Karl Martell

Charles Martel of Anjou was born in early 1271, probably in the then-unified Kingdom of Sicily. He was the eldest son of Charles II of Naples and his wife, Mary of Hungary, and a grandson of Charles I of Sicily, founder of the third Angevin dynasty. He was named after the renowned ancestor Charles Martel. Thirteen more children followed him, including seven sons and five daughters. His family was closely connected with the Hungarian royal dynasty. In 1266, his grandfather had won the Sicilian throne at the Battle of Benevento and also aspired to rule the Byzantine Empire. To this end, he formed an alliance with King Béla IV of Hungary and his son Stephen, strengthened by a double marriage agreement. Stephen married his daughter Mary to the son of Charles I, the future Charles II of Naples, while Charles’s sister Isabella married Ladislaus, the Hungarian heir to the throne. Charles Martel’s childhood and youth were shaped by the political and military conflicts surrounding his family. In 1282, the population rebelled against Charles I’s harsh rule; the uprising became known as the Sicilian Vespers. Sicily subsequently passed to King Peter III of Aragon. Charles Martel’s father, Charles of Salerno, was captured and remained in Aragonese captivity for several years. When Charles I died in 1285, his son succeeded him as Charles II on the Neapolitan throne but was initially unable to govern in person. The government was assumed by his wife, Mary of Hungary, who later moved her residence to Provence. Under her regency, Charles Martel grew up as heir to the Kingdom of Naples. Charles II was released in 1288 under stringent conditions. He had to recognize Aragonese rule over the island of Sicily, pay a large sum of money, and leave three of his sons as hostages. Charles Martel was not among them. The following year, Charles II was officially crowned at Rieti by Pope Nicholas IV. Charles Martel then received the title Duke of Salerno and was appointed general governor of the kingdom. While his father went to war again, Charles Martel was to administer the government together with Robert d’Artois. After the murder of King Ladislaus IV of Hungary on July 10, 1290, the family asserted a claim to the Hungarian throne through Mary of Hungary. Mary was the deceased king’s sister and was supported by the pope as well as by a group of Hungarian magnates. Nevertheless, Andrew III was crowned king soon afterward. The Angevins disputed the legitimacy of his descent, and Charles II began gathering supporters for his wife’s dynastic claim. The family received support from, among others, the powerful houses of Frangepán, Babonić, Šubić, and Kőszegi. The Angevins realized that it would be difficult to enforce the claim of a female candidate. Accordingly, on January 6, 1292, Mary renounced her claim to the throne in favor of her son at Aix-en-Provence. Charles Martel formally assumed the claim in March and, from the summer of that year onward, styled himself “King of Hungary by the Grace of God.” He issued Hungarian grants and charters and was the first to use the coat of arms later associated with the Hungarian Angevins, featuring red and silver fields with Angevin lilies. He did not, however, launch a major war to enforce his claim. Charles Martel had been married to Clementia of Habsburg since 1287. During his captivity in Aragon, his father had originally agreed that he would marry Yolande, the daughter of Peter III of Aragon. Pope Honorius IV opposed this marriage, however, and instead promoted Charles Martel’s union with Clementia, a daughter of the German king Rudolf of Habsburg, to whom Charles had already been betrothed. The short marriage produced three children. Their son Caroberto was born in 1288 and later became known as Charles I of Hungary. Their daughter Beatrix followed in 1290 and became dauphine of Viennois through marriage. Their second daughter, Clementia, was born in 1293 and briefly became queen of France as the wife of Louis the Quarreler. Clementia of Habsburg died after giving birth to her third child, still in her early twenties. Two years later, the children were also left without their father, and their upbringing was undertaken by the Neapolitan royal couple. In 1295, Charles Martel traveled to Florence to receive news of his brothers’ release and welcome them there. In the city, he met the poet Dante Alighieri for the first time, and the two formed a close friendship. Charles Martel impressed the Florentines with his magnificent entry and large retinue, and the population received him with great honors. Shortly afterward, around August 19, 1295, the young and popular prince unexpectedly died of the plague in Naples. It was sometimes suspected that his uncle Robert had arranged his death by having him receive a poisoned communion wafer, but the accusation was never proven. After Charles Martel’s death, his father appointed not his eldest son Caroberto but his brother Robert as successor. Charles Martel’s remains were buried in the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta in Naples, beside his grandfather Charles I and his deceased wife. Dante later commemorated him in literary form in the Divine Comedy. After the death of Andrew III, his son Charles Robert prevailed in the Hungarian struggles for the throne. As king, he founded the Hungarian branch of the House of Anjou and began a reign lasting more than three decades, inaugurating the Hungarian Angevin era.