Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: House of Anjou

Trani may have been founded by Greek settlers, but the known history starts late. After the fall of the Roman Empire, it was dominated by Lombards, Byzantines, Saracens and again Byzantines. With the conquest of southern Italy by the Normans and after 50 days of siege by Robert Guiscard´s troops, Trani became part of the Norman Empire in 1073. Already under the Byzantines, Trani had become an important port for trade with the Orient. The heyday was in the time of the crusades in the 12th and 13th centuries, when crusaders and merchants mainly went to the Holy Land from Bari and Trani. It became an episcopal see in place of Canosa, destroyed by the Saracens. Frederick II promoted the Teutonic Knights and the Jewish community and built a massive castle. Under his rule, the city reached its highest point of wealth and prosperity. Castello svevo (svevo = Swabian) was built from 1233 to 1247 during the reign of Emperor Frederick II. The castle was built on a rocky shore in the middle of the bay of Trani. A moat separated the castle from the mainland. On one of the towers, Frederick II had Pietro Tiepolo, the son of the Venetian doge Jacopo Tiepolo. He had been captured as mayor of Milan at the Battle of Cortenova in 1237. Manfred of Sicily, the son of Frederick II, married his second wife here. After the end of the Hohenstaufen rule, which began with Manfred's death in the Battle of Benevento, the victorious House of Anjou rebuilt the castle so that in 1268 the marriage of Charles I of Naples and Margaret of Burgundy could be celebrated here. When the castle came under the rule of the Spanish under Charles V in 1533, it was extensively rebuilt to adapt it to the new defense requirements. The southern façade facing the countryside was reinforced and bastions were built on the corner towers. From 1832 Castello Svevo was again rebuilt to transform it into a central provincial prison, which opened in 1844 and was in operation until 1974.

The Phoenicians, the Greeks and the Romans have been here. In 216 BC, during the second Punic war, the Battle of Canne was fought nearby which led to the heavy defeat of the Romans by Hannibal's army. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the area was taken over by the Normans, who built a fortress here. During the time of the Crusades, Barletta became an important gathering point for the armies of knights. The city had its heyday under Frederick II, who in 1228 announced the sixth crusade during the Diet held here. Following the Muslim conquest in the Holy Land, the Archbishops of Nazareth took permanent refuge in Barletta in 1327. - The "Castello di Barletta" is a quadrangular construction with bastion-towers at the corners. It was initially erected in the 10th century by the Normans as a typical motte structure. During the Crusade period, it was used as a hostel for soldiers leaving for the Holy Land. It was upgraded and enlarged substantially under the reign of Frederick II between 1225 and 1228. The castle was later further expanded under the House of Anjou, when Barletta became an important centre of Aragonese-Spanish control in the area, in 1527. In 1867 it was purchased by the Municipality of Barletta and was converted into an arms depot and a prison. Now it is home to the municipal library, the civic and art museum.