Part 84

"In Naples itself the house of Anjou fell into disunion. Charles II. of Naples gained by marriage the dowry of Hungary [see HUNGARY: A. D. 1301-1342], which passed to his eldest son Charles Martel, while his second son, Robert, ruled in Naples. But Robert survived his only son, and left as heiress of the kingdom [1343] his grand-daughter Giovanna [better known as Joan, or Joanna]. The attempt to give stability to the rule of a female by marriage with her cousin, Andrew of Hungary, only aroused the jealousy of the Neapolitan nobles and raised up a strong party in opposition to Hungarian influence. Charles II. of Naples, Giovanna's great-grand-father, had left many sons and daughters, whose descendants of the great houses of Durazzo and Tarento, like those of the sons of Edward III. in England, hoped to exercise the royal power. When, in 1845, Pope Clement VI. was on the point of recognising Andrew as King of Naples, a conspiracy was formed against him, and he was murdered, with the connivance, as it was currently believed, of the Queen. Hereon the feuds in the kingdom blazed forth more violently than before; the party of Durazzo ranged itself against that of Tarento, and demanded punishment of the murderers; Giovanna I., to protect herself, married Lewis of Tarento in 1347. King Lewis of Hungary, aided by the party of Durazzo, entered Naples to avenge his brother's death, and for a while all was confusion. On the death of Lewis of Tarento (1362), Giovanna I. married James, King of Majorca, and on his death (1374), Otto, Duke of Brunswick. {1824} Giovanna I. was childless, and the slight lull which in the last years had come over the war of factions in Naples was only owing to the fact that all were preparing for the inevitable conflict which her death would bring." Neapolitan affairs were at this stage when the great schism occurred (see PAPACY; A. D. 1377-1417), which enthroned two rival popes, one (Urban VI.) at Rome, and one (Clement VII.) at Avignon. Queen Giovanna had inclined first to Urban, but was repelled, and gave her adhesion to Clement. Thereupon, Urban, on the 21st of April, 1380, "declared her deposed from her throne as a heretic, schismatic, and traitor to the Pope. He looked for help in carrying out his decree to King Lewis of Hungary, who had for a time laid aside his desire for vengeance against Giovanna, but was ready to resume his plans of aggrandisement when a favourable opportunity offered. … Lewis was not himself disposed to leave his kingdom; but he had at his court the son of his relative, Lewis of Durazzo, whom he had put to death in his Neapolitan campaign for complicity in Andrew's murder. Yet he felt compassion for his young son Charles, brought him to Hungary, and educated him at his court. As Giovanna was childless, Charles of Durazzo, or Carlo della Pace, as he was called in Italy, had a strong claim to the Neapolitan throne at her death." Charles of Durazzo was accordingly furnished with Hungarian troops for an expedition against Naples, and reached Rome in November, 1380. "Clement VII. on his side bestirred himself in behalf of his ally Giovanna, and for this purpose could count on the help of France. Failing the house of Durazzo, the house of Valois could put forward a claim to the Neapolitan throne, as being descended from the daughter of Charles II. The helpless Giovanna I. in her need adopted as her heir and successor Louis, Duke of Anjou, brother of the French king, and called him to her aid. Clement VII. hastened to confer on Louis everything that he could; he even formed the States of the Church into a kingdom of Adria, and bestowed them on Louis; only Rome itself, and the adjacent lands in Tuscany, Campania Maritima, and Sabina were reserved for the Pope. The Avignonese pretender was resolved to show how little he cared for Italy or for the old traditions of the Italian greatness of his office. Charles of Durazzo was first in the field, for Louis of Anjou was detained in France by the death of Charles V. in September, 1380. The accession of Charles VI. at the age of twelve threw the government of the kingdom upon the Council of Regency, of which Louis of Anjou was the chief member. He used his position to gratify his chief failing, avarice, and gathered large sums of money for his Neapolitan campaign. Meanwhile Charles of Durazzo was in Rome, where Urban VI. equipped him for his undertaking." In June, 1381, Charles marched against Naples, defeated Otto, the husband of Giovanna, at San Germano, and had the gates of Naples opened to him by a rising within the city on the 16th of July. Giovanna took refuge in the Castel Nuovo, but surrendered it on the 26th of August. After nine months of