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 Peter III of Aragon and Constance of Sicily, daughter and heiress of Manfred of Sicily. His maternal grandmother Beatrice of Savoy was a daughter of Amadeus IV of Savoy and Marguerite of Burgundy, Countess of Savoy.

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 pressed his brother to retract the claims and instead supported the claim from the Papal States.

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. Peter 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.
• 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

Alfonso III of Aragon House of Barcelona Born: c. 1265 Died: 18 June 1291
Regnal titles
Preceded by Peter the Great	King of Aragon and Valencia Count of Barcelona 1285–1291	Succeeded by James the Just
Preceded by James the Prudent	King of Majorca disputed with James the Prudent 1286–1291