Alfonso III of Aragon

Alfonso III
King of Aragon, Valencia and Count of Barcelona
Reign	1285–1291
Coronation	2 February 1286 (Valencia) 9 April 1286 (Zaragoza)
Predecessor	Peter III
Successor	James II
Born	4 November 1265 Valencia
Died	18 June 1291 (aged 26) Barcelona
Burial	Barcelona Cathedral; prev. Convent de San Francisco, Barcelona
House	House of Barcelona
Father	Peter III of Aragon
Mother	Constance of Sicily
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Alfonso III (4 November 1265, in Valencia – 18 June 1291), called the Liberal (el Liberal) or the Free (also "the Frank," from el Franc), was the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona (as Alfons II) from 1285. He conquered the Kingdom of Majorca between his succession and 1287.

He was a son of King Peter III of Aragon and Constance, daughter and heiress of King Manfred of Sicily.

Soon after assuming the throne, he conducted a campaign to reincorporate the Balearic Islands into the Kingdom of Aragon - which had been lost due to the division of the kingdom by his grandfather, James I of Aragon. Thus in 1285 he declared war on his uncle, James II of Majorca, and conquered both Majorca (1285) and Ibiza (1286), effectively reassuming suzerainty over the Kingdom of Majorca. He followed this with the conquest of Minorca - until then, an autonomous Muslim state (Manûrqa) within the Kingdom of Majorca - on 17 January 1287, the anniversary of which now serves as Minorca's national holiday.

He initially sought to maintain Aragonese control over Sicily early in his reign by supporting the claims to the island of his brother, James II of Aragon. However, he later retracted the support for his brother shortly before his death and instead tried to make peace with the Papal States France.

His reign was marred by a constitutional struggle with the Aragonese nobles, which eventually culminated in the articles of the Union of Aragon - the so-called "Magna Carta of Aragon", which devolved several key royal powers into the hands of lesser nobles. His inability to resist the demands of his nobles was to leave a heritage of disunity in Aragon and further dissent amongst the nobility, who increasingly saw little reason to respect the throne, and brought the Kingdom of Aragon close to anarchy.

During his lifetime a dynastic marriage with Eleanor, daughter of King Edward I of England, was arranged. However Alfonso died before meeting his bride. He died at the age of 26 in 1291, and was buried in the Franciscan convent in Barcelona; since 1852 his remains have been buried in Barcelona Cathedral.

Dante Alighieri, in the Divine Comedy, recounts that he saw Alfonso's spirit seated outside the gates of Purgatory with the other monarchs whom Dante blamed for the chaotic political state of Europe during the 13th century.

Ancestry

Family of Alfonso III of Aragon

16. Alfonso II of Aragon 8. Peter II of Aragon 17. Sancha of Castile 4. James I of Aragon 18. William VIII of Montpellier 9. Maria of Montpellier 19. Eudokia Komnene 2. Peter III of Aragon 20. Béla III of Hungary 10. Andrew II of Hungary 21. Agnes of Antioch 5. Violant of Hungary 22. Peter II of Courtenay 11. Yolanda de Courtenay 23. Yolanda of Flanders 1. Alfonso III of Aragon 24. Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor 12. Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor 25. Constance of Sicily 6. Manfred of Sicily 13. Bianca Lancia 3. Constance of Sicily 28. Thomas I, Count of Savoy 14. Amadeus IV, Count of Savoy 29. Margaret of Geneva 7. Beatrice of Savoy 30. Hugh III, Duke of Burgundy 15. Marguerite of Burgundy 31. Beatrice of Albon

Sources

• Alighieri, Dante, Purgatorio, Canto VII, l. 115ff.
• Jones, Michael (2000). McKitterick, Rosamond (ed.). The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 6, C.1300-c.1415. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521362900. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Nelson, Lynn. The Chronicle of San Juan De LA Pena: A Fourteenth-Century Official History of the Crown of Aragon (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991) ISBN 0-8122-1352-1
• O'Callaghan, Joseph. A History of Medieval Spain (Cornell University Press, 1983) ISBN 0-8014-9264-5