The heir of Aragon was at Carcassonne, in the power of his father’s enemy, and was only six years of age. He was born on February 8, 1208. Simon de Montfort at first refused to give him up; but, owing to the intervention of the Pope, he was restored to his subjects, and arrived at Montpellier in safety with his cousin Ramon Berenguer of Provence, who was the same age. This companion of Jayme was the future grandfather of Edward I. of England.
Jayme I. of Aragon, surnamed the Conqueror, was among the greatest sovereigns in an age of great sovereigns, the age of Edward I. of England, of St. Louis of France, of St. Fernando of Castille, of Frederick II. of Germany. Accepted by his Parliament and guarded by his nobles during his minority, Jayme entered upon his duties as ruler of a free people with every advantage. His person is described by Desclot. He was very tall—over six feet—with broad shoulders, small waist, and well-proportioned limbs. He had a fair rosy complexion, blue eyes, and auburn hair. He was strong and active, very expert in all exercises on foot or horseback, valiant and well-practised in arms. He was courteous and affable to all classes of people, and he was as merciful as he was brave. There is one charming incident which throws a very pleasant light on his character. It is related in his own journal. His tent had been pitched in one place for a considerable time, and when the camp was moving it was found that a swallow had built its nest between the tent-poles. The King ordered that the tent was to remain pitched and guarded until the young swallows could fly, saying that the mother-bird had put herself under his protection, and that he could not disappoint her. Jayme, when a boy, was married to a princess of Castilla and had a son by her named Alonso, who died young. But the mother of his other children was Violante, daughter of King Andrew of Hungary and sister of St. Isabel.
The first great enterprise undertaken by King Jayme was the expulsion of the Moors from the Balearic Islands, which they had possessed for five hundred years.
Majorca, with its satellites Minorca and Iviça, forms a very fine possession. The largest of the islands, with its fifty miles of extent and area covering 1,300 square miles, is nearly square, with its two large bays of Palma and Alcudia on either side and a projection to the south-west; but the grace and beauty of its outline should have saved it from being called a ‘quadrilateral trapezoid.’ A fine range of mountains, mainly of Jurassic limestone (lias), occupies the western and northern sides of the island, with peaks rising to near 5,000 feet. The ‘Puig Galatzo,’ in sight from Palma, is 3,500, and the ‘Puig Major,’ farther north, 4,700 feet in height. The mountainous part contains lovely valleys, with much terrace-cultivation of oranges and olives, many flowering shrubs, and with the higher slopes clothed in forests of Aleppo pines. From this deep green vegetation perpendicular cliffs and peaks of white marble stand out against the deep blue sky. There are lower hills near the south coast, but the rest of the island is a most fertile huerta or garden, covered with almond and apricot trees, and crops or pasture beneath them. In the early spring the whole is one vast sea of almond-blossom. Ancient olive and carob trees take the place of almonds near the skirts of the mountains. On the northern side of the mountains, especially at Miramar, with the sea far below and the white peaks shooting up into the sky, the scene is a perfect dream of loveliness.
The Arab conquerors fully appreciated the beauty and advantages of Majorca, with its inheritance of Carthaginian and Roman traditions, ruins, and aqueducts. For does not the chronicler Ask-shakandi describe the island as ‘one of the most fertile and best cultivated countries that God ever made, and the most abundant in provisions of all kinds’? while the poet Ibn-al-labneh tells us that to its capital ‘the ringdove lent the prismatic colours of his collar, and the peacock his beautiful variegated plumage’!
It was in 716 that Abdallah, the son of Musa, overran the Balearic Islands, and they became part of the empire of the Beni Umiyyah. During this period they were fully occupied by Moors and Arabs. When the great Cordovan empire fell to pieces, a man of remarkable courage and ability was governor of the town of Denia, on the Valencian coast. This was Mujahid ibn Al Amíri, surnamed Abu-l-jayush, or the father of the army. He was a Cordovan, and a freed man of Abdu-r-rahman, son of the great conqueror Almanzor. Mujahid retained possession of Denia, and made himself Amir of the Balearic Islands in 1015. He was an undaunted warrior, an experienced sailor, and his large fleet dominated the eastern Mediterranean. His son Ali, surnamed Al Muhtadi, succeeded him in 1045, and was in close alliance with the Christian Count of Barcelona, Raymond Berenger I. A remarkable grant has been preserved by which Ali ordered that all the Christian clergy of Denia and the Balearic Islands were to be under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Barcelona. It is a proof of the liberal and tolerant spirit which actuated the Spanish Muhammadan princes. Ali was dethroned by one of this officers named Mubashir, who reigned until 1114, and from that time, though the islanders throve and their capital was enriched, the rulers became aggressive and piratical. They were kept in check to some extent by the fleets of the republic of Pisa; but they made raids on the Catalonian coast, and even sacked Barcelona on one occasion and killed its Count. No Christian ship was safe, and at last the cup of their iniquity was full. King Jayme resolved that Majorca must be conquered and that the Moorish must be replaced by a Catalan population. It was time. The chroniclers call the Moor who was then ruling at Majorca ‘Sheikh Bohibe,’ but his real name appears to have been Abu Yahye ibn Ali Imran At-tinmeleli.
