Princes Of Taranto
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Princes Of Taranto
The Principality of Taranto () was a state in southern Italy created in 1088 for Bohemond I, eldest son of Robert Guiscard, as part of the peace between him and his younger brother Roger Borsa after a dispute over the succession to the Duchy of Apulia. Taranto became the capital of the principality, which covered almost all of the heel of Apulia. During its subsequent 377 years of history, it was sometimes a powerful and almost independent feudal fief of the Kingdom of Sicily (and later of Naples), sometimes only a title, often given to the heir to the crown or to the husband of a reigning queen. When the House of Anjou was divided, Taranto fell to the house of Durazzo (1394–1463). Ferdinand I of Naples united the Principality of Taranto, to the Kingdom of Naples, at the death of his wife, Isabella of Clermont. The principality came to an end, but the kings of Naples continued giving the title of Prince of Taranto to their sons, firstly to the future Alfonso II of Naples ...
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Kingdom Of Sicily
The Kingdom of Sicily (; ; ) was a state that existed in Sicily and the southern Italian peninsula, Italian Peninsula as well as, for a time, in Kingdom of Africa, Northern Africa, from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy, Norman conquest of the southern peninsula. The island was divided into Three valli of Sicily, three regions: Val di Mazara, Val Demone and Val di Noto. After a brief rule by Charles of Anjou, a revolt in 1282 known as the Sicilian Vespers threw off Capetian House of Anjou, Angevin rule in the island of Sicily. The Angevins managed to maintain control in the mainland part of the kingdom, which became a separate entity also styled ''Kingdom of Sicily'', although it is retroactively referred to as the Kingdom of Naples. Sicily (officially known as the Kingdom of Trinacria between 1282 and 1442) at the other hand, remained a ...
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Hauteville Family
The Hauteville family (, ) was a Normans, Norman family, originally of petty lords, from the Cotentin, Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy. The Hautevilles rose to prominence through their part in the Norman conquest of southern Italy. In 1130, Roger II of Sicily, Roger II of Hauteville, was made the first King of Sicily. His male-line descendants ruled the kingdom until 1194. The Hauteville also took part in the First Crusade and ruled the independent Principality of Antioch (1098). Origins Tradition traces the family's origins to Hiallt, a 10th-century Vikings, Viking who supposedly founded the village of ''Hialtus villa'', from which the family's name originates. Hiallt, however, is probably just a legendary eponymous ancestor: the Latin form of Hauteville, ''Altavilla'', simply means "high estate". The first well-documented member of the family is Tancred of Hauteville, petty lord of Hauteville-la-Guichard. Tancred had many sons by his two wives, Muriella and Fressenda, and his sm ...
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Tancred Of Sicily
Tancred or Tankred is a masculine given name of Germanic origin that comes from ''thank-'' (thought) and ''-rath'' (counsel), meaning "well-thought advice". It was used in the High Middle Ages mainly by the Normans (see French Tancrède) and especially associated with the House of Hauteville after the Norman conquest of southern Italy.Alfonso Burgio, ''Dizionario dei nomi propri di persona'' (Rome: Hermes Edizioni, 1992), p. 327. It is rare today as a first name, but still common as a Norman surname: ''Tanqueray'', ''Tanquerey'', ''Tanqueret''. Its Italian form is Tancredi and in Latin it is Tancredus. Its Italian patronymic is also Tancredi. People with the given name In chronological order: * Tancred, Torthred, and Tova (died 869 or 870), Anglo-Saxon siblings who were saints, hermits, and martyrs * Tancred of Hauteville (c. 980–1041), minor Norman lord, founder of the Hauteville family * Tancred, Prince of Galilee (1075–1112), a leader of the First Crusade * Tancred, C ...
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William II Of Sicily
William II (December 115311 November 1189), called the Good, was king of Sicily from 1166 to 1189. From surviving sources William's character is indistinct. Lacking in military enterprise, secluded and pleasure-loving, he seldom emerged from his palace life at Palermo. Yet his reign is marked by an ambitious foreign policy and a vigorous diplomacy. Champion of the papacy and in secret league with the Lombard cities, he was able to defy the common enemy, Frederick Barbarossa. In the ''Divine Comedy'', Dante places William II in Paradise. He is also referred to in Boccaccio's '' Decameron'' (tale IV.4, where he reportedly has two children, and tale V.7). William was nicknamed "the Good" only in the decades following his death. It is due less to his character than to the cessation of the internal troubles that plagued his father's reign and the wars that erupted under his successor. Under the Staufer dynasty his reign was characterised as a golden age of peace and justice. His nu ...
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Capua
Capua ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, located on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. History Ancient era The name of Capua comes from the Etruscan ''Capeva''. The meaning of the name is 'City of Marshes'. Its foundation is attributed by Cato the Elder to the Etruscans, and the date is given as about 260 years before it was "taken" by Rome. That, if true, refers not to its capture in the Second Punic War (211 BC), but to its submission to Rome in 338 BC. That places the date of foundation at about 600 BC, while Etruscan power was at its highest. In the area, several settlements of the Villanovian civilization were present in prehistoric times. These were probably enlarged by the Oscans, and subsequently by the Etruscans. Etruscan supremacy in Campania came to an end with the Samnites' invasion in the latter half of the 5th century BC. In about 424 BC, Capua was captured by the Samnites, and i ...
