ALFONSO THE MAGNANIMOLlS AND THE FALL OF ANJOLlThen things began to improve: the duke's terms were
accepted; an embassy to Filippo Maria Visconti was well
received in Milan in June 1435; Rene's arch-rival Alfonso
fell into the hands of the Genoese at the battle of Ponza in
August 1435, after which Alfonso was passed to the Milanese
duke as overlord of Genoa. In the Summer of^1435 both
of Joanna II's possible heirs were actually prisoners; but,
knowing his release was imminent, Rene despatched his wife
Isabelle of Lorraine to Provence and thence to Gaeta. On
her arrival in the Regno the Angevin queen discovered that,
far from being able to rely on the full-bodied support of
the Milanese, Rene had been completely abandoned by the
duke of Milan, who was so charmed by his royal captive
Alfonso that he had made peace with him.^0 The immediate
consequence was that both Isabelle and Alfonso were able
to establish themselves in southern Italy, the king of Aragon
in Gaeta and the duchess of Anjou in Naples itself. The
duchess understood that three factors would really deter-
mine who could be king of Naples. One was the outlook
of the Neapolitan barons, who had acquired such extensive
landed power since the mid-fourteenth century. Another
was the support of the other Italian states, which was com-
promised by the defection of Milan and the studied neutral-
ity ofVenice and Florence. The third plank on which Angevin
success would have to rest was the support of the papacy,
which after all claimed suzerainty over the kingdom of
Naples. Pope Eugenius IV was irritated by Alfonso the Mag-
nanimous for supporting unfriendly factions at the Council
of Basel which sought to set limits to papal authority. It is
thus not surprising that, once he had firm news of a solid
Angevin presence in southern Italy, he lent it support by
approving Rene's claim to the throne in February 1436. Even
so this was a papal gamble: Isabelle was short of funds, and
Rene did not arrive in Naples to lead the campaign until
May 1438; meanwhile mercenaries, under the formidable
Jacopo Caldora, had to be paid, and money was so short
that the duchess found herself pledging her jewels to raise
funds. Moreover, the Aragonese made steady gains in the
- G. Peyronnet, 'The distant origin of the Italian wars: political relations
between France and Italy in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries', in
Abulafia, French descent, pp. 38-9.