The Drengots were a Norman family of mercenaries, one of the first to head to Southern Italy to fight in the service of the Lombards . They became the most prominent family after the Hautevilles .
20-471: The family came from Carreaux , near Avesnes-en-Bray , east of Rouen . From Quarrelis or Quadrellis , the Latin for Carreaux, the family gets its alternate name of "de Quarrel" . The first members of the family known are five brothers. Four of these accompanied their one exiled brother, Osmond , who had murdered one of Duke Richard I of Normandy 's hunting companions. Sources diverge as to just who among
40-504: A choice to keep his title. Roger made his third son Alfonso prince in his stead (1135). Robert fled to Pisa , where he gathered a navy and made war against Roger in Sicily, but it was a stalemate. The Pisan fleet ravaged Amalfi and took much loot. Laden with this plunder and accompanied by a papal legation, Robert went to Germany to plead for the aid of the emperor. In Spring 1137, the emperor came down with Pope Innocent II ; Henry
60-587: The Battle of Nocera on 24 July, but Roger burnt Aversa and, by 1134, forced Count Ranulf of Alife and the nominally Byzantine Duke Sergius VII of Naples to submit. Robert was given an ultimatum; if he wanted to keep his title, he must submit to Roger. After the death of Roger's wife, Elvira , and the false news of Roger's death, Robert went to Naples from Pisa with 8000 men. He was met by Rainulf and Duke Sergius when Roger arrived in June 1135, he again offered Robert
80-498: The Lombard chronicler Falco of Benevento , he was "of delicate constitution, he could endure neither labour nor hardship." In the final month of 1127, Pope Honorius II came to Benevento to preach a crusade against Count Roger II of Sicily in order to prevent the union of his county with the duchy of Apulia ( Duke William II being recently deceased). At the start of 1128, Honorius II granted investiture to Robert which made
100-525: The Pays de Bray , situated some 28 miles (45 km) east of Rouen , at the junction of the N31 and D221 roads. This Dieppe geographical article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Robert II of Capua Robert II (died 1156) was the count of Aversa and the prince of Capua from 1127 until his death . He was the only son and successor of Jordan II of Capua . According to
120-482: The duke of Apulia and then the king of Sicily . Robert II of Capua revolted against the latter and spent his life trying, with the aid of Emperor and Pope, to retake his principality, but to no avail. He died in 1156 and the Drengot power was completely broken. The five known brothers and their descendants: Ranulf Trincanocte , count of Aversa, was a son of a sibling of Asclettin of Acerenza. Whether this sibling
140-597: The Norman mercenaries, including the Drengots, excepting Rudolph, who returned with some men to Normandy. The Drengots did not rise to great heights under the elder sons, Gilbert dying at Cannae and Rudolph returning to France. It was the young, but ruthless, Ranulf who brought them to great heights. He happily employed his men in support of the ousted duke of Naples , Sergius IV , in 1029. When Sergius returned to power, he gave Ranulf not only his sister in marriage, but also
160-660: The Proud , duke of Bavaria ; and a large force. They took Benevento , Bari , and Capua itself, installing Ranulf as duke of Apulia and Robert in Capua, vindicating these actions in battle. But when the emperor left Italy, Roger sacked Capua yet again. On 25 July 1139, Robert and the pope were defeated in battle on the Garigliano , at Galluccio , ambushed by Roger. The pope was captured, though Robert escaped. They thereafter acknowledged him as principatus Capuae . He spent most of
180-586: The brothers was leader on the trip to the south: According to most south Italian sources, this last was designated leader for the Battle of Cannae in 1018. The remaining brothers were Asclettin and Ranulf , probably the younger sons. Some sources, like Glaber, claim that the band of 250 Norman warriors stopped in Rome to meet Pope Benedict VIII . They then moved on to one of the Lombard capitals: Salerno or Capua . From there they joined with Melus of Bari ,
200-471: The chief papal protector, as his ancestors had been. However, he was weak-willed and he soon fell ill and wanted out. Eventually, the coalition commenced negotiations on Roger's arrival with an army. Honorius even successfully negotiated the independence of Capua. In 1129, however, Robert submissively surrendered suzerainty to the duke of Apulia and, the next year (on 25 December 1130) it was believed by Falco of Benevento that, as Roger's vassal-in-chief, laid