captivity, the unfortunate queen was "strangled in her prison on May 12, 1382, and her corpse was exposed for six days before burial that the certainty of her death might be known to all. Thenceforth the question between Charles III. and Louis was not complicated by any considerations of Giovanna's rights. It was a struggle of two dynasties for the Neapolitan crown, a struggle which was to continue for the next century. Crowned King of Naples by Clement VII., Louis of Anjou quitted Avignon at the end of May, accompanied by a brilliant array of French barons and knights. He hastened through North Italy, and disappointed the hopes of the fervent partisans of Clement VII. by pursuing his course over Aquila, through the Abruzzi, and refusing to turn aside to Rome, which, they said, he might have occupied, seized Urban VI., and so ended the Schism. When he entered the territory of Naples he soon received large accessions to his forces from discontented barons, while 22 galleys from Provence occupied Ischia and threatened Naples." Charles, having inferior forces, could not meet his adversary in the field, but showed great tactical skill, acting on the defensive, "cutting off supplies, and harassing his enemy by unexpected sallies. The French troops perished miserably from the effects of the climate; … Louis saw his splendid army rapidly dwindling away." But quarrels now arose between Charles and Pope Urban; the latter went to Naples to interfere in affairs; the King made him practically a prisoner and extorted from him agreements which were not to his liking. But Urban, on the 1st of January, 1384, "proclaimed a crusade against Louis as a heretic and schismatic, and Charles unfurled the banner of the Cross." In May the Pope withdrew from Naples to Nocera, and there began a series of interferences which convinced Charles "that Urban was a more serious adversary than Louis." With the summer came attacks of the plague upon both armies; but that of Louis suffered most, and Louis himself died, in September, bequeathing his claims on Naples to his eldest son. "On the death of Louis the remnant of his army dispersed, and Charles was free from one antagonist. … War was now declared between the Pope and the King. … Charles found adherents amongst Urban's Cardinals." Urban discovered the plots of the latter and threw six of them into a dungeon, where he tortured them with brutality. Charles attacked Nocera and took the town, but the castle in which the Pope had fortified himself resisted a long siege. "Three or four times a day the dauntless Pope appeared at a window, and with bell and torch cursed and excommunicated the besieging army." In August, 1385, Urban was rescued by some of his partisans, who broke through the camp of the besiegers and carried him off, still clinging to his captive cardinals, all but one of whom he subsequently put to death. He made his way to Trani and was there met by Genoese galleys which conveyed him and his party to Genoa. He resided in Genoa rather more than a year, very much to the discomfort and expense of the Genoese, and then, after much difficulty, found shelter at Lucca until September, 1387. Meantime Charles III. had left Naples, returning to Hungary to head a revolt against the widowed queen and young daughter of Lewis, who died in 1382. There he was assassinated in February, 1386. "The death of Charles III. again plunged the kingdom of Naples into confusion. The Angevin party, which had been powerless against Charles, raised against his son Ladislas, a boy of twelve years old, the claims of Louis II. of Anjou. {1825} The exactions of the Queen Regent Margaret awoke dissatisfaction, and led to the appointment in Naples of a new civic magistracy, called the Otto di Buono Stato, who were at variance with Margaret. The Angevins rallied under Tommaso of Sanseverino, and were reinforced by the arrival of Otto of Brunswick. The cause of Louis was still identified with that of Clement VII., who, in May 1385, had solemnly invested him with the kingdom of Naples. Urban VI., however, refused to recognise the claims of the son of Charles, though Margaret tried to propitiate him … and though Florence warmly supported her prayers for help." The Pope continued obstinate in this refusal until his death. He declared that the kingdom of Naples had lapsed to the Holy See, and he tried to gather money and troops for an expedition to secure it. As a means to that end, he ordered that the year 1390 should be a year of jubilee—a decade before the end of the century. It was his last desperate measure to obtain money. On the 15th of October 1389 he died and one of the most disastrous pontificates in the history of the Papacy came to an end.

