Charles Martel of Anjou
Charles Martel (
September 8 1271 –
August 12 1295,
Naples) of the
Angevin dynasty, also known as
Charles I Martel,
Charles Martel d'Anjou, and (in
Italian)
Carlo Martello was the eldest son of king
Charles II of Naples and
Maria of Hungary, the daughter of King
Stephen V of Hungary.
The 18-year-old Charles Martel was set up by Pope and ecclesiastical party as the titular King of Hungary
1290–
1295 as successor of his maternal uncle, the childless
Ladislaus IV of Hungary against whom the Pope had already earlier declared a crusade. He never managed to govern Hungary, where an agnate of the
Arpad dynasty, his cousin
Andrew III of Hungary actually ruled that period. Charles Martel was, however, successful in asserting his claims in parts of
Croatia, a kingdom then in personal union with Hungary.
He married Klementia of
Habsburg (d.
1295), daughter of
Emperor Rudolf I.
They had three children:
*
Charles Robert (
1288–
1342),
King of Hungary* Beatrix (
1290–
1354,
Grenoble), married on
May 25,
1296 Jean II de La Tour du Pin, Dauphin du Viennois* Clemence (February
1293 –
October 12,
1328,
Paris), married in Paris on
August 13,
1315 Louis X of FranceCharles Martel died young, during the lifetime of his parents. His son, also named Charles (or Charles Robert), would ultimately succeed where he had failed in winning the throne of Hungary.
Charles was apparently known personally to
Dante: in the
Divine Comedy the poet speaks warmly of and to Charles's spirit when they meet in the Heaven of Venus.
*
Armorial of the House Anjou-Sicily*
House of Anjou-Sicily
