- Richard I of Capua
Richard I Drengot (died 1078) was a count of
Aversa (1049-1078) andprince of Capua (1058-1078).He was the son of Asclettin, count of
Acerenza , younger brother ofAsclettin , count of Aversa, and nephew ofRainulf Drengot , the Norman adventurer who had first travelled tosouthern Italy in 1017 and progressed to set up the first Norman state in the region (1030). Richard arrived in the Mezzogiorno shortly after Rainulf's death in 1046 with a coterie of forty knights.His first years in the south were not remarkable. He was considered a threat by the reigning count in Aversa,
Rainulf Trincanocte , and he took up service withHumphrey of Hauteville , brother ofDrogo of Hauteville ,count of Apulia , and then Sarule of Genzano. His plundering and pillaging with the latter caused Trincanocte to grant him his brother Asclettin's lands, but he incited Drogo to throw him in prison and there he languished until, on Trincanocte's death, the infant Count Herman needed a competentregent . The suzerain of Aversa and Apulia, PrinceGuaimar IV of Salerno , procured Richard's release and he was set up as Herman's guardian in 1048. Soon, Herman disappears from the records and Richard is titling himself count.He was present, in 1053, at the
Battle of Civitate , where he commanded the right wing against theLombards of the papal army. He charged first that day and routed the Lombard contingent, pursuing them a long distance before turning back to assist Humphrey andRobert Guiscard , turning the tide in favour of the Normans.Richard was constantly seeking territorial aggrandisement through war against his Lombard neighbours,
Pandulf VI of Capua and Guaimar's son and successor,Gisulf II of Salerno . He pushed back the borders of the latter until there was little left of the once great principality but the city ofSalerno itself and when the weak prince of Capua died in 1057, he immediately besiegedCapua and took the princely title (1058) from Pandulf's brother, Landulf VIII, but left the keys to the city in Lombard hands for at least four years more, until12 May 1062 . He betrothed his daughter to the son of Atenulf I,Duke of Gaeta , but when the boy died before the marriage took place, he demanded themorgengab anyway. The duke refused and consequently Richard besieged and tookAquino , one of the few feudatories of Gaeta remaining. Desiderius of Benevento, the abbot ofMontecassino , convinced Richard to extort only 400 "sou s" from the duke (1058), however.In February 1059, Hildebrand, the future
Pope Gregory VII , then only a high-ranking member of thePapal Curia , travelled to Capua to enlist his aid on behalf of the reformingPope Nicholas II against theantipope Benedict X . Soon, Richard was besieging poor Bendedict inGaleria and, in 1059, Nicholas convened a synod atMelfi where he confirmed Robert Guiscard as duke of Apulia,Calabria , andSicily and Richard as count of Aversa and prince of Capua. Richard swore allegiance to the papacy and respect for papal territory, completely transforming the political loyalties of the south of Italy and removing the few remaining independent Greek and Lombard princes and theHoly Roman Emperor from the picture.In 1061 he, again at Hildebrand's request, militarily installed the reformers' papal candidate Alexander II against the claims of an antipope, this time Honorius II. He was rapidly becoming a popemaker, though, in 1066, still bent on expanding in all directions his power, he marched on
Rome itself, but was beaten back by the pope's Tuscan allies.In 1062, Richard sent his son Jordan to take Gaeta from Atenulf II, but Atenulf was allowed to continue personal rule until 1064. Though, in that year, Richard and Jordan appropriated the ducal and consular titles of the Gaetan rulers. Richard quelled a later rebellion of Atenulf's and continued to expand his territory into the
Campania , as far as Rome.In 1071, when Robert Guiscard was away besieging
Palermo , his chief barons, Abelard and Herman, sons of his brother Humphrey, Peter, lord ofTrani , and the lord ofGiovinazzo rebelled with the support of Richard of Capua and Gisulf of Salerno. Though Robert quickly dispelled all threats to his power from within, he took ill and could not make an expedition against Richard, who was soon confirmed in his possessions by and allied with the new pope, Gregory VII, Hildebrand.In 1076, in response to the
Emperor Henry IV 's deposition of the pope, Robert and Richard each sent ambassadors to the other. They met midway and arranged a meeting of the two rulers at Montecassinos later that year. An alliance was formed and, the pope, by excommunicating the emperor, having proven capable of taking care of himself, the two Norman leaders sat down to besiege Gisulf in Salerno. The siege was successful and Gisulf fled to Capua, where he tried to stir up Richard against Robert, who had kept Salerno, but to no avail. Richard began to besiegeNaples , still independent, with the aid of Robert's naval blockade. Then, on3 March 1078 , the pope excommunicated Robert and Richard and soon after Richard lay dying in Capua. He quickly reconciled with the church and died. His eldest son, the aforementioned Jordan, who had been invading ecclesiastic domains in theAbruzzi at the time, travelled to Rome to renew his fealty to the papacy and be confirmed in his father's titles and possessions. Naples remained untaken.He left a younger son named Jonathan.
ources
*Norwich, John Julius. "The Normans in the South 1016-1130". London: Longmans, 1967.
*Chalandon, Ferdinand. "Histoire de la domination normande en Italie et en Sicile". Paris, 1907.External links
* [http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/NEAPOLITAN%20NOBILITY.htm#_Toc174874010 "Sicily/Naples, Nobility (Conti d'Aversa)"]
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