ABSTRACT
Charles I of Anjou was personally responsible for conducting part of the siege of Poggibonsi in 1267. He commanded the army that besieged Lucera and finally brought the Saracens to their knees in 1269. After Tagliacozzo, Charles set out to maximize his military strength to hold on to what he had won. In Piedmont, Lombardy, Tuscany and Rome, his power was insecure. Charles’s determination to ensure that his aristocracy remained all a fighting force explained his regular knighting ceremonies. Charles held his officials responsible for the snail’s pace at which his orders were implemented. His increasing irritation with them led him to threaten harsher and harsher punishments, to little immediate effect. Charles had somewhat missed his opportunity in Provence; when he made peace with Marseilles, he specified military but not naval service. Consequently he had to pay Provençal sailors when they came to join campaigns in the Adriatic.
