Note 258 — Chapter XXIII

It will be remembered that the popes, in their long struggle with Frederick II and the Hohenstaufens, finally called in Charles of Anjou, the brother of St. Louis, and gave to him both Naples and Sicily. See above, p. 185. Sicily revolted in 1282 and was united with the kingdom of Aragon, which still held it when Charles V came to the Spanish throne. The older branch of the house of Anjou died out in 1435 and Naples was conquered by the king of Aragon, and was still in his family when Charles VIII undertook his Italian expedition. The younger branch of the house of Anjou had never reigned in Naples, but its members were careful to retain their asserted title to it, and, upon the death of their last representative, this title was transferred to Louis XI. He, however, prudently refused to attempt to oust the Aragonese usurpers, as he had quite enough to do at home.