After Louis of Hungary had gone away, there came a legate from the
Pope to crown Louis of Taranto as King of Naples and to solemnly ratify
once more his marriage with the Queen. All of which was carried out on
May 25, 1351, and the next three days, with an accompaniment of much
feasting and tourneys; also a general amnesty was issued to all who had
in any way taken part against their lawful sovereigns in the late wars.
The ecclesiastical ceremonies took place in the Chapel of Justice built
by Charles II, to which Joan afterwards added the Church called “Chiesa
dell’ Incoronata,” in memory of her wedding to Louis of Taranto. Among
the frescoes in the Church are portraits of Joan and of Louis and
of the infant son of the Duke of Calabria, all painted by Roberto di
Oderisio or, as some say, by his master, the great Giotto himself. It
is recorded that the festivities passed off to the satisfaction of all
and were only marred by a single untoward event. For it happened that,
as King Louis was riding back from his coronation beside the Queen,
and was passing through the Porta Petruccia towards the Castel Nuovo,
a party of ladies threw down upon him an immense quantity of flowers,
making his horse rear up and break the rein. To save himself, lest it
should fall and crush him, the King sprang out of the saddle; but in
doing so he loosened the crown so that it fell from his head into the
roadway and was broken into three pieces. And that same day there fell
sick and died his infant daughter by Joan. However, the King forbade
that the festivities should be spoiled by mourning; and so they were
carried to their conclusion. And in memory of his coronation King Louis
instituted the Order of the Knot.
The short rest of his life, though, was full of wars and disquiet and
disillusionment, for he was constantly employed in repressing rebellion
and in checking the independent tendencies of his barons. Among the
most formidable of the disturbers of his peace was Louis of Durazzo,
brother of that evil Charles who had perished by order of the King of
Hungary at Aversa. Louis of Durazzo was defeated, however, and ended
his days in the Castello dell’ Uovo. But he left behind him a son,
Charles, whose life was spared in answer to the pleading of Joan, who
took charge of him and loaded him with kindnesses and married him to
her niece, Margaret, the daughter of Maria of Durazzo and of that other
Charles.
Worn out by incessant campaigning, King Louis fell victim to a malarial
fever on June 5, 1362, in the forty-third year of his age.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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