War of the Sicilian Vespers The War of the ( Sicilian ) Vespers was a conflict that started with the insurrection of the Sicilian Vespers against Charles of Anjou in 1282 , and ended in 1302 with the peace of Caltabellotta . It was fought in Sicily , Catalonia ( the Aragonese Crusade ) and elsewhere in the western Mediterranean between , on one side , the Angevin Charles of Anjou , his son Charles II , the kings of France and the Papacy , and on the other side , the kings of Aragon . The war resulted in the division of the old Kingdom of Sicily ; at Caltabellotta , Charles II was confirmed as king of the peninsular territories of Sicily ( the Kingdom of Naples ) , while Frederick III was confirmed as king of the island territories ( the Kingdom of Trinacria ) . Background . Sicily had been part of a Kingdom of Sicily , which also encompassed the southern Italian peninsula , since the early 12th century , when Roger II of Sicily defeated the Italian mainland barons and was elected King by the pope . His reign had been inherited by Frederick II of Sicily , whose son Manfred was however ousted by the French invasion of Charles I of Anjou in 1266 . The French rule soon assumed a repressive and ferocious character . On Easter Monday ( 30 March ) 1282 , at the Church of the Holy Spirit just outside Palermo , at evening prayer ( vespers ) , a Frenchman harassed a Sicilian woman . Accounts differ as to what the harassment entailed , who the woman was , and who the Frenchman was . This single event led to the massacre of four thousand Frenchmen over the course of the next six weeks . The king of Sicily at the time , Charles I , was an Angevin , and his French followers had a legacy of mistreating the native people of Sicily , especially while Charles was away on one of his many absences . Only a few officials notable for their good conduct were spared ; and the city of Messina held out for Charles . But through the diplomatic errors of the vicar , Herbert of Orléans , Messina revolted on April 28 . Herbert retreated to the castle of Mategriffon and the Crusade r fleet stationed in the harbour was burned . The Italian physician John of Procida acted on behalf of Peter of Aragon , the heir of Manfred in right of his wife . John had been a loyal servant of Manfred ' s and had fled to Aragon after Charles ' success at Tagliacozzo . John travelled to Sicily to stir up the discontents in favour of Peter and thence to Constantinople to procure the support of Michael VIII Palaeologus . Michael refused to aid the Aragonese king without papal approval and so John voyaged to Rome and there gained the consent of Pope Nicholas III , who feared the ascent of Charles in the Mezzogiorno . John of Procida then returned to Barcelona and the pope promptly died , to be replaced by Simon de Brie , a Frenchman and an ally of Charles . Aragonese invasion of Italy . Soon after the Vespers itself , the Sicilians turned to Peter of Aragon to deliver them from French dominion . An Aragonese fleet under Peter himself had landed at Collo , now in eastern Algeria , and to those troops the Sicilians sent envoys . Peter was offered the throne of Sicily and accepted . Simon de Brie , who had taken the name Pope Martin IV , had meanwhile refused to help the Sicilian communes and the rebels were excommunicated , as was the Byzantine emperor and the Ghibellines of northern Italy . Charles gathered his forces , abandoning Crusading hopes , in Calabria and made a landing near Messina and began a siege . Five months after the Vespers , on 30 August , Peter landed at Trapani . He quickly marched into Palermo and , on 4 September , received the homage of the Sicilians and confirmed their ancient privileges . Only the vacancy of the Palermitan archdiocese prevented a coronation . Charles was still besieging Messina when Peter ' s forces first met him . Charles was forced to vacate the isle by the end of October and was thenceforth restricted to the mainland . The pope then excommunicated the Aragonese king and deprived him of his kingdom ( 18 November ) . Peter pressed his advantage and by February 1283 he had taken most of the Calabrian coastline . Charles , perhaps feeling desperate , sent letters to Peter demanding they resolve the conflict by personal combat . The invader accepted and Charles returned to France to arrange the duel . Both kings chose six knights to settle matters of places and dates . A duel was scheduled for 1 June at Bordeaux . A hundred knights would accompany each side and Edward I of England would adjudge the contest ; the English king , heeding the pope , refused to take part . Peter left John of Procida in charge of Sicily and returned via his own kingdom to Bordeaux , which he entered in disguise to evade a suspected French ambush . Needless to say , no combat ever took place and Peter returned to a very troubled Spain . While Peter and Charles had been pursuing justice by duel in France , the Catalan admiral Roger of Lauria ( Ruggiero di Lauria ) continued the war in Italy on behalf of Peter . He had been ravaging the Calabrian coast and keeping up a strong naval presence . Charles left Bordeaux for Provence and there sent out a fleet for Naples ( his capital in Italy at the time and for the rest of his dynasty ) . Roger took Malta and defeated the Angevin - Provençal fleet near the islands in the Battle of Malta . Roger then drew Charles the Lame , the son and heir apparent of the Neapolitan king and the Prince of Salerno , out of Naples ' port . Roger utterly routed him on the high seas , destroying the whole Angevin navy in the Battle of the Gulf of Naples . Roger took the prince and 42 ships captive to Messina . Charles the elder arrived in Italy at that time , but died soon after in 1285 and the war in Italy was put on hold by the lack of leadership on both sides : Charles ' successor was in chains and Peter was dealing with a new menace , the Aragonese Crusade . Aragonese Crusade . In 1284 , Pope Martin granted the kingdom of Aragon to Charles , Count