Accession King Robert died on 20 January 1343, at the age of 67, after 34 years as king of Naples. Two days later, Andrew was knighted and his marriage to Joanna was consummated in accordance with the late king's last wishes. Thereafter, they mainly met with each other only at important state and religious ceremonies. Otherwise, they went to separate churches, they visited separate places and Joanna even forbade her husband to enter her bedchamber without her permission. The fifteen-year-old Andrew did not have his own treasury and Joanna's courtiers controlled his daily spending. When writing about the political situation in the
Regno after Robert's death,
Petrarch described Joanna and Andrew as "two lambs entrusted to the care of a multitude of wolves, and I see a kingdom without a king". Most political factors resented the establishment of the regency council. Joanna approached
Pope Clement VI and asked him to grant the title of king to her husband, most probably because she wanted to secure the Hungarian Angevins' support to shorten the term of her minority. The Pope regarded the establishment of the regency council as a usurpation of his sovereign rights, but he wanted to control the administration of Naples. He rejected Joanna's proposal, but he rarely addressed letters directly to the council. Agnes of Périgord wanted to secure the marriage of Joanna's sister Maria to her eldest son, Charles of Durazzo. The Dowager Queen Sancia and Joanna supported her plan, but they knew that Catherine of Valois would oppose the marriage. Agnes's brother,
Hélie de Talleyrand-Périgord, was the most influential
cardinal at the Pope's court in Avignon. He persuaded Clement VI to issue a
papal bull on 26 February 1343, authorizing Charles of Durazzo to marry any woman. In possession of the bull, Maria was engaged to Charles of Durazzo in the presence of Joanna, Sancia and other members of the regency council at
Castel Nuovo on 26 March. The betrothal outraged Catherine of Valois who appealed to King Philip VI of France and the Pope, demanding them to achieve its annulment. Two days after the betrothal, Charles of Durazzo abducted Maria to his castle where a priest secretly married them and the marriage was soon consummated. Catherine of Valois's second son, Louis of Taranto, invaded Charles of Durazzo's domains. Charles of Durazzo gathered his troops to secure the defence of his estates. Her sister's secret marriage infuriated Joanna and she sent letters to the Pope demanding the annulment of the marriage. Pope Clement VI refused and commanded Cardinal Talleyrand-Périgord to send an envoy to Naples to mediate a compromise. The cardinal's emissary persuaded the parties to sign an agreement on 14 July 1343. The legitimacy of Charles and Maria's marriage was acknowledged, but Catherine of Valois and her sons received cash settlement from the royal treasury. Joanna lost confidence both in her sister and in the Durazzo branch of her family and started to promote the career of her most trusted retainers, including Philippa of Catania's son, Roberto de' Cabanni, and her illegitimate uncle,
Charles d'Artois.
Conflicts Andrew's Hungarian retainers informed his mother,
Elizabeth of Poland, about Andrew's uncertain position. She and her eldest son, Louis I of Hungary, sent envoys to Avignon, urging the Pope to order Andrew's coronation. She also decided to visit the
Regno to strengthen Andrew's position. Before departing from Hungary, Queen Elizabeth collected 21,000 marks of gold and 72,000 marks of silver from the Hungarian treasury, because she was ready to spend a large amount of money to buy the support of the Holy See and the Neapolitan aristocrats for her son. She and her retinue landed at
Manfredonia in the summer of 1343. She and her son met at
Benevento, but Joanna received her only days later at
Somma Vesuviana. When meeting with her mother-in-law, Joanna was wearing her crown to emphasize her royal status. Queen Elizabeth and her retinue entered Naples on 25 July. She first approached Joanna's stepgrandmother, but the ailing Sancia of Majorca did not interfere in favor of Andrew. Joanna did not openly oppose her husband's coronation, but her mother-in-law soon realized that she only applied delaying tactics. Queen Elizabeth left Naples for Rome and sent envoys to Avignon, urging the Pope to sanction Andrew's coronation. Petrarch, who visited Naples in October as
