The feudal partitions of Mallorca and their immediate consequences (1230-1245)

Abstract

The feudal conquest of Mallorca was a technically complex and economically costly undertaking. It was the outcome of joint actions among the monarchy, the nobility and the Catalan bourgeoisie and knights and infantrymen from Aragon and other regions in the western Mediterranean. Once the island had been conquered, the participants received a part of the spoils and properties directly proportional to their contribution to the forces, which resulted in three territorial partitions. Almost all the major participants divided the lands they had received in allodium between knights and peasants in fief and in emphyteusis, respectively. The Catalans were predominant among of the first settlers of Mallorca.