THE WESTERN MEDITERRAJ\'EAN KINGD0\1S 1200-IFIOObehalf his devout uncle, the Regent Philip, for several years
governed the Majorcan state. By the 1330s, however, James
III of Majorca was beginning to become an embarrassment;
his independent approach to foreign policy was made plain
when he continued to promote good relations with his Mus-
lim neighbours while the Castilians were trying to organise
an Iberian crusade against Morocco and Granada. Eventually,
in 1340, news came that the Valencian Muslims were ready
to rise in revolt; James recognised the gravity of the situation,
supplying a fleet of galleys in support of the Aragonese.
James III's policies were built on an unequivocal assump-
tion that as king of Majorca he could be su~ject to no other
secular power. Characteristic was his decision to issue a set
of 'laws', the so-called Leges Palatinae, which in fact laid
emphasis on the ceremonial duties of the king's principal
courtiers: the butler, the marshal, the constable and so on;
a magnificent illuminated manuscript of the laws, now pre-
served in Brussels, offers a vivid picture of a court that could
live well off the handsome revenues brought by Majorcan
trade. Not surprisingly, James was irked by King Peter IV's
insistence that he should kneel on a cushion no higher than
that of ordinary barons when he came to perform homage
to the king of Aragon. Arguments broke out between James
III and Peter in 1339 during a visit to the pope at Avignon;
the king of Majorca was upset when Peter's horse was led a
pace or two in front of his own, implying his junior status.
During the fracas Peter all but drew his sword to attack his
cousin." Peter IV's view of the Majorcan issue is recorded in
his own memoirs which insist, at considerable length, that
the original grant of a kingdom to James II of Majorca 'was
not valid in law, for the gift was an immense one and took
away the greater or a great part of the patrimony of the
house of Aragon'.' Peter devoted exactly one third of his
memoirs to the conquest of Majorca in 1343, thus giving the
events of a single year a massively disproportionate amount
- There is a detailed account of their differences in Book 3 of the
Chronicle ofPetn the Ceremonious, and the importance Peter attached to
this issue can be gauged from the fact that the king of Aragon took
so much care to state his claim against the king of Majorca, an event
which took place early in a lengthy reign. - Chronirle o{Peter the Ceremonious, Book 3. cap. 3 (Hillgarth edn. vol. 1,
p. 228).