_M. Creighton, History of the Papacy during the Period of the Reformation, book 1, chapter 1 (volume 1)._

ALSO IN: _Historical Life of Joanna of Sicily._

_Mrs. Jameson, Memoirs of Celebrated Female Sovereigns, volume 1, chapter 4._

_St. C. Baddeley, Charles III. of Naples and Urban VI._

ITALY: A. D. 1343-1393. The "Free Companies." Their depredations and the wars employing them. The Great Company. The Company of Sir John Hawkwood.

"The practice of hiring troops to fight the battles of the Commonwealth [of Florence—but in other Italian states no less] had for some time past been continually on the increase. … The demand for these mercenary troops,—a demand which … preferred strangers from beyond the Alps,—had filled Italy with bands of free lances, ready to take service with any tyrant, or any free city that was willing to pay them. They passed from one service to another, and from one side of a quarrel to the other, with the utmost indifference and impartiality. But from this manner of life to setting up for themselves and warring for their own behoof there was but one step. And no prudent man could have doubted that this step would ere long be taken. Every circumstance of the age and country combined to invite and facilitate it. … Already, immediately after the fall of the Duke of Athens [at Florence, 1343], a German adventurer, one Werner, known in Italian history as the Duke Guarnieri, had induced a large number of the hired troops, who were then 'unattached' in Italy, mainly those dismissed at that time from the service of Pisa, to form themselves into an independent company and recognize him as their leader. With equal effrontery and accuracy this ruffian styled himself 'The enemy of God, of Pity, and of Mercy.' … This gang of bandits numbered more than 2,000 horsemen. Their first exploit was to threaten the city of Siena. Advancing through the Sienese territory towards the city, plundering, killing, and burning indiscriminately as they went, they inspired so sudden and universal a terror that the city was glad to buy them off with a sum of 12,000 florins. From the Sienese territory they passed to that of Arezzo, and thence to the district around Perugia; and then turning towards the Adriatic, overran Romagna, and the Rimini country, then governed by the Malatesat family. It is difficult adequately to describe, or even to conceive the sufferings, the destruction, the panic, the horror, which marked the track of such a body of miscreants." Finally, by the skilful management of the Lord of Bologna, the company was bought up and sent across the Alps, out of Italy, in detachments. "The relief was obtained in a manner which was sure to operate as an encouragement to the formation of other similar bands. And now, after the proclamation of the peace between Florence and the Visconti, on the 1st of April, 1353, … the experiment which had answered so well in the hands of the German 'Enemy to God and to Mercy,' was repeated on a larger scale by a French Knight Hospitaller of the name of Montreal, known in Italian history as Frà Moriale. … Being out of place, it occurred to him to collect all the fighting men in Italy who were similarly circumstanced, and form an independent company after the example of Guarnieri, with the avowed purpose of living by plunder and brigandage. He was so successful that he collected in a very short time 1,500 men-at-arms and 2,000 foot soldiers; who were subsequently increased to 5,000 cavaliers and 7,000 infantry; and this band was known as 'the Great Company.'" There was an attempt made, at first, to combine Florence, Siena and Perugia, with the Romagna, in resistance to the marauders; but it failed. "The result was that the Florentines were obliged to buy off the terrible Frà Moriale with a bribe of 28,000 florins, and Pisa with one of 16,000. … The chief … after Frà Moriale himself, was one Conrad, Count of Lando; and under him the Company marched towards Lombardy in search of fresh booty, while Moriale himself, remaining temporarily behind, went to Rome to confer privately, as it was believed, with the Colonna chiefs, respecting a project of employing his band against Rienzi, the tribune. But whether such was the object of his journey to Rome or not, it was fatal to the brigand chief. For Rienzi no sooner knew that the notorious Frà Moriale was within his jurisdiction than he arrested him, and summarily ordered him to execution as a common malefactor. The death of the chief, however, did not put an end to 'the Great Company'; for Conrad of Lando remained, and succeeded to the command of it." From 1356 to 1359, Italy in different parts was preyed upon by 'the Great Company,' sometimes in the service of the league of the lesser Lombard princes against the Visconti of Milan, and once in the employ of Siena against Perugia; but generally marauding on their own account, independently. Florence, alone, stood out in resistance to their exactions, and finally sent into the field against them 2,000 men-at-arms, all tried troops, 500 Hungarians: and 2,500 cross-bowmen, besides the native troops of the city. Subsequently the Florentine forces were joined by others from Milan, Padua, and elsewhere. The bandits marched all around the Florentine frontier, with much bluster, making great threats, but constantly evading an engagement. At length, on the 20th of July, 1359, the two armies were in such a position that "it was thought in the Florentine camp that a decisive battle would be fought on the morrow. But when that July morning dawned, Lando and his bandit host were already in full march northwards towards Genoa, with a precipitation that had all the appearance of flight. … 'The Great Company never again dared to show its face in Tuscany.'"

