| Peter III | |
|---|---|
 Detail from theNuova Cronica | |
| King of Aragon andValencia Count of Barcelona | |
| Reign | 27 July 1276 (1276-07-27) – November 1285 (1285-11) |
| Predecessor | James I |
| Successor | Alfonso III |
| King of Sicily (jure uxoris) asPeter I | |
| Reign | 4 September 1282 (1282-09-04) – November 1285 (1285-11) |
| Predecessor | Charles I |
| Successor | James I |
| Co-ruler | Constance II |
| Born | c. 1239 Valencia,Aragon |
| Died | 11 November 1285(1285-11-11) (aged 45–46) Vilafranca del Penedès,Catalonia,Aragon |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | |
| Issue more... | |
| House | Barcelona |
| Father | James I of Aragon |
| Mother | Violant of Hungary |
Peter III of Aragon (In Aragonese,Pero; in Catalan,Pere; in Italian,Pietro;c. 1239 – 11 November 1285)[1] wasKing of Aragon,King of Valencia (asPeter I), andCount of Barcelona (asPeter II) from 1276 to his death. At the invitation of some rebels, he conquered theKingdom of Sicily and becameKing of Sicily (asPeter I) in 1282, pressing the claim of his wife,Constance II of Sicily, uniting the kingdom to the crown.
Peter was the eldest son ofJames I of Aragon and his second wifeViolant of Hungary.[2] On 13 June 1262, Peter marriedConstance II of Sicily, daughter and heiress ofManfred of Sicily.[3] During his youth and early adulthood, Peter gained a great deal of military experience in his father's wars of theReconquista against theMoors.[4]
In June 1275, Peter besieged, captured, and executed his rebellious half-brotherFernando Sánchez de Castro atPomar de Cinca.
On his father's death in 1276, the lands of theCrown of Aragon were divided amongst his two sons. TheKingdom of Aragon, theKingdom of Valencia and thePrincipality of Catalonia went to Peter III as being the eldest son; while theKingdom of Majorca and theCatalan counties beyond the Pyrenees went to the second son, who becameJames II of Majorca.
Peter and Constance were crowned inZaragoza in November 1276 by the archbishop of Tarragona.[5]
Peter's first act as king was to complete the pacification of hisValencian territory, an action which had been underway before his father's death.
However, a revolt soon broke out in thePrincipality of Catalonia, led by the viscount ofCardona and abetted byRoger-Bernard III of Foix,Arnold Roger I of Pallars Sobirà, andErmengol X of Urgell.[4] 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 theCatalan Courts, and confirming its privileges after his ascension to the throne.
At the same time, a succession crisis continued in theCounty of Urgell. WhenÀlvar of Urgell died in 1268, the families of his two wives, Constance, a daughter of Pere de Montcada of Bearn, and Cecilia, a daughter ofRoger-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, 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.[4]
In 1280, Peter defeated the stewing rebellion led byRoger-Bernard III after besieging the rebels inBalaguer for a month. Most of the rebel leaders were imprisoned inLleida until 1281, while Roger-Bernard was imprisoned until 1284.
WhenMuhammad I al-Mustansir, theHafsid Emir of Tunisia who had put himself underJames I of Aragon, died in 1277,Tunisia threw off the yoke of Aragonese suzerainty.[6] Peter first sent an expedition toTunis in 1280 under Conrad de Llansa designed to re-establish his suzerainty.[4] In 1281, he himself prepared to lead a fleet of 140 ships with 15,000 men to invade Tunisia on behalf of the governor ofConstantine.[7] The fleet landed atAlcoyll in 1282. It was these Aragonese troops that received a Sicilian embassy after theVespers of 30 March asking Peter to take their throne fromCharles I of Anjou.
In 1266,Charles I of Naples, with the approval ofPope Clement IV, invaded theKingdom of Sicily, governed by thehouse of Hohenstaufen, which was the house of Peter's wife,Constance II of Sicily, daughter ofManfred of Sicily and rightful heir to the throne of Sicily after the deaths of her father and cousinConradin fighting against Charles's invading forces. This made Peter the heir ofManfred of Sicily in right of his wife.
The Italian physicianJohn of Procida acted on behalf of Peter in Sicily. John had fled to Aragon after Charles' success at theBattle of Tagliacozzo. John travelled to Sicily to stir up the discontents in favour of Peter and thence to Constantinople to procure the support ofMichael VIII Palaiologos.[8] Michael refused to aid the Aragonese king without papal approval, and so John voyaged to Rome and there gained the consent ofPope Nicholas III, who feared the ascent of Charles in theMezzogiorno. John then returned to Barcelona but the Pope died, to be replaced byPope Martin IV, a Frenchman and a staunch ally ofCharles and theAnjou 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 newPope Nicholas III in 1277 gave the King of Aragon a glimpse of hope, but Nicholas died in 1280 and a pro-FrenchPope Martin IV dissipated hopes.
