Charles I of Anjou

Charles I of Anjou was a brother of Louis IX who conquered the Kingdom of Sicily and became its king in 1266. Papal opposition to the Hohenstaufens brought Charles into Italy, where he defeated Manfred at Benevento.

Charles, a younger brother of Louis IX of France, acquired Provence through marriage and later conquered the kingdom of Sicily with papal support, defeating Manfred at Benevento in 1266 and Conradin in 1268. His wider Mediterranean ambitions were checked dramatically by the Sicilian Vespers of 1282, which drove his rule from the island and left him controlling the mainland kingdom centred on Naples.

In Robert Shea’s The Saracen Holy War, Daoud ibn Abdallah’s attempt to prevent a Christian–Mongol alliance enters its decisive phase as Pope Urban IV dies and Charles of Anjou prepares to invade the Kingdom of Sicily. In Robert Shea’s The Saracen Land of the Infidel, The espionage mission becomes entangled with Manfred of Sicily’s struggle against the papacy and Charles of Anjou, as Ghibelline and Guelf factions compete for Italian cities.