Huesca temática

Number 151 - December of 2010Spanish language Principal menu


Pedro IV of Aragon

King of Aragon, Valencia and
Sardinia and Corsica and Count of Barcelone

     He was born at 5 of October of 1319, in Balaguer. Pedro IV of Aragon was called The Ceremonious or also "that of the Punyalet" - for a little dagger that he usually carried-; he was Pedro IIth of Valencia and of Ampurias, Ith of Majorca and Sardinia and IIIth of Barcelona; king of Aragon, Valencia and count of Barcelone (1336-1387); king of Majorca (1344-1387), duke of Athens (1380-1387) and Neopatria (1377-1387) and count of Ampurias (1386-1387). His father was Alfonso IV The Benign..
      For the agreement of Madrid of 1339, he helped Alfonso XI of Castile in the conquest of Algeciras (1344) and in the attempt of conquering Gibraltar (1349).
     When beginning his reign, the Kingdom of Majorca was governed by his brother-in-law -and distant uncle- Jaime III of Majorca, great-grandchild of Jaime I the Conqueror. For the Concord of Perpiñán, the king of Majorca was vassal of the Aragonese; vassalage that was only admitted by the force immediately after the campaign of conquest of Alfonso Franco (1285) that lasted until, for the treaty of Anagni (1295), Jaime II gave up this sovereignty.
     After facing for diverse questions, Pedro IV declared the Majorcan king guilty of the public process in his against (1343) and, in fulfillment of the judgment, he invaded Majorca and defeated to the troops of Jaime III in Saint Ponça. Later he conquered the Roussillon also.
      After surrendering, Jaime III were deprived of the throne, although was respected to him the lordship of Montpellier, from where he tried to recover Cerdaña and Conflent. He attacked Majorca (1349) and was defeated and conquered. in a definitive way in the battle of Llucmajor in which Jaime III died.
      After death of Jaime III, Pedro allowed that Jaime IV (prisoner till 1362) conserved this title in a purely formal way, but on his death in 1375, the own Pedro IV assumed the charge. He incorporated this way the Kingdom from Majorca to the Crown of Aragon in a definitive way, situation that stayed until the Ordinances of "New Plant".
     He was a strong and hard monarch who reorganized the court, the administration and the army, directing his activities to increase the real power inside his kingdom and to increase his domains in the Mediterranean Sea, thing that managed with the expedition of the almogavars, after these conquered the duchies of Athens and Neopatria.
      He defeated to the union of the noblemen in Épila; supported Enrique de Trastámara against Pedro I de Castilla; snatched from his brother-in-law Jaime III of Majorca the Roussillon and tried the incorporation of Sicily to his kingdom.
     In 1347 and 1348 he had to suffocate the riot of the Union of Aragon, merged to the Union of Valencia and directed by his stepbrother the Infante Fernando de Aragón, who was not accepting that had been nominated heiress of the crown his elder daughter, Constance of Aragon, since at this moment no son male she had.
      The black pest provoked the death of the queen Leonor de Portugal (1348) who Pedro had married one year earlier. To be widowed, he contracted new marriage with Leonor of Sicily, with who he had three children: Juan, Martín and Leonor, wife of Juan I of Castile.
     In 1351 he entered war against Genoa, supporting Venice, since the Genoeses were promoting riots in Sardinia. The Genoeses occupied the Alguer, from which were expelled by the Catalans in 1354. The city was repopulated later with Catalans, what explains that the Sardinian city should be still nowadays catalan-talking. Pedro IV had to suffocate a riot of Arboreal in the island between 1364 and 1386 also.

      By the same way faced Peter I Cruel of Castile in the acquaintance like "war of two Pedros". Peter I wanted to recover the territories of Murcia that had gone to the Kingdom of Valencia. The conflict ended with the Almazán peace in 1375 without winners or conquered. The disasters of this war joined the black pest and other natural disasters. as the drought or the plagues of lobsters.
     During his reign the Generality was instituted, in the Spanish Parliament celebrated in Barcelona, Villafranca del Panadés and Cervera in 1358-1359. Castile had invaded Aragon and Valencia what gave place to warlike diverse confrontations that caused big expenses to the crown. That's why, the Spanish Parliament designated twelve deputies with executive attributions in fiscal matter, as well as a few "listeners of accounts" that were controlling the administration under the authority of Berenguer de Cruïlles, considered like the first President of the Generality.
     Pedro IV of Aragon who was entitled himself Pedro Third, told to canonize the ceremony of the coronation of the kings from Aragon in Aragonese language "Ordinacion feyta por el muyt alto e muyt excellent Princep e Senyor el Senyor Don Pedro tercero Rey dAragon, de la manera como los Reyes dAragon se faran consagrar e ellos mismos se coronaran". He ordered to create the Real Sepulchers of the monastery of Poblet.
     He married in 1338 María of Navarrese (1326–1347), kings' daughter of Navarrese - Felipe III and Juana II. Descendant:
     Constanza (1343 - 1363), married in 1361 Federico III of Sicily.
      Juana (1344 - 1385), married in 1373 Juan I of Ampurias.
      María (1345 - 1348).
      Pedro (1347).
      In 1347 he married Leonor of Portugal (1328 - 1348), daughter of the king of Portugal Alfonso IV. She died the following year by the Black Pest, without descendant.
     In 1349 he married Leonor of Sicily (1325-1375), daughter of the king Pedro II of Sicily. Descendant:
      Juan I (1350-1396).
      Martín I (1356-1410).
      Leonor (1358-82), married with the king Juan I of Castile. She was the mother Fernando I of Antequera.
     
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      In 1377 he married Sibyl of Fortiá (1350-1406), daughter of the noble of the Ampurdán Berenguer of Fortiá. Descendant:
     Alfonso (born in 1378; he died young)..
     Isabel (1380–1424) that married future pretender Jaime II of Urgel.
      Pedro IV of Aragon who was crowned in 1336, died in Barcelona January 5 1387, being 67 years old. His funeral was carried out in Royal Sepulchers of the monastery of Poblet.
      His successor will be Juan I.

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