Capet-Anjou
| House of Anjou | |
|---|---|
 Arms of the Capetian House of Anjou |
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| Country | France, Kingdom of Sicily, Kingdom of Naples, Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, Kingdom of Poland, Latin Empire, Principality of Achaea, Despotate of Epirus, Kingdom of Albania |
| Parent house | House of Capet |
| Titles | |
| Founded | 1246 |
| Founder | Charles, Count of Anjou |
| Final ruler |
Charles IV (Anjou) Joanne II (Naples) Mary (Hungary) Jadwiga (Poland) |
| Dissolution | 1481 |
| Cadet branches |
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The Capetian House of Anjou was a royal house and cadet branch of the direct French House of Capet, part of the Capetian dynasty. It is one of three separate royal houses referred to as Angevin, meaning "from Anjou" in France. Founded by Charles I of Naples, a son of Louis VIII of France, the Capetian king first ruled the Kingdom of Sicily during the 13th century. Later the War of the Sicilian Vespers forced him out of the island of Sicily, leaving him with just the southern half of the Italian Peninsula — the Kingdom of Naples. The house and its various branches would go on to influence much of the history of Southern and Central Europe during the Middle Ages, until becoming defunct in 1435.
Historically, the House ruled Naples and Sicily, parts of Greece, Hungary (and Croatia), and Poland.
A younger son of House of Capet king Louis VIII of France the Lion, Charles was first given a noble title by his brother Louis IX of France who succeeded to the French throne in 1226. Charles was named Count of Anjou and Maine; the feudal County of Anjou was a western vassal state of the Kingdom of France, which the Capetians had wrested from the House of Plantagenet only a few decades earlier. Charles married the heiress of the County of Provence named Beatrice of Provence, she was a member of the House of Barcelona; this meant Charles' holdings were growing as Count of Provence. After fighting in the Seventh Crusade, Charles was offered by Pope Clement IV the Kingdom of Sicily — which at the time included not only the island of Sicily but also the southern half of the Italian Peninsula. The reason for Charles being offered the kingdom was because of a conflict between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire, the latter of whom were represented by the ruling House of Hohenstaufen.
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