Politically, the decades leading up to Elizabeth's reign were full of conflicts between Frederick III, King of Sicily, and Robert of Naples who had the backing of the papacy in Avignon.

Elizabeth's reign occurred during a period where Italian citizens were disheartened and anxious, which caused tension among the local populace.

The island was also marked by turbulent relations between the throne and Sicily's noble families, eventually degenerating into a civil war.

Perhaps, the marriage was aimed to check the rising Angevin influence in Central Europe after Charles I's ascension to the Hungarian throne, especially since the Anjou allies in Croatia were in conflict with the Carinthian dukes.

The lavish ceremonies of the wedding and coronation served as reminders to Sicilian nobility of the power of the royalty, a struggle the Aragonese family had been battling for years.

Less than two years after their wedding, Peter II and Elizabeth had a son in Messina in February 1324, whom they named Frederick and buried a few months later.

The death of Frederick III in 1337 sparked the explosion of Sicilian tensions, created from the confluence of strain of political uncertainty, a bad economy and unstable power imbalance between the divided feudal class.

The king had also dispensed the majority of his personal wealth to churches and hospitals, so there was nothing left to give barons or ecclesiastical leaders.

The decisions made by Frederick may have protected Sicily from the Angevins, but it came at a cost that would be a common theme when Elizabeth became queen.

With the death of her husband Peter II in August 1342, Elizabeth lost the influence over the political management of the Kingdom of Sicily.

At Elizabeth's insistence, Louis, her four-year-old son, was crowned King of Sicily, ensuring his rightful place on the throne.

[4] Although little information remains on Elizabeth of Carinthia, Queen of Sicily, what little is known makes it clear that she worked to positively impact the decisions of those around her.

[8] The period of Elizabeth's regency was marked by a continuing growth in feudalism and a consequent loss of royal control of areas of the island of Sicily.

He succeeded in the agglomeration of so-called "lands" along the coasts in domains such as Trapani, Marsala, Sciacca, Licata, Terranova, Lentini, Taormina, Milazzo and Termini, and also in the hinterland in domains such as Nicosia, Randazzo, Troina and Castrogiovanni, Caltagirone, Noto, Corleone and Biovna, Polizza and Monte San Giuliano.

During her regency, Alcamo notably passed to the control of the military aristocracy, in 1349, and other barons enclosed within their walls fiefdoms such as Buscemi, Pettineo and Luppino, along with constructing numerous fortresses.

The two sides of the struggle to come between the baronies and the throne had thus been outlined before the beginning of Elizabeth's regency and continued along the same course during it, eventually flaring up into civil war.

[10] In this atmosphere of increasing feudalisation, the goal of the Sicilian throne to maintain the dynasty from the House of Barcelona after the death of Frederick III in 1337 was soon to deteriorate.

As historian Henri Bresc describes, several dynastic "war cries" were heard from these families around Sicily in the years of Elizabeth's regency and beyond, in places such as Palermo in 1348, Fontanarossa in 1349, Noto in 1349, Vizzini in 1353, Polizzi in 1354, and Naso in 1356.

As a result, betrayals in this brew of competing families were common, and any agreement or coalition between them had ill-defined borders, easily liable to be crossed breached.

Although there was a large factor of personal ambition at play, as already stated, the parties' principal objective was the domination and control of the crown of Sicily.

The opposing "Latin" faction encountered a reversal of their negative fortunes when John succumbed, presumably, to the plague and died in 1348, leaving Elizabeth as the sole regent in the name of her son Louis.

Thereupon the "Latin" party allied to the Queen Mother seized control of the Sicilian state and recalled the exiled Palizzi.

[16] Gabriel de Mussis, an Italian notary in the fourteenth century, recounts an attitude of despondency in Sicily; occurrences such as heavy rainfalls, the birth of Siamese twins, and horses refusing to enter Messina were all considered signs that God had abandoned the people.

[18] Fiscal revenue in Sicily was concernedly low during Elizabeth's reign, primarily relating to Europe's declining population.

[14] Increased military expenditure combined with the negative economic effects of the famine which provoked widespread debt among the aristocracy.

[21] The unstable equilibrium between the nobility and the throne characterized both Elizabeth's and her husband's reign, and resulted in a significant reduction in monarchical power.

The conclusion was a division of power based on military supremacy between a few feudal states, with the throne retaining little practical influence.

[24] There is little evidence of organized, premeditated peasant revolt in Sicily during the period of Elizabeth's reign, though small-scale insurrections did occur.

Both of these men were individual nobles who claimed feudal jurisdiction, and in fact it is speculated by historian John Larner that the revolts were brought about by royal incitement.

It was characterized by conflict between the throne and the aristocracy, and the socioeconomic, ideological and behavioural changes brought about by the devastating effects of the Black Death.