Charles I of Anjou

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Charles I (early 1226/1227Template:Snd7 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou or Charles d'Anjou, was King of Sicily from 1266 to 1285. He was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the House of Anjou-Sicily. Between 1246 and 1285, he was Count of Provence and Forcalquier in the Holy Roman Empire and Count of Anjou and Maine in France. In 1272 he was proclaimed King of Albania, in 1277 he purchased a claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and in 1278 he became Prince of Achaea after the previous ruler, William of Villehardouin, died without heirs.

The youngest son of Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile, Charles was destined for a Church career until the early 1240s. He acquired Provence and Forcalquier through his marriage to their heiress, Beatrice. His attempts to restore central authority brought him into conflict with his mother-in-law, Beatrice of Savoy, and the nobility. He relinquished control of Forcalquier to his mother-in-law in 1248, although she returned it to him in 1256. Charles received Anjou and Maine from his brother, Louis IX of France, in appanage. He accompanied Louis during the Seventh Crusade to Egypt. Shortly after he returned to Provence in 1250, Charles forced three wealthy autonomous cities—Marseille, Arles and Avignon—to acknowledge his suzerainty.

Charles supported Margaret II, Countess of Flanders and Hainaut, against her eldest son, John, in exchange for Hainaut in 1253. Two years later, Louis IX persuaded him to renounce the county, but compensated him by instructing Margaret to pay him 160,000 marks. Charles forced the rebellious Provençal nobles and towns into submission and expanded his suzerainty over a dozen towns and lordships in the Kingdom of Arles. In 1263, after years of negotiations, he accepted the offer of the Holy See to seize the Kingdom of Sicily from the Hohenstaufens. This kingdom included, in addition to the island of Sicily, southern Italy to well north of Naples and was known as the Regno. Pope Urban IV declared a crusade against the incumbent Manfred of Sicily and assisted Charles in raising funds for the military campaign.

Charles was crowned king in Rome on 5 January 1266. He annihilated Manfred's army and occupied the Regno almost without resistance. His victory over Manfred's young nephew, Conradin, at the Battle of Tagliacozzo in 1268 strengthened his rule. In 1270, he took part in the Eighth Crusade organised by Louis IX and forced the Hafsid Caliph Muhammad I to pay a yearly tribute to him. Charles's victories secured his undisputed leadership among the Papacy's Italian partisans (known as Guelphs), but his influence on papal elections and his strong military presence in Italy disturbed the popes. They tried to channel his ambitions towards other territories and assisted him in acquiring claims to Achaea, Jerusalem and Arles through treaties. In 1281, Pope Martin IV authorised Charles to launch a crusade against the Byzantine Empire. Charles's ships were gathering at Messina, ready to begin the campaign when the Sicilian Vespers rebellion broke out on 30Template:NbsMarch 1282 which put an end to Charles's rule on the island of Sicily. He was able to defend the mainland territories (or the Kingdom of Naples) with the support of France and the Holy See. Charles died while making preparations for an invasion of Sicily.

Early life

Childhood

Charles was the youngest child of King Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile.Template:Sfn The date of his birth has not survived, but he was probably born posthumously in early 1227.<ref group="note">The historian Peter Herde notes that Charles may have also been identical with the first son of Louis VIII and Blanche born in 1226, Stephen, or with the unnamed son who was born in late 1226. If Charles was identical with Stephen, he must have changed his name before the late 1230s.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Charles was Louis' only surviving son to be "born in the purple" (after his father's coronation), a fact he often emphasised in his youth, as the contemporaneous chronicler Matthew Paris noted in his Template:Lang.Template:Sfn He was the first Capetian to be named for Charlemagne.Template:Sfn

A knight on horseback, sword raised

Charles depicted alongside his composition Template:Lang in the Template:Lang

Louis VIII died in November 1226 and his eldest son, Louis IX, succeeded him. The late King willed that his youngest sons were to be prepared for a career in the Roman Catholic Church.Template:Sfn The details of Charles's tuition are unknown, but he received a good education.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He understood the principal Catholic doctrines and could identify errors in Latin texts.Template:Sfn His passion for poetry, medical sciences, and law is well documented.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Charles later said that his mother had a strong impact on her children's education;Template:Sfn in reality, Blanche was fully engaged in state administration, and could likely spare little time for her youngest children.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Charles lived at the court of a brother, Robert I, Count of Artois, from 1237.Template:Sfn About four years later he was put into the care of his youngest brother, Alphonse, Count of Poitiers.Template:Sfn His participation in his brothers' military campaign against Hugh X of Lusignan, Count of La Marche, in 1242 showed that he was no longer destined for a Church career.Template:Sfn

Provence and Anjou

Raymond Berengar V of Provence died in August 1245,Template:Sfn bequeathing Provence and Forcalquier to his youngest daughter, Beatrice, allegedly because he had given generous dowries to her three sisters.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The dowries were actually not fully discharged,Template:Sfn causing two of her sisters, Margaret (Louis IX's wife) and Eleanor (the wife of Henry III of England), to believe that they had been unlawfully disinherited.Template:Sfn Their mother, Beatrice of Savoy, claimed that Raymond Berengar had willed the usufruct of Provence to her.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

The Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick II (whom Pope Innocent IV had recently excommunicated for his alleged "crimes against the Church"), Count Raymond VII of Toulouse and other neighbouring rulers proposed themselves or their sons as husbands for the young Countess.Template:Sfn Her mother put her under the protection of the Holy See.Template:Sfn Louis IX and Margaret suggested that Beatrice should be given in marriage to Charles.Template:Sfn To secure the support of France against Frederick II, Pope Innocent IV accepted their proposal.Template:Sfn Charles hurried to Aix-en-Provence at the head of an army to prevent other suitors from invading Provence, and married Beatrice on 31Template:NbsJanuary 1246.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Provence was a part of the Kingdom of Arles and so of the Holy Roman Empire,Template:Sfn but Charles never swore fealty to the emperor.Template:Sfn He ordered a survey of the counts' rights and revenues, outraging both his subjects and his mother-in-law, who regarded this action as an attack against her rights.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Being a younger child, destined for a church career, Charles had not received an appanage (a hereditary county or duchy) from his father.Template:Sfn Louis VIII had willed that his fourth son, John, should receive Anjou and Maine upon reaching the age of majority, but John died in 1232.Template:Sfn Louis IX knighted Charles at Melun in May 1246 and three months later bestowed Anjou and Maine on him.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Charles rarely visited his two counties and appointed baillies (or regents) to administer them.Template:Sfn

While Charles was absent from Provence, Marseille, Arles and Avignon—three wealthy cities, directly subject to the emperor—formed a league and appointed a Provençal nobleman, Barral of Baux, as the commander of their combined armies.Template:Sfn Charles's mother-in-law put the disobedient Provençals under her protection.Template:Sfn Charles could not deal with the rebels as he was about to join his brother's crusade.Template:Sfn To pacify his mother-in-law he acknowledged her right to rule Forcalquier and granted a third of his revenues from Provence to her.Template:Sfn

Seventh Crusade

A mounted knight fights against footmen, while a crowned man is carried from the battlefield.

