ABSTRACT
Charles I of Anjou’s relationship with the various popes who ruled during his adulthood is fully documented in papal registers and in Charles’s own letters. The only hope Urban could see was that Louis IX would, at this critical moment for the papacy, come to his aid and encourage Charles of Anjou to conquer the Hohenstaufen lands in Italy and Sicily. The length of the negotiations between pope and count – it took a hundred papal diplomas before agreement was reached – shows that one reason for Charles’s reluctance was the very unfavourable terms offered by Urban IV. Charles was fortunate to be dealing with Clement IV, the name chosen by Gui Foulcois on his elevation to the pontificate in February 1265. Charles took the rebellions of 1268–1270 as a sign that his initial policy of conciliation in the Regno had been mistaken, and that only tough measures would be effective.
