This book is the first in English in more than half a century to survey the history of a great Mediterranean federation whose homelands were Catalonia and Aragon. Based on recent research, it seeks to convey a sense of the energy, drama, and colour of a creative and expansionist people between the twelfth and the fifteenth century. T.N. Bisson lays due stress on individual achievement and personality, while at the same time providing a balanced survey of political and dynastic evolution, institutional foundations, economic and cultural matters, and the socio-economic weakness which led eventually to a crisis in the federated realms in the late Middle Ages.