Valencia was under Islamic rule since 711, with an eight-year interruption between 1094, when the city had been conquered by the Christians under command of El Cid, and 1102, when it was retaken by the Almoravids.

[2] On 22 April 1238, James I arrived at the village Grau de Valencia to start the siege of the city, and established his command post at Russafa.

In the middle of 1238 the then Archbishop of Tarragona, Pere d'Albalat, assisted James I by offering his personal services in the crusade against the city of Balasinya, in addition to contributing 5,000 marks of silver to the cause, as well as a considerable contingent of knights.

To make the capitulation public, on 28 September 1238, the Valencian Moors hoisted a Royal flag of Aragon and Catalonia, later called the Pennon of the Conquest, on the tower of Alí Bufat.

Once the Islamic Balânsia was captured, Pere d'Albalat consecrated the mosque into a Christian church and helped Berenguer de Castellbisbal in the organization of the new Bishopric of Valencia.

In this way, Pere d'Albalat managed to have the See of Valencia declared suffragan of that of Tarragona, in direct opposition to the pretensions of the Castilian Archbishop of Toledo, Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada.