Hélène of Anjou (; ), also known as Helen was a French noblewoman and member of the

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

Life

Hélène was the

illegitimate Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as ''b ...

daughter of

Robert of Anjou Robert of Anjou (), known as Robert the Wise (; 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 Italian politics of his time. He was the thir ...

, who was the

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

of the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples (; ; ), officially 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 established by the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302). Until ...

. The identity of her mother remains unknown, and little is known about her early life. When Hélène came of age, her father, Robert of Anjou, King of Naples, sent her to marry a French gentleman of Greece, possibly Bertrand de Baux, the

Bailli A bailiff (, ) was the king's administrative representative during the ''ancien régime'' in northern France, where the bailiff was responsible for the application of justice and control of the administration and local finances in his bailiwick ...

Morea Morea ( or ) was the name of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The name was used by the Principality of Achaea, the Byzantine province known as the Despotate of the Morea, by the O ...

, or the Prince of Morea, as part of a political alliance. However, during her journey, her ship was caught in a storm and driven off course to

Durrës Durrës ( , ; sq-definite, Durrësi) is the List of cities and towns in Albania#List, second most populous city of the Albania, Republic of Albania and county seat, seat of Durrës County and Durrës Municipality. It is one of Albania's oldest ...

, where she remained for several days. During this time, she met Andrea I Thopia, a nobleman from the prominent Thopia family in Albania, and they fell in love, deciding to live together and marry soon after in 1338. However, some sources identify him as Tanush Thopia, leading to conflicting accounts about the precise identity and name of her Albanian noble husband. They had two sons,

Karl Thopia Karl Thopia (; – January 1388) sometimes written as Charles Thopia, was an Albanian feudal prince and warlord who ruled Albanian domains from 1358 until the first Ottoman conquest of Albania in 1388. Thopia usually maintained good relatio ...

and Gjergj I Thopia.

Death

Angered by Hélène’s marriage to Thopia instead of the French nobleman he had intended for her, King Robert invited the couple to Naples under the pretense of reconciliation, only to deceitfully have them both executed upon their arrival for what he considered their dishonorable actions. Their sons fled to Albania, escaping the fate of their parents, and were raised in the Fortress of Krujë, where Karl, driven by a desire to avenge their deaths, led a rebellion in 1358, overthrowing the last descendants of the Counts of Zante.

Family

Hélène of Anjou married Andrea I Thopia. The couple had two children: #

Prince of Albania This is an archontological list of Albanian monarchs, containing monarchs of the medieval Albanian principalities, Albanian kingdoms and to heads of state of modern Albania. Starting from the first established monarch Progon of Kruja from th ...

, married Voisava Balsha # Gjergj I Thopia

Family tree

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Anjou, Hélène Albanian royal consorts Capetian House of Anjou 1342 deaths Year of birth unknown Daughters of kings