Editing Louis I of Hungary (section)

=== Neapolitan campaigns (1345–1350)===
{{Main|Neapolitan campaigns of Louis the Great}}

{{See also|Battle of Capua (1348)}}[[File:Képes krónika - 1.oldal - Lajos király a trónon (2).jpg|alt=Chronicon Pictum, King Louis I of Hungary, knights, throne, canopy, orb, secpter, Hungarian, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, medieval, chronicle, book, illumination, illustration, history|thumb|King Louis on the throne around his knights ([[Chronicon Pictum]], 1358)]]
Louis's brother Andrew was murdered in [[Aversa]] on 18 September 1345.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=159}} Louis and his mother accused Queen Joanna I, [[Robert, Prince of Taranto|Prince Robert of Taranto]], [[Charles, Duke of Durazzo|Duke Charles of Durazzo]], and other members of the Neapolitan branches of the [[Capetian House of Anjou]] of plotting against Andrew.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=159}}{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|pp=120–121}} In his letter of 15 January 1346 to [[Pope Clement VI]], Louis demanded that the pope dethrone the "husband-killer" queen in favor of [[Charles Martel, Duke of Calabria#Son of Joanna I of Naples|Charles Martel]], her infant son by Andrew.{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|pp=120–121}} Louis also laid claim to the regency of the kingdom during the minority of his nephew, referring to his patrilinear descent from the [[Charles Martel of Anjou|first-born son]] of Robert the Wise's father, [[Charles II of Naples]].{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|p=121}} He even promised to increase the amount of yearly tribute that the kings of Naples would pay to the [[Holy See]].{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|p=121}} After the pope failed to fully investigate Andrew's murder, Louis decided to invade southern Italy.{{sfn|Kontler|1999|p=93}} In preparation for the invasion, he sent his envoys to [[Ancona]] and other Italian towns before summer 1346.{{sfn|Kristó|1988|pp=109–110}}

[[File:Jeanne Ière de Naples, dite la Reine Jeanne, comtesse de Provence.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A crowned women wearing a long veil sits on a throne at a window through which an old man watches him  | Louis's sister-in-law, [[Joanna I of Naples]], whom he regarded as a "husband-killer" after the assassination of his brother, [[Andrew, Duke of Calabria]] (from a manuscript of [[Giovanni Boccaccio]]'s ''[[De mulieribus claris]]'')]]

While his envoys negotiated in Italy, Louis marched to Dalmatia to relieve Zadar, but the Venetians bribed his commanders.{{sfn|Kristó|1988|pp=104–105}}{{sfn|Bertényi|1989|p=61}} When the citizens broke out and attacked the besiegers on 1 July, the royal army failed to intervene, and the Venetians overcame the defenders outside the walls of the town.{{sfn|Bertényi|1989|p=61}}{{sfn|Kristó|1988|p=105}} Louis withdrew but refused to renounce Dalmatia, although the Venetians offered to pay 320,000 golden florins as compensation.{{sfn|Bertényi|1989|p=61}} Lacking military support from Louis, however, Zadar surrendered to the Venetians on 21 December 1346.{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=209}}

Louis sent small expeditions one after one to Italy at the beginning of his war against Joanna, because he did not want to harass the Italians who had suffered from a famine the previous year.{{sfn|Kristó|1988|p=111}} His first troops departed under the command of [[Nicholas II Vásári|Nicholas Vásári]], [[Bishop of Nyitra]] (now [[Nitra]] in Slovakia), on 24 April 1347.{{sfn|Kristó|1988|pp=111–112}} Louis also hired German mercenaries.{{sfn|Bertényi|1989|p=74}} He departed from Visegrád on 11 November.{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=209}} After marching through [[Udine]], [[Verona]], [[Modena]], [[Bologna]], [[Urbino]], and [[Perugia]], he entered the Kingdom of Naples on 24 December near [[L'Aquila]], which had yielded to him.{{sfn|Cartledge|2011|p=37}}{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|pp=209–210}}{{sfn|Bertényi|1989|p=75}}

Queen Joanna remarried, wedding a cousin, [[Louis of Taranto]], and fled for [[Marseille]] on 11 January 1348.{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|pp=143, 146–147}}{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=210}} Their other relatives, Robert of Taranto and Charles of Durazzo, visited Louis in Aversa to yield to him.{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|p=149}} Louis received them amicably and convinced them to persuade their brothers, [[Philip II, Prince of Taranto|Philip of Taranto]] and [[Louis of Durazzo]], to join them.{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|p=149}} After their arrival, King Louis's "smile was replaced by the harshest expression as he unveiled with terrible words the true feelings he had for the princes and that he had kept hidden until then", according to the contemporaneous [[Domenico da Gravina]].{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|pp=149–150}} He repeated his former accusations, blamed his kinsmen for his brother's murder, and had them captured on 22 January.{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|pp=149–150}} The next day Charles of Durazzo{{spaced ndash}} the husband of Joanna I's sister, [[Maria of Calabria|Mary]]{{spaced ndash}}was beheaded upon Louis's orders.{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|pp=150–151}}{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=160}} The other princes were kept captive and sent to Hungary, together with Louis's infant nephew, Charles Martel.{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=210}}{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=160}}{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|p=151}}

