House of Valois-Anjou - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Valois House of Anjou, or the Younger House of Anjou, was a noble French family, deriving from the royal family, the House of Valois. They were monarchs of Naples

Kingdom of Naples

The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...

, as well as various other territories.

The house began in the 1350s, when king John II of France

John II of France

John II , called John the Good , was the King of France from 1350 until his death. He was the second sovereign of the House of Valois and is perhaps best remembered as the king who was vanquished at the Battle of Poitiers and taken as a captive to England.The son of Philip VI and Joan the Lame,...

, of the House of Valois line of Capetians

House of Capet

The House of Capet, or The Direct Capetian Dynasty, , also called The House of France , or simply the Capets, which ruled the Kingdom of France from 987 to 1328, was the most senior line of the Capetian dynasty – itself a derivative dynasty from the Robertians. As rulers of France, the dynasty...

, came to power. His paternal grandmother, Margaret, Countess of Anjou and Maine, had been a princess of the Capetian House of Anjou

Capetian House of Anjou

The Capetian House of Anjou, also known as the House of Anjou-Sicily and House of Anjou-Naples, was a royal house and cadet branch of the direct House of Capet. Founded by Charles I of Sicily, a son of Louis VIII of France, the Capetian king first ruled the Kingdom of Sicily during the 13th century...

or Elder Angevin Dynasty. She was the eldest daughter of king Charles II of Naples

Charles II of Naples

Charles II, known as "the Lame" was King of Naples, King of Albania, Prince of Salerno, Prince of Achaea and Count of Anjou.-Biography:...

and gave the county, and then duchy of Anjou to the second son of king John II of France, Louis.

Within a couple of decades, Queen Joan I of Naples

Joan I of Naples

Joan I , born Joanna of Anjou, was Queen of Naples from 1343 until her death. She was also Countess of Provence and Forcalquier, Queen consort of Majorca and titular Queen of Jerusalem and Sicily 1343–82, and Princess of Achaea 1373/5–81....

, also of the senior Angevin line, realized that she would remain childless. Although there were extant heirs of the senior branch, for example, the Anjou-Durazzo cadet line

Cadet branch

Cadet branch is a term in genealogy to describe the lineage of the descendants of the younger sons of a monarch or patriarch. In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets – titles, realms, fiefs, property and income – have...

, she decided to adopt Louis as her final heir.

Thus, in addition to the struggle of the Angevins with the Aragonese in Southern Italy, the two Angevin lines, senior and junior, now began to contest with each other for the possession of the Kingdom of Naples

Kingdom of Naples

.

The Anjou-Durazzo line was initially successful in securing control of Naples, but the Valois House of Anjou managed to secure Provence

Provence

Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...

and continued to contest the throne, with Louis II

Louis II of Naples

Louis II of Anjou was the rival of Ladislaus as King of Naples. He was a member of the House of Valois-Anjou.-Biography:...

actually in control of the city of Naples from 1389 to 1399.

The extinction of the line of the House of Anjou-Durazzo in 1435 temporarily secured Naples for the Valois House of Anjou, but they were driven from Naples by Alfonso V of Aragon

Alfonso V of Aragon

Alfonso the Magnanimous KG was the King of Aragon , Valencia , Majorca, Sardinia and Corsica , and Sicily and Count of Barcelona from 1416 and King of Naples from 1442 until his death...

in 1442.

René, the last duke of this, third, Angevin line, died in 1480, and Anjou reverted to the French crown. With the death of his nephew the Duke of Maine in 1481 all Angevin possessions, including Provence

Provence

, reverted to the crown.

The Angevin pretensions to Naples were continued intermittently by the House of Lorraine

House of Lorraine

The House of Lorraine, the main and now only remaining line known as Habsburg-Lorraine, is one of the most important and was one of the longest-reigning royal houses in the history of Europe...

, which descended from René's eldest daughter Yolande

Yolande, Duchess of Lorraine

Yolande de Bar was Duchess of Lorraine and Bar . She was the daughter of Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine, and René of Anjou . Because of her various titles she is also known as Yolande de Lorraine and Yolande d'Anjou...

, particularly during the Valois-Habsburg War of 1551 to 1559, when Francis, Duke of Guise

Francis, Duke of Guise

Francis de Lorraine II, Prince of Joinville, Duke of Guise, Duke of Aumale , called Balafré , was a French soldier and politician.-Early life:...

, a member of a cadet branch

House of Guise

The House of Guise was a French ducal family, partly responsible for the French Wars of Religion.The Guises were Catholic, and Henry Guise wanted to end growing Calvinist influence...

of the family, led an unsuccessful French expedition against Naples.

See also