House of Valois-Anjou
House of Valois-Anjou | |
---|---|
Parent house | House of Valois (male line) Capetian House of Anjou (female line) |
Country | Holy Roman Empire Kingdom of France Kingdom of Naples |
Founded | 1356; 667 years ago |
Founder | Louis I, Duc d'Anjou |
Final ruler | Charles IV, Duc d'Anjou |
Titles |
|
Style(s) | "Majesty" "Grace" |
Estate(s) | Château d'Angers (seat) Château de Baugé Reggia di Quisisana (seat in Naples) |
Dissolution | 1481 |
Deposition | 1442 | (Aragonese conquest of Naples)
The House of Valois-Anjou (French: Maison de Valois-Anjou, Italian: Casa Valois-Angiò) was a noble French family and cadet branch of the House of Valois. Members of the house served as monarchs of Naples, as well as several other territories.
History
The house was founded in the 1350s, when King
Within a couple of decades, Queen Joanna of Naples, also of the senior Angevin line, realized that she would remain childless. Although there were extant heirs of the senior branch, for example, the Anjou-Durazzo cadet line, she decided to adopt Louis as her final heir.
Thus, in addition to the struggle of the Angevins with Aragon in Southern Italy, the two Angevin lines, senior and junior, now began to contest with each other for the possession of the Kingdom of Naples.
The Anjou-Durazzo line was initially successful in securing control of Naples, but the Valois House of Anjou managed to secure
The extinction of the line of the House of Anjou-Durazzo in 1435 temporarily secured Naples for the Valois House of Anjou, but they were driven from Naples by Alfonso V of Aragon in 1442.
René, the last duke of this, third, Angevin line, died in 1480, and Anjou reverted to the French crown. With the death of his nephew Count Charles IV of Maine in 1481, all Angevin possessions, including Provence, reverted to the crown.
The Angevin pretensions to Naples were continued intermittently by the
See also
- Angevin Empire
- House of Plantagenet or first Angevin dynasty
- Capetian House of Anjou or second Angevin dynasty
- Armorial of Plantagenet