Robert, Prince of Taranto

Robert II of Taranto (1319 or early winter 1326 – 10 September 1364[1]), of the Angevin family, Prince of Taranto (1331–1346), King of Albania (1331–1364), Prince of Achaea (1332–1346), and titular Latin Emperor (1343/1346-1364).

Coat of arms of Robert of Taranto. They are the combination of the arms of Anjou and those of the Latin Empire of Constantinople.

He was the oldest surviving son of Prince Philip I of Taranto (1278–1331) and Empress Catherine II of Valois.[1]

In 1332, as a result of an exchange with his uncle John of Gravina, Robert became Prince of Achaea.[1] Because of his youth, authority was effectively exercised by his mother Catherine II of Valois until her death in 1346. At that point Robert inherited the throne of the Latin Empire, and was recognized as emperor by the Latin states of Greece. His actual power, such as it was, remained based upon his authority as prince of Achaea. In Naples, on 9 September 1347 he married Marie of Bourbon, the daughter of Louis I, Duke of Bourbon Constable of Cyprus,[2] but the marriage was childless. When he died on 10 October 1364, his widow attempted to keep the principality for herself and her son from her previous marriage. However, Robert's younger brother Philip II of Taranto succeeded as the legitimate heir. He died in Naples and was buried there.[3]

Notes

1. Peter Lock, The Franks in the Aegean: 1204-1500, (Routledge, 1988), 129.
2. Topping 1975, p. 132.
3. Topping 1975, p. 141.

Sources

• Bon, Antoine (1969). La Morée franque. Recherches historiques, topographiques et archéologiques sur la principauté d'Achaïe [The Frankish Morea. Historical, Topographic and Archaeological Studies on the Principality of Achaea] (in French). Paris: De Boccard. OCLC 869621129.
• Topping, Peter (1975). "The Morea, 1311–1364". In Hazard, Harry W. (ed.). A History of the Crusades, Volume III: The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 104–140. ISBN 0-299-06670-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Robert, Prince of Taranto House of Anjou-Taranto Cadet branch of the Capetian House of Anjou Born: 1319/1326 Died: 10 September 1364
Preceded by Philip I of Taranto	Lord of the Kingdom of Albania 1331–1332	Succeeded by John of Gravina as Duke of Durazzo
	Prince of Taranto 1331–1346	Succeeded by Louis of Taranto
Preceded by Catherine of Valois	— TITULAR — Latin Emperor of Constantinople 1346–1364	Succeeded by Philip II of Taranto
Preceded by John of Gravina	Prince of Achaea 1332–1364
	Count Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos 1336–1357	Succeeded by Leonardo I Tocco