Kingdom of Naples (jan 1, 1282 – jan 1, 1600)

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After the Sicilian Vespers of 1284, the kingdom was split in two, with an Aragonese king ruling the island of Sicilit and the Angevin king ruling the mainland portion. Both kingdoms called themselves the Kingdom of Sicily, but the mainland portion was commonly referred to as the Kingdom of Naples. Joan I of Naples formally renounced the claim to Sicily in the 1373 Treaty of Villeneuve. The Hungarian Angevin king Louis the Great captured the city several times during Joan's reign. Joan was murdered in 1382 by her cousin the Prince of Durazzo, who seized the throne as Charles III of Naples. The two competing Angevin lines contested each other for the possession of the Kingdom of Naples over the following decades. In 1435, René of Anjou finally united the two claims. Naples had grown in importance in this time, gaining Pisan and Genoese merchants, Tuscan bankers, and outstanding artists.

In 1442 Alfonso I conquered Naples after his victory against René, the last Angevin king. After a brief conquest by Charles VIII of France in 1495, the two kingdoms were united under Aragonese rule in 1501. Aragon and France resumed war the next year, but Spanish troops gave Aragon a victory and full control of the kingdom by 1504. The peace treaties that continued were never definite, and the kingdom continued to be disputed between France and Spain for the next several decades, though French efforts to gain control of it grew increasingly feeble. France finally abandoned its claims to Naples in 1559, in the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis.

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