Charles I (Paris 1226/1227 – Foggia 7 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou, was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the second House of Anjou. He was Count of Provence (1246–85) and Forcalquier (1246–48, 1256–85) in the Holy Roman Empire, Count of Anjou and Maine (1246–85) in France; he was also King of Sicily (1266–85) and Prince of Achaea (1278–85). In 1272, he was proclaimed King of Albania; and in 1277 he purchased a claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem.


The youngest son of Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile,
Charles was destined for a Church career until the early 1240s. He
acquired Provence and Forcalquier through his marriage to their heiress,
Beatrice. His attempts to secure comital rights brought him into conflict with his mother-in-law, Beatrice of Savoy, and the nobility. He received Anjou and Maine from his brother, Louis IX of France, in appanage. He accompanied Louis during the Seventh Crusade to Egypt. Shortly after he returned to Provence in 1250, Charles forced three wealthy autonomous cities—Marseilles, Arles and Avignon—to acknowledge his suzerainty.


Charles supported Margaret II, Countess of Flanders and Hainaut, against her eldest son, John,
in exchange for Hainaut in 1253. Two years later Louis IX persuaded him
to renounce the county, but compensated him by instructing Margaret to
pay him 160,000 marks. Charles forced the rebellious Provençal nobles
and towns into submission and expanded his suzerainty over a dozen towns
and lordships in the Kingdom of Arles. In 1263, after years of negotiations, he accepted the offer of the Holy See to seize the Kingdom of Sicily from the Hohenstaufens. This kingdom included, in addition to the island of Sicily, southern Italy to well north of Naples and was known as the Regno. Pope Urban IV declared a crusade against the incumbent Manfred of Sicily and assisted Charles to raise funds for the military campaign.


Charles was crowned king in Rome on 5 January 1266. He annihilated Manfred's army and occupied the Regno almost without resistance. His victory over Manfred's young nephew, Conradin, at the Battle of Tagliacozzo in 1268 strengthened his rule. In 1270 he took part in the Eighth Crusade (which had been organized by Louis IX) and forced the Hafsid caliph of Tunis
to pay a yearly tribute to him. Charles' victories secured his
undisputed leadership among the popes' Italian partisans (known as Guelphs), but his influence on papal elections
and his strong military presence in Italy disturbed the popes. They
tried to channel his ambitions towards other territories and assisted
him in acquiring claims to Achaea, Jerusalem and Arles through treaties.
In 1281 Pope Martin IV authorised Charles to launch a crusade against the Byzantine Empire. Charles' ships were gathering at Messina, ready to begin the campaign when a riot—known as the Sicilian Vespers—broke out on 30 March 1282. It put an end to Charles' rule on the island of Sicily, but he was able to defend the mainland territories (or the Kingdom of Naples) with the support of France and the Holy See.
Charles had been the most powerful Christian monarch in the late 1270s. Luchetto Gattilusio compared Charles directly with Charlemagne. Both reports demonstrate that Charles was regarded almost as an emperor. Among modern historians, Runciman says that Charles tried to build an empire in the eastern Mediterraneum; Gérard Sivéry writes that he wanted to dominate the west; and Jean Dunbabin argues that his "agglomeration of lands was in the process of forming an empire". economic links among his realms strengthened during his reign. Provençal salt was transported to his other lands, grain from the Regno was sold in Achaea, Albania, Acre and Tuscany, and Tuscan merchants settled in Anjou, Maine, Sicily and Naples. His highest-ranking officials were transferred from their homelands to represent him in other territories: his senechals in Provence were from Anjou; French and Provençal noblemen held the highest offices in the Regno; and he chose his vicars in Rome from among southern Italian and Provençal nobles. Although his empire collapsed before his death, his son retained southern Italy and Provence. To promote legal education Charles paid high salaries—20–50 ounces of gold in a year—to masters of law at the University of Naples. Masters of medicine received similar remunerations, and the university became a principal centre of medical science. Charles personal interest in medicine grew during his life and he borrowed Arabic medical texts from the rulers of Tunis to have them translated. He employed at least one Jewish scholar, Moses of Palermo, who could translate texts from Arabic to Latin. Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi medical encyclopaedia, known as Kitab al-Hawi, was one of the books translated at his order.
Charles also showed interest in architecture. He designed a tower in Brindisi. He ordered the erection of the Castel Nuovo or Maschio Angioino in Naples(The capital of his kingdom). He is also credited with the introduction of French-style glassed windows in southern Italy.


windows in southern Italy.