An ode to Kingship

Restless after summer, I planned a vacation to Mallorca, Spain. I discovered the Feste del Rei en Jaume, a celebration of the Battle of Portopi between King James I and the Moors. Research revealed the King's army won, despite initial losses. The Feste includes cultural and traditional events, plus a 'nit de foc' festival of giants and a reenactment of the battle. I'm looking forward to it!

When summer’s done, I always get restless. Gone are the bright sunny days, the long lazy afternoons and the lingering dusk. To shake off this feeling of ennui, I decided to plan my next vacation. I twirled my globe, closed my eyes and let my talon pick a spot. My lucky day, I must say, because I had chosen Mallorca, Spain.

As all of you know, I have a great weakness for festivals. So the next thing I did was to search for festivals in Mallorca. I came across the Feste del Rei en Jaume at Santa Ponsa. It was a celebration of the landing of Jaime I at Santa Ponça in September 1229, and the beginning of the reconquest of the island from the Moors.

Of course, none of this made sense, so I decided to do some research. It was called the Battle of Portopi and, unlike today’s battles, this was a conflict in an open field between the Almohad troops that were occupying Mallorca and the army of King James I, the King of Aragon, also known as the Conqueror.

The army of James I anchored in the bay of Santa Ponsa and the deployed forces began their invasion. In the first major clash with the Almohads, they won. But, that evening, they heard that the enemy forces had regrouped and were making their way to the camp. The army of James I was prepared. Guillermo de Montcada and his nephew Ramón led the attack. Initially, they were winning but slowly the Almohads took charge and soon the Montcadas were killed. However, unaware of the defeat, James I rode into battle. At the height of the battle, confronted with a strong cavalry of the Almohads, they were forced to retreat. Seeing his troops running scared, legend has it the Conqueror exclaimed, Vergonya, cavallers, vergonya! meaning ‘For shame, Knights, shame!’ However, by the end of the day, the tide had changed and James I and his troops won the fight. They buried the Montcadas in the Bendinat mountains, beside a pine tree and it was called the Pine of the Montcadas.

The Feste del Rei en Jaume is a reenactment of this famous battle. It begins in August and continues until mid-September. I am looking forward to a fun week with lots of cultural and traditional events. I hear there is also a festival of giants! It is called ‘nit de foc’. That is something I will not miss for sure. Finally, of course, the most important part of the all: the battle between the forces of James I and the Almohads.