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| Angelo Acciaiouli (kneeling) |
A Faithless Spouse
These
victories were overshadowed by a defeat for the loyalists at Foggia, when the Hungarians were buoyed with hope by the return of King Louis.
Sometime in February Catherine died and within a very short time Joanna was
embroiled in a power struggle with Louis of Taranto, their marriage in ruins.
He had Joanna’s chamberlain Enrico Carraciolo arrested on the grounds of
adultery with Joanna.
Louis was
assisted by Niccolo Acciaiouli and his cousin Angelo, the Bishop of Florence, keeper of the royal seal. Clement
was not impressed by Louis of Taranto’s bid for power, writing to him;
‘Although of royal birth,
you were by inheritance poorly off. By the union with the Queen, who openly honoured
you….you have become possessed of abundance and an exalted position. You….do
not treat her as behooves a wife and Queen….you have caused her to be reckoned
rather a slave than spouse.’[i]
Joanna,
who was pregnant again, defended herself. Under virtual house arrest she gave birth in
March to a girl named Françoise. Louis of Taranto meanwhile reigned in her
place, allied with a vengeful and penniless Maria who demanded payment of her
dowry. Joanna, with an empty treasury and an army to raise to fend off the armies
of Louis of Hungary.
Reversals
Clement
wrote to all parties in Naples instructing all parties to work towards a
reconciliation between husband and wife. He had received a letter from Joanna,
detailing the humiliations to which Louis of Taranto subjected her.
Louis’
armies were besieging Aversa; he offered to marry Maria, his young wife Margaret of Bohemia had recently died. Maria welcomed
the idea of marrying the man who had executed her husband.
‘After deliberation with the
royal family who remained prisoner in Hungary, the king of Hungary made a
secret accord with Madam Maria to make a marriage with her which dictated that
the king would receive the dominion of Sicily [Naples] while Queen Joanna would
remain countess of Provence.’[ii]
Clement sent
Hugo del Balzo[iii],
the bishop of Thérouanne and a squadron of loyalists to
Naples and was allowed to speak to Joanna. The bishop then left for Aversa to
speak to King Louis, leaving Hugo to spread rumours around Naples that Louis of
Taranto was attempting to poison his wife. Hugo ensured that the Neapolitans
were aware that the pope sided with Joanna in this war between husband and
spouse.
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| 15th century Rome |
Louis of
Taranto folded; the increasingly resistant population, in accord with the
wishes of the pope, persuaded him to hand back power to Joanna. On 17th
August Joanna named a new seneschal, replacing her husband.
The Bishop
of Thérouanne had in the interim negotiated a truce with Louis of Hungary who
had suffered a leg wound during the siege and he was finding the citizens of
Aversa averse to his rule. His barons had finished their military service;
‘To keep them to help him
conquer the kingdom, meant to pay them, and he had little money and could not
get more from a country that had been ravaged by war….Thus he changed his mind
easily, ready to agree to a compromise that would allow him to leave the
kingdom without losing face.’[iv]
Hostilities
were suspended for a six month period, each side holding onto its gains. The
papacy for its part agreed to try Joanna again for her part in Andrew’s murder
and Joanna was required to pay Louis 300,000 florins[v] for the return of her
family. Clement agreed to loan Joanna the monies and she and Louis of Taranto
left for Rome on September 17th, the same day that Louis departed
Rome. Hugo del Balzo remained in Naples.
Further Treachery
Hugo del
Balzo’s intent in remaining in Naples, while the former adversaries travelled
to Rome, soon became startling clear. Presumably with the pope’s blessing, his
son Robert raped Maria in the presence of his father; the unlucky Maria was
then wed to Robert with Hugo in attendance.
 |
| Gaeta |
‘When he [Hugo] arrived in
the presence of the duchess, he said he wanted her to marry his son Robert, and
had the marriage consummated by force.’[vi]
Clement was
no doubt determined to stop the marriage Maria was trying to arrange with Louis
of Hungary.
Joanna was
furious at Hugo’s presumption. Louis of Taranto murdered Hugo on his galley,
resting off Gaeta and Robert del Balzo and his new
wife were brought ashore to meet Joanna. Robert was kept prisoner until the
following spring when he was executed, despite a plea from the pope for
clemency.
News Round-up
King Louis
left Rome at the end of October 1450 and did not return. The following February
Louis of Taranto and Niccolo Acciaiouli liberated Aversa. In December 1451, as
Joanna sent a repayment guarantee for the 300,000 florins payable to Louis,
Louis forgave the debt as he;
‘Did not go to war for
greed, but to avenge the death of his brother.’[vii]
The
following year saw accord grow between Joanna and her husband; he agreed to the
limitations on his kingship while Joanna agreed to a joint coronation held on
27th May 1452.
