by John G. Ramsey (See Chinese translation)
James of Aragon was also known as James I, the Conqueror (see other alternative names). He reigned as King of Aragon from 1208 to 1276. In early 1267, Abaqa, the "Khan of Tartary" (actually the Ilkhan), invited James to him to join forces with the Mongols and go on crusade. James then sent the ambassador Jayme Alaric de Perpignan to Abaqa, and he returned with a Mongol embassy in 1269. He made some accomplishments as king, but his private life was chaotic.
A brief biography of James of Aragon by Pascual De Gayangos is quoted below:
"James was only six years of age on his father's death, living at Carcassonne under the keeping of Montfort, whose daughter, it appears, he was to have married according to stipulation. The Count at first refused to surrender him to his subjects; but Pope Honorius III, at the instance of the Aragonese nobles having summoned him to deliver the Royal child into the hands of his legate, Pietro di Mora, the order was promptly obeyed, an assembly of the States convoked for Lérida, and young James recognised and sworn as dominus and hæres of his father's realms, under the guardianship of the provincial Master of the Templars in the castle of Monzon; the administration of the kingdom during his minority resting in his uncle Don Sancho, Count of Roussillon, assisted by two colleagues, one for Aragon, the other for Catalonia.
We need not record here the various events of James's reign, they will be distinctly set out by his own autobiographical narrative, without dispute one of the most remarkable productions of the middle ages. It will be seen how, with a courage and wisdom hardly credible at his tender age, he contrived to establish his authority over the ambitious and turbulent nobility (richs-homens) of his dominions, conquer the Balearic Islands, and drive the Moslems of Valencia and Murcia to their last rampart in the Spanish Peninsula, the beautiful city of Granada, at the foot of Sierra Elvira.
"Yet, upon the whole it must be owned that, apart [xxvi] from his brilliant qualities as a ruler, there is little left in James's long reign to command our respect. His private conduct appears to have been exceedingly profligate . . . .
"In 1246, as his confessor, the Bishop of Gerona, a most honourable and learned ecclesiastic, who had hitherto enjoyed his favour, undertook to reprimand him for his excesses . . . James, of course, was excommunicated, his kingdom placed under interdict, and himself subjected to a penance and to finish at his own expense the monastery of St. Boniface of Morella . . . . Neither was he a particularly loving father to the many sons issued from his various morganatic marriages. . . .
- Pascual De Gayangos, “Historical Introduction” in
The Chronicle of James of Aragon.
John Forster, (trans.) 1883, p. 663.
Online at: https://libro.uca.edu/chronicleofjames/chronicle.htm
Accessed 26 March 2019.
Addition biographical information can also be found Smith, Derby Accounts, Introduction, pp. lxxx-lxxxi.
The Chronicle is a commentary on the principal events of James's reign (1218-76). It is divided into four parts, the first of which relates to the troubles that followed his accession to the throne down to the final conquest of the Balearic Islands in 1233. In the second, the stirring events which preceded the invasion and conquest of Valencia, and the [xxix] surrender of that capital, are graphically narrated. The third refers to the war of Murcia (1266), undertaken entirely for the benefit of his kinsman Alfonso, surnamed "the Learned," (El Sabio); whilst in the fourth and last, the embassies received from the Khan of Tartary, Abagha Khan, and from the Emperor of Greece, Michael Palaeologus, as well as his own unsuccessful attempt, in 1268, to lead an expedition to Palestine, are recorded.
The Chronicle has 289 chapters. It refers to communication by letter and reception of emissaries from the Great Khan, known as king of the Tatars, as well as communication with “Emperor of the Greeks [Michael] Palaeologus”. The Great Khan was suggesting an alliance to conquer the [Holy] Sepulchre.
The following chapters refer to the Mongols, and indirectly to the “Silk Road”
On my return from Montpellier, and when I had reached Perpignan, Don Ferris de Liçana sent me a messenger with a letter, defying me. It happened that on that same day there came to me another letter from the King of Tatars, and so I said to the messenger: "I cannot consider myself affronted by the letter of Don Ferris, since on this very day another letter has come from the highest king in the world, expressing great affection for me. Don Ferris de Liçana knows well that I am not in the habit of going after small game; I am used to hawk herons and bustards; but since he wishes it, I will this time chase and take a pigeon, if I can." (CCCCLVII)
When I was at Valencia, there came to me Jacme Alarich with the Tatars, and with him another ambassador there was from Greece, and told me on behalf of the former, or of Great Khan, who is the King of the Tatars, that he had the desire and the will to help me: that I should go to Alayas, or any other place, and he would come to meet me; I should find in his country all I needed, victuals and engines of war, and so I, together with him, could easily conquer the [Holy] Sepulchre. He said he would furnish me with supplies. The other, the messenger from Palialogo (Palæologus), Emperor of the Greeks, said that his master would likewise send me supplies by sea. (CCCCLXXXI)
- Forster, THE CHRONICLE OF JAMES I OF ARAGON.
