Manfred's defeat and death resulted in Charles' conquest of the Kingdom of Sicily, effectively ending the rule of the Hohenstaufen dynasty in the Italian Peninsula and marking the rise of the royal Capetian House of Anjou.

However, the rightful heir to the kingdom was Frederick's legitimate 14-year-old grandson Conradin, living with his uncle and guardian Louis II, Duke of Bavaria.

Pope Urban IV determined to take the Kingdom from him, and in 1263, concluded a secret treaty with Charles, promising him the Sicilian throne.

Alarmed by the ease with which many towns and castles surrendered to the French and by desertions among his followers, Manfred sought to bring Charles to battle as swiftly as possible, fearing further treachery.

Behind them was his first battle, the best of his troops, consisting of 1,200 German mercenary knights and men-at-arms, clad not only in the usual mail-shirt and gambeson, but also coats of plates, a type of armour that was just beginning to come into fashion.

The second battle consisted of around 1,000 Italian mercenary cavalry and 300 to 400 Saracen light horsemen, commanded by his uncle Galvano Lancia.

The first battle consisted of 900 Provençal knights and sergeants[9] commanded by Marshal of France Hugh of Mirepoix and Philip of Montfort, Lord of Castres.

Charles ordered his men-at-arms to have a couple of foot soldiers behind them whose task would be to aid the horsemen of his army in case they were dismounted and to slay those of the enemy who were overthrown.

Charles had the advantage of leading an army which was practically homogeneous; save the few Italians, all were vassals of the French and Provençal crowns.

In addition, beyond the low esteem in which both sides held their foot-soldiery, Charles' horsemen were fairly equal to each other in military worth, something Manfred did not have the luck to benefit from.

[12] It is not known whether they acted rashly or if they were ordered to do so by Manfred but the German knights and men-at-arms who formed his first battle crossed the bridge and moved up to attack the Provençal cavalry.

[13] According to the chronicle of Andrew of Hungary, some sharp-eyed French knight noted that the new plate armor, which was still in its infancy, did not protect their armpits when the arm was lifted to strike.

The long time spent crossing the narrow bridge meant a very wide space arose between his first corps, which had prematurely charged, and his second, which he had deployed to assist them.

Shaken in spirit by the sight of what the French had done to the Germans, they made a very poor resistance; seeing themselves about to be surrounded, they broke and attempted to flee but most were slain.