Thomas I of Aquino (before 1210 – 27 February 1251), usually known as Thomas of Aquino, was Count of

Acerra Acerra () is a town and ''comune'' of Campania, southern Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Naples, about northeast of the capital in Naples. It is part of the Agro Acerrano plain. History Acerra is one of the most ancient cities of the regio ...

from 1220 and a follower of

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

and

King of Sicily The monarchs of Sicily ruled from the establishment of the County of Sicily in 1071 until the "perfect fusion" in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1816. The origins of the Sicilian monarchy lie in the Norman conquest of southern Italy which occ ...

, Frederick II. The son of Adenolfo d'Aquino, Thomas came from a noble family from Aquino which included the famous theologian

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...

Early life

Thomas was a supporter of the young Frederick as

King of Germany This is a list of monarchs who ruled over East Francia, and the Kingdom of Germany (''Regnum Teutonicum''), from the division of the Frankish Empire in 843 and the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 until the collapse of the German Empir ...

and fought against the emperor

Otto IV Otto IV (1175 – 19 May 1218) was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1209 until his death in 1218. Otto spent most of his early life in England and France. He was a follower of his uncle Richard the Lionheart, who made him Count of Poitou in 1196 ...

, who invaded southern Italy in 1210. He was appointed Count of Acerra after Frederick's imperial coronation in 1220 at the same time that his cousin Landulf von Aquino, the father of the church scholar Thomas, was appointed legal advisor at

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 Italian th ...

. In

Capua Capua ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, situated north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. History Ancient era The name of Capua comes from the Etrusc ...

, Thomas was entrusted with fighting the rebellious Thomas of Celano, Count of

Molise Molise (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Neapolitan, Mulise) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy. Until 1963, it formed part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise, alongside the region of Abruzzo. The split, which did not become effe ...

, and the taking of

Roccamandolfi Roccamandolfi is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Isernia in the Italy, Italian region Molise, located about southwest of Campobasso and about southeast of Isernia. Roccamandolfi borders the following municipalities: Cantalupo n ...

. In January 1221 he was appointed the emperor's deputy in

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

and Terra di Lavoro. In his new offices, Thomas immediately came into conflict with

Honorius III Pope Honorius III (c. 1150 – 18 March 1227), born Cencio Savelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 18 July 1216 to his death. A canon at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, he came to hold a number of import ...

when, in accordance with a strict implementation of the resolutions of Capua, which provided for a revocation of privileges, he demanded fees and charges for the imperial treasury from the city of

Benevento Benevento (, , ; la, Beneventum) is a city and ''comune'' of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the ...

. Benevento was a papal enclave in the

Kingdom of Sicily The Kingdom of Sicily ( la, Regnum Siciliae; it, Regno di Sicilia; scn, Regnu di Sicilia) was a state that existed in the south of the Italian Peninsula and for a time the region of Ifriqiya from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 un ...

, but Frederick II did not renew one of the city's privileges, legitimizing Thomas' approach. Feelings of revenge may also have played a role, as Thomas was once imprisoned in Benevento in 1213. In May 1221, Honorius III became personally involved in this matter and successfully urged the emperor to respect Benevento's status as papal property. In 1225, Frederick married

Isabella II of Jerusalem Isabella II (12124 May 1228), also known as Yolande of Brienne, was a princess of French origin, the daughter of Maria, the queen-regnant of Jerusalem, and her husband, John of Brienne. She was reigning Queen of Jerusalem from 1212 until her death ...

, heiress to 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 establishe ...

. Frederick immediately saw to it that his new father-in-law

John of Brienne John of Brienne ( 1170 – 19–23 March 1237), also known as John I, was King of Jerusalem from 1210 to 1225 and Latin Emperor of Constantinople from 1229 to 1237. He was the youngest son of Erard II of Brienne, a wealthy nobleman in Champag ...

, the current king of Jerusalem, was dispossessed and his rights transferred to the emperor. In particular,

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). ...

, the ''

bailli A bailiff (french: bailli, ) was the king's administrative representative during the ''ancien régime'' in northern France, where the bailiff was responsible for the application of justice and control of the administration and local finances in h ...

'' of the kingdom, was replaced by Thomas in 1227.La Monte, John L. �
John d'Ibelin: The Old Lord of Beiruit, 1177-1236
” ''Byzantion'', Volume 12, No. 1/2, Peeters Publishers (1937), pp. 426–427, footnote 7.

Sixth Crusade

In July 1227, Thomas and

Hermann of Salza Hermann von Salza (or Herman of Salza; c. 1165 – 20 March 1239) was the fourth Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1210 to 1239. A skilled diplomat with ties to the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope, Hermann oversaw the expansio ...

, master of the

Teutonic Knights The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

, led an advance command of 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 ...

to the Holy Land. There he served as an envoy to the Egyptian sultan

al-Kamil Al-Kamil ( ar, الكامل) (full name: al-Malik al-Kamil Naser ad-Din Abu al-Ma'ali Muhammad) (c. 1177 – 6 March 1238) was a Muslim ruler and the fourth Ayyubid sultan of Egypt. During his tenure as sultan, the Ayyubids defeated the Fifth Cru ...

