Editing Manfred, King of Sicily (section)

==Kingship==
[[File:Krönung Manfreds.jpg|thumb|200px|Coronation of Manfred at [[Palermo]] in 1258, ''[[Nuova Cronica]]'']]
On 10 August 1258, taking advantage of Conradin's rumoured death, Manfred was crowned King of Sicily at [[Palermo]]. The falsehood of this report was soon manifest; but the new king, supported by the popular voice, declined to [[abdicate]] and pointed out to Conradin's envoys the necessity for a strong native ruler. The pope, to whom the Saracen alliance was a serious offence, declared Manfred's coronation void. Undeterred by the excommunication Manfred sought to obtain power in central and northern Italy, where the Ghibelline leader [[Ezzelino III da Romano]] had disappeared. He named vicars in Tuscany, [[Duchy of Spoleto|Spoleto]], [[Marche]], [[Romagna]] and [[Lombardy]]. After Montaperti he was recognized as protector of [[Tuscany]] by the citizens of Florence, who did homage to his representative, and he was chosen "Senator of the Romans" by a faction in the city.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|page=568}} His power was also augmented by the marriage of his daughter [[Constance of Sicily, Queen of Aragon|Constance]] in 1262 to [[Peter III of Aragon]].

Terrified by these proceedings, the new [[Pope Urban IV]] excommunicated him. The pope first tried to sell the Kingdom of Sicily to [[Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall|Richard of Cornwall]] and his son, but in vain. In 1263 he was most successful with [[Charles I of Anjou]], a brother of King [[Louis IX of France]], who accepted the investiture of the kingdom of Sicily at his hands. Hearing of the approach of Charles, Manfred issued a manifesto to the [[Rome|Romans]], in which he not only defended his rule over Italy but even claimed the imperial crown.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|page=568}}

Charles' army, some 30,000 strong, entered Italy from the [[Col de Tende]] in late 1265. He soon reduced numerous [[Ghibelline]] strongholds in northern Italy and was crowned in Rome in January 1266, the pope being absent. On 20 January he set southwards and waded the [[Liri]] river, invading the Kingdom of Sicily. After some minor clashes, the rival armies met at the [[Battle of Benevento]] on 26 February 1266, and Manfred's army was defeated.{{sfn|Runciman | 1958 | pp= 92, 94}} The king himself, refusing to flee, rushed into the midst of his enemies and was killed.{{sfn|Runciman | 1958 | p= 94}} Over his body, which was buried on the battlefield, a huge heap of stones was placed, but afterwards with the consent of the pope the remains were unearthed, cast out of the papal territory, and interred on the bank of the [[Garigliano River]], outside of the boundaries of Naples and the [[Papal States]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|page=568}}{{sfn|Runciman | 1958 | p= 94}}

At the Battle of Benevento Charles captured Helena, Manfred's second wife, and imprisoned her. She lived five years later in captivity in the castle of Nocera Inferiore where she died in 1271. Manfred's son-in-law Peter III eventually became King Peter I of Sicily from 1282 after the [[Sicilian Vespers]] expelled the French from the island again.

The modern city of [[Manfredonia]] was built by King Manfred between 1256 and 1263, some kilometers north of the ruins of the ancient [[Sipontum]]. The Angevines, who had defeated Manfred and stripped him of the Kingdom of Sicily, renamed it Sypontum Novellum ("New Sypontum"), but that name never imposed.

Manfred maintained diplomatic relations with the [[Mamluk Sultanate|Mamluk sultans]] of Egypt through the exchange of gifts. Sultan [[Baybars]], for example, sent him a giraffe, acquired through a tribute from [[Nubia]], and considered one of the rarest, most dazzling gifts one could send.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Behrens-Abouseif |first=Doris |title=Practising diplomacy in the Mamluk Sultanate: gifts and material culture in the medieval islamic world |publisher=I. B. Tauris |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-78453-703-6 |edition= |location=London |pages=47–48}}</ref>