THE WESTERN MEDITERRA.NEAN KINGDOMS 1200-1500hinterland. But the clearest sign that the battle was far from
won by Rene was the seizure by the Aragonese, in early 1437,
of the two seaside fortresses of Naples itself, the Castelnuovo
or Maschio Angioino, built by Charles I of Anjou, and the
Castel dell'Ovo in the harbour.
Rene's lack of firm direction is perhaps seen in his tend-
ency to concentrate on the clearance of Aragonese supporters
out of the northernmost region of the Regno, the Abruzzi,
when the prime target should have been consolidation of
Angevin power around the capital. Rene operated under
the illusion that the Abruzzi themselves could serve as a
power base from which to sweep down on the Aragonese
forces which remained in command of much of the coast-
line between Naples and the papal states. With the death
of Jacopo Caldora in November 1439, and his replace-
ment by his son Antonio, Rene perhaps learned his lesson
about the geography of the Regno; he travelled north in the
depths of winter, poorly supplied, meeting his demoralised
mercenary captain in the Abruzzese capital of L'Aquila; but
Antonio Caldora was disenchanted. In 1440 he led his troops
into what was supposed to be a decisive engagement against
Alfonso at La Pelosa, only to fail to commit his men to the
battle on the grounds that perhaps it was too risky after
all. What might have been Rene's historic victory turned
into an indecisive encounter that gave Alfonso the chance to
regroup and return to combat another day. Rene's attempt
to punish Caldora by imprisoning him indicated, too, the
risks that a would-be Italian ruler could run in antagonising
his rondottieri. Caldora's supporters turned ugly and the duke
of Anjou had to release his prisoner, who then predictably
enough offered his services (gratefully accepted, for a suit-
able fee) to the king of Aragon.
By now it was becoming clear that Rene had lost his chance
to hold the Regno. Naples was under full-scale Aragonese as-
sault from November 1441; the siege lasted until june 1442,
and only ended when, in imitation of tactics adopted by the
sixth-century Byzantine general Belisarius, the Aragonese
dug a tunnel into the city and sent through some soldiers
who then opened the gates to Alfonso's army. The magnan-
imous king of Aragon allowed Rene to depart without inter-
ference; he sailed to Genoa, still a pro-French base in Italy,
and thence retired via Provence to his lands in the Loire