Charles I

(born March 1226—died Jan. 7, 1285, Foggia, Kingdom of Naples [Italy]) King of Naples and Sicily (1266–85), the first of the Angevin dynasty.

The younger brother of Louis IX of France, Charles allied with the papacy and conquered Naples and Sicily in the 1260s, defeating the last representatives of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. He created a great but short-lived Mediterranean empire, expanding into the Balkans and becoming heir to the kingdom of Jerusalem (1277). The Sicilians rebelled against French domination in 1282 (&see; Sicilian Vespers) and drove out the Angevins in 1284. Charles died while preparing a counteroffensive, and his kingdom was eventually secured by the Spanish.