Kingdom of Majorca

The Kingdom of Majorca was an insular realm in the western Mediterranean, comprising the Balearic Islands of Majorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera, together with the mainland counties of Roussillon and Cerdanya. The islands had been conquered from the Almohads by James I of Aragon, and when he died in 1276 his territories were divided among his sons. The Balearic inheritance passed to James II of Majorca, while Peter III took the Crown of Aragon. After 1279 the Majorcan king was required to recognise the Aragonese king as his overlord, and the resulting tensions repeatedly led to war. Alfonso III of Aragon conquered Majorca in 1286, but the Treaty of Anagni restored the islands to James II in 1295. The kingdom remained a distinct polity until Peter IV of Aragon invaded in 1344; James III was killed at Llucmajor in 1349, after which Majorca was held in personal union with Aragon. The title survived until the Nueva Planta decrees of 1715. Its court at Palma and Perpignan fostered trade, cartography and a distinctive Gothic architecture.