Ladislaus of Naples
Ladislaus | |
---|---|
Croatia Contested by Sigismund | |
Reign | 13 July 1403 – 7 November 1403 |
Coronation | 5 August 1403, Zadar[1] |
Predecessor | Sigismund |
Successor | Sigismund |
Born | 15 February 1377 Naples, Kingdom of Naples |
Died | 6 August 1414 Naples, Kingdom of Naples | (aged 37)
Burial | |
Spouses |
|
Father | Charles III of Naples |
Mother | Margaret of Durazzo |
Ladislaus the Magnanimous (
Youth
Ladislaus was born in
Ladislaus became King of Naples at the age of nine (1386) under his mother's regency after his father was assassinated while pursuing his claim to the throne of Hungary. At the time the kingdom saw a rebellion of the barons (fomented by Pope Urban VI), and there was a risk of a French invasion, since in 1385 the pope had assigned the throne to Louis II of Anjou, Count of Provence.[2] Urban VI refused to recognize Ladislaus, and in 1387 called a crusade against him. Margaret and her son at the time controlled not much more than Naples and its neighborhood. After turmoil broke out in the city, they fled to the fortress of Gaeta, while Naples was occupied by an Angevin army led by Otto of Brunswick, widower of Joanna I of Naples, who had named Louis' father as her heir.[2]
In 1389 the new Pope Boniface IX recognized Ladislaus as King of Naples, although he forbade him to unite it with his family lands in Germany and Italy. In Gaeta, Ladislaus married Costanza Chiaramonte, the daughter of the powerful Sicilian baron, Manfredi Chiaramonte. Within a few years the marriage was annulled.
In 1390, the archbishop of Arles poisoned Ladislaus, and though he survived, he subsequently stuttered and was forced to take repeated periods of rest.
Claim to Hungary
In 1401 Ladislaus married
Considering himself the heir of the kings of Hungary, Ladislaus tried many times to obtain the crown of Hungary. He also proclaimed himself
Conquest of central Italy
Aspiring to the brilliant prestige and might of his imperial forbearer in southern Italy, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily, Ladislaus was determined to conquer central Italy and extend his power into Tuscany and farther north. Ladislaus endeavored to consolidate Neapolitan royal power at the expense of the barons, and brought about the murders of several members of the Sanseverino family for frustrating his ends. In 1405, he went again to Rome. When some nobles offered him the lordship of the city, the Pope responded by deposing him as King of Naples on 9 January 1406. The Pope had incited Raimondo Del Balzo Orsini to rebel, but he died soon after.[5] His wife, Mary of Enghien, continued the rebellion and successfully defended Taranto against a two-month long siege by Ladislaus in the spring of 1406. She did not surrender even after Ladislaus and the Pope signed a treaty of peace in July, by which Ladislaus became the protector of the Papal States. He moved to Taranto again early in 1407, this time with diplomatic intentions. Since his second wife had died in 1404, Ladislaus solved the matter of Taranto by marrying Mary of Enghien on 23 April 1407.
In 1407, trying to taking advantage of the feebler personality of the new pope,
In 1409, Ladislaus sold his rights to
Fearing his aims, the Republics of
Ladislaus took advantage of an anti-French revolt in
The slow pace of the allied army led the Florentines and Sienese to accept peace with Ladislaus, which he bought by renouncing some of his Tuscan conquests. Louis continued the struggle: his army, led by
Last campaigns and death
The peace was only a means to gain time for both John XXIII, who did not want to pay the 75,000 florins, and Ladislaus, who feared intervention in Italy by Sigismund of Hungary.[2] After Florence initiated diplomatic contacts with Sigismund, Ladislaus marched northwards in mid-May 1413. On 8 June, his troops conquered and sacked Rome, after which he went into Umbria and northern Latium. As it was clearly his next objective, Florence forestalled him by signing a treaty, which recognized Ladislaus' conquest of the Papal States (only Todi and Bologna had not fallen).
Having fallen ill in July 1414, Ladislaus was forced to return to Naples, where he died on 6 August 1414.[7] Rumours that he had been poisoned remain unproven: it is more likely that he fell ill due to an infection to his genitals.[2] He is buried in the church of San Giovanni a Carbonara, where a monument was built over his tomb. He was succeeded by his sister, Joanna II, the last member of the senior Angevin line in Italy.
Marriages and issue
In 1393, he agreed to marry a daughter of the Ottoman sultan
Ladislaus married three times:
- First to Manfredi III Chiaramonte. After the impoverishment of the Chiaramonte family, the marriage was annulled in 1392.
- Second to Mary of Lusignan (1381–1404) on 12 February 1403 in Naples. She was a daughter of James I of Cyprus. She died on 4 September 1404.
- Third to Mary of Enghien (1367 or 1370 – 9 May 1446), suo iure Countess of Lecce, daughter of John of Enghien, in 1406. She survived him by thirty-two years.
There were no children from any of his marriages. However Ladislaus had at least two illegitimate children:
- Reynold of Durazzo, Titular "Prince of Capua", buried in Foggia. Married and had children of his own:
- Francis of Durazzo. Married and had a son:
- Reynold di Durazzo (1469 – 1 September 1494 and buried in Foggia), married to Camilla Tomacelli, without issue
- Catherine of Durazzo
- Camilla of Durazzo
- Hippolyta of Durazzo
- Francis of Durazzo. Married and had a son:
- Mary of Durazzo, who died young
Notes
- ^ Miskolczy, István (1922). Nápolyi László, 1. közlemény Századok 56, Budapest. pp. 330-350.
- ^ Enciclopedia Italiana. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
- ^ Madas, E., Horváth, Z. (2008). Középkori predikációk és felképek Szent László királyról. San Ladislao d'Ungheria nella predicazione e nei dipinti murali. Romanika. Budapest. pp. 432-440.
- ^ Kenneth Setton (1976): The Papacy and the Levant, 1204-1571: The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (Volume I) p. 403.
- ^ Toomaspoeg, Kristjan (2013). "ORSINI DEL BALZO, Raimondo". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Vol. 79.
- ^ Descriptions of his army numbering 12,000 cavalry and 12,000 infantry are considered exaggerated, due to Ladislaus' always limited financial basis; see A. Kiesewetter, "LADISLAO d'Angiò Durazzo, re di Sicilia", Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani.
- ^ a b ""Da Papa Bonifacio IX a Papa Martino V", Cronologia d'Italia". Archived from the original on 25 January 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2008.
- Hussitemovement.
- ISBN 978-975-329-623-6.
- ISBN 978-1-351-89008-3.
- ISBN 978-1-317-03688-3.
- ^ Alderson, Anthony Dolphin (1956). "Tav.XXIV, n.25". The Structure of the Ottoman Dynasty. Clarendon Press.
External links