Philip I (Taranto)

Philip I of Taranto

Philip I of Taranto ( Italian Filippo d'Angiò ; * November 10, 1278 ; † December 24, 1331 in Naples ) from the older house of Anjou was Prince of Taranto , Albania , Achaia , Despot of Romania , from 1313 Latin Titular Emperor of Constantinople and founder of the Anjou-Taranto dynasty .

Life

Origin and youth

Coat of arms of Philip I of Taranto

Philip belonged to the Anjou family and was the fourth eldest son of King Charles II of Anjou and Maria of Hungary , a daughter of King Stephen V of Hungary . He spent his childhood in the mainland kingdom of Sicily , where he was raised by Etienne de La Forêt . On November 3, 1289, Charles II had him come to Provence , where in June 1291 the king commissioned the Prince of Achaia , Florence of Hainaut and Pierre de l'Isle to marry Philip and Thamar Angelina Komnene , the daughter of Nikephorus I Negotiate Komnenos Dukas , the despot of Epirus , and his second wife Anna Palaiologina Kantakouzini , a niece of the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos . To make the wedding more attractive, Charles II suggested the possibility of transferring the Principality of Taranto to the son; Thamar, on the other hand, would have received a third of the despotate Epirus as a dowry.

Philip's first marriage

After long and complicated negotiations, an agreement was reached at the end of 1293. On December 16, 1293 Philip received from his father the principality of Taranto with the center of Taranto as a fief, and transferred other places to him, such as Matera , Laterza , Ostuni , Oria , Nardò , Torre di Mare, Ugento , Rufiano, Oratino , Motonato , Allano , Gallano, San Benedetto, Marigliano and much of the County of Acerra . On February 4, 1294 Philip was knighted and in July 1294 the final marriage contract was signed. Thamar's dowry included the castles of Nafpaktos , Vonitsa , Euloco, Angelocastro and Ioannina . One half of Epirus was supposed to die before his wife died in the case of the despot Nikephoros, the other half only after the death of Despina Anna, the bride's mother. Thus their son Thomas was excluded from the line of succession .

The Principality of Achaia on Morea and the Duchy of Athens in the Latin Empire after the 4th Crusade in 1204

When Charles II with his eldest son. Charles Martel in the Abruzzo had to go to the new Pontiff Celestine V to meet Philip I of Taranto became on July 12, 1294 Vicar General appointed the kingdom. On August 13, 1294, Charles II transferred to his son suzerainty over Achaia, Athens and Albania, the Angevin rights and claims to Thessaly and Romania, the Angiovinian possessions of Corfu and Buthroton for an annual rate of "six velvet robes". Karl kept supreme power for himself . Philip did not accept the title of King of Albania. He called himself only "Despot of Romania and Lord of the Kingdom of Albania ". The wedding of Philip and Thamar in Naples in early September 1294 ended the first phase of the project of founding a feudal domain dependent on the Kingdom of Sicily on both sides of the Ionian Sea . Philip was now one of the most powerful feudal lords of the empire with an annual income of 2000 ounces of gold. Thus Philip I of Taranto was supreme liege lord over all Frankish dominions in Romania instead of the kings of mainland Sicily. On September 6th, Philip appointed Guido de Charpigny , Baron von Vostitsa , his mandate and Baili to take possession of the dowry.

Vespers Wars (1282–1302)

The Kingdom of Sicily around 1154

9 - Terra d'Otranto, 8 - Terra di Bari, 7 - Capitanata

In 1294 and 1295 Philip held the office of vicar of the kingdom in the absence of his father . It was not until 1299, when the Sicilian Vespers Wars had reached their climax, that Philip was given the opportunity to act autonomously on a political and military level. In connection with the dispute between the Spanish Aragonese and the French Anjou for the Sicilian throne, Philip received the order in June 1299 to go to Catania with a fleet of 40 galleys , which had been joined shortly before by united Angevin-Aragonese troops ( Robert von Anjou and Frederick III of Aragón against his brother James II of Aragón ) to bring reinforcements to the leader of the Anjou, his older brother Robert of Anjou. With the united troops, the brothers were to go against the King of Sicily , Frederick III, who was with his army near Enna ( Battle of Capo d'Orlando of July 4, 1299).

