Founded by Charles I of Anjou, the youngest son of Louis VIII of France, the Capetian king first ruled the Kingdom of Sicily during the 13th century.

The War of the Sicilian Vespers later forced him out of the island of Sicily, leaving him with the southern half of the Italian Peninsula, known as the Kingdom of Naples.

Historically, the house ruled the Counties of Anjou, Maine, Touraine, Provence and Forcalquier; the Principalities of Achaea and Taranto; and the Kingdoms of Sicily, Naples, Hungary, Croatia, Albania and Poland.

Pope Clement IV offered it to Charles because of a conflict between the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire, and the latter was represented by the ruling House of Hohenstaufen.

[citation needed] It was at the Battle of Benevento that the Guelph Capetians gained the Sicilian kingdom from the Ghibelline Swabians, this was cemented after victory at Tagliacozzo.

[2] It also recognised Charles' possession of Corfu and cities in the Balkans such as Durazzo, as well as giving him suzerainty over the Principality of Achaea and sovereignty of the Aegean islands aside from those already held by the Republic of Venice.

[5] With the elevation of Pope Gregory X, there was a truce between Charles and Michael in the form of the Council of Lyons, as Christians focused on improving ecumenical relations, with hopes of regaining the Kingdom of Jerusalem back from the Muslims.

[5] Charles had fully solidified his rule over Durazzo by 1272, creating a small Kingdom of Albania for himself, out of previously Despotate of Epirus territory; he was well received by local chiefs.

[6] Charles's regime was driven out of Sicily after Sicilian Vespers in 1282,[7] but his house ruled Naples until 1435, when René of Anjou inherited the kingdom.

In Naples, Charles Martel of Anjou, the eldest son of Mary of Hungary announced his claim to the Hungarian crown, backed by his mother, and the Pope.

With Andrew III's childless death (1301), the "last golden branch" of the tree of King Saint Stephen's family ended.

The throne was offered to the next son of Charles II of Naples, Louis, but he refused on religious grounds, and it thus passed to Robert.

The Polish noblemen acknowledged Louis as Casimir III's sole heir in July 1351 only after he had promised that he would not allow Stephen to participate in the government of Poland.

Margaret gave birth to a daughter Elizabeth (in 1370 she married Philip of Taranto), and a son John, who inherited Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia from his father, but he was still a child when he died in 1360.

It was not difficult for him to reach the power, as he counted with the support of several Croatian lords, and many contacts which he made during his period as Duke of Croatia and Dalmatia.

[10][page needed] Louis probably considered himself first and foremost king of Hungary; he visited his northern kingdom three times and spent there a couple of months altogether.

Mary's mother, Elizabeth of Bosnia (widow of Louis and grandniece of Casimir III's father, Vladislaus I), knew that the lack of supporters would render her influence at least as restricted as that of her mother-in-law and refused to move.

[11] She abandoned the idea of attempting to subdue the Polish nobility by force and agreed to send her younger surviving daughter, Hedwig, to be crowned as Louis' successor in Poland.

Her coronation either reflected the Polish nobility's opposition to her intended husband, William, becoming king without further negotiation, or simply emphasized her status as queen regnant.

After many unsuccessful attempts to drive the Hohenstaufen out of the Kingdom of Sicily, Charles I of Anjou defeated king Manfred at the Battle of Benevento.

She intervened, and made a state visit, before she returned to Hungary allegedly bribing Pope Clement to reverse himself and permit the coronation of Andrew.

Hearing of the Pope's reversal, a group of noble conspirators (the involvement of Queen Joanna is unproved) determined to forestall Andrew's coronation.

A treacherous servant barred the door behind him, and, as Joanna cowered in their bed, a terrible struggle ensued, Andrew defending himself furiously and shrieking for aid.

Andrew's elder brother Louis I of Hungary several times invaded the Kingdom of Naples and drove out Joanna, only to meet with reverses.

Joanna in the meantime had married her cousin Louis of Taranto and had signed a peace with Naples' traditional enemy, the Kingdom of Sicily.

The Neapolitans, who had quickly grown unhappy with the severe Hungarian rule, called back Joan, who paid for her return expedition by selling her rights on Avignon to the popes.

The conflict between the two lines continued until Joanna II of Naples, the last member of the House of Anjou, would name Louis III of Valois-Anjou as her heir but because he died before her so his brother René would succeed her in 1435.

The Sicilian Vespers further weakened the position of Charles, and the kingdom was soon reduced by the albanians to a small area centered around Durrës.

Their son Charles Martel quartered France ancien with the arms of the Hungarian Royal Árpád dynasty to symbolize their claim.

These arms were inherited by the House of Valois-Anjou when Johanna I adopted Louis of France, Duke of Anjou, • Great-great-grandson of Charles II through female line, as her heir.