Elizabeth of Carinthia, Queen of Sicily
Elizabeth of Carinthia | |
---|---|
Queen consort of Sicily | |
Tenure | 25 June 1337 – 15 August 1342 |
Born | 1298 |
Died | 1352 (aged 53–54) |
Spouse | |
Issue | |
Otto III of Carinthia | |
Mother | Euphemia of Silesia-Liegnitz |
Elizabeth of Carinthia (1298–1352) was
The daughter of Otto, the penultimate duke of Carinthia and lord of Carniola from the House of Gorizia, she married Peter II of Sicily in 1323 and became the Queen of Sicily. During her time as Queen, Elizabeth ensured that the royal lineage of the Aragonese in Sicily continued. Two sons eventually ascended the throne, Louis of Sicily and Frederick IV of Sicily. Elizabeth was the regent for her young son Louis from 1348 until her death in 1352.
Politically, the decades leading up to Elizabeth's reign were full of conflicts between
Biography
Early life
Elizabeth of Carinthia, born in 1298, was the second daughter to
Elizabeth's family, the
Queenship
On 23 April 1323, Elizabeth married Peter II of Sicily (Trinacria), son of Frederick III, King of Sicily (Trinacria) (1271–25 June 1337) and
As the queen, Elizabeth's primary occupation was the production of viable heirs for the Sicilian throne, as task she took up soon after marriage. Less than two years after their wedding, Peter II and Elizabeth had a son in Messina in February 1324, whom they named Frederick. Unfortunately, he died a few months after his birth.
Following their four daughters, Elizabeth gave birth to Louis on 4 February 1338. Louis became the heir to Peter II, his father. After successfully producing a male heir, Elizabeth and Peter II had Frederick, later Frederick IV of Sicily and his brother Louis's successor. Peter II and Elizabeth had three more children together; Violante, who was born in 1334, died young, John (1342–22 June 1353) and Blanche (1342–1373), who married John, Count of Ampurias. Of their nine children, five daughters and two sons survived into adulthood.
The death of Frederick III in 1337 sparked the explosion of Sicilian tensions, created from the confluence of strain of political uncertainty, a bad economy and unstable power imbalance between the divided
As it was easy to influence Peter II, Sicily would have been much more negatively impacted by his reign if it were not for Elizabeth.[4] In the struggles between the feuding groups, Elizabeth sided with the Palizzi, who won the favour of the king over Chiaramonte. Further from their home in Messina, the Aragonese interest warred the Angevins warred in Greece. With her mother-in-law, Eleanora of Naples, Elizabeth worked to support mediation and reconciliation between the two feuding houses.[8] Although very limited in actual power, Elizabeth used her influences to impact the governance of Sicily.
With the death of her husband Peter II in August 1342, Elizabeth lost the influence over the political management of the Kingdom of Sicily. At Elizabeth's insistence, however, Louis, her four-year-old son, was crowned King of Sicily, ensuring his rightful place on the throne. Peter II's brother, Duke John, acted as regent for the first six years of the young king's reign. During this time, Elizabeth kept a power balance with her brother-in-law.[9] When Duke John died of plague in 1348, Elizabeth became the regent for ten-year-old Louis. Elizabeth's regency lasted from 1348, until her death. Her daughter Constance took over as regent for Louis.
It is unclear when exactly Elizabeth died. Some sources suggest that she died between 1349 and 1350,[4] while others date it later to 1352. She is buried in Messina in St. Francis. Her last son, King Frederick IV (d. 1377), is buried next to her.[4]
Although little information remains on Elizabeth of Carinthia, Queen of Sicily, what little is known makes it clear that she worked to positively impact the decisions of those around her. Her influence over her husband Peter II ensured that the Kingdom of Sicily remain intact. Later, her delicate negotiations with Duke John, her brother-in-law and regent of Louis, helped to maintain the Kingdom of Sicily. Elizabeth's agency ensured that her children did inherit the Sicilian throne. Elizabeth's action exhibits how queens were able to exert influence, not just as wives, but as mothers of the future generation.[8]
Elizabeth's regency
The period of Elizabeth's regency was marked by a continuing growth in feudalism and a consequent loss of royal control of areas of the island of Sicily. This had begun with
