Charles of Anjou

8/3/2019 Charles of Anjou

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Institute of Historical Research 2004. Historical Research, vol. 77, no. 197 (August 2004)Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.

Blackwell Publishing LtdOxford, UKHISRHistorical Research0950-3471 Institute of Historical Research 2004August 20047731000Original ArticlesThe household and entourage of Charles I of AnjouThe household and entourage of Charles I of Anjou

The household and entourage of Charles I

of Anjou, king of the Regno, 126685

Jean H. Dunbabin

St. Annes College, Oxford

Abstract

This article attempts to reconstitute from the scrappy surviving records Charles

Is household and court. For a conqueror, the choice of companions couldhave serious political implications. While Charless immediate domestic circlewas French in origin and organized on the example of Louis IXs household,he deliberately encouraged and paid for the attendance of men from Provence andthe Regno, both in his travelling entourage and at his great court appearancesat liturgical feasts. Beyond these intimates, he accepted into his fidelity, andtherefore into his broader court circle, a wide range of talented individuals from

all parts of his empire.

Medieval monarchs and great lords automatically assumed that theirpower was made visible to their subjects by the number and importanceof the men who surrounded them when they took centre stage, whetheron state occasions or on everyday travels. For no monarch was his publicappearance more significant than for a conqueror whose task it was toimpose his rule on an often resentful people. The wider the range of greatmen who could be attracted to the conquerors entourage, the greaterhis chance of persuading lesser men to give the new regime a chance. The

better-equipped and more competent-looking the military element thatsurrounded him, the more inhibited spectators might feel from plottingin favour of the dispossessed. Because a new rulers entourage was clearlyintended as a political statement in itself, it is worthy of study byhistorians. At a less theatrical level, a conquerors choice of companionsand confidants can be suggestive of his underlying aims, the fruit of thoseusually unspoken but keenly felt attempts to combat hostility among hispeople. Knowing a little about these companions and the terms on which

they attended their ruler can therefore sometimes be unexpectedlyenlightening about the rulers sensitivity to his new subjects feelings. Atanother level, rulers households and courts, because they are betterrecorded than those of lesser men, offer precious insights into social andeconomic conditions. The costs and composition of a court, wherethey can be traced, tell us something about consumption, trade and social


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Institute of Historical Research 2004.

314 The household and entourage of Charles I of Anjou

mobility in the country over which the ruler ruled.

1

Unfortunately, theevidence that survives for these important matters for the second half ofthe thirteenth century is both sparse and difficult of interpretation. But

even hints are worth having.In February 1266, Charles, count of Provence and of Anjou, youngest

brother of Louis IX of France, won the battle of Benevento againstManfred, illegitimate son of the Hohenstaufen emperor, Frederick II,and succeeded to the throne of Sicily and southern Italy, hereafter calledthe Regno. Charles had already been crowned the previous month by fivecardinals performing the duty for Pope Clement IV, who had plannedthe campaign. But it was Charless military victory, which included theslaying of Manfred, that transformed the situation. He could now start

to impose his will on the people of the Regno. In August 1268, he repeatedhis military triumph by totally defeating at Tagliacozzo the German-Italian army of Corradin, the last surviving male of the directHohenstaufen line.

2

After two and a half years of nervous uncertainty,there was no major obstacle left in the new kings path. He could setabout transforming himself from conqueror into ruler. From then untilthe great rebellion, the Sicilian Vespers of 1282 (which came close todestroying completely what he had achieved), Charless aim was toturn chaos into tranquillity, a usurpation into a legitimate and popularmonarchy.

This transformation, as it affected the choice of Charless immediateentourage, was not simple. In the first place, large numbers of thoseFrenchmen who had fought for him against Manfred went back toFrance, after Tagliacozzo if not before the final battle. Others, whom hepersuaded to remain with him for a little longer, had no desire to becomepermanent residents of the Regno. Their service was essentially shortterm. There was rather greater willingness to stay among his men

from Provence, to whom the Regno was less strange than it was to theFrench.

3

And he had the powerful support of a certain number of Italianfamilies who had been expelled by the Hohenstaufen and who had madea triumphant return to their homeland in Charless army.

4

But if hisregime was to survive, if he was to win over permanently the largenumber of local lords who had initially supported him but allowedthemselves to be seduced by the siren cry of Hohenstaufen restoration inearly 1268, he had to create a much wider foundation of support. While

1

M. Vale, The Princely Court: Medieval Courts and Culture in North-West Europe, 12701380

(Oxford, 2001), pt. 1.

2

J. Dunbabin Charles I of Anjou: Power, Kingship and State-Making in 13th-Century Europe

(1998), pp. 45.

3

S. Pollastri, La noblesse provenale dans le royaume de Sicile (1266

82),Annales du Midi

,c (1988), 40529.

4

Of these, the most important were the San Severini, the Ruffi, the Pignatelli, the Lentini,the Dragoni and the Fasinelli.


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The household and entourage of Charles I of Anjou 315

the obvious way was by gifts, of which Charles both made and recordedmany,

5

a more subtle and perhaps less expensive way was by grantingspecial powers of access to the royal court. With such access came the

potential for acquiring all sorts of short-term privileges (and responsibilities)that, in addition to increasing a mans wealth, raised his status in the eyesof his neighbours. Unlike lands, privileges could be withdrawn at the firstsign of disloyalty; and the effect of such grants on the permanent revenueof the crown was less deleterious than the grant of land. There were,however, costs involved: in particular, it was necessary to enhance thedesirability of access to the court by making life there pleasurable andprofitable to nobles on their regular visits.

At the beginning of Charless reign, his court and his army headquarters

were to all intents and purposes identical hardly surprisingly, giventhe danger surrounding him. Once peace was established, they beganto diverge. But because, throughout his reign, the king chose to movearound his kingdom to keep his eye upon it, some at least of thecharacteristics of military life remained. This itinerant habit whichFrederick II had also followed

6

preserved in the household a degreeof discipline and discomfort: it highlighted the role of the royal bodyguards; it gave a crucial task to the men who provided horses and cartsfor transport; and it virtually excluded women from membership.Furthermore, the resemblance to an army was initially accentuated by thefact that those who had provisioned and financed Charless victoriouscampaigns were, naturally enough, the first members of what became hishousehold. The two crucial positions of chamberlain and chancellor

7

were held by members of the Beaumont family, a distinguished Angevinlineage whose members had long been devoted comital servants. Geoffroide Beaumont, a cleric, had negotiated loans for Charles with the papacyand others before he became the second chancellor of the Regno. Pierre

de Beaumont had been a recruiter of soldiers for Charless armies andbecame his chamberlain.Pierre de Beaumonts closeness to the king meant that, as long as he

remained in the Regno, the chamberlain was nominally the chieffinancial officer of the crown, the receiver of all taxes and the disburserof all monies. But even before his departure in 1272, his appointmentas count of Montescaglioso and his military interests had ensured thatday-to-day financial business fell more and more into the hands of hisassistants, the two magistri rationales. With Pierres return to France, the

magistri rationales, now supported by three treasurers, took over the bulk

5

See I Registri della Cancelleria angioina

, ed. R. Filangieri and others (45 vols., Naples, 19502000) (hereafter R.C.A.

), x (Liber Donationum Caroli Primi). References are to registers/collections and document numbers therein.

6

D. Abulafia, Frederick II: a Medieval Emperor

(1988), p. 253.

7

Geoffroi de Beaumont was actually Charless second chancellor, but the firsts tenure ofoffice was so short as to make little impression.


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of the Regnos financial administration, leaving to future chamberlainsonly the management of the kings personal income. As the magistrirationales

began to be referred to as of the Great Court, so they distanced

themselves from the chamber and the itinerant way of life. By 1275 theywere usually to be found in Naples; by 1277 they were established firmlyin the Chateau dOeuf in that city.

