Alfons de Tous | |
---|---|
12th President of the Generalitat of Catalonia | |
In office 1396–1413 | |
Preceded by | Miquel de Santjoan |
Succeeded by | Marc de Villalba |
Alfons de Tous (died February 3,1421) was president of the Generalitat of Catalonia 1396-1413,succeeding Miquel de Santjoan when the latter left the Principality of Catalonia in 1396 to become a royal ambassador. [1]
During the Western Schism,he aligned with the Antipope Benedict XIII and the revived line of Avignon popes,and continued that support until the Council of Constance,when Ferdinand I of Aragon withdrew his support for Avignon,at which point Alfons tried unsuccessfully to convince Benedict to voluntarily renounce his claim to the papacy. [2]
Alfons began his ecclesiastical career as the rector of the church of Sant Mateu (Saint Matthew) in Tortosa. He next served the Benedict XIII as his ambassador to the Kingdom of Castile,and later became rector of the Church of Santa Maria del Pi in Barcelona,from which position he was appointed a deputy to the Catalan Courts held in Barcelona,the Catalan parliament. On December 3,1400,as president of the Corts of Barcelona,he purchased the original portion of what then became the Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya for 38,500 sous. Alfons became the first president of the Generalitat of Catalonia to live there.
Subsequently to serving at Santa Maria del Pi,he became a canon of the Cathedral of Barcelona and,eventually,auditor of the Pia Almoina,the charitable fund of the cathedral. In 1408 King Martin of Aragon ("Martin the Humane") proposed him as bishop of Barcelona,but the Pope named Francesc de Blanes instead. Martin successfully exerted pressure to have him named bishop of Elne;in 1410,he was transferred to serve as bishop at Vic,where in 1417 he decreed that every parish must maintain a register of baptisms.
His activities in the role of ecclesiastical deputy to the Generalitat required that he take part in the parliamentary discussion of the succession after Martin's death in 1410. The new king Ferdinand I was from the House of Trastámara,which already ruled Castile,so his selection as king brought Aragon and Castile under the same dynastic house. Subsequently,Alfons presided over the Corts of Montblanc (1414). In both of these parliamentary assemblies as well as in the Corts of Sant Cugat-Tortosa (1419),he tried,with little success,to influence the new Trastámara king to continue the policies of the earlier line of Aragonese monarchs of the House of Barcelona. [3]
Catalonia was first settled during the Middle Palaeolithic era. Like the rest of the Mediterranean side of the Iberian Peninsula,the area was occupied by the Iberians and several Greek colonies were established on the coast before the Roman conquest. It was the first area of Hispania conquered by the Romans. It then came under Visigothic rule after the collapse of the western part of the Roman Empire. In 718,the area was occupied by the Umayyad Caliphate and became a part of Muslim ruled al-Andalus. The Frankish Empire conquered the area from the Muslims,ending with the conquest of Barcelona in 801,as part of the creation of a larger buffer zone of Christian counties against Islamic rule historiographically known as the Marca Hispanica. In the 10th century the County of Barcelona became progressively independent from Frankish rule.
Peter IV,called the Ceremonious,was from 1336 until his death the king of Aragon,Sardinia-Corsica,and Valencia,and count of Barcelona. In 1344,he deposed James III of Majorca and made himself King of Majorca.
Martin the Humane,also called the Elder and the Ecclesiastic,was King of Aragon,Valencia,Sardinia and Corsica and Count of Barcelona from 1396 and King of Sicily from 1409. He failed to secure the accession of his illegitimate grandson,Frederic,Count of Luna,and with him the rule of the House of Barcelona came to an end.
Pau Claris i Casademunt was a Catalan lawyer,clergyman and 94th President of the Deputation of the General of Catalonia at the beginning of the Catalan Revolt. On 16 January 1641 he proclaimed the Catalan Republic under the protection of France.
Ferdinand I named Ferdinand of Antequera and also the Just was king of Aragon,Valencia,Majorca,Sardinia and (nominal) Corsica and king of Sicily,duke (nominal) of Athens and Neopatria,and count of Barcelona,Roussillon and Cerdanya (1412–1416). He was also regent of Castile (1406–1416).
Vincent Ferrer,OP was a Valencian Dominican friar and preacher,who gained acclaim as a missionary and a logician. He is honored as a saint of the Catholic Church and other churches of Catholic traditions.