The crusaders' defeat in the Battle of Al Mansurah, forcing them to abandon the invasion of Egypt. During the withdrawal, the Egyptians captured Charles and his two brothers, Louis IX of France and Alphonse of Poitiers.

In December 1244 Louis IX took a vow to lead a crusade.Template:Sfn Ignoring their mother's strong opposition, his three brothers—Robert, Alphonse and Charles—also took the cross.Template:Sfn Preparations for the crusade lasted for years, with the crusaders embarking at Aigues-Mortes on 25Template:NbsAugust 1248.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn After spending several months in Cyprus they invaded Egypt on 5Template:NbsJune 1249.Template:Sfn They captured Damietta and decided to attack Cairo in November.Template:Sfn During their advance Louis's biographer Jean de Joinville noted Charles's personal courage which saved dozens of crusaders' lives.Template:Sfn Robert of Artois died fighting against the Egyptians at Al Mansurah. His three brothers survived, but they had to abandon the campaign. While withdrawing from Egypt, they fell into captivity on 6Template:NbsApril 1250.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The Egyptians released Louis, Charles and Alphonse in exchange for 800,000 bezants and the surrender of Damietta on 6Template:NbsMay.Template:Sfn During their voyage to Acre,Template:Sfn Charles outraged Louis by gambling while the king was mourning Robert's death.Template:Sfn Louis remained in the Holy Land, but Charles returned to France in October 1250.Template:Sfn

Wider ambitions

Conflicts and consolidation

Charles's officers continued the survey of the counts' rights and revenues in Provence, provoking a new rebellion during his absence.Template:Sfn On his return he applied both diplomacy and military force to deal with them.Template:Sfn The Archbishop of Arles and the Bishop of Digne ceded their secular rights in the two towns to Charles in 1250.Template:Sfn He received military assistance from his brother, Alphonse.Template:Sfn Arles was the first town to surrender to them in April 1251.Template:Sfn In May they forced Avignon to acknowledge their joint rule.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn A month later Barral of Baux also capitulated.Template:Sfn Marseilles was the only town to resist for several months, but it also sought peace in July 1252.Template:Sfn Its burghers acknowledged Charles as their lord, but retained their self-governing bodies.Template:Sfn

Scattered patches of salt crystals in a puddle

Salt crystals in a puddle in Camargue. Salt pans at the delta of the Rhone significantly increased Charles's revenues in Provence.

Charles's officials continued to ascertain his rights,Template:Sfn visiting each town and holding public enquiries to obtain information about all claims.Template:Sfn The count's salt monopoly (or Template:Lang) was introduced in the whole county.Template:Sfn Income from the salt trade made up about 50% of state revenues by the late 1250s.Template:Sfn Charles abolished local tolls and promoted shipbuilding and grain trade.Template:Sfn He ordered the issue of new coins, called Template:Lang, to enable the use of the local currency in smaller transactions.Template:Sfn

Emperor Frederick II, who was also the ruler of Sicily, died in 1250. The Kingdom of Sicily, also known as the Regno, included the island of Sicily and southern Italy nearly as far as Rome. Pope Innocent IV claimed that the Regno had reverted to the Holy See.Template:Sfn The Pope first offered it to Richard of Cornwall, but Richard did not want to fight against Frederick's son, Conrad IV of Germany.Template:Sfn Then the Pope proposed to enfeoff Charles with the kingdom.Template:Sfn Charles sought instructions from Louis IX, who forbade him to accept the offer, because he regarded Conrad as the lawful ruler.Template:Sfn After Charles informed the Holy See on 30Template:NbsOctober 1253 that he would not accept the Regno, the Pope offered it to Edmund of Lancaster.Template:Sfn

Queen Blanche, who had administered France during Louis' crusade,Template:Sfn died on 1Template:NbsDecember 1252.Template:Sfn Louis made Alphonse and Charles co-regents, so that he could remain in the Holy Land.Template:Sfn Margaret II, Countess of Flanders and Hainaut, had come into conflict with her son by her first marriage, John of Avesnes.Template:Sfn After her sons by her second marriage were captured in July 1253, she needed foreign assistance to secure their release.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Ignoring Louis IX's 1246 ruling that Hainaut should pass to John, she promised the county to Charles.Template:Sfn He accepted the offer and invaded Hainaut, forcing most local noblemen to swear fealty to him.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn After his return to France, Louis IX insisted that his ruling was to be respected.Template:Sfn In November 1255 he ordered Charles to restore Hainaut to Margaret, but her sons were obliged to swear fealty to Charles.Template:Sfn Louis also ruled that she was to pay 160,000 marks to Charles over the following 13 years.Template:Sfn

Charles returned to Provence, which had again become restive.Template:Sfn His mother-in-law continued to support the rebellious Boniface of Castellane and his allies, but Louis IX persuaded her to return Forcalquier to Charles and relinquish her claims for a lump sum payment from Charles and a pension from Louis in November 1256.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn A coup by Charles's supporters in Marseilles resulted in the surrender of all political powers there to his officials.Template:Sfn Charles continued to expand his power along the borders of Provence in the next four years.Template:Sfn He received territories in the Lower Alps from the Dauphin of Vienne.Template:Sfn Raymond I of Baux, Count of Orange, ceded the title of regent of the Kingdom of Arles to him.Template:Sfn The burghers of Cuneo—a town strategically located on the routes from Provence to Lombardy—sought Charles's protection against Asti in July 1259.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Alba, Cherasco, Savigliano and other nearby towns acknowledged his rule.Template:Sfn The rulers of Mondovì, Ceva, Biandrate and Saluzzo did homage to him.Template:Sfn

Emperor Frederick II's illegitimate son, Manfred, had been crowned king of Sicily in 1258.Template:Sfn After the English barons had announced that they opposed a war against Manfred, Pope Alexander IV annulled the 1253 grant of Sicily to Edmund of Lancaster.Template:Sfn Alexander's successor, Pope Urban IV, was determined to put an end to the Emperor's rule in Italy.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He sent his notary, Albert of Parma, to Paris to negotiate with Louis IX for Charles to be placed on the Sicilian throne.Template:Sfn Charles met with the Pope's envoy in early 1262.Template:Sfn

Taking advantage of Charles's absence, Boniface of Castellane stirred up a new revolt in Provence.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The burghers of Marseilles expelled Charles's officials, but Barral of Baux stopped the spread of the rebellion before Charles's return.Template:Sfn Charles renounced Ventimiglia in favour of the Republic of Genoa to secure her neutrality.Template:Sfn He defeated the rebels and forced Castellane into exile.Template:Sfn The mediation of James I of Aragon brought about a settlement with Marseilles: its fortifications were dismantled and the townspeople surrendered their arms, but the town retained its autonomy.Template:Sfn

Conquest of the Regno

Four bishops and five young men kneeling before a man who sits on a throne

Charles is crowned King of Sicily in Rome (1266), illustration from the next century

