the Glory of Charles as well as by Ambition for so fair a Conquest listened to the Proposition of Procula without seeming however to close with it till he first knew what the Pope's Sentiments were therein to whom this Physitian made two Journeys And in fine after several Paces and Sollicitations the Resolution being taken by Pietro d' Arragon Nicholaus the Third who then held the Pontificial See at Rome gave him the investiture of that Kingdom What was most strange in the success of an Affair of so great an Importance and at which Posterity will have ever reason to be astonished is that it was caried on with that Order and Secrecy for the space of Eighteen Months it was in Treaty that it could never come to the knowledge of any French Man Insomuch that in one and the same day at the first ringing of the Bell for Vespers generally all the Cities of that Kingdom took Arms and made a horrible Massacre of all the French without any exception And they were possessed to that Point with hatred or rather with fury against that Nation that they put to the Sword all the Women they found that they beleived to be with Child by any French Man This horrible Tragoedy happened in the Year 1281. about Eleven Years after the Entire Establishment of Charles the First in the two Kingdoms The Sicilians having thus cruelly freed themselves from the French and Pietro d' Arragon having taken possession of the Island Charles was forced to quit the vast designs he had on the East to think of having satisfaction for so cruel a Revolt He prepared a powerfull Army against Sicily and being come to beseige Messina he found the enterprize more difficult than he had beleived it Insomuch that he was obliged to raise the Siege and was repulsed as far as Calabria from whence he went to Rome to complain to the Pope of the Investiture he had given to Pietro of Arragon who in that time was Crowned at Palermo This Affair was agitated in full Assembly and the two Kings not agreeing it was resolved that it should be decided by the way of Armes between these two Princes and this Duell a thing very strange was even by the allowance of the Holy See Bourdeaux the Capital City of Gascony was chosen for the place of the Randevouz and the King of England for Judge Wherefore Charles came to the Place on the day assigned and waited the greatest part of the day for Peter of Arragon who kept himself so well concealed that no Body knew where he was only it had been heard said the day before that he was still so far from Bourdeaux that it was almost impossible he could arrive there on the Day of assignation Insomuch that Charles upon the going down of the Sun retired and departed at the same time from Bourdeaux Peter of Arragon who had run incessantly upon good Horses that he had caused to be placed upon the ways being arrived in cognito in the City kept himself concealed till Charles was gon and then he appeared in the Field of Battel in the presence of him who presided there being a Lord the King of England had sent in his place and complained of King Charles whose Impatient Haughtiness had not permitted him to attend his Arrival He walked in that manner upon the place till that he saw the Stars appear than he remounted his Horse and returned with the same swiftness that he came going as is reported Thirty Leagues that Night He retired into a place of safety thus deceiving King Charles but Martin the Fourth who was then Pope excommunicated him and conferred the Kingdom of Catalonia on Charles of Valois Second Son of Philip King of France In the time that King Charles went to Bourdeaux for this Duell Roger de Loria a Calabrian by Birth Admiral of King Peter of Arragon one of the most experienced as well as the bravest Captains that had e're been upon the Sea plyed all the Coast of Naples with Forty Five Galleys ruining all the Country as far as the City of Naples where he likewise came and shot an infinite number of Arrows reproaching the Neopolitans with Cowardice defying them to come fight him Which so strongly animated a Number of brave men there was in that City and especially the Young Nobility that could not endure so cruel an affront that Charles Prince of Salerno the only Son of Charles the Second took the Resolution of fighting him notwithstanding all the Opposition of the Legate and the Express Orders of the King his Father who had recommended to him to think only of well defending the City and not to come to blows with the Enemies This Prince I say pushed on with a desire of Glory as well as Indignation at so injurious a reproach went out with Thirty Galleys and some other Vessels of less Consequence and attacqued with more Valour than force Loria's Fleet who after a very sharp fight was at the length Conquerour took Nine Galleys and a great number of Young Lords amongst which was Charles Prince of Salerno who was kept with Nine of those he would choose and the rest were sent to Prison in Sicily of whom more than two Hundred were