POLITICS AND RELIGION IN THE ERA OF RAMON LLULLVilanova (of whom more presently) among the Christians,
Abraham Abulafia and the Girona kabbalists among the Jews,
and there were certainly Muslim mystics, many by then long
dead, whose works were known to both Llull and Abulafia.
The wars of the late thirteenth century, with conflict in Sicily
as well as Mongol and Mamluk campaigns in the Near East,
heightened the sense that the world was falling part, and
that its salvation lay in finding God again. The time that
had been prophesied seemed to have come, when Gog and
Magog stalked the world spreading fear and chaos. Thus
the duel of the kings was not seen as the obsession of rulers
distant from the concerns of their subjects, but as something
that touched everyone directly, and dangerously. It is now
necessary to see how the Vespers War actually drew to an
end, temporarily at least.
CONCLUSION
Peter the Great's triumph stands in notable contrast to the
collapse of Charles of Anjou's great empire. Peter too faced
uprisings and disloyalty back home in Catalonia, as well as the
flagrant opposition of his own brother the king of Majorca;
he experienced a massive French invasion, and his nominal
overlord in Aragon, the pope, Martin IV, was exceedingly
hostile to him. Yet he managed, with the help of what his bio-
graphers believed was Divine Providence, to shake off most of
his enemies; illness carried away the French, and the fragile
Majorcan realm was easily expropriated. Yet his resources
were far inferior to those of the Angevin king of Sicily.
The sheer skill of his naval captains, working with a small
but effective fleet, and the support at critical moments of
the Sicilian population, keen to see the back of the French
and to restore the descendants of Frederick II to the throne,
brought him vital successes. Had bets been taken on Peter's
chances in 1282 (and Charles of Anjou at least was a betting
man, blamed for playing dice while on crusade to the East
in 1248), he would not have seemed a good prospect. Indeed,
the Sicilians were at first keener on the idea of establish-
ing independent city republics than on the restoration of
the monarchy. He came up from behind, and emerged as
a convincing winner.