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The House of Caetani, or Gaetani, is the name of an Italian noble family, originally from the city of Gaeta, connected by some to the lineage of the lords of the Duchy of Gaeta, as well as to the patrician Gaetani of the Republic of Pisa. It played an important role in Rome, in the Papal States and in the Kingdom of Naples, and later in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
The Duchy of Gaeta was an early medieval state centered on the coastal South Italian city of Gaeta. It began in the early ninth century as the local community began to grow autonomous as Byzantine power lagged in the Mediterranean and the peninsula due to Lombard and Saracen incursions.
Alfonso, also called Anfuso or Anfusus (c. 1120 – 10 October 1144), was the Prince of Capua from 1135 and Duke of Naples from 1139. He was an Italian-born Norman of the noble Hauteville family. After 1130, when his father Roger became King of Sicily, he was the third in line to the throne; second in line after the death of an older brother in 1138. He was the first Hauteville prince of Capua after his father conquered the principality from the rival Norman Drengot family. He was also the first Norman duke of Naples after the duchy fell vacant on the death of the last Greek duke. He also expanded his family's power northwards, claiming lands also claimed by the Papacy, although he was technically a vassal of the Pope for his principality of Capua.
Docibilis II was the ruler of Gaeta, in one capacity or another, from 906 until his death. He was the son of the hypatus John I, who made him co-ruler in 906 or thereabouts.
John II was the duke of Gaeta, associated with his father Docibilis II and grandfather John I from 933 and sole ruler from the former's death in 954. His mother was Orania, of Neapolitan extraction. In 934, he was ruling alone with his father, his grandfather having died in the interim.
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.
Medieval Amalfi was ruled, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, by a series of dukes, sometimes called dogi, corresponding with the republic of Venice, a maritime rival throughout the Middle Ages. Before the title of Duke of Amalfi was formally established in 957, various patricians governed the territory. Amalfi established itself as one of the earliest maritime trading powers renowned throughout the Mediterranean, considered for two centuries, one of the most powerful of the maritime republics.
Richard III, also known as Richard of Caleno, was the Norman count of Carinola and last quasi-independent Duke of Gaeta, ruling from 1121 to his death. From 1113, he was regent of Gaeta for his cousin or nephew, Duke Jonathan; in 1121 he succeeded him. As duke he was a nominal vassal of the Princes of Capua, to whom he was related.
Leo II was the Duke of Gaeta briefly in early 1042. He was the last duke of the native Docibilan family. His father was the magnificus Docibilis, a grandson of Duke Gregory. His brother, Hugh, was the count of Suio.
John III was the longest-reigning Duke of Naples (928–968). He was the son and successor of Marinus I.
John III was the consul and duke of Gaeta from some time between October 984 and January 986 until his death.
John IV was the eldest son of John III of Gaeta and Emilia. He was appointed co-duke in 991 while still young. John succeeded his father in 1008 or 1009 and ruled for a brief four years.
Marinus II was the Duke of Naples from 968 to his death. He was the son and successor of John III and brought Naples back into the Byzantine fold, receiving the title eminentissimus consul et dux, atque imperialis anthipatus patricius. In 970, Marinus did homage for his duchy to the Byzantine patrician Eugene after the imprisonment of Pandulf Ironhead. He then participated in the siege of Capua. He devastated the surrounding countryside and took an enormous booty before an army of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor forced the Greeks to retreat. In 974, Marinus allied with Manso I of Amalfi and Landulf of Conza to depose Gisulf I of Salerno. They were defeated, however, by the intervention of Pandulf Ironhead. On 4 November 981, the Emperor Otto II was in Naples, probably with the permission of Marinus, who was moving away from his pro-Byzantine policy. He was succeeded by his son Sergius III.
Marinus I was probably a Hypatus of Gaeta in association with his father from 839 or thereabouts until he disappears from records abruptly in 866. From the abruptness of his disappearance, he and his father are often supposed to have been deposed violently by their successor Docibilis I. Marinus witnessed his father's land grants in 839 and later records give him the title comes. It has been suggested that a prefect of the name Kampulus was his son.
Stephen was the Prefect of Amalfi from 879 to 898. He was married to a daughter of the first known prefect Marinus.
Gregory was the Duke of Gaeta from 963 until his death. He was the second son of Docibilis II of Gaeta and his wife Orania. He succeeded his brother John II, who had left only daughters. Gregory rapidly depleted the publicum of the Duchy of Gaeta by doling it out to family members as grants. Gregory disappears from the records in 964 and was succeeded by his younger brother Marinus of Fondi over the heads of his three sons. It is possible that there was an internal power struggle between factions of the Docibilan family and that Gregory was forced out. On the other hand, perhaps he died and his sons fought a losing battle for their inheritance to Gaeta.
Lando was the Duke of Gaeta briefly in 1064–1065. He was appointed by Richard I and Jordan I, co-princes of Capua, after the revolt of William of Montreuil, who attempted to repudiate Richard's daughter and marry Maria of Gaeta.
Hugh was the Count of Suio in the Duchy of Gaeta. He was probably a son of Docibilis magnificus, who in turn was probably a son of Landolf, son of Gregory, Duke of Gaeta, and Landolf's mistress Polyssena (Pulessene). He was a brother of Duke Leo II of Gaeta.
Bernard was the Bishop of Gaeta for fifty years from his appointment in 997 until his death. He was a member of the Docibilan dynasty which ruled the Duchy of Gaeta from 867 to 1032. During his long episcopate he achieved the economic security of his see in the face of labour difficulties, annexed the diocese of Traetto to his own in or soon after 999, and witnessed the decline and replacement of his family in Gaeta.
Manso was a Lombard viceduke (vicedux) who ruled the Duchy of Amalfi during the reign of Roger Borsa, the Norman Duke of Apulia. He is known only from his coins: large, copper follari bearing the inscription MANSO VICEDUX on the reverse. Irregular and poor in quality, mostly overstrikes of Salernitan coins, they were originally attributed to Manso of Salerno (981–83).
References
- 1 2 Skinner 1995, Figure 1.1.
