Charles, Duke of Calabria (1298 – 9 November 1328), was the son of King
Robert of Naples
Robert of Anjou ( it, Roberto d'Angiò), known as Robert the Wise ( it, 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 I ...
and
Yolanda of Aragon
Yolande of Aragon (11 August 1384 – 14 November 1442) was Duchess of Anjou and Countess of Provence by marriage, who acted as regent of Provence during the minority of her son. She was a daughter of John I of Aragon and his wife Violant ...
.
Charles was born in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...
in 1298, during the reign of his paternal grandfather,
King Charles II, the second king of the Angevin dynasty that ruled Naples since 1266. Charles was the son of the King's third son
Prince Robert and his consort Yolanda of Aragon. Little is known of his early life, so one can assume that he spent his early years at the court of his grandfather. In 1309, Charles' grandfather died and his father became King Robert the Wise. It was then that he became
Duke of Calabria and was created Vicar-General of the Kingdom of Sicily (Naples). His father intended him to lead the force sent to aid
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
in 1315, but was constrained by time to send his uncle,
Philip I of Taranto, instead. The Florentine-Neapolitan coalition was badly beaten at the ensuing
Battle of Montecatini
The Battle of Montecatini was fought in the Val di Nievole on 29 August 1315 between the Republic of Pisa, and the forces of both the Kingdom of Naples and the Republic of Florence. The army of Pisa, commanded by Uguccione della Faggiuola, won ...
.
The victory of
Castruccio Castracani
Castruccio Castracani degli Antelminelli (; 1281 – 3 September 1328) was an Italian ''condottiero'' and duke of Lucca.
Biography
Castruccio was born in Lucca, a member of the noble family of Antelminelli, of the Ghibelline party. In 1300 he ...
at
Altopascio
Altopascio is a ''comune'' in the Province of Lucca in the Tuscany region of Italy with a population of 15,572.
History
Already inhabited in Roman times, Altopascio gained in importance due to its ''Spedale'' (hostel, first mentioned in 1084) for ...
in 1325 led the Florentines to elect Charles ''signore'' (lord) of the city for ten years in 1326. At the time, he was unsuccessfully attempting to seize
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
from his first cousin
Frederick III, and sent
Walter VI of Brienne
Walter VI of Brienne (c. 1304 – 19 September 1356) was a French nobleman and crusader. He was the count of Brienne in France, the count of Conversano and Lecce in southern Italy and claimant to the Duchy of Athens in Frankish Greece.
Lif ...
as his deputy until he could arrive, where Walter made a (misleadingly) favorable impression. While Charles' arrival checked Castruccio, he exacted onerous taxes from the Florentines, until he was recalled to Naples in December 1327 due to the advance of
Emperor Louis IV into Italy. There he died in 1328. He left as heir his eldest surviving daughter,
Joanna Ι; a posthumous daughter,
Marie, was born in 1329.
Charles was buried in the church of
Santa Chiara in Naples.
Marriages and issue
In 1316, he married
Catherine of Habsburg (1295–1323), daughter of
Albert I of Germany. Catherine died in 1323, ad Charles married
Marie of Valois (1309–1332), daughter of
Charles of Valois, later that same year. They had five children:
* Eloisa (b. January or February 1325 – d. 27 December 1325).
*
Joanna Ι (b. Naples, March 1326 – d. castello di San Fele, 22 May 1382), Queen of Naples after succeeded her grandfather.
*
Charles Martel
Charles Martel ( – 22 October 741) was a Frankish political and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was the de facto ruler of Francia from 718 until his death. He was a son of the Frankish statesm ...
(b. Florence, 13 April 1327 – d. Florence, 21 April 1327).
*
Maria (b. posthumously, Naples, May 1329 – d. Naples, 20 May 1366), Countess of Alba.
Ancestry
External links
*
History of Florence Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli ( , , ; 3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527), occasionally rendered in English as Nicholas Machiavel ( , ; see below), was an Italian diplomat, author, philosopher and historian who lived during the Renaissance. ...
{{Authority control
1298 births
1328 deaths
Nobility from Naples
House of Anjou-Naples
Dukes of Calabria
Sons of kings
Joanna I of Naples
Burials at the Basilica of Santa Chiara
Heirs apparent who never acceded