- Loritello
Loritello was an
Italo-Norman county along theAdriatic north of theGargano . It was carved out of the eastern seaboard of thePrincipality of Benevento following theBattle of Civitate in 1053 by members of theHauteville family . The last Count of Loritello died in 1184 and the title was never revived.Geoffrey of Hauteville , a younger brother of Humphrey,Count of Apulia , began the conquest of what would become Loritello when he attacked the Lombard county ofLarino and captured the castle ofMorrone in Samnium Guillamatum. In 1061, Geoffrey's son Robert too the title "primo comiti de Loritello": first count of Loritello. Robert continued expanding his county by conquering the county of Teate (modernChieti ), with which he invested his brother Drogo, and attackingOrtona , which was to become the chief objective of the count's latter career. Robert was at odds with the church, whosePapal States neighboured Loritello. In 1080, Robert counted men, both Lombard and Norman, as far as the riverPescara as his vassals andPope Gregory VII , concluding a truce with Robert's overlord,Robert Guiscard , recognised Loritello as Robert's and requested that papal lands be treated with respect.In the early twelfth century, Loritello was extended across the
Fortore to includeBovino andDragonara . Robert' successors, Robert II and William, allied themselves with the Church and the Empire and opposed their own overlords, for which reasons Loritello was confiscated. It remained a part of theroyal demesne of theKingdom of Sicily until William the Bad granted it to Robert of Bassunvilla in 1154.Under Robert III, Loritello enjoined near complete autonomy from royal officials and the counts retained the right to administer justic ("justiciaria"). The power of the county peaked during the regency of William the Good, but afterwards declined and when Robert III died in 1184, the county was not regranted.
ource
*Matthew, Donald. "The Norman Kingdom of Sicily (Cambridge Medieval Textbooks)", 1992.
* [http://www.norman-world.com/angleterre/histoires/index_histoires.htm History of the Norman World] .
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