Maria of Anjou, Queen of Majorca

Maria of Naples (1290 – end of April 1346/January 1347) was a daughter of Charles II of Naples and his wife Maria of Hungary. She was the wife of Sancho I of Majorca and Jaime de Ejerica.

Contents

Family

Maria was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou. Her paternal grandparents were Charles I of Sicily and Beatrice of Provence. Her maternal grandparents were Stephen V of Hungary (d. 1272) and his wife, Elisabeth the Cuman, who was daughter of Zayhan of Kuni, a chief of the Cuman tribe and had been a pagan before her marriage.

Maria was thirteenth of fourteen children. Apart from one brother all of the children lived to adulthood. Maria's siblings included: Charles Martel of Anjou, Saint Louis of Toulouse, Robert I of Naples, Philip I of Taranto, Margaret, Countess of Anjou and Maine, Blanche, Queen of Aragon and Eleanor, Queen of Sicily.

Life

Maria firstly married at Palma de Majorca September 20, 1304 (by proxy) and 1308 (in person) to Sancho I of Majorca. He was a son of James II of Majorca. The marriage produced no children. This lack threatened the survival of the young independent state. Sancho willed the kingdom to his nephew James to prevent it from falling to the Crown of Aragon. Sancho died in 1324 leaving Maria a widow.

Two years after the death of her first husband in 1326, Maria remarried to Jaime de Ejerica, a member of the House of Barcelona. Maria was imprisoned at Jerica, Aragón 1331 by Alfonso IV of Aragon, she was later transferred to Valencia. Her brother Robert I of Naples arranged her release, and she left Valencia after June 1337 for Barjals in Provence. Maria did not have any known children with Jaime, she died in 1346 or 1347[1]

Ancestry

References

Maria of Anjou, Queen of Majorca
Cadet branch of the House of Capet
Born: circa 1290 Died: circa 1346/7
Royal titles
Preceded by
Esclaramunda of Foix
Queen consort of Majorca
1311–1324
Succeeded by
Constance of Aragon
Countess consort of Roussillon
1311–1324
Countess consort of Cerdanya
1311–1324
Lady of Montpellier
1311–1324