beheaded at Messina in revenge of the Death of Corradin Young Prince of Suevia whom King Charles whose Prisoner of War he was af-the cruel Sentence of Pope Clement the Fourteenth a Provential by Birth who wrote to him Vita Corradini mors Caroli mors Carradini vita Caroli this King I say put him into the Hands of Justice who condemned him to Death A Sentence however which not only every French Lord and Gentleman refused to Sign but whose Execution was fiercely opposed by the Count of Flanders Son-in-Law to King Charles saying that a Prince of that Blood was not to be put to Death after that manner But to give him his Liborty and to make him rather a Friend and an Ally by the means of a Marriage The Day after the defeat of the Prince of Salerno the King his Father returning from Gascony arrived at Gayeta with Sixty Galleys and Three great Ships with Soldiers and Horses and learnt the sad News of his Sons misfortune and that there was already a Revolt in the City of Naples all the People crying may Roger de Loria live and Charles dye At which this Prince fell into so great a Passion that being come near that City he would not Land at the Port but above the Church of the Carmelites where he descended with design to set on fire that ungratefull and rebellious City And was a long time in that cruel Resolution but at length conquered by the Tears of some good People and by the Prayers of the Legate he pardoned them after having caused a Hundred and Fifty of the most culpable to be hanged This punishment having both calmed and terrified the City all his cares were to raise a powerfull Army for to pass into Sicily which
was ready about Autumn and he came to Cotrona with a Hundred and Ten Galleys and some other Sails but seeing the Winter come on and wanting Victuals and Money for so great a Fleet he went to disarme at Brindiso with design to put to Sea again in the Spring and in the mean time to make Provision of all that should be necessary for the bringing to pass his Projects If Death had not made them vanish in a moment He dyed at Foggia a City in la Pouille oppressed with sadness and Malancholly after having lived Fifty Six Years and reigned Nineteen This Prince was tall of a ruddy Complexion had a great Nose and a fierce and Martial Air he was sharp and severe in punishment much more admirable for War than for Peace As to the rest very serious and of almost a Religious Life in what concerned Love He slept little spoak seldome doing more than he said He was liberall to brave men and firm in his Promises an Enemy of Trisles and useless Courtiers but a generous Protectour of Soldiers and Ambitious more than any Prince whatever resolute to have Money at any rate soever when he was to bring to pass any enterprize One of the things that have been most found fault with in this Prince and which has lest some stain in his Glory is the great License he gave to Soldiers in time of Peace to the great disadvantage of his Subjects but otherwise one of the most accomplished Princes of the Earth In that time Pope Martin had sent two Cardinals to Sicily for the endeavouring to make Peace with King Peter of Arragon and not being able to reduce him to accept the Conditions that they proposed they renewed the Excommunication there was against him and likewise Excommunicated all Sicily from whence they departed in that manner The Sicilians more Animated than ever to see themselves so ill Treated by the Pope in Consideration of the French having learnt the Death of King Charles run to the Prisons where the rest of those were who had been taken with the Prince of Salerno for to Massacre them But they found there so vigorous a Resistance that for the sparing of the Blood of theirs they were Obliged to set the Prison on Fire and caused the Death by this unmercifull Cruelty of the finest Youth that had been seen of a long time in Italy in sequel of which they caused the Judges of the Principal Cities of the Kingdom to Assemble for to make the Process of the Prince of Salerno who was in Prison with Nine of his Friends after the Example of King Charles the First who had caused Corradin to be thus judged and they all unanimously condemned him to be Beheaded as had happened to the unfortunate Prince of Suevia But Queen Constance a Princess whom Historians cannot enough commend being then in Sicily designed to save him and for to satisfy the People who demanded his Death she let them understand that in an Affair of so great Importance nothing could be Executed without the allowance of the King her Husband and thereupon she ordered that that Prince should be sent into Catalonia where King Peter of Arragon was to the end he might do as he should think convenient This was at length approved by the People and much Commanded in the World after the Action of Charles the First The Pope having learnt the Death of this King sent to Naples in Quality of Legate Gerard Cardinal of Parma and King Philip the Count de Artois his Son for to