Duchy of Naples
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The Duchy of Naples (Latin: Ducatus Neapolitanus), born as a Byzantine province governed by a military commander (dux), rapidly became a de facto independent state, lasting more than five centuries during the Early and High Middle Ages. The duchy was constituted during in the seventh century in the reduced coastal lands that the Lombards did not conquer during their invasion of Italy.
Lombard invasion and Neapolitan unrest
At the time of the Lombardic invasions of Italy in the mid-sixth century, Naples had a population of about 30-35,000. In 615, under Giovanni Consino, Naples rebelled for the first time against the Exarch of Ravenna, the Byzantine emperor's plenipotentiary in Italy. In reply, the first form of the duchy was created in 638 by the Exarch Eleutherius, but this duke came from abroad and had to respond to the strategos of Sicily. At that time the Ducatus Neapolitanus controlled an area corresponding roughly to the present day Province of Naples, encompassing the area of Vesuvius, the Campi Flegrei, the Sorrentine Peninsula, Giugliano, Aversa, Afragola, Nola, and the islands of Ischia and Procida. Capri was later part of the duchy of Amalfi.
First local duchy
In 661, Naples obtained from the emperor Constans II the right to be ruled by a local duke, one Basil, whose subjection to the emperor soon became merely nominal.
Papal suzerainty
In 763, the duke Stephen II switched his allegiance from Constantinople to papal Rome.
Hereditary dukeship
In 840, Duke Sergius I made the succession to the duchy hereditary, and thenceforth Naples was de facto independent. In this age, the city was mainly a military centre, ruled by an aristocracy of warriors and landowners, even though it had been compelled to surrender to the neighbouring Lombards much of its inland territory. Naples was not a merchant city as other Campanian sea cities like Amalfi and Gaeta, but had a respectable fleet who took part in the Battle of Ostia against the Saracens in 849. Anyway Naples did not hesitate to ally with infidels if this turned to its advantage: in 836, for example, it asked support to the Saracens in order to push off the siege of Lombard troops coming from the neighbouring Duchy of Benevento. After its dukes rose to highest prominence under the Duke-Bishop Athanasius and his successors, of whom, Gregory IV and John II participated at the Battle of the Garigliano in 915, Naples declined in importance in the tenth century until is was captured by it straditional rival, Pandulf IV of Capua.
Struggles for relevance in the Norman South
In 1027, duke Sergius IV donated the county of Aversa to a band of Norman mercenaries led by Rainulf Drengot, whose support he had needed in the war with the principality of Capua. In that period he could not imagine the consequences, but this settlement began a process which eventually led to the end of Naples' independence itself. Sergius' cemented his position with marital alliances with the Normans, but when these broke down, he was abandoned by his mercenaries and retired to a monastery.Naplse was the last of the southern Italian states which the Normans had met when they first enterred Italy. It survived the fall of the Lombard principalities: Capua, Salerno, Benevento. It had survived the fall of its fellow Greek duchies: Amalfi, Gaeta, Sorrento. In 1137, Duke Sergius VII was forced to surrender to Roger II of Sicily, who had had himself proclaimed King of Sicily seven years earlier. Under the new rulers the city was administrated by a compalazzo (palatine count), with little independence left to the Neapolitan patriciate. In this period Naples had a population of 30,000 and yet got its sustenance from the inland country: commerce activities were mainly delegated to foreign people, mainly from Pisa and Genova.
Apart from the church of San Giovanni a Mare, Norman buildings in Naples were mainly lay ones, notably castles (Castel Capuano and Castel dell'Ovo), walls and fortified gates.
Sources
- David Taylor and Jeff Matthews. [Naples in the Dark Ages.]
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