e plan
possible: the queen assembled the barons who were most strongly attached
to her, made them swear homage and fidelity to Louis of Tarentum, whom
she presented to them as her husband, and then leaving with many tears
her most faithful subjects, she embarked secretly, in the middle of the
night, on a ship of Provence, and made for Marseilles. Louis of
Tarentum, following the prompting of his adventure-loving character, left
Naples at the head of three thousand horse and a considerable number of
foot, and took up his post on the banks of the Voltorno, there to contest
the enemy's passage; but the King of Hungary foresaw the stratagem, and
while his adversary was waiting for him at Capua, he arrived at
Beneventum by the mountains of Alife and Morcone, and on the same day
received Neapolitan envoys: they in a magnificent display of eloquence
congratulated him on his entrance, offered the keys of the town, and
swore obedience to him as being the legitimate successor of Charles of
Anjou. The news of the surrender of Naples soon reached the queen's
camp, and all the princes of the blood and the generals left Louis of
Tarentum and took refuge in the capital. Resistance was impossible.
Louis, accompanied by his counsellor, Nicholas Acciajuoli, went to Naples
on the same evening on which his relatives quitted the town to get away
from the enemy. Every hope of safety was vanishing as the hours passed
by; his brothers and cousins begged him to go at once, so as not to draw
down upon the town the king's vengeance, but unluckily there was no ship
in the harbour that was ready to set sail. The terror of the princes was
at its height; but Louis, trusting in his luck, started with the brave
Acciajuoli in an unseaworthy boat, and ordering four sailors to row with
all their might, in a few minutes disappeared, leaving his family in a
great state of anxiety till they learned that he had reached Pisa,
whither he had gone to join the queen in Provence. Charles of Durazzo
and Robert of Tarentum, who were the eldest respectively of the two
branches of the royal family, after hastily consulting, decided to soften
the Hungarian monarch's wrath by a complete submission. Leaving their
young brothers at Naples, they accordingly set off for Aversa, where the
king was. Louis received them with every mark of friendship, and asked
with much interest why their brothers were not with them. The princes
replied that their young brothers had stay