Charles II of Naples

Charles was the son of Charles I of Anjou, one of 13th-century Europe's most powerful monarchs, and received the Principality of Salerno in 1272. After the 1282 Sicilian Vespers uprising split his father's realm, the island of Sicily passed to Aragon while Charles became regent of the mainland Regno in 1283. He abolished unpopular taxes and confirmed noble liberties, but could not stop Aragonese forces from seizing Calabria and the Gulf islands. In 1284 the Sicilian admiral Roger of Lauria captured him in a naval battle off Naples. When his father died on 7 January 1285, Charles was still in prison; his multiple kingdoms - Naples, Provence, Forcalquier, and his claim to Jerusalem - were governed by regents until his release. The rest of his reign was spent trying to resolve the Sicilian war through diplomacy and managing what remained of the Angevin inheritance.