Martin, the second son of King Peter IV of Aragon and Eleanor of Sicily (Leonora of Trinacria), princess of the Sicilian branch of the House of Aragon, had succeeded his elder brother John I, who had died sonless in 1396, on the throne of Aragon.

However, Sicilian nobles had been causing unrest and Martin had been kept in Sicily.

Meanwhile, Martin's wife María López de Luna, daughter and heiress of Lopez de Luna, Lord and 1st Count of Luna and Lord of Segorbe and wife, a relative of Pope Clement V, had claimed the throne on behalf of Martin and acts as his representative until he arrives in 1397.

Still, the delay has opened the way for more problems and quarrels to surface in Aragon.

His right to the throne is contested, first by Count Matthew of Foix on behalf of his wife Joanna, elder daughter of John I.

However, Martin succeeds in quashing the invasion by the troops of the count.