James II of Aragon

James II (Catalan: Jaume II; Aragonese: Chaime II; Spanish: Jaime II; 10 April 1267 or c. 1264 – 2 or 5 or 3 November 1327), called the Just, was the King of Aragon and Valencia and Count of Barcelona from 1291 to 1327. He was also the King of Sicily (as James I) from 1285 to 1295 and the King of Majorca from 1291 to 1298. From 1297 he was nominally the King of Sardinia and Corsica, but he only acquired the island of Sardinia by conquest in 1324. His full title for the last three decades of his reign was "James, by the grace of God, king of Aragon, Valencia, Sardinia and Corsica, and count of Barcelona" (Latin: Iacobus Dei gratia rex Aragonum, Valencie, Sardinie, et Corsice ac comes Barchinone).

Born at Valencia, James was the second son of Peter III of Aragon and Constance II of Sicily. He succeeded his father in Sicily in 1285 and his elder brother Alfonso III in Aragon and the rest of the Spanish territories, including Majorca, in 1291. In 1295 he was forced to cede Sicily to the papacy, after which it was seized by his younger brother, Frederick III, in 1296. Two years later rom Pope Boniface VIII returned the island to the king of Majorca along with rights to Sardinia and Corsica. On 20 January 1296, Boniface issued the bull Redemptor mundi granting James the titles of Standard-bearer, Captain General and Admiral of the Roman church.