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| - Aragon was originally a Carolingian feudal county around the city of Jaca, which in the first half of the 9th century became a vassal state of the kingdom of Pamplona (later Navarra), its own dynasty of counts ending without male heir in 922. The name Aragón is the same of the river Aragón, which flows by Jaca. It might derive from the Basque "Aragoi" meaning "high valley". On the death of Sancho III of Navarra in 1035, the Kingdom of Navarre was divided into three parts: Navarra with some Basque lands, Castile and Sobrarbe, Ribagorza and Aragon. Sancho's son Gonzalo inherited Sobrarbe and Ribargorza, whereas his illegitimate son Ramiro received Aragon, but Gonzalo was killed soon after and all the land he owned went to his brother Ramiro, thus becoming the first de facto king of Aragon, although he never used that title. By defeating his brother, García Sánchez III of Navarra, Ramiro achieved virtual independence for Aragon. His son Sancho Ramírez, who also inherited the kingdom of Navarra, was the first to call himself "King of the Aragonians and Pamplonese". As the Aragonian domains expanded to the south, conquering land from Al Andalus, the capital city moved from Jaca to Huesca (1096), and later to Zaragoza (1118). After the death of Alfonso the Battler in 1135, the split between the kingdoms of Navarre and Aragon was final. By 1285 the southernmost areas of Aragon had been taken from the Moors. The Aragonese empire originated in 1137, when the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona (with the County of Provence) merged by dynastic union by the marriage of Raymond Berenguer V of Barcelona and Petronilla of Aragon; their titles were combined in the person of their son Alfonso II of Aragon, who ascended to the throne in 1162. This union respected the existing institutions and parliaments of both territories. Although the County of Barcelona was the wealthier, given its position on the Mediterranean, the combined state was known as Aragon, given its higher ranking as a kingdom due to lineage from Imperator Hispaniae Sancho III of Navarra. Also Petronilla's father King Ramiro, known as "The Monk" for his incapacity to rule the Aragonese troops, was the youngest brother of all three. He was raised in the Saint Pons de Thomières Monastery in what today is Toulouse. His brothers Peter I and Alfonso I El Batallador (The Battler) who re-conquered Murcia had died in battle. Then, knowing nothing about war he decided to make an alliance with his neighbour Raymond Berenguer V the Count of Barcelona. Raymond was forced in the wedding contract to recognise Ramiro II as "My King, My Lord, and my Father" he became part of the Aragonese dynasty. Then Raymond was entitled as "Prince of the Aragonese" (Chief of the Aragonese Army). Raymond Berenguer V of Barcelona, the new ruler of the united dynasty, still called himself Count of Barcelona and merely "Prince" of Aragon. Alfonso II tried to conquer Valencia when favourable circumstances offered, but the opportunity was lost when Sancho VI of Navarra invaded Aragon. Alfonso II signed the treaties of Cazola with Alfonso VIII of Castile in order to secure the Aragonese frontiers. The treaty also delimited anew their zones of prospective Moorish conquest—the Kings of Aragon were to have Valencia, leaving Murcia to Castile. From the 9th century, the dukes of Aquitaine, the counts of Foix, the counts of Toulouse and the Aragonese kings rivalled in their attempts at controlling the various pays of Occitania. The Crown of Aragon was widespread in the area that is now south of France, under the control of vassal local princes, such as the Counts of Toulouse. The rebellion of the Cathars or Albigensians rejected the authority and the teachings of the Catholic Church and led to the loss of the southern France possessions. Pope Innocent III called upon Phillip II of France to suppress the Albigensians — The Albigensian Crusade, which led to bring the Occitania region under the control of the King of France, and the Capetian dynasty from northern France. Pedro II returned from Las Navas in autumn 1212 to find that Simon de Montfort had conquered Toulouse, exiling Count Raymond VI of Toulouse, who was Peter's brother-in-law and vassal. Peter's army crossed the Pyrenees and arrived at Muret accompanied by Raymond of Toulouse's forces, in September 1213 to confront Montfort's army. The Battle of Muret began on September 12, 1213. The Aragonese forces were disorganised and disintegrated under the assault of Montfort's squadrons. Pedro himself was caught in the thick of fighting, and died as a result of a foolhardy act of bravado. So, the nobility of Toulouse, vassals of the