Richard II (died 1105/06), called ''the Bald'', was the count of Aversa and the

prince of Capua This is a list of the rulers of the Principality of Capua. Lombard rulers of Capua Gastalds and counts The gastalds (or counts) of Capua were vassals of the princes of Benevento until the early 840s, when Gastald Landulf began to clamour for the ...

from 1090 or 1091. He was under the guardianship of Count Robert of Caiazzo until he came of age in 1093. The eldest son and successor of

Jordan I of Capua Jordan I ( it, Giordano) (after 1046 – 1091), count of Aversa and prince of Capua from 1078 to his death, was the eldest son and successor of Prince Richard I of Capua and Fressenda, a daughter of Tancred of Hauteville and his second wife, ...

and Gaitelgrima, daughter of Prince

Guaimar IV of Salerno Guaimar IV (c. 1013 – 2, 3 or 4 June 1052) was Prince of Salerno (1027–1052), Duke of Amalfi (1039–1052), Duke of Gaeta (1040–1041), and Prince of Capua (1038–1047) in Southern Italy over the period from 1027 to 1052 ...

, he was named after his grandfather,

Richard I of Capua Richard Drengot (died 1078) was the count of Aversa (1049–1078), prince of Capua (1058–1078, as Richard I) and duke of Gaeta (1064–1078). Early career in Italy Richard, who came from near Dieppe in the Pays de Caux in eastern Normandy, wa ...

. While digressing on this impressive lineage, the chronicler William of Apulia in his ''The Deeds of Robert Guiscard'' says that he "though now only a young man, already shows courage worthy of an adult." He succeeded to his father's dominions at a very young age and immediately he and his family were thrown out of their city by the capricious Capuans. The

counts of Aquino Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York ...

rose in rebellion and attacked

Soria Soria () is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria. Its population is 38,881 ( INE, 2017), 43.7% of the provincial populati ...

, defended by Richard's uncle,

Jonathan, Count of Carinola Jonathan I (died 1094) was the youngest son of Richard I of Capua. According to the ''Chronicon Amalfitanorum'', however, he was a son of Jordan I, who was actually his brother, and married a sister of Roger I of Sicily, which may be accurate. Du ...

. Richard was an exile for the next seven years (during which a Lombard named Lando IV reigned) until, upon reaching his majority, he requested the aid of his great uncle, the

count 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 o ...

Roger I Roger I may refer to: :''In chronological order'' * Roger I of Carcassonne (died 1012), Count of Carcassonne * Roger I of Tosny (), Norman noble * Roger I "de Berkeley" (died 1093), Norman noble, possibly the son of Roger I of Tosny - see Baron ...

, and his first cousin once removed, the

duke of Apulia The County of Apulia and Calabria (), later the Duchy of Apulia and Calabria (), was a Norman state founded by William of Hauteville in 1042 in the territories of Gargano, Capitanata, Apulia, Vulture, and most of Campania. It became a duchy whe ...

Roger Borsa Roger Borsa (1060/1061 – 22 February 1111) was the Norman Duke of Apulia and Calabria and effective ruler of southern Italy from 1085 until his death. Life Roger was the son of Robert Guiscard and Sikelgaita, a Lombard noblewoman. His ambiti ...

. The two Rogers came, the former in exchange for the city of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

and the latter for Richard's recognition of Apulian suzerainty, in May 1098 and besieged Capua for forty days. It was an interesting siege, for

Pope Urban II Pope Urban II ( la, Urbanus II; – 29 July 1099), otherwise known as Odo of Châtillon or Otho de Lagery, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 March 1088 to his death. He is best known for convening th ...

, embroiled in a controversy with Count Roger, came down to discuss the legatine power in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

with him and Anselm of Aosta, the

archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...

in self-exile from King

William II of England William II ( xno, Williame; – 2 August 1100) was King of England from 26 September 1087 until his death in 1100, with powers over Normandy and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales. The third so ...

, came to meet the pope. With the aid of Sicilian

Saracens upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia ...

, the city fell and the prince was reinstated, Apulian suzerainty acknowledged, and the pope and the count withdrew to

Salerno Salerno (, , ; nap, label= Salernitano, Saliernë, ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' in Campania (southwestern Italy) and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after ...

. The final eight years of his reign were uneventful and he left no heir and was succeeded by his younger brother

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

when he died (in 1105 or, more probably, 1106). Though he had accepted doing homage to the Hauteville duke of Apulia, his successors did not and Capua returned to ''de facto'' independence under them. Richard's confessor was Bishop Bernard of Carinola.

Sources

*William of Apulia, ''The Deeds of Robert Guiscard'
Books One
(pdf) * Norwich, John Julius. ''The Normans in the South 1016-1130''. Longmans:

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, 1967. , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Richard 02 Of Capua 1106 deaths Italo-Normans Norman warriors Counts of Aversa Princes of Capua Year of birth unknown