Drogo of Hauteville
Encyclopedia
Drogo of Hauteville succeeded his brother, William Iron Arm
, with whom he arrived in southern Italy c. 1035, as the leader of the Normans
of Apulia
.
With his brother, he took part in the campaign of the Byzantine catepan
George Maniaches in Sicily (1038) and then in the campaign against the Greeks of Apulia with the Lombard prince Guaimar IV of Salerno
. In 1042, the Normans elected William as count at Melfi
and Drogo received Venosa
from Guaimar in a twelve-part division of the conquered territory. In 1044–1045, Drogo fought on behalf of his brother in Apulia. He seized Bovino
from the Greeks.
In 1046, when William died, Drogo and Peter I of Trani
were the premier candidates to succeed him. Drogo, supported by Guaimar, a good friend of William's, was duly elected as his brother's successor. The foundations of a Hauteville dynasty were set. Drogo was then approached by Ranulf Trincanocte, Count of Aversa, to reconcile him with Guaimar, which he did. In that year, he entered Apulia again and defeated the catepan
Eustathios Palatinos
near Taranto
. His brother Humphrey
, who had arrived a short while earlier, forced Bari
to conclude a treaty with the Normans. In 1047, Drogo captured Benevento
with the permission of the Holy Roman Emperor
. It turned out to be a watershed year. First, he received a daughter of Guaimar III
, named either Gaitelgrima
or Altrude, as wife. Second, the Emperor Henry III confirmed him as Dux et magister Italiae comesque Normannorum totius Apuliae et Calabriae (in English, "Duke and Master of Italy and Count of the Normans of all Apulia and Calabria"), the first legitimate comital title for the Normans of Melfi. Henry also divested Guaimar of the principality of Capua
and gave it to the old prince, Pandulf IV
.
During Drogo's reign, his half-brother Robert Guiscard
arrived in the Mezzogiorno
(c.1047). Drogo remained closely allied to Guaimar and assisted him against Pandulf after the latter's reinstallation as Count of Capua. Failing to control his barons, however, Drogo was unable to end the brigandage and feudal warfare that was convulsing the Mezzogiorno
. He had to send away both his own younger brother Robert and the newly-arrived Richard Drengot
, who attacked him and was captured. Guaimar secured Richard's release late in 1047 or early in 1048. In the latter year, Drogo commanded an expedition into Calabria
via the valley of Crati, near Cosenza
. He distributed the conquered territories in Calabria and granted Robert Guiscard a castle at Scribla to guard the entrances. In 1050, he had to aid Guaimar in putting down the rebellion of one Guillaume Barbote.
In 1051, Pope Leo IX
forced a promise from Drogo that he would stop the Norman pillaging, but he was assassinated later that year (probably by a Byzantine
conspiracy led by Argyrus) at Montoglio and was succeeded by his younger brother Humphrey
after a brief interregnum.
He had a son, Richard
, who joined the First Crusade
. Richard's son Roger
was later regent
of the principality of Antioch
.
William Iron Arm
William Iron Arm was a Norman adventurer, founder of the fortunes of the Hauteville family. One of twelve sons of Tancred of Hauteville, he journeyed to the Mezzogiorno with his younger brother Drogo in the first half of the eleventh century , in response to requests for help made by fellow...
, with whom he arrived in southern Italy c. 1035, as the leader of the Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
of Apulia
Apulia
Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
.
With his brother, he took part in the campaign of the Byzantine catepan
Catapanate of Italy
The Catepanate of Italy was a province of the Byzantine Empire, comprising mainland Italy south of a line drawn from Monte Gargano to the Gulf of Salerno. Amalfi and Naples, although north of that line, maintained allegiance to Constantinople through the catepan...
George Maniaches in Sicily (1038) and then in the campaign against the Greeks of Apulia with the Lombard prince Guaimar IV of Salerno
Guaimar IV of Salerno
Guaimar IV was Prince of Salerno , Duke of Amalfi , Duke of Gaeta , and Prince of Capua in Southern Italy over the period from 1027 to 1052. He was an important figure in the final phase of Byzantine authority in the Mezzogiorno and the commencement of Norman power...
