King Jayme’s last visits--Settlement of the island--Acts and death of
Jayme I., first King of Majorca
The settlement of the country was continued under Bernardo de Torrella,
though there were still about two thousand Moors holding out in the
mountains under a chief called by the Spaniards Xoarp. Soon alarming
news arrived that the King of Tunis was preparing to reconquer
Mallorca with a large army, and that he had collected a great number
of ships to transport it. The tidings were sent to the King, and were
confirmed by Plegamans, who was a newsagent as well as a contractor. En
Jayme resolved to go in person to defend his island, in spite of the
remonstrances of many of his councillors, who deprecated his exposure
to so many dangers. The old Archbishop of Tarragona went so far as to
try and hold him round the waist when he was getting into the boat at
Salou.
This time the King brought with him a cousin to be Viceroy of Mallorca,
in the person of the Infante Pedro of Portugal. This prince’s mother
was Aldonza, sister of Alonso II. of Aragon and wife of Sancho, King of
Portugal; so that Pedro was a first cousin of King Jayme’s father--the
same relation as En Nuño. He married the Countess of Urgel, the
greatest heiress in Aragon, and acquired a position of importance in
the country. The Countess had died without children, and Pedro received
Mallorca on condition that he surrendered all his rights in the county
of Urgel. He seems to have been a weak man, fond of his ease, and all
real power remained with Torrella and others trusted by the King.
En Jayme, accompanied by En Nuño and the Portuguese prince, sailed
from Salou, and in two days his little fleet was anchored in the port
of Soller, where the joyful news was received that the King of Tunis
had abandoned his intended invasion, at all events for that year. The
port of Soller is on the north side of the island, about two miles
from the town, which is in the midst of a lovely valley surrounded
by magnificent mountain peaks. Rich in the products of its harvests,
Soller was even then a place of trade, and En Jayme found a Genoese
vessel loading in its port. The King must have been struck by the
wonderful beauty of this side of his island, which he had not seen
before. Suliar (Soller) in Arabic means a shell, like the golden shell
at Palermo. It is now, and probably was then, golden with orange and
lemon gardens; the higher slopes of the mountains covered with pine and
carob trees, and the grand peaks raising their heads into the sky. The
loftiest peak in the island, ‘Puig Mayor d’en Torrello’ (4,700 feet)
is not in sight, being concealed by the second highest, the ‘Puig de
Massonella’ (4,400 feet), on which the King probably saw patches of
snow. To the north-east is a striking peak, called ‘Puig de L’Ofre’
(3,500 feet), and to the south the ‘Teix’ of Valdemosa (3,400 feet). In
the division the King gave two-thirds of the Soller valley to the Count
of Ampudia, and one-third to Gaston de Moncada, whose father was slain
in the battle of Santa Ponza. In riding from Soller to Palma King Jayme
had to cross a mountain saddle 2,000 feet high, whence he had glorious
views of the Soller valley on one side, and of the fertile ‘garden’ of
Palma on the other. At the end of the descent is the estate of Alfavia,
the enchanting country seat of Jayme’s Moorish ally, Benahabet. The
estate had been granted to En Nuño, but the Moorish owners were
allowed to retain it on paying a quit-rent. Here the King probably
rested before riding across the ‘_huerta_,’ or garden, to Palma, where
he was received with transports of joy by the people.
The King was unable to remain long away from his Continental dominions.
He left the Infante Pedro of Portugal as Viceroy, Bernardo de Torrella
and a knight named Pedro Maza being the real governors.
There were still over two thousand insurgent Moors in the recesses of
the mountains, and their leader refused to surrender to anyone but the
King himself. On this being represented to En Jayme, he resolved to
pay a third visit to his island kingdom, and sailed from Salou with
three galleys in May 1232. He landed at Porto Pi, and was joyfully
received by his loyal subjects, who were able to show him great
progress in the public works at Palma. The cathedral had been traced
out on a site facing the sea, close to the east wall of the Almudaina,
and the royal chapel, which was to be the apse containing the high
altar, was actually finished. Between the long lancet windows there
are marble statues of saints and angels on corbels and under richly
carved canopies, placed there at the cost of the Oleza family. This
chapel and one on either side were to form the eastern ends of the nave
and two aisles, not yet commenced. The King was much pleased at the
progress that had been made.
The time had now come for the submission of the other Balearic islands;
but first the King received the surrender of the Moorish mountain
chief, he and his followers being allowed to retain their homes, paying
rent to their overlords. A few obstinate fanatics refused the terms,
and had to be starved out.
