James IV of Majorca, also known as Jaume IV (c. 1336 – 20 January 1375), unsuccessfully claimed the thrones of the Kingdom of Majorca and the Principality of Achaea from 1349 until his death. He was also king consort of Naples, without any role in its government.
Peter III of Aragon and his successors made several attempts to re-unite the lands of the Crown of Aragon under their rule.[4] Peter III demanded an oath of fealty from his brother in 1280; Peter III's elder son, Alfonso III of Aragon, occupied the Balearic Islands in 1287.[5] Alfonso III's brother and successor, James II of Aragon, restored the islands to his uncle in the Treaty of Anagni in 1295, but James II of Majorca had to acknowledge his nephew's suzerainty.[6] In 1324, James II of Aragon confirmed the right of James II of Mallorca's grandson, James III of Majorca (James IV's father), to inherit the Kingdom of Mallorca after lengthy negotiations.[7] James III married the sister of Peter IV of Aragon, but their relationship was tense, because James III avoided to do homage to his brother-in-law for years.[8] Peter IV declared James III a disobedient vassal and occupied the Balearic Islands, Roussillon and Cerdanya in May 1344.[9][10]
James III went to Avignon in early 1348 to secure Pope Clement VI's support against Peter IV.[11] James accompanied his father.[1] Scholar Nancy Goldstone proposes that James most probably met with his future wife, Joanna I of Naples, who had come to Avignon to stand trial for her alleged involvement in the murder of her first husband, Andrew.[1] She answered the charges that Andrew's brother, Louis I of Hungary, had brought against her and the Pope declared her innocent in March 1348.[12] James III supported Joanna I during the trial and she promised to lend the Neapolitan fleet to him to invade the Balearic Islands.[13] James III had to sell his last domain, Montpellier, to France to raise funds before launching the invasion in 1349.[10] His army was routed and he was killed[10] in the Battle of Llucmajor on 25 October 1349.[citation needed]
Joanna was then childless, and in need of an heir: she married James on September 26, 1363, at Castel Nuovo. Perhaps to avoid the civil strife of Joanna's first two marriages, James was carefully excluded from government of his wife's realm by the marriage contract.[14] The marriage proved unsuccessful; however, in January 1365 Joanna was found to be pregnant with James IV's child, but unfortunately in June she had a miscarriage, as was noted in a letter of condolence sent to her by Pope Urban V dated 19 July 1365.[15][16] They never conceived again.
Struggle for Majorca
James was determined to recapture his kingdom, and soon departed to make war on the Kingdom of Aragon. He was defeated and forced to flee to Bordeaux. There he gained the support of Edward the Black Prince, who he hoped would restore him to Majorca after restoring Peter the Cruel in Castile. He joined the invasion of Castile, taking part in the battle of Nájera (3 April 1367). He was stricken with a long and severe illness in Valladolid. Unable to ride, he could not leave the city and was captured by Henry II of Castile. Ransomed by Joanna, he returned to Naples only briefly before setting off again.
Henry had launched a war against Peter IV of Aragon, and James hoped to take advantage of this to capture Roussillon and Cerdanya, the mainland portions of his father's realm. However, John of Gaunt procured a truce between Castile and Aragon, and the full weight of the Aragonese forces fell upon James. Defeated again, he fled into Castile, where he died of illness or poison at Soria on 20 January 1375, the 32nd anniversary of his wife's accession.
His pretensions to Majorca passed to his sister Isabella, wife of John II of Montferrat. He willed his rights to Achaea to Joanna, who had ruled the remains of the Principality since 1373 by cession of her brother-in-law, Philip II of Taranto.
^ abGrierson, Philip; Travaini, Lucia (1998). Medieval European Coinage: Volume 14, South Italy, Sicily, Sardinia: With a Catalogue of the Coins in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Volume 14, Part 3. Cambridge University Press. pp. 230, 511. ISBN0521582318.
Bisson, T. N. (1986). The Medieval Crown of Aragon: A Short History. Clarendon Press. ISBN0-19-820236-9.
Casteen, Elizabeth (2015). From She-Wolf to Martyr: The Reign and Disputed Reputation of Johanna I of Naples. Cornell University Press. ISBN978-0-8014-5386-1.