Cardinal Giovanni Colonna's envoy, experienced that the kingdom had moved towards anarchy after King Robert's death. He recorded that bands of bullying noblemen terrorized the people during the nights and gladiator games were regularly held in the presence of Joanna and Andrew. He also claimed that a hypocrite Franciscan friar, Fra' Roberto, controlled the regency council, describing him as a "terrible three-footed beast, with its feet naked, with its head bare, arrogant about its poverty, dripping with pleasure." Petrarch wanted to achieve the liberation of Colonna's relatives, the Pipini brothers, who had been imprisoned for various crimes in 1341. Their property was distributed among various members of the royal family and the Neapolitan aristocracy and Petrarch could persuade the regency council to grant an amnesty to them. Queen Elizabeth, who was still staying in Rome, realized that the conflict between the influential cardinal and the Neapolitan leaders gave an opportunity to strengthen her son's position. Andrew took sides with the Pipini and promised to achieve their liberation. Petrarch's reports from Naples convinced the Pope that the regency council could not administer the kingdom effectively. Emphasizing that Joanna was still a minor, the Pope appointed Cardinal
Aymery de Châlus as his legate and charged him with the government of the
Regno in a bull on 28 November 1343. Joanna's envoys made several efforts to delay the papal legate's departure from Avignon. The negotiations between her mother-in-law and the Holy See alarmed Joanna and she asked the Pope in a letter on 1 December to stop discussing Neapolitan issues with the Hungarian envoys. The Pope addressed Andrew as the "illustrious king of Sicily" and urged his coronation in a letter on 19 January 1344, but he soon emphasized Joanna's hereditary right to rule. Five days later, Joanna urged the Pope to withdraw his legate and to authorize her to rule alone. The Pope soon responded, declaring that Joanna would alone rule the kingdom "just as if she were a man" even after she and her husband were jointly crowned. Around the same time, Queen Elizabeth returned to Naples and Andrew's courtiers informed her that they had learnt of plots against Andrew's life. She decided to take her son back to Hungary, but Joanna, Agnes of Périgord and Catherine of Valois jointly dissuaded her. Joanna and her grandaunts most probably feared that Andrew would return from Hungary to Naples accompanied by Hungarian troops. Queen Elizabeth departed from Italy on 25 February, leaving her son behind. The Angevins' northern Italian enemies took advantage of the weakened position of the
Regno.
John II, Marquess of Montferrat and the
Visconti of Milan captured
Alessandria and
Asti in
Piedmont and continued their military campaign against other Piedmontese towns that acknowledged Joanna's sovereignty. They forced
Tortona,
Bra and
Alba into submission in 1344. Joanna started distributing large parcels of the royal domains to her most trusted supporters, among them Roberto de' Cabanni, who was rumoured to be her lover. Joanna's donations outraged the Pope who started to hint that he was ready to strengthen Andrew's role in state administration. The Pope also ordered Aymery de Châlus to move to Naples without any delay. Chalus reached Naples on 20 May 1344. Joanna wanted to swear fealty to the Pope alone in a private ceremony, but the papal legate resisted her demands. Joanna had to take the oath of obedience along with her husband in a public ceremony. Joanna fell sick and her illness enabled Andrew to achieve the Pipini brothers' liberation, but his act outraged other Neapolitan aristocrats. On 28 August, the papal legate formally recognized Joanna as the legitimate heir to Naples, but she had to acknowledge the papal legate's right to administer the kingdom. Chalus dissolved the regency council and appointed new officials to govern the provinces. However, the royal officials ignored the legate's orders and Joanna refused to pay the yearly tribute to the Holy See, saying that she had been deprived of the
Regno. Cardinal Talleyrand-Périgord and Joanna's envoy,
Louis of Durazzo, urged Pope Clement VI to dismiss his legate who was also willing to abdicate. After King Philip VI intervened against the legate, the Pope decided to recall him, declaring that the 18-year-old Joanna had matured under the legate's auspices in December 1344. In February 1345, the Pope issued a bull, forbidding Joanna's most trusted advisorsPhilippa of Catania and her relativesto intervene in politics, but he also replaced Chalus with Guillaume Lamy,
Bishop of Chartres. To placate the Pope, Joanna decided to conciliate Andrew and their conjugal union was restored. Before long, she became pregnant. Joanna had meanwhile instructed
Reforce d'Agoult, Senechal of Provence, to invade Piedmont. The burghers of
Chieri and
James of Savoy-Achaea joined the Provençal army. They reoccupied Alba in the spring, but John II of Montferrat and the Visconti gathered their troops near Chieri and defeated Agoult's army in the
