Individual Details
Charles I Etienne King of Naples and Sicily
(Mar 1226 - 7 Jan 1285)
Charles I was born in March 1226, the son of Louis VIII, king of France, and Blanche of Castile. Charles was the youngest brother of St. Louis IX, king of France. On 31 January 1246 he married Beatrice de Provence, daughter of Raimund Berengar V, comte de Provence, and Béatrice de Savoie. Charles and Beatrice had seven children, of whom only two, Beatrice and Charles II, would have progeny.
In the early 1250s Charles was first approached by envoys from Pope Innocent IV, who was then seeking to detach the kingdom of Sicily from the Holy Roman Empire (in the person of emperor-elect Konrad IV von Hohenstaufen), and offered it to Charles, after his brother-in-law Richard, earl of Cornwall, had declined it. Charles' brother Alphonse, however, was unenthusiastic about the idea; and their brother Louis IX forbade it outright.
Balked, Charles took up the cause of Margarethe, Gravin van Vlaanderen en Henegouwen, against her son Jan I d'Avesnes, Graaf van Henegouwen, in the War of the Succession to Flanders and Hainault. She granted Charles the county of Hainault for his service. Louis IX again disapproved, and on his return from Outremer in 1254 he returned Hainault to Jan. The disappointed Charles returned to Provence, where he spent the next few years quietly increasing his power over various lordships on its borders and suppressing a series of rebellions. The Provençals proved staunch supporters of Charles, providing money and troops for his further conquests. Many of them were rewarded with high posts in his new dominions.
With the usurpation of the Sicilian throne from Konrad IV's son Konradin (Corradino) by Konrad's half-brother Manfredo of Sicily in 1258, the relationship between the papacy and the Hohenstaufen had changed again. Instead of the boy Konradin, safely sequestered across the Alps, the papacy now faced an able military leader in Italy. Accordingly, when negotiations broke down with Manfredo in 1262, Pope Urban IV again took up the scheme of removing the Hohenstaufen from the kingdom, and offered the crown to Charles again. Manfredo's usurpation from Konradin overcame King Louis' scruples; this time, he was persuaded to admit the offer, and Charles ratified a treaty with the pope in July 1263. The terms were heavily in favour of the pope: the kingdom must never be reunited with the empire, and the king was never to hold imperial or papal office, or interfere with ecclesiastical matters in the kingdom. Nevertheless, Charles accepted eagerly. For money, he called for help from the then-omnipotent Sienese banker Orlando Bonsignori.
Having endorsed the treaty, Charles could now play for time. With Manfredo's troops advancing on the Papal States, Charles obtained an extensive renegotiation of the treaty on more favourable lines. As instruction went out to the clergy to submit contributions for the war, Urban IV died in October 1264 at Perugia, fleeing from Manfredo. This raised the possibility of a reversal of papal policy. Fortunately for Charles, the new pope Clement IV was the former adviser of Charles' brother Alphonse and strongly supported the accession of Charles. Charles entered Rome on 23 May 1265 and was proclaimed king of Sicily.
Charles was popular in Rome, where he was elected senator, and his diplomacy had already undermined Manfredo's support in northern Italy. While Charles' campaigns were delayed for lack of money, Manfredo idled away his time hunting in Apulia, while his support in the north of Italy dwindled. Charles was able to bring his main army through the Alps, and he and Beatrice were crowned on 6 January 1266. As Charles' army began an energetic campaign, Manfredo suddenly shed his lethargy and moved to meet him. Worried that further delays might endanger the loyalty of his supporters, he attacked Charles' army, then in disarray from the crossing of the hills into Benevento, on 26 February 1266. In the Battle of Benevento that followed, Manfredo's army was crushed and he was killed. Upon his death, resistance throughout the kingdom collapsed, and Charles was master of Sicily.
