Lo Rey d'Aragó no.ns fa sinó greuges e vilanies! : papat i casa d'Aragó a la Crònica de Muntaner (I)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine the view that Ramon Muntaners Crònica gives us of the relations between the papacy and the monarchs of the House of Aragon, and pay special attention to the chapters on the War of the Sicilian Vespers. With the assistance of the chronicles and documentary evidence from the time of the chronicler of Peralada, the author analyses the role played by the Roman Pontiff in the account of the events leading up to the conquest of Sicily by the Catalans. Muntaners version insists consistently on the sincerity and devoutness of the Aragonese king Peter the Great, who plans an expedition to convert Tunis to the true religion, and is finally forced to abandon his dream through the coldness and distrust of the Holy See. On the other hand, the Crònica cleverly discredits the figure of Pope Martin IV, who is depicted as a puppet of France and Charles of Anjou, incapable of protecting effectively the interests of Christianity, and showing little respect for the efforts of the Catalan kings to spread and exalt the Catholic faith, a perception often found in many of the records of Catalan ambassadors to the Roman Curia that have survived from this period.