8

The other central government officialswere either never part of the household, as was the case with the judgesand other judicial figures, or they established themselves as separate fromthe household earlier than the financial managers, as did the chancellors,or towards the end of the reign, as did the keepers of the royal archive.

As a consequence of all this, by the early twelve-seventies thehousehold was becoming more distinct from the army headquarters.

The harsh suppression of rebellion in Sicily in 1270 and the end of thedisastrous Tunis crusade in 12701 brought a relative slowing of thetempo in the Regno that allowed Charles to think about his immediatesurroundings. His mind began to run on comfort and convenience aspossible goals of a more established way of life. He initiated an ambitiousprogramme of restoring and rebuilding the royal castles, palaces andhunting lodges that provided his normal residences.

9

He demandedelegant reception areas, private chambers, windows, terraces and chapels.He sent instructions to his officials asking that fires be lit and everythingprepared for royal visits.

10

He ordered lavish amounts of food to begathered from the neighbourhoods where he was to stay, and devotedspecial attention to the water supplies there.

11

Charless concern for the physical environment was matched by agrowing interest in the organization of the people who surrounded him,the members of his immediate domestic household. He began to considerwho should be responsible for the day-to-day provision of his own andhis followers necessities, who should shoulder the burden of ensuring

that all was arranged and ready for them at their next place of residence,and who would guard them and their possessions as they rode from placeto place. He also thought about the entourage with which he should besurrounded when he appeared in public before his subjects, who wouldenhance his standing, who would add to the dignity of the occasion.Then he considered how he could best reward faithful counsellors andhow he could attract to his court those whose feelings towards him wereat best ambivalent. While it is reasonably easy to infer from Charlessletters his wishes in the matter of castles or food supplies, the evidence is

more oblique about his aspirations for his household and affinity.

8

Dunbabin, Charles of Anjou

, p. 188.

9


, pp. 1889, 211. It is worth noting that Charles usuallyprovided his own place of residence. He did not as a rule demand hospitality from ecclesiasticalhouses or his magnates while in the Regno.

10

R.C.A.

, lxxxix. 245.

11


, pp. 1889, 21011.


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In comparison with the poverty of records for royal households inother countries at the time, Angevin sources for the Regno are rich.Charles of Anjous registers were scrupulously compiled. They contained

extensive lists of the names of those received into the household for1267, 1270, 1271, 1272, 1275, 1276 and 1278;

12

there were also details ofpayment for various members for Christmas 1277, for March to May1278, and fragments of wages lists for 1279 and 1280.

13

The change inmethod of recording after 1277, from listing the names of those receivedinto the royal household to cataloguing the costs involved in theirmembership, may reflect Charless new determination that chamberexpenditure (the chamber was responsible for paying household expenses)should be properly audited. Alternatively it may be a question of which

records have survived.

14

The value of these lists of both type lies in thefact that they were descriptive, not normative as were the householdordinances that elsewhere constitute the earliest information on whichhistorians can build.

15

On the other hand, the lists were written for apractical purpose, and assume knowledge on the part of the reader whichthe historian does not have. Therefore gaps have to be filled in byinterpretation.

The purpose of the lists detailing reception of new members was topermit those who dispensed hospitality of one form or another to knowwho was entitled to enjoy it. In some cases it is not difficult to guess whya list was compiled. The earliest list, for 1267, seems not to have beencompiled until after Geoffroi de Beaumonts resignation from thechancery in 1271, presumably because those in charge of the householddesperately needed some form of memorandum for the names that werestill relevant once they could no longer call upon Geoffrois doubtlesscapacious memory.

16

As it survives, it is in three fragments. In later years

12

Lists: 12678 (

R.C.A.

, ii. 62, 253 and xiv, add. to reg. 2, 10); 1270 (

R.C.A.

, xx. 21618);in camp at Carthage (

R.C.A.

, xxi. 152); 12701 (

R.C.A.

, xxii. 180976); 1272 (

R.C.A.

,xxxvii. 793); 12756 (

R.C.A.

, lxxi. 56140); 12767 (

R.C.A.

, lxxix. 249319); different version(

R.C.A.

, lxxviii. 518); 1278 (

R.C.A.

, lxxxii. 574).

13

Christmas 1277 payments (

R.C.A.

, lxxxv. 4, 5, 10); payments in 1278 (

R.C.A.

, lxxxv.110, 119); accounts for March to May 1278 (

R.C.A.

, lxxxii. 588); payments in 1279 (

R.C.A.

,xci. 1829, plus 170, 177, 178, 180 and possibly 173); fragments of payments in 1280 (

R.C.A.

,cxx. 10410).

14

When Archivio di Stato di Napoli was destroyed by the retreating German army in1943, the originals of the massive registers compiled by Charles I of Anjous civil servants

were burned to cinders. The team which, under Riccardo Filangieri, began after the war thedaunting task of collecting together and publishing all the documents that had been previouslypublished or copied by scholars so that at least part of the archive might survive (

R.C.A.

), wasdependent upon what earlier historians had found significant and chosen to preserve in theirnotes. Losses are particularly likely for matters relating to the household, because these werenot of particular interest to most 19th- and early 20th-century historians. The Filangieri teamwere particularly indebted in this area to the work of C. Minieri Riccio.

15

On household ordinances, see Vale, pp. 4256.

16

R.C.A.

, ii. 62.


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when the king was away from home, the household officers particularlyrequired a record to keep up with what were no doubt somewhat spur-of-the-moment invitations on Charless part to join his following. The

lists from these years also shed light on Charless motivation in makingadditions to his household. In 1270, for example, he was in Carthageon what he must just have realized would be an abortive crusade. Onhis journey back home, he attached to his household some ex-crusaderswhom he probably hoped to attract as permanent settlers to his kingdom.

17

Similarly, part of the list for 1276 was compiled largely in Rome andViterbo, and contained some names whose adherence to Charless courtwas almost certainly confined to the period of his stay in the papal states,but upon whose goodwill he might in future hope to rely.

18

The other

lists, produced when he was at home in the Regno, seem to reflectCharless desire to widen his patronage, to give large numbers of theupper ranks of Regno society the chance to spend a brief period in hispresence, to enhance loyalty to him, and to help to create some commoncultural assumptions among the upper classes of his singularly diversekingdom.

19

In order to take the subject further, it is necessary to explain oneserious problem that arises in handling the evidence. The household listswere apparently compiled by clerks working from copies of grants madeto individuals. In some cases the clerks preserved at least partial details ofwhat was granted, in other cases they omitted them all and simply entereda group of names under one heading. Consequently it cannot be statedcategorically, for example, that all knights named in the lists enjoyedthe status of those who were specifically said to be of the householdand entitled to eat at court. But equally it is probable that they did. Thesame uncertainty applies to other privileges; because these were wellunderstood at the time, there was no need to spell them out in each case.

Furthermore, it is not clear whether most grants were for a short term,or until they were specifically withdrawn, or for life. But while theseimportant details elude us, the household lists, reinforced by theinformation from the wages lists, are sufficient to give a hazy overallpicture of the men among whom Charles spent his life. Charless entouragecan be envisaged in terms of three concentric circles, each circle enjoyingdistinct privileges and obligations, but with a considerable degree ofoverlap at the boundaries.

17

E.g., the seneschal of Vermandois (

R.C.A.

, xxii. 1817); Matthieu du Plessi (

R.C.A.

, xxii.1814); Gilles de Blemur (

R.C.A.

, xxii. 1834).

18

R.C.A.

, lxxix. 249319.

