fwo_1089508 - ESPAGNE - COMTÉ DE BARCELONE - PIERRE II (III D'ARAGON) Gros n.d. Barcelone

SPAIN - COUNTY OF BARCELONA - PETER II (III OF ARAGON)

(1276-1285)

Pierre III, known as "the Great", was born in 1239. He is the first son of the second marriage of Jacques I, known as "the Conqueror" and Yolande of Hungary. After the death of his mother, which occurred in 1251, he was entrusted to Jaspert IV, Viscount of Castelnou. In 1262 he married Constantius of Sicily. He became king of Sicily under the name of Peter I from 1282 to 1285 following the Sicilian Vespers (March 30, 1282). Opposed to Charles I of Anjou, he attracted the wrath of the King of France Philippe III who led an expedition to Aragon. The disease decimated the army of the king and France and it was a real failure for the French. Philippe III, suffering from dysentery, died in Perpignan. Peter died shortly after him, on November 11, 1285. He was King of Aragon as Peter III, of Valencia as Peter I and Count of Barcelona as Peter II from 1276 to 1285. His eldest son Alfonso III succeeded him from 1285 to 1291 in Spain and his younger son, Jacques Ier inherited Sicily.