Note 202 — BOOK THE SEVENTH.

Charles II., son of Charles I., King of Sicily, was a prisoner in the hands of the Sicilians at the period of his father’s death in 1285. He was set at liberty in 1288, in pursuance of a treaty by which he acknowledged the separation and independence of the two crowns of Naples and Sicily; but Pope Nicholas IV., by whose influence the treaty was made, broke it, released Charles from his oath, and authorised him to begin the war anew. This war, which lasted twenty-four years, occupied without lustre the whole reign of Charles II. He died on the 5th of May, 1309.