In this atmosphere of increasing feudalisation, the goal of the Sicilian throne to maintain the dynasty from the House of Barcelona after the death of Frederick III in 1337 was soon to deteriorate. Elizabeth's coat of arms was shared by the competing baronial factions, yet several powerful and power-hungry figures emerged to challenge royal power, serving as the heads of competing family lines. These included the families of the Chiaramonte, the Palizzi, the Scaloro degli Uberti, the Peralta, the Alagona and the Ventimiglia. As historian Henri Bresc describes, several dynastic "war cries" were heard from these families around Sicily in the years of Elizabeth's regency and beyond, in places such as Palermo in 1348, Fontanarossa in 1349, Noto in 1349, Vizzini in 1353, Polizzi in 1354, and Naso in 1356. Yet the causes of this threat to the throne's rule did not arise, in these families of the Sicilian aristocracy, from factors such as inter-familial agreements and solidarity, but personal ambition and the goal of maintaining it for a family's posterity, through the bestowing of rule to their children. As a result, betrayals in this brew of competing families were common, and any agreement or coalition between them had ill-defined borders, easily liable to be crossed breached.[11] When Elizabeth's husband, Peter II of Sicily took to the throne after the death of Frederick III of Sicily in 1337, the Palizzi were expelled from Sicily. However his reign lasted for merely five years, as Peter II died in 1342. Thereupon Elizabeth and Peter's son Louis, King of Sicily (Ludovico or Luigi in Italian) took to the throne, Louis being only a child of five years of age. He was to be the object of the competing intrigues of Sicily's baronial families.[12]
Now a civil war between Sicily's aristocratic families took shape and they each formed battle camps under their respective familial flags. Although there was a large factor of personal ambition at play, as already stated, the parties' principal objective was the domination and control of the crown of Sicily. To this end, each family vied for a friendly ear of the queen-regent Elizabeth. The two groups of families in this war have come to be known respectively as the local "Latin" faction, the Chiaramonte, the Palizzi and the Scaloro degli Uberti, with whom Elizabeth sided, and the "Catalans", whose members included the families of foreign origin, the Peralta, the Alagona and the Ventimigilia. The "Catalans" found favour with Elizabeth's brother in law, the nobleman John, Duke of Randazzo (also known as the Infant John), until John made the bold and unexpected decision to seek reconciliation with his brother Peter II, who had been so far on the side of the "Latins", and who had feared the ambition of his nobleman brother. As a result, the Palizzi were exiled from the island and the "Catalans" thus gained the upper hand thanks to their favor with the Sicilian throne. This division among the descendants of King Frederic III of Sicily had thus even split up Elizabeth's family for a time, as Elizabeth remained favorable to the Palizzi faction, yet royal control remained with Duke John through his co-regency in the name of his nephew Louis II, still a minor, and therefore the Catalans remained with the upper hand. However, the opposing "Latin" faction encountered a reversal of their negative fortunes when John succumbed, presumably, to the plague and died in 1348, leaving Elizabeth as the sole regent in the name of her son Louis. Thereupon the "Latin" party allied to the Queen Mother seized control of the Sicilian state and recalled the exiled Palizzi.[11]
Economic and sociopolitical concerns
Sicily experienced one of the most significant population collapses in Europe in the fourteenth century, falling from approximately 850,000 in 1277 to approximately 350,000 in 1376.[13] The population was therefore at an unusually low point at the time of Elizabeth's reign. The most significant contributor to this was the bubonic plague, which ravaged Sicily in the second half of the century. Although the lower population due to the bubonic plague undoubtedly benefited the lower class in the long term, its immediate effects were widespread attitudes of defeatism and uneasiness.[14]
The Black Death reached Sicily in 1347, before it affected mainland Italy. This was during Elizabeth's reign, and was likely one of her prime concerns throughout the remainder of her time in power. Outbreaks of the Black Death had occurred in Italy before in the thirteenth century, but they were generally localized and confined to one or two towns. 1347 was the first severe case recorded in Sicily, and initiated the pandemic that would become an unfortunate and familiar aspect of European life for centuries.[15] Elizabeth could do nothing to relieve the people, although she refrained from fleeing the country which was a common trend among those Italians who could afford to.[16] Gabriel de Mussis, an Italian notary in the fourteenth century, recounts an attitude of despondency in Sicily; occurrences such as heavy rainfalls, the birth of Siamese twins, and horses refusing to enter Messina were all considered signs that God had abandoned the people.[17] The plague had drastic economic effects on Italy as well, and contributed to the first significant economic crisis in centuries.