The decision of Charles II to send Philip to Sicily aroused the protests of Pope Boniface VIII and the cardinals Gerardo di Parma and Matteo Rosso Orsini . Despite all warnings, Philip went to Sicily in the autumn of 1299 . On the high seas, however, he changed plans by deciding to land in Trapani . The mistake of dividing the Angevin troops allowed Frederick III. to counterattack by attacking the two armies separately. The Aragonese ruler led his troops to Trapani, where he clashed with Philip's contingent in the Falconara plain (today's Birgi) ( Battle of Falconara ). Due to the numerical superiority of the Aragonese and some tactical mistakes by Philip, Frederick III was victorious. on December 1, 1299 over the Anjou troops. Philip and many Anjou dignitaries were captured and imprisoned in Cefalù and later in Butera near Casteltermini . With the peace treaty of Caltabellotta of August 31, 1302 Philip was released and returned to Naples on October 16.

Immediately after his return from captivity, Philip received the principality of Taranto back, which Charles II had in the meantime administered by a vicar. With the second investiture of 1304, Philip received the principality of Taranto expanded. Terra d'Otranto , Terra di Bari and Capitanata belonged to the principality . In addition, Philip received the high criminal justice of his fief.

Balkan expeditions

In the following years Philip took offensive action against Byzantium and in 1304 recaptured Durazzo, which had been lost to the Serbs in 1292 . He also tried to strengthen his position in Achaia and Epirus, where the despot Nikephorus I had died between 1296 and 1298.

In April 1304, Angevin ambassadors demanded half the despotate from the widow Nikephorus, Anna Palaiologina Kantakouzini, as provided for in the marriage contract of July 1294. Anna did not accept this request, however, because she wanted to assure her son Thomas that she would rule Epirus. In addition, the Angiovinian Catholic religious policy had aroused resentment among the Epirotians, because contrary to the agreements that guaranteed the Greeks religious freedom, Philip's representatives in the areas belonging to the prince did not tolerate the Orthodox religion. Charles II replied with war.

In June 1304 Philip of Savoy , since 1301 Prince of Achaia (Italian Acaia ), invaded Epirus. After an initial success, Anna Palaiologina Kantakouzini persuaded him to withdraw to Achaia by bribing him. When the betrayal of Philip of Savoy (husband of Isabelle de Villehardouin , daughter of Wilhelm II of Villehardouin ; see: Agreement of Viterbo) became known in Naples on October 6th, Charles granted his son direct rule over Achaia. In 1306 Philip and Isabelle were called to Naples, where Philip was accused of not having participated sufficiently in Charles' campaign against the despotate of Epirus; his wife Isabelle de Villehardouin, in turn, was accused of not having obtained the necessary consent from Charlemagne for their third marriage, as stipulated in the Viterbo Agreement. On June 5, 1306, the couple, the princes of Achaia , were officially deposed by Charles II.

Philip I of Taranto had not personally attended at the beginning of the events of 1304 because he was in Catalonia . From autumn 1304 he personally led the preparations for the Epirus campaign. His father promised him funding of 6000 ounces and on October 7th he appointed him captain-general of the provinces of Capitanata, Terra di Bari and Terra d'Otranto so that he could dispose of the resources of all of Puglia . But the financial difficulties proved insurmountable, so that on June 8, 1305 Philip reached an agreement with the ambassadors of Despina, in which the House of Epirus was promised half of the despotate, which was originally - after the marriage contract of July 1294 - promised to the house of Epirus Philip should fall. The treaty never came into force because Philip and Charles II concluded an alliance with Giovanni II Orsini , Count Palatine of Kefalonia , to conquer Epirus on October 18, 1305 .

