THE RISE AND FALL OF CHARLES OF ANJOUCharles's Mediterranean empire, extending as far as the
Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, was shown to be fragile when
Sicily revolted, and his power not merely on the island but
in northern Italy as well disintegrated; Constantinople was
saved and, as will be seen, the Holy Land was lost, for there
was no opportunity now to launch a great crusade to ham-
mer the obstinate Greeks and to succour the importuning
Latins in the East. The tendency to rush into new schemes
before he had fully mastered his last project was a fatal flaw
in Charles. He never came to know the island of Sicily,
and he misjudged the mood among a population which was
dominated by a newly emergent local elite of Italian origin.
Rather, he was bewitched by the sense that he had con-
quered an island of fabulous resources, rich in wheat and
gold, which would provide a jumping-off point for victories
in Italy and the Mediterranean recalling those attributed by
the romance writers to his eighth-century namesake Charle-
magne. Later writers were to attach not to him, but to his
Aragonese rival Peter, Charlemagne's epithet 'the Great';
and Charles I of Anjou retains a reputation for hard-hearted
ruthlessness, expressed most poignantly in the execution of
his enemy the young Conradin of Hohenstaufen in 1268.