The story of Minorca necessarily embraces an account of the several British occupations, and of some of the operations of the British fleet with Minorca as a base.
Of King Jayme I. of Aragon, and how he resolved to conquer Majorca and drive out the Moors 1
Tells how King Jayme won a victory over the Moors of Majorca, and gives some account of the Moorish capital 16
Tells how En Jayme besieged and took the capital, conquered the whole island, and became the first Christian King of Majorca 25
King Jayme’s last visits. Settlement of the island--Acts and death of Jayme I. 39
Tells how the King of Aragon took up Conradin’s glove, how the Pope’s curses went home to roost, and how En Pedro kept his tryst 54
Tells how the Queen of Aragon went to Sicily with her sons, how Admiral Lauria won new victories, and how more of the Pope’s curses went home to roost 76
Tells how young Federigo held Sicily against all odds, how the Catalan Company went to the east, and how Jayme II. of Majorca was restored to his island home 96
Tells how King Jayme II. at last reigned in peace, and how his page, Raymondo Lulio, attained the crown of martyrdom 107
The career of Prince Fernando of Majorca, and tells how the orphan was taken home to its grandmother 120
Relates the adventures of Jayme and Isabel, describes the memorial chair, and records the end of the Majorcan dynasty 151
Relates the story, so far as it concerns Majorca, of the last Kings of Aragon 160
The Majorcan historians--War of Succession--Families ennobled--Cotoners, Raxa, and Cardinal Despuig--Country houses 190
The Marquis of Romana and the patriot Jovellanos 201
Minorca--Its prehistoric remains--Mago the Carthaginian 219
Conquest by Alfonso III.--Barbary pirates 230
Third occupation--Loss of British rule 282
Of King Jayme I. of Aragon and how he resolved to conquer Majorca and drive out the Moors
Majorca has a very interesting history under its Aragonese princes, and a history which has been well told by those princes themselves and by a loyal vassal who was a diligent seeker after truth. But to understand it we must turn first to the gorges of the Pyrenees and the ports of Catalonia.
By the middle of the eighth century the Moors had overcome Spain up to the Pyrenees, and established their rule and their religion in all parts of the country. But there they had to stop. They could not subdue the mountaineers of Asturias and the Basque provinces. Strong in their almost inaccessible valleys in the southern slopes of the Pyrenees, the ancestors of the nobles of Aragon also held their Moslem enemies at bay. Wild as those valleys were, they were beautiful and productive. Evergreen oaks clothed the lower slopes, succeeded by pine forests, and still higher up are the bushes and trees of box so characteristic of the Pyrenees. The mountaineers had their flocks and herds, crops of barley and oats, and abundance of timber. But there was a long struggle before them.