border with France, and they were from then on more prone to being dragged into European issues such as the Hundred Years War. This international dimension is especially characteristic of Aragon, which by the end of the thirteenth century had an extensive empire in the western Mediterranean including Sicily and Sardinia, and interests in southern France. Throughout the late Middle Ages the international policy of the kings of Aragon was often in conflict with internal needs, and excessive emphasis on foreign policy was often followed by a reaction or by unrest at home. In addition many of the Spanish kings of the period were weak, inclined to place personal ambitions and infatuations before the interest of the country, and by the proliferation of illegitimate offspring apt to leave the succession
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