Ramon Muntaner

Born Peralada, Alt Empordà, died 1265 - Ibiza 1336

As children the kings Jaume i and Alfons X stayed at Muntaner's father's house in Peralada, a fact that shaped him profoundly. In 1285, aged 20, French troops burnt down and destroyed his home and the rest of Peralada. From that moment he began to travel and perform many different duties. He accompanied Roger de Llúria during the conquest of Menorca (1286-1287), he became a citizen of Mallorca (1287-1300), he travelled to Sicilly to defend Messina (1301) and later embarked on an expedition to the far-east with Roger de Flor (1302). Between 1309 and 1315 he was governor of the Isle of Djerba in North Africa.

In 1331 he was married in Valencia, a marriage which bore him a son and a daughter. In 1315 he commanded the transfer of the infant Jaume, the future Jaume III, from Mallorca, who knighted him the following year. Later he retired to Valencia to work on his memoirs, where, aged 60, he had a vision that inspired him to write his masterpiece The Chronicle (1325-1328).

Ramon Muntaner died in Ibiza in 1336.