Wall paintings depicting the Conquest of Majorca

At the beginning of the 1960s, the Barcelona municipality was carrying out work on an edifice in the city’s old centre, with a view to creating the Picasso Museum. Joacquim Pradell discovered a cycle of wall paintings, which he was obliged to remove because of the building’s modifications. This urban palace (sometimes known as the ‘Berenguer d’Aguilar Palace’ after the name of its owner at the end of the fifteenth century) was probably built on the initiative of the Caldes family in the second half of the thirteenth century[1]. The Caldes were rich merchants from Barcelona and had a close relationship with Alfonso II ‘the Liberal’, king of Aragon and count of Barcelona (reigned 1285–1291)[2].

The three panels that are held in the Catalan National Museum of Art retrace the main episodes of the conquest of the Island of Majorca, taken from the Muslims in 1228–1229 by the king of Aragon, James I the Conqueror. The events are recorded in two chronicles, the Llibre dels feyts del rey in Jacme[3], James I’s autobiographical text (reigned 1213–1276), and the Llibre del rei in Pere d’Aragó, by Bernart Desclot (1283–1295). The paintings’ fidelity to the texts facilitates the reconstruction of the scenes saved from the Picasso Museum works, and enables the identification of the main protagonists.

The cycle starts with the meeting of the Corts[4], who were convoked to Barcelona by the king. This is followed by the troops sailing towards Majorca (this section is now almost completely destroyed), then the battle of Portopí, and lastly, the siege and capture of the town and its fortress, the Almudaina.

The differentiation of the opposing troops is depicted through the handling of the figures, even if there is little difference in their physical appearance. Indeed, the Muslims are only identifiable because they have beards. Their features are not caricatured, and their skin colour varies from figure to figure, probably to highlight the ethnic diversity of the Muslim inhabitants of the Island of Majorca and thereby distinguish the Africans, Arabs, and Majorcans. However, their clothing is very different from that of the Christians. Almost all are wearing a tunic with the sleeves rolled up and wear a kind of long bonnet that comes down over the ears. Their infantry advance on bare feet and one of their horsemen has a pointed helmet, which is very different from the Christians’ round helmets with nosepiece. While warriors on both sides use swords, the Muslims’ roundels are different from the Christian shields, which were long and rounded at the tips.

Another important clue enables the viewer to distinguish the two sides. Their respective emblems provide another important clue that enables the viewer to distinguish the opposing sides. Only the Christians have a heraldic system, which means they can be individually identified. The Muslims, however, have standards and shields stamped with figures or signs arranged in a non-heraldic manner; these are Muslim emblems, like the six-pointed star, an amputated hand, and the tortoise.

Moreover, the heraldic elements are very useful for identifying most of the Christian protagonists in the cycle. King James I can be seen holding counsel under his tent, surrounded by the bishop of Barcelona, Berenguer of Palou, Count Nuno Sans of Rosselló, Gilabert de Cruïlles, and a member of the Centelles family. Standing apart from this group, the count of Empúries is engaged in a discussion with Pero Maça, head of the Aragonese troops. According to the text of Llibre dels feyts del rey in Jacme, the count of Empúries refused to take part in the king’s meetings during the siege, claiming that he would stay in the mine shaft that he had dug until the city’s capture. Further on in the scene depicting the battle of Portopí, one of the two isolated Christian cavaliers, who is facing an entire troop of Muslim infantry, bears the coat of arms of the Montcada: this must be Guillem de Montcada, who, according to the story, lost his life during this combat.

When the representation of the Muslims in the painted decorations of the Caldes Palace, and more generally, that of non-Christians is compared with in works from the end of the thirteenth century, it can be seen that in Barcelona, infidel soldiers were not depicted in a caricatured way as a monstrous and extraordinary enemy, but rather as a standard enemy, a warrior to be combated in the usual way. This respect for one’s adversary was probably due to greater proximity with and better understanding of the Muslim world.

Testifying to the cultural and artistic contacts between the two religious opposites, scrolls decorated with pseudo-Kufic calligraphy were arranged above the historiated scenes, between the beams of the room.

Majorca was separated from the Aragonese kingdom when James I died, and Alfonso II occupied the Island from 1285 to 1295, to the detriment of his uncle James II of Majorca. The date of the creation of the wall paintings in the Caldes Palace matches the period that the island was occupied by Alfonso II[5]. The reminder of the 1229 conquest in the palace of a close friend of Alfonso II legitimizes his conquest. It is also probable that the paintings of the great tinell (hall) of the royal palace of Barcelona, created at the same time and today taken down but left in situ, narrate the same all-conquering deeds of King Alfonso’s ancestor.

[2] Alfonso II of Catalonia and III of Aragon.

[3] In the French translation (see Bibliography), in chapter five of Le livre des Faits de Jaume l^er le Conquérant is the account of the conquest of Majorca.

[4] The corts are general meetings that bring together the representatives from three states to debate issues relating to the Catalan government.

[5] Stylistic comparisons, in particular with the reliquary urn of St Candide held in the MNAC from Sant Cugat del Vallis, with an inscription from 1292, date the decorations at 1290.