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control. Charles was Count of Provence by right of his wife, maintaining a rich base
for projecting what would be an expensive Italian war. For two years Urban IV
negotiated with Manfred regarding whether Manfred would aid the Latins in
regaining Constantinople in return for papal confirmation of the Hohenstaufen
rights in the realm. Meanwhile the papal pact solidified with Charles a promise of
papal ships and men, produced by a crusading tithe, and Charles's promise not to
lay claims on Imperial lands in northern Italy, nor in the Papal States. Charles
promised to restore the annual census or feudal tribute due the Pope as overlord,
some 10,000 ounces of gold being agreed upon, while the Pope would work to
block Conradin from election as King of the Germans.
Before the arrival in Italy of his candidate Charles, Urban IV died at Perugia on 2
October 1264. His successor was Pope Clement IV, who immediately took up the
papal side of the arrangement.
Charles of Anjou and Sicilian unrest
Charles regarded his Sicilian as a springboard his Mediterranean ambitions, which
included the overthrow of the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus, and
the capture of Constantinople, then the richest city in the western world. Although
his rule was quite just, unrest was simmering in Sicily because the island played a
very subordinate role in Charles's empire — its nobles had no share in the
government of their own island and were not compensated by lucrative posts
abroad, as were Charles's French, Provençal and Neapolitan subjects; also the taxes
were heavy but they were spent on Charles's wars outside Sicily, making Sicily
somewhat of a donor economy to Charles' nascent empire.
The Sicilian had annoyed him by a long rebellion early in his reign. He never paid a
meaningful visit to the island and never had he inspected its government
administration. The officials there were more corrupt and oppressive than on the
mainland where he could exercise a personal control. Yet, in spite of their earlier
insubordination, Charles does not seem to have foreseen trouble from the Sicilians.
Charles neglected Sicily, he found it poorer and less useful to him that his other
dominions. It is here that the Sicilian theme associates with the European.
Charles´s failure as an empire builder lay in his failure to understand the
Mediterranean world of his time. He had been content with the role of King of
Sicily he might have had time to learn how to govern his subjects there instead as
the soldier of god, chosen by the Holy church to be its champion. The Western
Empire had fallen because it had opposed the Church. Christendom had split into
too many units with their own local interests; nationalism was growing too fast,
Charles himself was affected by it.
The Hohenstaufen Dynasty - Page 165 of 200