1.
Joanna I of Naples
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Joanna I was Queen of Naples and Countess of Provence and Forcalquier from 1343 until her death. She also reigned as Princess of Achaea and claimed the crowns of Jerusalem, during her long reign she was involved in numerous conflicts both internal and external. Most sources indicate that she was born in March 1328, although some indicate 1326 as the year of her birth, Joanna was the fourth but eldest surviving child of Charles, Duke of Calabria, and Marie of Valois. Two years later, on 23 October 1331, Marie of Valois died during a pilgrimage to Bari, with the death of the Duke of Calabria, King Robert faced the serious problem of his succession, he had to choose between his eldest granddaughter or his nephews. Because the descendants of his older brother Charles had already bypassed in favour of himself. As heir presumptive to the throne of Naples, she received homage on 4 November 1330, through his father he had a claim to Naples, which could be argued to be superior to that of Robert and consequently also to that of Joanna. The marriage contract between Joanna and Andrew was signed on 8 November 1332, and they were married at Santa Chiara Basilica on 26 September 1333. In the ceremony, Andrew was created Duke of Calabria and began to live in Naples, in the event of Joannas death without children, the crown would fall to her younger sister Maria and not to him. Faced with the ineffectiveness of the Council, the Pope, in his capacity as overlord, decided to impose his rule by sending a Legate. Philip I, Prince of Taranto, the Kings younger brother, Charles, Duke of Durazzo son of John, Duke of Durazzo, the Kings youngest brother, husband of Agnes de Périgord, sister of Cardinal Hélie de Talleyrand-Périgord). The Durazzo branch took major importance with the marriage between Charles of Durazzo and Maria, Countess of Alba and the Queens sister, on 21 April 1343, through this union, the Duke of Durazzo was placed first in line to the throne. When Joanna reached her majority, it was necessary to proceed with her official coronation, in accordance with the will of her grandfather, she opposed the coronation of her husband, long pressed for by his Hungarian relatives. Pope Clement VI, as overlord of the Kingdom of Naples, Joanna was crowned by the Pope as Queen of Naples on 28 August 1344. Andrew was present in the ceremony and received the title of King, angered with this, he began to claim a part in the government and the right to be properly crowned. Fearing for his life, Andrew wrote to his mother Elizabeth that he would soon flee Naples and she intervened, and made a state visit, at that same time, she allegedly bribed the Pope to revert his previous decision and permit Andrews coronation. She also gave a ring to her son, which was supposed to him from death by blade or poison. Joanna lost an important ally when her stepgrandmother withdrew into a monastery, due to her letters to the pope, the pope agreed that though Andrew would be crowned, only her coronation would be Blessed by God. When Joanna fell ill in the summer of 1344, Andrew caused great controversy when he released the Pipini brothers and they had been locked up by King Robert the Wise after having been convicted for murder, rape, pillage, treason and several other offences
2.
Mary, Queen of Hungary
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Mary, also known as Maria, was Queen regnant of Hungary and Croatia between 1382 and 1385, and from 1386 until her death. She was the daughter of Louis the Great, King of Hungary and Poland, Marys marriage to Sigismund of Luxembourg, a member of the imperial Luxembourg dynasty, was already decided before her first birthday. A delegation of Polish prelates and lords confirmed her right to succeed her father in Poland in 1379, Mary was crowned king of Hungary on 17 September 1382, seven days after Louis the Greats death. Her mother, who assumed regency, absolved the Polish noblemen from their oath of loyalty to Mary in favor of Marys younger sister, Hedwig, in early 1383. The idea of a female monarch remained unpopular among the Hungarian noblemen, to strengthen Marys position, the queen mother wanted her to marry Louis, the younger brother of Charles VI of France. Their engagement was announced in May 1385, Charles III of Naples landed in Dalmatia in September 1385. Sigismund of Luxemburg invaded Upper Hungary, forcing the queen mother to give Mary in marriage to him in October, however, they could not prevent Charles from entering Buda. After Mary renounced the throne, Charles was crowned king on 31 December 1385, Mary was restored, but the murdered kings supporters captured her and her mother on 25 July. Queen Elizabeth was murdered in January 1387, but Mary was released on 4 June 1387, Mary officially remained the co-ruler with Sigismund, who had meanwhile been crowned king, but her influence on the government was minimal. She and her son died after her horse threw her during a hunting trip. Mary was born in the half of 1371 to Louis the Great, King of Hungary and Poland. She was the daughter of her parents. They had been childless for over a decade before Marys older sister, Mary and Catherine gained another sibling, Hedwig, in 1374. Before Marys first birthday, her father made a promise to Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, Louis confirmed his promise in a deed in June 1373. Mary and Sigismund were closely related, because her grandmother, Elizabeth of Poland, was the sister of his great-grandfather. Pope Gregory XI issued the necessary for their marriage on 6 December 1374. The leading Hungarian and Polish lords confirmed Louiss promise of Marys, Marys older sister, Catherine, who had been betrothed to Louis of France, died in late 1378. Louis the Great confirmed his promise of Marys and Sigismunds marriage to Sigismunds brother, Wenceslaus, King of the Romans
3.
