"..In 1097 some Bari sailors, on their return from the East, brought with them the relics of St. Nicholas, Bishop of Mira, for which Roger, Duke of Apulia, built a splendid church; this became the object of great veneration and of innumerable pilgrimages. About this time Urban II, being in Apulia, went to Bari to venerate the relics of the holy wonder-worker and to consecrate the basilica.."

The Kingdom of Naples (where the Apulia belongs), was conquered by King Alfonso V of Aragon in 1442 (who sailed from Barcelona with a fleet of hundreds of catalan horses). Naples had been separated From Sicily since the Sicilian Vespers of 1282. At the death of King Alfonso in 1458, the kingdom became divided between his brother John II of Aragon, who kept Sicily, and his bastard son Ferdinand, who became King of Naples the 16th of august of 1458. The year 1506, King Ferdinand II of Aragon, son of John II, conquered Naples and reunified the two kingdoms under the catalan authority.

After the "Low countries" become united with Naples and Catalonia under Charles V, the devotion to "Saint Nicola di Bari" (Saint Niklaus, Santa Klaus), for bringing presents to the kids, has increased in those countries.. with the tradition saying he was coming from Spain.. later on the tradition has switched his origin to the North Pole...


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A Dutch legend about Santa Claus coming from SPAIN| Jeske House

 

THE CATALAN-SPANISH WAY.. FROM GENOA TO GHENT

MACHIAVELLIAN PACT OF FERDINAND THE CATHOLIC IN 1493 IN BARCELONA PROMISING TO LOOK THE OTHER WAY AND LET CHARLES D'AMBOISE CONQUER LOMBARDY AND NAPLES TO END UP BEING KING OF NAPLES. CONQUERING IT FROM THE FRENCH AND NOT BEING ONE BY NOT HAVING TO WAGE A PARRICIDE WAR AGAINST THEIR COUSINS KINGS OF NAPLES TO ACHIEVE IT

With the fall of Ruad in 1302, the Kingdom of Jerusalem ended up losing what was left of its possessions on the coast of the Middle East, its closest possession to the Holy Land became Cyprus. Henry II of Jerusalem retained the title of King of Jerusalem until his death in 1324, and his successors, the kings of Cyprus, continued to claim their title, until Cyprus fell into Ottoman hands.

Henry IV of England made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1393/4, and then promised to lead a crusade to reclaim the city, but no longer undertook any campaign before his death in 1413.

By papal decision - Jerusalem -> Charles I of Anjou

While Naples was a papal fiefdom, the popes often accepted the title of King of Naples and also of "King of Jerusalem", leaving the history of the title tied to the Angevi Kingdom of Naples, since its founder, Charles of Anjou, had bought in 1277 the rights to the throne of Jerusalem from Mary of Antioch. Thereafter, this claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem was treated as part of the crown of Naples, which changed hands by will or conquest rather than by direct inheritance, contesting the title of king of Jerusalem among those who claimed to be entitled to the kingdom of Naples. Charles I of Anjou is succeeded by his son Charles II of Naples, who married Mary, daughter of Stephen V of Hungary, and his descendants, divided into two branches, bear the titles of Naples, Jerusalem and Hungary until in 1385, the branches are joined together in the figure of Charles III of Naples.

By right of conquest - Jerusalem -> Alfonso the Magnanimous

His daughter, Joan II of Naples, cedes his rights to Alfonso the Magnanimous who nevertheless has to wage war against the Anjou, a war he won in 1435 and became king of Naples "by right of conquest". He is succeeded by his bastard son Ferrante (Ferdinand I) and then Alfonso II and Ferdinand II of Naples.

Ferdinand I, to be crowned King of Naples Callixtus III (Alfonso de Borgia), upon his death is succeeded by Pius II who ends up legitimizing Ferrante as Ferdinand I.

Alfonso II after being invested by Pope Pius II abdicates in favor of his son Ferdinand II of Naples. But in 1495 after the Treaty of Barcelona of 1493 Charles VIII of France began the invasion of Lombardy and Naples with Charles d'Amboise at the command of all forces. Interestingly, Leonard will die at Clos Lucée in the Castle of Amboise

Ferdinand II of Naples. With the invasion by the French troops of Charles VIII. The city of Naples was besieged and Ferdinand II was forced to flee to Ischia, where he organized a Catalan league against the French king. On his departure from the Neapolitan capital (1496), Ferdinand II defeated him with the help of the Catalan troops under the command of the Grand Captain, and when Ferdinand II, the Neapolitan throne, died, he was able to pass to Ferdinand the Catholic. .

By hereditary right - Jerusalem -> by our Good King Rene (house of Lorraine)

With the Magnanimous, the Crown of Jerusalem remains linked to the Trastámara branch, although the Anjou continue to claim their rights, hence the coat of arms of our Good King Rene

By right of conquest - Jerusalem -> Ferdinand the Catholic

Ferdinand the Catholic in the Treaty of Barcelona of 1493 in order to recover Roussillon and Cerdanya ceded as a pledge in exchange for French aid to John II during the Catalan Civil War, secretly agrees with Louis IX to look the other way and let him invade Italy, it is a "Machiavellian" manoeuvre because so, to recover it, he will have to fight the French and not his cousins. Finally the domination of the French ends with their defeat at Cerinyola in 1502. Then the Crown of Naples (and with it that of Jerusalem) is linked "by right of conquest" to Ferdinand the Catholic and the Crown of Aragon, not to that of Castile.

Physically the entire Middle East remained under Ottoman control from 1517 until the Partition of the Ottoman Empire in 1918.

PER VEURE LA NADALA CLICA SOBRE EN MANEL