23638812.
King Charles I of Naples &
23638813. Queen Beatrice of Provence
3/21/1226,
Charles of Anjou born in France, s/o 47277624. King Louis VIII &
47277625. Blanche of Castile.
1230,
Beatrice born in Provence, youngest d/o 23638786. Count Raymond Berengar V & 23638787. Beatrice of Savoia.
8/19/1245,
Beatrice’s father died. His older daughters all having married Kings, Raymond
left the bulk of his estates to Beatrice.
12/1245 in
Lyon, France, King Louis arranged for his brother Charles to marry Beatrice.
12/1245,
Charles and Philippe of Savoy, uncle of Beatrice, with 500 French knights
arrived at Aix to find in under siege by the forces of the king of Aragon, who
also wanted to marry Beatrice [There were many suitors because of her
inheritance.] The French quickly routed the Aragon forces.
[––Charles
& Beatrice––]
1/31/1246 at
Aix, Charles married Beatrice, becoming Count of Provence and Forcalquier. [And
put Charles for multiple years in conflict with his mother-in-law Beatrice.]
Thomas of Savoy, Beatrice’s uncle, escorted her to the altar. The ceremony was
attended by French Royal family.
1246,
Charles was given rule of Anjou and Maine by his father.
5/1247 in
Melun near Paris, Charles’ brother, King Louis IX, knighted Charles and made
him Count of Anjou and Maine. [After the death of 2 older brothers.] Beatrice
also attended. Louis also gave Charles an annual income of 5000 livres parisis.
3/1248, In return
for 1/3rd the normal revenues
of the comital treasury, Beatrice, his mother-in-law, agreed to forego her
claims on both usufruct of the county and on payment of arrears; and son-in-law
Charles of Anjou promised to oblige his officers to swear to honor the
commitments.
8/25/1248,
Charles sailed from Aigues-Mortes on the 7th crusade with his
brother, King Louis IX. Charles and his brother Alphonse appealed for help from
Emperor Frederick II and Pope Innocent. But they were at war with each other
and did not want to send soldiers.
6/23/1249,
Charles at the battle of Damietta when the city was captured. [In a letter from
his brother Robert to their mother, Charles is said to have malaria, and that
Charles’ wife had given birth to a son.]
4/6/1250,
Charles and his brother King Louis captured at the battle of Fariskur by
Egyptian forces.
1250, Queen
Margaret, at Damietta, made an agreement to return the city and pay a ransom
for the captured French forces. The French “men of rank” were released when the
city was turned over, including Charles, who traveled by ship to Christian-held
Acre.
Summer/1250,
Charles and most of the remaining French knights [a few hundred] returned from
the crusade. King Louis remained to complete payment of ransom for the other imprisoned
French.
12/13/1250,
Emperor Frederick II died. Soon after Pope Innocent offered the Kingdom of
Sicily [today what would be southern Italy] to Charles. Lacking money for a
war, and owing allegiance to his brother King Louis still on crusade, Charles
declined.
1251-2,
Charles had to suppress open rebellion that his mother-in-law Beatrice had
instigated while he was away.
1252,
Charles ordered an inquest into his rights as Count of Provence and
Forcalquier.
11/26/1252,
Charles’ mother Blanche died; with Louis VIII on crusade, Charles went to Paris
to be co-regent with his brother Alphonse. [Charles and Alphonse carried the
funeral bier to her burial.]
1253,
Charles militarily supported Margaret of Flanders in exchange for Hainault.
12/1254,
King Louis IX with his wife Queen Marguerite, her sister Queen Eleanor with her
husband King Henry III, Marguerite and Eleanor’s sisters Sanchia married to
Henry’s brother Richard, Beatrice married to Louis’ brother Charles, and the
mother of all the females, Beatrice of Savoy gathered in Paris for a family
reunion. (S) Epistolæ.