Charles arrived victorious in Naples in 1266 to begin the two centuries of Angevin rule of southern Italy, which established Naples as a European capital and continued the tradition of the southern monarchy while the rest of Italy was fragmenting into city communes and states.
Charles quickly began to secure his position by imprisoning all supporters of the imperial designs of the Teutons. There remained, though, one obstacle to his safe establishment on the throne of Naples and Sicily: Konradin von Hohenstaufen, son of Konrad IV, and grandson and legal heir to Emperor Friedrich II lived out of harm's way in Germany. However within a year Konradin, still only fourteen years old, was marching through Italy to claim his birthright. Their armies met in decisive battle at Tagliacozzo, on the border between Abruzzo and Lazio, and the defeated Konradin, attempting to flee Italy, was taken prisoner in Terracina and brought to Naples.
Charles needed to establish his kingship and knew that while the young pretender lived, he would be a rallying point for the pro-imperial Ghibelline party. The young Konradin was, therefore, unceremoniously beheaded in the Piazza del Mercato in Naples on 29 October 1268. It was an act that shook the mediaeval world but it was politically decisive and undertaken in the knowledge that no opposition would be forthcoming from the Church, which had, after all, invited Charles into Italy precisely to remove the Hohenstaufen presence.
Now able to concentrate on his kingdom, Charles transferred the capital from Palermo to Naples. This allowed him to be closer to the centre of his interests, which included being a Roman senator, lands in Provence and a desire to expand to the east. The decision conferred great prestige on Naples and placed it an on equal footing with the other major European capitals in terms of trade and as a diplomatic centre. This prestige would be matched by the monuments which the Angevin kings and queens bestowed upon the city. On the negative side, the Neapolitans discovered that it was expensive to maintain a king and his court, especially as large sections of the population - principally the Church and the wealthy - were exempt from taxation. The brunt of the cost had to be borne by the less-wealthy sections. Added to this was the predilection, shared by the first three kings in the line, to amass wealth and debts.
Charles I's expansionist plans were rudely upset when, in 1282, the revolt known as the Sicilian Vespers took place. Much of Charles' attention was taken up in trying to reconquer Sicily, which had elected Pedro III, king of Aragón as its king. Not only did the Angevins long fail to retake Sicily but at times risked finding themselves on the receiving end. The skilful admiral of the Sicilian fleet, Ruggiero de Lauria, even managed to take Ischia and Capri and, despite the intervention of the pope and Philippe III of France on the side of the Angevins, managed to draw Charles II (heir to Charles I) into a naval battle just outside the Bay of Naples. Charles had disobeyed his father's orders to stay within the port and protect the city from attack. He had ample time to dwell upon the sense of obeying one's father for the Neapolitan fleet was utterly destroyed and Charles II taken prisoner.
Coming to the end of his life, Charles I found that, other than having to negotiate for the release of his son, many of his southern territories were rallying around the Aragónese banner. Tired and disenchanted, he died on 7 January 1285, having declared his grandson Charles Martel the heir in the absence of Charles II. Pedro III of Aragón died in November of that year.
Charles II was finally released in 1289, but another six years were to pass before he was able to obtain a truce with the Aragónese. As a result of this truce the Aragónese became recognisably allied to the Angevins and there followed a period of pacts, negotiations and inter-family marriages, all aimed at resolving the problem of Sicily. In 1304 Robert, eventual heir and fourth born son of Charles II (Charles Martel had died as king of Hungary in 1295, Louis took the cloth to become bishop of Toulouse and was eventually canonised, and Philippe had become prince of Tarente) and his sister Marie were married to Sancha and Sancho, children of Sancho of Aragón, king of Mallorca. With the two royal houses now linked by marriage, Charles II was able to consider that a long and complicated period of struggle had ended and felt free to pay a long-postponed visit to his territories in Provence. On his return to Naples in 1308, he died on 6 May 1309 and was succeeded by Robert.
Source: Leo van de Pas
In the early 1250s Charles was first approached by envoys from Pope Innocent IV, who was then seeking to detach the kingdom of Sicily from the Holy Roman Empire (in the person of emperor-elect Konrad IV von Hohenstaufen), and offered it to Charles, after his brother-in-law Richard, earl of Cornwall, had declined it. Charles' brother Alphonse, however, was unenthusiastic about the idea; and their brother Louis IX forbade it outright.
Balked, Charles took up the cause of Margarethe, Gravin van Vlaanderen en Henegouwen, against her son Jan I d'Avesnes, Graaf van Henegouwen, in the War of the Succession to Flanders and Hainault. She granted Charles the county of Hainault for his service. Louis IX again disapproved, and on his return from Outremer in 1254 he returned Hainault to Jan. The disappointed Charles returned to Provence, where he spent the next few years quietly increasing his power over various lordships on its borders and suppressing a series of rebellions. The Provençals proved staunch supporters of Charles, providing money and troops for his further conquests. Many of them were rewarded with high posts in his new dominions.
With the usurpation of the Sicilian throne from Konrad IV's son Konradin (Corradino) by Konrad's half-brother Manfredo of Sicily in 1258, the relationship between the papacy and the Hohenstaufen had changed again. Instead of the boy Konradin, safely sequestered across the Alps, the papacy now faced an able military leader in Italy. Accordingly, when negotiations broke down with Manfredo in 1262, Pope Urban IV again took up the scheme of removing the Hohenstaufen from the kingdom, and offered the crown to Charles again. Manfredo's usurpation from Konradin overcame King Louis' scruples; this time, he was persuaded to admit the offer, and Charles ratified a treaty with the pope in July 1263. The terms were heavily in favour of the pope: the kingdom must never be reunited with the empire, and the king was never to hold imperial or papal office, or interfere with ecclesiastical matters in the kingdom. Nevertheless, Charles accepted eagerly. For money, he called for help from the then-omnipotent Sienese banker Orlando Bonsignori.
Having endorsed the treaty, Charles could now play for time. With Manfredo's troops advancing on the Papal States, Charles obtained an extensive renegotiation of the treaty on more favourable lines. As instruction went out to the clergy to submit contributions for the war, Urban IV died in October 1264 at Perugia, fleeing from Manfredo. This raised the possibility of a reversal of papal policy. Fortunately for Charles, the new pope Clement IV was the former adviser of Charles' brother Alphonse and strongly supported the accession of Charles. Charles entered Rome on 23 May 1265 and was proclaimed king of Sicily.
Charles was popular in Rome, where he was elected senator, and his diplomacy had already undermined Manfredo's support in northern Italy. While Charles' campaigns were delayed for lack of money, Manfredo idled away his time hunting in Apulia, while his support in the north of Italy dwindled. Charles was able to bring his main army through the Alps, and he and Beatrice were crowned on 6 January 1266. As Charles' army began an energetic campaign, Manfredo suddenly shed his lethargy and moved to meet him. Worried that further delays might endanger the loyalty of his supporters, he attacked Charles' army, then in disarray from the crossing of the hills into Benevento, on 26 February 1266. In the Battle of Benevento that followed, Manfredo's army was crushed and he was killed. Upon his death, resistance throughout the kingdom collapsed, and Charles was master of Sicily.
Charles arrived victorious in Naples in 1266 to begin the two centuries of Angevin rule of southern Italy, which established Naples as a European capital and continued the tradition of the southern monarchy while the rest of Italy was fragmenting into city communes and states.
Charles quickly began to secure his position by imprisoning all supporters of the imperial designs of the Teutons. There remained, though, one obstacle to his safe establishment on the throne of Naples and Sicily: Konradin von Hohenstaufen, son of Konrad IV, and grandson and legal heir to Emperor Friedrich II lived out of harm's way in Germany. However within a year Konradin, still only fourteen years old, was marching through Italy to claim his birthright. Their armies met in decisive battle at Tagliacozzo, on the border between Abruzzo and Lazio, and the defeated Konradin, attempting to flee Italy, was taken prisoner in Terracina and brought to Naples.
