Early Family and Political Life
Born on an unrecorded date in the first half of 1326, Joanna was the eldest surviving child of Charles, Duke of Calabria (eldest son of King Robert of Naples), and Marie of Valois (a sister of King Philip VI of France). The Duke of Calabria died the same year his youngest daughter Maria was born, leaving behind a pregnant widow. His death made Joanna, his eldest child, first in line to the throne; she received homage as such on 4 November 1330. She was proclaimed Duchess of Calabria in 1333 and Princess of Salerno on 26 June 1344.
At the age of eight (1334), she was betrothed to her six-year-old second cousin Prince Andrew (Hungarian: Endre) of the Hungarian branch of the House of Anjou, the son of Charles I of Hungary and younger brother of Louis I. Through his father he had a claim to Naples, which could be argued to be superior to that of Robert and consequently also to that of Joanna.
When King Robert died in 1343, in his last will and testament, he formally bequeathed his kingdom to Joanna, and made no mention of Andrew, even as a consort, and tried to exclude him from rule. In the event of Joanna's death without children, the crown would fall to her younger sister Maria and not to him.
With the approval of Pope Clement VI, Joanna was crowned as sole monarch of Naples in August 1344. Fearing for his life, Andrew wrote to his mother Elizabeth that he would soon flee the kingdom. She intervened, and made a state visit; before she returned to Hungary, she bribed Pope Clement to revert his decision and permit the coronation of Andrew. She also gave a ring to Andrew, which was supposed to protect him from death by blade or poison, and returned with a false sense of security to Hungary.
Joanna lost an important ally when her stepgrandmother, Sancha of Majorca, withdrew into a monastery, but kept resisting more papal interference in the kingdom. Due to her letters to the pope, he agreed that though Andrew would be crowned, only her coronation would be 'Blessed by God'.
When Joanna fell ill in the summer of 1344, Andrew caused great controversy when he released the Pipini brothers. They had been locked up by Robert the Wise after having been convicted for murder, rape, pillage, treason and several other offenses. Their possessions had been given to other nobles, which now became increasingly hostile to Andrew.
Read more about this topic: Joanna I Of Naples
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