THE V\'ESTERN MEDITERR.~NEAN KINGDOMS 1200-1!100of Caspe. His own immediate prospects seemed to lie in
the borderlands between France and Germany, a sensitive
area in which his second cousin Duke Philip the Good of
Burgundy was also carving out wide domains. Granted the
duchy of Bar by his uncle, a cardinal without descendants,
by 1431 Rene also acquired the duchy of Lorraine by mar-
riage. His father-in-law advised him: 'watch out for the duke
of Burgundy. Never do anything against him. Live in peace
with the Burgundians.' But this was easier said than done.
Rene, already an admirer of Joan of Arc in the war against
the English king, became sucked into the politics of what is
now eastern France with disastrous results, supporting the
French crown against the potent alliance of England and
Burgundy; the result was severe defeat at the hands of the
Burgundians and their allies at Bulgneville in July, 1431,
and the consignment of Rene to captivity at Dijon.
It was while Rene was a prisoner that news came of the
premature death of his brother Louis III of Anjou, far away
in the toe of Italy in November 1434. He had no children;
Rene was now in line to succeed Joanna II as ruler of Naples.
Indeed, he possessed a double claim: as descendant of Louis
I, who had been recognised as heir by Joanna I, but never
made good his claim; and as heir of Joanna II, whose own
father had displaced Louis I. The prospect was renewed of
a great Angevin dominion incorporating both Provence, lost
to the kings of Naples since the coup d'etat of Charles of
Durazzo, and southern Italy." The problem was, of course,
that Alfonso, king of Aragon, had also been nominated heir
to Naples by the feckless, confused Joanna II; and, whereas
the king of Aragon was hard at work building his influence
in the western Mediterranean, Rene was locked in a prison
in the heart of continental Europe. Hopes became slimmer
still as news arrived of the death of Joanna II in February
1435, and as the duke of Burgundy confined Rene in ever
more miserable conditions, to secure a promise that he would
in future keep out of Flemish politics.''
- R. Duchene, La Provence devient franr;aise, 536-1789 (Paris, 1976),
pp. 70-l; despite its title this useful book concentrates heavily on the
fifteenth century. - A. Ryder, 'The Angevin bid for Naples, 1380-1480', in David Abulafia,
ed., The French descent into Renaissance Italy, 1494-5. Antecedents and
effects (Aldershot, 1995), pp. 55-69.