Charles Martel of Anjou

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Charles Martel (September 8 1271 – August 12 1295, Naples) of the Angevin dynasty, also known as Charles I Martel, Charles Martel d'Anjou, and (in Italian) Carlo Martello was the eldest son of king Charles II of Naples and Maria of Hungary, the daughter of King Stephen V of Hungary.

The 18-year-old Charles Martel was set up by Pope and ecclesiastical party as the titular King of Hungary 1290–1295 as successor of his maternal uncle, the childless Ladislaus IV of Hungary against whom the Pope had already earlier declared a crusade. He never managed to govern Hungary, where an agnate of the Arpad dynasty, his cousin Andrew III of Hungary actually ruled that period. Charles Martel was, however, successful in asserting his claims in parts of Croatia, a kingdom then in personal union with Hungary.

He married Klementia of Habsburg (d.1295), daughter of Emperor Rudolf I.

They had three children:

Charles Robert (1288–1342), King of Hungary
Beatrix (1290–1354, Grenoble), married on May 25, 1296 Jean II de La Tour du Pin, Dauphin du Viennois
Clemence (February 1293 – October 12, 1328, Paris), married in Paris on August 13, 1315 Louis X of France

Charles Martel died young, during the lifetime of his parents. His son, also named Charles (or Charles Robert), would ultimately succeed where he had failed in winning the throne of Hungary.

Charles was apparently known personally to Dante: in the Divine Comedy the poet speaks warmly of and to Charles's spirit when they meet in the Heaven of Venus.

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