ROBERT THE WISE OF NAPLES, 1309-43emperor since the days of Frederick II to be crowned in
Rome, Henry VII of Luxembourg. The pope had hoped to
use Henry as a counterbalance against the enormous strength
of the Angevins in Italy; but Henry proved to be an idealist
who dreamed of reconciling Guelfs and Ghibellines through-
out northern Italy, and as a result only antagonised the
Guelfs, who saw such moves as a threat to their ascendancy.
The growing conflict between Henry and Robert developed
into a propaganda war which addressed fundamental prin-
ciples concerning the nature of kingship; it was only put to
an end by the unexpected death of Henry in 1313. Robert's
close alliance with Pope John XXII and with the Florentines
(in particular the great Florentine business houses) brought
substantial political and economic bonuses: sure outlets for
the grain trade of Apulia; and lordship over north Italian
cities such as Prato near Florence and Genoa, which not long
before had accepted Emperor Henry as its lord. Control of
Genoa was contested by the Ghibellines, but holding this city
was seen as a key to the possession of the whole coastline
from Provence eastwards along the Tyrrhenian seaboard.
Robert, like his Angevin predecessors, eventually scared the
popes who were unnerved by his formidable power. By 1334
it was unclear whether the traditional triangular alliance of
pope, Angevin king and Guelf Florence could be said still to
exist. Robert of Anjou seems even to have thought of a rap-
prochement with such deadly enemies of the pope as Ludwig
of Bavaria, the German king. Besides, Robert's agenda con-
tained other items such as the reconquest of Sicily; this last
became a more urgent priority once Frederick of Aragon
died in 1337. Under the terms of the treaty of 1302, Sicily
should now have reverted to the Angevins of Naples; but
Frederick had already made plain his nolle prosequi. Between
1330 and 1343 six Angevin expeditions were unleashed
against the island, while Robert argued that only after the
recovery of Sicily and its precious resources could a truly
effective crusade for the recovery of Greece and the Holy
Land be launched. In other words, he continued to articulate
the traditional arguments of the Angevin kings, going back
to Charles I's conquest of southern Italy: the quelling of
enemies in southern Italy, and indeed throughout the pen-
insula, would permit the final glorious push to the East.