Ladislaus of Naples

{{Short description|King of Naples from 1386 to 1414}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}} {{Infobox royalty | name = Ladislaus of Naples | image = Ladislas of Naples (head).jpg | succession = [[King of Naples]] | reign = 24 February 1386 – 6 August 1414 | coronation = 29 May 1390 [[Gaeta]], by [[Angelo Acciaioli II]] | predecessor = [[Charles III of Naples]] | successor = [[Joanna II of Naples]] | regent = [[Louis II of Anjou]] (1389–1399) | reg-type = Contender | succession1 = [[King of Hungary]] and [[King of Croatia|Croatia]] Contested by [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Sigismund]] | reign1 = 13 July 1403 – 7 November 1403 | coronation1 = 5 August 1403, [[Church of Saint Chrysogonus, Zadar|Zadar]]<ref>Miskolczy, István (1922). ''Nápolyi László, 1. közlemény'' Századok 56, Budapest. pp. 330–350</ref> | cor-type1 = [[Coronation of the Hungarian monarch|Coronation]] | predecessor1 = [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Sigismund]] | successor1 = [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Sigismund]] | spouses = {{ubl |{{marriage|[[Costanza Chiaramonte]]|1390|1392|end=ann}} |{{marriage|[[Marie of Lusignan, Queen of Naples|Mary of Lusignan]]|1403|1404|end=d}} |{{marriage|[[Mary of Enghien]]|1406}}}} | issue = Reynold, Prince of Capua (ill.) Mary of Durazzo (ill.) | issue-link = #Marriages and issue | issue-pipe = Details | issue-type = Issue | house = [[Anjou-Durazzo]] | father = [[Charles III of Naples]] | mother = [[Margaret of Durazzo]] | birth_date = 15 February 1377 | birth_place = [[Naples]], [[Kingdom of Naples]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1414|8|6|1377|2|15|df=yes}} | death_place = Naples, Kingdom of Naples | burial_place = [[San Giovanni a Carbonara]] }}

'''Ladislaus of Naples''' ({{langx|it|Ladislao}}, {{langx|hu|László}}; 15 February 1377 – 6 August 1414) was [[King of Naples]] from 1386 until his death and an unsuccessful claimant to the kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]] and [[Croatia in personal union with Hungary|Croatia]]. Ladislaus was a skilled political and military leader, protector and controller of [[Pope Innocent VII]]; however, he earned a bad reputation concerning his personal life. He profited from disorder throughout [[Italy]] to greatly expand his kingdom and his power, appropriating much of the [[Papal States]] to his own use. He was the last male of the [[Capetian House of Anjou]].

== Youth == Ladislaus was born in [[Naples]] on 15 February 1377 during the reign of his great-aunt Queen [[Joanna I of Naples]]. He was the son of [[Charles III of Naples]] and [[Margaret of Durazzo]], both members of the [[Capetian House of Anjou]]. His parents, having lived for years at the court of their kinsman King [[Louis I of Hungary]], named him after King Saint [[Ladislaus I of Hungary]]. In 1379, his father declared war on Joanna and proclaimed himself king with the backing of [[Pope Urban VI]]. Fearing that Joanna would take her as hostage, Margaret fled with Ladislaus to her castle in [[Morcone]]. They returned to Naples on 11 September 1381, after Charles prevailed over Joanna. On 5 November, Charles invested Ladislaus with the [[Duchy of Calabria]], traditionally held by the [[heir apparent]].<ref name="LadisTrecc">{{Cite web |last=Kiesewetter |first=A. |title=LADISLAO d'Angiò Durazzo, re di Sicilia |url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ladislao-d-angio-durazzo-re-di-sicilia_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ |work=Dizionario Enciclopedico degli Italiani |publisher=[[Enciclopedia Italiana]] |access-date=21 May 2011}}</ref>

Ladislaus became King of Naples at the age of nine (in 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]], [[list of rulers of Provence|Count of Provence]].<ref name="LadisTrecc"/> Urban VI refused to recognise Ladislaus, and in 1387 called a crusade against him. Margaret and her son, at the time, controlled not much more than Naples and its neighbourhood. 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, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen]], widower of [[Joanna I of Naples]], who had named Louis' father as her heir.<ref name=LadisTrecc/>

In 1389, the new [[Pope Boniface IX]] recognised 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 III Chiaramonte]]. Within a few years, the marriage was annulled.