Pedro Martínez de Luna y Pérez de Gotor,known as el Papa Luna in Spanish and Pope Luna in English,was an Aragonese nobleman who,as Benedict XIII,is considered an antipope by the Catholic Church.
The 1412 Compromise of Caspe was an act and resolution of parliamentary representatives of the constituent realms of the Crown of Aragon,meeting in Caspe,to resolve the interregnum following the death of King Martin of Aragon in 1410 without a legitimate heir.
The Principality of Catalonia was a medieval and early modern state in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula. During most of its history it was in dynastic union with the Kingdom of Aragon,constituting together the Crown of Aragon. Between the 13th and the 18th centuries,it was bordered by the Kingdom of Aragon to the west,the Kingdom of Valencia to the south,the Kingdom of France and the feudal lordship of Andorra to the north and by the Mediterranean Sea to the east. The term Principality of Catalonia was official until the 1830s,when the Spanish government implemented the centralized provincial division,but remained in popular and informal contexts. Today,the term Principat (Principality) is used primarily to refer to the autonomous community of Catalonia in Spain,as distinct from the other Catalan Countries,and usually including the historical region of Roussillon in Southern France.
The Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya is a historic palace in Barcelona,Catalonia,Spain. It houses the offices of the Presidency of the Generalitat de Catalunya. It is one of the few buildings of medieval origin in Europe that still functions as a seat of government and houses the institution that originally built it.
The Catalan constitutions were the laws of the Principality of Catalonia promulgated by the Count of Barcelona and approved by the Catalan Courts. The Corts in Catalan have the same origin as courts in English but instead meaning the legislature. The first constitutions were promulgated by the Corts of 1283. The last ones were promulgated by the Corts of 1705. They had pre-eminence over the other legal rules and could only be revoked by the Catalan Courts themselves. The compilations of the constitutions and other rights of Catalonia followed the Roman tradition of the Codex.
The County of Barcelona was a polity in northeastern Iberian Peninsula,originally located in the southern frontier region of the Carolingian Empire. In the 10th century,the Counts of Barcelona progressively achieved independence from Frankish rule,becoming hereditary rulers in constant warfare with the Islamic Caliphate of Córdoba and its successor states. The counts,through marriage,alliances and treaties,acquired or vassalized the other Catalan counties and extended their influence over Occitania. In 1164,the County of Barcelona entered a personal union with the Kingdom of Aragon. Thenceforward,the history of the county is subsumed within that of the Crown of Aragon,but the city of Barcelona remained preeminent within it.
The Castle of Cardona is a medieval fortress in Catalonia,Spain. Situated on a hill overlooking the river valley of the Cardener and the town of Cardona. The fortress was initially constructed by Wilfred the Hairy in 886;it is now a hotel belonging to the Paradores chain.
Felip de Malla was a Catalan prelate,theologian,scholastic,orator,classical scholar,and poet. He was a confidant of the kings Martin the Humane,Ferdinand of Antequera,and Alfonso the Magnanimous. He was the seventeenth President of the Generalitat de Catalunya from 1425 to 1428.
The Catalan Civil War,also called the Catalonian Civil War or the War against John II,was a civil war in the Principality of Catalonia,then part of the Crown of Aragon,between 1462 and 1472. The two factions,the royalists who supported John II of Aragon and the Catalan constitutionalists,disputed the extent of royal rights in Catalonia. The French entered the war at times on the side on John II and at times with the Catalans. The Catalans,who at first rallied around John's son Charles of Viana,set up several pretenders in opposition to John during the course of the conflict. Barcelona remained their stronghold to the end:with its surrender the war came to a close. John,victorious,re-established the status quo ante bellum.
Luis de Requesens y de Relat was Catalan baron of Altafulla,baron of La Nou de Gaià,both in the province of Tarragona,Spain.
Hug de Llupiài Bages,was bishop of Tortosa,bishop of Valencia,and a Catalan writer in Latin. He belonged to a noble family from the Roussillon,and he was the brother of Ramon de Llupià. He had a lot of influence and was next to the king most of the time he lived.
The Catalan Courts or General Court of Catalonia were the policymaking and parliamentary body of the Principality of Catalonia from the 13th to the 18th century.
Fray Íñigo de Alfaro was an Aragonese nobleman and Knight Hospitaller. He was the defending commander at the Siege of Smyrna in 1402 against the Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur. He later played a key role in the Compromise of Caspe that settled the Aragonese interregnum in 1412.