221 



ANJOU. 



ANJOU. 



222 



became capricious, absurd, and cruel, though cruelty does not appear 

 to have been a vice natural to his character. He began to lose his 

 credit with the multitude ; the rebel government besides required 

 money, and, as the only expedient, taxes upon eatables were resorted 

 to again from sheer necessity. Masaniello at times felt his growing 

 weakness ; he talked of abdicating his power and returning to his 

 fishing-nets; but he had gone already too far. Some betrayers, among 

 whom was the old priest Genoino, who had been bribed to effect 

 Masauiello's ruin, encouraged him in his mad career. On July loth 

 he repaired as usual to his judgment-seat ; the people still clung to 

 him, and he was still all-powerful ; but he behaved so outrageously 

 oii that day that his friends became convinced of his insanity, and 

 watched him duriug the night On the morning of the 16th, being 

 the great holiday of the Virgin, Masaniello escaped from the care of 

 his frieuds, and ran to the church del Carmine, where the archbishop 

 was performing mass. At the end of the service Masaniello ascended 

 the pulpit, with a crucifix in his hand, and harangued the numerous 

 audience. He earnestly and pathetically reminded them of what he 

 bad done for them ; he tore his clothes, bared his breast, and showed 

 his body, extenuated by watching and continual anxiety. He entreated 

 them not to abandon him into the hands of his enemies. The people 

 were affected by his address ; but all at once Masaniello relapsed into 

 one of his fits of aberration ; he lost the thread of his discourse, and 

 talked incoherently and wildly. The people began to laugh, and many 

 left the church. Masauiello was taken down from the pulpit by the 

 priests ; the archbishop spoke to him kindly, and advised him to rest 

 and calm himself awhile in the adjoiuing convent. He was taken 

 into one of the cells, where a change of clothes was given to him, and 

 he lay down on a couch and rested a few minutes. He soon started 

 up again, and stood looking out of a window in a melancholy mood 

 upon the tranquil and beautiful Bay of Naples which lay stretched 

 before him, thinking perhaps of the happier times when he used to 

 glide on the water* in his fishing-boat, when all at once cries were 

 heard iu the corridor calling him by name. Armed men appeared at 

 the cell-door. Masaniello turned towards them : ' Here I am ; do 

 my people want me ? " A discharge from then- arquebuses was the 

 answer ; and Uasaniello fell, exclaiming, " Ungrateful traitors ! " and 

 expired. His head was cut off, fixed on a pole, and carried to the 

 viceroy, the body dragged through the streets by a troop of boys, as 

 he had himself foretold a few days before, and then thrown into a 

 ditch. The revolt however was not quelled ; the people, after appoint- 

 ing the Prince of Massa for their chief, whom they soon after mur- 

 dered, chosn Gennaro Annesse, one of the villains who had plotted 

 against Ma-auiello's life. This chief was soon superseded by thu Duke 

 of Guise, who came to try his fortune at Naples as the representative 

 of the ancient house of Anjou. [Aacos, I >' ; GUISE.] 



AN JUU, the Dukes and Counts of, were amongst the earliest noblesse 

 of France. Some chronicler gives the title to the famous Roland. 

 Charles the Bold, it is said, bestowed the province upon one of his 

 courtien, from whom the first family of counts, in general named 

 Fulke, were descended. One of this name was amongst the peers who 

 raised Hugh Capet to the throne. A count of Anjou, also styled Fulke, 

 joined the early cru-adea, and became king of Jerusalem. His son 

 Geoffrey married (in 1127) Matilda, or Maud, daughter and heiress of 

 king Henry I. of Kngland, to the crown of which kingdom he gave as 

 heir, Henry Plantageuet. Thus merged the first house of Anjou. 

 Soon after the conquest of the province by the French, it was bequeathed 

 by Louis V ill., in 1226, to his fourth BOD, Charles of Anjou, who 

 commenced the second house of Anjou. He espoused the daughter of 

 Itayuioud Berenger, hist count of Provence, and through her inherited 

 that extensive fief, including the greater part of the south of France. 

 He accompanied hU brother St. Louis in bis crusade to Kgypt, when 

 be was taken prisoner with that monarch, but was soon afterwards ran- 

 somed. He was subsequently selected by the Pope for the throne of 

 Naples, in opposition to Manfred and Conradin, the last of the Hahen- 

 stautl'en. Ctiarles of Anjou therefore made his preparations in men and 

 money for the conqueat of Naples, whilst his ally, the Pope, opened to 

 him his spiritual treasures, by preaching a crusade iu favour of Charles 

 again -i Manfred. The Angevin prince invaded Italy with an army of 

 30,000 men, in 1265 ; but that year, und almost another, passed away 

 before th" French entered the kingdom of Naples. Manfred, with a 

 force of Neapolitans, Saracens, and Arabians, took post not far from 

 Beueventum, in the plain of Grandella. The French accepted with 

 alacrity the battle that was offered, and it was fought with the utmost 

 gallantry on both sides, but Manfred was slain, and victory declared 

 for Charles, who made a most cruel use of it. Not only was no mercy 

 shown in the field, but the neighbouring town of Beneventum was 

 given up with its population to the brutal fury and avarice of the 

 boldiem. After this consummation of his crusade, Charles of Anjou 

 made his triumphant entry into Naples. His government bore the 

 same stamp with his conquest ; it was but a succession of oppression 

 and rapine. 



Charles of Anjou, as head of the Guelphic party iu Italy, was more 

 than sovereign of Naples. Ramifications of the two great parties dis- 

 I'.j ! Tuscany also, and Charles marched to chase his enemies, the 

 lins, from that country. In this enterprise also he succeeded, 

 and the G-.elphs of Florence procured his nomination as political chief 

 of that city for a period of ten years. 



