Charles of Taranto
Charles of Taranto (1296 – 29 August 1315) was the eldest son of
Latin Emperor of Constantinople, and his wife, Thamar Angelina Komnene, daughter of the Despot of Epirus, Nikephoros I Komnenos Doukas.[1]
Biography
Charles' father, Philip, was invested with the
Latin Archbishop of Athens, the Angevin bailli and the assembled nobility of Achaea and the Duchy of Athens.[4]
The betrothal between Charles and Matilda was dissolved in 1313, and Matilda married
Hugh V of Burgundy), while Charles was betrothed to his new stepmother's sister, Joan of Valois in compensation for the breaking off of his previous engagement.[6][7]
Like the first, this betrothal was never to be consummated. In 1315, Philip went north in command of
Ghibellines under Uguccione della Faggiuola. Charles of Taranto and Philip's younger brother, Peter, Count of Gravina accompanied him. Despite initial successes, Philip fell ill with fever, and was crushingly defeated by Uguccione at the Battle of Montecatini. Charles was killed on the field, and his uncle lost; the ailing Philip escaped.[8]
Charles's body was found near that of Uguccione's son, Francesco; their contemporaries assumed they had slain one another. Rainieri
Bartholomew of Lucca helped arrange the retrieval of Charles' body from the Pisans after the battle.[10] Remigio dei Girolami, a Dominican supporter of Charles' uncle, Robert, King of Naples, preached a sermon on Charles' death.[11]
References
- ^ Nicol 1984, p. 257.
- ^ Lognon 1969, pp. 269–270.
- ^ Topping 1975, p. 107.
- ^ Longnon 1949, p. 295.
- ^ Topping 1975, p. 106.
- ^ Longnon 1949, pp. 302–304.
- ^ Topping 1975, p. 109.
- ^ Bury 1932, p. 40.
- ^ Valentiner, Walther & Boothroyd 1935, p. 44.
- ^ Kelly 2003, p. 40.
- ^ Kelly 2003, p. 307.
Sources
- Bury, John Bagnell, ed. (1932). The Cambridge Medieval History, Volume VII: Decline of the Empire and Papacy. Cambridge University Press.
- Kelly, Samantha (2003). The New Solomon: Robert of Naples (1309–1343) and Fourteenth-Century Kingship. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV. ISBN 90-04-12945-6.
- Longnon, Jean (1949). L'empire latin de Constantinople et la principauté de Morée (in French). Paris: Payot.
- Lognon, Jean (1969). "The Frankish States in Greece, 1204–1311". In Setton, Kenneth M.; Wolff, Robert Lee; Hazard, Harry W. (eds.). A History of the Crusades, Vol. II: The later Crusades, 1189–1311. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 235–276.
- ISBN 9780521261906.
- Topping, Peter (1975). "The Morea, 1311–1364". In Hazard, Harry W. (ed.). A History of the Crusades, Vol. III: The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 104–140. ISBN 0-299-06670-3. Archived from the originalon 1 October 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
- Valentiner, William Reinhold; Walther, Josephine L.; Boothroyd, R. H. (1935). Tino di Camaino: a Sienese sculptor of the fourteenth century. Paris: Pegasus Press.