Charles, Duke of Durazzo
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Charles of Durazzo (1323 – January 23, 1348, Aversa) was the eldest son of John, Duke of Durazzo and Agnes de Périgord.
He succeeded his father as Duke of Durazzo and Count of Gravina in 1336.
On April 21, 1343, he married Maria of Calabria (1329–1366), Countess of Alba, in Naples. She was the younger daughter of Charles, Duke of Calabria and sister of Joan I of Naples, and had been intended as a bride for Louis I of Hungary or John II of France, but was abducted by Charles and his mother to make a marriage that would place Charles closer to the throne of Naples.
Charles and Maria had five children:
- Louis (December 1343 – January 14, 1344)
- Joanna (1344 – 1387), Duchess of Durazzo; married first in 1366 Louis of Navarre, Count of Beaumont (d. 1372), married second Robert IV of Artois, Count of Eu (d. 1387)
- Agnes of Durazzo (1345 – 1388, Naples), married first on June 6, 1363 Cansignorio della Scala, Lord of Verona (d. 1375), married second James of Baux (d. 1383)
- Clementia (1346 – 1363, Naples)
- Margerita (July 28, 1347 – August 6, 1412, Mela), married in February 1368 Charles III of Naples
Keeping carefully aloof from the conspiracy that murdered Joan's husband Andrew, Duke of Calabria, he led a faction opposing Joan and Louis of Taranto. He hoped to turn the invasion of Louis of Hungary and the flight of Joan to his own ends: but he was seized and beheaded by the Hungarians at Aversa.
Alexandre Dumas, père, in his romance Joan of Naples, makes Charles a master of intrigue and treachery who engineers the death of Andrew and then of his murderers, only to meet his death at the hands of the King of Hungary.
| Preceded by John |
Duke of Durazzo 1336–1348 |
Succeeded by Joanna |
| Count of Gravina 1336–1348 |
Succeeded by Louis |
