A Capetian branch from Naples that ruled Hungary and Croatia and temporarily joined those crowns to Poland.
Arms. Per pale: barry of eight gules and argent; azure, semy of fleurs-de-lis or, a label gules. Charles Robert’s arms combine Hungary and Anjou. His successors used other combinations.
The Capetian house of Anjou, founded by Charles I, Louis IX’s brother, ruled in the Mediterranean and gave rise to the Hungarian, Taranto and Durazzo branches.
Charles Martel, son of Charles II of Naples and Mary of Hungary, founded the branch that claimed the Árpád inheritance. His son Charles Robert consolidated the Hungarian monarchy against the magnates. The presence of the same family in Naples and Hungary did not mean that the two kingdoms were united.
Development
Louis I succeeded Charles Robert in 1342 and inherited the Polish crown in 1370. His kingdoms retained their own laws and institutions. His campaigns in Italy and the Balkans combined conquest, temporary occupation and vassalage: each relationship’s extent must be checked by territory and date.
Legacy
After Louis died in 1382, Mary continued in Hungary and Jadwiga was crowned in Poland in 1384. Their marriages to Sigismund of Luxembourg and Władysław Jagiełło led to different successions. Connections through women continued even when the name of the ruling house changed.