Peter nevertheless had begun making strategic alliances with his neighbouring monarchs. Peter made his brotherJames II of Majorca sign the treaty of Perpignan in 1279, in which he recognized theKingdom 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 atBordeaux. A hundred knights would accompany each side andEdward I of England 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.[9]
He also had a long-lasting friendly relationship with theKingdom of Castile, establishing a strong alliance between realms by signing the treaties of Campillo and Ágreda in 1281 withAlfonso X of Castile and infantSancho.
With theKingdom of Portugal, Peter established a marital alliance by which his eldest daughterElizabeth of Aragon marriedDenis I of Portugal. Peter also made alliance with theKingdom of England, engaging his heirAlfonso III withEleanor of England, daughter ofEdward I of England. 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 theSicilian Vespers, 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 ofPalermo atAlcoy, Peter landed atTrapani on 30 August 1282.[8] He was proclaimed King in Palermo on 4 September.[5] Charles was forced to flee across theStraits of Messina and be content with hisKingdom of Naples.Pope Martin IV excommunicated both Peter andMichael VIII Palaiologos for providing Peter with 60,000 gold pieces to invade Sicily.[10]
Catalan ground troops were commanded by Guillem Galceran de Cartellà, and were formed by the famous and fearedalmogavars,crossbowmen, andlancers. Peter's powerful fleet was commanded byRoger of Lauria, and constantly repelled Angevin attacks to the island. Roger de Lauria defeated the French forces at theBattle of Malta, and at theGulf of Naples in 1284, whereCharles of Salerno, son of Charles I, was made prisoner.
The conquest of Sicily was financed by Jewish contributions and taxes charged to thealjamas. The infant Alfonso demanded them an allowance of 200,000sous in 1282. Thealjamas from theKingdom of Valencia gave 25,000sous, theAragonese 75,000 and 100,000 were charged to theCatalanaljamas. TheKingdom of Sicily was to be a tenaciously pursued inheritance for the Aragonese royal house and its heirs for the next five centuries.
Peter was dealing with domestic unrest at the time when the French were preparing an invasion of Aragon. He tookAlbarracín from the rebellious nobleJuan Núñez de Lara, he renewed the alliance withSancho IV of Castile, and he attackedTudela in an attempt to preventPhilip I of Navarre from invading on that front. Peter held meetings of thecortes atTarragona andZaragoza in 1283. He was forced to grant thePrivilegio General to the newly formedUnion of Aragon.[9]
Also in 1283, Peter's brotherJames II of Majorca joined the French and recognised their suzerainty overMontpellier. This gave the French free passage into Catalonia throughRoussillon as well as access to the Balearic Islands. In October, Peter began preparing the defences of Catalonia. In 1284,Pope Martin IV granted the Kingdom of Aragon toCharles, 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.
In 1284, the first French armies under Philip andCharles entered Roussillon. They included 16,000 cavalry, 17,000 crossbowmen, and 100,000 infantry, along with 100 ships in south French ports.[11] Though the French had James's support, the local populace rose against them. The city ofElne was valiantly defended by the so-called "bastard of Roussillon", the illegitimate son ofNuño Sánchez, late count of Roussillon. Eventually he was overcome and the cathedral was burnt; the royal forces progressed.
In 1285, Philip entrenched himself beforeGirona 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 ofRoger de Lauria, back from the Italian theatre of the drawn-out conflict. The French fleet was defeated and destroyed at theBattle of Les Formigues on 4 September 1285. In addition, the French camp was hit hard by an epidemic ofdysentery.
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 theBattle of the Col de Panissars. Philip III of France died in October atPerpignan, the capital of James II of Majorca (who had fled in fear after being confronted by Peter), and was buried inNarbonne. James was declared a vassal of Peter.
Peter matched his father in patronage of the arts and literature, but unlike him he was a lover of verse, not prose. He favoured thetroubadours, having himself created twosirventesos. The first is in the form of an exchange between himself andPeironet, 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 newsirventesos and during this period thesirventes 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.
Peter died from unknown causes atVilafranca del Penedès in November 1285,[12] just one month afterPhilip III of France, and was buried in the Monastery ofSantes Creus.[13] 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 aporphyry sarcophagus at the monastery.
Peter made his final testament on 2 November 1285. In it he instructed his successor to return the kingdom of Sicily to the pope and to release all Angevin prisoners of war. Although the will was copied into the royal register, it was ignored by his successors. Peter's eldest son,Alfonso III, inherited Aragon while Sicily went to his second son,James II. His third son,Frederick, later succeeded James as king of Sicily.[14] Peter did not provide for his illegitimate youngest son and namesake, Peter. This Peter left Spain for Portugal with his half-sister Elizabeth.
In theDivine Comedy, (Purgatory, Canto VII)Dante Alighieri sees Peter "singing in accord" with his former rival, Charles I of Anjou, outside the gates ofPurgatory.
Peter andConstance II of Sicily had:
Peter had a relationship with Ines Zapata between 1275-1280 and had the following children:
Additionally, he had 3 illegitimate children with Maria Nicolau before marrying Constance of Sicily:
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| Preceded by | King of Aragon and Valencia Count of Barcelona 1276–1285 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | King of Sicily(jure uxoris) 1282–1285 withConstance II | Succeeded by |
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