Joanna's personal life crucially affected the political stability of the Kingdom of Naples (murder of her first husband Andrew in 1345, the invasions of King Louis I of Hungary—justified as avenging the death of his brother—and her three later marriages with Louis of Taranto, James IV, titular King of Majorca and Otto, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen) and undermined her position with the Holy See; moreover afterwards, during the Western Schism, she chose to support the Avignon Papacy against Pope Urban VI, who in retaliation declared her a heretic and usurper on 11 May 1380.

[15] When Joanna was invested with the right to succeed her grandfather on 30 November, John and Agnes were among the Neapolitan vassals who swore fealty to her, but Philip and Catherine did not attend the ceremony.

[7] Queen Sancia, a fervent patron of the Spiritual Franciscans, lived like a Clarisse nun, although the Pope had refused to annul her marriage to King Robert.

[25] Raised in the cultured and refined court of her grandfather, Joanna apparently received no formal education[7] or, if she did, was not very accurate, given that the Angevin documents do not mention the names of her tutors.

The chronicler Domenico da Gravina affirms that both Joanna and her sister Maria had been "informed of every art and virtue by the same Lord King Robert and by Queen Sancia".

[45] When writing about the political situation in the Regno after Robert's death, Petrarch described Joanna and Andrew as "two lambs entrusted to the care of a multitude of wolves, and I see a kingdom without a king".

[42] Joanna approached Pope Clement VI and asked him to grant the title of king to her husband, most probably because she wanted to secure the Hungarian Angevins' support to shorten the term of her minority.

[53] Joanna lost confidence both in her sister and in the Durazzo branch of her family and started to promote the career of her most trusted retainers, including Philippa of Catania's son, Roberto de' Cabanni, and her illegitimate uncle, Charles d'Artois.

[58] He also claimed that a hypocrite Franciscan friar, Fra' Roberto, controlled the regency council, describing him as a "terrible three-footed beast, with its feet naked, with its head bare, arrogant about its poverty, dripping with pleasure.

[62] Queen Elizabeth, who was still staying in Rome, realized that the conflict between the influential cardinal and the Neapolitan leaders gave an opportunity to strengthen her son's position.

[59] Emphasizing that Joanna was still a minor, the Pope appointed Cardinal Aymery de Châlus as his legate and charged him with the government of the Regno in a bull on 28 November 1343.

[71] John II, Marquess of Montferrat and the Visconti of Milan captured Alessandria and Asti in Piedmont and continued their military campaign against other Piedmontese towns that acknowledged Joanna's sovereignty.

[77][78] In February 1345, the Pope issued a bull, forbidding Joanna's most trusted advisors—Philippa of Catania and her relatives—to intervene in politics,[79] but he also replaced Chalus with Guillaume Lamy, Bishop of Chartres.

[72] They reoccupied Alba in the spring, but John II of Montferrat and the Visconti gathered their troops near Chieri and defeated Agoult's army in the Battle of Gamenario on 23 April.

Louis of Taranto was a seasoned warrior, who understood Neapolitan politics from his lifetime experiences, raised at the court of Catherine of Valois, Joanna's aunt.

Joanna's visit had a triple purpose: to obtain a dispensation for her marriage to Louis of Taranto, to receive the absolution or exoneration of Andrew's murder and to prepare the reconquest of her Kingdom.

The Pope granted the couple the dispensation, appointed a commission to investigate the charges of involvement in the murder of Andrew and bought the city of Avignon for 80,000 florins, which became effectively separate from Provence.

[97] One month after her arrival, she broke her previous promises on 20 September by removing Raymond d'Agoult from his post of Seneschal and appointing in his place the Neapolitan Giovanni Barrili.

[98] Over time, the Hungarians came to be viewed as barbarians by the Neapolitan people, including Giovanni Boccaccio (who described Louis the Great as “’rabid’ and ‘more vicious than a snake’”),[99] so it was easy for the Queen and her husband to gain popularity after their return.

After another Hungarian offensive which led to the walls of Naples in 1350, Pope Clement VI sent a Legate, Raymond Saquet, Bishop of Saint-Omer, with a fleet commanded by Hugues des Baux.

During the next three years, the Queen would take a series of measures that made her popular: she granted a pardon to Raymond des Baux on 20 March 1363, replaced Roger of San Severino by Fouques d'Agoult as Seneschal of Provence, and promulgated various edicts to prevent internal disorders.

Unfortunately, this marriage was also turbulent: her new husband had been imprisoned for almost 14 years by his uncle King Peter IV of Aragon in an iron cage, an experience which left him mentally deranged.

Despite her marital troubles, in January 1365 Joanna was found to be pregnant with James IV's child, but unfortunately in June she had a miscarriage, as was noted in a letter of condolence sent to her by Pope Urban V dated 19 July 1365.

Despite the Queen's deep spirituality and friendships with Catherine of Siena and Bridget of Sweden, her court was notable for its extravagance, with her collection of exotic animals and servants of various origins including Turkish, Saracen, and African.

Indeed, with the approval of Pope Gregory XI, on 25 December 1375, she signed her fourth marriage contract, with Otto, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen, who valiantly defended her rights in Piedmont.

However, for Joanna, the main factor of her support to Clement VII was Urban VI's attempts to take Naples away from her and to cede part of her Kingdom to his nephew, Francesco Prignano.

Louis I of Anjou may not have understood the gravity of the situation in Naples and didn't intervene immediately because he was forced to remain in France after his brother's death as a regent of his nephew and new King Charles VI.

Joanna entrusted her husband Otto of Brunswick with the few troops she could muster, but he was unable to stop the forces of Charles of Durazzo, who on 28 June 1381 crossed the borders of the Kingdom of Naples.

[124] Without any help, Joanna was forced to surrender on 25 August and was imprisoned, firstly in Castel dell'Ovo and later, in December, she was transferred to the Castello del Parco at Nocera Inferiore.

Charles of Durazzo, thinking that he couldn't resist Louis I of Anjou, decided on 28 May 1382[130][131] that Joanna should be transferred from the Castello del Parco to the Castle of Muro Lucano held by Palamede Bozzuto, where she was killed on 27 July 1382, aged 56.