James II of Majorca
James II of Mallorca (Montpellier, May 31, 1243-City of Mallorca, 1311) was the second son of James I the Conqueror and Violante of Hungary and reigned between 1276 and 1311 with the titles of King of Majorca, Count of Roussillon and Cerdanya and Lord of Montpellier. It is important not to confuse this monarch with his nephew and contemporary Jaime II of Aragon the Just.
His domains included the Kingdom of Majorca; formed by the islands of Mallorca, Ibiza and Formentera, the counties of Roussillon and Cerdanya, the lordship of Montpellier, the barony of Omeladès and the viscounty of Carladès. Menorca, still inhabited by Muslims, paid vassalage to him.
These territories, widely dispersed, were a very small part compared to what his older brother Pedro III the Great had received after his father's testamentary distribution.
Reign
On the death of his father, he received the kingdom in full freedom by paternal will, according to the last testament of 1272, which divided the Crown of Aragon into two legally independent entities, representing the birth of a new kingdom within the international context under the aegis of the papacy.
On September 12, 1276, he swore in the church of Santa Eulalia the frankness of the kingdom and began his reign as an independent sovereign. Reign hindered by his brother Pedro III of Aragon who, by secret protest, did not accept the paternal will. Finally, faced with the ineffectiveness of the papacy, he was forced to swear (1279) in the convent of the Preachers in Perpignan, after declaring his disagreement before a notary, alleging the & # 34; potentia armorum & # 34; from his brother, the pact of vassalage. A fact that would condition the relations between the two throughout the existence of the kingdom of Mallorca.
After the conquest of Sicily by Pedro III of Aragon, James II allied with Pope Martin IV and Philip III Capet, King of France, when they invaded Catalonia. After the invasion was repulsed, after the defeat of the French fleet by the Aragonese fleet commanded by Admiral Roger de Lauria in the battle of Formigues (1285), the Aragonese monarchs began the conquest of the Balearic Islands (1285). Alfonso III the Franco of Aragon seized Majorca (1285) and Ibiza (1286), and Menorca (1287) from the Muslims definitively (the sovereign of Menorca had been a tributary since 1231, first of Jaime I and then of Jaime II).
The Balearic Islands will be under the control of Aragon until 1295. The continental territories of the kingdom (the counties of Roussillon and Cerdagne, the lordship of Montpellier) remain in his power throughout his reign.
Alfonso's successor, James II the Just of Aragon, finally accepts the decision of Pope Boniface VIII (Treaty of Anagni, 1295) and returns all the islands to James II of Majorca. However, the Aragonese king managed to ensure that the kingdom of Mallorca continued to be a vassal of the King of Aragon, according to the conditions of the 1279 treaty. Jaime de Mallorca would only recognize this vassalage through the Argilers treaty (1298).
Jaime II would reign over the islands for more than two decades and strove to ensure the viability of the kingdom. He promoted a vast policy of agrarian colonization, with the creation of new population centers; he increased the royal rents; he favored the creation of consulates in North Africa and in the kingdom of Granada; created a new monetary system for the kingdom; encouraged the creation of textile industries; proceeded to increase royal power over the nobility and the Church; and promoted the construction of palaces and castles (palace-castles of Perpignan and the City of Majorca —La Almudaina—, the latter's cathedral, Bellver castle). The opening of the process to the Templars and subsequent suppression of the order would allow the seizure of the income of the Order on the islands. He was also a protector of Ramon Llull.
Relationship with Jaime I
The infant Jaime tended to lose out to the ambitions of his brother Pedro, although his relationship with his father appeared to be good. He confined himself to the Balearic Islands as a way of avoiding conflicts with his brothers, but even so, in 1260 he was declared heir to the kingdoms of Majorca, Montpellier, Cerdanya, and Roussillon.
There are actions that reveal the decisive trust that Jaime I had in his son, an example of which is the fact that he ceded to him the regency of the territories that he was preparing to inherit while he was in the Holy Land in order to avoid the claims of his brothers or the fact that his father allowed him to choose a wife.
Marriage and offspring
Infrequently at the time, his father allowed him to choose a wife, and in 1265 he married Esclaramunda de Foix, daughter of Roger IV, Count of Foix. From this marriage six children were born:
- Jaime (1272-1302), who professed as Franciscan friar.
- Sancho I de Mallorca (1276-1324), dead without descent and currently buried in the Cathedral of Perpignan.
- Fernando de Mallorca (1278-1316), whose son Jaime III of Mallorca succeeded his brother Sancho I of Mallorca.
- Isabel de Mallorca (1280-1301), who married Don Juan Manuel, son of Infante Manuel de Castilla and grandson of Fernando III de Castilla.
- Sancha de Mallorca (1285-Nápoles, 1345). He married Roberto I of Naples, the son of Carlos II of Sicily. Sepulted in Santa Chiara de Naples, just like her husband.
- Felipe de Mallorca (1288-1340). Regent of Mallorca between 1324 and 1329.
King Jaime II apparently had only one illegitimate daughter, Saura de Mallorca, daughter of a lady known as Saura de Monreal.
Burial
Upon his death, the corpse of Jaime II of Mallorca was buried in the Royal Chapel of the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca, and in the XVIII, Carlos III ordered that his remains be deposited in a tomb placed in the center of the temple, which until the moment of its replacement caused a bad impression on visitors, due to the bad taste that characterized it. It was possible for the general public to open the sepulcher to see directly the corpse of the king. Many took the opportunity to take souvenirs such as their teeth, hair or pieces of skin. Queen Isabella II of Spain visited the coffin and upon seeing it she ordered that it be covered with a glass lid for her protection and that the corpse be dressed in new clothes to dignify it.
The remains of King James II of Majorca currently rest, since 1947, after numerous transfers throughout history within the same building, in a neo-Gothic alabaster stone sepulcher, in the Chapel of the Trinidad, in the company of the remains of his grandson, King Jaime III of Majorca, who is found in another sepulcher located next to him.
The tomb where the king's remains rest is the work of the Catalan artist Frederic Marès, who also made that of Jaime II's grandson, Jaime III, located in the same chapel.
| Predecessor: Jaime I de Aragón |  King of Mallorca 1276-1311 | Successor: Sancho I |