At the beginning of 1306, preparations were made to finance the company. Filippo pledged the annual earnings of Nafpaktos for 31,000 hyperpyrones and, with his father's consent, sold part of his fiefdom for 16,000 ounces. Beginning in June 1306 Philip ran with a fleet of 24 galleys, 4,000 knights and 6,000 infantrymen of Apulia from. With this expedition, Philip wanted to strengthen his rule over Achaia on the one hand, to which Philip of Savoy still claimed despite the deposition, and on the other, Philip planned with his army to support the French nobility of Morea and the troops of Giovanni Orsini To attack Epirus. In Achaia Philip found general recognition. After a short campaign in Byzantine territory with the capture of Tripotamo Castle , he invaded Epirus. The expedition ended in total failure, however, as the Angevin troops were decimated by a dysentery epidemic . Thus Philip was forced to conclude a peace treaty with Despina; but was able to get back the castles of Nafpaktos and Anaktorio and the Albanian port of Butrint, which was now occupied by Epirotian troops.

The death of Charles II on May 5, 1309 destroyed Philip's plan to wage war against Epirus again. When the new King Robert of Anjou had to go to the Curia of Avignon , he appointed his brother, Philip I of Taranto, captain-general of the kingdom on June 6, 1309, so that Philip was forced to stop the campaign from Romania to to postpone the return of the king. Another event overturned Philip's plans. Shortly after Robert's return to the kingdom, the troops of the Duke of Athens , Walter V of Brienne , were defeated by the Catalan Company in the Battle of Kephissos in Boiotien on March 15, 1311 . King Robert took the new situation into account and proposed to the Aragonese King of Sicily, Frederick III, that the island of Sicily be handed over to him in return for rule over the Principality of Achaia and the remains of the Kingdom of Albania. However, the latter did not accept Roberto's proposals.

Philip's second marriage

Portrait of Catherine de Valois-Courtenay; Chapel of the Madonna di Montevergine in Mercogliano

In the autumn of 1311 Philip went to Vienne to take part in the council convened there by Clement V as the representative of King Robert . Philip's main intention was to obtain permission at the council to marry Catherine de Valois-Courtenay , daughter of Charles I of Valois and Catherine de Courtenay , heiress of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, a marriage that would be terminated by the annulment ( 1309) of the previous marriage to Thamar Angelina Komnene of Epirus, would have been possible. Pope Clement V refused the marriage dispensation because of Catherine's previous engagement to Hugo V , Duke of Burgundy (1302). Under pressure from Catherine's uncle, King Philip of France , who considered her fiancé Hugo unsuitable to retake Constantinople, the betrothal was announced by Catherine on September 30, 1312. At the same time, their intention was announced to marry Prince Philip of Taranto, who had been divorced since 1309, so that the Pope granted the desired marriage dispensation on December 27, 1312.

The King of France laid down the modalities of the marriage contract. On May 6, 1313, compensation of 55,000 livres tournois was provided for the Duke of Burgundy. Ludwig , Hugo's younger brother, was to marry Mathilde von Hennegau , who also made claims on Achaia, so that Philip should hand over the principality of Achaia to the couple, for which they had to pay homage to him. Philip undertook to obtain the consent of his brother, since he had received the fief of Achaia from him. On July 29, 1313, the final marriage contract was signed in Fontainebleau : In the event that Philip and Catherine were to be heirs, the Latin Empire would fall to the parents when they died. If the marriage remained childless and Catherine died before Philip, half of the empire should go to Philip and the other half to his eldest son Karl and his bride Jeanne de Valois. But these should receive their share of the empire as a fiefdom from Philip, who was the only one to bear the imperial title. In the event that Charles of Taranto's marriage should remain without an heir, all rights to the throne of Constantinople should revert to the House of Valois . For his part, Philipp promised Caterina the county of Acerra as Wittum and an annual yield of 1200 gold ounces.

