James II of Aragon

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James II of Aragon bigraphy, stories - King of Aragon

James II of Aragon : biography

10 August 1267 – 5 November 1327

James II (10 August 1267 – 2 or 5 November 1327), called the Just (the fair), ( , ) was the King of Sicily (as James I) from 1285 to 1296 and King of Aragon and Valencia and Count of Barcelona from 1291 to 1327. In 1297 he was granted the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica. He used the Latin title Iacobus Dei gracia rex Aragonum, Valencie, Sardinie, et Corsice ac comes Barchinone. He was the second son of Peter III of Aragon and Constance of Sicily.

Marriages, concubines, and children

He married four times:

— Isabella of Castile, Viscountess of Limoges, daughter of Sancho IV of Castile and his wife María de Molina. The wedding took place in the city of Soria, in 1 December 1291 when the bride was only 8 years old. The marriage, which was never consummated, was dissolved and annulled after Sancho’s death in 1295, when James chose to change his alliances and take advantage of the turmoil inside Castile.

— Blanche of Anjou, daughter of his family’s rival Charles II of Naples and Maria of Hungary. They married in the city of Villabertran, in 29 October or 1 November 1295. She bore him several children:

  • James (Jaume) (b. 29 September 1296 – d. Tarragona, July 1334). James renounced his right to the throne in 1319 to become a monk. He refused to consummate his marriage to Eleanor of Castille, who later become the second wife of his brother Alfonso.
  • Alfonso IV of Aragon (1299 – 24 January 1336). He became the King of Aragon in 1327 and ruled until his death. He married twice: first Teresa d’Entença and then Eleanor of Castile after his first wife died.
  • Maria (b. 1299 – d. as a nun in Sijena, 1316). She married Pedro of Castile, son of Sancho IV of Castile.
  • Constance of Aragon (Constança) (b. Valencia, 1 April 1300 – d. Castillo de Garcia Munoz, 19 September 1327). Constanza married Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena, nephew of Alfonso X of Castile.
  • John (Juan) (b. 1304 – d. Pobo, Zaragoza, 19 August 1334). John became the first Archbishop of Toledo and Tarragona in 1318, and Patriarch of Alexandria in 1328.
  • Isabella of Aragon (b. 1305 – d. Styria, 12 July 1330). Elizabeth married Frederick I of Austria.
  • (Pere) (b. 1305 – d. Pisa, 4 November 1381), Count of Ribagorza, Empúries and Prades. Peter married Jeanne, daughter of , they were parents to Eleanor of Aragon, Queen of Cyprus.
  • Blanche (b. 1307 – d. Barcelona, 1348), Prioress of Sixena.
  • Ramon Berenguer (b. August 1308 – d. a priest at Barcelona, 1366), Count of Empúries and Baron of Ejerica. Ramon married firstly with Blanca, daughter of Philip I of Taranto, and secondly with Maria, daughter of Jaime of Aragon.
  • Violante (b. Barcelona, October 1310 – d. Pedrola, 19 July 1353). She first married Philip, Despot of Romania, son of Philip I of Taranto. Her second marriage was to Lope de Luna, Lord of Segorbe.

— Marie of Lusignan (1273 – September, 1322 at Tortosa, buried at Barcelona), daughter of the King Hugh III of Cyprus. They married by proxy in Santa Sophia, Nicosia, in 15 June 1315, and in person in the city of Girona, in 27 November 1315. This marriage was childless.

— Elisenda de Montcada, daughter of Pedro I de Montcada, Lord of Altona and Soses, and wife Gisela d’Abarca. They married in the city of Tarragona, in 25 December 1322. This marriage was childless too, and, after the king’s death, she entered the Poor Clares Monastery of Pedralbes as a nun, where she died on 19 June 1364.

In addition to his legitimate offspring, James had three natural children born with Sicilian women:

— With Gerolda:

  • Sancho (b. Sicily, 1287 – d. young?).
  • Napoleón (b. Sicily, 1288 – m. 1338), Lord of Joyosa Guarda (Gioiosaguardia) and Acquafredda (in Sardinia); married a daughter of a Majorcan named Guillermo Robert.

— With Lucrecia:

  • James (Jaume) (b. Mazzara, 1291 – d. 1350), Vicario di Cagliari (1317–1341); married firstly with Jaumetta Guerau, from Majorca, and secondly with Puccia, a Sardinian woman.