933.
*Setton, Kenneth M. "Catalan Domination of Athens 1311–1380". Revised edition. London: Variorum, 1975.External links
* [http://www.grec.net/cgibin/dificil.pgm?USUARI=&SESSIO=&PGMORI=E&NDCHEC=0050111 Peter III of Catalonia-Aragon]
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