King Jayme, by keeping a journal, had an immense advantage over other sovereigns. His autobiography is deeply interesting in itself: its truthfulness is self-evident, and it checks and sometimes disproves the tales of careless chroniclers. It was printed at Valencia in 1474 in Catalan, the language in which it was written; was printed in Spanish for Philip II. in 1557; and Mr. Forster’s English translation, edited by Don Pascual Gayangos, was published in 1883. Here we have a detailed narrative of the conquest of Majorca at first hand.
The young King was only in his twentieth year when the great enterprise was undertaken. He ruled over a free people, and it was necessary to call together the Ricos Hombres, the prelates, and the procurators of towns, and to submit his project for their approval. They assembled in the old palace of the Counts of Barcelona. Their assent was unanimous and enthusiastic. The Archbishop of Tarragona, too old to go himself, promised to equip one hundred knights and one thousand infantry. Then up rose En Berenguer de Palou, the Bishop of Barcelona, who was not to be outdone. He declared that he would go himself with 130 knights, one thousand soldiers, and a galley, and that he would not return until the conquest was complete. Other prelates—canons, abbots, and monks—followed these examples, down to the sacristan of Gerona, who promised to equip ten knights. The most able and experienced general among the nobles was the King’s cousin En Nuño Sans, the Count of Roussillon, and he spoke in the names of the principal Ricos Hombres, who were En Guillem de Moncada, Viscount of Bearne by marriage, a very great vassal; Ponce Hugo, Count of Ampurias; Ramon de Moncada; Bernardo de Santa Eugenia de Torrella; Jofre, Viscount of Rocaberti; Hugo de Mataplana—all promising to equip knights and foot soldiers according to their means. The young son of a German count, named Carroz, and many other volunteers, also followed the King.
Ramon de Plegamans, a wealthy merchant of Barcelona, contracted to supply arms, siege equipage, and provisions; and the thoroughness with which this was done impresses the reader, more than the numbers of troops, with the wealth and resources of the great Catalonian seaport. As many as 143 vessels were assembled, including 25 full-sized ships, 18 undecked ‘taridas,’ and 100 flat-bottomed boats. The largest ship came from Narbonne, and had three decks. The army consisted of 15,000 infantry and 1,500 cavalry. All the latest machines for hurling stones and protecting the besiegers were provided by the enterprising Plegamans.
The vessels were assembled at the small ports of Salou and Cambrils, near Tarragona, and the expedition sailed on September 1, 1229. The King’s orders were that the ship of Captain Nicolas Bonet, with En Guillermo de Moncada on board, should lead, and that young Carroz should command the rear ship. The King was in a galley belonging to Montpellier, his birthplace. There was a light wind from the shore, but before evening it began to blow hard from the south-west, with a very heavy sea. The ships were close-hauled, and making such bad weather that the pilot wanted to put back. The King would not hear of it. Towards sunset of the following day the land was in sight, and next morning the fleet was off Pollenza, the north-east extreme of Majorca. But suddenly a strong ‘Provençal’ wind sprang up, and the ships were in great danger of being driven on shore. By advice of an experienced sailor, they stood along the north-west coast of the island until the south-west extremity was reached at a place called Palomera. The King’s galley arrived first, and was followed by the rest of the fleet, not one being missing. There was a consultation with En Nuño and the Moncadas, when it was agreed that the galleys should examine the south-west coast for a good place to land, while the rest of the fleet remained at anchor. The King landed on a rock between the island of Dragonera and the main, called Pantaleu, where he passed the following Sunday. The Moors had discovered the hostile fleet, and lined the shore with a strong force of horse and foot.