19

It is, however, worth remembering that Edward I, who operated under fewer constraintsthan Charles, also had among his household knights men from Germany, Savoy and Lombardy(see Records of the Wardrobe and Household

, ed. B. J. Byerly and C. R. Byerly (2 vols., 197786),and particularly vol. i, 12856

, p. xl). The author is grateful to John Maddicott for drawing herattention to these records.


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The records for the innermost circle, what may be called the domestichousehold, are fragmentary.

20

As might be expected, they are at their leasthelpful in the very disturbed early years of the reign and in the period

after the outbreak of the Sicilian Vespers in March 1282. Nevertheless,there is enough information to ascertain that the personnel was over-whelmingly French. To be surrounded by his own countrymen, toimitate the royal household best known to him, that of his brother KingLouis IX,

21

was a natural aspiration in one who, beyond the confinesof his own residences, had to operate all the time with men whoseeducation and assumptions were very different from his own. Relaxation,in so far as it was compatible with what remained an itinerant and oftendangerous way of life, could be best secured in a familiar setting. Hence

the ad hoc arrangements necessitated by campaigning slowly gave wayto the emergence of an inner domestic circle that could, with only afew adjustments, have been transferred to the royal court in Paris. Itwas, however, rather less formalized in nomenclature than its Parisianequivalent. In the 1276 and 1277 lists, the officer in charge of thehousehold was called seneschal.22 Later either the pantler or the headchamberlain was normally the chief official mentioned in the records (butthis change may reflect the growing emphasis on finance in the laterrecords). There was often more than one chamberlain, whose task it wasto deal with the day-to-day financial affairs of the king. In that capacity,he might well be sent on business to anywhere in Europe where theking had concerns.23

Then there came the more strictly domestic royal servants: the pantler(there was sometimes more than one pantler, which perhaps allowed forvariation in the tasks they performed),24 the cup-bearer (estancion againthere could be more than one),25 the fruiterer (fruitier) and by 1277 alsothe fourrier,26 who may well, like his French counterpart, have acquired

growing importance in the last few years of the reign.27

These men wereprincipally occupied in supplying the household. The cup-bearer was

20 In addition to the destruction of the Angevin archive in 1943, on the effects of which see n. 14above, the domestic records of most monarchies and great lordships suffered for many centuries afterthis from only spasmodic collection because the need for record was less evident than in most otherspheres of administration (F. Heal, Hospitality in Early Modern England(Oxford, 1990), pp. 502).

21 See E. Lalou, Le fonctionnement de lhtel du roi du milieu du XIIIe sicle au milieudu XIVe sicle, in Vincennes aux origines de ltat moderne, ed. J. Chapelot and E. Lalou (Paris,1996), pp. 14555. On Charless household officers, see C. Minieri Riccio, Cenni storici intorno

i grandi uffizii del Regno di Sicilia durante il regno di Carlo dAngi (Naples, 1872).22 R.C.A., lxxix. 249.23 R.C.A., v. 64.24 R.C.A., xliii. 28.25 There is a certain confusion here, in that the estancion was sometimes called the butler; he

must be distinguished from the butler of the Regno, which was an honorary title.26 R.C.A., lxxxii. 574.27 Lalou, p. 150. Interestingly, these named officials obtained specified salaries in the list of

general household salaries in R.C.A., lxxxv. 5.


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usually in charge of buying the wine, while the fruiterer was often askedto find wax. Their task of supply might take them quite a long way fromthe kings presence. The fruiterer, for example, was sent to Florence to

get various necessities.28

Yet while they performed relatively menial tasks,they also had an opportunity to engage in noble activities along withother members of the household. One of Charless pantlers, RenaudGelart, won fame at tourneying.29 Some of these office-holders remainedat court for several years; Jean de Torchevache, probably the mostenduring, began as cup-bearer and then was promoted to chamberlain.30

Giovanni di Brayda was a valet of the household for nine years beforebeing promoted to pantler, an office he held for at least three years. 31

Others appeared more briefly on the lists.

These officials were supported by numbers of lesser men clerks to thechamber, valets of the household, porters, ostlers and messengers, alongwith a trumpeter whose job it was to announce the kings arrival,32 and,on one occasion, a jongleur from Paris.33 Some of these members of thesupporting cast were specifically named in the earlier lists of the reign,but they featured less and less in the later records. It is therefore almostimpossible to work out how many of them there may have been at anyone time. By way of comparison, when Guillaume de lEtandard was sentto Rome to become Charless vicar there in 1281, his household consistedof himself, his physician, eight judges, twelve notaries and one chaplain,with enough servants to make the total up to sixty that is, thirty-seven.If this was a normal proportion between officials and servants, then Charlesshousehold in 1277 (when we know that there were ninety-one membersabove the salt) will have had perhaps 130 servants. That these were notall French is clear, as is the fact that Charles could put pressure on themto perform tasks others were reluctant to undertake.34 But otherwise theywere hardly ever mentioned. At the end of the reign, when the fighting

in Sicily and Calabria became intense, the number of household servantswas further swollen by the addition of a group of ordinary paid soldiers.35

Of equal importance with the household officers, but usually somewhatdistinct from them, were the royal cooks, sometimes as many as five,supported by minions;36 and the marshal of the royal stables with his clerk

28 R.C.A., v. 64.29 Die Chronik des Saba Malaspina, ed. W. Koller and A. Nitschke (Monumenta Germaniae

Historica Scriptores, xxv, Hanover, 1999) (hereafterChronik des Saba Malaspina), p. 260.30

R.C.A., xliv. 87; xlv. 109; lxxxv. 110.31 R.C.A., lxxxv. 97.32 R.C.A., lxxi. 140.33 R.C.A., xxxvii. 793.34 R.C.A., lxxvi. 279 shows 4 members of the household taking up residence in Lucera,

which Charles had cleared of its Muslim inhabitants and was attempting (without much success)to repopulate.

35 R.C.A., cxii. 76.36 R.C.A., xci. 170 mentions 5 unnamed cooks.


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and retinue of grooms.37 Rather more distant were the falconers and thekeepers of the royal menagerie, who were presumably in attendance onlywhen the court was at places suitable for their entertainment value to be

appreciated. These laymen were balanced in the household by a small butinfluential body of clerks. Of these one was the royal almoner, usually amember of the mendicant orders.38 Unlike his brother Louis IX, Charlesdid not have an officially named confessor;39 but he always had at leastone chaplain sometimes as many as four who may have performedthat function, and frequently a clerk to assist the chaplains.40 In addition,there were always other clerks whose function remained undefined, butwho will have found plenty to keep them occupied in the endless record-keeping and letter-writing that Charles demanded of all his servants. At

least some of these clerks, including the almoner and the chaplains, willhave perambulated with the king on most, if not all, of his journeyings.

On the costs of providing for this travelling household there are onlya few precious pieces of evidence. In 1277, the household officialsreceived a loan of 300 uncieof gold to pay for their wages (probably forthree months),41 and specific amounts from this sum were designatedfor the pantlers, the cup-bearers, the master cook, the fourrier, the clerkof the stable and the fruiterer.42 Apart from wages, however, there is noevidence on that occasion for any precise sums being disbursed. The listsof supplies demanded for the household, of which many are recorded,did not note costs.43 Nor were the costs of horses and carts hired fortravelling given. On one occasion in late 1277, a sum of 5,000 goldenflorins was paid to the chamberlains to cover the expenses of thehousehold and to provide money for the purchase of grain. 44 Forthe three months from March to May 1278, household expenses werereckoned at 672 uncieand twenty-fourtari.45 But what was comprehendedin this sum is not specified.

