In 1213, James I obtained the Crown of Aragon from his father Peter II, which also carried with it the title of Count of Barcelona. Peter II had distinguished himself in 1212 by his victory at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, by which he had put an end to the presence in Spain of the Almohads, a dynasty of Arab origin. The following year, however, Peter was killed in the Battle of Muret by Simon de Montfort's army. It was at this point that his son James inherited the crown and embarked on a policy of conquest in the Mediterranean directed at the Balearic archipelago. In 1229 he obtained the island of Madina Mayurqa (later renamed Majorca). The island, which until then had been predominantly Muslim, became an arrival point for many Christians from the Iberian Peninsula. However, many of these Muslims, following the Christian conquest, decided to stay and also to convert. Crucial in the conquest of the island was the help of cities such as Montpellier and Marseilles - at the time under the control of the crown of Aragon - who were rewarded with the cession of urban and landed property outside the city walls. Of course, James was well aware that two other powers had interests in the western Mediterranean: these were the Genoese and the Pisans, to whom the king gave trade concessions, especially to Italian merchants living on the island. It was a way not to inflame the spirits of the Italian maritime republics, which had been very surprised and disconcerted by James' enterprise. In 1231 it was the turn of Menorca. Gathered at night with his armies on the eastern part of Majorca, James devised a clever stratagem: the king gave each soldier two torches, so that when the Muslims of Minorca saw the torches in the distance, they thought that a huge fleet was approaching their island. Promptly, they sent a message of submission - James had also conquered the other main island of the Balearics.