On Palm Sunday, 1230, the Moorish fugitives in the various caves surrendered, to the number of 1,500 men, women, and children, with an immense quantity of wheat and barley, cows and sheep, and jewels of gold and silver. En Jayme returned in triumph to Palma, where his satisfaction was increased by the arrival of a large reinforcement. Soon afterwards some of the Moors in the western mountains submitted to the conqueror.
The King busied himself with the political settlement of the land, dividing the estates among his nobles and knights, and granting very extensive privileges to the Catalan settlers. He then resolved to return to his Continental dominions. En Bernardo de Santa Eugenia, Lord of Torrella, was appointed the first Governor and Captain-General of the kingdom of Majorca. His descendants still enjoy the quinta of Canet and other estates granted to him. His brother was the first Bishop. The Moorish prisoners were made to labour on the public works. Those who had submitted voluntarily were allowed to retain houses and lands, paying rent and cultivating the ground. Some became Christians. Soon many settlers arrived with their wives, while many wives of the soldiers joined their husbands.
At length the day came for the King to depart. He was much beloved, and there was general mourning. He made a farewell speech, and the knights who had gone through so many dangers and hardships with him were affected to tears. With only two galleys King Jayme embarked at the port of Palomera on October 28, 1230, and landed near Tarragona. He was received with great rejoicings by all classes of the people.
CHAPTER IV
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.