Even after his coronation, the rule of Ladislaus in Croatia and Hungary never extended beyond Dalmatia. His father grew up in Hungary governing Croatia as viceroy, and eventually became king. However, Ladislaus remained inactive, and returned to Apulia; his authority in Dalmatia remained restricted to little more than the city of Zara. The following year, after the death of Boniface IX, he intervened in Rome in support of the Colonna family, two days after the election of the new pope, Innocent VII. Ladislaus endeavored to consolidate the royal power at the expense of the barons, and brought about the murder of several members of the Sanseverino family for frustrating his ends. In 1405, he went again to Rome. When some nobles offered him the lordship of the city, the Pope responded by deposing him as King of Naples on 9 January 1406. The Pope had incited Raimondo Del Balzo Orsini to rebel, but he died soon after. His wife, Mary of Enghien, continued the rebellion and successfully defended Taranto against a two-month long siege by Ladislaus in the spring of 1406. She did not surrender even after Ladislaus and the Pope signed a treaty of peace in July, by which Ladislaus became the protector of the Papal States. He moved to Taranto again early in 1407, this time with diplomatic intentions. Since his first wife had died in 1404, Ladislaus solved the matter of Taranto by marrying Mary of Enghien on 23 April 1407. In 1407, trying to taking advantage of the feebler personality of the new pope, Gregory XII, Ladislaus invaded the Papal States and conquered Ascoli Piceno and Fermo. In 1408, he besieged Ostia to prevent a success of the French party in the schism between Gregory XII and Antipope Benedict XIII. After a short siege, he captured the city by bribing the Papal commander, Paolo Orsini, and entered Rome on 25 April. Later, Perugia also fell into his hands. In 1409, Ladislaus sold his rights to Dalmatia to Venice for 100,000 ducats. This was part of his attempts to gain allies in the upcoming war against the Republic of Florence, caused by his expansion in central Italy and his alliance with Paolo Guinigi, lord of Lucca, a traditional enemy of the Florentines.