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Simon, Prince Of Taranto
Simon, bastard son of Roger II of Sicily, was declared Prince of Taranto by his father in 1148, on the death of Roger III, Duke of Apulia, the eldest legitimate son of Roger II. In 1154, Roger II died and the kingdom of Sicily passed to his fourth son, William I. William dispossessed his half-brother Simon immediately, claiming that Taranto was too important a fief to go to an illegitimate son. Simon held a grudge against the king and was called upon by Matthew Bonnellus to lead the revolt in the capital city of Palermo in 1161. This Simon did, with his nephew, Tancred of Lecce Tancred (; 113820 February 1194) was King of Sicily from 1189 to 1194. He was born in Lecce, an illegitimate son of Roger III, Duke of Apulia (the eldest son of King Roger II) by his mistress Emma, a daughter of Achard II, Count of Lecce. H ..., the bastard son of Roger of Apulia, on 9 March. Simon and Tancred invaded the palace, detained King William, Queen Margaret, and their two sons, and incited ...
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William I Of Sicily
William I (1120 or 1121 7 May 1166), 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. William's title "the Bad" seems little merited and expresses the bias of the historian Hugo Falcandus and the baronial class against the king and the official class by whom he was guided. Early life William was the son of King Roger II of Sicily, grandson of Count Roger I of Sicily, and great-grandson of Tancred of Hauteville. He grew up with little expectation of ruling. The deaths of his three older brothers Roger, Tancred, and Alfonso between 1138 and 1148 changed matters, though when his father died William was still not well-prepared to take his place. Kingship On assuming power, William kept the administration which had guided his father's rule for his final years. Only the Englishman Thomas Brun was removed, and the chancellor Maio of Bari was promo ...
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Bari
Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and university city as well as the city of Saint Nicholas. The city itself has a population of 315,473 inhabitants, and an area of over , while the urban area has 750,000 inhabitants. Its Metropolitan City of Bari, metropolitan province has 1.2 million inhabitants. Bari is made up of four different urban sections. To the north is the closely built old town on the peninsula between two modern harbours, with the Basilica di San Nicola, Basilica of Saint Nicholas, the Cathedral of San Sabino (1035–1171) and the Castello Normanno-Svevo (Bari), Norman-Swabian Castle, which is now also a major nightlife district. To the south is the Murat quarter (erected by Joachim Murat), the modern heart of the city, which is laid out on a rectangular grid-plan ...
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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 1043, composed of the territories of Gargano, Capitanata, Apulia, Vulture, and most of Campania. It became a duchy when Robert Guiscard was raised to the rank of duke by Pope Nicholas II in 1059. The duchy was disestablished in 1130, when the last duke of Apulia and Calabria, Roger II, became King of Sicily. The title of duke was thereafter used intermittently as a title for the heir apparent to the Kingdom of Sicily. Creation William I of Hauteville returned to Melfi in September 1042 and was recognized by all the Normans as supreme leader. He turned to Guaimar IV, Prince of Salerno, and Rainulf Drengot, Count of Aversa, and offered both an alliance. With the unification of the Norman families of Altavilla and Drengot, Guaimar gave official recognition to the Norman conquests. At the end of the year and extending into 1043, William a ...
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Roger II Of Sicily
Roger II or Roger the Great (, , Greek language, Greek: Ρογέριος; 22 December 1095 – 26 February 1154) was King of Kingdom of Sicily, Sicily and Kingdom of Africa, Africa, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon, Count of Sicily, 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 Ifriqiya#Norman kings of the Kingdom of Africa (Ifriqiya), King of Africa in 1148. Background By 999, Normans, Norman adventurers had arrived in southern Italy. By 1016, they were involved in the complex local politics, where Lombards were fighting against the Byzantine Empire. As mercenaries they fought the enemies of the Italian city-states, sometimes fighting for the Byzantines and sometimes against them, but in the following century they gradually became the rulers of the major polities south of Rome. Roger I ruled the County of Sicily at the time of the birth of his youngest son, Roger, a ...
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Bohemond II Of Antioch
Bohemond II (1107/1108 – February 1130) was Prince of Taranto from 1111 to 1128 and Prince of Antioch from 1111/1119 to 1130. He was the son of Bohemond I, who in 1108 was forced to submit to the authority of the Byzantine Empire in the Treaty of Devol. Three years later, the infant Bohemond inherited the Principality of Taranto under the guardianship of his mother, Constance of France. The Principality of Antioch was administered by his father's nephew, Tancred, until 1111. Tancred's cousin, Roger of Salerno, managed the principality from 1111 to 1119. After Roger died in the Battle of the Field of Blood, Baldwin II of Jerusalem took over the administration of Antioch. However, he did acknowledge Bohemond's right to personally rule the principality upon reaching the age of majority. Bohemond came to Antioch in autumn 1126. He launched successful military campaigns against the nearby Muslim rulers, but his conflict with Joscelin I of Courtenay enabled Imad ad-Din Zengi t ...
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