Battle of Gamenario on 23 April. Agoult died fighting in the battlefield and Chieri surrendered to the victors. . The relationship between Joanna and the Pope became tense because she again started to alienate royal estates and ignored the Pope's proposals. On 10 June, Clement VI urged her to stop obstructing Andrew's coronation, but she was determined to exclude her husband from state administration. She answered that she was in the best position to look after her husband's interests, implying that her "understanding of gender roles within her marriage" was atypical, according to historian Elizabeth Casteen. On 9 July, the Pope announced that he would excommunicate her if she continued to give away royal estates. Queen Sancia died on 28 July. Before long, Joanna abandoned her husband. Rumours about a love affair between Joanna and Louis of Taranto started to spread in Naples, but her unfaithfulness was never proven. Pope Clement VI decided to achieve Andrew's coronation and charged Cardinal Chalus with performing the ceremony. Hearing of the Pope's reversal, a group of noble conspirators determined to forestall Andrew's coronation. During a hunting trip at Aversa in 1345, Andrew left his room in the middle of the night from 18 to 19 September and was set upon by the conspirators. A treacherous servant barred the door behind him; and with Joanna in her own bedroom, a terrible struggle ensued, Andrew defending himself furiously and shrieking for aid. He was finally overpowered, strangled with a cord, and flung from a window with a rope tied to his genitals. Isolde, Andrew's Hungarian nurse, heard his cries, and with her own screams chased the murderers off. She took the Prince's corpse to the church of the monks and remained with it until next morning in mourning. When the Hungarian knights arrived she told them everything in their mother tongue so no one else would learn about the truth, and soon they left Naples, telling everything to the Hungarian King. Opinions are divided on the real involvement of the Queen in the assassination. For some, she was the instigator of the murder; for others, like Émile-Guillaume Léonard, Joanna's involvement has not been demonstrated. Joanna informed the Papacy, as well as other states in Europe of the murder, expressing her disgust in letters, but her inner circle of friends were thought to be most suspect. On 25 December 1345, she gave birth to a son,
Charles Martel, Andrew's posthumous child. The infant was proclaimed Duke of Calabria and Prince of Salerno on 11 December 1346 as heir of the Kingdom of Naples.
Murder and wars When Joanna took the throne, several lords in northern Italy saw this as an opportunity to expand their territory at her expense. In 1344
John II, Marquess of Montferrat led attacks which conquered her cities of Alessandria, Asti, Tortona, Bra, and Alba. She sent her
seneschal,
Reforce d'Agoult, to deal with it. He engaged the invaders on 23 April 1345 at the
Battle of Gamenario, but was soundly defeated and killed. Montferrat then went on to capture
Chieri, within the lands of
James of Piedmont, who had supported Joanna. James called for help from his cousin and lord,
Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy in 1347. Together, they drove back the attackers through that July. John then added more forces to his alliance, bringing in
Thomas II, Marquess of Saluzzo and
Humbert II of Viennois. Together, they captured nearly all of Joanna's lands in the region. When she made public her plans to marry one of her Taranto cousins and not Andrew's younger brother
Stephen, the Hungarians openly accused her of the murder.
Louis of Taranto was a seasoned warrior, who understood Neapolitan politics from his lifetime experiences, raised at the court of
Catherine of Valois, Joanna's aunt. After Joanna stated her intention to marry him, his brother
Robert banded together with his cousin (and erstwhile rival) Charles of Durazzo against them. Some of Joanna's courtiers and servants were tortured and later executed, including her Sicilian governess
Philippa of Catania and the latter's family. Louis was successful in driving his brother's forces back, but just as he reached Naples, it became known that the Hungarians planned to invade. Joanna made a pact with the
Kingdom of Sicily, preventing them from invading at the same time. She married Louis on 22 August 1347, without seeking the necessary Papal dispensation, because of their being closely related. In anticipation of his marriage, Louis was made Joint-Protector and Defender of the Kingdom (1 May 1347), jointly with Charles of Durazzo. One month later (20 June), Louis was made Vicar-General of the Kingdom. The marriage caused the Queen's popularity within her own Kingdom to fall. in
Naples.
