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| Toynbee "Iàcomo_1" |
James II, the Just, king of Sicily, 1285�1291, king of
Aragon, 1291�1327; second son of Pedro III of Aragon
and Constance, daughter of Manfred. On the death of
Pedro III king of Aragon and Sicily, in 1285, his
eldest son, Alfonso III, became king of Aragon, while
James succeeded to the crown of Sicily. When Alfonso
died in 1291, James succeeded him in Aragon, leaving
the government of Sicily in the hands of his younger
brother Frederick II. A few years later, however,
James, ignoring the claims of Frederick, agreed to cede
Sicily to the Angevin claimant, Charles II of Naples,
vhose daughter Blanche he married (1295), the
Sicilians, on learning of this agreement renounced
their allegiance to James, and proclaimed his brother
Frederick king in his stead, (1296). Charles and James
thereupon made war upon Frederick, but in 1299 James
withdrew his troops, and in 1302 his brother was
confirmed in possession of the kingdom of Sicily, under
the title of king of Trinacria. James, who by his own
subjects was surnamed the Just, died at Barcelona, Nov.
2, 1327.
[Carlo_2:
Federigo_3]
Cicilia:
Table I:
Table IV.]
James is named, together with his brother Frederick,
by Sordello (in Ante-Purgatory), who says they possess
their father's kingdoms, but not his virtues,
[Purg. vii. 119]
[Pietro_3]; the Eagle in the Heaven of
Jupiter alludes to him as the brother of Frederick, and
reproaches him and his uncle James, the king of the
Balearic Islands, with having dishonoured their
respective crowns,
[Par. xix. 137]
[Iacomo_2]; he is alluded to (according to
some) by his grandfather Manfred (in Ante-Purgatory) as
l'onor di Cicilia e d'Aragona,
[Purg. iii. 116]
[Aragona:
Cicilia].
©Oxford University Press 1968. From A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante by Paget Toynbee
(1968) by permission of Oxford University Press