Naples
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Naples is the capital of the Italian region Campania and the third-largest municipality in Italy, after Rome and Milan. In 2015, around 975,260 people lived within the administrative limits. The Metropolitan City of Naples had a population of 3,115,320, Naples is the 9th-most populous urban area in the European Union with a population of between 3 million and 3.7 million. About 4.4 million people live in the Naples metropolitan area, Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Bronze Age Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC, a larger colony – initially known as Parthenope, Παρθενόπη – developed on the Island of Megaride around the ninth century BC, at the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Naples remained influential after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, thereafter, in union with Sicily, it became the capital of the Two Sicilies until the unification of Italy in 1861. Naples was the most-bombed Italian city during World War II, much of the citys 20th-century periphery was constructed under Benito Mussolinis fascist government, and during reconstruction efforts after World War II. The city has experienced significant economic growth in recent decades, and unemployment levels in the city, however, Naples still suffers from political and economic corruption, and unemployment levels remain high. Naples has the fourth-largest urban economy in Italy, after Milan, Rome and it is the worlds 103rd-richest city by purchasing power, with an estimated 2011 GDP of US$83.6 billion. The port of Naples is one of the most important in Europe, numerous major Italian companies, such as MSC Cruises Italy S. p. A, are headquartered in Naples. The city also hosts NATOs Allied Joint Force Command Naples, the SRM Institution for Economic Research, Naples is a full member of the Eurocities network of European cities. The city was selected to become the headquarters of the European institution ACP/UE and was named a City of Literature by UNESCOs Creative Cities Network, the Villa Rosebery, one of the three official residences of the President of Italy, is located in the citys Posillipo district. Naples historic city centre is the largest in Europe, covering 1,700 hectares and enclosing 27 centuries of history, Naples has long been a major cultural centre with a global sphere of influence, particularly during the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras. In the immediate vicinity of Naples are numerous culturally and historically significant sites, including the Palace of Caserta, culinarily, Naples is synonymous with pizza, which originated in the city. Neapolitan music has furthermore been highly influential, credited with the invention of the romantic guitar, according to CNN, the metro stop Toledo is the most beautiful in Europe and it won also the LEAF Award 2013 as Public building of the year. Naples is the Italian city with the highest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide, Naples sports scene is dominated by football and Serie A club S. S. C. Napoli, two-time Italian champions and winner of European trophies, who play at the San Paolo Stadium in the south-west of the city, the Phlegraean Fields around Naples has been inhabited since the Neolithic period. The earliest Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC, sailors from the Greek island of Rhodes established a small commercial port called Parthenope on the island of Megaride in the ninth century BC
4.
