Joanna II (25 June 1371 – 2 February 1435) was reigning Queen of Naples from 1414 to her death, upon which the Capetian House of Anjou became extinct. As a mere formality, she used the title of Queen of Jerusalem, Sicily, and Hungary. Early life Joanna was born at Zara (present-day Zadar, Croatia), on 25 June 1371, as the daughter of Charles III of Naples and Margaret of Durazzo. After 1386 Marie of Blois Duchess Dowager of Anjou started negotiations about her son Louis II of Anjou's marriage with Joanna, but Louis flatly refused to marry the daughter of his father's principal enemy in May 1387. Joanna married her first husband, William, Duke of Austria, in Vienna in the autumn of 1401 when she was 28 years of age. He had been rejected as a husband by her cousin, Queen Hedwig of Poland. Joanna did not have any children by William, who died in 1406 after five years of marriage. After his death she acquired a lover by the name of Pandolfello Alopo, whom she appointed Grand Chamberlain. Alopo was the first in what would become a series of lovers and male favourites. He later caused the downfall of the influential condottiero and grand constable Muzio Sforza, provoking much jealousy. Accession In 1414, the 41-year-old and childless Joanna succeeded her brother Ladislaus on the throne of Naples. In early 1415, she became engaged to John, a son of King Ferdinand I of Aragon and twenty-five years her junior. The betrothal was annulled shortly after, which left Joanna free to choose another husband. On 10 August 1415, she married a second time, to James II, Count of La Marche, in order to gain the support of the French monarchy. The marriage contract stipulated that upon his marriage to Joanna, James would be granted the title of Prince of Taranto. Not having received the promised title, he had Alopo killed and forced Joanna to name him King of Naples. In an attempt to assume complete power, James imprisoned Joanna in her own apartments in the royal palace; however, she was later released by the nobles. In 1416, a riot exploded in Naples, and James was compelled to send back his French administrators and to renounce his title. In this period, Joanna began her relationship with Sergianni Caracciolo, who later acquired an overwhelming degree of power over the court. On 28 August 1417,