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| Toynbee "Luigi_3" |
Louis, second son of Charles II of Anjou and Naples, and of Mary
of Hungary and younger brother of Charles Martel; he was one of
the three sons who were left as hostages in the hands of Alfonso
III, king of Aragon when their father was released from his
captivity in Catalonia in 1288
[Carlo_2]. An arrangement had been made for their
liberation in 1291, but owing to the sudden death of Alfonso in
that year it was not carried into effect. Consequently, Louis,
with his brothers Robert and John, remained in captivity until
1294, in
which year they were set at liberty, in accordance with a treaty
concluded, through the mediation of Boniface VIII, between their
father and James II, Alfonso's successor in Aragon. Almost
immediately afterwards, Louis renounced all his hereditary rights
and became a Friar Minor. He was appointed bishop of Toulouse by
Boniface VIII, Dec. 29, 1295, but died in 1297; he was canonized in
1311.
Villani says of him:
. . . il secondo [figliuolo del re Carlo secondo] fu Luis, che si
rendè frate minore, e poi fu vescovo di Tolosa.
In quello concilio [a Vienna in Borgogna nel detto anno 1311] fu
canonizzato a santo, Lodovico arcivescovo di Tolosa, frate minore,
figliuolo del re Carlo primogenito, e fratello del re Ruberto, e
per essere religioso lasciò l'onore mondano e la col ona del
reame. Fu uomo benigno e di santa vita, e molti miracoli mostro
Iddio per lui, e prima a sua morte, e poi. (ix. 23.)
Some early commentators believe that it is to Louis that Charles
Martel (his elder brother) refers, when he says (in the Heaven of
Venus) that such a one is 'wrested to religion' who was born to
wear a sword,
[Par. viii. 145-146], but the reference is more probably to
Robert, king of Naples (1309-1343)
[Carlo_3:
Roberto_2].
©Oxford University Press 1968. From A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante by Paget Toynbee
(1968) by permission of Oxford University Press