Relates the adventures of Jayme and Isabel, describes the memorial
chair, and records the end of the Majorcan dynasty
Never did sovereign ascend a throne under such appalling circumstances
as did Jayme IV., the last King of Majorca. The young Prince was little
more than fifteen years of age, yet he fought by his father’s side and
was severely wounded. He was carried to Belver Castle by the side of
his father’s corpse. As soon as he was well enough to be moved, he was
again taken to Barcelona and thrown into prison, where his uncle, the
Ceremonious one, intended him to rot and die. The intercessions of his
relations and of the Pope were all useless.
There were people in Catalonia to whom this tormenting of children was
hateful and intolerable. The escape was no easy task. The guards were
carefully chosen, and changed every week. The prison was a disgrace to
Pedro IV. as a place for the confinement of an innocent relation. The
boy had to sleep in a sort of iron cage, and the guards never left him
by night or day. Jayme de San Clemente, an official of the cathedral,
was shocked at the treatment of the young Prince. He and a few friends
succeeded in getting impressions of the keys of the castle doors and
in making false ones; and they had the aid of some merciful officials
within. The rescuers killed Nicolas Rovira, the captain of the guard,
and liberated the prisoner, who escaped out of Barcelona. It does not
appear where he was during the next two or three years, but probably
in some safe refuge with his mother and sister. The brother and sister
were devoted to each other.
In 1362, the year when her second husband died, a handsome youth
appeared at the court of Queen Juana of Naples. She fell in love with
him, and they were married in the same year. This was Jayme IV., King
of Majorca, who thus became also King of Naples. Juana committed
many crimes, especially as regards her first husband; but all may be
condoned in consideration of her unchanging loyalty and generosity to
young Jayme. The exiled King told his wife from the first that his
life must be devoted to the recovery of his dominions and to avenge
the cruel treatment of his father. With these objects he opened
communications with Pedro of Castille, who was at enmity with his
namesake, the Ceremonious one of Aragon. Jayme, supported by funds
supplied by his Queen, joined the Black Prince, and distinguished
himself by his valour in the battle of Najara.
Soon afterwards the cause of Pedro of Castille became hopeless. His
illegitimate brother Henry of Trastamara, aided by the Ceremonious
tyrant of Aragon, advanced into Spain with an army and besieged the
castle of Burgos, which had been occupied by Jayme and his troops. The
King of Majorca made a gallant defence, but at last he was obliged to
surrender. His odious uncle of Aragon tried to get his unfortunate
nephew into his clutches again; but love was ready to make greater
sacrifices than hatred. The Queen of Naples ransomed her husband for
sixty thousand _doblas_.
In March 1369 Jayme was safe in the territory of the Count of Foix.
Thence he proceeded to Avignon and began to collect troops, intending
to invade Roussillon, which had been unjustly occupied by the usurper.
His whole heart was devoted to what he considered the duty of avenging
his father’s death. He looked upon his uncle Pedro as a usurper and
murderer, and his hatred for the Ceremonious one was intense. Friends
represented to him that he should be satisfied with the kingdom of
Naples and a devoted wife. But he answered that he was bound to avenge
his father. When it was represented to him that attacks with inadequate
forces on so powerful an enemy could only lead to his own destruction,
he replied that he could not die in a better cause.
The Companies were then overrunning France. Young Jayme enlisted
Englishmen, Frenchmen, and Provençals, the funds being supplied by
his Queen. He advanced with his little army to Narbonne, and thence
to Toulouse. His beloved sister Isabel, who had become the wife of
the Marquis of Monserrat, joined her brother when he invaded his own
territory of Roussillon. The town of Perpignan was too strong for
attack, and the Ceremonious one was making great preparations for the
defence of Catalonia. His army was assembled in the Ampurdan to oppose
an entry by the Pass of Panizas. The young King of Majorca therefore
crossed the Pyrenees, entering by the Puig-cerdan Pass, and occupied
the county of Urgel. His uncle of Aragon resorted to a way more in
accordance with his nature than a fair fight. He poisoned his nephew.
The secret crime was perpetrated at Valderan, near Urgel. Jayme died in
his sister’s arms, rendering up a life which had been devoted to the
memory of his unhappy father. It was in January 1375 that the last King
of Majorca and King Consort of Naples expired within his own rightful
dominions of Cerdaña. His body was buried in the Franciscan monastery
of Soria. His sister Isabel returned into Gascony, and died in 1379,
the last of her race.