The Master of the Templars in Majorca, Friar Ramon Serra, was the
first to suggest to the King that his galleys should be sent to
Minorca, demanding immediate submission and threatening that the King
would himself come with a large army to punish any disobedience. The
three knights, Torrella, Maza, and Serra himself, were accordingly
ordered to proceed to Minorca with an interpreter, and the King’s
demand written in Arabic. The Moorish Alcaide and headmen of the town
received the knights with much respect. The letter was read to them,
and they asked for time to deliberate. This was granted. On that very
evening the King, with only six knights, was stationed on Cape Pera,
the eastern extreme of the island of Majorca, near Arta, with Minorca
clearly in sight. As soon as the sun set they fired some immense piles
of _lentisco_ bushes, to make the Minorcans believe that a great army
was encamped there. When the chief men of Minorca saw the fires, they
hurried to the Catalan knights to inquire what they were. ‘It is the
great army,’ they were told, ‘that will come directly the King hears
of a refusal of his demands.’ Next day they submitted, surrendered all
their strong places, and declared that they trusted in the clemency of
the King. Meanwhile En Jayme remained on the Cape of Pera, continuing
the stratagem of the bonfires for four days, when the news of the
submission of Minorca without bloodshed was brought and gave him great
satisfaction. Iviza and Formentera submitted in the following year.
The King was in Majorca during July and August 1232. He granted very
liberal _Fueros_ to the people and completed the settlement of the
island. The final document in which the distribution of lands among
the conquerors is recorded was signed on July 1, 1232. The lands were
divided into _jovadas_, and these were subdivided into _cuarteradas_, a
_cuarterada_ being a certain portion of squared land, with each side
forty _brazas_ in length. A _braza_ was the length of King Jayme’s arms
from finger-tips to finger-tips, and, as he was over six feet, this was
a good fathom. The length of each side of a _cuarterada_ was therefore
eighty English yards. A _jovada_ was originally the portion of land
that a yoke of bullocks could plough in one day; but in the Majorca
division it was counted at sixteen _cuarteradas_. The Arabic names were
used, _rahal_ being a house or property near a town; _alqueria_ a farm,
a word still in use; _beni_ preceding a place-name meaning ‘the house
of.’ As many as 573 _rahales_ and _alquerias_ were thus granted by the
King, the grantees paying certain dues to the four great feudatories,
En Nuño, Count of Roussillon, the Count of Ampurias, Gaston de Moncada,
and the Bishop of Barcelona. But this only includes half the grants,
the rest having been made by the great feudatories themselves to their
own followers. Altogether upwards of fifteen hundred farms must have
been distributed. There was also a division of the mills, and of the
rights to running water. The number of farms gives an idea of the
flourishing condition of the island in the time of the Moors. They were
succeeded by an equally energetic and intelligent race of farmers and
artisans.
The Knights Templars received the strong castle near the south-eastern
angle of the city walls, afterwards called the Temple, and a great
number of farms. The Knights Hospitallers also acquired very
considerable landed property.
On a small island the population, under circumstances like the conquest
of Mallorca, is soon changed. A great number of the Moors perished,
many escaped to Muhammadan Spain or Africa, many were taken away by
their new masters. There is certainly no trace of Moorish blood among
the present inhabitants.
The government of Majorca, according to the _Fueros_ of King Jayme I.,
granted in 1240, consisted of six persons, elected annually, called
_Jurados_, who formed the municipal authority. The president, called
_Jurado en cap_, belonged to the class of nobles; two were citizens
liable for military service, two were of the merchant class, and one
of the labouring class. Until 1447 the _Jurados_ were co-opted, but
afterwards a sort of ballot was adopted. There was a General Council of
143 deputies, the _Jurado en cap_ presiding. The deputies consisted of
a fixed number of representatives of the capital and other towns, and
of knights, merchants, and artisans. There was one judge, called the
_Bayle General_, until the institution of the Audiencia in 1576.
This was a remarkably liberal constitution for the thirteenth century,
and indicates the trust and reliance felt by King Jayme in the loyalty
and good sense of his people. In this, as in other respects, we are
reminded of our own Edward I., his parliaments and legislation.
The conquest of Majorca was a matter of the greatest importance to
the island, but it was only a brief episode in the long reign of more
than sixty years. En Jayme showed ceaseless activity in the work
of government, consulting assemblies of his people, framing laws
and granting privileges, and settling complicated disputes. Popular
representation was strengthened under Jayme I. He sometimes met the
Cortes of Aragon in the capital or one of the towns, and the Council of
Catalonia separately; at other times the representatives, for special
reasons, met in one assembly, usually at Monzon. In one case the
meeting was called a parliament, in the other ‘Cortes Generales.’ Mr.
Hallam, in his ‘Middle Ages,’ has given a good general account of the
Aragonese Constitution. En Jayme frequently visited the whole of his
dominions, and thus became intimately acquainted with his people and
their needs. In 1238, nine years after the conquest of Majorca, King
Jayme found it necessary, owing to the frequent and audacious inroads
of the Moors, to undertake the conquest of the rich and important
kingdom of Valencia. The capital city was taken at Michaelmas, and a
Christian population substituted; but it was a much longer military
operation to reduce the numerous strongholds up to the frontier of
Murcia. The work was finally completed, and King Jayme, well named ‘El
Conquistador,’ granted _Fueros_ to his new kingdom of Valencia, and a
representative assembly, or Cortes.
It now becomes necessary to allude to the King’s children and family
relations. By his wife Violante of Hungary Jayme I. had eight children.