On the same day of the marriage agreement (July 29, 1313), Philip I of Taranto and Catherine de Valois-Courtenay and Louis of Burgundy and Mathilde of Hainaut married in a double wedding. The latter were enfeoffed by Philip of Taranto with the Principality of Achaia. Thus Philip succeeded in adding that of the Emperor of Constantinople (as Philip II) to all his titles - a meaningless title like that of the Despot of Romania, since it was not connected with any real power. For the time being there was no way for Philip to enforce his claims militarily and the following years were reserved for other tasks.

Conflict between Guelfs and Ghibellines

Shortly after Philip returned to southern Italy, he took part in the failed invasion of Sicily in 1314 under his brother Robert, who led his younger brother Pietro , Count of Eboli , in the summer of 1314 as the leader of the Guelphs against the Ghibellines of Pisa , who were loyal to the emperor, under the condottiere Uguccione della Faggiola sent. Since the operation of the Count of Eboli was unsuccessful, Florence asked King Robert to send Philip to Tuscany as captain of the Guelf mercenary troops . In the battle of Montecatini on August 29, 1315 Philip suffered a crushing defeat in which his son Karl and his brother Pietro Tempesta fell.

Philip made sporadic attempts to conquer Constantinople, but without success. While these efforts were still going on, Philip, with his brothers, King Robert and John , Count of Gravina , went to Genoa in July 1318 to liberate the city from a siege of the Ghibellines. After this successful undertaking, which granted Robert rule of the city for ten years, the three brothers went to Avignon in the spring of 1319 to the papal curia, where Philip stayed until the summer of 1320.

Dispute over the Principality of Achaia

After the death of Louis of Burgundy (August 2, 1316), his brother, Duke Odo IV of Burgundy , claimed the Principality of Achaia for himself, since the Treaty of 1313 stipulated that it should remain in the House of Burgundy in the absence of heirs . Ludwig's widow, Mathilde von Hennegau, who had received a lifelong usufruct, did not want to give up her claims to Achaia because, as the daughter of Isabella von Villehardouin, she regarded herself as the legitimate heir to the principality. Philip I of Taranto also claimed the rule of the principality, since after Ludwig's death he viewed the principality as an expired fiefdom. To add to the confusion, King Robert of Anjou joined this dispute as supreme feudal lord. Shortly before he left for Genoa, Mathilde had Mathilde taken to Naples and forced her to marry his brother Johann, Count von Gravina, and to cede all her rights to Achaia to him. Now Johann saw himself as Prince of Acaia, so that an open conflict soon arose between him and Philipp. At the same time, the despot of Epirus Thomas I Komnenos Dukas Angelos, with whom Philip had just reconciled, was murdered by his nephew Nikolaos I Orsini (1318), who then took power in Epirus and allied himself firmly with Byzantium.

On April 19, 1319 Philip gave his second son Philip, son of Thamar, the despotate of Epirus. As for Achaia, Phillipp tried to reach an agreement with Duke Odo IV of Burgundy and went personally to northern France in the summer of 1320 . However, on April 14, 1321, Duke Odo ceded his rights to Achaia for 40,000 livres tournois to Count Ludwig von Clermont . Philip reached an agreement on April 19, 1321 with the Duke of Clermont, who had no intention of asserting his rights to Achaia, so that Achaia went to the Principality of Taranto.

On January 5, 1322 King Robert managed to lead two of his brothers to a compromise and enfeoffed Philip I of Anjou with Achaia, who in turn enfeoffed his younger brother Johann. In the spring of 1322 the brothers (Philipp and Johann) organized an expedition to Albania together with Johann's son, Robert, to recapture Durazzo, which had fallen into Serbian hands again in 1318 and was practically autonomous from 1320. After this goal was achieved, the harmony between the brothers abruptly ceased, so that from autumn 1322 each began to organize a campaign in Greece on their own. It was not until May 1323, under threat of an imminent attack on Corfu on the part of the Despot of Epirus, that the brothers decided again to coordinate their action together and signed an agreement on May 19 for an expedition to Epirus, Achaia and the Gulf of Corinth .

