This was a remarkably liberal constitution for the thirteenth century, and indicates the trust and reliance felt by King Jayme in the loyalty and good sense of his people. In this, as in other respects, we are reminded of our own Edward I., his parliaments and legislation. The conquest of Majorca was a matter of the greatest importance to the island, but it was only a brief episode in the long reign of more than sixty years. En Jayme showed ceaseless activity in the work of government, consulting assemblies of his people, framing laws and granting privileges, and settling complicated disputes. Popular representation was strengthened under Jayme I. He sometimes met the Cortes of Aragon in the capital or one of the towns, and the Council of Catalonia separately; at other times the representatives, for special reasons, met in one assembly, usually at Monzon. In one case the meeting was called a parliament, in the other ‘Cortes Generales.’ Mr. Hallam, in his ‘Middle Ages,’ has given a good general account of the Aragonese Constitution. En Jayme frequently visited the whole of his dominions, and thus became intimately acquainted with his people and their needs. In 1238, nine years after the conquest of Majorca, King Jayme found it necessary, owing to the frequent and audacious inroads of the Moors, to undertake the conquest of the rich and important kingdom of Valencia. The capital city was taken at Michaelmas, and a Christian population substituted; but it was a much longer military operation to reduce the numerous strongholds up to the frontier of Murcia. The work was finally completed, and King Jayme, well named ‘El Conquistador,’ granted _Fueros_ to his new kingdom of Valencia, and a representative assembly, or Cortes. It now becomes necessary to allude to the King’s children and family relations. By his wife Violante of Hungary Jayme I. had eight children. Pedro, his successor in Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia, was born in 1243. In July 1262, at the age of nineteen, he was married to Constance, daughter of Manfred, King of Sicily, son of the Emperor Frederick II., by Beatrice, daughter of Amadeo, Count of Savoy. The marriage took place at Montpellier. The second son was Jayme, who was to succeed his father as King of Majorca, as well as to the possessions in the south of France. King Jayme married his second son to Esclaramunda, sister of the Count of Foix, the most powerful nobleman in Gascony. The third son, Fernando, did not turn out well. Of the daughters, Violante married Alonso X., King of Castille, in 1248; Isabel became the wife of King Philip III. (_le Hardi_) of France; and Constance of the Infante Don Manuel of Castille. Maria was a nun, and Leonor, the youngest, died in childhood.