Now a civil war between Sicily's aristocratic families took shape and they each formed battle camps under their respective familial flags. Although there was a large factor of personal ambition at play, as already stated, the parties' principal objective was the domination and control of the crown of Sicily. To this end, each family vied for a friendly ear of the queen-regent Elizabeth. The two groups of families in this war have come to be known respectively as the local "Latin" faction, the Chiaramonte, the Palizzi and the Scaloro degli Uberti, with whom Elizabeth sided, and the "Catalans", whose members included the families of foreign origin, the Peralta, the Alagona and the Ventimigilia. The "Catalans" found favour with Elizabeth's brother in law, the nobleman John, Duke of Randazzo (also known as the Infant John), until John made the bold and unexpected decision to seek reconciliation with his brother Peter II, who had been so far on the side of the "Latins", and who had feared the ambition of his nobleman brother. As a result, the Palizzi were exiled from the island and the "Catalans" thus gained the upper hand thanks to their favor with the Sicilian throne. This division among the descendants of King Frederic III of Sicily had thus even split up Elizabeth's family for a time, as Elizabeth remained favorable to the Palizzi faction, yet royal control remained with Duke John through his co-regency in the name of his nephew Louis II, still a minor, and therefore the Catalans remained with the upper hand. However, the opposing "Latin" faction encountered a reversal of their negative fortunes when Louis succumbed, presumably, to the plague and died in 1348, leaving Elizabeth as the sole regent in the name of her son Louis. Thereupon the "Latin" party allied to the Queen Mother seized control of the Sicilian state and recalled the exiled Palizzi.