Landulf II of Capua

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Landulf II (c.825 – 879), bishop and count of Capua, was the youngest of four sons of Landulf I, gastald of Capua. As a young man, he entered the church. When his father died, his eldest brother, Lando, succeeded him.

On the death of the bishop of Capua, Paulinus, Lando made Landulf bishop of the city. Lando died in 861 and his young son, Lando II, died within months and was followed by Landulf's other elder brother, Pando. Pando too died soon thereafter and a succession crisis broke out. Pando's son Pandenulf was shoved aside and Landulf, though bishop, took the Capuan throne in 863. He soon received the reognition of Lambert I of Spoleto. In 866, he was besieged by the Emperor Louis II, but refused to take part in the rebellion against him led by Adelchis of Benevento in 871. Upon the death of Louis (875), who had strictly enforced peace amongst the Christians of the Mezzogiorno, Landulf allied with the Saracens, but in 877, Pope John VIII convinced him to ally himself to the papacy against the Moslems. He spent the next years defending the Amalfi Coast with his navy in return for tribute. He died in 879, undisputed count of Capua, and a succession crisis broke out again. In the chronicle of Erchempert, of whom he was a contemporary, he is the chief villain.