Philip II, Prince of Taranto

Philip II of Taranto (1329 – 25 November 1374) of the Angevin house, was Prince of Achaea and Taranto, and titular Emperor of Constantinople (as Philip III) from 1364 to his death in 1374.

He was the son of Prince Philip I of Taranto and Empress Catherine II of Valois. His paternal grandparents were King Charles II of Naples and Maria of Hungary. His maternal grandparents were Count Charles of Valois and his second wife, Empress Catherine I of Courtenay.

Upon the execution of his cousin Charles, Duke of Durazzo, in 1348, he succeeded as King of Albania. In April, 1355 he married Maria of Calabria, daughter of Charles, Duke of Calabria, and Mary of Valois. This made him the brother-in-law of Queen Joan I of Naples.

In 1364, he succeeded as titular Emperor of Constantinople, and Prince of Achaea and Taranto on the death of his older brother, Robert.

His wife Maria died in 1366. On 20 October 1370 Philip took as his second wife Elizabeth of Slavonia, daughter of Stephen of Hungary, former heiress presumptive to the throne of Hungary. In 1373, he resigned his rights to the Principality of Achaea to Queen Joan I of Naples. He died on 25 November 1374 in Taranto.

All his children had died young. His heir was his sister's son James of Baux, Duke of Andria.

Family

By his first wife, Maria of Calabria, Philip had five children:

• Philip (1356)
• Charles (1358)
• Philip (1360)
• a child, (1362)
• a child, (1366)

By his second wife, Elisabeth of Slavonia, Philip had:

• Philip (1371)