Gualganus Ridel

Gualganus (rarely Gualguanus, Italian: Gualgano, French: Gauvain), surnamed Ridel, Ridell, or Ridello, was the Duke of Gaeta as a vassal of the Prince of Capua in the late 1080s until 1091.^[1] He was a son and successor of Raynald Ridell. He was married to a daughter of Count Ranulf I of Caiazzo.

His reign marked a political separation between Gaeta the city and Pontecorvo, a massive rural castle where the Ridells resided. They ruled the countryside from Pontecorvo and took little interest in the affairs of the Hellenic and urban Gaeta, where they were largely unwelcome. In 1091, when his suzerain Jordan I of Capua died, the Gaetans rebelled and threw off his rule. Gualganus retained Pontecorvo, however. Sometime between 1093 and 1105 (probably closer to the former), he lost Pontecorvo to his brother-in-law, Count Robert of Caiazzo, whose sister he had married and who gave it to Montecassino.

Sources

• Skinner, Patricia. Family Power in Southern Italy: The Duchy of Gaeta and its Neighbours, 850-1139. Cambridge University Press: 1995.
• Medieval Lands Project: Southern Italy.

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