595) James I the Conqueror, King of Aragon

James I the Conqueror (1208 – 1276). King of Aragon, Count of Barcelona, and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 to 1276; King of Majorca from 1231 to 1276; and Valencia from 1238 to 1276. His long reign—the longest of any Iberian monarch—saw the expansion of the House of Aragon and House of Barcelona in three directions: Languedoc to the north, the Balearic Islands to the southeast, and Valencia to the south.
As a legislator and organiser, he occupies a high place among the European kings. James compiled the Llibre del Consolat de Mar, which governed maritime trade and helped establish Aragonese supremacy in the western Mediterranean. He was an important figure in the development of the Catalan language, sponsoring Catalan literature and writing a quasi-autobiographical chronicle of his reign: the Llibre dels fets.

- "James, by all accounts, was charismatic and good-looking, remarkably lean an tall, with long, wavy red hair." https://books.google.it/books…

- "Desclot describes him as taller than most, with athletic frame and reddish-blond hair..." https://books.google.it/books…

- "There is no doubt that the greatest of the monarchs of the Crown of Aragón certainly caused an impression on his fellow men, due to his red hair and enormous stature, which he had inherited from his father." http://en.caminodelcid.org/…/iberian-peninsula-spain-portug/