Louis IX decided to support Charles's military campaign in Italy in May 1263.Template:Sfn Pope Urban IV promised to proclaim a crusade against Manfred, while Charles pledged that he would not accept any offices in the Italian towns.Template:Sfn Manfred staged a coup in Rome, but the Guelphs elected Charles senator (or the head of the civil government of Rome).Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He accepted the office, at which a group of cardinals requested that the Pope revoke the agreement with him, but the Pope, being otherwise defenceless against Manfred, could not break with Charles.Template:Sfn

In the spring of 1264 Cardinals Simon of Brie and Guy Foulquois were sent to France to reach a compromise and start raising support for the crusade.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Charles sent troops to Rome to protect the Pope against Manfred's allies.Template:Sfn At Foulquois' request, Charles's sister-in-law Margaret (who had not abandoned her claims to her dowry) pledged that she would not take actions against Charles during his absence.Template:Sfn Foulquois also persuaded the French and Provençal prelates to offer financial support for the crusade.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Pope Urban died before the final agreement was concluded.Template:Sfn Charles made arrangements for his campaign against Sicily during the interregnum; he concluded agreements to secure his army's route across Lombardy and had the leaders of the Provençal rebels executed.Template:Sfn

Foulquois was elected pope in February 1265; he soon confirmed Charles's senatorship and urged him to come to Rome.Template:Sfn Charles agreed that he would hold the Kingdom of Sicily as the popes' vassal for an annual tribute of 8,000 ounces of gold.Template:Sfn He also promised that he would never seek the imperial title.Template:Sfn He embarked at Marseilles on 10Template:NbsMay and landed at Ostia ten days later.Template:Sfn He was installed as senator on 21Template:NbsJune and four cardinals invested him with the Regno a week later.Template:Sfn To finance further military actions he borrowed money from Italian bankers with the Pope's assistance, who had authorised him to pledge Church property.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Five cardinals crowned him king of Sicily on 5Template:NbsJanuary 1266.Template:Sfn The crusaders from France and Provence—reportedly 6,000 fully equipped mounted warriors, 600 mounted bowmen and 20,000 foot-soldiers—arrived in Rome ten days later.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Knights fighting against each other, with shields each depicting either lilies or an eagle

Battle of Benevento: Charles defeats his opponent, Manfred, King of Sicily (1266).

Charles decided to invade southern Italy without delay, because he was unable to finance a lengthy campaign.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He left Rome on 20Template:NbsJanuary 1266.Template:Sfn He marched towards Naples, but changed his strategy after learning of a muster of Manfred's forces near Capua.Template:Sfn He led his troops across the Apennines towards Benevento.Template:Sfn Manfred also hurried to the town and reached it before Charles.Template:Sfn Worried that further delays might endanger his subjects' loyalty, Manfred attacked Charles's army, then in disarray from the crossing of the hills, on 26Template:NbsFebruary 1266.Template:Sfn In the ensuing battle, Manfred's army was defeated and he was killed.Template:Sfn

Resistance throughout the Regno collapsedTemplate:Sfn Template:Sfn and towns surrendered even before Charles's troops reached them.Template:Sfn The Saracens of Lucera—a Muslim colony established during Frederick II's reign Template:Sfn—paid homage to him.Template:Sfn His commander, Philip of Montfort, took control of the island of Sicily.Template:Sfn Manfred's widow, Helena of Epirus, and their children were captured.Template:Sfn Charles laid claim to her dowry—the island of Corfu and the region of Durazzo (now Durrës in Albania)—by right of conquest.Template:Sfn His troops seized Corfu before the end of the year.Template:Sfn

Conradin

Template:See also

Charles was lenient with Manfred's supporters, but they did not believe that this conciliatory policy could last.Template:Sfn They knew that he had promised to return estates to the Guelph lords expelled from the Regno.Template:Sfn Neither could Charles gain the commoners' loyalty, partly because he continued enforcing the Template:Lang despite the popes declaring it an illegal charge.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He introduced a ban on the use of foreign currency in large transactions and made a profit of the compulsory exchange of foreign coinage for locally minted currency.Template:Sfn He also traded in grain, spices and sugar, through a joint venture with Pisan merchants.Template:Sfn

Pope Clement censured Charles for his methods of state administration, describing him as an arrogant and obstinate monarch.Template:Sfn The consolidation of Charles's power in northern Italy also alarmed Clement.Template:Sfn To appease the Pope, Charles resigned his senatorship in May 1267.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn His successors, Conrad Monaldeschi and Luca Savelli, demanded the re-payment of the money that Charles and the Pope had borrowed from the Romans.Template:Sfn

Victories by the Ghibellines, the imperial family's supporters, forced the Pope to ask Charles to send his troops to Tuscany.Template:Sfn Charles's troops ousted the Ghibellines from Florence in April 1267.Template:Sfn After being elected the Template:Lang (ruler) of Florence and Lucca for seven years, Charles hurried to Tuscany.Template:Sfn Charles's expansionism along the Papal States' borders alarmed Pope Clement and he decided to change the direction of Charles's ambitions.Template:Sfn The Pope summoned him to Viterbo, forcing him to promise that he would abandon all claims to Tuscany in three years.Template:Sfn He persuaded Charles to conclude agreements with William of Villehardouin, Prince of Achaea, and the titular Latin emperor<ref group="note">The Latin Empire of Constantinople was established on the ruins of the Byzantine Empire during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. The emperors of Nicaea, a Byzantine successor state, restored Greek rule on most territories lost to the Latin emperors during the following decades. The Latins also lost Constantinople to the Nicaeans in 1261.Template:Sfn</ref> Baldwin II in late May.Template:Sfn According to the first treaty, Villehardouin acknowledged Charles's suzerainty and made Charles's younger son, Philip, his heir, also stipulating that Charles would inherit Achaea if Philip died childless.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Baldwin confirmed the first agreement and renounced his claims to suzerainty over his vassals in favour of Charles.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Charles pledged that he would assist Baldwin in recapturing Constantinople from the Byzantine emperor, Michael VIII Palaiologos, in exchange for one third of the conquered lands.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

A young man who holds a sword above his head stands by an other young man who is kneeling.

Charles's sixteen-year-old enemy, Conradin, is executed in Naples (1268).