37 For regulations governing the stables, see R.C.A., lxxxii. 67.38 R.C.A., lxxix. 211; lxxxii. 574.39 On Louis confessor see X. de la Selle, Le Service des mes la cour: Confesseurs et aumniers

des rois de France du XIIIe au XVe sicle (Paris, 1995), p. 41.40 R.C.A., lxxviii. 518; lxxxii. 574.41 Other mentions of wages are usually for a 3-month period. On the coinage current in

the Regno, see M. Fuiano, La politica monetaria di Carlo dAngi, in Carlo I dAngi in Italia:studi e ricerche(Naples, 1974), pp. 26185.

42 R.C.A., lxxxv. 4, 5.43

E.g., when the king went to Rome in 1278, he ordered the chamberlain in Rome tostore supplies of corn, hay, vegetables, salt eels, sugar, wax and wine for the households arrival(R.C.A., lxxxii. 214).

44 R.C.A., lxxxv. 23. Charles gives the exchange rate of 5 florins to the uncia. There were30 tari to the uncia. Between 1277 and 1284 there were 6 tari to the Florentine florin(P. Spufford, Handbook of Medieval Exchange(Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks,xiii, 1986), p. 59. The total was therefore 1,000 uncie, which is higher than the other totalsoffered for 3 months.

45 R.C.A., lxxxii. 588.


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The decision to be perpetually on the move had important consequencesfor the royal entourage. The enterprise was costly and caused resentmentin those localities required to assist. Large numbers of horses and carts

had to be assembled to take the king, his servants and their possessionsfrom place to place.46 Sometimes hay had to be borrowed while on themove to cover a deficiency.47 Temporary residences had to be arrangedfor short stays along the way. There was loud complaint when localofficials seized bedding and utensils from inhabitants to provide forthe royal trains needs.48 And royal castles had to be fitted out andprepared. The burden imposed on the officials and inhabitants of thelocalities through which the cavalcade passed created some obligation onthe kings side to cut down on numbers. Neither the queen (Charles was

married first to Beatrice of Provence and then to Margaret of Nevers) northe royal children habitually travelled with the king: they had householdsof their own, usually in Naples. As the chief administrators dropped outof the household, their enormous collections of records no longer hadto be moved.49 In some respects, therefore, travelling became simpler.But Charles could not afford to have his dignity compromised, even withinthe Regno, by appearing in public surrounded by a meagre entourage.When he went beyond the Regnos borders visits to the papal stateswere frequent he felt acutely the need to strike a fine figure. Incalculating the proper size and luxury of his train, he had to balancesensitivity to the tax-payers wishes against keeping up appearances atall times.

Despite Charless attempts to improve the quality of the hospitalitythat he and his followers received, and despite the fact that the itinerarydid bring some times of relaxation, such as stays at the hunting lodgeat Lagopesole, much of the travelling must have been wearisome andexhausting. For the older or the more uxorious among Charless

companions, permission to leave the kings service with his blessingwill often have been perceived as a boon. Yet while they remained withCharles, their hours of hardship were punctuated by brief periods offestivity and state. Charles celebrated the great liturgical feasts of theChurch in style, joined by his wife and family, and by temporarymembers of his entourage, who all partook of grand meals and fineentertainment. As the reign went on, these celebrations were increasinglylikely to take place in Naples. The building there of Chateau Neuf,projecting into the harbour, between 1279 and 1284, provided Charles

with a magnificent backdrop for display. On these occasions, the court

46 R.C.A., cxiii. 6. It took 30 animals to transport the kings records from Lagopesole toMelfi (R.C.A., xcii. 212).

47 R.C.A., xcii. 260.48 R.C.A., viii. 462.49 R.C.A., lxxxii. 11 refers to the transport of 11 registers to Naples.


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was swollen by large numbers of important visitors who came to pay theirrespects and hoped to promote their own interests with the king. Manyof these visitors bore the title familiaris, which indicated a close link with

the king; in some cases the link was that they had earlier been membersof his domestic household.50 So on these grand occasions the king wassurrounded, first by his normal domestic officials and servants, then bya circle of temporary members who were obliged to attend the feasts fora set period, and finally by a much larger circle of members of whathe called his familiarity. While it must have been quite clear to Charlessofficials who the members of each of these groups were, it is not easy forthe historian to disentangle them from the surviving records.

For example, there were the household knights, beyond the strictly

domestic circle, but permitted to eat at the royal board. That Charles wasaccompanied everywhere by armed men cannot be doubted; thirteenth-century kings always had bodyguards, and a king like Charles, who hadmany enemies, certainly needed them. He always travelled with his ownarmour in two large coffers and his hauberks and other protective gearin eight leather bags.51 He was always at the ready; and presumably he didnot plan to fight on his own. Besides, there is incontrovertible evidenceof the existence of household knights at Charless court. But just howmany there were at any one time and how constant was their attendanceon the king is less than clear from the sources. At Christmas 1277, therewere thirty-six knights described as of ostel non terrains,52 which seemsto mean that they had not yet been enfeoffed. At that date they receivedwages for three months, which suggests (as does ostel) that they wereregular travelling members of the household. In the 12778 note onwages, seventeen knights of the household were in receipt of wages offouruncie, of whom it was said that they had no lands, and thirty-oneknights received wages of two uncie, although they already had lands.53

In the former category came Hugues le Roux de Sully, soon to be chosenas Charless general in charge of the war against the Greeks; in the lattercame Guillaume and Philippe de Lagonesse, members of a family ofCharless most devoted servants, Hugues de Conches, of a Marseillesmerchants family who had worked his way up by service in Charlessfleet, and Bertrand des Beaux of Berre54 of the great Provencal family.This second group almost all bore the title domini.55 A year later, therewere thirty-five knights in each category, with many of the same

50 See below, pp. 3324.51 R.C.A., xci. 48.52 R.C.A., lxxxv. 10.53 R.C.A., lxxxv. 110, 119.54 Bertrand was also referred to as banneret of the household (R.C.A., lxxxii. 574). This

seems to be a unique appellation in Charless household.55 R.C.A., lxxxv. 10.


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names still there.56 It is inherently unlikely that those who possessedlands hereafter called the enfeoffed knights were expected to travelregularly with the household, since they were probably settled, married

men with strong local duties. But perhaps they attended Charles on somekind of rota system. They presumably also joined the king for the greatfeasts or other major public occasions like family weddings. But if thisis true of them, can we be sure that the knights of the household withoutlands (the unenfeoffed) were regular attendants on the king? Was there arota for them? Or were some of them only bound to appear for specialoccasions? Their relatively high wages suggest regular attendance. Theaccount for March to May 1278, which deducted a small sum for days ofabsence from the wages paid to knights of both categories, shows that

a sharp eye was kept on this issue.57

Those familiar with the ways of the English court in the twelfth andthirteenth centuries may perhaps look among the knights mentioned fornames of those who were in the future to become major figures in thehistory of the Regno.58 They may think of the significance accorded byOrderic Vitalis to membership of Henry Is military household,59 seeparallels between the situations of Henry I and of Charles of Anjou, andexpect to find among Charless knights either those whose talents he wasnurturing or those whose families rebellious tendencies he feared. Yetthese do not seem to have been particularly conspicuous features ofCharless choices, except in so far as in both categories of knights therewere large numbers of men from Provence, the Regno and Achaia, giventheir position in the entourage in order to balance the French amongCharless domestic servants, and thus to quell discontent. Charles hadother means of trying to control the children of those who had rebelledagainst him.60 His enfeoffed knights were usually drawn from those whoseposition in the Regno was already secured. Occasionally, as with Amaury

de la Roche, who became a household knight in 1278,61

the aim of thegrant was to strengthen the ties between Charles and families beyondthe Regno whose alliance he sought, in this case the rulers of Athens. 62

But for the most part, membership of the household conferred onlytemporarily increased status (and a wage) on those already enfeoffed.

