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Gregory III (died March 870), eldest son of Sergius I of Naples and Drusa, was the duke of Naples as co-regent with his father from 850 and as successor to his father from his father's death in 864 to his own some six years later. He was recorded as a man of learning, fluent in both Greek and Latin.
Sergius I was the first duke of Naples of his dynasty, often dubbed the "Sergi," which ruled over Naples for almost three centuries from his accession in 840 until the death of his namesake Sergius VII in 1137.
The Dukes of Naples were the military commanders of the ducatus Neapolitanus, a Byzantine outpost in Italy, one of the few remaining after the conquest of the Lombards. In 661, Emperor Constans II, highly interested in south Italian affairs, appointed a Neapolitan named Basil dux or magister militum. Thereafter a line of dukes, often largely independent and dynastic from the mid-ninth century, ruled until the coming of the Normans, a new menace they could not weather. The thirty-ninth and last duke, Sergius VII, surrendered his city to King Roger II of Sicily in 1137.
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It has the longest documented history of any living Indo-European language, spanning more than 3000 years of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history; other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic, and many other writing systems.
During his tenure, his brothers played a significant role. Caesar was his admiral, Athanasius was bishop of the city, and Stephen was bishop of Sorrento. Sergius, their father, allied with Landulf, the gastald of Suessola and Sessa [Note 1] and son of Lando I, Count of Capua.
A gastald was a Lombard official in charge of some portion of the royal demesne with civil, martial, and judicial powers. By the Edictum Rothari of 643, the gastalds were given the civil authority in the cities and the reeves the like authority in the countryside. Under the Lombard dominion, territories were delimited by giudicati or "judgments" among the several gastalds. From the immediate region of Parma and of Piacenza, numerous such giudicati survive, which cover the range of Lombard rule. The documents follow the same formalized structure, of which one between the gastald Daghiberto and the gastald Immo was adjudged by Adaloald, at Ticino, November 615.
Lando I was the count of Capua from 843. He was the eldest son and successor of Landulf the Old. Like his father, he supported Siconulf against Radelchis in the civil war dividing the Principality of Benevento in the 840s.
In 859, Gregory received the Byzantine title of magister militum . In May that year, a massive joint expedition of Salerno, Naples, and Amalfi marched on Capua, led by Caesar and Gregory, and their brother-in-law of Suessola. Lando I was in a paralysis at that time and his son Lando II took up arms to defend the city. He defeated the forces sent against them, numbering some 7,000, at the bridge of Teodemondo over the Volturno. Caesar was captured with 800 soldiers and led back to Capua in a triumph. Erchempert places the battle on 8 May, the day of Michael the Archangel, whose cult was popular among the Lombards. It is therefore significant to Erchempert (a Lombard) that the Lombard Lando should defeat a largely Greek army on such a day.
Magister militum was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. Used alone, the term referred to the senior military officer of the Empire. In Greek sources, the term is translated either as strategos or as stratelates.
Salerno is an ancient city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. The city is divided into three distinct zones: the medieval sector, the 19th century sector and the more densely populated post-war area, with its several apartment blocks.
The Duchy of Naples began as a Byzantine province that was constituted in the seventh century, in the reduced coastal lands that the Lombards had not conquered during their invasion of Italy in the sixth century. It was governed by a military commander (dux), and rapidly became a de facto independent state, lasting more than five centuries during the Early and High Middle Ages. The modern city of Naples remains a significant region of Italy, today.
Sergius, before dying, bade his son to follow the counsel of his brother the bishop, who was a familiaris of the Emperor Louis II and a papal legate with connections in the Roman curia. In 866, Gregory personally accompanied Louis against Capua, Salerno, and Amalfi. In the spring of 867, however, he commended himself and his duchy to the Byzantine emperor Basil I and began minting Byzantine coins with Basil's effigy again. Gregory fell seriously ill in January 870 and left the government to his son Sergius II, who was succeeded by his other son, Athanasius II. He died in March.
Basil I, called the Macedonian was a Byzantine Emperor who reigned from 867 to 886. Born a simple peasant in the theme of Macedonia, he rose in the Imperial court. He entered into the service of Theophilitzes, a relative of Emperor Michael III, and was given a fortune by the wealthy Danielis. He gained the favour of Michael III, whose mistress he married on the emperor's orders, and was proclaimed co-emperor in 866. He ordered the assassination of Michael the next year. Despite his humble origins, he showed great ability in running the affairs of state. He was the founder of the Macedonian dynasty. He was succeeded upon his death by his son Leo VI.
Sergius II was Duke of Naples from 870 to 877.
Athanasius was the Bishop and Duke of Naples from 878 to his death. He was the son of Gregory III and brother of Sergius II, whom he blinded and deposed in order to seize the throne while he was already bishop.
