Louis III (25 September 1403 – 12 November 1434) was a claimant to 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 ...

from 1417 to 1426, as well as

count of Provence The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

Forcalquier Forcalquier (; ) is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France. Forcalquier is located between the Lure Mountain( fr) and Luberon mountain ranges, about south of Sisteron and west of the Durance river. Dur ...

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

, and

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

and

duke of Anjou The Count of Anjou was the ruler of the County of Anjou, first granted by King Charles the Bald of West Francia in the 9th century to Robert the Strong. Ingelger and his son, Fulk the Red, were viscounts until Fulk assumed the title of count. ...

from 1417 to 1434. As the heir designate to the throne of Naples, he was

duke of Calabria Duke of Calabria was the traditional title of the heir apparent of the Kingdom of Naples after the accession of Robert of Naples. It was also adopted by the heads of certain Houses that had once claimed the Kingdom of Naples in lieu of the royal ...

from 1426 to 1434.

Claim to Aragon

Louis was the eldest son and heir of

Louis II of Anjou Louis II (5 October 1377 – 29 April 1417) was Duke of Anjou and Count of Provence from 1384 to 1417; he claimed the Kingdom of Naples, but only ruled parts of the kingdom from 1390 to 1399. His father, Louis I of Anjouthe founder of the House o ...

and

Yolande of Aragon Yolande of Aragon (11 August 1381 – 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 also known as Yolanda de Aragón and Violant d'Ara ...

. The throne of the

Crown of Aragon The Crown of Aragon (, ) ;, ; ; . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona (later Principality of Catalonia) and ended as a consequence of the War of the Sp ...

fell vacant in 1410 when Yolande's uncle King Martin died. As the daughter of King

John I of Aragon John I (27 December 1350 – 19 May 1396), called by posterity the Hunter or the Lover of Elegance, or the Abandoned in his lifetime, was the King of Aragon from 1387 until his death. Biography John was the eldest son of Peter IV and his third ...

, Martin's brother and predecessor, Yolande claimed the throne of

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

for the young Louis. However, unclear though they were, the succession rules of the

Kingdom of Aragon The Kingdom of Aragon (; ; ; ) was a medieval and early modern Monarchy, kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, in Spain. It became a part of the larger ...

and the

County of Barcelona The County of Barcelona (, ) was a polity in northeastern Iberian Peninsula, originally located in the southern frontier region of the Carolingian Empire. In the 10th century, the Counts of Barcelona progressively achieved independence from F ...

at that time were understood to favor all male relatives before any female. Martin died without surviving issue in 1410, and after two years without a king, the Estates of Aragon by

Compromise of Caspe The 1412 Compromise of Caspe (''Compromiso de Caspe'' in Spanish, ''Compromís de Casp'' in Catalan) was an act and resolution of parliamentary representatives of the constituent realms of the Crown of Aragon (the Kingdom of Aragon, Kingdom of V ...

in 1412 elected Martin's nephew Ferdinand of Castile as the next

king of Aragon This is a list of the kings and queens of Aragon. The Kingdom of Aragon was created sometime between 950 and 1035 when the County of Aragon, which had been acquired by the Kingdom of Navarre in the tenth century, was separated from Navarre in ...

. Louis' family acquired some Aragonese lands in Montpellier and Roussillon. Yolande and her sons regarded themselves as heirs of higher claim and began to call themselves king and queen of Sicily (including Naples),

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, and

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

. Of those, only the mainland part of Sicily was ever directly held by Louis, and only briefly. Louis also had claims on the title

Latin Emperor The Latin Emperor was the ruler of the Latin Empire, the historiographical convention for the Crusader realm, established in Constantinople after the Fourth Crusade (1204) and lasting until the city was reconquered by the Byzantine Greeks in 12 ...

, which his grandfather

Louis I Louis I may refer to: Cardinals * Louis I, Cardinal of Guise (1527–1578) Counts * Ludwig I, Count of Württemberg (c. 1098–1158) * Louis I of Blois (1172–1205) * Louis I of Flanders (1304–1346) * Louis I of Châtillon (died 13 ...

had purchased in 1383, but he never appears to have used this title.Jean Favier, ''Le Roi René'' (Paris: Fayard, 2008).

Claim to Naples

Pope Martin V Pope Martin V (; ; January/February 1369 – 20 February 1431), born Oddone Colonna, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 November 1417 to his death in February 1431. His election effectively ended the We ...

invested Louis III on 4 December 1419 as

king of Sicily The monarchs of Sicily ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Sicily in 1130 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 oc ...

(Naples). This was in contrast with the will of the childless and aged queen of the Italian kingdom, Joanna II, who had adopted

Alfonso V of Aragon Alfonso the Magnanimous (Alfons el Magnànim in Catalan language, Catalan) (139627 June 1458) was King of Aragon and King of Sicily (as Alfons V) and the ruler of the Crown of Aragon from 1416 and King of Naples (as Alfons I) from 1442 until his ...

as her heir. In 1420 Louis disembarked in

Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...

and besieged Naples, but had to flee at the arrival of an Aragonese fleet. Alfonso entered the city in 1421 and Louis lost the support of the Pope, tired by the costs of the war. However, when the relationships between Alfonso and the queen suddenly worsened after the arrest of Joanna's lover and prime minister, Gianni Caracciolo, the queen moved to

Aversa Aversa () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Caserta in Campania, southern Italy, about 24 km north of Naples. It is the centre of an agricultural district, the ''Agro Aversano'', producing wine and cheese (famous for the typical dome ...

where Louis joined her. He was adopted and named heir in lieu of Alfonso, giving him the title of duke of Calabria. When Alfonso had to return to Aragon, the kingdom was pacified. Louis moved to his feudal possession in

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

, where he lived with his wife, Margaret of Savoy. They had no children. Louis never became king effectively, as he died of

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

Cosenza Cosenza (; Languages of Calabria#Northern Calabrian (Cosentian), Cosentian: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city located in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000, while the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. ...

in 1434. His brother

René René (''born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus. René is the masculine form of the name ( Renée being the feminin ...

succeeded Joanna upon her death the following year.

Notes

References

Sources

*Amedeo Miceli di Serradileo, "Una dichiarazione di Luigi III d'Angiò dalla città di San Marco", ''Archivio Storico per la Calabria e la Lucania'', Rome, XLIII,1976, pp. 69–83. , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Louis 03 of Naples 1403 births 1434 deaths 15th-century monarchs of Naples Louis 3 House of Valois-Anjou Dukes of Anjou Louis 3 Counts of Provence Counts of Forcalquier Counts of Piedmont Deaths from malaria People of Byzantine descent 15th-century peers of France Sons of kings