The unenfeoffed were, it is true, usually less socially privileged. It wasa useful step up the ladder for a young man of modest background to be

56

R.C.A., xci. 1829. This perhaps suggests that a document is missing from the previousyears account and that Charles actually employed another 18 unenfeoffed knights.57 R.C.A., lxxxii. 588.58 See J. Prestwich, The military household of the Norman kings, Eng. Hist. Rev., xcvi

(1981), 135.59 The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, vi, ed. M. Chibnall (Oxford, 1978), p. 196.60 See Dunbabin, Charles of Anjou, pp. 623.61 R.C.A., lxxxv. 103.62 See Dunbabin, Charles of Anjou, p. 92.


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chosen as a household knight of his king. In some cases it might lead toadvancement to the ranks of the aristocracy, as it did with GiovanniMansella of Salerno, who was received into the royal household at

Catania in January 1271.63

In 1272 he was sent to fight at Piacenza, wherehe was seriously wounded.64 Later he was made podest of Ascoli,65 wasrewarded with land and counted among the barons of the kingdom.66 Bythe end of the reign, he was justiciar of the Capitanate, a very importantif onerous position.67 Giovannis rise was slow, steady and unusually high.Charles did recognize a few of his household knights as consiliarii, whichindicated that he valued their opinions and that further advancementin royal service might be anticipated.68 But the bulk of the householdknights seem to have ended up as castellans on the royal demesne,

responsible positions but of strictly limited power or social consequence.Even Amaury de Montdragon, whose family connections might have givenhim a claim to better, followed up his promotion to knight of the householdin 1270 by a long stint as a castellan.69 Only when the rebellion of theSicilian Vespers began seriously to threaten Charless position did hebecome generous, both in lands and in offices, with those who had oncebeen close to him and on whose loyalty he was now totally dependent.70

Perhaps more like Prestwichs household knights, both in socialposition and in leadership potential, were some of the valets whoappeared on each of the household lists. This category is confusing. Asmall number of valets undoubtedly did attend upon the king day afterday wherever he went, and probably looked after his clothes and personaleffects. In 1276 nine new ones were created with the specific task ofguarding the money being sent to the royal chamber.71 But until the wareffort of the late twelve-seventies (when Charless attention was focusedon defeating the emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus) there were usuallymore valets than knights in each household list far too many to be

necessary for the kings comfort. For Christmas 1277, they received wagesfor attendance for the days of the feast alone, which may imply that manyof them were usually at court only on grand occasions. Surprisingly,among the valets were to be found the scions of the greatest families inthe Regno Raimond of Les Beaux, the Provencal aristocrat; and Rogerdella Marra, the son of Giozzelino della Marra, the kings chief financial

63 R.C.A., xxii. 1812.64

R.C.A., xlviii. 478; xlix. 181.65 R.C.A., lxvi. 257.66 R.C.A., lxvi. 135.67 R.C.A., cviii. 17.68 R.C.A., lxxi. 128, 130; lxxvi. 258.69 R.C.A., xcviii. 147.70 For the large number of promotions and gifts of lands offered in 1283 and 1284, see

R.C.A., cxx.passim.71 R.C.A., lxxvi. 41.


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agent from Ravello. These shared the title along with relatives of popesand cardinals.72 The valet of the thirteenth-century Regno was often farfrom being the equivalent of his fourteenth-century English counterpart

who enjoyed a status just below that of gentility.73

Like the householdknights, valets were drawn from all the various peoples over whomCharles ruled.

While valets were by definition young men, quite how young is hardto be sure.74 Some of them kept the status for much more than one year. 75

Some were used by the king for tasks too difficult for local officials tocope with;76 one was even put in charge of the kings re-establishedmonopoly of the Regnos salt trade.77 Others were given lesser but stillresponsible tasks,78 which hardly suggests immaturity as a universal

characteristic. On the other hand, some of those (inevitably the grander)about whose later lives there is information seem to have been justout of boyhood. In the Christmas 1277 list of expenses, valets and pageswere treated together, suggesting that this group comprised both youngmen and boys sent to court to learn manners and manly pursuits.79 Theobvious way to try to make sense of this disparate information is, as with thehousehold knights, to assume that there were in practice two categoriesof valets, one grander than the other. Those of lesser birth (householdvalets) were retained to be useful, the grander to be ornamental. Yet theyshared the same title and most of the same privileges. As with the knights,distinguishing between high birth and service as claims to promotion atCharless court was a relatively subtle matter.

The aristocratic young men were crucial contributors to the magnific-ence of Charless entourage as it was perceived by outsiders. There was,however, more to their presence than this. Like most medieval kings,Charles appreciated the value of being surrounded by the sons ofimportant people. It permitted him to get to know them and to cement

their loyalty to him. He certainly considered that he was bestowing aprivilege on them. In a letter that he wrote to Gui de Forez, by then justiciar of Otranto, the king reminded Gui that he was a member ofthe royal household, had been brought up at the kings side, and hadmet with affectionate treatment from him. This circumstance made Guis

72 R.C.A., lxxi. 87, 98.73 S. Walker, The Lancastrian Affinity, 136199 (Oxford, 1990), p. 11. They seem more like the

esquires of honour found, although in decline, at the later Angevin courts (see F. Piponnier,

Costume et vie sociale: la cour dAnjou XIVeXVe sicle (Paris, 1970), p. 248).74 The author relies here on Larousse, Dictionnaire de lancien franais: le Moyen Age (Paris,1992), p. 610.

75 Giovanni di Brayda, for example, was a valet of the royal household from 1271 to 1283,and pantler for the last 3 years of this time (R.C.A., xcviii. 88).

76 R.C.A., lxxvi. 314; lxxxix. 140.77 R.C.A., lxxvi. 324.78 R.C.A., lxxvi. 41; cviii. 156.79 R.C.A., lxxxv. 10.


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fault in failing to carry out royal orders much worse and meant thatpunishment would certainly come upon him.80 As Charles saw it, allprivileges had their corresponding responsibilities. The frequency with

which the lists were issued suggests both that the majority of the grandervalets enjoyed their status only temporarily, and that Charles wantedto entertain as many as possible of the Regnos young aristocrats. Onthe other side of the fence, the young men probably enjoyed thecompanionship of their peers, the chance to catch the kings eye, and awhole new freedom away from parental supervision. The time spentattending court functions was a rite of passage on their path to adulthood.

Because the position of valet was in normal circumstances advantageousto both parties, men solicited it for their young relatives. In one case at least,

the pleas of an uncle that the king take on his nephew are recorded,as is the uncles long service to the crown.81 When the nephew (orgrandson) of the kings most trusted physician became a valet,82 privilegedaccess to the kings ear can be assumed. There will have been a markeddesire on the part of second-rank Angevin supporters to have their statusconfirmed by securing a place at court for one of their sons. Importunityon their part seems likely. On the other hand, Charles probably took theinitiative himself in making links with the families of the popes and thecardinals, as well as with his French relations and other great lords. Hecertainly appreciated the value of their public appearances by his side.

One feature of the lists clearly marked out the valets from the knights:while nothing was ever said about the knights horses the king seemsto have supplied these83 the entries about valets (of both categories)specified the number of horses (usually one, but it could be up to five)for which they would receive either fodder or an allowance in lieu whilethey were at court. The rulers of the Regno had long been accustomedto giving such allowances for those who campaigned outside the

kingdoms borders with them.84

Whether Charles innovated in extendingthese allowances to those who attended on him cannot be determined.But whereas the valets wages for being present at a feast were the samefor all members of the category, both social distinction and particularservice could be rewarded by increasing the number of horses fed at thekings expense. In 1276 Raimond des Beaux was paid for five horses,three for himself and two for his own valet,85 this unprecedented awarda sign of how welcome was the presence of this young nobleman at

80 R.C.A., lxxxvi. 557.81 R.C.A., xiv. 1144.82 R.C.A., lxxi. 56.83 He certainly paid for replacements for horses lost in war or on royal service, which

suggests that he supplied them in the first place (see, e.g., R.C.A., cxiii. 8).84 See the arrangements made by Frederick II (Constitutiones regni Siciliae, ed. G. Carcani

(1786; repr. Messina, 1992), pp. 3834).85 R.C.A., lxxix. 317.


