Charles III of Naples in the context of "King of Naples"

The Kingdom of Naples, officially the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was established by the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302). Until then, the island of Sicily and southern Italy had constituted the "Kingdom of Sicily". When the island of Sicily revolted and was conquered by the Crown of Aragon, it become a separate kingdom also called the Kingdom of Sicily. This left the Neapolitan mainland in the possession of Charles of Anjou who continued to use the name "Kingdom of Sicily". Later, two competing lines of the Angevin family competed for the Kingdom of Naples in the late 14th century, which resulted in the murder of Joanna I at the hands of her successor, Charles III of Naples. Charles' daughter Joanna II adopted King Alfonso V of Aragon as heir, who would then unite Naples into his Aragonese dominions in 1442.

As part of the Italian Wars, France briefly ruled the territory in 1494 and at the beginning of the 16th century; it then went to war with Spain over the kingdom in 1502, a conflict that ended in a victory for Ferdinand II, who was in full control of the kingdom by 1504. The Spanish held control of Naples throughout the 17th century where it remained an important source of economic and military power for the Spanish Crown. After the War of the Spanish Succession in the early 18th century, the possession of the kingdom again changed hands; the 1714 Treaty of Rastatt saw Naples given to Charles VI of the Austrian Habsburgs. However, Naples and Sicily were conquered by Charles, Duke of Parma (of the Spanish Bourbons) during the War of the Polish Succession in 1734, he was then installed as King of Naples and Sicily from 1735. In 1816, Naples formally unified with the island of Sicily to form the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Joanna II (Italian: Giovanna II; 25 June 1371 – 2 February 1435) was Queen of Naples from 1414 until her death in 1435, marking the extinction of the senior line of the Capetian House of Anjou. In addition to her primary title, she also claimed several other royal titles, including titular queen of Jerusalem, Hungary, Sicily, Dalmatia, Croatia, and Rama.

Born in Zadar as daughter to Charles III of Naples, she ascended the throne following the death of her brother Ladislaus. Her reign was marked by political turbulence, shifting alliances and personal scandals, including marriages to William of Austria and James II of La Marche. Joanna navigated complex rivalries between the Angevin and Aragonese claimants to Naples, ultimately designating Rene of Anjou as her heir. The final years of her reign were marked by relative peace and political stability. Her death resulted in the end of the Angevin dynasty’s rule in Naples and ushered in the Valois-Anjou succession.

Mary, also known as Maria of Anjou (Hungarian: Anjou Mária, Croatian: Marija Anžuvinska, Polish: Maria Andegaweńska; 1371 – 17 May 1395), reigned as Queen of Hungary and Croatia between 1382 and 1385, and from 1386 until her death. She was the daughter of Louis the Great, King of Hungary and Poland, and his wife, Elizabeth of Bosnia. Mary's marriage to Sigismund of Luxembourg, a member of the imperial Luxembourg dynasty, was already decided before her first birthday. A delegation of Polish prelates and lords confirmed her right to succeed her father in Poland in 1379.

Having no male siblings, Mary was crowned "king" of Hungary on 17 September 1382, seven days after Louis the Great's death. Her mother, who had assumed the regency, absolved the Polish noblemen from their oath of loyalty to Mary in favour of Mary's younger sister, Jadwiga, in early 1383. The idea of a female monarch remained unpopular among the Hungarian noblemen, the majority of whom regarded Mary's distant cousin, Charles III of Naples, as the lawful heir. To strengthen Mary's position, the queen mother wanted her to marry Louis, the younger brother of Charles VI of France. Their engagement was announced in May 1385.

The Order of the Ship (French Ordre de la Nef) was a secular order of knighthood in the Kingdom of Naples founded and dedicated to the Holy Trinity by King Charles III of the House of Durazzo on 1 December 1381 and no longer active by 1386.

Charles III was crowned King of Naples in the Castel Nuovo in Naples on 25 November. During the festivities that followed, he inducted seven or eight knights into a new order of his own creation at a ceremony in the great chapel of the Castel Nuovo on 1 December. In this he was probably imitating the founding of the Order of the Knot by King Louis I twenty years earlier on 25 May 1352, the same day as his coronation. Although there were present in Naples men who would have remembered the founding of the Order of the Knot, but it is unlikely that Charles sought to revive the Order of the Knot, defunct since Louis's death in 1362, since Louis's heirs were Charles's rivals for the throne.