Charles returned to Tuscany and laid siege to the fortress of Poggibonsi, but it did not fall until the end of November.Template:Sfn Manfred's staunchest supporters had meanwhile fled to Bavaria to attempt to persuade Conrad IV's 15-year-old son Conradin to assert his hereditary right to the Kingdom of Sicily.Template:Sfn After Conradin accepted their proposal, Manfred's former vicar in Sicily, Conrad Capece, returned to the island and stirred up a revolt.Template:Sfn At Capece's request Muhammad I al-Mustansir, the Hafsid caliph of Tunis,Template:Sfn allowed Manfred's former ally, Frederick of Castile, to invade Sicily from North Africa.Template:Sfn Frederick's brother, Henry—who had been elected senator of Rome—also offered support to Conradin.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Henry had been Charles's friend, but Charles had failed to repay a loan to him.Template:Sfn

Conradin left Bavaria in September 1267.Template:Sfn His supporters' revolt was spreading from Sicily to Calabria; the Saracens of Lucera also rose up.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Pope Clement urged Charles to return to the Regno, but he continued his campaign in Tuscany until March 1268, when he met with the Pope.Template:Sfn In April, the Pope made Charles imperial vicar of Tuscany "during the vacancy of the empire", a move of dubious legality.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Charles marched to southern Italy and laid siege to Lucera, but he then had to hurry north to prevent Conradin's invasion of Abruzzo in late August.Template:Sfn At the Battle of Tagliacozzo, on 23Template:NbsAugust 1268, it appeared that Conradin had won the day, but a sudden charge by Charles's reserve routed Conradin's army.Template:Sfn

The burghers of Potenza, Aversa and other towns in Basilicata and Apulia massacred their fellows who had agitated on Conradin's behalf, but the Sicilians and the Saracens of Lucera did not surrender.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Charles marched to Rome where he was again elected senator in September.Template:Sfn He appointed new officials to administer justice and collect state revenues.Template:Sfn New coins bearing his name were struck.Template:Sfn During the following decade, Rome was ruled by Charles's vicars, each appointed for one year.Template:Sfn

Conradin was captured at Torre Astura.Template:Sfn Most of his retainers were summarily executed, but Conradin and his friend, Frederick I, Margrave of Baden, were brought to trial for robbery and treason in Naples.Template:Sfn They were sentenced to death and beheaded on 29Template:NbspOctober.Template:Sfn Conrad of Antioch was Conradin's only partisan to be released, but only after his wife threatened to execute the Guelph lords she held captive in her castle.Template:Sfn The Ghibelline noblemen of the Regno fled to the court of Peter III of Aragon, who had married Manfred's daughter Constance.Template:Sfn

Mediterranean empire

Template:Further

Italy

Charles's wife, Beatrice of Provence, had died in July 1267. The widowed Charles married Margaret of Nevers in November 1268.Template:Sfn She was co-heiress to her father, Odo, the eldest son of Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy.Template:Sfn Pope Clement died on 29Template:NbsNovember 1268.Template:Sfn The papal vacancy lasted for three years, which strengthened Charles's authority in Italy, but it also deprived him of the ecclesiastic support that only a pope could provide.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Charles returned to Lucera to personally direct its siege in April 1269.Template:Sfn The Saracens and the Ghibellines who had escaped to the townTemplate:Sfn resisted until starvation forced them to surrender in August 1269.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Charles sent Philip and Guy of Montfort to Sicily to force the rebels there into submission, but they could only capture Augusta.Template:Sfn Charles made William l'Estandart the commander of the army in Sicily in August 1269.Template:Sfn L'Estandart captured Agrigento, forcing Frederick of Castile and Frederick Lancia to seek refuge in Tunis.Template:Sfn After L'Estandart's subsequent victory at Sciacca, only Capece resisted, but he also had to surrender in early 1270.Template:Sfn

Charles's troops forced Siena and Pisa—the last towns to resist him in Tuscany—to sue for peace in August 1270.Template:Sfn He granted privileges to the Tuscan merchants and bankers which strengthened their position in the Regno.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn His influence was declining in Lombardy, because the Lombard towns no longer feared an invasion from Germany after Conradin's death.Template:Sfn In May 1269 Charles sent Walter of La Roche to represent him in the province, but this failed to strengthen his authority.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn In October Charles's officials convoked an assembly at Cremona, and invited the Lombard towns to attend.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The Lombard towns accepted the invitation, but some towns—Milan, Bologna, Alessandria and Tortona—only confirmed their alliance with Charles, without acknowledging his rule.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Eighth Crusade

Template:Main

Louis IX never abandoned the idea of the liberation of Jerusalem, but he decided to begin his new crusade with a military campaign against Tunis.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn According to his confessor, Geoffrey of Beaulieu, Louis was convinced that al-Mustansir of Tunis was ready to convert to Christianity.Template:Sfn The 13th-century historian Saba Malaspina stated that Charles persuaded Louis to attack Tunis, because he wanted to secure the payment of the tribute that the rulers of Tunis had paid to the former Sicilian monarchs.Template:Sfn

The French crusaders embarked at Aigues-Mortes on 2Template:NbsJuly 1270; Charles departed from Naples six days later.Template:Sfn He spent more than a month in Sicily, waiting for his fleet.Template:Sfn By the time he landed at Tunis on 25Template:NbsAugust,Template:Sfn dysentery and typhoid fever had decimated the French army.Template:Sfn Louis died the day Charles arrived.Template:Sfn

The crusaders twice defeated Al-Mustansir's army, forcing him to sue for peace.Template:Sfn According to the peace treaty, signed on 1Template:NbsNovember, Al-Mustansir agreed to fully compensate Louis' son and successor, Philip III of France, and Charles for the expenses of the military campaign and to release his Christian prisoners.Template:Sfn He also promised to pay a yearly tribute to Charles and to expel Charles's opponents from Tunis.Template:Sfn The gold from Tunis, along with silver from the newly opened mine at Longobucco, enabled Charles to mint new coins, known as Template:Lang, in the Regno.Template:Sfn

Charles and Philip departed Tunis on 10Template:NbsNovember.Template:Sfn A storm dispersed their fleet at Trapani and most of Charles's galleys were lost or damaged.Template:Sfn Genoese ships returning from the crusade were also sunk or forced to land in Sicily.Template:Sfn Charles seized the damaged ships and their cargo, ignoring all protests from the Ghibelline authorities of Genoa.Template:Sfn Before leaving Sicily he granted temporary tax concessions to the Sicilians, because he realised that the conquest of the island had caused much destruction.Template:Sfn

Attempts to expand

Charles accompanied Philip III as far as Viterbo in March 1271.Template:Sfn Here they failed to convince the cardinals to elect a new pope.Template:Sfn Charles's brother, Alphonse of Poitiers, fell ill.Template:Sfn Charles sent his best doctors to cure him, but Alphonse died.Template:Sfn He claimed the major part of Alphonse's inheritance, including the Marquisate of Provence and the County of Poitiers, because he was Alphonse's nearest kin.Template:Sfn After Philip III objected, he took the case to the Parlement of Paris.Template:Sfn In 1284 the court ruled that appanages escheated to the French crown if their rulers died without descendants.Template:Sfn

A map presenting Charles's realms: Anjou and Maine in the middle of present-day France; Provence in southeastern France; the Regno in southern Italy; Albania in present-day Albania and northeastern Greece; Achaea in southern Greece.

Charles's empire in the early 1270s

An earthquake destroyed the walls of Durazzo in the late 1260s or early 1270s.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Charles's troops took possession of the town with the assistance of the leaders of the nearby Albanian communities.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Charles concluded an agreement with the Albanian chiefs, promising to protect them and their ancient liberties in February 1272.Template:Sfn He adopted the title of King of Albania and appointed Gazzo Chinardo as his vicar-general.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He also sent his fleet to Achaea to defend the principality against Byzantine attacks.Template:Sfn

Charles hurried to Rome to attend the enthronement of Pope Gregory X on 27Template:NbsMarch 1272.Template:Sfn The new pope was determined to put an end to the conflicts between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines.Template:Sfn While in Rome Charles met with the Guelph leaders who had been exiled from Genoa.Template:Sfn After they offered him the office of captain of the people, Charles promised military assistance to them.Template:Sfn In November 1272 Charles commanded his officials to take prisoner all Genoese within his territories, except for the Guelphs, and to seize their property.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn His fleet occupied Ajaccio in Corsica.Template:Sfn Pope Gregory condemned his aggressive policy, but proposed that the Genoese should elect Guelph officials.Template:Sfn Ignoring the Pope's proposal, the Genoese made alliance with Alfonso X of Castile, William VII of Montferrat and the Ghibelline towns of Lombardy in October 1273.Template:Sfn

The conflict with Genoa prevented Charles from invading the Byzantine Empire, but he continued to forge alliances in the Balkan Peninsula.Template:Sfn The Bulgarian ruler, Konstantin Tih, was the first to conclude a treaty with him in 1272 or 1273.Template:Sfn John I Doukas of Thessaly and Stefan Uroš I, King of Serbia, joined the coalition in 1273.Template:Sfn However, Pope Gregory forbade Charles to attack, because he hoped to unify the Orthodox and Catholic churches with the assistance of Emperor Michael VIII.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

The renowned theologian Thomas Aquinas died unexpectedly near Naples on 7Template:NbsMarch 1274, before departing to attend the Second Council of Lyon.Template:Sfn According to a popular legend, immortalised by Dante Alighieri, Charles had him poisoned, because he feared that Aquinas would make complaint against him.Template:Sfn The historian Steven Runciman emphasises that "there is no evidence for supposing that the great doctor's death was not natural".Template:Sfn Southern Italian churchmen at the council accused Charles of tyrannical acts.Template:Sfn Their report reinforced the Pope's attempt to reach a compromise with Rudolf of Habsburg, who had been elected king of Germany by the prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire.Template:Sfn In June, the Pope acknowledged Rudolf as the lawful ruler of both Germany and Italy.Template:Sfn Charles's sisters-in-law, Margaret and Eleanor, approached Rudolf, claiming that they had been unlawfully disinherited in favour of Charles's late wife.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Michael VIII's personal envoy announced at the Council of Lyon on 6Template:NbsJuly that he had accepted the Catholic creed and papal primacy.Template:Sfn About three weeks later, Pope Gregory again prohibited Charles from launching military actions against the Byzantine Empire.Template:Sfn The Pope also tried to mediate a truce between Charles and Michael, but the latter chose to attack several smaller states in the Balkans, including Charles's vassals.Template:Sfn The Byzantine fleet took control of the maritime routes between Albania and southern Italy in the late 1270s.Template:Sfn Gregory only allowed Charles to send reinforcements to Achaea.Template:Sfn The organisation of a new crusade to the Holy Land remained the Pope's principal object.Template:Sfn He persuaded Charles to start negotiations with Maria of Antioch about purchasing her claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem.Template:Sfn The High Court of Jerusalem had already rejected her in favour of Hugh III of Cyprus,Template:Sfn but the Pope had a low opinion of Hugh.Template:Sfn

The war with Genoa and the Lombard towns increasingly occupied Charles's attention.Template:Sfn He appointed his nephew Robert II of Artois as his deputy in Piedmont in October 1274, but Artois could not prevent Vercelli and Alessandria from joining the Ghibelline League.Template:Sfn The following summer, a Genoese fleet plundered Trapani and the island of Gozo.Template:Sfn Convinced that only Rudolf I could achieve a compromise between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, the Pope urged the Lombard towns to send envoys to him.Template:Sfn He also urged Charles to renounce Tuscany.Template:Sfn In the autumn of 1275 the Ghibellines offered to make peace with Charles, but he did not accept their terms.Template:Sfn Early the next year the Ghibellines defeated his troops at Col de Tende, forcing them to withdraw to Provence.Template:Sfn

Papal elections

A large building, built of bricks, with a tower, surrounded by trees and small houses

The Palace of the Popes in Viterbo

Pope Gregory X died on 10Template:NbsJanuary 1276.Template:Sfn After the hostility he experienced during Gregory's pontificate, Charles was determined to secure the election of a pope willing to support his plans.Template:Sfn Gregory's successor, Pope Innocent V, had always been Charles's partisan and he rapidly confirmed Charles as senator of Rome and imperial vicar of Tuscany.Template:Sfn He also mediated a peace treaty between Charles and Genoa,Template:Sfn which was signed in Rome on 22Template:NbsJune 1276.Template:Sfn Charles restored the privileges of the Genoese merchants and renounced his conquests, and the Genoese acknowledged his rule in Ventimiglia.Template:Sfn

Pope Innocent died on 30Template:NbsJune 1276.Template:Sfn After the cardinals assembled in the Lateran Palace, Charles's troops surrounded it, enabling only his allies to communicate with other cardinals and with outsiders.Template:Sfn On 11Template:NbsJuly the cardinals elected Charles's old friend, Ottobuono de' Fieschi, pope, but he died on 18Template:NbsAugust.Template:Sfn The cardinals met again, this time at Viterbo.Template:Sfn Although Charles was staying in the nearby Vetralla, he could not directly influence the election, because his vehement opponent, Cardinal Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, dominated the papal conclave.Template:Sfn Pope John XXI, who was elected on 20Template:NbsSeptember, excommunicated Charles's opponents in Piedmont and prohibited Rudolf from coming to Lombardy, but did not forbid the Lombardian Guelph leaders swearing fealty to Rudolf.Template:Sfn The Pope also confirmed the treaty concluded by Charles and Maria of Antioch on 18Template:NbsMarch which transferred her claims to Jerusalem to Charles for 1,000 bezants and a pension of 4,000 Template:Lang.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

File:Arnolfo di cambio, monumento a carlo I d'angiò, 1277 ca. 05.JPG

Statue by Arnolfo di Cambio c. 1277

Charles appointed Roger of San Severino to administer the Kingdom of Jerusalem as his bailiff.Template:Sfn San Severino landed at Acre on 7Template:NbsJune 1277.Template:Sfn Hugh III's bailiff, Balian of Arsuf, surrendered the town without resistance.Template:Sfn Although initially only the Knights Hospitaller and the Venetians acknowledged Charles as the lawful ruler, the barons of the realm also paid homage to San Severino in January 1278, after he had threatened to confiscate their estates.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The Mamluks of Egypt had already confined the kingdom to a coastal strip covering Template:Convert Template:Sfn and Charles had ordered San Severino to avoid conflicts with Egypt.Template:Sfn

Pope John died on 20Template:NbsMay 1277.Template:Sfn Charles was ill and could not prevent the election of Giovanni Gaetano Orsini as Pope Nicholas III on 25Template:NbsNovember.Template:Sfn The Pope soon declared that no foreign prince could rule in RomeTemplate:Sfn and reminded Charles that he had been elected senator for ten years.Template:Sfn Charles swore fealty to the new pope on 24Template:NbsMay 1278 after lengthy negotiations.Template:Sfn He had to pledge that he would renounce both the senatorship of Rome and the vicariate of Tuscany in four months.Template:Sfn On the other hand, Nicholas III confirmed the excommunication of Charles's enemies in Piedmont and started negotiations with Rudolf to prevent him from making an alliance against Charles with Margaret of Provence and her nephew, Edward I of England.Template:Sfn The negotiations with Rudolf lay behind Nicholas' refusal to renew Charles's vicariate in Tuscany, to which Rudolf had appointed his own vicar.Template:Sfn

Charles announced his resignation from the senatorship and the vicariate on 30Template:NbsAugust 1278.Template:Sfn He was succeeded by the Pope's brother, Matteo Orsini, in Rome, and by the Pope's nephew, Cardinal Latino Malabranca, in Tuscany.Template:Sfn To ensure that Charles fully abandoned his ambitions in central Italy the Pope started negotiations with Rudolf about the restoration of the Kingdom of Arles for Charles's grandson, Charles Martel.Template:Sfn Margaret of Provence sharply opposed the plan, but Philip III of France did not stand by his mother.Template:Sfn After lengthy negotiations, in the summer of 1279 Rudolf recognised Charles as the lawful ruler of Provence without demanding his oath of fealty.Template:Sfn An agreement about Charles Martel's rule in Arles and his marriage to Rudolf's daughter, Clemence, was signed in May 1280.Template:Sfn The plan disturbed the rulers of the lands along the Upper Rhone, especially Duke Robert II and Count Otto IV of Burgundy.Template:Sfn

Charles had meanwhile inherited the Principality of Achaea from William II of Villehardouin, who had died on 1Template:NbsMay 1278.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He appointed the unpopular Template:Lang of Sicily, Galeran of Ivry, as his baillif in Achaea.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Galeran could not pay his troops who started to pillage the peasants' homes.Template:Sfn John I de la Roche, Duke of Athens, had to lend money to him to finance their salaries.Template:Sfn Nicephoros I of Epirus acknowledged Charles's suzerainty on 14Template:NbsMarch 1279 to secure his assistance against the Byzantines.Template:Sfn Nicephoros also ceded three towns—Butrinto, Sopotos and Panormos—to Charles.Template:Sfn

Pope Nicholas died on 22Template:NbsAugust 1280.Template:Sfn Charles sent agents to Viterbo to promote the election of one of his supporters, taking advantage of the rift between the late Pope's relatives and other Italian cardinals.Template:Sfn When a riot broke out in Viterbo, after the cardinals had not reached a decision for months, Charles's troops took control of the town.Template:Sfn On 22Template:NbsFebruary 1281 his staunchest supporter, Simon of Brie, was elected pope.Template:Sfn Pope Martin IV dismissed his predecessor's relatives and made Charles the senator of Rome again.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Guido I da Montefeltro rose up against the Pope, but Charles's troops under Jean d'Eppe stopped the spread of the rebellion at Forlì.Template:Sfn Charles also sent an army to Piedmont, but Thomas I, Marquess of Saluzzo, annihilated it at Borgo San Dalmazzo in May.Template:Sfn

Crusade against Byzantium

Pope Martin excommunicated Emperor Michael VIII on 10Template:NbsApril 1281 because the Emperor had not imposed the Church union in his empire.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The Pope soon authorised Charles to invade the empire.Template:Sfn Charles's vicar in Albania, Hugh of Sully, had already laid siege to the Byzantine fortress of Berat.Template:Sfn A Byzantine army of relief under Michael Tarchaneiotes and John Synadenos arrived in March 1281.Template:Sfn Sully was ambushed and captured, his army put to flight and the interior of Albania was lost to the Byzantines.Template:Sfn On 3Template:NbsJuly 1281 Charles and his son-in-law, Philip of Courtenay, the titular Latin emperor, made an alliance with Venice "for the restoration of the Roman Empire".Template:Sfn They decided to start a full-scale campaign early the next year.Template:Sfn

Margaret of Provence called Robert and Otto of Burgundy and other lords who held fiefs in the Kingdom of Arles to a meeting at Troyes in the autumn of 1281.Template:Sfn They were willing to unite their troops to prevent Charles's army from taking possession of the kingdom, but Philip III of France strongly opposed his mother's plan and Edward I of England would not promise any assistance to them.Template:Sfn Charles acknowledged that his wife held the County of Tonnerre and her other inherited estates as a Burgundian fief, which appeased Robert of Burgundy.Template:Sfn Charles's ships started to assemble at Marseilles to sail up the Rhone in the spring of 1282.Template:Sfn Another fleet was gathering at Messina to start the crusade against the Byzantine Empire.Template:Sfn

The empire's collapse

Sicilian Vespers

Template:Main

Two sides of a golden seal, one depicting a crowned man sitting on a throne, the other showing a coat-of-arms with lilies

Charles's Sicilian seal (from the Cabinet des Médailles in Paris)

Always in need of funds, Charles could not cancel the Template:Lang, although it was the most unpopular tax in the Regno.Template:Sfn Instead he granted exemptions to individuals and communities, especially to the French and Provençal colonists, which increased the burden on those who did not enjoy such privileges.Template:Sfn The yearly, or occasionally more frequent, obligatory exchange of the Template:Lang—the coins almost exclusively used in local transactions—was also an important, and unpopular, source of revenue for the royal treasury.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Charles took out forced loans whenever he needed "immediately a large sum of money for certain arduous and pressing business", as he explained in one of his decrees.Template:Sfn

Purveyances, the requisitioning of goods, increased the unpopularity of Charles's government in southern Italy and Sicily.Template:Sfn His subjects were also liable to be forced to guard prisoners or lodge soldiers in their homes.Template:Sfn The restoration of old fortresses, bridges and aqueducts and the building of new castles required the employment of craftsmen, although most of them were unwilling to participate in such lengthy projects.Template:Sfn Thousands of people were forced to serve in the army in foreign lands, especially after 1279.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Trading in salt was declared a royal monopoly.Template:Sfn In December 1281, Charles again ordered the collection of the Template:Lang, requiring the payment of 150 per cent of the customary amount.Template:Sfn

Charles did not pay attention to the island of Sicily, although it had been the centre of resistance against him in 1268.Template:Sfn He transferred the capital from Palermo to Naples.Template:Sfn He did not visit the island after 1271, preventing Sicilians from directly informing him of their grievances.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Sicilian noblemen were seldom employed as royal officials, although he often appointed their southern Italian peers to represent him in his other realms.Template:Sfn Furthermore, having seized large estates on the island in the late 1260s Charles almost exclusively employed French and Provençal clerics to administer them.Template:Sfn

