e said Charles, and of the barons
of France, which would follow him, that he did not doubt but that he
would oppose Manfred and take from him the lands and all the Kingdom
in short time, and would put the Church in great state. To the which
counsel all the cardinals and prelates agreed, and they elected the
said Charles to be king of Sicily and of Apulia, him and his
descendants down to the fourth generation after him, and the election
being confirmed, they sent forth the decree; and this was the year of
Christ 1263.

Sec. 89.--_How Charles, count of Anjou and of Provence, accepted the
election offered him by the Church of Rome to Sicily and to Apulia._

[Sidenote: Purg. vii. 128.]

[Sidenote: 1263 A.D.]

When the said invitation was carried to France by the Cardinal Simon
of Tours to the said Charles, he took counsel thereupon with King
Louis of France and with the count of Artois, and with the count of
Alencon, his brother, and with the other great barons of France, and
by all he was counselled that in the name of God he should undertake
the said emprise in the service of Holy Church, and to bear the
dignity of crown and Kingdom. And the King Louis of France, his elder
brother, proffered him aid in men and in money, and likewise offers
were made to him by all the barons of France. And his lady, which was
youngest daughter to the good Count Raymond Berenger, of Provence,
through whom he had the heritage of the county of Provence, when she
heard of the election of the Count Charles, her husband, to the intent
that she might become queen, pledged all her jewels and invited all
the bachelors-at-arms of France and of Provence to rally round her
standard and to make her queen. And this was largely by reason of the
contempt and disdain which a little while before had been shown to her
by her three elder sisters, which were all queens, making her sit a
degree lower than they, for which cause, with great grief, she had
made complaint thereof to Charles, her husband, which answered her:
"Be at peace, for I will shortly make thee a greater queen than them;"
for which cause she sought after and obtained the best barons of
France for her service, and those who did most in the emprise. And
thus Charles wrought in his preparations with all solicitude and
power, and made answer to the Pope and to the cardinals, by the said
cardinal legate, how he had accepted their election, and how, without
loss of time, he would come into It