God was the key to victory
James may have cherished his military triumphs, but he rarely took sole credit for them. Like other medieval monarchs, he believed that all kings were hand-selected by God as his representatives on Earth – and that his conquests were part of God’s divine plan for Christian Spain. This belief is attested by a vision James recorded where an angel apparently foretold that: “In this conflict that has arisen between the Saracens and the Christians in Spain… one king has to save everyone and to defend them so that evil does not befall Spain.” That king was “the king of Aragon who had the name James”.
James believed that the hand of God personally ensured his victories. He wrote of a battle that was going badly for his army in Majorca – until shouts of “Santa Maria! Santa Maria!” and the miraculous appearance of Saint George transformed his men’s fortunes.
James’s own piety is evident in his writings. Upon triumphing at a siege in Murcia, “We thanked Our Lord God for the grace he had done us, and we knelt, crying and kissing the ground.”
The king believed that, by conquering lands for God, he and his men were atoning for their sins. This was because these enterprises were “so important and good that the bad reputation that you have may be erased, since the light of good works overcomes the dark”.
Most medieval Christians were deeply concerned about the fate of their souls after death. James was, it seems, no different. Nor did he believe that his royal blood would entitle him to special treatment: “We who are kings take nothing from this world when the hour of our death comes but a single shroud, though it be of finer cloth than that
of other people,” he wrote.