a mercenary logic 7
year of the incarnation rather than the regnal year of France. More than
by ambition, however, the Aragonese kings survived this early period
through bonds of personal loyalty.^18
The vague imperial aspirations of the twelfth- century Aragonese kings
found their concrete manifestation in the thirteenth century. The decisive
turning point came with the reign of King Jaume I (r. 1213 – 1276 ). Over
the course of four decades, Jaume managed to double the size of his king-
doms, expanding further southward and into the sea. His conquests began
in the Balearic Islands, where he seized Mallorca and Ibiza in the 1230 s,
thus bringing the Crown of Aragon further into the Mediterranean. In
1238 , Jaume conquered Islamic Valencia, a fertile agriculture plain
shielded by mountains. This sudden expansion presented new challenges.
For instance, it brought large Muslim and Arabic- speaking communities
under the control of the Crown of Aragon. In Valencia, the subject Mus-
lim population, the Mudéjares, far outnumbered Christians, a fact that
has made this kingdom the subject of intense interest for scholars of re-
ligious interaction. Attempts to pacify these Muslim communities would
continue for centuries. But these new conquests also offered an opportu-
nity for political experimentation, inspired not only by the earlier Usatges
but also by the revival of Romanist legal traditions across Europe in this
period. In parallel with French and Castilian kings, Jaume implemented
Ebro
R.Medi
ter
ranean
Se
a
AlgiersCasablanca TunisTangiersSardiniaSicilyCorsicaBalear
icIslands0250
milesCrown of AragonVal
enc
iaPyreneesCatalonia
AragonGranadaCastilePortugalMurciaLeon
Navarre- The Aragonese Empire (ca. 1300). Courtesy Dick Gilbreath, Gyula Pauer Center for Car-
tography and GIS, University of Kentucky.