Kingdom of Majorca James II of Majorca. After 1279, Peter III of Aragon established that the king of Majorca was a vassal to the king of Aragon. The title continued to be employed by the Aragonese and Spanish monarchs until its dissolution by the 1715 Nueva Planta decrees. The kingdom included the Balearic Islands: Majorca, Menorca (which was still under the rule of Muslims until 1231 when its sovereignty was surrendered to James I), Ibiza and Formentera. The king was also lord of the mainland counties of Roussillon and Cerdanya, and the territories James I kept in Occitania: the signory of Montpellier, the
History of the Jews in the Balearic Islands ritual observances; Aaron ha-Kohen, who wrote his ritual code, "Orchot Chaim," at Majorca; Joseph Caspi, a well-known writer; Isaac ben Nathan, diligent translator from the Arabic; and the physicians Moses Rimos and Eleazar Ardot, the latter of whom was born on Majorca, as was also Simon ben Tsemach Duran. Minorca became an English possession in 1713, and willingly proffered an asylum to a number of Jewish families from African cities. A synagogue was soon erected in Mahón. The fact that Jews and Moors were settled there was sufficient reason for Spain to join with France to drive the English from