JAMES I.

james i., the conqueror (1208-1276), king of aragon, son of peter ii., king of aragon, and of mary of montpellier, whose mother was eudoxia comnena, daughter of the emperor manuel, was born at montpellier on the 2nd of february 1208. his father, a man of immoral life, was with difficulty persuaded to cohabit with his wife. he endeavoured to repudiate her, and she fled to rome, where she died in april 1213. peter, whose possessions in provence entangled him in the wars between the albigenses and simon of montfort, endeavoured to placate the northern crusaders by arranging a marriage between his son james and simon's daughter. in 1211 the boy was entrusted to montfort's care to be educated, but the aggressions of the crusaders on the princes of the south forced peter to take up arms against them, and he was slain at muret on the 12th of september 1213. montfort would willingly have used james as a means of extending his own power. the aragonese and catalans, however, appealed to the pope, who forced montfort to surrender him in may or june 1214. james was now entrusted to the care of guillen de monredon, the head of the templars in spain and provence. the kingdom was given over to confusion till in 1216 the templars and some of the more loyal nobles brought the young king to saragossa. at the age of thirteen he was married to leonora, daughter of alphonso viii. of castile, whom he divorced later on the ground of consanguinity. a son born of the marriage, alphonso, was recognized as legitimate, but died before his father, childless. it was only by slow steps that the royal authority was asserted, but the young king, who was of gigantic stature and immense strength, was also astute and patient. by 1228 he had so far brought his vassals to obedience, that he was able to undertake the conquest of the balearic islands, which he achieved within four years. at the same time he endeavoured to bring about a union of aragon with navarre, by a contract of mutual adoption between himself and the navarrese king, sancho, who was old enough to be his grandfather. the scheme broke down, and james abstained from a policy of conquest. he wisely turned to the more feasible course of extending his dominions at the expense of the decadent mahommedan princes of valencia. on the 28th of september 1238 the town of valencia surrendered, and the whole territory was conquered in the ensuing years. like all the princes of his house, james took part in the politics of southern france. he endeavoured to form a southern state on both sides of the pyrenees, which should counterbalance the power of france north of the loire. here also his policy failed against physical, social and political obstacles. as in the case of navarre, he was too wise to launch into perilous adventures. by the treaty of corbeil, with louis ix., signed the 11th of may 1258, he frankly withdrew from conflict with the french king, and contented himself with the recognition of his position, and the surrender of antiquated french claims to the overlordship of catalonia. during the remaining twenty years of his life, james was much concerned in warring with the moors in murcia, not on his own account, but on behalf of his son-in-law alphonso the wise of castile. as a legislator and organizer he occupies a high place among the spanish kings. he would probably have been more successful but for the confusion caused by the disputes in his own household. james, though orthodox and pious, had an ample share of moral laxity. after repudiating leonora of castile he married yolande (in spanish violante) daughter of andrew ii. of hungary, who had a considerable influence over him. but she could not prevent him from continuing a long series of intrigues. the favour he showed his bastards led to protest from the nobles, and to conflicts between his sons legitimate and illegitimate. when one of the latter, fernan sanchez, who had behaved with gross ingratitude and treason to his father, was slain by the legitimate son pedro, the old king recorded his grim satisfaction. at the close of his life king james divided his states between his sons by yolande of hungary, pedro and james, leaving the spanish possessions on the mainland to the first, the balearic islands and the lordship of montpellier to the second--a division which inevitably produced fratricidal conflicts. the king fell very ill at alcira, and resigned his crown, intending to retire to the monastery of poblet, but died at valencia on the 27th of july 1276. king james was the author of a chronicle of his own life, written or dictated apparently at different times, which is a very fine example of autobiographical literature. a translation into english by j. forster, with notes by don pascual de gayangos, was published in london in 1883. see also _james i. of aragon_, by f. darwin swift (clarendon press, 1894), in which are many references to authorities. james ii. (c. 1260-1327), king of aragon, grandson of james i., and son of peter iii. by his marriage with constance, daughter of manfred of beneventum, was left in 1285 as king of sicily by his father. in 1291, on the death of his elder brother, alphonso, to whom aragon had fallen, he resigned sicily and endeavoured to arrange the quarrel between his own family and the angevine house, by marriage with blanca, daughter of charles of anjou, king of naples. james ii. (1243-1311), king of majorca, inherited the balearic islands from his father james i. of aragon. he was engaged in constant conflict with his brother pedro iii. of aragon, and in alliance with the french king against his own kin. james iii. (1315-1349), king of majorca, grandson of james ii., was driven out of his little state and finally murdered by his cousin pedro iv. of aragon, who definitely reannexed the balearic islands to the crown. james (james francis edward stuart) (1688-1766), prince of wales, known to the jacobites as james iii. and to the hanoverian party as the old pretender, the son and heir of james ii. of england, was born in st james's palace, london, on the 