Sicily's economy in the fourteenth century was turbulent, and marked a drastic departure from its success in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
The nobility of this period were highly antagonistic towards each other, and caused problems for Elizabeth and the monarchy. Sicilian magnate families waged a civil war with one another between the 1330s and 1360s. The collective disquiet due to the declining aristocratic incomes culminated in a social and political conflict between them and the throne. Since the nobility controlled the majority of the military force in the kingdom, their rebellion had severe implications towards the throne. From the 1330s until the 1370s, the aristocracy took increasing control of demesne land and towns. The throne's attempts to reduce the power of the nobility was unsuccessful despite Elizabeth's efforts. She proposed a peaceful partition of the country among the most powerful magnate houses in 1350, but it failed after six months. A second attempt was made in 1352, but it too failed after only a year.[23] No final settlement dividing Sicily's administration was reached until the 1360s, after Elizabeth's death. The conclusion was a division of power based on military supremacy between a few feudal states, with the throne retaining little practical influence.[24]
There is little evidence of organized, premeditated peasant revolt in Sicily during the period of Elizabeth's reign, though small-scale insurrections did occur. During Peter II's reign in 1337 there was an uprising against the Count of Geraci, and another in 1350 against Scaloro degli Ubertini. Both of these men were individual nobles who claimed feudal jurisdiction, and in fact it is speculated by historian John Larner that the revolts were brought about by royal incitement.[25] This is possible considering the tension between the royalty and the aristocracy during this period. Elizabeth of Carinthia's brief rule occurred during a period of social change and economic crisis. It was characterized by conflict between the throne and the aristocracy, and the socioeconomic, ideological and behavioural changes brought about by the devastating effects of the Black Death.[26]
Death and aftermath
Upon this success of the "Latin" faction, many urban Sicilian populations manifested what Henri Bresc has described as an "Anti-Catalan" Vespers, reminiscent of the famous Sicilian Vespers of several decades past. After the recalling of the Palizzi family, it was common, especially around Palermo, to hear calls for the expulsion of the noble families in the "Catalan" faction, "from their castles, their offices, their dignities and their honours", or chants of "May they leave the Kingdom!".[27] This sentiment was not new, as early as 1342, this popular anti-Catalan feeling found expression in chanting "Viva lu Re et lu Populu" in Messina (Long Live the King and the People: "Long live the King and the People" in the Medieval Sicilian).[27] The success of Elizabeth's chosen faction therefore appeared secure, despite all the challenges presented in internal and foreign intrigues, when Elizabeth died, possibly to the plague, as late as 1352. For a time after her death, there existed a notable unity between the families of the "Latin" faction, yet all this unity was overturned when Louis himself died from the plague in 1355 at the young age of 17, and the pro-Catalan Frederick IV came to the throne, along with the Neapolitan invasion to restore Angevin influence on the island in 1354.[28]
Ancestry
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Notes
- ^ Kos (1985), p. 287
- ^ Kos (1933), p. 164
- ^ Testa (1775), p. 189
- ^ a b c d Rugolo (1993)
- ^ Anonymi Chronicon Siculum ab anno DCCCXX usque ad MCCCXXVIII
- ^ Backman (1995), pp. 4–5
- ^ Backman (1995), pp. 75–77
- ^ a b Davies (1998), p. 207
- ^ Tramontana (1963), p. 557
- ^ Bresc (1986), pp. 798–800
- ^ a b Bresc (1986), pp. 804–805
- ^ Abulafia (2000), p. 505
- ^ Backman (1995), p. 35
- ^ a b Killinger (2002), p. 67
- ^ Martin (2009), p. 7
- ^ Martin (2009), p. 24
- ^ Martin (2009), p. 18
- ^ Killinger (2002), p. 66
- ^ Epstein (1992), p. 376
- ^ Epstein (1992), p. 315
- ^ Epstein (1992), p. 316
- ^ Epstein (1992), p. 400
- ^ Epstein (1992), pp. 316–318
- ^ Epstein (1992), p. 319
- ^ Larner (1980), p. 172
- ^ Epstein (1992), p. 80
- ^ a b Bresc (1986), pp. 805–806
- ^ Bresc (1986), pp. 806–807
References
- ISBN 978-0-521-36290-0.
- Backman, Clifford R. (1995). The Decline and Fall of Medieval Sicily: Politics, Religion, and Economy in the Reign of Frederick III, 1296–1337. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Bisson, Thomas N. (1986). Medieval Crown of Aragon: a Short History. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Bresc, Henri (1986). Un Monde Méditerranéen: Économie et Société en Sicile, 1300–1450. Rome: École Française de Rome.
- Davies, Stephen (1998). Marriage and the Politics of Friendship: the Family of Charles II of Anjou, King of Naples (1285–1309) (PhDthesis). University College London.
- Epstein, Stephan R. (1992). An Island for Itself: economic development and social change in late medieval Sicily. Cambridge University Press.
- Housley, Norman (1982). The Italian Crusades: the Papal–Angevin Alliance and the Crusades against Christian Lay Powers, 1254–1343. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Housley, Norman (1986). The Avignon Papacy and the Crusades, 1305–1378. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Kelly, Samantha (2003). The New Soloman: Robert of Naples (1309–1343) and Fourteenth-century Kingship. Boston: Brill.
- Kos, Milko (1985). Srednjeveška družbena, kulturna in politična zgodovina Slovencev: zbrane razprave. Ljubljana: Slovenska matica.
- Kos, Milko (1933). Zgodovina Slovencev: od naselitve do reformacije. Ljubljana: Jugoslovanska knjigarna.
- Killinger, Charles L. (2002). History of Italy. Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313314834.
- Larner, John (1980). Italy in the Age of Dante and Petrarch 1216–1380. MA: Addison-Wesley Longman.
- Martin, Sean (2009). The Black Death. NJ: Chartwell Books.
- Rugolo, Carmela Maria (1993). Elisabetta di Carinzia, regina di Sicilia. Vol. 42.
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ignored (help) - Testa, Francesco (1775). De vita et rebus gestis Federici II Siciliae regis. Palermo: Cajetanus M. Bentivenga.
- Tramontana, Salvatore (1963). Michele da Piazza e il potere baronale in Sicilia. Messina.
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