Charles needed to establish his kingship and knew that while the young pretender lived, he would be a rallying point for the pro-imperial Ghibelline party. The young Konradin was, therefore, unceremoniously beheaded in the Piazza del Mercato in Naples on 29 October 1268. It was an act that shook the mediaeval world but it was politically decisive and undertaken in the knowledge that no opposition would be forthcoming from the Church, which had, after all, invited Charles into Italy precisely to remove the Hohenstaufen presence.
Now able to concentrate on his kingdom, Charles transferred the capital from Palermo to Naples. This allowed him to be closer to the centre of his interests, which included being a Roman senator, lands in Provence and a desire to expand to the east. The decision conferred great prestige on Naples and placed it an on equal footing with the other major European capitals in terms of trade and as a diplomatic centre. This prestige would be matched by the monuments which the Angevin kings and queens bestowed upon the city. On the negative side, the Neapolitans discovered that it was expensive to maintain a king and his court, especially as large sections of the population - principally the Church and the wealthy - were exempt from taxation. The brunt of the cost had to be borne by the less-wealthy sections. Added to this was the predilection, shared by the first three kings in the line, to amass wealth and debts.
Charles I's expansionist plans were rudely upset when, in 1282, the revolt known as the Sicilian Vespers took place. Much of Charles' attention was taken up in trying to reconquer Sicily, which had elected Pedro III, king of Aragón as its king. Not only did the Angevins long fail to retake Sicily but at times risked finding themselves on the receiving end. The skilful admiral of the Sicilian fleet, Ruggiero de Lauria, even managed to take Ischia and Capri and, despite the intervention of the pope and Philippe III of France on the side of the Angevins, managed to draw Charles II (heir to Charles I) into a naval battle just outside the Bay of Naples. Charles had disobeyed his father's orders to stay within the port and protect the city from attack. He had ample time to dwell upon the sense of obeying one's father for the Neapolitan fleet was utterly destroyed and Charles II taken prisoner.
Coming to the end of his life, Charles I found that, other than having to negotiate for the release of his son, many of his southern territories were rallying around the Aragónese banner. Tired and disenchanted, he died on 7 January 1285, having declared his grandson Charles Martel the heir in the absence of Charles II. Pedro III of Aragón died in November of that year.
Charles II was finally released in 1289, but another six years were to pass before he was able to obtain a truce with the Aragónese. As a result of this truce the Aragónese became recognisably allied to the Angevins and there followed a period of pacts, negotiations and inter-family marriages, all aimed at resolving the problem of Sicily. In 1304 Robert, eventual heir and fourth born son of Charles II (Charles Martel had died as king of Hungary in 1295, Louis took the cloth to become bishop of Toulouse and was eventually canonised, and Philippe had become prince of Tarente) and his sister Marie were married to Sancha and Sancho, children of Sancho of Aragón, king of Mallorca. With the two royal houses now linked by marriage, Charles II was able to consider that a long and complicated period of struggle had ended and felt free to pay a long-postponed visit to his territories in Provence. On his return to Naples in 1308, he died on 6 May 1309 and was succeeded by Robert.
Source: Leo van de Pas
Events
| Birth | Mar 1226 | ||||
| Marriage | 31 Jan 1246 | Beatrice de Provence | |||
| Death | 7 Jan 1285 |
Families
| Spouse | Beatrice de Provence (1234 - 1267) |
| Child | Charles II King of Naples, Sicily and Jerusalem (1254 - 1309) |
| Father | Louis VIII King of France (1187 - 1226) |
| Mother | Blanca Infanta de Castile (1188 - 1252) |
| Sibling | Saint Louis IX King of France (1214 - 1270) |