Martin of Aragon

For other uses, see Martin of Aragon (disambiguation).

Martin
King of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca, and Sardinia and Corsica; Count of Barcelona; King of Sicily
King of Aragon
Reign	19 May 1396 – 20 January 1410
Predecessor	John I
Successor	Ferdinand I
King of Sicily
Reign	25 July 1409 – 20 January 1410
Predecessor	Martin I
Successor	Ferdinand I
Consort	Maria de Luna Margaret of Prades
Issue
Martin I of Sicily Infante James Infante John Infante Margaret
House	House of Barcelona
Father	Peter IV of Aragon
Mother	Eleanor of Sicily
Born	29 July 1356(1356-07-29) Girona
Died	20 January 1410(1410-01-20) (aged 53) Barcelona
Burial	Poblet Monastery
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Martin of Aragon (29 July 1356 – 20 January 1410), called the Elder, the Humane, the Ecclesiastic, was the King of Aragon, Valencia, Sardinia, and Corsica and Count of Barcelona from 1396 and King of Sicily from 1409 (as Martin II). He was the last descendant in legitimate male line of Wilfred the Hairy and with him the rule of the House of Barcelona came to an end.

Background

Martin was born in 1356, either in Girona or in Perpignan. He was the second son of King Peter IV of Aragon and Eleanor of Sicily (Leonora of Trinacria), princess of the Sicilian branch of the House of Aragon.

As a cadet prince of the Aragonese royal family, Martin was given the Duchy of Monblanch (modern Montblanc).^[1] In 1380 his father appointed him lord and regent of the island of Sicily, then known also as Trinacria, since its queen Maria of Sicily, who was Martin's cousin, was underage (Maria's father, Frederick III of Trinacria, died in 1377). As a son of Eleanor of Sicily Martin was himself an heir to the island, should Maria's family die out.

In Barcelona on 13 June 1373 Martin married María López de Luna (d. Villarreal, 20 December 1406), daughter and heiress of Lope,^[2] Lord and 1st Count of Luna and Lord of Segorbe and wife Brianda de Got/de Agasunt, born in Provence, related to Pope Clement V.

Kingship

In 1396, Martin succeeded his elder brother John I, who had died sonless, on the throne of Aragon. However, Sicilian nobles were causing unrest and Martin was kept in Sicily. In the meanwhile, Martin's wife, María López de Luna, claimed the throne on behalf of Martin and acted as his representative until he arrived in 1397. Still, the delay opened the way for more problems and quarrels to surface in Aragon. His right to the throne was contested, first by Count Matthew of Foix on behalf of his wife Joanna, elder daughter of John I. However, Martin succeeded in quashing the invasion by the troops of the count.

After the death of the childless Joanna, John's second daughter, Yolande of Aragon, married the Angevin King Louis II of Naples and continued the claim, as did her sons.

Martin launched crusades against the Moors in North Africa in 1398 and 1399.

Aragon had been trying to subjugate Sardinia since the reign of James II, and gradually the Aragonese had conquered most of the island. However, in the 1380s, in the reign of Martin's father Peter IV, the remaining independent principality of Arborea became a fortress of rebellion and the Aragonese were rapidly driven back by Eleanor of Arborea, so that practically the whole of Sardinia was lost. King Martin sent his son Martin the Younger, King of Sicily, to reconquer Sardinia. Just before his own death, the son won the Battle of Sanluri (San Luis, San Luigi) in 1409, drove away the Genoese allies of the Sardinians, and subjugated a vast number of Sardinian nobles. This soon caused Arborea's total loss of independence.

Martin succeeded his son as King of Sicily, as Martin II. Overall, the Kingdom of Aragon enjoyed external peace during Martin's reign and he worked to quell internal strife caused by nobles, factions and bandits. He supported the Avignon line of Popes and an Aragonese, Pope Benedict XIII, held the seat throughout Martin's reign. Martin's military intervention rescued the imprisoned Benedict in 1403 from the clutches of his rivals and the Pope settled in Valencia's countryside.

After the death of his legitimate children James (b. 1378), John (b. 1380) and Margaret (b. 1384/1388), all of whom died young,^[2] King Martin appointed his cousin James II of Urgell, the closest legitimate agnate of the Royal House of Aragon, as Governor-General of all the kingdoms of Aragon, which position belonged traditionally to the heir presumptive. He still married secondly at Bellesguart or Bellresguard on 17 September 1409 to his cousin Margaret of Prades (1385 – Monastery of Monrepes, 1422/1429, later remarried in 1414 to Juan de Vilaragut (d. 1422)), daughter of Peter of Aragon, Count of Prades and Baron of Entenza (1352 – Sicily, 1395 and wife (m. 1385) Juana de Cabrera (d. 1419), but the short marriage was childless.

Succession

When Martin died, in Valdonzella or in Barcelona in 1410 (reportedly due to indigestion and uncontrollable laughter)^[3], his legitimate descendants, born of marriage with queen Maria, were already dead. Martin's second marriage, with Margaret of Prades, did not produce any children. Only an illegitimate grandson, Frederick, Count of Luna, continued the line of Martin. Frederick was the illegitimate son of Martin the Younger. The king, despite his desire and some efforts, was not able to obtain sufficient confirmation of Frederick as his successor.

Thus, Martin's death led to a two-year interregnum, which was ended by the Compromise of Caspe, in which Martin's nephew Ferdinand, infante of Castile's House of Trastámara was chosen as the next king from among at least five contenders.

Ancestry

References

1. ^ His contemporary title was duch de Montblanch.
2. ^ ^{a b} "Barcelona 2". http://genealogy.euweb.cz/barcelona/barcelona2.html. Retrieved 2008-05-13. 
3. ^ Norris, Paul N.. Morris.pdf "Patronage and Piety". Mirator Lokakuu. http://www.glossa.fi/mirator/pdf/Morris.pdf Morris.pdf. Retrieved 18 May 2011. 

Martin of Aragon House of Aragon Cadet branch of the House of Barcelona Born: 29 July 1356 Died: 20 January 1410
Regnal titles
Preceded by John I	King of Aragon 1396–1410	Succeeded by Ferdinand I
	Count of Barcelona 1396–1410
	King of Valencia 1396–1410
	King of Majorca 1396–1410
	King of Sardinia and Corsica 1396–1410
	Count of Roussillon 1396–1410
	Count of Cerdagne 1396–1410
Preceded by Martin I	King of Sicily 1409–1410
Spanish nobility
New title	Duke of Montblanc 1387–1396	Vacant Title next held by John of Trastámara