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court. Less elevated people could be rewarded in the same way. Forexample, two men who had been allowed fodder for one horse each weresubsequently granted another between them.86 Presumably the half-valets

who very occasionally appear in the lists were valets entitled only to halfthe fodder needed to feed a horse.87 The other reward that might beincreased was the right to meals. Bouche du cour at Charless courtapparently still meant actual presence at the royal board, not an allowancein lieu. For example, a Roman noble received as valet in February1277 was allowed, in addition to food for three horses, the privilege ofbringing with him a friend when he ate at court.88 Whether he wasfree to choose when he came or was obliged to make certain definedappearances is not stated. But, judging by the royal kitchens constant

demands for spices, sugar and other luxury goods, and by the order forspecial cloths for the tables, bouche du cour must have been a privilegeworth having.89

Knights, valets and clerks might be asked to turn their hand to anysort of business that required doing while they were at court. There were,however, more specialized members of the household doctors, surgeonsand lawyers who, in addition to attending feasts, made themselvesavailable to the king whenever he should need their particular skills. HereCharles could exploit the intellectual riches of the Regno, developed atthe medical school at Salerno and at the university of Naples. Althoughthe later thirteenth century was far from marking the peak of achieve-ment at Salerno, and its most famous exponent, Giovanni di Procida,was prosecuted as a traitor to Charless cause, the king was neverthelessprepared to pay the salaries of the schools masters, sometimes at a highrate. However, he also encouraged medical studies at Naples and tried,with only moderate success, to lure other Italian and French doctorsdown to the Regno.90 There was, therefore, a pool of candidates for him

to choose from when he nominated physicians and surgeons to hishousehold. Those nominated were expected not just to cure the sickamong the royal entourage but to tend wounds and to buy the medicinesthat could be carried around in the royal train.91 In addition, they mightbe required to test the competence of others who wished to practisemedicine in the Regno. While Charles accepted the right of the medicalschools to examine their own candidates, he regarded the right to practisewithin his domain as his to grant.92 Those of his physicians who earnedhis trust were well rewarded. For example, M. Thomas of Florence, who

86 R.C.A., lxxi. 117.87 R.C.A., lxxi. 74.88 R.C.A., lxxix. 285.89 R.C.A., xci. 39, 72.90 See Dunbabin, Charles of Anjou, pp. 21418.91 R.C.A., viii. 327.92 Dunbabin, Charles of Anjou, p. 217.


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taught medicine at Naples, normally received the allowance given forthree horses, later increased to four,93 in addition to the salary of twelveuncieof gold for his teaching;94 furthermore, as has already been remarked,

his young relative was taken into the household as a valet, and heacquired some land held in fee of the crown.95 While Thomas may onlyhave been at court for celebrations and when specially summoned, Jeande Nesle (the only French doctor known to have been lured downto the Regno) was probably at court for much of the time, having noalternative place of residence during his relatively short visit.96 Whilethere, he compiled a chronicle of great interest to his royal patron.97

Lawyers newly graduated from the university of Naples which hadbeen founded to turn out civil servants were handpicked to join

Charless household. Since the king paid the salaries of doctors of civillaw while they were teaching at Naples, his persuasive powers were great.In any case, few will have wished to resist the invitation. The challengeof helping a king to decide which of the various legal measures introducedby his predecessors were to be recognized as part of the custom of therealm, and which were to be ditched as part of Hohenstaufen tyranny,must have been alluring. Because legal expertise was so central toCharless needs, he quickly developed a good eye for talent in that sphere.Sperano da Bari the Younger, Bartholomeo di Capua and Andreadi Isernia all began their careers in his household. The position wascompatible with teaching in the university and also advising privateclients on cases; it was an essential step on the ladder that led to thelifelong post of counsellor to the king.

Since all the categories of household members thus far mentioned weresometimes included in the household lists, it is probable that all (with theexception of messengers, cooks assistants and others who were clearly ofthe lower orders) enjoyed the honours, favours, privileges, prerogatives,

immunities, exemptions and graces which, along with hospitality, wereascribed to domestic familiars in the records.98 Some of these we know:they all received wages, loans,99 and robes; some got wardships,100 andfavours for their relatives;101 one who was murdered got a specialcommission of enquiry to find the killers.102 They also probably benefited

93 R.C.A., lxxi. 139.94 R.C.A., xlvii. 31.95 R.C.A., xlvii. 400.96

Dunbabin, Charles of Anjou, pp. 2089.97 R.C.A., cviii. 33.98 R.C.A., xlvi. 25.99 R.C.A., lix. 20.100 R.C.A., xciv. 197.101 E.g., Giovanni di Brayda, a valet, obtained the right of free passage across the Regno

for himself, his 6 brothers and other relatives (R.C.A., xviii. 841); and Jean Torchevache gota prebend for a clerical nephew (R.C.A., lx. 96).

102 R.C.A., xvi. 251.


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from tax concessions and assistance in the law courts. Even so, there aresigns that some were tempted to take more than belonged to them.Members of Charless household were accused of claiming hospitality for

themselves when they were not accompanying the king, and of removingfrom peasants food and utensils at their pleasure.103 But the complaintsabout this came early in the reign; better discipline may have prevailedlater. One way and another, the pains of household membership (whichincluded an open act of adherence to a monarchy regarded by someas totally illegitimate and by others as tyrannical) were balanced by a veryconsiderable variety of sweets, most of which were not particularlyexpensive from the kings point of view.

The account for Christmas 1277 gives us a reasonably full picture of

the household thus far described as it appeared when gathered togetherfor a grand occasion. On 10 January 1278 the king commanded that theninety-one sets of robes that he had conferred on his knights, clerks andservants at Christmas be paid for. The knights, clerks and servants werealso to receive two and a halfuncieeach by way of wages in arrears. Thethirty-six unenfeoffed knights were to receive their three-monthly wagesof four tari a day, also in arrears. Valets and pages (garons) were to bepaid at a daily rate for twenty-four days from 13 December to 5 January;together, their food and wages amounted to 165 uncie. The scribe addedthe total bill up to 904 uncie and fifteen tari (although I make the total913 uncie and fifteen tari).104 The mixture of liberality and parsimonyinvolved in this accounting was typical of Charless whole approach toadministration. The picture that the register entry provides is of a largecourt, much of it assembled only for twenty-four days but surroundingan inner core of the kings permanent servants, a picture which iscompatible with the hints derived from other entries in the register. Forthose who came to participate in the celebration for other purposes,

the kings entourage will have created a formidable but also a magnificentimpression. However, such impressions did not come cheaply.By the following spring, costs had risen sharply. For the three months

from March to May 1278, the household officers were, as has been said,given 672 uncieand twenty-fourtarifor expenses. However, this excludedcosts for the wages and allowances for the knights, valets, clerks, physiciansand others, which were entered separately and came to considerably morethan that sum. Combining the expenditure and the wages, then includingboth the costs of liveries for Easter and the money paid for replacing

horses for members of the household, the total came to 1,718 uncie andtwenty-five tari for three months.105 This was approaching twice the billfor the three months leading up to Christmas 1277. The 1278 account

103 R.C.A., vol. ii, reg. x, additiones: Documenti tratti da varie fonti, 94, 95.104 R.C.A., lxxxv. 10.105 R.C.A., lxxxii. 588.