The last few years

In January 1325, Johann, in command of the company, set sail with 25 galleys in the direction of Morea; however, the expedition ended in disaster. In the middle of 1326 Philip began to organize a new intervention in the Balkans and tried to support the House of Aragon, which in the meantime had settled in the Duchy of Athens in order to be able to use the Catalan Company for its purposes.

After the refusal of King Frederick III. of Sicily to enter into marital relations with the house of Anjou-Taranto, Philip proposed a double wedding to King James II , King of Aragon and brother of Frederick, at the end of the year . The son of Philip I of Anjou, Philip, son of Tamar, was to marry Violante of Aragón, the daughter of Jacob and Blanka of Anjou, Raimund Berengar , son of Jacob. The negotiations were brought to a successful end, so that on October 14, 1327 Pope John XXII issued the necessary marriage dispensations . The double wedding was celebrated in the summer of the following year. Philip's hope of persuading the Catalan Company to work together, however, could not be realized.

Oswald Achenbach : Basilica San Domenico Maggiore and Piazza San Domenico Maggiore in Naples, 19./20. century

While Philip I was negotiating with the Aragonese in January 1327, his son Philip began his preparations for an expedition to Epirus, which was protracted by an attack by the Epirots on Corfu and Nafpaktos. However, the death of young Philip in May 1330 thwarted any business.

In August 1331 Philip I of Anjou made an agreement with Walter von Brienne , the titular duke of Athens, whereby he undertook to invade Epirus in autumn 1331 while Philip was supposed to finance the company. Two thirds of the conquests should go to Philip and the rest to the Duke. The campaign actually took place and Walter achieved some success as well. Arta was conquered in the autumn of 1331 ; where Giovanni II. Orsini, Count Palatine of Kefalonia, had established himself as a despot and was forced to take the vassal oath of Philip. Attempts to retake Athens and Boeotia , however , were thwarted by a Venetian alliance with the Catalans and their refusal to submit to battle.

With Philip's death on December 24, 1331, the last attempts to re-establish the Latin imperial dignity in Constantinople ended. He was buried in the Basilica of San Domenico Maggiore in Naples.

Descendants

Children resulting from the marriage to Thamar Angelina Komnene (the marriage was annulled in 1309):

• Karl (* 1296; † fallen on August 29, 1315 near Montecatini), Vicar of Romania
• Philip (* 1297; † May 17, 1330), from April 19, 1319 Titular despot of Epirus ⚭ 1328 Violante of Aragón (* 1310; † after July 19, 1353), daughter of James II of Aragón
• Johanna (* 1297; † 1323) ⚭ 1st with King Oschin of Armenia (* 1282; † 1320); ⚭ 2. with Oshin of Korykos († 1329), regent of Lesser Armenia
• Margarete (* 1298; † 1340) ⚭ December 1325 with Walter VI. von Brienne († 1356), Duke of Argos and Nauplia , Count of Lecce
• Blanka (* 1309; † 1337) ⚭ 1328 Raimund Berengar (* 1308; † 1366), Count of Empúries (Ampurias) and of Prades from the House of Barcelona
  • John I (1338–1398), Count of Empúries, 1. ⚭ 1364 Blanka of Sicily († 1372), daughter of King Peter II of Sicily , 2. ⚭ 1373 Joanna ( Juana ) of Aragón (* 1344 † 1385), daughter of King Peter IV of Aragon
  • Johanna (* 1330; † 1395), ⚭ 1346 Fernando Manuel, Lord of Villena (* 1332; † 1350/1355), son of Duke Juan Manuel of Villena
  • Blanka (* 1334; †?), ⚭ Hugo Folc II. Count of Cardona (* 1330; † 1400), from the House of Folch de Cardona
• Maria (*?; † 1368), abbess of the monastery of San Benedetto in Conversano

