Joanna I
JOANNA I (c. 1327-1382), queen of Naples, was the daughter of Charles duke of Calabria (d. 1328), and became sovereign of. Naples in succession to her grandfather King Robert in 1343. Her first husband was Andrew, son of Charles Robert, king of Hungary, who like the queen herself was a member of the house of Anjou. In 1345 Andrew was assassinated at Aversa, possibly with his wife's connivance, and at once Joanna married Louis, son of Philip prince of Taranto. King Louis of Hungary then came to Naples to avenge his brother's death, and the queen took refuge in Provence which came under her rule at the same time as Naples purchasing pardon from Pope Clement VI. by selling to him the town of Avignon, then part of her dominions. Having returned to Naples in 1352 after the departure of Louis, Joanna lost her second husband in 1362, and married James, king of Majorca (d. 1375), and later Otto of Brunswick, prince of Taranto. The queen had no sons, and as both her daughters were dead she made Louis I. duke of Anjou, brother of Charles V. of France, her heir. This proceeding so angered Charles, duke of Durazzo, who regarded himself as the future king of Naples, that he seized the city. Joanna was captured and was put to death at Aversa on the 22nd of May 1382. The queen was a woman of intellectual tastes, and was acquainted with some of the poets and scholars of her time, including Petrarch and Boccaccio.
See Crivelli, Delia printa e delta seconda Giovanna, regine di Napoli (1832); G. Battaglia, Giovanna I., regina di Napoli (1835); W. St C. Baddeley, Queen Joanna I. of Naples (1893); Scarpetta, Giovanna I. di Napoli (1903) ; and Francesca M. Steele, The Beautiful Queen Joanna I. of Naples (1910).
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
