John of Durazzo

Johann von Anjou ( Italian Giovanni ; * around 1294; † April 5, 1335 or 1336 in Naples ) was Count of Gravina , Prince of Achaia and Duke of Durazzo from the older house of Anjou .

The coat of arms of Johann von Anjou

He was a younger son of King Charles II of Naples and his wife Maria of Hungary . Like all his brothers, Johann was engaged on the Guelfean side in the fight against Emperor Henry VII , briefly occupying Rome in 1312 . In 1313 he was appointed Captain General of Calabria by his brother King Robert of Naples . After his older brother Pietro Tempesta fell in the battle of Montecatini in 1315 , Johann took over the county of Gravina from him.

In 1318 he married the widowed Mathilde von Hennegau and thereby became Prince of Achaia. The marriage took place under duress on the orders of Johann's older brother Philip I of Taranto, who wanted to bind Achaia closer to himself. Mathilde refused, however, to transfer her sovereign rights to her husband and secretly married Hugo de La Palice. Since she was only allowed to marry with the consent of her overlord, Philip of Taranto, he used this as a pretext to withdraw Achaia from her and to give it to Johann as his new vassal. The marriage was annulled in 1321, Mathilde imprisoned in the Castell dell'Ovo and Johann married Agnes de Périgord that same year. During his reign in the Peloponnese , Johann fought for possession of Kefalonia and Zante .

After the death of Philip I , Prince of Taranto , Albania , Achaia and the Latin titular emperor of Constantinople from the older house of Anjou in 1332, John of Anjou, Prince of Achaia since 1322, refused his underage nephew Robert of Taranto as the new ruler of To recognize Achaia. To avoid a prolonged conflict with him, he renounced the Principality of Achaia in favor of Roberts along with a loan of 5,000 ounces of gold. In return he received the important commercial and strategic port city of Durazzo (Durrës). From then on, Johann Duke of Durazzo (1333–1336) called himself . As the "Duchy of Durazzo" it was to exist until 1368 with interruptions.
The agreement was confirmed by the Pope in January 1333 and by Robert of Anjou , King of Naples , on March 14, 1338.

His children from the second marriage were:

Charles (* 1323, † beheaded on January 23, 1348 near Aversa), Duke of Durazzo
Ludwig (* 1324, † July 22, 1362 in Naples), Count of Gravina
Robert (* 1326; † died September 19, 1356 in the Battle of Maupertuis )
Stephan (* 1328, † in Portugal )

Individual evidence

↑ Gustav F. Hertzberg : History of the Byzantines and the Ottoman Empire up to the end of the sixteenth century (= general history in individual representations . Main section 2: History of the Middle Ages. Part 7). Grote, Berlin 1883, p. 470 .
^ The Old French Chronicle of Morea. An Account of Frankish Greece after the Fourth Crusade (= Crusade Texts in Translation. Vol. 28). Translated by Anne Van Arsdall and Helen Moody. Ashgate, Farnham 2015, ISBN 978-0-7546-3152-1 , p. 356: "1333 - John of Gravina gives his nephew Robert, prince of Taranto (under his mother Catherin), the principality of Achaia (Morea) in exchange for other Territory. "
↑ Giovanni Schiro: Rapporti tra l'Epiro e il Regno delle Due Sicilie. Tipografia Del Giorn. Letterario, Palermo 1834, p. 147 .
↑ Jacob Phil. Fallmerayer : History of the Morea Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Theil 2. Cotta, Stuttgart et al. 1836, p. 207 .
↑ Jean Longnon, Peter Topping: Documents sur le régime des terres dans la principauté de Morée au XIVe siècle (= Documents et recherches sur l'économie des pays byzantins, islamiques et slaves et leurs relations commerciales au Moyen Age. 9, ISSN 0070- 6957 ). Mouton, Paris et al. 1969, pp. 7-8.
↑ Mihail-Dimitri Sturdza: Dictionnaire Historique et Généalogique des Grandes Familles de Grèce, d'Albanie et de Constantinople . 2nd Edition. Mihail-Dimitri Sturdza, Paris 1999, p. 477 .
↑ Holm Sundhaussen , Konrad Clewing (ed.): Lexicon for the history of Southeast Europe. 2nd, expanded and updated edition. Böhlau, Vienna et al. 2016, ISBN 978-3-205-78667-2 , p. 54.
↑ Patrick van Kerrebrouck: Les capétiens. 987-1328 (= Nouvelle Histoire Généalogique de l'Auguste Maison de France. 2). van Kerrebrouck, Villeneuve d'Ascq 2000, ISBN 2-9501509-4-2 , p. 286.

predecessor	Office	successor
Pietro Tempesta	Count of Gravina 1315–1336	Ludwig
Robert of Naples	Prince of Achaia 1322–1333	Robert of Taranto
John II Orsini	Count Palatine of Kefalonia 1325–1336	Robert of Taranto
Robert of Taranto (Prince of the Kingdom of Albania)	Duke of Durazzo 1333–1336	Karl

personal data
SURNAME	John of Durazzo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	John of Anjou; Johann von Gravina; Johann of Achaia
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Count of Gravina, Prince of Achaia, Duke of Durazzo
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1294
DATE OF DEATH	April 5, 1335 or April 5, 1336
Place of death	Naples

[1] Gustav F. Hertzberg : History of the Byzantines and the Ottoman Empire up to the end of the sixteenth century (= general history in individual representations . Main section 2: History of the Middle Ages. Part 7). Grote, Berlin 1883, p. 470 .

[2] The Old French Chronicle of Morea. An Account of Frankish Greece after the Fourth Crusade (= Crusade Texts in Translation. Vol. 28). Translated by Anne Van Arsdall and Helen Moody. Ashgate, Farnham 2015, ISBN 978-0-7546-3152-1 , p. 356: "1333 - John of Gravina gives his nephew Robert, prince of Taranto (under his mother Catherin), the principality of Achaia (Morea) in exchange for other Territory. "

[3] Giovanni Schiro: Rapporti tra l'Epiro e il Regno delle Due Sicilie. Tipografia Del Giorn. Letterario, Palermo 1834, p. 147 .

[4] Jacob Phil. Fallmerayer : History of the Morea Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Theil 2. Cotta, Stuttgart et al. 1836, p. 207 .

[5] Jean Longnon, Peter Topping: Documents sur le régime des terres dans la principauté de Morée au XIVe siècle (= Documents et recherches sur l'économie des pays byzantins, islamiques et slaves et leurs relations commerciales au Moyen Age. 9, ISSN 0070- 6957 ). Mouton, Paris et al. 1969, pp. 7-8.

[6] Mihail-Dimitri Sturdza: Dictionnaire Historique et Généalogique des Grandes Familles de Grèce, d'Albanie et de Constantinople . 2nd Edition. Mihail-Dimitri Sturdza, Paris 1999, p. 477 .

[7] Holm Sundhaussen , Konrad Clewing (ed.): Lexicon for the history of Southeast Europe. 2nd, expanded and updated edition. Böhlau, Vienna et al. 2016, ISBN 978-3-205-78667-2 , p. 54.

[8] Patrick van Kerrebrouck: Les capétiens. 987-1328 (= Nouvelle Histoire Généalogique de l'Auguste Maison de France. 2). van Kerrebrouck, Villeneuve d'Ascq 2000, ISBN 2-9501509-4-2 , p. 286.