_T. A. Trollope, History of the Commonwealth of Florence, book 3, chapter 6 (volume 2)._

{1826}

"Another company, consisting principally of Englishmen [lately turned loose in France by the Peace of Bretigny, 1360, which terminated the invasion of Edward III.], was brought into Italy at a somewhat later period by the Marquis of Montferrat. … About the same time another, composed principally of Germans, and commanded by Amichino Baumgarten, was raised by Galeazzo Visconti, and afterwards employed by the Pisans. Another, entitled that of St. George, was formed by Ambrose, the natural son of Bernabos Visconti, and let loose by him on the territories of Perugia and Sienna. Thus, at the end of the 14th century, Italy was devastated at one and the same time by these four companies of adventurers, or, as they might more justly be called, professional robbers. … Of all these companies, the military reputation of the English was undoubtedly the greatest—a circumstance which may be ascribed, in some degree, to the physical superiority of the men, but still more to the talents of Sir John Hawkwood, by whom they were commanded."

_W. P. Urquhart, Life and Times of Francesco Sforza, book 2, chapter 1 (volume 1)._

One of the marauding companies left in France after the Peace of Bretigny, and which afflicted that wretched country so sorely (see FRANCE: A. D. 1360-1380), was called the White Company, and Sir John Hawkwood was one of its commanders. "The White Company crossed into Lombardy, under the command of one Albaret, and took service under the Marquis of Montferrat, then at war with the Duke of Milan. Hawkwood [called Giovanni Aguto by the Italians] entered the Pisan service, and next year, when the marquis, being unable to maintain his English troops, disbanded them, the Pisans engaged them, and gave Hawkwood the command." Hawkwood and his company served Pisa, in war with Florence, until 1364, when they experienced a great defeat, which led to peace and their discharge. During the next three years they lived as independent freebooters, the territories of Siena suffering most from their depredations. Then they took service with Bernabo Visconti, Lord of Milan, making war for him on Florence and its allies; but very soon their arms were turned against Milan, and they were fighting in the pay of Florence and the Pope. "Within the next five years he changed sides twice. He served Galeazzo Visconti against the Papal States; and then, brought back to fight for Holy Church, defeated his late employer in two pitched battles." After this, when the league against an aggressive and ambitious pontiff extended, and Florence, Bologna and other cities joined Milan, Hawkwood took money from both at the same time, and cheated both, preliminarily to fighting each in turn. While serving the Pope his ruffians wantonly destroyed the captured town of Casena, massacring between 4,000 and 5,000 people, women and children included. In 1378, when Gregory XI. died, peace followed, and Hawkwood's company resumed its old freebooting. In 1381 he was engaged in the Neapolitan civil war. In 1387 he seems to have become permanently engaged in the service of Florence against the Duke of Milan. "In 1391, Florence concluded a general peace with all her enemies. Her foreign auxiliaries were dismissed, with the exception or Sir John Hawkwood and 1,000 men. Hawkwood henceforth remained in her service till his death, which took place on the 6th of March, 1393. He was buried at the public expense, as a valiant servant of the State."

_Sir John Hawkwood (Bentley's Miscellany, volume 54, pages 284-291)._

ALSO IN: _O. Browning, Guelphs and Ghibellines, chapter 12. _

ITALY: A. D. 1347-1354. Rienzi's Revolution at Rome.

See ROME: A. D. 1347-1354.

ITALY: A. D. 1348-1355. War of Genoa against Venice, the Greeks and Aragonese.

See CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 1348-1355.

ITALY: A. D. 1352-1378. Subjugation and revolt of the States of the Church. War of the Pope with Florence.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1352-1378.

ITALY: A. D. 1378-1427. The democratizing of Florence. Tumult of the Ciompi. First appearance of the Medici.

See FLORENCE: A. D. 1378-1427.

ITALY: A. D. 1379-1381. Final triumph of Venice over Genoa in the War of Chioggia.

See VENICE: A. D. 1379-1381.

ITALY: (Southern): A. D. 1386-1414. Renewed Civil War in Naples. Defeat of the Angevins and triumph of Ladislas. His ambitious career. His capture and recapture of Rome.