Pedro, his successor in Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia, was born
in 1243. In July 1262, at the age of nineteen, he was married to
Constance, daughter of Manfred, King of Sicily, son of the Emperor
Frederick II., by Beatrice, daughter of Amadeo, Count of Savoy. The
marriage took place at Montpellier. The second son was Jayme, who
was to succeed his father as King of Majorca, as well as to the
possessions in the south of France. King Jayme married his second
son to Esclaramunda, sister of the Count of Foix, the most powerful
nobleman in Gascony. The third son, Fernando, did not turn out well. Of
the daughters, Violante married Alonso X., King of Castille, in 1248;
Isabel became the wife of King Philip III. (_le Hardi_) of France; and
Constance of the Infante Don Manuel of Castille. Maria was a nun, and
Leonor, the youngest, died in childhood.
The Infante Pedro of Portugal died childless in 1244, and was buried
in the cathedral at Palma. En Nuño, the King’s cousin and most able
general, also dying childless, left all his vast possessions to the
master he had served so long and so well. He was Count of Roussillon,
Cerdaña, and Conflent.
After the marriages of his children, the last great enterprise of En
Jayme was undertaken at the earnest request of his son-in-law, Alonso
X. of Castille. This was the conquest of the Muhammadan kingdom of
Murcia, in which his son Pedro took a prominent part. The campaign was
a complete success, and King Jayme honourably handed over to Alonso X.
the prize he had won at great cost and no little trouble. He also made
some liberal grants in the south of Valencia to his other son-in-law,
the Infante Manuel.
Jayme was happy in his two sons Pedro and Jayme, both brave,
accomplished, and dutiful. He determined to provide for both. Pedro was
to succeed his father as King of Aragon, King of Valencia, and Count of
Barcelona. He thus, by the addition of Valencia, gave to his heir far
more extensive dominions than he had himself inherited. To his second
son, Jayme, he gave the kingdom of Majorca, the counties of Roussillon,
Cerdaña, and Conflent in the Pyrenees, inherited from En Nuño, and the
barony of Montpellier, the inheritance of his mother. He declared his
resolution to make this division on January 19, 1248, and his act was
recognised and confirmed by the Cortes in 1251, and again in 1262.
Pedro could have no cause for complaint, because he succeeded to all
that his father had inherited and a great deal more. The division was
confirmed many years before the death of King Jayme, so that both his
sons had ample time to become reconciled to an arrangement which was
perfectly fair and just in itself. Young Jayme, indeed, assumed his
position in Majorca as heir-apparent, and ruled there under his father
for several years.
One of the last acts of En Jayme was to attend a Papal Council at
Lyons, where he was magnificently fêted. This led to his contemplating
the command of a crusade, and his fourth and last visit to Majorca was
undertaken to raise recruits; but it came to nothing. The great King
died at Valencia on July 27, 1276, in his seventieth year, after a
reign of sixty-four years. He was buried with great pomp, but amidst
the heartfelt sorrow of his people, in the monastery of Poblet, near
Tarragona. Here his body rested in peace for 560 years. But in 1835
a vile mob sacked and destroyed the monastery. The King’s coffin was
eventually taken to the cathedral of Tarragona. It has found a final
resting-place at Valencia, where his sword is also preserved.
King Jayme I. of Aragon, ‘El Conquistador,’ was a remarkable man--one
of the greatest men of the thirteenth century. In his long reign he
consolidated his dominions, while preserving the autonomy of each
part which possessed a separate history and separate interests. He
rendered the national assemblies more popular. He granted privileges
most liberally to his subjects, encouraging agriculture and commerce.
He gave an impulse to municipal government by the appointment of
_jurados_ and by instituting the ‘Council of One Hundred’ at Barcelona,
a model for a popular magistracy. By the publication of his ‘Libro
del Consulado de Mar,’ the first code of maritime law of its kind,
he formed a pattern which was adopted by all other naval Powers. He
compiled the _Fueros_ of Aragon and Valencia, and granted those of
Huesca on the model of the famous _Fueros_ of Sobrarbe. He was a
patron of learning; and the arts, especially architecture, flourished
under his fostering care. He founded the university of Lerida. In his
warlike undertakings he planned all his operations with such care and
forethought that he was always successful. The institutions perfected
by King Jayme were so thoroughly based on the interests and genius of
the people, that they lasted, with modifications, for more than four
centuries. Just, affable, and sympathetic, the memory of Jayme the
Conqueror is enshrined in the hearts of the descendants of his people,
and when the seventh centenary of his birth came round, on February 8,
1908, it was seen that the great King is not forgotten. In Majorca, on
the day of St. Silvester, the day on which Palma was taken, there was
an annual procession in which the bishop and the authorities joined,
with En Jayme’s banner borne before them; followed by a high Mass in
the cathedral, when all the people prayed for the soul of their beloved
King. Relics of King Jayme, consisting of his saddle, a stirrup, and a
helmet, were long preserved at Palma. They are now in the royal armoury
at Madrid; and the procession which revived old memories and aroused
patriotic feelings has itself become a thing of the past.