Chapter 8THE END OF THE HOUSE OF
BARCELONA
PETER THE CEREMONIOUS, 1336-87
The reign of Peter IV, 'the Ceremonious', has special import-
ance as the period (though a long one, from 1336 to 1387)
during which the king of Aragon began to articulate more
clearly a conception of the overall integrity of the lands of
the Crown of Aragon. This marks a significant step beyond
the limited intention ofjames II's Privilege of Union. The
young Peter had witnessed, before coming to the throne,
the struggle for Sardinia; his reign began with the asser-
tion of his authority in M~jorca; by the end of his life he
was laying down plans for the reincorporation of Sicily too
into his dominions. Writing to his heir John in 1380, Peter
insisted that:
If we lose Sardinia, you can be sure that Majorca will be lost
too, for the foodstuffs that Majorca receives from Sicily and
Sardinia will stop arriving, and as a result the land will be de-
populated and will be lost.^1Hillgarth comments that 'this exceptionally clear perception
of the maritime vocation of Catalonia and of the interconnec-
tion of the islands of the western and central Mediterranean
... is proof of a political vision acquired, painfully, over a
long reign'.~ The attention of historians has focused sol. V. Salavert i Roca, Cndn1a y la exjlansir!n meditrrranm rfp la Cnrona de
A.ragt!n 1297-1314, 2 vols (Madrid, 1956), vol. l, pp. 213-14, n. 37.- Pere III of Catalonia (I\' of Aragon), Ummirlr, ed. J Hillgarth and
trans!. M. Hillgarth, 2 vols (Toronto, l9RO), \'01. I, p. 36. Hillgarth's