René (rənāˈ) [key], 1409–80, king of Naples (1435–80; rival
claimant to Alfonso V of Aragón and Ferdinand I of Naples), duke
of Anjou, Bar, and Lorraine, count of Provence. He was also
called René of Anjou and Good King René. The second son of King
Louis II of Naples, he was count of Guise when he married (1419)
Isabella, heiress of Lorraine and Bar. He inherited Bar (1430)
and Lorraine (1431), but the latter title was contested by a
rival supported by Philip the Good of Burgundy. René was
captured (1431) and held prisoner, although Holy Roman Emperor
Sigismund awarded him Lorraine. At the death (1434) of his
brother, Louis III of Naples, he inherited Anjou, Provence, and
the claim to the succession of Joanna II of Naples (d. 1435),
who adopted him as heir. Released from his imprisonment in 1437,
René arrived (1438) in Italy to take possession of his kingdom.
Alfonso V, who had taken over the kingdom when Joanna died,
defeated (1442) him; René returned to France and established a
brilliant court at Angers. In