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| 2. Sicily and Naples |
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(See 1190–94) |
| THE HOUSE OF ANJOU (1266-1435) |
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| 1268–85 |
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| CHARLES I (Angevin) king of Naples and of Sicily (1268–82). His grandiose scheme for the creation of a Mediterranean empire in succession to the Byzantine (a revival of the Latin Empire under French auspices), financed by new and heavy taxation, provoked the bloody Sicilian Vespers (1282), a revolt against the rule of Charles that began at the hour of Vespers on Easter Monday, near a church outside Palermo; perhaps 2,000 French men, women, and children were killed. The Sicilians expelled the French, offered the crown to Peter III of Aragon, and hostilities between the Angevins in Naples and Aragonese on the island of Sicily continued for almost a century, to the destruction of good order and the Sicilian economy, and the impoverishment of the Sicilian people. | 1 |
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| 1282– |
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| Sicily under Aragonese rule: Peter (1282–85); James (1285–95). James exchanged the investiture of Sardinia and Corsica for that of Sicily, and Sicily passed to his brother, Frederick (1295–1337). Frederick brought to a close the war with Naples (Peace of Caltabeleotta, 1302), marrying the daughter of Charles I and accepting the stipulation that the Sicilian crown should pass to the Angevins on his death. This agreement was not fulfilled, with the result that the struggle continued until, in 1373, Joanna of Naples abandoned Sicily to the Aragonese in return for tribute. Sicily was ruled as a viceroyalty until the reunion with Aragon in 1409. | 2 |
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| 1309–43 |
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| Robert (Angevin) of Naples. He was the leader of the Italian Guelfs and, having been appointed imperial vicar on the death of Emperor Henry VII, planned to create an Italian kingdom. He patronized the artists Giotto and Simone Martine, and the humanists Petrarch and Dionigi di San Sepolcro. | 3 |
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| 1382–86 |
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| Charles III, a grandnephew of Robert. | 4 |
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| 1386–1414 |
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| Ladislas, son of Charles III, finally succeeded in establishing some measure of order in the kingdom and began a vigorous campaign of expansion in central Italy. In 1409 he bought the States of the Church from Pope Gregory XII, but his designs were blocked by Florence and Siena. | 5 |
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| 1414–35 |
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| JOANNA (GIOVANNA) II, sister of Ladislas. The amazing intrigues of this amorous widow kept Italian diplomacy in turmoil, and culminated in a struggle between René, the Angevin claimant (supported by the pope), and Alfonso V of Aragon (supported by Filippo Maria Visconti). This conflict ended in the triumph of Alfonso, who secured Naples in 1435 and was recognized as king by the pope in 1442. | 6 |
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| 1435–58 |
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| Alfonso (the Magnanimous, so called because of his generous patronage of the arts). Convinced that Aragonese control of the western Mediterranean would be dependent on his gaining a foothold on mainland Italy, he waged a long but successful war to secure Naples, which he entered in 1443. Naples became the center of his Mediterranean empire. He centralized the administration, reformed taxation, and arranged a series of dynastic marriages. Alfonso supported public instruction, strengthened the University of Naples, patronized Lorenzo Valla, and made Naples one of the great centers of Renaissance culture. He divided his empire at his death, leaving Aragon and Sicily to his brother John, Naples to his illegitimate son. | 7 |
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| 1458–94 |
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| FERRANTE (FERDINAND I). Educated by Lorenzo Valla, he continued his father's support for art and learning, and he tried to develop a more just tax structure. But baronial opposition troubled his entire reign. In 1458, he defeated a baronial coalition with the aid of Francesco Sforza and Cosimo de' Medici. In 1485 he granted rebelling barons an unequivocal amnesty, and after their surrender he massacred them, which gave him the reputation of being notoriously unscrupulous. Innocent (1492) guaranteed the succession in Naples. Alexander VI stood by the bargain and opposed Charles VIII's demand for investiture. | 8 |
| The claims of the Valois kings to Naples. Based on (1) the marriage of Margaret (daughter of Charles II of Naples) and Charles of Valois, the parents of King Philip VI; and (2) the claims of the so-called second house of Anjou founded by Duke Louis I (d. 1384) of Anjou, count of Provence. Louis was grandson of Philip VI and grandfather of (1) Maria, wife of Charles VII of France, mother of Louis XI; and (2) Duke Louis III (d. 1434) and his brother René of Lorraine (d. 1480). (See Other Italian States) | 9 |
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