Part 4 of an occasional series; Failed States.
The Kingdom of Aragon
Aragon originated in 1137, when the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona, including the Counties of Provence, Girona, Cerdanya, Osona and other territories, merged by dynastic union upon the marriage of Petronilla of Aragon and Raymond Berenguer IV of Barcelona, the first ruler of the united dynasty, called himself Count of Barcelona and Prince of Aragon.
Aragon looked to expand south, contesting with Castile for the control of the middle valley of the Ebro.
Barcelona looked to expand north to its origins in Occitania. Through family ties it had significant influence, especially in Provence and Foix.
Jointly they looked south along the Mediterranean coast and out into the Mediterranean Sea.
King Peter II
Pedro or Peter II the Catholic was King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1196 to 1213.
Pedro II appeared before the Pope Innocent III in 1205 to feudalise Aragon to the Papacy in order to consolidate his monarchy, thus he is known as “the Catholic”.
He married Marie of Montpelier, heiress of William VIII of Montpelier, in 1204, by whom he had a son, Jaime. Pedro soon repudiated her but Marie was popularly venerated as a saint for her piety.
Pedro II participated in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 which marked the turning point of Muslim domination in the Iberian Peninsula.
Albigensian Crusade
The Crown of Aragon was dominant in what is now south-western France. At the time it was under the control of vassal local Princes, such as the Counts of Toulouse.
The Cathars or Albigensians rejected the authority and the teachings of the Catholic Church. Pedro was faced with defending the interests of Rome against his own vassals beyond the Pyrenees.
Pedro's reluctance meant Pope Innocent called upon Philip II of France to suppress the Albigensians. Under the leadership of Simon of Montfort the Albigensian Crusade was launched.
Begun in 1209, the Crusade led to the slaughter of approximately 20,000 men, women and children, Cathar and Catholic alike. Over the course of twenty years, military campaigns essentially destroyed the previously flourishing civilization of Occitania and by 1229 brought the region firmly under the control of the King of France, and the Capetian dynasty from the north of France.
By mid-1209 around 10,000 Crusaders had gathered in Lyon. Mainly from the northern French lands they were attracted by the Papal dispensations given for limited-time service. Marching south their first target was the lands of the Trencavels, powerful lords of Carcassonne, Béziers, Albi and the Razes. In June, Raymond VI of Toulouse was “persuaded”, by the threat of excommunication reinforced by a public whipping, to stand to one side whilst the Crusaders attacked the Trencavel lands. Raymond VI promised to act against the Cathars, and his excommunication was lifted.
Raymond Roger de Trencavel sought an accommodation with the Crusaders but was refused a meeting; he raced back to Carcassonne and prepared its defences. The town of Béziers was besieged, Catholic inhabitants of the city were granted the freedom to leave unharmed, but many refused and stayed to fight alongside the Cathars. Asked how to tell Cathars from Catholics, Arnaud Amaury, the Cistercian abbot-commander replied,
"Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius" -"Kill them all, the Lord will recognise His own". The city of Béziers was sacked in July and its population massacred.
Carcassonne was well fortified, but vulnerable and over-populated with refugees. The Crusaders arrived outside the town on August 1, 1209. As vassal of Pedro II of Aragon, Raymond Roger had hoped for protection, but Pedro was powerless to oppose Pope Innocent III's army and could act only as a mediator.
The siege did not last long. With the town's access to water cut, Raymond Roger negotiated terms in the Crusader camp. At their conclusion he was taken prisoner, while still under safe conduct, and imprisoned in his own dungeon, where he died several months later.
Simon de Montfort was granted the Trencavel lands by the Pope and did homage for them to the King of France. This incurred the enmity of Pedro II of Aragon.
Simon attempted to hold on to his gains in the winter months when the crusading forces were depleted, with only a small force of confederates operating from the main winter camp at Fanjeaux. Local lords who had sworn fealty to him out of necessity deserted.
Summer campaigns saw him not only retake, sometimes with brutal reprisals, what he had lost in the "close" season, but also seek to widen his sphere of operation. After the massacre of Béziers, capture of Carcassonne and the death of Raymond Roger Trencavel, Raymond VI of Toulouse again shifted allegiance.
The Crusaders were now within his territory and attacking Lavaur. He was again excommunicated and tried to organize resistance against the Crusaders. More of a diplomat than a soldier, he was unable to stop the advance of Simon de Montfort, who conquered Toulouse.
Finally the lords of Occitan, almost as one swore allegiance to Pedro of Aragon and put together a substantial army.
Upon Pedro's return from Las Navas in autumn 1212, he found that Simon de Montfort had conquered Toulouse, exiling Count Raymond VI of Toulouse, who was Pedro's brother-in-law and vassal. Pedro crossed the Pyrenees where he was joined by Raymond of Foix and Raymond of Toulouse with their forces.