A few days
previously on 7th April an amnesty was declared towards those
Neapolitans who had cooperated with the Hungarians. Joanna was reduced to
borrowing the monies to pay for the coronation celebrations. The joy of the
coronation was cancelled out when the couple returned home after the
celebratory parade; their two year old daughter Françoise had died.
Finances
were a problem in this kingdom so recently harried by war and the plague;
nearly 50% of the citizens of Naples died in a three months period[viii]. The Hungarian army had
deliberately destroyed homes and fields and outlaws roamed at will. Joanna
named a new chief justice and gave him the powers to deal with the lawlessness
in the countryside. With 400 horsemen the new judge;
‘Pursued criminals, brought
barons and townships to compliance, insisted on collecting taxes and ensured
that feudal services were carried out. Thanks to him, roads became free and
safe.’[ix]
Within two
years the kingdom was once again able to provide sufficient food to feed its
population.
Change
 |
| Innocent VI |
With the
death of Clement in December 1352 Joanna lost a protector she knew well. The
election of the new pope Innocent VI had been orchestrated by Cardinal Talleyrand. Talleyrand no
longer supported Joanna; his main interest was in his Durazzo nephews[x]. In the spring of 1353 the
hostages returned home to Naples; they were to cause endless problems.
Robert of
Taranto was given a part of the family’s confiscated estates and Philip of
Taranto received a smaller portion. Louis of Taranto intimated his intention to
marry Philip to Maria, once again a widow. Maria’s daughters were now under
Joanna’s guardianship and their assets were controlled by Louis of Taranto. The
marriage proposal was vigorously opposed by Maria’s Durazzo brother-in-laws.
Robert of
Durazzo went direct to Cardinal Talleyrand to plead his case; both brothers had
been rebuffed in their attempts to recover their ancestral estates and their
nieces’ property. Talleyrand, now Innocent’s chief adviser, suggested to the
pope that he block the marriage between Robert of Taranto and Maria and gave
control of Maria’s daughters assets to their uncle Louis of Durazzo. Robert
meanwhile was affianced to a niece of Cardinal Giovanni Visconti of Milan.
Despite his
promise to abide by Joanna’s dictum in state affairs, Louis of Taranto had no
compunction in imposing his authority over his wife in family matters. Villani
states that;
‘He honoured the Queen
little; whether this was his fault (and his responsibility was great) or that
of the Queen, he often beat her as one would a lowly woman, to the great shame
of the Crown.’[xi]
Joanna
complained to Innocent that she was humiliated and anguished in her relations
with her husband. He cheated on her, fathering at least three children with
other women. Joanna, bereft of children, mothered her nieces.
A Distraction in Sicily
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| Straights of Messina |
In Sicily
the plague wiped out the Regent ruling for the young King Louis II; one political faction offered the
young king as a husband for a Spanish infanta, Constance. The other party turned to Naples
and offered to return Sicily to Angevin rule.
The offer
was too good to turn down, but the treasury was empty and the only source of capital
for the venture was from the Grand Seneschal, Niccolo Acciaiouli who was richer
than both the king and queen. Niccolo funded a small fleet led by eight
galleys, to ferry 100 knights and 400 foot soldiers across the Straits of Messina.
The port of Palermo, where the little fleet landed, surrendered on 17th June
1354. The rest of the population followed suit when the rumours that three ships
of grain accompanied the invaders. Only Messina and Catania, held by the pro-Spanish party,
failed to surrender. Niccolo sent to Joanna and Louis asking for more men to
subdue the two strongholds. They declined to send further troops and Niccolo
and his force returned home.
Bibliography
Chronicles –
Froissart, Penguin Classics 1968
Joanna –
Nancy Goldstone, Phoenix 2010
Absolute
Monarchs – John Julius Norwich, Random House 2011
Hawkwood –
Frances Stonor Saunders, Faber & Faber 2004
A Distant
Mirror – Barbara Tuchman, MacMillan London Ltd 1989
The Flower
of Chivalry – Richard Vernier, The Boydell Press 2003
www.wikipedia.en
[i]
Joanna - Goldstone
[ii]
Ibid
[iii]
Now supporting Joanna again
[iv]
Joanna – Goldstone
[v]
In 2013
the relative: historic standard of living
value of that income or wealth is £246,800,000.00 economic status value of that income or wealth is £11,170,000,000.00 economic power value of that income or wealth is £88,160,000,000.00 www.measuringworth.com
[vi]
Joanna - Goldstone
[vii]
Ibid
[viii]
The plague was to return in 1362 and 1373
[ix]
Joanna - Goldstone
[x]
Talleyrand had opposed the coronation of Louis of Taranto. Concerned that the
Durazzo branch of the family were losing access to power to the Taranto branch,
Talleyrand wished to reverse the imbalance
[xi]
Joanna - Goldstone
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