Kingdom of Hungary
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The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed from the Middle Ages into the twentieth century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen I at Esztergom in about the year 1000, by the 12th century, the kingdom became a European middle power within the Western world. The House of Habsburg held the Hungarian throne after the Battle of Mohács until 1918, from 1867 territories connected to the Hungarian crown were incorporated into Austria-Hungary under the name of Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen. The monarchy ended with the deposition of the last king Charles IV in 1918, the kingdom was nominally restored during the Regency of 1920–46, ending with the Soviet occupation in 1946. From 1102 it also included Croatia, being in union with it. Today, the feast day of the first king Stephen I is a holiday in Hungary. The Latin forms Regnum Hungariae or Ungarie, Regnum Marianum, or simply Hungaria, were the used in official documents in Latin from the beginning of the kingdom to the 1840s. The German name Königreich Ungarn was used officially from 1784 to 1790, the Hungarian name was used in the 1840s, and then again from the 1860s to 1946. The non-official Hungarian name of the kingdom was Magyarország, which is still the colloquial, in Austria-Hungary, the unofficial name Transleithania was sometimes used to denote the regions of the Kingdom of Hungary. Officially, the term Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen was included for the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary, the Hungarians led by Árpád settled the Carpathian Basin in 895, established Principality of Hungary. The Hungarians led several successful incursions to Western Europe, until they were stopped by Otto I, the principality was succeeded by the Christian Kingdom of Hungary with the coronation of St Stephen I at Esztergom on Christmas Day 1000. The first kings of the kingdom were from the Árpád dynasty and he fought against Koppány and in 998, with Bavarian help, defeated him near Veszprém. The Catholic Church received powerful support from Stephen I, who with Christian Hungarians, Stephen I of Hungary was canonized as a Catholic saint in 1083 and an Orthodox saint in 2000. After his death, a period of revolts and conflict for supremacy ensued between the royalty and the nobles, in 1051 armies of the Holy Roman Empire tried to conquer Hungary, but they were defeated at Vértes Mountain. The armies of the Holy Roman Empire continued to suffer defeats, before 1052 Peter Orseolo, a supporter of the Holy Roman Empire, was overthrown by king Samuel Aba of Hungary. This period of revolts ended during the reign of Béla I, Hungarian chroniclers praised Béla I for introducing new currency, such as the silver denarius, and for his benevolence to the former followers of his nephew, Solomon. The second greatest Hungarian king, also from the dynasty, was Ladislaus I of Hungary. He was also canonized as a saint, however, kingship over all of Croatia would not be achieved until the reign of his successor Coloman
5.
Capetian House of Anjou
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The Capetian House of Anjou, also known as the House of Anjou-Sicily and House of Anjou-Naples, was a royal house and cadet branch of the direct French House of Capet, part of the Capetian dynasty. It is one of three royal houses referred to as Angevin, meaning from Anjou in France. Founded by Charles I of Naples, a son of Louis VIII of France, later the War of the Sicilian Vespers forced him out of the island of Sicily, leaving him with just the southern half of the Italian Peninsula — the Kingdom of Naples. The house and its various branches would go on to much of the history of Southern and Central Europe during the Middle Ages. Historically, the House ruled Naples and Sicily, parts of Greece, Hungary, and Poland. A younger son of House of Capet king Louis VIII of France the Lion, Charles married the heiress of the County of Provence named Beatrice of Provence, she was a member of the House of Barcelona, this meant Charles holdings were growing as Count of Provence. The reason for Charles being offered the kingdom was because of a conflict between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire, the latter of whom were represented by the ruling House of Hohenstaufen. It was at the Battle of Benevento that the Guelph Capetians gained the Sicilian kingdom from the Ghibelline Swabians, in keeping with the political landscape of the period, Charles is described by scholars as shrewd, energetic and highly ambitious. The Byzantines had taken back the city of Constantinople in 1261, for a while Charles was preoccupied helping his French brother in the unsuccessful Eighth Crusade on Tunis. After this he once again focused on Constantinople, but his fleet was wrecked in a storm off the coast of Trapani. Charles had fully solidified his rule over Durazzo by 1272, creating a small Kingdom of Albania for himself, out of previously Despotate of Epirus territory, Charles was driven out of Sicily in 1282, but his successors ruled Naples until 1435. The line became extinct in the line with the death of King Ladislaus of Naples in 1414. The Kingdom of Albania, or Regnum Albaniae, was established by Charles of Anjou in the Albanian territory he conquered from the Despotate of Epirus in 1271 and he took the title of King of Albania in February 1272. The kingdom extended from the region of Durrës south along the coast to Butrint, a major attempt to advance further in direction of Constantinople, failed at the Siege of Berat. A Byzantine counteroffensive soon ensued, which drove the Angevins out of the interior by 1281, the Sicilian Vespers further weakened the position of Charles, and the Kingdom was soon reduced by the Epirotes to a small area around Durrës. The Angevins held out here, however, until 1368, when the city was captured by Karl Thopia, in 1392 Karl Thopias son surrendered the city and his domains to the Republic of Venice. The Late Medieval Balkans, A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest, ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press. A History of the Crusades, Volume III, The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, madison, Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin Press
6.
