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Peter III’s conquest of Sicily, where he reigned as Peter I, was the second major step in the Mediterranean expansion of Catalonia, marking the beginning of a long international struggle with serious domestic complications.

Alfonso III (1285–91), who inherited the mainland dominions, and his younger brother James, who received Sicily, valiantly tried to overcome the formidable opposition of the pope, the king of France, and the house of Plantagenet (Anjou). Alfonso seized Majorca because his uncle James had aided the French during their Crusade against Aragon. Once again the Aragonese nobles challenged the king, forcing him in 1287 to confirm his father’s General Privilege and to permit the nobles to control the appointment of certain royal councillors. After succeeding his brother as king of Aragon, James II (1291–1327) tried to secure an unchallenged title to that kingdom by yielding his rights to Sicily in 1295 and returning Majorca to his uncle James.

After securing a favourable alteration of his frontier with Murcia, James II occupied Sardinia in 1325. As Genoa disputed Aragonese rights there, his successors, Alfonso IV (1327–36) and Peter IV (the Ceremonious; 1336–87), were forced to wage a series of wars. Accusing his cousin, the king of Majorca, of disloyalty, Peter IV annexed Majorca permanently to the Crown of Aragon in 1343. In 1347 Peter provoked a constitutional crisis by naming his daughter as heir to the throne rather than his brother, the count of Urgel, who argued that women were excluded from the succession.

The eldest surviving son of Queen Isabella II and, presumably, her consort, the duque de Cádiz, Alfonso accompanied his mother into exile following her deposition by the revolution of September 1868.

Isabella abdicated her rights in his favour in June 1870, but it was not until four years later (December 29, 1874) that Alfonso was proclaimed king of Spain. He returned to his country early in January of the following year.

Attempts on the king’s life (October 1878 and December 1879) and a military pronunciamiento against the regime (1883) were not indicative of any general discontent with the restored monarchy; on the contrary, Alfonso enjoyed considerable popularity, and his early death from tuberculosis was a great disappointment to those who looked forward to a constitutional monarchy in Spain.

Queen of Spain from the age of three, Isabella II abdicated after thirty-six years of more or less ceaseless turmoil, and spent almost half her life in exile in France

Her accession as a baby in 1833 in succession to her father, the autocratic Ferdinand VII, precipitated seven years of civil war with the Carlists

Isabella’s first regent was her mother, who weakened her position

He succeeded his father, Alfonso XI, at the age of 15, and John II of France saw the chance to force Castile into a military alliance against England.

At home Peter was at once confronted by a row of illegitimate half brothers, led by Henry of Trastámara (later Henry II), who, to win support for his undefined ambitions, proclaimed himself defender of the magnates’ privileges against the growing power of the crown.

From 1356 to 1366 Peter was engaged in a bitter war with Aragon, whose king, Peter IV, supported Henry’s cause. During the war Peter won many successes against Aragon while Trastamaran propaganda failed to undermine Castilian loyalty toward him. In 1365, therefore, the French king Charles V, Pope Urban V, and Peter IV—to save Aragon from being overrun—paid veteran French mercenaries, led by Bertrand du Guesclin, to go to Spain and overthrow Peter, replacing him by Henry.

The days of Bourbon rule in Spain seemed to be at an end when King Alfonso XIII left the country in 1931

abdicating in favour of his third son Don Juan, Count of Barcelona

The Civil War of 1936-39 left Spain a fascist dictatorship run by General Franco as El Caudillo (the Leader)

king of Aragon from January 1336, son of Alfonso IV.

Peter had to contend with revolt in Sardinia throughout his reign; but he succeeded, by political and military means, in preparing the future reunion of Sicily to the Aragonese crown and was recognized by the Catalan Almogávares as duke of Athens and Neopatras in 1380.

