A King that Came to the Throne of France Bearing Five Coffins in his Train

Philip III., surnamed "the Hardy," was the son of Louis IX. (St. Louis) of France, and succeeded him (1270) when only twenty-five years of age.

He was with his father when the latter died of the plague at the siege of Tunis, and was at once proclaimed king.

He continued the war against the Moors in Africa, until, with the assistance of his uncle, Charles of Anjou, he had reduced the King of Tunis to submission. He then returned to France, bearing in his train five coffins, those of his father, his wife, his son, his brother, and his brother-in-law. Philip reigned fifteen years, and in that time the only important event was what is known in history as "The Massacre of the Sicilian Vespers."

Charles of Anjou, brother of St. Louis, had, under the sanction of the Pope, conquered Sicily and Naples, and taken possession of the crown. His cruelty and want of faith excited the hatred of a naturally vindictive people, until at last, while the citizens of Palermo were assembling for vespers on Easter Monday, March 30, 1282, the infuriated natives rose en masse, and fell, sword in hand, upon their unsuspecting oppressors in every part of the city, slaughtering them without mercy. As the news of the massacre spread, the same tragedy was enacted in every part of the island, until at last there was scarcely a Frenchman alive in Sicily. The Sicilians then offered their crown to Don Pedro of Aragon, as being nearest of kin to their old line. He soon landed on the island, and was proclaimed King of Sicily. The Pope was so enraged at Don Pedro for accepting the crown of Sicily, that he declared him to have forfeited his own crown, and sent Philip III. to take it from him.

Soon after the French army advanced into Aragon, however, a pestilence broke out; and the king himself took the disease, and died, in the year 1284. Don Pedro of Aragon kept the island of Sicily; but Charles of Anjou ruled over Naples until 1435, when Naples passed under the dominion of the King of Aragon.

The kingdom of Naples and Sicily belonged to Spain until the war of the Spanish succession (1700-1713), when Sicily was separated from Naples. They were both in 1860 annexed to Italy.