A Mediterranean Emporium: The Catalan Kingdom of Majorca

by David Abulafia

• ISBN13: 9780521894050
• ISBN10: 0521894050
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-05-09
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The Catalan kingdom of Majorca was established under the will of King James I of Aragon, who conquered Majorca in 1229, but it was ruled from 1276 to 1343 by a cadet dynasty. The kingdom included the key business centers of Montpellier and Perpignan, and other lands in what is now southern France. It was home to important Jewish and Muslim communities, and was the focus of immigration from Catalonia, Provence and Italy. This book emphasizes the major transformations in the trade of the Balearic Islands from the eve of the Catalan conquest to the Black Death, and the effect of the kingdom's creation and demise on the economy of the region.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Note on nomenclature	xix
List of the kings of Majorca, 1229-1343	xxi
Note on the coinage of the kingdom of Majorca	xxii
Map 1. The kingdom of Majorca	xxiii
Map 2. The western Mediterranean	xxiv
PART I UNITY AND DIVERSITY
The Balearic setting	3	(17)
The kingdom and its historians	20	(14)
The constitutional problem	34	(22)
One kingdom, three religions: the Muslims	56	(19)
One kingdom, three religions: the Jews	75	(28)
PART II THE CROSSROADS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN
The rise of the trade of Mallorca City	103	(26)
Commerce in the age of the Vespers	129	(21)
Towards economic integration: the early fourteenth century	150	(15)
The trade of the autonomous kingdom in its last two decades	165	(23)
From the Mediterranean to the Atlantic	188	(28)
The reshaping of Mallorca's economy, 1343-1500	216	(16)
Conclusion	232	(32)
Appendices
I Mallorca and Sardinia, 1267--1343	235	(18)
II The Montpellier inquest, 1338--1339	253	(11)
Bibliography	264	(20)
Index	284