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In the late Middle Ages the Crown of Aragon experienced a confrontation between themonarchy and the nobility similar to that which occurred in neighboringCastile. AsRoman law and its practitioners gained in influence, there were protests in both Aragon and Catalonia, andJames I confirmed the customary law of Aragon in an assembly at Ejea in 1265. He also agreed that thejusticia, a judge appointed by the king from the ranks of the knights rather than from among the professional jurists, shouldadjudicate litigation involving the nobles. A critical stage in relations between the crown and the nobles was reached during the reign ofPeter III (the Great; 1276–85), the heir to Aragon, Catalonia, andValencia (the kingdom of Majorca fell to the share of his younger brother James).
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Peter III’s conquest ofSicily, where he reigned as Peter I, was the second major step in the Mediterranean expansion of Catalonia, marking the beginning of a long international struggle with serious domestic complications. Although the papacy had awarded Naples and Sicily toCharles of Anjou, Peter’s wife representedHohenstaufen claims to them. Taking advantage of theSicilian Vespers, a rebellion by Sicilians against Charles’s rule, Peter occupied Sicily in 1282. PopeMartin IV not onlyexcommunicated and deposed Peter but also offered Aragon to a French prince. Seizing the opportunity created by these difficulties, the Aragonese nobles organized a union to uphold their liberties and in 1283 compelled the king to grant their demands, which were set down in the document known as theGeneral Privilege. Peter agreed toconvene the Cortes each year and confirmed the right of thejusticia to hear the lawsuits of the nobility. He made similar promises inValencia and Catalonia, where theallegiance of his subjects was more secure. After thepope proclaimed a Crusade, KingPhilip III ofFrance led the Crusading army against Peter but failed to achieve success. Thereafter thedisposition of Sicily remained the chief concern of Peter’s three sons.
Alfonso III (1285–91), who inherited the mainland dominions, and his younger brother James, who received Sicily, valiantly tried to overcome theformidable opposition of the pope, the king of France, and the house ofPlantagenet (Anjou). Alfonso seized Majorca because his uncle James had aided the French during their Crusade against Aragon. Once again the Aragonese nobles challenged the king, forcing him in 1287 to confirm his father’s General Privilege and to permit the nobles to control the appointment of certain royal councilors. After succeeding his brother as king of Aragon,James II (1291–1327) tried to secure an unchallenged title to that kingdom by yielding his rights to Sicily in 1295 and returning Majorca to his uncle James. PopeBoniface VIII awardedSardinia to James II as compensation. In 1302 the pope reluctantly agreed to accept the third brother,Frederick, who had been proclaimed as king of Sicily. TheCatalan Company, a mercenary troop idled by the end of the Sicilian wars, transferred its activities to theByzantine Empire and in 1311 gained dominion over the duchy of Athens. Although neither Sicily nor Athens came under the direct rule of the king of Aragon, they remainedbastions of Catalan influence and power in the Mediterranean.
After securing a favorable alteration of his frontier withMurcia, James II occupied Sardinia in 1325. AsGenoa disputed Aragonese rights there, his successors,Alfonso IV (1327–36) andPeter IV (the Ceremonious; 1336–87), were forced to wage a series of wars. Accusing his cousin, the king of Majorca, of disloyalty, Peter IV annexed Majorca permanently to the Crown of Aragon in 1343. In 1347 Peter provoked aconstitutional crisis by naming his daughter as heir to the throne rather than his brother, the count of Urgel, who argued that women were excluded from the succession. The Aragonese union, which had been relatively inactive in the previous reign, again confronted the king and compelled him to confirm the privileges granted by his predecessors. The Valencian nobility also organized a union and exacted similarconcessions. The devastation caused by theBlack Death and the royalist victory over the Aragonese union at Epila in 1348 enabledPeter to dissolve the union and to annul its privileges. The union never again threatened the crown.
