Genealogy of the Kingdom of naples

Genealogy of the kingdom of naples


Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Naples

Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Naples

Following the rebellion in 1282, Charles I of Anjou was forced to leave the island of Sicily by Peter III of Aragon's troops. Charles, however, maintained his possessions on the mainland, customarily known as the “Kingdom of Naples,” after its capital city. Charles and his Angevin successors maintained a claim to Sicily, warring against the Aragonese until 1373, when Queen Joan I of Naples formally renounced the claim by the Treaty of Villeneuve. Joan’s reign was contested by Louis the Great, the Angevin King of Hungary, who captured the kingdom several times (1348–1352). Louis was the son of Charles I of Hungary, founder of the Order of Saint George.

Queen Joan I also played a part in the ultimate demise of the first Kingdom of Naples. As she was childless, she adopted Louis I, Duke of Anjou, as her heir. Louis was the brother of John, Duke of Berry, Philip the Bold and Marie of Valois. His father John II of France appointed him Duke of Anjou in 1360. Joan I’s claim was spite of the claims of her cousin, the Prince of Durazzo, effectively setting up a junior Angevin line in competition with the senior line. This led to Joan I's murder at the hands of the Prince of Durazzo in 1382, and his seizing the throne as Charles III of Naples.

The two competing Angevin lines contested each other for the possession of the Kingdom of Naples over the following decades. In 1389, Louis II of Anjou, son of Louis I, managed to seize the throne from Ladislas of Naples son of Charles III, but was expelled by Ladislas in 1399. Charles III's daughter Joan II (r. 1414–1435) adopted Alfonso V of Aragon, a member of the Order of the Dragon, and Louis III of Anjou as heirs alternately, finally settling succession on Louis' brother René of Anjou of the junior Angevin line, and he succeeded her in 1435. René of Anjou was a purported Grand Master of the Priory of Sion, and the founder of the Order of the Crescent, with Francesco Sforza, and the Order of the Fleur de Lys, with Cosimo de Medici. René of Anjou temporarily united the claims of junior and senior Angevin lines. In 1442, however, Alfonso V of Aragon conquered the Kingdom of Naples and unified Sicily and Naples once again as dependencies of Aragon. At his death in 1458, the War of the Neapolitan Succession (1458–1462) erupted, after which the kingdom was again separated and Naples was inherited by Alfonso's illegitimate son, Ferdinand I of Naples, also a member of the Order of the Dragon.


  • Alfonso VI of Leon and Castile + Constance of Burgundy (marriage orchestrated via Cluniac connections at Alfonso’s court)

    • Urraca + Raymond of Burgundy

      • Alfonso VII of León and Castile (founder of the ORDER OF CALATRAVA, advised by Judah ben Joseph ibn Ezra, relative of Abraham ibn Ezra, student of Abraham Bar Hiyya, influence on temple mysticism of Templars) + Berenguela (d. of Templar Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona)

        • Sancho III of Castile + Blanche of Navarre

          • Alfonso VIII of Castile (patron of the ORDER OF SANTIAGO) + Eleanor of England (sister of Richard Lionheart)

            • Berengaria, Queen of Castile + (see below)

            • Urraca, Queen of Portugal + Afonso II of Portugal

            • Blanche of Castile + Louis VIII of France

              • CHARLES I OF ANJOU, KING OF SICILY, KING OF JERUSALEM + Beatrice of Provence (see below)

      • Alfonso VII of León and Castile + Richeza of Poland

        • Sancha + Alfonso II of Aragon, the Troubadour (patron of Guyot of Provins, source for Wolfram von Eschenbach)

          • Peter II of Aragon (killed at the Battle Muret supporting Cathars, founder of the ORDER OF SAINT GEORGE OF ALFAMA) + Marie of Montpellier

            • James I of Aragon (raised by Templars) + Violant of Hungary

              • Violant + Alfonso X of Castile, el Astrologo

                • Sancho IV of Castile (had affair with Rachel the Beautiful, Jewess of Toledo)

                • Beatrice of Castile + (see below)

                • Beatrice of Castile + Afonso III of Portugal

              • Peter III of Aragon + Constance, Queen of Sicily (g-d. of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor)

                • JAMES II OF ARAGON (founder of the ORDER OF MONTESA) + Blanche of Anjou (see below)

                • Elizabeth of Aragon + DENIS I OF PORTUGAL (see above)

                • FREDERICK III OF SICILY (hired Templar Roger de Flor) + Eleanor of Anjou (see above)

