James I the conqueror, the only king catalans love

800 years ago, the 31st of january 1207 the future king James I of Catalonia and Aragon was born in Montpellier, today France.

His importance in Catalan history is very high as he was the king that, once an adult, conquered the kingdom of Valencia and the island of Mallorca to the moors, spreading christendom, catalan law system and, the most important, the catalan language, in today's "Països catalans" (Catalan countries).

What he did cannot be denied, even by valencian and balearic unionist forces (in favour of keeping valencian and balearic affairs and dialect away from Barcelona's and Catalonia's decissions).

Today some acts are being carried out in symbolical places related to him, like Valencia, Mallorca, Perpinyà and even his birthplace, Montpellier.

He is buried currently in Poblet Monastery, near Tarragona, with the other kings of the catalan-aragonese dinasty that came after him.

No other king is remembered by the catalans who love their country so emotively as he is. The years that came after his death were the greatest in catalan history with the expansion to the east carrying the catalan flag up to the walls of Constantinople (Today's Istanbul in Turkey).

When king Martí l'humà died with no heir in 1410 the catalan court started to hispanize and catalan relationship with monarchy started to deteriorate up until our days with the Borbon dinasty.