While Raimondello Orsini del Balzo was preparing to defend Taranto from the attack of the King of Naples Ladislaus of Anjou-Durazzo, he unexpectedly died in Lecce on 17 January 1406. In the meantime, the sovereign’s army did not take long to reach the city and surrounded it siege while Raimondello’s widow, the Princess of Taranto and Countess of Lecce, Copertino, Galatina and Soleto, Maria d’Enghien reaches her from Lecce, and organizes the resistance counting only on the Tarantini and on the forces of the Sanseverino who, once opponents, are now frightened by the threat and take his side. She also keeps the news of her husband’s death hidden so that Ladislao does not speed up the preparations for the assault.
Despite the small number of her forces, Mary wears armor and takes up arms and then, from the city walls, clearly visible to the enemy, she fearlessly encourages her men to resist. An attitude that many have wanted to compare to that of Joan of Arc. For two months, encouraged by the words and determination of their lady, the Tarantini resist the siege, regardless of the appearance of a cannon, supplied to the king’s armies, used for the first time in Puglia. The behavior of Maria d’Enghien, meanwhile, attracts the sympathies of other powerful people, who do not hesitate to offer her their help, while the assaults of the besieging troops are shattered against a thick rain of arrows shot from the top of the walls by the Tarantini, supported in feat of their Lady who, always in armor and on the front line, continually encourages them to repel the enemy. According to testimonies of the time, Maria moved through the streets of Taranto under an escort made up of loyal Lecce knights, encouraging the people of Taranto to defend themselves. According to Antonio Ferrari, said The Etiquettehis armor was made of silver, studded with gems and a helmet of the same metal, riding a fast horse and followed by an escort of two hundred knights.
Unexpectedly, however, the city of Martina Franca takes Ladislao’s side, offering men, weapons and supplies. The loss is, however, made up for by the arrival of some nobles from Lecce who lend their armed wing in defense of their Lady and Taranto. The princess, meanwhile, organizes the secret exit of a delegation of nobles, including Ruggero Maramonte and Niccolò Messana, who manage to evade the besieging forces and go to Sicily to ask for help from the sovereign Martin I of Aragon. He promptly sends six ships to the aid of Taranto with troops, supplies and food on board, under the orders of the Marquis of Crotone but Ladislao’s armies manage to intercept the flotilla as it is preparing to enter the port and, with a skilful maneuver, they take them by surprise and destroy them.
Meanwhile Brindisi, whose administrators foresee a victory for Ladislaus, openly sides with him, refusing to pay homage to Maria d’Enghien. The Lady decides to punish the city and sends a handful of men, commanded by Francesco Orsini. These evaded the surveillance of the besiegers and moved decisively towards Brindisi, where they took the defensive garrison by surprise, broke into the city and subjected it to a very harsh and violent sack. Ladislao goes into a rage, not so much for the episode as such but for the outrage of not being able to get over a woman. Citing as a pretext some political reasons relating to the succession of the Hungarian throne, the sovereign returned to Naples leaving the command of his forces to Antonio Acquaviva, Duke of Atri.
The move is perceived by Maria as an act of weakness, so the heroine devises a strategic plan to break the siege. The favorable opportunity for a counter-offensive presents itself when the Duke of Atri temporarily moves away towards the Galeso river, which flows into the Mar Piccolo, to water his horses. Taking advantage of the favorable moment, the Taranto and Lecce forces exit the city and violently attack the royal armies, catching them in the rear. The violence of the impact was such that most of the king’s soldiers threw themselves into the sea in terror and drowned due to the weight of their armour. The brave Neapolitan captain Masello Fellapane also lost his life in the clash, not before having performed great deeds of valor despite having been wounded several times. The Duke of Atri is thus forced to lift the siege, returning to Naples with the few remaining units.
However, the defeat suffered in Taranto continues to fuel the ire of Ladislaus of Anjou-Durazzo who, determined to be right at all costs, prepares a new army without sparing any expense, further compromising the already precarious economic conditions of the kingdom. For her part, the Princess of Taranto and Countess of Lecce, who in the meantime has moved to the Castle of Oria, a square of considerable strategic-tactical importance since it allows her to keep all her possessions under strict control, well aware of the fact that the dispute has not yet been resolved, seeks the support of Louis II of Anjou, pretender to the throne of Naples, who confirms the title of Prince of Taranto to her first-born son Giovanni Antonio Orsini del Balzo.
On March 15, 1407, a fleet composed of seven heavy ships and six galleys landed near Taranto, a powerful army composed of 7 thousand knights and an unknown number of infantry, who once again laid siege to the city, from land and sea. . Despite everything, however, the shape of the square, due to the presence of the two seas, does not allow a total blockade of the square which, however, is always supplied with food, weapons and units. Having identified the precise point from where the relief supplies flow, defended by a garrison of Lecce soldiers, Ladislao sends a squad of men with the task of acquiring the site at all costs, as it is of vital logistical, tactical and strategic importance. The garrison put up a strenuous and valiant resistance to the royal forces but their numerical inferiority forced them to surrender. The survivors are all killed mercilessly.
