Pedro II. of Aragon reigned from 1196 to 1213. He and his cousin En Nuño de Sans fought at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa side by side with the kings of Castille and Navarre. It was the great conflict which finally settled the preponderance of Christians over Moors. After that famous victory the expulsion of the latter was only a question of time. Pedro married the heiress of Montpellier and became the Lord of that barony, as well as of Roussillon and Cerdaña. This brought him in contact with Simon de Montfort; and the King of Aragon appears to have made an agreement with Simon by which he gave his only son Jayme to be brought up at Carcassonne with a view to his eventual marriage with a daughter of De Montfort. Afterwards a war broke out between Aragon and Carcassonne, and Pedro was slain in a battle near the castle of Muret. The heir of Aragon was at Carcassonne, in the power of his father’s enemy, and was only six years of age. He was born on February 8, 1208. Simon de Montfort at first refused to give him up; but, owing to the intervention of the Pope, he was restored to his subjects, and arrived at Montpellier in safety with his cousin Ramon Berenguer of Provence, who was the same age. This companion of Jayme was the future grandfather of Edward I. of England. Jayme I. of Aragon, surnamed the Conqueror, was among the greatest sovereigns in an age of great sovereigns, the age of Edward I. of England, of St. Louis of France, of St. Fernando of Castille, of Frederick II. of Germany. Accepted by his Parliament and guarded by his nobles during his minority, Jayme entered upon his duties as ruler of a free people with every advantage. His person is described by Desclot. He was very tall--over six feet--with broad shoulders, small waist, and well-proportioned limbs. He had a fair rosy complexion, blue eyes, and auburn hair. He was strong and active, very expert in all exercises on foot or horseback, valiant and well-practised in arms. He was courteous and affable to all classes of people, and he was as merciful as he was brave. There is one charming incident which throws a very pleasant light on his character. It is related in his own journal. His tent had been pitched in one place for a considerable time, and when the camp was moving it was found that a swallow had built its nest between the tent-poles. The King ordered that the tent was to remain pitched and guarded until the young swallows could fly, saying that the mother-bird had put herself under his protection, and that he could not disappoint her. Jayme, when a boy, was married to a princess of Castilla and had a son by her named Alonso, who died young. But the mother of his other children was Violante, daughter of King Andrew of Hungary and sister of St. Isabel. The first great enterprise undertaken by King Jayme was the expulsion of the Moors from the Balearic Islands, which they had possessed for five hundred years.