Queen at the Crossroads

Historical Background

Charles of France, Count of Anjou, was the youngest son of King Louis VIII of France. His eldest brother was the sainted King Louis IX of France. Charles married Beatrice of Provence, the younger sister of the French King's wife. Both Charles and Beatrice were determined to get a kingdom of their own.

In 1266, that wish came true when he conquered the Kingdom of Sicily from Manfred, the illegitimate son of Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II. The Kingdom of Sicily was one of the most desirable kingdoms in 13th-century Europe. Located on the Mediterranean coast, it not only included the rich, beautiful, island of Sicily, but most of Southern mainland Italy as well. To his Italian subjects, Charles became known as King Carlo.

In 1285, Carlo I died, and his eldest son, another Carlo became the new king- but just of the Southern end of the Italian peninsula, known as the Kingdom of Naples. His father had lost the island of Sicily to Manfred's son-in-law in 1282.

Being a cadet branch of the French Royal Dynasty, the Capetians, was not enough. The new royal family of Naples, known as the Capetian house of Anjou, or the Angevins, wanted to marry with another powerful royal family. They allied with the Arpads of Hungary. Carlo married Maria, sister of King Ladislaus IV of Hungary. King Ladislaus married Carlo's sister Isabella.

Alas, the union between the King of Hungary and the King of Naples' sister was not harmonious. Ladislaus would shove Isabella aside so that he could be with his mistresses. Ladislaus was also a very unpopular ruler, which led to his assassination in 1290. No children were born of this unhappy marriage. The ancient house of Arpad, which ruled Hungary for over 300 years was at risk.

Ladislaus had no brothers, but three surviving sisters, among them Maria, Queen of Naples, who had given Carlo fourteen children. Maria put in her bid for the throne of Hungary, but the country had never had a female monarch before, and they will not willing to accept one. The King and Queen of Naples' eldest son, known as Carlo Martel, laid claim to the kingdom instead. However, his claim was contested by his cousin, Andrew, the last surviving male Arpadian. In the end, Andrew won, and was crowned King Andrew III of Hungary.

Carlo Martel did not want to give up his claim in Hungary, but Croatia, which had been under Hungarian control since 1102, recognized him as their King. But Carlo Martel's claims did not last long. He died in 1295, when he was not yet twenty-four, and his parents outlived him. He left behind two daughters, and one son, Carlo Roberto, aged seven at the time.

Carlo Roberto should have became the new heir-apparent to Naples, but the aging king did not want a small child as the heir to a kingdom that risked invasion. Louis, the second son of Carlo, rejected his chance to be the heir, and instead chose to take holy vows.  The third son, Roberto became the heir to Naples.

In 1301, Andrew III of Hungary died, leaving behind just one daughter, Erzsebet, who was only eight at the time. She was betrothed to Wenceslaus, the heir to Bohemia. This marriage would bring a union between the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia. But Hungary, like always, was opposed to a female ruler. It would be Wenceslaus alone who would be the actual ruler of the kingdom.

But the plans for Hungary's succession were not so clear. There were lords who supported Carlo Roberto, now thirteen over Wencelslaus, eleven at the time. Carlo Roberto was crowned King of Hungary, but soon his coronation was considered invalid. Wencelslaus was soon crowned King instead. In 1305, Wencelslaus' father died, and he succeeded him as King of Bohemia and Poland. Listening to the Bohemian lord's advice, he went against the pre-arranged wishes, broke off his engagement to Erzsebet of Hungary, and married another. But that same year he gave up his claim on Hungary to focus on Poland and Bohemia instead.

Maybe Erszebet could marry Carlo Roberto instead, and they could rule Hungary? If this theory was ever thought of, it went nowhere, for the Duke of Bavaria, a first cousin of Ladislaus IV became the new king instead. Erzsebet never inherited her father's kingdom, nor married, and in 1310, she was place in a convent where she would spent the rest of her life as a nun.

In 1308, the Duke of Bavaria abdicated the Hungary throne, and Carlo Roberto, now twenty became the uncontested King of Hungary, under the name of Karoly I, ready to rule on his own. 

Meanwhile, in Poland the succession was uncertain too.  Since 1138, Poland had been a divided country, split between many princes of the Piast dynasty.  Wladyslaw of Kujawy was one such prince.  He dreamed of uniting all of Poland under his rule.  His wife, Jadwiga, also from the Piast dynasty had the same dreams too.