Peter
II, (1174-1213) was King
of Aragón (1196-1213) and count of Barcelona (as Pere
I), son and successor of Alfonso II. He was surnamed the
Catholic.
His parents were Alfonso II of Aragon and Sancha of Castile. He was crowned (1204) at St Pancrace's Church in Rome by Pope Innocent III , and accepted the pope as overlord of Aragón and Catalonia. He acknowledged the feudal supremacy of the Papacy - in line with Innocent III's largely successful attempts to establish himself at the apex of the feudal system. He was crowned in Rome by Innocent, swearing to defend the Catholic faith (hence his surname, "the Catholic").
On June 15, 1204 he married Marie of Montpellier, daughter and heiress of William VIII of Montpellier by Eudocia Comnena. Peter was her third husband. Together they had a short-lived daughter Sancha (1205-1206); and a son, James. Later, Peter discarded her. She died in Rome in 1218 and was buried in St Peter's Basilica.
In 1212 Peter he helped Alfonso VIII of Castile to defeat the Moors at Las Navas de Tolosa. This battle was the turning point in the history of Medieval Iberia. The forces of King Alfonso VIII of Castile were joined by the armies of his rivals, Peter II of Aragon and Alfonso II of Portugal to fight the Muslim Almohad rulers of the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula. Caliph al-Nasir led the Almohad army. The defeat of the Almohads signaled the beginning of a long decline in the power of the Moors in the Peninsula.
Following
his performance against the Moors, Peter II was the most
famous and respected crusader of the period.
He had driven the Moslems from much of Spain, and won plaudits
from the Papacy for his leadership. But Peter's
problems had already started when the crusaders purported
to replace Raymond-Roger
Tranceval as Viscount of Carcassonne and Béziers
in 1209. How could they do this? Feudal
law was absolutely clear that it was for Peter as suzerain,
to appoint, confirm and dispossess his own vassals - but
now Innocent had a legal claim to be Peter's suzerain.
Even the Northern Lords were uneasy about this precedent.
As they clearly saw, if Innocent
III got away with this then neither they nor any sovereign
in Christendom would be safe.
Peter returned from Las Navas in the autumn of 1212 to find that in the course of the Cathar Crusade. Simon de Montfort had conquered Toulouse, exiling Raymond VI Count of Toulouse, Peter's vassal and brother-in-law. Peter crossed the Pyrenees and arrived at Muret in September 1213 to confront de Montfort's army. He was accompanied by Raymond of Toulouse, who gave Peter excellent counsel, to avoid battle and instead to starve out Montfort's forces. This suggestion was rejected as unknightly. Peter fought at the subsequent battle of Muret in 1213, but was killed during a needless show of bravado. (He was fighting in disguise - a common ploy for kings at the time and not apparently regarded as unknightly. A lowly vassal armed as the King of Aragon attracted the scorn of the Crusaders and Peter, unable to contain himself, shouted out something to effect of "here I am, come and get me".) He died, as brave as he was foolish at the hands of two French Crusader knights.
The death of the most famous Crusader in Europe, a King,
surnamed the "Catholic", fighting against brother
crusaders, shook both armies and indeed left the whole of
Christendom horrified and bewildered. Though
no-one realised at the time, his death marked the beginning
of the end of Aragonese hegemony north of the Pyrenees
(
Pirenčus,
Pirineus,
Pyrénées). 
He is buried in the Convent of Sigena at Vilanueva de Sigena. He was succeed by his son Jaume El Conqueridor (Jaime I or, in English, James I, the Conqueror).
Click on the following link for more about Aragon
and Catalonia 
Click on the following link for more about the
arms of Aragon
Click on the following link for more about the
arms of fighters in the Cathar Wars
Click on the following link for more about the
relationship between the Houses of Aragon and Toulouse
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