Alfonso V, King of Aragon, Sicily and Much of Mediterranean Europe, “During the Siege Against Gaeta”

As he attempts to conquer Naples, just before his capture, from the very seat of his siege, he resolves a dispute in Sicily, the staging point for his hopes for expansion

 

This dispute would draw into the Genoese and was a major inflection point of his dispute with the Angevins

Alfonso V of Aragon was one of the most powerful rulers in the western Mediterranean. Having inherited the crowns of Aragon, Valencia, Sardinia, and Sicily in 1416, he commanded a far-flung maritime empire whose fleets dominated much of the western Mediterranean trade routes. Ambitious and energetic, Alfonso sought to expand his influence into southern Italy, first gaining recognition as heir to the Neapolitan throne from Joanna II of Naples in 1421 before falling out with her and becoming embroiled in a prolonged struggle against the Angevin claimants. By 1435 he possessed substantial military and naval resources, enjoyed the loyalty of the Aragonese nobility, and had established himself as a major player in Italian politics. Yet despite his power, his claim to Naples remained contested.

The Siege of Gaeta arose from the bitter struggle for control of the Kingdom of Naples following the death of Joanna II of Naples in 1435. Although Joanna had ultimately designated Alfonso V of Aragon as her heir, rival claimants supported the cause of René of Anjou. Seeking to secure his succession, Alfonso moved to capture key strongholds along the Neapolitan coast, including the strategic fortress and harbor of Gaeta, which remained loyal to the Angevin faction. In the summer of 1435 he laid siege to the city, hoping that its fall would consolidate Aragonese control over the kingdom. The conflict quickly drew in the maritime power of Republic of Genoa, whose fleet supported the Angevin cause and challenged Alfonso’s naval supremacy, culminating in the famous naval Battle of Ponza, where Alfonso himself was captured. The siege of Gaeta thus became one of the pivotal early episodes in the wider war between the Aragonese and Angevin claimants for the throne of Naples.

During this siege, an injustice was brought to him. Antonio de Carusio had been unceremoniously replaced as a major treasury official in Sicily against his contractual rights and promises made to him. Alfonso aimed to remedy that.

Document signed, June 8, 1435 “during the siege of Gaeta,” Alfonso V, King of Aragon and Siciliy, Committing to Antonio de Carusio, “upon our royal good faith, that as long as you shall live you shall have and hold, and be caused to have and be held by whom it concerns, the lieutenancy of the aforesaid offices, with the salaries, rights, pre-eminences, honors, and burdens due and customary; adding further that if in the future, by us or by our mandate, the office of magister secreti should in any manner happen to be separated from the said office of the Treasury, to which it is now annexed, it shall be lawful and permitted for you, the aforesaid Antonio, to retain whichever of the said offices of lieutenancy you shall choose, and to exercise it with the ordinary permission pertaining to the said office, or [with the emoluments] customarily and habitually given. Therefore, to the noble Viceroy of the said Kingdom of Sicily, to the magistri rationales, to the Treasurer, and to the other officials present and future, we firmly give in command that they shall hold and treat you, the said Antonio, and no other, as the aforesaid lieutenant, as is stated above.”

The two offices are:

1 – The lieutenancy of the Treasury (locumtenentia officii Thesaurariae) — deputy administration of the royal treasury in the Kingdom of Sicily

2 – The lieutenancy of the office of the Secreto (locumtenentia officii magistri secreti) — deputy administration of the crown’s separate fiscal/revenue district (customs, gabelles, and related crown revenues)