Philip II, Prince of Taranto

Coat of arms of Philip II of Taranto, the same as his father Louis I of Naples. They are the combination of the arms of Anjou and those of the Latin Empire of Constantinople.

Philip II (1329 – 25 November 1374) of the Angevin house, was Prince of Achaea and Taranto, and titular Latin Emperor of Constantinople (as Philip III) from 1364 to his death in 1374.

He was the son of Philip I of Taranto and Catherine of Valois. Upon the execution of his cousin Charles, Duke of Durazzo, in 1348, he succeeded as King of Albania. Shortly after, his older brother Louis married their first cousin, Joanna I of Naples, and became king. In April 1355, Philip married Joanna's younger sister, Maria of Calabria.

In 1364, Philip succeeded as titular Latin Emperor of Constantinople and Prince of Achaea and Taranto on the death of his oldest brother, Robert.

Maria died in 1366. On 20 October 1370, Philip married yet another Angevin, Elizabeth of Slavonia, former heir presumptive to the throne of Hungary. In 1373, he resigned his rights to the Principality of Achaea to his cousin and former sister-in-law Joanna. He died on 25 November 1374 in Taranto.

All his children had died young. His heir was his sister's son James of Baux, Duke of Andria.

He had several illegitimate children. Most of the old Maltese nobility can trace back their ancestry to Philip II.

Family

By his first wife, Maria of Calabria, Philip had three short-lived sons: Philip (1356), Charles (1358), Philip (1360). They also had two stillborn children, in 1362 and 1366. By his second wife, Elisabeth of Slavonia, Philip had a son named Philip (1371).

Bibliography

• Giornale araldico-genealogico-diplomatico dell'Accademia araldica italiana. Vol. 4. Pisa: La direzione del giornale araldico. 1877.
• Giuseppe Pupillo; Operatori C.R.S.E.C. BA/7 (2017). Altamura, immagini e descrizioni storiche (PDF). Matera: Antezza Tipografi. ISBN 9788889313282. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2018.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)