CASTILE
412
CASTILE
was the tool of the nobles, who forced him to declare
illegitimate his daughter Juana, known as la Bel-
traneja (the daughter of Beltran), and the succes-
sion thus passed to his sister Isabella the Catholic
(1474).
Abagon. — Aragon derives its name from the river Aragon, a small tributary of the Ebro near Alfaro, and forms an irregular ellipse, bounded on the north by the Central Pyrenees (Pic du Midi), on the east by Catalonia and Valencia (Provinces of Lerida, Tarra- gona, and Castellon), on the south by Valencia and New Castile (Provinces of Valencia and Cuenca), and on the west by Navarre and Castile (Provinces of Guadalajara and Soria). It is one of the most moun- tainous regions of Spain, perhaps of Europe, sur- rounded as it is on the north by the Pyrenees moun- tains and the Sierras de la Pena and de Guara, on the west by the Moncayo and the mountains of Cuenca, and on the soutli by the Montes Universales and the Sierra de Gudar. From north-west to south-east it is traversed by the River Ebro, of which almost all the rivers of this region are tributaries, the Aragon, Gal- lego, and Cinca emptying into it from the north, and the Jiloca, the Jalon, and others of lesser importance from the south. The Guadalaviar and the Mijares, however, are fed directly from the mountains of Teruel. These topographical conditions make the soil of Aragon very fertile; the mountains are covered with great forests, and fruits grow abundantly, but, on account of the isolation of the mountains and the scarcity of water on some of the high table-lands, some regions are but thinly populated. According to the modern division of provinces (30 Nov., 1833), Sara- gossa, Huesca, and Teruel belong to Aragon. The principal cities are Saragossa, famous for its sieges in the War of Independence and for the ancient shrine del Pilar, where from very remote times the Blessed Virgin has been venerated, and Huesca (Osca), where Pedro IV established, in 1354, a uni- versity to which was given the name of the Sertorio, in memory of Quintus Sertorius, who, in 77 B. c, founded here a school for the sons of native chiefs.
History. — We must depend principally on legend for information about the origin of the Aragonese monarchy. It is certain that a portion of the Goths driven northward by the Mussulman invasion sought refuge among the mountaineers, who were never com- pletely subjugated by any conqueror (indoctus juga ferre — Horace), and there formed certain independ- ent countships, principally those of Sobrarbe, Aragon, and Ribagorza. The legend designates the Montes Uruel or S. Juan de la Pena as the spot where the patriots assembled, and from a cross which appeared over a tree the name, Sobrarbe, and the coat of arms were derived, just as Aragon took its name from the river which flows west of Jaca, which appears to have been its capital. About 724 mention is made of a Garcia Jimenez who was Count of Sobrarbe, and further on we find that Garcia Iniguez bestowed the Countship of Aragon upon a knight named Aznar, who had obtained possession of Jaca. This count- ship then embraced the valleys of Canfranc, Aisa, Borao, Aragues, and Hecho. After Aznar (d. 975) we find the names of several Counts of Aragon — Galindo, Jimeno Aznar, Jimeno Garcia Aznar, For- tunio Jimenez, and Urraca, or Andregoto, who mar- ried Garcia of Navarre, thus uniting Navarre and Lragon. The Countship of Ribagorza, established \inder the protection of the I' ranks, was reconquered by Sancho the Great of Navarre, who at his death left uagon to his son Etamiro, and Sobrarbe and Riba- gorza to his son Gonzalo (1035), but at Gonzalo's death Etamiro was elected to succeed him, the Ara- gonese monarchy being definitively founded. Sancho Ramirez (1069 94) took a great pari of the deep val- ley of the Cinca from the Moors, wit li the strongholds of Barbastro and Monzon, and died while besieging
Huesca. His son Pedro I, after vanquishing the
Moorish auxiliary army in the battle of Alcoraz, took
possession of the city. His brother, Alfonso the
Fighter (El Batallado'r, 1104-34), who succeeded him,
captured Saragossa (1118), but died from the effects of
wounds received in the siege of Fraga, willing Iris
estates to the military orders of Jerusalem, thinking
that they would be best able to bring the war of re-
conquest to a successful close. His subjects, how-
ever, would not accept this, and obliged his brother
Ramiro, who was a monk in the monastery of Saint-
Pons de Tomieres, to accept the crown. Dispensed
by the pope from his vows, he married Agnes of Poi-
tiers, and when the birth of a daughter, whom he
married to Raymond Berengar IV, Count of Barce-
lona, assured the succession, he returned to his clois-
ter. Thus a permanent union was effected between
Aragon and Catalonia. Raymond Berengar recon-
quered Fraga, and his son Alfonso II finished the re-
conquest of Aragon, adding Teruel. Pedro II, "The
Catholic" {El Catdlico, 1196-1213), made his kingdom
a dependency of the Holy See, although not with the
consent of his subjects, but died in the battle of Muret,
in which lie took part to aid his kinsman, the Count of
Toulouse, in the war against the Albigenses. Jaime
the Conqueror (El Conquistador) successfully ter-
minated the conquest of Valencia (1238) and Ma-
jorca (1228), and aided Alfonso X of Castile to recon-
quer Murcia, thus accomplishing the reconquest of
the western part of the Peninsula. Pedro III, "The
Great" (El Grande, 1276-85), after the Sicilian Ves-
pers took possession of Sicily as heir of the Hohen-
staufen, and the wars and disputes which followed
in Italy, and the dissensions of the Aragonese
nobles occupied the reigns of Alfonso III (1285-91),
Jaime II, Alfonso IV (1327-36), and Pedro IV (1336-
87). John I and Martin (1395-1410) dying without
heirs, the Compromiso de Caspe (a commission of nine
members, three from the Cortes of each province) was
assembled and gave the crown of Aragon to Ferdi-
nand of Antequera, Infante of Castile. Alfonso V,
his son and successor, renewed the wars in Italy. As
the adopted son of Joanna of Naples, he laid claim to
the throne of Naples, and obtained possession of it
(1416-58). John II disturbed the peace of his reign
by the unjust persecution of his son the Prince of
Viana, and at his death was succeeded by Ferdinand
the Catholic, who by his marriage to Isabella the
Catholic definitively united the Kingdoms of Castile
and Aragon.
Relations between Castile and Aragon. — The will of Sancho the Great of Navarre had in 1035 separated these two kingdoms; in the twelfth century they were temporarily united by the marriage of Dona Urraca to Alfonso I, "The Fighter", but this unhappy marriage caused a war which ended in the separation of the couple (1114), and Alfonso VII was afterwards obliged to recover the strongholds of La Rioja. which had remained in the possession of the Aragonese monarch (1134). At the death of Alfonso I of Aragon Alfonso VII reclaimed and occupied part of his estates, but Alfonso II aided by Alfonso VIII in the siege of Cuenca (1177) obtained for his kingdom freedom from the dependence on Castile, to which it had been subjected since the time of Ramiro the Monk. The two great warriors, St. Ferdinand III and Jaime el Conquistador, were contemporaries and lived in harmony. Jaime helped Alfonso X in the conquest of Murcia, which remained to Castile. Later, however, the relations between Castile and Aragon again became involved, on account of the claims for the succession to Alfonso X. which the In- fantes of la Cerda, aided by Philip III of Prance and Alfonso III of Aragon, put. forth. The Compromiso de Cospe placed the crown of Aragon on the head of an Infante of Castile, Ferdinand of Antequera (1412), and the marriage of Isabella, heiress of Henry IV of
