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Richard (Riccardo) Filangieri (''c''.1195–1254/63) was an Italian nobleman who played an important part in the
Sixth Crusade The Sixth Crusade (1228–1229), also known as the Crusade of Frederick II, was a military expedition to recapture Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land. It began seven years after the failure of the Fifth Crusade and involved very little actua ...
in 1228–9 and in the War of the Lombards from 1229–43, where he was in charge of the forces of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, battling forces on the other side, local barons first led by John of Ibelin, Old Lord of Beirut. During the first half of his career Richard was a Ghibelline, but during the second a Guelph. He was a member of the
Filangieri The Filangieri (Old Norman ''Fitz Anger'', Latin ''Filii Angerii'' meaning "sons of Angerio") were an Italo-Norman noble family with origins (c.1100) near Nocera in the Kingdom of Sicily, but they rose to prominence at Naples Naples (; it, ...
family of Sicily.


Rise to influence in Italy

Richard Filangieri was the eldest son of Giordano I, lord of Nocera, and Oranpiassa. His younger brothers were Giordano II, Lothair, and Henry. He was educated as a knight and married Iacoba, daughter of Pietro Cottone, who had been made count of
Lettere Lettere is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Naples in the southern central Italian region Campania, located about 30 km southeast of Naples. Lettere borders the following municipalities: Angri, Casola di Napoli, Corbar ...
and
castellan A castellan is the title used in Medieval Europe for an appointed official, a governor of a castle and its surrounding territory referred to as the castellany. The title of ''governor'' is retained in the English prison system, as a remnant ...
of
Gragnano Gragnano, a hill town located between a mountain crest and the Amalfi Coast, is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Naples in southern Italy's Campania region, located about southeast of Naples city. Gragnano borders the fol ...
in 1198 by
Constance, Queen of Sicily Constance I ( it, Costanza; 2 November 1154 – 27 November 1198) 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, as the heiress of th ...
. By his marriage to Iacoba, Richard entered the ranks of the
Neapolitan Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to: Geography and history * Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city * Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and Hig ...
nobility, a traditional caste which had not been much open to Italo-Normans like the
Filangieri The Filangieri (Old Norman ''Fitz Anger'', Latin ''Filii Angerii'' meaning "sons of Angerio") were an Italo-Norman noble family with origins (c.1100) near Nocera in the Kingdom of Sicily, but they rose to prominence at Naples Naples (; it, ...
."Filangieri, Riccardo," ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'', 47 (Rome: Società Grafica Romana, 1997), 590–95. Richard was made ''imperialis marescalcus'' (imperial marshal) of the Kingdom of Sicily by the Emperor Frederick II. He held this title as early as 1224, but in most documents thereafter until he lost the post to Tebaldo Francesco (before June 1243, probably 1242) he is titled ''imperialis aule marescalcus''. In 1231 his brother Giordano was appointed to act as marshal in Richard's absence; Richard was then appointed
Marshal of Jerusalem Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...
. In 1225 Richard joined the court of the emperor at Palermo. In 1226–27 he followed the imperial court around northern Italy: from Rimini, to Parma, to
Borgo San Donnino Fidenza (Parmigiano: ; locally ) is a town and '' comune ''in the province of Parma, Emilia-Romagna region, Italy. It has around 27,000 inhabitants. The town was renamed Fidenza in 1927, recalling its Roman name of ''Fidentia''; before, it was ca ...
, and then back to the Capitanate. From February to May 1227 he was in Sicily, at the emperor's side in
Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...
and Palermo again.


Command in the Crusader states


Sixth Crusade and the first phase of the Lombard war

In April 1227, as part of the Sixth Crusade, Richard left for Acre with 500 knights, mostly Lombards, to augment the 800 already in the Holy Land under the
Duke of Limburg The counts of Limburg ruled a medieval county with its capital at Limbourg-sur-Vesdre, lying between Liège and Aachen. They rose to prominence when one of them was appointed Duke of Lower Lorraine. Though Lorraine was later confiscated, the d ...
, Henry IV. Richard met Frederick in the harbour of
Limassol Limassol (; el, Λεμεσός, Lemesós ; tr, Limasol or ) is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the district with the same name. Limassol is the second largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population ...
in Cyprus on 21 July 1228. Richard,
Odo of Montbéliard Odo of Montbéliard (also known as Eudes) was a leading baron of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the early 13th century. He often held the highest offices in the kingdom including ''bailli'' (viceroy) and constable (commander of the army). O ...
, and Hermann von Salza were the commanders of Frederick's Crusade, since none of them were
excommunicate Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...
(the emperor was). Filangieri was privy to Frederick's prior negotiations with al-Kāmil, the
Sultan of Egypt Sultan of Egypt was the status held by the rulers of Egypt after the establishment of the Ayyubid dynasty of Saladin in 1174 until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517. Though the extent of the Egyptian Sultanate ebbed and flowed, it generally ...
, for the return of Jerusalem, the Holy City. It is for this reason that he punished a group of knights in the spring of 1228 for raiding Muslim territory and returned their booty. Filangieri also rode out nightly to meet secretly with envoys from al-Kāmil, which led some fellow Crusaders to write a complaint to Pope Gregory IX over Frederick's "evil" agents. Richard was sent back in the fall of 1231 as imperial
legate Legate may refer to: * Legatus, a higher ranking general officer of the Roman army drawn from among the senatorial class :*Legatus Augusti pro praetore, a provincial governor in the Roman Imperial period *A member of a legation *A representative, ...
, again with a large army of mostly Lombards. When the War of the Lombards heated up over the interference of Frederick II in the affairs of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem ( la, Regnum Hierosolymitanum; fro, Roiaume de Jherusalem), officially known as the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem or the Frankish Kingdom of Palestine,Example (title of works): was a Crusader state that was establish ...
, it was Richard who represented the emperor and commanded the imperial troops. He was allied with the Teutonic Knights and
Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headqu ...
. Richard was appointed as
bailie A bailie or baillie is a civic officer in the local government of Scotland. The position arose in the burghs, where bailies formerly held a post similar to that of an alderman or magistrate (see bailiff). Baillies appointed the high constables ...
to exercise the
regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state ''pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy, ...
on behalf of Frederick, whose son
Conrad II Conrad II ( – 4 June 1039), also known as and , was the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1027 until his death in 1039. The first of a succession of four Salian emperors, who reigned for one century until 1125, Conrad ruled the kingdoms ...
was king. His rights were generally recognised but his personal authority was much circumscribed by the
Assizes The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...
and the Haute Cour. He made his headquarters at Tyre and he also held Jerusalem.