of Valois , the brother of the French king and great nephew of Charles of Sicily . Papal sanction was given to a war — crusade — which historian H . J . Chaytor describes as " perhaps the most unjust , unnecessary and calamitous enterprise ever undertaken by the Capetian monarchy . " While Roger of Lauria was still solidifying Peter ' s gains in Sicily and Calabria , Peter himself had entered France clandestinely to duel Charles , but that failing , returned to his Spanish domains , while Charles re - entered Italy , where he had died . Peter was dealing with domestic unrest at the time the French prepared to invade . He took Albarracín from the rebellious noble Juan Núñez I de Lara , renewed the alliance with Sancho IV of Castile , and attacked Tudela in an attempt to prevent the king of Navarre , Philip I , who was the son of the French king , Philip III the Bold , from invading on that front . In 1283 , Peter ' s brother , King James II of Majorca , joined the French and recognised their suzerainty over Montpellier giving them free passage through the Balearic Islands and Roussillon . James had also inherited the county of Roussillon and thus stood between the dominions of the French and Aragonese monarchs . Peter had opposed James ' inheritance as a younger son and reaped the consequence of such rivalry in the crusade . In 1284 , the first French armies under King Philip and Count Charles entered Roussillon . They included 16 , 000 cavalry , 17 , 000 crossbowmen , and 100 , 000 infantry , along with 100 ships in south French ports . Though the French had James ' support , the local populace rose against them . The city of Elne was valiantly defended by the so - called " bâtard de Roussillon " ( " bastard of Roussillon " ) , the illegitimate son of Nuño Sánchez , late count of Roussillon ( 1212 – 1242 ) . Eventually he was overcome and the cathedral was burnt , after which the royal forces continued their advance . In 1285 , Philip entrenched himself before Girona in an attempt to besiege it . Despite a strong resistance the city was taken . Charles was crowned there , but without an actual crown . The French soon experienced a reversal , however , at the hands of Roger de Lauria , back from the Italian theatre of the drawn - out conflict . The French fleet was defeated and destroyed at the Battle of Les Formigues . Further the French camp was hit hard by an epidemic of dysentery , and Philip himself was afflicted . The heir to the French throne , the king of Navarre , opened negotiations with Peter for free passage for the royal family through the Pyrenees . But the troops were not offered such passage and were devastated at the Battle of the Col de Panissars . The king of France himself died at Perpignan , the capital of James of Majorca , who had fled in fear after being confronted by Peter , and was buried in Narbonne . Peter died on 2 November 1285 , in the same year as his two royal foes , Charles and Philip . His deathbed absolution occurred after he declared that his conquests had been in the name of his familial claims and never against the claims of the church . After a few more years of general warfare , marked by the Battle of the Counts on 23 June 1287 , where the Angevins were defeated near Naples , the Treaty of Tarascon of 1291 officially restored Aragon to his heir , Alfonso , and lifted the ban of the church . Sicily against Naples and Aragon . With the Treaty of Tarascon , the war with Aragon ended , but it had little effect with the death of Alfonso within months . Alfonso ' s brother , James I of Sicily , inherited Aragon and united the two realms . In 1295 , James signed the Treaty of Anagni whereby he gave up Sicily to the papacy , with Pope Boniface VIII granting it to Charles . However , Peter III ' s third son , Frederick , the regent of Sicily , refused to acquiesce in the treaty , as did the Sicilian populace and they proclaimed him king . With this , war was renewed between Aragonese Sicily and Angevin Naples , between Frederick and Charles . The treaty , however , obligated James to enter the war in assistance of Charles and he sent his fleet from Catalonia to harass his brother ' s coasts . Frederick went on the offensive quickly and invaded Calabria in 1296 . He seized several towns , encouraged revolt in Naples , negotiated with the Ghibelline s of Tuscany and Lombardy , and assisted the house of Colonna against the pope . James was very serious about fulfilling his part of the treaty of 1295 and enforcing a peace . In this he had the support of John of Procida and Roger of Lauria , his father ' s ablest men . On 4 July 1299 , James himself led his fleet with Roger of Lauria and defeated his brother at the Battle of Cape Orlando . Meanwhile , Charles ' sons , Robert ( who had married James ' daughter ) and Philip , had landed in Sicily and captured Catania . Philip moved to besiege Trapani , but was defeated and captured by Frederick at the Battle of Falconaria . Frederick multiplied his successes in Calabria . On 14 June 1300 , Roger of Lauria defeated the Sicilians again at the Battle of Ponza . Frederick himself was captured in battle . In 1302 , Charles of Valois came down into Italy at the behest of Pope Boniface . He landed in Sicily , but his army was ravaged by the plague and forced to sue for peace . On 19 August , the Peace of Caltabellotta was signed and Frederick was recognised as king over Sicily , with the title of " King of Trinacria " . Charles was recognised as king over the peninsula , with the title of " King of Sicily " , usually rendered by historians as " King of Naples , " for such was his capital . In May 1303 , the pope ratified the treaty and Frederick paid him tribute . Marriage was arranged between Frederick and Charles ' daughter Eleanor . Sources . Primary . The " Rebellamentu di Sichilia " , a Sicilian tract of 1290 , is available online in two editions : The " Vinuta di lu re Iapicu in Catania " , another Sicilian history , by Atanasiu di Iaci , is available online :