Peter the Ceremonious

Peter IV
Peter IV, King of Aragon by Gonçal Peris Sarrià & Jaume Mateu (1427)
King of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca and Count of Barcelona
Reign	24 January 1336 – 6 January 1387
Coronation	1336 (Zaragoza)
Predecessor	Alfonso IV
Successor	John I
Born	5 September 1319 Perpignan
Died	6 January 1387 (aged 67) Barcelona
Spouse	Maria of Navarre Eleanor of Portugal Eleanor of Sicily Sibila of Fortia
Issue Among Others	John I, King of Aragon Martin, King of Aragon Constance, Queen of Sicily Joanna, Countess of Ampurias Eleanor, Queen of Castile Isabella, Countess of Urgell
House	House of Barcelona
Father	Alfonso IV of Aragon
Mother	Teresa d'Entença
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Peter IV (5 September 1319 – 6 January 1387), called the Ceremonious (Catalan: el Cerimoniós), was from 1336 until his death the King of Aragon and also King of Sardinia and Corsica (as Peter I), King of Valencia (as Peter II), and Count of Barcelona (and the rest of the Principality of Catalonia as Peter III). In 1344, he deposed James III of Majorca and made himself King of Majorca.

His reign was occupied with attempts to strengthen the crown against the Union of Aragon and other such devices of the nobility, with their near constant revolts, and with foreign wars, in Sardinia, Sicily, the Mezzogiorno, Greece, and the Balearics. His wars in Greece made him Duke of Athens and Neopatria in 1381.

Peter was born at Balaguer, the eldest son and heir of Alfons IV, then Count of Urgell, and his first wife, Teresa d'Entença. Peter was designated to inherit all of his father's title save that of Urgell, which went to his younger brother James.

Upon succeeding his father he called a corts in Zaragoza for his coronation. He crowned himself, disappointing the Archbishop of Zaragoza and thus rejecting the surrender Peter II had made to the Papacy, in an otherwise traditional ceremony. According to his own later reports, this act caused him some "distress". He did, however, affirm the liberties and privileges of Aragon. Also while he was at Zaragoza an embassy from Castile had met him and asked that he promise to uphold the donations of land his father had made to his stepmother Eleanor, but he refused to give a clear answer as to the legitimacy of the donations.