Mary of Enghien
Maria d' Enghien (also: Maria II of Enghien ) (* 1367, † May 9, 1446 ) was Countess of Lecce ( 1384-1446 ) and, by her second marriage, Queen of Naples, also Titularkönigin of Sicily, Jerusalem and Hungary ( 1406-1414 ).
She was the daughter of John of Enghien (now Enghien ) and ( Sanchie or ) Blanche of Baux. Her father was the third son of Isabella of Brienne († 1360 ) and her husband Walter of Enghien († 1345 ). Your grandmother Isabella survived her brother Walter VI. of Brienne, titular of Athens, etc., who fell at the battle of Maupertuis. He had no heirs, and so she became Countess of Lecce, Brienne, etc. and Titularherzogin of Athens. Because her eldest son, Walter (1322-1340) died before her brother (1304-1356), mounted her second son Sohier of Enghien († 1364 ) the throne. In life, she shared the inherited countries with their numerous children. Mary's father, the third son (but second of the survivors ), got the County of Lecce and the rule of Castro.
Mary's father died in 1380, leaving behind minor children. Mary's brother Peter of Enghien ( alisa Pyrrhus, pyrrolidine or Pirro ), was Count of Lecce. When Peter died childless in 1384, Mary was 17 years old, along with her husband Raimondo Orsini del Balzo of Nola ( Prince of Taranto ), whom she had married in 1384, his successor.
Chronicler described her as beautiful, fearless, adventurous, from their children, she was adored, loved by her husband, besieged by King Ladislaus of Naples and treated cruelly by his sister Johanna II.
When her husband Raimondo traveled, they remained in their strongholds in Lecce and Cupertino and thus served the king against the papal troops and followers of the Angevin Empire. She took care of her children: Mary, Catherine, Giovanni Antonio and Gabriele.
Raimondo was according to the law of succession Prince of Taranto and died in 1405 or 1406. Upon his death she married on April 23, 1407, King Ladislaus of Naples in the St. Leonardokapelle in the Castello Aragonese in Taranto. The marriage was organized by Ladislaus with the sole purpose to take the lands of the Principality of Taranto in possession, as it is not been able to conquer in war. The owners of the two were united in a large area that extended from today Salento to the province of Matera. The marriage was childless.
She was received by the Neapolitan people with open arms, but relations with the husband were not good. She lived with her lover Ladislaus ' a sad life in the rooms of the Castel Nuovo. Soon Maria lost all their power. Queens title had Mary only as per format. After the death of Ladislaus on August 6, 1414 Empire went to his sister Johanna II, the Cruel, the hated Mary and was imprisoned. Joan's husband, James II of La Marche (1370-1438), she was soon released and returned to Lecce.
Your children from the first marriage:
- Maria del Balzo Orsini ( † after 1410), married to Antonio Acquaviva, Duke of Atri, etc., childless
- Known Catherine del Balzo Orsini, also known as Catherine of Taranto, married to Bartholomew Tristan of Clermont; Knight of the French family Clermont- Lodeve. Tristan was his wife's dowry Count of Cupertino. ( Catherine del Balzo Orsini, who lived at the same time and brought with Giulio Antonio Aragona and Acquaviva, Duke of Atri, was married and the dowry Casamassima and Conversano into the marriage, was apparently not the same Catherine, but a relative, perhaps the daughter of Giovanni Antonio or Gebriel, Duke of Venosa. )
- Giovanni Antonio del Balzo Orsini, Prince of Taranto, childless in 1463 died when his niece Isabella fiefs brought her husband King Ferdinand I..
- Gabriele del Balzo Orsini († 1453), (possibly the natural son of her husband ), Count of Ugento etc., Count of Venosa; married to Giovanna Caracciolo del Sole out of the house Melfi.
1420 Maria Johanna II received the Principality of Taranto back for her son Giovanni Antonio Orsini del Balzo. She returned to her birthplace, where she died on May 9, 1446 at the age of 78 years. It was in the old convent of Santa Croce, which was demolished in 1537 by Charles V in order to build the still existing castle, buried.
See also: History of Taranto, Principality of Taranto, Wedding of Maria d' Enghien