The Western Mediterranean Kingdoms_ The Struggle for Dominion, 1200-1500

THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN KINGDOMS 1200-1500

Jordan pointed out that even his financial demands on the
north Italian cities were relatively moderate compared to
those of the Hohenstaufen; nonetheless, it was clear testi-
mony of his great power that he could demand and receive
war levies without serious opposition in either Lombardy or
Tuscany.^12 By the winter of 1269-70 he had been accepted
as lord of the Lombard towns. In Piedmont too his power
climaxed: the old financial centre of Asti was defeated in
battle and brought to heel.n With the extension of his con-
trol over all Piedmont Charles's power consisted of an almost
continuous line of territories from the banks of the Rhone
through the Alps to Lombardy, Tuscany, Rome and Sicily.
He even entered a bid to have his younger son Philip chosen
as king of Sardinia (1267); the pope was not disposed to
make this grant, in the face of competing bids from Prince
James of M~orca and Henry of Castile, but Philip was elected
nonetheless (to no obvious effect other than Aragonese irrita-
tion) by the island's pro-Guelf factions in 1269. H Charles's
power was at its height; vacancies in the papacy (1268-71)
and an interregnum in Germany (to 1273) left him free to
expand his interests unhindered.

A MEDITERRANEAN EMPIRE IN THE MAKING

Charles's Norman predecessors had often aspired to extend

their rule beyond the lands they had won in Italy to the coasts

of Mrica and the Balkans. Many have argued that Charles

sought a Mediterranean empire for himself, and that the

Norman heritage of Balkan and Mrican wars stimulated his

grandiose, even megalomaniac, plans. Such an interpretation

needs to be given more depth: an interest in Balkan politics

was part of his immediate inheritance as king of Sicily, and

in certain respects he followed the initiative of Manfred.

Manfred's alliance with the Despot of Epiros left Charles

with a claim to the dowry of Manfred's daughter in southern

12. E. Jordan, Les migines de la domination angevine en Jtalie (Paris, 1909;
    ~epr. in 2 vols, New York, 1960), vol. 2, pp. 556, 586, 609-11.


13. E. Leonard, Les Angevins de Naples (Paris, 1954); I !a! ian edn, Gli Angioini
    di Napoli (Milan, 1967), pp. 110-11.


14. David Abulafia, A Mediterranean Emporium. The Catalan Kingdom of
    Majorca (Cambridge, 1994), pp. 242-3.