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| Aragonese conquest of Naples | |||||||||
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 Map of the Kingdom of Naples in 1454 | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
.svg) Duchy of Milan (from 1435) Principality of Taranto (from 1437) |  Republic of Genoa Papal StatesDuchy of Milan (until 1435) Republic of Florence | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 Alfonso V of AragonFerdinand of AragonPeter of Aragon †Francesco PiccininoRamon de Boïl i Montagut Filippo Maria Visconti (from 1435)Giovanni Antonio del Balzo Orsini (from 1437) | _type_3.svg) Rene I of NaplesAntonio CaldoraBiagio AsseretoEugene IVJoan de CornettoGiovanni Antonio del Balzo Orsini (until 1437)Filippo Maria Visconti (until 1435) | ||||||||
The conquest of theKingdom of Naples and its incorporation into theCrown of Aragon was carried out between 1435 and 1442 by KingAlfonso V of Aragon.
After theWar of the Sicilian Vespers which started in 1282, Sicily was split into the Angevin "Kingdom of Sicily" (Naples) and Aragonese "Kingdom of Trinacria" (Sicily) which was reinforced by theTreaty of Villeneuve in 1372. Alfonso V's permanent ambition was always theKingdom of Naples, and the opportunity came in 1434 and 1435 with the successive deaths ofLouis III of Naples and QueenJoanna II of Naples, while heirRené of Anjou was a prisoner at the court ofPhilip III of Burgundy since his defeat at theBattle of Bulgnéville in 1431.[1]
At the death ofLouis III of Anjou, Queen Joana, who settled inNaples, found the support of theDuchy of Milan and thePapal States, irritated by the approach ofAlfonso the Magnanimous toAmadeus VIII of Savoy and theCouncil of Basel, while theRepublic of Florence and theRepublic of Venice remained on the sidelines.[2]Filippo Maria Visconti's ambassador inGaeta,Ottolino Zoppo, warned him of the possibility thatAlfonso V, who aspired to theKingdom of Naples, would attack his port, and serve as a bridgehead for his ambitions, and Visconti sentFrancesco Spinola with 800 men, of which 400 were crossbowmen, to defend the city[3]
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At the death of Louis of Anjou, Alfonso was inSicily after making expeditionsagainst the island of Gerba (1432) andTripoli (1434), he went againstGaeta and besieged by land and sea, and they began the work of expropriation by the besiegers, with the use of bombardments.[4]
The Genoese, financially exhausted by the continuous wars of DukeFilippo Maria Visconti, made a last effort and armed a fleet of 12 ships, two ships, three galleys and a galleon[5] with 2,400 men on board, and the navy was entrusted toBiagio Assereto. The expedition was conducted in secret and sailed pastRecco andPortofino in a southerly direction, carefully preparing to face Aragon's numerically superior fleet of 31 ships. Assereto knew thatFrancesco Spinola had been wounded and that the resistance was at its lowest level.[citation needed]
Sure of victory, with a fleet that doubled the Genoese in number of ships, and of greater size,[6]Alfonso V and many nobles accompanied the fleet, leaving behindPeter of Aragon with the galleys.[citation needed] The Genoese, who had only experienced sailors and soldiers, used the fog and set off fireworks, making the Catalans believe that they were dispersing,[5] causing disorder in the Aragonese fleet, filled with people unaccustomed to fighting at sea, which made the task difficult for sailors and soldiers.[7]
Alfonso V was defeated and taken prisoner together with the infantsJohn andHenry and a good part of the Aragonese nobility, and only one ship was able to escape, causing 600 deaths and 5,000 prisoners sent byFilippo Maria Visconti to the duke of Milan and lord of Genoa. A ransom of 30,000ducats was demanded,Maria of Castile summoned the Courts of Montsó to obtain funds to release them. The queen's mother,Eleanor of Alburquerque, died of grief at the imprisonment of her children shortly after hearing the news.[8]
Alfonso V and theDuchy of Milan agreed to mutual support for theTreaty of Milan, in the demand for the throne ofNaples and in the dispute against theSforza and thePapacy. Alfonso was released in October.[9] Milan's change of alliances revolted the Genoese at Christmas 1435, killing the Milanese governor.[10]
Peter of Aragon, brother of Alfonso and who had escaped defeat,[5] finally tookGaeta on March 25, 1435, where Alfonso entered on February 2, 1436,[11] and the same year, toTerracina.[citation needed]
