or Joanna I Italian Giovanna
born 1326
died May 22, 1382, Lucania, Kingdom of Naples
Countess of Provence and queen of Naples (1343–82).
She belonged to the house of Anjou, and her marriage to the brother of the king of Hungary was intended to reconcile Hungarian and Angevin claims on Naples. Suspected of her husband's murder, she fled to Avignon (1348). She sold Avignon to the papacy in return for being cleared of the crime, then went back to Naples in 1352. She recognized the antipope Clement VII in 1378, and Pope Urban VI crowned Charles of Durazzo king of Naples in 1381. When Charles captured Naples, he imprisoned Joan and had her killed.