This was practically the end of that war of the Hungarians against
Queen Joan and Louis of Taranto, after whom messengers were dispatched
that night to Gaeta, asking them to return, and to lead their subjects
once more against the foreigners, who, said the message, had been
beaten back from Naples and were in full retreat upon their former
eastern base about Benevento. Soon after the return to Naples of Joan
and Louis, however, a truce for twelve months was arranged between
them and the Hungarian, who was now more willing to listen to reason
than he had been before; so that when the Pope was invited by Joan to
mediate between them, he welcomed the suggestion thankfully enough.
Pope Clement’s first proposal, though, that Joan should make the King
of Hungary the heir to her crown, and so put her sister Maria out of
the succession, Joan refused even to contemplate; and then the Pope
suggested that she should pay a lump sum in cash to the King of Hungary
as ransom for all the fortresses that he still held in his hands in the
Kingdom of Naples; in return for which he was to abandon all further
claims upon and to the Crown.
To this Joan agreed willingly; but when the proposal was made known to
the King of Hungary, he said: “It is not for money or lands that I have
fought, but for vengeance on my brother’s murderers. But now my work
is done; the angry shades are satisfied, and I am going back to my own
country.” Nor would he accept so much as a single piece of money for
all the strong places and the power that were still his in the Kingdom
of Naples; but gave all over, undefiled by money, to Joan, and then
departed as he had come, triumphant and unapproachable.
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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