War of The Sicilian Vespers - Aragonese Invasion of Italy

Aragonese Invasion of Italy

Soon after the Vespers itself, the Sicilians turned to Peter of Aragon to deliver them from French dominion. An Aragonese fleet under Peter himself had landed at Collo, now in eastern Algeria, and to those troops the Sicilians sent envoys. Peter was offered the throne of Sicily and accepted. Simon de Brie, who had taken the name Pope Martin IV, had meanwhile refused to help the Sicilian communes and the rebels were excommunicated, as was the Byzantine emperor and the Ghibellines of northern Italy.

Charles gathered his forces, abandoning Crusading hopes, in Calabria and made a landing near Messina and began a siege. Five months after the Vespers, on 30 August, Peter landed at Trapani. He quickly marched into Palermo and, on 4 September, received the homage of the Sicilians and confirmed their ancient privileges. Only the vacancy of the Palermitan archdiocese prevented a coronation. Charles was still besieging Messina when Peter's forces first met him. Charles was forced to vacate the isle by the end of October and was thenceforth restricted to the mainland. The pope then excommunicated the Aragonese king and deprived him of his kingdom (18 November).

Peter pressed his advantage and by February 1283 he had taken most of the Calabrian coastline. Charles, perhaps feeling desperate, sent letters to Peter demanding they resolve the conflict by personal combat. The invader accepted and Charles returned to France to arrange the duel. Both kings chose six knights to settle matters of places and dates. A duel was scheduled for 1 June at Bordeaux. A hundred knights would accompany each side and Edward I of England would adjudge the contest; the English king, heeding the pope, refused to take part. Peter left John of Procida in charge of Sicily and returned via his own kingdom to Bordeaux, which he entered in disguise to evade a suspected French ambush. Needless to say, no combat ever took place and Peter returned to a very troubled Spain.

While Peter and Charles had been pursuing justice by duel in France, the Catalan admiral Roger of Lauria (Ruggiero di Lauria) continued the war in Italy on behalf of Peter. He had been ravaging the Calabrian coast and keeping up a strong naval presence. Charles left Bordeaux for Provence and there sent out a fleet for Naples (his capital in Italy at the time and for the rest of his dynasty). Roger took Malta and defeated the Angevin-Provençal fleet near the islands in the Battle of Malta. Roger then drew Charles the Lame, the son and heir apparent of the Neapolitan king and the Prince of Salerno, out of Naples' port. Roger utterly routed him on the high seas, destroying the whole Angevin navy in the Battle of the Gulf of Naples. Roger took the prince and 42 ships captive to Messina. Charles the elder arrived in Italy at that time, but died soon after in 1285 and the war in Italy was put on hold by the lack of leadership on both sides: Charles' successor was in chains and Peter was dealing with a new menace, the Aragonese Crusade.