THE WESTER!\ MEDITERRA.:--JEA!\ KINGDOMS 1200-1500become) such as Francesco Sforza and the king of Naples
could appeal in attempting to resolve such issues as the con-
tinuing Angevin claim to Naples or collective action against
the Turks. But neither the Italian League nor the Congress
of Mantua (1459), called by the pope to discuss a crusade,
resulted in serious action against the Turkish threat.
Alfonso had his own magnificent plans for dealing with
the Turks. Where the money might come from to pay for
them is another question. Indeed, in 1435, on Joanna II's
death, he assumed the title 'king of Hungary' in recognition
of Angevin claims to a kingdom that now stood on the front
line against the Turks. In^144 7 an agreement was drafted
according to which he would supply the Hungarian Regent
John Hunyadi with troops, but he sent them to Florence
instead the next year, and the Hungarians went unaided to
their defeat by the Turks in 1448. In^1451 fantastic plans
were aired, not in themselves alien to the political traditions
of the kingdom of Naples, whereby Alfonso or the Greek
prince Demetrios Palaiologos would assume the throne of
Constantinople in lieu of Constantine XI, the last emperor
of all, who was to die fighting the victorious Turks two years
later. More substantial was the military aid Alfonso provided
to the Albanian rebel Skanderbeg (George Kastriotes), who
had raised the banner of revolt in Kn~ja across the straits
from Apulia. The proximity of Albania to southern Italy, the
possibility of reviving past Neapolitan influence in the west-
ern Balkans, and the usefulness of Skanderbeg as a mercen-
ary captain in Italy when not engaged in his anti-Turkish
wars all made the Aragonese kings of Naples by far the most
enthusiastic supporters of the Albanian revolt. Others such as
the Venetians were distinctly lukewarm towards Skanderbeg.
Alfonso also took care to cultivate influence along the west-
ern coast of Greece, appointing a grandly titled 'viceroy' at
Castrovillari in the Peloponnese. His relationship with the
Mamluk sultans of Egypt was rather ambiguous, but he sent
occasional squadrons of Aragonese ships out of Naples into
Egyptian waters, to make plain his claim not merely to be king
of Sicily, Hungary and much else, but also (like previous
kings of Naples) king of Jerusalem.~' All this reeks of past
- A. Ryder, 'The eastern policy of Alfonso the Magnanimous', A.tti
drll'Arcadnnia Ponlaniana (1979).