Isabella del Balzo

Isabella of Balzo (24 June 1465 – 1533) was a Queen consort of Naples. She was the second consort and only Queen consort of Frederick of Naples. Isabella was also suo jure Duchess of Andria and Venosa and Princess of Altamura. Biography Isabella was the daughter of Pirro del Balzo, duke of Andria and Prince of Altamura, and Maria Donata Orsini of Venosa. Pietro had served as Grand Constable of the Kingdom of Naples but had been strangled to death in 1487. Isabella was in 1483 engaged to the heir of Naples, Francis, but he died prior to their wedding. Her father was imprisoned for having participated in a plot against the monarch. Isabella was by then engaged to the next heir to the crown of Naples, Frederick. The purpose of the marriage was to annex the territories of her parents in to the Kingdom of Naples. In the marriage contract, she was declared to be the heir of her parents' territories, despite the fact that she was not their eldest child, which meant that her fiefs were to be inherited by her issue and then further in to the Neapolitan royal house. On 28 November 1487 in Andria, Isabella married Prince Frederick of Naples. He was the second son of Ferdinand I of Naples and his first consort, Isabella of Clermont. Upon marriage, she was declared Duchess regnant of Andria and Venosa and Princess regnant of Altamura. After the wedding she therefore remained in the Castle of Andria in Apulia, rather than joining the royal court of Naples. In 1495, during the war against France, Isabella was ordered by Frederick to seize control over the Castle of Bari and repair its fortifications, which she did. She managed the administration of the territory and its taxation, and also entered into negotiations with the French. She was however forced to flee to Brindisi, and later joined her consort in Otranto, before settling down in Lecce.