Frederick III (or IV) (1 September 1341 –

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...

27 July 1377Setton, Kenneth M. (1975) " Volume III: The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries", Edited by Harry W. Hazzard, page 214.), called the Simple, was

King of Sicily The monarchs of Sicily ruled from the establishment of the County of Sicily in 1071 until the "perfect fusion" in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1816. The origins of the Sicilian monarchy lie in the Norman conquest of southern Italy which occ ...

from 1355 to 1377. He was the second son of

Peter II of Sicily Peter II (1304 – 8 August 1342) was the King of Sicily from 1337 until his death, although he was associated with his father as co-ruler from 1321. Peter's father was Frederick III of Sicily and his mother was Eleanor, a daughter of Charles II of ...

and

Elisabeth of Carinthia Elizabeth of Carinthia (1298–1352) was Queen of Sicily by marriage to Peter II of Sicily. She was the regent of Sicily during the minority of her son Louis, King of Sicily from 1348 until her death in 1352. The daughter of the Otto, the penu ...

. He succeeded his brother

Louis Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ( ...

. The documents of his era call him the "infante Frederick, ruler of the kingdom of Sicily", without any

regnal number Regnal numbers are ordinal numbers used to distinguish among persons with the same name who held the same office. Most importantly, they are used to distinguish monarchs. An ''ordinal'' is the number placed after a monarch's regnal name to differ ...

. "Frederick the Simple" is often confused with an earlier Sicilian monarch, his grandfather Frederick II, who chose to call himself "Frederick III" even though he was actually only the second King Frederick to occupy the Sicilian throne; his self-appellation was retained by later generations of genealogists and historians. The first King Frederick on the Sicilian throne was the latter's great-grandfather, King

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (German language, German: ''Friedrich''; Italian language, Italian: ''Federico''; Latin: ''Federicus''; 26 December 1194 – 13 December 1250) was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Em ...

. Frederick III was born in

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

and succeeded to his brother

in 1355 under the regency of his sister, Euphemia of Sicily. In his youth the reign was under the control of powerful Sicilian barons, in particular of Artale I Alagona. The beginning of Frederick III's reign was also plagued by intermittent wars with 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 ...

(see

War of the Sicilian Vespers The War of the Sicilian Vespers or just War of the Vespers was a conflict that started with the insurrection of the Sicilian Vespers against Charles of Anjou in 1282 and ended in 1302 with the Peace of Caltabellotta. It was fought in Sicily, C ...

) and also by the

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

, to which his elder brother and predecessor had succumbed. On 25 December 1369, Frederick ordered all Jews to wear a badge indicating their heritage. The badge consisted of a piece of red material, not smaller than the largest royal seal; men were required to wear it under the chin, and women on the chest. In 1372 he was able to come to peace terms with Naples and

Pope Gregory XI Pope Gregory XI ( la, Gregorius, born Pierre Roger de Beaufort; c. 1329 – 27 March 1378) was head of the Catholic Church from 30 December 1370 to his death in March 1378. He was the seventh and last Avignon pope and the most recent French pope ...

, obtaining the title of tributary King of "Trinacria". After the death of his mother's cousin,

Margaret of Tyrol Margaret, nicknamed ''Margarete Maultasch'' (1318 – 3 October 1369), was the last Countess of Tyrol from the House of Gorizia (''Meinhardiner''), and an unsuccessful claimant to the Duchy of Carinthia. Upon her death, Tyrol became united with the ...

in 1369, Frederick remained the sole descendant of the House of Gorizia-Tyrol which had ruled a vast territory in the

Eastern Alps Eastern Alps is the name given to the eastern half of the Alps, usually defined as the area east of a line from Lake Constance and the Alpine Rhine valley up to the Splügen Pass at the Alpine divide and down the Liro River to Lake Como in the ...

, comprising

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

and

Carniola Carniola ( sl, Kranjska; , german: Krain; it, Carniola; hu, Krajna) is a historical region that comprised parts of present-day Slovenia. Although as a whole it does not exist anymore, Slovenes living within the former borders of the region sti ...

. However, due to his problems at home, he is not known to have ever raised any claims to those territories which thus passed to the

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

Marriages

On 11 April 1361, Frederick married firstly

Constance of Aragon Constance of Aragon (1179 – 23 June 1222) was an Aragonese infanta who was by marriage firstly Queen of Hungary, and secondly Queen of Germany and Sicily and Holy Roman Empress. She was regent of Sicily from 1212 to 1220. She was the second c ...

, daughter of King

Peter IV of Aragon Peter IV, ; an, Pero, ; es, Pedro, . In Catalan, he may also be nicknamed ''el del punyalet'': "he of the little dagger". (Catalan: ''Pere IV''; 5 September 1319 – 6 January 1387), called the Ceremonious (Catalan: ''el Cerimoniós''), w ...

.'' Archbishop Pierre d'Ameil in Naples and the Affair of Aimon III of Geneva (1363-1364)'', Kenneth M. Setton, Speculum, Vol. 28, No. 4 (Oct., 1953), 645. They had only one daughter,

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

. On 17 January 1372, Frederick married secondly

Antonia of Baux Antonia of Baux ( it, Antonia del Balzo; c. 1353 – 23 January 1375), was an Italian noblewoman member of the French House of Baux (italianized as del Balzo) and by marriage Queen consort of Sicily, Duchess consort of Athens and Neopatras. B ...

. This marriage was designed to seal the

Treaty of Villeneuve The Treaty of Villeneuve (1372) was the definitive agreement that ended the dispute between the House of Anjou and the House of Barcelona over the Kingdom of Sicily that began ninety years earlier in 1282. Its final form was approved by Pope Gregory ...

of 1372, by which Frederick's right to rule Sicily was recognised by Naples and the Papacy. There were no children from this marriage. Frederick was betrothed again to

Antonia Visconti Antonia Visconti (born after 1350, probably about 1360, Milan – 16 March 1405, Stuttgart) was Countess of Württemberg. Family Antonia was the tenth of 17 children of Bernabò Visconti, Lord of Milan. She was one of the 13 legitimately born ...

, but he died before the wedding and was succeeded by his only child, Queen Maria.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frederick 03 the Simple 1341 births 1377 deaths 14th-century Kings of Sicily Nobility from Catania Dukes of Athens House of Barcelona (Sicily) Burials at Catania Cathedral Counts of Malta