Charles II, also known as Charles the Lame (; ; 1254 – 5 May 1309), was King of Naples, Count of Provence and Forcalquier (1285–1309), Prince of Achaea (1285–1289), and Count of Anjou and Maine (1285–1290); he also styled himself King of Albania and claimed the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1285. He was the son of Charles I of Anjouone of the most powerful European monarchs in the second half of the 13th centuryand Beatrice of Provence. His father granted Charles the Principality of Salerno in the Kingdom of Sicily (or Regno) in 1272 and made him regent in Provence and Forcalquier in 1279.
After the uprising known as the Sicilian Vespers against Charles's father, the island of Sicily became an independent kingdom under the rule of Peter III of Aragon in 1282. A year later, his father made Charles regent in the mainland territories of the Regno (or the Kingdom of Naples). Charles held a general assembly where unpopular taxes were abolished and the liberties of the noblemen and clerics were confirmed. He could not prevent the Aragonese from occupying Calabria and the islands in the Gulf of Naples. The Sicilian admiral, Roger of Lauria, captured him in a naval battle near Naples in 1284. As he was still in prison when his father died on 7 January 1285, his realms were ruled by regents. The remainder of his rule was spent seeking a resolution to the Sicilian war, diplomatic moves concerning his inheritance, and administrating the new Kingdom of Naples.
Early life
Born in 1254, Charles was the son of Charles I of Anjou and Beatrice of Provence. He was the sole heir of his father's vast dominion. By the time of Charles's birth, his father had seized Provence and Forcalquier (in the Holy Roman Empire), Anjou and Maine (in France), and the Kingdom of Sicily (a fief of the Holy See). In the 1270s, his father also proclaimed himself King of Albania (in reference to his conquests along the Eastern coast of the Ionian Sea), partially asserted his claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and inherited Achaea (in the Peloponnese). Charles's mother died in 1267, but his father's determination to keep his empire intact deprived Charles of his maternal inheritance during his father's lifetime.
Charles I arranged a double marriage alliance with Stephen V of Hungary in 1269. Stephen's daughter, Maria was engaged to Charles, and Charles's sister, Isabelle to Maria's brother, Ladislaus. Charles fell seriously ill in late 1271. To encourage prayers for his recovery, his father donated Charles's wax sculptures to churches frequented by pilgrims in the whole kingdom. After Charles recovered, his father made a pilgrimage at the shrine of Saint Nicholas in Bari and sent gifts to the sanctuary of Mary the Virgin at Rocamadour.
Charles was knighted together with his brother, Philip, and 100 Italian and French young noblemen at Pentecost 1272. On this occasion, his father also granted him the Principality of Salerno, which had customarily been held by the heirs apparent during the reign of the Norman kings of Sicily. The king stipulated that Charles could not claim other territories, most probably in reference to Provence.
Regent
His father appointed him to administer Provence in late 1279. He accompanied his cousin, Philip III of France, to a meeting with Peter III of Aragon at Toulouse in December 1280. Peter was the son-in-law of Manfred of Sicily who had lost the Kingdom of Sicily to Charles's father in 1266. Peter insolently ignored Charles during the meeting, although both Philip III and James II of Majorca, who was also present, reminded Peter that Charles was closely related to him.
The envoys of Charles's father with the representatives of Rudolf I of Germany and the Holy See started negotiations about the restoration of the Kingdom of Arles in 1278. They reached a compromise, that Pope Martin IV included in a papal bull on 24 May 1281. The bull prescribed that the kingdom, which should include the Dauphiné, Savoy and the nearby territories, was to be given to Charles's son, Charles Martel, on the day of his marriage with Rudolf's daughter, Clemence. Charles was appointed regent for his minor son.
Heavy taxation, forced loans and purveyance caused widespread discontent among Charles I's Italian subjects, especially in the island of Sicily. A French soldier's arrogance caused a popular riotknown as the Sicilian Vespersin Palermo on 30 March 1282. The riot quickly spread and put an end to Charles I's rule in the island. Peter III of Aragon came to Sicily accompanied by a large fleet in late August. He was proclaimed king on 4 September.