Drogo of Hauteville

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Drogo of Hauteville^[1] (c.1010 – 10 August 1051) succeeded his brother, William Iron Arm, with whom he arrived in southern Italy c.1035, as the leader of the Normans of Apulia.

With his brother, he took part in the campaign of the Byzantine catepan George Maniaches in Sicily (1038) and then in the campaign against the Greeks of Apulia with the Lombard prince Guaimar IV of Salerno. In 1042, the Normans elected William as count at Melfi and Drogo received Venosa from Guaimar in a twelve-part division of the conquered territory. In 1044–1045, Drogo was warring on behalf of his brother in Apulia. He seized Bovino from the Greeks.

In 1046, William died and Drogo and Peter of Trani were the premier candidates for his replacement. Drogo, supported by Guaimar, a good friend of William's, was duly elected as his brother's successor. The foundations of a Hauteville dynasty were set. Drogo was then approached by Ranulf Trincanocte, Count of Aversa, to reconcile him with Guaimar, which he did. In that year, he entered Apulia again and defeated the catepan Eustathios Palatinos near Taranto. His brother Humphrey, who had arrived a short while earlier, even forced Bari to conclude a treaty with the Normans. In 1047, Drogo captured Benevento with the permission of the Holy Roman Emperor. It turned out to be a watershed year. First, he received a daughter of Guaimar III, named either Gaitelgrima or Altrude, as wife and secondly, the Emperor Henry III confirmed him in his position and gave him the titular Dux et magister Italiae comesque Normannorum totius Apuliae et Calabriae, translating "Duke and Master of Italy and Count of the Normans of all Apulia and Calabria," the first legitimate comital title for the Normans of Melfi. Henry also divested Guaimar of the principality of Capua and gave it to the old prince, Pandulf IV.

During his reign, his half-brother Robert Guiscard arrived in the Mezzogiorno (c.1047). Drogo remained close in alliance to Guaimar and assisted him against Pandulf after the latter's reinstallation. However, he could not control his barons and stem the tide of brigandage and feudal warfare paralysing the Mezzogiorno. He had to send away both his own younger brother Robert and the newly-arrived Richard Drengot, who attacked him and was captured. Guaimar secured Richard's release late in 1047 or early in 1048. In the latter year, Drogo commanded an expedition in the valley of Crati, near Cosenza, and into Calabria. He distributed the conquered territories in Calabria and granted Robert Guiscard a castle at Scribla to guard the entrances. In 1050, he had to aid Guaimar in putting down the rebellion of one Guillaume Barbote.

In 1051, Pope Leo IX forced a promise from Drogo that he would stop the Norman pillaging, but he was assassinated later that year (probably by a Byzantine conspiracy led by Argyrus) at Montoglio and was succeeded by his younger brother Humphrey after a brief interregnum.

By his marriage, he had a son, Richard, who joined the First Crusade. Richard's son Roger was later regent of the principality of Antioch.

[edit] Notes

^ Called Dreux or Drogon de Hauteville in French and Drogone d'Altavilla in Italian.

[edit] Sources

Ghisalberti, Albert (ed). Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani: II Albicante – Ammannati. Rome, 1960.
Gwatkin, H.M., Whitney, J.P. (ed) et al. The Cambridge Medieval History: Volume III. Cambridge University Press, 1926.
Norwich, John Julius. The Normans in the South 1016-1130. Longmans: London, 1967.
Chalandon, Ferdinand. Histoire de la domination normande en Italie et en Sicilie. Paris, 1907.
Gravett, Christopher, and Nicolle, David. The Normans: Warrior Knights and their Castles. Osprey Publishing: Oxford, 2006.
Beech, George. A Norman-Italian Adventurer in the East: Richard of Salerno. 1993.