Alfonso V

(born 1396—died June 27, 1458, Naples) King of Aragon (1416–58) and of Naples (as Alfonso I, 1442–58). He followed a policy of Mediterranean expansion, pacifying Sardinia and Sicily and attacking Corsica (1420).

Taken prisoner by the Genoese (1435) while preparing to attack Naples, he persuaded his captors into an alliance and conquered Naples (1442), to which he transferred his court. He engaged in much diplomatic and military activity in Africa, the Balkans, and the eastern Mediterranean in order to protect his commerce with the East and defend Christendom against the Turks. He died during an assault on Genoa.