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may have been more inclusive. Alternatively, the number of peopleattached to the household may have increased rapidly as the financial yearwent on. The latter hypothesis is compatible with Charless habit of

issuing invitations to join his household at any point in the year. Weknow that both the king and the magistri rationales scrutinized expenditureclosely.106 A balance had to be struck between keeping Charless com-panions happy and wasting money. The kings ambitious campaignsabroad had to be paid for; parsimony at home was desirable where itcould be achieved. But resisting the operation of Parkinsons Law wasalmost impossible.

The accounts of Christmas 1277 and MarchMay 1278 are unusualin specifically mentioning the robes given to members of the household.

Presumably winter and summer clothing was issued automatically each year to at least some members of the immediate entourage.107 Clothwas certainly ordered and the order recorded on many occasions. 108 Thespecial demands of the queens household, with its large feminineconstituent, also often made their way into the records.109 Records werekept of the uniforms provided for those who worked in the royal stableand menagerie.110 The comparatively sparse evidence for household robesis more likely to be the result of their being distributed automatically thanof their being distributed only occasionally.111 If a gift of robes was usuallymade at the great feasts, as it clearly was at Christmas 1277 and it ishard to see how it could have been made on any other occasion to thosewho were not travelling members of the household then the newnessof the entourages apparel will have added to the general gaiety andsplendour of the moment. There is some evidence that spectators werestruck by this: Saba Malaspina, describing the knighting of Charles ofSalerno, Charless heir, in 1272, drew particular attention to the brilliantdisplay of coloured robes worn by the men and women who accompanied

the king and queen to the ceremony.112

106 See, e.g., his expostulation against the lavishness with which the queens entourage waslodged and fed (R.C.A., lxxviii. 563).

107 Cf. Vale, pp. 93135, esp. p. 115.108 E.g., Jean de Vilemaroi, a royal clerk in Anjou, was ordered to send large amounts

of various cloths (R.C.A., lx. 173; see also R.C.A., xci. 72, 82; xxiv, Documenti tratti da altrefonti, 7).

109 R.C.A., lxxxv. 8; cxiv. 53.110 R.C.A., lxxix. 144.111

It would have been odd if Charles gave no liveries to those whom he accepted into hishousehold in Carthage in 1270, because Gui de Dampierre, count of Flanders, had a livery listfor those whom he was receiving at the same time (see Vale, pp. 11516). Those who werecounsellors in Anjou definitely received robes (R.C.A., lxxxiii. 31).

112 Chronik des Saba Malaspina, p. 233. But by Pentecost 1278, 37 knights were each issuedwith two and a halfuncie for their robes, showing that responsibility for provision had passedto the individuals. Obviously not all household knights received either robes or a sum of moneyin lieu; but the records do not permit of a clear division between unenfeoffed and enfeoffedknights on this matter.


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Beyond the members of the household lay the last overlapping circle,those whom Charles received into his familiarity, the members of whatmight be called his court circle, both in the Regno and in the other lands

he ruled where his representatives held court in his stead. Charlessfamiliarity included all the members of his household thus far mentioned,but also a very large number of loyal servants, some but not all of whomhad earlier been either valets or knights. From the repetition of theformula in various letters, it would seem that grants of familiarity usuallybegan with the highflown statement, We receive into our familiaritythose in whom probity of morals is evident, virtue illuminates clearlyand praiseworthy acts commend.113 In one case, this introduction wasfollowed by a brief genealogy of the holder. His family claimed to have

come from France to Rome in 898, and then moved to Carcassonne in1002.114 From Charless point of view, this family history, combined withthe fact that the present scion had found his way to the Regno, will haveseemed to point to a natural link among the various peoples he ruled. Itwas a parable of post-Carolingian Mediterranean Europe and thereforeworth recording. His distinguished pedigree earned for its holder the sumof thirty uncie of gold a year for life, and all the privileges enjoyed bymembers of the household. The supposition must be that, when thenewly-created familiaris happened to be at court, he could join in theceremonial and eat there. When not there, he might still hope for loansor help in legal affairs. But what he was supposed to do in return for thisprivileged position was not spelled out.

The contract with the man from Carcassonne is unique in the fullnessof its record; in other cases the clerks abbreviated, usually simply givingthe name of the man received as familiaris. We cannot therefore be surethat this was a standard grant. The financial settlement in particular wasalmost certainly more generous than others received. However, the

opening formula and the privileged position are likely to have beenstandard. Other evidence shows that some kind of oath was exacted fromnewfamiliares.115 Usually the holder of a grant of familiarity also receiveda letter which demanded that he should be treated with all appropriatedeference in view of his status.116 Again, exactly what this deferenceinvolved is unclear. The contract had something in common with themilitary indentures used by Charless recruiting agents for his Italiancampaign of 12648.117 Both kinds of contract point to the degree of

113 R.C.A., xiv. 677.114 R.C.A., xcvi. 3.115 R.C.A., xlv. 115.116 E.g., R.C.A., lxxix. 265.117 Such indentures were certainly used for Louis IXs 1270 crusade; and the circumstances

of Charless recruitment drive suggest a similar vehicle (see N. Housley, The Italian Crusades:the Papal-Angevin Alliance and the Crusades against Christian Lay Powers, 12541343 (Oxford, 1982),pp. 14852).


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literacy taken for granted among the aristocrats of the period. Thatwritten documents establishing personal loyalty should have proliferatedin the Regno is indicative of Charless deep-rooted fear of rebellion; a

man who had taken the oath of familiarity and then broke his word couldbe clearly indicted of treason, a capital offence.118 Furthermore, the termsof the oath normally bound its taker for life. Despite the accompanyingprivileges, the commitment was not to be made lightly. In the lastthree years of Charless reign, when the rebellion of the Sicilian Vespersthreatened to spread across the whole of the Regno, there must havebeen many among the familiares who regretted their open adherenceto the regime. But before that date, incorporation in the familiaritywas a necessary preliminary to the acquisition of a job in the kings

service.The story of Charlessfamiliares is also the story of his government and

politics. It cannot be told in a short article. Membership of the familiaritywas in the later thirteenth century what knigsnhe had been in theCarolingian period.119 Bishops, archdeacons, abbots, doctors, lawyers,

judges, architects, military men, those with naval backgrounds, thoserelated to the king, important people from, of and in all his territories,made up the kings familiarity. In return for their privileged position,virtually all of them were required to perform services, either in returnfor a salary or for free, for the king, either occasionally or almost allthe time. From the ranks of hisfamiliares Charles chose his diplomats, hisgenerals, his judges of the great court, his top civil servants, his justiciars(the senior local officials), his counsellors. The last category is the mostinteresting in this context, in that important individuals given the title ofconsiliarius et familiaris appeared frequently in the household lists (butthere were far too manyfamiliares overall for us to assume that their grantswere all supposed to have been recorded in the lists). In some cases, those

accorded this status cannot normally have been anywhere near Charlesscourt, but had the title conferred upon them in order to bolster loyaltyto the king in a newly conquered or acquired part of his dominions.So the archbishop of Durazzo was received as consiliarius et familiarisin 1275.120 Other distant clerics were similarly honoured because theyundertook ecclesiastical business for Charles in his French lands.121 Onthe other hand, the archbishop of Sorrento, with an identical title, wasrecorded as being a long-term member of the household because hecould not live in his archbishopric a formula which may have meant

118 See Dunbabin, Charles of Anjou, pp. 21819.119 See J. Nelson, Kingship and royal government, in New Cambridge Medieval History,

ii: c.700-c.900, ed. R. McKitterick (Cambridge, 1995), pp. 4045.120 R.C.A., lxxi. 131.121 E.g., a canon of Reims (R.C.A., xlv. 113); a canon of Soissons (R.C.A., xlv. 114);

and a canon of Paris (R.C.A.., xxii. 1853).


