Founder of the House of Anjou-Taranto.

Philip II, also known as Philip I of Taranto, was titular Latin Emperor of Constantinople by marriage to Catherine of Valois-Courtenay, Despot of Romania, King of Albania, Prince of Achaea and Taranto.

Born in Naples, Philip was a younger son of Charles II of Anjou, King of Naples, and Maria of Hungary, daughter of King Stephen V of Hungary.

First marriage

On 4 February 1294, his father named him Prince of Taranto at Aix-en-Provence, and on 12 July 1294, Vicar-General of the Kingdom of Sicily. These dignities were a prelude to Charles' plan to bestow upon Philip an empire east of the Adriatic. The day he was invested as Vicar-General, he married by proxy Thamar Angelina Komnene, daughter of Nikephoros I Komnenos Doukas, Despot of Epirus. Threatened by the Byzantine Empire, Nikephoros had decided to seek Angevin patronage, and agreed to the marriage of Thamar and Philip. The two were married in person on 13 August 1294 at L'Aquila. Upon their marriage, Charles ceded to Philip the suzerainty of Achaea and the Kingdom of Albania, and all his rights to the Latin Empire and the Lordship of Vlachia. Nikephoros gave, as his daughter's dowry, the fortresses of Vonitsa, Vrachova, Gjirokastër and Naupactus, in the territory of Aetolia, to Philip, and agreed to settle the succession, on his death, upon his daughter rather than his son Thomas. Upon the death of Nikephoros (c. 1297), Philip took the title of "Despot of Romania", claiming Epirus, Aetolia, Acarnania, and Great Vlachia. However, Nikephoros' Byzantine widow, Anna Kantakouzene, had Thomas proclaimed Despot of Epirus and assumed the regency.

Second marriage

In 1309, Philip accused Thamar of adultery, probably on a falsified charge. This freed him to take part in a complex marital pact. Catherine of Valois, the titular Latin Empress, had been betrothed to Hugh V, Duke of Burgundy, titular King of Thessalonica. This engagement was broken, and she married Philip on 29 July 1313, at Fontainebleau. In exchange, her maternal lands of Courtenay and other estates on the Continent were ceded to Hugh's sister Joan the Lame, who married Catherine's half-brother, Philip of Valois. Hugh V was betrothed to Joan of France, later Countess of Burgundy and Artois. (Hugh died before in 1315 before the marriage could be solemnized; Joan of France married Hugh's brother and successor Odo IV, Duke of Burgundy instead.) Philip ceded the Principality of Achaea (over which he retained suzerainty) to Matilda of Hainaut, who married Hugh's brother Louis of Burgundy on 29 July 1313. This donation was rather restricted: should the couple die without heirs, the Principality was to revert to the house of Burgundy, while Matilda enjoyed the usufruct for life. Nor could Matilda marry again without her suzerain's permission. To complete the separation of Eastern and Western claims, Hugh ceded his rights to Thessalonica to Louis, while Louis renounced his claims on his parents' inheritance in favor of Hugh. The engagement of Philip's eldest son Charles of Taranto to Matilda of Hainault was broken off, and he was engaged to Jeanne de Valois, younger sister of Catherine of Valois; his father also ceded to him the title of Despot of Romania and the claims thereto appertaining.

Succession to Latin and Angevin Titles

Upon the death of his father, King Charles II of Naples, on 5 May 1309, Philip II did not succeed to the Angevin kingship, which passed to his younger brother Robert, but retained his appanage as Prince of Taranto, granted to him by Charles II on 13 August 1294. This principality encompassed feudal rights over territories in southern Italy and overlordship in parts of Greece, including claims to the Principality of Achaea acquired through confiscation from Philip I of Savoy in 1307 and nominal kingship over Albania proclaimed around 1300. The titular Latin emperorship, held by Philip II since his marriage to Catherine of Valois-Courtenay on 29 December 1313, derived from her status as heir to the defunct Latin Empire of Constantinople (established 1204-1261). As emperor consort, Philip styled himself Philip II, emphasizing Angevin legitimacy over Byzantine rule in Constantinople, though the title remained purely symbolic amid Ottoman advances and lack of territorial control. Catherine's survival until 2 October 1346 did not interrupt the succession, as the claim integrated into the Taranto cadet branch via male primogeniture. Following Philip II's death on 26 December 1331, all his rights-including the Latin emperorship (as Robert II), Despotate of Epirus (reasserted after 1330 upon the death of heirs from his first marriage), Principality of Taranto, and associated Angevin claims in the Balkans-devolved upon his sole surviving legitimate son, Robert of Taranto (born c. 1316), from his second marriage. This transfer preserved the eastern-oriented Angevin pretensions distinct from the Neapolitan main line, positioning Robert as suzerain over Achaea and a counterclaimant in Greek successor states. Robert's line perpetuated these titles: his son Louis succeeded as King of Naples (1346-1362) while holding subsidiary claims, followed by Robert's second son Philip II of Taranto (1329-1373), who assumed the principality and emperorship (as Philip III) in 1364. The Taranto branch's inheritance thus sustained Angevin imperial ambitions until the dynasty's fragmentation amid 14th-century Italian wars and the Black Death's demographic toll.

Death and Historical Assessment

In the closing years of his life, Philip retreated from ambitious eastern campaigns, focusing instead on Angevin interests in southern Italy as prince of Taranto and advisor to his brother, King Robert of Naples. By the late 1320s, he resided primarily in Naples, overseeing his estates and contributing to the kingdom's administrative stability amid ongoing tensions with Aragon and internal noble factions. His health declined amid these domestic duties, with no recorded major military engagements after the mid-1310s failures in Albania and Epirus. Philip died on 26 December 1331 in Naples at age 53, likely from natural causes associated with age and prior exertions, though contemporary chronicles provide no explicit details on illness or foul play. His passing occurred soon after the death of his last surviving son from his first marriage, Philip of Taranto the Younger, who succumbed in 1331 without issue, extinguishing that direct male line. Upon Philip's death, his titular imperial claim and princely titles devolved to his son by Catherine of Valois, Robert, who succeeded as Robert II, Latin Emperor, though the Angevin house retained only nominal rights to Constantinople, which remained under Byzantine control. He was buried in Naples, reflecting the shift of Angevin priorities from crusading revival to Italian consolidation.