Giovanna I

In 1343, she inherited the throne after her grandfather Robert (her father, Karl of Calabria , died in 1328 ).

The long reign of this queen (...) is one of the saddest pages in the history of not only southern Italy, but the entire peninsula.

- M.A. Gukovsky , p. 147

Having ascended the throne, the fifteen-year-old queen quickly fell under the influence of her aunts, plunging into the atmosphere of court intrigues, fun and dubious pleasures. According to the chronicler, “the court of this queen was more like a brothel, a laughing stock of everyone” ^[1] . Pretty quickly the fun took on a bloody character. In 1345, Giovanna and Catherine de Courtenay poisoned Agnes de Perigord, the widow of Jean , the Duke of Durazzo with an enema, and then the queue reached the Queen’s husband, Andrei Vengersky ^[1] .

Giovanna's first husband, Andrei of Hungary, claimed the royal title and demanded that Giovanna share power with him. The number of Andrei's supporters increased thanks to his mother, who arrived in Naples and engaged in direct bribery of the nobility, as well as with the support of Pope Clement VI . The already strained relationship between the spouses ended in disaster: Andrei was strangled in his own bed ( 1345 ). Public opinion considered the killers of the Queen's two cousins, acting on her orders. A year later ( 1346 ), Giovanna married one of the possible murderers, Louis Tarentsky , thereby confirming the worst suspicions.

The murder of Andrei of Hungary caused an uprising in Naples. Crowds of townspeople besieged the royal palace with shouts: “Death to traitors and the harlot queen!” ^[1] Giovanna managed to maintain power, promising to investigate and punish the killers.

Hungarian king Lajos I , brother of Andrew, in 1348 invaded Naples to avenge the death of his brother. Giovanna and Louis of Tarento fled to Provence . But the terrible epidemic of plague that erupted caused Lajos to retreat to Hungary.

The following year, Lajoche again occupied Naples, Giovanna and her husband took refuge in Gaet. The mediator between the monarchs was Pope Clement .

Both monarchs agreed to an impartial investigation into the murder of Andrei under papal control. The pope's verdict was unexpected: Giovanna was recognized as a participant in the murder, but not guilty, because "she acted at the instigation of the devil." Lajos agreed with the verdict and returned to Hungary, recognizing Giovanna as Queen of Naples. Soon it became clear the reason for such a mild sentence: Clement bought from Giovanna for an insignificant amount Avignon , the place of his permanent residence.

While Louis Tarento was alive (1320–1362), he curbed the extravagance and frivolity of Giovanna. In fact, it was he who was the ruler of Naples in 1346 - 1362 .

After the death of her second husband (1362), Giovanna ruled herself. The splendor that her yard reached thanks to the patronage of literature and art was in sharp contrast with the poverty and oppressed state of the people. Giovanna entered a third marriage with Prince Jaime IV , the titular king of Mallorca ( 1363 ), provided that he would not demand a royal title in Naples and participation in the administration. Jaime really did not intervene in Naples, devoting himself to attempts to return Mallorca captured by Aragon . Jaime was captured by Enrique Trastamar , was ransomed by Giovanna, returned to Naples, even put in custody by the queen, but fled again and died during his last campaign against Aragon in 1374 .

Concerned about finding a successor (the only son of Giovanna from Andrei Vengersky died in childhood), Giovanna married her relative Karl Durazzo to her niece Margarita Durazzo and declared her heir.

When Giovanna joined the party of the Avignon Pope Clement VII during the great church schism , his adversary, Pope Urban VI , excommunicated Giovanna from the church and, as the imperial lord of Naples, recognized King Charles Durazzo as king.

Giovanna, who hastily entered into a fourth marriage with the adventurer Otto Braunschweig , adopted and declared her heir to the Duke Louis of Anjou , who was her distant relative. His great-grandmother Margarita was the sister of Charles II , the great-grandfather of Giovanna. Before Louis I managed to help the “adoptive mother,” Karl Durazzo defeated the Neapolitan troops under the command of Otto of Braunschweig and besieged Giovanna in Naples. The queen surrendered to Carl Durazzo, and within six months he forced her to cancel the adoption of Louis I. Having not achieved anything, Carl ordered his mercenaries to strangle Giovanna on May 22, 1382 .

• Vittorio Zaccaria's translation of Boccaccio's De mulieribus claris , second edition (Milan) 1970, biography number 106
• Virginia Brown's translation of Boccaccio's De mulieribus claris , Harvard University Press, 2001; ISBN 0-674-01130-9
• Guido Guarino's translation of Boccaccio's Concerning Famous Women , Rutgers University, (New Brunswick), 1963.
• Elizabeth Casteen, “Sex and Politics in Naples: The Regnant Queenship of Johanna I,” Journal of the Historical Society , 11.2 (2011), 183-210.
• Gukovsky M.A. Italian Renaissance. 2nd ed., Rev. and add. - L .: Publishing house of the Leningrad University, 1990. - ISBN 5-288-00163-4