He was born in the castle of Angers, and was the second son of Louis II of Anjou, king of Sicily, and of Yolande of Aragon. He was the brother of Marie d'Anjou, who married the future Charles VII of France and became Queen of France. Agnès Sorel, the future mistress of Charles VII was holding a position in René's household when Charles met her.
He spent 8 years in Naples, and later spent his time between his castles in Angers, Tarascon and Aix-en-Provence.
He died in Aix-en-Provence. He was buried in the cathedral of Angers.
Marriages and issue
René married:
Isabelle de Lorraine (1410– February 28, 1453) in 1420
Jeanne de Laval, on September 10, 1454, , at the Abbey of St. Nicholas in Angers
Children (from Isabelle):
Louis (1427–1443)
Yolande (1428–1483)
Duke John II of Lorraine
Marguerite (1429–1482), who became Queen consort of Henry VI of England.
Miscellaneous
He appears as "Reignier" in the history play of William Shakespeare, Henry VI, part 1.
Naples was not a commercial town as could be other seaboard towns of Campania like Amalfi and Gaeta, but had a sizeable fleet which took part in the battle of Ostia against Buckwheats in 849.
At all events Naples did not hesitate to combine with the inaccurate ones if this were in its advantage: in 836, for example, it asked the support of Buckwheats in order to push in addition to seat of the troops of Lombard coming from the duchy close to Benevento.
After the defeat of the son of Frederick, Manfred, in Naples in 1266, the kingdom of Sicily was entrusted by the pope Clement IV to Charles of Anjou, which moved the capital from Palermo in Naples.
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