Jaime III of Aragon (Barcelona, 1443 - Coll de Panissars, 1471),
called "the Unfortunate" (Spanish: el Desdichado, Catalan "el Dissortat")
King of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca, Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica and king of Naples,
and count of Barcelona, Roussillon and Cerdanya.
Jaime III had a brief and unlucky life and an even shorter and unfortunate reign. In 1463, even before he could be crowned after the death of his father, his right to the crown was soon disputed by Carlos, earl of Urgell, that, stated his own right, as his own line was the true heir of the kingdom and that neither Jaime nor Alfonso were the true sons of the late Pedro V, but the result of the love affair between the late queen Maria with one of her favourites, either the Duke of Terrassa or the Duke of Pratdip. Carlos of Urgell went even further when he doubted that Maria could be the real mother of the two princes because she was not capable of having childs because of her age.
Chaos ensued.
Jaime III was supported by some powerful lords, among them Bernat Gilabert de Cruïlles, earl of Cruïlles; Pedro Fernandez de Azagra, lord of Albarracín; Berenguer d'Anglesola, earl of Anglesola; Lope Ferrench de Luna; and the two brother Salvador of Lleonart, Lord of Alella, and his younger brother, Francesc. With their help, he was crownded in Zaragoza on 2 February 1463, but this act was not recognized by neither the Catalan nor the Valencia Parliaments until the new king did not affirm the liberties and privileges of this two kingdoms, as it was traditional.
Bad advised or hardly inclined to go neither to Barcelona, whose city council backed Carlos d'Urgell, nor to Valencia, which had been the first big city of the Aragonese kingdom where the illegetimacy rumours began to spread and it had a strong Urgellist party, Jaime III refused to do so. Carlos, also loosing his temper, led a small force toward Zaragoza, and was met by Jaime's forces at Belchite, west of Zaragoza, on 22 March 1463. The relatively small Battle of Belchite was the first open conflict of the civil war. The result was a loyalist defeat. Several prominent Loyalist leaders, including Azagra and Roger, duke of Terrasa, were killed, and Jaime had to fled to Zaragoza, where he was captured by Carlos of Urgell.
In the light of this military success, Carlos pressed his claim to the throne based on the illegitimacy of the king and of his brother. Carlos entered Zaragoza on 1 April 1463 with all the ceremony usually reserved for a monarch. Parliament was assembled, and when Carlos entered he went straight for the throne. Perhaos he may had thoguth that the Lords would encourage him to take for himself, but he only found stunned silence. He then made public his claim to the throne. The Aragonese and a small part of the Valencian Lords were shocked by his presumptions.
On the next day, Carlos was to produce detailed genealogies to support his claim based on his descent, and also to bring forward proves of the bastardy of the royal princes. However, something unexpected happened. Carlos felt ill during the session, which had to be suspended. That afternoon, 1 April 1463, Carlos died.
When the news of Carlos' death were known, the Catalan and Valencian Parliaments created a common Consell del Regne ("Council of the Kingdom") to settle the matter of the rightful succession. A parliament was called for 8 May 1463. In that parliament Jaime was deposed and Pedro, the heir of Carlos of Urgell, was proclaimed King of Aragon.
When Jaime heard that, he began to negotiate with Louis XI of France. Three weeks later a treaty was signed at Bayonne (29 May 1463) whereby the French king would lend 700 lances (4,200 knights plus their retainers) in military aid to Jaime in exchange for 200,000 écus and, as surety of payment, the cession of the counties of Roussillon and Cerdagne, and the right to garrison Perpignan and Cotlliure.
At the same time the Consell del Regne formed an army, which was placed under the command of Hug Roger III, Count of Pallars Sobirà, and began to negotiate an alliance with Enrique IV of Castile. When Jaime III attempted to muster the help of his kingdom of Navarra, the Agramonteses rose against him and offered the crown of Navarre to Pedro of Urgell.
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