168 Charles I of Anjou
Charles I of Anjou (1226/27–1285)king of Sicily and
Naples
Born in March of 1226 or 1227, the younger brother of
King LOUISIX, Charles I was a much tougher character
than his elder brother. He gained a reputation as thought-
ful, clear-headed, bold, and tenacious; these traits were
combined with strong ambition. From his father, Louis
VIII (r. 1223), he received the counties of Maine and
ANJOU. From 1246, BLANCHEof Castile persuaded her
son, Louis IX, to arrange Charles’s marriage with Béatrice,
the countess of PROVENCE. He then had land in northern
and southern France. He governed Provence with French
administrators and used feudal law that regulated the
county of Anjou. This was a regime that did not fit well
with the liberties customarily possessed by the many
towns in the south.
On his return to FRANCEfrom crusade, Charles was
asked by the French popes Urban IV (r. 1261–64) and his
successor, Clement IV (r. 1265–68), to seize the crown of
SICILY. The popes wanted to take southern Italy away
from the HOHENSTAUFENfamily, heirs of FREDERICK II.
Charles at first refused, distracted by his ambitions
in Provence and Piedmont. In 1265, he embarked at
Marseille for Rome. He was crowned king of SICILYby
five CARDINALSin Saint Peter’s Basilica and attacked Fred-
erick II’s illegitimate son, MANFRED, who had been pro-
claimed king by the barons of the kingdom of Sicily in
- Manfred lost and was killed in battle near Ben-
evento in 1266. The Hohenstaufen regrouped around the
young Conradin (1252–68), Frederick II’s legitimate
grandson, who had traveled down from GERMANY. Beaten
near the defile of Tagliacozzo on August 23, 1268, Con-
radin was captured, judged as a rebel against the Holy
See, and beheaded at NAPLES.
FURTHER CONQUESTCharles organized a French-style feudal hierarchy and
state in southern Italy. He developed a fiscal system and
sought control of any economic asset he could. He
extended his influence over central Italy, especially Tus-
cany. As head of the Guelf party he enjoyed the favor of
the popes and financial backing by Florentine bankers.
He took part in the Crusade of his brother, LOUISIX,
against TUNISin 1270. When Charles arrived in Tunisia,
his brother had already died. Charles managed to extract
the remnants of the Christian army by an agreement with
the emir of Tunis.
By 1272 he had taken control of ALBANIAbut was
prevented from moving against CONSTANTINOPLEby a
Ghibelline revival in northern Italy, fueled by the elec-
tion of RUDOLF OF HABSBURG as emperor in 1273.
Charles decided to buy the title of king of JERUSALEM
from Marie of Antioch in 1277 and continued military
and naval preparations for a campaign against CON-
STANTINOPLE. The king of Aragon, Peter III (1239–85),
promoted a plot based on the hatred of the Sicilians for
the exploitive administration of the Angevin government.
On March 30, 1282, Angevin agents were massacred all
over Sicily in a rising called the SICILIANVESPERS. Peter
of Aragon invaded and took over the island. Charles’s his
nephew, Philip III (1245–85), king of France, and a
papal army were defeated. Charles lost control of Sicily
but kept the kingdom of Naples. Charles I died on
January 7, 1285, at Fossia in Apulia.
Further reading:Jean Dunbabin, Charles I of Anjou:
Power, Kingship and State-Making in Thirteenth Century
Europe(New York: Longman, 1998); Steven Runciman,
The Sicilian Vespers: A History of the Mediterranean World
in the Later Thirteenth Century(Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1958).Charles I (II) the Bald (823–877)king of West Francia,
king of France, emperor
Charles the Bald was born in Frankfurt-am-Main June 13,
823, the son of LOUISI THEPIOUSand his second wife,
Judith of Bavaria (800–843). In the imperial Ordinance of
817, Louis the Pious had decided that his eldest son,
Lothair (795–855), would become sole emperor while his
other sons, Pépin (d. 838) and Louis (ca. 804–876),
would receive the lesser kingdoms of AQUITAINE and
GERMANY. The birth of Charles and his mother’s insis-
tence that he be similarly well endowed ended these
arrangements. From 829 at the Diet of Worms to the
death of Louis the Pious in 840, conflicts among
the brothers and with their father were continuous.
Numerous efforts to partition the empire failed.
After the death of Louis the Pious, Charles the Bald
and Louis the German formed an alliance against their
elder brother, Lothair, whom they defeated at the Battle of
FONTENAYin 841. On February 14, 842, they confirmed
this alliance by the Oaths of Strasbourg. The next year, at
VERDUN, an agreement divided the empire into three
kingdoms and gave West Francia to Charles the Bald.CULTURAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Charles had benefited from the first CAROLINGIAN
RENAISSANCEand received a good education. At his court
at Compiègne, arts, letters, dialectic, and THEOLOGYwere
appreciated and cultivated. From 845 to 867 the famous
JOHNSCOTTUSERIUGENA, the most original thinker of the
Carolingian era, taught there.POLITICAL PROBLEMS
Charles the Bald’s reign was taken up with a struggle to
impose his authority on AQUITAINE, the Bretons, and the
Vikings, all with inconsistent support from the aristoc-
racy of the kingdom.
In 845, he had had to abandon Aquitaine to his
nephew, Pépin II (ca. 832–865). But in 848 he had him-
self crowned king of Aquitaine at Orléans, invaded, and
resumed control of that region in 851. As the raids of the