Children from his marriage to Catherine de Valois-Courtenay were:

• Robert (around 1318; † September 10, 1364), Prince of Taranto and Titular Emperor of Constantinople; died without leaving heirs
• Ludwig (* 1320, † May 26, 1362), Prince of Taranto, King of Naples ⚭ 1348 with his cousin Queen Johanna I of Naples
• Margaret (around 1325; † 1380); 1. ⚭ 1344 with Edward Balliol († 1364), ex-King of Scotland ( House Balliol ); 2. ⚭ 1352 with François des Baux ( Francesco del Balzo ; † 1422), Count of Montescaglioso and Avellino
  • Jacques des Baux (son from the second marriage), Prince of Taranto and Achaia, and Titular Emperor of Constantinople.
• Maria (* 1327; † died young)
• Philip II (* 1329 - † November 25, 1374), Prince of Taranto and Achaia

See also

• History of Taranto

literature

• Johann Samuelansch: General encyclopedia of the sciences and arts . 58th Part, First Section. AG. Hermann Brockhaus, Leipzig 1867 ( online version in the Google book search).
• Gustav Friedrich Hertzberg: History of Greece: since the death of ancient life up to the present . tape 2 . Friedrich Andreas Perthes, Gotha 1877 ( online version in the Google book search).
• Andreas Kiesewetter: Filippo I d'Angiò, imperatore nominal di Costantinopoli . In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani . tape 47 , 1997 ( treccani.it ).
• Peter Topping: The Morea, 1311-1364 . In: Harry W. Hazard, A History of the Crusades . tape III . University Press, Wisconsin 1975, ISBN 0-299-06670-3 , pp. 104-140 ( wisc.edu ).

Web links

Commons : Philip I of Taranto  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Charles Cawley: Principi di Tarento (Princes of Taranto). Retrieved May 14, 2018 . 
• Manfred Hiebl: Philipp I of Anjou, Prince of Taranto. Retrieved May 9, 2018 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa} Filippo I d'Angiò, imperatore nominal di Costantinopoli
2. ^ Luigi Giuseppe De Simone: Degli Angioini principi di Taranto 1292-1373 . Tipografia Nazionale, Tarent 1866, p. 6 (Italian, online version in Google Book Search).
3. ↑ General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts, p. 336
4. ↑ Michael Angelo Schipa: Filippo, principe di Taranto e di Romania . In: Enciclopedia Italiana . 1932 (Italian, treccani.it ).
5. ^ Peter Topping, p. 106
6. ↑ ^{a b c} General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts, p. 337
7. ↑ Peter Topping, p. 107
8. ↑ Matteo Camera: Annali delle Due Sicilie dall'origine e fondazione della monarchia fino tutto il regno dell'augusto sovrano Carlo 3. Borbone . tape 2 . Stamperia e Cartiere del Fibreno, Naples 1860, p. 62 (Italian, online version in Google Book Search).
9. ^ Attilio Mori, Giuseppe Paladino, Giovanni Perez: Caltabellotta . In: Enciclopedia Italiana . 1930 (Italian, treccani.it ).
10. ↑ Luigi Giuseppe De Simone, p. 10
11. ^ Arturo Galanti: L'Albania: notizie geografiche, ethnografiche e storiche . Societa editrice Dante Alighieri, Rome 1901, p. 115 (Italian). , accessed November 8, 2016
12. ^ L'Albania: notizie geografiche, ethnografiche e storiche, p. 119
13. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Ramon of Barcelona. Retrieved May 18, 2018 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
Charles II the Lame	Prince of Taranto 1294–1331	Robert
Charles II the Lame	Prince of the Kingdom of Albania 1294–1331	Robert
Isabella von Villehardouin and Philip of Savoy	Prince of Achaia 1306-1313	Mathilde of Hainaut and Ludwig of Burgundy