In 1390, the [[Archdiocese of Arles|archbishop of Arles]] poisoned Ladislaus, and though he survived, he subsequently stuttered and was forced to take repeated periods of rest.<ref name="LadisTrecc"/> Also in 1390, Louis II invaded Naples, starting a war with Ladislaus lasting nine years. Ladislaus limited Louis II's control to the city of Naples and the [[Terra d'Otranto]].<ref name="LadisTrecc"/> In 1399, while Louis was fighting against the Count of [[Lecce]], Ladislaus regained the city of Naples with the support of several powerful barons of the kingdom, including [[Raimondo Orsini del Balzo]]. Louis II of Anjou then decided to return to the [[County of Provence]]. Ladislaus spent the year 1400 subduing [[Onorato Caetani (died 1400)|Onorato Caetani]], count of [[Fondi]], and the last rebellions in [[Abruzzo]] and [[Apulia]].<ref name="LadisTrecc"/>

== Claim to Hungary == [[File:Coat of Arms of Ladislaus of Naples.svg|thumb|Coat of arms of Ladislaus, depicting his claims to the kingdoms of Hungary, Naples and Jerusalem]]

In 1401, Ladislaus married [[Marie of Lusignan, Queen of Naples|Mary of Lusignan]], daughter of the [[King of Cyprus]]. She arrived in Naples in 1402. In the same period, Ladislaus tried to restore Angevin rule in the [[Kingdom of Hungary]] and [[Croatia in personal union with Hungary|Croatia]], where some of the nobles opposed King [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Sigismund of Luxembourg]]. Between 1403 and 1414, Ladislaus ordered the painting of a cycle of the ''Legend of Saint Ladislaus'' in the church of [[Santa Maria Incoronata, Naples|Santa Maria Incoronata]] in Naples. In these paintings, the Hungarian king is depicted receiving the royal crown, fighting against the pagans, and receiving the crown of Croatia. (The cult of Saint Ladislaus and other Hungarian kings was already present in Naples and other Italian regions since the second half of the 13th century, thanks to [[Mary of Hungary, Queen of Naples]], who brought them when she married [[Charles II of Naples]].)<ref>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.</ref>

Considering himself the heir of the kings of Hungary, Ladislaus tried many times to obtain the crown of Hungary. He also proclaimed himself [[Duke of Slavonia]], a title with no basis. He first negotiated a treaty with the [[Republic of Venice]], ceding the island of [[Corfu]]. He thus obtained free passage in the [[Adriatic Sea]] and, with the partial support of the Pope, landed at [[Zadar|Zada]] on 19 July 1403. On 5 August 1403, while in the town of Zara, Ladislaus was crowned king of Hungary and Croatia by János Kanizsai, [[Archdiocese of Esztergom–Budapest|archbishop of Esztergom]], in the presence of the [[papal legate]], Cardinal [[Angelo Acciaioli (cardinal)|Angelo Acciaioli]].<ref>[[Kenneth Setton]] (1976): The Papacy and the Levant, 1204–1571: The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (Volume I) p. 403.</ref> Even after his coronation, the rule of Ladislaus in Croatia and Hungary never extended beyond [[Dalmatia]]. His father grew up in Hungary, governing Croatia as viceroy, and eventually became king. However, Ladislaus remained inactive and returned to [[Apulia]]; his authority in Dalmatia remained restricted to little more than the city of Zara. The following year, after the death of [[Pope Boniface IX]], he intervened in [[Rome]] in support of the [[Colonna family]], two days after the election of the new [[Pope Innocent VII]].<ref name="LadisTrecc"/>

== Conquest of central Italy == Aspiring to the brilliant prestige and might of his imperial forbearer in southern Italy, [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|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 endeavoured to consolidate Neapolitan royal power at the expense of the barons and brought about the murders of several members of the [[House of Sanseverino|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.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/orsini-del-balzo-raimondo_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ |title=ORSINI DEL BALZO, Raimondo |first=Kristjan |last=Toomaspoeg |encyclopedia=[[Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani]] |language=it |volume=79 |year=2013}}</ref> 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 take advantage of the feebler personality of the new [[Pope Gregory XII]], Ladislaus invaded the Papal States and conquered [[Ascoli Piceno]] and [[Fermo]].<ref>Descriptions of his army numbering 12,000 cavalry and 12,000 infantry are considered exaggerated, due to Ladislaus's always limited financial basis; see A. Kiesewetter, "LADISLAO d'Angiò Durazzo, re di Sicilia", ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani''.</ref> In 1408, he besieged [[Ostia (Rome)|Ostia]] to prevent a success of the French party in the schism between the Pope Gregory XII and [[Antipope Benedict XIII]].<ref name="cronologia.leonardo.it">{{Cite web |url=http://cronologia.leonardo.it/storia/aa1405a.htm |title="Da Papa Bonifacio IX a Papa Martino V", Cronologia d'Italia |access-date=24 October 2008 |archive-date=25 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125044849/http://cronologia.leonardo.it/storia/aa1405a.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> After a short siege, he captured the city by bribing the Papal commander, Paolo Orsini, and entered Rome on 25 April. Later, [[Perugia]] also fell into his hands.