Although the mercenaries succeeded in briefly installing Henry of Trastámara on the Castilian throne, Henry failed to honour any of his promises to Peter, and after 1369 Charles V of France took no trouble to conceal that he preferred his alliance with Castile to that with Aragon. As a result, Peter now pursued a complicatedly neutral approach to the Hundred Years’ War, with some bias in favour of the English.

queen of Spain (1833–68) whose troubled reign was marked by political instability and the rule of military politicians. Isabella’s failure to respond to growing demands for a more progressive regime, her questionable private life, and her political irresponsibility contributed to the decline in monarchical strength and prestige that led to her deposition in the Revolution of 1868.

The elder daughter of Ferdinand VII

Isabella was proclaimed queen on her father’s death in 1833. Her right to succeed to the throne was disputed by supporters of her uncle, Don Carlos, and her accession precipitated civil war (First Carlist War, 1833–39).

When Ferdinand II (1479–1516; also known as Ferdinand V of Castile from 1474) succeeded to the Crown of Aragon in 1479, the union of Aragon (roughly eastern Spain) and Castile (roughly western Spain) was finally achieved, and the Trastámara became the second most powerful monarchs in Europe, after the Valois of France.

different royal houses of the Iberian Peninsula had long sought a union of their crowns and had practiced intermarriage for generations.

The reasons that led John II of Aragon to arrange the marriage of his son and heir, Ferdinand, with Isabella of Castile in 1469 were essentially tactical: he needed Castilian support against French aggression

founder of the house of Trastámara, which lasted until 1504.

The illegitimate son of Alfonso XI of Castile, Henry rebelled against his younger half brother, Peter I (Peter the Cruel), invaded Castile with French aid in 1366, and was crowned king at Burgos. Peter sought English aid, and Henry was routed by Edward the Black Prince

captured Peter, whom he murdered on March 23, 1369

Hispanic Republicans and conservatives are increasingly anguished over whether they can remain involved in this year’s presidential election as Donald Trump continues to launch attacks on prominent Latinos and makes little effort to win their support.

Many Hispanics active in national GOP politics have been hoping for months that Trump would tone down his broadsides against immigrants

there is little evidence that such a change is coming — leading some to abandon the presidential race or the 2016 elections altogether.

Roma is based partly on memories of Cuarón’s Mexican barrio of yesteryear. Viewed from Chile, it comes across as an indictment of the hypocrisy and blindness of the elites that today govern this country and so many other countries of the region, including the United States.

The film reminds us of all the Cleos who dream of going to the US, fleeing from the sort of violence and exploitation subtly alluded to by Cuarón

Once they manage to make it across the US border, millions of avatars of Cleo – as invisible and neglected as in Chile – keep the nation safe and affluent and healthy. They clean and cook and care for the sick and the elderly and, of course, for the children. They do so with love; what other word is there to use?

the book did not surprise me, as such, but it still stunned, shocked, and disgusted me. You simply cannot unread it, or banish what is quite obviously true from your mind

It helps explain more deeply the rants of Pope Francis about so many of his cardinals, especially his denunciations of “Pharisees” and “hypocrites,” with their sexual amorality and their vast wealth and power. “Behind rigidity something always lies hidden; in many cases, a double life,”

The only tiny consolation of the book is the knowledge that we now have a pope — with all his flaws — who knows what he’s dealing with, and has acted, quite ruthlessly at times, to demote, defrock, or reassign the most egregious cases to places where they have close to nothing to do

DENVER — In most American cities, white residents live near parks, trees and baseball fields, while communities of color are left with concrete and the heat that comes with it. Now, in a push that could provide a road map for other cities, officials in Denver are working to rectify that historical inequity.

Correcting decades of discriminatory municipal planning is especially important as climate change heats up American cities. Adding green space, researchers have found, can help residents cope with rising heat and brings all sorts of side benefits, like filtering air pollution or boosting residents’ mental health.

“It’s always just felt more like it’s a whole front,” said Alfonso Espino, a community activist and lifelong Denver resident, speaking of the city’s parks initiative. “Not for us, you know. It’s for the people that are coming.”