Name Peter of | ||
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Tenure 25 June 1337 - 15 August 1342 Issue Louis of SicilyFrederick IV of SicilyConstance of SicilyEleanor, Queen of AragonBeatrice, Electress PalatineEuphemia of SicilyViolante of SicilyJohn of SicilyBlanche, Countess of Amphurias Spouse Elizabeth of Carinthia, Queen of Sicily (m. 1323) Children Frederick the Simple, Louis, King of Sicily, Eleanor of Sicily, Beatrice of Sicily Parents Eleanor of Anjou, Frederick III of Sicily Similar People Peter III of Aragon, Peter IV of Aragon, Martin of Aragon, John I of Aragon, James II of Aragon | ||
Peter II (1304 – 8 August 1342) was the King of Sicily from 1337 until his death, although he was associated with his father as co-ruler from 1321. Peter's father Frederick III of Sicily and his mother was Eleanor, a daughter of Charles II of Naples. His reign was marked by strife between the throne and the nobility, especially the old families of Ventimiglia, Palizzi and Chiaramonte, and by war between Sicily and Naples.
Contemporaries regarded Peter as feeble-minded. Giovanni Villani, in his Nuova Cronica, calls him "almost an imbecile" (Italianate Latin: quasi un mentacatto) and Nicola Speciale, in his Historia Sicula, calls him "pure and simple" (purus et simplex).
Under Peter, the Neapolitans conquered the Lipari Islands and took the cities of Milazzo and Termini in Sicily itself. He died after a short illness on 8 August 1342 in Calascibetta and was buried in the cathedral of Palermo. He was succeeded by Louis, his eldest son, who was only five years old.
Marriage and Children
He married Elisabeth of Carinthia, with whom he had nine children: