Charles I of Anjou

Charles I of Anjou (1227–1285), youngest son of Louis VIII of France, gained Anjou and Maine from his brother Louis IX and Provence by marrying Beatrice. He joined Louis's Seventh Crusade and in 1250 forced towns including Marseille and Avignon to acknowledge his suzerainty.

With papal support he took Sicily from the Hohenstaufens: crowned King of Sicily in 1266, he defeated Manfred at Benevento and the Hohenstaufen heir Conradin at Tagliacozzo in 1268.

He became King of Albania in 1272 and took Achaea in 1278. The Sicilian Vespers of 1282 cost him the island, but he kept mainland Naples; he died in 1285 preparing its reconquest.