Martin I (Aragon)

King Martin I of Aragon. Detail from a painting from 1542

Martin I. called the Humane , in Catalan Martí l'Humà , in Aragonese Martín l'Humanista , in Spanish Martín el Humano , (born July 29, 1356 in Perpignan or Girona ; † May 31, 1410 in Barcelona ) was from 1396 to In 1410 he was king of Aragón and from 1409 also of Sardinia , from 1409 to 1410 he was also king of Sicily as Martin II .

Life

Martin was the second son of Peter IV from his third marriage to Eleanor of Sicily , a daughter of King Peter II of Sicily. In 1372 he married Maria de Luna , heiress of the Segorbe rule from the House of Luna .

After the death of Martin's uncle, King Friedrich III. of Sicily was followed by his underage daughter Maria of Sicily . It was under the rule of four barons, the so-called vicars (Consiglio dei quattro Vicari ≃ council of the four deputies). In 1390 Maria was brought to Aragón and married to Martin's son Martin the Younger . On March 22, 1392, Martin landed in Trapani with a large fleet . The conquest and overthrow of Sicily dragged on after initial successes. When Martin's older brother, King John I, died in 1396 without sons, Martin was still in Sicily. His wife Maria de Luna defended Martin’s claims to the throne against the widow Queen Violante and Johann’s son-in-law Matthieu de Foix until Martin’s return in 1397.

After the death of Maria de Luna in 1406, Martin married Margarita von Prades in 1409, but the marriage remained childless. Maria of Sicily died in 1401, followed by Martin the Younger as Martin I in Sicily, but was under the influence of the councilors appointed by his father. After the death of Martin the Younger, who fell on a campaign in Sardinia in 1409, Martin succeeded his son as King Martin II of Sicily, but largely left the rule to Blanca of Navarre, his son's widow.

After Martin died in 1410 with no surviving descendants, violent throne disputes arose in Aragón as a result of the appearance of various pretenders, from which finally, through the verdict of mixed arbitrators in the compromise of Caspe, the Infanta Ferdinand of Castile , a son of Martins and John's sister Eleanor and the Castilian King John I. , came out as king.

In 1399 Martin founded the Carthusian Monastery in Valldemossa on Mallorca , the Charterhouse of Valldemossa , which is now one of the most famous sights of the Mediterranean island.

literature

• Henri Bresc and Jaume Sobrequés i Callicó: Martin I. 'el Humano' . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 6, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1993, ISBN 3-7608-8906-9 , Sp. 339 f.
• Salvatore Tramontana:  Martino II d'Aragona (Martino il Vecchio), re di Sicilia (Martino I re d'Aragona). In: Mario Caravale (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 71:  Marsilli – Massimino da Salerno. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2008.
• Salvador Claramunt Rodríguez: Martín I. Real Academia de la Historia, 2018, accessed February 25, 2016 (Spanish). 

Web links

Commons : Martin I.  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Johann I.	King of Aragón Count of Barcelona King of Valencia 1396–1410	Ferdinand I.
Martin I.	King of Sicily 1409–1410	Ferdinand I.
Guglielmo IV.	King of Sardinia 1409–1410	Ferdinand I.