Louis the Great, Andrew's older brother, took this opportunity to seek the annexation of the Kingdom of Naples. He launched a military expedition and the first troops made their entrance to
L'Aquila on 10 May 1347. On 11 January 1348, the Hungarian troops were at
Benevento ready to invade the Kingdom of Naples. Faced with this threat, Joanna, who had retired at
Castel Nuovo and trusted the loyalty of Marseille, prepared her escape from the vengeance of Louis. Without waiting for the return of her husband, she embarked on 15 January 1348 on two galleys –property of the Marseille citizen Jacques de Gaubert– to Provence, taking with her the still devoted Enrico Caracciolo. Louis of Taranto arrived in Naples the next day and escaped in another galley. After easily taking the city of Naples, Louis the Great ordered the execution of Charles of Durazzo, Joanna's cousin and brother-in-law: he was beheaded on 23 January 1348 in the same place where Louis' brother Andrew was murdered. Joanna and Andrew's son, Charles Martel (betrothed to Charles of Durazzo's eldest daughter), who was left behind by his mother, was sent by his uncle to
Visegrád in the
Kingdom of Hungary, where he died after 10 May 1348, aged 2. After a stop-over in the
Fort de Brégançon, Joanna arrived in
Marseille on 20 January 1348, where she received a warm welcome. She swore to observe the privileges of the city and received the oath of allegiance of its inhabitants. She signed the letters patent that united the upper and lower towns, ensuring the administrative unit. She then went to
Aix-en-Provence, where her reception was very different; the Provençal barons clearly demonstrated their hostility to her. She had to take an oath to do nothing against Provence and to appoint only locals in the county posts. Joanna arrived in
Avignon on 15 March, to have a personal meeting with the Pope. Louis of Taranto joined her in
Aigues-Mortes, and the couple was received by Clement VI. Joanna's visit had a triple purpose: to obtain a dispensation for her marriage to Louis of Taranto, to receive the absolution or exoneration of Andrew's murder and to prepare the reconquest of her Kingdom. The Pope granted the couple the dispensation, appointed a commission to investigate the charges of involvement in the murder of Andrew and bought the city of Avignon for 80,000 florins, which became effectively separate from Provence. Eventually, Joanna was exonerated for the crime by the Pope. During her stay in Avignon, by the end of June, Joanna gave birth to her second child and first-born from her marriage with Louis of Taranto, a daughter called Catherine. Having learned that Louis the Great abandoned Naples after the outbreak of the
Black Death, Joanna, with her husband and newborn daughter, left Avignon on 21 July and stayed in Marseille during 24–28 July, then moved to
Sanary-sur-Mer on 30 July, then to the Fort de Brégançon on 31 July and finally arrived in Naples on 17 August 1348. One month after her arrival, she broke her previous promises on 20 September by removing Raymond d'Agoult from his post of Seneschal and appointing in his place the Neapolitan Giovanni Barrili. The public discontent forced Joanna to restore d'Agoult in his post. Over time, the Hungarians came to be viewed as barbarians by the Neapolitan people, including
Giovanni Boccaccio (who described Louis the Great as “’rabid’ and ‘more vicious than a snake’”), so it was easy for the Queen and her husband to gain popularity after their return.
Louis of Taranto On 18 August 1348, Louis, with the queen's consent, assumed the title of King of Jerusalem and Sicily, obviously without the pope's approval. From early 1349 onwards, all documents for the Kingdom were issued in the names of both husband and wife, and Louis was indisputably in control of military fortresses. On coins issued during their joint reign, Louis' name always preceded Joanna's. Although he was not officially recognised by Pope Clement VI as king and co-ruler until 1352, Neapolitans likely considered him their monarch from the moment he started acting as such. and struck down her favourite, Enrico Caracciolo, whom he accused of adultery in April 1349 and very likely had executed. A few days later, on 2 June, Françoise, by then the couple's only surviving child, died aged 8 months. In 1356 Louis and Joanna organized the reconquest of Sicily. They formally entered
Messina on 24 December 1356 after the victory of
Niccolò Acciaioli, only to be forced to leave again after a serious naval defeat by the Catalans (29 June 1357) at
Acireale. At the same time, the troops of mercenary
Arnaud de Cervole (called
the Archpriest), crossed the Durance on 13 July 1357 and plundered Provence.
