r subjects.
Joan borrowed money wherever she could, armed galleys, and left
Marseilles with her husband, her sister, and two faithful advisers,
Acciajuoli and Spinelli, on the 10th of September 1348. The king and
queen not being able to enter at the harbour, which was in the enemy's
power, disembarked at Santa Maria del Carmine, near the river Sebeto,
amid the frenzied applause of an immense crowd, and accompanied by all
the Neapolitan nobles. They made their way to the palace of Messire
Ajutorio, near Porta Capuana, the Hungarians having fortified themselves
in all the castles; but Acciajuoli, at the head of the queen's
partisans, blockaded the fortresses so ably that half of the enemy
were obliged to surrender, and the other half took to flight and were
scattered about the interior of the kingdom. We shall now follow Louis
of Tarentum in his arduous adventures in Apulia, the Calabrias, and
the Abruzzi, where he recovered one by one the fortresses that the
Hungarians had taken. By dint of unexampled valour and patience, he at
last mastered nearly all the more considerable places, when suddenly
everything changed, and fortune turned her back upon him for the second
time. A German captain called Warner, who had deserted the Hungarian
army to sell himself to the queen, had again played the traitor and sold
himself once more, allowed himself to be surprised at Corneto by Conrad
Lupo, the King of Hungary's vicar-general, and openly joined him, taking
along with him a great party of the adventurers who fought under his
orders. This unexpected defection forced Louis of Tarentum to retire to
Naples. The King of Hungary soon learning that the troops had rallied
round his banner, and only awaited his return to march upon the capital,
disembarked with a strong reinforcement of cavalry at the port of
Manfredonia, and taking Trani, Canosa, and Salerno, went forward to lay
siege to Aversa.
The news fell like a thunder-clap on Joan and her husband. The Hungarian
army consisted of 10,000 horse and more than 7000 infantry, and Aversa
had only 500 soldiers under Giacomo Pignatelli. In spite of the immense
disproportion of the numbers, the Neapolitan general vigorously repelled
the attack; and the King of Hungary, fighting in the front, was wounded
in his foot by an arrow. Then Louis, seeing that it would be difficult
to take the place by storm, determined to starve them out. For
three months the besieged performed prodigies of valour
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