The House of Valois-Anjou (, it, Casa Valois-Angiò) was a noble French family and cadet branch of the

House of Valois The Capetian house of Valois ( , also , ) was a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. They succeeded the House of Capet (or "Direct Capetians") to the List of French monarchs, French throne, and were the royal house of France from 1328 to 1589 ...

. Members of the house served as monarchs of

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 admini ...

, as well as several other territories.

History

The house was founded in the 1350s, when King

John II of France John II (french: Jean II; 26 April 1319 – 8 April 1364), called John the Good (French: ''Jean le Bon''), was King of France from 1350 until his death in 1364. When he came to power, France faced several disasters: the Black Death, which killed ...

, of the Valois line of

Capetians The Capetian dynasty (; french: Capétiens), also known as the House of France, is a dynasty of Frankish origin, and a branch of the Robertians. It is among the largest and oldest royal houses in Europe and the world, and consists of Hugh Cap ...

, came to power. His paternal grandmother, Countess Margaret of Anjou and Maine, had been a princess of the

Capetian House of Anjou The Capetian House of Anjou or House of Anjou-Sicily, was a royal house and cadet branch of the direct French House of Capet, part of the Capetian dynasty. It is one of three separate royal houses referred to as ''Angevin'', meaning "from Anjou" ...

or Elder Angevin Dynasty. She was the eldest daughter of King Charles II of Naples and gave Anjou to the second son of king John II of France, Louis. Within a couple of decades, Queen

Joan I of Naples Joanna I, also known as Johanna I ( it, Giovanna I; December 1325 – 27 July 1382), was Queen of Naples, and Countess of Provence and Forcalquier from 1343 to 1382; she was also Princess of Achaea from 1373 to 1381. Joanna was the eldest dau ...

, also of the senior Angevin line, realized that she would remain childless. Although there were extant heirs of the senior branch, for example, the Anjou-Durazzo cadet line, she decided to adopt Louis as her final heir. Thus, in addition to the struggle of the Angevins with Aragon in Southern Italy, the two Angevin lines, senior and junior, now began to contest with each other for the possession of the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...

. The Anjou-Durazzo line was initially successful in securing control of Naples, but the Valois House of Anjou managed to secure

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bo ...

and continued to contest the throne, with Louis II actually in control of the city of Naples from 1389 to 1399. The extinction of the line of the House of Anjou-Durazzo in 1435 temporarily secured Naples for the Valois House of Anjou, but they were driven from Naples by Alfonso V of Aragon in 1442. René, the last duke of this, third, Angevin line, died in 1480, and Anjou reverted to the French crown. With the death of his nephew Count Charles IV of Maine in 1481, all Angevin possessions, including

, reverted to the crown. The Angevin pretensions to Naples were continued intermittently by the

House of Lorraine The House of Lorraine (german: link=no, Haus Lothringen) originated as a cadet branch of the House of Metz. It inherited the Duchy of Lorraine in 1473 after the death without a male heir of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine. By the marriage of Fran ...

, which descended from René's eldest daughter Yolande. Notably, the Valois-Habsburg War of 1551 to 1559 saw Duke Francis of Guise, a member of a

cadet branch In history and heraldry, a cadet branch consists of the male-line descendants of a monarch's or patriarch's younger sons ( cadets). In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets—realm, titles ...

of the House of Lorraine, lead an unsuccessful French expedition against Naples.

History

See also