Robert of Taranto

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

The coat of arms of Robert of Taranto

Robert of Taranto ( Italian Roberto di Taranto ; * around 1318 ; † September 17, 1364 in Naples ) was a prince of Taranto , Regnum Albaniae and Achaia , and titular emperor of Constantinople from the older house of Anjou . He was the eldest son of Philip I of Taranto and his second wife Katharina von Valois-Courtenay , titular empress of Constantinople and regent of the Principality of Achaia.

Life

Robert inherited his father in 1332, under the tutelage of his mother, in Taranto and Albania ( Romania ) and as overlord of the Principality of Achaia. His uncle Johann von Gravina ruled there, but he refused to pay homage to his nephew. Robert's mother therefore entered into a compromise with Johann, in which Johann Achaia gave up in favor of Robert in exchange for the Principality of Albania, where he called himself Duke of Durazzo from then on , and a payment of 5,000 gold ounces. This barter was confirmed by the Pope in 1333 and by King Robert of Naples in 1338 . After his mother died in 1346, Robert inherited from her the meaningless title of Emperor of Constantinople (as Robert II) and handed the Principality of Taranto to his younger brother Ludwig .

In the Kingdom of Naples, Robert got involved in the intrigues at the court of Queen Joan I , was probably involved in the murder of Andrew of Hungary and, after the marriage of Johannas with his brother Ludwig in 1347, became captain general of the kingdom. In the same year, after the invasion of the kingdom by King Louis I of Hungary , Robert stayed in Naples while his brother fled to Provence with the queen . Although Robert recognized the King of Hungary as the new regent, he was captured by him and brought to Hungary.

When he was released in March 1352, he übergb Pietro II. Tocco , who had worked on his release "hard", according to privilege from the year 1353, the fief Martina and Santa Maria della Vetrana (in Castellana Grotte ) in the Province of Taranto and Pomigliano d'Arco in the metropolitan city of Naples On September 26, 1353, his brother Leonardo I received from Robert the barony of Tocco ,  Vitulano , Casafolese and Pietra di Tocco near Tocco Caudio .

Robert, who had the desire to recapture the empire of Constantinople for his mother, Katharina von Valois-Courtenay, titular empress of Constantinople, went with the two Tocco brothers Pietro II and Leonardo I to Greece in 1353/54 , where it was theirs managed to take control of Corfu , Kefalonia , Zakynthos , Ithaca , Arta , the Vonitsa fortress and other places on the mainland of Morea . Robert called himself Duke of Lefkada and made Leonardo I Tocco in 1357 1st Count Palatine of Kefalonia. While Leonhard stayed behind as captain general, Robert and Pietro II returned to Naples in 1364.

Leonhard was one of the ambassadors who went to Naples in 1374 to offer the Principality of Achaia to Queen Joan I after the death of Philip II of Taranto .

Before Robert died, he named his youngest brother Philip II as his heir. Robert died on September 17, 1467 in Naples and was buried there in the Chiesa di San Giorgio Maggiore. In 1471 Andrea Agnese, canon of the church, had a grave built behind the main altar with the following epitaph :

“ILLVSTRI ROBERTI ANDEGAVENSI BIZANTINORVM IMPERATORI
, TARENTINORVMQVE PRINCIPI,
CAROLI VTRIVSQUE SICILIÆ
REGIS EX PHILIPPO FILIO NEPO-
TI AB ANNO M. CCCLXIIII. OSCVURE IA-
CENTI VSQVE DVM ANNVM M. CCCCLXXI.
ANDREÆ AGNESIS HVIVS TEMPLI PRÆSI-
DIS PIETATE AC DILIGENTIA LOCVS DATVS EST. "

The epitaph was later removed in order to build the priestly choir there. It was in a corner of the left wing of the church where you can see the insignia of the lilies with those of the Empire of Constantinople. When the church had to be almost completely destroyed by fire in 1640 and rebuilt, Robert's grave was also destroyed.

family

Robert married on September 9, 1347 in the Chiesa di San Giorgio Maggiore in Naples Marie de Bourbon († 1387 in Naples), who was a daughter of Duke Louis I of Bourbon . She was buried in the Chiesa Santa Maria la Nova . The couple had the following children:

• Katharina (* 1347; † 1362)
• Francesca (* 1349; † small)

literature

• Lodovico Antonio Muratori ; Girolamo Priuli : Rerum italicarum Scriptores from anno aerae christianae 500 to annunm 1500 . tape 24 . Mediolanum, Milan 1723 ( online version in Google book search).
• Erasmo Ricca: Istoria de 'feudi dell'Italia . tape III . Stamperia di Agostino De Pascale, Naples 1865 ( online version in Google book search).
• Antonio Summonte: Historia della città e Regno di Napoli . III, Libro IV. Stamperia Giuseppe Raimondi e Domenico Vivenzio, Naples 1748 ( online version in the Google book search).

Web links

• Robert II at genealogie-mittelalter.de

Remarks

1. ↑ Illustrious Roberto Di Angio, imperatore dei Bizantini e Principe dei Tarentini, nonché nipote [di] Carlo, Re delle Due Sicilie [sic! Napoli] by via del figlio Filippo dall'anno 1364 rimasto sepolto nell'anonimato fino all'anno 1471, è stato concesso questo loculo per la pietà e cura di Andrea Agnesis tutore di questo tempio. (Noble Robert von Anjou, emperor of the Byzantines and prince of the Tarentines, as well as grandson [of] Karl, king of the two Sicilies [sic! Naples] about [the] son ​​Philip, who stayed here anonymously from 1364 to 1471, for the pity and the Care was given to this niche by Andrea Agnesis, keeper of this temple.)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Roberto di Taranto. Foundation of Medieval Genealogy, accessed May 23, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Erasmo Ricca, Istoria de 'feudi dell'Italia, p. 274
3. ↑ The name Carlo, which occurs in Giovanni Antonio Summonte, is certainly wrong.
4. ↑ Pietra di Tocco is a huge limestone rock that served as a sighting point in ancient times.
5. ^ Pietra di Tocco. Camministorici.it, accessed on May 24, 2020 . 
6. ^ ^{A b} Antonio Summonte, Historia della città e Regno di Napoli, p. 390
7. ^ William Miller, The Latins in the Levant, p. 307
8. ^ ^{A b c} Antonio Summonte, Historia della città e Regno di Napoli, p. 391
9. ↑ Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, Volume 24, pp 906
10. ↑ Chiesa di San Giorgio Maggiore. Napoligrafia.it, accessed on May 25, 2020 . 
11. ↑ Chiesa di San Giorgio Maggiore. Guidanapoli.com, accessed May 25, 2020 . 
12. ↑ Robert II at genealogie-mittelalter.de

predecessor	Office	successor
Philip I.	Prince of Taranto 1332–1346	Ludwig
Philip I.	Prince of the Kingdom of Albania 1332–1333	Johann (Duke of Durazzo)
Johann	Prince of Achaia 1333-1364	Philip II
Johann	Count Palatine of Kefalonia 1336–1357	Leonardo I. Tocco