ABSTRACT
This period is marked in general by a pattern of territorial conquest and expansion. The Catalan lands, part of the kingdom of Aragon, were in the ascendant. Yet the Catalan territory was located between an emergent Castile and French Kingdom. A crusade against the Cathars was pursued with brutal violence and profoundly impacted Catalonia. The northern defeat of the Catalan zone also gave an impetus to imperial ambitions in the Mediterranean. Frequently during the period from 1150 to 1400, Catalonia was at war. By the mid-fourteenth century, the Crown of Aragon became a powerful and at times feared power in the western Mediterranean. The expansion of the kingdom of Aragon produced new tensions amongst elites. Conflict emerged not only within Catalonia but also with lords in Aragon over newly acquired Valencia. With territorial expansion and conquest came the influence of Catalan high culture in Europe. At the end of the middle ages, Catalonia experienced, like other European countries, a sustained period of crisis, including the devastation of the Black Death. In cities there was increasing poverty, unrest and popular revolts, whilst tensions rose greatly in the countryside.