Philip II of Taranto, Louis' brother (and third husband of Joanna's sister Maria since April 1355), was sent to Provence as Vicar General to fight against the forces that ravaged Provence. He bought the support of the troops of the Count of Armagnac which also showed daunting for local people. Finally
Pope Innocent VI obtained the discharge of these bands with payments. Louis of Taranto, who caught a cold while bathing, fell ill. His condition worsened over the course of a month and he died on 25 May 1362.
Personal rule The death of Louis of Taranto, a brutal and authoritarian husband, finally gave Joanna the opportunity to take back the power she had been denied. During the next three years, the Queen would take a series of measures that made her popular: she granted a pardon to Raymond des Baux on 20 March 1363, replaced Roger of San Severino by Fouques d'Agoult as Seneschal of Provence, and promulgated various edicts to prevent internal disorders. On 14 December 1362, Joanna contracted by proxy her third marriage, with
James IV, titular King of Majorca and Prince of Achaea, who was ten years her junior. The wedding took place in person five months later, in May 1363 at Castel Nuovo. Unfortunately, this marriage was also turbulent: her new husband had been imprisoned for almost 14 years by his uncle King
Peter IV of Aragon in an iron cage, an experience which left him mentally deranged. In addition to his poor mental state, another bone of contention between the couple was James IV's efforts to be involved in the government, although he was excluded from any role in the government of Naples in his marriage contract. Despite her marital troubles, in January 1365 Joanna was found to be pregnant with James IV's child, but unfortunately in June she had a miscarriage, as was noted in a letter of condolence sent to her by
Pope Urban V dated 19 July 1365. She never conceived again. Without hope of being King of Naples, James IV left Naples for Spain by the end of January 1366 and made an unsuccessful attempt to recapture Majorca. He was captured by King
Henry II of Castile, who transferred him to
Bertrand du Guesclin, who held him captive in
Montpellier. He was ransomed by Joanna in 1370 and returned to her briefly, only to depart again, this time for good. He failed in an attempt to recapture
Roussillon and
Cerdanya in 1375, and fled to Castile where he died of illness or poison at
Soria in February 1375. To assert the rights of the Holy Roman Empire over the
Kingdom of Arles,
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia crossed Avignon, and was crowned on 4 June 1365 as King of Arles at the
Church of St. Trophime, but guaranteed the rights of Joanna over Provence.
Louis I, Duke of Anjou, brother of King
Charles V of France and Lieutenant of
Languedoc, asserted a claim to Provence. With the help of the armies of Bertrand du Guesclin, he launched an attack. Avignon was ransomed, Arles and
Tarascon were besieged, but while the first was captured, the latter was saved by Provençal troops after nineteen days of unsuccessful siege. The troops of Seneschal Raymond II d'Agoult were defeated at
Céreste. The intervention of both Pope Urban V and King Charles V, as well the excommunication against du Guesclin on 1 September 1368, caused the retreat of the latter and the signing of a peace Treaty on 13 April 1369, which was followed by a truce signed on 2 January 1370. After these periods of unrest, Joanna experienced a period of relative calm, thanks to her good relations with the Holy See under Popes Urban V and
Gregory XI.
Elzéar of Sabran was canonized in 1371.
Bridget of Sweden visited Naples in 1372. Through the mediation of Gregory XI, the final peace treaty with Louis I of Anjou was signed on 11 April 1371, under which he gave up his claim over Tarascon. In addition, the Queen recovered her domains in Piedmont thanks to the success of the
condottiero Otto of Brunswick, with whom she later married. By the
Treaty of Villeneuve (1372), Joanna officially recognised as permanent the loss of
Sicily, suffered ninety years earlier in 1282. Joanna then immersed herself fully in the running of her kingdom and enjoyed every aspect of government. Although she was a fair and judicious ruler, no law or edict, however minor, was ever carried out without her personal approval and seal. Joanna's reign was also marked by her support and protection of local businesses, the creation of new industries, and her refusal to debase the currency. Crime was greatly reduced and she was an ardent promoter of peace within her vast realm. Despite the Queen's deep spirituality and friendships with
Catherine of Siena and Bridget of Sweden, her court was notable for its extravagance, with her collection of exotic animals and servants of various origins including Turkish,
Saracen, and African. The contemporary writer
Giovanni Boccaccio has left us with the following description of Queen Joanna in his
De mulieribus claris: "Joanna, queen of Sicily and Jerusalem, is more renowned than other woman of her time for lineage, power, and character". Extant images reveal her to have been blonde-haired and fair-skinned.
