Friedrich III. (Sicily)

Friedrich III. (* around 1341 in Catania ; † July 27, 1377 in Messina ), called the simple-minded or the simple , was King of Sicily as well as Duke of Athens and Neopatria from 1355 .

Life

Friedrich III. was a son of King Peter II of Sicily from the House of Aragon and his wife Elisabeth of Carinthia . In 1355 he followed his brother Ludwig , who had died without legitimate descendants, as King of Sicily and, after the death of Frederick I of Athens, as Duke of Athens and Neopatria .

He was initially under the reign of his eldest sister Konstanze, after her death in 1355 his younger sister Eufemia ran the government until 1357. In 1361 he married Konstanze, daughter of Peter IV , King of Aragon, with whom he had his only legitimate child: Maria I , Queen of Sicily.

The beginning of Frederick's reign was overshadowed by multiple interrupted wars with the Kingdom of Naples . In 1372 he came to a peace treaty with the Neapolitans and the Pope , after which he was referred to as the tributary king of "Trinacria", which amounted to the de facto recognition of the autonomy of Sicily. To confirm this peace, Friedrich married the Neapolitan noblewoman Antonia del Balzo, daughter of Francesco I, Duke of Andria in 1377 .

Friedrich showed himself in no way equal to his task as king in constant rivalry with the barons. He relied on his favorite Count Enrico di Ventimiglia-Gerace, who was eventually driven out in a rebellion. In 1374 Friedrich escaped an assassination attempt in the church of Messina.

Negotiations about a third marriage between the king and Antonia, daughter of Bernabò Visconti , became irrelevant when Frederick died in 1377.

“Friedrich the simple- minded ” is often confused with Friedrich II. (Ruled 1296-1337), who himself Friedrich III. named, in memory of his predecessor, the Staufer Emperor Friedrich II , who was also King of Sicily.

literature

• Salvatore Fodale: Frederick IV (III) of Aragón . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 4, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-7608-8904-2 , Sp. 945 f.
• Salvatore Fodale:  Federico IV (III) d'Aragona. In: Fiorella Bartoccini (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 45:  Farinacci – Fedrigo. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1995, pp. 694-700.

predecessor	Office	Successor
Ludwig	King of Sicily 1355–1377	Maria
Friedrich I.	Duke of Athens 1355-1377	Maria
Friedrich I.	Duke of Neopatria 1355-1377	Maria