10th of june 1688. the scandalous story that he was a supposititious child, started and spread abroad by interested politicians at the time of his birth, has been completely disproved, and most contemporary writers allude to his striking family likeness to the royal stuarts. shortly before the flight of the king to sheerness, the infant prince together with his mother was sent to france, and afterwards he continued to reside with his father at the court of st germain. on the death of his father, on the 16th of september 1701, he was immediately proclaimed king by louis xiv. of france, but a fantastic attempt to perform a similar ceremony in london so roused the anger of the populace that the mock pursuivants barely escaped with their lives. a bill of attainder against him received the royal assent a few days before the death of william iii. in 1702, and the princess anne, half-sister of the pretender, succeeded william on the throne. an influential party still, however, continued to adhere to the jacobite cause; but an expedition from dunkirk planned in favour of james in the spring of 1708 failed of success, although the french ships under the comte de fourbin, with james himself on board, reached the firth of forth in safety. at the peace of utrecht james withdrew from french territory to bar-le-duc in lorraine. a rebellion in the highlands of scotland was inaugurated in september 1715 by the raising of the standard on the braes of mar, and by the solemn proclamation of james stuart, "the chevalier of st george," in the midst of the assembled clans, but its progress was arrested in november by the indecisive battle of sheriffmuir and by the surrender at preston. unaware of the gloomy nature of his prospects, the chevalier landed in december 1715 at peterhead, and advanced as far south as scone, accompanied by a small force under the earl of mar; but on learning of the approach of the duke of argyll, he retreated to montrose, where the highlanders dispersed to the mountains, and he embarked again for france. a spanish expedition sent out in his behalf in 1719, under the direction of alberoni, was scattered by a tempest, only two frigates reaching the appointed rendezvous in the island of lewis. in 1718 james had become affianced to the young princess maria clementina sobieski, grand-daughter of the warrior king of poland, john sobieski. the intended marriage was forbidden by the emperor, who in consequence kept the princess and her mother in honourable confinement at innsbruck in tirol. an attempt to abduct the princess by means of a ruse contrived by a zealous jacobite gentleman, charles wogan, proved successful; clementina reached italy in safety, and she and james were ultimately married at montefiascone on the 1st of september 1719. james and clementina were now invited to reside in rome at the special request of pope clement xi., who openly acknowledged their titles of british king and queen, gave them a papal guard of troops, presented them with a villa at albano and a palace (the palazzo muti in the piazza dei santi apostoli) in the city, and also made them an annual allowance of 12,000 crowns out of the papal treasury. at the palazzo muti, which remained the chief centre of jacobite intriguing, were born james's two sons, charles edward (the young pretender) and henry benedict stuart. james's married life proved turbulent and unhappy, a circumstance that was principally due to the hot temper and jealous nature of clementina, who soon after henry's birth in 1725 left her husband and spent over two years in a roman convent. at length a reconciliation was effected, which clementina did not long survive, for she died at the early age of 32 in february 1735. full regal honours were paid to the stuart queen at her funeral, and the splendid but tasteless monument by pietro bracchi (1700-1773) in st peter's was erected to her memory by order of pope benedict xiv. his wife's death seems to have affected james's health and spirits greatly, and he now began to grow feeble and indifferent, so that the political adherents of the stuarts were gradually led to fix their hopes upon the two young princes rather than upon their father. travellers to rome at this period note that james appeared seldom in public, and that much of his time was given up to religious exercises; he was _devot a l'exces_, so charles de brosses, an unprejudiced frenchman, informs us. it was with great reluctance that james allowed his elder son to leave italy for france in 1744; nevertheless in the following year, he permitted henry to follow his brother's example, but with the news of culloden he evidently came to regard his cause as definitely lost. the estrangement from his elder and favourite son, which arose over henry's adoption of an ecclesiastical career, so embittered his last years that he sank into a moping invalid and rarely left his chamber. with the crushing failure of the "forty-five" and his quarrel with his heir, the once-dreaded james soon became a mere cipher in british politics, and his death at rome on the 2nd of january 1766 passed almost unnoticed in london. he was buried with regal pomp in st peter's, where canova's famous monument, erected by pius vii. in 1819, commemorates him and his two sons. as to james's personal character, there is abundant evidence to show that he was grave, high-principled, industrious, abstemious and dignified, and that the unflattering portrait drawn of him by thackeray in _esmond_ is utterly at variance with historical facts. although a fervent roman catholic, he was far more reasonable and liberal in his religious views than his father, as many extant letters testify. see earl stanhope, _history of england and decline of the last stuarts_ (1853); _calendar of the stuart papers at windsor castle_; j. h. jesse, _memories of the pretenders and their adherents_ (1845); dr john doran, _"mann" and manners at the court of florence_ (1876); _relazione della morte di giacomo iii., re d'inghilterra_; and charles de brosses, _lettres sur l'italie_ (1885). (h. m. v.)