take care of the State with Mary Princess of Salerno in the Name of Charles then in Prison during that this King on the other side with the Count de Valois to whom the Pope had given the Investiture of Catalonia entred that Kingdom with two powerful Armies of which that by Sea was of a Hundred and Twenty Galleys They won Girona by assault where the King of Arragon who was there in Person to defend it received a Wound of which he dyed He left Anfus his Eldest Son King of Arragon and Don James the Second King of Sicily During that time Roger de Loria being departed from Sicily to come to the Succours of the King his Master learnt that a part of the Fleet of France was in the Port of Roses and that the other was gon to seek Victuals at Narbonne Whereupon he went and attacqued first that of Roses of which he burnt a part having taken or sunk the rest and made Prisoner Enguiran Admiral of France From thence turning towards that of Narbonne he surprized and defeated it with much less difficulty than the former which being understood by King Philip who was Sick at Perpignan it so grieved him that it caused his Death and almost at the same time that of Pope Martin the Fourth Insomuch that there dyed in the space of a Year three Kings and a Pope Things seemed to be some thing appeased in the midst of so many Deaths of that Consideration and the King of England who was come into Gascony endeavouring to make Peace between the two Young Kings James and Charles the Second then in Prison in Catalonia had almost concluded when it was interrupted by the Occasion I am going to relate The Cardinal Legat and the Count d' Artois Governours of the Kingdom of Naples judging the Conjuncture fair for the recovering of Sicily resolved with Fifty Galleys that they had obtained part from the Venetians and part elsewhere and some Militia that they had caused to come from Toscany with the French and the Country People to attempt this enterprize under the Command of Raynand Count of Aveline This Fleet put to Sea they Landed in that Kingdom they beseiged Catania they took it and the Count fortifying himself there sent his Fleet to Naples for to take in the Soldiers which had been left on Shoar there At the same time the Count of Montsort Vicar of Toscany accompanied with the Count de Boulogne and Philip Son of the Count of Flanders who were at Sienna departing from Maremma with a Fleet of Sixty Galleys of which Arrigin of Genoa was Admiral came towards Sicily to joyn with the Count de Aveline But de Loria who had newly won two Famous Victories having learnt at his coming from that of Narboune the descent that the Nepolitans had made into Sicily turned that way and came to the Succours of the Sicilians The First that he met with were those of the Count de Aveline who were going to Naples whom he chaced and finding them almost unprovided of Soldiers he immediately routed them and from thence going to meet that of the Count of Montfort which was coming from Toscany there was a furious fight in which being at length Conquerour he took the Count of Montfort Prisoner the Count of Boulogne and Prince Philip These two last ransomed themselves with a Sum of Money But the Count of Montfort having been detained Prisoner dyed some time aster in
THE Unequal Match OR THE LIFE OF MARY OF ANJOU QUEEN of MAJORCA An Historical Novel LONDON Printed for Charles Blount near the Bear Tavern by the New Exchange in the Strand and Richard Butt at the Bear and Orange-Tree in Princess Street near the Horshoo-Tavern in Drury-Lane 1681. TO THE Right Honourable THE Countess Dowager of Tenet c. Madam WHen greatness is maintained and attended with all those Gifts and Talents which procure it ecteem and respect when Persons of the highest Rank and Quality are more illustrious by their Merit than their Fortune it is no wonder if the World flocks to them with Offerings and that their excellencies procure them sometimes trouble and importunities instead of ease and satisfaction All those who have the Honour to know you Madam speak even with that veneration of your Ladyship that I could not curb the Ambition I have of adding one voice to the general shout and from crowding up to your Feet with this present It is a Presumption Madam I should have despaired of ever having been able to have attoned for had not this story of the Queen of Majorca met with that approbation in the World that it has been found capable of entertaining with delight the greatest Judges amongst whom your Ladyship being with justice acknowledged to have the first Place this Queen fancyed she could be no where so safe as under so glorious a Protection and therefore was restless and impatient till I had Vshered and Introduced her into your Ladyships presence I shall have fully satisfied my vanity if you find her Company Madam as agreeable as others have done and if you can think fit to Pardon the dress she appears in which I 'm afraid will be found to have too much of the French in it and