Jerusalem cross
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The Jerusalem cross is a heraldic cross and Christian cross variant consisting of a large cross potent surrounded by four smaller Greek crosses, one in each quadrant. It is not to be confused with the Lorraine cross, which has also called the Jerusalem cross. While the symbol of the cross appears to originate in the 11th century. The symbolism of the cross is variously given as the Five Wounds of Christ, Christ and the four evangelists, or Christ. The cross-and-crosslets or Tealby pennies minted under Henry II of England during 1158–1180 have the Jerusalem cross on the obverse, similar cross designs on the obverse of coins go back to at least the Anglo-Saxon period. As the arms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the design is attributed to Godfrey of Bouillon himself. It was not used, however, by the Christian rulers of Jerusalem during the 12th century. A simple blazon of or, a cross argent is documented by Matthew Paris as the arms of John de Brienne, the coins minted in Jerusalem during the 12th century show patriarchal crosses with various modifications. Coins minted under Henry I show a cross with four dots in the four quarters, at about the same time, the cross of Jerusalem in gold on a silver field appears as the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in early armorials such as the Camden Roll. The gold and silver were also connected to Psalms 68,14, which mentions a dove covered in silver, the Gelre Armorial attributes to the emperors of Constantinople a variant of the Jerusalem cross with the four crosslets inscribed in circles. In late medieval heraldry, after the failure of the Crusades, the 14th-century Book of All Kingdoms uses it as the flag of Sebasteia. At about the time, the Pizzigano chart uses it as the flag of Tbilisi. Carlo Maggi, a Venetian nobleman who had visited Jerusalem and was made a knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in the early 1570s, included the Jerusalem cross in his coat of arms. There is a tradition that Peter the Great flew a flag with a variant of the Jerusalem cross in his campaign in the White Sea in 1693. A banner with a variation of the Jerusalem cross was used at the proclamation of the Revolution on Mount Pelion Anthimos Gazis in May 1821 in the Greek War of Independence, the papal Order of the Holy Sepulchre uses the Jerusalem cross as its emblem. It is also used by the Custodian of the Holy Land, when Albert, Prince of Wales visited Jerusalem in 1862, he had a Jerusalem cross tattooed on his arm. In the early 20th century, the Jerusalem cross also came to be used as a symbol of world evangelisation in Protestantism, a derived design known as the Episcopal Church Service Cross was first used during World War I by the Anglican Episcopal Church in the United States. The modern flag of Georgia was introduced in 2004 on the basis of the flag of Tbilisi shown in the Pizzigano chart, the Unicode character set has a character ☩, U+2629 CROSS OF JERUSALEM in the Miscellaneous Symbols table
7.
Fleur-de-lis
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The fleur-de-lis or flower-de-luce is a stylized lily that is used as a decorative design or symbol. Many of the saints are depicted with a lily, most prominently St. Joseph. The fleur-de-lis is represented in Unicode at U+269C in the Miscellaneous Symbols block and it remains an enduring symbol of France that appears on French postage stamps, although it has never been adopted officially by any of the French republics. According to French historian Georges Duby, the three represent the medieval social classes, those who worked, those who fought. It is unclear where the fleur-de-lis originated, among the Egyptians, Persians, Arabs and Greeks, this arabesque evoked warrior-like power. In France it is used in city emblems like in the coat of arms of the city of Lille, Saint-Denis, Brest, Clermont-Ferrand, Boulogne-Billancourt. The fleur-de-lis was the symbol of Île-de-France, the core of the French kingdom, many of the current departments use the ancient symbol on their coats to express this heritage. In Italy, the fleur de lis, called giglio is mainly known as the crest of the city of Florence, in the Florentine fleurs-de-lis, the stamens are always posed between the petals. This heraldic charge is known as the Florentine lily to distinguish it from the conventional design. As an emblem of the city, it is found in icons of Zenobius, its first bishop. Several towns subjugated by Florence or founded within the territory of the Florentine Republic adopted a variation of the Florentine lily in their crests, often without the stamens. The heraldic fleur-de-lis is still widespread, among the cities which use it as a symbol are some whose names echo the word lily, for example, Liljendal, Finland. This is called canting arms in heraldic terminology, other European examples of municipal coats-of-arms bearing the fleur-de-lis include Lincoln in England, Morcín in Spain, Wiesbaden in Germany, Skierniewice in Poland and Jurbarkas in Lithuania. The Swiss municipality of Schlieren and the Estonian municipality of Jõelähtme also have a fleur-de-lis on their coats, in Malta, the town of Santa Venera has three red fleurs-de-lis on its flag and coat of arms. Another suburb which developed around the area known as Fleur-de-Lys. The coat of arms of the medieval Kingdom of Bosnia contained six fleurs-de-lis, understood as the native Bosnian or Golden Lily and this emblem was revived in 1992 as a national symbol of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and was the flag of Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1992 to 1998. The state insignia were changed in 1999, the former flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina contains a fleur-de-lis alongside the Croatian chequy. Fleurs also appear in the flags and arms of cantons, municipalities, cities
8.