When the news of the clash and its outcome reaches Maria d’Enghien in Oria, she immediately gathers an army of 500 men, all coming from the County of Lecce and under the orders of the Baron of Corigliano Lorenzo Drimi, therefore placing herself in command of the troops, moves towards Taranto. Despite the siege, the units penetrate unscathed through the enemy ranks and enter the city, where the arrival of reinforcements led by their Lady, encourages the Tarantini to resist, as already happened the previous year . In the following days the Neapolitan forces attempted several times to approach the besieged city but were repelled by the arrows of the defenders, until the Baron of Campi, Ludovico Maramonte, emulator of the ancient knights, elevating himself to champion of Maria d’Enghien, threw down his gauntlet of challenge to the opposing knight who intends to face him, to repay with blood the offense caused to his Lady. Gianni Caracciolo steps forward as a challenger. Under the walls of Taranto the two knights clash and Caracciolo’s lance kills Maramonte’s horse which remains imprisoned under the corpse of the steed. His salvation is due to the act of clemency of his opponent who refuses to attack him: a gesture of noble chivalry from times gone by.
After this episode the siege resumes but, once again, the shape of the city prevents the closure of the blockade, allowing the constant influx of men, food and weapons. The operations risked continuing for a long time, causing discontent among the royal armies, until the mind of the Neapolitan captain Gentile da Monterano conceived the idea of a marriage between the two contenders. Ladislao, after thinking about it, proves to be in favor even though he was 8 years younger. The proposal is brought to the Princess of Taranto who, after her appropriate evaluations, agrees to become queen. The decision, as well as personal ambition, was also dictated by the fact that Francesco Orsini, Raimondello’s nephew, had gone over to Ladislao’s side with all of his soldiers. To anyone who advised her against marrying, warning her of the risks she could run, considering the early and strange deaths of Ladislao’s previous wives, Maria would have responded more or less like this: “Even if I die, at least I die queen”.
When the King of Naples finally manages to enter Taranto he does not find his betrothed in festive attire, but rather inside an armor while offering him the keys to the city on a golden tray. The marriage was celebrated in Taranto on 23 April 1407 in the Chapel of San Leonardo of the Castle of Taranto, while on 24 May the new Queen of Naples left for the capital, while Ladislao still remained in place for some time.
The marriage was not a happy one for Maria and her children, born from her marriage to Raimondello, forced to live in Naples in a sort of golden prison. Upon Ladislaus’ death without heirs in 1414, his sister Giovanna II succeeded on the throne and initially prohibited them from regaining possession of their Apulian fiefdoms, keeping them under control. However, the sovereign’s fluctuating and contradictory policy allowed Maria to regain possession of the County of Lecce in 1415 while later her children also regained possession of their fiefdoms. From that moment on, Maria lived in her Lecce, administering it until her death on 9 May 1446.
Cosimo Enrico Marseglia
Born in Lecce, the city where he lives. He attended regular courses at the Italian Army Military Academy in Modena and at the TRAMAT Weapon Application School at the Cecchignola military citadel in Rome, and served as an Army officer at the 3rd Maneuver Logistics Battalion in Milan, the Military District of Lecce and the Logistics Battalion of the Pinerolo Brigade in Bari. After eight years in effective permanent service, he left his military career, dedicating himself to jazz music and theatre. He currently collaborates with the Department of Historical Studies of the University of Salento, as an expert in Military History, and since 2009 he has been the official commissioner of the Military Corps of the Italian Red Cross. He writes for L’Autiere, official organ of the ANAI (National Association of Italian Drivers), Sallentina Tellus (Magazine of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre), for L’Idomeneo (Magazine of the Association of Homeland History) and for other newspapers . He has already published Les Enfants de la Patrie. The French Revolution and the First Empire lived on the battlefields (2007), The Military Scourge. The Art of War in Giovan Battista Martena, 17th century artilleryman (2009), Battles and events of arms in Puglia. The region as a theater of conflict from antiquity to the contemporary age (2011), Devoto ad Hippocrates. Rodolfo Foscarini CRI medical officer between research and the great war (2015), Marseglia. Story of a family through the centuries (2016), Contention for Naples. Puglia and the Kingdom of Naples in the wars between Spain and France between the 15th and 16th centuries (2024). for Edit Santoro, and Attacco a Maruggio. 13 June 1637. Chronicle of a day of Turkish piracy in the European political-social context (2010) for Apulus, the latter together with Dr. Tonino Filomena. He obtained a University Diploma in Strategic Sciences from the University of Modena and Reggio.
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