A.D. 1378.

health, afforded some hopes that she might BOOK VII. produce an heir. These hopes which were most agreeable to her subjects, and to which The heir to the the queen herself was not insensible, naturally alarmed the Count Charles and his friends.

If Joanna had an heir, Charles and his descendants were excluded from the crown: but even if she died without leaving a child, the Germans, who, under the protection of Otho, began to inundate the kingdom, might, it was supposed, eventually place him on the throne, and as had been experienced in times past, it would be no easy matter to expel them, when once they had obtained possession; these feelings, and other causes, made Otho an object of great jealousy to Charles and his Countess Margaret.

crown alarmed.

A short time previous to Otho's marriage with the Queen of Naples, Pope Gregory XI. died The election of two at Rome. Anxious to secure the government

of the church to the French party, which was now paramount, he had urged the cardinals on his death-bed to name his successor as soon as possible, as he was afraid they might be overawed or controlled by the violence of the people of the capital; and they, willing to obey his injunctions, lost no time in preparing for

Popes:

BOOK VII.

A.D. 1378.

the election. But when the conclave met, the
citizens assembled in multitudes, and their cry
was that they must have a Pope who was a
Roman, or a native of Italy, or they would
render the heads of the cardinals as red as
their caps.
The captains who commanded
in the city, declared that they could not re-
strain the fury of the people. They had already
begun to place fagots under the room where the
cardinals were assembled, and in a state of great
alarm, the sacred college fixed upon the Arch-
bishop of Bari, who immediately took the name
of Urban VI.

This prelate was esteemed a man of superior talents, and of modest and humble manners, and it was supposed would resign the triple crown as soon as the tumultuous passions of the people had subsided, and that the electors could be allowed to exercise their own judgOtho favours Urban: ment. But Urban, once chosen, was resolved to keep his place, and Otho, who had long known him in private life, gave him his support on his entering into office. The cardinals, however, were determined to show that they were not to be constrained in the exercise of their prerogative; they met at Fundi, in the kingdom of

Naples, and by a majority of thirty-five, declared the Cardinal of Geneva, the true Pope, and he took the title of Clement VII. This double election created a schism, not only in the church, but also among the states of Europe. The King of England, the Kings of Hungary and Poland, the Flemings, the Saxons, the Bohemians, and almost all the states of the North, acknowledged Urban, while Scotland, France, Italy, and Cyprus, with the Dukes of Saxony, Lorraine, and Austria, yielded obedience to Clement.

BOOK VII.

A.D. 1379.

The Queen of Naples, through the interference of her husband, acknowledged Urban in the first instance; but it happened during the Feast of Easter, that Otho, who was in attendance upon the Pope, and who, as a mark of his respect, presented him with the cup after dinner, was kept so long kneeling beside the chair of his holiness, that he was seriously offended; and Joanna, who felt the indignity still more than the prince, immediately withdrew her countenance from the insolent priest. That And joins Clement rupture threw Urban into the hands of the intriguing Count Charles, who availing himself of their disagreement, got a sentence of deposition pronounced against the queen, and the

Is insulted by him:

VII.

BOOK VII.

investiture of the kingdom from Urban, upon a promise that he would not only support his Charles, Count of interests, but bestow the Duchy of Capua upon

A.D. 1379.

Duras, in rebellion

against the Queen his nephew. These measures soon led to a

of Naples:

Is disinherited:

civil war; Otho took the field in defence of Clement, while the Count of Durazzo arrayed his forces on the side of Urban. The latter, however, the most powerful in Italy, excommunicated the queen, and called upon the King of Hungary to avenge the death of his brother, who, it was believed, had been murdered by Joanna.

The king gave the command of his Hungarians to Charles, and when the queen found that he was advancing upon Naples, with the standard of rebellion, she cancelled the act of his adoption, and nominated the Duke of Anjou, the brother of the King of France, as his successor. This proceeding displeased the Neapolitans, Discontents in Na- who were hostile to France, and not at all satisfied at her having given up the management of the kingdom to a German, and an alien, for so they considered Otho. Charles, therefore, had many friends and abettors in the kingdom, and

ples.

Otho is badly sup- Otho finding he was too feebly supported, to be able to keep the field, retired upon Arcenzo.

ported.

BOOK VII.

A.D. 1381.

The queen, in her distress, called her nobles around her, and obtained a trifling supply of money from her discontented subjects, but it was found inadequate to the support of her army; while Charles, advancing into the heart of the kingdom, was received everywhere with Charles enters the open arms. After some inconsiderable actions, kingdom in triumph:

he laid siege to the capital, where the queen was shut up in the château Neuf. Otho tried to relieve her, but his army was cut to pieces, and his brother Balthazar was taken a prisoner, and had his eyes put out. He collected another army, with which he attacked the intrenchments of Charles, and was on the point of gaining a victory, when he was himself surrounded and taken prisoner. This disaster Takes Otho prithrew his troops into confusion, and they were easily repulsed. Joanna, left thus without any hopes of succour, was obliged to yield to the

soner:

conqueror. She was sent to the Castle of St. As also the Queen. Angelo, in the county of Molessa, where, after a few months imprisonment, she was strangled by order of Charles.

The Duke of Brunswick was secured in the fortress of Minorvano, where he remained about three years, but at last escaped, and

A.D. 1382.