King of Jerusalem
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The King of Jerusalem was the supreme ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Crusader state founded by Christian princes in 1099 when the First Crusade took the city. Godfrey of Bouillon, the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, himself refused the title of king, thus, the title of king was only introduced for his successor, King Baldwin I in 1100. The city of Jerusalem was lost in 1187, but the Kingdom of Jerusalem survived, the city of Jerusalem was re-captured in the Sixth Crusade, during 1229–39 and 1241–44. The Kingdom of Jerusalem was finally dissolved with the fall of Acre, after the Crusader States ceased to exist, the title of King of Jerusalem was claimed by a number of European noble houses descended from the kings of Cyprus or the kings of Naples. The title of King of Jerusalem is currently used by Felipe VI of Spain and it was claimed by Otto von Habsburg as Habsburg pretender until his renunciation of all claims in 1958, and by the kings of Italy until 1946. The following year, his brother Baldwin I was the first to use the title king, the kingship of Jerusalem was partially elected and partially hereditary. During the height of the kingdom in the century there was a royal family. Nevertheless, the king was elected, or at least recognized, here the king was considered a primus inter pares, and in his absence his duties were performed by his seneschal. The purpose-built royal palace used from the 1160s onwards was located south of Jerusalems citadel, the Kingdom of Jerusalem introduced French feudal structures to the Levant. The king personally held several fiefs incorporated into the royal domain and he was also responsible for leading the kingdom into battle, although this duty could be passed to a constable. While several contemporary European states were moving towards centralized monarchies, the king of Jerusalem was continually losing power to the strongest of his barons and this was partially due to the young age of many of the kings, and the frequency of regents from the ranks of the nobles. After the fall of Jerusalem in 1187, the capital of the kingdom was moved to Acre, in this period the kingship was often simply a nominal position, held by a European ruler who never actually lived in Acre. The claim was made in 1264 as senior descendant and rightful heir of Alice of Champagne, second daughter of Queen Isabella I, Hugh being the son of their eldest daughter. But was passed over by the Haute Cour in favour of his cousin, Hugh of Antioch, after Conrad IIIs execution by Charles I of Sicily in 1268, the kingship was held by the Lusignan family, who were simultaneously kings of Cyprus. However, Charles I of Sicily purchased the rights of one of the heirs of the kingdom in 1277, in that year, he sent Roger of Sanseverino to the East as his bailiff. Roger captured Acre and obtained a forced homage from the barons, Roger was recalled in 1282 due to the Sicilian Vespers and left Odo Poilechien in his place to rule. His resources and authority was minimal, and he was ejected by Henry II of Cyprus when he arrived from Cyprus for his coronation as King of Jerusalem, Acre was captured by the Mamluks in 1291, eliminating the crusader presence on the mainland. In 1127 Fulk V, Count of Anjou received an embassy from King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, Baldwin II had no male heirs but had already designated his daughter Melisende to succeed him
9.
