In the meantime the King of Hungary had already entered Italy from the north, and had struck into the Neapolitan territory on the side of Apulia; and the news of his coming filled the Court of Naples with dismay. For it had been hoped that his progress might have been stayed by a legate whom the Pope had sent to meet him at Foglino, within a long day’s march of the Neapolitan frontier, and to bar the way to him with a threat of excommunication if he dared to advance any further without the permission of the Holy Father; but the Hungarian had refused to pay any attention to Papal remonstrances, and had continued on his way through the States of the Church into the Kingdom of Naples. On learning of these events Queen Joan hastily assembling such of the nobles as she knew to be loyal to her, made them swear fidelity to Louis of Taranto, her husband, and then took ship by night in one of her own Provençal galleys for Marseilles, the port of Avignon, which belonged to her—so that she was, in a sense, the landlady of the Pope. So soon, then, as Joan had departed to seek refuge at the Papal Court, Louis of Taranto, taking with him his dead mother’s Counsellor, Nicholas Acciajuoli, set out with a small force for the citadel of Capua on the River Volturno, thinking there to check the enemy. Unhappily, though, the Hungarian monarch, obtaining information of his adversary’s movements, turned aside, and, marching round the flank of the Neapolitan forces by way of the mountains of Alife and Morcone, seized upon the city of Benevento, in rear of Louis of Taranto’s army. At Benevento, however, the King of Hungary was met by a deputation of Neapolitan subjects who, frightened by the rapidity of his advance, as well as by the Queen’s flight and by the sudden departure of her husband for they knew not what place, had decided to make the best terms they could for themselves with the revengeful new-comer. And so they brought him the keys of the City, and made submission to him as the rightful successor of the late King Robert. The news of this event soon reached Louis of Taranto’s army, and at once a vile panic set in, and very soon Louis found himself deserted by all save only the faithful, intrepid Acciajuoli; for there was more courage beneath the lawyer’s gown than beneath the breastplates of all the army.