Joanna I of Naples - Murder of Her Husband and Its Aftermath

Murder of Her Husband and Its Aftermath

Hearing of the Pope's reversal, a group of noble conspirators (the involvement of Queen Joanna remaining unproved) determined to forestall Andrew's coronation. During a hunting trip at Aversa in 1345, Andrew left his room in the middle of the night and was set upon by the conspirators. A treacherous servant barred the door behind him; and with Joanna in her own bedroom, a terrible struggle ensued, Andrew defending himself furiously and shrieking for aid. He was finally overpowered, strangled with a cord, and flung from a window. Isolde, Andrew's Hungarian nurse, heard his cries, and with her own screams chased the murderers off. She took the Prince's corpse to the church of the monks, and remained with it until next morning in mourning. When the Hungarian knights arrived she told them everything in their mother tongue so no one else would learn about the truth, and soon they left Naples informing everything to the Hungarian King.

She informed the papacy, as well as other states in Europe of the murder, expressing her disgust in the letters, but Joanna's circle of friends were thought to be most suspect. On December 25, she gave birth to a son. When she made public her plans to marry one of her Taranto cousins and not Andrew's younger brother Stephen, the Hungarians openly accused her of the murder.

Louis of Taranto was a seasoned warrior, who understood Neapolitan politics for having been raised at the court of Catherine of Valois, Joanna's aunt. After Joanna stated her intention to marry him, his brother Robert banded together with his cousin and erstwhile rival Charles of Durazzo against them. Some of Joanna's courtiers and servants were tortured and later executed including her Sicilian governess Philippa the Catanian and the latter's family. Louis was successful in driving his brother's forces back, but just as he reached Naples, it became known that the Hungarians planned to invade. Joanna made a pact with the Kingdom of Sicily, preventing them from invading at the same time and married Louis.

She married twice more; to James IV of Majorca and Prince of Achaea and Otto, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen. Her one son by Andrew died at a young age, as did her two daughters by Louis.