not only despises the supplications of the citizens, but, from the
vantage ground of his feigned sanctity, treats with scorn the embassy
of the pope." King Robert saw too late the mistake he had committed, as
the sorrow and trouble in store for the young wife were only too
apparent. To remedy, so far as was in his power, this unhappy condition
of affairs, he called again a meeting of his feudal lords; and this time
he had them swear allegiance to Joanna alone in her own right, formally
excluding the Hungarians from any share in the sovereign power. While
gratifying to the Neapolitans, this act could but excite the enmity of
the Hungarian faction under Fra Roberto, and it paved the way for much
intrigue and much treachery in the future.

When King Robert died in 1343, Joanna became Queen of Naples and
Provence at the age of fifteen; but on account of her youth and
inexperience, and because of the machinations of the hateful monk, she
was kept in virtual bondage, and the once peaceful court was rent by the
bitterest dissensions. Through it all, however, Joanna seems to have
shown no special dislike to Andreas, who, indeed, was probably innocent
of any participation in the scheming of his followers; Petrarch compares
the young queen and her consort to two lambs in the midst of wolves. The
time for Joanna's formal coronation was fixed for September 20, 1345,
and some weeks before, while the palace was being decorated and prepared
for this great event, the young couple had retired to the Celestine
monastery at Aversa, some fifteen miles away. Joanna, who was soon to
become a mother, was much benefited by this change of scene, and all was
peace and happiness about them, with nothing to indicate the awful
tragedy which the future held in store. On the night of September 18th,
two days before the coronation was to take place, Andreas was called
from the queen's apartment by the information that a courier from Naples
was waiting to see him upon urgent business. In the dark corridor