Crown of Aragon

State · 1169–1515 CE · at its largest around 1450 CE

Composite monarchy formed by the union of Aragon and the County of Barcelona, which expanded across the Mediterranean to Valencia, Majorca, Sicily, Sardinia and Naples.

On its lands while it lasted

Francis of Assisi (c. 1181 CE – 1226 CE): Italian friar who embraced radical poverty and founded the Franciscan Order; one of the most venerated saints of Christianity.
Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229 CE): Crusade called by Pope Innocent III against the Cathars of southern France, which brought Languedoc under French royal control.
Thomas Aquinas (1225 CE – 1274 CE): Dominican friar and theologian whose Summa Theologica synthesised Aristotelian philosophy with Christian doctrine.
Foix (c. 1236 CE): Capital of County of Foix (1236–1555).
Tunis (c. 1236 CE): Capital of Hafsid Dynasty (1236–1571), Beylik of Tunis (1706–1881), Republic of Tunisia (1956–today).
Perpignan (c. 1279 CE): Capital of Kingdom of Majorca (1279–1343).
Palma (c. 1279 CE): Capital of Kingdom of Majorca (1279–1343).
Duccio’s Maestà (1311 CE): Duccio’s great altarpiece of the Virgin enthroned among saints was carried in procession to Siena Cathedral in 1311 amid ringing bells. Its back told Christ’s Passion in dozens of small scenes.
Ibn Khaldun (1332 CE – 1406 CE): A North African historian and scholar whose Muqaddimah analysed the rise and fall of dynasties, making him a forerunner of sociology and historiography.
Black Death (1346–1353 CE): Bubonic plague pandemic that reached Europe through Mediterranean ports such as Messina in 1347 and killed an estimated third to half of Europe's population.
Prizren (c. 1352 CE): Capital of Serbian Empire (1352–1371).
Pietà (1499 CE): Michelangelo’s marble sculpture of the Virgin Mary holding the body of Christ, finished around 1499 in Rome when he was in his early twenties. It stands in St Peter’s Basilica and is the only work he signed.
St. Peter's Basilica (1506 CE): Pope Julius II laid the foundation stone of the new basilica in Vatican City in 1506; it was consecrated in 1626. Bramante, Michelangelo and Bernini all shaped its design.
Sistine Chapel ceiling (1508–1512 CE): Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican between 1508 and 1512, including the Creation of Adam. It is a cornerstone of High Renaissance art.
The School of Athens (1511 CE): Raphael’s fresco in the Vatican’s Stanza della Segnatura, painted between 1509 and 1511, gathers the philosophers of ancient Greece around Plato and Aristotle. It is a defining work of the High Renaissance.