Alfonso III of Aragon

Alfonso III (4 November 1265 – 18 June 1291), called the Liberal (el Liberal) and the Free (also "the Frank", from el Franc), was king of Aragon and Valencia, and count of Barcelona (as ) from 1285 until his death. He conquered the Kingdom of Majorca between his succession and 1287. Life Alfonso was the son of King Peter III of Aragon and Constance, daughter and heiress of King Manfred of Sicily. Soon after assuming the throne, he conducted a campaign to reincorporate the Balearic Islands into the Kingdom of Aragon, which had been lost due to the division of the kingdom by his grandfather, James I of Aragon. Thus in 1285 he declared war on his uncle, James II of Majorca, and conquered both Majorca (1285) and Ibiza (1286), effectively reassuming suzerainty over the Kingdom of Majorca. He followed this with the conquest of Menorca – until then an autonomous Muslim state (Manûrqa) within the Kingdom of Majorca – on 17 January 1287, the anniversary of which now serves as Menorca's national holiday. Alfonso initially sought to maintain Aragonese control over Sicily by supporting the claims of his brother James II to the island. However, he later retracted his support for his brother shortly before his death and instead tried to make peace with the Papal States and with France.