Raymond of Toulouse tried to persuade Pedro to avoid battle and instead starve out de Montfort's forces. The suggestion was rejected.
They trapped the Crusaders at Muret. The Battle of Muret began on 12 September 1213. Although the Crusaders were hopelessly outnumbered, the Aragonese forces were disorganized and disintegrated under the assault of Montfort's squadrons. Pedro himself was caught in the thick of the fighting, and died as a result of a foolhardy act of bravado. He was thrown to the ground and killed. The Aragonese forces broke in panic when their King was slain and de Montfort's crusaders won a crushing victory.
The nobility of Toulouse and Foix, vassals of the Crown of Aragon, were defeated.
The conflict culminated in the Treaty of Meaux-Paris in 1229, in which the integration of the Occitan territory into the French crown was agreed upon.
Upon Pedro's death, the Kingdom of Aragon passed to his only son by Marie of Montpelier, Jaime I.
The defeat of Pedro II had forced to the Crown to renounce to their interests beyond the Pyrenees and direct their energy expanding into the Mediterranean and the Levant.
The County of Provence had become virtually independent but found itself in conflict with a resurgent Raymond of Toulouse. Before Raymond's death in 1222, he had succeeded in recovering most of his territories. In 1229 his son Raymond VII signed the Treaty of Paris recognizing him as ruler of Toulouse in exchange for his fighting the Cathars, returning all church property, turning over his castles and destroying the defences of Toulouse.
Afterwards
In the first half of the 13th century Jaime I conquered Majorca and the Kingdom of Valencia. He also conquered the Kingdom of Denia, the limit of conquests agreed under the Treaty of Cazola with the Kingdom of Castile.
The Treaty of Corbeil in 1258, agreed natural frontiers with France which renounced its feudal overlordship of Catalonia.
Jaime co-operated with Castile in 1266, conquering Murcia but handing it over to Castile in accordance with the terms of Cazola.
In his will, in 1276, Jaime I created the Kingdom of Majorca for his son Jaime, consisting of Roussillon, the Balearics and Montpelier, but the Kingdom proved very unstable and, so became a vassal of Aragon in 1279 and was re-absorbed in 1344.
Angevins and Vespers
Charles brother of Louis IX of France was named Count of Anjou and Maine. Charles married the heiress of the County of Provence, Beatrice of Provence, inheriting the county in 1241.
After fighting in the Seventh Crusade, Charles was offered the Kingdom of Sicily by Pope Clement IV this comprised the island of Sicily and the southern half of the Italian Peninsula. At the Battle of Benevento Charles gained the Kingdom from the ruling Hohenstaufens, this was cemented by victory at Tagliacozzo. French rule soon assumed a repressive and ferocious character.
Charles' ambitions mimicked that of the Norman creators of the Kingdom of Sicily to carve out new lands in the Balkans. Dynastic marriage gained Angevin possession of Corfu and cities in the Balkans such as Durazzo, as well as suzerainty over the Principality of Achaea and sovereignty of the Aegean islands. Charles had fully solidified his rule over Durazzo by 1272, creating a small Kingdom of Albania for himself, out of previously Despotate of Epirus territory; he was supported by local chiefs.
For a while Charles was preoccupied helping Louis IX in the unsuccessful Eighth Crusade to Tunis. He then, once again, focused on Constantinople, but his fleet was wrecked in a freak storm.
In 1282, the Sicilians rose up against the Angevins in the Sicilian Vespers and massacred four thousand Frenchmen over the course of the next six weeks across the island. Peter III of Aragon responded to their call, and landed in Trapani to an enthusiastic welcome. Messina held out for Charles but after diplomatic errors by the commander, Messina revolted.
Pope Martin IV excommunicated Peter III, placed the island of Sicily under interdiction, and offered the Kingdom of Aragon to a son of Philip III of France. The Pope declared a crusade against Peter III on the grounds that Sicily was a papal fief.
Catalan admiral Roger of Lauria pursued the war in Italy on behalf of Peter. He ravaged the Calabrian coast and kept a strong naval presence. A fleet from Provence set out for Naples. Roger took Malta and defeated the Angevin Provençal fleet near the islands in the Battle of Malta. Roger then drew Charles the Lame, the heir of the Neapolitan King Charles, out of Naples' port.
Roger utterly routed him, destroying the whole Angevin navy in the Battle of the Gulf of Naples. Roger took the Prince and 42 ships captive to Messina. Charles the elder arrived in Italy at that time, but died soon after in 1285 and the war in Italy was put on hold due to lack of leadership on both sides: Charles' successor was a prisoner and Peter III was dealing with a new menace, the Aragonese Crusade.
Pope Martin IV bestowed Aragon on Charles, Count of Valois, son of the French king, Philip III, and nephew of Peter III.
