Charles I (21 March 1227

7 January 1285), known also as Charles of Anjou, was th

e King of Sicily by conquest from 1266,[1] though he had received it as a papal
grant in 1262 and was expelled from the island in the aftermath of the Sicilian
Vespers of 1282. Thereafter, he claimed the island, though his power was restric
ted to the peninsular possessions of the kingdom, with his capital at Naples (an
d for this he is usually titled King of Naples after 1282, as are his successors
).
Charles was the youngest son of Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile, and
hence younger brother of Louis IX of France and Alfonso II of Toulouse. He conq
uered the Kingdom of Sicily from the Hohenstaufen and acquired lands in the east
ern Mediterranean. However, the War of the Sicilian Vespers forced him to abando
n his plans to reassemble the Latin Empire.
By marriage to Beatrice of Provence, heiress of Raymond Berengar IV of Provence,
he was Count of Provence and Forcalquier from 1246. In 1247, his brother Louis
IX made him Count of Anjou and Maine, as appanages of the French crown. By conqu
est and self-proclamation, he became King of Albania in 1272 and by purchase Kin
g of Jerusalem in 1277. By the testament of William II of Villehardouin, he inhe
rited the Principality of Achaea in 1278.