Sources
- Norwich, John Julius. The Kingdom in the Sun 1130-1194. Longman: London, 1970.
- Matthew, Donald. The Norman Kingdom of Sicily. Cambridge University Press: 1992.
Richard of Mandra (died ca. 1170) was a Norman nobleman in the Kingdom of Sicily appointed count of Molise and chancellor by the queen regent Margaret of Navarre.
Richard was son of Hugues II, Count of Molise and Clemenza, an illegitimate daughter of Roger II of Sicily.
In 1157, as the constable of Robert II of Bassunvilla, he was captured by King William I. He joined the conspiracy of Matthew Bonnellus in 1161, but when Simon of Taranto and Tancred of Lecce assaulted the palace and William was arrested, Richard put his body between certain especially violent knights and saved the king's life. For this, he was rewarded when the rebellion collapsed. On William's death in 1166, the queen, Margaret, took up the regency for the young William II. She gave him the old and important county of Molise and the chancellery because she trusted his loyalty to the royal family.
In 1167, he was accused of having an affair with the queen, who was clearly infatuated with him. However, these claims were probably intended by his enemies solely to provoke the queen's brother, Henry, Count of Montescaglioso, into acting against Richard. In that year, however, Margaret replaced him as chancellor with Stephen du Perche.
In 1168, Bohemond of Tarsia accused Richard of conspiracy against the new chancellor. A duel was scheduled when Count Robert of Caserta came forward with a second accusation. It was alleged that the Apulian town of Mandra among others near Troia were unlawfully obtained from the crown. A jury of his peers was assembled and found him guilty of illegally retaining the lands after the flight of the caïd Peter. He was dispossessed of all his lands and when he complained to the king he was imprisoned. It is likely that the whole trial was engineered by Gilbert, Count of Gravina, a political opponent of Richard's. After being accused of plotting against the king he was also blinded. But after his death his son Roger was still allowed to inherit him as Count of Molise.
Roger II or Roger the Great was King of Sicily and Africa, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, became Duke of Apulia and Calabria in 1127, then King of Sicily in 1130 and King of Africa in 1148.
Tancred was King of Sicily from 1189 to 1194. He was born in Lecce an illegitimate son of Roger III, Duke of Apulia by his mistress Emma, a daughter of Achard II, Count of Lecce. He inherited the title "Count of Lecce" from his grandfather and is consequently often referred to as Tancred of Lecce. Due to his short stature and unhandsome visage, he was mocked by his critics as "The Monkey King".
William I, called the Bad or the Wicked, was the second king of Sicily, ruling from his father's death in 1154 to his own in 1166. He was the fourth son of Roger II and Elvira of Castile.
Constance I was reigning Queen of Sicily from 1194–98, jointly with her spouse from 1194 to 1197, and with her infant son Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1198. She is particularly notable for her actions against her own family, the Norman kings of Sicily; she played an important role in the end of the Hauteville presence in Sicily. She was also Holy Roman Empress and later Dowager by marriage to Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor.
Margaret of Navarre was Queen of Sicily as the wife of William I (1154–1166) and the regent during the minority of her son, William II.
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.
Ranulf II was the count of Alife and Caiazzo, and duke of Apulia. He was a member of the Italo-Norman Drengot family which dominated the Principality of Capua for most of the century between 1050 and 1150. Ranulf's wife, Matilda, was the sister of King Roger II of Sicily.
Stephen du Perche was the chancellor of the Kingdom of Sicily (1166–68) and Archbishop of Palermo (1167–68) during the early regency of his cousin, the queen dowager Margaret of Navarre (1166–71).
Matthew of Ajello was a high-ranking member of the Norman court of the Kingdom of Sicily in the 12th century. His brother John was a bishop.
Matthew Bonnellus was a rich knight of an ancient and influential Norman family who became the lord of Caccamo in Sicily. He is most famous as the leader of three consecutive revolts against the ammiratus ammiratorum Maio of Bari and King William I of Sicily.
Roger III was the eldest son of King Roger II of Sicily and Elvira of Castile. He was the Duke of Apulia from 1134 until his death.
Henry, born Rodrigo according to Hugo Falcandus, was an alleged son of the Navarrese king García Ramírez and his wife, Margaret of L'Aigle, and brother of the Sicilian queen dowager Margaret, who made him Count of Montescaglioso (1166) and then Prince of Taranto (1168).
Gilbert was a Norman Count of Gravina from 1159 until 1167. His father Bertrand was the illegitimate son of Rotrou III, Count of Perche. He was a cousin of Margaret of Navarre, the queen of Sicily. He arrived in Sicily sometime around 1159 and, through Margaret's influence, was created Count of Gravina in Apulia immediately.
Richard Palmer, an Englishman, was the bishop of Syracuse from 1169 and archbishop of Messina from 1182. Palmer first rose to prominence in 1160 as one of the triumvirate of grandees who replaced the assassinated Admiral Maio of Bari. He was "a man of great learning and eloquence," according to Hugo Falcandus.
Robert of Bassunvilla was the count of Conversano and Loritello. His family had a long history in Vassonville, near Dieppe.
The House of Hauteville was a Norman family originally of seigneurial rank from the Cotentin. The Hautevilles rose to prominence through their part in the Norman conquest of southern Italy. By 1130, one of their members, Roger II, was made the first King of Sicily. His male-line descendants ruled Sicily until 1194. Some Italian Hautevilles took part in the First Crusade and the founding of the Principality of Antioch (1098).
Richard the Qaid was a senior official of the royal council in the court of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily at Palermo during the latter years of the reign of William I of Sicily and during the regency of his wife, Margaret of Navarre, for their son William II. He was already the Great Chamberlain, or magister camerarius, when William I died in 1166.
Bohemond II was the count of Manoppello, succeeding his father, Bohemond I, in 1156 or 1157. He was an Italian noble at the time.
The Norman conquest of southern Italy lasted from 999 to 1194, involving many battles and independent conquerors.
Robert of Lauro was the Count of Caserta, a powerful nobleman and administrator in the Kingdom of Sicily, "effectively the king's viceroy on the mainland" between 1171 and his death. He was a close colleague of Count Tancred of Lecce, the future king. His influence helped his cousin Roger become Archbishop of Benevento (1179–1225).