Crown of Aragon, was defeated. The conflict culminated in the Treaty of Meaux-Paris in 1229, in which it was agreed the integration of the Occitan territory in the French crown. King Jaume I (13th century) started the era of expansion, by conquering and incorporating Majorca and a good part of the Kingdom of Valencia to the Crown. With the Treaty of Corbeil (1258), which was based upon the principle of natural frontiers, French claims over Catalonia came to an end. The general principle was clear, that Aragonese influence north of the Pyrenees was to cease. Jaume I had realized that wasting his forces and distracting his energies in attempts to keep a footing in France could only end in disaster. On January 1266, Jaume I besieged and captured Murcia, settled his own men, mostly Catalans, there; and handed Murcia over to Castile by the treaty of Cazorla. Majorca, together with the counties of Cerdanya and Roussillon, and the city of Montpellier, was held independently from 1276 to 1279 by Jaume II of Majorca as a vassal of the Crown after that date, becoming a full member of the Crown of Aragon in 1344. Valencia was made a new kingdom with its own institutions, and so was the third member of the crown—the legal status of Majorca was not as consistent as those of Aragón, Catalonia. On 1282, the Sicilians rose up against the second dynasty of the Angevins on the Sicilian Vespers and massacred the garrison soldiers. Pedro III responded to their call, and landed in Trapani to an enthusiastic welcome five months later. This caused Pope Martin IV to excommunicate the king, place Sicily under interdict, and offer the kingdom of Aragon to a son of Philip III of France. When Pedro III refused to impose the Charters of Aragon in Valencia, the nobles and towns united in Zaragoza to demand a confirmation of their privileges, which the king had to accept on 1283. Thus began the Union of Aragon, which developed the power of the Justícia to mediate between the king and the Aragonese rich men. When Jaume II of Aragon—not to be confused with Jaume II of Majorca—completed the conquest of the kingdom of Valencia, the Crown of Aragon established itself as one of the major powers in Europe. By grant of Pope Boniface VIII to Jaume II, the kingdoms of Sardinia and Corsica were added to the Crown in 1297, though it would not be for more than a century that they were brought under control. By marriage of Pedro IV to Maria of Sicily, the Kingdom of Sicily, as well as the duchies of Athens and Neopatria, were added to the Crown in 1381. The Greek possessions were permanently lost to Nerio I Acciaioli in 1388 and Sicily was dissociated in the hands of Martin I from 1395 to 1409, but the Kingdom of Naples was added finally in 1442 by conquest of Alfonso V, and lost in 1453. The King's possessions outside of the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands were ruled by proxy through local elites as petty kingdoms, rather than subjected directly to a centralised government. They were more an economic part of the Crown of Aragon than a political one. The fact that the King was keen on settling new kingdoms instead of merely expanding the existing kingdoms was a part of a power struggle that pitted the interests of the king against those of the existing nobility. This process was also under way in most of the European states that successfully effected the transition to the Early Modern state. Thus, the new territories gained from the Moors — namely Valencia and Majorca — were usually given fueros — Catalan furs — as an instrument of self-government in order to limit the power of nobility in these new acquisitions and, at the same time, increase their allegiance to the monarchy itself. The trend in the neighbouring kingdom of Castile was similar, both kingdoms giving impetus to the Reconquista by granting self-government either to cities or territories, instead of placing the new territories under the rule of nobility. In 1410, King Martin I died without surviving descendants. As a result, by the Pact of Caspe, Ferdinand of Antequera from the Castilian dynasty of Trastámara, received the Crown of Aragon as Ferrnando I of Aragon. Later, his grandson King Carles I of Aragon recovered the northern Catalan counties—Roussillon and Cerdagne — which had been lost to France and also brought the Kingdom of Navarra under an personal union with Aragon. However, in 1500, Aragon entered into a personal union with the electorate of Brandenburg, which eventually culminated in two revolts, in 1602 and 1656, only the 1656 one being successful. However, Aragon was brought into Portuguese suzerainty after a war sparked with Castille over parts of Navarra.
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