1255, King
Louis IX gave Flanders to Margaret of Flanders sons by one marriage, and
Hainault to the sons by the other marriage. Charles, to whom Margaret had given
Hainaut, was to receive 160,000 livres tournois from Margaret, 40,000 paid up
front.
1/1257, King
Henry III of England released the 5 castles back to Beatrice for 4000 marks,
which Charles paid; which allowed her to finalize agreements made with her
son-in-law Charles. Beatrice agreed to give all her possessions in the country
to Charles in exchange for an annual stipend of 6000 livres tournois, and 5000
up front, to be paid out of the French royal treasury.
1257-58, Charles
began to shape Provence into a unified political and economic system.
12/1259,
King Louis and Queen Margaret hosted a family Christmas gathering in Paris that
included King Henry III and Queen Eleanor, Count Charles of Anjou and Countess
Beatrice [and possibly the 4th sister Queen Sanchia, although King
Richard did not attend.] Countess Beatrice was seated at an inferior table by
Queen Margaret, because she was not a Queen. Very upset, Charles told her to be
at peace, for he would soon make her a greater Queen than her sisters.
1263,
Beatrice, countess of Anjou, given 100 silver marks in the will of her mother.
5/1263, King
Louis IX allowed the pope to offer the crown of Sicily to Charles; which would
require him to defeat Frederick II’s son Manfred who controlled Sicily and the
Roman papal states.
1263,
Charles delt with a continuing problem in Marsailles by executing 12 of its
prominent citizens.
9/16/1264,
Power to H. bishop of London, Hugh le Despenser, the justicary [of England],
Charles, count of Anjou, … to exam and amend the form of the peace between the
king [Henry III of England] and the barons … the king wills that peace shall be
made between him and the earl of Leicester … (S) CPRs.
1264-5,
Charles’ mother-in-law and nemesis Beatrice died in self-exile.
1265, Beatrice,
having inherited her Provence, rode over the territory recruiting knights for
army to invade Sicily.
Easter/1265,
Charles and Beatrice at court in Paris with Louis and Marguerite. Beatrice
reached out to young French knights about the coming war in Sicily.
1265, Charles
raised 150,000 livres by loans from the church, selling Beatrice’s jewels, and
loans from bankers.
5/10/1265,
Charles sailed from Marseille with a small force, the rest traveling by land. A
storm blew the ships off course, and they were forced to dock at a Pisan port.
Manfred heard of the landing and dispactched forces, but Charles had returned
to sea before they arrived. Charles arrived at the mouth of the Roman Tiber
river to the supprise of Manfred. Upon
his arrival, Charles was elected a Senator in Rome.
5/23/1265,
by Papal grant at Rome, Charles of Anjou made King of Sicily.
10/1265,
Beatrice with a force estimated at 6000 horsemen, 600 mounted crossbow men, and
20,000 infantry left Lyon for Rome. [A very unusal trip because no one crossed
the Alps in the fall.]
12/1265,
Beatrice and her forces arrived in Rome.
1/6/1266,
Charles and wife Beatrice crowned in St. Peter’s Church in Rome.
2/26/1266,
Sustaining heavy losses, but with the defeat and death of Manfred at the battle
of Benevento, Charles was finally master of Sicily. [Manfred held a stonger
defensive position, but chose to attack uphill into Charles’ forces.]
1266-67, Beatrice
joined Charles at Benevento, and they traveled from there to Naples.
By 1267,
Charles, being pushed to join the 8th crusade by his brother King
Louis, had already made diplomatic ties with the Mamluks as part of a plan to
invade Constantinople.
1/1267, Charles
invaded Tuscany in northern Italy.
4/1267,
Charles captured Florence.
7/1267,
Beatrice, wife of Charles, died at Nocera, south of Rome.
[––Charles––]
1267, A
double marriage alliance between King Stephen (23638814) and King Charles I of
Sicily. Stephen's son, Ladislaus was to marry Charles's daughter, Elisabeth;
and Charles's namesake son (11819406) to maarry Stephen's daughter, Maria.
