The whole time I was listening to this audiobook, I kept marveling at the absolute audacity of the royal men of this era, who over the decades launched a number of invasions and plots in an attempt to claim Naples for themselves. A woman on the throne seemed to have looked to them as so much free real estate. It really boggles the mind.
While I had heard the story of Joanna’s trial in another book before (spoiler alert: she’s found innocent), I knew very little about her and this period of Italian history in general, so I learned a lot, with a bonus of Papal history and the start of the Great Schism of 1378, which resulted in a 33 year stretch where multiple men claimed to be the Pope. It was fascinating to see how the story of this one kingdom became so intertwined with the affairs of medieval Europe at large, tying back to events which I knew about from a brand new angle.
Despite the author’s best efforts, I did something get the various Charles and Louises confused (though kindly, Joanna counted among her four husbands men with more distinct names like Andrew and Otto). This is not helpful when the various Charles and Louises are constantly going to war or getting married or dying, since I was then confused about which Charles was dying and which was entering the scene. Additionally, in the pursuit of providing historical context, Goldstone sometimes ranges a bit far afield regarding the backgrounds of more secondary personages, which does not help matter in this regard. I kept waiting to come back to Joanna.
