THE WESTERN MEDITERRANL\N KINCDO~IS l:Z00-1!100the crown and the Catalan merchants so advantageous to
both sides; the consulates in north Mrica are the supreme
example of an institution which was created both to serve
the day-to-day needs of the Catalan traders and to meet the
fiscal requirements of a monarchy that sought to emancip-
ate itself from excessive dependence on the parliaments of
its realms. It has been seen that the economic expansion
that this engendered was rather different in character from
that of the m~jor Italian ports such as Genoa, where it was
precisely the lack of royal interference that enabled economic
take-off to occur. In essence, trade followed the flag, and the
flag did not follow trade.
The Aragonese kings were products of the chivalric culture
of the thirteenth century, a culture which had laid deep
roots in south-western France where they still had signific-
ant interests, notably the m~jor city of Montpellier. Such a
cultural environment stimulated an emphasis on the recovery
of the rights that their family historically possessed: Aragonese
rights in Provence, which were snatched from them by the
French prince Charles, count of Anjou; rights in Sicily, which
belonged to the wife of King Peter III, Constance, grand-
daughter of Frederick II. It was the battle for recognition of
just rights, rather than the defence of trade, which domin-
ated the policy of the Aragonese kings towards their Christian
neighbours. Looking in the other direction, the chivalric
heritage ofJames I was expressed in his role as champion of
Christendom against the Moors, and the conquest of Mus-
lim Majorca in 1229 brought him fame and the reputation
he needed to quell dissident Catalan barons at home. Less
successful was the invasion of Valencia which, however, did
offer the chance to develop new sources of income; it was
at least potentially extremely lucrative. But these conquests
also posed the problem of how to exercise Christian king-
ship in a society where many (in Valencia most) of the popu-
lation was Muslim or Jewish. The question of the subject
religions was to become an important aspect of public policy
in Mediterranean Spain during the late Middle Ages.