Charles_Martel_of_Anjou
Charles Martel of Anjou
Titular King of Hungary and Croatia
Charles Martel (Hungarian: Martell Károly; 8 September 1271 – 12 August 1295) of the Capetian dynasty was the eldest son of king Charles II of Naples and Mary of Hungary,[1] the daughter of King Stephen V of Hungary. The 18-year-old Charles Martel was set up by Pope Nicholas IV and the ecclesiastical party as the titular King of Hungary (1290–1295) as the successor of his maternal uncle,[1] the childless Ladislaus IV of Hungary against whom the Pope had already earlier declared a crusade.
He never managed to govern the Kingdom of Hungary, where an agnate of the Árpád dynasty, his cousin Andrew III of Hungary ruled at that time. Charles Martel was, however, successful in asserting his claim in the Kingdom of Croatia, then in personal union with Hungary.
Charles Martel died of the plague in Naples. His son, Charles (or Charles Robert), later succeeded in winning the throne of Hungary.[2]
Charles was known personally to Dante: in the Divine Comedy, the poet speaks warmly of and to Charles's spirit when they meet in the Heaven of Venus (in Paradiso VIII–IX).