Pedro IV., the Ceremonious, after a turbulent reign of fifty years,
occupied chiefly in unjust quarrels with his relations and neighbours,
at last died in 1396. His sons, Martin and Juan, were rightful heirs to
Majorca, the family of their Majorcan cousins having become extinct.
His daughter Leonor, wife of Juan I. of Castille, was the mother of
Henry III. of Castille, and also of Fernando (surnamed of Antequera
from having taken that town from the Moors), who, when the male line of
Aragon failed on the death of King Martin, became King of Aragon.
An ancient and most touching memorial of Jayme IV. and his sister
Isabel is still preserved at Alfavia by the descendants of their true
and faithful friends of the Santa Cilia family. The estate was held by
the Santa Cilia family for five generations, when the heiress Leonor
married Gabriel de Berga. The heiress of Berga married Zaforteza, and
Don Josè Burguez Zaforteza is now the owner of Alfavia and guardian of
the relic.
The country seat of Alfavia, at the foot of the mountain pass leading
to the valley of Soller, is surrounded by enchanting scenery. In front
there are two fir-clad mountain-peaks, with just a peep between them
of the garden of Palma, the cathedral, and the blue Mediterranean. All
round there are precipitous mountains, the lower slopes in terraces
planted with lemon and orange trees. The beautiful garden is famous
for a long pergola covered with flowing creepers, having a fountain
in each arch on either side. The entrance to the courtyard is by a
wide and lofty passage, and the first compartment of its roof is a
reminder of the Moorish origin of the house. It is a dome in the style
of the roofs at the Alhambra, the colours still visible. Round the
margin, or cornice, there is an Arabic inscription, which has been thus
translated:
‘Precept is of God: power is of God: mercy is of God: God is most
great, there is no God but Him: wealth consists in God.’
On the walls of the passage the coats-of-arms are painted of the
families which have owned Alfavia since Moorish times:
I. Ben nassar (_or a lion rampant gules_).
II. Santa Cilia (_argent three bars gules_).
III. Berga (_azure five crescents or_).
IV. Burgues (_or twelve crescents azure_).
V. Zaforteza (_gules three fleurs-de-lys or_).
But the great treasure of Alfavia is the memorial of the unfortunate
brother and sister, Jayme IV. and Isabel. It consists of a solid oaken
armchair of the fourteenth century, designed and carved for Arnaldo de
Santa Cilia in loving memory of his ill-fated friends. The workmanship
and the costumes of the figures carved on it are the evidence of
its date. The carvings represent the sorrows of the two unfortunate
children of Jayme III. On each end of the back there are lions séjant.
On the back, facing the seat, two figures are carved, a prince and
a lady, in costumes of the fourteenth century. They are seated at a
table, supposed to be a chessboard, but the surface is smooth. A small
dog is under the table. Over them there is a tree with three branches,
and foliage at the end of each. On each branch, among the foliage,
there is a bird of evil omen or of mourning--crows and owl--symbolising
the sorrows of the two young people beneath them. Below the seat there
are two fierce bloodhounds facing each other, one killing a rabbit.
At the back of the chair the carving is still more symbolical. A
laurel-tree rises out of a tomb, and among its foliage there is a
crowned head, intended for that of Jayme III. On either side of the
tree stand the same prince and princess, the prince with a hawk on his
wrist. Both point their hands down to the tomb, in which there is the
same crowned head.
In a lower compartment there is a fierce hound chasing a rabbit; and
beneath that again there is a rabbit sitting up and looking back behind
a mound, a second mound with a rabbit looking out of it, and the
hindquarters of another going into its hole. On the sides of the chair
there are niches with arches, and under two of them on either side are
armed figures in iron caps, shirts of mail, swords, and shields. One
is crowned and has a long mantle, and a bird with wings displayed is
carved on his shield.[18]
The whole composition is very curious and most interesting, alike a
touching memorial of the brother and sister, the last of their race,
and a very precious relic of antiquity.
The descendants of the second son of Jayme the Conqueror have left
a goodly record. To them Majorca owed her rights and liberties, the
settlement of her people, the founding of her towns, and all the
beginnings of her future prosperity. Devoted to the good of their
people, honourable and true to their word, wise in counsel, steadfast
in adversity, they produced also knights-errant of the most chivalrous
type, like En Fernando and like young Jayme IV., the last of his race.