220-504: The crown on his head at his royal coronation. This is difficult to believe as it was such a crucial role and Roger II would not have wanted Robert, as one of his vassals, to perform such an important task, even if he was one of the highest rank. In 1132, Robert rebelled with many other south Italian vassals of the king of Sicily and with the support of Pope Innocent II and his coalition of King Louis VI of France , King Henry I of England , and Emperor Lothair II . Robert defeated Roger at
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#1732765323483240-536: The leader of the Lombard rebels in Apulia . The Drengot Normans were successful with Melus until their defeat at Cannae in 1018. After that the Emperor Henry II came down in 1022 and pacified the region, maintaining the status quo ante between Greek and Lombard, he donated to a nephew of Melus some land in the county of Comino, in the valley of the Garigliano . This nephew of Melus brought with him many of
260-562: The next fifteen years in exile in Germany. When Alfonso died in 1144, Roger made his fourth son William prince. However, following Roger's death in 1154, there was a revolt on the mainland, led by Robert II of Basunvilla, cousin of the new king William I . When William was excommunicated by Pope Adrian IV , and with (unjustified) rumours that the Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa was set to invade southern Italy, Prince Robert
280-683: The north, in Latium and the Abruzzi . They formed the only counter to the power of the Hauteville, then conquering Calabria and Sicily . The papacy thus turned to the princes of Capua to defend them and Richard and Jordan became popemakers: they imposed, by military force, the papal candidates of Hildebrand and the Reformers . In 1077, Richard, then the equal of Robert Guiscard , began to besiege Naples , but died in 1078. Jordan did not continue
300-496: The principalities of Capua independent from Apulia. The pope endeavoured to gain Robert's loyalty to help defeat Roger II of Sicily in return for remissions of his sins. He was quickly recruited for the endeavour by the pope, who went to Capua for the ceremony. The pope probably hoped to use Capua as a counterpoise against Apulia , as in the days of Robert's grandfather and great grandfather. Likewise, Robert may have intended to be
320-582: The siege, but during his reign, the Drengot influence declined in proportion to that of the Hautevilles, who finished their conquests in Sicily and the expulsion of the Greeks from the peninsula. From 1092 to 1098, the Drengots were expelled from Capua by the Lombard citizenry. After their reinstallation, the dynasty declined more and more in relative power. They still attempted to defend the papacy, but to little success. They were forced to make submission to
340-447: The son of Asclettin, immediately besieged the city of Capua. It surrendered the next year, but Richard, though he took the princely title, left the city in the hands of its rightful prince, Landulf VIII , until 1062. Richard also established his suzerainty over Gaeta in 1058 and sent his son, Jordan , to take possession of the city in 1062, though this wasn't accomplished until 1064. Richard and Jordan worked to expand Drengot power to
360-624: The town and environs of Aversa . Ranulf immediately took to fortifying the hilltop town and the first Norman state in Italy was born. In 1042, Asclettin, who had thrown his lot in with the Hautevilles , was granted Acerenza in a twelvefold division of the conquest in Apulia. By far the most significant event in the familial history of the Drengot clan was the conquest of the principality of Capua in 1058. In 1057, Pandulf VI died and Richard ,
380-584: Was one of his known four brothers or another brother or a sister is unknown. He had a son Herman who was also count of Aversa. Avesnes-en-Bray Avesnes-en-Bray ( French pronunciation: [avɛn ɑ̃ bʁɛ] , literally Avesnes in Bray , before 1962: Avesnes ) is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France . A small farming village in
400-410: Was tempted to make a comeback. He swore homage to Adrian retook Capua (1155), taking advantage of William's serious illness. However, in the spring of 1156 William recovered and took a fleet to the mainland. He dealt, first, with the more serious threat from Robert of Basunvilla and the other Apulian and Campanian rebels, but then he turned to Capua. Robert was captured. He might have been executed as
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