After mid-century, Peter I of Castile invaded the Crown of Aragon, prompting Peter IV to backHenry of Trastámara’s claims to the Castilian throne, but Henry subsequently refused to reward him with any territorial concessions. That disappointment was offset to some extent by the reincorporation of Sicily into the dominions of the Crown of Aragon in 1377. Peter IV remained neutral during theGreat Schism, but his sonJohn I (1387–95) acknowledged the pope of Avignon. Both John and his younger brother and successor,Martin (1395–1410), had to attend constantly to agitation and unrest in Sardinia and Sicily. When Martin died without immediate heirs, the Crown of Aragon faced anacute crisis. Claimants were not lacking, but none enjoyed wide popularity. The estates of Aragon, Valencia, and Catalonia appointed nine commissioners to meet at Caspe to resolve the issue. TheCompromise of Caspe, announced in 1412, determined thatFernando de Antequera, brother of KingHenry III of Castile, had the best claim to the throne by right of inheritance. The accession ofFerdinand I (1412–16), the first of the Trastámaradynasty to rule in Aragon, prepared the way for the eventual union of Aragon and Castile. By withdrawing obedience from the Avignonese popeBenedict XIII, Ferdinand helped to terminate the schism.
Alfonso V (the Magnanimous; 1416–58) opted to pursue ambitions inItaly and generally neglected hispeninsular domains. After occupying the Kingdom ofNaples in 1442, he hoped to lord it over the rest of Italy and to extend his influence and power into the eastern Mediterranean. A spirit of discontent fostered by his long absence from Aragon provoked a crisis during the reign of his brother,John II (1458–79). John inherited the mainland kingdoms as well as Sicily, while Ferrante, Alfonso V’sillegitimate son, obtained Naples. John had already added another kingdom to the Trastámara holdings when he married the queen of Navarre in 1420. By quarreling with his son, PrinceCharles of Viana, he antagonized many and provoked the open hostility of the Catalans. Charles’s sudden death in 1461 led many to believe that he had been poisoned by John. Already restive because of economic and social uncertainties, the Catalans revolted and offered the principality to other potential rulers.Louis XI of France seized the opportunity to occupy Roussillon andCerdagne, thereby laying the foundation for futureenmity between France and Spain. By 1472 John II had suppressed the Catalan revolt; subsequently he aided his daughter-in-law Isabella in acquiring the Castilian crown. His son Ferdinand succeeded him as king of Aragon and Sardinia, and his daughter Eleanor inheritedNavarre.
Aragonese institutions and society
Aragon, Catalonia, and Valenciaconstituted the nucleus of the Crown of Aragon during the late Middle Ages. James II declared in 1319 that these three states formed an indissoluble union. At various times Majorca, Sicily, Sardinia, and Naples were added to, separated from, and finally reunited with the Crown of Aragon. Peter IV and the people of Valencia opposed a plan to dismember the kingdom of Valencia for the benefit of the king’s younger brother. When the Catalans revolted against John II and unsuccessfully tried to secede, the Aragonese federation faced the threat of dissolution, but it was able to hold together. Ever since Peter II had offered hisdominions in fief to the papacy in 1204 several popes had intervened directly in Aragonese affairs and had even tried to dispose of the throne.
Dominated by jurists favouring royal absolutism, thebureaucracy of the Crown of Aragon became highly complex. Peter IV carefully structured the administration around four principal officials—the chancellor, the chamberlain, themayordomo, and themestre racional (chief financial officer). The employment of nonnatives in administrative positions was vigorously opposed in each of the federated states. Although Peter IV abolished the Aragonese union, thejusticia, who were appointed and removed by the king at will, continued to adjudicate lawsuits concerning the nobility.
As his father’s lieutenant, the king’s oldest son usually was appointed procurator general for all the realms. A procurator or governor-general permanently represented the crown in Valencia and Majorca, which the king visited only occasionally. A vicar orjusticia also acted in the name of the crown in the towns, which enjoyed a greater degree of self-government than before. Executive authority in Barcelona was entrusted to a council of five who were responsible to a largerconsell de cent, or council of 100.
The fundamental law for Catalonia andMajorca continued to be theUsages of Barcelona, and in 1251 James I pledged that Roman law would not supplant them. He provided the newly conquered kingdom of Valencia with theFori Regni Valentiae (1240), a code of law largely Roman in substance. In 1247 hepromulgated theCode of Huesca, acompilation of the customary law of Aragon; the code, which originally defined Aragon’s territory, came to embody the criminal and civillegal code in Aragon. As new laws were added, the Aragonese legal code was reorganized as theFueros de Aragón, which included the Code of Huesca and the General Privilege, in the 15th century.
A vigorous parliamentary structure emerged in the Crown of Aragon. Each of the peninsular states (Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia) had a parliament, and the king occasionally assembled a general parliament of all three. The development of Catalan constitutionalism received a strongimpetus from two significant pledges made by Peter III in the Corts (parliament) of Barcelona in 1283. He declared that he would convene an annual Corts “to treat of the good estate and reformation of the land” and that he would not make any general statute for Catalonia without its consent. The Corts did not meet annually thereafter, but the constitutions andcapitols de Corts enacted during these meetings testify to its legislative role. The parliaments in Aragon,Catalonia, and Valencia also voted on taxes. Not trusting the monarchy, the Catalans established a commission to control the collection and disbursement of taxes authorized by the Corts. In the late 14th century this commission, known as theDiputació del General de Catalunya or simply the Generalitat, became permanent. When the Corts was not in session, the Generalitat represented the Catalancommunity and defended Catalan liberties against royal encroachments. Early in the 15th century similar agencies were established in Aragon and Valencia.
The Aragonese economy was dominated by agriculture and pasturage. A numerous class of Mudéjares, Muslims living under Christian rule and retaining many of their own institutions, farmed the land in lower Aragon and Valencia. The main industry in the Catalan towns, where a strong guild organization developed, was the manufacture of woollen cloth. Barcelona and Valencia—trading with Tunis, Alexandria, Sicily, Sardinia, the Holy Land, and theBlack Sea area—ranked among the major Mediterranean seaports. To represent their interests, Catalan merchants and consuls resided in many of the principal African ports. Catalanmaritime law, compiled about 1370 in theLlibre del consolat de mar (Book of the Consulate of the Sea), enjoyed wide European recognition and usage.
Following the havoc caused by the Black Death, recurrent social and economic crises disturbed the peace and provoked the massacre of the Jews in Valencia and other cities in 1391, as well as other violent acts. Financial uncertainty, the failure of many private banks, and the decline of trade in the later 14th centurycompounded problems. In Barcelona the agitation of the popular party (the Busca) against the ascendancy of the wealthy urbanaristocracy (the Biga) helped to foment the Catalan revolt against John II. Hoping to win their liberty, the serfs, orpayeses de remensa, joined the rebellion.
Aragonese culture
Culture flourished in the Crown of Aragon in the late Middle Ages. AfterJames II founded the University of Lledia (Lérida) in 1300—the first in Aragon—other universities were established atHuesca, Barcelona, andZaragoza. Two Dominicans—St.Raymond of Penyafort (died 1275), a great canonist, and St.Vincent Ferrer (died 1419), a preacher of exceptional eloquence—were outstanding representatives of the university tradition. Several works of history, generally regarded as gems ofCatalan literature, helped to shape thevernacular as a literary language:The Chronicle of James I, purportedly written by the king himself; Bernat Desclot’sChronicle of the Reign of King Peter III; Ramon Muntaner’sChronicle, reporting the adventures of the Catalan Company; and theChronicle of Peter IV, of which the king claimed to be the author.Ramon Llull (died 1315), who was equallyfacile in Latin, Catalan, and Arabic, was the mostprolific writer of the times. Primarily an active propagandist concerned with the recovery of the Holy Land and the conversion of the Muslims, Llull also was a philosopher, theologian, and mystic. Among his principal writings were theromanticBook of the Lover and the Beloved, Blanquerna, andBook of the Order of Chivalry.Lo Crestià, an encyclopaedic work dealing withmoral and political theory, was the best-known work of Francesc Eiximenis (died 1409). The poetAusiàs March (died 1459) explored the psychological dimensions of love.