Giovanna II d'Angio (1414-1435) and her heir Renato d'Angio (1435-1442) were the last Angevin ruling monarchs of the Kingdom of Naples. There was a tentative to bring back Angevin overlordship between 1459 and 1464 during the Barons Revolt (La Congiura dei Baroni), when Molise interests pledged their fealty to Jean (Giovanni) II d'Anjou, Rene's (Renato's) son, but it was unsuccessful, and a story for another time. The conflict between the pope and the Kingdom of Naples reached a new high in 1420, when Giovanna promised to bestow her kingdom to Alfonso V de Trastamara, King of Aragon, upon her death in exchange for his support in the issuing conflict. She even adopted Alfonso in 1421/22 but the ambitions of the Aragonese ruler were hard to settle with. By 1424, when Alfonso had to return to Aragon, his relationship with the Angevins had been voided and by the 1430s Giovanna had named Rene (Renato), the Angevin Duke of Bar and Lorraine as legitimate heir to the kingdom. By this time, the coinage of Naples was dominated by 5 denominations: il denaro, il quattrino, il bolognino, la cella & il carlino (or mezzo carlino). Of these issues, the mint of Aquila was the only one to mint quattrini. These and the denarii of Guardiagrele are probably the scarcest denominations minted in this period. Being mostly a denomination of rather small value, we are left with few such examples, as they were not hoarded, nor saved in large numbers by other means. What is really interesting is that, despite their rather modest value, they seem to have been subjected to (at least some) contemporary counterfeiting, which only goes to prove the importance of the denomination in the economic landscape of Naples. Here is a probable contemporary counterfeit of a quattrino, made of red copper instead of the usual billon: GIOVANNA II d'ANGIO-DURAZZO, Queen of NAPLES, titular Queen of JERUSALEM, HUNGARY and SICILY, minted as Queen of NAPLES (1414-1435) AE18mm 0.73g copper quattrino minted in pseudo-Aquila, cca. 1414-1435. Of very good style. OBV: [+ I]VhANDA :; REG:; cross with lily in 2nd quarter REV: + DE :; AQVILA, lion standing left. REF: cf. Biaggi 108, MIR 63-64, CNI vol. XVIII n°122-132 d'Andrea/Andreani n°49-55 Perfetto n° 262-279 A rather rare issue in original billon, very rare in base metal version. When Giovanna died in 1435, Alfonso already started issuing claims as the rightful heir, even after Rene went to Naples and was crowned as king in 1438. His reign saw a continuation of the regular Angevin policies, allowing the local lords many liberties and perpetuating a liberal feudal system, especially as he was himself more involved as Duke of Bar, Lorraine and Anjou and as Count of Provence in the Hundred Years War. Making use of Rene's weakness in Naples, Alfonso started his siege of the city in 1441 and by 1442 he had it conquered, ending the factual Angevin rule of Naples. His quattrini are rather rare and of very fine billon: RENATO d'ANGIO, as KING of NAPLES (1435-1442) AR18mm 0.60g billon quattrino, minted at L'Aquila cca. 1435-1442 OBV: + RENATVS : DEI : GR : RES ; Cross pattee, lys in 2nd quarter REV: + DE : AQVILA :; Lion to the left. REF: CNI 41-61 d'Andrea/Andreani n° 63 Perfetto n°350-364. This type was very likely the last quattrino, as the denomination was discontinued under Alfonso. It also seems so to be one of the last issues by the Angevins in Naples as ruling kings. Rene continued to use the title of King of Naples but by the mid 1440s it cease to mean actual control of the realm. For a scarce example of a denaro of Alfonso as King of Naples, see my previous post here. The two coins pictured are from a German collection.
Thank you. For those interested in the topic of very late medieval - Renaissance Naples, I have written a paper about the Barons Revolt of 1459-1464, which is available here. The paper brings more details about a conflict that has its roots in the passing of Naples into Aragonese hands.
To revive this thread, here are a couple of other quattrini minted at Aquila for the previous Angevin monarchs of Naples: One for Louis d'Anjou, Duke of Anjou, et al as pretendent to the throne of Naples (1382-1384) And another for Ladislao d'Angio-Durazzo (1386-1414) Later edit: The coins are from Artemide Aste, probably the best source for Italian medieval and Renaissance coins.
