The junior Angevin house belonged to the powerful branch of the Valois. Its representatives ruled over a number of lands outside of France, including in the Neapolitan state.
Dukes of Anjou: history
If you trace the line of origin of this house, you can learn a lot of interesting things. Marguerite of Anjou of Sicily, who was the grandmother of King John of France, inherited from her father a number of lands in the counties of Anjou and Maine. She bequeathed them to her son Louis 1. So the Dukes of Anjou acquired their own property.
Giovanna 1 of Naples had no children of her own and therefore decided to give her crown to Louis 1. By doing so, she wanted to bypass Charles of Durazzo. To do this, she adopted Louis and gave him the crown. Thus began the battle for the control of the Neapolitan state between the older and younger Angevin houses.
Initially Charles of Durazzo and his son Vladislav retained control of Naples. Louis, meanwhile, annexed Provence to his possessions. Vladislav was excommunicated due to a conflict with the papacy.
In 1453, Giovanna II of Naples died. With her death, the older foolish line of the House of Angevin ceased to exist. Shortly before her death, Giovanna 2 managed toadopt Alphonse of Aragon, who was her political ally, and give him the crown. His branch became a powerful opponent for the Valois. Soon Alphonse became the ruler of Naples.
The last Duke of Anjou was René the Good. He died in 1480. After that, the Dukes of Anjou as a branch lost their power, and all their possessions passed to the royal domain.
Louise 1 of Savoy
The mother of the French King Francis 1 played a crucial role during his reign. Louise 1 of Savoy belonged to such a strong branch as the Dukes of Anjou. Her father was Charles 1 of Bourbon and her mother was Agnes of Burgundy.
Married Louise 1 at the age of 11 for a representative of the house of Valois Charles of Angouleme. Already at the age of 20, she remained a widow and did not take off her black mourning clothes until the end of her days.
Louise of Savoy was the unspoken ruler of the French state during the reign of her son. She surrounded herself with Italians and brought the brothers Philippe and René closer to her. Family alliances were at the heart of Louise's politics. So, she arranged advantageous marriages between distant relatives.
In 1523, she offered her hand to Charles of Bourbon, who had recently been widowed, but was politely refused. After that, Louise began persecution in his direction, hiding behind her rights - as the mother of the king - on the lands of the count. By this she provoked his high treason. As a result, Charles of Bourbon lost all his possessions. And in the hands of Louise of Savoy concentrated a huge domain.
According to legend, this woman died fromfear of an impending comet.
Heinrich 3
The Duke of Anjou, who later became King of Poland, was born in 1551. Henry 3 was a gifted child and naturally had a good character, a shrewd and lively mind. But under the influence of his mother, who by all means wanted to achieve power, he received a bad upbringing. Henry 3 became a pampered, depraved, capricious and lazy young man. At the age of 16, he was put at the head of the French army and took part in the battles of Moncontour and Jarnac. In 1753 he commanded the siege of La Rochelle. Because of his laziness and thoughtlessness of orders, the army suffered a crushing defeat.
Henry 3 unsuccessfully proposed to Elizabeth of England, but after the refusal he left for Krakow. He did not stay there for long, and a year later, having learned about the death of Charles 9, which opened the way for him to the French throne, he left Poland. At home, he handed over the reins of power to his mother, and he himself indulged in sensual pleasures.
In 1575, Henry 3 was crowned in Reims, and the next day he married Louise Vaudemont. The king pursued an ill-conceived policy, which set members of many social movements against himself. On August 2, 1588, the Dominican monk Jacques Clement entered the king's chambers and stabbed him to death with a dagger. With the death of Henry 3, the Valois branch ceased to exist.
Francois of Anjou
The only one of the four sons of Catherine de Medici who never became king. Duke Francois of Anjou was at the head of a number of groups that were hostile to the king. Participatedin a conspiracy against Charles 9, but he was granted forgiveness in exchange for issuing information about his associates. François supported the Protestants but later opposed them. He was proclaimed Count of Flanders, but was expelled by the Flemings themselves. Died of tuberculosis in 1584.
Rene the Good (1408-1480)
Duke of Provence, Anjou, King of Jerusalem and Sicily. Today he is better known as a talented writer than as a politician. René of Anjou was born into a family of kings and made a military career.
The legend of his kindness says that when his luck in political affairs turned against him, the ruler began to seek solace in literature and art. Of course, there is an element of fiction in this. René of Anjou remained a prominent political figure, and his creative hobbies could only be regarded as a hobby.