. In 1042, the Normans elected William as count at Melfi
Melfi
Melfi is a town and comune in the Vulture area of the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata.-Geography:On a hill at the foot of Mount Vulture, Melfi is the most important town in Basilicata's Vulture, both as a tourist resort and economic centre.-Early history:Inhabited...
and Drogo received Venosa
Venosa
Venosa is a town and comune in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata, in the Vulture area. It is bounded by the comuni of Barile, Ginestra, Lavello, Maschito, Montemilone, Palazzo San Gervasio, Rapolla and Spinazzola....
from Guaimar in a twelve-part division of the conquered territory. In 1044–1045, Drogo fought on behalf of his brother in Apulia. He seized Bovino
Bovino
Bovino is a comune and hilltop town at the foot of the Irpinia mountains in the province of Foggia, in the region of Apulia/Puglia.Bovino is currently a member of the Italy's Most Beautiful Villages Club.- History :...
from the Greeks.
In 1046, when William died, Drogo and Peter I of Trani
Peter I of Trani
Peter I , also known as Petronius , was the first Norman count of Trani. He was one of the most prominent of the twelve leaders of the Norman mercenaries serving Guaimar IV of Salerno. Though it had not yet been conquered from the Byzantine Empire, Peter received Trani in the Normans' division of...
were the premier candidates to succeed him. Drogo, supported by Guaimar, a good friend of William's, was duly elected as his brother's successor. The foundations of a Hauteville dynasty were set. Drogo was then approached by Ranulf Trincanocte, Count of Aversa, to reconcile him with Guaimar, which he did. In that year, he entered Apulia again and defeated the catepan
Catapanate of Italy
The Catepanate of Italy was a province of the Byzantine Empire, comprising mainland Italy south of a line drawn from Monte Gargano to the Gulf of Salerno. Amalfi and Naples, although north of that line, maintained allegiance to Constantinople through the catepan...
Eustathios Palatinos
Eustathios Palatinos
Eustathios Palatinos was the catepan of Italy from the autumn of 1045 to September 1046. The primary source for his term of office is the chronicle of Lupus, a fellow protospatharius....
near Taranto
Taranto
Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base....
. His brother Humphrey
Humphrey of Hauteville
Humphrey of Hauteville , surnamed Abagelard, was the Count of Apulia and Calabria from 1051 to his death.Humphrey was probably the youngest son of Tancred of Hauteville by his first wife Muriel. Some sources make Geoffrey and Serlo his younger brothers...
, who had arrived a short while earlier, forced Bari
Bari
Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas...
to conclude a treaty with the Normans. In 1047, Drogo captured Benevento
Benevento
Benevento is a town and comune of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, 50 km northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill 130 m above sea-level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino and Sabato...
with the permission of the Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
. It turned out to be a watershed year. First, he received a daughter of Guaimar III
Guaimar III of Salerno
Guaimar III was duke of Salerno from around 994 to his death. His date of death is sometimes given as 1030 or 1031, but the most reliable sources consistently indicate 1027. Under his reign, Salerno entered an era of great splendour...
, named either Gaitelgrima
Gaitelgrima
Gaitelgrima is a Lombard feminine name. There are several notable Gaitelgrimas in history. The identities of these four women are often confused because they were all closely related to each other and to two men: Guaimar III of Salerno and his son, Guaimar IV, whose enumeration is often altered...
or Altrude, as wife. Second, the Emperor Henry III confirmed him as Dux et magister Italiae comesque Normannorum totius Apuliae et Calabriae (in English, "Duke and Master of Italy and Count of the Normans of all Apulia and Calabria"), the first legitimate comital title for the Normans of Melfi. Henry also divested Guaimar of the principality of Capua
Principality of Capua
The Principality of Capua was a Lombard state in Southern Italy, usually de facto independent, but under the varying suzerainty of Western and Eastern Roman Empires. It was originally a gastaldate, then a county, within the principality of Salerno....
and gave it to the old prince, Pandulf IV
Pandulf IV of Capua
Pandulf IV was the Prince of Capua on three separate occasions.From February 1016 to 1022 he ruled in association with his cousin Pandulf II. In 1018, the Byzantine catapan Boiannes destroyed the Lombard army of Melus of Bari and his Norman allies at Cannae...
.
During Drogo's reign, his half-brother Robert Guiscard
Robert Guiscard
Robert d'Hauteville, known as Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria, from Latin Viscardus and Old French Viscart, often rendered the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily, the Fox, or the Weasel was a Norman adventurer conspicuous in the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily...
arrived in the Mezzogiorno
Mezzogiorno
The Midday is a wide definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the southern half of the Italian state, encompassing the southern section of the continental Italian Peninsula and the two major islands of Sicily and Sardinia, in addition to a large number of minor islands...