The Ghibelin party however rallied. They summoned young Con- 

 radin, nephew of Manfred, from Germany to support their cause, and 

 the young prince advanced with a small but valiant army of Germans 

 into Italy. The armies met at Tagliacozzo, 5000 on the German, and 

 3000 on the Neapolitan side. Of these 3000, Charles placed 800 iu 

 ambuah, and with them waited till the Germans, having routed the 

 rest, were scattered in the pursuit. He then quitted his ambush, and 

 gained an easy victory. Couradin was taken in flight. Charles did 

 not blush to bring his young competitor to a mock trial, when he was 

 of course condemned to death. This infamous sentence, pronounced 

 against the rightful prince, so stirred up the indignation even of 

 Charles's friends, that his very son-in-law, Robert of Flanders, struck 

 the judge whilst iu the act of pronouncing the sentence, with a blow 

 that proved mortal. Charles of Anjou was present with all his court 

 at the execution of this sentence, in one of the public squares of 

 Naples. When Couradin laid down his head for the executioner, he 

 flung his glove amongst the weeping crowd, thus challenging an avenger. 

 The glove was picked up and carried to Don Peter of Aragou, who had 

 married the daughter of Manfred, and who, under this claim, became 

 the competitor of the house of Anjou. 



For the time however Charles reigned without opposition, not only 

 over Naples, but over the whole of Italy. An interregnum of the 

 pontificate left Rome at his disposal, whilst almost all the cities of 

 Lombardy imitated Florence iu acknowledging him as their protector, 

 and in swearing allegiance to him. His superstition however led him 

 astray ; he was guilty of great crimes, and he could not neglect an 

 opportunity of washing them away. This induced him, when his 

 brother St. Louis set out upon a new crusade, to assume the cross. 

 Charles however arrived in Tunis only in time to take command of the 

 army which the death of St. Louis had left without a leader, and having 

 satisfied his vow, Charles hastened to make peace on condition that 

 Tunis should be tributary to Sicily. Gain was ever his first object. In 

 returning, he confiscated all the vessels of his allies, the Genoese, which 

 had been wrecked in a storm, claiming them as waifs, although they 

 had been damaged in the service of transporting his army. 



But Charles's power, and his dream of founding an empire in Italy, 

 were overthrown by the hands that had raised him. A pope was 

 elected (Gregory X.) who had at heart the interests of Christianity 

 more than those of a party. Instead of crushing the Ghibelius, he 

 sought to reconcile them to the Guelphs ; and in order to remove the 

 anarchy of Germany, he procured the nomination of an emperor in 

 the person of Rodolph of Hapsburg, which materially checked the 

 projects of Charles. 



A vacancy of the pontificate enabled Charles to rally his party, and 

 recommence his machinations for empire, and he succeeded in procuring 

 the nomination of* a pope iu his interests. From Martin IV. (so the 

 new pontiff was called) he obtained the preaching of a new crusade, 

 directed against Greece. It was by occupying the throne of Constan- 

 tinople that Charles hoped to rise superior to Rodolph, and make good 

 eventually his imperial claim on Italy itself. While engaged in prepa- 

 rations for this great project, Peter of Aragon was making similar 

 preparations for attacking Sicily and Naples. 



Charles had raised an enemy amongst his own subjects more active 

 and deadly than any kingly rival. This WHS John of Procida, a Sicilian 

 noble, a partisan of the house of Hohenstautien, who had suffered 

 confiscation and exile on that account. This man never rested, eveii 

 duriug the years of Charles's greatest triumph and power, from exciting 

 dissatisfaction towards him, and he succeeded in procuring for the 

 king of Aragon a subsidy from the Greek emperor. Peter fitted out a 

 powerful fleet. But an accident in the meantime set fire to that trai>-. 

 of disaffection and rebellion which John of Procida hud prepared in 

 Sicily. 



It was on Easter Monday, in the year 1282, a day consecrated iu 

 Catholic countries to a mixture of gaiety and religion, that the citizens 

 of Palermo set out, according to custom, to hear vespers at the church 

 and village of Montereale, not far distant. The French soldiers and 

 authorities unsuspectingly joined the procession, and according to 

 their custom did not refrain from taking liberties with the young 

 females whom they met or whom they accompanied. One Frenchman, 

 more bold than the rest, under pretence (if searching for arms, for- 

 bidden to a Sicilian, seized a young girl, and thrust his hand into her 

 bosom. The betrothed of the girl instantly pierced the Frenchman 

 with his own sword. This act was a signal ; it corresponded so fully 

 to the intentions and feelings of all present, that the cry of " Death 

 to the French " ran from mouth to mouth. The deed accompanied 

 the word, and every Frenchman in the procession was assassinated, 

 whilst the vesper bell was still sounding. Excited by blood, the 

 assassins rushed back to Palermo to complete the massacre. Not a 

 Frenchman, save one, escaped : all, to the number of 4000, were 

 butchered ; and even Sicilian women, who had married Frenchmen, 

 suffered the same fate, in order that, the progeny of the hated strangers 

 might be eradicated from the island. 



This massacre, notorious under the name of the ' Sicilian Vespers," 

 was of course the signal of revolt. John of Procida hastened to Peter 

 nl 1 Aragon, who after some delay landed in Sicily, and assumed the 

 title of its monarch. His admiral, Roger de Loria, sailed for Messina, 

 to which place Charles had laid siege, and experienced no difficulty in 

 capturing Charles's fleet, and defeating all his projects of vengeance. 



