In 1245 the latter passed into the family of Anjou by the marriage of Charles of Anjou, brother of St Louis, with Beatrice, heiress of Provence. The towns thought this a favourable opportunity for making an effort to recover their freedom, and accordingly Arles, Avignon, and Marseilles joined in a league against Charles. Arles and Avignon submitted on his return from the East in 1251; but Marseilles, which had resisted Raymond Béranger, resolved to maintain its Republican freedom. Four years later, however, it was compelled to submit, when its fortifications were razed. In 1262 the town again rebelled, but was blockaded and reduced by famine. The ancient liberties of Marseilles were preserved, but Charles substituted in this and the other towns an officer of his own instead of the electoral Podestà. He afterwards acquired Ventimiglia and the Maritime Alps. Charles next carried his arms into Italy, and in 1266 he drove out Manfred, and took possession of the two Sicilies. He died in 1285, and left Anjou, Provence and Naples to Charles II., whose son Robert (in 1309) left a troubled heritage to his grand-daughter Joan of Naples. In 1343 Joan’s husband, Andrew of Naples, having been murdered, and Joan being suspected of complicity in the deed, her husband’s brother, Louis of Hungary, attacked and took Naples in 1347. Joan fled to Provence, and being desirous to raise money in order to recover Naples, and also wishing to be acquitted of all connection with the crime of her husband’s murder, she sold Avignon, where the Popes were then resident, to Clement VI., and obtained his acquittal. Provence had long enjoyed a popular government with representatives in the three houses of the Clergy, Nobles, and Commons, who had control over the national purse. Queen Joan attempted to cut down these powers, and appointed an Italian as Grand Seneschal. But the nation revolted against this interference with its ancient constitution, and Louis of Anjou pressing his claim on the province, supported by an army, Joan, in order to escape from her difficulties, had to adopt him as her heir. He succeeded to the Countship in 1382, but he and his son Louis II. (1384), and grandson Louis III. (1417) were all unsuccessful in their claims on Naples. Louis III. was succeeded in 1434 by his brother René, the well known poet and painter King, who had also claims on the throne of Aragon. He died in 1480, leaving one daughter, Margaret, married to Henry VI. of England. René bequeathed Provence to his nephew, Charles III. of Maine, who soon after died, making Louis XI. of France his heir. In 1486 Charles VIII. declared the country united to France.