In 1409, Ladislaus sold his rights to [[Dalmatia]] to Venice for 100,000 [[ducat]]s. This was part of his attempts to gain allies in the upcoming war against the [[Republic of Florence]], caused by his expansion in central Italy and his alliance with [[Paolo Guinigi]], lord of [[Lucca]], a traditional enemy of the Florentines.<ref name="LadisTrecc"/> Ladislaus invaded [[Tuscany]], capturing [[Cortona]] and the island of [[Elba]] from [[Gherardo Appiani]]. Florence hired the [[condottiere]] [[Braccio da Montone]], who defeated Ladislaus, and he was forced to retreat. However, he had not abandoned his aims in northern Italy and took advantage of the presence of Pope Gregory XII in Gaeta.<ref name="LadisTrecc"/>

Fearing his aims, the Republics of [[Republic of Siena|Siena]] and Florence and the powerful cardinal [[Baldassarre Cossa]] allied against him. [[Antipope Alexander V]] excommunicated him and called [[Louis II of Anjou]] back to Italy to conquer Naples. Louis II arrived in late July 1409 with 1,500 cavalry and was invested with the Neapolitan crown. The allies' troops, under [[Muzio Attendolo]], [[Braccio da Montone]] and other condottieri, invaded the Papal lands under Ladislaus' control and moved to Rome; Orsini, left by Ladislaus to protect the city, defected to them with 2,000 men. However, the allies captured only the [[Apostolic Palace|Vatican]] and the [[Trastevere]] quarter. [[Antipope John XXIII|Cardinal Cossa]] and Louis II left the siege to their condottieri and moved to northern Italy and Provence in search of further support.

Ladislaus took advantage of an anti-French revolt in [[Genoa]] to gain the support of that city (1410). Rome fell on 2 January, and the allies did not score any other notable results. On 16 or 17 May May, Louis II's fleet, carrying new troops from Provence, was intercepted and partly destroyed off the Tuscan coast, with the loss of 6,000 men and Louis II's treasure (for a value of 600,000 ducats), which fell into the hands of Ladislaus.<ref name=LadisTrecc/> In the meantime, Alexander V had died, being replaced by Cossa himself as [[Antipope John XXIII|John XXIII]]. John XXIII proclaimed a [[crusade]] against Ladislaus and authorised the sale of [[indulgences]] to finance it.<ref>[[Jan Hus]], the Czech reformer, protested against the sale of these indulgences in [[Bohemia]], a protest which led to his death at [[Konstanz]] and the [[Hussite]] movement.</ref>

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 II continued the struggle: his army, led by [[Muzio Attendolo]], crushed the Neapolitan army at [[Roccasecca]] on 19 May 1411. He was unable to exploit this success, as he could not breach the defensive line that Ladislaus had set up at [[Cassino|San Germano]]. Louis II soon returned to Rome and Provence, where he died six years later. In 1412, the situation turned more favourable to Ladislaus: his [[condottiere]] [[Carlo I Malatesta]] occupied part of the [[March of Ancona]], and, above all, [[Muzio Attendolo Sforza]] joined Ladislaus. A peace was eventually signed on 14 June 1412, by which the Antipope paid 75,000 [[florins]], invested Ladislaus with the Neapolitan crown, and named him as [[Gonfalonier of the Church]]. Ladislaus promised in turn to abandon the cause of [[Pope Gregory XII]], who was ousted from [[Gaeta]] and moved to [[Rimini]].

== Last campaigns and death == [[File:MonumentoLadislaoNapoli - Ladislao a cavallo.jpg|thumb|262px|Equestrian statue of Ladislaus atop his tomb monument]]

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, Holy Roman Emperor|Sigismund of Luxembourg]].<ref name="LadisTrecc"/> 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 recognised 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.<ref name="cronologia.leonardo.it"/> Rumours that he had been poisoned remain unproven: it is more likely that he fell ill due to an infection of his genitals.<ref name="LadisTrecc"/> 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 of Naples]], the last member of the senior [[Capetian House of Anjou|Angevin]] line in Italy.

