Battle of Benevento (1266)

Battle of Benevento
Battle of Benevento, from Giovanni Villani's Nuova Cronica
Date 26 February 1266 Location near Benevento, present-day Italy Result Guelph victory
Belligerents
Guelphs (Angevin French and mercenaries)	Ghibellines (Kingdom of Sicily, German and Italian mercenaries)
Commanders and leaders
Charles of Anjou	Manfred of Sicily  †
Strength
4,600 cavalry Unknown number of infantry	3,600 heavy cavalry 300 light cavalry 10,000 archers
Casualties and losses
Unknown	more than 2,500 cavalry killed Unknown infantry

The Battle of Benevento was fought on 26 February 1266 near Benevento, in present-day Southern Italy. It was waged between the troops of Charles of Anjou and Manfred of Sicily. Manfred's defeat and death resulted in the capture of the Kingdom of Sicily by Charles, effectively ending the rule of the Hohenstaufen in the Italian Peninsula.

The Papacy had long been in conflict with the Imperial house of Hohenstaufen over their rule in Italy. At the time of the battle, the Hohenstaufen ruler in the Kingdom of Sicily (which included Sicily and southern Italy) was Manfred, illegitimate son of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor. While the rightful heir to the kingdom was Frederick's legitimate grandson Conradin, he was young and safely across the Alps in Bavaria. Taking advantage of a false rumor of Conradin's death, Manfred had usurped the throne in 1258. Pope Urban IV determined to wrench the Kingdom from him, and in 1263, concluded a secret treaty with Charles of Anjou, giving him the Sicilian throne.

Charles reached Rome in 1265, but was temporarily halted by financial embarrassments. Manfred, however, did not take the field against him until January 1266, when Charles' main army had crossed the Alps. Alarmed by desertions among his followers and fearing further treachery, Manfred sought to bring Charles to battle as swiftly as possible. Charles attempted to turn Manfred's position at Capua by a perilous crossing of the Apennines which wrecked his supply line; but Manfred had intelligence of his move and lay in a strong position across the River Calore, crossed only by one bridge.

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