Charles II of Naples in the context of "Robert the Wise"

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⭐ Core Definition: Charles II of Naples

Charles II, also known as Charles the Lame (French: Charles le Boiteux; Italian: Carlo lo Zoppo; 1254 – 5 May 1309), was King of Naples, Count of Provence and Forcalquier (1285–1309), Prince of Achaea (1285–1289), and Count of Anjou and Maine (1285–1290); he also was King of Albania (1285–1294), and claimed the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1285. He was the son of Charles I of Anjou—one of the most powerful European monarchs in the second half of the 13th century—and Beatrice of Provence. His father granted Charles the Principality of Salerno in the Kingdom of Sicily (or Regno) in 1272 and made him regent in Provence and Forcalquier in 1279.

After the uprising known as the Sicilian Vespers against Charles's father, the island of Sicily became an independent kingdom under the rule of Peter III of Aragon in 1282. A year later, his father made Charles regent in the mainland territories of the Regno (or the Kingdom of Naples). Charles held a general assembly where unpopular taxes were abolished and the liberties of the noblemen and clerics were confirmed. He could not prevent the Aragonese from occupying Calabria and the islands in the Gulf of Naples. The Sicilian admiral Roger of Lauria captured him in a naval battle near Naples in 1284. As he was still in prison when his father died on 7 January 1285, his realms were ruled by regents. The remainder of his rule was spent seeking a resolution to the Sicilian war, diplomatic moves concerning his inheritance, and administrating the new Kingdom of Naples.

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👉 Charles II of Naples in the context of Robert the Wise

Robert of Anjou (Italian: Roberto d'Angiò), known as Robert the Wise (Italian: Roberto il Saggio; 1276 – 20 January 1343), was King of Naples, titular King of Jerusalem and Count of Provence and Forcalquier from 1309 to 1343, the central figure of Italian politics of his time. He was the third son of King Charles II of Naples and Mary of Hungary, and during his father's lifetime he was styled Duke of Calabria (1296–1309).

Robert's early life was marked by his family's participation in the War of the Sicilian Vespers, in which conflict Robert served as a military commander. Upon the death of his father in 1309, Robert ruled as the king of Naples. His reign brought relative stability to Naples compared to the reigns of his father and grandfather, but it was also marked by rivalries against Germanic powers in northern Italy and the House of Barcelona in the western Mediterranean. Robert was pre-deceased by his son and heir Charles of Calabria, and so willed his throne to his granddaughter, Joanna of Naples.

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Charles II of Naples in the context of Philip I, Prince of Taranto

Philip II (10 November 1278 – 26 December 1331), also known as Philip I of Taranto, was titular Latin Emperor of Constantinople by marriage to Catherine of Valois–Courtenay, Despot of Romania, King of Albania, Prince of Achaea and Taranto.

Born in Naples, Philip was a younger son of Charles II of Anjou, King of Naples, and Maria of Hungary, daughter of King Stephen V of Hungary.

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Charles II of Naples in the context of John, Duke of Durazzo

John of Gravina (1294 – 5 April 1336), also known as John of Anjou, was Count of Gravina 1315–1336, Prince of Achaea 1318–1332, Duke of Durazzo 1332–1336 and ruler of the Kingdom of Albania (although he never used a royal title). He was the youngest son of King Charles II of Naples and Mary of Hungary.

He was a younger brother of (among others) Charles Martel of Anjou, Saint Louis of Toulouse, Robert of Naples and Philip I of Taranto.

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Charles II of Naples in the context of Charles I of Hungary

Charles I, also known as Charles Robert (Hungarian: Károly Róbert; Croatian: Karlo Robert; Slovak: Karol Róbert; Italian: Caroberto; (1288 – 16 July 1342), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1308 to his death. He was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou and the only son of Charles Martel, Prince of Salerno. His father was the eldest son of Charles II of Naples and Mary of Hungary. Mary laid claim to Hungary after her brother, Ladislaus IV of Hungary, died in 1290, but the Hungarian prelates and lords elected her cousin, Andrew III, king. Instead of abandoning her claim to Hungary, she transferred it to her son, Charles Martel, and after his death in 1295, to her grandson, Charles. On the other hand, her husband, Charles II of Naples, made their third son, Robert, heir to the Kingdom of Naples, thus disinheriting Charles.

Charles came to the Kingdom of Hungary upon the invitation of an influential Croatian lord, Paul Šubić, in August 1300. Andrew III died on 14 January 1301, and within four months Charles was crowned king, but with a provisional crown instead of the Holy Crown of Hungary. Most Hungarian noblemen refused to yield to him and elected Wenceslaus of Bohemia king. Charles withdrew to the southern regions of the kingdom. Pope Boniface VIII acknowledged Charles as the lawful king in 1303, but Charles was unable to strengthen his position against his opponent. Wenceslaus abdicated in favor of Otto of Bavaria in 1305. Because it had no central government, the Kingdom of Hungary had disintegrated into a dozen provinces, each headed by a powerful nobleman, or oligarch. One of those oligarchs, Ladislaus III Kán, captured and imprisoned Otto of Bavaria in 1307. Charles was elected king in Pest on 27 November 1308, but his rule remained nominal in most parts of his kingdom even after he was crowned with the Holy Crown on 27 August 1310.

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Charles II of Naples in the context of Muslim settlement of Lucera

The Muslim settlement of Lucera was the result of the decision of the King of Sicily Frederick II of the Hohenstaufen dynasty (1194–1250) to move 20,000 Sicilian Muslims to Lucera, a settlement in Apulia in southern Italy. The settlement thrived for about 75 years. In 1300, it was captured by the Christian forces of Charles II of Naples and its Muslim inhabitants were exiled.

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Charles II of Naples in the context of Peace of Caltabellota

The Peace of Caltabellotta, signed on 31 August 1302, was the last of a series of treaties, including those of Tarascon and Anagni, designed to end the War of the Sicilian Vespers between the Houses of Anjou and Barcelona for ascendancy in the Mediterranean and especially Sicily and the Mezzogiorno.

The peace divided the old Kingdom of Sicily into an island portion and a peninsular portion. The island, called the Kingdom of Trinacria, went to Frederick III, who had been ruling it; the Mezzogiorno, called the Kingdom of Sicily contemporaneously but the Kingdom of Naples by modern scholarship, went to Charles II, who had been ruling it. Thus, the peace was formal recognition of an uneasy status quo.

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Charles II of Naples in the context of Maria Arpad of Hungary

Mary of Hungary (c. 1257 – 25 March 1323), of the Árpád dynasty, was Queen of Naples and Queen of Albania by marriage to King Charles II. She was a daughter of Stephen V of Hungary and his wife Elizabeth the Cuman. Mary served as regent in Provence in 1290–1294 and in Naples in 1295–96, 1296–98, and 1302, during the absences of her husband.

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