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Eleanor of Anjou
Marie karel2 (cropped, five daughters).jpg
Eleanor with her sisters in the Bible of Naples
Queen consort of Sicily
Tenure 17 May 1302 – 25 June 1337
Born August 1289
Died 9 August 1341(1341-08-09) (aged 51–52)
Spouse Philippe II de Toucy
Frederick II of Sicily
Issue
Among Others
Peter II of Sicily
Manfred, Duke of Athens and Neopatria
Constance, Queen of Cyprus
Elisabeth, Duchess of Bavaria
William, Prince of Taranto
John, Duke of Randazzo
House Anjou-Sicily
Father King Charles II of Naples
Mother Mary of Hungary

Eleanor of Anjou (August 1289 – 9 August 1341) was Queen of Sicily as the wife of King Frederick II of Sicily. She was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou by birth.

She was the third daughter of King Charles II of Naples and Mary of Hungary.

Eleanor was firstly married in 1299 to Philippe II de Toucy, son of Narjot de Toucy, Lord of Laterza, and Lucia of Tripoli. Their marriage was dissolved on 17 January 1300 by Pope Boniface VIII because they were related and had not sought permission from the pope to marry.

On 17 May 1302, Eleanor married secondly to the King of Sicily, Frederick II. Her father and her new husband had been engaged in a war for ascendancy in the Mediterranean Sea and especially Sicily and the Mezzogiorno. The marriage was part of a diplomatic effort to establish peaceful relations which would lead to the Peace of Caltabellotta (19 August 1302).

The peace divided the old Kingdom of Sicily into an island portion and a peninsular portion. The island, called the Kingdom of Trinacria, went to Frederick, who had been ruling it, and the Mezzogiorno, called the Kingdom of Sicily contemporaneously, but called the Kingdom of Naples by modern scholarship, went to Charles II, who had been ruling it. Thus, the peace was formal recognition of an uneasy status quo.

Eleanor and Frederick had nine children:

  • Peter II of Sicily (1304–1342), successor
  • Roger (born 1305), died young
  • Manfred, Duke of Athens and Neopatria (1306–1317), Duke of Athens and Neopatria
  • Constance, married on December 29, 1331 to Leo IV of Armenia
  • Elisabeth (1310–1349),(also known as Isabella), married (1328) Stephen II of Bavaria
  • William, Prince of Taranto (1312–1338), Prince of Taranto, Duke of Athens and Neopatria
  • Giovanni di Randazzo (1317–1348), Duke of Randazzo, Duke of Athens and Neopatria, Regent of Sicily (from 1338)
  • Catherine (1320–1342)
  • Margaret (1331–1377), married (1348) Rudolf II of the Palatinate

Eleanor died on the 9 August 1341 at the Monastery of San Nicolo di Arena (Catania), she had been a widow since 1337. She was buried at a Franciscan monastery in Catania.

Sources

Eleanor of Anjou
Capetian House of Anjou
Cadet branch of the House of Capet
Born: August 1289 Died: 9 August 1341
Royal titles
Preceded by
Blanche of Anjou
Queen consort of Sicily
17 May 1302 – 25 June 1337
Succeeded by
Elisabeth of Carinthia
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