Chapter 9ALFONSO THE MAGNANIMOUS
AND THE FALL OF THE HOUSE
OFANJOU
JOANNA II, 'THE STRAW QUEEN'
The reign ofJoanna II of Anjou (1414-35) expressed neatly
all the difficulties that had been piling on the dynasty's head
in Naples since the contest between Joanna I and her rivals,
and the victory of the Durazzo branch of the house of Anjou.
Joanna II was credited with more lovers than Joanna I had
husbands, a sordid reputation that grew in the telling. What
is more certain is that she had an ability to change her mind,
or worse still not quite to make up her mind, that played fur-
ther into the hands of the south Italian baronage and into
those of aspirants for her throne. Pope Martin V excommun-
icated Joanna II in 1419, declaring that the house of Anjou-
Provence was entitled to wear her crown; not surprisingly
the queen looked elsewhere than the rival Angevin house
for an heir, nominating Alfonso, king of Aragon and Sicily in
1421, but then backtracking in 1423, and giving Duke Louis
III of Anjou the right to succeed, a claim which then passed
to his heir Rene, of whom more shortly. This see-sawing
created instability within the Regno, even before competing
armies descended on the kingdom's shores. Other examples
of her inconsistency are legion: favours to a Jew-baiting friar,
Giovanno da Capestrano, led to a sudden reversal of the
traditional royal policy of protecting the Jews, and soon
Joanna herself was persuaded to abandon the friar and to
renew the privileges of the Jews. Joanna's Grand Seneschal
Gianni Caracciolo was a member of a leading south Italian
noble family, and his undue influence, which appeared to
extend inside the royal bedroom, led to his assassination