Louis I of Hungary
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Louis I, also Louis the Great or Louis the Hungarian, was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1342 and King of Poland from 1370. He was the first child of Charles I of Hungary and his wife, Elizabeth of Poland, a 1338 treaty between his father and Casimir III of Poland, Louiss maternal uncle, confirmed Louiss right to inherit the Kingdom of Poland if his uncle died without a son. In exchange, Louis was obliged to assist his uncle to reoccupy the lands that Poland had lost in previous decades and he bore the title of Duke of Transylvania between 1339 and 1342 but did not administer the province. Louis was of age when succeeded his father in 1342, and he inherited a centralized kingdom and a rich treasury from his father. He launched two campaigns to the Kingdom of Naples between 1347 and 1350 and his troops occupied large territories on both occasions, and Louis adopted the styles of Neapolitan sovereigns, but the Holy See never recognized his claim. Louiss arbitrary acts and atrocities committed by his mercenaries made his rule unpopular in Southern Italy and he withdrew all his troops from the Kingdom of Naples in 1351. Like his father, Louis administered Hungary with absolute power and used royal prerogatives to grant privileges to his courtiers, however, he also confirmed the liberties of the Hungarian nobility at the Diet of 1351, emphasizing the equal status of all noblemen. At the same Diet, he introduced a system and a uniform rent payable by the peasants to the landowners. He forced the Republic of Venice to renounce the Dalmatian towns in 1358 and he also made several attempts to expand his suzerainty over the rulers of Bosnia, Moldavia, Wallachia, and parts of Bulgaria and Serbia. His attempts to convert his pagan or Orthodox subjects to Catholicism made him unpopular in the Balkan states, Louis established a university in Pécs in 1367, but it was closed within two decades because he did not arrange for sufficient revenues to maintain it. Louis inherited Poland after his uncles death in 1370, since he had no sons, he wanted his subjects to acknowledge the right of his daughters to succeed him in both Hungary and Poland. For this purpose, he issued the Privilege of Koszyce in 1374 spelling out the liberties of Polish noblemen, however, his rule remained unpopular in Poland. In Hungary, he authorized the free cities to delegate jurors to the high court hearing their cases. Suffering from a disease, Louis became even more religious during the last years of his life. At the beginning of the Western Schism, he acknowledged Urban VI as the legitimate pope, after the pope dethroned Joanna I of Naples and made Louiss distant cousin, Charles of Durazzo, king of Naples, Louis helped Charles occupy the kingdom. In Hungarian historiography, Louis was regarded for centuries as the most powerful Hungarian monarch who ruled over an empire whose shores were washed by three seas, born on 5 March 1326, Louis was the third son of Charles I of Hungary and his wife, Elizabeth of Poland. He was named for his fathers uncle, Louis, Bishop of Toulouse, the first-born son of his parents, Charles, died before Louis was born. Louis became his fathers heir after the death of his brother Ladislaus in 1329 and he had a liberal education by the standards of his age and learned French, German and Latin
10.
Anne of Bohemia
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Anne of Bohemia was Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II. A member of the House of Luxembourg, she was the eldest daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia and she died at 28 after 12 years of marriage, she was childless, and greatly mourned by her husband. But Anne appears to have won many English people over with her personality, and her efforts to help obtain royal pardons. Her fathers court, based in Prague, was a centre of the International Gothic style, then at its height, and her arrival seems to coincide with, and probably caused, new influences on English art. The Crown of Princess Blanche, now in Munich, may have made for Anne. She had four brothers, including Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor and she also had five half-siblings from her fathers previous marriages. Anne is buried in Westminster Abbey beside her husband, Richard II married Anne of Bohemia as a result of the Western Schism in the Papacy that had resulted in two rival popes. Annes father was the most powerful monarch in Europe at the time, ruling over about half of Europes population and territory. The marriage was against the wishes of many members of his nobility and members of parliament and she brought with her no dowry, and in return for her hand in marriage, Richard gave 20,000 florins in payment to her brother Wenceslas. It is therefore no surprise that the marriage was unpopular, the Westminster Chronicler called her a tiny scrap of humanity, and Thomas Walsingham related a disastrous omen upon her arrival, where her ships smashed to pieces as soon as she had disembarked. Nevertheless, Anne and King Richard II were married in Westminster Abbey on 20 January 1382, tournaments were held for several days after the ceremony, in celebration. They then made a tour of the realm, staying at many major abbeys along the way, in 1383 Anne of Bohemia visited the city of Norwich, where at the Great Hospital a ceiling comprising 252 black eagles was made in her honour. Anne and Richard were only 14 years old when they first met, yet these two wispy teenagers soon fell into a loving relationship and over the years the king proved truly devoted to his new wife. Annes wedding to Richard II was the royal wedding in Westminster Abbey and was not followed by any other royal wedding in Westminster Abbey for another 537 years. They were married for 12 years, but had no children, Annes death from plague in 1394 at Shene Manor was a devastating blow to Richard. Historians have speculated that her counsel had an effect on Richard during her lifetime. This is supported by his conduct in the years after Annes death that lost him his throne. Richard married his wife, Isabella of Valois, on 31 October 1396
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