here - Nobility Associations

Overview
Kingdom of Naples, former state, occupying the Italian peninsula south of the
former Papal States. It comprised roughly the present regions
of Campania, Abruzzi, Molise, Basilicata, Apulia, and Calabria. Naples was the
capital.
(Above: Robert Guiscard - Musée de Hauteville-la-Guichard)
In the 11th and 12th cent, the Normans under Robert
Guiscard and his successors seized S Italy from the
Byzantines. The popes, however, claimed suzerainty over
S Italy and were to play an important part in the history
of Naples. In 1139 Roger II, Guiscard's nephew, was
invested by Innocent II with the kingdom of Sicily,
including the Norman lands in S Italy. The last Norman
king designated Constance, wife of Holy Roman Emperor
Henry VI, as his heir and the kingdom passed
successively to Frederick II, Conrad IV, Manfred,
and Conradin of Hohenstaufen.
Under them S Italy flowered, but in 1266 Charles I (Charles of Anjou), founder of
the Angevin dynasty, was invested with the crown by Pope Clement IV, who wished
to drive the Hohenstaufen family from Italy. Charles lost Sicily in 1282 but retained
his territories on the mainland, which came to be known as the kingdom of Naples.
Refusing to give up their claim to Sicily, Charles and his successors warred with the
house of Aragón, which held the island, until in 1373 Queen Joanna I of Naples
formally renounced her claim.
During her reign began the struggle for succession between Charles of Durazzo
(later Charles III of Naples) and Louis of Anjou (Louis I of Naples). The struggle
was continued by their heirs. Charles's descendants, Lancelot and Joanna II,
successfully defended their thrones despite papal support of their French rivals, but
Joanna successively adopted as her heir Alfonso V of Aragón and Louis III
and René of Anjou, and the dynastic struggle was prolonged. Alfonso defeated René
and in 1442 was invested with Naples by the pope. His successor in
Naples, Ferdinand I (Ferrante), suppressed (1485) a conspiracy of the powerful
feudal lords. Meanwhile the Angevin claim to Naples had passed to the French
crown with the death (1486) of René's nephew, Charles of Maine.
Charles VIII of France pressed the claim and in 1495 briefly seized Naples, thus
starting the Italian Wars between France and Spain. Louis XII, Charles's successor,
temporarily joined forces with Spain and dethroned Frederick (1501), the last
Aragonese king of Naples, but fell out with his allies, who defeated him.
The Hohenstaufen Dynasty - Page 149 of 200