9/12/1267,
Beatrice buried in Aix in Provence next to her father. Charles made it clear
that he would keep the kingdom of Provence rather than invest it in his oldest
son.
8/23/1268,
Conradin, age 16, Frederick II’s grandson and heir to Italy, attacked Charles
at Taliacozza near Rome. Charles won, captured Conradin, and had him publicly
beheaded in Naples along with captured Frederick, Duke of Austria.
11/18/1268,
Charles married 2nd Margaret, Countess of Tonnerre.
1270,
Charles, as King of Sicily, convinced his brother King Louis IX to sail the
French fleet towards the coast of north Africa hoping to expand his Sicilian
empire. (S) A Great and Terrible King, Morris, 2009, P93.
8/25/1270,
Charles arrived at Tunis on the 8th crusade in support of his
brother King Louis IX, to find that Louis had died of dysentery that morning.
Charles took command of the crusade and after several skirmishes arranged a
very lucrative peace treaty. His plans against Constantinople were destroyed
with a storm that devasted his fleet of ships.
11/11/1270,
Charles and the crusader fleet left to return to France. There was a storm, 40
ships were lost, and they were forced into the port of Trapani. They decided to
return by land rather risk another storm at sea.
2/1272, By
conquest, Charles self-proclaimed King of Albania.
11/1272 in
Sicily, Charles met with King Edward I of England who was returning from the
crusades. Charles gave condolences on the deaths of Edward’s father and eldest
son. (S) Chronicles of the Age of Chivalry, 2000, P110.
1273,
Charles wrote to his nephew King Philip of France suggesting he announce
himself a candidate for King of the Romans [King Richard I of England had died,
Charles, already a senator of Rome, knew he was not a viable candidate.]
3/18/1277, By
purchase, Charles King of Jerusalem.
1278,
Charles inherited the Principality of Achaea.
1279, In
response to Queen Marguerite’s to get her share of Provence partially by
arrangement of the marriage of Queen Eleanor’s granddaughter to Rudolph of
Habsburg’s son, Charles alternately proposed that his grandson Charles Martel
marry Clementia, a d/o Rudolph, and that they would immediately be given the
kingdom of Arles outright [but not Porvence.]
1281,
Charles traveled to Germany for the marriage of his grandson. [Rudolph’s son
Hartmann had died, ending the possible marriage to Joan of Acre.]
1282,
Charles assembled 400 ships with 27,000 men for a crusade against
Constantinople.
3/29/1282, In
the “Sicilian Vespers”, a Sicilian revolt was instigated by Peter, King of
Aragon, and his wife Constance, Queen, d/o Manfred, whom Charles had defeated
to win Sicily.
10/1282,
While he was on crusade, Charles’ forces were expelled from Sicily by Peter
III, king of Aragon; his seat of power now in Naples, he became known as King
of Naples. Charles became involved in a war with Aragon.
1283, By
mutual agreement, Charles and Peter III were to hold a tournament outside
Bordeaux for the rights to Sicily. When Charles arrived with a larger force
than agreed to, Peter called off the tournament.
6/1284,
Charles’ son Charles of Salerno captured in battle. The son was supposed to
wait for his father, who arrived the next day with additional forces. When told
of his son’s capture, Charles supposedly said “Who loses a fool loses nothing.”
10/2/1284,
Charles’ fleet defeated at the naval battle of Messina.
12/1284,
Charles had suffered multiple conflicts and his health was failing.
1/7/1285,
Charles died in Foggia; buried in Naples.
(S) 4
Queens, Goldstone, 2007. (S) Dictionary of Battles, Eggenberger, 1967.
Children
of Charles and Beatrice:
i. Beatrice of Sicily, born 1252 in Sicily.
10/15/1273
at Foggia, Beatrice married Philip de Courtenay, Emperor of Constantinople.
ii. Charles II of Naples (11819406), born 1254 in
Provence, Burgundy.
