The household and entourage of Charles I of Anjou, king of the Regno, 1266–85

Abstract

Abstract This article attempts to reconstitute from the scrappy surviving records Charles I's household and court. For a conqueror, the choice of companions could have serious political implications. While Charles's immediate domestic circle was French in origin and organized on the example of Louis IX's household, he deliberately encouraged and paid for the attendance of men from Provence and the Regno, both in his travelling entourage and at his great court appearances at liturgical feasts. Beyond these intimates, he accepted into his fidelity, and therefore into his broader court circle, a wide range of talented individuals from all parts of his ‘empire’.