Key Facts
- Founded
- 1238 (conquest of Moorish taifa of Valencia)
- Dissolved
- 1707, by Nueva Planta decrees of Philip V
- Duration
- ~469 years (1238–1707)
- Governing law
- Furs (charters) of Valencia
- Parent polity
- Crown of Aragon; later Spanish Monarchy
Imperial Zenith Metrics
Historical Trajectory
Phase I: Rise
The Kingdom of Valencia was established in 1238 when James I of Aragon conquered the Moorish taifa of Valencia during the Reconquista. The newly created kingdom was formally incorporated into the Crown of Aragon and granted its own legal framework, the Furs of Valencia, which guaranteed wide-ranging self-government and defined the rights and duties of its inhabitants under the Aragonese crown.
Phase II: Zenith
At its height the Kingdom of Valencia functioned as a prosperous Mediterranean realm within the Crown of Aragon, benefiting from trade links across the western Mediterranean. Valencia city grew into one of the most important commercial centres of the Iberian Peninsula, and the Furs provided a stable constitutional order that distinguished the kingdom from neighbouring Castilian territories and fostered a distinct Valencian cultural and linguistic identity.
Phase III: Decline
Following the War of the Spanish Succession, Philip V issued the Nueva Planta decrees in 1707, which dissolved the Kingdom of Valencia along with the other constituent realms of the Crown of Aragon. Its autonomous institutions and the Furs were abolished, and the territory was absorbed into a centralised Castilian-model administration. The modern Valencian Community of Spain broadly preserves the kingdom's historic boundaries and identity.
Notable Imperial Reigns
Selected rulers mapping the empire’s trajectory