The crusade soon caused civil war within Aragon, as Peter's brother, King James II of Majorca, joined the French. James' Kingdom included the County of Roussillon and thus stood between the French and Aragonese. Peter had opposed James' inheritance as a younger son and reaped the consequence of such rivalry in the crusade.
Peter's eldest son, Alfonso, was placed in charge of defending the border with Navarre, ruled by Philip III's son, Philip the Fair. Although Peter feared a full-scale invasion from Navarre, there were only some cross-border raids. Philip the Fair joined the main invading army under his father.
French armies under Philip and Charles entered Roussillon. Though they had James' support, the local populace rose against them. The city of Elne was valiantly defended but eventually it was taken. The cathedral was burned and the population massacred.
In 1285, Philip the Bold entrenched himself before Girona besieging it. Resistance was strong, but the city was taken. Charles was crowned there, but without an actual crown. The Cardinal placed his own hat on the Count's head. For this, Charles was derisively nicknamed “
Roi du chapeau” "King of the hat".
The French soon experienced a reversal at the hands of Admiral Roger de Lauria. The French fleet was defeated and destroyed at the Battle of Les Formigues. The French camp, including Philip, was hit hard by dysentery.
Philip of Navarre opened negotiations with Peter for free passage for the royal family through the Pyrenees. French troops were not offered such passage and were decimated at the Battle of the Col de Panissars.
Philip III died at Perpignan and was buried in Narbonne. Peter III did not long survive him.
The Treaty of Tarascon of 1291 officially restored Aragon to his heir, Alfonso III, and lifted the ban of the church.
With the Treaty of Tarascon, the war with Aragon ended, but it had little effect following the death of Alfonso within months. Alfonso's brother, James I of Sicily, inherited Aragon and united the two realms. In 1295, James signed the Treaty of Anagni whereby he gave up Sicily to the papacy, with Pope Boniface VIII granting it to Charles the Lame. However, Peter III's third son, Frederick, the regent of Sicily, refused to acquiesce in the treaty, the Sicilian populace proclaiming him King.
The war was renewed between Aragonese Sicily and Angevin Naples. The treaty, however, obligated James to enter the war assisting Charles. He sent his fleet from Catalonia to harass his brother's coasts. Frederick went on the offensive quickly and invaded Calabria in 1296. He seized several towns, encouraged revolt in Naples, negotiated with Tuscany and Lombardy, and assisted the house of Colonna against the pope.
James was serious about fulfilling his part of the treaty of 1295 and enforcing a peace. In this he had the support of John of Procida and Roger of Lauria, his father's ablest men. On 4 July 1299, James himself led his fleet with Roger of Lauria and defeated his brother at the Battle of Cape Orlando. Meanwhile, Charles' sons, Robert (who had married James' daughter) and Philip, had landed in Sicily and captured Catania.
Philip moved to besiege Trapani, but was defeated and captured by Frederick at the Battle of Falconaria. On 14 June 1300, Roger of Lauria defeated the Sicilians again at the Battle of Ponza. Frederick himself was captured in battle.
In 1302, Charles of Valois came down into Italy at the request of Pope Boniface. He landed in Sicily, but his army was ravaged by the plague and forced to sue for peace. The Peace of Caltabellotta was signed and Frederick was recognised as King in Sicily, with the title of
King of Trinacria. Charles was recognised as King in the peninsula, with the title of
King of Sicily, usually rendered as "King of Naples," his capital.
What If?
I consider Aragon to be a failed state despite its obvious success and dominance in the Western Mediterranean.
The union with Castile slaved Aragon to Madrid, what would have happened if Pedro II had not died in battle?
Simon de Montfort died himself in 1215 and Louis IX of France struggled to resist Raymond of Toulouse's resurgence.
Could Pedro II have defeated the Crusade, dealt with the Cathars and brought Provence back into obedience?
I believe he could. Without the Angevin inheritance of Provence the Pope may have turned to Peter III to oust the Hohenstaufens from the Kingdom of Sicily.
The wider implications of Pedro's survival;
No Angevin Dynasty in Hungary or interfering in the Balkans conflicts [that's not to say the Aragonese would not].
Simon de Monfort’s younger son (also called Simon) was confirmed as the Earl of Leicester and made Seneshal of Gascony, thereby ensuring that there would be no attack by Crusaders. Without this what happens to the start of the modern Parliament?
No Aragonese Crusade, Philip the Fair is said to have gained his, almost anti-Papist, stance during this campaign, would he be the same if Pedro II survived? Would the Templars have survived a changed Philip?
Would the Eighth Crusade have aimed at Tunis without Sicily being Angevin?
Lastly, how would another powerful potential ally have affected the Hundred Years War and the Castilian Civil War?