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Early in the thirteenth century a new and important master for Minorca was waiting in the lists. In 12I2 the small Christian kingdoms in northern Spain had at last united under the House of Aragon, and successfully challenged the Moorish usurpers, just north of Granada. Elated by this success, King Pedro II of Aragon vowed to rid the Balearics of the infidel, but it fell to his son King Jaime I to fulfil the promise.

Majorca had fallen to Jaime's armada in 1230, and when he was in that island two years later to quell a rebellion, his commander suggested that a show of force would probably bring about the surrender of Moorish Minorca without a fight. Numerous fires were lit on Majorca at a point clearly visible from Minorca, so as to suggest a large army, and the ruse was successful. As he could not spare troops for a permanent occupation, he was content with an annual tribute, which also spared Minorcans another foreign occupation. The arrangement appears to have worked well for about fifty years. King Jaime wrote in his chronicle: 'every year we received pleasant gifts without asking'.

In 1287, following treachery by Minorcans, his grandson Alphonso III decided to occupy the island.
The operation began badly. His fleet set out from Salou in Majorca, where he had spent Christmas, but his ships were scattered by a violent storm as he approached Cap Artuig at the south-western tip of Minorca. He took shelter but wearied of waiting for them to reassemble, and reached Port Mahon on 5 January with only twenty ships. There he waited another twelve days, then opened battle without them. The traditional site of the battle is flat land just to the north of Mahon known as 'dels Verges'. It was San Antonio's Day - 17 January - and after the battle Pedro built a shrine with this name on the hillside just opposite the town, on which the Villa of San Antonio or the 'Golden Farm' was later built. After fierce fighting he was victorious, and the Moors retired to their fort on San Agueda. The whole island surrendered four days later.
The terms meted out to the vanquished were severe. With the exception of the Moorish governor and his entourage and family, all inhabitants who could not buy their freedom were deported as slaves, their number including many Moorish children who were forcibly separated from their parents. Shiploads of these deported slaves never saw land again, but were just tipped overboard on the high seas.

Sixty years later - on 22 July 1345 - Minorca was officially incorporated in the Crown of Aragon, when Pedro IV of Aragon was at the same ceremony crowned King of Majorca and the other Balearics. This is an important date for Minorca, for by this act it became for the first time, after a history of thousands of years in which it had been nourished from roots in the Eastern Mediterranean and Africa, part of Spain as we recognise it today.
In spite of this hopeful start, Minorca had other troubles during the remainder of the Middle Ages. Plague, smallpox and cholera were often widespread, as the people were particularly prone to infection from passing ships. In 1427, when the population had been decimated, their ruler in Spain pardoned convicts for the privilege of emigrating to Minorca, and soon every cave housed a bandit.

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