The Treaty of Tarascon was an accord between Pope Nicholas IV, Philip IV of France, Charles II of Naples, and Alfonso III of Aragón that was intended to end the Aragonese Crusade, an episode in the War of the Sicilian Vespers. The treaty was signed at Tarascon, halfway between papal Avignon and Arles, on 19 February 1291, six years after Philip's brother, Charles of Valois, tried to conquer Aragón from Alfonso's father, Peter III of Aragon, in an event called the Aragonese Crusade because it was sanctioned by Nicholas' predecessor, Pope Martin IV. The intent of the signatories in putting an end to hostilities was to prevent Aragonese domination of Sicily, then ruled by Alfonso's brother, James II.
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- ⭐ Core Definition: Treaty of Tarascon
- Treaty of Tarascon in the context of Aragonese Crusade
- Treaty of Tarascon in the context of Peace of Caltabellota
- Treaty of Tarascon in the context of Treaty of Anagni
Treaty of Tarascon in the context of Aragonese Crusade
The Aragonese Crusade (1284–1285), also known as the Crusade of Aragon or Crusade against Catalonia, was a military venture waged by the Kingdom of France against the Crown of Aragon. Fought as an extension of the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302), the crusade was called by Pope Martin IV in retribution for Peter III of Aragon's intervention in Sicily, which had damaged the political ambitions of the papacy and France.
The Kingdom of France, aided by the Kingdom of Majorca, led the crusade. Despite domestic opposition to the crusade, Philip III of France invaded Catalonia in 1285. While the French saw some successes on land, the Aragonese navy won control of the sea, and a badly attritted French crusader army was forced to retreat in the fall of 1285. The defeat of the French army in 1285 effectively ended fighting, and Aragon would make peace with the pope by way of the 1291 Treaty of Tarascon.
View the full Wikipedia page for Aragonese CrusadeTreaty of Tarascon in the context of Peace of Caltabellota
The Peace of Caltabellotta, signed on 31 August 1302, was the last of a series of treaties, including those of Tarascon and Anagni, designed to end the War of the Sicilian Vespers between the Houses of Anjou and Barcelona for ascendancy in the Mediterranean and especially Sicily and the Mezzogiorno.
The peace divided the old Kingdom of Sicily into an island portion and a peninsular portion. The island, called the Kingdom of Trinacria, went to Frederick III, who had been ruling it; the Mezzogiorno, called the Kingdom of Sicily contemporaneously but the Kingdom of Naples by modern scholarship, went to Charles II, who had been ruling it. Thus, the peace was formal recognition of an uneasy status quo.
View the full Wikipedia page for Peace of CaltabellotaTreaty of Tarascon in the context of Treaty of Anagni
The Treaty of Anagni was an accord between the Pope Boniface VIII, James II of Aragon, Philip IV of France, Charles II of Naples, and James II of Majorca. It was signed on 20 June 1295 at Anagni, in central Italy. The chief purpose was to confirm the Treaty of Tarascon of 1291, which ended the Aragonese Crusade. It also dealt with finding a diplomatic solution to the conquest of Sicily by Peter III of Aragón in 1285.
Neither Frederick II of Sicily, James of Aragon's brother, nor the Sicilian people accepted the treaty and instead pursued a war against the Angevin forces of Charles of Naples. Charles was, as per the respective clause of the treaty, assisted by the fleet of James of Aragón. This war did not end until the Peace of Caltabellotta in 1302.
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