I in this a too Superstitious observer of their Mode But should I excuse my self with her being huddled up in haste I should but prove the more importunate Nor shall I tell the World that Honour Wit and Vertue have never had a better Example than your Ladyship it would be I fancy like a Man in the Month of May or April who in a clear bright Sun-shining Day having a fair Prospect of all the Beauties Nature was ever capable of bestowing and which were adorned by all manner of improvements would declare to the World that it was Spring and Figure to himself he had discovered a great secret in publishing what was already the general delight Admiration and Wonder he could not fail of being similed at for his folly which to avoid it is sit that I be silent in a Subject that is above description that I make my Legg and retire with all Submission and Respect Madam Your Ladyships most Obedient and most humble Servant F. S. MARY OF ANJOU QUEEN OF MAJORCA THe Caprichiousness of the Stars is much to be admired in the Destiny of Princesses who seem to have been only born in an illustrious Rank for to be the more unhappy Policy usually requiring that they be delivered to Husbands without consulting their Inclinations and that they be purely Victimes of State Mary of Anjou Daughter of Charles the Second King of Naples and Sicily was a Famous Example of the fantassticalness not to say of the injustice of the Stars The King her Father gave her or rather Sacrificed her to the King of Majorca He had for her that tender affection that the most accomplished Princess upon the Earth merited severall Princes aspired to so Illustrious a Possession and she might have been happy The King of Majorca was an Old Man of a whimsicall and fierce humour had already had two Wives nay and had the Reputation of knowing how to dispatch them when he pleased An Union so ill suited could not but produce a very ill agreement Yet all these reasons tho' very powerfull could not prevail in the mind of King Charles over the reasons of State His Affairs demanded this Sacrifice from him the King of Majorca offered him great succours by Sea of which he had extream need for the resisting the powerfull Fleet that was preparing against him by Don James d' Arragon out of whose Prison he was newly released Insomuch that he accepted that alliance preferrable to so many others if not more illustrious at least more suitable to the Age and Humour of the Princess his Daughter but which could not be then so usefull to him as that of the King of Majorca I shall take the Subject a little farther than would be necessary for a History of Gallantry but as it is one of the finest Circumstances of the History of Italy and that I shall say nothing which does not belong to a faithfull Historian I assure my self that a Reader the least curious will not take ill my having added to the amourous Narration a recitall of the passages of most importance in that time and which will be no less diverting than what there was of Gallantry Charles the Second of that name King of Naples and Sicily one of the greatest Princes then under the Heavens had been more than Ten Years free Possessour of those two powerfull Kingdoms when his ambition which could not contain it self in the Narrow Bounds of some States which made but a little part of the World stirring up his Warlike Humour inspired him with more glorious Conquests Constantinople that Famous City appeared to him a Subject worthy enough to make him take Arms and some Lands he had in Morea being capable of serving him for a reason or at least for a pretext to pretend to the Empire of the East He prepared himself to drive away the Emperour Michael Paleologue but fortune raised him on a sudden greater Affairs than he could put an end to and gave him in his own Country wherewith to Exercise his Marshall-Genius The French according to their usual Custome lived in Sicily with that Liberty amongst the Women they take in all places Their Gallantry little agreable to the Humour of the Country giving occasion of complaints to several Husbands there was one certain John de Procula Physitian of the deceased King Manfroy whose Crown Charles the Second then possessed who entertaining some secret Intelligences with the Principal Lords of the Kingdom resolved to deliver his Country from so Incommode a Nation He went for that end to Constantinople had made known to the Emperour Michael the design that King Charles had hoping to engage him by a Motive of revenge as well as of glory to favour the discontented party but his practices not succeeding in that Court which demanded nothing but Peace and was not at the least in a State of giving great succours to the Sicilians he passed into Catalonia where he offered the Soveraignty of the Isle of Sicily to Peter King of Arragon who had Marryed Constance Daughter of Manfroy King of Naples and Sicily Peter being an Ambitious Prince and one of the most valiant of his time pusht on by jealousy of