                • Yolande of Aragon + Robert, King of Naples

              • James II of Majorca (student of Raymond Llull) + Esclaramunda of Foix (her grandfather was a cousin of Raymond-Roger Trencavel, identified with Perceval)

              • Isabella of Aragon + Philip III of France (see below)

          • Alfonso II, Count of Provence (his father transferred the County of Provence from his uncle Sancho to him) + Garsenda, Countess of Forcalquier

            • Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence (raised by Templars) + Beatrice of Savoy (daughter of Thomas I of Savoy)

              • Margaret of Provence + Louis IX of France

                • Philip III of France + Isabella of Aragon (see above)

                  • Philip IV “le Bel” of France (ordered arrest of Templars) + Joan I of Navarre

                    • Isabella of France + Edward II of England

                      • Edward III of England (founder of the Order of the Garter)

                        • Edward the Black Prince + Joan of Kent

                          • Richard II of England + Anne of Bohemia (sister of SIGISMUND OF LUXEMBOURG (founder of the ORDER OF THE DRAGON)

                        • Isabella, Countess of Bedford + Enguerrand VII de Coucy (possible author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight)

                          • Marie I de Coucy, Countess of Soissons + Henry of Bar (s. of Marie of Valois, Duchess of Bar + Robert I, Duke of Bar, grandson of Edward I, Count of Bar, purported Grand Master of the Priory of Sion)

                        • John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster + Blanche of Lancaster

                          • Philippa of Lancaster + John I of Portugal (see below)

              • Eleanor of Provence + Henry III of England

              • Sanchia of Provence + Richard, King of the Romans, brother of the king of England

              • Beatrice of Provence + CHARLES I OF ANJOU, King of Sicily (see below)

                • CHARLES II OF NAPLES (discovered remains of Mary Magdalene at Saint-Maximin) + Maria of Hungary (d. of Stephen V of Hungary + Elizabeth the Cuman)

                  • Charles Martel, Prince of Salermo

                    • CHARLES I OF HUNGARY (founder of the Order of Saint George) + Elizabeth of Poland

                      • Louis I of Hungary + Margaret of Bohemia (Sigismund’s half-sister)

                      • Louis I of Hungary + Elizabeth of Bosnia

                        • Mary, Queen of Hungary + SIGISMUND, HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR, founder of the ORDER OF THE DRAGON

                  • Margaret + Charles, Count of Valois (son of Philip III of France, and brother of Philip IV “le Bel”)

                  • Robert, King of Naples + Yolande of Aragon (see above)

                    • Charles, Duke of Calabria + Marie of Valois (daughter of Charles of Valois by his third wife Mahaut of Châtillon)

                      • Joanna I of Naples

                      • Maria of Calabria + Charles, Duke of Durazzo

                        • Margaret of Durazzo + Charles III of Naples (see below)

                  • Blanche of Anjou + JAMES II OF ARAGON (founder of the ORDER OF MONTESA) (see above)

                    • Alfonso IV of Aragon + Teresa d'Entença

                      • Peter IV of Aragon + Eleanor of Sicily (see below)

                      • John I of Aragon + Yolande of Bar (d. of Marie of Valois, Duchess of Bar + Robert I, Duke of Bar, grandson of Edward I, Count of Bar, Priory of Sion Grand Master)

                        • Yolande of Aragon + Louis II of Anjou (son of Louis I of Anjou, brother of John, Duke of Berry, Philip the Bold and Marie of Valois. See below)

                  • Eleanor of Anjou + Frederick III of Sicily (see below)

                    • Constance of Sicily, Queen of Cyprus + Henry II of Lusignan (transferred property of Templars to Hospitallers. In contact with Ramon Llull)

                    • Peter II of Sicily + Elisabeth of Carinthia

                      • Eleanor + Peter IV of Aragon (see above)

                        • John I of Aragon + Yolande of Bar

                          • Yolande of Aragon + Louis II of Anjou (see above)

                            • Louis III of Anjou

                            • Marie of Anjou + Charles VII of France

                              • Louis XI of France + Charlotte of Savoy

                                • Charles VIII of France + Anne of Brittany

                            • RENE OF ANJOU (Grand Master of PRIORY OF SION) + Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine

                        • Eleanor, Queen of Castile + John I of Castile

                          • Ferdinand I of Aragon (founded ORDER OF THE JAR) + Eleanor of Alburquerque

                            • Alfonso V of Aragon (ORDER OF THE DRAGON) + Maria of Castile

                              • Ferdinand I of Naples (ORDER OF THE DRAGON) + Isabella of Clermont

                                • Alfonso II of Naples + Ippolita Maria Sforza

                                  • Ferdinand II of Naples + Joanna of Naples

                                  • Isabella of Aragon + Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan

                                    • Bona Sforza + Sigismund I the Old

                                      • Anna Jagiellon + Stephen Bathory (sponsor of John Dee and uncle of Elizabeth Báthory, the “Blood Countess”)

                                • Eleanor of Naples + Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara (see the Genealogy of the House of Este)

                                  • Isabella d’Este + Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua

                                    • Ferrante Gonzaga (Order of the Golden Fleece and 14th Grand Master of Priory of Sion).