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simply that the king needed him always at court.122 Usually Charles wasreasonably niggardly in granting his familiarity to churchmen of theRegno, perhaps because he thought that many were less than grateful for

his concessions to them. In the 1279 fragment, the only prelate countedamong the household was the bishop of Trapani.123 But French or Italianprelates who visited the royal court in the Regno acquired the title moreeasily.124

A substantial number of those described as clerici, consiliarii et familiariiwere not men in holy orders. Many, particularly the physicians amongthem, were clerks rather than clergy.125 A few lawyers fell into thiscategory, but most were simply consiliarii et familiarii, already apparentlyrecognized as pure laymen. That Charles needed a constant stream of

legal advice was evident: an outsider, created king by coup dtat yetcommitted by his promise to the pope to rule his country in accordancewith the good laws of the last Norman kings, he needed informationon how he ought to govern. The lawyers, like the clergy and the clerks,were highly literate and could be relied upon to give counsel basednot just on their personal experience but on the learned sources thatthey were able to tap. Furthermore, all of these might contribute to therelentless recording of administration of all sorts that was the most markedcharacteristic of Charless government.

Relatively few laymen other than lawyers qualified as consiliarii. Ifthey were fief-holders they were usually described as fideles et familiares, ifrelations of the king consanguinei et familiares. Perhaps the rarity of sword-bearing consiliarii is to be explained by Charless unwillingness to allowlaymen competent in war to hang around the court for any length oftime. They were needed, either in their own fiefs or in every corner ofCharless dominions, to represent him, to fight his battles and to carryout his orders. No doubt he did occasionally take advice from them as

he did from his consiliarii, but he regularly relied upon them more forinformation and for the sensible use of their own initiative at times andin places when crisis loomed. It will have irritated a temperament likeCharless that he could not always get his orders to his representativesin the localities in time to dictate what they did. One can imagine himtaking the opportunities presented by their rare visits to court to pass oncopious instructions about contingency planning.

Beyond thefamiliares of all kinds, there were the short-term visitors towhom were extended privileges of membership of the court for a brief

122 R.C.A., xlviii. 253. On Pierre de Corneille, archbishop from 1268 to 1275, see N. Kamp,Kirche und Monarchie im staufischen Knigreich Sizilien, i (Munich, 1973), pp. 3801.

123 R.C.A., xci. 170.124 E.g., the archdeacon of Rouen (R.C.A., xxxvii. 793); and brother Stephen of Milan

(R.C.A., lxxvii. 10; lxxix. 113).125 For the difference, see J. Dunbabin, From clerk to knight: changing orders, in The Ideals

and Practice of Medieval Knighthood II, ed. C. Harper-Bill and R. Harvey (Woodbridge, 1988).


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period. For example, an Italian nobleman who was invited to stay withCharles at Foggia received three golden tarifor each day of his stay, andthe right to hospitality both for himself and for six of his own familiares.126

Among the more interesting visitors were those who translated fromArabic the various medical texts which Charles valued for their practicalteaching, and those who corrected the first drafts of the translations.127

Then there was a steady stream of visitors from France, both from hisown lands and from the royal demesne, of whom some at least weredistant relatives and received a warm welcome. Among these, membersof the Courtenay family, including Pierre, the bishop of Orlans, wereconspicuous.128 Keeping track of who was or was not eating with thehousehold at any one point must have been an onerous task.

While the people who thronged to Charless court on great feast dayscame from much of the Mediterranean world, the lingua franca there wasprobably French. It would be natural for everyone to follow the exampleset by the king himself and by his domestic servants. Charless lettersrelating to domestic matters were increasingly commonly written in Frenchin the latter half of the reign, which points to the same conclusion. Theclergy may have spoken Latin among themselves, and Occitan must havebeen widely known. But the inhabitants of Achaia were still French-speaking, those from Provence are likely to have learned some French inthe course of Charless rule, and it may even be that some aristocraticfamilies of the Regno had remained bilingual long after the Normansettlement in southern Italy and Sicily. On the other hand, the numberof loan words from Italian to be found in letters sent out in Charlessname argues against any policy of linguistic purity. It cannot have beentoo difficult for Italian-speaking valets to acclimatize to the speechof the court. Nor, probably, would they have felt excluded from theentertainment provided. Of this, the only known example is Adam de la

Halles Robin et Marion, believed to have been performed for the court in1283 or 1284. The songs and the story of what has been called the firstmusical129 will have provided light relief for a polyglot army during aperiod when the fighting was not going their way.

The emphasis thus far in this article has been on the household andcourt as a melting-pot for the various peoples of Charless diverse realms.In the authors view, the evidence points clearly to this as one of Charlessmain aims. It is therefore wrong to see him as a relentless importer ofFrenchmen or as a deliberate subverter of local customs. Nevertheless, as

the Sicilian Vespers make plain, there were distinct limits to the successof Charless attempts to create a coherent people, and at least one of those

126 R.C.A., liv. 129.127 R.C.A., cv. 1822.128 R.C.A., viii. 519; xiii. 330.129 G. Runnalls in The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French, ed. P. France (Oxford,

1995), p. 7.


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limits can be graphically illustrated on the smaller canvas of the householdand court. Specific groups of people had little or no chance of advancingwithin it. The declining numbers of Greek-speakers in the Regno were

very poorly represented, presumably because Charles feared their potentialdisloyalty during his long struggle with Michael VIII Palaeologus, theByzantine emperor. Those, or the descendants of those, who had deter-minedly supported Corradin in 1268 could not have penetrated the magiccircle around Charles, even if they had wished to. Much more significantly,nor could the inhabitants of Sicily easily do so. Unlike the Greek-speakersor the ex-traitors, their exclusion was not a matter of deliberate policy. Twoimportant circumstances militated against them. In the first place, theroyal demesne on the island was vast, the lands of the Church sizeable.

This meant that there were few large aristocratic estates, and consequentlyfew lords who might go to court themselves or send their sons there.The castellans on the royal demesne lacked security of tenure and werekept too busy to devote much time to aristocratic pursuits. Thereforethe magnetism of the court was fairly ineffective. Second, before 1282Charles visited Sicily only on the way to and from Tunisia on the 1270crusade. This avoidance of the island was initially accidental; but it reflectshis steady concern with Rome, Tuscany and Lombardy. He did notwish to travel far from the Regnos northern border. Consequentlyhe established a vicariate in Sicily and left it to his vicar to gather anentourage around him. But no vicar has either the charisma or thepatronage of a king. From the Sicilian aristocrats point of view, it was apoor exchange. The rebelliousness and disloyalty shown by the Siciliansto Charles from 1282 onwards was not really surprising. If more of theirleading men had had a chance to get to know their king and to earn hisgoodwill, the Vespers might not have put an end to his rule on the island.

Because the evidence we have for Charless household is early

compared with that for most European monarchs, it is difficult to saywhether its apparently unique aspects its rapidly-changing membershipat the periphery, its oath of loyalty, its defined privileges were featuresof the period, were inherited from his Hohenstaufen predecessors, orwere spur-of-the-moment inventions to secure his position. It is morethan probable that one feature, its contingent of lawyers and physicians,was inherited from Frederick II, and another, the domestic officialpositions, from his brother Louis IX. As to his court, the policy of tryingto integrate different ethnic groups may have owed something to

Frederick II, but it was also shaped by political necessity. Conquerorswho hope to hold on to their gains are forced to think more seriouslythan hereditary monarchs about the creation of a new order. But evenhard thinking is no guarantee against successful rebellion.

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Charles of Anjou

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