(c.1047). Drogo remained closely allied to Guaimar and assisted him against Pandulf after the latter's reinstallation as Count of Capua. Failing to control his barons, however, Drogo was unable to end the brigandage and feudal warfare that was convulsing the Mezzogiorno
Mezzogiorno
The Midday is a wide definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the southern half of the Italian state, encompassing the southern section of the continental Italian Peninsula and the two major islands of Sicily and Sardinia, in addition to a large number of minor islands...
. He had to send away both his own younger brother Robert and the newly-arrived Richard Drengot
Richard I of Capua
Richard I Drengot was a count of Aversa and prince of Capua .He was the son of Asclettin, count of Acerenza, younger brother of Asclettin, count of Aversa, and nephew of Rainulf Drengot, the Norman adventurer who had first travelled to southern Italy in 1017 and progressed to set up the first...
, who attacked him and was captured. Guaimar secured Richard's release late in 1047 or early in 1048. In the latter year, Drogo commanded an expedition into Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
via the valley of Crati, near Cosenza
Cosenza
Cosenza is a city in southern Italy, located at the confluence of two historic rivers: the Busento and the Crathis. The municipal population is of around 70,000; the urban area, however, counts over 260,000 inhabitants...
. He distributed the conquered territories in Calabria and granted Robert Guiscard a castle at Scribla to guard the entrances. In 1050, he had to aid Guaimar in putting down the rebellion of one Guillaume Barbote.
In 1051, Pope Leo IX
Pope Leo IX
Pope Saint Leo IX , born Bruno of Eguisheim-Dagsburg, was Pope from February 12, 1049 to his death. He was a German aristocrat and as well as being Pope was a powerful secular ruler of central Italy. He is regarded as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, with the feast day of April 19...
forced a promise from Drogo that he would stop the Norman pillaging, but he was assassinated later that year (probably by a Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
conspiracy led by Argyrus) at Montoglio and was succeeded by his younger brother Humphrey
Humphrey of Hauteville
Humphrey of Hauteville , surnamed Abagelard, was the Count of Apulia and Calabria from 1051 to his death.Humphrey was probably the youngest son of Tancred of Hauteville by his first wife Muriel. Some sources make Geoffrey and Serlo his younger brothers...
after a brief interregnum.
He had a son, Richard
Richard of Salerno
Richard of Salerno , who is not to be confused with his homonym cousin Richard of Hauteville, was a participant in the First Crusade and regent of the County of Edessa from 1104 to 1108....
, who joined the First Crusade
First Crusade
The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...
. Richard's son Roger
Roger of Salerno
Roger of Salerno was regent of the Principality of Antioch from 1112 to 1119.He was the son of Richard of the Principate and the 2nd cousin of Tancred, Prince of Galilee, both participants on the First Crusade. He became regent of Antioch when Tancred died in 1112; the actual prince, Bohemund II,...
was later regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
of the principality of Antioch
Principality of Antioch
The Principality of Antioch, including parts of modern-day Turkey and Syria, was one of the crusader states created during the First Crusade.-Foundation:...
.
Sources
- Ghisalberti, Albert (ed). Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani: II Albicante – Ammannati. RomeRomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, 1960. - Gwatkin, H.M., Whitney, J.P. (ed) et al. The Cambridge Medieval History: Volume III. Cambridge University PressCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
, 1926. - Norwich, John JuliusJohn Julius NorwichJohn Julius Cooper, 2nd Viscount Norwich CVO — known as John Julius Norwich — is an English historian, travel writer and television personality.-Early life:...
. The Normans in the South 1016-1130. Longmans: LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, 1967. - Chalandon, Ferdinand. Histoire de la domination normande en Italie et en Sicilie. ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 1907. - Gravett, Christopher, and Nicolle, David. The Normans: Warrior Knights and their Castles. Osprey PublishingOsprey PublishingOsprey Publishing is an Oxford-based publishing company specializing in military history. Predominantly an illustrated publisher, many of their books contain full-colour artwork plates, maps and photographs, and the company produces over a dozen ongoing series, each focusing on a specific aspect of...
: OxfordOxfordThe city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, 2006. - Beech, George. A Norman-Italian Adventurer in the East: Richard of Salerno. 1993.