{{Short description|Titular king of Majorca (1336–1375)}} {{Infobox royalty | name = James IV | image = James IV of Majorca.jpg | caption = | succession = [[King of Majorca]] (titular) | reign = 25 October 1349 – 20 January 1375 | succession1 = [[King consort of Naples]] | reign1 = 26 September 1363 – 20 January 1375 | reign-type1 = Tenure | birth_date = 1336 | birth_place = | death_date = 20 January 1375 | death_place = [[Soria]] | burial_place = | house = [[House of Barcelona]] | father = [[James III of Majorca]] | mother = [[Constance of Aragon, Queen of Majorca|Constance of Aragon]] | spouse = [[Joanna I of Naples]] }}
'''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 [[Prince of Achaea|Principality of Achaea]] from 1349 until his death. He was also [[king consort]] of Naples, without any role in its government.
==Early life==
Born around 1336, James was the son of King [[James III of Majorca]]{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|p=220}} and [[Constance of Aragon, Queen of Majorca|Constance of Aragon]].{{cn|date=June 2019}} The Kingdom of Majorca came into being when [[James the Conqueror]], [[King of Aragon]], died on 27 June 1276.{{sfn|Bisson|1986|pp=69, 72}} He distributed his realms between his two sons, leaving his elder son, [[Peter III of Aragon|Peter III]], with [[Kingdom of Aragon|Aragon]], [[Principality of Catalonia|Catalonia]] and [[Kingdom of Valencia|Valencia]], and his younger son, [[James II of Majorca|James II]], with the [[Balearic Islands]], [[Montpellier]], [[Roussillon]] and [[County of Cerdanya|Cerdanya]].{{sfn|Bisson|1986|p=69}}
Peter III of Aragon and his successors made several attempts to re-unite the lands of the [[Crown of Aragon]] under their rule.{{sfn|Bisson|1986|p=87}} 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.{{sfn|Bisson|1986|pp=87, 90}} 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.{{sfn|Bisson|1986|p=92}} In 1324, James II of Aragon confirmed the right of James II of Majorca's grandson, James III of Majorca (James IV's father), to inherit the Kingdom of Majorca after lengthy negotiations.{{sfn|Abulafia|1997|p=175}} James III married the sister of [[Peter IV of Aragon]], but their relationship was tense, because James III avoided doing homage to his brother-in-law for years.{{sfn|Bisson|1986|p=105}} Peter IV declared James III a disobedient vassal and occupied the Balearic Islands, Roussillon and Cerdanya in May 1344.{{sfn|Bisson|1986|p=106}}{{sfn|Abulafia|1994|p=17}}
James III went to [[Avignon]] in early 1348 to secure [[Pope Clement VI]]'s support against Peter IV.{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|pp=157-158}} James accompanied his father.{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|p=220}} 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, Duke of Calabria|Andrew]].{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|p=220}} 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.{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|pp=160-161}} James III supported Joanna I during the trial and she promised to lend the Neapolitan fleet to him to invade the Balearic Islands.{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|pp=159-160, 220}} James III had to sell his last domain, Montpellier, to France to raise funds before launching the invasion in 1349.{{sfn|Abulafia|1994|p=17}} His army was routed and he was killed{{sfn|Abulafia|1994|p=17}} in the [[Battle of Llucmajor]] on 25 October 1349.{{cn|date=June 2019}}
==Imprisonment and marriage== His father was killed at the [[Battle of Llucmajor]] in 1349 while attempting to recapture his kingdom, and James IV was taken prisoner by his uncle, [[Peter IV of Aragon]]. Now pretender to the [[Kingdom of Majorca]] and the [[Principality of Achaea]], James was kept in an iron cage in [[Barcelona]] until 1362. He then contrived to escape and take refuge with [[Joanna I of Naples]], who had aided his father's last attempt on Majorca.<ref name="Grierson"/>
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.<ref name="Grierson">{{cite book|last1=Grierson|last2=Travaini|first1=Philip|first2=Lucia|title=Medieval European Coinage: Volume 14, South Italy, Sicily, Sardinia: With a Catalogue of the Coins in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Volume 14, Part 3|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1998|isbn=0521582318|pages=230, 511}}</ref> The marriage proved unsuccessful; however, in January 1365 Joanna was found to be pregnant with James IV's child, but in June she had a miscarriage, as noted in a letter of condolence sent to her by [[Pope Urban V]] dated 19 July 1365.{{sfn|Casteen|2015|p=130}}{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|pp=235–236}} 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 of Castile|Peter the Cruel]] in [[Crown of Castile|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 of Majorca|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]].
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== {{Refbegin}} *{{cite book |last=Abulafia |first=David |author-link=David Abulafia |year=1994 |title=A Mediterranean emporium: The Catalan kingdom of Majorca |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-89405-0 }} *{{cite book |last=Abulafia |first=David |year=1997 |title=The Western Mediterranean Kingdoms 1200-1500: The Struggle for Dominion |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-582-07820-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/westernmediterra0000abul }} *{{cite book |last=Bisson |first=T. N. |year=1986 |title=The Medieval Crown of Aragon: A Short History |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=0-19-820236-9 }} *{{cite book |last=Casteen |first=Elizabeth |year=2015 |title=From She-Wolf to Martyr: The Reign and Disputed Reputation of Johanna I of Naples |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-5386-1 }} *{{cite book |last=Goldstone |first=Nancy |year=2009 |title=The Lady Queen: The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Jerusalem, and Sicily |url=https://archive.org/details/ladyqueennoto00gold |url-access=registration |publisher=Walker&Company |isbn=978-0-8027-7770-6 }} *{{cite book |last=O'Callagan |first=Joseph F. |year=1975 |title=A History of Medieval Spain |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=0-8014-9264-5 }} {{Refend}}
==External links== *[http://libro.uca.edu/chaytor/hac12.htm History of Aragon and Catalonia]
{{S-start}} {{s-hou|[[House of Barcelona]]||1336|20 January|1375|[[House of Barcelona]]}} {{s-reg}} {{s-bef|rows=2|before=[[James III of Majorca|James III]]}} {{s-tul|title=[[King of Majorca]]|years=1349–1375}} {{s-aft|after=[[Isabella of Majorca|Isabella]]}} |- {{s-tul|title=[[Prince of Achaea]]|years=1349–1375}} {{s-aft|after=[[Joanna I of Naples|Joanna]]}} |- {{s-roy}} |- {{s-vac|last=[[Andrew, Duke of Calabria]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[King consort of Naples]] |years=1363–1375}} {{s-vac|next=[[Otto of Brunswick-Grubenhagen]]}} {{S-end}}
{{Royal consorts of Naples}} {{Infantes of Aragon}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:James 04 Of Majorca}} [[Category:1330s births]] [[Category:1375 deaths]] [[Category:Neapolitan kings consort]] [[Category:House of Aragon]] [[Category:Husbands of Joanna I of Naples]] [[Category:Sons of kings]] [[Category:Child pretenders]] [[Category:Titular princes of Achaea]]