thinking that Abū Zayd had betrayed them and abandoned Islam. Abū Zayd fled Valencia and headed north while Zayyan triumphantly entered the city in the winter of 1229 without proclaiming himself king. From Madina Mursiyya, the anit-Almohad rebel, Ibn Hud, laid siege to Valencia, pressuring Zayyan into abandoning the city. James I of Aragon, who had recently conquered Majorca in 1229, decided to try once again to conquer the Taifa of Valencia. The Campaign for Valencia In 1235, the Crown of Aragon was conducting attacks in the area around Balansiya at Albalat and Cullera, but the Christian army was forced to retire. On 25 June 1235, James I of Aragon laid siege to the castle at Foios on the outskirts of Balansiya. The Muslims fighting for Zayyan ibn Mardanish, who were forced to retire to the south, destroyed the fortifications at El Puig. James I met with the dethroned Emir Abū Zayd in Teruel to establish a new pact between them. Instead of his signature, the document was stamped with Abū Zayd's crest, an eagle and the Castilian motto: Sciello de Ceit Buceit nieto de [Emir al] Momenin. The date was set at 28 May 1236 and it stipulated that a fourth of the territory of Valencia would go to Abū Zayd upon the conquest and that Abū Zayd and his descendants would declare themselves the vassals of James I and of any children he had with Violant of Hungary. It was at this time that Abu Zayd had converted to Christianity and adopted the name Vicens Bellvis. He married a woman from Zaragoza named María Ferrandia. Some sources incorrectly cite one "Dominga López". In the documents from 1236, the Catalan and Aragonese forces are already preparing for their eventual attack on Balensiya. On 13 October 1236, the cohorts of Monzón attempted the conquest. On a document dated to 28 October issued in Lérida, James I proclaimed that once the city of Valencia was conquered, he would donate to its church, saying: "apud Montesonum in curia generali quam convocavimus pro facienda exercitus contra mauros". The same day he promised to turn the city's central mosque into a Catholic church. On 13 November, James I issued a decree stating that once the city was taken, the church of Valencia would become a dependent of the See of Tarragona. In further preparation for Valencian life after the conquest, James I decreed that