Joanna I of Naples (29 January 1326-27 July 1382), also known in Italian as Giovanna of Naples, was Queen of Naples from 1343 to 1382, succeeding Robert of Naples and preceding Charles III of Naples.
Biography[]
Joanna was born on 29 January 1326, the eldest surviving child of Robert of Naples and Marie of Valois. Joanna was from the House of Anjou, and she was appointed as her father's successor when his male heirs died. In 1333 she became Duchess of Calabria and Princess of Salerno in 1334, and in 1343 she inherited the Kingdom of Naples from her father on his death. She had her husband Andrew of Calabria murdered in 1345 so that she would be the sole ruler of Naples, and in the late 1340s her lands in Savoy and northern Italy would be conquered by enemies of the Angevins. Her general Reforce d'Agoult was defeated and killed at the Battle of Gamenario on 23 April 1345, and on 22 August 1347 she married her cousin Louis of Taranto, son of Philip I of Taranto. She gave him several high-ranking titles even before they married, leading to her popularity declining, and her late husband's brother Louis II of Hungary launched an invasion of Italy on behalf of her brother's family. In 1348, the Hungarians conquered Naples while Joanna was in Marseilles, and her cousin Charles of Durazzo was executed. After the outbreak of the Black Death, the Hungarians left Naples, and on 17 August 1348 she returned to Naples with her family. The family gained popularity due to the people calling the Hungarians "barbarians" and "rabid", and when her husband died in 1382, Joanna married James IV of Majorca. However, Pere IV of Aragon had previously imprisoned him for 14 years, leaving him with a fragile state of mind. The debilitated James was excluded from the rulership of Naples, and in 1366 he decided to return to Majora, being captured by Henry II of Castile and later sent to Bertrand du Guesclin. In 1372, Joanna officially recognized the loss of Sicily to the House of Aragon, and she supported Pope Clement VII against Pope Urban VI, the archbishop of Bari. In 1380, she adopted Louis I of Anjou (uncle of Charles VI of France) as her heir, but rival claimant Duke Charles of Durazzo conspired against her. Louis led an army from Avignon towards Naples to rescue Joanna, but Charles of Durazzo had her transferred to the fortress of San Fele and smothered between two feather mattresses by four Hungarians while her hands and feet were tied. Charles took power for himself as Charles III.