and his strong military presence in Italy disturbed the popes. They tried to channel his ambitions towards other territories and assisted him in acquiring claims to Achaea, Jerusalem and Arles through treaties. In 1281 Pope Martin IV authorised Charles to launch a crusade against the Byzantine Empire. Charles's ships were gathering at Messina, ready to begin the campaign when the Sicilian Vespers rebellion broke out on 30March 1282 which put an end to Charles's rule on the island of Sicily. He was able to defend the mainland territories (or the Kingdom of Naples) with the support of France and the Holy See. Charles died while making preparations for an invasion of Sicily. Early life Childhood Charles was the youngest child of King Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile. The date of his birth has not survived, but he was probably born posthumously in early 1227. Charles was Louis' only surviving son to be "born in the purple" (after his father's coronation), a fact he often emphasised in his youth, as the contemporaneous chronicler Matthew Paris noted in his . He was the first Capetian to be named for Charlemagne. Louis VIII died in November 1226 and his eldest son, Louis IX, succeeded him. The late King willed that his youngest sons were to be prepared for a career in the Roman Catholic Church. The details of Charles's tuition are unknown, but he received a good education. He understood the principal Catholic doctrines and could identify errors in Latin texts. His passion for poetry, medical sciences, and law is well documented. Charles later said that his mother had a strong impact on her children's education; in reality, Blanche was fully engaged in state administration, and could likely spare little time for her youngest children. Charles lived at the court of a brother, Robert I, Count of Artois, from 1237. About four years later he was put into the care of his youngest brother, Alphonse, Count of Poitiers. His participation in his brothers' military campaign against Hugh X of Lusignan, Count of La Marche, in 1242 showed that he was no longer destined for a Church career. Provence and Anjou Raymond Berengar V of Provence died in August 1245, bequeathing Provence and Forcalquier to his youngest daughter, Beatrice, allegedly because he had given generous dowries to her three sisters. The dowries were actually not fully discharged, causing two of her