== Marriages and issue == Ladislaus married three times: * First to [[Costanza Chiaramonte]] in 1390. She was the daughter of [[Manfredi III Chiaramonte]]. After the impoverishment of the Chiaramonte family, the marriage was annulled in 1392; * Second to [[Mary of Lusignan, Queen of Naples|Mary of Lusignan]] (1381–1404) on 12 February 1403 in [[Naples]]. She was the 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 (died 1373)|John of Enghien]], in 1406. She survived him by thirty-two years.

Plus, in 1393, he agreed to marry Erhundi Hatun, a daughter of the Ottoman sultan [[Bayezid I]] in exchange for help against [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Sigismund of Luxembourg]], but the marriage did not materialize due to the rejection of the clause providing for the princess's conversion to Christianity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sakaoğlu |first=Necdet |title=Bu mülkün kadın sultanları: valide sultanlar, hatunlar, hasekiler, kadınefendiler, sultanefendiler |date=2008 |publisher=Oğlak Yayıncılık ve Reklamcılık |isbn=978-975-329-623-6 |series=Oğlak bilimsel kitaplar |location=İstanbul |pages=89–90}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Berend |first=Nora |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SgokDwAAQBAJ&dq=Ladislaus+Bayezid+I+daughter&pg=PT555 |title=The Expansion of Central Europe in the Middle Ages |date=2017-05-15 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-351-89008-3 |language=en |chapter=Polish-Hungarian Personal Union}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Housley |first=Norman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kAtqDAAAQBAJ&dq=Ladislaus+Bayezid+I+daughter&pg=PA166 |title=The Crusade in the Fifteenth Century: Converging and competing cultures |date=2016-06-17 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-317-03688-3 |pages=165–166 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Alderson |first=Anthony Dolphin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u75BAAAAYAAJ&q=alderson+ottoman+dynasty |title=The Structure of the Ottoman Dynasty |date=1956 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press|Clarendon Press]] |language=en |chapter=Tav.XXIV, n.25}}</ref>

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.

* Mary of Durazzo, who died young.

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == * [http://genealogy.euweb.cz/capet/capet19.html#LoN A listing of descendants of Charles I of Sicily]

{{S-start}} {{S-hou|[[Capetian House of Anjou|House of Anjou-Durazzo]]|5 September|1187|8 November|1226|[[Capetian House of Anjou|House of Anjou]]}} {{s-break}} {{S-reg}} {{S-bef|before=[[Charles III of Naples]]}} {{S-ttl|title=[[King of Naples]]|years=1386 – 1389}} {{S-aft|after=[[Louis II of Anjou]]}} {{S-bef|before=[[Louis II of Anjou]]}} {{S-ttl|title=[[King of Naples]]|years=1399 – 1414}} {{S-aft|after=[[Joanna II of Naples]]}} {{S-bef|before=[[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor]]}} {{S-ttl|title=[[King of Hungary]] and [[King of Croatia|Croatia]]|years=1403|regent1=[[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor]]|years1=1403|years2=as contender}} {{S-aft|after=[[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor]]}} {{S-bef|before=[[Raimondo Orsini del Balzo]]}} {{S-ttl|title=[[Prince of Taranto]]|years=1406 – 1414}} {{S-aft|after=[[James II, Count of La Marche]]}} {{S-bef|before=[[Mary of Enghien]]}} {{S-ttl|title=[[Count of Lecce]]|years=1406 – 1414|with=[[Mary of Enghien]]}} {{S-aft|after=[[Mary of Enghien]]}} {{S-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naples, Ladislaus Of}} [[Category:1377 births|Ladislaus]] [[Category:1414 deaths|Ladislaus]] [[Category:14th-century monarchs of Naples]] [[Category:15th-century monarchs of Naples]] [[Category:15th-century Hungarian monarchs]] [[Category:House of Anjou-Durazzo|Ladislaus]] [[Category:Monarchs of Naples]] [[Category:Princes of Taranto]] [[Category:Counts of Lecce]] [[Category:Pretenders to the Hungarian throne]] [[Category:Medieval child monarchs]] [[Category:People excommunicated by the Catholic Church]] [[Category:Jure uxoris counts]]