Western Schism Without surviving children, Joanna sought a solution to her succession by arranging the marriage in January 1369 between her niece
Margaret of Durazzo (youngest daughter of her sister Maria and her first husband Charles, Duke of Durazzo), and her first-cousin
Charles of Durazzo (in turn Joanna's second cousin; son of
Louis, Count of Gravina). This wedding was opposed by her former brother-in-law and Margaret's stepfather
Philip II, Prince of Taranto. During a near-fatal illness in November 1373, he bequeathed his claims to his brother-in-law
Francis of Baux, Duke of Andria, and his son
James. Francis laid claim by force to the rights of Philip II, which Joanna had reverted to the crown. Joanna then confiscated his property by grounds of
lèse-majesté on 8 April 1374. Joanna was now determined to undermine the position of Charles of Durazzo as a potential heir. Indeed, with the approval of Pope Gregory XI, on 25 December 1375, she signed her fourth marriage contract, with
Otto, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen, who valiantly defended her rights in Piedmont. The wedding in person took place three months later, on 25 March 1376 at Castel Nuovo. Although the new husband was reduced to the status of Prince consort, Charles of Durazzo was irritated by this union and approached Louis the Great of Hungary, Joanna's enemy. in Naples During this time, the
Western Schism developed, one of the largest fractures of Christianity in the Middle Ages. Two Popes were elected: Bartolomeo Prignano, Archbishop of Bari (who took the name of
Urban VI) and Robert, Cardinal of Geneva (who became
Clement VII). The first lived in
Rome, the second in
Avignon. After some hesitation, Joanna decided for Clement VII and supported him with 50,000 florins. Urban VI for his part encouraged the enemies of Joanna: the King of Hungary, the Duke of Andria and Charles of Durazzo. Being in a critical situation, Joanna appealed to Clement VII, who advised her to use Louis I of Anjou in her favor. France and Avignon counted on Naples to give them a foothold in Italy, if it came to resolving the schism by force. However, for Joanna, the main factor of her support to Clement VII was Urban VI's attempts to take Naples away from her and to cede part of her Kingdom to his nephew, Francesco Prignano. On 11 May 1380 Urban VI declared her a heretic and her Kingdom, a papal fief, to be forfeit and bestowed it upon Charles of Durazzo. In exchange for his help, Joanna adopted Louis I of Anjou as her heir on 29 June 1380, replacing Charles of Durazzo. This agreement realized the ambitions that the Duke of Anjou harboured for a long time. Charles of Durazzo then invaded Naples in November 1380 at the head of an army mainly composed by Hungarians. Louis I of Anjou may not have understood the gravity of the situation in Naples and didn't intervene immediately because he was forced to remain in France after his brother's death as a regent of his nephew and new King
Charles VI. , who defeated the forces of Otto of Brunswick in 1381. Joanna entrusted her husband Otto of Brunswick with the few troops she could muster, but he was unable to stop the forces of Charles of Durazzo, who on 28 June 1381 crossed the borders of the Kingdom of Naples. After Otto's defeat at
Anagni, and bypassing the Neapolitan defences at Aversa, Charles entered Naples on 16 July at 7 p.m. and besieged Joanna in Castel Nuovo. Without any help, Joanna was forced to surrender on 25 August and was imprisoned, firstly in
Castel dell'Ovo and later, in December, she was transferred to the
Castello del Parco at
Nocera Inferiore.
Catherine of Siena viewed Joanna as a demonically misguided ruler due to her support for Clement VII over Urban VI. In her letter to Joanna, Catherine told Joanna to consider her temporal position invalid by supporting the Pope in Avignon: “And if I consider your condition akin to those temporal and transitory goods that pass like the wind, you yourself have deprived yourself of them by your actions.” What Catherine was referring to was the legal position of Naples in relation to the Papacy. While Joanna had been established as the legitimate ruler of the Neapolitan Kingdom, she was also under the rule of the Pope in Rome. The Neapolitan throne had been under legal oversight of the Papacy "since the mid-thirteenth century, and the kingdom was a valuable source of revenue, prestige, and soldiers for the Church." ==Assassination==