War of the Lombards

Frederick had initially attempted to take Cyprus by treachery, forcing the then regent, John of Ibelin, to hand over the regency of the boy king Henry I of Cyprus. However, when Frederick left the island, John reasserted control, and drove off the Imperial forces that attempted to re-take the island. Frederick then sent a fleet, under the command of Richard Filangieri, to the mainland, besieging John's center of power in
Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint of ...
.Christopher Marshall (1992), ''Warfare in the Latin East, 1192–1291'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 38–9. The lower city surrendered under its bishop, Galeran. While the army under his brother Lothair was besieging the citadel, Richard himself went ahead and accepted the submission of Tyre, which he placed under the control of his brother Henry. Before the citadel fell the Haute Cour—to which Richard had recently presented himself as Frederick's bailie—objected to the siege because the laws of the kingdom forbade the sovereign from declaring the forfeiture of a fief without the Cour's consent, which Frederick had not sought before Filangieri assaulted Beirut. Richard ignored their concerns and, after an embassy to Frederick in Italy failed to reverse his policy, the citadel fell. Richard had shown himself beholden to none but Frederick, and this convinced the moderate party that had been instrumental in the truce of 1228 to align themselves with the Ibelines.Hardwicke, 549. The war was thus reignited. In May 1232, in the first major battle of the war, Casal Imbert, Richard defeated his enemies, the House of Ibelin.Tyerman, 726. In June, however, his men were so soundly defeated by an inferior force at the
Battle of Agridi The Battle of Agridi was fought on 15 June 1232 between the forces loyal to Henry I of Cyprus (such as those of the Ibelin family) and the imperial army of Frederick II, composed mostly of men from Lombardy. It resulted in an Ibelin victory and t ...
in Cyprus that his support on the island evaporated. In 1233 Filangieri sought the alliance of
Bohemond V Bohemond V of Antioch (1199 − January 17, 1252)Runciman, ''History of the Crusades, vol. III, p. 278 was ruler of the Principality of Antioch, a Crusader state, from 1233 to his death. He was simultaneously Count of Tripoli. Life Bohemond V ...
,
Prince of Antioch Prince of Antioch was the title given during the Middle Ages to Norman rulers of the Principality of Antioch, a region surrounding the city of Antioch, now known as Antakya in Turkey. The Princes originally came from the County of Sicily in Sou ...
and
Count of Tripoli The count of Tripoli was the ruler of the County of Tripoli, a crusader state from 1102 through 1289. Of the four major crusader states in the Levant, Tripoli was created last. The history of the counts of Tripoli began with Raymond IV of Toulo ...
, and
Hethum II of Armenia Hethum II ( hy, Հեթում Բ; 1266– November 17, 1307), also known by several other romanizations, was king of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, ruling from 1289 to 1293, 1295 to 1296 and 1299 to 1303, while Armenia was a subject state of the M ...
, but to no avail. He requested reinforcements from Frederick, but received none. By then only Tyre remained in imperialist control, though Acre was also nominally imperial under Odo of Montbéliard, who had received half of the divided bailiwick from Frederick in 1236. Odo also had the support of the Haute Cour. In 1239–40 he was unable to establish contact with the Crusade of Theobald I of Navarre. In 1241 the Hospitallers in Acre were besieged in their fortress by the Templars, who had the support of the
commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...
. A faction of Hospitallers then allied with a faction of the bourgeoisie and conspired with Filangieri to hand the city over to his troops while the Ibelins were away. Filangieri entered the city in disguise but he and the plot were uncovered. Though escaping with his life, he was recalled to Italy by the emperor. Lothair was left in charge in Tyre. The Guelphs in Acre meanwhile had sent a request to Frederick to have Richard replaced as bailie by a man of their choosing: Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester. In 1242 or 1243 Conrad declared his own majority and on 5 June the absentee monarch's regency was granted by the Haute Court to
Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...
, widow of Hugh I of Cyprus and daughter of Isabella I of Jerusalem. Alice promptly began ruling as if queen, ignoring Conrad, who was in Italy, and ordering Richard arrested. He was shipwrecked and captured while trying to return from Italy to Tyre, leaving his brother Lothair to defend the besieged place. The city fell on 12 June, and the Ibelins seized the citadel on 7 or 10 July, with the help of Alice, whose forces arrived on 15 June.