, informing him of the emperor's imminent arrival. In the spring of 1228 he wrote a letter to the imperial court in which he reported on the death of

al-Mu'azzam Al-Mu'azzam or al-Muʿaẓẓam ( ar, المعظم, al-Muʿaẓẓam, exalted, label=none) may refer to: * Al-Mu'azzam Isa, emir of Damascus as ''al-Mu'azzam I'' (1218–1227) * Al-Mu'azzam Turanshah, emir of Damascus as ''al-Mu'azzam II'' (1249– ...

, al-Kamil's brother who ruled Damascus, which prompted the recently excommunicated Frederick to begin his crusade. In July 1228, Thomas rejoined the imperial entourage in

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 ...

and took part in the persecution of John of Ibelin. Together with

Balian of Sidon Balian I Grenier was the Count of Sidon and one of the most important lords of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1202 to 1241. He succeeded his father Renaud. His mother was Helvis, a daughter of Balian of Ibelin. He was a powerful and important re ...

, he continued as a mediator with al-Kamil, visiting him in

Nablus Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...

and Gaza. Thomas developed a relationship of trust with the sultan as did the sultan's own diplomat

Fakhr ad-Din ibn as-Shaikh Fakhr al-Din ibn al-Shaykh (before 1211 – 8 February 1250) was an Egyptian emir of the Ayyubid dynasty. He served as a diplomat for sultan al-Kamil from 1226 to 1228 in his negotiations with the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II leading to the end ...

with the emperor. This resulted in a mutual agreement between the emperor and the sultan that on 18 February 1229 returned most of Jerusalem to Christianity without war. Through his mediation work, Thomas was also able to get al-Ashraf Musa, al-Kamil's brother and emir of Damascus, to sign the treaty.

After the Crusade

After returning to Italy in August 1229, Thomas was entrusted with the submission of Capua, taken by papal troops during the absence of Frederick. He was replaced as ''bailli'' by

Richard Filangieri Richard (Riccardo) Filangieri (''c''.1195–1254/63) was an Italian nobleman who played an important part in the Sixth Crusade in 1228–9 and in the War of the Lombards from 1229–43, where he was in charge of the forces of Frederi ...

in Tyre and

in Acre. In

Melfi Melfi (Neapolitan language, Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Vulture area of the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. Geographically, it is midway between Naples and Bari. In 2015 it had a population of 17,7 ...

in 1231, he was appointed ''Capitaneus regni'' (regent) of the

during absence of the emperor in northern Italy. He followed him there himself in 1233, where he took over the rectorate of

Cremona Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' ( Po Valley). It is the capital of th ...

with the consent of the local population. When the emperor set out for Germany a second time in 1235, Thomas was accepted into the Regency Council in

Fano Fano is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region of Italy. It is a beach resort southeast of Pesaro, located where the ''Via Flaminia'' reaches the Adriatic Sea. It is the third city in the region by popula ...

. In 1242, Thomas was sent a second time to the Holy Land to act there as deputy to the emperor and from April 1243 for

Conrad II of Jerusalem Conrad (25 April 1228 – 21 May 1254), a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was the only son of Emperor Frederick II from his second marriage with Queen Isabella II of Jerusalem. He inherited the title of King of Jerusalem (as Conrad II) up ...

in his role as regent. In doing so, he faced opposition from the same local barons under the leadership of the

House of Ibelin The House of Ibelin was a noble family in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century. They rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most important families in the kingdom, holding various high offices and with extensive holdin ...

that had ousted Filangieri. At a general council held in

Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

on 5 June 1243 , the barons and prelates of the kingdom approved the position of legal scholar

Philip of Novara Philip of Novara (c. 1200 – c. 1270) was a medieval historian, warrior, musician, diplomat, poet, and lawyer. born at Novara, Italy, into a noble house, who spent his entire adult life in the Middle East. He primarily served the Ibelin famil ...

than no oath to the king could be taken as long as he did not appear in his kingdom. As a result, the government established by Conrad II could not be recognized as legitimate, and the council installed

Alice of Cyprus Alice of Champagne (french: Alix; 1193 – 1246) was the queen consort of Cyprus from 1210 to 1218, regent of Cyprus from 1218 to 1223, and of Jerusalem from 1243 to 1246. She was the eldest daughter of Queen Isabella I of Jerusalem and Count Hen ...

and her husband Raoul of Nesle. Thomas returned to Italy just prior to the loss of took the port city of Tyre, the last base of the

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty ...

rule in the Holy Land.

Family

From his marriage to a woman whose name was unknown, Thomas had two sons, Adenolfo (died 1242) and Ciacopo (died after 1252). Adenolfo's son Thomas II of Aquino (died 15 March 1273) succeeded him as Count of Acerra.Conti d'Acerra
Medieval Lands Project (2019).

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas 01 of Aquino Christians of the Sixth Crusade People from the Province of Frosinone 1251 deaths Year of birth unknown Court of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor