Naples

Naples
Kingdom of Naples
Regno 'e Napule
Established	Aragonese Kingdom of Naples - 1442 Rule as a French Viceroyalty - 1701 Independent Kingdom - 1814
Capital	Naples
Largest City	Naples
Government Type	Constitutional Monarchy
Languages	Neapolitan / Napoletano
Currency	Neapolitan Ducat

Naples (Neapolitan: Napule), officially the Kingdom of Naples (Neapolitan: Regno 'e Napule) is a country located in the south of the Italian Peninsula. Since its independence from France, Naples has been ruled by the House of Calabria.

The kingdom is currently a member of the Organization of Democratic Nations.

History

The Kingdom of Naples was established after the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302), when the island of Sicily revolted and was conquered by the Crown of Aragon, becoming a separate kingdom. This left the Neapolitan mainland under the possession of Charles of Anjou. Later, two competing lines of the Angevin family competed for the Kingdom of Naples in the late 14th century, which resulted in the death of Joanna I by Charles III of Naples. Charles' daughter Joanna II adopted King Alfonso V of Aragon as heir, who would then unite Naples into his Aragonese dominions in 1442.

As part of the Italian Wars, France briefly ruled the territory in 1494 and it then went to war with Spain over the kingdom in 1502, which ended in a victory for Spain two years later. The Spanish held control of Naples throughout the 17th century where it remained an important source of economic and military power for the Spanish Crown.

French Kingdom of Naples (1701 - 1814)

In 1701 the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily were handed over to France after the Spanish Succession Crisis in accordance with the Second Partition Treaty. Under French rule, they were reorganized into a single entity, reminiscent of the old Angevin Kingdom of Sicily, which ruled both sides of the Messina Strait from Palermo.

However, by the 17th century, Naples had become Europe's second-largest city – second only to Paris – and the largest European Mediterranean city, with around 250,000 inhabitants, which led to the French opting to center the new Kingdom of Naples around it instead, and it became joined in a personal union with the Kingdom of France, ruled by a viceroy, usually overseen by the Dukes of Berry.

This arrangement left Sicily as the backwater of the Kingdom of Naples, and caused much resentment among the Sicilian populace. Eventually during the Great Silesian War the Sicilians revolted against the French with British and Austrian backing, winning their independence and recognition of the Great Powers in the Treaty of Vienna (1755). After Sardinia rebelled and gained independence in 1758, Naples was left the sole French holding in Italy, and as such it became the focus of the French monarchs, who greatly fancied the kingdom.

Augustine Wars & Independence (1794 - 1814)

On the sixteenth of May, 1794, the French Republic was declared by Augustine Spiga. The Kingdom of Naples, joined to France in a personal union via the French monarch, considered its link to France broken and rebelled. A pro-monarchical regency council was established and it declared war on the French Republic alongside Britain and Austria in early 1795.

In the First War of Deliverance (1795-1798) French forces invaded Naples, crushed the hastily organized Neapolitan army and occupied the kingdom. They overthrew the regency council and replaced it with a provisional government in order to establish a sister republic. Naples would remain occupied through the Augustine Wars, despite several attempted uprisings with British backing. After France's defeat, Naples would gain independence as a kingdom ruled by the new pro-British House of Calabria, a merger of the Cuccomarino family and the historically pro-Spanish Boncompagni-Ludovisi family. The Cuccomarinos are originally from the village of Serrata in Calabria, and the marriage of one of their own to the sovereign duchess of the Boncompagni-Ludovisi gave them the legitimacy needed to take the throne, renaming themselves as the House of Calabria, from the traditional title of the heir apparent of the Kingdom of Naples after the accession of Robert of Naples..

19th Century & Conflicts with Sicily (1816 - 1820s)

The new kingdom was eager to establish itself and shortly after independence claimed the island of Sicily as an integral part of the kingdom, separated only because of foreign meddling while it was under French occupation. Starting in 1816, the Neapolitans made several attempts to take over Sicily and numerous naval battles ensued between the two kingdoms.

The populace embraced this enterprise enthusiastically as it helped to kickstart a program of economic and military reforms aimed at modernizing the country from the antiquated Ancien Regime of France. Patriotic crowds cheered as new ships were launched and the newly created Neapolitan Royal Army marched across towns to the docks. While the Sicilians were initially successful in preventing any landings, it soon became clear that the burgeoning Naples would eventually overpower them, which led to Sicily appealing to France for support. France would guarantee Sicily's independence, and forced Naples to back down under the threat of war.

Knowing they could not count on British support against France, as Britain was unwilling to risk another continental war over disputes in Italy, the Neapolitans were forced to drop their ambitions over Sicily. This greatly soured the national mood, and they began looking for other ways to expand their influence, with many looking to the east, to the lands of Albania in the Ottoman Empire, which in the past had also fallen under the influence of the kings of Naples, primarily Charles of Anjou. While any sort of conquest against the reemerging Ottoman Empire was impossible and support for Albanian groups in their attempts to create an independent state proved fruitless, there would be much contact between the Albanians and Naples. However the Neapolitans never fully let go of their ambitions on Sicily.

Neapolitan politicians would later be crucial in the establishment of an independent Kingdom of Albania during the Congress of Amsterdam (1939).