First exile from Italy and return

Because of Richard's capture and Lothair's surrender, the entire Filangieri family fell into disgrace. Richard was eventually released and returned to Sicily, where he and his brother Henry, with Henry's son Giovanni di Sorrento, were imprisoned in Apulia by the emperor (1242/3). In his ''Chronicle'', the south Italian
Richard of San Germano Richard of San Germano ( it, Riccardo; before 1170 – after October 1243) was a notary in San Germano in the Latin Valley not far from the monastery of Monte Cassino between February 1186 and March 1232. He wrote a chronicle (sometimes ''Chron ...
records that Raymond VII of Toulouse met the emperor at Melfi in September 1242 and intervened on behalf of the defeated Filangieri. Frederick allowed Richard and his brothers to accompany the count back to Toulouse (1244).H. J. Pybus (1930), "The Emperor Frederick II and the Sicilian Church," ''Cambridge Historical Journal'', 3(2), 149–50. It is possible that Frederick's treatment of Richard and Lothair pushed another brother, Marinus Filangieri, the
Archbishop of Bari The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bari-Bitonto ( la, Archidioecesis Barensis-Bituntina) is Metropolitan Latin rite archbishopric in the administrative Bari province, Puglia (Apulia) region, southeastern Italy (the 'Heel'), created in 1986, when ...
, out of the imperial and into the Papal camp in the struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines. It was Marinus who had enlisted the aid of Raymond in securing the release of his brothers. Richard is recorded with Raymond in southern France in 1249, once at Toulouse and again at Milhaud. In September he was a witness to Raymond's will and attached his signature to it. In 1251, after the death of Frederick in 1250, he returned to Italy. He joined the rebellion of Naples, Capua, and the rest of Campania against Conrad, who was now also King of Sicily. In July he was elected '' podestà'' of the commune of Naples, a post in which he is recorded in documents dated between 1 November 1251 and 7 October 1252. On 5 November his successor, Gallo de Orbelli, was in office (until 1253). With his experience, however, Richard was the leader of the defence of Naples for eight months while Conrad besieged it. Forced to surrender, he was exiled a second time.


Second exile and return

From 1253 to 1254 Richard, through the intervention of Pope Innocent IV, was lodged at
Ariccia Ariccia (Latin: ''Aricia'') is a town and '' comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, central Italy, southeast of Rome. It is in the Alban Hills of the Lazio (Latium) region and could be considered an extension of Rome's southeastern suburbs. ...
with his nephew Henry, Archbishop-elect of Bari. Richard and Galvano Lancia, another leading nobleman of Sicily, organised a congress of Sicilian nobles at Anagni that year, where they recognised the Pope as their overlord. In October 1254 Innocent confirmed Richard in the barony of the
Terra di Lavoro Terra di Lavoro (Liburia in Latin) is the name of a historical region of Southern Italy. It corresponds roughly to the modern southern Lazio and northern Campania and upper north west and west border area of Molise regions of Italy. In Itali ...
, which Frederick had previously conferred on him; in the county of Lettere and the castle of Gragnano, to which he had a claim through his wife; and in the lordships of Calvi, Castellammare, and
Scafati Scafati () is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno, in the Campania region of southern Italy. Geography Scafati is situated on the river Sarno. Under the bridge over the river into the village, the Sarno divides into a primary and t ...
. Richard also held Satriano as regent for his nephew Richard and Riardo as regent for another nephew, Roger. There is a ''Ricardus Filangieri'' recorded under "3 November" in the necrology of Santa Patrizia in Naples, but whether it is this Richard or one of the numerous other Richards of the Filangieri clan is undeciphered. From February 1262 at Lettere a document reads ''curia nobilis viri domini Riccardi Filangerii'', but this is probably a reference to Richard's eponymous son, Richard Filangieri II, sometimes called ''iunior''. By his wife Iacoba, who died in 1271, Richard left one daughter, Isabella, who married Giacomo d'Aquino, lord of
Arienzo Arienzo is a town and '' comune'' in the Province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy. It is located across the Appian Way. Main sights On the hill above the town are the ruins of the medieval castle dismantled by Roger II of Sicily in 1135 durin ...
and
Galluccio Galluccio is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located about northwest of Naples and about northwest of Caserta. It is at the feet of the southern slopes of Monte Camino. History Prehistori ...
. Richard was definitely dead by March 1263.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Filangieri, Richard Italian untitled nobility Christians of the Fifth Crusade Christians of the Sixth Crusade 13th-century Neapolitan people Court of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor