Margaret of Durazzo
Margaret of Durazzo (Italian Margherita di Durazzo; * July 28, 1347; † August 6, 1412 in Acquamela at Salerno ) was Queen of Naples ( 1381-1386 ) and Hungary ( 1385-1386 ). After the assassination of her husband, Charles III. of Naples of 1386-1393 she practiced the regency for her young son Ladislaus from.
Life
Margaret was the fourth daughter of Charles, Duke of Durazzo, and his wife Maria of Calabria. She had a brother who died young Ludwig and three older sisters. 1348 was the Hungarian King Ludwig I. Margaret's father to death, whereupon Maria of Calabria fled with her daughters, including Margaret, to Avignon.
On January 24, 1370 was held in Naples Margaret's wedding instead of her cousin Charles of Durazzo. His father, Louis of Durazzo and Margaret's father were brothers. After her marriage, Margaret lived with her husband in Hungary. From 1376-1380 they resided in Naples. The couple had three children:
- Maria ( * 1370, † 1371 )
- Johanna II (* 1373, † 1435 ), Queen of Naples from 1414 to 1435
- Ladislaus (* 1376, † 1414), King of Naples from 1386 to 1414.
After Pope Urban VI. 1380 the childless Joanna I had declared their support for the anti-pope Clement VII Queen of Naples deposed, he invested on June 1, 1381 Margaret's husband as Charles III. Joan's successor. Troops of Margaret and her husband now possessed the kingdom of Naples. The couple was crowned on November 25, 1381 by Cardinal Gentile di Sangro. But soon it was in Louis I of Anjou competition, the Johanna had made to her adopted son and heir. Before Charles III. on April 18, 1384 departed from Naples, to protect his kingdom against the invasion of Louis, he appointed Margaret as regent. This position she held until January 1385th Louis of Anjou was indeed passed away in September 1384, but Charles III. had with Urban VI. enemies, of him and his wife in January 1385 therefore excommunicated.
In September 1385, Charles III made . to Hungary in order to gain the crown of this realm. Again he had Margaret, who had advised him of this step, as regent of Naples back. As a result, he forced the abdication of Queen Mary, and was even crowned on December 31, 1385 King of Hungary, however, assassinated in February 1386 at the instigation of Mary's mother, Elizabeth of Bosnia.
The become as a widow Margaret, who received no second marriage more in her remaining 26 years of life, now practiced the tutelary government for their minor son Ladislaus. Their rule but was threatened by the claim to the crown of Naples made by Louis II of Anjou claims as well as by rebellious Great. In July 1387 she fled with Ladislaus in the solid Gaeta. Between the new Pope Boniface IX. Margaret and then it came to a peace agreement, and with the help of Cardinal Angelo Acciaioli could Margarethe continue to act as regent until July 1393.
In her last years, Margaret first moved back to Salerno and then after Acquamela, where she died of the plague in 1412. She had become a devout Catholic and was buried in the Cathedral of Salerno.