Alfonso, who leftCapua with the fleet, quickly took over most of theKingdom of Naples and appointed thecondottieroFrancesco Piccinino as commander of his forces in the kingdom to fight against thePapal States. In 1437, thesiege of Naples began from theCastel Nuovo and theCastel dell'Ovo, defended byAntonio Caldera, who resisted and had to lift the siege due to the attack of the papal forces in April 1437, commanded byJoan Vitellesco de Cornetto who besiegedCapua where they met with those of Caldera, taking advantage of the fact that Alfonso had begun the siege ofAversa, which he had to raise to help Capua, and theAngevins retreated toNaples.[12]
Vitellesco was defeated at the Battle ofVolturno[13] and Antonio Caldora at the Battle ofPescara by Andrea Matteo Acquaviva II,Francesco Piccinino and Sebastian d'Amicis,[13] whileGiovanni Antonio, Prince ofTaranto was captured at the Battle ofMontefusco by Cornetto,[14] who tookAvellino andL'Aquila. In 1437, the princes of Taranto andCaserta switched to theAngevin side, whileAntonio Colonna, the prince ofSalerno, switched to the Aragonese.[citation needed]
At the end of 1437 a truce was established until March 1438, which was broken by the Angevins onChristmas Day[15] and shortly afterwardsRené of Anjou obtained the freedom ofPhilip III of Burgundy for 200,000 gold doubles,[16] managing to strengthen Naples and focusing on consolidating Abruzzo to establish a base to attack the Catalans,[17] and sending Caldora toCalabria, but he returned when his own possessions were attacked.[18] Taking advantage of Renat's absence, Alfonso again laid siege to the capital, where in October 1438 infantPeter died,[19] and the following summer theCastel Nuovo, which the Aragonese had preserved, had to surrender. But shortly afterwards, Alfonso occupiedSalerno andAversa, and defeated the Angevins at the battle of La Pelosa,[17] and in January 1441 he conqueredBenevento. At the end of that year he laid siege toNaples again and occupiedCosenza andBisignano.[citation needed]
Alfonso becameking of Naples, as he wished with the Aragonese victory atNaples on June 2, 1442, from whereRené of Anjou fled with a galley, althoughRamon de Boïl i Montagut[20] still fought inAbruzzo againstFrancesco I Sforza.[21]
Eugene IV andAlfonso the Magnanimous negotiated a settlement of their differences in the spring of 1443, resulting in aformal agreement at Terracina on 14 June 1443. Under the terms of this treaty, Eugene recognized Alfonso as king of Naples and of his sonFerdinand as successor, consolidating the conquest of theKingdom of Naples, in exchange for the recognition of Eugene aspope, and withdrawing support forAmadeus VIII of Savoy and theCouncil of Basel.[22]
Converted into an Italian prince, with the death ofFilippo Maria Visconti in 1447,Alfonso the Magnanimous soon after aspired to the succession asDuke of Milan, where theAmbrosian Republic was proclaimed, and participated in the alliances and subsequent struggles for the hegemony inItaly, which facilitated the penetration of the great powers in the peninsula. On one side foughtMilan, ruled byFrancesco I Sforza, and theRepublic of Florence, behind which was theKingdom of France, and on the other side, theKingdom of Naples, theRepublic of Venice and thePapal States.[19]
Alfonso V, who continued to maintain aspirations overCorsica, continued thenaval war with Genoa and to fight against theOttomans, the Albanian captainSkanderbeg became Alfonso's vassal[23] and in 1451 the CatalanBernat Vaquer occupied thecastle of Krujë andRamon d'Ortafà was sent there as viceroy ofAlbania[19] and later named viceroy of Albania,Greece andSlavonia, whileJoan Claver became viceroy ofEpirus andMorea. The crown of theKingdom of Hungary was offered to him byJohn Hunyadi and other Hungarian magnates.[24] Admiral Bernat I de Vilamarí occupied and fortifiedKastellorizo,[25] he operated at the mouth of theNile and set fire to the enemy's ships there, launched himself on the coast ofSyria and repeated the feat there.Joan de Nava, a Castilian sailor in Alfonso's service, made an effort to establish himself inCyprus.[26]
In all these efforts, neitherConstantinople nor theHoly Land were forgotten. Constantinople was almost in the hands of the Turks; in order to mobilize acrusade, Alfonso sent ambassadors toPrester John (the negus ofEthiopia), to the emperor ofTrebizond, John Komnenos, to Constantinople,Constantine XI Palaiologos, and to thekhan ofBeijing (1452). ButConstantinople fell on May 29, 1453. After the disaster, Alfonso tried, however, to strengthen his penetration into theBalkans.[citation needed]
TheWars in Lombardy did not change the political map, but the fall ofConstantinople in 1453 raised fears of an Ottoman threat to Italy and the Venetian territories in theAegean,[27] which led to theTreaty of Lodi between Milan and Venice in 1454,[28] to which Florence and Naples later joined. The aim of the signatories, who were beginning to fear Frenchhegemony, was to maintain the internal balance of theItalian peninsula.[citation needed]
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