ABSTRACT
The theme of this study is the project launched by the Angevin king of Naples in 1311 to exchange the Kingdom of ‘Trinacria’, ruled by Frederick of Aragon, for a new set of Aragonese possessions consisting of a kingdom in Albania and lands in Achaia further south. The hope was to resolve by diplomacy the constant tension between Neapolitan aspirations to restore the rule of the house of Anjou in Sicily on the one hand and the wish of James II of Aragon to create a permanent peace in the western Mediterranean on the other hand. This is not simply, however, an episode in the history of Sicily and of the Balkans. Sardinia and Corsica were also eventually placed in the scales as it became evident that Frederick of Sicily was unconvinced by the offer of Albania; both islands had already been conferred on James of Aragon as part of the series of deals that brought the War of the Sicilian Vespers to an end between 1297 and 1302, but, remaining unconquered, they seemed to the court of Naples a suitable alternative to Sicily, Albania, and Achaia.