                                    • Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua + Margaret Palaeologina

                                      • Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers (Grand Master of the Priory of Sion) + (see above)

                                  • Beatrice + Ludovico Sforza (s. Francesco Sforza, founding member of Rene of Anjou’s Order of the Crescent. Double wedding orchestrated by Leonardo da Vinci)

                                    • Gian Galeazzo Sforza + Isabella of Naples (a masque entitled Il Paradiso, with words by Bernardo Bellincioni and sets and costumes by Leonardo da Vinci at their wedding)

                                      • Bona Sforza (1494 – 1557) + Sigismund I the Old

                                        • Sigismund II Augustus + Barbara Radziwiłł (accused of promiscuity and witchcraft)

                                          • Sigismund II Augustus

                                        • Anna Jagiellon + Stephen Báthory (sponsor of John Dee and uncle of Elizabeth Báthory, the “Blood Countess”)

                                        • Catherine Jagiellon + John III of Sweden

                                          • Sigismund III Vasa (from whom the Vasa kings of Poland were descended. Raised by Jesuits, sponsored alchemist Sendivogius)

                                  • Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara + Lucrezia Borgia (daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattaneia, double wedding orchestrated by Leonardo da Vinci)

                                    • Ercole d’Este II + Renée of France (see below)

                              • Frederick I of Naples

                              • Beatrice of Naples + Vladislaus II of Hungary (no issue)

                            • John II of Aragon + Blanche I of Navarre

                              • Charles IV of Navarre + Agnes of Cleves

                              • Eleanor of Navarre + Gaston IV, Count of Foix

                                • Francis II, Duke of Brittany + Margaret of Foix

                                  • Anne of Brittany + Louis XII of France

                                    • Renée of France + Ercole d’Este II (see above)

                                • Catherine of Foix + Gaston II de Foix, Count of Candale and Benauges

                                  • Anne of Foix-Candale + Vladislaus II of Hungary (ORDER OF THE DRAGON. Son of Casimir IV, King of Poland and Elizabeth of Austria, granddaughter of EMPEROR SIGISMUND)

                            • John II of Aragon + Juana Enríquez

                              • Ferdinand II of Aragon + Isabella I of Castile (Catholic Monarchs)

                              • Joanna of Aragon + Ferdinand I of Naples

                            • Eleanor of Aragon + Edward I of Portugal (see below)

                  • John, Duke of Durazzo + Agnes of Périgord

                    • Charles III of Naples (created ORDER OF THE SHIP) + Margaret of Durazzo

                      • Joanna II of Naples (succeeded by René of Anjou)

                      • Ladislaus of Naples

          • Eleanor + Raymond VI of Toulouse

          • Sancha + Raymond VII of Toulouse

    • Teresa + Henry of Burgundy, Count of Portugal (cousin of Raymond of Burgundy)

      • Alfonso I of Portugal + Maud of Savoy

        • Afonso II of Portugal + Urraca (d. of Alfonso VIII of Castile)

          • Afonso III of Portugal + Beatrice of Castile (d. of Alfonso X of Castile)

            • DENIS I OF PORTUGAL (founder of the ORDER OF CHRIST) + Elizabeth of Aragon

              • Afonso IV of Portugal (1291 – 1357, Grand Master of the Order of Christ)

                • D. Fernando de Castela, (Grand Master of the Order of Santiago)

                • Peter I of Portugal + Teresa Lourenço

                  • John I of Portugal + Philippa of Lancaster (see above)

                    • Edward I of Portugal + Eleanor of Aragon (d. of Ferdinand I of Aragon)

                    • Prince Henry the Navigator (Grand Master of the Order of Christ)

                    • Isabella of Portugal + Philip the Good (founder of the Order of the Golden Fleece)

    • Elvira of Castile + Roger II of Sicily (Jolly Roger)

      • William I of Sicily + Margaret of Navarre (whose counsellor Stephen du Perche, archbishop of Palermo hired Joachim of Fiore)

        • William II of Sicily + Joan Plantagenet (s. of Richard Lionheart, later m. Raymond VI of Toulouse)