Editing Peter IV of Aragon (section)

==Military career==

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[[File:Arms of Aragonese Monarchs (13th-15 centuries).svg|thumb|Arms of Peter IV of Aragon.]]
By the [[Pact of Madrid (14th century)|Pact of Madrid]], Peter was constrained to aid [[Alfonso XI of Castile]] in his successful attack on [[Algeciras]] (1344) and his failed attempt on [[Gibraltar]] (1349) by defending against a [[Morocco|Moroccan]] counterattack.

As Peter had no male issue, his brother [[James I, Count of Urgell|Count James of Urgell]] was the presumptive heir to the Aragonese throne. Peter grew to mistrust the intentions of James over time.  Peter decided that he would instead name his daughter [[Constance of Aragon, Queen of Sicily|Constance]] as his heir presumptive notwithstanding the precedents established by [[James I of Aragon|James I]] and [[Alfonso IV of Aragon|Alfonso IV]] to exclude females from the throne. To this end, he demanded that James cede his post as [[Procurador en Cortes (Spain)|procurator]] general, a position which, by tradition, was reserved for the second in line to the Aragonese throne. James fled to [[Zaragoza]] where he gained the favor of certain nobles who wished to reassert their powers via the monarch. Peter eventually succumbed to the pressure to hold a cortes in Zaragoza where he made numerous concessions of royal authority to quell a rebellion he was not yet in a position to crush. One of such concessions was to revoke his attempt to name Constance as heir, and to restore James as [[Procurador en Cortes (Spain)|procurator]] general. To avert additional damage, Peter dissolved the corts on the premise that he had to address a crisis developing in [[Sardinia]]. Not long thereafter, while Peter was in [[Catalonia]], James suddenly died.  Many suspected Peter of having arranged to have James poisoned.  Deprived of their leader, the Union of Aragon was greatly weakened.

Venturing next to [[Valencia, Spain|Valencia]], Peter encountered the nascent [[Union of Valencia|Valencian Union]] which had taken its cue from its counterpart in Aragon.  At [[Murviedro]] ([[Sagunt]]), Peter was forced to name his stepbrother Ferran as the new [[Procurador en Cortes (Spain)|procurator]] general.  Additional concessions of royal authority were made to appease the Unionists.  This time when he attempted to leave a bad situation, Peter was held under guard in Valencia as a prisoner of the Union.  Suffering perhaps his greatest humility, he and his queen were forced to dance with the common folk to show his subservience.  Ironically, his salvation was the [[Black Death]].  Valencia was felled by this plague in May 1348, enabling Peter to escape amid the confusion.  Assembling an army of increasingly powerful royalists in Aragon, Peter attacked the unionist forces at the [[Battle of Epila]] on 21 July 1348.  Peter won a complete victory.  Proceeding to Saragossa, Peter executed only thirteen Union leaders.  By fourteenth century standards, this was a great display of magnanimity.  Not the same can be said for the fate of Valencia.  After being persuaded not to burn the entire city and sow it with salt, many were executed.  Of particular note, he had the bell that the Valencian Union rang to summon its meetings melted down.  The molten metal from the bell was then poured down the throats of the Union leaders so that they "should taste its liquor."

In 1356, he engaged with [[Peter of Castile|Peter I of Castile]] in what was called the "[[War of the Two Peters]]". It ended in 1375 with the Treaty of Almazan, without a winner due to the [[Black Death]] and several natural disasters.

He conquered Sicily in 1377 but the possession was given to his son Martin.

Throughout his reign, Peter IV had frequent conflicts with the inquisitor general of Aragon, [[Nicolas Eymerich]].

In 1349, James invaded Majorca, but was soundly defeated by Peter's troops at the [[Battle of Llucmajor]], in which he died. After James' death, Peter allowed [[James IV of Majorca|James IV]], his successor, to retain his royal title on purely formal terms until his death in 1375. After that date, Peter assumed the title. Majorca remained one of the component crowns of the [[Crown of Aragon]] until the [[Nova Planta decrees]].

Peter died in [[Barcelona]], aged 67.