Popular stories credited John of Procida—Manfred of Sicily's former chancellor—with staging an international plot against Charles.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Rumour has it that he visited in disguise Constantinople, Sicily and Viterbo between 1279 and 1280 where he convinced the emperor Michael VIII, the Sicilian barons and Pope Nicholas III to support a revolt.Template:Sfn Michael VIII's own autobiographical memoirs make a claim that it was he who became "God's instrument in bringing freedom to the Sicilians" and not a plot orchestrated by John of Procida.Template:Sfn At that time, still Byzantium's wealth could indeed have enabled him to set in motion a trans-national enterprise by bribing the discontented Sicilian barons.Template:Sfn Peter III of Aragon decided to lay claim to the Kingdom of Sicily in late 1280: he did not hide his disdain for the Angevin even when he met with Charles's son, Charles, Duke of Salerno, in Toulouse in December 1280, even though it was the papacy that had sold the title of the kingdom of Naples to Charles I Anjou.Template:Sfn Peter began to assemble a fleet on the pretext of a crusade against Tunis.Template:Sfn

Rioting broke out in Sicily after a burgher of Palermo killed a drunken French soldier who had insulted his wife before the Church of the Holy Spirit on Easter Monday (30Template:NbsMarch) of 1282.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn When the soldier's comrades attacked the murderer, the mob turned against them and started to massacre all the French in the town.Template:Sfn The riot, known since the 16th century as the Sicilian Vespers,Template:Sfn developed into an uprising and most of Charles's officials were killed or forced to flee the island.Template:Sfn Charles ordered the transfer of soldiers and ships from Achaea to Sicily, but could not stop the spread of the revolt to Calabria.Template:Sfn San Severino also had to return to Italy, accompanied by the major part of the garrison at Acre.Template:Sfn Odo Poilechien, who succeeded him in Acre, had limited authority.Template:Sfn

The burghers of the major Sicilian towns established communes which sent delegates to Pope Martin, asking him to take them under the protection of the Holy See.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Instead of accepting their offer, the Pope excommunicated the rebels on 7Template:NbsMay.Template:Sfn Charles issued an edict on 10Template:NbsJune, accusing his officials of having ignored his instructions on good administration, but he failed to promise fundamental changes.Template:Sfn In July he sailed to Sicily and laid siege to Messina.Template:Sfn

War with Aragon

Template:Main Peter III of Aragon's envoy, William of Castelnou, started negotiations with the rebels' leaders in Palermo.Template:Sfn Realizing that they could not resist without foreign support, they acknowledged Peter and Constance as their king and queen.Template:Sfn They appointed envoys to accompany Castelnou to Collo where the Aragonese fleet was assembling.Template:Sfn After a short hesitation, Peter decided to intervene on the rebels' behalf and sailed to Sicily.Template:Sfn He was declared king of Sicily at Palermo on 4Template:NbsSeptember.Template:Sfn Thereafter two realms, each ruled by a monarch styled king (or queen) of Sicily, coexisted for more than a century, with Charles and his successors ruling in southern Italy (known as the Kingdom of Naples) while Peter and his descendants ruled the island of Sicily.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

In the face of the Aragonese landing, Charles was compelled to withdraw from the island, but the Aragonese moved swiftly and destroyed part of his army and most of his baggage.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Peter took control of the whole island and sent troops to Calabria, but they could not prevent Charles of Salerno from leading an army of 600 French knights to join his father at Reggio Calabria.Template:Sfn Further French troops arrived under the command of Charles's nephews, Robert II of Artois and Peter of Alençon, in November.Template:Sfn In the same month, the Pope excommunicated Peter.Template:Sfn

Neither Peter nor Charles could afford to wage a lengthy war.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Charles made an astonishing proposal in late December 1282, challenging Peter to a judicial duel.Template:Sfn Peter insisted that the war should be continued, but agreed that a battle between the two kings, each accompanied by 100 knights, should decide the possession of Sicily.Template:Sfn The duel was set to take place at Bordeaux on 1Template:NbsJune 1283, but they did not fix the hour.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Charles appointed Charles of Salerno to administer the Regno during his absence.Template:Sfn To secure the loyalty of the local lords in Achaea, he made one of their peers, Guy of Dramelay, baillif.Template:Sfn Pope Martin declared the war against the Sicilians a crusade on 13Template:NbsJanuary 1283.Template:Sfn Charles met with the Pope in Viterbo on 9 March, but he ignored the Pope's ban on his duel with Peter of Aragon.Template:Sfn After visiting Provence and Paris in April, he left for Bordeaux to meet with Peter.Template:Sfn The duel turned into a farce; the two kings each arriving at different times on the same day, declaring a victory over their absent opponent, and departing.Template:Sfn

Skirmishes and raids continued to occur in southern Italy.Template:Sfn Aragonese guerrillas attacked Catona and killed Peter of Alençon in January 1283; the Aragonese seized Reggio Calabria in February; and the Sicilian admiral, Roger of Lauria, defeated a newly raised Provençal fleet at Malta in April.Template:Sfn However, tensions arose between the Aragonese and the Sicilians and in May 1283 one of the leaders of the anti-Angevin rebellion, Walter of Caltagirone, was executed for his secret correspondence with Charles's agents.Template:Sfn Pope Martin declared the war against Aragon a crusade and conferred the kingdom upon Philip III of France's son, Charles of Valois, on 2Template:NbsFebruary 1284.Template:Sfn

Charles started to raise new troops and a fleet in Provence, and instructed his son, Charles of Salerno, to maintain a defensive posture until his return.Template:Sfn Roger of Lauria based a small squadron on the island of Nisida to blockade Naples in May 1284.Template:Sfn Charles of Salerno attempted to destroy the squadron, but most of his fleet was captured, and he himself was taken prisoner after a short, sharp fight on 5Template:NbsJune.Template:Sfn News of the reverse caused a riot in Naples, but the papal legate, Gerard of Parma, crushed it with the assistance of local noblemen.Template:Sfn Charles learnt of the disaster when he landed at Gaeta on 6Template:NbsJune.Template:Sfn He was furious at Charles of Salerno and his disobedience.Template:Sfn He allegedly stated that "Who loses a fool loses nothing", referring to his son's capture.Template:Sfn

Charles left Naples for Calabria on 24Template:NbsJune 1284.Template:Sfn A large army—reportedly 10,000 mounted warriors and 40,000 foot-soldiers—accompanied him as far as Reggio Calabria.Template:Sfn He laid siege to the town by sea and land in late July.Template:Sfn His fleet approached the coast of Sicily, but his troops could not land in the island.Template:Sfn After Lauria landed troops near Reggio Calabria, Charles had to lift the siege and retreat from Calabria on 3Template:NbsAugust.Template:Sfn

Death

A crowned man lying in bed takes the Eucharist from two priest.

