King Jayme next established a coinage, which for its purity and accuracy of weight was very highly esteemed in all the Mediterranean commercial marts. Gold coins began to be issued in 1310, but none are now known to exist. The silver reals and double reals are handsome coins. They are excessively rare. The silver coinage began to be issued in 1300. The Mint-master was Bernardo de Oleza, whose arms were gules a rose argent. The rose appears on each side of the crowned head, and in the four angles of the cross on the reverse of the silver money.[12]
The representatives of the people agreed to pay a tax, called fogatje, for the support of the mint, assessed on all houses having hearths.
A pure currency is a great aid to commerce, and the trade of Majorca increased rapidly under the auspices of En Jayme. Shipbuilding progressed, and the rich and fertile soil began to yield abundant crops. The cultivation of olive-trees, though many of them now present such an extraordinarily antiquated appearance, was introduced into the island by the Catalans, and not by the Arabs.[13] The raising of stock also received much attention from the King, who in this as in other measures for the prosperity of the island, was well supported by his ‘Ricos hombres.’
The ‘Almudaina,’ or alcazar of the Moors, is a huge bastille on the right of the landing-place. The lofty walls still stand, enclosing a large space, with square towers at intervals. The exterior has undergone considerable modern alterations, but it is still quite easy to make out the appearance of the original building. King Jayme II. brought artists and expert artificers from Perpignan to convert this ancient alcazar of the Almudaina into a palace. The royal apartments were decorated with paintings and bas-reliefs, the beautiful oratory of Santa Ana was built as the royal chapel, pleasant balconies were erected, and gardens were laid out in the courts and on the terraces. The sculptor François Camprodon was employed to adorn the halls and gardens with statues. A code of palace etiquette was drawn up, and the Majorcan Court was ceremoniously conducted, while at the same time it was a home of pleasure and festivity.
To the east of the Almudaina there was a space, said to have been occupied by a garden in Moorish times, on a high platform overlooking the Mediterranean. No finer site could be found for a cathedral. The Capilla Real had been finished in the time of the Conqueror, but during the usurpation work had been stopped. Funds were raised under Jayme II. and the construction of this beautiful edifice was continued. All the stone came from the quarries of Santañi, on the south coast of the island. The cathedral presents rather a curious appearance from the sea, owing to the crowd of flying buttresses and the absence of windows, which are only allowed to give full light through stained glass in the apse. The nave is very lofty, with eight arches on each side, between seven high and slender pillars supporting a finely vaulted roof. There is a clerestory with windows blocked, but no triforium. The aisles are lower and rather narrow, with side chapels. The lofty and slender pillars rising to the vault, less than three feet in diameter, give a peculiarly solemn effect which is alike pleasing and imposing.[14] The Bishop’s palace, built round a courtyard, is to the east of the cathedral, and also overlooks the sea.
The King’s eldest son had devoted his life to religion and had become a Franciscan monk. Out of affection for him Jayme II. founded a large Franciscan monastery. A fine church rose up in due time, with a very picturesque cloister of two storeys, other buildings used as schools, and a large library with a richly carved wooden ceiling. All came to ruin on the expulsion of the monks in 1835.
En Jayme also planned and commenced one of the finest military works of his time. The castle of Belver is a beautiful object from the sea, standing on the summit of a pine-clad hill, with a background of more distant mountains. It is elliptical in shape, with a large courtyard in the centre. The accommodation is spacious. On the ground floor there is a series of vaulted chambers suitable for barracks, guard rooms, or prisons. Above there is a vaulted gallery opening on numerous large rooms, also vaulted, including a large hall and a chapel. The roof is flat and paved. Standing by itself there is a tall tower, called ‘el Torre de Homenaje,’ connected with the roof by an arch. The whole is surrounded by a deep moat. Pedro Salva, the architect, was a native of Majorca. The hill on which the castle stands, 450 feet above the sea, is entirely covered with pine-trees (Pinus Halepensis), with an undergrowth of lentisco-bushes, wild lavender, and a purple cistus. Between the bushes the ground is covered with asphodel and the leaves of an arisarum.
En Jayme brought architects, sculptors, and decorators to Majorca, as well as troubadours and musicians, and he encouraged native talent. But the great ornament of his reign was an eminent philosopher and theologian. Ramon Lull, or Raimundo Lulio of Barcelona, was one of the companions of Jayme I., and received two alquerias or farms at the partition. He was married to Heril de Cataluña, and their son Raimundo was born in the capital of Majorca in about the year 1235. His parents wished him to learn to read, but he cared for nothing but arms, and became a page to En Jayme. He neglected his duties to the Prince and gave up nearly all his time to rather scandalous love affairs. His parents thought that the only cure was marriage, and they married him to a girl named Catalina Labots; but this only appeared to increase his devotion to other married women. His conversion was miraculous. He had a celestial vision in the garden of the bishop’s palace, and another in his own house, when he heard the words, ‘Raimundo, follow me!’ He sold all his property, only reserving a small portion for his wife and children, and in 1266 he embarked for Barcelona to visit the shrines of Montserrat and Santiago. He then returned home to cause edification by his example in the same place where his former life had been so scandalous. He was well past his thirtieth year.
Lulio then began to learn Arabic from a slave, with the intention of preaching to the Moors; but one day he flogged his teacher for blaspheming God, who retaliated by stabbing Lulio in the breast. The new convert then left the abodes of man and went up an isolated hill called Randa, well in sight from the anchorage off the capital of Majorca. Here his life was a continual succession of prayers, penitence, and tears. He was favoured with more celestial visions. His mind seems to have been filled with zeal for the conversion of unbelievers; and he also developed some crude philosophical ideas in his solitude. Jayme II. was at this time at Montpellier, and, hearing of the miraculous conversion of his former page, he sent for him. En Jayme was struck by the earnestness, the eloquence, and the ability of the new convert. When Lulio entreated the King to establish a school in Majorca for teaching Arabic, with a view to preaching to the infidels, he consented. He made a grant of money sufficient to sustain thirteen monks, and assigned for their college a farm in a lovely spot on the north coast of the island, overlooking the sea, called Miramar. Here Lulio studied, and wrote his theories and ideas; but his plan did not succeed, and the college was a failure.
Lulio went to Rome, and then to Paris, where he read his system and argued some points with the famous Duns Scotus and his disciples. In 1290 he was at Montpellier and Genoa, whence he embarked for Tunis. Here he preached the faith of Christ openly, was beaten, and eventually banished. He travelled through Armenia and the holy Land; and afterwards wandered over Europe, preaching a crusade to recover Jerusalem. Another year found him at Paris once more, reading his system, which at length received the approbation of the University. In 1314 Lulio was again travelling through Egypt and the Holy Land; and two years afterwards we find him in England, studying physics as then understood. During the intervals of travel he diligently wrote books on every imaginable subject. He reached his eightieth year, and longed for martyrdom. So he embarked in a vessel bound for Tunis, and went thence to Bugia. He preached Christ openly and persistently until he was taken out of the town and stoned. Some Genoese begged for the martyr’s body, and conveyed it to Majorca. The date of the martyrdom was June 29, 1315. Lulio was buried in the church of San Francisco. The effigy of the martyr rests sideways and rather high up on the wall of a transept; above it two angels are bearing up his soul, below are the arms of Lulio and Majorca, at the sides angels in niches.