Louis marched to Naples in February.{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=210}} The citizens offered him a ceremonious entry, but he refused, threatening to let his soldiers sack the town if they did not raise the taxes.{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|p=152}} He adopted the traditional titles of the kings of Naples{{spaced ndash}}"King of Sicily and [[King of Jerusalem#Claimant kings of Jerusalem (1291 until today)|Jerusalem]], Duke of [[County of Apulia and Calabria|Apulia]] and [[Prince of Capua]]"{{spaced ndash}}and administered the kingdom from the [[Castel Nuovo]], garrisoning his mercenaries in the most important forts.{{sfn|Dümmerth|1982|p=405}} He used unusually brutal methods of investigation to capture all accomplices in the death of his brother, according to Domenico da Gravina.{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|p=163}} Most local noble families (including the [[House of Baux|Balzos]] and the [[House of Sanseverino|Sanseverinos]]) refused to cooperate with him.{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|pp=162–163}} The pope refused to confirm Louis's rule in Naples, which would have united two powerful kingdoms under Louis's rule.{{sfn|Housley|1984|pp=194–195}} The pope and the [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinals]] declared Queen Joanna innocent of her husband's murder at a [[Papal consistory|formal meeting]] of the [[College of Cardinals]].{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|pp=159, 161}}

[[File:Diosgyor.jpg|thumb|alt=A fortress with four towers, surrounded with a moat |Reconstruction of the [[Castle of Diósgyőr]], which was one of his favourite hunting castles]]

The arrival of the [[Black Death]] forced Louis to leave Italy in May.{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=210}}{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=160}}{{sfn|Dümmerth|1982|p=406}} He made [[Ulrich Wolfhardt]] governor of Naples, but his mercenaries did not hinder Joanna I and her husband from returning in September.{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=210}} Louis, who had signed a truce for eight years with Venice on 5 August, sent new troops to Naples under the command of [[Stephen I Lackfi|Stephen Lackfi]], [[Voivode of Transylvania]], in late 1349.{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|pp=210–211}}{{sfn|Bertényi|1989|pp=77–78}} Lackfi reoccupied [[Capua]], [[Aversa]] and other forts that had been lost to Joanna I, but a mutiny among his German mercenaries forced him to return to Hungary.{{sfn|Bertényi|1989|pp=77–78}}{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=211}} The Black Death had meanwhile reached Hungary.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=161}} The first wave of the epidemic ended in June, but it returned in September, killing Louis's first wife, Margaret.{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=211}}{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=161}} Louis also fell ill, but survived the [[Plague (disease)|plague]].{{sfn|Bertényi|1989|p=78}} Although the Black Death was less devastating in the sparsely populated Hungary than in other parts of Europe, there were regions that became depopulated in 1349, and the demand for work force increased in the subsequent years.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=161}}{{sfn|Kontler|1999|p=91, 98}}

Louis proposed to renounce the Kingdom of Naples if Clement dethroned Joanna.{{sfn|Bertényi|1989|pp=78–79}} After the pope refused, Louis departed for his second Neapolitan campaign in April 1350.{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=211}}{{sfn|Kristó|1988|p=119}} He suppressed a mutiny that occurred among his mercenaries while he and his troops were waiting for the arrival of further troops in [[Barletta]].{{sfn|Kristó|1988|pp=119–120}} While marching towards Naples, he faced resistance at many towns because his vanguards, which were under the command of Stephen Lackfi, had become notorious for their cruelty.{{sfn|Kristó|1988|p=120}}{{sfn|Bertényi|1989|p=79}}

During the campaign, Louis personally led assaults and climbed city walls together with his soldiers, endangering his own life.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=158}}{{sfn|Bertényi|1989|p=79}} While besieging [[Canosa di Puglia]], Louis fell into the [[moat]] from a [[ladder]] when a defender of the fort hit him with a stone.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=158}}{{sfn|Kristó|1988|p=120}} He dove into a river without hesitation to save a young soldier who was swept away while exploring a [[Ford (crossing)|ford]] upon his order.{{sfn|Bertényi|1989|p=80}} An arrow pierced Louis's left leg during the siege of Aversa.{{sfn|Kristó|1988|p=123}} After the fall of Aversa to Hungarian troops on 3 August, Queen Joanna and her husband again fled from Naples.{{sfn|Bertényi|1989|pp=81–82}} However, Louis decided to return to Hungary.{{sfn|Kristó|1988|pp=124–125}} According to the contemporaneous historian [[Matteo Villani (chronicler)|Matteo Villani]], Louis attempted to "leave the kingdom without losing face" after he had run out of money and experienced the resistance of the local population.{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|pp=173–174}}

To celebrate the [[Jubilee (Christianity)#The Jubilee of 1350|Jubilee of 1350]], Louis visited [[Rome]] during his journey back to Hungary.{{sfn|Kristó|1988|p=124}} He arrived in [[Buda]] on 25 October 1350.{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=212}} With the mediation of the Holy See, the envoys of Louis and Queen Joanna's husband, Louis of Taranto, signed a truce for six months.{{sfn|Kristó|1988|p=124}}{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=212}}{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|p=173}} The pope promised Louis that the queen's role in her husband's murder would again be investigated, and he ordered her to pay 300,000 gold florins as a ransom for the imprisoned Neapolitan princes.{{sfn|Goldstone|2009|p=173}}