Charles's death

Charles went to Brindisi and made preparations for a campaign against Sicily in the new year.Template:Sfn He dispatched orders to his officials for the collection of the Template:Lang.Template:Sfn However, he fell seriously ill before travelling to Foggia on 30Template:NbsDecember.Template:Sfn He made his last will on 6Template:NbsJanuary 1285, appointing Robert II of Artois regent for his grandson, Charles Martel, who was to rule his realms until Charles of Salerno was released.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He died in the morning of 7Template:NbsJanuary.Template:Sfn He was buried in a marble sepulchre in Naples, but his heart was placed at the Couvent Saint-Jacques in Paris.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn His corpse was moved to a chapel of the newly built Naples Cathedral in 1296.Template:Sfn

Family

Template:Family tree/start Template:Tree chart Template:Tree chart Template:Tree chart Template:Tree chart Template:Tree chart Template:Tree chart Template:Family tree/end

A crowned woman and man, each sitting on a throne

Charles and his first wife, Beatrice of Provence

All records show that Charles was a faithful husband and a caring father.Template:Sfn His first wife, Beatrice of Provence, gave birth to at least six children.Template:Sfn According to contemporaneous gossips, she persuaded Charles to claim the Kingdom of Sicily, because she wanted to wear a crown like her sisters.Template:Sfn Before she died in July 1267,Template:Sfn she had willed the usufruct of Provence to Charles.Template:Sfn

Blanche, the eldest daughter of Charles and Beatrice, became the wife of Robert of Béthune in 1265, but she died four years later.Template:Sfn
Beatrice, her younger sister, married Philip, the titular Latin emperor, in 1273.Template:Sfn
Charles II, Charles's eldest son and namesake was granted the Principality of Salerno in 1272.Template:Sfn Charles the Lame (as he was called) and his wife, Maria of Hungary, had fourteen children, which secured the survival of the Capetian House of Anjou.Template:Sfn
Philip, Charles and Beatrice's next son, was elected king of Sardinia by the local Guelphs in 1269, but without the pope's consent.Template:Sfn He died childless in 1278.Template:Sfn
Robert, Charles's third son, died in 1265.Template:Sfn
Elisabeth, Charles's youngest daughter, was given in marriage to the future Ladislaus IV of Hungary in 1269, but Ladislaus preferred his mistresses to her.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

The widowed Charles first proposed himself to Margaret of Hungary.Template:Sfn However, Margaret, who had been brought up in a Dominican nunnery, did not want to marry.Template:Sfn According to legend, she disfigured herself to prevent the marriage.Template:Sfn Charles and his second wife, Margaret of Nevers, had several children, but none survived to adulthood.Template:Sfn

Legacy

The works of two 13th-century historians, Bartholomaeus of Neocastro and Saba Malaspina, strongly influenced modern views about Charles, although they were biased.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The former described Charles as a tyrant to justify the Sicilian Vespers, the latter argued for the cancellation of the crusade against Aragon in 1285.Template:Sfn Charles had continued his imperial predecessors' policies in several fields, including coinage, taxation, and the employment of unpopular officials from Amalfi.Template:Sfn Nevertheless, the monarchy underwent a "Frenchification" or "Provençalistion" during his reign.Template:Sfn He donated estates in the Regno to about 700 noblemen from France or Provence.Template:Sfn He did not adopt the rich ceremonial robes, inspired by Byzantine and Islamic royal styles, of earlier Sicilian kings, but dressed like other western European monarchs,Template:Sfn or as "a simple knight", as it was observed by the chronicler Thomas Tuscus who visited Naples in 1267.Template:Sfn

A middle aged man who wears a hauberk covered by coat and holds a sword

Charles as count of Provence (statue by Louis-Joseph Daumas in Hyères)

Around 1310, the Florentine historian, Giovanni Villani, stated that Charles had been the most powerful Christian monarch in the late 1270s.Template:Sfn Luchetto Gattilusio, a Genoese poet, compared Charles directly with Charlemagne.Template:Sfn Both reports demonstrate that Charles was regarded almost as an emperor.Template:Sfn Among modern historians, Runciman says that Charles tried to build an empire in the eastern Mediterraneum;Template:Sfn Gérard Sivéry writes that he wanted to dominate the west; and Jean Dunbabin argues that his "agglomeration of lands was in the process of forming an empire".Template:Sfn

The historian Hiroshi Takayama concludes that Charles's dominion "was too large to control".Template:Sfn Nevertheless, economic links among his realms strengthened during his reign.Template:Sfn Provençal salt was transported to his other lands, grain from the Regno was sold in Achaea, Albania, Acre and Tuscany, and Tuscan merchants settled in Anjou, Maine, Sicily and Naples.Template:Sfn His highest-ranking officials were transferred from their homelands to represent him in other territories: his senechals in Provence were from Anjou; French and Provençal noblemen held the highest offices in the Regno; and he chose his vicars in Rome from among southern Italian and Provençal nobles.Template:Sfn Although his empire collapsed before his death, his son retained southern Italy and Provence.Template:Sfn

Charles always emphasised his royal rank, but did not adopt "imperial rhetoric".Template:Sfn His renowned justiciar, Marino de Caramanico, developed a new political theory. Traditional interpretators of Roman law were convinced that the Holy Roman Emperors had a monopoly on law-making. In contrast with them, Caramanico stated that an emperor could not claim sovereignty over a king and emphasised Charles full competence to issue decrees.Template:Sfn To promote legal education Charles paid high salaries—20–50 ounces of gold in a year—to masters of law at the University of Naples.Template:Sfn Masters of medicine received similar remunerations, and the university became a principal centre of medical science.Template:Sfn Charles's personal interest in medicine grew during his life and he borrowed Arabic medical texts from the rulers of Tunis to have them translated.Template:Sfn He employed at least one Jewish scholar, Moses of Palermo, who could translate texts from Arabic to Latin.Template:Sfn Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi's medical encyclopaedia, known as Template:Lang, was one of the books translated at Charles's order.Template:Sfn

Charles was also a poet, which distinguished him from his Capetian relatives.Template:Sfn He composed love songs and a jeu-parti (the latter with Pierre d'Angicourt).Template:Sfn In 1269, he wrote a single Occitan cobla (stanza) in an exchange with the troubadour Sordello.Template:Sfn He was requested to judge two poetic competitions in his youth, but modern scholars do not esteem his poetry.Template:Sfn The Provençal troubadours were mostly critical when writing of Charles, but French poets were willing to praise him.Template:Sfn Bertran d'Alamanon wrote a poem against the salt tax and Raimon de Tors de Marseilha rebuked Charles for invading the Regno. The trouvère Adam de la Halle dedicated an unfinished epic poem, entitled The King of Sicily, to Charles and Jean de Meun glorified his victories in the Romance of the Rose.Template:Sfn Dante described Charles—"who bears a manly nose"—singing peacefully together with his one-time rival, Peter III of Aragon, in Purgatory.Template:Sfn

Charles also showed interest in architecture.Template:Sfn He designed a tower in Brindisi, but it soon collapsed.Template:Sfn He ordered the erection of the Castel Nuovo in Naples, of which only the palatine chapel survives from his work.Template:Sfn He is also credited with the introduction of French-style stained glass windows in southern Italy.Template:Sfn