Martin I of Aragon
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Martin I (1356 – 31 May 1410), "the Elder", "the Humane", "the Ecclesiastic", King of Aragon (1396 - 1410), King of Sicily (1409 - 1410) was the last direct descendant in legitimate male line of Wilfred "the Hairy", Count of Barcelona, to rule Aragon. He became also the King of Sicily (as Martin II, King of Trinacria) after the death of his son, Martin I of Sicily.
[edit] Biography
Martin was born 1356, either in Gerona or in Perpignan. He was the second son of King Peter IV of Aragon and Leonora of Trinacria, princess of that cadet branch of the House of Aragon.
As a cadet prince of the Aragonese royal family, Martin was given the Duchy of Monblanch (Montblanc). In 1380 his father appointed him lord and regent of the island of Sicily, since its queen Mary of Sicily, who was Martin's cousin, was underage (Mary's father, Frederick III of Trinacria, died 1377). Martin's son Martin the Younger was then married to the young heiress. The island of Sicily (the vassal kingdom of Trinacria) was thus intended to be a fief of Martin's descendants. Martin the Younger became King Martin I of Sicily in his father's lifetime.
In 1396, Martin succeeded his elder brother John I (who died sonless) on the throne of Aragon. However, Sicilian nobles were causing unrest, and Martin was kept in Sicily until 1397, when he personally took over in Aragon. Martin's wife Maria de Luna had claimed the throne on behalf of Martin, and acted as his representative until he personally arrived. However, the delay opened the way for more problems and quarrels to surface in Aragon. His right to the throne was contested, first by Count Matthew of Foix on behalf of his wife Joanna, elder daughter of John I of Aragon. However, Martin succeeded in quashing the invasion by the troops of the count.
After the death of the childless Joanna, John's second daughter, Yolande of Aragon, married the Anjou king of Sicily (Naples) and continued the claim as did her sons.
Martin launched crusades against the Moors in North Africa in 1398 and 1399.
Aragon had been trying to subjugate Sardinia since the reign of James II, and gradually the Aragonese had conquered most of the island. However, in the 1380s, in the reign of Peter IV, the remaining independent principality Arborea became a fortress of rebellion and the Aragonese were rapidly driven back by Eleanor of Arborea, so that practically the whole of Sardinia was lost. King Martin sent his son Martin the Younger to reconquer Sardinia. Just before his death, the son won the battle of Sanluri (San Luis, San Luigi) in 1409, drove away the Genoese allies of the Sardinians and subjugated a vast number of Sardinian nobles. This soon caused the total loss of independence of Arborea.
In 1409, Martin I of Aragon also became King of Sicily (as Martin II), succeeding his son, Martin the Younger (Martin I of Sicily), widower of Mary of Sicily. Martin the father was himself son of Eleanor of Sicily (Leonora of Trinacria) and an heir to that island after Mary's family had died out.
Overall, the Kingdom of Aragon enjoyed external peace during Martin's reign and he worked to quell internal strife caused by nobles, factions and bandits. He supported the Avignon line of Popes and an Aragonese, Pope Benedict XIII, held the seat throughout Martin's reign. Martin's military intervention rescued the imprisoned Benedict in 1403 from the clutches of his rivals and the Pope settled in Valencia's countryside.
After the death of his legitimate children, King Martin appointed Jaume II of Urgell, the closest legitimate agnate of the Royal House of Aragon (his first cousin's son), as Governor General of all the kingdoms of Aragon, which position belonged traditionally to the heir presumptive.
When Martin died in Barcelona in 1410, his legitimate descendants (born of marriage with queen Maria) were already dead. Martin's second marriage with Margarita of Aragon-Prades did not produce any children.
Only a bastard grandson, Fadrique, count of Luna, continued the line of Martin. (Fadrique was the bastard son of Martin the Younger.) The king, despite his desire and some efforts, was not able to obtain sufficient confirmation to his bastard grandson as his successor.
Thus, Martin's death led to a two-year interregnum, which was ended by the Pact of Caspe, in which Ferdinand I of Aragon, infante of Castile's House of Trastámara, younger son of a sister of Martin's, was chosen as the next king from among at least five contenders.
| Preceded by: John I |
King of Aragon and Valencia, Count of Barcelona 1396-1410 |
Succeeded by: Ferdinand I |
| Preceded by: Martin I |
King of Sicily 1409-1410 |
[edit] See also
